Warm Winter Poetry Reading
Given the sparseness of my snowy post and my subsequent apparent absence from the blogoverse, you’re forgiven for thinking that winter got the better of me and I didn’t make it through! There’ve been times, given the !*&#insert-curse-here*~&! weather in the UK over the past six months, that I didn’t think I would.
But, contrary to appearances, I have actually been around, lurking and learning and adding my two cents’ worth to a few other web projects. I’ve also been having some offline fun, such as the poetry evening we hosted at home on 30th January.
This event came together quickly due to last-minute cancellations for the scheduled reading of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. We didn’t have enough people to read the play, but we still wanted to do something Shakespearean. I asked each person to bring a favourite Shakespeare sonnet, with another poem, by any other poet, which addresses that sonnet’s themes. It worked brilliantly – the selections delighted us with their variety, yet there was a strong sense of unity because of the Shakespeare connection.
Some of the paired poems
| XVIII: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? by WS |
Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats |
| III: Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest by WS |
Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson (lyrics by Siedah Garrett and Glen Ballard) |
| CXVI: Let me not to the marriage of true minds by WS |
Once I passed through a populous city by Walt Whitman |
| XXV: Let those who are in favour with their stars by WS |
Fame is a Fickle Food by Emily Dickinson |
| LX: Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore by WS |
The Continuous Life by Mark Strand |
| LXI: Is it thy will, thy image should keep open by WS |
XXXI: I envy not the lovers who are glad by John Barlas (Evelyn Douglas) |
Because there were only six of us, and because the readings were much shorter than when we read an entire play in an evening, not only could we have a sit-down dinner instead of a buffet, but there was also much more time for discussion and for diverging along delicious poetic and non-poetic tangents.
Speaking of delicious… I created a new soup for the dinner, which went down extremely well and had everyone demanding seconds. As I’m not the world’s best chef, this was something of a culinary miracle, so, for posterity, here’s the recipe:
Tia’s Green Soup
Serves 8
Ingredients:
- 1 large leek (chopped)
- 3 garlic cloves (minced)
- 1 whole broccoli (chopped)
- 1 whole cauliflower (chopped)
- 5 celery sticks including leaves (chopped)
- 6-8 peeled carrots (unless the peel is sweet, then use it)(chopped)
- 1 large pkt spinach
- 1 pkt “salad or stirfry” leaves
- 1 can green flageolet beans
- 4 tsp vegetable stock granules
- 1 tsp mixed herbs
- 1 bayleaf
- sea salt (to taste)
- olive oil
- 1.5 litres water
In a very large pot:
- Fry leek and garlic in olive oil for a few minutes
- Add broccoli, cauliflower, celery, carrots and stir-fry for a few minutes.
- Add spinach, “salad or stirfry” leaves, vegetable stock granules, mixed herbs, bayleaf, sea salt and water and simmer for about twenty minutes. Add more water if the mixture doesn’t look right, or if you cook for a bit longer, but the goal is to keep the soup really thick, so don’t overdo it.
- After twenty minutes, add the green flageolet beans with the liquid from the can and cook for another five minutes.
- Remove the bayleaf and use a hand-blender to liquidize the soup to a thick, smooth consistency.
The result is an amazingly creamy, tasty, green soup. I finished preparing this two hours in advance and then reheated it to serve and it was great.
Tia Azulay 28Mar10 Copyright © 2010 Tia Azulay