Chicago Blues Festival 2016

Chicago, Illinois, USA. Tuesday 07/Wednesday 15-June-2016.

Mary had always wanted to go to Chicago for the Blues Festival so we scraped out the last of our airmiles and using our two-for-one Amex voucher booked two business class flights to the U.S. of A.

We arrived Tuesday 7th which gave us several days to recover from jet lag and also do the tourist thing. Checked in and went for a beer at Schuba's Tavern (no live music as it was lunchtime) and later a pizza at Giordano's (pizza). We stayed a little North of the centre but close to a railway station so we could get in and out easily.

Wednesday 8th was full on tourist stuff: Boat tour in the morning, city winery for lunch, bike ride in the afternoon, Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville @ Navy Pier,  then Joe's Seafood - #4 out of 7869 restaurants in Chicago according to TripAdvisor.

The boat tour was an excellent architectural guide to the buildings along the waterfront by a very knowledgeable volunteer guide or "docent" as the American word is. Recommended.

Thursday 9th. Frank Lloyd Wright centre and walk - as the son of an architect it was great to see so many buildings by a man I had known about from a very early age. Then River Roast for lunch, Sheffield Bar for early evening beer from a very knowledgeable and friendly barman, Mia Francesca for supper, Kingston Mines for late night music and more beer.

Friday 10th. First day of the Blues Fest. In the morning we did the zoo. The food at the festival was very basic and expensive so we decided to stock up on lunch beforehand at Buddy Guys Legends blues club complete with live music.

Afternoon and evening at the Blues fest starting with Siobhan Fahey formerly of Shakespears Sister.

The brilliant Shemekia Copeland on the main stage. She was so good it prompted us to book for the Great British Rock and Blues Festival the following year where she was due to headline.

All followed by a late night beer at Blackwood's Bar close to the hotel.

Saturday 11th. The morning was a major, self-guided sculpture walk, see post Chicago 2016 statues. On the way to the festival I just had to stand at the start of Route 66.

Again lunch and live music at Buddy Guys.

I cannot be sure who all we saw so the complete line can be found here: http://wxrt.cbslocal.com/2016/04/04/complete-2016-chicago-blues-festival-lineup/

One of the side stages.

The main stage:

After the show we went back to the hotel for a nightcap at the nearby Cesar's Killer Margaritas on Clark.

Sunday 12th. The morning was visiting a number of locations for the Blues Brothers, sightseeing more statutes and lunch at the highly recommended Purple Pig. Despite no booking they were able to squeeze us in as we were prepared to sit by the door.

Elwood: This is definitely Lower Wacker Drive! If my estimations are correct, we should be very close to the Honorable Richard J. Daley Plaza!

Jake: That's where they got that Picasso.

Elwood: Yep.

The Picasso

More music.

Yet more music.

Main stage again.

The whole of the concert in the evening on the main stage was a tribute to Otis Rush. The man himself was there, now in a wheelchair, and was brought on stage to great applause.

The fabulous signer (that is "signer" not "singer"). I was a bit surprised at first to see signing for the deaf at a music concert but why not. There were two of them who took it in turn. The dark haired guy seated was pretty restrained, he stood there and signed the lyrics real time. The blonde guy was really into the music, man he was grooving along. I didn't know you could sign with an accent but he was definitely camping it up - brilliant!

Monday 13th. Flew XPR to LGA, transferred to JFK so we were close to our departure airport. That was a mistake in retrospect, we should have stayed in Manhattan. We managed to meet up with our friends Fred and Lynne for supper which was excellent.

Tuesday 14th. Went in to NYC for a long stroll around Central Park. Then JFK - LHR and home arriving the next morning. Knackered but well pleased with the trip.

Madeline Bell at Ronnie Scott's 2016

Saturday 04-June-2016.

Third time of seeing this irrepressible singer and just as much fun as the previous two occasions. Her shows always sell out fast so we nabbed our tickets as soon as they were announced. We persuaded our friends Tim and Sarah to come up to London for the weekend and join us for this.



She was joined by Tommy Blaize, the lead singer with the Strictly Come Dancing Band, for a couple of great duets.



She always has a good chat with the audience. As a reviewer on Trip Advisor remarked "I hope I have as much lust for life, energy and kindness when I reach my golden years." I'll second that.

Distillery Tour at Sipsmiths

Chiswick, London. Wednesday 01-June-2016.

Mary bought me a tour of the Sipsmith distillery for Christmas which came with a bottle of gin. The gin I could make a start on any time but this tour is so popular that they were booked months ahead and, what with trips to Italy, this was the earliest date we could make.

We were one of the first to arrive and the welcome drink was, of course, a gin and tonic. I was pleased to note the tonic was Fever-tree which I had switched to as soon as I discovered it a few years back, forsaking all other tonic waters. Our host opined that Schweppes is a perfectly respectable tonic water but for me it would be of necessity not choice.

The tour was actually a bit of a misnomer as the whole distillery is in one room, an old garage. Most of the "tour" was a fascinating history of gin including the Gin Craze period in the first half of the 18th century and subsequent legislation. Well done, Sipsmith!

It was Sipsmith's pioneering efforts with HMRC in getting the size restriction removed from stills in order to obtain a license that has opened the doors for many other craft distilleries to spring up.

It was not all talk. We tasted a number of their fine products including a Pimm's-like cup and a Sloe gin. They also produce small batch runs of experimental flavourings on a quarterly basis some which were a little outré.

A fascinating tour - highly recommended.

Chenin Blanc and Sangiovese at Unwined

Tooting Market, London. Wednesday 11-May-16

I left my notebook in Italy and only now (Mon 05-Sep-16) have got round to typing my notes up.

Two of our favourite varietals presented by Kiki in the relaxed setting of Unwined in Tooting market, one of their regular "Wine Wednesday" tutored tastings.

First up the Chenin Blanc (aka Pinot Anjou):

• Papegaai from Svartland in SouthAfrica - ripe tropical fruits on the palate with hint of apple on the nose
• Champalou 2014 Vouvray from the Loire - pale, smokey / sweet & sour palate, tart in the mouth
• Mosse 2014 from Anjou - very pale, almost vin santo like, taste of dried apples, hint of caramel. Kiki thought there was some volatile acidity but I didn't get that.

Then the Sangiovese, translates as the blood of Christ (aka Brunello):

• Inarno 2013 - very "sotto bosco" leaf mould on the nose, light tannins, morello cherries on the palate 
• La Fralluca 2009 - very dark colour, rounded mellow balanced tannins, some got currants or coconut on the palate
• Rosso di Montalcino 2014 - light in colour, leaner, less fruit, almost pinot-like

I liked the approach of presenting the first wine on its own to introduce the grape then presenting numbers two and three together as a "compare and contrast". When the tasting was over we stayed on for a glass and a chat. An educational and enjoyable evening.

Limoncello recipe

Our friend Christine makes an excellent limoncello, not too sweet. This is her recipe:

Ingredients

• 400 ml alcohol
• 5 lemons (unwaxed)
• 500 ml water
• 200 gm sugar

Method

• Remove the zest from the lemons
• Put the zest in a jar with the alcohol
• Leave in the dark for 15 days
• Strain out the zest
• Dissolve the sugar in the water
• Combine the sugar syrup with the alcohol
• Leave in the dark for one month
• Drink

Not being sure of the lemons in the market we stole five lemons from Chris's tree (with her permission). Guaranteed unwaxed and pesticide free.

One unusual feature of Italian supermarkets compared to the UK is that you can buy pure alcohol (95%) for culinary purposes in just about any store. Some recipes suggest using vodka, if neat alcohol is not available, but that will be 30% water so you would only need about 300 ml of the sugar syrup to keep the ratio of alcohol to water correct.

Then all you need is a jar or two and a zester. You could use a knife but a zester allows you to precision de-rind the lemon without any bitter pith.

Two weeks later and the alcohol has leached out the oils and flavours from the zest.

Chris's recipe only uses 200 gm of sugar but some I found on the internet that used nearly 5 times that amount! If it is too tart you can always add more sugar later but you cannot take it out if there is too much.

The combination of the water and the oils makes limoncello turn the typically cloudy appearance.

Now all I have to do is let it mature in the dark ready for our next visit.

Update: After five years I tweaked the recipe reducing the alcohol from 500 ml to 400 ml. It was a bit too fiery and the syrup came out at about 600 ml so the final mix wouldn’t fit in a 1 litre bottle which bugged me. Now it’s just right, to my taste. 

Also I have been experimenting with orange-cello and lime-cello. The orange version is now my go-to recipe as we are frequently offered limoncello in restaurants here in Puglia and it is nice to have something different at home. Using soft brown sugar or Demerara sugar for the syrup gives it a distinctly marmalade-like flavour.

San Giorgio Patron Saint of Locorotondo

Puglia, Italy. 23-April-2016.

Saint George is not just the patron saint of England but a large number of patronages around the world including Locorotondo's Mother Church of "St. George the Martyr".

We were lucky enough to be in Italy at the time of the Locorotondo's saint's day. In typical Italian tradition this involved a service followed by a parade of the statues around the town on the shoulders of the faithful. Not only Saint George but also the Blessed Virgin Mary - two statues for the price of one.

I am almost starting to feel like a local. Whilst standing there we bumped into two Italian friends, Tonino the butcher and Michele who rotavates our trulli garden. It is a small community and this event ensured a good turn out.

The procession was candle-lit, many of the people were carrying torches, and there was a small band playing a march. Once the parade vanished off down the narrow, paved alleyways we headed home for a nice bottle of local red wine and supper.

Trullo Azzurro flooring

When we originally bought the Trullo Azzurro and had it done up we told the architect to leave the flagstones (chianchi in Italian) because we figured that if they lifted them they would never be able to get them back down in the right place again.

Recently we had some plumbing work done in the bathroom and they did a good job of lifting and re-laying the tiles. We also discovered that the flagstones were laid directly onto the clay - no wonder the building was always a bit cool and damp over the winter.

So we asked Saverio our builder to quote for installing under-floor heating and a second boiler. That turned out to be very expensive. Also the flagstones are too thick for under-floor heating so would have had to be taken away to the quarry for slicing in half with risk of breakages.
 
In the end we arrived at a compromise: lift the floor, dig down and prepare the ground with damp-proof course and an insulating layer, then re-lay the original floor. Whilst this was being done we paid to have pipes put in place for normal radiators so if we changed our mind later and put in a second boiler we wouldn’t have to re-dig up the floor.

The room with flagstones lifted…

… and all neatly stacked in the courtyard

Then they dug down 30-40cm

Pipework for a possible future heating system.

Insulating expanded foam “igloos”. They also allow for some air circulation.

Flagstones re-laid

Floor re-grouted

Furniture back in place as if nothing had happened.

It was quite a logistics exercise because, before they could lift the flagstones, they had to clear out all the furniture including the wood-burning stove then put it all back when they were done.

It turns out that this under-floor layer is what a number of fellow Trulli owners have done. Now they tell us! We should find the place drier, warmer and easier to heat.

Whilst the builder was there we got him to improve the lane up to the Trullo as the winter rains had eroded some of the surface.

So all is looking spick and span for our first guests which will be my sister Jane and second cousin Effie next week.

Fiat 500 Rally in Cisternino

Ciisternino, Puglia, Italy. Sunday 03-April-2016.

We knew something must be up because bunting appeared across our road the day before. The next morning we went out to discover a rally of Fiat 500's and some other vehicles besides. Just up and across from our front door this beautiful old car was the first thing we saw.

Along the main Via San Quirico the whole street was lined with Fiat 500's in a rainbow of colours. Some were carefully restored to original condition, some had been pimped with special paint jobs, luxury leather upholstery and fancy steering wheels.

They are rear-engined like the VW Beetle and a number of cars had the cover up to reveal gleaming, polished engines.

The car parking space between the two bars, History and Mozarella, was double stacked with historic vehicles.

There was even a Fiat 500 people mover though you wouldn't want to move a Rugby team in it.

The view from The Bridge as the upper level part of Via San Quirico is known.

Then our local Ferrari did a drive past. It may have a Rome number plate but the car (and presumeably the owner as well) lives in the town. Not the first time we have seen this car.

There also some vintage Moto Guzzi dating from the 1930's all in immaculate condition.

A pleasant surprise to see such fun, always nice to stumble across something unawares.

Pasqua in Puglia 2016

Carovigno (BR), Italy. Tuesday 29-March-2016.

Men in Tights and Girl Groups.

As it is Easter weekend and Italy is a good Catholic country each village has the usual marches and parading statues of the Madonna. This is in the nearby town of Carovigno where there is an unusual flag twirling ceremony called “Nzenga” – the local dialect for flag.

The local legend is that a mediaeval lord had a vision in which he was told to go seek a shrine to the Madonna to cure his ailment. In his search he met a cowherd whose heifer had gone missing. The cowherd found the cow in a cave kneeling to a stature of the Madonna. He was so overjoyed he ran out blowing his whistle and throwing his multi-coloured headscarf into the air. The lord followed into the cave and was cured of his illness.

In celebration of this the locals have, since the 12th century, been dressing up in mediaeval costumes and twirling multi-coloured flags accompanied by fife and drum bands.This has now turned into a major competition between the locals to see who can be the best and highest flag twirler, both between individuals and teams.

After mass in the church they parade the Christ and Madonna into the main square preceded by girls and boys dressed up as lords and ladies, the bands and the flag twirlers. Because all the local lads take part in the flag twirling it is left primarily to the girls to form the pipe and drum bands.

Banners and statue of Christ being carried into the square

Ditto for Madonna del Belvedere

Then it is the flag waving competition. The man in the white shirt in the centre has just thrown his flag up. You can just see the flag level with the top of the dome of the bandstand.

Here they do some low level moves with the flags around and between the legs.

Finally they all parade through the town. Local lads waving flags.

More men in tights twirling flags.

All followed by a delightful lunch down at the seaside with our friends who live nearby.

PS. for videos of flag waving and band marching see previous post: Pasqua in Puglia 2010: Carovigno Easter parade

Unwined in Tooting

Tooting Market. Sunday 20-March-2016

Not sure how we discovered this small entrepreneurial wine and food outlet (possibly through Time Out Love London awards). Anyhow Mary booked us in for a "Bottomless" Sunday lunch.

Unwined sell wine (clue in the name!) and do events and all sorts of other stuff but they also have a permanent base in the unlikely setting of Tooting Market where they do tastings and sell wines with a theme of the month. They pair with pop-up chefs for the full dining out experience. This week the partner was Vinn Goute, serving Seychelles inspired street food.

Here our hostess, Kiki, is pouring an interesting rose prosecco from a small independent producer. That was the wine theme for this month: one of a kind, so we got interesting and unusual, one-off wines from small producers.

Starters were just that little bit different: a tuna samosa served with spicy sweet and sour sauce and lentil fritters with a chilli mayonnaise. The main course was fish which turned out to be red snapper with rice, peppers and salad and a fierce Scotch Bonnet salsa. That was paired with a Spanish white, Marques de Alella 'Sepo'.

The deal was unlimited wine (well for an hour and a half) so we started on the second bottle of white. Then Mary had the cheese board with a glass of negroamaro made using traditional methods and I had flambéed banana with ice cream and a New Zealand noble rot riesling which was absolutely superb. We had walked over to the market but after a long, leisurely and boozy lunch we let the 219 bus carry us home. Definitely up for a return visit; Mary says this could become a regular.

Robbie McIntosh at the Half Moon

Putney, London. Saturday 19-March-2016

Another gig with our visiting US friend Delton. We knew nothing of Robbie but his CV lists some well known names. He was with The Pretenders for five years and has played with Roger Daltry, Paul McCartney and Norah Jones.

Robbie played some fine rockin' blues music. He makes it looks so effortless. Whenever you see someone who can do that you know they are a master of their art. I can see why he is in demand as a session musician.

An enjoyable meal before at Alquimia Spanish Restaurant & Tapas Bar then a full two-set gig at the Half Moon. It continues to amaze me that you can see superb musicians up close in small venues for the price of a couple of pints.