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Posts from the ‘Travel’ Category

York’s Stained Glass Sensation

My love affair with Yorkshire stained glass started in St Helen and the Holy Cross in the little Yorkshire town of Sheriff Hutton. I was attending the wedding of my dear friend Celia and her husband to be, Tarquin. Asides from being dazzled by the highly unsurprising beauty of the bride, and the elegance of a church bursting with autumnal flowers, berries and warming candles, I was mesmerised by the occasional burst of multi-colour flooding into the little stone church through its wonderfully intricate stained glass windows. Depicting biblical tales with exquisite attention to detail, I stared in wonderment at this unexpected artistic gem set within the ancient walls of very small local church.

The Sheriff Hutton windows

But this was only the start. The following day, drunk on the exuberance of the blissful wedding celebrations of the previous day, I stumbled into the cobbled idyllic streets of York’s medieval centre. The town is a chocolate-box paradise of Dickensian British charm – there were little teddybear shops in creaky crooked houses, oak-framed windows glittering with Halloween and Christmas paraphernalia, and the world famous Betty’s tearoom, with its delightfully old fashioned shop downstairs, manned by two perfectly polite, tie-wearing shop assistants, straight out of Victoriana. But wherever you go in this picturesque little town, the imposing gothic structure of the immense York Minster is never far away.

Having had our fill of Betty’s tea room, and of course a requisite Yorkshire pudding, we headed straight for the Minster. The Minster is an impressively sized and decorated Cathedral, and one of the largest of its kind in Europe. It is in  fact the second largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe, with its present architecture dating back from 1230. Unsurprisingly, the cathedral is rich in its gothic decorations, its medieval carvings of creatures and kings, its shrines and chapel, its intricate choir stalls and equally sumptuous organ pipes. But above all things the Minster is famous for its exquisite stained glass, and of those there are many.

Upon entering the Minster, we initially gawped at the entrance fee – £9, not including a tour of the tower, although owing to the gloom which had descended upon the city, we thought it was probably safe to give that a miss. Having bought our tickets, and swallowed the cost, we began to understand why the admission price was so high. Not only is the cathedral brilliantly preserved, with interactive displays for the visitor and a host of curiosities and architectural splendor to view, the Minster is undergoing a major renovation of those very same windows for which it is so famed.

The “orb”

The windows, which are the largest examples of surviving medieval stained glass windows in the world, are a spectacular display of medieval craftsmanship. Some 2 million individually painted pieces of glass make up the cathedral’s 128 stained glass windows which need constant renovation and cleaning in order to preserve the masterpieces for future generations. However, so often it is impossible to fully appreciate the true intricate beauty of a window on this scale, from the ground. On our visit however, we were in luck. Of all the windows, the most stunning is the Great East Window, the likes of which was undergoing renovation when we visited. Usually this would be cause for complaint, but not so on our visit – rather, having opened a new “orb” to display freshly renovated panels from the great window, we were afforded the invaluable opportunity to study the intricacies of the windows, lit from behind, in all their detailed beauty.

The results can be seen from these photos I took inside the orb. It’s hard to believe that these intrinsically contemporary images stem from the medieval period, with their gorgeous details such as leafy damask backgrounds, radiant angelic faces, and the use of vibrant coloured glass which, when cleaned, gleams to stunning effect. I was so overawed by the beauty of these windows that I felt compelled to devote an entire post to their glory – how sad that the entire window cannot always be so admired in its details. But without a stairwell allowing visitors to reach the top of the window and the various levels in between, there will inevitably be beautiful panels such as these which will forever be confined to the sky-like heights of the cathedral, viewed in detail only by those charged with the window’s renovation. How fantastic then was this opportunity to see a few of those panels up close. Suddenly that £9 entrance fee seemed excellent value.

The orb will remain at York Minster until 2015. The restoration of the Great East Window is expected to be completed by the summer of 2016.

Flavours of Spain – Part 2: Tapas

When most people think of Spanish cuisine, they think of tapas, and why not? These little dishes are a fantastic excuse to sample as many tastes and flavours of dishes from all over Spain as you can manage, while encouraging the shared social environment which the small dish concept inspires. Unable to decide what large dishes to cook when I was over in Spain, and with no recipe books close to hand, I decided to opt for a few simple tapas dishes which I could remember off the top of my head and which are inspired by my own tapas experiences in Andalucia and beyond. Having cooked these tapas creations, you can then supplement your tapas feast with olives, bread with delicious olive oil and different flavoured dipping salts and platters piled high with fresh serrano hams and manchego cheese (see mine at the bottom). You’ll find yourself with way too much food (unless you’re feeding a small army), but the beauty with tapas is that much of it will last for days – bonus!

Salted almonds

Great to kick of your evening as a moorish accompaniment to a glass of wine or two, these salted almonds are really easy to make. Take a baking tray and pour in enough olive oil to cover the base. Then throw into it (carefully – I’m not encouraging kitchen recklessness you do understand) 250g of blanched almonds, and sprinkle them with some good quality sea salt and a teaspoon of smoked pimenton. Give the whole lot a good toss, and place in the oven at 180 degrees c for around 20 minutes, tossing every so often during cooking. Be careful not to leave them in for too long – they may look ok on the outside but they can become burnt on the inside if the cooking is overdone.

Salted almonds

Ensalada Rusa

Russian salad is a tapas staple in traditional tapas bars all over Spain. You can alter the amounts of ingredients below depending on how many you’re cooking for. This made enough for a good 6-8 small tapas-sized helpings.

Start by making your own mayonnaise (if you can be bothered). Whisk up a large egg with a teaspoon of dijon mustard, 2 teaspoons of white wine vinegar and half a teaspoon of salt. Then to this very very gradually whisk in 300ml of oil – for those who like a mild flavour, use sunflower oil, but for a traditional Spanish flavour, extra virgin olive oil is a must. Doing this in a food processor is definitely the easiest way, but for those like me who are in a little holiday home in Spain without the best equipped of kitchens, the good old balloon whisk and a determined wrist can still do the job. Once you have made a nice thick mayonnaise, squirt in the juice of half a lemon (to taste) and 1-2 crushed cloves of garlic.

My homemade mayonnaise

Meanwhile have around 1kg of small new potatoes boiling away nicely (chop them as necessary so they’re roughly the same size). Once tender, leave to cool. Once the potatoes have reached room temperature you need to add a good 4-6 tablespoons of mayonnaise, two tins of tuna (preferably in oil), a one or two of cooked diced carrots and a good handful garden peas, 4-6 chopped gherkins, two tablespoons of capers and some chopped parsely. Then whack in a good dose of seasoning to taste, and play around with flavour – you can add more mayo, more garlic, more lemon, different herbs – whatever you like. I guarantee it will be delicious whatever you try (within reason – obv).

A small portion of Ensalada Rusa

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Sunday Supplement – Orange Square

To think that just a week ago I was sitting in Marbella’s Plaza de Los Naranjos (Orange Square) sipping upon a creamy Cafe con leche, and snacking upon a light crispy churros con chocolate. The sun was shining, and we were sat in the shade, shying away from the September heat which, remarkably, was hitting the 30s. Only a few hours later we took a flight back to London. The realisation only kicked in as the plane started to descend. It was that moment as we plunged from a clear peachy sky at sunset into the grey gloom of a tumultuous storm cloud. The little plane was battered from side to side, the windows were suddenly hit with a rain shower, the drops dancing diagonally across the pain in the direction of our high-speed travel, and within seconds we had been violently redirected from Summer into a deep and depressing winter. Setting down on the concourse at City Airport, we could barely see for the heavy rain all around us, and descending the plane’s steps into the outside, our sun-kissed bodies shivered in despair at the instantaneous 20 degrees drop to which they had been so suddenly sacrificed.

A few hours later and I was back at work. A week later and it’s as if the holiday never happened at all. And yet it’s the memories which to my mind give a holiday its value. When you’re away, its all too often like you’re traversing a dream, your feet never quite touching the ground, as the ties of reality continue to drag your concentration back to the entrapments of home, never quite freeing you sufficiently to fully immerse yourself in your holiday destination. It’s vital then that we remember – and of course this blog, and my photos, and my recipes are key to my success in this.

Orange Square (2002 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, acrylic on canvas)

For today’s Sunday Supplement then, I have decided to return to one of my earliest paintings, completed in Marbella in 2002. It shows the old town’s main bustling square, full as it is of cafe’s and restaurants, musicians and people turning out for their evening stroll. With a play on words which only the English translation of the square’s name accommodates, I painted the oranges square to give pictorial illusion to the place name. There too is the central bust of King Juan Carlos, and the bright yellow postbox which gives some lemon to an otherwise orange square. Finally the painting is dappled with the flowers – the brugmansia, the bird of paradise and the jasmine whose scent fills the square with perfume all year round.

It may be Autumn all around me, but in my mind, orange hues and blossom scents fill my imagination.

Orange Square in the centre of Marbella’s old town with the bust of King Juan Carlos

PS: If you like my painting of Orange Square, it’s available as a limited edition print along with other prints and my range of Norm Christmas cards on my Etsy Shop – check it out!

Enjoy your Sunday.

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Flavours of Spain – Part 1: Almejas con hinojos

Regulars of The Daily Norm will know that in my heart of hearts, I am no happier in my kitchen than when cooking up some Spanish flavours to tantalise the taste buds and enliven the corazon. To recreate the rich smells imbued with garlic and pimenton, shellfish and saffron in London is one thing, but to cook in a Spanish kitchen, when already surrounded by a cacophony of those same scents wafting in the air from the nearby houses of my Spanish old town neighbours is an entirely different experience. It is hard not to be inspired, not least by the nearby market, where fresh fish is in abundance, rich meaty steaks are plentiful and vibrantly coloured fruit, vegetables and the spices intrinsic to the flavours of Al Andalus are in bountiful supply in the mercado in the next door street to my house. That is not to say that I felt totally free to indulge. The price of food in Marbella, together with the inflation of the euro, has seen a really hike in food prices – some days I found it more expensive to eat at home than out in a local fish bar. Consequently I had to indulge my culinary ambition with a more limited budget for ingredients.

Samplings of the Marbella market

This dish is perfect for the prudent shopper. Buy yourself a kilo of clams (or almejas) and a fennel bulb and you’ve got the main components of the dish. I made this dish up, having bought myself a fennel bulb (purely because of my love for the liquorice taste) and upon a bounty of clams so fresh that they were popping and moving before my very eyes. Some white wine, an onion, and a few spices later, and I created this dish, Almejas con hinojos – clams with fennel.

Clams cooking in the pot

Almejas con hinojos

Chop one onion and 2-3 cloves of garlic finely, as well as a bulb of fennel. Sweat the ingredients together in a large pan on a low heat in a good glug of oil and a good dose of seasoning and a teaspoon of fennel seeds for about 15-20 minutes until the onions/garlic/fennel are soft and near translucent, but not browned. Turn the heat up to medium, and add a teaspoon of smoked pimenton (paprika) and the washed clams. Place a lid over the pan and cook until the clams have opened (around 4-5 minutes depending on their size). Once opened, turn up the heat a little more and add a good glass or two of dry white wine, along with a good handful of chopped parsely and stir so the clams get a good dose of alcoholic indulgence. Cook for a further 5 minutes, just to cook off the wine a bit and that’s it. Your clams are ready. Serve with a few hunks of fresh bread, a glass more of that white wine, and remember to discard any clams which have not opened.

And served up

Enjoy the flavours of Spain, as a burst of mediterranean freshness mixes with the smokey garlic pungency of arid España all in a single mouthful. Surely there is no better way to escape the onset of autumn?

And a candlelit garden full of summer evening warmth in which to eat the clams

 

Marbella en Realidad: True charm behind the gloss

You must excuse what has been a far from daily Daily Norm of late… for I have been away on my holidays, happily installed far away from the plummeting temperatures of England in the 30s of Southern Spain, desperately gripping onto the last rays of summer, enjoying my ultimate fill of vitamin D, wafting carelessly in the warm clemency of Spanish evenings before, with autumn descending, my body becomes bedecked in layer upon layer of winter woolies.

Yes, I’ve been back in Marbella, the town on the Costa del Sol renowned for its jetset reputation, for its yachts, designer stores, fake boobs and fast cars. And yet this reputation, while perhaps not the worst one can bestow, is far from justified, and certainly misses the point of what this town has to offer. For from the first minute I wandered into the old town of Marbella – the Casco Antiguo – a good 5 miles or so from Puerto Banus and the ritzy hotels and bars of tabloid fodder, I was totally entranced by a historic centre which exudes a cornucopia of Andalucian charm, whose tranquil silence is broken only by the dapple of water splashing from their old stone fountains, or the chirping of birds flitting from one orange tree to another, whose air is fragranced with the sweet seductive notes of Brugmansia trumpets and jasmine buds, and whose white washed buildings are in turn spattered with the vibrant colours of bourganvilla, terracotta pots containing bursts of red geraniums, balconies framed by intricately curled wrought iron balconies, and exquisitely painted local ceramics.

Marbella’s old town is undeservedly overshadowed by the superficial seductions of its modern suburbs, and perhaps this is what helps to maintain its charm and relative exclusivity. But as an artist, and being lucky enough to call the Casco Antiguo my second home, I cannot help but extoll the exquisite aesthetic virtues of this picture-perfect Andalucian town. I’m a resident, not a tourist, so my photos, perhaps sadly, do not depict the obvious – the squares, the cobbled narrow streets, the flamenco dancers or the restaurants. But hopefully through this selection of some of the little details which interested me on this, my early Autumn return to the town, you will gauge some idea of the idealistic charm of Marbella, and in so doing share in a cyber-shot slice of the beauty exuded from the heart of this very misunderstood town.

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

The Daily Sketch: Norms guillotined in the Place de la Concorde

As the rigour and excitement of the Paralympic Games continues to thrill not only us in London, but also the millions of viewers around the world, spare a thought for those young ones amongst us for whom this week may well spell the end of their summers and the start of a whole new school year. God, I used to hate this time of the year – that compulsory trip to the school uniform shop with my mother, trying on a scratchy new knitted jumper, full of foreboding for the cold days and dark nights to come, the homework, the long lessons and the exams at the end of it all, and all this when my golden summer tan was still fresh on my skin.

For many, that time has come, but as this Norm sketch shows, learning need not be a drag, especially if history is on the timetable for the first day. History is all around us you see, and this is no more so than in Paris, a city laced with its own fair share of gruesome tales, like this one, in the Place de la Concorde (or the Place de la Révolution as it was known then), where on 21 January 1793, King Louis XVI was sensationally beheaded upon the gruesome guillotine, along with his much despised wife, Queen Marie Antoinette (“let them eat cake” and all that jazz).

Norms guillotined in the Place de la Concorde (2012 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

Here we join this bloody day of Norm history, as Marie Antoinette has just lost her head, and Louis XVI, looking at the blade hanging menacingly above his head, knows that he is next. All around him, the soldiers of the revolution see that this day of reckoning goes down without interruption, while close by, the serene elaborate statues of the nearby fountains look on, a reminder that although all we see today is the architectural glory of this square, not so many years ago it was a place of significant blood shed and historical significance.

Vive la Révolution! (Not that I approve of beheading I should add).

See you next time.

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

The Daily Sketch: Pharaoh Norms return to the Louvre

London’s Paralympics have begun, and peoples from around the world have drained away from their home cities and headed for London, newly reappointed centre of the world. In fair Paris, with the August absence of the Parisians still conspicuous, and a raft of tourists headed North over La Manche, a group of strange looking Norms have taken advantage of the silence descending the city, and arrived at the famous Musée du Louvre in search of something which they think belongs to them.

Attracted by the familiar shape of the Louvre’s huge glass pyramid, now the iconic symbol of a reimagined contemporary Louvre, designed by I M Pei, and made all the more famous by the conspiracy theories of Dan Brown, these Norms emerge from the ancient land of Egypt, brought back to life from deep within their gilded tombs in search of the historical artefacts ravaged from their burial places and placed in grand museums such as the Louvre. Yes, the Pharaoh Norms have returned to the Louvre, in search of their birthright heritage, and yet dragging with them a Mummy Norm, just in case they change their mind and decided to make a new donation to the French collection… (they’re rather capricious, these ancient Egypnorms).

Here we join them as they formulate a strategy for their great heist of the Louvre’s Egyptology galleries. They’ve found the pyramid, but the glass has confused them. Is this witchcraft which has made the pyramid appear before them and yet not? There’s much to muse over in this brave new world around them. I think we’ll leave them to it.

Pharaoh Norms return to the Louvre (2012 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Autobiographical Mobile: My painting diary – Day 1: Mallorca

Since I started The Daily Norm last year, in those unenriched days when my interaction with the abundant world of the blogosphere was only just beginning, I have featured a fair number of my own paintings on my blog, attempting, as I have posted their photos, to explain some of the meaning behind what are often quite complex painted images. For my latest painting, I am changing tack.

In my current  work, which has now been sitting upon my easel for some weeks, I am exploring an autobiographical subject matter on a grand scale (the canvas is 120cm x 120 cm, so a fair size for my lounge-come-studio to take when you consider that when I paint, I basically take over my kitchen – leading to some interesting food results when the paint gets too close to the oven top). Because the work is essentially a self-portrait albeit explored through a catalogue of symbols on a large Mediterranean background, I anticipate working on the canvas for some time before it is finished, particularly as painting is not my day job. Since that will mean a sparsity of artwork available for Daily Norm consumption in the foreseeable future, and because I plan to paint a plethora of details, I thought it would be equally relevant to blog about the painting as it progresses, rather than ramble at length when it is eventually finished.

First layer done – the Mallorcan inspired background

You join me then in what is the first post of my painting diary, a set of hopefully regular accounts cataloguing my progress on the work. In my first instalment, I present the background of my work. I decided to set the piece on a quiet, rocky beach, somewhere on the island of Mallorca. The background is far from finished – this is just a sketch of where the finished scenery will be set, but it provides enough structure, allowing me to build the details of the painting on top of it, layer by layer.

The background is loosely based on Torrent de Pareis, a beach in Northern Mallorca which provides stunning natural scenery but which, for the purposes of my painting, provides the right balance of solitary surrealism to cast the perfect backdrop to my self-analysing piece.

The Torrent de Pareis in reality

And its crystal clear waters

Since the painting will be a take on my story, it’s only appropriate that I should set it in the Mediterranean and on Spanish soil since Spain has, for most of my life, proved to be a consistent inspiration in my art and in my aspirations for life. While I have spent the majority of my time in Andalucia, my trip to the island of Mallorca this time last year inspired me more than any other. Expecting an island full of package holiday tourists and English menus, I was surprised, if not stunned by the incredible coastal scenery to be found around the island (once we fled from the ugly shadows cast by Magaluf and other tourist dystopias). The waters are such an incredible shade of blue, and the rocky covey beaches so idyllic and colourful, that seeing is believing. I accordingly enclose just a few of the shots I took of Mallorca’s incredible coastal scenery last summer – the colours alone are an art form in themselves. I just hope that my painting does Mallorca justice, even as just a background to a far deeper work.

See you for the next instalment of my painting diary.

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

The Daily Sketch: Nun Norms visit the Sacré Coeur

Back to Paris, where the Norms continue to pass the time between Olympic and Paralympic excitement by visiting the fair city at the political and cultural centre of France. But today, we do not join the typical kind of tourists. Rather, here at the stunning Sacré Coeur atop Paris’ Butte de Montmartre, two groups of Norm Nuns have come to visit their fellow Nuns who reside at one of Paris’ most iconic sacred spots. One group, from the Convent of Sister Norma in Sittingbourne (in the ordinary black habits) are not sure what is more fascinating – the Sacré Coeur and its unbeatable views of Paris below, or the strange pointy Cornette habits of their fellow nuns, visiting form El Convento de Maria Norma de Nova in Castille y Leon. Whatever their interest, all the Nun Norms are assured a happy day out in Montmartre, Paris’ crowning glory.

Nun Norms visit the Sacré Coeur, Paris (2012 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Sunday Supplement – Cityscape I: London

London is the word on everyone’s lips right now. Yes, the olympic games are over, but the paralympics will start in just under a week, and the buzz around them continues to grow. For the influx of visitors descending upon our currently hot and humid jam-packed olympian city, the river will be a highlight of their sightseeing tour, the huge central artery which snakes through the crowded metropolis, marking the physical divide between the characteristically different North and South, providing grand vistas aplenty from the many elegant wide bridges, and, on the South Bank, playing host to the rejuvenated cultural heartbeat of the city.  On the river too stand some of London’s most prominent sights: the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, the London Assembly Building, the London Eye, and this one: The iconic Houses of Parliament.

What the Eiffel Tower is to Paris, Big Ben is to London. Strangely enough, Big Ben is the bell in the tower rather than the tower itself, but it’s this high-gothic, grand and decadent campanile which gets the tourists excited and marks the beginning of each new year with such ceremony and aplomb, surrounded by fireworks, the iconic spectacle marking the passage of every significant moment in the city’s history. The view of Big Ben and the House of Parliament to its side have understandably inspired photographers and artists throughout the ages. Monet was fascinated by the effect of light in the dense fog surrounding the looming silhouette of Parliament, while Turner painted the fiery ravage of Parliament’s predecessor repeatedly.

This is my take on Parliament. It’s part of my cityscape collection, a small group of city views which I painted back in 2007 when I was trying to get the hang of oil paints after a long period of painting in acrylics. So it’s more of a study piece really, but still one of my favourite pieces of London.

Oh, and if you like it and fancy my painting hanging in your home, you can get limited edition prints of the work on my main website here.

Cityscape I: London (2012 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, oil on canvas)

Have a great Sunday.

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.