This page has found a new home

Leaf of the Day: Quince

Blogger 301 Redirect Plugin /* Header ----------------------------------------------- */ @media all { #header { width:660px; margin:0 auto 10px; border:1px solid #ccc; } } @media handheld { #header { width:90%; } } #blog-title { margin:5px 5px 0; padding:20px 20px .25em; border:1px solid #eee; border-width:1px 1px 0; font-size:200%; line-height:1.2em; font-weight:normal; color:#666; text-transform:uppercase; letter-spacing:.2em; } #blog-title a { color:#666; text-decoration:none; } #blog-title a:hover { color:#c60; } #description { margin:0 5px 5px; padding:0 20px 20px; border:1px solid #eee; border-width:0 1px 1px; max-width:700px; font:78%/1.4em "Trebuchet MS",Trebuchet,Arial,Verdana,Sans-serif; text-transform:uppercase; letter-spacing:.2em; color:#999; } /* Content ----------------------------------------------- */ @media all { #content { width:660px; margin:0 auto; padding:0; text-align:left; } #main { width:410px; float:left; } #sidebar { width:220px; float:right; } } @media handheld { #content { width:90%; } #main { width:100%; float:none; } #sidebar { width:100%; float:none; } } /* Headings ----------------------------------------------- */ h2 { margin:1.5em 0 .75em; font:78%/1.4em "Trebuchet MS",Trebuchet,Arial,Verdana,Sans-serif; text-transform:uppercase; letter-spacing:.2em; color:#999; } /* Posts ----------------------------------------------- */ @media all { .date-header { margin:1.5em 0 .5em; } .post { margin:.5em 0 1.5em; border-bottom:1px dotted #ccc; padding-bottom:1.5em; } } @media handheld { .date-header { padding:0 1.5em 0 1.5em; } .post { padding:0 1.5em 0 1.5em; } } .post-title { margin:.25em 0 0; padding:0 0 4px; font-size:140%; font-weight:normal; line-height:1.4em; color:#c60; } .post-title a, .post-title a:visited, .post-title strong { display:block; text-decoration:none; color:#c60; font-weight:normal; } .post-title strong, .post-title a:hover { color:#333; } .post div { margin:0 0 .75em; line-height:1.6em; } p.post-footer { margin:-.25em 0 0; color:#ccc; } .post-footer em, .comment-link { font:78%/1.4em "Trebuchet MS",Trebuchet,Arial,Verdana,Sans-serif; text-transform:uppercase; letter-spacing:.1em; } .post-footer em { font-style:normal; color:#999; margin-right:.6em; } .comment-link { margin-left:.6em; } .post img { padding:4px; border:1px solid #ddd; } .post blockquote { margin:1em 20px; } .post blockquote p { margin:.75em 0; } /* Comments ----------------------------------------------- */ #comments h4 { margin:1em 0; font:bold 78%/1.6em "Trebuchet MS",Trebuchet,Arial,Verdana,Sans-serif; text-transform:uppercase; letter-spacing:.2em; color:#999; } #comments h4 strong { font-size:130%; } #comments-block { margin:1em 0 1.5em; line-height:1.6em; } #comments-block dt { margin:.5em 0; } #comments-block dd { margin:.25em 0 0; } #comments-block dd.comment-timestamp { margin:-.25em 0 2em; font:78%/1.4em "Trebuchet MS",Trebuchet,Arial,Verdana,Sans-serif; text-transform:uppercase; letter-spacing:.1em; } #comments-block dd p { margin:0 0 .75em; } .deleted-comment { font-style:italic; color:gray; } /* Sidebar Content ----------------------------------------------- */ #sidebar ul { margin:0 0 1.5em; padding:0 0 1.5em; border-bottom:1px dotted #ccc; list-style:none; } #sidebar li { margin:0; padding:0 0 .25em 15px; text-indent:-15px; line-height:1.5em; } #sidebar p { color:#666; line-height:1.5em; } /* Profile ----------------------------------------------- */ #profile-container { margin:0 0 1.5em; border-bottom:1px dotted #ccc; padding-bottom:1.5em; } .profile-datablock { margin:.5em 0 .5em; } .profile-img { display:inline; } .profile-img img { float:left; padding:4px; border:1px solid #ddd; margin:0 8px 3px 0; } .profile-data { margin:0; font:bold 78%/1.6em "Trebuchet MS",Trebuchet,Arial,Verdana,Sans-serif; text-transform:uppercase; letter-spacing:.1em; } .profile-data strong { display:none; } .profile-textblock { margin:0 0 .5em; } .profile-link { margin:0; font:78%/1.4em "Trebuchet MS",Trebuchet,Arial,Verdana,Sans-serif; text-transform:uppercase; letter-spacing:.1em; } /* Footer ----------------------------------------------- */ #footer { width:660px; clear:both; margin:0 auto; } #footer hr { display:none; } #footer p { margin:0; padding-top:15px; font:78%/1.6em "Trebuchet MS",Trebuchet,Verdana,Sans-serif; text-transform:uppercase; letter-spacing:.1em; } /* Feeds ----------------------------------------------- */ #blogfeeds { } #postfeeds { }

Tuesday 2 December 2008

Leaf of the Day: Quince

It has not been the best start to December as today my wonderful little Sony Vaio laptop died. It has been everywhere with me, surviving my very cavalier treatment of all things mechanical, back packing in some very bizarre tropical locations and many many airline trips. It was early in the morning when it refused to reboot and after a moment of feeling bereft and forlorn I suddenly felt liberated.. no email, no research, no radio, no blog, no skype, freeeeeedom!

So what did I do? I went out, looked around at the world and remembered the time I refer to fondly as BC (before computers). I am not sure it was better but some aspects of life were less pressured. Perhaps though, it tied people down to one place more, I certainly would not have moved abroad willingly and sold my 1500 books if the Internet had not existed and now freelancers had the option of working from many different parts of the world with much greater ease.
However Chris has got me a stand-in now, so after the small delightful hiccough I am back to my task master blog.

My liberation only went as far as the computer and it was not really enough of an excuse to stop drawing. This week I have to get the next submission piece done for the course,so this weeks posts may be boring, short and repetitive. The deadline has come so quickly and I still haven't decided which fruit to paint as a "finished" piece and it has to be in the post next Monday. Am I enjoying the course? In parts I am and I need deadlines to stop myself sliding into indolence and sloth so for that alone I will continue. I am not sure how much I am learning but that is something hard to evaluate, probably until the end of the course.

So today I drew a quince. Cydonia oblonga,
It's a large rather ungainly looking fruit with definite shoulders. There is much to say about the quince. The magical fruit that turns red when cooked. An ancient fruit whose use has been recorded in Roman cookery books and whose cultivation may predate apples.



A favourite still life by Juan Sanchez Cotan the Spanish priest and painter "Still Life with Quince, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber" 1602. This style of hanging fruit to make pleasing compositions has been much copied since but aside from aesthetic composition, the very practical reason for hanging fruit in the 17th century was in order to keep it fresh. It is a very beautiful contemplative painting.

We ate the delicious dulce de membrillo with manchego cheese in Spain, but my only experience of it the UK, apart from growing the pretty Chinese japonica, Chaenomeles japonica, was from the much loved "Owl and the Pussycat"


Lear's lovley little sketch.

They dined on mince and slices of quince
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand on the edge of the sand
They danced by the light of the moon. "


Dining on the unknown quince sounded so exotic and was much more a source of wonder to me than the runcible spoon. But was the quince cooked? The variety I have here would have to be cooked. Lear in his extensive Mediterranean travels would have certainly come across quince and he also went to the Middle East where there is a variety which is eaten raw, or perhaps the Owl and the Pussycat had slices of the Spanish membrillo with their honey?
There is so much more to write about the quince and no time left.
_________________________________________________________

Quince




Labels: , ,

3 Comments:

Blogger Helen/patientgardener said...

I'm just trying to get my head around changing my broadband supplier let alone trying to sort out a new PC

2 December 2008 at 20:27  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ok, well, at least the Quince looks awesome..that is a good thing.

3 December 2008 at 08:14  
Blogger sharp green pencil said...

The computer is such a pain!..and very distracting it is frightening how much we depend on them...I have the radio on while I work and cant seem to concentrate without it.
Just cooked the quince last night.. delicious with pork.

5 December 2008 at 12:49  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home