Avid readers of this blog will know that I am a great fan of Monet. Monet is one of the most celebrated Impressionist Masters. My favourite piece by him is Train at Saint Lazare, but this blog post will focus on Boat Lying at Low Tide, a piece Monet completed in 1881. See it below.
There is so much about this which impresses me. Firstly the scale of the thing is massive. It encompasses so much from the workers on the shore to the majestic ship itself, to the row of houses behind. All together the scope and amount of aspects depicted in this painting is immediately impressive. Looking more deeply, then, at the ship: the first thing which always impresses me with ship paintings is the depiction of the various ropes around the sails.
This rope detail was particularly well done by van de Velde II in The English Ship, Hampton Court in a Gale, which I had the pleasure of seeing again at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery before the Brave New Lockdown (‘with dead people in it’). Once you have appreciated/ recoiled at my bowdlerisation of Shakespeare, observed the aforementioned work below:
Going back to Monet, another detail I harp on about in his paintings are the visible brushstrokes. See how the people milling about are quite distinctive but also made up of only a few strokes, as it were. The sky and cloud detail too are gorgeous. The houses in the background provide perspective and scope, they are colourful which is a great contrast to the ship itself. Finally the curvature of the ship itself is shown beautifully.
Overall, this is a lovely painting which brightened my day when I saw it. I hope it will do the same for you.
The Sandpiper Inn is a 17th century pub with a cosy interior in the heart of Leyburn. Leyburn is a village which is itself in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales, where I spent some time a few months ago. Alas I have only just gotten round to writing up a review of the Daleightful experience, pardon the pun, and am not aware of the current state of the ever-oscillating COVID restrictions at the time of the publication of this review. Rest assured dear reader, I attended when it was acceptable to do so.
Now that the outrageous floundering is out of the way, I can talk about the delightful meal which we experienced. This was my favourite meal which was not the one I ordered. the Sandpiper Burger was just superb. It had a beef steak burger, streaky bacon and smoked cheddar as well as delightfully crunchy bacon. I am unsure whether the beef was local and fed on Wensleydale grass only but it had quite a unique flavour. The texture was quite novel and smokier than what I was used to. The bun itself was a sensation and held the burger together wonderfully, which is always a good sign in a burger. Overall excellent.
M’colleague had the pan fried sea bream on linguine. Sea Bream is considered to be the tastiest of all fish. Its flavour is both clean and meat like. Regular readers of this blog will know that I detest fish and what with social distancing I did not get close enough to M’colleague to sample his dish. Suffice to say by the state of paralysis he found himself in after lunch, one can surmise the dish was a success.
My dish was a true showstopper. Lemon scented Nidderdale chicken breast on a chorizo, sweetcorn, piquillo pepper and basil mint risotto. This was explosively flavoursome. The sweet and spicy flavour of the chorizo blended beautifully with the savoury rice and parmesan. It is almost a shame the menu is changed every day because I would rather like to have this dish again next time I visit.
Overall the Sandpiper Inn is a distinguished restaurant in the heart of the Dales which offers a delightful and economic fare ahead of any cheese infused afternoon adventures. It is highly recommended.
Tisane’s Tea Rooms are very much typical of the Broadway ideal – charming, traditional and quintessentially English. It sits on Lower High Street, metres away from the town Green, which I found to be the greatest attraction of the town. After a largely adequate lunch up the road at the Horse and Hound, we decided to have dessert at a different venue. Tisane’s was on the original itinerary for lunch but we ended up going there for scones.
And what scones! These were superbly soft, airy and light scones. Interestingly, scones were thought to have originated in Scotland and were originally round and flat instead of the modern bulky round modern shape. These fruit scones were a lot smaller than they look in the photograph. I so enjoyed them with the clotted cream and strawberry jam on offer.
Another highlight of this tea room is the excellent variety of hot beverages. They have 40 loose leaf teas on offer. These include Assam, Ceylon, Earl Grey English Breakfast, Lapsang Souchong, Rwanda Burundi and Spiced Chai Yunnan. I have tried Lapsang Souchong tea once after watching The Mentalist and found it to be almost as revolting as some of the acts of Red John, the serial murderer in the series. I had a pot of English Breakfast as I am not terribly adventurous when it comes to trying new teas. Excellent, as expected.
Overall, while I cannot write a comprehensive review of everything the Tea Rooms had to offer, I was left with an excellent first impression and will endeavour to return as soon as I can face the climb to Broadway Tower again. Tisane’s is highly recommended. And it is cheap at the price(as opposed to anything else), to boot.
Van Halen’s debut has been hailed by some critics as a greatest hits compilation, which is an impressive compliment given it was their initial release. This is likely one of the best debut albums ever released. It would be remiss of me not to mention the titan of Rock and pioneering guitarist of the band, Eddie Van Halen, sadly passed away this month. Find an excellent obituary by the New York Times here. Needless to say I listened to the majority of the Van Halen catalogue, before and after Diamond Dave. I believe earnestly that this is album is their finest and while I have heard albums which are technically superior and closer to my core comfort zone musically this month, Van Halen’s debut takes the biscuit for most fun.
These songs were never vehicles for Van Halen’s playing; they were true blue, bone-crunching rockers, not just great riffs but full-fledged anthems, like Jamie’s Cryin’, Atomic Punk, and Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love, songs that changed rock & roll and still are monolithic slabs of rock to this day. They still sound vital, surprising, and ultimately fun – and really revolutionary, because no other band rocked like this before Van Halen, and it’s still a giddy thrill to hear them discover a new way to rock on this stellar, seminal debut – AllMusic
The opening number of the album, Running With the Devil, sees all four musicians (Eddie and Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony and Dave Lee Roth) on exquisite form. The central riff is infernally catchy and Dave’s vocals are stellar, as usual. It is a little known fact that Eddie Van Halen received patents for three guitar devices he designed. Below is a photograph of a patent design he sent off in 1985 to facilitate hands free playing of the guitar.
You Really Got Me is a spectacular cover of the 1964 hit by the Kinks. The bass line in this track is spectacular and highly memorable. The transition from the previous track, Eruption, is also something to be lauded most highly. They’ve given a unique fresh take on a classic track and I am absolutely thrilled by it.
Jamie’s Crying is my favourite track on the album. Dave Lee Roth is such a star to me. I’ve been a fan of his solo works for years and often play Eat ‘Em and Smile on vinyl. This is the band at their apex, that riff is exceptional. The bridge is delightful and the denoument’s guitar work is a wonderful variation on the central motif of this track.
Little Dreamer is the final standout for me on this album. It is characterised by another immensely catchy central riff. Van Halen’s guitar work is exemplary. The persistent bass is almost hypnotic. The guitar solo is so wonderfully emotive. This is another insistent catchy piece of rock and roll to which one could dance at any moment.
My five takeaways from Van Halen’s debut are as follows:
The album is a true blue piece of USA pop history and perfectly describes where US rock was in 1978
Eddie Van Halen’s guitar work, especially at the start of track 2, is novel, impeccable and deeply impressive
This is a truly original piece of pop
The songs are simple, to the point and effective
Perhaps this is a version of point one, but I want to reiterate this is a piece of rock history
I hope you enjoy this wonderful piece of pop which has brought me so much joy this month.
Inspired in part by Eugène Delacroix, one of the founders of the French Romantic school, Frédéric Bazille (1841-1870) was a French Impressionist painter. He originally studied medicine and indeed completed his studies. However, he never practiced medicine, choosing painting instead. He was close friends with Monet, Sisley and Manet. I will today speak about three paintings of his which I enjoy, starting with The Little Gardener.
The Little Gardener
This is an oil on canvas landscape painting. This is a lovely, serene isolated scene. The pink Rhododendron or peony tree in the background echoes the main piece in today’s review, below. The pine tree is magnificent in the background. The landscaped garden itself is quote stunningly arranged. The young man to the left is tending to the garden with care. The shading on his trousers is done very well. I so enjoy seeing individual brush stroked as well. All together this is just a delightful piece.
Young Woman with Peonies 1870
This wonderful painting was produced in 1870, a few months before the outbreak of the Franco Prussian war, where Bazille would die. It was in a way a tribute to Manet, who would grow peonies in his garden. I love this painting. The colours are so vivid, the shading is exemplary throughout, especially on the young woman’s face. The panoply of colours is excellently presented. I also very much enjoy the almost scornful look on the young woman’s face. Her eyes seem to be telling us off for interrupting her at work. Hands are notoriously difficult to render and I think Bazille has done an excellent job here. See also the wonderfully rendered fabric of her frock. Overall, this is a very skilfully depicted scene.
One of Bazille’s more famous pieces, La Toilette (meaning one’s washing ritual in French, as well as the more obvious direct translation of a toilet itself) depicts a scene of three women washing. Bazille’s doctoral background are on show here. Notice the large goitre on the neck of the woman in the right of the picture. This was the result of a thyroid disease common in the late 19th century. The shading and lighting of this woman’s silk dress are wonderfully rendered. Central to the painting is French model Lise Tréhot. Tréhot was the main muse of Renoir between 1866 and 1872. She appears in most of his works depicting females. In this painting, Tréhot is being tended to and looks very comfortable on the large fur throw upon which she is seated. Her maid is painted quite beautifully. Again, I must highlight the lighting and shade depictions as being really quite remarkable. Interestingly, this painting, unfinished, can be seen on the wall in the centre ground of Bazille’s studio in his 1870 painting Studio in Rue de La Condamine.
“La toillete” oil on canvas was finished in 1870 just before Bazille’s death (Fig. 1). It presents a French art model Lise Trehot, but for us more interesting is a mysterious woman on the right side. We see clearly large, smooth goiter. No eye signs, but slim woman’s stature does not help with differentiation between simple goiter and Graves’ disease. Historically, goiter seems to be “older” disease (i.e., paintings of Flemish or Italian Renaissance painters) but this question will be unanswered – La Toilette”. When a doctor becomes a painter: Frederic Bazille
The studio of the artist in Paris, rue de La Condamine; Astruc or Monet at the easel; Manet and Bazille; Edmond Maitre at the piano.
Overall I have been most impressed by Bazille’s works and may indeed be reviewing more of them in more detail in the coming weeks. I hope you, too, have enjoyed these four paintings.
If you happen to be in Broadway, chances are you are en route to, or have just come back from, Broadway Tower. Either way, a wonderful stop you may consider is The Horse and Hounds pub. This was not the world’s greatest restaurant however, it was a good pub grub and had an excellent selection of alcoholic beverages. In addition, it was far enough away from central Broadway to avoid the thrall of eager tourists and enjoy some relative peace. We ate in the back garden on one of the last days of summer, which was quite wonderful as you can imagine.
Our first foray into rural Worcester pub grub was the meat sharing platter. You may be unsurprised that this arrived at our table with relative speed. I suspect this is because the majority of what you see came out of a slim plastic packet from Tesco. I may be wrong, mind, but this was far from the locally sourced meat feast I was expecting. Additionally there was far too much balsamic vinegar mixed with the olive oil. I was left with gloop on my bread!
I, in a rare concession to my worst judgment, ordered the beef burger. Large scale beef production has an absolutely appalling impact on the environment hence I have cut it out of my diet except for on very few occasions a year. This beef burger was okay, I enjoyed the cheese and bacon combination. The bread was lovely and soft. The texture of the beef itself was a bit jarring but perhaps that is because I so seldom eat it these days. The chips on my plate were outstanding, however. Perfectly cooked and salted.
The onion rings were not half bad either. They are too curiously uniform to have been made at home that day. I suspect they are from a frozen bag of some kind. But again this is pub grub and it was not at all expensive.
I am posting the above as a public service announcement to those of you considering ordering the pizza. As with most pub pizzas, the dough is not home made and is in fact, somewhat reminiscent of a fresh digestive biscuit. This shocking betrayal of culinary standards aside, pubs always seem to get the topping right on pizzas like this. The cheese is plentiful and the tomato is often fresh. I did not expect them to put a slice of tomato on the pizza itself, but then again, this is England, and people do not know what they are doing.
One of the more successful dishes in the repertoire of this pub was the vegetable lasagna. This was a deceptively large helping and steeped in about one inch of cheese, as you can see. This was my favourite meal of the whole lunch. This had layers and flavours without committing the cardinal sin of resorting to beef. Phil was extremely full after this and could barely handle the dessert we ordered form the next restaurant we attended that afternoon. More on this in a separate post.
Finally, the infamous scampi. One of my colleagues scanned the menu ahead of ordering, declared aloud that she did not like scampi, then proceeded to order the scampi. Lo and behold, by a shocking turn of events, she did not enjoy the scampi. This came as no surprise to this reviewer, who predicted the sequel of the onion rings: ‘The Freezer Strikes Again’. I did not think to sample the scampi. I could not take any more heartbreak.
Overall, the food in the pub was a solid meh. The drinks were lovely, they even had Heineken Zero for my tee total colleague. My Orchard Pigs cider was lovely, this, with Orchard Thieves, form my two favourite ciders of the summer. The atmosphere of The Horse and Hounds is lovely, the building itself is gorgeous and the location is stunning. This is the place to go if you do not want to spend too much, have a sort of decent meal and be as far away as possible from sodding tourists.
