I
was talking a day or so ago about odd forenames derived from wine
grapes. And there's also been a bit of talk about harsh economic
times. Well, I saw a cartoon today which managed - would you believe
- to bring these together. A young lad of about 12 is looking up at
his 18 year-old sister and asking - "Chardonnay. Were you born
in a 'boom' time and me in a recession?" To which she answers
- "What makes you think that, Plonk."
Anyway,
something else I read today finally answered a query I've long had on
my lips - What the hell is a cupcake? Turns out it's the American
version - larger, naturally - of the British fairy cake. Or, as it
says somewhere - A
cupcake (also fairy cake) is a small cake designed to serve one
person, frequently baked in a small, thin paper or aluminium cup. As
with larger cakes, decorations
are
common on cupcakes. . . . The name "fairy cake" is a
fanciful description of its size, which would be appropriate for a
party of diminutive fairies to share. English fairy cakes are
traditionally smaller and are rarely topped with elaborate icing.
I'm not sure I'd go along with all of this; my mother's were nearly
always iced, albeit not fancifully. Ours was a Catholic-Calvinist
family. Or maybe just poor. Here's a mouthwatering recipe. Which,
BTW, used to be 'receipt' in English.
Still
on cake . . . If you're going to the UK this summer, be prepared to
see the national flag (the Union Jack) everywhere. Even in the middle
of your sandwich cake. The reason is, of course, not the London
Olympics but the Silver Jubilee (60th) of Liz's accession to the
throne and she is wildly popular right now. Brits can get very
nostalgic and, even if no one (contrary to Moscow's perception) talks
about the Empire, there's still the Commonwealth. So admired around
the world it has a waiting list of countries that were never even in
the Empire. Damn! I've mentioned the Empire. Ah, well.
But,
briefly, back to wine - Here's an article on the white Godello grape
used in Galicia (and bits of other Spanish regions) to produce a
white wine that's a nice alternative (as with Ribeiro wines) to the
ubiquitous and over-priced Albariño. Some see it as “Spain’s
emerging hope as an equivalent to the great white Burgundies.”
Others aren’t so sure. Try for yourselves. It shouldn't be
expensive.
Musing
about the Bankía saga this evening - in particular about how a
decent profit turned overnight into a humungous loss - the question
occurred to me - Is the difference between British and Spanish
politicians that, whereas the former go in for maximum obfuscation of
the truth, the latter prefer to just lie? Ever more brazenly until
the lies catch up with them. Or is it, perhaps, that the British
politicians deal more in half-truths, knowing that (as my old law
lecturer stressed) these are often more deceptive than complete lies?
I think because the listener creates his own untruths on the base of
the half-truth. If you see what I mean.
One
Spanish politician who'd be well advised to eschew both lies and
half-truths is Ms. Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, Spain’s deputy prime minister. She has flown
to Washington today for talks with Christine Lagarde, head of the
International Monetary Fund, and Tim Geithner, the US Treasury
Secretary. As the Spanish whirlwind rages around their heads,
it's sobering to reflect that Ms. S S de S had never held down a
(real) job before her appointment. Though she might have done a bit
of lawyering before entering politics. At 40 and with no appropriate
education, one wonders how she will fare against the truly daunting
Ms Lagarde. 'Tying', 'into' and 'knots' are words that spring to
mind.
As
for the Spanish economy and national solvency, things get worse by
the hour and Spanish politicians have yet to display much evidence
they know what's happening and how to stop it. Given how
important Spain's survival is to the EU project, I wouldn't be at all
surprised if the Rajoy government soon finds itself being 'shadowed'
by North European technocrats. As the British government was by IMF
folk after the '76 devaluation of the pound. Things are certainly
that serious.
Meanwhile,
one Spanish politico has said “We are a highly leveraged nation.
What we need is a Europe-wide solution.” Or 'solidarity', as the
Spanish government usually calls it when it has the begging bowl out.
And the head of the ECB, Mr
Draghi, has put his name behind the calls for "euro-wide bank
monitoring" amid mounting support for a “banking union”. It
all sounds positive but does anyone really know WTF they are talking
about?
Meanwhile,
money moves and talks. And the handcart is picking up pace all the
time, as Hell draws closer and closer. Stoke up the fires! We have
some sinners for you. As well as an awful lot of innocents. An awful
lot.