Beyond The Frame: Semana Santa

Antigua's Semana Santa- Image Copyright Tewfic El-Sawy
In an early anticipation of Easter, this week's Beyond The Frame deals with the colorful and immensely significant Semana Santa in the lovely town of Antigua, a couple of hours from Guatemala City. The Semana Santa in Antigua is considered by many as the most beautiful religious celebration in the Americas, and the largest Holy Week observance in the Western Hemisphere. Beginning on Palm Sunday and continuing through Easter Sunday, it is best known for its colorful religious processions.

I recall the tremendous fervor expressed by the Guatemalans who participate in the processions and its preparations, creating an extraordinary outpouring of Christian faith and devotion. I found it quite easy to photograph in Antigua during the Semana Santa, as there are ample accommodations, the routes of the processions are planned in advance and no one minds photographers. Just be aware that pickpockets prefer to operate in crowds!

The processions in Antigua feature feature huge platforms, called andas, on which religious statues are mounted. The first platform, holding a figure of Christ with a cross, is carried by 60 to 100 men, called cucuruchos, dressed in purple biblical clothing. This is followed by a platform with the Virgin Mary, borne by women wearing black mourning.

Hundreds of parishioners will work overnight to create carpets, called alfombras, that display detailed pictorial and geometric designs made of flower petals, pine needles, dyed sawdust and colored sand.These will run for several blocks long in front of a church or along a procession route. In addition, people who live along a route create their own alfombras on the street in front of their homes. Antigua’s best processions take place on Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday and Good Friday.

Oh, and the best capuccino I've ever had was in Antigua. Sadly, I forgot the name of the place, but it's there!


The Cafetiere Dilemma

I own a couple of cafetieres - a large one to use for after dinner and a one cup cafetiere.
The large cafetiere is called a 'Smart Cafe' and was designed by Sebastian Conran. The only difference between this and the usual cafetiere is you fill a 'capture pod' with ground coffee and then you place this inside the cafetiere. After you have finished your coffee you then withdraw the plunger, unclip the pod and tap out the used grounds, straight into a bin. Unfortunately, this is quite a messy task.
I am not sure why, but I have to say this cafetiere does make a really good cup of coffee.
The small cafetiere works in the usual way, where you put the ground coffee straight into the inner jug and obviously, have to pour the used coffee into the sink and rinse away.
I think we are still waiting for the 'no mess' cafetiere to be invented!

MINI GINGERBREADS

The photograph in the book from the people at Delicious Magazine looked so pretty I just had to make these. I am always looking for opportunities to use my small loaf tins, and this recipe didn't disappoint.

5 OF THE BEST BY VALLI LITTLE



ISBN 9781844004454 - PAGE 247

Makes: 6 - 10 mini loaves.

Skill Level: Easy

Taste Test: The sponge was soft textured and the lemon in the icing along with the ginger, complimented each other perfectly.

The recipe says this will make 6 small loaves but I found it made 10 and my loaf tins were the same size as specified in the recipe.

I found it best to leave these cakes until the next day to eat, they will then become sticky and the sponge becomes moist. If you eat them straight away they are a little dry.

The amount of icing specified coated the 10 little loaves.

Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3. Grease and line the base of the 185ml mini loaf tins.

1.Take 200g unsalted butter, 160g dark brown sugar, 60ml golden syrup and melt them over a low heat. Cool for 10 minutes.

2.Whisk 2 eggs and 165ml milk in a bowl to combine, then stir into the cooled sugar mixture.

3.Put 300g sifted self-raising flour, 2 tsp ground ginger and a pinch of salt in a separate large bowl. Beat in the egg mixture and 1 tablespoon of chopped crystallized ginger.

4.Divide among the loaf tins, place them on a baking sheet, bake for 35-40 minutes or until cooked. Cool slightly in the pans, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

For the icing, stir 150g sifted icing sugar and 2 teaspoons of lemon juice until smooth, adding a little more juice or water if needed. Drizzle the icing over the cakes. Decorate with the 3 tablespoons of chopped ginger.

Store in an airtight container. Can be served warm by heating in a microwave for a few seconds.

Kitchen Equipment Used: Mini loaf tins.

Kumbh Mela: An Indian Odyssey

From The Sadhus of the Kumbh Mela-Copyright 2001 Tewfic El-Sawy
I've posted photographs and galleries from the Kumbh Mela on TTP a few times already, but it's such an outstanding venue that I decided to add another. A new multimedia feature from Time magazine is of the Kumbh Mela, which took place in Allahabad over the past two months. The photographs are black & white, which is a welcome departure from the rest of the images I've seen of this spectacular 'not-to-be-missed' religious event. The photographer is Prashant Panjiar, who has done a great job capturing the atmosphere of the Kumbh. I noticed that nothing changed since I attended this phenomenal gathering of humanity in 2001.

Prashant also narrates the piece very well, which adds a welcome dimension to his work. On the negative side, I personally didn't care much for Rohan Panjar's music that accompanies the feature. The title of the feature chosen by Time is corny, and they should've done better. However, Prashant's photographs are superb and he obviously had excellent access to wherever he chose to photograph.

I've illustrated this post with one of my own photographs of the naked sadhus, or nagas. For those who are interested, I refer you to G.S. Ghurye’s comprehensive book, Indian Sadhus, in which the naked nagas are described as remnants of private armies that temple establishments maintained in India for centuries for protection and privacy. Naked warriors bore arms, were trained in the art of warfare and cleared the way for pandits and mandaleswars during their travels. India’s nude ascetic warriors were supposed to gain their strength and ability for battle from their of life and their long penance in the mountains. With the coming of the British, the naked ascetics warriors were outlawed and became marginalised freaks. But until today, most akharas (sadhus' ashrams) have a lance (or a trident?) planted in the ground in front of their gates that remind passerbys of their warlike ancestry.

An Indian Odyssey

Sigma DP1

I'm on the lookout for a small backup camera, which must also be well suited for street photography. So I was interested in the Sigma announcement (in time for the PMA) of the new DP1 high end point and shoot digital camera equipped with 14 megapixel (2652x1768x3 layers) large size direct image Foveon sensor (APS-C). Its press release says that the DP1's silicon embedded layers of photo sensors take advantage of silicon’s ability to absorb red, green and blue light at different respective depths. This camera incorporates both RAW and JPEG image recording formats "enabling photographers to capture the highest possible picture definition and smaller file sizes."

It certainly sounds interesting, however the DP1 comes with a fixed f 4.0 28mm lens. Two problems right there: for this camera to be truly a running success, it needs a wider aperture...2.8 would be useful, and 2.0 would be wonderful. I expect that a wider aperture lens would have made it heavier and bulkier, but hope springs eternal. I don't mind the lens being fixed, but it would've been so much better if its lens was a 20mm or 24mm instead. These issues were raised to Sigma, and the answers can be found on the link. I will wait for the hands-on tech reviews, but I'm hopeful that the hands-on results of this camera will trump the theoretical expectations.

No word about the price yet...nor when the DP1 will be available.

Sigma DP1