This small book, (6,5 by 5,5 not precisely applying the golden ratio....) aims to bring together some of Shakespeare thoughts on food with some related (sometimes rather distantly related) recipes.

Many of the quotations will be familiar, but there may be some surprises too. For instance, in which Shakespeare's play a character asks fot potatoes to rain down on him and was afraid if being turned into a piece of cheese?

There go two quotations and two recipes. Hope you enjoy both.
"Here, love, thou seest how diligent I am, to dress thy meat myself, and bring it thee." (The taming of the Shrew, 4 iii)

Dressed Rolled Beef
8 thin slices of beef
1 plump garllic clove
1 onion
1 celery stick and leaves
parsley
a pinch of salt and pepper

Finely chop the onion, garlic, celery and parsley.
Spread over the beef slices and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Roll up the meat with the seasoning on the inside, and tie it together with white cotton.
Fry well until brown. Untie cotton.
Delicious cooked in a tomato sauce for pasta, then served after pasta with potatoes and peas.

And for those of you with a sweet tooth...

"They cannot be too sweet for the King's tartness!" (All's well that's ends well, 4 iii)

Marmalade Tarts
200g butter
200g cream cheese
112g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Thick–cut marmalade

Mix the ingredients thoroughly (except the marmalade) and leave in the freezer overnight.
Roll the dough out thin and cut into small squares.
Put ½ teaspoon of thick-cut marmalade on one half, and fold the other half over. Seal the edges thoroughly.
Bake on a baking sheet in a hot oven (200ºC or 400ºF) for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Yummy, yummy!!

Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare

"My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun..."

I have read this sonnet many, many years ago in a very old book about Elizabethan Literature. I couldn't find the book at home, but thanks to Google I can share this poem with you.

It is a bit different from the ones we read today in class. It is not dedicated to a beautiful girl as it is usually done by poets. Does it have only one interpretation or does it have an open one?

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun,

Coral is far more red, than her lips red,
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun:
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head:

I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks,
And in some perfumes is there more delight,
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know,
That music hath a far more pleasing sound:
I grant I never saw a goddess go,

My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
And yet by heaven I think my love as rare,
As any she belied with false compare.

CERTAMEN RAMON PORTILLO

FIRST PRIZE
Eduardo Millan - Bodegón de la copa de vino















SECOND PRICE Silvia Martín - Colón II












SPECIAL AWARDS
Javier Arteta - Rocas

















Marta Aguirre - Soledad Sonora

Francisco Carrillo - Sobreblanco

















José Ramón - Sin Titulo
At the exhibition, this was the painting described by Amor:

At first sight it can appear disgusting because all this blood on her mouth and you can think of a fighter of wrestling or even a teenager coming out from a horror movie but if you look at the painting from another perspective you can see that it is really meaningful and shows more than physical pain.

After your attention has been grasped for the red stain, your eyes move towards the penetrating blue eyes and if you look at them in detail you can see tears coming out from them and they invite you to look deep inside.

The strokes are made with strength, showing fury, impotence and pain.

In sum, all this mix of penetrating colours, firm strokes, shades, lights and shapes talk by themselves and I think that the picture itself is a censure and a denial to gender violence.