CUCURBITAS MORE ALEXANDRINO (Alexandrine Squash)

(Apic. 3, 4, 3) Ingredients:

• 1 gourd (or courgette, small pumpkin or squash)
• peppercorns
• cumin
• coriander seeds
• 3 - 4 mint leaves, shredded
• 1 garlic
• 3 tbsp vinegar
• 50 g dates, finely chopped
• 50 g blanched almonds, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp clear honey
• 60 ml Liquamen (or, in this case, vegetable stock)
• 4 tbsp Defritum (or Wine or Grape Juice reduced by two thirds)
• 20 ml olive oil (or 25g butter)
• Sea salt to taste

Instructions:
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Cut the gourd, courgette or squash into chunks. Place these into a steamer and cook until done. Place the cooked flesh into a muslin bag or a dishcloth and squeeze out the excess water. Transfer the remaining pulp to a saucepan. Whilst the squash is cooking, put the dried spices in a pestle and mortar and grind. Next add the mint and garlic, grinding to a smooth paste. Spoon this from the mortar and add to the cooked squash. Next add the dates, almonds and all the liquid ingredients, including the honey. Finally add the oil or butter and mix with the squash. Place the resulting mixture back on the heat and simmer gently for a few minutes for the flavours to combine. Serve immediately sprinkled with salt and black pepper.

 

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This temple was built after the earthquake of 62 A.D. as a place of worship for the cult of the Emperor and has a facade projecting slightly further out than the building of Eumachia. A central door leads into a space in front of the inner sanctuary which is bounded on the front side by four columns. Inside these, a staircase on either side led up to a podium on which stood the cella containing the cult statue. Behind the sacellum were three rooms used for the officiators both of this temple and of the adjacent Temple of the Lares which could be reached via a communicating doorway. A marble altar with bas-relief sculptures can be seen in the centre of the sanctuary. ... continue

(Apic. 2, 2, 9) Ingredients:

• Basically, chicken fricassee..
• 1 whole chicken, deboned or 2 boneless, skinless thighs, 2 boneless, skinless breasts chopped into pieces
• 2 bunches of leeks, usually 3-5 of them in a bunch cut into pieces and washed
• 1 small bunch of dill weed, or about 1 tsp. dried
• 3 qt. water or 1.5 qt. each chicken broth and water, keeping back 2 cups for later
• black pepper to taste
• celery seed to taste
• 2/3 cup of rice flour
• fish sauce to taste
• 3 tbs. red wine

Instructions:
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Disjoint a chicken ... continue

Love was a common topic of conversation in Pompeii. Feelings, passions, poetic love, sex, homosexuality, prostitution and so forth were all part of daily life and not a source of prejudice. The concept of “obscenity” seems to have been unknown. Love and sex were considered earthly practices of a man’s life that were encouraged by the benevolence of Venus. The thousands of examples of graffiti found on the town’s walls are unequivocal proof of what the people of Pompeii thought about love and sex.