Sex Old & New (without Viagra)and another Marguerite's doings

collage by marguerita
Sex Exhibition Opens in London
Eroticism has long been of great interest to artists.
Finally the collective, boundary-pushing results of that interest are on display in a exhibition in London. Visitors have to be at least 18 to enter.
Ever wondered what sex and eroticism were like for the Phoenicians? Or during the Italian Renaissance? What about in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century?
A new exhibit at the Barbican Centre in London takes the long view. In "Seduced: Art and Sex from Antiquity to Now," visitors can peer into a 2,000-year history of representations of sex and sensuality.http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,510943,00.html

'Now, would you like some cake?''

When Marguerite Patten tells you off, she does it so delightfully that it is hard not to take it as a compliment.
'Oh, that's ridiculous,' she says,
with a small lipsticked smile, when I make the mistake of calling her Britain's first celebrity chef. 'Absolutely ridiculous.' There is a pause. She pats down her immaculately curled white hair.
One of Marguerite's favourite recipes: pistachio and pineapple ice cream
This particular recipe contains a mixture of marshmallows, pineapple and nuts and these produce a dessert that typifies the interesting ice creams of the Nineties. I first learned the value of marshmallows as a basis for ice creams in 1938, when I started working for Frigidaire as their home economist. As Frigidaire's parent company was American I was introduced to many unusual and delicious ice cream recipes from that country. Marshmallows help to produce a smooth texture to ice cream, because they contain gelatine. They also include egg whites, which lighten the mixture. Small white marshmallows that dissolve quickly are readily available.'Serves 4 to 6

175g/6oz white marshmallows

227g can pineapple rings in natural juice

115g/4oz pistachio nuts, skinned and coarsely chopped*

25g/1oz vanilla sugar**, or to taste

300ml/10fl oz double cream

*to skin the nuts put into boiling water for about 1 minute then pull away the skins

** Vanilla Sugar: place 1 or 2 vanilla pods into jars of caster and icing sugar. The pods give a true vanilla flavour to the sugar. Spoon out amount required then fill up with more sugar.
Put the marshmallows into a basin. Strain the pineapple, measure out up to 150ml/ ¼ pint of juice, add to the marshmallows. Stand basin over a saucepan of hot, but not boiling, water and leave until JUST dissolved. This can be done on the defrost setting in a microwave. Allow the mixture to cool.
Finely chop the pineapple rings, add to the marshmallows with the nuts and sugar. Whip the cream until it stands in soft peaks, do not over-whip. Fold into the other ingredients. Either spoon into the ice cream maker and freeze or put into a dish and place in the freezer.
Variations: other fruits and nuts can be used. The marshmallows can be dissolved in vermouth, instead of fruit juice.
Raspberry Ice Cream: dissolve the marshmallows in 225ml/7½fl oz fresh raspberry purée, add the sugar and cream as above. Other soft fruits can be used.http://observer.guardian.co.uk/focus/story/0,,2190807,00.html