World Without End - Ken Follett

I finally finished this massive book of well over 1100 pages. Ha, it's only taken me a year. It's a huge, sweeping tale of medieval England before, during and after the Black Plague of the late 1340s.
The central theme is the struggle for progressive thinkers to have their new ideas and methods heard and accepted in the face of the intransigent conservatism of the ruling class and, in particular, the Church.
The two central characters are Merthin, the architect and builder, and Caris, the merchant's daughter turned nun. Merthin leaves Kingsbridge, where the story is set, for Italy when his new building methods are ridiculed and sabotaged by the traditionalists in the town guild. He returns, at the height of the Plague, and is determined to construct the tallest cathedral tower in England. At every turn he is thwarted by the guild and the cathedral's prior. Caris becomes a nun to escape charges of witchcraft which arose from her forward thinking approach to life. She leads the town's defences against the ravages of the Plague and is again harrassed and stymied for her medical practices which run counter to those practised (the same way for centuries) by the monks.
The book follows the fortunes of Merthin and Caris from childhood to later middle-age. It's also their love story.
The central themes are important ones but there is a tendency to repeat the same basic scenarios over and over again. New idea meets conservative guild/noble/church -> power struggle -> new idea gains some ground -> conservatives fight back -> new idea thwarted -> conservatives shown up as ineffective or incompetent or venal or evil (or all of the above in a number of cases) -> new idea is given a chance to prove itself -> gradual acceptance of new idea to the consternation and bad grace of the guild/ruling class/church.
The role of the Black Death in changing the basic nature of the Feudal system is also given a lot of coverage. But again, there was a lot of repetition of the same scenarios.
This could have been a great book if it had been two-thirds the length.

Friday Fill-ins - on Saturday

1. The last thing I ate was raisin toast and margarine.

2. Coffee is something I recently bought.

3. When it rains, it doesn't rain enough to end the drought.

4. My father was the first person I talked to today.

5. Hugs are free.

6. I just turned the heating up for extra comfort.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to last night I chatted with Georgia, tomorrow today my plans include keeping warm and Sunday, I want to see the Saints win their 15th straight game!
FFI

Wordless Wednesday

Peace, man., originally uploaded by jsarcadia.

Round 14

Saints V Geelong. Both teams undefeated this season. The only teams undefeated this season. Geelong won the Premiership in '07 and were runners-up last year - the best team of the last 3 years, the team that all others measure themselves against. They've only lost 3 or 4 games since mid-07.

And they lost today.

WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Saints by a solitary goal. Man, it was a tough game. Close and extremely hard fought all the way through - there'll be some very sore bodies tonight. 5 minutes to go and scores were level. But the Saints rallied to kick the last goal of the match with just over a minute to go. Thrilling stuff.
And they beat Geelong. Yeah!!!!!!!
And now they sit top of the ladder by themselves too.

I think I'll break out the scarf now - doesn't really matter what happens for the rest of the season, the Saints have now proved themselves to be genuine title contenders. They are good enough!

Friday Fill-ins

1. When I heard Whole Lotta Love I fell in love with the guitar.

2. Laughter is best medicine.

3. It's late, but that depends entirely on which side of the globe you're on.

4. Music always.

5. My eyes have seen better focus.

6. Make coffee strongly.

7. And as for the weekend (it's all about sport), tonight I'm looking forward to the men's semi-finals at Wimbledon, tomorrow my plans include the women's final at Wimbledon - I'm betting a Williams will win ;) and Sunday, I want to watch the Saints beat Geelong in the match of the season and then watch Roger win the men's final at Wimbledon!
FFI

Okay, are you ready to cook?

Spinach and ricotta gnocchi. I saw this recipe in the Sunday paper and made it tonight. It's delicious!

350g ricotta cheese
150g spinach (I used baby spinach leaves), blanched and finely chopped
1 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
1 egg
Mix these all together in a bowl.
Season with salt and pepper and a good pinch of nutmeg.
Slowly mix in 1/2 cup of flour
Mix together to make a soft, sticky dough.
Divide the dough into 2. (or 4)
Roll each half, (or quarter), on a lightly floured board, into long, sausage shapes - I made mine about 1/2 inch thick. Then cut them into pieces about an inch or so long.
Boil plenty of salted water.
Drop the gnocchi in gently and boil till they rise to the surface. Boil for another 1 to 2 minutes. No longer - otherwise the gnocchi can get a bit rubbery.
I did them in two batches - too many in the pot and they don't all rise properly. I kept the first batch warm in the oven - in a shallow dish with a nob of butter to stop them sticking.
Serve with sauce of your choice - I used a pre-made Basil and Red Wine tomato pasta sauce to which I added extra wine, garlic, dried mixed herbs and black pepper. I heated that through while the gnocchi cooked.
Yummo!
I made just enough to feed three people - a salad would have finished it off nicely. But I didn't think of that.

13 - unlucky for some

But not for the Saints. 92 - 36 victory over Richmond.
Geelong are 13 - 0 too.
Next week's game is going to be HUGE! Bigger than Ben Hur.