Sun Pop Blue supports, more than you will ever know, the concept of the Slow Life. It just seems that the Slow Life is the province of others, perhaps those whom Tony Soprano referred to as "happy travellers." "Earthpeople" is a term that works for me.

All I know is work, work, work on music or art or writing,  or Sun Pop Blue here, and, when I have time and the energy, a book perhaps, some music playing, maybe a dvd, a great meal and the occasional frolic in the boudoir to make it all mean something. I'm not complaining.

I found this lovely blog somehow: Lucullian delights - an Italian experience:

"I live near Pistoia in Tuscany and the food I post about is obviously heavily influenced by Italian cooking despite the fact that I am Swedish but after living here for many years (since 1994) it is difficult not be. We (me, Marco, three children and one dog) live in the countryside on a hillside in the tinest of villages; once upon a time, they tell me, there was a restaurant here. I support the Slow Life as much as I can."

I got curious about the name Lucullus and  found a listing in the  Wikipedia.

He used the vast treasure he amassed during his wars in the East to live a life of luxury. He had splendid gardens outside the city of Rome, as well as villas around Tusculum and Neapolis. The one near Neapolis included fish ponds and man-made extensions into the sea.^[10]

So famous did he become for his banqueting that the word lucullian now means lavish or luxurious.

Several interesting anecdotes underscore this great dedication to decadence, including when Cicero and Pompey succeeded in inviting themselves to dinner with Lucullus, but forbade him to send word ahead to prepare a meal. Cicero and Pompey were curious to see what sort of meal Lucullus ate alone, but Lucullus outsmarted them. He ordered that his servants serve him in the Apollo Room, and as his servants already knew precisely what to make for each of the different dining rooms, Cicero and Pompey ate the most luxurious of all meals."

GRATINATED FENNEL WITH FETA, ROSEMARY AND HONEY - FINOCCHI GRATINATI CON FETA, ROSMARINO E MIELE

1 fennel bulb per person
Feta cheese or some other type of sheep's or goat's cheese
Fresh rosemary, preferably
Honey
Salt
Olive oil

- Trim the fennel bulb of damaged outer layers. Cut the top off, leave about 2/3 of the bulb. The you take a small and sharp spoon (or knife if you prefer that) and remove the core of the bulb. The outer 'wall' of the fennel bulb shouldn't be too thick but if it's too thin it may leak so you have to use your cooking sense (that is the common sense that you develop cooking).
- Boil the empty bulbs in salted water for 2-4 minutes and then leave them to drain off excess liquid standing upside down.
- Chop the parts that you have removed together with the usable parts of the cut off top parts and braise it in olive oil together with the rosemary until soft.
- Mix the braised fennel with as much crumbled Feta as you like and spoon it into the fennel bulbs.
- Bake in a preheated oven (175° C / 347° F) until golden. Don't forget it as I did!
- Before serving, drizzle some nice honey over the fennel bulbs.<a xhref="http://lucullianrecipes.blogspot.com/">Lucullian recipes-the Index</a>

<a xhref="http://lucullian.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_lucullian_archive.html">Lucullian delights - an Italian experience: November 2006</a>: "- It is a good idea to use small dishes and plates, it sets off the food more.- Arranging the food on the plate is important, don't amass too many different things on the same plate, it makes the whole look messy (unless you are a very talented food stylist) and the viewer doesn't know what to focus on.- Try to find your own style. It doesn't have to be dramatically different, just a style that you feel confident with and that you like.- Avoid using the flash because it kills the colours and leaves a lot of reflexes which disturbs the eye. Natural light is the best, I sometimes shoot outdoors but mostly I open my kitchen door and arrange everything there on a bin for paper-to-be-recycled, very very unprofessional indeed but it works for me. It's bit cold in the winter and I have to shoot before a certain hour if I want the right light.- If you shoot outdoors, avoid direct sunlight as it flattens the colours. Patches of sunlight livens up but only if the subject matter agrees to it."

<a xhref="http://www.flickr.com/photos/82159964@N00/">Flickr: Photos from ilva-sableye</a> 

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