Havana Good Time

Going away on your own is something that not everyone discovers the pleasure of.  This was particularly apparent when I told people what I was doing and got a load of responses along the lines of 'what's wrong. Are you and the boyf ok? Or even... 'Sorry about your breakup'.  Yeah. No... we are great thanks. It is just brilliant to travel alone (sometimes).

My Cuba trip was the first I had taken alone for 10 years but I've made a pact with myself now that I won't let amount of time pass between trips again. Before I first went away alone, I thought I was the wrong personality type for that kind of travel, but I actually learnt that I like myself a lot more than I thought. Who knew?! More importantly when it's just you you can do whatever you want whenever you want and that - my friends - is totally brilliant.

What I knew of my itinerary the cold rainy morning that I left for Gatwick was basic to say the least: Fly into Havana for two nights... and fly out of Havana again at the end of it all. Whatever happened in the middle was still up for grabs. For us super-important-metropolitan-grey-skinned-sleepy-eyed professionals, at least creating the illusion of this being 'travelling' rather than just a holiday was high on my agenda and having no real plan was an important part of that.

I arrived in Havana to a warm dusk with the day's earlier rainstorms still heavy in the air. I was greeted by the lovely Rubi (the mother from the family I stayed with) holding up a cardboard sign with my name and squinting at the incoming flight load of people to see if she could recognise my Facebook profile picture. She welcomed me with a big hug and ushered me through the hectic arrivals lounge and into the local car park round the back where one of Havana's beautiful vintage cadillacs was waiting for us. These cars are two-a-peso in Cuba, but I still got excited every time I got into a new one. Their interiors are often decorated with what seems like decades of different owner's personal touches taking dashboard-dog kitsch to new heights.

That night, I got changed and immediately slipped out into the night to find a bite to eat. Without having my bearings yet, this turned into a dark, anxious and blustery walk through the residential area of Vedado down to The Miramar, where I pretty much fell into a tourist hotel, weak from exhaustion and sleep depravation and ordered some cheese on toast before cabbing it back to bed as soon as I could. The first night aside, I quickly got my bearings in Havana and fell in love with the city's colonial buildings, bright colours and music filled streets. It's not easy finding the right place to be at nighttime. Havana is a big place and the best bands will only play one or two venues per night. More on the night life in a bit.

On day one, I walked and walked - getting lost, finding myself again but maintaining a confident stride and not getting out my map or guidebook once. I quickly discovered that if I did this, people thought I was Cubana so I barely got hassled at all. L'Habana Vieja is the easiest place to head to as a tourist (if you're taxi-ing, I'd just ask for Plaça de Armas as straight off). You'll arrive in a picturesque square just off from The Miramar and it's view of The Atlantic Ocean. This is Havana's biggest and oldest book market, set around a leafy square where second rate musicians serenade tourists for their change and book hawkers sell Che paraphernalia and old Theatre posters at ridiculously high prices. I managed to charm one of them by attempting to haggle in bad spanish and came away with three 1950s cigar papers for the equivalent of £1.50 which are now framed (at a somewhat greater cost) and will soon take pride of position somewhere in my house.

Plaça de Armas is also conveniently close to the expensive but worth it fish restaurant El Templete. I enjoyed a leisurely and long lunch here with my memoirs of Aleida March (the former Mrs Guevara). I started with boquerones and some delicious sourdough and then moved on to a lobster salad, all washed down with an un-sweetened Mai Tai. I decided to embrace the culture and drink rum cocktails with my meals - something I am not used to at all as I much prefer wine for almost all occasions but especially with food. An important thing to note: The wine in Cuba is pretty much all terrible. In a few places, they will sell you a cheap bottle of something imported from Chile or in the high class tourist places, they may may even have imported something from France but Cubans as a rule don't like or care about wine so I wouldn't bother with it. The rum however is delicious and sooo cheap no matter where you are.

The other places that I particularly enjoyed in Havana were mainly little coffee shops where bands start playing at random. I didn't feel the need to tick everything off (being on my own, there was no one to judge) and instead contented myself with soaking up the atmosphere.

I also found myself a lovely vantage point from which to look down on the city. The Saratoga Hotel is for guests only (even the bar area) but luckily I met some friendly people who then also let me quote their room number on the door. The guests of The Saratoga tend to be wealthy old men who aren't big into rooftop pools so I had pick of the sun loungers and brilliant service for the couple of afternoons that I hung out there. Total paradise and the best views of the city.

The Saratoga also proved a relaxing (though again somewhat expensive place to have lunch). A salad of roasted vegetables and fried calamari with more rum once again. On my last afternoon back in Havana for the second time, I stopped there for lunch before heading to the big working print warehouse next to the famous and very good restaurant Donna Eutamia in Havana Vieja. 

Here I fell in love with two prints of hot air balloons by a sad-eyed young artist. All his works show traditional Cuban modes of transport - the state owned buses, the coastal trains, the vintage American cars with hot air balloons attached to them. The vehicles remain earth-bound, like dead weights pulling downwards against the buoyancy of the balloons. I asked him if his work was about this feeling amongst young people that they have to get out of Cuba and he nodded sadly. Cuba is often described as a third world country with a first world mentality. It's part of the beauty of the country but in the current climate, it is also very sad. 98% of the population are literate and everyone is healthy because of brilliant state health care but the older generation can't afford to live with modern conveniences (the average monthly wage is between $15 and $30 USD, but fridges cost the same as they do in the West). I bought his prints for a relatively high price knowing that it could be money towards feeding a family for a month or so. They have come home with me as a proper souvenir of that feeling. A week later, Obama made his announcement that the US embargo will be lifted next year. 

The best Havana night I had was along The Malecon (a taxi outside of the obvious central area of Havana) to Club 1830 to see the live shows and dance salsa with some of the best trained dancers in the world. This club is where the professionals from La Floridita and La Tropicana go after work to social dance, so it's a must for any serious salsa dancer in Havana. If you're not already into salsa, I'd still check out this club as the live music and shows are particularly good. I've only got night time pictures from the town I went to next - Trinidad and then just because I met a photographer who sent me some after. I was dancing too much to look after a camera when I was here. The other night out that I had in Havana was spent at La Casa de La Musica and was only saved by meeting a particularly brilliant lambada dancer and a salsa dancer from France in the queue. As soon as we got inside it was apparent that I was the only non-working girl in there (if you get my gist) and most of the men were punters looking for one thing only. We had missed the live shows and the atmosphere was seedy and sad - a stripclub masquerading as something else. Something to know about Havana is that different venues shine on different nights and knowing what you're going for and what time it kicks off is pretty crucial. Even the great night that I found myself at in Club 1830 ended at 1am - surprisingly early when a lot of other places stay open until 3 in the morning. Just do your homework first and you'll be fine.

Rubi's beautiful colonial hallway

As I mentioned before, I started and ended my trip in Havana and both times stayed at El Mirador Estrella with Rubi and her family. Rubi's place is a Casa Particulare which means that she opens her house up to two guests at a time. These are family run businesses regulated by the state which allow people to make money commercially but are highly regulated as a result so expect to hand in your passport and visa at the door. A lot of the families will cook you breakfast and dinner so you get a lot more for you money by talking to people you're staying with and picking up local recommendations. Rubi doesn't have her guests for dinner because her beautiful little girls are still quite young so they have family time in the evening, but there are plenty of great food options in Havana for your evening dinner so it suited me perfectly.

More on other places in Cuba to come. 
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From Russia with Love: Flo's St Petersburg

While Elle broke her tradition of celebrating New Years' Eve abroad with Georgie, I switched roles and decided to spend this NYE in St Petersburg along with 6 days to explore the city...



We arrived to be met by heavy snow and an uncomfortably cold evening of minus fifteen degrees. We braved what should have been a shortish walk between our hotel and the Mariinsky theatre but which ended up taking about half an hour because of how slippery the ice was. We saw the Nutcracker there which was fun and seasonal but the real interest was in the glitzy theatre and its entourage - luxurious fur coats upon arrival, women with painted on faces, children prancing around the enclaves in princess outfits, selfie sticks and a few dresses to die for.






The following days were taken up with various sightseeing - the Kazan Cathedral and Chuch of Our Savoiur built on Spilt Blood, Christmas Markets, The Hermitage, The Russian Museum, The Faberge Museum and Catherine's Palace in Pushkin about half an hours drive away. 

Catherine's Palace 

The Russian Museum has a fantastic collection of Modern Russian Art - Serov, Malovich, Vrubel and many more...




The Hermitage meanwhile has an incredible selection of ancient artefacts from Siberia and the Caucasus that are far less crowded than other wings of the museum. 

I was a little more sceptical of the Faberge Museum but the craftsmanship of these ornate eggs is remarkable, each containing a 'surprise' such as a clockwork singing bird as small as a five pence coin emerging from a bejewelled tree.

Egg in egg

The food was pretty disappointing, but then I am really not a fan of Russian cuisine. The restaurant scene is predominantly made up of old world and overpriced 'luxury' Russian-European restaurants, mediocre Italians and cheap and cheerful locals. Try anything more exotic at your own risk! 

At the premium end, restaurants such as L'Europe and Palkin offer impeccable service but outdated food - overcooked meat and uninspired flavours. That said, L'Europe's famous 'egg in egg' - truffled scrambled egg topped with three different types of caviar - is delicious. 

There are also a few gems - Duo Gastrobar and Kokoko - that serve more modern food that is pretty good and well priced.

Koko's Steak Tartare

Kokoko's 'my nother's favourite flower'

  

Duo's Tuna Tataki

Duo's Steak

Shopping isn't much cheaper in Russia for most things (other than Vodka) but there are some pretty nice shops and designers that haven't come to our shores. My favourite two are 8 Store in Taiga Art Space (pretty hard to find since you have to go into an unmarked apartment building and up some stairs to find it), and JBNY, a Chinese designer I first discovered in Beijing that does some lovely knitwear.

8 Store

For New Years' Eve, St Petersburg is less of a party place than Moscow and the bars and clubs tend to be pretty studenty or mass market. We found a few of bars that could make decent cocktails - Bar 812, Terminal Bar and Hat Bar - but nothing all that impressive. 

Overall it was a cosy winters break with lots of curling up to a steaming mug of tea or warming cocktail. While I wouldn't rush back, there are lots of things to love and I am very glad I went.

If you too are planning to go please find my magpie guide to St Petersburg here, and the map that relates to it

The morning after...

For starters: Jerusalem Artichoke Veloute

I once had a Jerusalem Artichoke veloute, around 5 years ago, at a restaurant off Goodge Street. Sadly, I can't remember the restaurant, let alone get a copy of their recipe, but the memory of this incredible soup stayed with me. Only recently have I actually tried to recreate it. Luckily, I practically stumbled upon the Jersalem artichokes by accident in the Parliament Hill farmer's market, and remembered that I had already made a deliciously rich poussin stock - perfect. 

Recipe (enough for 4-5 bowls)
20g butter
1 red onion
600g Jerusalem artichoke
400ml Really good stock
200ml milk
3 tablespoons of cream
Salt
Black pepper
Small squeeze of lemon

To garnish:
Olive oil infused with lemon peel and garlic
A pinch of paprika

Method: 
Finely dice your onion. Peel and dice the Jerusalem artichoke leaving the pieces in lemony water so they don't turn brown

in a thick based sauce pan melt the butter and sweat the onions for 5 minutes. Add the Jerusalem artichoke and sweat for a further 5 minutes. Add two ladles of stock and boil over a low heat, covered for 10 minutes, check and add more stock and boil for a further 10 minutes or until soft and mushy

Blend with a hand held blender and then sieve until velvety and smooth, I discard the bits that don't go through the sieve after I have had a really good go at it and blended the most stubborn bits again. 

Return the purée to the saucepan with the rest of the stock, pepper, milk and cream. Season with salt,  to taste, and bring to the boil. Reduce the soup to the consistency you like, whisking all the time to get a frothy texture

Ladle into soup bowls, drizzle with the oil and pinch of paprika. Ta da!

Flo's Signature Crab Ravioli

Crab is one of those ingredients I find hard to resist on a menu or at the farmers market. I have tried many different recipes with it over the years, and this has to be one of the very best. If done correctly, the beautifully thin sheets of pasta will encase a fresh and zesty crab meat mixture that flakes perfectly, and does the ingredient justice. 

There are generally two schools of thought when it comes to crab ravioli - either fresh and crab-rich, or mousse-like with mascarpone or ricotta. The first way sounds simpler and involves a shorter list of ingredients but it is counter-intuitively richer too. If you use the brown meat to bind it, it has a creaminess of its own and the flavour remains pure. Needless to say, that is the type of recipe I have gone for.  

Recipe: (makes 9 large ravioli - enough for three as a starter or two as a main)

For the pasta:

When it comes to making pasta, Felicity Cloake has consolidated many different methods in her 'how to make the perfect...' column. I have always used Georgio Locatelli's recipe that uses 3 large eggs, 2 large yolks and 500g 00 flour which is also cited by Ms. Cloake, but will leave you to choose your own. I also like to make my pasta dough in advance and freeze it so that when I feel like making ravioli or making a great sauce, the pasta is already done. You will need an additional egg yolk for brushing the ravioli once rolled

For the ravioli filling:
125g of white crabmeat
25g brown crabmeat (sieved)
zest of one third of a lemon
1 clove garlic
4 basil leaves, finely chopped
2 pinches salt
1 pinch pepper
Half a small red chilli, finely diced

For the sauce:
1 clove of garlic, crushed
Half a chilli, chopped
3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
4 basil leaves, finely diced

Method: 
Once you have made your pasta dough, make the filling and sauce before rolling it. 

For the filling, crushed and gently pan fry the garlic in olive oil until soft but not remotely coloured. Then prepare all the other ingredients and mix them all together thoroughly. 

For the sauce, mix a crushed clove of garlic and the other half of the chilli in 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil to infuse for half an hour or so. Sieve and add 4 leaves of basil, finely chopped.

Now, roll your pasta into thin sheets. Keep the pasta you are not using straight away under a damp cloth so that it doesn't begin to crack and don't roll too much at one time.

Cut large circles out of the dough, ideally using a cutter and then place 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons of filling in the centre.

Now brush the edges around the filling and one side of another circle of pasta with whisked egg yolk. Now place the second circle on top of the filling and carefully press the two sheets of pasta together around the edges until you have a neat, firmly formed ravioli without any air pockets.

Repeat until you have used up the filling and freeze whatever pasta dough you have left for a later date.

Finally, put salted water on a gentle boil and cook the ravioli for a few minutes until they float and the pasta is al dente (you can tear a little of the rim off to check) 

Gently drain, place in a warm dish and drizzle with the sauce.

We served it with a lightly oaked Furmint that we brought back from Budapest