HomeMy Public PortalAbout2021.01.19 Meyer Christmas Letter 2020 s letter contains no
aseless
2020 Meyer Christmas Letter caution ytheoiesandmaybeboringto
conspiracy theories and may be boring to
some readers.
Mark Twain: Travel is fatal to prejudice,bigotry,and narrow-mindedness,and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.
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Painting by Vittore Carpaccio (1516). The winged lion represents St. Mark. The Latin words under his paw, broken up by
the artist, read "Pax tibi Marce evangelista meus" (Peace be with you, Mark, my evangelist). These words were spoken
by an angel to St. Mark who, while traveling from Aquileia to Rome, was surprised by a squall and docked his boat in the
uninhabited lagoon that one day would become Venice. The angel then concluded: "Hic requiescat corpus tuum" (Here
shall your body rest). His story, and that of Venice, is set out in the report below.
Venice Report
Owing to the current plague, Karen and I are hunkered down, reminiscing of past travel. This report harkens
back to prior trips to Venice,the most recent of which was with our son Andy in 2013. That trip prompted an
earlier report, upon which I build here.
They say one never forgets his or her first glimpse of the city. It is an impossibly wondrous place, an
architectural fantasy set in water.' Unlike virtually all other ancient cities, it has no permanent fortifications.
Its splendid palazzi are placed delicately at the water's edge. For 1,400 years—from the beginning of the 5th
century until Napoleon's conquest in 1797—the capital of the Most Serene Republic of Venice faced no serious
military threat. While the rest of Italy was ravaged constantly by bloody conflict, Venice was protected by its
unlikely location—in the water.
' Venice's seductive effect is nearly universal,as evidenced by the pilgrimage of wealthy young gentlemen
taking the Grand Tour during the 18th and 10 centuries. Yet there is the occasional grump. Mark Twain, who
is not usually grumpy, visited the city in 1867 and could only see its decline: "This Venice, which was a
haughty, invincible, magnificent Republic for nearly fourteen hundred years; whose armies compelled the
worlds applause whenever and wherever they battled; whose navies well nigh held dominion of the seas, and
whose merchant fleets whitened the remotest oceans with their sails and loaded these piers with the products of
every clime, is fallen a prey to poverty, neglect and melancholy decay. Six hundred years ago, Venice was the
Autocrat of Commerce; her mart was the great commercial centre, the distributing-house from whence the
enormous trade of the Orient was spread abroad over the Western world. To-day her piers are deserted, her
warehouses are empty, her merchant fleets are vanished, her armies and her navies are but memories. Her
glory is departed, and with her crumbling grandeur of wharves and palaces about her she sits among her
stagnant lagoons,forlorn and beggared,forgotten of the world. She that in her palmy days commanded the
commerce of a hemisphere and made the weal or woe of nations with a beck of her puissant finger, is become
the humblest among the peoples of the earth,—a peddler of glass beads for women, and trifling toys and trinkets
for school-girls and children." Twain, The Innocents Abroad.
Page 1 1 10
By the 130'century,this swampy lagoon held a city that was the second largest in Europe (after Paris)and
surely one of the more splendid and opulent in the world. How can that be? The answer takes us back to the
Goths and Attila the Hun. Venice was born of the Veneto—that lush land in the north of Italy between Austria,
Switzerland, and the Adriatic. At the time,the Veneto was controlled by Constantinople and was the crossroads
between the East and West.
From this cultural mdlange arose some of the grandest and most cosmopolitan Italian cities of the era. In the
waning days of the Western Roman Empire, invading barbarians pillaged these wealthy communities.' The
Goths arrived in 402;Attila the Hun followed in 452. Those who could escape fled to the nearby lagoon whose
brackish waters were fed by snowmelt from the Alps. There they built houses on sticks.3 They had fish, salt,
and safety. And little else.4 But the lagoon was impenetrable to foreigners unfamiliar with the labyrinth of
shoals and shallows. The vast bog that hid the first refugees also protected the jewel of a city that later rose
from the mud to rule the Mediterranean.'
The melting pot that was the Veneto may be traced to the action of Constantine the Great. In 324,he moved
the seat of government from Rome to the ancient Greek city of Byzantium, declaring it to be the new capital of
the Roman Empire. It was later renamed Constantinople and survived a thousand years (until 1453 when it was
overrun by the Ottoman Turks,4ho rdnamed it Istanbul).' Constantinople did ndt last so long, however, as the
seat of a unified Roman Empire. Following the death of Emperor Theodosius I in 395, his quarreling sons
divided the empire into the Eastern Roman Empire(aka Byzantine Empire)ruled from Constantinople and the
Western Roman Empire based in Italy. The son who took the western part was the loser. Rome was sacked in
410,after which what was left of the Western Empire was ruled (if you can call it that) from Ravena, Italy.
While the Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire thrived,the Latin-speaking Western Empire faced an onslaught
of barbarian invaders—Goths, Franks, and other Germanic peoples, who, in turn,were fleeing the even more
fearsome nomadic Huns from further east.6 They were all barbarians to be sure, so far as the crumbling Roman
2 Roman cities of the Veneto that fell to the barbarians include Padua(setting for The Taming of the Screw),
Verona(Romeo and Juliet and Two Gentlemen of Verona), and Aquileia(the starting point of St. Mark's
journey, of which nothing is left but a tiny village after the city was razed by Attila the Hun). Centuries later,
Venetians would rule this hinterland—the terrafirma, as they called it—from which their ancestors fled.
3 The early Venetians could build nothing of weight lest it sink into the goo. In those days,homes were built
of wood with thatched roofs. It was not for several centuries that the Venetians devised the method of drilling
thousands of sharpened poles into the muck to create a base firm enough to support the stone palaces, churches,
and residences that fill today's city. One large church(Santa Maria Della Salute)required over a million of
these wooden stakes, each measuring 4 meters. They have lasted over a thousand years because they were
driven deep into the hard clay below the muddy surface. Thus deprived of oxygen,they cannot rot. But for
climate change and rising sea levels,the city would be safe for another thousand years.
4 A Byzantine legate visiting the nascent city in 523 wrote: "You possess many vessels. . . [and] . . .you live
like seabirds, with your homes dispersed. . . across the surface of the water. The solidity of the earth on which
they rest is secured only by osier and wattle;yet you do not hesitate to oppose[construct]so frail a bulwark to
the wilderness of the sea. Your people have one great wealth—the fish, which suffices for them all. Among you
there is no difference between rich and poor;your food is the same,your houses are alike. Envy, which rules
the rest of the world, is unknown to you. All your energies are spent on your salt fields; in them lies your
prosperity, and your power to purchase those things you have not. For though there may be men who have
little need ofgold,yet none live who desire not salt."
5 Apparently foreigners have figured it now. Cruise ships now deliver nearly 2 million passengers a year to
glimpse the horses atop St. Mark's Basilica plundered from a smoldering Constantinople,take a picture of
pigeons, and dash back to the shipboard buffet.
6 In due course,the Germanic Franks would lend their name not to Germany(except for Frankfort)but to
France(which was the western side of the Frankish Empire known as Francia). Hence, ironically, a modern
"Francophile"is one who loves France, not Germany.
Page 21 10
Empire was concerned, but they soon became the new rulers. Four centuries years later, on Christmas Day in
800, Pope Leo III would crown the Frankish King Charlemagne—son of the barbarians—as"Emperor of the
Latins"(or Holy Roman Emperor)—fictitiously restoring the lineage to the pre-Constantine Roman Emperors.
To ensure confusion,the Byzantine Emperor maintained the title"Emperor of the Romans."
The lines between the still powerful Byzantine Empire and the Frankish successor to the Western Empire
were hammered out in the agreement of 803 known as the Pax Nicephori. The Byzantine Emperor recognized
Frankish control of most of Italy, but saved Venice for himself. Thus,the Latin Catholics of Venice, who
looked to the Pope for religious direction, continued to be the subjects of Greek-speaking Byzantines with their
own Eastern Christian rite. This fateful arrangement served Venice well. The relationship was fitful, but
extraordinarily profitable for the Venetians.
Venice also was
served well by its
patron saint, St. Mark
the Evangelist(San
Marco). As noted in
the caption to the
painting above, St.
Mark was told by an
angel that his body
would rest one day in
Venice. That would
seem improbable for
two reasons. First,
Venice did not exist
when the angel spoke.
Second,the saint's
evangelism following
the death of Christ %�z-__took him to —
Alexandria, Egypt -
where he became -
bishop. There he died
a martyr in the year 68
and was entombed in -
a cathedral thereafter "
named for him.
But he did not stay.
In 892,two Venetian ', ►�,b` „.,,,,
merchants who were
doing business
illegally in Alexandra Al'!
(in contravention of
the Byzantine
Emperor's ban on
trade with Muslims) 3 -
conspired with two ,`
Greek priests to SAIST.MARC DE VENI�Y
rescue the body of the St. Mark's was modeled on the Hagia Sophia (Romanized Greek for"Church of the Holy
saint. (The medieval Wisdom") in Constantinople. The drawing on top depicts the Romanesque-Byzantine
term for this was fagade as constructed in the 11th century. As shown below, it has been embellished over
time and is now bursting with artifacts stolen from its parent church by the Crusaders.
Page 3110
`ffurta sacra"or holy theft,and there was much of it in those days.) The four men opened the tomb, rolled the
good saint over on his stomach, carefully cut the silk shroud, and swapped the body for that of a lesser saint.
They rolled the substituted saint back over, leaving the protective seals on the shroud untouched. The valuable
saint was soon safely aboard a Venetian ship waiting in the harbor.
One problem: In the Middle Ages,the relics of saints were said to release a"holy odor"—the greater the
sanctity of the saint,the more odiferous. The Evangelist's powerful fragrance foiled the perfect crime. A 13th
century chronicler, Martino da Canale, said of St. Mark's odor: "If all the spices of the world had been
gathered together in Alexandria, they could not have so perfumed the city." Alerted by the holy smell,the
Egyptian authorities were at first fooled by the untouched seals, but soon made their way to the ship where they
demanded to inspect the cargo. There the Egyptians recoiled at another stench. The Venetian rescuers had
taken the precaution of wrapping what was left of the Evangelist in raw pork. The Muslim inspectors took one
look at the unholy meat, and fled the ship. Following a treacherous journey home to Venice, guided by the
deceased saint,the body of San Marco was housed in a wooden chapel built for him next to the Ducal Palace.
After all that trouble, it is a shame that the Venetians let the holy relic burn to smithereens. In 976,a popular
uprising challenged the Doge(the Venetian version of a king)who had grown too pompous for his pants. A
disgruntled faction of Venetians saw fit to burn down the Doge's wooden palace (with the Doge in.it). The
conflagration soon consumed much of Venice, including the Ducal chapel and its purloined saint. By 1070,the
chapel was replaced with the magnificent stone building that stands today. Designed by Byzantine architects to
echo Constantinople's Hagia Sophia, it was still the Doge's personal chapel,not becoming a basilica until 1807.
A glimmering mosaic on its fagade retells the story of the bamboozled Muslim inspectors in Alexandria.
Alas, the glorious new monument to San Marco lacked the body of its namesake. But miracles happen. As the
Doge prayed fervently for the restoration of the relic, a stone from one of the interior columns of the brand new
church fell away revealing the arm and, some say, the whole body of the patron saint. This was just in time, as
Venice was then poised to expand its reach and power around the globe. That is not something wisely
undertaken without a saint at your back.
Venice achieved its wealth and status not so much by conquest as by cunning,diplomacy, and the precise
application of force. Feudal Europe was built on land and the backs of serfs. Venice had neither. The
Venetians relied on trade. And they became masters of that. They delivered spices, slaves, and whatever else
people wanted and could not find at home.7 Most importantly, astoundingly,and differently from nearly all the
world, Venice was a republic more or less from its start. The Doge was elected.$ The governments of both
church and state in Venice were more stable, efficient, and independent(of each other and the world)than any
in Europe.9 Venice was all business, a city of merchants and bankers and Marco Polo.10 The cosmopolitan city,
7 The slaves in which Venetians trafficked were not Africans but more readily available whites—"Slays"
from places now known as Yugoslavia, Slovenia, and Slovakia. That is the origin of the word"slave."
B Over time the electoral process evolved to levels of complexity that make our arcane, pointless, and,
frankly, dangerous Electoral College seem simple and natural. Under the Venetian system implemented in
1268, it worked thus(and I am not making this up): There was a Great Council of noblemen—which was the
engine of the Republic and numbered about 500 at that time. A wax ball containing a slip of parchment with
the name of each nobleman was placed in an urn. Fervent praying followed. A boy who had been plucked at
random from the streets withdrew 30 balls. This was reduced again by lot to nine. Those nine chose 40
noblemen,which, in turn were reduced by lot to 12,who then expanded the number of candidates to 25. The 25
were then reduced by lot to nine, and the nine elected 45. These 45 were once more reduced by lot to 11, and
the 11 finally chose the 41 who elected the Doge. Cumbersome, yes, but done in a day.
9"Venice's palazzi are most striking for their open doors and windows, designed to facilitate
communication, commerce, and the circulation of air. Elsewhere in Italy, aristocrats built fortified compounds
with iron bars on the doors and windows, thick walls, and mighty towers to defend the family during the
factional warfare that so often raged across their cities. Such precautions were unnecessary in Venice.
Nothing speaks more eloquently of the genius of the Venetian republican system than the rows of rich and
Page 41 10
in turn,produced artists, composers, and architects(Titian, Tintoretto, Carpaccio, Vivaldi, Palladio)that
matched the best of Florence and Paris.
Among the dark and dominant features of the Middle Ages were the interminable crusades. They visited
death and woe on a vast swath of the world, while draining treasuries and diverting resources of nations
everywhere. Only Venice, it seems,turned them to profit and filled the vacuum of a destabilized world with a
new empire of its own.
In 1198, Pope Innocent III called for a Fourth Crusade to retake Jerusalem. The kings who answered the call
had a better idea. Rather than traipse across the dangerous and inhospitable desert(like all prior crusaders),
they would attack Cairo, Egypt(the seat of the Ayyubid dynasty)by sea. The military requirements were
unprecedented. All looked to Venice, which, for a price, agreed to provide the ships and sailors to transport
33,500 Crusaders and their horses to the battle. To achieve this monumental undertaking, Venice curtailed
lucrative commercial trade and devoted all its resources to shipbuilding for over a year. Alas, by the time
Venice had completed the 500 ships and
trained the sailors, only 12,000 men of
the cross showed up. And they failed to
bring Venice the money it was owed. ;
They,set sail anyway, led by the blind,
80-year-old Doge, Enrico Dandolo. But
money was an issue for the Doge. Plus,
he had a grudge to settle with Zara(now
Zadar, Croatia)a wealthy Christian city
on the other side of the Adriatic which
had the gumption to resist Venetian
control. When the Pope heard of plans
to plunder Zara,he was appalled. So
appalled that he excommunicated the 1
Crusaders. The leaders of the Crusade
thought that might be bad for morale, so
the rank and file weren't told. When
word of the excommunication finally
reached the Crusaders,the bishops
accompanying the Crusade restored calm
by lifting the excommunication. The {
bishops did not tell the Crusaders that
they had no power to do so. Zara fell,
and the Crusaders filled their pockets
with gold and silver. The sack of Constantinople (above) followed the sack of Zara
utterly defenseless palazzi that still crowd the sides of the Grand Canal, and every other canal in Venice. The
owners of these ornate palaces were powerful men with all of the enemies that power brings. Yet they never
conceived of the idea that those enemies, who were fellow Venetians after all, would wage war against them in
their homes. Venetian politics was rough and often treacherous, but it rarely turned to violence. Allegiance to
the republic, rather than to any one man or dynasty, served Venice very well." Madden, Venice—A New
History.
10 Venetians devised the bill of lading(which transformed the economics of trade, shifting risk from sea
captains to entrepreneurs). They invented double-entry bookkeeping(the foundation of modern commerce,
without which there would have been no Industrial Revolution). They devised complex tools of lending and
finance that circumvented the Church's prohibition of usury. And they adopted Arabic numerals(which are
really Persian, by the way). Just try to calculate interest in Roman numerals. In short, Venetians were the first
modern capitalists.
Page 5110
r-`
The next stop, you will recall,was
supposed to be Cairo. But the
Venetians had another score to
settle—against another Christian
city. Constantinople was only a
1,000 mile detour—nothing if you
t
had good ships. And Doge Dandolo
was still smarting over being blinded
by the Byzantines the last time he
visited the city. Plus a deal was
offered involving money, which x'-
always got the Venetians' interest.
The idea was not to take the city, but
simply to re-install the deposed
Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelos,
who, like Doge Dandolo, had been
blinded. (In Byzantium, it was Canaletto's painting of the annual Ascensione(Marriage to the Sea).
considered an act of kindness to The sea was at once their protection, their opportunity, and their fate.
blind, rather than kill,one's • • • [77hey wrapped the sea around them like a cloak. They changed
its gender from the masculine, man;, to the feminine mar in the
political opponents.) The bargain Venetian dialect, and every year on Ascension Day they married it."
was that, after he was restored, Crowley, City of Fortune—How Venice Ruled the Seas.
Isaac II would pay the Crusaders
handsomely and finance the holy conquest of the Middle East. In 1203,the Crusaders forcibly placed Isaac II
back on his throne. Alas, the newly-installed Emperor lacked the money to pay the mind-boggling reward he
had promised(the prior Emperor having fled with 1,000 pounds of gold and jewels). So the new Emperor
began melting down sacred icons for their gold,which did not go over well with the Orthodox population.
Rioting ensued,which the Crusaders put down by instigating the"Great Fire"leaving 100,000 homeless.
One thing led to another. Before long the new Emperor and his co-Emperor son,both installed by the
Crusaders, were dead. This infuriated the Crusaders in their camps across the Bosporus,who had nothing to
show for their trouble. Their Catholic leaders, ignoring the instruction of the Pope not to attack Christians,
spurred them on,preaching that"the Greeks are worse that the Jews." In 1204 Venetian ships, under the
leadership of the blind Doge, attacked Constantinople. The city fell and was sacked for three days'' (as would
" Sepros Vryonis wrote in Byzantium and Europe: "The Latin soldiery subjected the greatest city in Europe
to an indescribable sack. For three days they murdered, raped, looted and destroyed on a scakwhiah even the
ancient Vandals and Goths would have found unbelievable. Constantinople had become a veritable museum of
ancient and Byzantine art, an emporium of such incredible wealth that the Latins were astounded at the riches
they found. Though the Venetians had an appreciation for the art which they discovered(they were themselves
semi-Byzantines)and saved much of it, the French and others destroyed indiscriminately, halting to refresh
themselves with wine, violation of nuns, and murder of Orthodox clerics. The Crusaders vented their hatred for
the Greeks most spectacularly in the desecration of the greatest Church in Christendom. They smashed the
silver iconostasis, the icons and the holy books of Hagia Sophia, and seated upon the patriarchal throne a
whore who sang coarse songs as they drank wine from the Church's holy vessels. The estrangement of East and
West, which had proceeded over the centuries, culminated in the horrible massacre that accompanied the
conquest of Constantinople. The Greeks were convinced that even the Turks, had they taken the city, would not
have been as cruel as the Latin Christians. The defeat of Byzantium, already in a state of decline, accelerated
political degeneration so that the Byzantines eventually became an easy prey to the Turks. The Fourth Crusade
and the crusading movement generally thus resulted, ultimately, in the victory of Islam, a result which was of
course the exact opposite of its original intention."
Page 6110
happen again and for the last time in 145312). In an act of apocalyptic dimension,the Crusaders laid waste to
the largest,wealthiest, and most educated and sophisticated Christian city in history. The European Crusaders
destroyed its art and architecture, ripping it apart for its gold and jewels. The Venetians had better appreciation
for the stuff;they carted it home. Their most famous prize, of course, was the four bronze horses placed atop
the chapel of San Marco.
The vast landscape of the Byzantine Empire was then divvied up among Venice and the other Crusade
leaders. Only a remnant(which included Constantinople)was preserved as a new"Latin Empire"to replace the
Byzantine Empire. Emperor Dandolo thereafter took this title for himself and his successors: "Lord of Three-
Eighths of the Roman Empire." With its new territories, Venice was soon transformed into a maritime empire.
The Latin Empire lasted but 56 years, propped up by gifts from European monarchs and loans from Venetian
bankers. The last of the Latin Emperors, Baldwin II, made ends meet by stripping the copper from his palace
roof. Near the end,he pawned Constantinople's most precious relic—Jesus's Crown of Thorns—to Venetian
merchants. The pawned crown was then redeemed by St. Louis(King of France)who built the Sainte-Chapelle
in Paris to house it. It now resides in nearby Notre Dame. It survived the fire.
Venice's attachment to the sea dates, of course,to its origin. Since the year 1,000 it has commemorated that
connection 6n the day of the Feast of the Ascension. That ceremony was rendered quasi-sacramental in 1177,
when Pope Alexander III visited the city,took a gold ring off his finger, and presented it to Doge Ziani saying:
"Take this, O Ziani, which you and your successors will use each year to marry the sea, so that posterity knows
that the lordship of the sea is yours, held by you as an ancient possession and by the right of conquest, and that
the sea was placed under your dominion, as a wife is to her husband."
More cynical English observers have suggested the city's glory days are over and that its marriage is ruined.
On Grand Tour in 1770, John Moore said: "Certain it is the time has been, when the Doge had entire
possession of, and dominion over, his spouse; but for a
considerable time past her favours have been shared by several
other lovers." Another Englishman, poet Thomas Gray,wrote
simply in his journal: "Next to Venice by the 11`h of May, there to
see the old Doge wed the Adriatic Whore." The disdainful English
can say such things, but people still flock to Venice for the
ceremony. Today it is the mayor of Venice who conducts the
annual ring toss from a ceremonial barge named Bissona
Serenissima. That is a lot of gold rings-1,020 to be precise.
There is more to tell. But I will pause here, for the sake of my
weary readers.13
Andy and Casey Report
Andy and Casey are healthy and happy in Boulder, Colorado.
They just moved to a gorgeous new apartment, in which both are
working remotely. Andy's law practice is thriving despite the
pandemic. Miraculously, Casey's event planning company has
pivoted to meet the new demand for virtual events. (These high-
tech extravaganzas are no Zoom meetings.) Casey and Andy take
full advantage of the beautiful place in which they live, spending
12 Fatally weakened by the Crusades, Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks 250 years later. "As was the
custom, Sultan Mehmed II allowed his victorious troops to sack the city of Constantinople for three days. They
found little wealth, but many people to kill, capture, rape, or enslave." Madden, Venice—A New History.
13 These historical reports fit together. If anyone suffers this one and wishes to bear another, I can provide
the lot by email. For further reading, I recommend: John Julius Norwich,A History of Venice; Roger Crowley,
City of Fortune: How Venice Ruled the Seas;Thomas F. Madden, Venice—A New History; Garry Wills,
Venice: Lion City—The Religion of Empire; Roger Crowley,Empires of the Sea; and a blogger named Simon
Nichelson. And don't forget Wikipedia—to which you should donate.
Page 71 10
every free moment climbing,hiking, or skiing those mountains. Still no grandchildren, but key progress
towards domestication—a new puppy. And a fine one at that. Young Breck, an English Retriever, is named
after their fave ski resort, Breckenridge.
Chris and Karen Report
Karen has been my strength, my joy, and my bedrock through this pandemic. Long before that, actually.
But it sure became more apparent. Our worlds together are reduced to long dog walks and evenings curled up
by the fire with tea and books. Our idea of a"date"is a trip to the grocery store, which I never imagined could
be so captivatingly fascinating.
Our lives were once filled with opera, Shakespeare, lectures, cinema, and
travel. A quiet night at home together was a treat. We have rather a lot of those
nights now. Indeed, all of them. And,thank God, we have Zoom. In addition
to cherished family"get togethers,"Karen has zoomed to her weekly writing
class,a Duke Field Hockey reunion,a Tulane Law School reunion, and an
eclectic collection of Osher classes(e.g.,Virgil's Aeneid,nuclear policy, and
planetary exploration).
The pandemic has been so much harder on others. We have each other, and
we have grown closer—to each other and to our family. I find myself spending
far more time communicating with people, often using a pen. Working from
home has been a joy, actually. Karen likes it, and the dogs are in heaven.
Our once grand dinner parties have been replaced by equally elaborate �
dinners for two—with delivery to our lockdown neighbors. It is a blessing that .
we both love to
' cook. That is the t1
silver lining;we have never eaten so well. Our
dinner parties are now virtual,with preparations
appearing on Facebook and collected in a
constantly changing Meyer Lockdown Cookbook
' which now has a substantial following. Email me
if you'd like to be added.
Meanwhile my law practice has never been
busier or more fulfilling. Thanks to fantastic
clients, it's been so busy that I haven't had time to
., slow down and"enjoy the pandemic." Indeed, I
- i didn't have a spare moment to begin writing this
- —� letter until after Christmas—though I've been
} reading history and collecting notes since the
pandemic began.
I took this picture of Andy and Karen (with the hotel cat)
after breakfast at Hotel Giorgione in Venice where we
spent five idyllic days—on Andy's Grand Tour in 2013
where he met Casey.
There you have it. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! Likewise, Feliz Navidad, Happy
Hanukkah, Ramadan Kareem,Joyful Kwanzaa, Cheerful Winter Solstice, or none of the above, all respected by
our Constitution. Our best to you all!
CHRIS & KAREN MEYER
3443 S. Millspur Way ♦ Boise, Idaho 83716
chrismeyer@givenspursley.com ♦ blackiecat22@yahoo.com ♦ www.givenspursley.com 15458325_96
c 81 10
Moroccan Lamb Stew
Ingredients 8 Servings
Marinade:
Whole leg of Iamb (with the bone, if possible) If using whole leg (on the bone), you will need one
leg with bone (5 '/2 lbs.). If using boneless, start
with about 4 '/4 lbs. This will produce 3+ lbs.
cubed meat after trimming).
Orange juice 4+ cups juice (enough to cover the meat
Garlic (minced) % cup minced garlic from jar
or about 10 cloves of garlic
Good olive oil 4 Tbs . (added to marinade)
Brown:
Onions (coarsely chopped and browned) 1 onion
Stew:
Ground ginger (dried in jar is fine). If using 1 Tbsp. (dried ginger)
fresh ginger, peel the skin, then grate with fine a whole ginger if using fresh
cheese grater.
Saffron '/4 tsp. or so
Nutmeg (preferably whole, rated) 'h Tbsp. or nut
Crushed red pepper flakes aka red chili flakes 1 '/4 Tbs no more! This is plenty of heat
Turmeric '/z Tbs .
Salt 'h Tbs .
Pitted dates 11 oz. (reserving '/3
Pitted prunes (sometimes sold as driedplums) 7 oz. (reserving '/3
Chicken stock 14 oz. or less
Add fruits after 3 hours:
Pitted prunes '/3 of the prunes
Pitted dates '/3 of the dates
Add in last 30 minutes:
Honey or L le's Golden Syrup 2 Tbs .
Cinnamon 1 'h Tbs .
Slivered almonds About 1 oz. half of 2.25 oz. package)
Fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped '/4 cup or more (use what you have
Yogurt topping& sesame seeds:
Plain Greek yogurt 16 oz.
Fresh mint, finely chopped 1 Tbs .
Toasted sesame seeds A nice sprinkle
Equipment: This quantity is too large to fit into my largest tagine, so I use a very large Le Creuset
Dutch oven or Romertopf. I use a couple of cast iron frying pans to brown the Iamb—two pans speed
things up. (These will be hard to clean up, but non-stick frying pans will produce inferior browning.)
Or you may brown them in the same Dutch oven as used for the stew.
Marinate the Lamb:
Cut Iamb off the bone and cut into large bite-size pieces (1 x 2 inches). You may ask the butcher to
do this for you. Optionally, the butcher can cut through the bone with the meat on it, so that some of
the pieces will have bone attached.
Either now or tomorrow you will need to go through the tedious process of removing the fat and gristle
from each piece of Iamb. (This is a 25 minute job that will result in nearly 2 lbs. of"waste" meat for a
large leg. You may cook that for the dogs, or discard.) Put Iamb pieces (and bone), minced garlic,
and olive oil in the Dutch oven (or other large non-metallic container). Add enough orange juice to
cover the Iamb. Cover and let sit in refrigerator overnight.
Pauye 9110
Spice the Marinade:
Remove the Iamb pieces from the marinade. Save the marinade! Add the spices to the marinade
and mix well. (This could be done later, but it is hard to blend the spices after the browned lamb has
been added back into the crowded pot.)
Brown the Lamb:
If you have not already removed the fat & gristle,
do so now. Heat two cast iron frying pans to
highest possible temperature. Brown the Iamb in _
small batches (about 6 pieces) with a drizzle of T
olive oil at extremely high temperature for 60
seconds on one side. Turn once and brown for
another 60 seconds (less for very small pieces).
Then quickly remove them and go on to the next
batch, adding olive oil and letting the pan return to
high temp before adding more. Don't try to brown
on all sides or you will end up with over-cooked
Iamb. Key is very hot pan, small batches. Don't
cook, just brown. The browned Iamb may be
returned to the pot with the spiced marinade.
Brown the Onions:
Chop onions into large chunks. Brown in olive oil
in frying pan. Get it nice and brown (about 5
minutes). Add them to the pot with Iamb and 1
marinade.
Prepare the Stew:
Combine in large Dutch oven or Romertopf: The
spiced marinade, the Iamb, the Iamb bone with
any fat removed, the browned onion, % of the
dates, 2/3 of the prunes. Add chicken stock as
needed to completely cover the Iamb. Cover and
cook in oven for 5-7 hours at 2500 (very slow When traveling, Karen and I always order the Moroccan Iamb
oven). (Do not exceed 7 hours. Plan for when stew. This one in Paris was as good as we tasted in Morocco:
dinner will be served, not when guests arrive.) L'Etoile Morocaine, 56 Rue Galilee (near I'Arc de Triomphe).
Lamb should be very tender.
After 3 Hours of Cooking:
Add reserved portion of prunes and dates. (This way, some of the prunes and dates are cooked to
smithereens; they just blend in and add flavor. The ones added now will still be recognizable.) If
stew is too soupy or too spicy, remove lid during last couple hours. Both the water and the heat from
the red chili flakes will dissipate.
Last 30 Minutes of Cooking:
Add the cinnamon, honey or Lyle's Golden Syrup, cilantro, and almonds. Before serving, remove the
Iamb bone (if not attached to the Iamb).
Yogurt Topping:
Make topping of Greek yogurt mixed with mint.
Plating:
Serve with couscous on side. After plating, sprinkle stew with toasted sesame seeds. Then top with
a dollop of minty yogurt topping.
Source: Ali Baba came to me in a dream and told me to read the recipe in Wine Spectator
magazine. Over the years, I have manipulated that recipe a great deal. That magazine recipe has
been lost, and, at this point, only Allah knows what it said.
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