Mary Magdalene? She makes great bagels.
Published:
April 5, 2012 at 9:19am
It’s been some time now since I last entertained you with the sunny delights of the Labour Party’s website, so I popped into Maltastar this morning for a quick look.
I wasn’t disappointed. They gave us a report of the Archbishop’s Way of the Cross procession in Marsa yesterday, and explained how he distributed 500 “apostles’ bagels” to the participants.
Perhaps those apostles bought them off a stall in Brooklyn. Jahasra.
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Maltastar. Giving new meaning to “Lox” (apply poetic licence)
Well, actually…
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120401/local/national-via-crucis-to-highlight-plight-of-refugees.413681
(No surprise there, either.)
Surprise, surprise!
“In Italy, children traditionally receive a big chocolate egg with a prize inside on Easter Sunday.” You don’t say.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120405/world/easter-bunny-drops-in-at-the-vatican.414169
Austerity measures Daphne. I hope the apostles will not have them ‘BLT’, that’s a no no this time of the year.
I suspect Wikipedia is to blame for this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltese_cuisine
“During the Holy Week bakers also bake a large bagel typically studded with some almonds on top called qagħqa tal-appostli (lit. apostles’ bagel). Usually coinciding with the spring,”
To a certain extent the translation of qaghqa to bagel is not totally off the mark as a normal qaghqa is about the same size and shape as a bagel. However the method of cooking is totally different as is the texture of the bagel with its hard glossy surface and chewy inside.
[Daphne – The shape has nothing to do with it. It’s the method that counts in this case. ‘Bagel’ does not signify that the bread is ring-shaped, but that it has been cooked in boiling water, as opposed to being baked. The translation of ‘qaghqa’ is simple and straightforward: ring. Unlike bagel, it refers to the shape and not to the method, hence qaghqa tal-ghasel, qaghqa tal-Apostli, ordinary qaghaq in those cellophane packets and so on.]
Google translate gives up on this word preferring to leave it in Maltese, making it something of an indigenous culinary item. (come to think of it, I haven’t seen it anywhere else either in Europe or North Africa – perhaps other readers could enlighten us).
[Daphne – It’s not indigenous at all. It’s just an ordinary ring of bread with almonds and seeds stuck on the surface. In Malta it’s associated with Easter (special occasion, push the boat out and all that), but bread with nuts is just bread with nuts, really. Also, contemporary versions are awful. The proper Easter bread-ring as I recall it was heavier – not this ridiculous cotton-wool bread – and slightly sweetened, with more nuts.]
On the plus side both the bagel and the apostles are Jewish. So Oy vey! No harm done
hmmm. Not sure i agree with you on this one. Bagels as far as I know are always ring shaped.Also they are boiled and then baked.
[Daphne – Yes, Chris, they’re always ring-shaped, but so are lots of other breads and dough-based foods. What makes a bagel a bagel (as distinct from bread shaped like a ring) is not the shape but the cooking-method, the boiling which results in that chewy texture.]
Re the indigenous food I was referring to the regular qaghqa – the one covered with sesame seed and sometimes has a bit of aniseed thrown in. I don’t think I have seen this anywhere else. I was not referring to the Apostles’ ring.
[Daphne – If you mean those small brown ones, you’ll find them in markets in the Middle/Near East.]
In any case I am not sure that the translating qaghqa as ring is really satisfactory so I personally would rather stick to the original word.
Happy Easter.
Not just the cooking method, Daphne. The ingredients are critical. Most probably original (and existing) bagels contain kosher salt whereas the local wheel bread (or the notorious Apostle Bagel) does not.
I would assume that it contains nuts simply because of the nutritional value of the nut when fasting was de rigour. And, yes, they were heavier and tastier when we were kids – gas/electric ovens are a healthier progression but nothing beats “forn tal-hatab” for baking.
Just fix the wikipedia article, that’s why it’s called “wiki”.
Apostles’ bagels indeed. Now that’s a way of giving this seasonal bread an “urban” twist, as it were.
Does Judas’s bagel come with a money bag?
Queens for best bagels.
Noun: bagel
1. (Yiddish) glazed yeast-raised doughnut-shaped roll with hard crust
[WordWeb.info]
Hey Michael…your photography is stunning!
That is because bagels are Jewish !! and Jesus was a Jew ! so sitta u sitta tnax!!
The beagles should have been complimented by 500 raw fish..Jesus style :)
[Daphne – Beagles are dogs, Doris.]
Well, Apostles hot dogs, then…
Sorry Daphne but I can’t stop laughing
Apologies Daphne, dogs are always on my mind – that’s why I mistook bagels for beagles…don’t blame me I’m a dog fanatic!
Do you also envision 500 raw fish performing a mini-cabaret, complementing the beagles on their bagels, dear Doris?
And the last time I read Mark, which was a very long time ago, it was two fishes for Jesus style.
Wow, x’jirraffinaw tal-Maltastar.
Jien dejjem irreferejt ghalijhom bhala qaghqa tal-Appostli. Mur obsor li kienu Yiddish bagels in disguise.
This reminded me of another woman… a Maltese one. I have just got an email from FAA asking me to buy some Easter stuff in aid of their organisation. I was just wondering whether Astrid Vella does all the work out of the goodness of her heart or whether she is paid a salary. Does anybody know?
She is paid by those who wish to raise an issue or lodge a complaint or protest, so I have been reliably informed.
What is your email address?
[Daphne – dcg@proximuspr.com]
I know i shouldn’t be surprised about this but I was astounded to find the following page on a supposedly serious news website: http://www.maltastar.com/dart/20120405-they-re-all-going-on-an-easter-holiday
How can they be surprised when we don’t take them seriously?
Mhux ahjar they apologise to us? Is Maltastar a news site or a child’s nursery rhyme book?
We had a laugh over this over yesterday evening’s supper consisting in, surprise surprise, “apostles’ bagels”, and hams and cheeses. Well, we did give this humble traditional bread our own twist but certainly they came nowhere close to bagels.
Am still laughing at it.
Maltastar reports that, in Holy Week ‘A myriad of exhibitions of last supper displays and miniature statues representing the Via Crucis are craftily put on show by enthusiasts all over the islands of Malta and Gozo’.
I wonder what’s behind this cunning plan.
Who knows what people at maltastar.com are smoking? It must be good stuff
http://www.maltastar.com/dart/20120408-malta-cave-and-missing-children
Only bagels?
If only the Archbishop had asked, the Labour Party could have supplied all the qassatat needed to sate all the participants of the Via Crucis procession, ten times over.