Eine tolle Geschichte kann man auf dnews lesen   Mit einer mysteriösen Serie von WC-Vandalismus schlägt sich derzeit die Fluggesellschaft Cathay Pacific herum. In nur elf Tagen hat es drei Zwischenfälle mit verstopften Toiletten gegeben. In zwei Fällen konnte nur eine geringere Zahl an Passagieren in das Flugzeug als geplant, da die Hälfte der Toiletten verstopft war. Eine Maschine musste ihren Flug sogar abbrechen. Die Ursache konnte bisher nicht herausgefunden werden.

Die “Simpsons” sind für Schweizer einfach zu anarchisch. In der Schweiz wird deshalb künftig vor jeder Folge eine Warnung ausgestrahlt – die Serie sei für Kinder unter zwölf Jahren nicht geeignet. Das teilte der Ombudsmann des Schweizer Fernsehens, Achille Casanova, in einer Stellungnahme mit. Auslöst wurde das durch  die Beschwerde einer Zuschauerin. Sie hatte sich an der Gewalt und Pornografie der “Simpsons” gestört. Der Forderung die “Simpsons” erst nachts zu senden kam man nicht nach.

Ich vermute dass Deutschland bald nachziehen wird.

Since watching the movie Ratatouille I have wanted to make ratatouille! The rat sold me on a vegetarian dish! When I saw it in one of my cookbooks it had to be made.

Ratatouille (adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s “Fast Food”)

Ingredients
1 large red onion
1 small eggplant
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 large zucchini
1 garlic clove
1 can diced tomatoes
2 small tomatoes (recipe suggests cherry tomatoes, they didn’t have them at the store)
Sprigs of thyme
Sea salt and black pepper
Olive oil
Basil leaves (optional)

Directions

Chop the vegetables into bite size pieces (keeping them separate is suggested here, I didn’t). Heat the olive oil in a large pan and sauté the red onion with the thyme sprigs for a couple minutes.

Add the eggplant, red and yellow peppers and garlic. Sauté for a minute then add the zucchini and sauté for a few minutes.

Add the can of diced tomatoes and a splash of water. Add the diced tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Cook for 8- 10 minutes until the vegetables are tender.

Season with sea salt and pepper. If using basil add it here.

I had a piece of bread with it. Just lovely!

Das waren noch Zeiten wo die Menschen entweder wussten wie sie von A nach B kommen oder notfalls in einer Karte nach schauten. Heute geht das nicht mehr. Heute hat man im Auto ein GPS-Navigationssystem, selbst wenn man nur täglich zur Arbeit oder mal zum Supermarkt fährt.

Für Fußgänger gibt so etwas auch, aber da könnte bald die Zeit der sprechenden Geräte “gehen sie nun rechts herum..” vorbei sein. Denn im Straßenlärm hört man die nette weibliche Stimme vielleicht gar nicht. In Japan hatte man den Einfall: Das Ohren-Zupf-Navi. Muss man nach rechts gehen, dann wird man am rechten Ohr gezupft und wenn man links gehen soll, wird man links gezupft. Das die In-Ohr-Kopfhörer vielleicht herausfallen könnte man als Manko ansehen.

Am Design will man noch arbeiten, aber bestimmt laufen bald viele Menschen mit so einem Ding durch die Gegend. Wie konnte man sich nur früher in die richtige Richtung  fortbewegen und navigieren?

Ungefährlich ist es nicht in London sein Auto auf diese doppelte durchgezogene Linie am Straßenrand zu parken. Diese Linie bedeutet nämlich absolutes Parkverbot. Michael Raphel hielt sich nicht am 7. November 2009 an die diese Regel und parkte seinen Honda in einer Seitenstraße im Halteverbot. Nun war aber diese Seitenstraße in der nähe von Downingstreet Nr 10 und am nächsten Tag sollte in der Gegend eine Parade stattfinden. London ist ja toll mit Kameras überwacht und die Polizei sah das Auto und einen Farbigen der davon wegrannte. Ja, Michael rannte zur Themse, weil das Schiff wo eine Geburtstagsparty stattfinden sollte bekommen wollte.

Als er von der Feier zu seinem Auto zurück kam, war es von einer Spezialeinheit mit zwei Sprengsätzen aufgesprengt worden. Das kann schon mal passieren und die Polizei gab dazu keine Stellungnahme ab. Michael beziffert den Schaden auf 18.000 Pfund, nur die Versicherung wird wohl nicht zahlen, weil der Honda im Parkverbot stand. Dabei hat er soch Glück gehabt, denn 2005 hatte man einen farbigen Brasilianer in London erschossen der gerannt war, Die Polizisten wurden nie verurteilt.

Da sind Sie in Deutschland völlig falsch. Von wegen kinderfreundlich. Laut einer Umfragen bei Vermietern  Die beliebtesten Mieter sind Paare ohne Kinder uns Rentner-Paare. Dann kommen Singles und am unbeliebtesten sind Alleinerziehende und WGs. Letztere haben nur eine Chance von 3 Prozent. Paare mit Kinder rangieren bei 24 Prozent. Warum wundert mich das nicht?

A couple of nights ago was “Monk’s” birthday dinner.  Because we just recently had “Jazzy” and the effort and pain associated with childbirth are still fresh in her mind, “Monk” chose to honour her Mom on this particular day.  “Monk’s Mom”  didn’t want to go out to eat, instead she wanted to have prime rib at home, so that was my mission, if I so chose to accept it.

“Monk’s Mom” had a 3″  bone in rib steak that was perfect in size  for the three of us.  “Godfather” left his blowtorch at my house the other day, so I quickly torched the prime rib, seasoned it generously with Montreal Steak Spice and I put it into a 225 degree oven.  At  that point I scoured the fridge for things to use up.  One of my pet peeves is having a cluttered fridge and freezer, so a lot of times when I cook at home, it’s about utilization.  In a perfect world, I’d love to shop daily for fresh ingredients and only buy what we need for the day.  The reality is, particularly with a  newborn in the house, “Monk” shops for a few days at a time and freezes things as she sees fit.

On this particular search and destroy fridge clean up mission, I found half a zucchini, a Japanese eggplant, half a cucumber, half an onion, a red pepper, a melange of herbs, some balsamic vinaigrette, enoki mushrooms, button mushrooms and a few other odds and ends.  In the freezer, we found some deer steaks, dried mixed mushrooms and veal stock.  ”Monk” really wanted me to cook this mystery deer meat, so I quickly marinated it with some garlic, thyme, soy and Worcestershire sauce and planned on pan searing them when the prime rib was ready.   I also decided to make a mushroom jus for the deer steak and used up all the dried and fresh mushrooms we had in the house.  The sauce was super simple, a little red wine, some aromatics and a little truffle essence at the end.

Fridge clean up ratatouille

All the left over veggies were screaming ratatouille to me.  They were yelling; “Save us… make us into something delicious and special.  We don’t want to die slowly in your perfectly organized fridge.”   I quickly diced all the vegetable, prepped  some garlic and onions and then realized I had no tomatoes.  You can’t have ratatouille without tomato.  I did find some Old El Paso salsa in the pantry and decided to use that as my tomato component to bind all the veggies together.  I must say, when it was all done, the ratatouille tasted pretty good and you never would have guessed there was store-bought salsa in it.

Nuked potatoes with "facon bits" and sour cream. I'm not remotely embarrassed!

“Monk’s Mom” also really likes baked potatoes, so I baked a few off (I cheated, I actually used the microwave, I had the oven low for the prime rib).  We topped them with lots of sour cream, scallions, Maldon sea salt and fake bacon bits.  I know, I know, I know.  Talk to “Monk”, it wasn’t my idea.  I actually had three packs of bacon in my freezer, but she wanted the soy product, pseudo, bacon food stuff.  Apparently, it’s all about the texture.    Listen, I’m no snob, I sprinkled my fair share of “facon bits” on my potato.

Slow cooked prime rib, some with Stilton!

When the rib hit 130 degrees, I pulled it out, rested it for about twenty minutes and then carved it up.  The meat was perfect, completely pink throughout.  Slow cooking your beef is definitely the way to go.  We had some Colston Basset Stilton left over from the previous evening’s festivities, so “Monk” requested some melted blue cheese on her meat.  You got to love a girl who likes blue cheese with her beef.  I also quickly seared the deer steaks that were marinating and they turned out surprisingly tender and tasty.

All and all, not a “fancy schmancy” meal by any means, but “Monk” was happy, “Monk’s Mom” was happy, “Jazzy” was happy, so therefore I was happy.  That’s my job, making people happy.

Hoy vamos a preparar un típico Pisto Manchego con huevos fritos:

Ingredients for 4 people:
- 6 eggs
- 4 large ripe tomatoes
- 2 large onions
- 2 fleshy green peppers
- 2 medium-sized courgettes
- 1 red pepper
- 100g cured ham in small pieces (optional)
- virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon of sugar salt

Pisto Manchego

Preparation
Peel the onions; remove the stalks and the seeds from the peppers; scrape some of the peel off the courgettes without actually peeling them and scald the tomatoes to remove the skins. Then cut all these vegetables into cubes. Put a deep frying pan or earthenware dish on the heat. Cover the base with oil and sauté the ham, if you want to add this to the dish. Add the onion and the peppers and lightly fry everything for about 8 minutes, without stopping stirring with the skimming ladle. Add the courgette and, when this is also cooked, add the tomatoes. Mix well and allow the ratatouille to cook over a low heat for about another 20 minutes. Ten minutes before the end, put in a little sugar to counteract the acidity of the tomatoes and salt, to taste.

Presentation
Serve in a dish, with the eggs fried around it, or in the earthenware dish, with the eggs solidified in the oven. In the latter case, you will have to put the ratatouille in for the last few minutes with the eggs on top until the whites solidify and it is ready to serve.

Category: First course
Preparation time: 1 hour
Season: All year

Der Riesen-Penis des Bildhauers Peter Lenk an der Fassade des taz-Gebäudes wird abgebaut. In einer Mitteilung der taz-Spitze heißt es: “Der Vorstand hat beschlossen, dass die Fassadengestaltung von Peter Lenk wieder abgebaut wird. Dies soll bis spätestens zum 4. Januar 2010 geschehen.“

Die klammheimliche Freude auf dem Blog des Bild-Chefredakteur Kai Diekmann kann man ebenso wenig übersehen, wie den Penis an der taz-Fassade.

I’m not a vegetarian, but I have a vegetarian boyfriend (and an aversion to all things Thanksgiving). I’m going to his parents’ house for the holidays this year and, luckily, they’re tolerant of nontraditional main dishes, so we’re going to experiment a little.

The stereotypical veg main dish for Thanksgiving is, of course, Tofurky, but this has always seemed like one of the most disgusting foods on the planet to me. If you’re a vegetarian, the object is to refrain from eating meat, correct? So why exactly would you want to scarf down something that’s supposed to imitate the texture and taste of a plump, perfectly roasted turkey? I get that some vegetarians don’t mind the taste of meat and went veg for other reasons, but still. Tofurky will remain a bizarre mystery to me, and I’m fine enjoying a meal without it, thankyouverymuch.

So if you’re not going to bake up a delicious vat of Tofurky, then what?

Well, you have zillions of options. You could make a fancier-than-usual veg stir-fry featuring a killer marinade and sautéed pieces of tofu, textured soy protein, or nuts and legumes. Personally, though, I prefer the casserole route—this might be because I’m from the Midwest, but I just find casseroles so comforting and perfect for chilly weather. Ratatouille, vegetable lasagna, baked pasta with butternut squash, spanakopita, veggie gratin, and veggie chili are all excellent choices that I guarantee will make the meat-eaters at your table drool.

If you want to go for something even fancier, don’t hold back. Autumn gourds and squashes are absolutely perfect for stuffing, and you could bust out something like stuffed butternut squash with whole wheat, wild rice, and onions. The New York Times recommends this mushroom and pear bread stuffing, which can easily be converted to veg form by leaving out the pancetta and subbing a flavorful vegetable broth for the turkey stock. If you feel like something really comforting, go for this smoked cheddar soufflé, which looks light-as-air and severely delicious.

Even though I hate most Thanksgiving foods, I haven’t lost my taste for pumpkin pie, so I recommend topping things off traditionally—but with a twist. Try vegan pumpkin pie to get an even richer pumpkin flavor, or go classy with Gourmet’s pumpkin tart with an anise-seed crust. Yum, yum, and yum some more. Pass the meatless dishes, please!

Das ist natürlich eine weltbewegende Frage ob der Frontmann von Aerosmith wieder high ist. Zumindest glauben das seine Kollegen oder es ist schlichtweg ein wenig Promotion. So sei es möglich das  Steven Tyler “irrationales Verhalten” ein Indiz für erneute Drogenprobleme des Frontmanns sein könnten, “die Isolation sehr typisch für Abhängige”. Wenn man sich so eine Mühe gibt um in der Klatschpresse zu landen, sollte das mit einem Video belohnt werden:

Das erste Männerhaus der Schweiz wird es ab 10.Dezember 2009 im Kanton Aargau mit dem Namen “ZwüscheHalt” geben. Das Angebot  richtet sich an Männer die vor der häuslichen Gewalt ihrer Fau flüchten müssen. Aber auch an Väter richtet sich das Angebot die die vom Eheschutzrichter angewiesen werden, innerhalb von drei Tagen ihr Hab und Gut zusammenzupacken, die Kinder zu verlassen und auszuziehen. In dieser kurzen Zeit finden sie meistens keine neue Wohnung. Tja, wer hätte jemals gedacht das so etwas benötigt wird?

I am a sucker for stews and cassoulets. Really, anything that combines veggies and wine and meat and makes a melange of all things savory.

Ratatouille is a dish that’s made up of coin-sized chunks of eggplant and peppers and zucchini and tomato.

If you are having a day where you need to fill yourself back up, I highly recommend this Gratatouille.

The difference between Ratatouille and Gratatouille is that you count a blessing with every veggie slice. As you add each slice to your skillet, you think of something that you are grateful for. You may start out with big things or small things. Anything you’d like. You will have at least 50 blessings in your pan.

And then, as you eat them, they go back in you, all of these blessings. For as grateful as you are for your life, many people are grateful to you for gracing their lives.

Here’s Julia Child’s Recipe.

I add a layer of braised lamb. Or I sprinkle cheese over the top and broil it.

If it’s late, you can always forego the recipe and just count your blessings instead of sheep.
Here’s how Bing Crosby did it…

Wer kennt den Witz nicht, der gerne in Blogs erzählt wird? Bundestagsabgeordnete sind alte Herren mit Kugelschreiber die keine Ahnung vom Internet und moderner Technik haben. Hier irren sich die Blogger aber gewaltig, denn ca. 115 Bundestagsabgeordnete kauften sich Luxus-Füller für 68.000 Euro, natürlich aus Steuermitteln. Der Bund der Steuerzahler fand das gar nicht lustig und verlangt die Rückgabe des Geldes. Das war allerdings schon voriges Jahr. Dieses Jahr wird man auf solch ein Weihnachtsgeschenk auch nicht verzichten, denn wenn man das Geld nicht ausgibt geht es zurück an die Staatskasse.

"Der Pimmel ist auch eine Frage der inneren Pressefreiheit!" - Alles klar. Foto: taz

Der Penisstreit um das Objekt von Bildhauer Paul Lenk an der Front taz-Gebäude scheint in eine neue Dimension erreicht zu haben. Gestern noch hatte der Bild-Chef-Redakteur im Tagesspiegel erzählt das er nichts gegen das Kunstwerk “Friede sei mit Dir” unternehmen werde und heute wurde eine gefälschte Sonderausgabe der taz vor dem taz-Cafe in Rudi-Dutschke-Strasse verteilt. Die taz vermutet das ihr “Neu-Genosse” Kai Diekmann von der Bild dahinter steckt. Das kann also noch lustig werden.

Every 6 weeks or so, it seems, we take a weekend or trip outside the confines of Walla Walla—this time it was to Eugene, Oregon, where one of Susanne’s oldest friends lives. We were ready for fun, good conversation, and even the potential of hunting in the woods for chanterelles.

I’ve never mentioned it before, but there’s a part of I-84 that weirds me out a little. A miles-long tree farm. It’s not that I don’t support the tree growth—I definitely do. It’s not that it take 10 minutes, at 70 miles an hour, to get past all of the trees, since I’ve driven by thousand acre woods many times before. It’s the regularity of the planting, the perfect squared distance between each tree, so that they’re plotted out on a grid, should you have the opportunity to see them from above. They look like alien-planted trees. As a person who grew up near several wooded areas, it seems weird to me that to ride my bike through these woods, I’d have to go in a straight line. That’s just . . . somehow harrowing. Driving past, the trees all start to drag on my peripheral vision. Row after row after row after row, they all point at the sky in brown-gray lines that start to resemble actual aliens. And then my head turns, just a little, because now I’m half-sucked into my deciduous voyeurism, and I notice that every so often, the space between rows is marred by one or a few fallen trees. Imperfection in the grid! Whew! And then I can get back to driving.

It’s possible I’ve lost my mind.

Anyway, we made it past the mindtrap of I-84 and continued on into first Portland, turning left to pass the state capitol, and then tucked into Eugene about an hour after dusk. It was difficult, in the dark, to get a sense of Eugene, especially from the highway, but it seemed to be the same splayed out street and residential design of Portland. Heck, it has a Trader Joe’s. Any city with a Trader Joe’s is A-OK in my book.

Susanne’s friend and her husband were happy to see us, but this moment of welcome was quickly supplanted by the greeting from their kitten, Ruby, who cantered over to us and began thoroughly sniffing our feet, ankles, and baggage. I half-wondered if she wasn’t one of the new covert drug-sniffing cats of the National Security Agency. Okay, okay, there are no such drug-sniffing cats. But heck, there could be. So she rubbed herself on us as we sat down to relax, which made me wonder: after 6.5 hours of sitting down driving, why am I sitting down to relax?

It was great to catch up; we discussed dining options and agreed to venture to Ratatouille for dinner. I kept waiting for a cute animated mouse to bring me soup, but it never happened. The all-vegetarian fare was enjoyed by all of us, 3 of whom are ex-vegetarians. I was annoyed at their idea of hummus, however. Just because chick peas are pureed and in a bowl doesn’t mean you can call it hummus—while these were supposed to be takes on the traditional preparation, they were a bit too far gone for me to hold them in the same category as hummus anymore. Or perhaps merging cilantro and garbanzo beans is good in its own right, but when I think hummus, I don’t think, “let’s have some cilantro!”

Dinner was tasty, and I appreciated that anyone would focus on creative vegetable dishes without a ton of accompanying pretense. What I was going to find out shortly, in fact, was that Eugene really doesn’t have much pretension, if it has any at all. We went next to Off the Waffle, a fairly new establishment that was just voted Eugene’s Best New Restaurant. Once again, category names don’t mean much, as Off the Waffle is a restaurant like one’s neighborhood chocolate shop is a restaurant, but I recognized I need to adopt more of the west coast laid back attitude. And I’m certainly not saying they weren’t the most ridiculously tasty waffles I’ve ever eaten. It was a quirky little storefront on the ground floor of a house, with a variety of savory and sweet versions of the Belgian liege waffle, a yeasted batter that they make with pearl sugar so they come out of the press puffy and caramelized. We sat on an old leather sectional sofa and ate out of our 100% recycled paper containers like jackals over a fresh kill. On all sides of us were the brown bags the owners use for the plain waffles—people walk in and out all day, ordering plain waffles to take home or to work, clutching the warm waffles and crinkling the bags in joy. But the bags on the wall are for decoration, each with the scribblings of some customer who was pleased enough to leave a happy, if not idiosynratic, note on the wall. It was like sitting in a room of non sequitors.

At that point, we were stuffed, so we trundled back to Susanne’s friends’ home, where the kitten was extremely pleased to see the return of her four scratching posts. And then there was Saturday.

Django and Emile, eating foods taken from garbage.

For me, Ratatouille is easily the best movie. This is Brad Bird’s best yet. Its plot is very simple, yet brilliant when it’s mixed up with the idea of a rat who got what it takes to be the best chef. I also fall in love with the animation. It’s fantastic. The objects texture, the drawings, the furs. Not to mention, the best angles and composition yet in an animation movie. It’s just so colorful, detailed and alive. I was like watching moving paintings, which is so full of art sense. Even you may be overwhelmed by just watching how the rat’s heart beats.

The story is one of the most original scripts. It’s very solid with humor that’s not pushed over the limit. It’s classic in many other ways. The character development is also one of the best in Pixar’s. The director once again succeeds to build characters that are gray, not the typical black or white characters as seen on many other children movies. And I’m personally in love with Remy! Remy is talk-active, smart, enthusiastic, passionate, perfectionist, but also a bit cocky, pushy, crafty.

Remy’s father, Django is against the idea of getting too close to humans. From his point of view, humans are dangerous. But Remy thinks the other way. Humans are interesting. “They create,” said Remy. Having the differences in opinions, Remy often has fights with his father. I still remember how Django warned Remy of how dangerous the human world is for rats.

Django: This is the way things are. You can’t change nature.
Remy: Change is nature, Dad. The part that we can influence. And it starts when we decide.

(This is the part when Remy turns to leave Django)

Django: Where are you going?
Remy: With luck, forward.

Remy’s so rich and natural in his character. For me, he’s also one of the best Disney’s character because of his heroic thing. There aren’t many Pixar’s movies who have the identical ideation as other previous Disney’s character, but Remy has it. From time to time, Disney’s characters always tend to be different and be something or someone that stands out in the crowd, and against all odds. And that idea of being different is brilliantly drawn in Remy, that I don’t see also being drawn that brilliantly in any other Pixar’s character (except maybe WALL-E).

Remy's watching Gusteau in TV, while holding a small jar of saffron. I love this frame so much cause it shows perfectly how much passion Remy has to create new things. It inspires me to do the best with my talents.

I also love Emile. He’s with his tummy is so cute. And speaking about cuteness, the rest of the rats are also very cute, with their tiny bright sparkling eyes. Yes, as I said, if you speak about the animation; the camera angle, the composition, the artworks of the movie are the best ones amongst all Pixar’s movies. It’s just so artistic and delightful.

The quality of the animation is well accompanied with the warming music from The Incredible and Up’s Michael Giacchino. Even besides, the sound editing is very good. All the characters seem to fit the voices. I love how Patton Oswalt voices Remy. Just perfect. Or how Ian Holm voices Skinner. Fantastic.

(The parts below contain spoilers)
But above all the praises, what I like most from the movie is the second half part of the movie which I think, excels in many ways. You are first offered the feel of happiness when Linguini officially owned the restaurant and fired Skinner. Then all of a sudden, there are lots of conflicts like when Remy couldn’t accept the fact that Linguini started to deny his capability, over Colette, Linguini’s girlfriend. It continued as when Remy brought the whole colony to steal foods, that made Linguini really disappointed and said harsh words to him and kicked him away out of the kitchen.

Remy and Linguini figuring out what way they can work together nicely making dishes.

All of the desperation continued when all the gourmet employees quitted their job when they think that Linguini was out of his mind for trusting a rat, and even Colette walked away from him. It’s all in the night when it was the most important night for them and Gusteau’s. Gladly, Colette is an important character so she’s brought back to the whole ending scenes, along with the movie essensial slogan “anyone can cook” which she had believed from the very beginning.

And after all the desperations, out of nowhere, Django gently spoke to Remy in a very fatherly way. And boom! This is the part I’m talking about. It’s when the rats colony get into the kitchen and help to cook. Wow! The feeling I got when watching this part is just overwhelming. Now I can see why they call themselves “a family” and am just so excited to see Remy walked around the kitchen and tasted all the sauces, the cookings and said words such as, “good, too many salt, good”. It’s just so entertaining and at the same time, inspiring. That part is also so hilariously funny, if not the funniest part of the movie. Like when the health inspector got tied up by the rats. LOL.

Linguini and Collette start getting into each other. This is the point where Remy starts to feel he's left behind.

And speaking about this part, it’s concluded with the best ending yet, when Remy cooks Ego ratatouille and afterwards, Ego makes a review about it. The review is really breath-taking.. It speaks about the morality of a critic itself which I think is really genius. How can you criticize a movie that’s concluded with something speaking about the work of a critic itself?

In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The new needs friends.

Last night, I experienced something new, an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source. To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions about fine cooking is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core. In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau’s famous motto: “Anyone can cook.” But I realize, only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere. It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius now cooking at Gusteau’s, who is, in this critic’s opinion, nothing less than the finest chef in France. I will be returning to Gusteau’s soon, hungry for more.

Those lines from Anton Ego are amazing. Peter O’toole just speaks it right, in a perfect manner. Spoken along with the movie’s main theme which is so melodious and romantic, with the sound of accordion and strings, the scene really touched me in a way I could never imagine. I cried (and heavily) when it came to this part. And after watching it 27 times, I still cry when I see this beautiful scene.

Have you ever thought of its meaning? It’s very deep and has a lot of love message, of how you appreciate others, no matter where they come from, or what they are. Spoken wise, a great artist can come from anywhere.

And the fact that the ending has something really related to its own title (Ratatouille) is just superb because not so many movie can save its very own title from the beginning of the story ’till the end, yet make it the bomb for the ending. Like wise saying, save the best for last.

In the end, it leaves us with spirits that “anyone can cook” (but only the fearless can be great!). The spirit of how “a great artist can come from anywhere”. And also some cute memorable moments and an originality that easily mark it the best movie ever made. At least, from my point of view and all the Oscar judges that honored the movie in 2007 with the highest title an animation movie can ever achieve.

In the end, Ratatouille always leaves you with lots of warm feelings, and also with superb 2D animation of the credit title. The whole movie is so artistic, romantic and beautiful in such an elegant simplicity.

It has been two years since then, and I don’t think I will meet another one that can capture my heart like Ratatouille did, and does. And hopefully, will always. (mb)

Una de las películas para niños que más han disfrutado los grandes y sobre todo si pertenecen al mundo de la gastronomía ya que se vemos reflejado muchos de los que trabajamos en los fogones en esta historia, tan tierna como elocuente, en donde una simple ratita “Remy” siente una fuerte atracción por el mundo de la gastronomía y al verse influenciada por los pensamientos de un gran cocinero “Gusteau” (el fallecido Auguste Gusteau) que fue el chef más grandioso de Francia.

Remy, inspirado por el libro de Gusteau en el que dice que “cualquiera puede cocinar”, se lanza a una serie de aventuras hasta recaer en el que fuera el famoso restaurante del extinto chef y allí es que la película y su nombre cobran protagonismo.

Este revuelto de verduras (ni ratauille, ni ratatoulle, ni ratatouile, ni ratatui: ¡ratatouille!) puede ser encontrado en varios países del Mediterráneo y con distintos nombres pero similares ingredientes y técnicas, cual es el verdadero origen nadie lo sabe, tal vez todos se lo disputan. Pero veamos sus recetas y nombres:

¿Qué es la ratatouille?

La “ratatouille” es un guisado de verduras de la huerta, perteneciente a la cocina regional francesa que se originó en Niza, región de Provenza, su nombre completo es “ratatouille niçoise” y la etimología del nombre proviene de dos verbos franceses: “tatouiller” y “ratouiller”, ambos originarios del verbo “touiller” que significa “remover”, “agitar”, que es la operación que se realiza en la elaboración del plato.

Receta de ratatouille (de verduras, claro)

Ingredientes

• 4 zapallitos (zucchini)
• 4 berenjenas
• 4 cebollas
• 2 ajíes verdes
• ½ tomate
• 2 dientes de ajo machacado
• 1 cucharada de tomillo picado
• 1 hoja de laurel
• Sal y pimienta a gusto
• 5 cucharadas de aceite de oliva

Procedimiento

Lavar bien las verduras, corte en tiras o rodajas, quitando nervaduras y semillas del morrón y tomate. Caliente el aceite en una sartén y rehogue allí ligeramente las cebollas, morrón y ajos, por unos 5 minutos. Retire y reserve.

En otro sartén ir rehogando el resto de los ingredientes uno a uno (el tomate dejarlo para lo último), terminar colocando todos los ingredientes juntos, incluido los primeros y el tomate, las hierbas, sal y pimienta y continuar revolviendo hasta su completa cocción.

Otra opción es:

Colocar en el fondo de una fuente para horno el primer rehogado (cebolla, morrón y ajo), cubrirlo con el resto de verduras acomodadas en grupos separados.

Rociar con aceite de oliva, colocar encima el tomillo y laurel, salpimentar y cubrir con una hoja de aluminio o un papel acerado. Llevar al horno y dejar que se cocine con su propio líquido (unos 30 minutos).

Retirar y servir caliente o frió. Se puede consumir solo o acompañando pescados o carnes.

Fuente: www.enplenitud.com

Conforme prometido,aqui está a segunda parte de nosso especial jogar ou assistir,agora com filmes que viraram games.Afinal nada melhor que poder estar na pele do herói daquele filmão que você nunca esquece.E  escolhi alguns jogos que representam bem seus filmes

O Poderoso Chefão

Godfather O game começa quando o pai do protagonista é assassinado por mafiosos rivais e sua mãe pede que Don Vito Corleone cuide de você. Logo nas primeiras cenas , é possível perceber o grau de detalhismo dos personagens. Cada um dos atores foi meticulosamente reproduzido(o realismo dos persongaens é incrivel,quem já viu o filme pode até confudir com cenas do cinema).Os combates se dividem em ataques corpo-a-corpo e armas de fogo. Os golpes físicos são variados. O seu personagem dispõe de uma série de socos e chutes, além de agarrões diversos. Os ataques variam entre joelhadas e até alguns empurrões, só para jogar o oponente no chão. Quase tudo é feito com o analógico direito, como se fosse uma versão simplificada de “Fight Night”.Seria muito difícil reproduzir toda a sensação de um filme como  ”O Poderoso Chefão”,mas esse jogo de play 2 traduz muito bem a temática do filme com um realismo e interatividade impressionantes.

Bad Boys Miami takedown

Miami Takedown permite que jogadores controlem Mike Lowrey(Will Smith) e Marcus Burnett(Martin LAurence) em sua guerra contra traficantes de drogas. O sistema usual de sair dando tiros para todos os lados está representado, com o típico humor do filme (que aliás tm cenas impagáveis). O destaque fica por conta de dois elementos pouco comuns. O primeiro é um sistema de cobertura baseado em pontos especiais para a manobra – apesar disso estar presente em muitos game, o fato de se restringir a determinados locais permite que, com o toque de um botão, o personagem salte bem ao estilo cinematográfico para se proteger. A segunda é um indicador para mostrar se você está sendo um “tira bom” ou “tira ruim”.O jogo segue bem a linha do filme ação pura,muitos tiros,descontração bem Bad Boys mesmo,com missões bem envolventes, pra quem gosta de um bom jogo de ação é um prato cheio.

Harry Potter e o prisioneiro de Askaban

Pela primeira vez, jogadores poderão controlar os amigos Ronny Weasley e Hermione Granger, além do próprio Potter. Cada um deles terá habilidades próprias: além de contar com magias únicas (somente Harry pode invocar um Patronus, por exemplo), cada um deles se especializa em algumas áreas: Harry é o melhor saltador e jogador de Quadribol(acredite é mesmo). Ronny é capaz de ver passagens secretas escondidas e Hermione pode passar por pequenos buracos. O jogador deverá escolher qual dos três amigos será ideal para resolver os desafios e quebra-cabeças do jogo. Em alguns estágios, será preciso combinar suas forças para criar magias mais arrasadoras. Como um brinde, você poderá também controlar a coruja Edwiges em algumas partes da aventura.A principio os jogos de Harry Potter não costumam decepcionar os fãs ( pessoalmente estou longe de ser um fã)Considero esse o melhor filme do bruxo,e por coincidência também o melhor jogo,faz você pensar com nenhum outro jogo da série faz,e levando em conta que estou priorizando as melhores adaptações para os jogos,esse merece lugar.

Ratatouille

Assuma a pele de Remy, um jovem ratinho que sonha em se tornar um grande chef de cozinha francês em Paris – tirando o “ligeiro” problema de se tratar de um rato , assim vivendo alguns dos principais momentos do filme.Os desafios são variados(aliás como costuma acontecer nos games baseados em filmes de animação) passando por provas de culinária até lances típicos do estilo plataforma. As atividades envolvem desde criar pratos elaborados na cozinha até evitar ser visto por inimigos famintos.Dentre os vários jogos baseados em filmes de animação escolhi esse para comentar ,não somente pelo filme (que gostei muito),mas pela jogabilidade do game,acreditem é um jogo muito divertido,você tem muitas mudanças ao longo das diferentes missões.Lembra muito os clássicos de super nintendo,com aventuras bem criativas,nessa área poderia citar o jogo de “Shrek terceiro” e “Hércules”(para play 1 baseado no filme em 2D da disney) que são boas pedidas para quem gosta do gênero animação.

Rocky Legends

O modo principal é um Story Mode onde você leva Rocky Balboa por todas as lutas vistas no filme (inclusive aquelas menos importantes), cada qual na mesma locação utilizada no filme(tem uns becos,muito bem feitos). Os personagens derrotados vão sendo liberados para o Exhbition Mode. E com todos os 20 lutadores dos cinco filmes, até personagens menores como Dipper Brown estarão representados. O estilo de controle está mais próximo do arcade, com comandos simples, além dos combos e golpes específicos de cada lutador( pena que o sistema de controle não seja o mesmo de Fight Night). Para garantir o equilíbrio do game, os lutadores mais fortes porém mais lentos serão bons adversários para os rápidos e fracos.Não podia faltar esse clássico,Rocky Balboa neles,um jogo literalmente para os fãs(como eu) onde você revive as lutas clássicas do ” garanhão italiano”,mas já adianto é um dos jogos mais difíceis que joguei (na verdade ainda estou tentando jogar)no inicio se apanha muito,e mesmo mais pra frente quando encontrar os lutadores mais forte pode ter certeza que vai voltar a apanhar durante um tempo.rsrs

Encerro por aqui esse especial,procurei abordar 5 jogos de gênero diferente(e que fossem bons jogos),pra mostrar que existem muitos jogos legais vindos de filmes (não podemos dizer o mesmo de filme vindo de jogos certo??rs)   Nesse caso você pode assistir e jogar que vale a pena.Então suba no ringue , mostre que é um Bad Boy e chame um chefão para a briga,ele vai tremer como um Rato e ter de apelar pra mágia.

Sigam -me no Twitter Cleber Gio

Seit vielen Jahre schwelt ein Kleinkrieg zwischen der BILD und der taz. Nun gibt es einen Etappensieg für die taz. Sie hat den längsten Schwanz als Wandfries von Peter Lenk an der Fassade der taz in Berlin Der Schwanz gehört zu dem Bild-Chefredakteur Kai Diekmann.

Die Causa Diekmann

Vor sieben Jahren entbrannte zwischen dem Bild-Chefredakteur und der taz ein Streit. Auf der Wahrheit-Seite behauptete ein Kolumnist, Kai Diekmann habe sich einer Penisverlängerung unterzogen. Diekmann klagte, die taz musste den Artikel aus ihrem Archiv nehmen. Mit seinem Schmerzensgeldanspruch jedoch scheiterte der Bild-Chefredakteur.

Seit vergangenem Wochenende ziert das Relief “Friede sei mit Dir” von Paul Lenk das taz-Gebäude in Berlin. Dazu eine Bildergalerie mit den Details des Kunstwerkes.

Der Kleinkrieg geht also in nächste Runde. Über Geschmack lässt sich bekanntlich streiten. Ist das satirische Kunst? Werden das Persönlichkeitsrechte verletzt? Und warum lässt sich die taz auf solch einen Krieg ein? Sollte sie nicht eher durch journalistische Arbeit überzeugen, als durch Provokation? Aber das ist wohl schon seit dem Vorstoß von der taz-Bloggerin Eva klar wohin sich die taz bewegt.

Come join us for the first ever Tufts Culinary Society Movie Night!

courtesy of http://cookieinhand.gnyc.net/

It will be this Thursday, November 19th at 7pm in Olin 12

We will of course be having a lovely selection of food, such as cheese, cheesecake (and by cheesecake, we mean regular cake decorated to look like cheese…) and ratatouille (made by TCS co-president Manuel Guzman, who is French, so he kinda knows what he’s doing). This will be a great way to get to know some of your fellow TCS members or even to check out TCS for the first time… Its also a wonderful way to get free food/procrastinate.

Did I mention there will be a cheese-shaped cake?

]]> http://goombi.wordpress.com/2009/11/16/food-inspiration-monday-n%c2%ba9/ Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:04:20 +0000 GOOMBI http://goombi.wordpress.com/2009/11/16/food-inspiration-monday-n%c2%ba9/

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N.B. When I’m not taking working on my portfolio or taking photographs, you will most likely find me scarfing down food. And if I can’t do that, you will find me drooling on my keyboard while browsing food blogs. Here are a few of my present favourites, complete with selections from the best animation for foodies, Ratoutille. Bon appetit!

MUSIC

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LINKS

First up is David Lebovitz’s self-titled blog, straight from the set of Ratatouille. After reading one post, I couldn’t stop and somehow found myself staring at this particular entry 3 hours later. I think I dreamed of pastries and butter that night. And the night after that.

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Thank you ladyironchef for bringing food porn to us. That’s all I need to say.

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I think calling Keiko, the woman behind Nordlus, a travel food blogger is apt. She does not update frequently, but when she does… oh man, does she post. Wonderfully composed photographs round off her tales that leave us all jealous. But then she gives us amazing recipes, so we’re appeased.

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And where do you go when you want to start a food blog? Food Bloggers Unite, of course! Tips and articles are rounded up into categories for easy browsing. Even if you’re not looking to start a food blog, there is something for everyone.

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