Vor ein paar Tagen sah ich im Internet eine Abbildung von Scrat, dem putzigen Tierchen aus ICE Age….wer kennt den nicht?!

da hatte ich die Idee und das waghalsige Vorhaben, einen solchen Gesellen zu perlen! jaja, eine echte Herausforderung!

Entstanden ist eine tolle Glasperle, nur gerade ca. 3 cm gross und bis ins kleinste Detail ausgearbeitet.  Etwa eine Stunde habe ich daran gebrannt. Sieht einfach aus, ist aber ganz schön schwer zu perlen, sowas kleines, filigranes!

Aber was währe Scrat ohne seine Eichel?? also musste natürlich auch noch eine solche her!

(zum vergrössern klicken)

und so sieht die Glaperle nun als Schmuckstück aus,verarbeitet ausschliesslich mit Sterlingsilber;

ich habe mich noch nicht entschieden, ob ich das Schmuckstück verkaufen werde, oder nicht.  Es ist ein besonderes Unikat und auch wenn ich sie selbst nicht tragen werde;  einfach nur anschauen ist auch schön

I’m telling you now… you ain’t never heard anything like THIS before…

James Alaska is one of the most marvelous people I’ve ever met. He’s also one of the most persistent musical train spotters I have ever known. In metaphorical terms, his beard of knowledge has grown to such gargantuan proportions that sometimes in bad weather, light aircraft attempt to set down on it. His love of disco knows no bounds and for this, I must salute him. Having played storming sets as a resident at Magnet in the late nineties he then went on to deliver repeated nights of musical passion as one half of the Love Thy Neighbour duo James Shakti & Stuart Principal, between 2001 and 2006 in various salubrious venues in London.

James has now arrived in another age of musical knowledge, having recently completed an MA in Sonic Art, he’s now creating music compositions as part of experimental electronicists Vlk and The Alaska None. The beard situation has worsened. Now, on top of the impromptu run-downs of Chic catalogue numbers and release dates, we are blessed with further knowledge about the source of sound itself. Its bloody mind boggling – so I thought I’d share… brace yourselves.

What we have here is a 10 minute edit of MFSB’s Love is The Message by James (the full piece is a whole 19 minutes long!) called Paradise Dust. If you’re expecting disco, please readjust your head, but consider first that this was generated from disco – from the very essence of our dear godfather of groove Larry Levan:

And here’s what James has to say about his composition – yes, it’s an essay, but if you’re into vinyl, disco, Levan and a bit of musical philosophy, then you should probably trim your beard, grab yourself a cup of tea and settle down to a story. A story about how James found Larry, and Larry found James…

Inspired by the spirit of Gavin Bryars’ ‘The Sinking of The Titanic’ (1969), the composition ‘Paradise Dust’ explores issues surrounding the vinyl record as a sonic medium, cultural artefact and physical object, in relation to the themes of music and memory, decay, and the passage of time.

The piece is part homage to Larry Levan, widely cited as the most influential DJ of all time, who died age 38 in 1992. The piece utilises a vinyl copy of ‘Love is The Message’ by MFSB, which I sampled only after allowing it to be covered with a thick coating of dust; the final, locked groove left playing until the stylus lost touch with the vinyl. I also utilise field recordings made at 84 King Street, SoHo, New York; a site of central importance for the city’s underground dance music scene in the late 1970s and 80s, where the Paradise Garage once stood. Here Levan inspired “an unparalleled reverence” in his devotees – the club’s 15,000 or so members, dancers and fellow DJs.

Larry Levan began DJing in 1971 at the age of 16, but it was at the Paradise Garage from 1977 to 1987 that he had a profound impact of the development of DJing as an art form. Levan lived and worked at the Paradise Garage, literally sleeping in his DJ booth. He was obsessed with perfecting every tiny detail of the environment, spending days fine-tuning the custom made sound system or adjusting and redesigning the lighting rigs.

According to fellow DJ and producer Francois Kevorkian, “outside, insurance men were knocking their knees to Abba and the Bee Gees, dreaming of the coke and celebrity fuelled nonsense of Studio 54. Inside the Garage the original disco family were continuing and amplifying their tribal rituals. At the centre was Levan himself, a DJ who enjoyed such a passionate relationship with the people on his dance-floor that they worshipped him more or less as a god….and for everyone there, it really was the temple, it was sacred ground.”

The Paradise Garage played host to life changing experiences for thousands of people and Levan has become a legend due to his DJing, production and remixing skills. For those of his devotees who remain, they may have fragmented memories, but physical objects, once charged with significance and meaning from that era, also remain somewhere. These are a cultural residue, no longer significant as they once were, in the same way that 84 King Street, no longer the Paradise Garage, remains.

Vinyl records offer us a curious paradox – the more they are heard, the more they decay. Valued, treasured and played, vinyl is a victim of its own form. As David Toop notes in ‘Haunted Weather’ “Record (player) design encapsulates the idea of self destruction in perpetuity. The needle ploughs through the spiralled groove, wearing away at both itself and the message it transmits.”

Records, as sound artist Christian Marclay has pointed out, will almost always have once been, “bought and sold, loved and protected, played and collected.” Yet many years before vinyl began to disappear as the DJ’s primary tool, domestic record collections, victims of technological advancement, began to be discarded, given away, donated to charity shops and relegated to attics and storage spaces. Although occasionally bought up by a few remaining vinyl enthusiasts, the record’s fate more often than not is to fade in significance, at some point the once prized object invariably finds itself on a slow, downward trajectory.

Now the same is true of DJ’s vinyl collections. Replaced by CDs and sophisticated DJing software, attics and charity shops house once treasured records which are destined to fade into obscurity. Yet, rarely is vinyl afforded any kind of definitive final passing. Often these objects are not dumped or destroyed, perhaps due in part to their status as a once valuable object, but nor are they ever esteemed or played again in the way they once were. Fluxus artist Milan Knizak scored, marked and broke records during musical performances in the 1960s, shocking and dismaying his audiences at a time when vinyl was sacred. One can’t help feeling that in our present age, most records sitting in attics, car boot sales, or in one of a handful of the few surviving second hand record shops, would jump at the chance for such a merciful release from their un-dead state. Instead, denied an end, most of them sit unwanted, unheard and ignored, ‘gathering dust’, in a literal or metaphorical sense.

This fading, forgetting and slow decay of vinyl, imbues the object with a certain poignancy. As Josh Davis (DJ Shadow) explained while being interviewed in a warehouse full of records for the ultimate DJ movie ‘Scratch’, “just being in here is a humbling experience to me, because you’re looking through all these records and it’s sort of like a big pile of broken dreams.”

Cultural theorist Theodore Adorno spoke of records as “freezing, this life into itself”, fixing a musical moment “that otherwise would flee”. Toop goes further describing records thus; “a spiral scratch, a gleaming hole into which memories are poured, only to emerge again as ghost voices, life preserved beyond death. Frozen in time within the grooves, a voice, an instrument, becomes the living dead.” It is this sense of suspension or of being frozen in limbo which I’m recreating in this composition.

I significantly chose “Love is the Message” as my source material. Described by Bill Brewster as “the lodestar of New York Disco”, ‘Love is the Message’ was one of Levan’s signature songs, integral to his DJ sets. He produced and remixed several versions of the track for the band MFSB. In a curious echo of Toop and Adorno’s comments on vinyl as a medium which ‘freezes’ and suspends, Levan’s fellow producer Tom Moulton described the track thus; “when I got to certain parts of it, it was like being pushed off a cliff and not falling. Suspended. Because that’s what the song does to you”. Levan is reported to have listened endlessly to the track, telling Moulton that he heard ‘ghost voices’ in the grooves of the record.

Gavin Bryars’ 1969 piece “The Sinking of The Titanic” centres around similar themes, the freezing in time of a musical moment. Bryars’ piece draws out and extends the episcopal hymn “Autumn” which was played by the Ships’ band as the Titanic sank beneath the waves of the Atlantic. Bryars notes the efficiency of water as an acoustic medium, and therefore invites the listener to imagine “The prolongation of the music into eternity”. In the sleeve notes for a 2006 performance of the piece, Bryars also notes the first use of Marconi’s wireless telegraphy in the Titanic’s rescue operation, reporting that one of the rescue ships, the Birma, heard radio signals originating from the titanic, 1 hour and 28 minutes after the ship had finally sunk. Furthermore, Bryars cites Marconi’s belief that “sounds, once generated never die, they simply become fainter and fainter until we can no longer perceive them. Marconi’s hope was to develop sufficiently sensitive equipment… to pick up and hear these past, feint sounds”. I’m employing a similar methodology, a sonic ‘stretching out’ of one of the final records to be played at the Paradise Garage, as if in to some distant musical horizon.

The composition share’s a central parallel with Man Ray’s Elevage de Poussière (Dust Breeding – 1920). By photographing dust which had been purposely gathered on Duchamp’s work in progress ‘The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors, Even’, Man Ray incorporated and appropriated the work of another artist he admired, fashioning a new creation, founded on the obfuscation of another.

By exposing to the air the unsheathed copy of “Love is the message” which was the sound source for this piece, allowing it to gather a thick layer of dust, I’m highlighting my chosen compositional themes through an exaggerated symbolic gesture. Fusing Vinyl’s physicality and status as an object with broader, conceptual issues, this makes for thought provoking listening.

One could say that the layer of dust accumulated on this particular vinyl record is emblematic of the inevitable falling into obsolescence of vinyl as a medium, and of the accompanying slow obscuration of all of the memories embedded within the world’s discarded record collections. By encouraging the dust gathering process, and by featuring and employing it as a compositional device, I attempt to draw attention to the passage of time, making it, and the displacement and fading of those memories by the present, audible.

MFSB? OMFG.

Rich

1. A golden key can open any…thing! Like that lock-box dad has in his room. You know, in the back of his closet. I saw it there. He hid it.

2. Absence makes the…teachers get nervous.

3. If you want a thing done well…get mom to do it.

4. He who lives by the sword…should move next door to something else.

5. Every cloud has…one or two friends they don’t like.

6. Scratch my back and I’ll…feel better.

7. It takes two to…keep mom from knowing who did it.

I have really dry skin, especially this time of year in early winter. The itch can be unbearable. At times, I have been known to scratch my legs until they bleed and still keep scratching. The itch just doesn’t stop. Over the years I’ve tried a lot of different oils, lotions and creams; even prescriptions. Most just make my legs greasy but do nothing to lessen the itch.

I’ve tried gloves and mittens to cover my nails. I’ve cut (or bit) my nails super short. That didn’t help either. I just use something else to relieve the itch (a key, a pen cap, a barrette. It really doesn’t matter what. Just something to use to scratch).

I don’t endorse many products directly on this blog, but simply must share these. So far the best dry skin therapy I’ve tried before this year was Euracin. It’s expensive, but helps somewhat. It also takes awhile to soak in before relieving the itch. Still, it does help relieve the itch.

However, I found something even better this year. It’s also rather expensive, but not as much as Euracin. I found a sample tube in the organic section of the store and tried it right there. Wow! Instant relief! I got a large tube and dropped it in my cart.

My son also has dry skin but not as bad as mine. I found a large pump bottle with similar ingredients for him. I figured since his isn’t as bad as mine, he wouldn’t need as powerful cream. I was right. About 5 minutes after I put some on him today he said “Ahh, no more itchy legs”.

So, what are these wonderful products? The are made by JASON. The one I use is Aloe Vera 84% Hand & Body Lotion in 8oz tube. The one for my son is Aloe Vera 70% All Over Body Lotion in 16 ounce pump.

The pump is a little less expensive even though twice the size. Unfortunately, they are slightly different ingredients so the 70% doesn’t help me. It also has a lavender scent which I don’t care for but he doesn’t mind.

En el sitio web de Eduteka se encuntra disponibles dos documentos realmente valiosos para todos los que enseñamos informática.

1.- El primero trata sobre los algoritmos de programación

2.- Cuaderno de trabajo para la programación en SCRATCH

3.- Módulo de programación para SCRATCH

Thank you, Susan and Dan!

Forget about the hormone injected turkey and the Stovetop stuffing. I don’t need the boxed mashed potatoes, canned green bean casserole with fried onion rings, or the gooey sweet potatoes topped with multi-colored marshmallows. And please do not serve another jell-o salad with canned diced pineapple and cottage cheese.  I don’t like it and I don’t want to eat it again. This is the same menu my family has been making every year for Thanksgiving since I was a child and even before. And I’m sure I’m not the only one in America who had to eat the exact same menu every forth Thursday in November. It’s not that I don’t like these things when they’re made from scratch, but when the definition of scratch means opening up cans of one thing and dumping it into a casserole dish with a packet of this and another can of that–I find it just plain wrong. The food the pilgrims ate did not come from cans, packets, and boxes, so why do Americans believe that by eating this processed food we are honoring the American settlers?

I’m sure I have already offended over half of my family for my blatant dislike for this so-called food. And if the choice is to eat processed food just to visit with family or not go home for Thanksgiving, I would choose to visit with family and eat what is available without a word of disrespect, but why does there have to be a choice? Why not choose to prepare items from their most natural state possible first before grabbing the can opener, or the box? Is it really that much harder to peel some potatoes, put them in a pot of boiling water until tender, drain them and then mash all together with butter, milk, salt & pepper?

I know that we are all busy this year and times are tough all around. We want to save time to be with our family, but also save some money. This Thanksgiving, I propose instead of going for the conveyance of the box, we learn to think outside of it. Only shop the perimeter of the grocery store, leaving the middle lanes alone, and if possible just the vegetable section. Selecting an organic Turkey and making the stuffing using bread from a bakery makes for a fine first step.  Try sautéing some Brussels sprouts in brown butter and serving both sweet potatoes and russet potatoes mashed separately. No need to add tons of brown sugar and a bag of mini marshmallow to make the sweet tubers edible. And, let’s forget about the jell-o salad altogether. Why not a nice radicchio and apple salad with a warm apple cider vinaigrette, topped with bleu cheese and candied walnuts? To me that just sounds closer to what our ancestors ate, and probably was (minus the bleu cheese).

Apple Radicchio Salad w/ Prosciutto and Pine Nuts

What ever your Thanksgiving menu will be there’s one thing that even I agree should come out of a can. No, it’s not cranberries. Anyone who buys the canned cranberries and prefers them to fresh needs to have their head examined. It takes a whole five minutes to throw a bag of fresh cranberries into a pan with a little sugar, or honey, some cinnamon, a little citrus peel and some water. Crank up the heat until it bubbles, cook for 5 minutes and then let cool. That’s it. I’m a fan of canned pumpkin. I’m all for picking up a sugar pumpkin and roasting it, but if you’ve already made everything else from scratch, give yourself a break. The crust, however, should not come from the freezer section of a supermarket. If you haven’t made a crust before now is the best time to learn. Martha Stewart has videos and recipes galore for any training you may need. During the holidays your family members are going to appreciate the effort even more, so give it a try. Not only will you be amazed by how wonderful everything tastes, you’ll also appreciate that the food you’re eating is healthier for you, and that should give you another reason to be thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jason

Welcome to 44-D’s Annual Thanksgiving-Palooza 2009. Whether you’re looking for turkey recipes, stuffing, side dishes, pies or other desserts, we’ve got you covered. Find great advice and Thanksgiving recipes to plan your Thanksgiving dinner menu. Also, please feel free to add your own special family recipes in the comments section!

Click here to read: Thanksgiving Letter From First Lady Michelle Obama

Giving Thanks to Our Heroes This Holiday

Posted by Dr. Jill Biden

There is nothing like the warmth of home during the holidays. In this spirit, the Vice President and I hosted an early Thanksgiving Dinner last night for servicemembers and their families at our home, the U.S. Naval Observatory. It was the Biden family’s small way of saying thank you to these heroes, and we could not have been more honored to share a table with this group. As my husband said, “Never before has this place been accorded such an honor as tonight. No individual group has walked through that door that has lent more dignity than you.”

read more: The White House Blog

Make desserts the day before Thanksgiving. This really makes sense. It’s so hard to bake everything at the same time because everything seems to bake at different temperatures. Even if you aren’t baking this easy preparation tip comes in handy. Having your pies, candy, etc already made will give you more time to work on preparing the turkey, vegetables, etc.

Peel potatoes the day before Thanksgiving. This easy preparation tip may not seem to save a lot of time, but it really does. The day before Thanksgiving I peel the potatoes, place them in a bowl of water, and then put them in the refrigerator. This way, they won’t oxidize and turn brown. When you are ready to cook your potatoes, simply drain off the water and cook them like normal.

Make cornbread for homemade dressing the day before Thanksgiving. I can’t believe I went so many Thanksgivings without doing this. I used to bake my cornbread while my turkey was baking and hope I could get my dressing mixed and baked before the turkey was done. Now, I always bake my cornbread the day before and then all I have to do is mix up the ingredients and bake the dressing.

Cut up vegetables the day before Thanksgiving: This also saves a lot of time. Whether you need vegetables for homemade dressing or you’re putting out a vegetable platter, this is an easy preparation tip that will make your Thanksgiving more enjoyable.

Thaw turkey well ahead of time. Nothing is worse than going to fix your turkey on Thanksgiving and it’s still partially frozen. By following this easy preparation tip, this Thanksgiving, you will be able to get everything finished on time rather than having to wait longer because you turkey still isn’t done.

Purchase rolls rather than making them from scratch. You may be completely against this easy preparation tip, but believe me you can buy rolls that will be just as good as homemade. There are rolls in the freezer section that you thaw and then let rise. There’s also wonderful crescent rolls found in the dairy section next to the biscuits. If you honestly cannot do this, prepare you dough in advance and freeze it before it rises. Then remove it from the freezer and allow it to thaw and rise before baking.

Buy desserts from a local bakery. If you think making desserts from scratch will drive you over the edge this Thanksgiving, use this easy preparation tip. Go to a local bakery and choose desserts that you can pass off as homemade.

Have someone else do the little things. Whether it’s buying precut vegetables from the produce section or buying pre-made mashed potatoes, this is an easy preparation tip that just makes sense. Why should you waste your time this Thanksgiving cutting vegetables or baking rolls?

Share the responsibility. This Thanksgiving ask your friends and family to bring different dishes and then all you have to do is cook the turkey. This is an easy preparation tip that will truly allow you to have an enjoyable Thanksgiving.

Order a Thanksgiving dinner from the store. In this day and time you can get wonderful Thanksgiving dinners from your local grocery store. If you aren’t comfortable with having the whole dinner catered, only buy the items you dread making the most.

I hope these easy preparation tips will help you easily get through Thanksgiving this year and many years to come.

Alton Brown’s Thanksgiving Menu
Alton Brown’s flair in the kitchen developed early with guidance from his mother and grandmother, a budding culinary talent he skillfully used later as a way to get dates in college. On Feasting On Asphalt, Alton had only his motorcycle, a few buddies and the clothes on his back during a nostalgic trip across the country to rediscover the disappearing people, places and stories of great American road food.

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Alton Brown shares the best techniques for carving the perfect Thanksgiving turkey.

Paula Deen’s Thanksgiving Menu
Who would think that a housewife from Albany, Ga., with no formal training in food, would become one of the country’s most beloved celebrity chefs? Paula Deen is a self-made success story who learned the secrets of Southern cooking from her Grandmother some 30 years ago. She had no idea at the time that the love for Southern cooking her grandmother instilled in her would lead to a life-long career.

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Download Paula’s free Holiday Hosting Guide

Paula Deen bakes a terrific sausage stuffing for a Thanksgiving feast.

Good Old Country Stuffing Recipe

Ina Garten’s Thanksgiving Menu
In 1978, Ina Garten went from working on nuclear energy policy to running a small specialty food store in the Hamptons. Ina has been a columnist for Martha Stewart Living magazine and O, the Oprah magazine. Since March, 2006 she has been a columnist for House Beautiful. She shares her cooking expertise in a series of cookbooks and on her show, Barefoot Contessa.

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Ina remembers her favorite Thanksgiving memory, favorite dessert (Pumpkin Banana Mousse Tart), favorite place to be at Thanksgiving, favorite Thanksgiving meal highlight, favorite Thanksgiving short cut, and her Thanksgiving confession.

Giada De Laurentiis’s Thanksgiving Menu
Born in Rome, Giada grew up in a large Italian family where the culture of food was a staple in and of itself. As the granddaughter of film producer Dino De Laurentiis, Giada consistently found herself in the family’s kitchen. Giada is a master at transforming simple, everyday ingredients into dishes that are quick, healthy and satisfying.

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Try her recipe for Turkey with Herbes de Provence and Citrus.

Rachael Ray’s Thanksgiving Menu
According to Rachael Ray, she grew up in food. “My first vivid memory is watching my mom in a restaurant kitchen. She was flipping something with a spatula. I tried to copy her and ended up grilling my right thumb! I was 3 or 4,” says Rachael, who insists that cooking is a way of life she was simply born into. Rachael has parlayed that birthright into a wildly successful career as an iconic Food Network television personality, bestselling cookbook author and editor–in-chief of her own lifestyle magazine.

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Rachael Ray whips up the best and creamiest butternut squash soup.

Butternut Squash Soup Recipe

Bobby Flay’s Thanksgiving Menu
Bobby Flay’s versatility is evident in the multiple talents he brings to the field as a chef, restaurateur, cookbook author, and media personality. He is also the Resident Chef and Lifestyle Correspondent for The Early Show on CBS and CBS Sunday Morning, where he regularly informs a national audience about seasonal dishes and ingredients. Bobby works tirelessly to challenge the way Americans view and taste food – making it bold, zesty and always fun.

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Bobby Flay helps viewer Elizabeth prepare Thanksgiving appetizers for the love of her life.

Pat and Gina Neely’s Thanksgiving Menu
As co-owners of Neely’s Bar-B-Que, Pat and Gina Neely have turned their family restaurant into one of the most successful barbecue restaurants in the South. Now they share the secrets behind their favorite dishes and their passion for food, family, and fun on Food Network’s Down Home with the Neelys. The Neelys launched a second Food Network show in July 2008, Road Tasted with the Neelys, a cross-country search for specialty stores and family-run businesses that make hand-crafted, one-of-a-kind edibles. In May 2009, the Neelys released their first cookbook entitled Down Home with the Neelys, which quickly earned a place on The New York Times‘ best-seller list.

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On Road Tasted with the Neeley’s Thanksgiving Special David and Barbara Barber’s Three Square Grill and Picklopolis are featured. This is a great way to ease the amount of work you have to do for Thanksgiving, order it from a professional.

Audiegrl’s Broccoli Cornbread

Ingredients:

• 2 (8.5-ounce) boxes corn muffin mix
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 (8-ounce) container cottage cheese
• 4 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons grated Cheddar
• 1 stick unsalted butter or margarine
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped broccoli, thawed but not drained

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Mix together all ingredients except 2 tablespoons Cheddar to create a batter in a bowl.

In a 10-inch cast iron skillet melt butter. Saute onions and broccoli until soft. Pour batter over the vegetable mixture and sprinkle top evenly with remaining cheese. You can also place the ingredients in an 11 by 17-inch baking dish.

Bake in oven until golden, 30 minutes. Note: this tastes better in a cast iron skillet, but if you don’t have one, you can use another pan.

Bluedog89’s Creamy Cornbread Casserole

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 (8.5 ounce) package dry corn bread mix
• 1 cup whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 (14.75 ounce) can creamed corn
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 Tbls sugar (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), and lightly grease a 9×9 inch baking dish.

2. In a medium bowl, combine butter, eggs, corn bread mix, whole and creamed corn, sour cream and sugar . Spoon mixture into prepared dish.

3. Bake for 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the top is golden brown.

Buellboy’s Cavatappi-n-Cheese

Ingredients:

• 3 pinches kosher salt, for pasta water
• 1 pound Cavatappi pasta, cooked al dente
• 6 tablespoons butter (for roux)
• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour (for roux)
• 3 cups milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
• 1 tsp salt (to taste)
• 1 pound 8oz Velveeta cheese
• 12 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
• 1/3 cup sugar (to taste)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In large pot filled with water add 3 pinches of salt and the macaroni and place over high heat. Bring to a boil and let cook until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain. Set aside.

In a large saucepan, melt butter. Sprinkle flour over butter and cook 2 to 3 minutes on medium heat, whisking until a roux or paste forms. Add cold milk and whisk vigorously until dissolved. Cook sauce on medium-low heat until thick and bubbly. Add heavy cream, Velveeta and 1 cup Monterey Jack cheeses. Add sugar, salt and pepper to taste. Cook until cheeses are fully melted, stirring occasionally.

Pour half the pasta and then half the melted cheese sauce in a greased 13 by 9 baking dish. Repeat with the remaining pasta and cheese sauce. Top with remaining 4 oz of Monterey Jack cheese. Place in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.

Note: If your family does not like Monterey Jack cheese, please feel free to substitute with Sharp/Mild Cheddar, Asiago, Romano, or White Cheddar cheeses.

Cardinals19’s Cowboy Beans

Ingredients:

• 2 cans (15 ounces each) pork and beans
• 1 can (16 ounces) kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can (15 ounces) lima or butter beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 lb ground beef, browned and drained
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup BBQ sauce
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/2 green pepper, chopped
• 1/2 lb thick bacon strips, cooked and crumbled

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, bacon, beans, onion, green pepper, brown sugar and ketchup. Transfer to a greased 2-1/2-qt. baking dish. Cover and bake at 350° for 1 hour. Uncover, bake 30 minutes longer.

COgene’s Thanksgiving Poundcake with Pomegranate Glaze

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 3 cups granulated sugar (use special “baking sugar” found in baking isle in grocery store – cake comes out smoother)
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
• 3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted before measuring
• 6 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter. With mixer on medium speed, gradually beat in the sugar. Beat in cream cheese. Add flour, alternating with the eggs. Stir in the vanilla. Pour batter into a greased and floured Bundt cake pan. Bake at 325° for about 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 25 minutes, until a wooden pick comes out clean when inserted in the center. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a rack to cool completely.

Glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup POM 100% Pomegranate Juice

Gradually stir the juice into the cup of powdered sugar. Mix until smooth. Drizzle over warm cake.

GeoT’s ‘How to Brine a Turkey‘

The purpose of brining is to tenderize the meat while adding flavor. A solution of salt is dissolved in water and meat is then submerged for a set amount of time, changing the cell structure and making it more moist and, often, more flavorful. The basic formula for a brine is 1/2 cup to 1 1/2 cups kosher salt for every gallon of liquid (whether water, juice, stock or beer). You can also add sugar and any other seasonings to taste; try herbs, garlic or peppercorns. Brining saturates the meat with the flavor of these seasonings. Unlike marinating, which flavors the outside, brining gives you deeper flavor and increased moisture.

The larger the meat, the longer it should brine; while shrimp only need about half an hour, a whole turkey takes 6 to 8 hours or so. Add ice to the brine to keep it under 40 degrees Fahrenheit in case you don’t have room in the refrigerator.

Once you’re done brining, remove the meat from the brine, pat it dry and cook it the same way you would otherwise.

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GiaT’s Holiday Cranberry Punch

Ingredients:

• 1/2 gallon cranberry juice cocktail
• 1 large can pineapple juice
• 1 6 ounce can frozen limeade concentrate
• 1-2 bottles club soda (to taste)

Mix together cranberry juice, pineapple juice, and frozen limeade.
Chill for one hour, then add club soda and serve.

Perfect with:

Supplies:

• 1 large freezer-safe Bundt® pan or ring mold
• 1 12-oz. bag of Fresh Cranberries
• Fresh mint leaves, if desired
• Water *

Directions:

Rinse cranberries in cold water. Drain.

Fill pan 1/2 inch to 1 inch deep with water. Place on even surface in freezer and freeze until solid. Remove pan from freezer. Add an additional 1/4 inch water over the ice surface. Arrange cranberries and mint leaves in desired pattern then return pan to freezer. Once set, add an additional 1/2 inch to 1 inch of water and freeze until solid.

Note: Cranberries float, so if you add all the water at once, the cranberries will float to the surface. When you unmold the frozen ring, the decoration will be on the bottom of the ring.

To unmold, run briefly under warm water to loosen.

* Note: Ice ring can also be made with White Cranberry Juice Drink instead of water.

HerselWellingtonIV’s Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons red food coloring
• 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1 pound cream cheese, softened
• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
• Chopped pecans and fresh raspberries or strawberries, for garnish

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy. Garnish with chopped pecans and/or a fresh raspberry or strawberry.

LibbyShaw’s Texas Pecan Pie

If you live in Texas and have a pecan tree, gather up enough pecans for at least 2 cups of pecans.

Make your favorite pie crust. If in a time crunch I recommend the prepared Pillsbury crusts in the refrigerated section of the grocery store.

Glaze pie crust with egg yoke.
Place in 350 degree oven until warm.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of pecans
• 3 large eggs
• ½-1 C light corn syrup
• ½-1 C of sugar

(I use only ½ of each b/c pecan pie tends to be too sweet for my family’s taste)

• 5T unsalted butter
• 1t of vanilla extract or 1 T dark rum. (I use the rum.)
• ½ t salt

Directions:

Toast the pecans at 350 for about 6-10 minutes.

After removing the pecans turn oven up to 450.

Combine all ingredients above except for the pecans.

After they are toasted, add the pecans.

Bake at 450 for 10 minutes, then lower the heat to 350 and bake for 35-45 minutes.

Let cool for 1 ½ hours before eating.

Some recipes call for brown sugar instead of white. I use white for a lighter texture and taste.

Bon appetite and Happy Thanksgiving!

Ogenec’s Vodka-Marinated Rib Roast

Ingredients:

• One 11- to 12-pound prime rib roast (5 ribs), chine bone removed
• 12 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup vodka
• 3 tablespoons kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon freshly ground pepper

Directions:

Set the roast in a large roasting pan, fat side up. Using a sharp knife, make 12 shallow slits in the fat and insert the bay leaves. Rub the vodka, salt and pepper all over the roast and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 425°. Roast the meat in the lower third of the oven for 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 325° and continue to roast for about 1 3/4 hours longer, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part registers 120° for rare to medium-rare meat. Transfer the roast to a carving board, cover loosely with foil and let rest for 30 minutes.

Set the roast on its side and run a long, sharp knife between the bones and the meat; remove the bones. Turn the roast right side up. Carve the roast into thick slices and transfer to plates. Pour any carving juices over the meat and serve at once.

Notes:

Although rib roast is carried at many butcher shops and supermarkets, you may have to order this cut in advance, so plan ahead. Because the meat is so simply prepared, buy the best beef you can, preferably USDA Prime. Lobel’s Prime Meats in New York City is a great mail order source (lobels.com).

Removing the bones after cooking as described in this recipe makes carving quite easy, but don’t discard them. The meat nearest to the bone is tastiest, so pile the bones on a platter next to the carved meat for people to eat them like spareribs.

Shanti2’s Spinach and Green Apple Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 5 ounces baby spinach leaves (about 5 cups lightly packed)
• 1 Granny Smith apple

Directions:

1/3 cup walnut pieces, toasted in a dry skillet over a medium-high flame until fragrant, about 2 minutes

In a small bowl whisk together the oil, vinegar and mustard. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Toss the spinach with the dressing until evenly coated then divide the spinach among 4 serving plates.

Core the apple and slice it into matchsticks. Sprinkle a quarter of the apple pieces on top of each salad. Follow with the walnut pieces. Serve immediately.

SouthernGirl2’s Mustard Greens

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sliced onions
• 1/2 cup chopped bell peppers
• 1/4 salt or to taste
• 1/4 pepper
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 slices of chopped bacon
• 3 cups water
• 1 lb Mustards washed thoroughly & torn into pieces

Directions:

Cook until Mustard Greens are done and wilted.

TheLCster’s Pumpkin Crunch

Ingredients:

• 1 tspn Cinnamon
• 1/2 tspn Salt
• 1 cup Butter (2 sticks)
• Whipped Topping
• 1 package (box) Yellow Cake Mix
• 1 can (15 oz) Solid Pack Pumpkin
• 1 can (12 oz) Evaporated Milk
• 3 Eggs
• 1 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1/2 cup Pecans (halves)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease bottom of a 9×13 inch pan. Combine pumpkin evaporated milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Pour into a 9×13 inch pan. Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over pumpkin mixture. Top with pecans. Drizzle melted butter over pecans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 50-55 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool…serve chilled. Top with whipped topping when served.

President Obama Pardons White House Turkey

The President grants the traditional Thanksgiving pardon to Courage, this year’s Official White House Turkey in a ceremony on the North Portico of the White House. November 25, 2009.

Não deixem de visitar o seu recanto em http://scratch.mit.edu/users/icampeao
e a sua entrada AQUI.

A qualidade dos seus projectos e das suas reflexões bem o merecem.
A Escola precisava de entusiasmos como o teu…

Escusado será dizer que o ffred continua imparável…
http://kids.sapo.pt/scratch/users/ffred

O entusiasmo de ambos é um magnífico exemplo para nós…

This is a complex piece of software and is very tricky to get the hang of but is very entertaining and requires a lot of imagination and creativity level 3 for children aged 10 onwards.

My First Crack At Some Basic Animation With MIT's Scratch

We had a teacher conference for our 9 year old daughter on Friday. The teacher said that they were going to be using MIT’s Scratch, on 3 Macs they were getting, starting in January 2010. She urged me to try it out prior to that given that she had heard that I played around with computers.

MIT’s Scratch is a programming language for kids geared towards creating interactive, multimedia projects.

I found it on the Web. Watched a YouTube video they had in their SUPPORT gallery. Looked easy enough.

Went to download it. It, v1.3, is available for Macs and PC … but said 2000, XP and Vista. No Windows 7. (Strange that. You would have thought that between May and now, MIT would have tried out Windows 7).

But downloaded it. Installed fine, in my ‘Program Files (x86)’ folder.

Worked first time. Since I had watched the video I was able to get some animation, replete with music, going right away. The kids were amused.

Went downstairs and downloaded it to my daughters, fairly old, XP system as well. Again no problems. Started up. It was QUICK even on the old system.

Nine year old got it going without any trouble. I showed her the very basic, basics. Then I left. Ten minutes later she had jumping pop corn!

Impressive.

So just want to let you know that Scratch works fine with Windows 7.

It looks like a great piece of software for 9 year old. Thank YOU.

<< One thing puzzles me. From MIT, for KIDS … but NO Linux? What gives. I have a 3 year old daughter with a Edubuntu System. She is going to want it soon. >>

Anura Guruge
www.guruge.com

The programming languages taught in primary school based in the last century need to be updated for the web generation.

Nathan Torkington gives a very humorous talk about how we can spawn (pun intended) the next generation of open-source hackers and teach kids how to use computers. He talks about the process of introducing usable, modern computer hardware and software (with a focus on open-source) into a school environment which had previously been the bastion of randomly assorted technologies, none of which were functioning very well.

Torkington talks about various aspects of teaching kids and teachers alike. How do you teach young kids without computer experience how to program? He goes on to explore many different facets of the modern computer environment, from the components that make a computer to why people search the web for pictures of people getting their legs bitten off by sharks.

We hear about his discovery that robots, are not very cool, but in fact are really lame (or are they?) He also explains how he has effectively used Scratch, a relatively new programming language, to introduce young kids to the art of programming.

IT Conversations | O’Reilly Media Open Source Conference | Nathan Torkington (Free Podcast)

MP3 audio

If you have not seen or even heard of C2C I am here to brighten your day. If you have heard of them you will have your day brightened as I let you know that C2C will be releasing an album in 2010. When it comes to DJ shows a lot of time the showmanship just isn’t there, the beats, the hype, the girls and the dancing are all there, but these guys have brought showmanship back into a DJ show. The beats are sick, taking everything from blues and jazz, to Hip Hop, to ballroom, to Brazilian, to electronica, to rock and roll and flawlessly bringing them together in a way that just makes you want to get up and dance. No wonder these guys have won the DMC world team championships a record breaking 4 times 2003/2004/2005/2006. See DJ Pfel DJ Greem (Hocus Pocus), 20SYL and DJ Atom do their thing below. Also you can check out up to 11 of their tracks here, but seeing them perform is really part of the experience.

El viernes 13 de noviembre en la Junta Departamental de Treinta y Tres se realizaron las primeras jornadas de Capacitación en Etoys y Scratch bajo el titulo “Anímate Treinta y tres”.
Les transcribo parte del proyecto:

“En el año internacional de la reconciliación, la comisión de Derechos Humanos de la Junta Departamental de Treinta y Tres se ha comprometido con la realización de actividades que estén dentro de los lineamientos previstos por las Naciones Unidas para celebrar este año 2009.”…
…“Esta comisión propone la realización de actividades y eventos de capacitación y orientación a niños/niñas, adolescentes y maestros sobre los programas que se encuentran en las XO (Etoys y Scratch) como actividades de preparatorias para el concurso departamental de animaciones sobre reconciliación” …
…“Estas actividades de capacitación cuentan con el apoyo de la Junta Departamental, la Inspección de Enseñanza Primaria y de RAP Ceibal.”…
La jornada fue muy enriquecedora para todos. Los niños se apoderaron de las bancas de los ediles por un día y siguieron con mucho interés cada taller, nosotros quedamos gratamente sorprendidos cuando vimos que muchos niños que ya manejaban algunas de las herramientas y estaban haciendo sus pequeños programas. Aproximadamente eran 140 niños y maestros divididos en 2 turnos, un alumno por escuela y por maestro de todo el departamento a sugerencia de ANEP. Viajamos de Montevideo con Fernando Santomauro para dar la capacitación de Scratch y desde Río Branco Charles Soarez, Jacqueline Cáceres y Hugo Cáceres para Etoys.

Quedamos comprometidos para ir en marzo nuevamente a dar otros talleres y así poder avanzar en uso de las herramientas y mejorar los programas.

Maria Mendez

Ver albun con algunas fotos

RAP CEIBAL TREINTA Y TRES