A colourful starter which is easy to prepare and decorate. 

What you need (makes 6 tarts):
1 pack of ready made puff pastry
1 red onion
1 courgette
handful of cherry tomatoes
small portion of goat’s cheese
1 egg

What you do:
Cut the pastry into 6 rectangles and fold in the sides to make four ‘walls’. You can crimp these with the end of a fork for a more professional look. Lightly soften the onion and courgette slices in a grill pan or George Foreman grill. Arrange a little onion and a couple of courgette slices into each tart. Add some chopped cherry tomatoes and season with salt, pepper and rosemary. Brush the pastry with some egg or milk – this will help it take a nice golden colour. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for about 20 mins until golden, and then top each tart with a teaspoon of goats cheese. Pop it back in for another couple of minutes and then serve on a simple green salad.

Can I develop native like apps for my iPhone without a Mac and jailbreak?

First of all let me introduce myself. I’m Robert from Munic / Germany. I have studied business and computer since. At my job I working for the Allianz Insurance Company as a software engineer. There are a lot of data managed by z/OS mainframes and Unix workstations. It’s interesting to handle tables with billion of lines, but not sexy (like my iPhone).

The iPhone and iPod are realy cool. As a developer I want to build software for my device. But there is a problem: I don’t have (and want to buy) a Apple Computer! I developed for Windows Mobile, Palm and JavaME. But I don’t want to learn ObjC for some personal tools.

The intention is developing applications which access to native hardware ressources (e.g. the camera) with HTML and JavaScript. I used Cydia to install python and java to my jailbroken iPhone. But that are not the solution I am looking for. Sometimes Apple closing all the bugs for hackers.

So I crawled through Apples AppStore and found Big5 Lite. Big Five was developed by Dirk Holtwick and was agreed by Apples AppStore. You can download it to iTunes for free. Dirk says that “… Big5 application for Apple iPhone and iPod touch is a simplified gateway to your web apps”.

But there is a problem if the iPhone don’t have installed Big5! Also it’s very complicated to add new webapps. You have to copy the URL from Safari or Mail into the clipboard, create a new link in Big5 (there is a bug) and paste the internet address manually.

So what can I do?

I want to provide a service that makes it easy to start Big5-based webapps by a simple link. The starter should automatic redirect to the iTunes AppStore to install Big5 Lite, if necessary. In addition to that I want to provide homescreen and offline mode. Here we go!

Dupa mai multe speculatii privind acest nou release, aflam pana la urma, din surse sigure, ca Office 2010 va fi disponibil pentru vanzari in iunie 2010. O alta noutate ce se adauga noii stiri este ca produsul va veni in 3 variante: Office Starter 2010, Office Home and Student 2010 precum si Office Home and Business 2010.

Office Starter 2010 va avea optiuni limitate in privinta utilizarii (doar a) Word-ului si Excel-ului, Home and Student va avea versiuni complete pentru Word, Excel, PowerPoint si One Note, piesa lipsa fiind Outlook, iar Home and Business va fi varianta all-included. Nu ne ramane decat sa ne rezervam biletele pentru iunie .

Internet…huh…beautiful thing…everybody can make themselves heard/read – so when somebody writes a certain player is underrated and should start on a certain team it spreads like wildfire. People don’t even check if it’s true. It is way easier to just copy what sounds good and don’t put time into researching the facts.

So, lately everybody and their mommas is trying to tell you that Will Bynum should start over Rodney Stuckey for the Detroit Pistons. Sure, looking at some of the stats it seems to be a neat idea:

• Bynum’s true shooting percentage is at .588 this season (.132 better than Stuckey who is averaging a career low .456 TS% so far)
• Bynum’s effective field goal percentage is at .518 (Stuckey is at .391 eFG%)
• Will’s Player Efficiency Rating is at 20.0 which is pretty awesome (Rodney is at 13.8 – the league average is 15.0 in case you aren’t familiar with this stat)
• Bynum is scoring more around the rim while Stuckey is taking jumpers on 71% of his attempts – Bynum is scoring a higher % on both by the way

Will Bynum #12

So, Bynum is a more efficent scorer – how about passing?

• Will ‘The Thrill’ is dishing out the assist on 27.1% of the made shots of his teammates when he is on the floor (Rodney is at 19%)
• Bynum’s passing rating is at 8.9 while Stuckey is at 6.4

Hmmm…team offense & team defense?

• Bynum’s offensive rating is at 113 (ORtg = points produced/scored on 100 possessions ) – Stuckey’s is at 97
• Bynum’s offensive rating is at 108 (ORtg = points produced/scored on 100 possessions ) – Stuckey’s is at 107 – no big difference

Well, those stats suggest that Bynum would help the Pistons win more games than Stuckey. Are there other stats? Of course they are. Let’s see what Rodney has going for himself stats-wise:

• The Pistons got outscored by 33 points while Bynum was on the floor while only getting outscored by 8 while Stuckey was on the floor (this season so far) – both are usually playing at the end of the game, but you should consider that Rodney is starting the game and playing against tougher competition in the opening quarter than Bynum
• Bynum is finishing games with a +/- rating at an average of -4.8, Stuckey is averaging a -0.7
• Only 15% of Bynum’s shots are assisted while Stuckey is getting assisted on 32% of his made field goals – read on if you want to know why this is important
• Stuckey is the better ballhandler (he has more turnovers and bad passes, but considering the minutes played he is a bit better than Bynum)

Rodney Stuckey #3

Is there something to consider when looking at these stats?

• Stuckey is playing pretty many minutes out of position. People tend to forget that a lot. Could it be that his stats aren’t as good, because he is spending a good amount of time at shooting guard and/or small forward? Would the numbers be different if Stuckey would play PG all the time instead of switching it up and playing out of position? Without a doubt.

Here are Stuckey’s stats at the different positions:

• Point Guard: Net Points of the team +16
• Shooting Guard: Net Points of the team -36
• Small Forward: Net Points of the team +9

So, if we woant to find out who should start at point guard we should compare the stats they get when they play that position, right? Player 48-Minute Production by Position:

• eFG% (Effective Field Goal Percentage): Bynum .518 – Stuckey .538
• FTA (Free Throw Attempts): Bynum 7.7 – Stuckey 15.0
• Assists (don’t forget: by 48 minutes): Bynum 7.0 – Stuckey 10.0
• Points: Bynum 24.9 – Stuckey 34.9
• PER*: Bynum 21.8 – Stuckey 42.0

Looks a bit different, right? What about the defense? Opponent Counterpart 48-Minute Production:

• PER*-”allowed”: Bynum 16.2 – Stuckey 7.6
• Points-allowed: Bynum 19.0 – Stuckey 13.3

What I’m trying to show you is that stats can be deceiving. Making this choice is not as easy as “who has better stats”, it is more about what kind of team are we trying to be, what are our long-term goals and what way do we play our best? Stuckey is starting at point guard and Bynum is pretty much taking over the point guard position in the 2nd half. Why?

Because Stuckey is pretty good at point guard, but we need him playing some shooting guard and small forward as well right now. Could Bynum guard shooting guards? No way. If they are both hot, can we afford to put Ben Gordon on the bench? No. We try to do what works best and it really doesn’t matter at all who starts the game at point guard, because our most productive line-up (as a team, not for every individual on the court) is this one so far:

Bynum – Gordon – Stuckey – Villanueva – Wallace -> Top Five Men Floor-Units Win% = 77%

Would Stuckey put up better individual numbers if he was playing point guard? Probably, but it wouldn’t be the best for the team. When Prince and Rip are back it will get even more complicated. What if our best line-up is Stuckey – Gordon – Hamilton – Prince – Villanueva? Well, then Bynum will have to sit and watch. What if Bynum is better suited to get the job done with those guys on the floor? Well, Stuckey is going to sit and watch.

The few things you should remember from this post are:

• Stuckey is playing out of position for long stretches of the game
• Stats are deceiving and don’t measure everything happening on the floor
• Bynum is more effective comparing the stats without paying attention to the position played
• Stuckey is more effective comparing the stats they accumulate while playing point guard
• We are trying to build a contender here and most of our players are doing whatever helps the team the most - no big egos

To sum it all up: Looking at the position-based stats, Stuckey is a better point guard, but we need him to play out of position for long stretches of most games. His stats change accordingly. Bynum is a great point guard and a very efficient scorer. There is no point in arguing one way or another, because with the return of Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince the whole dynamic of the team will change anyway. In my opinion, Stuckey should keep starting the games, because it is giving the team more options to run the offense and it opens up more options on defense too (Stuckey can guard big guards and some small forwards). Bynum is the perfect energizer of the bench and when both Stuckey and Bynum are on the court, Bynum is usually playing point guard. I wouldn’t change that, but what do I know…

Detroit Pistons Guards

BTW: To look up some of the stats yourself, go to www.basketball-reference.com or www.82games.com – have fun. For more opinions on this, go here or here.

I have been tasked with appetizers for our Thanksgiving get-together this year and found this little number via foodgawker (which is fabulous, if you have never heard of it before). It is Thanksgiving afterall, so can you really ever have too many potatoes? I think not. I plan on eating them all day as a matter of fact.

POTATO BRUSCHETTA
recipe and photo via Diet, Dessert and Dogs

• 3-4 large round (rather than oval) potatoes, washed and cut into disks about 1/2″ thick
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• fine sea salt, to taste
• basil-pine nut pesto, as desired (about 3/4 cup)– homemade or store bought
• 2-3 large ripe tomatoes, diced
• more extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
• 2-3 leaves fresh basil, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 400F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper, or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Put potatoes in a large bowl and sprinkle with the olive oil and sea salt to taste.  Toss until potatoes are evenly coated. Place the rounds on the cookie sheet and roast in the preheated oven for 30-45 minutes, until tender and beginning to brown on the edges.  It’s nice if you can turn the disks over about halfway through, but not essential.

Once the potatoes are cooked, remove them from the oven and allow to cool for 3-5 minutes until they are cool enough to handle.  Top each disk with 1-2 tsp of pesto, a good mound of tomato, a slice or two of basil, and a thin drizzle of olive oil.  Serve while still warm or at room temperature.

If you have ready made puff pastry in your freezer or fridge these galettes are easy made bites. With a little salad next to it, they can serve as a starter. I still use the premade pastry to make my quiches and galettes but I will try to make my own some time soon. It is just more convenient to make these things in large quantities and I don’t have a freezer to keep it in. But enough with the excuses, the next short crust pastry of puff pastry recipe is going to be a homemade one.

Caramelized Shallot Galettes

Makes 4

4 shallots

4 slices puff pastry

1 ½ tablespoon blue cheese

½ teaspoon dried thyme

½ teaspoon honey

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon balsamico

Pepper/salt

Clean the shallots and cut them in half. Warm oil, balsamico, honey in a pan and place the shallots in this mixture with the cut side down, season with pepper, salt and the dried thyme. Cover with a lid and let this stand on the lowest fire for about 15 minutes, if you think they are getting to dark without being soft enough, just add a little bit of water.

Place the pastry on a baking sheet and cover with little chunks of blue cheese.  When the shallots are soft and the cut side browned, place them with the cut side up in the middle of the pastry, roll the edges up.

Bake in the middle of the oven on 200C until golden brown.

das ist doch super

I’ve currently got five containers on my counters that are various food things in various stages of completion or fermentation.

(from right to left)

Sauerkraut – I just threw this one together a few minutes ago – cabbage, chiles, sea salt, and whey.  I mashed it all together and then smashed it all into a jar.  In a week or so, I’ll taste it.  Yum!  Last time was too salty.  I used less salt this time.  We’ll see how it turns out.

Yoghurt – I’ve got a jar of milk and greek yoghurt that’s culturing into a full jar of yoghurt.

Kishk – I’ve got a cracked wheat and rolled oat mixture fermenting with some homemade yoghurt in order to make a Middle Eastern food which will become kishk granola on Thursday when I add coconut and raisins.

Sourdough Sponge – my sourdough sponge is proofing.  Tomorrow I’ll add the rest of the whole wheat flour and water and let the dough rise its first rising.

Hazelnut-Cocoa Spread (aka Primal/Vegan Nutella) - I roasted my Hazelnuts today.  They’re cooling on the stove before I grind them into paste tomorrow!

Besides the large mound of rabbit-like dishes, that’s what’s happening in my kitchen!

This blog post is a part of GNOWFGLINS’ Tuesday Twister!

Sounds fancy, right?  But this dip is a cinch to put together and makes a nice hors d’oeuvres with some champagne or prosecco before a holiday dinner.  It plays off the classic combination of caviar and crème fraîche, swapping out the traditional blini base for root vegetable chips.  Salty, creamy, slightly decadent…what’s not to like?

Although there has been a lot of (justified) talk about saving money and scaling back expenses this holiday season, the tiny bit of caviar in this recipe is worth the splurge.  Not sure where to find it in stores? Look for little jars near the seafood section (often with the smoked fish).  Whole Paycheck…er…Whole Foods almost certainly carries it.

What possessed the first person to eat caviar?

-3/4 c. crème fraîche
-1/2 c. sour cream
-4 tsp. caviar (I used generic German black caviar, but whatever suits your fancy/wallet), plus a little extra for garnish*
-1 small bunch chives (about 3 Tbsp. total when snipped)
-1 1/2 tsp. minced shallot
-1 tsp. minced red onion
-salt and pepper, to taste

To serve:  1 bag of root vegetable chips, such as Terra Chips, or kettle-cooked potato chips

1.  In a medium bowl, snip most of the chives, reserving a few for garnish.

2. Add the shallots and red onion.

3.  Stir in the sour cream and crème fraîche.

4.  Add the caviar.  Stir well.  Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.  Refrigerate approx. an hour to let the flavors meld.

5.  Scrape the dip into a serving bowl, and garnish the center with a dollop of caviar and lots of snipped chives.  Serve with root vegetable or kettle-cooked potato chips.

*A Martha Stewart recipe I posted a while ago without testing calls for significantly more caviar.  I actually prefer to keep the fishy element subtle.  In fact, I added more caviar to leftovers and served it again the next day, and didn’t like it as well.  To each her own.

Bread: what’s not to like? I don’t really know how my obsession began, but a few years back I somehow decided that, if I was excelling as a cook, I should improve my skills as a baker as well. All part of the overall knowledge base quest.

My first bread book was called “Global Baker“. It was given to me in December 2007. I read it and became immediately fascinated by the process of break making. The allure of the craft, the tactile nature of handling the dough, and the old school skill set that was required to handle and feel the readiness of the dough.

The first bread I baked was a walnut & parmesan loaf. It turned out well, giving me hope that I could actually do this. I decided almost right away that I had to master the art of sourdough bread making. I knew that it was difficult – didn’t know why. So I gave myself a two-year time period to perfect the making of sourdough.

Walnut Parmesan Loaf

To make sourdough, you must first either inherit, or create, a sourdough starter (also commonly referred to as the “mother” or “sponge”). Creating a starter basically involves the capturing and maturing of wild yeasts, and raising them much like a household pet. The starter must be fed regularly, and put to “bed” in the fridge on a regular schedule in order to ensure that it stays healthy and alive. Feeding it usually takes place once a week, with measured amounts of pure water and organic flour. This schedule works well, as it takes about two days to actually make sourdough; one day to feed the mother, getting the yeast active again, then a second day to make the bread itself, feed the mother again and put it to bed.

The Global Baker book was an excellent primer, as it went into all of the standard terms, techniques and tools of bread making. It also gives its reader some fascinating history on sourdough itself. The passage on sourdough reads:

“Although its exact origin is unknown, ancient murals have revealed that sourdough was being made in ancient Egypt, and the eastern Mediterranean as early as 6,000 B.C. Fermentation, achieved as a consequence of mistakes and/or experimentation, allowed ancient peoples to turn grape juice into wine, milk into cheese and mixtures of flour into more tasty baked goods. It is very likely that, initially, as often happens, the dough turned sour by mistake and to correct the mistake it was kneaded with some fresh flour. After some time, the dough achieved a sponge structure, witch made a tastier and softer baked bread. The discovery was the starting point for improved bread production.”

My first attempt was to make sourdough based on the recipe in Global Baker. Some 8,000 years may have passed between the time that sourdough was discovered and now, but I can assure you that my learning curve involved a lot of mistakes and a lot of experimentation. I used what I had gathered from Global Baker, then looked to (Global Baker’s author) Dean Brettschneider’s mentor, Richard Bertinet. Richard is one of the more famous bakers in the world of bread. He was trained as a baker in Brittany and at the Grand Moulin de Paris. He currently runs the Dough Co., his bread baking business, and runs a baking school in Bath, England, called The Bertinet Kitchen. I have two of his books: One called “Crust“, and another called “Dough“. I bought and started using Crust first, as it has a good amount of info on sourdough bread making, and also has this magically inspirational DVD which details the French technique of making the bread. It involves sliding your fingers under the dough, then with your thumbs parallel to you index fingers, you life the dough slightly, swinging it upwards, then slapping it back down onto your counter, at which point you stretch it towards you, before finally flipping it back over itself like a wave. After a few weeks of practice doing this, it comes surprisingly easy, and you find that you can repeat this process very quickly. The tough part is the amount of energy involved in actually doing it! It can be quite a workout. Try it and you’ll quickly see what I mean.

Working dough the Bertinet way

I was in the middle of doing this one day when my upstairs neighbor, who already as lodged complaints about our BBQ smoke and is a general curmudgeon, came down and banged on our door. He was in a fit of delight, thinking that he had caught us undergoing renovations without strata permission. He was needless to say less than satisfied once he discovered that the noise was a result on my bread making process. Ultimately he did not file a complaint with our strata about my bread making technique.

So how did my first sourdough turn out? Disaster. Really thin, hard as a rock. The starter was homemade and I had little references to understand how it was to smell, behave, look, taste. So I was a bit adrift, having read the two books and scoured the internet. The problem is, sourdough and its starter will react differently to different parts of the world. This is fairly common knowledge. Sourdough from the east will taste different from sourdough from the west. Same with north and south. San Francisco is famous for its sourdough, but my current sourdough mother comes from Boston (which I will get into a little later). Depending on where you are, you have to learn what affects your bread. Humidity. Temperature. Drafts. It all matters. I thought that at this point my sourdough quest was over. But I wasn’t quite ready to give up yet.

A Sourdough Disaster

Dear Mongers

This is the situation at present regarding starter cultures on the farm:

For a while now we’ve noticed that our trusted starter culture (the strain we saved from extinction by sending the last remaining sachet to Charlie Westhead to give to Barber’s Starter Culture Lab to propagate and is now used in stitchelton and mrs kirkhams) is losing it’s ummmph. i.e. it is taking longer to reach it’s correct acidity. A certain level of acidity is required to discourage some of the less desireable bacterias.

The lack of acidity is probably down to ” phage”  (pron. farge) – a bacteria that makes cultures less effective, which can occur If you use one strain of culture seven days a week. Our other long serving culture is also weakening. So in the last few months we’ve tried a new one. You may remember cheeses made with this culture – I found them more acidic than I was used to. Also the resulting appearance of the cheese was quite extreme. Even one month old cheeses had the prounounced pie crust rim of something in excess of three months old. Although they looked gnarly and great it made them quite fragile. As a result Maugan has decided to stop using this and is trialling a new strain of culture. The early signs look positive  - more in keeping with what he and Kim are after. So in total we’ll be alternating between three cultures. This is the accepted way to avoid phage – so fingers crossed.

T

I must say that I am very excited to finally be joining people on the ‘blog-roll’. It’s scary and exciting at the same time- I just hope that I am doing it right. Watch this space.

These are two typical dishes I used to eat in Izakaya (Japanese pub/reastaurants) when I lived in Japan.  Excellent as nibbles to wash down with decent Japanese beer!  Now that I’ve mastered the mandoline I thought I’d try my hand at renkon chips.  Renkon is usually translated as Lotus Root but it is actually a rhizome.  Either way it tastes good and is an incredibly versatile food and it looks fantastic too!  Tofu is generally thought of as a health food and even deep fried I think it’s still probably quite healthy and it tastes great with spring onions and soy sauce.  In summer I wouldn’t bother deep frying it but just eat it as it is with soy sauce and spring onions but in winter it’s nicer cooked and warm!  These hardly count as recipes but I thought that it was worth posting as guidance if nothing else. 

Renkon Chips

1 smallish lotus rhizome

- Heat up the deep fat frier. 
- Slice the renkon finely on a mandoline and blot dry with kitchen paper.
- Scatter into the basket of the deep fat frier, don’t try to do them all at once cook them in batches. 
- Deep fry for 2-3 minutes then tip onto kitchen paper to drain while you cook the rest. 
- Return them all to the deep fat frier for a further 1-2 minutes.  Watch VERY CAREFULLY as it only takes a short amount of time for them to burn as mine started to do. 
- Again place on kitchen paper to dry then serve hot with a pinch of salt sprinkled over. 

Deep Fried Tofu

silken tofu
1 or 2 spring onions, chopped

- Cut the tofu into chunks and heat the deep fat frier. 
- Scatter the tofu into the basket and deep fry for about 3-5 minutes until golden on the outside. 
- Drain on kitchen paper then serve scattered with spring onions with soy sauce.

Last Christmas I bought my dad some mushroom plugs so he could grow his own mushrooms (yes, he’s the hardest man on the planet to buy for) and finally this month we saw mushrooms!  I think he’d abandonned the logs in his workshop so we were all a bit surprised to see massive oyster mushrooms sprouting from behind the hoover! 

The hunt was on to cook them in some way that would use them solely in their mushroomy goodness.  We had thought of simply having them on toast but none of us are breakfast people so I upgraded that idea to mushroom bruschetta.  While I was at it I also made a batch of my Tomato and Mozzerella Bruschetta. 

Makes 12

2 cloves garlic, chopped
6 tbsp olive oil
1 ciabatta loaf
1 clove garlic
~250g mushrooms
2 tbsp creme fraiche
1 tbsp parsley, chopped

- First infuse the garlic in the oil by lightly heating in a small pan.  Set aside to cool. 
- Slice the ciabatta into slices about 1cm thick. 
- Slice the garlic clove in half and rub over the sliced bread. 
- Brush both sides of each slice with the garlic infused oil. 
- On a health grill, very hot griddle or under a grill toast the bread until browned and stripey, turning once. 
- In the meantime heat the remaining garlic infused oil in a frying pan then add the mushrooms. 
- Cook until lightly browned then season to taste. 
- Add the creme fraiche and parsley and stir gently until it melts and coats the mushrooms. 
- Remove the bread from the grill and put a spoon of mushrooms on each slice. 
- Eat straight away.

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Come Vista, anche Seven è possibile acquistarlo sia nella versione 32 che a 64 bit. Vi sono alcune limitazioni della 32 bit come la massima memoria indirizzabile, che è di 4 GB, ma dentro a questa memoria bisogna togliere le periferiche gestite in memory mappig, quindi nei 4 GB vanno contati anche quelle delle periferiche che ne dispongono, tipo scheda video. Quindi se installo 4 GB, me ne vedrà dai 2,7 ai 3,5 GB circa (i dati possono variare), perciò la memoria che non viene contata, non viene nemmeno indirizzata e quindi usata, è come se non ci fosse. Alcuni processori possono gestire più di 4 GB, ma i S.O. non sempre li gestiscono. La versione a 64, che gira su CPU a 64 bit, ha una capacità di indirizzamento di memoria pari a 2 ^ 64 byte, cioè 16777216 TB di memoria, si proprio TeraByte, quindi non c’è problema di memoria. Questa è una differenza primaria, in futuro illustrerò altre differenze.

These cornes de boeuf peppers from Spain lend themselves ideally to stuffing and they are fascinating with their long and twisted shapes.

…cornes de boeuf…

Suggestions:

1. Any filling can be used…mushrooms, onions, peppers, courgettes, cheese, berries, broccoli florets, tomatoes, dried fruits, breadcrumbs, left over chicken, ground beef, quinoa, rice, lentils…
2. Ordinary  sweet peppers or courgettes can be used instead of the peppers. Or more piquant peppers.
3. Can be served as a starter or a vegetable accompaniment, or even a whole meal served on a green salad with a mustard vinaigerette.
4. When stuffed tightly with a crumbs filling, it can be sliced and served as an aperitif on canapés, with a moelleux wine, (a sweet, fruity white wine).

In Octobre I  had an art friend visiting France and she stopped through here in Touraine, where we met for the first time after being blogging friends for a long time. See both her sites, Making a mark(in which she covers much more information than just art – her latest post is about Technorati and blogosphere…have  a look)  Travels with a sketchbook is all about her sketching and travelling.

Katherine and her sister and niece had dinner with us at home on their last night here and they brought me a beautiful book – Boire et manger that I wish to share with everybody. It is such an inspiration, seeing how food and art have walked hand in hand through all ages, depicting the habits and cultures and changes of the times and the different symbolisms of different foods, some of which we still hang onto today; cherries being a symbol of love and volptuousness, bread being the symbol of the body of christ, the apple seen as the origin of sin. I wish I could share the whole book with you, but here are a few excerpts. I hope they delight you as much as they did me and inspire you to be creative with food, not that I mean to paint it, but to “paint with it”! And above all, to respect it!

You can see more examples on Africantapestry at Food sketches and a book on dining a painting.

…jeunes garcons mangeant des fruits: Bartolomé Esteban Murillo(1645-46)

Le melon-meaning: Sweetness, earrthly pleasure, friendship.

1. Maybe  look between the two boys could be interpreted as a silent dialogue between them to decide which fruit they prefer; the grapes or the melon, both having existentially different symbols.
2. In the mythical sense the melon symbolically represents the earthly sweetness and pleasures of the flesh.
3. the melon is always not only the cosen sweet ness of both adults and children, but a symbol of friendship, because the quality of the kin of the melon can determine the quality on its flesh.
4. Grapes, givng birth to wine, could be reference to the spiritual path and the need to follow it.

…la table d’office: Siméon chardin(1756)…

Olive and oil – meaning: Grace of the Holy Ghost, conscience, clemency and charity.

1. The European porcelain soupterine accentuates the refinement of the table.
2. Two coilcans are presnt- one for oil and one for vingar, the usage of both these condiments togheter would be reaffirmed during the ages.
3. The rustic terrine had a specific culinary function, which was the making of paté and was typically French cuisine.
4. This still life present a contrast between elegance and rustic in the display of the kitchen tools and refined tableware. Chardin was fascinated by the culinary arts and gastronomy and used both at the same time to create his art.
5. The silver warmer with silver seen as a noble metal, was part of the refined table and added to the elgance of the piece.

…nature morte avec des fruits et un homard: Jan Davidsz de Heem(1648-49)

containers- meaning: the human condtion, refers to the content held within container

1. The fruit represent the earthly pleasures and in deeper context they represent the joy of the spirit/mood.
2. The ornate decoration on this pure precious metal container represents its excellence and gives it a symol of saintly spirituality.
3. The lobster is a symbol of resurrection.
4. The peeled lemon represents life; which gradually “peels” off the outer earthly layers to finally arrive at the soul.

…le mangeur de haricots:Annibale Carrache(1583-84)…

Dried beans- meaning: humility, poverty, continence

1. the borken windeow represent the negligence of this humble environnement.
2. The man eating the beans was a subject reintroduced to painting at beginning of the XVI century. Up until then this theme  was only kept to the indignant.
3. The dried bean was condidered the most humle of the starch food and and represents the everyday food of the common peasant.

…l’enfant gaté: Jean Batiste Greuse(1865)

Cutlery- menaing: Elegance, finesse, treason, word of God.

1. The presence of the cauldron emphasizes the popular character of the represented scene.
2. The little boy holds a silve spoon, which contrasts with the humble and diorganized environnement. During this era, a silver spoon was given to children, because silver was believed to have antibiotic properties.

We had some friends over recently and I heard one of them talking about a soup that I had made last Fall…Butternut Squash Soup.  He was saying how delicious it was and how much he enjoyed it.  Music to my ears!!!  Thank you Nate for the compliments.  One unique thing about this soup that probably helps to make it so delicious is that I always add store-bought cheese ravioli.  This is optional of course, but I highly recommend it.  Yum!

Another thought I had was that this soup would be a delicious starter to a Thanksgiving meal.  It is warm, packed with veggies, and you could skip the raviolis so that no one gets overly stuffed before the main course.

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 yellow onion, sliced
4 shallots, sliced
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 whole butternut squash, roasted for approximately 30 minutes at 350˚, then cooled, peeled and cubed
2 large red bell peppers, roasted and diced, peeled, and cubed
1 ½ cup dry white wine
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
5 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons paprika
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1 pound cheese filled ravioli (optional, but recommended)
¾ cup half and half
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese, shredded

Directions:
1. Heat a large pot over medium heat.  Add in olive oil and butter. Then add and sauté the onions, leeks, and shallots until tender.

2. Add cumin and nutmeg and continue to cook for several minutes on medium.

3. Add in the squash, red bell pepper, and garlic; cook for 10-15 minutes.

4. Deglaze pot with white wine then mix in chicken broth. Season with cinnamon and ginger.

5. Reduce heat, and simmer 45 minutes.

6. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add ravioli, and cook 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.

7. With a hand mixer(immersion blender), puree the soup mixture. Blend in half and half, and season with salt and pepper.

8. Give the soup one more mix with the immersion blender.

9. Mix in cooked ravioli just before serving.  Top with grated parmesan cheese.

If you’re an author and you swear you’re not selfish, you’re probably lying through your teeth, maybe even having some slutty affair behind closed office doors. I truly believe you have to be selfish to be an author, especially if it’s not your full time job. It’s a bit like masturbation….no, fuck it, it is masturbation. Masturbation of the mind, my friends.

You selfish ass! How dare you masturbate your whiskers with my Oreo!

I’ve been called selfish more times than I’ve taken a shit. Maybe that’s why I’m a publisher, too, to offset that tainted trait, to forever be in denial about being selfish. When I’m in my office, I’m writing, goddamn it!! Yeah, right. I should be. Half the time I seem to be drunk Skyping, drunk calling Blogtalkradio, and let’s see…drunk blogging? But that’s writing, isn’t it?

This particular blogger is a gangbanger. Note the red do-rag, blue Starter jacket, and bicep flex. Note the stolen laptop in the background. Sheisty bitch.

Selfish is scraping clean the mashed potatoes pan at a buffet so the guy behind you has to wait for the replacement. Selfish is grabbing the last milk carton from a pregnant woman at a market.

Sun, you are a selfish bastard!! Now moon me!

In closing, there is productive selfishness (such as writing professionally) and there is unproductive selfishness (such as getting pussy while working as a part-time parking attendant while claiming to be a full-time writer).

So all you authors out there, be motherfucking selfish, goddamn it!!

This pig juice will make me write more intelligently!

Un altra novità del neonato Windows 7, è l’icona di rete. Non è dinamica come quella di XP e Vista che cambiano in base all’attività della connessione, ma è statica. Cliccandovi sopra elenca tutte le connessioni disponibile e quelle attive. Naturalmente l’icona cambia in base alla tipologia di supporto con cui ci colleghiamo, quindi lo stato del segnale per la Wi-Fi o il monitor per la lan.

This was really the Pièce de résistance of the whole meal.  It is actually quite a simple dish but looks so impressive.  You could do this with any small squash that will stand up on its own (so Harlequin is out!) or you could do it with a larger kabocha as a main dish and serve it in bowls.  I think that the individual squash are much more impressive though.  When choosing your butternuts go for the smallest, best looking ones you can find and make sure they don’t fall over!  I had to go to 3 supermarkets to find the right size so forward planning is vital.  Luckily squash keep well so if you see them, snap them up!  I have much-loved gratin dishes but if you’re careful you could bake them in a larger dish then transfer to bowls to serve. 

Serves 3 (just increase the amount of cream to fill whatever you’re filling)

3 small butternut squash
500ml cream
100ml milk
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp thyme leaves
50g parmesan

- Heat the oven to gas mark 2. 
- Prepare the squash by slicing in half and scooping out the seeds.
- Place the squash in a baking dish. 
- Heat the cream, milk, garlic and thyme in a pan and season well.  Heat through until piping hot. 
- Pour into the prepared squash. 
- Put the lids back on and pour a splash of water into the bottom of the dish to stop it sticking. 
- Place in the oven and bake for 1 hour 30 minutes.  Turn up to Gas mark 6 for the last 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 15 minutes before serving with fresh bread.  (These are very, very hot straight from the oven!)

For those wondering you eat it by scooping the flesh of the squash out into the cream.  You can then eat it with chunks or somehow mush it up to be orange soup as my mum did.  How she did it with a just spoon I’m unclear but she was happy!  Dipping warm bread rolls in it was sublime too!

An interesting variation would be to add some chopped chilli to the cream for a spicier alternative.