Our building's internet connection has been down for two days, but now it is finally back up, which is nice.
That is all I have to say right now.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
SNOW
It's snowing.
Let me say that again: It's snowing.
SNOWING.
S.N.O.W.I.N.G.
In late April.
This is depressing.
It looks nice, though.
Let me say that again: It's snowing.
SNOWING.
S.N.O.W.I.N.G.
In late April.
This is depressing.
It looks nice, though.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Friday, April 8, 2011
Fish
Fish.
Let me tell you, I have a troubled relationship with fish. I don't really like catching them, and if I do, I throw them back in. I absolutely do not like killing them. I even wrote at least one song that are fish-pro-life (see on the right).
I do not really like eating fish (or other seafood, for that matter), partly because of the fish-flavour, partly because I am terribly terrified of fish bones. Inside myself lives a huge fear of accidently getting a fish bone stuck in my throat and choking to death painfully and slow.
Then again, fish is supposedly good for you and healthy. And really fresh fish does not smell like fish.
Therefore I do eat fish, and when I do, I prefer caught-the-same-day-fresh filleted fish and I like to cook it myself.
(So I can pat down the fillets once or twice from all sides, feel them up and down for hidden and overlooked fishbones. That's what I do, and I do it very carefully.)
While there exist a lot of ways to create awesome fish dishes, this one is my current favourite:
At first you make some mashed potatoes, which at the moment I do this way (for two):
Take 4 medium sized potatoes, peel them, dice them, cook them.
Drain them, but not completely. Mash them with a fork, if too dry, add water. Add salt and a nice splash of olive oil. Stir.
Done.
Now for the fish (I use pickerel, nice white fish):
Preheat your oven to 350.
Make 2 "bags" out of aluminium foil. Put them on a baking sheet.
Put 1 portion of your fish fillet in each aluminium foil bag.
Chop and distribute evenly (just throw on top of the fish):
1 medium sized or big green pepper
1 medium sized red pepper
1 medium sized onion
a few black or green olives, sliced
1 big tomato (peeled)
100g or so of mushrooms, sliced
Add a nice amount of freshly ground pepper and a nice big splash of lemon or lime juice.
Then close the bags and place them in the oven.
Wait 20-25 minutes.
Enjoy.
(It's like fish soup, but better*. The veggies will still be crunchy, so somehow it'll feel like you are eating a warm salad. There will be a lot of juice, tasty and a bit sour from the lemon juice. The mashed potatoes will just soak it up. The fish will be cooked awesomely, just coming apart by itself when you touch it gently with your spoon.)
*no bones.
Let me tell you, I have a troubled relationship with fish. I don't really like catching them, and if I do, I throw them back in. I absolutely do not like killing them. I even wrote at least one song that are fish-pro-life (see on the right).
I do not really like eating fish (or other seafood, for that matter), partly because of the fish-flavour, partly because I am terribly terrified of fish bones. Inside myself lives a huge fear of accidently getting a fish bone stuck in my throat and choking to death painfully and slow.
Then again, fish is supposedly good for you and healthy. And really fresh fish does not smell like fish.
Therefore I do eat fish, and when I do, I prefer caught-the-same-day-fresh filleted fish and I like to cook it myself.
(So I can pat down the fillets once or twice from all sides, feel them up and down for hidden and overlooked fishbones. That's what I do, and I do it very carefully.)
While there exist a lot of ways to create awesome fish dishes, this one is my current favourite:
At first you make some mashed potatoes, which at the moment I do this way (for two):
Take 4 medium sized potatoes, peel them, dice them, cook them.
Drain them, but not completely. Mash them with a fork, if too dry, add water. Add salt and a nice splash of olive oil. Stir.
Done.
Now for the fish (I use pickerel, nice white fish):
Preheat your oven to 350.
Make 2 "bags" out of aluminium foil. Put them on a baking sheet.
Put 1 portion of your fish fillet in each aluminium foil bag.
Chop and distribute evenly (just throw on top of the fish):
1 medium sized or big green pepper
1 medium sized red pepper
1 medium sized onion
a few black or green olives, sliced
1 big tomato (peeled)
100g or so of mushrooms, sliced
Add a nice amount of freshly ground pepper and a nice big splash of lemon or lime juice.
Then close the bags and place them in the oven.
Wait 20-25 minutes.
Enjoy.
(It's like fish soup, but better*. The veggies will still be crunchy, so somehow it'll feel like you are eating a warm salad. There will be a lot of juice, tasty and a bit sour from the lemon juice. The mashed potatoes will just soak it up. The fish will be cooked awesomely, just coming apart by itself when you touch it gently with your spoon.)
*no bones.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Language Discoveries
Yesterday, while at work, I discovered the following:
In the English alphabet all letters have one syllable (a, b, c, d...), except "w" or "double-u", which has three. So what is so special about fancy-schmancy "W", that it has to stand out like that from its peers?
Then I looked further:
In the German alphabet all letters have one syllable also, except one, which is not "w", but in fact "y". This one the Germans call "Ypsilon" - kind of like "oops-ee-lon". So what makes this little letter "Y" so special, that it narcisistically boasts 3 syllables?
Again I looked further and I found:
In the French alphabet there are actually TWO letters that have more than one syllable, guess which ones: Yes, that's right, "w" and "y". Both of them!! "W" sports three syllables, sounds quite similar to "dooble-wa", while "Y" has two (sounds like "ee-gratt").
So what does all this mean? Is it a conspiracy of letters? Or is it just coincidence?
I don't think so.
I bet your ass when we look at Spanish and Italian for example, we will find more evidence!
But now for something completely different:
Today I learned a new word in Cree, which is quite awesome. When I mentioned this word while standing in line at the check-out it created much laughther and joy among all the people present. The word, if you say it, sounds quite like: "we-checkoway"
It can be used to insult people in a friendly way, because it means: Smelly testicles. Actually it seems to encompass a whole range of things from smelly testicles over stinky nuts all the way up to shitty balls.
Now I am going to combine that with the other Cree words I have learned so far:
Mushaway we-checkoway!
Ekosani.
Fucking smelly balls!
Have a nice day.
In the English alphabet all letters have one syllable (a, b, c, d...), except "w" or "double-u", which has three. So what is so special about fancy-schmancy "W", that it has to stand out like that from its peers?
Then I looked further:
In the German alphabet all letters have one syllable also, except one, which is not "w", but in fact "y". This one the Germans call "Ypsilon" - kind of like "oops-ee-lon". So what makes this little letter "Y" so special, that it narcisistically boasts 3 syllables?
Again I looked further and I found:
In the French alphabet there are actually TWO letters that have more than one syllable, guess which ones: Yes, that's right, "w" and "y". Both of them!! "W" sports three syllables, sounds quite similar to "dooble-wa", while "Y" has two (sounds like "ee-gratt").
So what does all this mean? Is it a conspiracy of letters? Or is it just coincidence?
I don't think so.
I bet your ass when we look at Spanish and Italian for example, we will find more evidence!
But now for something completely different:
Today I learned a new word in Cree, which is quite awesome. When I mentioned this word while standing in line at the check-out it created much laughther and joy among all the people present. The word, if you say it, sounds quite like: "we-checkoway"
It can be used to insult people in a friendly way, because it means: Smelly testicles. Actually it seems to encompass a whole range of things from smelly testicles over stinky nuts all the way up to shitty balls.
Now I am going to combine that with the other Cree words I have learned so far:
Mushaway we-checkoway!
Ekosani.
Fucking smelly balls!
Have a nice day.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Strawberry Season
It's that time of the year again!
They had this sale on strawberries this week at the store, 2 for 5. 2 containers, that is. So I went and quickly bought 15 bucks worth of strawberries.
Then, facing all these strawberries in my kitchen, I decided to bake a strawberry cake. After my mother's recipe, because those are always the best.
The result:
The cake is in the background (red top, brown middle, yellow bottom). The guy with the thumbs-up is me (green shirt, glasses, big smile).
How to do it:
Make 5-spoon-dough (to all you non-Europeans: please do use an actual tablespoon here, not that weirdo measuring device of yours. And please don't worry if the next spoonful has more or less than the one before, it is O.K.).
5 tablespoons of flour
5 tablespoons of sugar
5 tablespoons of oil
2.5 eggs
1 teaspoon of baking powder
(I actually doubled all these amounts for my cake, but that is your choice.)
Pour dough on a pan and bake until golden brown. I don't know, maybe 30 minutes or so.
In the meantime wash and cut the strawberries. Put them on the cake.
In a pot, stir together some glaze (store-bought) and spread on top.
That's it.
Mhh, delicious!
PS: I really really do like that advice about perceiving time differently. This can change your whole life. I mean, think about it: Time can't be wasted. It's is just an impossibility. What weight it takes off one's shoulder! What's now is now. Now is good. Future and past do not exist. I'd like to extend an olive branch to my past and those who are in it. Maybe we'll meet again, in the non-existing mind-constructed future. Then there'll be nothing but now. For real.
And yes, this is blog-posting time. Earlier was cake-making time. Later will be video-gaming time.
They had this sale on strawberries this week at the store, 2 for 5. 2 containers, that is. So I went and quickly bought 15 bucks worth of strawberries.
Then, facing all these strawberries in my kitchen, I decided to bake a strawberry cake. After my mother's recipe, because those are always the best.
The result:
The cake is in the background (red top, brown middle, yellow bottom). The guy with the thumbs-up is me (green shirt, glasses, big smile).How to do it:
Make 5-spoon-dough (to all you non-Europeans: please do use an actual tablespoon here, not that weirdo measuring device of yours. And please don't worry if the next spoonful has more or less than the one before, it is O.K.).
5 tablespoons of flour
5 tablespoons of sugar
5 tablespoons of oil
2.5 eggs
1 teaspoon of baking powder
(I actually doubled all these amounts for my cake, but that is your choice.)
Pour dough on a pan and bake until golden brown. I don't know, maybe 30 minutes or so.
In the meantime wash and cut the strawberries. Put them on the cake.
In a pot, stir together some glaze (store-bought) and spread on top.
That's it.
Mhh, delicious!
PS: I really really do like that advice about perceiving time differently. This can change your whole life. I mean, think about it: Time can't be wasted. It's is just an impossibility. What weight it takes off one's shoulder! What's now is now. Now is good. Future and past do not exist. I'd like to extend an olive branch to my past and those who are in it. Maybe we'll meet again, in the non-existing mind-constructed future. Then there'll be nothing but now. For real.
And yes, this is blog-posting time. Earlier was cake-making time. Later will be video-gaming time.
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