Fossil hand bags

Owned a Fossil watch once.
But my real obsession are Fossil handbags.

Something of along these lines - Vintage Revival Handbags

Oh wait. I own this one. It's practical and perfectly all right. Not much to talk about. I meant something like this

Material: Leather
Interior Material: Jacquard - 100% Polyester (well, silk lining would've been more classy)
Closure: Turnlock
Interior Details: 2 Media pockets, back wall zipper pocket
Measurements: 15"L x 4"W x 7.25"H
Handles / Straps: Single handle
Drop: 6" L

A strapless purse. Not practical at all. To be used on rare occasion of going to the theatre show with escort. What if I find it under the tree?

Holiday baking rage came to an end. My mixer fell apart. 

Back to healthy diet of watery soups.

Holiday season is 'round the corner...

And how do I know?


I went to the mall and saw Tesla installed right in the middle of it. Well, in a separate TESLA salon. But this has nothing to do with the holidays. You can't exactly buy this shining miracle. Not for XMas. You can reserve one for 5K.

So back to holidays agenda. It's all about giving. And giving means buying.  Got a new baby in the family? Right in time. You can purchase Ralph Lauren  Convertible Shearling Bunting  for just $950. 
And while we are still on Ralph Lauren brand -  treat yourself to

Jesrina Suede-Gold Heel Sandal @Price: $1400.00

If you can't afford the baby envelope, I suggest to skip baby winter item 

in favour of shoes - adult sandals make much more sense given the climate change.  

 

  

On a serious note, Ralth Lauren offers 

tons of great reasonably priced quality clothes on sale. 

Enjoy your shopping season! 

Enzo Angiolini Arynn Riding Boot - Bordeaux

Savoury galettes

I am talking about thin blintzes with buckwheat. They say crêpes are made with no yeast, but crêpes is the best way to describe this dish.

My galettes are made by pouring a thin liquid batter onto a hot frying pan and tilting the pan to embrace as much of cooking surface as possible. 

My version is lactose-free, dairy free and therefore vegan. When I try it with milk or sour milk or yoghurt I'll tell you all about it. But for now let's stick to the recipe that worked for me.

2 1/2 glasses of warm water, 3 eggs, 6 rounded tablespoons of buckwheat flour, 8 rounded tablespoons of of wheat flour, a teaspoon of yeast, a teaspoon of salt (flat), a rounded teaspoon of sugar... Mix all the ingredients well with a wooden spatula. Let it stand for 20-30 minutes. Add some water to make the batter perfectly liquid. Meanwhile heat your favourite crepe pan, grease it with oil. I use grape-seed oil  and I dip half or an apple or potato into to it to then create a thin oil film on the hot surface. I use ladle to pour batter onto the pan and then tilt the pan to spread the batter evenly. I flip crepe once it produced myriads of tiny holes and thickened.

Warning: these  are not gluten free. I experimented with proportions of buckwheat and wheat flour and 3:4 ratio worked best for me.


Now you can add anything you like to your crepe, roll it or fold it as an envelope. You may simply put some sour cream and chopped strawberries and roll it. You may stuff the envelope with ground beef or farmer's cheese and lightly fry it. Possibilities are endless.  

Breakfast without guilt

Breakfast is not to be missed. It's expected to give us energy for the most of the day, bring down acid and provide nice feeling that we started the day right.

Take a big bowl. Place a big apple (unpeeled) cut into small chunks into the bowl, add a handful of berries and a tablespoon of nuts. You have a big bowl of food now. After you are done with fruit bowl, finish your breakfast with a cup of unsweetened tea with 2 Finn crisps with hard cheese. Fruit will fill your stomach,  crackers with cheese will give you illusion of having a full fatty meal.
Enjoy that feeling till lunch.

Omelette with leftover salad

It's interesting how you can make hot morning meal out of your dinner cold salad. Almost any salad would do with exception of leaf salad and cucumbers, I guess.
I would probably stay away from grain salad like tabouli or quinoa. 
There should be no rich dressing (oil dressing is Okay).
Take tomato, onion and dill salad.
Take tomato, mozzarella and basil salad.
Take beans, cilantro and garlic salad.
Take tomato, peppers, mushrooms and fresh herbs salad.
Take smoked fish and potato salad.
I mean take this salad left over from yesterday's late night party. 

Recipe #one. 

Heat up frying pan with some oil, throw a little or a lot of above-said salad , beat a couple of eggs with a pinch of salt (optional - with milk and whatever else you like to make your omelette rather thick or rather tender: a hint of soda and a tablespoon of flour or a tablespoon or two of cottage cheese). Pour eggs over and flip at once. 

Recipe #two. 

Prep your omelette, top it with your leftover salad and fold. In #two even cubed avocado with eggs and chopped onion salad will work fine (never had it left over).

Recipe #three.

Prep your omelette pale. Flip. Top it with your leftover salad and fold. Cook your half-circle of an omelette for another minute or two. Cheese works specifically well in #3.

You got hot nutritious breakfast in minutes despite hangover and lack of motivation syndrome. 

Serve with a a pickle on the side, small glass of orange juice and a large cup of coffee. Given the circumstances, better than sex.  

Pregnancy with no limitations and childbirth with no pain

In this article -  The psychological trauma behind surrogate pregnancies
- the author makes bold statements regarding the motives of the parents who decide to outsource pregnancy. He suggests they do so in order to avoid the discomfort and physical limitations of  pregnancy and the pain of childbirth.
I suppose many parents for whom hiring a surrogate mother is the only way to have a genetically related baby would disagree.

But let's imagine it's all true and money is the only issue.
Some choldfree don't want kids and it won't matter for them that a painless option exists. Some are afraid of  pregnancy, birth and sleepless nights. If a couple can pay for a surrogate, obviously they can pay for a nanny.  Just curious how many childfree couples may change their view on childbirth if surrogate pregnancy becomes more of a mainstream.

Fish with edible bones

I got inspiration for this dish from the old gefilte fish recipe.
But I prefer my fish whole, hence no grinding.

Fish whole 4-6 lb., once cut into pieces, should make a nice round in a wide pot. 

Beets, carrots, onions. 

Bay leaf, whole white pepper, salt, sugar. 

I did it with whitefish, I did it with salmon. It should work with carp and pike but I haven't tried it in my kitchen.
Depending on the size and the thickness of the bones the cooking time may vary.
It took 3 hours to make the bones of 4 lb whitefish fragile and chewable.
Salmon bones gave in only partially but it was a bigger fish with much thicker spine. 

Take one whole gutted and scaled fish. Cut it into portions: cut through skin and bones. Peel raw beets. Put slices of beets on the bottom of a wide pot - a single layer will suffice. Arrange the fish with the tail and head on the top of beets (well, my salmon was missing the head, but the dish still came out beautifully).  Peel a thick carrot, cut it into think rounds. Put slices of carrot between fish slices. Put carrot slices and beet slices between fish and the walls of the pot. The fish shouldn't touch metal anywhere. Cut a big onion or a couple of medium size onions  into rounds and arrange on top of the fish in single layer. Mix generous amount of salt and a hint of sugar (1 teaspoon) with water and pour over the dish. Add more water as to cover the fish completely. Bring to boil and then simmer on low for about 3-4 hours. If you need to add water, do so. If you need to add salt, mix it with water first. Add bay leaf and white pepper an hour before you think you are done.
Once you are done, let the fish cool down.
Prepare a big serving dish. With your own hands take the fish slices out one by one and arrange on the dish, head and tail and everything else in between. Decorate with carrot slices (surprisingly, they won't fall apart after all that cooking).
Now, take out whatever elements are left in the pot or put the stock through the colander. Peel some medium or small potatoes and boil them whole in this fish-vegetable stock. After they cool down, add potatoes to the serving dish.
I can imagine you cook this dish a day before actually serving it. 
Unlike fish cooked fast, this fish will be very appealing on day three and even four.
Once you have it available, it's a true mouth-watering experience.

Labels: food, recipes, fish.

Pastry / basting brushes

Le Creuset® Revolution Silicone Brush

Some manufacturers sell one kind while some sell two distinct items and only few are honest enough to name it pasty / basting brush. I can imagine you need longer handle for basting to stay away from hot oven while redistributing juices or applying flavoured oils or herbs. And shorter handle comes handy when applying glazing to the pastry. But at the end (pun intended) it's the same brush and you can use it for either task.


Cooks used brushes for centuries. Made of feathered bird wings (I wonder how those were prepared to avoid spoiling), bird feathers, natural bristles. Now there is nylon and silicone. For some reason I dislike nylon so no more will be said on nylon brushes.

You can't buy feather brushes other than in arts and crafts store (not to be used in the kitchen) and in speciality stores. Feathers are imported from overseas.

See natural boar bristle brush at Williams-Sonoma.

$13 @ Williams-Sonoma

And now there is silicone.  Featuring silicone brushes from Sur La Table.  Amazing art of describing a product - premium silicone is dishwasher safe, hand wash the wood handle. 


Silicone brushes come in any colour you may desire and are cute.
Silicone brushes don't hold liquid as well as natural ones but cleaning is easier and they won't shed bristles into your food - that's guaranteed.
Silicone brush is supposed to tolerate heat. It will also melt ungracefully if you put it in direct contact with hot metal surface. So don't. 

For some reason I dislike bristles in baked goods. A single bristle in my plate can turn my stomach upside down.
I don't know what's worse - nylon bristles or natural bristles.
The featured boar brush is advertised as the one that is holding it's bristles well. But who knows. Switched to silicone brushes because of bristle phobia.

Dieting

My goal is to lose 5% of my current weight which should bring me down to 124-125 lb.
Weight loss is not my only objective.
I keep reading about losing 10 pounds in a week, losing 10 pounds in 3 days, losing 10 pounds in 48 hours.
I am not sure rapid weight loss is sustainable. Or particularly good for your body.
My miracle diet should get me there in 6 weeks.
Every week I'll be describing what I've done to make it happen.

Where is the miracle, one would ask.
One pound a week and that's it?
Here is my modest miracle.
My weight won't go up in the next 6 weeks.
My weight won't go up in the next 12 weeks.

Healthy recipes? Daily exercise? Changing focus from filling yourself with food to filling your life with more life? I don't know. All I know I'll make it happen.
Stay tuned.

Search America's Best Food Database

Angry birds party

Mostly for kids.
But I don't see why adults fond of Angry Birds and with some money to spare (probably because they don't waste any on kids) can't have a themed party.

Real slingshots and real eggs... Awesome idea, isn't it? A bit messy. Don't try it at home.

Tablecloth, napkins, plates, cups.

Source: BirthdayDirect

And most important - 8'' angry birds to throw and hit each other!

Breivik in court

Declaring himself an "anti-Nazi", Breivik said Knights Templar had made a conscious decision to distance itself from national socialism "because it was quite blood-stained". He added: "We felt it completely essential to do so. For the extreme right to ever be able to prevail in Europe in the future, one had to distance oneself from the old-school ideology."

The difference between him and Hitler, he said, was that "the pillar of National Socialism is expansionism; I am an isolationist". He was also "more liberal on ethnicity" than the Nazis, he added, suggesting he could accept it if "around 2%" of Norway's population was "non-indigenous".

Source: The Guardian, Anders Breivik prefers execution over 'pathetic' jail term

And now take away the beets

#1. Arugula salad with beets

So I cooked my beets the following way: peeled raw beets, cubed them (that was tough and I don't want to do it again), tossed with olive oil, squeezed orange juice and salt and roasted in the oven for about 40 minutes. Let them cool down.
Then I made arugula salad with roasted beets and orange wedges, dressed with squeezed garlic, olive oil and - since obviously something was missing - lemon juice.

#2. Baby spinach and beets salad

Next time I roasted my beets cut in halves in the oven with small amount of oil. That was easier than cutting raw beets but still not enjoyable; I also took the "dirty" top off. The process takes a long time. Allowed them to cool down, peeled and sliced. Then I made baby spinach salad with beets, goat cheese, pine nuts and olive oil. Beets were sweet and tasty.

One can easily substitute the beets which dried cranberries.
Goat cheese goes well with something sweet but beets require extended prep time. I would say cooking beets in #2 is simple but if you want to cook your salad when you guests are already at the doorstep, forget the beets.

One should figure the least troublesome way to obtain cooked beets, given his lifestyle, habits, heritage and what not. 
Beets are good for you. Cooked unpeeled beets keep well in the fridge. I heard of people buying cooked packaged beets in the store. But if you are into home cooking - baking, roasting or boiling? I vote for boiling, definitely less effort and less fat.

Arugula salad for breakfast

Simple, elegant, tasty, healthy.
Rushing for work?
Relaxing at home?
Try it, try it, and you may.
You may like it.

Take a nice ceramic or glass bow to enjoy your meal.
Put a very generous heap of arugula,
Mix extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar and squeezed garlic in Kuhn Rikon Vase Wisk. Or just pour some olive oil onto the leaves. Toss your arugula with dressing and top with pine nuts. Or you may add some goat cheese crumbs and dried cranberries. This salad - now we may call it salad - is delicious, surprisingly filling and absolutely great for your diet.
Conclude your breakfast with an apple and a glass of water.

Kuhn Rikon Vase Wisk @ Amazon

Picardie Glass @ Crate & Barrel

"PEACE, LOVE, AND ANGRY BIRDS! "

Wired, April 7, 2012 In depth: How Rovio made Angry Birds a winner (and what's next)

Angry Birds is the first waste of 75 millions people's time that can be accurately quantified. Every day, users spend 200 million minutes -- 16 years every hour -- playing the mobile game. Three trillion pigs have been popped. It has filled billions of those interstitial moments spent riding the bus, on a plane or in important work meetings, and it is or has been the number-one paid app on iTunes in 68 countries, as well as the best-selling paid app of all time. It went straight to the top of the new Mac App Store in January, selling 150,000 copies in its first week. Sixty thousand Angry Birds soft toys have been sold...On an island in the Pacific, the goal is to fling a squadron of kamikaze birds at gormless green pigs. The birds have just cause: the pigs stole their eggs. The swine took refuge in, and on, easily collapsible structures. The game is physics-based -- you adjust the trajectory and power of the slingshot with your finger -- and very, very addictive. Rovio, the Finnish developer behind the title, certainly got lucky.

Beets boiled, roasted, pickled, raw...

Roasting beets is a marvelous way to cook them! Peel them while raw, cut them up into cubes (I like them small, about 1/2"), toss them with olive oil, salt & pepper, then roast at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes. They caramelize beautifully.
***
Per boil the beet whole, unpeeled. Chill, peel and cube into bite size pieces. Add some freshly squeezed orange juice and some orange zest. Keep it in the fridge until ready to serve. Before serving add thinly sliced shallots and pinch of white pepper powder.
***
I cut raw beets into bite-size pieces (really, a wide range of sizes) and drop the pieces into a boiling mixture of half white vinegar and half water, plus a good shot of sugar and a pinch of salt. Take off the heat immediately, and serve chilled. These keep for weeks, they are ready almost immediately, they "crunch" real good, and they are seriously yummy pickles.
***

Roast covered at 350 for about an hour or until cooked through depending on the size. Let them cool enough to handle and the peel should come off easily. You can easily do this a day or two head of time.
***
They are great in salads with spinach, goat cheese, apples and balsamic. 
***
Sauté in brown butter with chard and roasted hazelnuts.

***
Beets  are lovely roasted and then marinated in a citrusy (esp. orange) vinaigrette. I like to add orange slices and red onion slivers, but you can obviously leave out the onion. I also like to sprinkle a generous amount of coarse salt, black pepper, and chopped parsley or chives over them. And I love beets w/toasted pistachios.
***
They're also great w/slices of apple or pear, in a composed salad, with walnuts or pecans.
***
Beets tossed w/apple and a bit of horseradish cream--also delicious if you can get past the cream. 
***
Boiled a couple of beets, let them cool, peeled and shredded them (with a mandoline but a cheese grater would work) added mayonnaise, a little minced garlic, black pepper and a little kosher salt.
***
Classic combo of goat cheese, beets, and nuts.
***
After you roast and peel them, make a salad with orange slices (Or clementines), fennel, onions, salt and pepper and a light oil/lemon juice dressing.  
***
A salad of shredded raw beets is my favorite way of eating them- you can even treat it as a 'slaw' and use it as a sandwich topping. Just add sliced onion, chiles and plenty of chopped cilantro, dressed with lemon juice and salt. That's about all you need to do, if you add other ingredients the beets will tend to dominate them anyway, although a topping of goat cheese or feta can stand up to it pretty well if you prefer that component.

Source: Chowhound  & many more recipes if you follow "beet" links.
 
Side note: for mixed veggie salad, If you like to preserve each vegetable's natural color, cut beet root first, and pour 1-2 tbsp olive oil on it. Turn to coat. Then add other veggies. Oil will prevent beets from coloring other veggies.

Choppers and potato fries

Paid $20 for vegetable chopper @ Costco.
Similar to this one (Williams -Sonoma).

or rather this one (Progressive International GPC-4000 Fruit and Vegetable Chopper, Amazon)

The one I longed for was potato cutter for making fries.
This one is fine for chopping boiled vegetables. Indeed you chop faster and get to eat potato salad more often but that was not the point. I managed to cut raw potatoes but it was not a pleasurable experience. I read reviews about another chopper customers raved about. But they sounded like "it's great but you need to attach it to kitchen wall for better performance".  I have to admit I don't have  understanding of potato choppers, cutters and slicer. I can imagine that all-metal mandoline or a good sharp knife will do a better job. The issue is with supplying a pair of hands and a fair amount of patience. The latter is not my virtue. So one day I'll find my dream chopper.

And till then - as sad as it is - I will stay away from fries.

If health reform bill goes thru...

The new increases in Medicare taxes will apply to individuals making more than $200,000 a year, or $250,000 for married couples.
The measure, set to go into effect next year, is estimated to raise more than $200 billion over 10 years.
Roughly 4 million households -- or 2.4% -- will be affected by the increase initially, according to new estimates from the Tax Policy Center. By 2022 that number will grow to 8.3 million, or 4.6%.

Source: Health reform's tax bite By Jeanne Sahadi @CNNMoney March 30, 2012

Manon, La Traviata in movie theatres near you

Massenet Manon – New Production
Saturday, April 7, 2012 (12:00PM ET / 9:00AM PT)
Expected Running time: 4 hours 8 minutes

Anna Netrebko’s dazzling portrayal of the tragic heroine in Laurent Pelly’s new production travels to the Met from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Piotr Beczala and Paulo Szot also star, with the Met’s Principal Guest Conductor Fabio Luisi on the podium.

An encore presentation of this performance will be exhibited in select movie theatres on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 at 6:30 PM in all time zones.

4/14 - La Traviata LIVE
5/2 - La Traviata Encore

More : 
Fathom Performing Arts offer spectacular one-time events as well as the culture and pure artistry of the one and only Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Best of all, you can purchase affordable tickets for the entire series of Fathom’s exclusive Met Opera broadcasts and see every magnificent operatic performance while seated comfortably in a movie theater just down the street.


It's not the same as the real live theatre.  The movie theatre smells of popcorn and you do hear popcorn noise in background (may be right behind or next to you). Also you won't be part of  live audience response. But it's more accessible and of course affordable.

Euro / kg to USD / lb --> Iceland

While  visiting a new country I feel more comfortable if I have a simple way to estimate how much I pay for my "market basket".
For example, what it costs me to buy bread, milk, cheese, farmers cheese, yoghurt, seasonal fruits and vegetables, fish and meats for 3 days.
Since prices / selection are drastically different in convenience stores and supermarkets in US, I would do basic research to locate supermarkets in designated location. It may works the other way around in the foreign country (family stores are cheaper than supermarket chains), but I assume for simpicity sake that life in Europe is similar to American way.

Let's assume we talk euro. I suppose all I need then is the ability to convert euro-kilos and euro-litres into dollar-pounds and dollar-quarts.
This way according to today's conversion rate  10 EURO / KILOGRAM = 6 USD / LB.

As I read further through pick-up in Iceland, the author suggests that due to high prices for groceries you cook each and every meal at home (in your rental apartment).  In such case we mean Iceland Krone.
1000 ISK / KILOGRAM = 17.4 USD / LB.


Grocery stores
Forget dining out for every meal.  This is especially true when you leave Reykjavik.  There are numerous small towns outside of the capital city and while many of them have restaurants, they are usually more like truck stop cafes with very simple menus.  My suggestion is to stock up on supplies at the various grocery stores.  The cheapest of which are Bonus and a store called Kronan.  Stock up on the basics: bread, cheese, Skyr (an Icelandic dairy product similar to yogurt), deli meats, etc.  Buy local greenhouse-grown vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and peppers. Almost everything else is imported.  If you have a place to cook your own meals, your options will increase.  In that case, I recommend buying fish.  It’s fresh, clean, reasonably affordable and doesn’t need any fancy sauces or condiments to be tasty.

Still can't find information on staple food prices.
    

Sieves, sifters, shakers

In old times every kitchen had a sieve in heavy use - flour came from the mill with  bran and germ, and sifting was used not just to air the flour (practice long forgotten) but to separate these extras.

Nowadays one will consciously pay extra money for the whole wheat flour.
Great for making something like cauliflower or broccoli cheese quiche or bread (don't take whole as a substitute, just add some) but troublesome when it comes to baking of something that is supposed to be light, white and tender. Why don't skip the desert instead of spoiling your dough or batter? But I digressed.

I see the following principally different kinds of sifters:

de Buyer® Stainless Steel Flour Tamis @ Sur La Table, $32

a mesh spoon or strainer for powdering (sizes vary), crank-handle flour sifter, drum mesh sieve (also called tamis) and coffee-shop style sifter / dredger  one can use for sifting powdered sugar, cinnamon, cocoa etc. over his cappuccino, pancakes, donuts or like. 

Sur La Table® Stainless Steel Sifter, 5 cup @ $13

Rösle® Fine Mesh Kitchen Strainer @ Sur La Table, $48

Donuts (photo credit)

Here are homemade donuts (milk-eggs-sugar-yeast batter). Sprinkled with powdered sugar dispensed with the shaker.

I own one and you can get one for a few bucks at random store or Amazon.
Won't use it for cinnamon at home since turnaround it low and the spice will loose its flavour.

Dredger shaker with handle @ Amazon.com

labels: amazon, consumer review, cookware, de Buyer, dessert, food, gadgets, recipes, sur la table

Random on gender and procreation

Awards for reproductive responsibility - perm contraception decisions such as vasectomy or tubal ligation:
golden snip award - if you never had children, silver - if this was an afterthought.

Benjam, 23, Helsinki - - what a guy!
More on fashion.

Bonus: Pick-up in Iceland

Iceland and pick-up (3): "One month into my Iceland stay I forgot what it was like to experience basic human warmth"

Iceland and pick-up (2)

The problem with ordering drinks in a bar is that the serving size is a joke. I estimate it's about half of the "official" serving size in the States...
To combat these problems, my drinking strategy was to knock back some scotch at home while pumping myself up to misogynistic rap music, then moving to beer once I arrived at the bar. 

***************************************** What I want you to understand is that  good chat is not valued by Iceland girls. They really don't care about your status back home, your vast experience, or your accomplished humor.


The paragraph below made my heart go out for the guy:

The night I went to see a Brazilian singer with a Russian girl about one month into my trip was eye opening. The Russian was chatty about life and travel while the Brazilian singer was charming, smiley and graceful. The fact that the Russian girl asked for my opinions almost blew my mind, because even Icelanders didn't give a fuck what I thought of their country. One month into my Iceland stay I forgot what it was like to experience basic human warmth. 

I believe this guy is sincere. He is not talking about many bangs with easy Icelandic girls he got in Iceland. In fact, he got two in two months. So much for apartment near the bar zone, smart afterparties pick-up line, and two months in the dark cold winter with not much of human touch.

Iceland and pick-up (2)

Iceland and pick-up (1)

Icelandic girls are extremely shy, boring and cold (I'd describe American girls as annoying, abrasive and cold).
 """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
(1) The girls are poor conversationalists (2) they love to overdrink (3) they love no-strings-attached sex. ==> Next

Bonus: Twitter. 

Iceland and pick up

Reading "Bang Iceland" by Roosh V.
So far so good. This guide is meant for straight men. No advise whatsoever for straight girls. Or for not-so-straight people. Though Reykjavik is the famous capital for gay clubbing. You've been warned.

...cold rain or fat snow...brutal wind...Summer is better. The average high temperature rises to the 50s, and around the solstice you get to experience nearly twenty-four hours of sun per day
So, let's settle for the summer trip. College girls go away for summer but this is even better.

English is widely spoken,...so there is no need to bone up on your Icelandic (the girls won't even give you bonus points for saying a few words in their language)...free lessons http://www.icelandiconline.is  ====> Next

GÍSLI	Halló! Ég heiti Gísli. Hvað heitir þú?
KATE	Ég heiti Kate.

Cafe Kiraz

Warm nice day, slightly intoxicated youth in green, pipers in plaid skirts at Kendall Square...

Me bumping into this random place. I don't expect pleasurable food experience in plain places with plastic tables and obvious take-out ambiance. Therefore I try to avoid them. Life is too short to waste it on obviously bad food. But something attracted my attention - and I went in: grilled peaches and grilled plums salad.
I asked it "for here" and it was served on a ceramic plate - in a plastic box... Utensils are plastic. Espresso is served in paper glass and is bad. They won't deny you a glass of water though (paper glass, of course). Which is better than their coffee.

But the salad - oh, my. It was positively made to order.

I thought I won't be able to finish it. Which is not a compliment. It was humongous, densely packed in aforementioned plastic box - and as I thought mostly made of mesclun greens.

But I happened to be wrong. The salad had peaches and plums on top and dry cherries and almonds and blue cheese all over the place. So I put good size portion on my plate. And then some more. And then I had some cheese crumbs and almonds left on the plate, so I had to add more greens. And eventually I finished it all, no single leaf left. Which is a compliment.

This salad - great for your diet.

Grilled peaches and grilled plums salad

Dried bing cherries, blanched almonds, blue cheese over mesclun mix. Grilled peaches and plums on top.

And there are few more I'd like to try.
Vegan: grilled tofu salad.
Vegetarian:

Grilled beets salad

Red & yellow beets, sweet corn, goat cheese & pumpkin seeds over mesclun mix.

 Autumn salad

Toasted pecan, fresh sliced pear, cranberries, blue cheese, mesclun mix.

People rave about their sandwiches, so may be one day.

It's a strange place, really. It's extensive and interesting selection and reasonable prices ($8 tops for most salads and sandwiches but for simple ones it's $6) along with pretence to be Mediterranean or Turkish... But something tells me it's ethnic  favour is from elsewhere. What is the secret here?

Kiraz salads

YELP reviews  (146 as of March 17, 2012 - a lot)

Café Kiraz  

119 Hampshire St
Cambridge, MA 02139
Neighborhood: Inman Square

Sherry Bar in NYC - Palo Cortado

I want to tell you about my favorite place to drink Sherry in NYC, a tapas bar called Palo Cortado. Palo Cortado is actually a restaurant with a full menu, and it serves a wide and interesting selection of wine and beer. You can go there and have a "normal" restaurant experience, with an appetizer, an entree, and dessert. But I'm going to talk about Palo Cortado in the way that I experience it, as a tapas bar.

Let me start by saying this: Palo Cortado has as good of a by-the-glass Sherry list as anyplace I've seen. There are about 20 Sherries on the list at any time, and wines rotate in and out.

Read more @ Brooklynguy's Wine and Food Blog: My Favorite Sherry Bar in NYC - Palo Cortado

This is a great report . And a recipe for a nice evening.  Should try this place for "getogether with friends" next time I come to NYC.   Thank you, Brooklynguy.

Listmania! Kate Middlesex: my list is here

Do I like to put things in order? Not quite.
Do I like wish lists for my kitchen items - or just spontaneously buy them? The latter. 
Do I like to share my experiences - absolutely yes!
So no wish lists here.
This  is the list of recent acquisitions for my kitchen with brief reviews:
9livesofkate kitchen: kitchen gadgets, cookware, dinnerware

I'll be adding to the list as I go. 

Strawberry huller forever...

Kitchen gadgets at work

Fashion twit: AllSaints denim

Premium denim, sewn and washed in Los Angeles, USA. 
Slim fitting, 5 pocket jean made from 11oz stretch,
 light grey bleached out denim with tinted 3D whiskers.
The Lovatt drainpipe jean features AllSaints
signature rusty metalwork and a brown leather patch.

Five pocket hot pant shorts with a mid indigo colour level and a vintage worn-in wash,
raw edge finish and 3D creases.
This style features a brown leather patch and rusty metalwork.

I somehow engaged into no-win game with  AllSaints Spitalfields.
Ordered an item, didn't like it or it was not a good fit, returned. With their rediculous return policy of 14 days I was late. So I got a very nicely packaged gift card - store credit. Ordered much more and way above the stored credit amount. Liked none of it. Returned. Got charged for shipping. Got delta back. The gift card which I saved because of nice design was back to it's original $68.50. 


I can't keep track of such off-the-bitten-path matters in the world of shopping. So I decided to spend the AllSaints money and not to go above the limit this time.

So I shopped at AllSaints Archive.
Bought 2 items for summer: grey almost white jeans and shorts, $40 and $20.  

With $8.50 remaining I feel very good about myself: I'm expecting 2 items I need, I still have AllSaints credit, I didn't overspend, and if these denim items fit, I'll look good wearing them. This is my thing with AllSaints - whatever fits, fits me really really well, the reast doesn't work at all, no middle ground here.


Curious about these viscose tops - pretty colors and designs but cheap idea for fabric...

Plain food is best: ribeye steak & last meal requests

Been following my smart diet tips?


So, which one won you heart?

Port and pickles diet?
Or scratchy grains and soup diet?


Between one thin soup and another and these gigantic bowls of diet popcorn you should enjoy food as much as people who order their last meal do. I doubt they'll go for buckweat. But plain food is best for your tats buds - and for your diet. As a bonus you don't have to part with your life once you are done with your meal.

1. Ribeye steak.

Made it yesterday with the griddle similar to this one.

Medium to mediaum-rare, definitely pink all way inside.
Some salt.
Green salad.
May be a glass of red wine?
That's all you need.


2. Sea bass in coconut flakes

***

Gerald Mitchell, who was executed in 2001, requested a bag of assorted Jolly Ranchers hard candy. Jonathan Wayne Nobles, executed in 1998, ordered the Eucharist sacrament.
In Florida in 1989, Ted Bundy had steak, eggs, hash browns and coffee, according to the Last Meals Project, an online archive of famous inmates' last meals. Timothy McVeigh, executed in Indiana in 2001, ordered mint chocolate chip ice cream.

***

When Lawrence Russell Brewer, a notorious white supremacist murderer, placed his order for his final meal earlier this month...
Brewer, in one last attempted act of defiance, had supersized his request, ordering two fried chicken steaks, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, fried okra, a pound of barbecue meat, three fajitas, a meat lover's pizza, a pint of ice-cream and a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts. But as he was led off for his lethal injection, he hadn't eaten any of it*.

"It was too much for Senator John Whitmire, chairman of the Texas senate's criminal justice committee. He halted the state's tradition of granting a prisoner facing execution the right to request their favourite food." September 2011.

 

Ralph Lauren knee high boots price drop (fashion twit)

Cosima Suede-Calfskin Boot Price: $1150.00 now $399.00

Killer marketing tool

Target figures out 16-year-old is pregnant before her father & details on how they push your spending buttons

Wow! Data mining along with personal data in your database make a killer marketing tool.

Friday menu: orange soup, eggplant with pesto

                                 Orange & green vegetable soup
        Start with cubed beets (I had carrot-colored), and while they are boiling, grate and sauté carrots, put them aside and sauté chopped onions. Add both ingredients to the pot. Cut orange squash (butternut squash or like) and add as well. Chop celery and add it too. Drop few whole tomatoes into the boiling soup and removed them in few minutes. Remove the skin (it's easy now), smash and return to the pot. Add chopped garlic at the end.
Serve garnished with crambled feta cheese. 

Aubergine with pesto

       Slice eggplant to make oblong strips (as opposed to rounds), dip in water, bread in flour and briefly fry on oiled skillet, salt as needed. Arrange layers on a baking tray, pour diced tomatoes (I used canned) mixed with chopped garlic. Bake till the dish looks almost done. Mix some homemade pesto with few spoonfulls of tomato juice from the tray and spread it on top. Bake for few more minutes and then leave in the oven while it's cooling down.

    It all smells good. But something is missing. Fish or beef tonight? This will define the choice of wine... 

Update: pasta tonight. Baked aubergine (eggplant) with tomato and pesto goes with pasta. Which dictates the choice of wine as Chardonnay.

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Butter crock

I like to make Amish butter from time to time:
That is - buy the best and most natural heavy cream. Shake heavy cream till it becomes butter, strain, rinse with cold water, put curds together with spatula.

Otherwise I buy Kate's Homemade butter.

I like to spread my butter on bread by itself or to underline cheese, jam, honey, fish row...

You got it - I need to be able to spread it.
So, take the butter from the fridge and keep it at room temperature for half an hour... Never works this way.

Recently I used butter from butter bell crock at my friends' house and fell in love with the idea. The idea actually belongs to our grand-grands who lived without the fridge or electricity.

Below is a helpful review as how to use the crock. I found it on Amazon (Credit):

I make homemade butter from fresh raw (unpasteurized) milk and the butter bell keeps it fresh on my counter top. The butter bell works well in cooler months but when summer sets in, it is possible for the butter to slide into the water --butter is still good, just scoop it out of the water. In winter months, change the water every few days; in summer months, use very cold water and change it everyday. Use around 1.5" of salted tap water in your butter bell to make the seal. The purpose of the water is to seal the butter off so it will not oxidize as quickly. The purpose of the salt is to stop mold in the summer months. It sounds like a lot work but it doesn't take 10 seconds. For those of you who buy retail butter, it is pasteurized and usually salted so it keeps longer than homemade butter. In Summer, place your butter bell in the fridge after retiring for the evening. First thing in the morning, take it out for the day. In winter, if changing the water regularly your butter will stay fresh on the counter for several weeks; however, in summer, your butter will only stay fresh for a week. If using raw butter in the butter bell you can only leave it out for a week in winter and a few days in summer. You must wash your butter bell in hot water and soap when all butter has been used before putting in more butter or it might mold (especially if you don't use salt in your water). Again, it may seem like a lot of time spent but it is not once you do it a few times it only takes seconds.  




Can't decide though whether I should buy Le Creuset or a plain one. 10 bucks vs. 30 bucks. 

Norpro Stoneware Butter Keeper (Amazon)

Le Creuset Stoneware Butter Crock (Williams-Sonoma)

Vegan cosmetics: castor oil Hot Mama Lip Gloss

We here, at The All Natural Face, care more about our customers than we do the bottom line. Our mission is to provide you with truly pure cosmetics. We use the purest form available for each ingredient in our products. We use organic whenever possible...but do not throw around words for sales like a lot of companies do. The word Vegan is used on tons of products. All that really means is that it doesn’t contain animal products. If you are striving for purely vegan products please read the labels carefully. Just because it is vegan does not mean they can’t put chemicals in there…just not those derived from animal sources.

For all you vegans out there….did you know that carmine is ground up African cockroaches!? Love that tube of bright red lipstick? Read the label. If it contains carmine….that is what you are ingesting. To bring that a little more into the light….the average woman ingests 6-10 lbs of lipstick over their lifetime.

We then formulate from there, making stuff from its purest, simplest forms... We then test it on human guinea pigs…no animal testing here! Our products and raw materials are not tested on animals...


Many people have converted from Bare Minerals, Everyday Minerals, Bare Escentuals, Physicians Formula, and many, many more. The secret is that we use pure natural ingredients here. No bismuth oxychloride, parabens, talc, carmine, silk powder, d &c lake dyes, just to mention a few!



7) Lake lake (lac) dyes: those contain lac, which is rubbery secretion of some insects.

6) Silk powder: obviously non-vegan, comes from cocoons of larvae of silkworms.

5) Carmine: carmine is a  pigment of a bright-red colour obtained from the aluminium salt of carminic acid, which is produced by some scale insects, such as the cochineal scale and the Polish cochineal (wiki). 


4) Talc: how this is non-vegan? Dolomite and silica is one way to compose talc. They contain  bio materials from long long ago. 

3) Parabens: parabens are found naturally in plants, nothing non-vegan about them. The rumour is they cause breast cancer. Scary! Because no matter hat you do in regards to cosmetics, they are still everywhere, like in blueberries!



2) Bismuth: unuasually low toxicity for a heavy metal; used all over the place, in pharmaceutics (Pepto-Bismol etc.), cosmetics. Formerly used to treat syphilis, nowadays used to treat gastric ulcers and like.  Vegan!


1) No animal testing:  I protest. Humans are also animals. No vegan or vegetarian will eat a human or even drink his blood.
Non-vegetarians do eat other humans as pictured in 400+ Cannibal movies.

Price: $4.60 

Ingredients: Cold pressed castor oil, Candelillia wax, Mica, Oxides

Red Hot Mama Lip Gloss

Online shopping kills

Online shopping can be addictive and financially devastating akin to gambling. All these little pretty nothings, egg slicers, cedar moth balls, funky spatulas, honey dippers, as little as they cost - add up to hundreds of dollars on your credit card bill. But whatever.

If we look at online shopping from the other side, we see people slavin g away for $11.50 / hr at warehouses, picking and packing stuff you ordered with few mouse clicks.

The Reality Of Online Shopping

Online shopping. We point, click, and buy. Then what happens? We’ll investigate.
In this Nov. 16, 2009 photo, Reginald Armstead, Jr., of Phoenix, sends a package on its way after packing it at the 800,000 sq. ft. Amazon.com warehouse in Goodyear, Ariz. (AP)

In this Nov. 16, 2009 photo, Reginald Armstead, Jr., of Phoenix, sends a package on its way after packing it at the 800,000 sq. ft. Amazon.com warehouse in Goodyear, Ariz. (AP)

Online shopping is such a breeze. Plug in your credit card. Point, click and buy. It seems like magic. But what happens after that little e-mail that says your order is confirmed? .

Well, here’s what happens. Somewhere in America, likely in a truly giant warehouse, likely at a very low wage, often a temp worker is off like a shot to find that product and send it on its way. And they do that maybe a thousand times a day. Running like rabbits. Fire-able for any reason. Desperate. To bring you fast, free shipping.

This hour, On Point: The new coal miners. Inside warehouse America.

Amazon warehouse




Kiva Systems automated warehouse - could be used by Amazon or any other online fulfilling centre.



Robots may substitute warehouse pickers. Everyone happy now?

Cat jumps - now with soundtrack

LOUIS ARMSTRONG - THIS BLACK CAT HAS 9 LIVES

Fish and fish scaler

Luke 24:42 And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and a honey-comb. 
Webster's Bible Translation

I like my fish whole -
presented proudly
besides holy grail
with head and tail
but no scale.

I like my fish fresh
fried or broiled or
stewed with kale
No recipe to fail
if I clean off the scale.

Scaling with a knife could be a nightmare with scales flying all over the kitchen space but there are ways to better your situation.

#1. Drop the idea of dealing with unscaled fish altogether. Buy fillet, avoid the trouble. 

#2. Ask your fish monger to scale your fish. Not always an option. Fish is pre-packed, too long of a wait, or you forgot to ask...you got it as a gift as is, unscaled (I did once: it was a semi-romantic story with no happy ending).

#3. Few sessions with psychotherapist may spare you from the phobia of scaling. If no, retreat to #1 or #2.

#4. Buy a scaler. I bought one at Amazon for small bucks: amazing how much easier scaling has become since. This idea occurred to me first when I saw one at Williams-Sonoma. Then  I asked a nice guy in Whole Foods seafood section  to scale my whole red snapper. Upon success of this enterprise I asked him to show me his scaler. Scalers come in various shapes and forms but I trust the professional choice.  

Kai Fish Scaler @ Williams-Sonoma @20

Fish Scaler Scale Remover @ Amazon

and just for laughs Petrossian Ossetra & Salmon Collection $800.00

In the 1920s two Armenian brothers--Melkoum and Mouchegh Petrossian--first introduced Paris to the magic of Russian caviar, and in so doing, founded the company that today offers many of the finest caviars and other delicacies from around the globe. This collection showcases an award-winning trio including Tsar Imperial Ossetra caviar, salmon roe and Petrossian’s house-smoked salmon.
For Passover and Easter delivery, order by Friday, Mar. 30, 2012, 5PM (PST).

As we are well aware, sturgeon comes with no scale and therefore is not kosher for Passover.