Projo Subterranean Homepage NewsBottom-up journalism from the pros: News, tech and culture by Sheila Lennon |
November 21
For Thanksgiving, the elegant Luxirare molds Silicone Plastique Food Grade Silicone Mold Putty around a real, tiny pumpkin, cuts it in half to make two molds, then presses pie-crust dough around their inside walls, pipes in pie filling, removes the outer molds and seals the edges of the dough.
Lots of photos, few verbal directions but Luxirare makes it look easy. A simpler way to contain your filling: I want to eat pie, but I don't want a whole slice- I want to try other flavors too, but for just a little, and move onto another. If I have one slice, I may have guilt hanging over me all day. I want little pies, yes, with more pie crust than filling. 50 calories or less, no guilt. Eating pie slices makes me feel fat. Lolipop-Pies, perhaps this would work. Rotating flavors. Grab and go. In and out. Blackberry, pumpkin, apple, banana...
The trick to getting an apple pie to perch happily on the end of a lollipop stick is to shape the pie into a crescent, rather than a round. This allows the dough to wrap around and more fully anchor itself to the stick. And offers a recipe: APPLE PIE POPS I might skip the sugar and cinnamon part to get Luxirare's golden pies: Very crucial to slather egg whites on pie exterior. This is what gives it the "Betty Crocker" touch. Without this, the pies wouldn't look as blistered or nicely toasted. Its opposite -- filling but no crust -- would be little ramekins of pie filling -- pudding, puree or compote. Luxirare uses the mold to make a crustless "cocktail" of rum and pumpkin custard:
Bob Dylan, Must Be Santa by Hal Moore and Bill Fredericks (1960), first made popular by Mitch Miller.
Well, the last thing I remember before I stripped and kneeled November 20
Black Friday 2009 countdown: Sales, deals and tips. Doug Stanglin of USA Today blogs the roundup (so I don't have to). For instance, Dealnews is awash with Black Friday information, including a Buying Strategy Guide. If nothing could get you into crowds like that, Dealnews is awash with online deals, too. The madness takes place a mere week from today. November 19
Here's the first pass of 2009 through the nation's newspaper's Thanksgiving food sections online. I'll add more over the next few days.
Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle: Whole-Wheat Couscous, Wild Mushroom And Leek Stuffing Athens (Ga.) Banner-Herald: Cauley Square Tea Room's Harvest Pie, Sweet Potato Vichyssoise, Spirited Cranberry Relish. Boston Globe: A $100 Thanksgiving menu for eight, Pureed maple squash recipe The Montana Standard: Thanksgiving sides and a dessert: Brussels Sprout Slaw With Mustard Dressing And Maple-Glazed Pecans, Spiced Ambercup Squash With Glazed Walnuts, Dark Pumpkin Tartlets, Slow Cooker Butternut Squash Soup (not on the stove!) The Bryan College Station (Texas) Eagle: Lemon-Thyme Rub, Brown-Sugar-And-Cider-Rub">Brown Sugar And Cider Rub Boulder (Colo.) Daily Camera: It's not the turkey, it's the sides: Udi's Thanksgiving Gluten Free Stuffing, Pan Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Pancetta and Chestnuts, Bacon Cranberry Stuffing, Herbed Oyster Stuffing. Cape Cod Times: Farmers share family recipes. Simply Delicious Chard, Sweet Potato Pudding, Cranberry Chutney. Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier: Green Beans With Hazelnuts and Gorgonzola, Acorn Squash Stuffed With Apple-Almond-Cherry Basmati Pilaf, Good times, good food: Roasted Turkey With Maple Herb Butter and Gravy, Coconut Cake, Glass Onion's Oyster Cornbread Dressing, Brussels Sprouts With Applewood Smoked Bacon, Sweet Potato Biscuits With Maple Butter. Chicago Daily Herald: Honey Riesling Bourbon Red Turkey , Fall Cabbage Slaw, Bread Stuffing, Butternut Squash Apple Ginger Soup , Cranberry-Apple Chutney New York Times: Huge Thanksgiving section.
Chicago Sun-Times: White Castle stuffing (yes, made with the tiny hamburgers), Green Beans with Prosciutto, Pine Nuts and Meyer Lemon Cleveland Plain Dealer: Hurrah for the pumpkin pie (or cake)! Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake With Buttermilk Icing, Pumpkin Pie Dallas News: Other ways to enjoy pumpkin: Pumpkin Bread Pudding, Pumpkin Cake, Pumpkin Semifreddo With Hazelnuts, Autumn-Spiced Pumpkin Shortbread, Pumpkin Pie Gets An Upgrade Detroit Free Press: Orange-glazed Cornish Hens, Pumpkin Braid, Apple Caramel Pie, Concord Grape Pie, Pear Pie with Dried Cherries and Brown Sugar Streusel, Pumpkin Chiffon Pie Dover (Del.) Post:Aunt Willa's Green Bean Casserole, Pumpkin Brandy Cheesecake Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Salt and pepper turkey, Bread stuffing with sage; Citrus mustard-basted turkey Fairbanks (Alaska) Daily News-Miner: Scalloped Potatoes The Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World: Pork Tenderloin Medallions with Cranberry Chipotle Sauce, Cranberry-Orange Sauce, Sweet and Yukon Gold Potato Gratin Herb-Rubbed Game Hens With Tart Cherry and Sage Sauce
Los Angeles Times: Your end-all, be-all Thanksgiving guide Pumpkin pie, Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal: Veg out on Thanksgiving: Holiday isn't just for meat lovers Southern Oregon Mail Tribune: Handling a vegetarian Thanksgiving Broccoli Casserole With Oregon Blue Cheese Sauce Northwest Indiana Times: Cherry-Apricot Crumb Pie Sacramento Bee: Mediterranean spaghetti squash (vegetarian) November 18
It's easy to poke around here, to dip in. It's a simple interface, and you can quickly skip around from one great performance to another, from music and bands you've never heard before to bands you know and songs you don't. It's not comprehensive -- there's the Incredible String Band but not Fairport Convention, for instance -- and the emphasis is on the older stuff, although there are contemporary bands such as Black Lipz, The Jealous Girlfriends, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. Its a giant jukebox. You may have been at some of these concerts -- Cheap Trick or Styx at the Civic Center, Bonnie Raitt, The Kinks or Roomful of Blues at the Palace, Psychedelic Furs or Translator at the Main Event, Throwing Muses at Club Baby Head, Mason Ruffner at The Living Room. In the Downloads section there are four songs by Carly Simon and her son Ben, whose dad is James Taylor, "recorded quaintly and privately in her living room in Martha's Vineyard with super-engineer Paul Q. Kolderie." Then you can flip to Al Kooper in the studio alone playing keyboards and singing, "I Can't Quit Her." Or check out three songs recorded last year by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. After briefly listening to Hamza el Din (I'm not in the mood for oud), I've moved on to Halloween, Alaska -- a modern band from Minneapolis. Like some, learn some. Love some: Muddy Waters, Johnny Winter & James Cotton together at New York City's Palladium in 1977. You need to offer up an email address, but then you're in and can listen to playlists free. Downloading sometimes costs, sometimes it's free. (Posters, shirts and memorabilia are for sale.) Its Wikipedia entry describes the Vault as "dedicated to the restoration and archiving of live concert recordings and music memorabilia in order that music fans can access the complete live music experience of the past fifty years." The site's name derives from Wolfgang Grajonca -- rock impresario Bill Graham's real name Later: a treat from the Concert Vault: Fleetwood Mac 1968 (long before Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined the group in 1975), a week into their first visit to the United States from England. They're a heavy blues band doing Elmore James ("Dust My Broom"), Freddy King's "Have You Ever Loved A Woman" and the like: November 16
I am watching the 12-year-old play Okami, a game I gave him last Christmas, on the Nintendo Wii. It is stunningly beautiful, perhaps the most beautiful video game ever, and he is still enthralled by it, playing it again. Best of all, because it's a classic now (it's a port of a PS2 game), it's inexpensive for a Wii game -- $16.99 at Amazon now. Mystical and Oriental, rendered in a blend of woodcut, watercolor and cels, there's an ancient tale behind it -- you assume the shape of a white wolf and save the world, one section at a time, causing bare trees to blossom. Even the soundtrack is special. The Okami review at Gamespot -- where there are dozens of game images -- begins,
There's a blissful moment in the first hour of Okami, one that is repeated several times throughout the game's epic tale: Tasked with restoring an afflicted sapling to its former beauty, you bring it to life with a swirl of your virtual paintbrush. The sapling bursts with light, a melody of soft pink flowers blooms on its young branches, and lush green meadows breathlessly sweep away the cursed countryside, returning vitality to the diseased landscape. It's a moment that stays with you, and it represents the sheer joy of playing Okami. Few games exude such grace and visual prowess, though you shouldn't assume that its beauty is superficial. Here is a case where stunning graphics, charming characters, and a dreamy, mythical adventure are united into a cohesive, powerful title that simply must be played. Okami has the coolest of weapons -- a paintbrush. Gamespot again: ...the Wii controls shine brightly in regards to the celestial brush. You can pull out the brush at any time and use it to slash through demons, create gusts of wind, draw bombs, create impromptu waterspouts, and perform all sorts of sundry tasks. This is Okami's main gameplay conceit, and it's woven impeccably throughout the game, where it's utilized in battles, puzzle sequences, and even some cute minigames. On the PS2, you used an analog stick to draw the necessary rune; on the Wii, of course, you use the remote. For the most part, this works wonderfully. Interacting with the celestial brush in this manner is incredibly pleasing, since you literally draw the motions onto the screen. It also improves the pace of the game, because you can scrawl at a faster rate.Another, extensive Okami Review at IGN notes that "is sure to resonate with system owners already delighted by The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess." Related: What game has the coolest (overall) art style? A nice array of screenshots of the nominees. Truly beautiful Wii games. Others. November 15
Long Sunday before the Pats game tonight.
Funniest line: There's no chance of finding Dr Magnanti on duty in hospital or as a GP: this is medical science, not clinical practice. "I decided against being a medic years ago because, ironically enough, my bedside manner is terrible." Paul Carr ('Tis Pity She's A Success ? Belle de Jour and the Impossibility of Anonymous Blogging) dug up the photo from the print edition, part of a photo shoot mentioned in the London Times story.
The Examiner has the story: Vesuvio mixes history with the drinks and coffee: So how are you liking the career switch? Members of Congress submit statements for publication in the Congressional Record all the time, often with a decorous request to "revise and extend my remarks." It is unusual for so many revisions and extensions to match up word for word. It is even more unusual to find clear evidence that the statements originated with lobbyists.
wrote, Funny you should mention astroturf letters to the editor given that it recently happened to the Journal again: http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2009/11/bearing-false-address.html...
Read the rest, write another... November 14
Books are sacred objects which we are all free to worship in different ways. The L.A.-based artist Mike Stilkey, for example, paints all over them. His work on stacked spines and covers reworks books into a beautiful, albeit unreadable, library. A new and fragile art form. More images at both links, the photos from a photoful interview, Mike Stilkey Studio Visit by Dave Kinsey at the unfortunately named (What is the point in choosing a degrading name like this for a site about art?). Why did you choose to paint on books? It seems like it would have been a challenge to go from working on paper to painting on something so dimensional. What was that transition like? Charles Bukowski's head is painted on the back cover of J.B. Priestley's The Good Companions, (a tale of people changing their lives by joining a traveling theater troupe) which is probably meaningless. The "wallpaper" design of the discarded book's cover matters. Similarly, the bottom book's cover design comes with an interpretation of the 1885 painting of artist James McNeill Whistler by William Merritt Chase, which hangs in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Via Jorn Barger's Google Reader feed.
Go to Google today and the search may already be filled out, under a special logo honoring NASA's discovery of significant water on the moon. AP: Splash! NASA moon crash struck lots of water LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The lunar dud for space enthusiasts has become a watershed event for NASA. Science Now (The Moon Is Wet!) and Space.com (It's Official: Water Found on the Moon, Water Discovery Fuels Hope to Colonize the Moon) have the detailed stories. The happiest guy out there is Peter Diamandis, Chairman & CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation, who writes, Most Valuable Real Estate in the Solar System: Water on Lunar South Pole: I'm particularly excited for all of the teams building vehicles for the Google Lunar X PRIZE (www.googlelunarxprize.org/). This is a $30 million competition funded by Google and operated by the X PRIZE Foundation. We've offered up a large cash bounty for the first team to privately build and land a robot on the surface of the Moon that can travel, send back photos and video. Think of these vehicles as a low-cost 'prospector' looking for information and valuable data, as well as the companies constructing the shovels and picks on the bleeding edge of this potential boom. Which may in part explain Google's enthusiasm over all this. They're thrilled in Bangalore, too: Chandrayaan discovers magnet on moon BANGALORE: After water, it's magnet . Chandrayaan-1 has discovered and confirmed for the first time the presence of magnetic spheres on the far side of the moon--the side we cannot see from the earth. This could theoretically mean a longer and secure stay for astronauts on moon. November 13
Tara Bradford's Paris Parfait usually shows lush, large photos from elegant curio shops and fashionable shop windows in Paris, or perhaps lush countryside with lovely stone walls and a castle. A field trip trip suggests there are a lot of Parisians to patronize such rarified tastes. More hats and fashion from Longchamp:
Hats at the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. This is the most prestigious of the races. Technorati Profile |
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