Cooking Traditions

Recently, the British cook, Jamie Oliver, received a TED Prize and gave a rather entertaining and informative presentation. Basically, he more or less said we have to cook again and eat real food. Something you would think is self evident, but none the less, the statics of the average citizen's eating habits speak otherwise.

Yesterday when I was walking past the local vegetable shop and saw these bundles of soup greens. I rejoiced in their colour, as well as to the fact that they were still being sold. Not only small vegetable shops, but also large department stores sell selection of vegetables that you make into a soup base for making soups. This means people are not only making their own homemade soups, but they are making them according to the traditional method.

For those of you who have never made soup base but would like to give it a try:

Lia's method for making soup base

Cut up carrots, celery root, leeks, parsley into 2-3 cm sections
Add 2-3 tbsp of olive oil into bottom of large soup pot
Saute the vegetables in oil at high temperature for 5-10 min.
Mix in generous amount of salt
Add loads of cold water into pot and bring to boil
Let the vegetables boil at lower temperature for 30-40 min.
Remove vegetables when soft and mushy
Let soup base cool down and remove any film at top of pot

Elder as an Expert

This large poster now hangs on a building across the way from where we live. It is an advertising campaign to encourage cross-generational relationships.

The slogan is in the form of a short newspaper partnership ad:

Expert on love relationships seeks someone to do chores.

My translation does not really do justice to the beauty of the slogan. The slogan communicates well how building social interaction between elders and younger people can be a mutually profitable relationship.

Their site (in German) is explained as such,

"Elders are experts about life/living. They have experienced much and have survived much. In this Caritis blog, 52 authours write about various sides of life as an elder."

Glued to the Stream

I've been glued to the Women of the World, Stories and Solutions conference live-stream this weekend. Fascinating panel discussions, speeches, talks, and discourse from women at the forefront of politics, economics, entrepreneurship, and social reform. Fascinating.

On a totally different note:


70 Million by Hold Your Horses ! from L'Ogre on Vimeo.

The video is described as,

"An entertaining and cheeky music video for “70 Million”, hit song by Franco-American band, Hold Your Horses!, offers a wink at art history as band members playfully reconstruct famous paintings in an off the wall lyrical interpretation all their own."

Dinner-for-One

Dinner-for-One sits quietly at a corner table during the After-Work-Party. Her red wine a subtle, or is that conservative, contrast to the Two-for-One cocktails marching by, adorned with cut fruit, glitzy umbrellas, and soldiering stripped straws.

Dan Barber: How I fell in love with a fish

This is one of my new TED favourites: passionate, articulate, funny, and darn convincing... it doesn't necessarily present the ultimate solution (thank heavens, because we know that doesn't exist) to feeding the world. Instead, Mr. Barber, just asks us to think about the possibility of adopting ecologically sound systems towards helping create sustainable agricultural systems.

Dreams of Spring

A dear friend of mine, who comes from Cameroon, wonders at Germans' obsession with the weather. Having been born and raised in a country where weather is mostly warm and sunny and in no need of comment, the idea of spending time talking about what is happening outdoors seems odd. Looking back over my posts in the last months, I fear I have also mentioning the weather much too often. Sorry, dear friends, I'll try to mend my ways. Yet, I can not help but mention how I yearn for spring to come. Don't you?

A bit shocking

A colleague told the following story during the break today:

Recently, I went with my young granddaughter (four years old) shopping. We went and bought some clothes for her at a department store and then went and bought some clothes for me. She and I went into a crowded changing room so that I could try on some clothes. She saw me nude and said very loudly, "Granny, how come you have hair down there?" I responded, "Women always have hair there" Which she vehemently responded, "Mommy, doesn't!" A silence descended upon the changing area, and then there were a few chuckles and snickers to be heard.

Elegy of the Flowing Touch

Elegy of the Flowing Touch, by Christopher Middleton

Walking along the canal early this morning, the dark snow clouds above lend a dramatic atmosphere to the city’s silhouette. I watched a flock of ducks float upon the dirty waters amongst the winter debris, and wondered about spring.

Bad Indigestion

The city has these small battery run street cleaners that usually skim along the sidewalks like a chunky skater. I've always thought of them as superfluous, better at polishing the sidewalks than cleaning them. Just now, one of them went across the two street corners in front of our apartment building and it picked up all the grit that collected there throughout the winter. It was interesting to see how much sand and gravel that little-engine-that-could was able to pick up. Mind you, it got slower and slower and then slowly tip toed down the road towards the dumping area with what looked like a very bad case of indigestion.

Normalcy

Right across the corner from where we live (cc from Rene Schroeder)

Luebeck on top (cc from Gregorius Mundus)

Photo cc from avianto (I used to work (happily) in this building situated on the Luebeck harbour overlooking the city)

The ice is melting creating riverlettes of running water into flooded streets. It is so exciting to get back to "normal". Off walking with a friend. This is a complex activity of decision making (roads or muddy paths along the canal), lots of talking (getting-everything-off-your-chest sort of stuff), and a quick pit stop at a flower shop/café for a warm cup of hot chocolate. Ah, blissful normalcy.

A Graph is Worth a Thousand Words

My son sent me this graph (large format). If correct, the graph does put a lot of perspective on how effectively the present US administration is at rectifying matters; having been dealt a bad hand to start.

Life is a roller coaster ride these last weeks. There have been many highs: watching my daughter play her first sax solo, reading the first three exciting chapters of a dear friends book, seeing my son prepare madly for his final exams (Abitur), sharing some wonderful times with friends from "down south", slip-sliding-away on the icy streets of Luebeck. The troughs are best passed over. These are exceedingly busy times. I'm endeavouring, not always successfully, to raise my hands in the air and shriek with amazement rather than crouch down and hold on the the ridges with by the tips of my fearful fingertips.

Going Rouge

Bill Nighy stars in Robin Hood tax campaign

More than 50 charities are supporting the campaign to levy a Tobin tax on transactions between financial institutions, which can be used to help fight poverty, protect public services and tackle climate change.

This you've got to see! This idea is the type of "going rouge" that makes sense. Call me naive, but I think the idea is brilliant.

Lights of Vancouver

One of my sisters has lived in Vancouver for about 30 years now. My other sister moved British Columbia last week. She and her partner, or maybe it is just her partner, accepted a new job running an eight-unit motel situated in the mountains an hour outside of Vancouver. Another friend, K., was visiting friends in Vancouver two weekends ago. To them and all the rest of you, a beautiful time lapse film for you to enjoy. Stunning. It is not hard to imagine why Vancouver always rates as one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

The Geek In Me

My son sent me this link to photos of 25 great coffee cup designs. Though many of the cups are fun looking, I really got a hoot out of the one above. I was obviously channeling into my inner geek.

Crazy Neighbour

We just had another huge snowfall last night. Well, huge by northern German standards, which is admittedly a wimpy affair in comparison to what the east coast of Canada and the US are used to. Still, all very exciting for us indeed.

Our crazy neighbour was out last night until midnight shoveling the snow off the sidewalk in front of his apartment building.

Sara and I went for a walk to the train station this afternoon. What usually is a 10-15-minutes walk took more than 45 minutes. We slipped and slided (SP) as though we were trudging over loose sand dunes and not snow. We were planing on walking home, but took the bus instead. (I agree, we are not hardy troopers at all.)

The grant proposal for the new research project is sewed up and submitted. Think we've done a good job of capturing the scope of our vision. Please, can you all say your prayers or keep your fingers crossed that the foundation agrees to fund the project?

Onto The Next Round

Last Friday, we received the good news that our preliminary project proposal was accepted as one of the finalist in a research funding competition. After walking around with my head in the clouds the whole weekend, I sat down today and started working on the more detailed proposal we have to submit in a few days time. There are strict requirements about how long the text can be, so every word is weighed and every idea is examined closely before putting them down. My brain is mush.

Tangential Learning Through Gaming

Being the only person in this household who doesn't game, I've had plenty of time to witness the phenomena mentioned in this video: the wide gap between educational games and entertainment games. I found both the argument Daniel Floyd presented and the way he presented it very good. The only think that I wonder at, is why nearly all of his examples concern war and weaponry. Are the games only concerned with those matters?

Why has Mr. Obama not done, what he said he'd do?

I've followed Mr. Lessig's blog for many years and was very sorry to hear that he was distancing himself from the field of copyright law and moving towards corruption in the US Congress. Watching this presentation and hearing his arguments about why it has been so impossible for Mr. Obama's administration to "get things done", a lot became clear. I'm bias, but what he says sound convincing in my ears. Or, what do you think?

Needed Assistance

I just received the following bulletin from Rev. Wasike in Kimilili,

“Last night, we had an incident where thieves broke into the school office and took cereals and other things in the school. These things used to be kept at our neighbour’s home, but were transferred recently after the school had doors and windows installed. The school lost the following:

1. an old manual type writer donated to school last year by board member
2. maize and beans donated by guardians
3. a box of schoolbooks and teaching material

The matter has been reported and being investigated.”

The school management and the children are going to try and run a fund raising action to see if they can replenish their food supplies. If the children do not receive nourishment throughout the day, they will begin, as Rev. Wasike says, "to be absent in mind and body".

What is most needed are schoolbooks and teaching materials. If there is any possibility of you sending one or two primary school books or some notebooks, we would be ever so grateful. If you would like to contact us, please do. Rev. Wasike (cbsmkeny at yahoo dot com) or I (cbsmkenya at gmail dot com) will give you any information you might need. You can send the packages to:

Rev. Wasike Wilberforce Walubengo
P.O. Box 2099-00200, City Square
Nairobi 2099
KENYA

You can send books in English per post or in Kiswahili through mamamikes. We thank you for any assistance you can give.

Slowly getting back into gear

I am just about ready to crawl off the sofa and over the large pile of discarded books that I have consumed these last weeks... nearly three weeks of a book a day... most of them crime mysteries... all of their stories have haunted my dreams. My inner batteries have been recharged. Now it is time to get back into the grove of things.