Happy 168-month meeting anniversary
Happy anniversary Katy!
[recipe] Toad in the hole
4-6 large sausages of your choice (pork, beef, boar, etc)
Yorkshire pudding mix
250g plain white flour
300ml whole milk
4 free-range eggs, beaten
2 tbsp sunflower oil
Salt & pepper, to taste
1. Sift the flour into a large bowl with a generous pinch of salt.
2. Make a well in the middle of the flour and add the eggs. Pour in a little milk and then whisk the lot together to make a smooth batter. Mix in the rest of the liquid, until you have a batter the consistency of single cream. Leave at room temperature for at least 15 minutes.
3. While the batter is resting, put the sausages in a roasting dish with a generous splash of oil and roast in a pre-heated oven at 200C for 10 minutes.
4. Take the dish out of the oven, and keep warm on the hob if possible while you ladle in the batter – if it doesn’t sizzle when you add the first spoonful, put the tin back into the oven until it does.
5. Put the TITH into the oven and cook for 45 minutes until well risen and golden.
La nuit des épouvantails
Au départ il y a une légende,
Celle de l’épouvantail,
Que certains prétendent,
N’être qu’une cassibraille.
Elle fut trouvée par hasard,
Dans le galetas du château.
Elle raconte l’histoire bizarre
De quelques épouvantaux.
Ils furent donnés aux vignerons,
Par Amédée beau garçon,
Notre Bon Comte de Savoie,
Bienveillant de surcroît.
Qui… écoutez bien camarades !
Pour protéger le raisin des oiseaux,
Imagina cette parade,
Pour apeurer les étourneaux.
Obligés de sa bonté,
Promesse fut faite,
Par les vignerons du comté,
De s’acquitter d’une dette.
Il fut solennellement décrété,
Que vendanges ce faisant,
Le meilleur raisin sera porté,
A Amédée le bienveillant.
Mais la vendange fut si belle,
Que les vignerons en kermesse,
Dans des bacchanales continuelles,
Finirent par oublier la promesse.
Amédée fâché garda rancoeur.
Jurant, qu’on ne l’y reprendra plus.
L’année suivante à la même heure,
Sur les épouvantails… jeta son dévolu.
Les ayant tous ensorcelés,
Non content de faire peur aux oiseaux,
Ils se mirent à gesticuler,
Pour épouérer les badauds.
Impossible de pénétrer dans les vignes!
Tous enfermer dans leur maison,
Les vignerons ont la déprime.
Le raisin? Comment ils le cueilleront?
Alors l’Amédée dit aux malandrins,
Vous n’avez qu’à tenir votre promesse,
Apportez-moi vos plus beaux raisins,
Je vous sortirai de la détresse.
Ainsi vit-on venir de partout,
Des brantes pleines et des vignolants,
Converger dans un grand raout,
Vers le petit bourg de Denens.
Ils partirent en cortège,
Avec tambours et accordéons,
Louant Dieu, qu’il les protège,
Dans leur acte de rémission.
Ils descendirent par vignes et par champs,
Jusqu’à Chigny où il y eu bombance,
Les paysannes ayant pris le temps,
De mitonner victuailles en abondance
Puis ils repartirent repus et joyeux,
Destination le château.
A Morges notre chef-lieu,
On a dressé des chapiteaux.
Ils arrivèrent sous les hourras
D’une foule en allégresse.
Devant Amédée… Alléluia!
Donnant le raisin, tinrent la promesse.
Alors Monseigneur reconnaissant,
Célébra… Roi de la vigne et du vin,
Celui qui, son travail maîtrisant,
Lui offrit le meilleur raisin.
Puis pointant du doigt
Un épouvantail géant,
Sentencieux… il déclara,
Voici le charlatan !!!
C’est lui le roi des épouvantails,
Vous n’avez qu’à le brûler,
Et grâce à ces funérailles
Du mauvais sort, serez libérés!
C’est alors qu’ils traînèrent le roi déchu,
A travers les rues de la ville en délire,
Torches, pétards, artifices et tohu-bohu,
Accompagnèrent à son bûcher… le martyr.
Dans un fatras indescriptible,
Le brave fini par exploser,
Sous l’effet des combustibles,
Devant la plèbe hallucinée.
Enfin libéré du sort qui leur était jeté,
Les épouvantails retrouvèrent la quiétude,
Les vendanges purent alors se dérouler.
D’un grand millésime ce fut le prélude.
This was not your average, traditional harvest festival.
Here are some of the “official” pictures from the show:
The tao of Moo
Sometimes you just have to go with the flow.
[gallery] Ukiyo-e Heroes
Jed Henry is an illustrator, lifelong gamer, Japanophile, and all-around nerd. He grew up copying art from game manuals, and years later, eventually got a degree in animation. He now works full time on Japanese prints, and on his upcoming video game ‘Edo Superstar’. Jed divides his time between drawing, his family, and scheming how to move back to Japan.
Dave Bull has been in Tokyo since before Jed was born (!) having gone there to learn what he could about the craft of traditional woodblock printmaking, and has been making his living at it for nearly 25 years now. For most of that time, he worked as a solo craftsman (carving, printing, self-publishing), but for the past couple of years has been working with younger people to train them in the techniques, under the umbrella of his Mokuhankan publishing venture.
Jed first emailed Dave in 2010. Through email discussions, they threw some collaborative ideas around, but nothing really materialized from that first contact. Then in April of 2012, Jed came up with the Ukiyo-e Heroes project. Dave quickly saw possibilities in Jed’s designs, and immediately offered to make their first print – ‘Rickshaw Cart’. He jumped right in and began work, even though we weren’t quite sure how to sell them. Since that first step, they’ve gained the support of a wonderful fan community. Their enthusiasm has allowed us to expand that first design into a whole series of handmade woodblock prints.
Not only are they making fun, meaningful art, but they’re also working to save the Japanese woodblock community in a very real way. Through print sales, Dave has been able to pay a workshop full of apprentices, and even employ seasoned masters in the craft! Their goal is to pump vitality back into this art form, by giving it modern appeal, while maintaining its ancient traditions. And it’s working!
For hundreds of years, Japanese woodblock printmakers worked in a thriving popular art scene. Their prints depicted heroes, villains and monsters, spanning every genre from satire, to romance, to horror. It was all part of Ukiyo, or Floating World culture. Inventive and fast-paced, Ukiyo culture was the big movement of its day. That tradition has continued through the centuries, down to our modern day, where Japan is still known for its vibrant creativity. This heritage is especially evident in Japan’s video game industry. Boss fights. Invulnerable heroes. Holy swords. Even the classic double-jump can be traced back to medieval Japanese legends.
To celebrate Japan’s contribution to video games, illustrator Jed Henry has taken his favorite game characters, and returned them to the ukiyo-e style. Modern costuming has been traded for the medieval, but the essence of each character remains, proving that you can’t take the Ukiyo out of these modern pop icons.
Go buy their prints: https://shop.ukiyoeheroes.com/
Trump speaks, assembled world leaders laugh.
The media, evil enemy-of-the-sheeple that they are, were also amused.
Which is wonderful, given these tweets when Obama was president:
I really wonder how Drumpflethinskin will react to this.
The man is an ego-driven narcissist.
How will he rationalize this?
Will it even register in his self-view?
I’m honestly curious.
I’m also reminded me of this scene from The Fifth Element:
It must be green!
Sequence me!
Hopefully should get my genotype report in a few weeks :D
Comptoir Suisse 2018, 2nd try
Being gluttons for punishment, we went to the comptoir again. It went much better this time. The child had churros and was happy. Katy found her Spirit Cow (a real one, not a balloon one).
As a side note, that taxidermied fox is over 25 years old, and seeing dakimakura in real life is a bit creepy.
A poem for Katy
The cat really makes it. Pure coincidence, but serendipitous.