What better way to relax on christmas eve than by reading this beautiful online cartoon strip from Coconino’s Le Village des Auteurs. The comics are in French so its a good way to practice or even if you can’t follow the story it is still gorgeous to look at.
Check out the Jazz Club cartoon here.
Month: December 2005
Surówka (winter vegetable salad)
Surówka
(pronounced su-roof-ka)
A photo of this salad done without the celeriac.
Okay so there is no hard and fast recipe to this, you just learn to use what you have got and vary it according to mood. My favourite variation follows, its great for colour to brighten up a dark wintery day and tastes delicious and very moreish.
Ingredients
1/2 red cabbage
3-4 carrots
1 small celeriac
handful (total) of seeds/nuts eg sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, cashew nuts
fresh parsley (if you have some)
For dressing:
a lemon
olive oil
honey
grainy mustard
salt and pepper
Method
Finely slice the red cabbage (i don’t recommend using a food processor as it shreds the cabbage too fine) and peel and then julienne/grate the carrots and celeriac (food processor comes in handy here!). Mix all together in a large bowl.
Make up a dressing to your taste, lemon juice is particularly good here but otherwise its variable. I do 1/3 lemon juice to 2/3 oil (total half filling a small jar), a 1/2 tsp each of honey and mustard and then season it.
Toast the seeds/nuts in a small frying pan until they are lightly browned and make popping sounds. Do watch these as the cook, if you try and do something else you risk forgetting and letting them burn – believe me as one who has tried!
Now just throw it all together – toss the dressing in, stir in some roughly chopped parsley and sprinkle with the toasted seeds.
This salad can last a couple days – i find its really nice to take for lunch alongside a sandwich. I would say if you don’t polish it off in your first sitting then enjoy it in the next day or so while its still fresh and crisp.
Broadway Market Protest
The banner reads “Occupation by local community against corrupt developers. We want our cafe not yuppie flats!”
Oil tanker explosion
My first visit to my brother’s new home in Hertfordshire coincided with the massive fuel tanker explosions near Hemel Hempstead. We were relatively far away in Harpenden but still most of the household* got woken up but the loud ‘thud’ and rattling windows. Saw something like this out the window… (*excluding me! I slept right through it)
More views of the smoke cloud from across the country
Market Forces
Read with horror this well researched article by Hari Kunzru about the demise of Broadway Market in Hackney, brought to light this week with the occupation of an old caff destined for demoliton by developers. It all seems to stem from the infamous Hackney council corruption, though that came to a head a few years ago, the legacy of it is still being felt now.
www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1660371,00.html
Coco Rosie
This duo were accompanied by a crowd of dancers, shakers and beat-boxers on stage at their gig at the Scala which made for a brilliant, energetic and dynamic show. Coco Rosie are well worth seeing live, but checking out their album Noah’s Ark will give you a taster of their trip-hop meets rap meets opera style music.
See more photos of Coco Rosie et al going wild on stage at Scala
Bat for Lashes
Not only did Bat for Lashes put on a great show at their supporting appearance at the Scala, but they introduced me to the band Coco Rosie (see above). Thanks to Mary once again, cos if she weren’t playing in Bat for Lashes I’d never have experienced either…