Christian Kuras (AKA North) has some art work on exhibition right now in a group show called The Adventurous Type at the Hyde Park Art Centre in Chicago. He made the piece in collaboration with Duncan MacKenzie, and it’s being shown alongside another of their pieces, The Vindicator. Happy Hydrogen Bomb is a 5ft rainbow coloured model of a hydrogen bomb explosion looming up out of the the centre of a city. I think it is pretty cool, if a little twisted! Take a look at the work in more detail on their website: http://bathosphere.org/kurasmackenzie/
Month: April 2007
The 4 hour work week?!
Yes, I do mean hours… I just heard a brilliant podcast from this year’s SXSW interactive festival by a guy called Tim Ferriss, talking about how to maximise on fun and minimise on work. Now I don’t necessarily buy the whole 4 hour work week, I don’t think I even want it, but there is so much to be gleened from his talk that could help you reconfigure your approach to managing work (and play for that matter). He talks about only checking your email twice a day so as to save time and get more work done – the more I think about this, the more it makes sense; but trying to put it into practice I realise how much more organised I’d need to be to make it work.
It’s really interesting to consider though, how many times you go to check your email just out of boredom over the task you should be doing… and the amount of time then wasted all round. Some of his points just won’t work unless you’re the CEO of a company, and there’s some questionnable approaches to outsourcing work to MBA’s in India (more on his response to my question about that coming soon…) but aside from this it is well worth the listen: check it out, and please, share what you think by commenting on this blog.
The 4-Hour Workweek: Secrets of Doing More with Less in a Digital World
South By South West is an interactive, film and music festival that takes place in Texas every year.
If you want to read more inspirational words about time management and work ethic check out another article I posted about titled The Four Day Week Challenge here
Beetroot Curry
This recipe is a variation of Rasa’s beetroot curry and it accompanied the huge beetroot we got in our Growing Communities veg box this week. Its something different to do with your beetroot and an unusual vegetable for currying. I’ve made it twice now – it is really delicious, but don’t try cutting any corners with the process; do push the pureed spring onion tops and pistachios through a sieve, and do cut the beetroot into matchsticks; I skipped this the first time round and the texture just wasn’t quite right.
Ingredients
- 500g Beetroot
- 50g shelled pistaschios
- 1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
- 6 cardamom pods
- 1tsp fennel seeds
- 3 fresh chillies
- 1 tbsp grated ginger
- 2 bunches spring onions
- 100g fresh coconut, grated
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 200ml plain yoghurt
Method
Boil the beetroots until tender and peel them under cold running water, then chop them into thick matchsticks. Toast the pistachios in the oven or on the hob. Crack the cardamom seeds and remove the seeds, discarding the pods. Slice the white ends of the spring onions and chop them finely. Drop the green ends into a pan of boiling water for a few seconds then plunge them into cold water. Chop them carsely and put them into a food processor with the pistachios, cardamom seeds and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and blend, adding a little cold water in a slow stream until you get a thick butsmooth puree. Pass this through a sieve, fine enough to take out any coarse pieces of scallian – into a small pan. Hlave the chillies lengthways, and chop them into slices. Heat another tablespoon of olive oil in a shallow pan and cook the sping onion white bits, the chillies, ginger, mustard and fennel seeds over a medium heat, stirring for 5 minutes, then add the beetroot and coconut and the pistachio and green onions paste, and cook for 5 more minutes. Season with salt and stir in the yoghurt just before you serve.
Rasa is a vegetarian South Indian restaurant on Stoke Newington Church street, Hackney, London N16
Seeing double
So I somehow managed to serve this dish out symetrically over 2 plates and I hadn’t even realised until now that I’m uploading this photo! Well this is the aforementioned Kale and Seaweed recipe that I blogged about before which turned out great (just go easy on the soy ok?! i was replacing “Bragg Liquid Aminos” with soy and didn’t get the proportions right) and I can’t wait to make again. It is served with fried tofu in ginger and soy sauce, which is a big favourite of mine – I even deep fry the tofu myself (recipe coming in a later post) – and stir fried carrots with sesame seeds. Actually there was a little too much garnishing with sesame seeds going on in terms of presentation so its better you can’t see too closely!