pastiche

We tried something new in the kitchen with a vegetarian pastitsio (Pastizio)--sort of the Greek equivalent of a lasagne or macaroni casserole. It was pretty fun to prepare and tasted very good.

For four servings, you will need:

• Approximately 360 grams (13 ounces) of macaroni noodles 
• 200 millilitres (7 fluid ounces) of soy-based cream or milk 
• 200 grams (7 ounces) of sour cream (Schmand) 
• 200 grams (7 ounces) of tofu as the base for the bolognese sauce—one could also substitute ground beef
• A 200 gram (7 ounce) lump of fresh mozzarella
• 1 cube of vegetable stock
• 1 medium onion
• 1 carrot
• 2 garlic cloves
• 200 grams (7 ounces) of tomato puree (passierte Tomaten, sonst Tomatenmark)
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• Oregano, thyme, basil, salt, pepper, red pepper power and cinnamon to season

Bring to boil the noodles in water with a bit of salt and then drain and set aside—about four minutes and not thoroughly cooked. Preheat the oven to 220ºC (425ºF).

For the filling (where the metaphorical meaning of pastiche comes from and you can try your own mix of ingredients), finely chop up the carrot, onion and garlic in a food-processor and fry in olive oil and then puree about four tomatoes (or use puree from a can) and add that and the tofu to the pan.
Introduce the bullion cube and season with salt, pepper, oregano, thyme and basil. Allow the sauce to continue to cook until it really thickens up. Transfer the bolognese and noodles to a large casserole dish and mix together while pouring in the cream or milk. Next spread the top of the dish with a thick layer of the sour cream.
Tear the lump of mozzarella into large, flat pieces and cover the surface and season with the red chili power and a bit of salt and pepper. Lastly, sprinkle the entire surface liberally with cinnamon. Bake for around 45 minutes. The cinnamon seems like an unusual ingredient but really enhances the medley of tastes and no one notices the meatless bolognese.

the wedding planner

Here's a fun gallery of wedding photographs from Russia, which are anything but traditional—I think, and a lot of them employ image-manipulation tools to superimpose the happy couple—or render themselves as centaurs.

Beauty (and taste) is always in the eye of the beholder and though many of these pictures looked photo-bombed, the couples (mostly) look like they are having a good time. I think, however, that these failings to capture ones better side, especially for these treasured moments, are directly linked to the persecution of the gays, who might be able to offer a different, outside perspective on deportment.

boreal, austral

These are not climes we've ventured to ourselves yet, so it is proving exciting to learn about the ice caps and their ancient and modern histories via the ever-excellent Atlas Obscura's Polar Week. Be sure to check out more of their curious and far-flung post-cards from exotic places.

continuum or billions and billions

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson will be hosting an updated version of the television programme Cosmos: A Personal Journey, Carl Sagan's seminal series on astronomy and space exploration, with the support of another fan and curator, animator Seth MacFarlane, whom has endowed the US Library of Congress with a collection of lectures, papers and correspondence from the renowned scientist and his wife (Kottle shares an interesting artefact and more news about the upcoming show—I received a letter from the late Dr. Sagan in response to a physics question I posed, as well), Ann Druyan, who selected the musical compositions etched into the golden records carried by the Voyager space probes. The series will be called Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey and will be produced for the National Geographic Channel and syndicated by the Fox Network.

sistine candles or in the room, the women come and go, talking of michelangelo

Mental Floss has an interesting article that reveals the original reasons behind the ban on photography and the taking of videos in the Sistine Chapel, adorned with breath-taking the breath-taking frescoes of Michelangelo in this private chapel of the Apostolic Palace and ante-chamber to the vast Vatican museum compound, was not in fact to protect the art from the crackle of light from billions of flash-bulbs but had more to do with licensing agreements that the Holy See granted to one of the biggest financial supporters of the restoration project. Started in 1980 and lasting nearly two decades, the prospect of reviving the walls and ceiling, un-re-touched since their completion in 1512 and stained with incense and candle smoke, was a very expensive undertaking and a big entertainment consortium from Japan helped extensively with the bill.

In exchange, the group had exclusive rights to reproducing high-quality images of the interior and documented each stage of the restoration work. Their rights have since expired but the ban—more or less, still remains in effect. It is really a sight to behold in person, as Goethe said after visiting in 1797, “Without having seen the Sistine Chapel one can form no appreciable idea of what one man is capable of achieving.” No photographs can do it justice and if you must take mementos, please tread lightly.

god didn't make the little green apples

Who knew that fruit trees could be so apparently dangerous? One of the most poisonous trees in the world—I am not sure what others are in this category—is native to Florida and the Bahamas and other parts of the Caribbean and are called Manchineel—from the epithet that early Spanish explorers gave to their poison fruit manzanita de le muerte, little apples of death.

Lots of berries and such are toxic to humans and the apples are bad but not the worst in this tree’s arsenal. Groves of trees have warning signs admonishing the curious to stay far away, as the sap is also extremely caustic (even indirectly) and can cause burns to the skin with exposure and smoke from burning the tree can lead to permanent blindness.  Accounts of early European explorers said that the sap from the Manchineel was the source for poison blow-darts and the other weapons. These trees, however, serve an important ecological role, as their sturdy and mostly undisturbed system of roots helps prevent beach erosion.

shēngxiào or march of time

In China and various other countries adhering to the same lunar calendar, this day marks the beginning of the Year of the Horse, specifically of the wood horse, one of the five classical elements of the Wŭ Xíng (alchemic) tradition in combination with one of the twelve earthly branches, the animals of the Chinese zodiac, and each iteration occurs every sixty years—plus either a yin or yang year, depending on the reckoning, whether odd or even.  An ancient folk story holds that years and their traits were established when the Jade Emperor called a meeting of the principals of the animal kingdom together and said that the procession of the years, the march of time would be named in honour of the delegates arrival and there are various fables that describe that race. Wood is associated with strength but also flexibility, gregariousness and expansion, and the Horse signals extrovertedness and charisma but perhaps also impatience, superficiality and economic troubles.

a,e i-o-u (and sometimes y)

As the hyphenated prefixes i- and e- are mostly claimed by private, the US government has grown fond of the old fall-back my for a lot of its self-service applications, mostly cordoned to the vast community of conscientious bureaucrats.

Now the American administration, just as the Affordable Care Act is finding its sea-legs, is introducing the so-called MyRA—for an individual's own individual retirement account (IRA). In other words, the US president wants to afford people the opportunity to supplement their statutory pensions with low- to no-risk investment vehicles for workers who don't have that benefit from their employers, whom are in the majority. I am constantly astounded how the opposition hounds and hobbles best intentions and usually pervert them into something other—like ObamaCare that can sadly now never live up to its expectations, saddled with various riders. I do, however, see rather soberly the outcome of such a surprising and gregarious act. As the very public and autonomic gesture of quantitative easing (read printing money) is rather unpalatable for the trading-houses that would manage these contributions of new and universal investors, it's surely a welcome cover for, I could see this diverting becoming, a mean to absorb US debt outside of such an unsustainable model, and enables business as usual. I do hope hope that the nay-sayers are wrong with this assessment.