cool yule or psychopomp

Just in time for the passing of Yule, the Winter Solstice, a package arrived from my parents in the States with a lot of Christmas goodies we’ll be unwrapping in a few days besides, with this resplendent and very Bavarian woven table runner (Tischläufer), which I think is a modern depiction of the mythological motif of the Wilde Jagd (the Wild Hunt), associated with Yuletide and the superimposition of Christmas traditions.

Like Ghost Riders in the Sky, the Wild Hunt is a tapestry of ethereal huntsmen under the leadership of Nordic gods or sometimes Krampus (Santa's bizarro-world opposite who punishes the naughty) and was foreboding of different things: a psychopomp is such a parade of spirit guides, like astral reindeer.

In any case, the passing of Yule, where ever we might try to find meaning, symbolism or reconstruct traditions, means that the nights retreat a little bit and the sunset and the dawn creeps in earlier and earlier each day.  We'll certainly have a place to display this gift on the sideboard.

taxiway

The American airline industry and various echelons of the US government are complaining bitterly about new European Union emission levies to go into effect with the coming of the new year. The EU efforts to single-handedly maintain the spirit of the Kyoto Accords to reduce negative environmental impact by imposing a carbon-tax on all flights taking off and landing in European airports are being decried as Europe slouching towards more of an isolationist policy, not integrating (I suppose) with the flagrant push for commerce and tourism at any and all costs with the rest of the world. Such vocal complaints and taunts are recent developments, however, and may be reflecting the pressure and shame that is being directed towards the EU for the way it is handling its economic affairs, as these arrangements have been known (and opposed) for over three years. The EU, upheld by Curia in Luxembourg and other legal observers, won’t fold on this project, despite the resistance of others. The US would find itself exempt from any surcharge, which surely would be passed along to the flying public in any case, if they had their own scheme and regulations in place to reckon and curtail pollution.

the trend is towards the bourgeois-smug

With the fomenting of the delicate succession in North Korea and rampant speculation about the elections in Russia, politicians and reporters perhaps ought to be a bit more gracious in their commentary--not censored and restrained but on the contrary, using the voice and platform they have to speak for the oppressed and as well as admonishing their audience about their own tenuous state of affairs, how their ability to voice those opinions is under constant threat and due vigilance is never out of bounds.

Guarding against both writ-large and petty, creeping tyrannies is not something that's lulled or beaten out of the people with the tattoo of economic indicators and security, and given the state of politics in the Western powers, one might do well to acknowledge the diminishing margin for criticism, leisurely or otherwise. The "will" of the American people in next year's US presidential election, filtered through campaigns, slant, libel and lobbyists, potentially poses a bigger threat to the world than the not insignificant legacy of dictators. Reckoning among the influence peddlers in the banks, the military-industrial complex and the patent-holders, the average person is less at liberty, and some have gone so far to decry the United States for its leadership role towards martial law. The legal fictions of the theatre of war and trademark broadened beyond integrity are hardly the hallmarks of a free society that treasures those freedoms. It is insidious, thrown off-balance between macro-economic fears and bread-and-circuses satisfaction in miniature, to have one's liberties eroded and disappeared by regimes less transparent, despite secrets and isolation, than any dictatorship. In that hard slog to shore up the euro, Germany has won levels of confidence hardly before seen as a Wirtschaftswunder with noblesse oblige but has also forgotten a few things along the way. Clutching irony may be hard to escape from any critique, from press to press or from government to government, but German consumer satisfaction is (forgettably) to some degree a more expert and cunning application of the dirty-tricks and short-cuts that failed America and Americans, among others. Unemployment and other gauges of social complacency are low in part over wage-stagnation, glossy inflation (electronics get cheaper but staples, higher education and health care inches upward) and glossier quantitative-easing and dabbling in the dart arts of market alchemy and easy-credit. Such placations are very effective distractions and blind us to irony as much as first finding oppression and tyranny in others.

o du fröhliche or shutter-speed

I suppose there is no bigger challenge for amateur photography than a lively Christmas Market (Weihnachts-markt, Christ-kindlmarkt) in its native setting, the festive glow of the booths under an icy sky and many attractions quite kinetic, like the giant Pyramid of the Leipzig, sort of a wooden carousel with Christmas figures that's propelled by the heat of flames. Leipzig's fair is among the eldest traditions in Germany, along with nearby Dresden and Bautzen, and decorated with the holiday trappings and influence of the Ore Mountains' (Das Erzgebirge) arts and crafts.

Beneath the spinning installation, a booth serves a insulating and potent cup of fortified punch called Feuerzangenbowle, a variation on Glüwein--a conditum paradoxum, a "spiced-surprise" in Latin. The sheltered arcades that crisscross the old city were also decked out dazzlingly, like this tall and illuminated tree around the corner from Auerbachs Keller, the historic restaurant, older than the Christmas market itself, that was made famous by Marlowe's and Goethe's Faust. Christmas trees, I understand, became the more dominant symbols of the season but still share a place alongside their highland and up-land forebears, the Pyramide, and creates a composition that really sets the mood--memorable, despite the challenges of sharing that scene and atmosphere in pictures.

navidad or chili incarnate

Did you know that chili was a reconstitutable ration for the pioneers of the old West? The dry ingredients were pounded together in bricks and taken on the trail, so one just had to boil water later on. I called this vegetarian Christmas chili because one could add a Christmas chocolate to the cauldron. I was afraid that chocolate in chili might either result in a treacly sweet taste or have no taste at all, like Stone Soup, but one could smell it cooking and the dish came out pretty good and it was almost as easy to make as just adding water.

• Some olive or cooking oil

• 1 small Onion, 1 clove of Garlic minced and chopped
• 1 can of diced Tomatoes (with peppers)
• 1 can of Kidney Beans
• 1 can of Garbanzo Beans
• 2 cups (about 500mL) of Vegetable Broth
• 2 teaspoons ground Cumin, 2 teaspoons Chili powder, 1 teaspoon salt
One small chocolate Santa, about one ounce (50 grams)

Cook the chopped garlic and onions for about five minutes over high heat in a large pot, and then mix in the broth, canned goods and spices. Bring to a boil then reduced to low heat and cover. Stirring occasionally, cover and allow chili to simmer and thicken for about 90 minutes. Ten minutes prior to serving, plop in the chocolate and mix well.

paperwork reduction act or schwarzgeld

Der Speigel (auf englisch) reports that in response to the reporting burdens coming with the enforcement of the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), starting in 2013, many European banks are barring or dropping their American clientele. Brokerage services, small business with American partners as well as accounts with assets of more than $50 000 must be identified and reported back to the US Internal Revenue Service.

Servicing such a constraint would cost significantly more, by several fold, than the revenue than the IRS expects to capture from this inspection, not to mention investment opportunities lost over this entanglement and ignoring the fact that the IRS is assigning (without commission) foreign banks the task of collecting money for them. For now, regular giro and savings accounts are not covered by this American provision but may well be in the future. Merely having investments in US assets, without any direct US shareholders, may even make a financial institution liable.  This is bound to have some serious repercussions, not least of which could be retaliation or reciprocation--payback which no one can afford on top of reduced investment in exchange for vanishing gains.  If a year and more out, some American accounts are already being abandoned, imagine how this might escalate.  Being out of compliance could result in a withholding on placed on the foreign bank’s earnings from American sources, but given that the demands of the reporting, detailed transactions, are in clear and pointed violation with German and EU privacy laws, it may be simpler and safer for some banks and businesses to be bullied into paying this transaction, maintenance fee.

the holly and the ivy or plant hacks

The poinsettia (Weihnachts-stern) will only naturally produce these brilliant, festive red leaves under very narrow conditions, when exposed to equal periods of light and darkness over successive days, which only occurs in the tropics at wintertime. Of course florists and growers know these sorts of floral hacks to achieve the same result—as do brewers and bakers and apothecaries, but I do not know if there are any other strictly decorative and devotional tricks for the plant kingdom. Wreaths of holly, Christmas trees and garlands are certainly transformations but not at their own accord, but perhaps the myth and magnetism of mistletoe is something in the same category.

chef surprise or old-new world cuisine

I tried my developing skill—well interest or perhaps just curiosity, at a more complicated dish: black bean and sweet potato tortillas. The process, messier and a little more demanding, was a reflective one, going from skepticism at the combination, the clashing colours and textures—the orange sherbet of the grated sweet potato and the oil-gush of black beans from a can—to thinking about how all the ingredients are native to the Americas. The sweet potato, a vegetable distinct from the Asian fruit of the yam, the tomato, chile, the black beans (frijol negro), the corn (we call it maize) tortillas are all native to the Americas. The cheese, too, I suppose, but I think it could be reduced or almost eliminated since it didn’t really carry the meal, unlike in a lot of cases. I am an advocate for supporting local farming but old world choices would really be impoverished without new world discoveries.

 

Makes four servings

• About 800 ml of whole, peeled tomatoes (28 oz can)
• 6-8 corn tortillas
• 2+ teaspoons of chili powder, oregano, salt and pepper to taste
• 3+ tablespoons of cooking oil
• 2 garlic cloves and a large onion
• 2 small to medium sweet potatoes
• 500 g shredded cheese (Cheddar or a spicy mix)
• 450 g of black beans (14 oz can)

First, peel and grate the sweet potatoes coarsely for about a 500 g (two handfuls) yield, chop and dice the onion and put aside. Preheat the oven to 230°C (450°F). Start heating up a skillet on the range, on medium heat with about a tablespoon of cooking oil and toss in about half of the diced onion and the garlic. While that is cooking, with a food processor or hand mixer, puree the tomatoes, the other half of the onions with a bit of oil, salt and pepper until smooth and transfer to a bowl and set aside. To the onions and garlic on the range, stir in the grated sweet potato and black beans with the chili and oregano and let cook an additional 5-6 minutes. Take a casserole dish and spread the tomato mixture on the bottom, covering the pan but not too thick. Remove the beans and sweet potatoes from the heat and stir in a couple handfuls of cheese and allow it to gel for about a minute. Spoon the bean and sweet potato mixture on the tortillas, roll, and place in the casserole dish. Afterwards, top with the remaining tomato mixture and the rest of the cheese. Pop the casserole dish in the oven for about 20 minutes, until the cheese browns and bubbles and the excess liquid cooks away.