Post number 101

- We passed the entry#100; An achievement of perseverance!

- John Mcenroe and my uncle Jorge are undoubtedly lookalikes!!!! (I am looking for my uncle`s picture so it could be posted shortly!)

- What is the REAL meaning of "creative kitchen?" La multiplicacion de los panes y los peces? -Juan 6, 1-15- or "Jesus feeds the five thousand!" from John 6, 1-15 Could it also mean to make a very nice dinner out of having 2 eggs and few greens in the refrigerator and very little more? In any case I can`t even entertain the idea of going to creative food restaurants as the trend goes in Madrid, in addition to "fashionable", the last recommendations received and followed were very disappointing (La Trainera. I do not care if it really was the favorite of Francis Bacon while he was in Madrid, as claimed, or if it is considered he best in its class but I dislike fishy aromas, not to even mention tastes and I assume that YES! it is me against the rest of the world still convinced that the place looks like a beach kiosk and the food is no better than the one served by the street vendors of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia but with one difference: here La Trainera excels in hiring the rudest waiters). So if designer dishes or creative cooks are trendy and popular in here I would be inclined to think that they are not that good. I should probably be a little sorry about my simplistic and unassuming taste but, in a country where people unexplicably like percebes (gooseneck barnacles), adore "bacalao croquetas" (epinephelus cifuentesi, salted, salty and turned then into barely edible) commonly consume sepia rice (I am even ashamed to post the link of it) I feel unable to trust any advise of the sort. After 25 years with a daily dose of sirloin steaks with rice I can only prefer meat above all, with the occasional lentil or bean soup for a change: They are easy to get, much easier to cook, and a pleasure to the taste! Nothing out of the ordinary, not the least exquisite but at least very far from snobbish, and environmentally speaking, not too unfriendly.

- In the new year eve, we could imagine exchanging one Navitrolla wall calendar for another one. Not much more than that. No special cooking -thought very creative as usual- will take place. However, our calendar from 2007 was a mürakarud one and the next will be courtesy of the last Nintendo magazine purchased by Emil.

Updated list of mundane wishes that coincide with the turn of the year:

First and foremost: To have the issue of our tenant from hell (Valery) solved before we depart to Estonia

2. A fair deal with and for the cars
3. Nice experiences in Marrakesh
4. Good health
5. Amazon.com wish list fulfilled
6. Visits from friends and relatives
7. A trip to Medellin
8. A NintendoDS Lite
9. Crochet mastery (at least some sort of grasp...)
10. A fish tank
11. Excursion to the Guggenheim Museum of Bilbao
12. A gorgeous Villeroy and Boch service like this

BEAUTIFUL SONG; FUNNY MUSIC; VERY COOL VIDEO:

Viviendo la navidad

El 24 en la tarde, todos "tomaban en te" con Joonas

Las tarjetas salieron de Madrid a destiempo, y el computador se desconfiguro en el dia del ano que exige mas comunicacion y aun asi hicieron las galletas de jengibre (o gengibre? genjibre? jenjibre?), pusieron algunos adornos y comimos lo que como ya habia mencionado, gargantua hubiera querido engullir. Todavia quedan restos de morcilla, carne y repollo agrio. Ya no podemos ver un turron mas.

Decoracion navidena atipica, hecha por Juulia Aliide, y en la tapa de un bento reciclado. El pesebre "pop" con figuritas de playmovil y todo lo que hasta ahora hemos coleccionado de los huevos Kinder Surprise. Este ano, por ejemplo les salio la familia Simpson, por la pelicula y si les gusta ubicarla en su arreglo navideno, pues a nosotros nos parece muy bien:

El arbolito hecho por Emil en el 2006 y la tela de fondo (mantel noruego de los 60) sirven de fondo a lo que iba a ser una peliculita de los ninos para el resto de la familia. Las galletas de gengibre (la duda sobre la ortografia sige: GINGERBREAD COOKIES para) siguen ahi, en la encimera de la cocina hasta el dia de hoy, pero como todo hay que decirlo, huelen muy bien.

Menu PANTAGRUELICO, el planeado para navidad/The Christmas menu so far

Joonas a punto de salir a tomar el aire. 23.12.2007/Joonas will go out for a brisk walk; Today

This menu consist above all of meat. We will have Jaan as a main guest (remember that he barely spends any time home during weekends) and it is the food of his choice, in fact it is the snack, the breakfast, the finger food, the side dish, the lunch and the dinner of his choice, so no wonder! We have black pudding-blood sausage Burgos style, very similar to the Envigado Morcilla, filled with blood and rice, we bought more than a kilo of pork loin (canon de cerdo???), and enough chopped meat to make a good pie of another two pounds of weight. He also wants sour cabbage, potatoes to be able to swallow all that protein without helping the least his digestive system, and the weirdest thing of all, sparkling wine...It seems to me that the rudimentary nature of the menu would rather call for some sort of home brew, a root beer beverage or even vodka. I hope the Christmas meal will not look even remotely greasy like this. The sparkling wine choice bewilders me. In any event we will please the man and everything is awaiting preparation.
This year, our last in Madrid we also decided not to prepare any dessert but instead to eat traditional sweets of this country: Nougat or Turrones. It is difficult to decide what to buy, there could be easily thousands of brands in hundreds of flavors with and without sugar. Our choices so far are shown in the picture of the right:

El menu elegido consiste principalmente de carne. Nuestro inviado de honor es Jaan, que como ya saben es un escaso miembro de la familia, que raramente esta disponible en fines de semana o festivos, y cuyo plato favorito siempre esta y estara sobrecargado de proteina y grasa animal. De hecho la carne es su desayuno, mediamanana, almuerzo, merienda, algo, lo de picar y comida favorita, por que extranarse? Tenemos la morcilla de Burgos lista, una my similar, seguramente inspiradora de la colombiana de Envigado, mas de un kilo de canon de cerdo y tambien carne molida para una torta rellena posiblemente con tocineta y longaniza...AGGGHHHH. Jaan tambien quiere repollo agrio y papas para poder tragar esa cantidad extravagante de carne sin hacer ninguna concesion por el sistema digestivo que sufrira lo indecible con esta ingesta. Solamente el anotarlo me produce escozor. De todo lo planeado sorprende mas la eleccion de Cava como acompanamiento. Para un menu de tan rudimentarias caracteristicas parece mas indicada una malta, o un destilado casero, cerveza e incluso vodka, pero adentrarse en el terreno del vino espumoso tipo Champana es muy extrano. De todos modos, complaceremos al hombre.
Este ano, por ser el ultimo en Espana, de postre serviremos los dulces tipicos de esta epoca en este pais: turrones, polvorones y mazapanes. De los primeros todos los supermercados hacen una gala extraordinaria. Hay pasillos enteros con cientos de turrones y marcas en todas las formas y sabores que uno se pueda imaginar, sin azucar o con ella, miel, fructosa, duros, blandos y con licor. En fin, no nos podemos decidir por uno solo asi que hemos hecho una seleccion basada en tamano, gusto y precio y el resultado provisional aparece en una de las fotos arriba.

Fallacy#1: Nosotros, los del rollo de la negociacion y el manejo de conflictos estamos "muy mal asesorados" o completamente equivocados! Una de dos.

"el arte de la critica constructiva"

Tuve la candida idea de darle reconocimiento a la linea de pensamiento de un senor que opina que con los terroristas no se negocia. De hecho, mi intencion era solo la de precisar terminos y escuetamente explicar que negociacion no es mas que intercambio de ideas, que es util para controlar las situaciones de violencia escalada, y que no tiene nada que ver con ceder u olvidarse de los propios intereses. Surgieron entonces todo tipo de trabas al entendimiento por que hasta de violadores de abuelitas se hablo. Como lo tenia que haber supuesto (aveces es mejor echar mano de los prejuicios, probado!) nadie entendio nada. No hubo dialogo sino una avalancha de monologos que me quitaron las ganas de interactuar por completo, y tambien mucho tiempo del precioso. La conclusion de la mayoria, es que no tengo ni idea, que defiendo una tonteria por que no me queda sino proteger lo que me brinda el sustento y que estoy perturbada por la falta de contacto con la realidad entre otras cosas...Asi que mi entrada para hoy versa asi:

"Los que estudiamos negocacion y conflicto no nos enteramos de nada, no tenemos capacidad de analisis, usamos mal el lenguaje, tenemos poca instruccion y malas intenciones", somos casi unos aparecidos no del todo respetables... Esto es lo que piensan los polarizados personajes que replicaron a la intervencion que hice en un blog del mismo corte categorico y falaz, en relacion a la negociacion. Yo la considero util, practica y necesaria. Me sonrio la suerte al poder adquirir de primera mano una experiencia antropologica unica para el logro de una buena disertacion, con ejemplos sobre el tema de la contaminacion politica (o mas bien la inmunidad al sentido comun) de las personas que incuban posiciones extremas y que ademas se agrupan en clanes multiformes y reaccionarios.
Nosotros, los varios que pensamos que no hay que ser "nada en particular" para pensar algo en particular, ni hay que pertenecer a algo para que las propias ideas tengan legitimidad y que ademas creemos en los imperativos kantianos, los que para quienes la via mas expedita y practica hacia la paz es la negociacion y la tranquilidad merecemos la deshonra intelectual total...

Creo que la humanidad pide a gritos educacion!
Los titulos recrean el tipo de respuestas que recibi y complacerian la corta vision de los que no le dan ningun credito a lo que yo mencione, sinembargo lo que presento aqui son unos pocos enlaces de los que apoyan mi vision sobre la negociacion y el conflicto:

Sitio miscelaneo pero muy ilustrativo, literalmente!
El "tipejo" que se invento lo de que negociar es conveniente
Una "escuela de pacotilla" donde toda clase de mentecatos como yo se juntan a improvisar teorias
Otra charrada de alocatados de mi calana sin nada de alcance ni relevancia mundial y con una trayectoria de principiantes

Asi que si ser muchos y serios, con relevancia internacional importa, entonces que se revise la calificacion dada a mi comentario afirmando que la negociacion podria solucionar el conflicto con los vascos. Las concesiones no, la negociacion. Exijo como siempre que los interlocutores decodificando este planteo puedan presumir de precision conceptual! Y que cada uno piense lo que quiera.

Para terminar y con la mejor de las caricaturistas de a diario : Son las veinte fotos en las que el perro no coopero con la camara"; suele suceder. Que los perros no colaboren, no saben, no pueden los pobres. Ejemplo de la vida real por cortesia de vacaaxul:

Not yet a Christmas entry! A comment about Madrid instead.

The first two images are in the country I am from, very faraway from the city, in the mountains where our famous coffee is cultivated; The small town is Jardin, located in the southern most region of the province Antioquia, better known because of its capital, Medellin (four hours away by car). The photos are taken in the main square, and inside of one of the buildings (probably the home of a local peasant), respectively.
The one below is a house in Medellin, my city, in Prado, a downtown, run down neighborhood that should and hopefully will be taken care of in the near future.

Why there should be a Christmas entry at all? We are not very thematic around here, except from the activities we organize just because, and happen to match the events of the holiday season, some that we are obliged to by the schools, neighbors and by those that expect our participation in funny and often inopportune gatherings. Even though it is the 20th of December, I still need to run the ordinary errands while at the same time sorting out the hysteric traffic and frenzied mood of the inhabitants of this city. I sort them out in two ways: physically, because the city has switched into a different rhythm indeed and emotionally, because I have to make an extra effort to understand it and keep calm. How much more inefficient the Spanish life can be? How much busier? To which extent can media and publicity alter the normal functioning of the social organization? Why journalists contribute to this chaos and report on the irrelevant and the unnecessary?
No wonder I keep running into surrealistic examples that support a close relative`s idea that Spain is not Europe, and if not a developing (Third world is not very nice to say...) type of banana republic then a conglomerate of hominids very sui generis! The big, persuasive and cogent arguments do not escape my mind now but I am not having (as usual) much time to extend and expand, the small ones, just a reflection of the former always can be illustrative and explained in few minutes:
It has been raining ALL day long, the sky is cloudy from the morning and as a result when this rarity takes place the whole city collapses. It is not that Madrid ever runs efficiently, but if people are prepared before hand for the terrible traffic conditions, the masses get "conditioned" to mess it even more. It is like the typical self fulfilling prophecy. It has been a while since the media campaign started to suggest people to use public transportation during this busy times, and I do not have any idea why, it has always been busy, and nothing yet improves. Neither can I explain why on earth this times are said to create so much confusion, hurry and despair...after all, in this country everybody wants to own a car and drive it in the most miserable and inappropriate circumstances -ALL YEAR ROUND-. It is not a seasonal matter. Also, in Spain, unlike anywhere else, I have witnessed the wildest sort of consumerism imaginable, every month of every year (as a brief example, that could be elaborated further sometime soon, the urge of Spanish women to dress children up like adults with velvet shoes and woolen overcoats-cloaks and capes, plus grown up brand names or ridiculous outfits that make them look like inanimate vitrine dolls? And worst than making them uncomfortable and imposing them wearable collectible items -with the corresponding nagging to keep them all tidy and neat, does not matter if the child is 2, 4, or 6 year old- is to spend little fortunes EVERY season to be able to display the children around. I am sure than any foreigner here has noticed this strange phenomena! Needles to mention the costumes for first communions and other similarly rated occasions...).
In short Christmas is not the only time when people in here, massively and animatedly consume without any discrimination, or move around erratically creating traffic jams and street congestion. The only rare element of today`s picture is the rain. I remind you that I has been raining all day long! As my story wanted to develop, I had to pay the trainings of children. Every month, between the first and the twentieth, people have to personally present themselves to the little, obsolete and pathetic looking office of the sport center/polideportivo/spoordihoone/estadio deportivo and pay for the next month. If one fails to do that, the child could loose the place/plaza/koht/lugar which would then be vacant and available to the hundreds of other children that have to check, in the same office, the 26 or 27th of every month whether there is a place in the training of their like. AND IT GOES AS I RELATE! Hundreds of mothers, children, and pensioners go and stoically wait in an endless line to ask questions to the person across the glass wall. No way they put it up in the internet, less way that one could get information on the phone, unthinkable to be able to make a transfer online, and forget to have any predictability or continuity in this ridiculous arrangement that only wastes everybody`s time and maintains a couple of the rudest individuals I have ever met, employed in a pathetic office that serves no one. Today, the 20th, I went in the awful rain, using public transportation because I try to be a good citizen, and made a 15 minutes line to realize that actually the time to do this is between the 2nd and the 12th of January, and I was also farewelled with a scream because I did not read the paper attached to the wall (an A4 photocopy of a note telling that the renewal for the month of January was moved to the aforementioned dates). I perceive clearly the need for a web page, but Spanish people prefer to go and waste this precious time even in this time of the year, or specially now, and in this weather. They probably appreciate this extra chance to socialize (not with the people at the window, those are immune to kindness) and think, when I make any complaint or suggestion on this regard, that I must be very thankful to live in a city ranked the third in economic growth and development as opposed to the place from where my accent suggest I come from, then I think I should teach them that not only that little piece of information is outdated (it is from 2004), but the country from where I am from has grown steadily for much longer time than I recall, despite its political problems, of course without belonging to the EU and therefore without its incentives and sponsorship (not receiving the enormous amounts of EUR that Spain received for the past 20 years, at least) and contrary to any "aprioristic" opinion, presents a better chance of optimizing resources through the use of modern technologies. I state this categorically! I know it, I have lived it.

This last is a house in Paseo del Prado, Madrid. Its lateral wall is a living garden, stunning but unfortunately not very clear in this picture...
The first two pictures are not mine, they are taken by Lalo and reproduced here with his permission. New photos of the Christmas decoration in Medellin are posted by him as well.

Mas PULPITOS y un par de sugerencias

Pulpito romano, pulpito baratija, pulpito de fimo, pulpito de carbohidratos, pulpito en la estampilla mexicana, pulpote atrapado en un acuario, pulpito graffiti aleman, pulpito volador-cuerpo celeste-cometa-papalote-y pulpito de fieltro amarillo

Mientras que encuentro el tiempo para escribir la entrada que sigue 2 referencias:

1. Un enlace especialmente bueno, y util, para que en vez de perder tiempo en chats y messengers (se disfruta mas el cultivar los afectos en vivo, en directo y con atencion personalizada) encontremos la musica de fondo QUE QUERAMOS. Se trata de un archivo gigantesco de musica para personalizar, explorar, oir o comprar: LAST.FM yo ni me habia enterado que exstia!

2. El archivo que todos querriamos tener y que incluye textos, libros, videos e incluso peliculas clasicas y de clase B primordialmente (como The Bee Movie, por ejemplo), al alcance de un registro que se hace en un minuto y una busqueda facilitada al maximo. Este sitio es de lo mejor que he encontrado ultimamente en terminos de recursos. Todos lo que que Emil se quiere leer estan aqui: www.archive.org/index.php "Universal access to human knowledge"

Animales favoritos.

La mariposa, de la que ya hablamos, la vaca, pero no la pintada sino la CEBU; como esta que encontre un dia en Galicia:

El pulpito, pero no como este:

Sino este:

Pero chiquitito:

Por eso no me gustan los diminutivos, por que entre otras cosas conducen a equivocos.
Las vacas mosaico me gustan todavia mas como esta que se puede ver en PARIS!

This is how the mosaic advances....slowly!

Three hours of class translate in this amount of work. Most of the class time is spent cutting the stones with the hammer against the ax; Trying them on different available spots, attaching them, not liking the resul and detaching them back, disposing many and cutting more. Here is the model picture and here how I began.

I have just prepared for the book club meeting of tomorrow a very typical cheesecake which I flavored this time with lulo pulp; I made it from scratch and even the cookies were prepared with interesting ingredients: whole wheat flour, vanilla beans, lemon rinds and honey. Lulo is known by this name or "naranjilla" due to its sour flavor, but it really looks like a greenish-yellow tomatoe. The fruit grows in the Andean mountains between Cali, Colombia and Quito, Ecuador, at 1000-1200m altitude and its scientific name is solanum quitoense. Actually, it looks a lot like a Kaki!!! or persimmon of a smaller size. Lulo is one of the favorite flavors of any Colombian household for drinks, yogurt and desserts in general. I found this picture in flickr, by "Quimbaya" who has several other interesting images of it in his collection.

I also plan to offer avocado paste with lots of onions, lemon, salt and pepper (yes, guacamole) and yuca (tapioca? cassava?) chips. The book that we will be discussing has nothing to do with this quasi-menu (The dancing girl of Izu), but I can`t prepare, in fact I can not even procure good quality products from Japan. I would certainly like to learn, and I am making advances on that direction, given that Juulia "needs" to make a tea ceremony after Christmas, when she expects to get from "PAPA NOEL" a proper tea service...Later this month I will be posting some of my concerns regarding my 11 (almost 12) and 9 year old beliefs. They believe! Yes, they do! They still believe. And I worry a lot.

Temas pendientes/Pending issues

Reconozco que no he terminado con estos asuntos, y tambien admito que hoy quedaran nuevamente aplazados:
I admit that I have not finished shaping my thoughts about these matters and that entries on them will still be pending for a while:

1. Por que no se comienzan las dietas (es mejor no comenzar o comenzar y rendirse antes de tiempo?)/Why do we have difficulties starting a diet? (Is not starting it any better than quitting before losing any weight at all?)
2. Bajo o alto contexto cultural/High and low cultural context
3. EFT o Tecnicas de Liberacion Emocional/Emotional Freedom Techniques
4. Fotos del dia de las velitas/Candles day pictures
5. "La bailarina de IZU" o " The dancing girl of Izu"
6. Behavioral economics (why do we procastinate)
7. Kosovo y la estabilidad de los Balcanes. Is Kosovo going to alter the stability of he Balkans?

Joonas fue a la guarderia hoy por primera vez en dos semanas e hizo el escandalo correspondiente. Comimos anoche donde Eva Goulash preparado por su madre, y torta de crepes con salsa de vainilla. Se nos quedo la camara y por lo mismo las fotos de hoy son de otra ocasion, irrelevantes tal vez pero propias:

a. Cosas que compre un dia cualquiera en Tallinn. Sept/2007. La etapa del amarillo tan sorprendente para mi como para cualquier observador no esta superada. Los bananos son COLOMBIANOS perfectos, bonitos, deliciosos! La mermelada de mustsõstra; indescriptiblemente buena.
b. Emil y Juulia en la libreria Apollo del Viru Keskus (un centro comercial), leyendo y escogiendo libros con Nils y Elsa. Sept/2007.
c. Joonas, contento, con la boca llena y de gafas, las amarillas de Mr. potatoe head que no se quita nunca!
d. Juulia y Joonas con Liisi y Mari Liis, las vecinitas nuestras en Tabasalu. Septiembre/2007.

Algunas fotos favoritas (de otros) en flickr. LINDISIMAS

YUGOP, but I have no idea how to insert it here permanently

I used to have this clock in my website on conflict management but for some reason I forgot how to add it or where to find the tags! A blog does not allow for much unless one knows a lot about blogging. I do not. Anyway, see the link, it is very, very cool!

Onto another matter: I love this sweater, does anybody know how to make it???????????

Tomorrow is candles day! I will take many pictures.

Recommended viewing:

1. Two women make pictures every single morning; they live more than 3.000 miles apart, they are friends, they blog the images and the result is a very beautiful photo blog made by two.

It takes discipline, commitment and romanticism to do this, that is why I like it:

CHECK IT OUT HERE

2. Last but not least: CINNAMON ROLLS Tartelette: Cinnabons - A Tasty Knock Off - Priceless Friends: "Link Newer Post Older Post "

Paralizados

Por la rabia con nuestro OKUPA Valeri que otra vez obstruye el proceso y logra que las autoridades bailen a su ritmo.
Por que la urticaria de Joonas no se quita ni con los anti histaminicos y esta leno de ronchas rojas de pies a cabeza.
Por que sin renovar el seguro y con el carro practicamente nuevo ya tuvimos un accidente Mercedes contra BMW, como para que el arreglo cueste poco!
Por que hay un puente mas en el calendario academico-laboral espanol y no implica que Jaan tenga un descanso por que trabaja de todos modos.
Por que no voy a poder ir a mosaico el mes entero al tener a Joonas en la casa al menos 3 de las 4 semanas de Diciembre.
Para mantener la calma HUMOR FELINO:

O imagenes para recordar:

En Tarragona, la muralla romana es usada de apoyo para la construccion de viviendas, y lo que no falta es la "decoracion" peculiar; tipica en toda Espana: la ropa colgada secandose a la vista de los transeuntes.

Una pared del casco antiguo:

Casa Batlo; la tipica foto de Barcelona, y que no podia faltar por esto y por que esta llena de MOSAICOS...

Hoy, por ejemplo, me encantaria encontrar el paraiso asi materializado, y llegar a el "solvente":

Para comprar cintas, fieltro, hilos, telas, alfileres, botones y todo lo demas...

Y que son los CALCOTS? What CALCOTS are?

Son una especie de las tantas de cebollas que tiene algun parecido con la que llamamos "junca" pero con mas consistencia, un poco mas gruesa. En todo caso, saben igual. Los Calcots son un plato tipico tarragones. Su consumo, tan exotico que se ha convertido ya en "producto" de exportacion a otras comunidades de Espana, por lo que se puede ir en Madrid a alguna que otra calcotada que es el nombre de este evento gastronomico decembrino. Se preparan a la brasa, y cuando la pelicula exterior esta chamuscada se sirven (de veinte en veinte) con la salsa romesco que les acompana. Los calcots saben simplemente a cebollas cocidas, dulzones, babosos, pero la salsa es exquisita. Se comen con escalivada (pimentones con berenjena asados y aderezados con aceite de oliva), alcachofas a la brasa y pan con tomate. Se sirven como guarnicion de las carnes y los embutidos y para pasarlo todo: VINO.

Calcots are like huge spring onions. They are mainly eaten in the Catalan province of Tarragona but since there is a whole gastronomical event around them, which precisely starts this time of the year, the consumption has been "exported" to the capital and other important regions. They are grilled directly on top of burning coals and served with a delicious dip (wich at the end is what makes the dish, the hassle and the mess worth) called romesco sauce. They are also served with wine, of course! escalivada (roasted bellpeppers with eggplant, and sometimes anchovies) and pan con tomate, our all times favorite.

Receta de la salsa romesco/Romesco sauce recipe

Ingredientes/ingredients:
3-6 tomates muy maduros/3-6 ripe tomatoes
1 cabeza entera de ajo/1 garlic head
1 docena de almendras peladas/a dozen peeled almonds
1/2 docena de avellanas (opcional)/6 hazelnuts
5 ~noras (pimientos o pimentones)/5 red bell peppers
Un pedacito de pimenton picante o guindilla si se quiere algo de pique/hot pepper to taste
1 vaso de aceite de oliva virgen extra/200g extra virgin olive oil
1/2 vaso de vinagre de buena calidad/100g quality vinegar
1 rebanada grande de pan tostado o frito/1 bread loaf; Toasted or fried
Sal y pimienta al gusto/salt and pepper to taste

Preparacion/preparation:
En un mortero se trituran las almendras, las avellanas y el pan. Se le agregan los tomates, los pimentones y el ajo, previamente asados (puede ser a la brasa o en el horno, pero deben estar tiernos y bien hechos) y pelados. Se machacan con la mezcla anterior y con la ayuda del aceite y el vinagre se homogeniza la salsa. Se deja reposar unas 3 horas. Al final se sala al gusto y si se prefiere una textura mas fina se pasa por un colador chino. Para que la textura sea my cremosa el aceite de oliva se va anadiendo a la vez que se esta machacando la pasta, continuamente y poco a poco. Se trata de una especie de alioli con mucho sabor.
Using a mortar and a pestle crush almonds, halzenuts and bread. Peppers, garlic and tomatoes should be grilled and peeled (well done and soft) before adding them to the mortar. Mix the remaining ingredients while adding at the same time the olive oil. In this way the resulting sauce would be very smooth and creamy. Season it to taste. For a finer texture use a Chinese strainer.

Catalunya

We spent 4 fantastic days in Catalunya:
-Went to Barcelona
-Slept in a wonderful apartment of the gotic disctrict
-Felt it was a very "cool," eclectic, diverse, bohemian, artsy part of the city
-Ate the best fondue of the past 3 years (ever since Beatrix and Gerry made one for us, very authentic, in Basel)
-Visited the Maritime Museum where THE reception (and the reason to be of this whole trip was) took place
-Took a look of the honorary consulate of Estonia where a clearly misleading plate hangs and says "Consulado General"
-Walked up and down the RAMBLAS
-Suffered the traffic congestion and finally drove out to Tarragona
-SAW after many years the Lampreave family: Angel, Rosa, Miriam and Francisco, Esther, and Co. (Children)
-Got a taste of the best imaginable hospitality: hosted in their Summer house, honored by their kind company, guided around the city and invited to eat calcots! And because this last activity deserves a distinguished mention, an image:

This entry continues for sure..........

And this is our latest obsession: Matcha; Japanese green tea, like an expresso to coffee. Juulia, as explained earlier, leads this trend. A bunch of pictures found in the internet of it by this authors: Chahno, Steve H., Miss Peach, Jusan, Yan San, Tychennyt and Moxlux:

Un tema para dejar pasar de largo...

*Sera solo a mi o la congelacion de relaciones con Venezuela nos deja a muchos "frios" PERO que sera lo que se pierde con eso si segun mis trasnochados calculos deben haber al menos otros 200 paises con los cuales podriamos explorar algun tipo de acercamiento?
*Soy la unica que encuentra CIERTA desproporcion entre 42(inocentes secuestrados) y 500(cupables, sentenciados, guerrilleros)?
*Como se define INTERCAMBIO HUMANITARIO? Acaso trueque de personas? Comercio humano? Toma y daca? Cambio de personas por otras personas con motivos altruistas? Ninguna definicion, de las que se me ocurren en pocos segundos parece alejarse del concepto de trafico humano...estoy sola al pensar asi? Desde cuando las personas son objeto de transaccion y por que asi lo permite e incluso exige un pais entero? Me convierto en el ser mas poco popular al exigir mas respeto por la estabilidad de un ordenamiento juridico, y de acuerdo a elementales consideraciones eticas, QUE NO SE HAGAN CONTRATOS CUYO OBJETO SEAN PERSONAS? No se trivializan los derechos humanos al condicionarlos y someterlos a discusion?
*Se podria pensar que en Colombia se esta exigiendo una despenalizacion del secuestro, ya que las consecuencias del hecho delictivo no serian otras que concesiones y beneficios! Algo desde el punto de vista legal esperpentico y desde el etico muy cuestionable.

Mi mosaico avanza poco, muy poco; la ultima clase paso lo siguiente:

Y manana vamos a visitar a Miriam y a Francisco a Tarragona, despues de 16 a~nos o tal vez mas de no vernos. De vuelta a Madrid el fin de semana, y entonces hasta entonces.

BENTO, a missing link.

I am unable to explain the Asian phenomenon that is taking place in this house. My cultural heritage overridden by countless tea ceremonies orchestrated by the 9 year old in charge and our decoration choices overlapped by SHODO compositions and oriental paraphernalia.
We have been living the oriental craze during the last two years; Ever since Juulia discovered the Japanese culture (well in fact it is about anything Asiatic). It all started with an avalanche of questions that I could no longer answer: Could I read and/or recite the Chinese alphabet?, How to say mother and/or happiness in Japanese?, How many languages are spoken in Asia?, Can I also become a Maiko (implied: even though I am half Estonian and half Colombian)?, Could we purchase a Kimono and an Ao-dai and would I let her go to school dressed like that?, Could we drink green tea every evening with dinner? and eventually and more importantly: Can you please register me for Shodo (!!!!!!??? WHAT IS THAAAAAAAAAAT I thought!) in this number (Telephone number, website, email address and name of the teacher all written down in a piece of paper)? Emil, more modestly and much less imposing had been making a good deal of origami on his own. Being the background more or less explained already, lets go onto the BENTO issue.
Today, we learned that (like everything in Japan) Bento is almost an art. The definition found in Wikipedia sufices so far: "single-portion takeout meal common in Japanese cuisine. A traditional bento consists of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables as a side dish. Containers range from disposable mass produced to hand crafted lacquerware"

And this is the point of contact with me, the missing link, a good explanation on where her interest comes from (a little bit stretching the reasoning is harmless now, is not it?). The picture above shows a bento of those I had from childhood. I received plenty of these little boxes and never knew what they were about but still I collected several of Little Twin Stars, (the characters are shown above on top of the chopsticks container) from age 9, purchased in the same shop (an only one probably) where you could get them back then, that is in the 70s and 80s, in the 10th street of Medellin: "Lanas." On occasions a nice color Lacoste T-shirt could also be found there. Later, in Oviedo Shopping Center we had a small supply of Sanrio imports and "cool stuff" but nothing compared with the current stock. The shop then was called Mattel . Nowadays one can find everything imaginable, everywhere; Hello kitty, My Melody and other much newer "others" are flooding commerce all over the place in Colombia. One can find them even in el Exito, who would have imagined 27 years ago? My favorites as for today are Chococat and Badtz-maru.
Children of my age, all with the same collection, could also procured them in Miami, and they were a sign of disctintion for it also revealed the fact that one could also travel abroad in a time of closed economies and very little international exchange. Anything Sanrio and bento (described already) constituted the best type of gifts of all, followed by stickers and stationary as I received from La Tia Pata when I was around 11 or 12 and collected for many years to come. I still keep the stickers, my old bentos and even one that my brother J.F. had in white and red of Hello Kitty. The one possession I use up to now is his swimming bag, as appears below:

These below, are very sophisticated bento arrangements by declared B. serial producer Sakurako Kitsa, an American lady who evidently has a lot of talent and patience. Joonas loves them, but I am afraid to get inspired by this and create him yet another routine, one of sophisticated food compositions to pledge to forever and suffer every day with!