The Visit

From the blog of La Caja de Pandora, Pandorha wrote the following story which I have translated:

In the beginning of the 1st century of our era, there were two  schools headed by two prestigious wise men, Hilel and Shamal. Each school was devoted to the study of Torah (the first five books of the Bible) and the students were of promising talent. However, there was a problem of rivalry among the two groups of students and they took every opportunity to discredit one another.

One day, the students of Shamal thought that the best way to discredit the students of the other school, was to humilliate  the wise man Hilel and so they made up a strategy.

They thought of catching a butterfly and carrying it alive in the hand of one of them to the house where Hilel lived and upon arrival they would ask him:

Professor Hilel, this butterfly that I have in my hand is it dead or is it alive? If Hilel  should reply that it is alive, then the one carrying it will close his fist and demonstrate that it is dead.  But on the contrary,  the butterfly will be set free upon opening his hand,  and prove that the butterfly is alive.

The idea was infallible and they did as planned. They caught a butterfly and one of the students of Shamal took it in his hand. They went to the house of Hilel and knocked on his door. The wise man asked them:

-What made you come?
 The students replied:
-We want to find out how intelligent you are.
 Hilel then asked.
-And how do you intend to do that?
 We will ask you a question.
-Go ahead.
-This butterfly inside my hand, is it dead or is it alive?
 Hilel looked at them slowly and replied:
-The decision lies in your hands.

Unlike Them

Workers sleep along the highway under mosquito nets in Islamabad, Pakistan.  Muhammed Muheisen/ AP

While  a fisherman takes his nap as he dries and salts fish in Jakarta, Indonesia.  Irwin Fedriansyah/ AP

Unlike them, we sleep on  comfortable beds and  yet sometimes we complain that  we cannot sleep.  Instead of counting sheep, let us think of the less fortunate ones who sleep placidly along highways and salted fishes.  

El Mundo, June 8, 2011

A Different Breakfast

 

Instead of having  breakfast in bed, why not go out and have it outdoors ?  This apple pie is  simply delicious and here is a simple and easy recipe.

Apple Pastry

- Pastry dough

- 3 medium sized apples or 2 big ones

- 1/2 cup  brown sugar

- 1 tbs.  cinnamon

- 1 tbs.  butter

Preheat the oven at 250ºC.  Peel and cut the apples in cubes  then place them in a recipient adding in  sugar, cinnamon and butter.  Mix.  Extend the dough and cut it in rectangles of 1/2 cm thick.  In one of the rectangles, place the apple in the center leaving space in the sides and cover with the other part.  Seal the borders with the help of a fork and make three cuts in the center to avoid inflating.  Place the pastries in a greased oven dish and bake until golden brown for about 15 mins.  Serve either hot or cold.

Have a wonderful breakfast!

Yo Dona
Patricia de los Ángeles
June 4, 2011

Mel's Catch

Here is my very first catch of mackerels. I caught them from the kayak of Bournemouth beach.  I caught 7 in total but only kept four because the others weren't big enough.

 

Here are  my mackerels cooked, how  delicious!  Two different recipes:  beer battered mackerel with salt, pepper and aniseed and another one grilled with bay leaf and garlic!   

Paella Contest

This year, our town hall sponsored a contest on the best paella. Since it was only a few meters away from where I live, after mass I went to the plaza to take a look. The curious thing? there were only male contestants.  But the truth is, there are not  many women cooks of reknown names compared with men, which is silly because it is mainly women who use the kitchen and not precisely to wash the dishes nor clean the same although oftentimes, they do these chores themselves too. I guess it  is merely due to the fact that most of the women do not cook as a profession but as an obligation, and are unduly recognized. 

Anyway, after the judges have made their selection as to the winners who were awarded with 50€, 75€ and 100€ respectively for the 3rd, 2nd and 1st prizes, the food was served only to members and family of the cooking team, but somehow, my neighbors and me managed to get a plate each. Take a look at some of the resulting paellas.  I did not manage to take pictures of all the 35 participants but it was fun, although what we had eaten was not one of the winners.