Deliciously fresh. Tantalizingly tasty. Stupidly Easy.

4 cups mixed salad greens
1/3 C. of chopped mint
2/3 C. Cilantro
1/3 C. sliced cucumber
1/3 C. sliced red pepper
2 diced cooked chicken breasts (or you can substitute cooked shrimp)
3 sliced green onions

Dressing

1/3 cup fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
3 teaspoons white sugar
2 tablespoons minced seeded Thai, hot red, or serrano chiles
1 teaspoon grated ginger

Mix together ingredients for dressing and pour over assembled salad. Delish!

Don't be put off by the stench of fish sauce. It smells like ass, probably would taste like ass if you were to eat it along, but in the dressing it tastes fantastic.

If you need it to be a little more substantial, cook some rice or soba noodles (follow directions on package), run under cold water and toss in some sesame oil.

All amounts are subject to your own taste. This is how I like it.

Keep your lobster, keep your fancy-panted Paté de Fois Gras, keep your garlic bread and your posh game soups.

I had a real meal.

Steak pie and beans. The beans, perfect in their fluidity and savour; their hinting tomato and slightly saline flavour, mingling perfectly with the crisp goodness of the gently flaking pastry; merging deep with the thick, dark, almost black gravy, and the chunks of meat that have been kept salted before having been bathed once more in their own fat and bubbled with stock and thickened with cornflour. All the flavours come together in a celebration of delicious goodness, filled to the brim with taste, flavour, and rich happiness.

As you can tell, I love my food. And yet I have this awesome metabolism; whatever I eat, I stay the same shape and weight. A steady 7 stone.

Say the words “save water” to somebody in Missouri right now, and they’re likely to (a) laugh cynically, (b) look pityingly at you as they would someone who’s been recently struck, and quite hard, in the head, or (c) skip straight to punching you in the face, which could then lead right back to (b).

Missouri’s record rainfall has flooded basements, breached levees, inundated entire towns and promoted a summer chock full of mold and mosquitoes. One recent report we heard was that the water table around Springfield had risen seventy feet. That’s two-thirds of a giant man!

But things are considerably different (say, drier) out Colorado way. Water conservation is, of course, a massive issue for the Western States, and over the years Denver ad shop extraordinaire Sukle has done some stellar work for Denver Water. Their latest effort (via the Denver Egotist) is no exception. We love the simplicity of the idea, the ingenious mix of media and message, and the fact that now our tomatoes can feel the thrill of running the rapids before they hit the shopping bag.

So the question is, if advertising can help save water where it’s really needed, can advertising get rid of water where it’s not? Some sort of pipeline to the West made entirely out of snappy headlines and big ideas?

Update:  Even more great water-saving stuff from Sukle.

However checking Worlde again, I see as well as using del.icio.us and your own list of words you can also now enter your blog UR or any RSS feed.

So I now get this.

Now this is something I might use in a presentation or online.

Have a go yourself.

Oggi ho avuto una giornata particolarmente impegnata, però prima di andare a dormire, volevo lasciarvi con una sorpresa! Bazzicando al solito tra i miei link preferiti, ho trovato Maestroalberto che in post parlava di un servizio internet ottimizzato per cellulari... Mofuse Questo servizio permette di creare la versione mobile, cioè per cellulari, del proprio sito/blog! Ed io, potevo restare impassibile davanti a tale possibilità? Naaaaaaa! Di seguito il link dove poter accedere al microsito...Con una vera chicca! La possibilità di navigare in modalità Iphone dal proprio terminale!(solo da PC) Ho testato personalmente il sito sul mio HTC in modalità schermo intero e posso dire che funziona veramente bene!

E mentre registravo i dati dei miei servizi web, ho avuto tempo di testare un altro sito interessantissimo: RetaggrQuesto servizio web 2.0 ti permette di creare un profilo stile biglietto da visita, dove è possibile inserire anche i servizi web che utilizzi di più! Un pò nello stile della widget che avevo creato in precedenza e che ho accantonato in favore di questa!(vedi foto)

Buonanotte e alla prossima!

Fonte informazioni: Maestroalberto

Melt peanut butter and chocolate chips over med  heat til smooth and spreadable

http://patty-cakes.net

http://pattycakes123.wordpress.com/2008/07/17/chocolate-pea/

Small Wine Gift Baskets:

For smaller and less imposing dinner parties, try a small wine gift basket.  In as much time as it will take you to find a floral shop and pick out the perfect small bouquet, you can find a small wine basket at a wine shop.  These baskets often contain little more than a bottle of wine and two glasses; however, they will be a surprise to your host or hostess and will look like you have spent considerably more time and money than is necessary.

Medium Wine Gift Baskets:

When you add one or two items to the basic small wine gift basket, it can really dress it up. Instead of going to the wine shop, stop by a good department store that carries wine.  This way you can add a few little things just before sealing the wrap.  Suggestions to spice up your basket without bleeding your wallet include a couple of pieces of fruit, maybe apples and strawberries.  You can even get really creative and add a single yellow rose or a few white daisies if they are in season before sealing your wrap with ribbon.

Large Wine Gift Basket:

When you want to go all out and create the perfect wine gift basket for that dinner party, then there are a lot of additions to consider.  For example, if you do not know if your host or hostess has a bottle opener or a vacuum seal pump, then these could be practical gifts to add to your basket.  Also, consider cheese and crackers:  be sure to remember that soft cheeses go better with lighter wines and hard compliments darker ones well.  Other dress up possibilities for your wine gift basket include:  flowers, nuts, breads and dried fruits.

Whether you create a small, medium or large wine gift basket for the dinner party you have been invited to, the most important part is to have fun with it.  Because flowers are so common, a wine gift basket will almost certainly be a hit, because of its uniqueness and because it is practical enough to be a back up for the hostess should he or she happen to run out in the middle of dinner.

Links:

• Wine Cabinets: How To Store Your Wine To Last A Lo...
• Wine Food Pairing: How To Choose The Best Wine To ...
• Wine Making: An Age Old Tradition That Has Been Pa…
• Looking at how wine prices are determined
• What wine is made from – wine grapes
• Who Needs a Wine Refrigerator?
• Wine Glass Decorations
• What Beginners Need To Know About The Different Ty…
• For those with a sweet tooth; Sweet Red Wine
• Wine Storage: Which Wines can I keep?
• The Value Of Wine Storage Racks

Cyrus Krohn has a huge responsibility with GOP.com.  Where do the Republicans go technologically if McCain doesn’t win in November?  GOP.com is definitely a step in the right direction for the Republicans, one that, win or lose, needs to be continually advanced. 

But a few criticisms, if I might…

First, the site takes forever to load (as do other links when I clicked on them), which is an unnecessary frustration.  Those valuable few seconds give me the opportunity to type a different address into my browser and be on my way.  If I want to join the GOP, make a donation to the cause or read some dish about an opponent, don’t give me an excuse not to by taking too long to load the page.

At any given time, visitors might think this is an Obama Web site at first glance: 

Give opponents their due, but chances are that people who visit this site are voting for McCain to begin with.  Obama information is absolutely necessary, but it doesn’t have to be front and center. 

Finding the donation application widget took me two days, four phone calls and an email.  Turns out that the widget isn't even part of GOP.com - it's part of meetbarackobama.com, one of the RNC's other sites that's linked-to from the GOP.com homepage.  Confused yet?  I would suggest making this much easier to find or simply posting it on the homepage.  It’s a great tool, but why is it buried?

The staggering amount of data about voters that is collected, cross-referenced and analyzed is overwhelming but impressive.  I assume that both parties have equally detailed databases.  People tend to feel as if their privacy has been invaded, but it should be no surprise that the bottom line of this technology is money, power and influence – on both sides. 

Of course it’s easier to point out the negatives.  Overall, the site looks great.  It’s networks – Facebook, del.icio.us and digg to name a few - are readily available. The RNC’s YouTube page is richly designed and opens with this video:

But again, all pages seem to take forever to load, which only perpetuates the impression that Republicans are old, stodgy and behind the times. 

Krohn had a right to be proud of the “Republican Platform Committee” page. 

For once in the tech realm, the Republicans had something great and they had it first.  The site is very interactive, allowing for both text and video entries.  It also was a wise call to allow (almost) everything to post.  Nothing should be hidden, especially when internet viewers are lurking in the shadows, ready at a moments notice to jump on an inaccuracy or inconsistency.  Also, the Valentines were funny and unique in their simplicity.  I'd definitely send one out!

Just a few criticisms, but overall, well-done, Republicans.

I have an About Me bundle tag as my del.icio.us epotfolio. I was inspired by FCEBLOG's About Me in del.icio.us.

I've decided this is not what my blog is for. So, I now just have a nice, unobtrusive feed to the right of this page with items I've specifically tagged 'forblog'. That is, if I find it interesting, and I think other people who read this blog might find it interesting, then it'll appear. Not otherwise.

I've decided the blog's the place for properly considered, joined-up thinking, not the occasional quick fix.

I know, I know, this is a very weak post but I felt the need to say it. There, I feel better already.

Google has released a video showing a Digg-like interface to its search. I think it's going to change everything.

A casual glance at Friendfeed picked up a link from Chris Brogan: entitled 'Is this the future of search?' Given that I'm currently scratching my head a lot and figuring out how best to pull together searches across social media, this sounded interesting. It pointed to this Techcrunch post featuring a video of a new feature that enables you to tailor how your Google results come in.

Essentially you can vote on results in a very Digg-like way. You can add comments to results, and link to your Google profile so people know who voted, how and why. To my mind, this is going to be incredibly powerful.

Google is the ultimate machine-based search, pointing you towards pages that are likely to be what you're after, not necessarily because that page talks about it, but because other pages reference it. The more pages point to a page, the more likely it is to be relevant. At base, it's crude, but you can't deny Google works well enough.

This new 'voting mode' points the way to human-based search. It pretty much is actually going around and asking people what they think, to get the best result. It replaces the machine algorithm with sentiment - the 'human algorithm' if you like. In so doing, the new Google Search mode turns every node into a social object. It enables people to comment and vote on a result that they care enough about to do so.

Comments on Todd's Friendfeed has been interesting. Most agree it's highly significant, but some feel that it's in some way scary - it's 'mob rule', 'it leaves quality content as the mercy of conventional wisdom', 'monumentally stupid idea', 'I don't want marketers telling me the best search result'.

My take on it is that if - as I assume to be the case - you can switch between these two modes, then you can compare and contrast. It just depends on what you value, or how you want to search.  I don't see why this is so scary - it offers the best of both worlds, both the machine-based election for what you're searching on, and the human-based.

And would it be so easy to game? Can you really game Google? As in, something that large? And if so, how does that make it lesser than Digg - assuming that is also gameable - or indeed current Google? (note: these comments, including mine, have been copied directly from Chris's Friendfeed comments).

OK, so sites like Digg, del.icio.us etc already do this. The real difference, as far as I can see, is that, if you ask people in the street about Digg or del.icio.us or Wangwack or Biffo or whatever's coming along next, you'll more likely than not get a blank look. But almost everyone knows about Google. Heck, even my parents have heard of Google. Even the cat looks up when I mention it.

So look out for this emerging from Google Labs at some point. It's going to be intriguing to say the least.

I've began research into homebrew, hacking and using computer hardware for my work. Taking video-games as a major influence in my life up until this point (and I imagine from here on in), I intend to integrate these themes more into my following work using computer hardware (running homebrew or hacked video-games) and music hardware along side audio visual performance. If you wish to see the links I have been saving, please check here - http://del.icio.us/hairbug. Feel free to add me to your network if you're interested.

If you come across any interesting artists that use computer equipment and videogames for their art, music created in unusual ways or psychological art which involves a puzzle element, please do tell me.

LOL 'Life' ; what a beautiful chaos it can be. From the un-explanatory saucer sized bruises to the indescribably painful & liberating situations we find ourself within. Its nice to know where ever you turn you can always find yourself and a laugh for good measure. You get out what you put in i guess and in terms of food I have to point out this particular breakfast I had one fortunate day was a particularly legendary one!

]]> http://contrarrima.wordpress.com/?p=311 Thu, 17 Jul 2008 02:02:08 +0000 Víctor Azuaje http://contrarrima.wordpress.com/?p=311 He diseñado un programa (en Yahoo Pipes) que toma información sobre poesía de Internet —notas, noticias, sitios, etc.— y la vierte en un feed. Sólo aparece la información más reciente, de manera que puede verse como una especie de recolector de noticias sobre poesía.

El programa realiza con las palabras "literatura poesía poetas" una búsqueda en Google News, Google Search, Google Blog Search, Microsoft Live Search, Technorati, Yahoo News, Yahoo Search, Del.icio.us y Flickr.

La dirección:
http://pipes.yahoo.com/victor_azuaje/noticias_poeticas

Para agregarlo a cualquier lector de feeds (Google Reader, etc.), pueden copiar la dirección:

http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.run?_id=c8eafe3702d86163b7947b31c81c782c&_render=rss

                                               My 'Picnic in a Mango Grove' - Oil on Canvas

Celebration for a sweet reason ;

All around is seen a ripe mango

Makes everyone do a quick tango ;

The fruit makes us all go gaga

And break into a frenzied raga ;

                    
Makes every meal much happier

Its fan list includes tots in diapers !!

                                     
Mulgoa, banganapally or alphonso

All are a treat for this weather so ;

                                
Sour & ripe or fresh & juicy

Beat the heat and be bouncy ;

                                   
Thick and creamy is the lassi 

Can anything be more tasty ?!

                     
Delicious is a mango ice cream

Every kid in delight screams !

Excuse me, I've got to go and indulge

Guess the kid in me will never change ;)

I'm off to a summer's picnic

In a mango grove so scenic !!

~~

                           
Oh yeah, How do you like yours to be?

Can U have lots of fun and tell me ?? :)

In the neighbours yard but poking through our fence is the most fabulous tomato plant.  Getting all the water from our property, getting full sun for a couple of hours every day and the warmth of that sun radiated back for a few more hours from the concrete and gravel it's growing in, it's producing the most amazing crop of little tomatoes that I've ever seen.  Or tasted.

These little wonders are tiny - smaller than a cherry - but are punching well above their weight.  The taste is EXACTLY the amazing flavour I remember from my childhood where tomatoes had flavour.  Really strong, sweet flavour!  Picked off the vine while still warm from the sun, these little guys are utterly amazing

We've been picking bowls of ripe, delicious goodness for two months and its showing no signs of slowing down.  In fact, the bush is covered with flowers and the tiniest green jade beads of deliciousness yet to come.  I've been gathering up fallen ones and drying the seeds carefully.  Come Spring, I'll be trying my hand at planting a whole row of these things.

I've no idea what variety these might be - possibly they are some miniturised sport of Tommy Toe.  Or, less likely given my neighbours, they might be an old heirloom variety called Reisentraube.

Speaking of heirloom varieties, if you want to eat tomatoes that taste like tomates, you might like to try growing your own.  Two seed places that I highly recommend are Eden Seeds and The Diggers Club.  Both places gather, propogate and sell old-fashioned varieties of fruit, vegetables and herbs that have been abandoned by the large seed corporations like Monsanto because they are not "harvesting friendly" (ie: indestructable hybrids) or they aren't absurdly over-sized or picture perfect. 

Do something good for your tastebuds and for your environment - grow your own!!

If you are having trouble keeping track of your links, I suggest keeping online bookmarks using del.icio.us. It's a popular online social bookmarking site.  You can keep a note of your "password/login" and share the list of your sites with your friends.  I use it as well as Pageflakes.  I absolutely love Pageflakes and don't know how I'd start my use of the internet without it.  Basically it is similar to iGoogle or NetVibes. You can basically develop your own custom home page on the internet with all of your favorite links (from del.icio.us even!), flickr photos, check email, RSS feeds from your favorite sites (news, sports, fashion, cooking, etc.), make a To Do List, insert Google Maps, see all the files you've uploaded to Box.net (online file storage), play sudoku, send a Twitter message, watch your favorite YouTube channels, etc. ....ALL FROM ONE PAGE.  Bring the internet to YOU.  You shouldn't fuss about where to find all of your favorite goodies on the net...don't waste time.  Live more efficiently.  Pageflakes allows me to do a quick check of everything from news to email...to even Facebook in the few minutes before my kids wake up! If you are a working mom or just a working and busy woman in general....setting up Pageflakes is absolutely necessary!

.

Fresh grocery store sheet cake!

Gummy Bears!

Yogurt Covered Pretzels

Brownies

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Rocky Road Ice Cream

Rocky Road Milkshake (Extra Thick) Baskin Robbins

Lava Cake

Milky Way Midnight

Chocolate Therapy (Ben & Jerry's)

So many choices!  What is your weapon of choice?