The World According to Taquoriaan Musings about the Arts, Life and Science

I was surprised to see a comment of my friend Antje on the last post. I didn’t know she was actually reading my blog. But apparently she is and she decided to give my blog an ‘Brilliant Weblog’ award. Now it’s my turn to give the award to seven other bloggers and put a link to the blog I received here. So here we go. First I summarize the rules again:

Rules:

1. The winners can add the logo to their blogs:

2. Add a link on your blog to the one awarding you.
3. Sent the Award to at least seven other bloggers who stand out because of content, themes and designs.
4. Put the links of these sites on your own blog.
5. Leave a comment on their site.

My seven Awards go to:

1. The Philosopher’s Attic - Bettina and her husband are both philosophers and from this Bettina writes a blog about all sorts of things, from a philosopher’s point of view. Very interesting blog, a must read.
   
2. Fr. Roderick’s Blog - Fr. Roderick Vonhögen, a Dutch priest, founder of the Star Quest Production Network blogs about all sorts of things, not necessarily Catholic and gives his twist. I read it to keep up-to-date on movies, games and food, and of course to get his point of view on Catholicism in the news.
3. The Accidental Archaeologist - Louisa is an incredible personality. She is an archaeologist, but also a diver, pilot, sailor, fencer and has a multitude of dangerous hobbies. Needless to say that her adventures are always interesting to read. She also started a podcast lately about her newest adventure: graduate school oversees. A must read and I also can recommend her podcast!
4. Elsie’s Yoga Kula - Elsie is a native of El Salvador, moved to LA, teaches yoga and has moved to Pennsylvania lately where she continues teaching yoga and working for a new media company. Her classes are online, are of all levels and for me a great way to unwind after a busy day.
5. Edith’s Catholic Blog - Edith started to blog in Dutch about her take on Catholicism. It’s incredibly funny to read. If you can read Dutch, I would recommend it greatly. She shows how Catholicism isn’t dull at all.
6. The Eyes in which Mary Sees the World - Mary has CP and blogs about the way this affects her and the way she sees the world. She’s very courageous in sharing it, so she most definately deserves to be awarded!
7. Luis Escobar Blog - Luis Escobar works for the Simpsons animated series. He draws cartoons and also uses his work on his blog. His topics vary from philosophical to board games and everything in between. I really like his humour!

Thanks again to Antje for the award!

Posted under journal

Today I didn’t MAKE a podcast, but I listened to them and I added quite a few new ones. I like to share them with you. These podcasts made it today in my download queue:

• Catholic Answers Live
• What Does the Prayer Really Say
• Theotokos
• Accidental Archeologist Podcast
• Mary in Monmouthshire’s Podcast
• Secrets of Battlestar Galactica with Jeff and Zina

You will see me walking around without wearing my phone headset listening to them in the near future, I guess.

Posted under journal, review

Today I worked most of the day tinkering with my new Zoom H2 and I totally fell in love with it!! I made a new episode of my podcast, wrote a corresponding article and recorded some addition readings of St. Augustine of Hippo. To hear it, go over to the podcast’s site at A Journey into the Land of the Spirit. You can also subscribe there using a standard podcatcher or iTunes.

Link:

• My podcast’s website

Posted under journal

After yesterday’s sweltering heat, we had a little thunderstorm which cooled things down a bit. I was so happy to have a bit of rain!

Posted under journal

Today was absolutely horrible, weather wise. It was unbelievably HOT. I needed to head downtown to do some shopping for my vacation, but with sweltering temperatures in the high eighties (that’s around 32 degrees Celsius) there was no way I would do that in the afternoon. One of the things I would have to do was get myself good mountain shoes and nice thick warm cozy walking socks. Thinking about it made me melt already, therefore I had a great idea: stay inside, wait until after supper and THEN go downtown for the stuff. It would have cooled down then.

At least, I thought it would. I saw some thermometers downtown indicating it was still 32C at 7pm. That could not be, so they must be broken, right? At least I got my shoes and a Zoom H2 to record soundseeing and use it as an USB microphone to work with the MacBook. Hopefully I can get parts of the Confirmation Mass recorded too, to use for my podcast.

Since I was sweating bullets, I decided to cool down at the Kosterij’s terrace at the foot of the Martinitower. I had a Hoegaarden and was surprised to see it still was 30C after 8pm. That’s not normal and I dreaded the night already, knowing that my apartment’s room temperature equalled the outdoor temperature. Boy, was I glad I had a fan!

After procrastinating a bit, I got home around 9pm. At 11pm it was still 28C, I turned on my fan and tried to sleep. The only thing my fan did was blowing lukewarm air towards me. I didn’t sleep at all, so here I am, blogging in the middle of the night while watching Dr. Paul and Fr. Seraphim doing a live ustream of the newest SaintCast episode.

Yes Paul, I know I should be in bed now, but it’s just too hot too sleep, and in the chatroom I also see Father Roderick popping up. I guess it’s hot in Amersfoort too. On Plurk I see Anastasis complaining too. So things aren’t good in Germany too.

Well, let I try giving the sleeping project another chance, it’s starting to lighten up again outside. Time for bed.

Posted under journal

Ingredients:

• 400g / 14.11 oz plain white flour
• 250 ml / 1/2 pint lukewarm water
• 1 teaspoon of active dry yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients in the breadmaker, using the dough program. After that program has been finished, divide the dough into 12 patties. Roll out a patty into a pancake with an 6 inch diameter. Use a knive to make an incision from the centre to the edge and roll up the patty in a cone. Put the cone vertical on the counter, press it into a flat patty again and roll out the patty into a pita bread sized pancake. Mind to roll out on only one side!
2. On a plate, let the patties rise for about 10-15 minutes, cover with a cloth.
3. Bake the breads in patches of 3 in a pre-heated oven (220C) for 4-6 minutes on a greased baking tray.

You can refrigerate pitabreads, make sure you freeze them well wrapping in foil and put them into special bags to avoid freezer burn.

Posted under recipe

Ingredients:

• about 1 lbs. plain white flour (all purpose)
• a pinch of salt
• about 2 teaspoons of vanilla sugar (8 g)
• milk
• 3 eggs (medium size)
• a dash of peanut oil

• ice cream (vanilla flavour)
• grated coconut

Directions:

In a deep bowl add the flour, salt and vanilla sugar together and whisk. Then add milk until you get a nice smooth blend. It depends on you personal preferences how much milk you add. I myself prefer it to be as smooth as yoghurt. After that, add 3 eggs one by one and stir. You may need want to add some additional milk to get the right texture. Then add some oil. I prefer to do this to avoid getting very sticky, greasy pancakes. It’s also possible to leave it out and use butter instead. It’s one’s own preference.

Bake pancakes in a frying pan until golden brown on both sides.

Take a warm pancake and decorate with 2 spoonfuls of icecream. Add some grated coconut and fold the pancake. Eat warm. It’s delicious!

Link:

• Pancake House in Amsterdam, click on their menu for ideas.

Posted under recipe

It’s Friday again, so that means no meat. For me it means a serious sacrifice: Fish (which is expensive) and organic and/or Fair Trade groceries. Today’s menu is Curried Nile Perch with Pandan Rice and a fruit salad. Dessert is Ben and Jerry’s with Fair Trade labeling. Here’s the recipe (I changed it a bit):

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons of peanut oil (for frying)
• 1 sweet onion, finely chopped
• 1 big clove of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 stalk of lemon grass (Sereh), finely chopped
• 3cm / 1.5″ fresh ginger root, finely chopped
• 3 chillies, finely chopped
• 200 ml / about 1 cup of fish stock
• juice of 3 limes
• 200 ml / about 1 cup of coconut milk
• flesh of 1/2 coconut, finely chopped
• bunch of Coriander / Cilantro (yields about 1/2 cup fresh leaves)
• bunch of Parsley (yield about 1/4 cup of fresh leaves)
• 1/2 Papaya, coarsely chopped
• 2 large fillets of Nile Perch (monkfish can also be used)

Method

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and fry the onion and garlic until they are soft. Add the chopped lemon grass, ginger and chilies.
2. Stir in the fish stock, lime juice, coconut milk, coconut flesh, coriander and parsley. Before adding this you could mix this together first in a blender to make sure it’s nice and smooth. Add also the coarsely chopped papaya.
3. Add the fish and simmer for 5-10 minutes until the fish is cooked through. Serve immediately.
4. Serve with chilled white wine (I drink Thandi, which is Fair Trade) and pandan rice (also Fair Trade) and a fruit salad (for example pineapple, mango, peach and other tropical fruits).

My dessert was Ben and Jerry’s (Chunky Monkey flavour)

Links:

• Fair Trade Original Food (sold in almost all Dutch supermarkets)
• Fair Trade Wine etc. (U.S)
• More Fair Trade flavours by Ben and Jerry’s
• Original recipe

Posted under recipe

As a student I had to learn by trial-and-error how to do bike maintenance, because there simply wasn’t any money to have it repaired by a professional bike shop. I learned to buy only the most basic bikes with a reverse break and no gears, because these are the simplest bikes to home-repair.

Read More…

Posted under article, journal

Ingredients:

• 1 (6 ounce) container plain yoghurt
• 1/2 cucumber - peeled, seeded, and finely chopped
• 1 bunch of dill weed, finely chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream

Directions:

Peel the cucumber and remove the seeds. Chop it finely. In a bowl, stir the other ingredients together, add the cucumber and stir/mash into a smooth sauce. Serve on Falafel with a salad or tomatoes.

Links:

• The original recipe
• My falafel recipe

Posted under recipe