Note the way he does not so much fly as plummet

That's me then, dabbling away down in the swamp... nicked from psychochicken

You Are Surrealism

Dreamy and idealistic, you've created a world that is all your own. It's very likely that you've either dabbled in drugs or are naturally trippy. You are always trying to push beyond the boundaries of your culture and society. You believe that art, love, and freedom can change the world.

What Art Movement Are You?

Catching up on films I should have seen years ago.

I watched Visconti's Il Gattopardo this morning. I was seriously impressed. It's a very long and very beautiful movie about Sicily during the Risorgiamento. Burt Lancaster (an inspired casting choice) plays a philosophical and somewhat cynical Sicilian prince. The character is a true conservative; he realises that change is necessary if everything is to stay the same, and he plays his hand skillfully. Lurking behind his practical cynicism is a deeper feeling that Sicily is doomed by its own nature and past to remain eternally the same and that, ultimately, all one can do is ride out the waves as ripples in an essentially changeless sea. Lancaster really makes this deeply complex character come alive.

To liven up the philosophy and brooding landscape shots there is the love interest; Claudia Cardinale and Alain Delon, looking decorative, and lots of baroque interiors, pretty ball gowns and uniforms that only Italians would wear. If I were to quibble, it would be to argue that a fair bit of the early battle scenes should have ended up on the cutting room floor. Their only purpose seems to be to demonstrate that if he hadn't had designs elsewhere, Bismark could probably have conquered Italy in about 48 hours with two companies of Prussian regulars.

Not many movies keep me glued to the screen for over three hours so this must have been good.

Hours in the kitchen

The next week (at least) is going to be very busy for both of us. The chances of us both being in to eat at the same time and me having the energy to cook are small to vanishing. So, I decided to make sure that the fridge and freezer were stocked in such a way that one or both of us could rapidly pot together a good Thai meal using only the rice cooker, the microwave and the secret decoder ring. In accordance with instructions from the lemurboss this also had to fit into the current meatless kick.

Yesterday morning I shopped in Chinatown and picked up extra small freezer containers from Zellers. I spent much of the afternoon cooking and we had quite a feast in the evening. I've made a good start on stocking fridge and freezer.

Last night's menu and destination of left overs:

Coconut milk based soup with pumpkin and dried shrimp (freezer)
Green mango salad with squid (fridge)
Steamed mixed seafood with chilli-lime sauce (fridge)
Snake beans with roasted chilli paste (freezer)
Curry of vegetables, minced fish balls and ginger (freezer)
Asian celery stirfried with beancurd and oyster sauce (freezer)
Nam prik with vegetables and herbs (fridge)
Rice

I've done the mise en place for tonight and it looks like:

Grilled long eggplant salad (fridge)
Baby bok choy stirfried with salted yellow beans, chillis and basil (freezer)
Pumpkin and prawns stirfried with egg (fridge - don't think it will freeze)
The remains of the steamed seafood
Nam prik and veggies
Rice

In terms of fresh stuff, I'm still left with some apple eggplants, Korean cabbage and half a bunch of coriander. I'll have to figure out a use for them.

X-posted to gastrogasm