Mysterious sculptures...

This is marvellous: Small intricate paper sculptures have been left in several Scottish places.

See the Deadline article.

This small coffin was left with a note on a display case at the National Library of Scotland (note below).

No-one so far knows where these little paper sculptures come from, so much work has gone into them, but even Ian Rankin, the author who is so obviously linked to this, doesn't know what this is all about. Check out this link and forward to 25.38 to hear what Ian Rankin has to say about this.

Verrines, the new(ish) tapas

An introduction 
(for those who are not already in the know) 
to the most delicious appetizers in the world!


Small, delightful mousses, blitzed veggies and/or meats/fish, that are light (well mostly light) and just scrumptious...
I am hungry just talking about it!!

The first ones I did consisted of cream cheese topped with salmon & lemon mousse with a mini salsa made up of sundried tomatoes & basil leaves on the top, yummy.
The second lot I did was avocado & tobasco mousse (more or less guacamole-like mousse) topped with bacon.

The idea is to marry different tastes (salty, hot, sour, etc) in order to get an explosion of beautiful flavours in one mouthful - and they shouldn't be bigger than a mouthful, that way you can try a few before you start dinner, or make a dinner out of it, tapas-style.

They can be served in shot glasses or chinese soup spoons (you know, the flat-bottom types).
You're looking for flavours and colours, perfect for the summer too!

Be creative, go mad, experiment and most of all enjoy :)

I have added a couple of recipes on a Squidoo lens, check it out at here, I'll be adding more when I have a minute.

I know, nothing to do with culture or art or freedom of speech, but food is another passion of mine...

Ai Weiwei

So what is going on?
I have been away a while but I would love to know what is going on... When will he be released (if he ever is?)...See here

Supakitch & Koralie

Museum of World Culture in Göteborg, Sweden

I want to share this video because I am fascinated by the artists' work and the process involved in making the final piece. Unbelievable stuff!

I suggest watching this on full-screen...

Ai Weiwei: Mass consumption, Chinese industry, famine and collective work...

Ai Weiwei's Sunflower Seeds is made up of 100 million unique works of art, these life-sized sunflower seed husks are in fact intricately hand-crafted in porcelain.

Photo courtesy of Matthieu

Each seed has been individually sculpted and painted by specialists working in small-scale workshops in the Chinese city of Jingdezhen, China's porcelain capital. Far from being industrially produced, they are the effort of hundreds of skilled hands.

It is a meditation on the China of Mao and how uniformity will never completely erase human individuality. It is also about sharing, as Ai Weiwei explains in the film below.



NB: This installation was originally meant to be walked on, but due to health & safety reasons it is not possible to do so anymore (porcelain dust inhalation...). Yet, when I went to see the installation, I was quite shocked to see some people sneakily stealing some of the seeds...

Vote for faster Broadband in the CO10 area NOW!!

We need to back a bid to get super-fast broadband:

BT has launched a scheme called "Race to Infinity" in which it has pledged to upgrade the five telephone exchanges that nationaly get the most votes.

The winning exchanges will be upgraded to fibre optic broadband by 2012 at the latest. I have just voted and my vote was only number 274... We need more votes!!

Please cast your votes here.

Many thanks!

Rice!!

I have been told about a brilliant idea to help alleviate hunger in the world.
It's called the Free Rice game.

Basically you are given a word, followed by 4 definitions. You choose an answer and if you are correct you help donate 10 grains of rice.

Each time you get a right answer, the advertisers in the banners below change. They are the ones paying for the rice.

Considering a person needs 400g of rice a day (mixed with other foods) to get the daily required 2100 kcalories, you need to play an awful lot to get anywhere!!

So this is a call to idle people the world over, start playing! It's fun and it's useful.