January
27, 2005 - Dinner Party and Other Thoughts
From the left: Mike, Katie, Me, Diana, Dorin, Vera
Visulazing dinner...
My shopping list - I spent 3 hours looking for real parmesan and broth (will have to make the broth in the future)
I had a bit of trouble rounding up some ingredients, a block of parmesan is particularly hard to come by, but I did find one eventually. I was unable to find Arborio rice and ended up using Japanese rice instead - it worked great... Japanese rice is good stuff. The meal was a delicious and I'm still feeling somewhat smug about it this morning.
P.S. If you've never made risotto, an Italian classic, you should give it a try. It is easy to make and delicious. Here's an excellent guide; Risotto
I am following the Iraq elections with much anxiety - and disgust for the mess we have made... It doesn't seem as though it could be worse. I feel sick when I consider the good that could have been accomplished with the funds we have dumped into this unjust fiasco. Instead of improving education, or vaccinating the world's population from disease (ten times over), or, God forbid, continuing to repress Sadam's regime diplomatically with the assistance of the UN, we have hastily chosen to slaughter innocents on false pretext and shove a country to the brink of civil war. Our lust for oil at any cost is sickening to me - how far could we have advanced hydrogen fuel cell technology for $80 billion a year?
I've been following a well written blog that gives me an idea of how difficult life in Baghdad is at the moment. It is written by a woman who, from what I intuit from her writings, is a member of an educated middle to upper class family; Baghdad Burning
Sailing:
On a lighter note, I have been following some around the world sailing races and record attempts via the internet. Checking in on the progress of the various sailors has become a daily ritual for me, it could almost be classified as an addiction at this point:
The Vendee Globe is a solo around the world race with international participants. After three months of racing they are currently about 5 days from the finish. There are three boats fighting it out for the win. Very exciting; Vendee Globe
I have also been following a British woman, Ellen MacArthur, on her bid to set a new record for sailing around the world solo (she placed 2nd in the Vendee Globe a few years back). She has been at it for about 60 days now, and has about ten to go. She had a comfortable lead at the beginning of last week, but lost it all during a slow spell coming up the Atlantic. It's pretty touch and go right now - a white knuckler for someone who has been following her progress for 60 days (literally, I check her progress about twice a day). I'm quite nervous that she will not be able to beat the record; Team Ellen
Just as I thought my virtual spectator extravaganza was about to end, "Orange II" set off to try and beat the around the world sailing record for a boat with crew (not solo) so now I have started checking in on them; Catamaran Orange
