We had this for dinner last night. It's based on a traditional recipe in Provence (France). It's very simple and tasty.

Translated from Norwegian:

What you need:
1 chicken, ca. 1.75 kg
50 g butter, softened
40 whole cloves of garlic, including the skin
sea salt, freshly ground black pepper

What to do:
Place chicken in baking dish. Rub butter on the chicken skin and add salt and pepper. Place garlic cloves around the chicken and oven roast at 180 Celsius for 1-1.5 hours. The chicken is done when you stick in a fork/knife in the thickest part and the juices run clear.

Serve with steamed vegetables (I made a salad) and potatoes. And be sure to eat the roasted garlic! :-)

I'm back home from Trondheim. I was there for this big meeting of an organization I belong to. We were inside having discussions most of the time (and just as well because the weather was pretty much awful), but today was the first day I saw anyone with a trønderbart - a kind of moustache that the region is known for. Just as well... it's not very attractive...

Anyway, last night we had this dinner at an old farmhouse... in what used to be the pig sty actually (and the main course was a very tasty roast pork). Between dessert and coffee avec, the speeches started, and quickly after that, after a jibe at Finland, the Pekka jokes. First one person with a Pekka joke, then another, and another...

Pekka is walking around by the lake and finds an old vodka bottle. He rubs the bottle and a genie appears, granting Pekka three wishes.

"Oh no, no, no... I can't possibly..."

"You have to make three wishes!"

"OK, my first wish is that the water of this lake turns into the finest vodka!"

*POOOOOF* - and the lake was transformed into a lake of the finest vodka in the world. Pekka excitedly ran to the shore, cupped his hands and filled them with vodka, and drank in ecstasy.

"Now for your second wish!" boomed the genie.

"No, no, no, I don't need any more wishes. This is all I could ever ask for!"

"You must make a second wish!"

"Well, OK then! I'd like a woman, the most beautiful woman in the world. For me!"

*POOOOOOOOOOF* - and the most beautiful woman in the world appeared in front of Pekka. Pekka and the woman were enjoying vodka from the lake in between lovemaking sessions when the genie appeared again.

"And now for your third and final wish!"

"No, no, no, this is all too much. I don't need anything else, really. I'm fine."

"But if you don't make your third wish, then your first two will be annulled!" boomed the genie.

"Oh," said Pekka, and after thinking a bit, he exclaimed "I wish for more vodka!"

Yeah, yeah...

The trip home was rather uneventful. The flight was delayed by half an hour, but whatever. After the flight I managed to get my luggage quickly and get on a train right as it was leaving. On the train, this old guy carrying several plastic grocery bags was walking up and down the aisle. Had he been in town, I would have thought he was one of the local alcoholics. I was afraid he would want to sit in the seat next to mine, but all he wanted to do was wander up and down the aisles...

And since boyfriend of tuxette was at a wine tasting during the afternoon and nobody would have been up to cooking anything tonight, we got some take-away Indian food for dinner. Mmm... Indian food. It's probably going to make Ms. Stomach act up, but it's soooo goooooood...

In case you ever decide to chase after me with a knife, don't. I'll kick you. One way or other, I'll kick you. Back kick, side kick, turn around and roundhouse kick, I'll kick you. And if you start stabbing me with that knife while chasing me, I'll turn around, break your arm, and mash your groin with my knee.

Yep, that's what we did in training tonight. Defenses against psychos chasing you with knives.

We trained outdoors too, so we had plenty of space to run around. And most of us were in plainclothes; I was wearing tight jeans. (Another PSA - groin guards under tight jeans are reeeeeeeally sexy.) It was hard enough running around on grass with tight jeans, let alone executing the kicks. I managed most of the time. I think. Next time I'll wear a skirt...

Another interesting thing we did, at the beginning right after our warmup, was tumbling on the gravel path. I've done tumbling on the mats and on the grass before, but not on gravel. Worked out fine, as my tumbling technique is actually there. I saw that some of the others were having a hard time of it though.

For the last thing we did, I let to guys punch out the RoF. One of those 2-against-1 drills where the 2 attackers hit your torso at 50%. I let myself get hit, as I could have easily fucked up my finger again doing the defenses. It's kind of a good thing to build up "resistance"/"tolerance" anyway. RoF was not amused...

The weather was a bit chilly, but actually perfect for the intensity level of what we were doing, and there were still enough other people out walking, walking their dog(s), jogging, whatever, and when they passed by us, they would stop and gawk. Excellent ;-)

Oh, as I hinted to above, it was a damn physical training. We were literally sprinting back and forth, being the attacker or the defender, not stopping until the instructor told us to stop. We also trained for a little over 2 hours, as opposed to the usual 90 minutes. I'm pleasantly exhausted.

Now it's time for some well-deserved organic sparkling wine :-)

This is a downer of a story. Wrote about it on Multiply, forgot to put it here, so here it is...

Heartbreak Hotel as king penguin Elvis can't leave building

ELVIS is alive and well, but marine authorities say he can't go home.

The fellow is in a rehab centre on a windy headland in Cape St Francis and, every now and then, he throws back his head and croons his rather haunting song.

Elvis is a king penguin that washed ashore near Cape St Francis in January, many thousands of kilometres away from his home on one of the sub-Antarctic islands.

No one knows how he got here, but when Trudi Malan of the Ajubatus Marine Rehabilitation Centre in St Francis was alerted, she and a local nature conservator rescued the creature.

"I can't believe how well he's looking now. He is beautiful. My wish is to release him back home, possibly to Marion Island, but the scientists say we can't because of the risk that he will carry back diseases.

"I understand that from a scientific point they can't take that risk. But for us, it's a very emotional thing. Kings are very gregarious penguins, they breed shoulder to shoulder and they like to be with their friends," said Malan.

"And every time he calls, ah, I just want to die. He throws it back and makes this sound. It's beautiful but it's so sad."

She had hoped the penguin could hitch a ride on the Department of Environment's ship that took research teams to Marion Island, a habitat of king penguins.

Rob Crawford, an ornithologist with Marine and Coastal Management, confirmed yesterday that this was not permitted in terms of the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research.

"Any species that has been in captivity may not be released back into the Antarctic or sub-Antarctic Islands, because there is always a chance of introducing disease.

"It could be disastrous if that happened," Crawford said.

Asked if the penguin could be released off the Eastern Cape coast and left to take its chances, Crawford said he was not sure it would survive in the warm Agulhas current.

"My personal opinion is that it would be best if it could be with another captive population," Crawford said.

Malan said the Edinburgh and Zurich zoos were interested in taking on Elvis.

"The Zurich Zoo has a world specialist on king penguins. He says they've got to be with friends or they fall into depression. They have about 20 but they really wanted a female.

"The Edinburgh Zoo was interested but they can't take him because of the bird flu ban," she said

Two Oceans Aquarium is also interested in taking him for their Antarctic and Islands display, yet to be built.

"I've tried everything. Sometimes I feel if I ever found another one, I would quietly euthanise him," Malan said.

They had some very nice hjerteskjell (cockles) at the fish monger's, so I made this traditional Portuguese dish for dinner last night. I used a version of the following recipe. I used 1/2 a (400 g) can of tomatoes instead of tomato paste, and olive oil instead of butter...

I served the dish with oven-roasted potatoes, a salad, and a lovely Portuguese white wine...

Ingredients
300 ml white wine
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp paprika
1 clove
1 bay leaf
salt & pepper

450 g loin of pork, cut into 1 inch cubes
450 g leg of pork cut the same way

110 g lard (or 2-4 Tb butter)

1 tsp concentrated tomato paste (or 1 sun-dried tomato, soaked, mashed)
2 Tb olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 sprigs parsley, chopped
675 g (1 1/2 lb) cockles (Long Island littleneck clams, or any small clams)

Procedure
Marinate the meat 4-5 hours. Drain meat, reserving marinade, & fry
gently in lard until golden brown all over. Strain the marinade &
add to pan. Cover & boil with the meat until it is very tender and
the sauce is reduced by half.

Meanwhile, make another sauce with the tomato paste, oil, onion,
parsley, salt & pepper, simmering it on low heat for 6-8 minutes.

Add the cockles & simmer until they open (discard any that do not
open). Shake the pan & transger contents to the top of the meat.
Cover. Simmer gently for 3 mins & serve in same pan.

Source

other versions of the same recipe

Moose taste test road salt

Sweden's road administration wants moose opinion before deciding what road salt to switch to.

A series of studies in Sweden, Finland and Canada reveal that wildlife are drawn to roads in order to try and lick road salt, Swedish news agency TT reports. Swedish road authorities will now try to choose a salt that does not tempt animals to risk heavy traffic, as well as use a type that is more environmentally friendly.

Moose at Skansen in Stockholm will taste varieties, and will first get a choice between the current salt in use and one with a higher sugar content. Reindeer are also 'participating' in the taste test.

If the new, sweeter variety is not less popular, then the roads administration will have to assess other possibilities.

"Then we will sit down and have a think," said Göran Gabrielsson, a technician for the Swedish roads administration.

Norway also has problems with traffic accidents involving wildlife, but not to the same degree as in Sweden.

"We have long known that salt and Cervidae (the deer family) is a bad combination, but this is seen as a relatively minor traffic safety problem in Norway," said Bjørn Iuell, a biologist and engineer at Norway's Public Roads Directorate.

At least 1300-1500 moose are killed in traffic every year, and Iuell believes the total could be twice as high since not all collisions are reported. For roe deer the numbers are at least twice as high again. Although the problem costs around NOK 250 million (USD 41.5 million) a year, it is not a priority, but reducing salt use on roads is an environmental concern.

But a new Public Roads Administration project in 2008 and 2009 will reexamine the links between salt and animal collisions and other measures that can protect wildlife from traffic. Iuell said that the extensive salting of Norwegian roads would make it difficult to draw conclusions.

"We have a good cooperation with the Swedish Public Roads Administration, also environmentally, and we will monitor the Swedish findings," Iuell said.

Lately, I've been training plyometrics quite aggressively, as part of my strength/power training routine, to supplement Krav Maga. Sometimes I do plyometrics-only, sometimes in combination with weights. I'm really enjoying these exercises, especially for the variety factor, but dang - they can really punish the legs! Especially after 3-4 sets of 15-20 reps ;-)

I had a really good killer squats+plyos workout this morning. Neither my legs nor the RoF were amused. I'll be feeling it tomorrow and Wednesday hahaha...

It's too soon to determine to what extent this is benefitting Krav Maga. I still have the damn finger injury, and it's really cramping my style. I can't train properly. (It also makes things difficult to do upper-body work.) Bah. And training starts up again tomorrow, after a long Easter break. I wonder what we'll do... hmmm... if it weren't for the damn finger, I would want to do a lot of ground work. Wrestling and throwing off attackers who are on top of you and the such... perhaps with weapons... good fun...

Anyway... how are your legs doing today?

Forget about goals in life. After reading this article and its related links, I've decided I want to be turned into a diamond after I die, and haunt everyone and everything that possesses me. Kind of like the Hope Diamond, though only more sinister.

That is all.

Hahaha... enjoy!

Im Zoo bin ich geboren, so mitten in Berlin,
ich hab schon viele Freunde hier, sogar nen Pinguin.
Doch toller ist mein Daddy, das ist`n cooler Typ,
der hat kein Fell und nur zwei Bein, und trotzdem kann er geh`n.

Ich werd das auch noch lern` ich hab die Welt so gern, ich heiss Knut, Knut ist gut!
Ich werd das auch noch lern` ich hab die Welt so gern, ich heiss Knut, Knut ist gut!

Hardcore physical stress on the body helps protect against "everything" from cancer to Alzheimers, according to Norwegian researchers. This is something that goes beyond the usual "training is good for you" rhetoric. The training has to be very hard, to the point of being harmful, in order to reap these benefits.

I guess Krav Maga counts ;-)

It's well-known that mosquitoes are sensitive to carbon dioxide in exhaled breath. But now, scientists have discovered how they sense the gas.

Hopefully, this will lead to the invention of devices that can be used to lure mosquitoes, especially the malaria-carrying kind, away from people. Too bad it won't happen before my trip to Kruger... ;-)

We have a new informal-yet-gourmet joint in the hood... Vognmand Nilsen... As we couldn't be bothered with cooking dinner last night, we ate there instead...

Rule number one... when a new restaurant in the hood gets great reviews in the papers, book a table... we got a table in the bar area where we could also eat, but that was less than ideal... (we eventually were able to move to a regular dining area table)

Anyway, we had a three-course meal. We could choose courses from the menu of the week. We had the following:

(Amuse bouche: jellied crab with aioli on flatbread)

Starter: grilled lobster tail with purée of petit pois, citrus-marinated julienne root vegetables, and shellfish foam for me, fried halibut with orange-glazed "poor man's asparages" (not really sure what this is), spinach, and white wine sauce for boyfriend of tuxette. We ate half of each...

Main: roast veal with sautéed artichoke hearts, port-marinated lentils, roast potatoes, and creamy truffle sauce...

Dessert: cheese plate with apple compote and fruit and nut bread...

Wine: we shared a bottle of Allesverloren Cab Sauv...

Absolutely delicious food - seafood and fish cooked perfectly, tender and tasty veal, perfect al-dente vegetables... The sauces were especially noteworthy; these were probably 1000 kcal per drop ;-)

The restaurant itself was cosy and unpretentious, and quite bustling... it's the kind of place where you don't have to get overly dressed up for... definitely a place to go back to :-)

boyfriend of tuxette and I were at a wine tasting sponsored by Wine Australia last night. While we found a few wines that we would definitely consider buying in the future, most of the wines offered were rather boring - they were just too tame. Especially the red wines. They were especially lacking in full-bodiness and bite. We like wines that punch you in the face. Boxed fruit juice is for kiddies... (But if you're a wine newbie, these wines would probably work for you. They're very mild and easy-to-drink.)

One of the last of the boring wines we tried tasted like oranges. But in a bad way. Like bad gløgg or something. Not quite sure how to describe it. However, the very last wine we tried, a 1987 vintage (Hunter Valley I think it was - will look it up and edit the details later), also tasted like oranges. But in a very nice way. Damn, that was a good wine. (The winery had lots of other goodies too!) As we tried this at the end of the event, we each got a full glass to enjoy... %-)

Had that wine been available in Norway, it would cost somewhere between 1600 and 2000 NOK...

And yes, we were both quite sloshed at the end of the evening. And yes, we both made it to work this morning, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed...