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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration found what it called "objectionable conditions" at a New Mexico peanut butter plant in 2010, two years before the current outbreak of salmonella poisoning linked to Trader Joe's peanut butter produced there.
The FDA said Friday that a recent inspection found salmonella in the plant which produced Trader Joe's Valencia Creamy Peanut Butter and many other nut butters and nut products for several large national grocery chains. The Trader Joe's peanut butter is now linked to 35 salmonella illnesses in 19 states — most of them in children under the age of 10.
Though the illnesses have only been linked to the Trader Joe's peanut butter, New Mexico-based Sunland Inc. has recalled everything made in the plant since March of 2010 — a total of 240 products. The company last month recalled 101 products that were manufactured in the plant this year.
FDA has found problems at Sunland before. Agency records show two inspections at the plant in 2009 and 2010 found "objectionable conditions" but classified the findings as not meeting the agency's threshold for action. According to the records, any corrective action on the part of the company was voluntary. The FDA has not released details on what the objectionable conditions were or why the agency visited the plant twice in two years. An FDA spokesman said the agency is preparing to release that information. Sunland did not respond to requests for comment.
An FDA investigation conducted last month after the illnesses were linked to the plant found salmonella in environmental samples taken from various surfaces, officials said. The agency did not release any other details about current conditions at the plant. Washington state health officials also confirmed the presence of salmonella in an opened jar of the Trader Joe's peanut butter found in a victim's home, the FDA said.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that officials now count 35 salmonella illnesses in 19 states across the country that can be traced to the Trader Joe's peanut butter. The greatest numbers of illnesses were in California and Texas, which each reported five illnesses.
Salmonella can cause diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps 12 hours to 72 hours after infection. It is most dangerous to children, the elderly and others with weak immune systems. Those sickened reported becoming ill between June 14 and Sept. 18, according to the CDC, and 63 percent were children under the age of 10. No deaths have been reported.
Brandi Henson's four year-old son Jackson was one of those victims after he ate peanut butter his mother bought at a Trader Joe's in Shrewsbury, Mass. Just two days after Henson brought her third child home from the hospital, Jackson started complaining he didn't feel well. What followed was five days of unbearable cramps and diarrhea, and Henson said it was a month before he felt like himself again. Health officials in Massachusetts later linked Jackson's infection to the Trader Joe's peanut butter.
Henson said she tries to shop at stores like Trader Joe's for better ingredients, and she didn't think something like this could happen. She is now suing Sunland and Trader Joe's because she says she wants to hold them accountable.
"We especially buy organic and all natural foods as much as we can because we're trying to protect our kids and be healthy, and to know that the food we're buying is tainted, we just don't want that to happen," she said.
Many of the brands included in the recall are labeled organic or "all natural," and major peanut butter brands like Jif, Skippy and Peter Pan are not a part of it. An The recall includes nut butters and nut products sold at Whole Foods Market, Target, Safeway, Costco, Fresh & Easy, Harry and David, Sprouts, Heinen's, Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, Giant Food of Landover, Md., and several other stores since 2010.
Some of those retailers used Sunland ingredients in items they prepared and packaged themselves or sold the peanut butter in jars labeled with a store brand. Some stores and companies that used Sunland products as ingredients have issued additional recalls.
The products recalled include peanut butters, almond butters, cashew butters, tahini, and blanched and roasted peanut products. The expanded recall this week added several varieties of flavored butters and spreads, including Sunland's Thai Ginger Butter, Chocolate Butter and Banana Butter. Brand names included are Target's Archer Farms, Safeway's Open Nature, Earth Balance, Fresh & Easy, Late July, Heinen's, Joseph's, Natural Value, Naturally More, Peanut Power Butter, Serious Food, Snaclite Power, Sprouts Farmers Market, Sprouts, Sunland and Dogsbutter.
An outbreak of salmonella in peanut butter in 2008 and 2009 linked to one company and thousands of products sickened 714 people in 46 states.

subset: commoncrawl


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That's why Walt Disney kept trying to imitate live action and why he continually toned down the cartoony impossible stuff. The real magic. By the way, I didn't make this up. Lots of people thought that even at the time.
Realistic water is more respectable than cartoon water.
(wouldn't it inevitably follow that a camera is more respectable than a pencil?)
It backfired. He couldn't stop himself from inserting naked babies' butts, cutesy pie fish with sexpot girl eyes and hippos in tutus into the classics.
This outraged serious music critics, which is OK with me. But it also bored the general audience who wanted cartoons to be funny - and that's the real shame.
Fantasia's Reviews
Alas, Walt's method of gaining artistic respect didn't really work.
Now, I have to say that I like a lot of stuff in Walt Disney pictures.
I even like Fantasia, despite the extreme kitschiness. I mean I'm as kitschy as can be. I love pop culture and entertainment. I'm a cartoonist with no pretensions of trying to be a serious artist.
But I admit it and am proud of my cheesiness.
The thing that really helps Fantasia - for me - is the great music. I love Stokowski's highly caricatured emotions. I love his rendition of the Nutcracker Suite. Combine that with the Disney artists' design and color styling and I'm completely swept away.
If I actually stop and think about what the ideas are behind the art, it's pretty damn embarrasing...
Mushrooms with Chinese faces, little naked imps that change the seasons, fish with human girl eyes, Russian Cossacks made of weeds...I mean now, that's just brutally DUMB, isn't it - content-wise?
Funny cartoons can be dumb too, but they're not trying to have you take them seriously. Dumb is funny, it's not high-class. It's hard to take low brow stuff seriously.
Can you imagine anyone could possibly take this seriously and call it art? I just like all the techniques and the way everything moves to the fantastic music. It's superficially pretty.
But it's neither a cartoon nor art...and that's the best part of Fantasia.
The rest of the movie is even more kitschy and less appealing at least to me. Like I said I like kitsch- but there are two kinds of low brow taste: Fun, unpretentious kitsch and then there's gay kitsch- the kind of stuff you might see in a man-couple's love nest.
Much of Disney to me is gay kitsch, surely not very highbrow. What a strange style and what fruity content to force straight grown men to animate! I'll never figure it out. It's weird enough that one single cartoonist would want to animate babies' butts turning into hearts and that kind of stuff, but what's unfathomable is how many others copied him!
Whole studios abandoned what they were good at to blindly follow the gay kitsch cartoon parade - just because Walt was doing it!
That's the ungodly power of trend-thinking, which is not thinking for yourself, but rather following what everyone else is doing unquestioningly. (Look at how many animated features today are all the same formula! And still gay-kitsch!)
By contrast, Ub Iwerks' cartoons of the 30s, though influenced by Disney are more imaginative, fun, earthy and cartoony:
Other resources...
... In the Bach Toccata and Fugue portion, for example, Disney artists were encouraged to experiment visually and boldly, in ways never before imagined. This sequence, early in the film, signals its experimentalism, departing from the usual Disney style and moving in abstract directions, imitating the techniques of Oscar Fischinger, who was originally to direct that sequence but left the project before completing it, after discovering the studio had altered his original designs. Other experiments are elsewhere in evidence, as when the sound track is visualized through animation midway through the film, recalling the abstract experiments of Len Lye and anticipating those of Norman McLaren. More conventional Disney whimsy is elsewhere in evidence, however, and there is perhaps the danger of vulgarizing the music through the imposed visual patterns. In fact, the sequences are diverse and uneven.
The film has been criticized for its "ponderous didacticism" (the visualization of the "paleontological cataclysm" in the Stravinsky Rite of Spring sequence, for example, and the simplistic contrasts of the final sequences—Moussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain against Schubert's Ave Maria, with Good triumphing over Evil in a finale of Christian tranquility) and praised for those sequences in which Disney contented himself with being Disney and avoided self-conscious attempts at being "artistic."
...For the first time, moreover, Disney became his own distributor with Fantasia, since, as Variety reported, the film was so different as to require a different sales approach. It premiered on 13 November 1940, at the Broadway Theatre in New York, and was not an immediate success. Its original running time, with an intermission, was about 130 minutes, later cut to 81 minutes. It was reissued in 1946, but it would only build its audience strength over time. By 1968, for example, it had earned $4.8 million in North American markets, more than doubling its original investment, and finally taking its place among the top 200 grossing films.
In musical terminology, a fantasia is "a free development of a given theme." Disney's achievement, though often impressive and no doubt ahead of its time, has nonetheless had its detractors. Stravinsky was not pleased that his music had been restructured and that the instrumentation had been changed. "I will say nothing about the visual complement," Stravinsky remarked, "as I do not wish to criticize an unresisting imbecility . . . "The film succeeds best when it is at its most playful—the hippopotamus ballerinas in the "Dance of the Hours" sequence, for example, which Richard Schickel has described as "a broad satirical comment on the absurdities of high culture." The visuals for Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony strain contrivedly for a mythic charm in an Arcadian setting populated by fabulous creatures. Far more interesting are the animated dances from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, and the whimsical treatment of Ponchielli's "Dance of the Hours" or Mickey's struggle with the dancing brooms in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," the conceptual core of the picture. John Tibbetts has written that the results of Mickey's "union with high art were questionable for some, just as Walt's collision with the likes of Stravinsky, Beethoven, and Moussorgsky raised (or lowered) many a brow."
Disney's undertaking Fantasia brings to mind an artisan who has only a superficial knowledge of religion undertaking to sculpt a monumental pieta out of sand as the tide moves in, threatening to erode it. Some passers-by will no doubt pause to watch out of curiosity, but the spectacle will not for most of them constitute a conversion. If anything, Fantasia does not teach a musical lesson, but it often fascinates and delights the eye.
Reviewing Fantasia in 1940, Otis Ferguson called it "a film for everybody to see and enjoy," despite its "main weakness—an absence of story, of motion, of interest." Bosley Crowther was less harsh, remarking that the images often tended to overwhelm the music, but praising the film for its "imaginative excursion" and concluding that it was a milestone in motion picture history. Despite its sometimes elaborate pretensions and its many innovations, the boldness of its concept quite overrides the "disturbing jumble" of its achievement. It is, indeed, a "milestone" in the history of animated film.
—James Michael Welsh
This post isn't really about Walt Disney. I'm just using him as an example of cartoonists abandoning their roots in search of something higher.I don't even blame him for doing it. Maybe he sincerely loves his fruity content. That's just fine. If I had to be mad at someone, it would be at the cartoonists who actually liked funny stuff who followed what Walt did just because Walt did it. I wish more artists would follow their natural instincts and be more personally observant, rather than blindly doing what someone else is doing.
Every time a new trend comes along it sweeps away the good things that existed before, rather than absorbing some of the new things and combining them with the best traditions.
OK, just to go off on a tangent, I will tell you that I have seen every Disney feature at least 20 times, studied them all on many levels. I have almost all the short cartoons in my collection. I have watched the shorts in order year by year while watching the films of the other studios during the same years to compare them.
Walt was definitely good at some stuff, a genius at some. He just didn't seem to like cartoons.
Walt probably invented the whole concept of marketing. He marketed his characters, marketed himself and made everyone think his stuff was better than everyone else's. Everything he did came in a shiny package and promised that it would be the greatest thing ever-his cartoons, his TV Show, Disneyland, they all promised magic. Sometimes they would deliver a bit, but his marketing and packaging was his true creative genius. I don't think anyone was ever better.
His space series from the Disneyland Show in the 50s convinced regular folks that we could actually go to the moon, and explore Mars and beyond. Before these shows appeared, space travel was strictly science fiction. I think his marketing of space travel did more than anything to get us to the moon.
To me, that's his greatest achievement.
He had one creative storytelling ability that beat everyone else. The dramatic scenes in his movies- the ones he didn't water down with comedy relief really do approach and sometimes surpass the drama even in the best live action pictures.
The witch in Snow White.
Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty. (although they lessened the dramatic effect whenever they surrounded her with the wacky Ward Kimball style demons.)
He built an amazing studio and production system specifically geared to his own very finite tastes. Everyone in the studio was a specific tool to put on film what he couldn't himself.
The system had a lot of waste built in and was extremely expensive, but that's inevitable if you yourself can't put your specific ideas down on paper.
All the animation movie execs copy this system today but have exaggerated all the excesses, having less vision than Walt.
He was able to convince millions of people of anything he felt like convincing them of. Even of things that the evidence did not at all support. That an animator is an actor with a pencil. That his characters had rich personalities. That animation is magic, even conservative animation. That no other studio did anything good.
This is such an interesting topic that I'm going to devote some posts to it: The difference between taking someone's word for something and using your own physical senses to observe and analyze to see if you come to the same conclusion that someone else's words did.
Most people believe words more than physical evidence. Especially words in books. That's why I post so much art and clips to let you decide for yourself what you think and like. My words just offer you another view than the traditional "non-artists writing about art" one.
Obviously, his best films have amazing camera moves, fantastic background layouts and paintings. The scene planning and music is intricate. All that flash and intricacy does a lot to convince you that everything about the films is equally as good.
The animation Disney's artists do of deer, horses and dogs walking and running is amazing and otherwordly. Is it entertaining? I don't know, but it's impressive that anyone can animate difficult complex problems like that.
Is it a bit weird that they plop cartoon heads on top of realistic anatomically correct hindquarters?
It's kind of on the furry side of life, isn't it?
This post isn't about whether Walt's Cartoons are good or bad, it's just pointing out the sad need for respect that makes cartoonists ashamed of what their real abilities are.


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Chad Billingsley (11-10, 3.55) vs. Clayton Richard (12-8. 3.70).
COMMENTS: With our 151st game, it's definitely time to break out the 151-proof liquor and consider getting absolutely sloshed--to hold a wake for what could be our mathematical elimination this evening (should San Francisco beat the hapless Cubs, and we lose tonight). Given the two distasteful options of having the Padres, our opponent tonight, advance to the postseason, versus the Giants, I'd definitely be rooting for our southern divisional rivals. So with all due respect to Chadley, let's not give him any run support and hopefully stick him with a quality start no decision (pinning the loss on a Dodger reliever), shall we? I'll drink to that.


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Precisely what is naked sports news
News programs have undergone a big makeover in recent times. We saw the stiff collared, hair neatly parted males and females getting replaced by more vivacious and interactive anchorpersons. We also saw the news formats change; from people simply reading outside of scripts to new presenters leading their own personality to the program. The formats became more detailed and segments became far more divided and comprehensive, each getting its share of air time and exposure. Television viewers adapted beautifully to this format, since they were the ones who got more details and comprehensive stories. News channels on the other hand, also looked out for strategies to make the stories more informative and entertaining.
The digital age gave rise to a number of satellite channels that will compete against one another to obtain higher ratings and attract more viewers. In this effort, networks did start to spread across the globe and alliances began to be formed. Current affairs, sports news, entertainment news, all began to get more comprehensive. People got to see all kinds of games and events from all across the world. Most of the sports news segment have been covered and dominated by few media companies like ESPN, BBC Sports, Sky News and Fox Sports.
These networks have their correspondents and reporters covering any action which takes place in the world of sports; whether it's a live game, game report analysis, game statistics, player information, calendar of major sports events, sports functions etc. Each of the news relevant to the sports world is presented through these channels. Often these established channels too have to go through major makeovers to reach the top slot. In the recent times Sky Sports and Sky News has gone through such a major facelift. It changed the format of its shows, its studios and also the music. Additionally, it included several attractive female news presenters and reporters to achieve a wider reach into the masses.
As the web has grown to be as a reliable source of constant information, a large number of news providers have in addition gone online giving its viewers the bandwidth to gain access to information at all times. However, some news providers have gone on and taken news presenting to a new platform altogether. Now, one can see naked news on the internet with simple applications such as QuickTime, RealPlayer and Windows Media Player.
This paid website enables its members to catch the news being read by naked presenters. This community allows members to catch all the interesting stories in the world of sports, entertainment, current affairs etc. These daily news reports and features are brought from all around the globe and presented by attractive and exquisite celebrity models. Members also get to check out the auditions of such presenters and in addition get access to the archives of the past programs that have been already aired. The latest sports programs that this channel is covering are the soccer games in Italy. They've recently been airing the auditions of the new naked news anchors.


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Neuron puts a chemist's twist on standard block-style print to create a fresher version of the elemental alphabet. Widely spaced letters and a slightly tall x-height have a clean effect for great readability. Squarish shapes are stylized to retain curved tails, achieving a neutral appearance that makes it very versatile. A thick width in ExtraBold, Black and Heavy give stand-out strength for headlines and branding, without affecting legibility. This modern sans-serif family includes 16 variants, and covers Latin, Central European and Cyrillic characters.


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Forgive me if this book has been previously discussed. I highly recommend it. Sushila Blackman, a Hindu student, compiled and edited, "Graceful Exits: How Great Beings Die-Death stories of Hindu, Tibetan, Buddhist, and Zen masters." Sadly, just a few months after this book was completed, Sushila passed away from advanced lung cancer and was not able to witness the book's completion. I would like to share with you a few snippets:
Before he died, Hui-neng, the sixth Chinese patriarch of Zen, spoke these moving words of farewell:
Come close. In the 8th month I intend to leave this world. If any of you have doubts, ask them quickly, and I shall resolve them for you. I must bring your delusions to an end and make it possible for you to gain peace. After I have gone, there will be no one to teach you.
Deeply touched, all the disciples began to cry. Among them, Shen-hui alone remained unmoved. Hue-neng turned and spoke to him:
Shen-hui, you are a young monk, yet you have attained the status of awakening in which good and not good are identical, and you are not moved by judgment of praise and blame. You others have not yet understood...Youre crying just because you dont know where Im going. If you knew where I was going you wouldnt be crying. Nature itself is without birth and without destruction, without going and without coming
I know you are very ill. Like a good Zen student, you are facing that sickness squarely. You may not know exactly who is suffering, but question yourself; What is the essence of this mind? Think only of this. You will need no more. Covet nothing. Your end, which is endless, is as a snowflake dissolving in the pure air.
-Bassui, addressing a dying disciple
When the tenth-century Chinese Zen Master name Dasui Fahzen was asked, How are you at the time when life-death arrives? he answered promptly, When served tea, I take tea; when served a meal, I take a meal.
Empty-handed I entered the world
Barefoot I leave it.
My coming, my going-
Two simple happenings
That got entangled.
-Kozan Ichigyo; 14th century Zen monk


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Houston ( (listen); HEW-stən) is the most populous city in Texas, fourth-most populous city in the United States, most populous city in the Southern United States, as well as the sixth-most populous in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in 2020. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the seat and largest city of Harris County and the principal city of the Greater Houston metropolitan area, which is the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States and the second-most populous in Texas (Dallas–Fort Worth is larger). Houston is the southeast anchor of the greater megaregion known as the Texas Triangle.Comprising a total area of 637.4 square miles (1,651 km2), Houston is the ninth-most expansive city in the United States (including consolidated city-counties). It is the largest city in the United States by total area, whose government is not consolidated with a county, parish, or borough. Though primarily in Harris County, small portions of the city extend into Fort Bend and Montgomery counties, bordering other principal communities of Greater Houston such as Sugar Land and The Woodlands.
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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — On college campuses across the United States, the eternal optimism of youth has been throttled out by a fear of crushing student debt. That's certainly the case in Oregon, where the cost of tuition has soared as public funding for higher education has declined.
But the state Legislature this week approved an idea that might ease the economic dread for future philosophy and art history majors. The concept — called Pay It Forward — calls for students to attend public universities tuition free and loan free. In exchange, students would have 3 percent deducted from their post-graduation paychecks for about a quarter-century. The money would go into a fund to pay for future students.
The bill, which passed unanimously and is expected to be signed this month by Gov. John Kitzhaber, directs the state's Higher Education Coordination Commission to develop a Pay It Forward pilot project for consideration by the 2015 Legislature. One question that must be resolved is how to fund the program's start-up costs, estimated at $9 billion, since the initial students who attend tuition-free would be years away from entering the labor force.
Though the timing was coincidental, the bill won final approval on Monday, the same day that federal student loan interest rates doubled from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent.
"I feel as if the problem of student debt has reached a tipping point. It's on legislators' minds," said state Rep. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland. "And I think it's on legislators' minds because it's on their constituents' minds. This is something we're hearing a lot about — at the doorstep, through our polling, through our e-mail."
The Pay It Forward concept was originated by the Economic Opportunity Institute, a nonprofit policy group in Seattle, and is based in part on a model used in Australia.
A classroom of students from Portland State University, along with the Oregon Working Families Party, successfully lobbied legislators. Supporters say the challenge is just beginning. They must ensure the commission comes up with a pilot program that helps students and clears the 2015 Legislature.
"This is going to happen because students demand change; I believe that firmly," said Steve Hughes, state director of the Oregon Working Families Party. "The conditions are just absolutely ripe for this. We've heard so many stories of student debt that are just beyond belief."
If the plan does take effect, it would provide some relief to students who are unable to translate their degree into a decent-paying job. For example, a student whose adjusted gross income is $600,000 over a 24-year span would pay $18,000 for his or her four-year degree. A student who makes $2.5 million over that same timeframe would end up paying $75,000. Someone who makes nothing at all would contribute nothing to the fund. Someone who makes a billion would contribute an astronomical amount.
"This is not a loan," said John Burbank, executive director of the Economic Opportunity Institute. "You're paying forward, essentially, so your contributions would enable the next generational cohort of students the same free access."
Students who graduate from a two-year college would have 1.5 percent, instead of 3 percent, taken from their paychecks, according to the plan. Those who attend some college but fail to graduate would pay a pro-rated portion of their incomes.
Oregon is the first state to take a step toward the Pay-It-Forward model. Burbank said legislators in other states, including Washington, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, have expressed an interest.


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Sometimes I love living in the future. For example, in the future we have the Internet, which is incredible. Every day we upload the sum total of all human knowledge onto this thing, where it becomes readily accessible to everybody in the world except the Chinese, the North Koreans, and women in Islamic countries. Sure, as it turns out, the sum of all human knowledge mostly consists of "fail" videos, but it's still pretty amazing
On the other hand, the future kind of sucks, too. We may have the Internet, but arguably that's the only real improvement, and there's a strong case to be made that we're simply living in a lamer version of the 1980s that has Wi-Fi. Also, there was a time when the counterculture was actually interesting. Punk rock. Black power. LSD freakouts. Ken Kesey and his "Merry Pranksters." Now, we just have these assholes called "minimalists," and here's another one to which I was alerted by many readers:
I LIVE in a 420-square-foot studio. I sleep in a bed that folds down from the wall. I have six dress shirts. I have 10 shallow bowls that I use for salads and main dishes. When people come over for dinner, I pull out my extendable dining room table. I don't have a single CD or DVD and I have 10 percent of the books I once did.
Good for you. You're not special. You're a typical single Manhattanite. Nobody has CDs anymore, you might as well boast about not owning a bellows or a chamberpot. Six dress shirts is actually a lot. Also, it's called a "Murphy bed." It's nothing special either. Charlie Chaplin was doing schtick with one a hundred years ago. Fascinating about your extendable dining room table. When people come over to Mario Cipollini's apartment for dinner, he pulls out his extendable penis:
Nevertheless, even though he's not remotely special, he thinks he's special, because he made lots of money when he was young and went on the world's lamest spending spree:
To celebrate, I bought a four-story, 3,600-square-foot, turn-of-the-century house in Seattle's happening Capitol Hill neighborhood and, in a frenzy of consumption, bought a brand-new sectional couch (my first ever), a pair of $300 sunglasses, a ton of gadgets, like an Audible.com MobilePlayer (one of the first portable digital music players) and an audiophile-worthy five-disc CD player. And, of course, a black turbocharged Volvo. With a remote starter!
The first red flag here is that he uses the words "Seattle" and "happening" in the same sentence. Moving to the "happening" neighborhood in Seattle is like ordering the "artisan" bread at Subway. Then he uses $300 sunglasses as a symbol of consumer excess. Please. That's entry-level when it comes to Fred optics. And a Volvo, really? When you're a young douchebag who suddenly falls into a pile of money you're supposed to buy a Porsche or a Ferrari, numbnuts. Basically, it sounds like after striking it rich he decided to live the life of a 45 year-old schoolteacher.
But then he really went wild:
I was working hard for Sitewerks' new parent company, Bowne, and didn't have the time to finish getting everything I needed for my house. So I hired a guy named Seven, who said he had been Courtney Love's assistant, to be my personal shopper.
Seven? Like in "Seinfeld?" I realize that after Kurt Cobain killed himself Courtney Love was the only celebrity left in Seattle, but even so hiring her assistant makes as much sense as hiring Michael Jackson's physician.
Needless to say, Seven turned this guy's upper middle class conservative lifestyle into a nightmare:
My life was unnecessarily complicated. There were lawns to mow, gutters to clear, floors to vacuum, roommates to manage (it seemed nuts to have such a big, empty house), a car to insure, wash, refuel, repair and register and tech to set up and keep working.
Maybe if you'd fired Seven and hired a gardener and a housekeeper then you wouldn't have had these problems. And what's with the roommates? Haven't you ever heard of a dog or a cat? Getting a pet is Sad Single Person 101 for chrissakes. Walking a dog or cleaning out a litter box in between lonely wanking sessions in your giant house would have given your life meaning.
It got worse. Soon after we sold our company, I moved east to work in Bowne's office in New York, where I rented a 1,900-square-foot SoHo loft that befit my station as a tech entrepreneur. The new pad needed furniture, housewares, electronics, etc. — which took more time and energy to manage.
AND because the place was so big, I felt obliged to get roommates — who required more time, more energy, to manage.
More roommates?!?
Then he meets Olga:
I DON'T know that the gadgets I was collecting in my loft were part of an aberrant or antisocial behavior plan during the first months I lived in SoHo. But I was just going along, starting some start-ups that never quite started up when I met Olga, an Andorran beauty, and fell hard. My relationship with stuff quickly came apart.
I followed her to Barcelona when her visa expired and we lived in a tiny flat, totally content and in love before we realized that nothing was holding us in Spain. We packed a few clothes, some toiletries and a couple of laptops and hit the road. We lived in Bangkok, Buenos Aires and Toronto with many stops in between.
Surprise! All the dorky guy with the Volvo and the roommates needed was to get laid. Who'd have thunk it?
I'm still a serial entrepreneur, and my latest venture is to design thoughtfully constructed small homes that support our lives, not the other way around. Like the 420-square-foot space I live in, the houses I design contain less stuff and make it easier for owners to live within their means and to limit their environmental footprint. My apartment sleeps four people comfortably; I frequently have dinner parties for 12. My space is well-built, affordable and as functional as living spaces twice the size. As the guy who started TreeHugger.com, I sleep better knowing I'm not using more resources than I need. I have less — and enjoy more.
My space is small. My life is big.
Let me tell you something. Your "thoughtfully constructed" 420-square-foot space is not functional or comfortable for more than one person, nor is it "as functional as living spaces twice the size." Sure, maybe your 12 miserable dinner guests lie to you and say that they're comfortable--or, more likely, they're the types of uptight people who don't mind sitting ramrod-straight around an extendable dining table while clenching their sphincters. However, normal people who like to eat a big meal and then relax on the couch are fucking miserable. Just because you bought a bunch of lame shit when you were younger and now like to putter around in a tiny box folding and unfolding modular furniture doesn't mean you're saving the world from itself, in the same way that being in AA doesn't mean the rest of us can't keep drinking. I eat sandwiches bigger than your apartment, and that's the way I like it.
And that's not all that sucks about the future. Not only do we have to listen to rich minimalists who are wracked with buyer's remorse, but soon we're also going to be wearing disposable hats--at least according to this promotional email I received:
Hi There,
I hope all is well! A quick Veloce update: We have just launched our Superveloce Collection. The Superveloce Collection is the world's first disposable hat collection. We believe that single-use clothing is the wave of the future in terms of party attire. After conducting market research we discovered that our primary demographic purchases our hats for a specific reason-either a party, concert, or greek event. With this in mind, we concluded that the price point of our hat for these loyal customers may be a bit high. As such we created a single use line that is visually identical to our Partyme Collection, our most popular collection. We have launched with our two most popular colors, Electric Blue & Lime Green. Each hat is offered at the incredibly low price of $4.99. That is at least a 75% price reduction if compared to our regular lines. The new hats feature a more flexible brim, and even lighter weight crinkle taslan material. I've attached our line sheet with more information.
Hmmm, in the old days we used to call those "painter's caps." Oh, here's what the hats look like:
I haven't seen a model that humiliated since Wikipedia nonplussed bib shorts guy:
Venge Pro full carbon race road bike - $6100 (vallejo / benicia)
This is THE 2012 Venge Pro full 10R race carbon road bike with 126 miles on it. She is a size 56cm, one month old and flawless!! She has full ultegra components with.... get this... the Ui2 electronic shifting. That alone with all the components wire harnesses programmer, battery, charger, etc is $1700 not installed. One of the coolest things about this shifting is not only can you shift under full load with no chain slap, but when shifting the rears it automatically trims the front derailers thus never rubbing. This is THE premier bike to own. Not only does it dominate in the time trials, but is crazy light at 16.5lbs. She has full one piece carbon aero bars with a removable carbon computer "T" extension tree, even the bar ends are carbon. The cranks are Fact Carbon, the forks.. Fact carbon, wheels are race carbon and balanced. This bike is so sweet and fast. Super stiff and all new ceramic bearings from the BB to the hubs and even the guide sprockets all have ceramic bearings. I am including a brand new set of Garmin race jersey and padded shorts along with the pictured Specialized set. I am even including a the set of Time iClick pedals and specialized carbon race shoes and cleats size 44.5.
The Venge pro is no longer being offered with all the goodines that this one has on it. She was a special order bike that I hate to see go, but I'm taking my skydiving to a whole new level and buying a BASE rig and upgrading my wingsuit and need the money which is why I am including ALL the other things, even extra tubes, the bottle and cage, shoes, shorts, jerseys, Giro carbon helmet, i click pedals and cleats even an extra stem and the original bars. Thanks for looking (707) three three4-35 six nine. I also have a Carbon Tarmac for sale here if you are just looking for a carbon roadbike that performs well and has new parts on it.
Yes, that's right, his loss is your gain, because he's committing all his disposable income towards becoming the biggest Sky Fred he can be. By the way, I had to look up "wingsuit," and here's what I found:
That's awesome. He looks like some kind of intergalactic space bishop.
Indeed, he's so desperate that he's including his disgusting used clothes:
And he's even using the latest in persuasive sales tactics, such as this cockpit shot complete with disembodied feet:
I'm pretty sure he's sporting the foot tattoo/anklet combo too:
As I understand it, you get a foot tattoo and an anklet free with your subscription to "Outside" magazine.
Anyway, I'm willing to bet this guy declares himself a minimalist in six months.
Lastly, as everybody knows, the trendy bicycle of the future is the so-called "fat bike," though if you prefer something a bit more "classic" for your snowy adventures then you could do worse than this contraption which was forwarded to me by another reader:
Stem's a little long though.


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The Fuji Arts Clearance is Unique in the Market
Thousands of prints sell every year in the Fuji Arts clearance. Savvy shoppers enjoy buying both originals and old reprints at just $29.99. And who wouldn't? It's fun to shop, the cost is low, and before you know it, exciting new prints show up at your doorstep.
If you're new to Fuji Arts clearance, here is the best tip we can give you: Check often, because the best prints move lightning fast!
Artist - Hiroshige (1797 - 1858)
Image Size - Oban, approximately 14 1/2" x 9 1/2" (not measured individually)
Condition - This print with nice color and detail as shown. Brown spotting throughout. Please see photos for details.
What can I find on clearance?
- Prints that have moved through our auctions and are ready to go below cost.
- Prints that are overstocked.
- Prints with condition issues.
Prints are identified as original or reprint, and artist information is offered when known. We include excellent photos of each print, as well as a brief condition report.
While you're shopping, keep in mind that some condition issues could simply be framed out, some could be easily repaired, and others just allow you to enjoy owning a 19th century original at a bargain price. Of course, many prints are in excellent condition, just needing to be cleared out.
So, check out all the clearance offers and find prints that suit your taste.
Enjoy the Clearance treasure hunt!
This Auction Falls Under Our Standard Auction Rules and Guidelines
If you are a new bidder, please read the Rules and Guidelines page before bidding.


text:
Federal Communications Commissionda 03-3271
Federal Communications CommissionDA 03-3271
Before the
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, D.C. 20554
In the Matter ofInter-Tel NetSolutions, Inc.
Complaint Regarding
Unauthorized Change of
Subscriber's Telecommunications Carrier / )
) / IC No. 02-S79743
Adopted: October 15, 2003Released: October 20, 2003
By the Acting Deputy Chief, Policy Division, Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau:
- In this Order, we consider the complaint[1] alleging that Inter-Tel NetSolutions (Inter-Tel) changed Complainant's telecommunications service provider without obtaining authorization and verification from Complainant in violation of the Commission's rules.[2] We conclude that Inter-Tel's actions did result in an unauthorized change in Complainant's telecommunications service provider and we grant Complainant's complaint.
- In December 1998, the Commission released the Section 258 Order in which it adopted rules to implement Section 258 of the Communications Act of 1934 (Act), as amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (1996 Act).[3] Section 258 prohibits the practice of "slamming," the submission or execution of an unauthorized change in a subscriber's selection of a provider of telephone exchange service or telephone toll service.[4] In the Section 258 Order, the Commission adopted aggressive new rules designed to take the profit out of slamming, broadened the scope of the slamming rules to encompass all carriers, and modified its existing requirements for the authorization and verification of preferred carrier changes. The rules require, among other things, that a carrier receive individual subscriber consent before a carrier change may occur.[5] Pursuant to Section 258, carriers are absolutely barred from changing a customer's preferred local or long distance carrier without first complying with one of the Commission's verification procedures.[6] Specifically, a carrier must: (1) obtain the subscriber's written or electronically signed authorization in a format that meets the requirements of
Section 64.1130 authorization; (2) obtain confirmation from the subscriber via a toll-free number provided exclusively for the purpose of confirming orders electronically; or (3) utilize an independent third party to verify the subscriber's order.[7]
- The Commission also has adopted liability rules. These rules require the carrier to absolve the subscriber where the subscriber has not paid his or her bill. In that context, if the subscriber has not already paid charges to the unauthorized carrier, the subscriber is absolved of liability for charges imposed by the unauthorized carrier for service provided during the first 30 days after the unauthorized change.[8] Where the subscriber has paid charges to the unauthorized carrier, the Commission's rules require that the unauthorized carrier pay 150% of those charges to the authorized carrier, and the authorized carrier shall refund or credit to the subscriber 50% of all charges paid by the subscriber to the unauthorized carrier.[9] Carriers should note that our actions in this order do not preclude the Commission from taking additional action, if warranted, pursuant to Section 503 of the Act.[10]
- We received Complainant's complaint on August 1, 2002, alleging that Complainant's telecommunications service provider had been changed to Inter-Tel without Complainant's authorization. Pursuant to Sections 1.719 and 64.1150 of our rules,[11] we notified Inter-Tel of the complaint and Inter-Tel responded on September 26, 2003.[12] Inter-Tel states that Complainant's service was switched due to a keying error by an Inter-Tel employee. We find that Inter-Tel has failed to produce clear and convincing evidence that Complainant authorized a carrier change.[13] Therefore, we find that Inter-Tel's actions resulted in an unauthorized change in Complainant's service provider and we discuss Inter-Tel's liability below.[14]
- Inter-Tel must remove all charges incurred for service provided to Complainant for the first thirty days after the alleged unauthorized change in accordance with the Commission's liability rules.[15] We have determined that Complainant is entitled to absolution for the charges incurred during the first thirty days after the unauthorized change occurred and that neither Complainant's authorized carrier nor Inter-Tel may pursue any collection against Complainant for those charges.[16] Any charges imposed by Inter-Tel on the subscriber for service provided after this 30-day period shall be paid by the subscriber to Complainant's authorized carrier at the rates the subscriber was paying to Complainant's authorized carrier at the time of the unauthorized change.[17]
- Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that, pursuant to Section 258 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. § 258, and Sections 0.141, 0.361 and 1.719 of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.141, 0.361, 1.719, the complaint filed against Inter-Tel IS GRANTED.
- IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that, pursuant to Section 64.1170(d) of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R. § 64.1170(d), Complainant is entitled to absolution for the charges incurred during the first thirty days after the unauthorized change occurred and neither Complainant's authorized carrier nor Inter-Tel may pursue any collection against Complainant for those charges.
- IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that this Order is effective upon release.
Nancy A. Stevenson, Acting Deputy Chief
Policy Division
Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau
[1] Informal Complaint No. IC-02-S79743, August 1, 2002.
[2] See 47 C.F.R. §§ 64.1100 – 64.1190.
[3] 47 U.S.C. § 258(a); Telecommunications Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-104, 110 Stat. 56 (1996); Implementation of the Subscriber Carrier Selection Changes Provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996; Policies and Rules Concerning Unauthorized Changes of Consumers' Long Distance Carriers, CC Docket No. 94-129, Second Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making, 14 FCC Rcd 1508 (1998) (Section 258 Order), stayed in part, MCI WorldCom v. FCC, No. 99-1125 (D.C. Cir. May 18, 1999); First Order on Reconsideration, 15 FCC Rcd 8158 (2000); stay lifted, MCI WorldCom v. FCC, No. 99-1125 (D.C. Cir. June 27, 2000); Third Report and Order and Second Order on Reconsideration, 15 FCC Rcd 15996 (2000), Errata, DA No. 00-2163 (rel. Sept. 25, 2000), Erratum, DA No. 00-2192 (rel. Oct. 4, 2000), Order, FCC 01-67 (rel. Feb. 22, 2001); reconsideration pending. Prior to the adoption of Section 258, the Commission had taken various steps to address the slamming problem. See, e.g., Policies and Rules Concerning Unauthorized Changes of Consumers' Long Distance Carriers, CC Docket No. 94-129, Report and Order, 10 FCC Rcd 9560 (1995), stayed in part, 11 FCC Rcd 856 (1995); Policies and Rules Concerning Changing Long Distance Carriers, CC Docket No. 91-64, 7 FCC Rcd 1038 (1992), reconsideration denied, 8 FCC Rcd 3215 (1993); Investigation of Access and Divestiture Related Tariffs, CC Docket No. 83-1145, Phase I, 101 F.C.C.2d 911, 101 F.C.C.2d 935, reconsideration denied, 102 F.C.C.2d 503 (1985).
[4] 47 U.S.C. § 258(a).
[5] See 47 C.F.R. § 64.1120.
[6]47 U.S.C. § 258(a).
[7]See 47 C.F.R. § 64.1120(c). Section 64.1130 details the requirements for letter of agency form and content for written or electronically signed authorizations. 47 C.F.R. § 64.1130.
[8] See 47 C.F.R. §§ 64.1140, 64.1160. Any charges imposed by the unauthorized carrier on the subscriber for service provided after this 30-day period shall be paid by the subscriber to the authorized carrier at the rates the subscriber was paying to the authorized carrier at the time of the unauthorized change. Id.
[9] See 47 C.F.R. §§ 64.1140, 64.1170.
[10]See 47 U.S.C. § 503.
[11] 47 C.F.R. § 1.719 (Commission procedure for informal complaints filed pursuant to Section 258 of the Act); 47 C.F.R. § 64.1150 (procedures for resolution of unauthorized changes in preferred carrier).
[12]Inter-Tel's Response to Informal Complaint No. IC-02-S79743, September 26, 2003.
[13] See 47 C.F.R. § 64.1150(d).
[14] If Complainant is unsatisfied with the resolution of this complaint, Complainant may file a formal complaint with the Commission pursuant to Section 1.721 of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R. § 1.721. Such filing will be deemed to relate back to the filing date of Complainant's informal complaint so long as the formal complaint is filed within 45 days from the date this order is mailed or delivered electronically to Complainant. See 47 C.F.R. § 1.719.
[15] See 47 C.F.R. § 64.1160(b).
[16] See 47 C.F.R. § 64.1160(d).
[17] See 47 C.F.R. §§ 64.1140, 64.1160.


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With a standing inventory of 2,000,000 square feet in our global headquarters in Getzville, New York, Spinneybeck is the world's leading and largest supplier of quality upholstery leather.
Spinneybeck was founded by Charlie Manchee in a rural schoolhouse outside Stouffville, Ontario in 1962. He was the first supplier to bring full grain, aniline dyed Italian leather to the North American design community. Two decades later, Spinneybeck incorporated and opened a U.S. facility headquartered in a converted stable in Niagara Falls, New York.
From those humble beginnings, our clientele throughout North America, and around the globe, has propelled Spinneybeck to become the world's premier supplier of quality upholstery leather.
The first Spinneybeck representatives — just two men — traveled across North America carrying weathered duffel bags containing a rare and precious cargo, which they shared with designers and professionals.
Decades later, Spinneybeck continues to be known as the firm which supplies premium aniline dyed upholstery leather to North America. No other supplier offers the quantities and qualities offered by Spinneybeck. Spinneybeck's affiliation and partnership with the Gobbetti family, who specialize exclusively in upholstery leather production, provides Spinneybeck with the finest leathers available. The recipes for these leathers are under exclusive license and can only be admired by the competition.


text:
copyright the Chronicle 9-12-12
Higher Ground, by Kevin Fitton, is a simple little story for children. Basically, it's about Tropical Storm Irene and one Vermont farmer's efforts to keep his family and beloved dairy cows safe in the face of rapidly rising water.
This farm family doesn't experience the devastation that many Vermont farmers did because of Irene, but it does know loss. However, their grief and recovery efforts are tendered by the neighborliness, the kindness and generosity that characterized the aftermath of Irene in Vermont.
Although the story itself is pretty basic, this is a gorgeously illustrated little book. Of course. The illustrations are by Plainfield artist Mary Azarian, who made a name for herself decades ago with her stunning woodcuts. In 1999, she won the Caldecott Medal for her book Snowflake Bentley, a picture book about the life of Wilson Bentley. She's illustrated more than 50 books, and that doesn't begin to describe her art.
The bigger mission behind the publication of this slim paperback is that 100 percent of the proceeds from its limited edition sale of 1,000 books will go to the Vermont Farm Disaster Relief Fund, which was established with the Vermont Agency of Agriculture to help farmers hurt by Irene.
Mr. Fitton of Ferrisburgh is a pastor in South Burlington. He developed a love for books at an early age and is the author of several short stories. This is his first published book.
"It's a lovely story that shows not only how community comes together in times of need, but also how important the farm animals are," said Tanya Sousa of Radiant Hen Publishing. "They're family to the characters in the book — not just moneymakers."
Mr. Fitton had submitted the manuscript, and "we really liked it," Ms. Sousa said. "Since it was about Tropical Storm Irene it crossed my mind that, by some chance, people might want to do it as a fund-raiser."
Mr. Fitton immediately agreed to the fund-raiser.
Ms. Azarian also donated her time, as did the graphic arts and editing team of Theresa Perron-Janowski and Jeannine B. Young, both of West Glover. Carl and Susan Taylor of Derby paid for the printing so that all the money from book sales can go to the Vermont Farm Disaster Relief Fund. "Everyone agreed to do it for nothing," Ms. Sousa said.
Ms. Sousa of Coventry started the Radiant Hen Publishing company about five years ago.
"My thinking was that, as an author myself, it's very frustrating to me to be treated sometimes poorly, to sometimes not get paid even when there was a contract," Ms. Sousa said. "I saw the need for companies that gave Vermont authors and illustrators a chance to break in in a way that they are treated like somebody, and they get decent royalties."
People don't make a lot of money with a book published by Radiant Hen because they don't sell an awful lot of books, but they do get generous royalties on those they sell, Ms. Sousa said.
She doesn't recommend either writing or publishing as a path to riches, but personally she doesn't care. "We're doing it for the love of it," she said. "For the money to generate money for the next book."
Radiant Hen's goal is to publish three books a year, but that number recently slipped to one a year for economic reasons, although Ms. Sousa said business is picking up some again.
Authors submit their work to Radiant Hen and Ms. Sousa, as well as a team of volunteer readers, screen the manuscripts. To start with, they must meet Radiant Hen's basic guidelines: The author must be a Vermonter and the book must be about either an environmental or agricultural subject.
At the moment, picture books likely stand the best chance of publication. "We've decided not to do chapter books," Ms. Sousa said. "We did well with them, but they don't bear the publication costs."
Nor does Radiant Hen help people self-publish their books, she emphasized. Prospective authors can't simply offer to pay the little company to print their book. "If it gets chosen, it gets chosen because it fits," Ms. Sousa said. "We're not a vanity publisher."
Authors and illustrators get royalties; Radiant Hen keeps the rest of the money to cover printing and marketing costs, standard practice in the publishing business. That income usually does no more than pay the bills for printing and marketing.
"I'm not concerned about making money with it," Ms. Sousa said. "I'm just concerned with giving people an option."
She said Radiant Hen receives hundreds of manuscripts, many of them very good and worthy of publication. She can sometimes recommend another publisher. "Often we have to say no, but we try to give them a foot up, try to give them any help we can."
The publishing company's unlikely name starts with a sad story that ended with what Ms. Sousa views as a bit of a miracle.
She and her husband had a small flock of chickens, but for unavoidable reasons the chicken coop had not been fully tightened up. One day she walked out to the coop and found the entire flock slaughtered by a raccoon. There wasn't a chicken left alive. In fact, there wasn't a chicken left whole.
Ms. Sousa said that after she got done crying she went back out to the coop to clean up the mess and was amazed to find one white leghorn hen standing there unharmed. She had no idea where the hen had been or how it had survived.
"She was my beautiful white radiant hen, and when it came time for the publishing company I wanted a name that boded well for survival."
Radiant Hen's mission is to publish books, for both children and adults, that encourage good citizenship, kindness, and environmental awareness and debate, and to raise awareness of Vermont places and people and sustainable agriculture. Ms. Sousa also hopes to incubate promising authors and artists.
At the moment, Higher Ground is available through Radiant Hen. It can't be sold through bookstores unless the store is willing to take no cut from its sales. The 30-page book is $10.95. Radiant Hen's website is: www.radianthen.com.
contact Tena Starr at [email protected]
For more free articles from the Chronicle like this one, see our Reviews pages. For all the Chronicle's stories, pick up a print copy or subscribe, either for print or digital editions.


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Hella Jongerius: Misfit
Louise Schouwenberg et al
Dutch designer, Hella Jongerius explores the boundaries between design, craft, art and technology in an eclectic practice that combines traditional and contemporary influences. Jongerius' work is satirical, which is certainly woven throughout this richly illustrated monograph.
As a product designer not overly associated with the (perceived) Dutch design mainstream, which has become more of a style than a body of real ideas, Jongerius' name has become synonymous with the integration of contemporary methods with a celebration of historical practice.
Hella Jongerius: Misfit is a wonderfully tactile and detailed showcase of the multiple aspects of Jongerius' work. Featuring all of her work to date, four fascinating hypothetical conversations between Jongerius and author, Louise Schouwenberg, which discuss her working methods, disillusion with much of product design, and the development of her key designs, and two future essays which offer interesting contextualisations of Jongerius' work.
Like much of Jongerius' work, this monograph has the mark of the maker: deliberately dynamic and demonstrative it is wonderful to behold.
Bethany Rex


text:
This year 2011 is the year of the Golden Rabbit. It is a placid year, very much welcomed and needed after the ferocious year of the Tiger. We should go off to some quiet spot to lick our wounds and get some rest after all the battles of the previous year!!!! According to Chinese tradition, the Rabbit brings a year in which you can catch your breath and calm your nerves. The Rabbit symbolizes graciousness, good manners, sound counsel kindness and sensitivity to beauty. His soft speech and graceful and nimble ways embody all the desirable traits.
So what is a celebration without food!!! Chinese New Year food is symbolic and represents good luck, prosperity and health. Given the importance of food in Chinese culture, it is not surprising that food plays a major role in Chinese New Year celebrations. "Lucky" foods are served through the two week Chinese New Year celebration. As an example Spring rolls resemble gold bars; so they are believed to bring wealth; lettuce is associated with rising fortune which is why lettuce wraps are often served; and noodles are a menu staple and symbolize a long life and are never cut.
So if you missed the fireworks and celebrations on New Year's Eve, don't worry... you have another chance to celebrate. Lion dances, sumptuous food and fireworks enliven the festivities throughout the two weeks so let's start celebrating.
So to ring in the New year I celebrated with another version of one of my favourite soups that I have aptly named "Year of The Rabbit Wonton Soup" for its ability to calm my nerves and allow me to take a breather. When is chicken soup not comforting in any language! Of course a great soup begins with a great stock and I am sure you have your own favourite recipe. This is even more true for clear soups because the holy grail of soup making lies in the flavour of your stock.
The next important aspect of this soup are the wontons. When a wonton is prepared in a paper thin wonton wrapping and stuffed with a subtle, flavourful filling that melts in your mouth you have reached nirvana and are on your way to utter contentment. The minute you bite into these wontons you are whisked away to a quiet temple garden and all the cares of the world will drop away.
Kung Hei Fat Choy!
And if you are still looking for Nutella, try these recipes of mine.......
Chocolate Nutella Semifreddo
Nutella Swirl Poundcake
Mascarpone Brownies with Nutella and Toasted Hazelnut Topping
**Year of the Rabbit Wonton Soup**
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 - 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1/2 - 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger
1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions, plus 3 tablespoons
4 cups (1 L) chicken stock
2 heads baby bok choy
2 cups (500 mL) sliced mushroom
1 cup (250 mL) bean sprouts
1 carrot, shredded
1/4 (50 mL) parsley leaves
wontons (recipe below)
In a large saucepan or soup pot heat the oil over medium high heat until hot. Add 1 tablespoon of the garlic and 1 tablespoon of the ginger and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the 1/4 cup of sliced scallions and bring stock and 2 cups (500 mL) water to boil. Reduce heat to medium low so that the broth just simmers. Allow broth to simmer for at least 20 to 30 minutes while the wontons are being assembled.
Cut bok choy lengthwise into quarters; add to stock. Add mushrooms; reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
Using your hands or a slotted spoon, gently add the prepared wontons to the simmering broth. Increase the heat slightly so that the broth returns to a gentle simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally (very gently), until the wontons float and the pork filling is cooked through, about 5 minutes. In the last 2 to 3 minutes of cooking add the bean sprouts, carrot, 3 tablespoons chopped green onions and parsley to the broth. Serve immediately.
1 lb. ground meat (pork, chicken, or turkey) or 1 block firm tofu
8 oz. chopped frozen spinach, blanched or steamed, water pressed out
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 knob fresh ginger (about 1 inch long), chopped
4 scallions (spring onions), chopped
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon soy sauce
½ teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 package premade wonton wrappers (about 50 wrappers)
Place the wonton ingredients (except for the wrappers) in a food processor and blitz briefly, just until mixed. Scrape filling into a bowl.
Put a little water into a small bowl. Place 1 teaspoon filling in the center of a wonton wrapper. Dip your forefinger in the water and trace a line along two sides of the wrapper; fold into a triangle and seal. Place a bit more water on the two long corners of the triangle and press together into a tortellini-like twist. (It's OK if these aren't beautiful; they'll cook just fine in the broth so long as the filling is sealed inside.) Place the finished wonton on a baking sheet. Repeat until all of the wrappers are gone; freeze the remaining filling for another wonton day.
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