Last night I had a dream where I saw myself as a child, waking up in the morning, standing on the bed and stretching my arms up and wide.
I thank my mind for the reminder!
Showing posts with label night. Show all posts
Showing posts with label night. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Monday, February 09, 2009
August Sky
Aug. 13, 2008 A Perseid Meteor Shower was happening in the sky since the last night. I sighted more than 10 in a half an hour period. Unfortunately I only could capture the slight trace of a meteor on camera and the quality of the uploaded movie is not as good as to show it. Nevertheless, try to see (imagine!?) it in the centre between 00:21s and 00:27s.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Cold, alcohol, agave and life's water
Yesterday night, with temperatures of -28 C, which felt like -36C with the wind chill, my bike's lock froze and refused to open. Fortunately, a friend's bottle of Isopropyl alcohol (freezes around -89 C when it's highly concentrated) saved my night. No, I didn't drink it ... we just poured it into the lock's keyhole to ease the frozen pins inside. However, the occasion brought to me the memory of wanting to write some of mine and other's wonderings about alcoholic liquors. So here are these fragments of information... enjoy, and stay warm this season.
A note by Ryan Thomas about the differences between Tequila and Mezcal...
"Few understand the difference between tequila and mezcal, and many don’t even know there is a difference. While traditionally, all tequilas were known as a type of mezcal. Today, they are distinct products, differentiated by the production process and taste, much the same way rye whisky differs from Scotch whiskey. Most mezcal is made today in the state of Oaxaca, although some is also made in Guerrero and other states. Tequila comes from the northwestern state of Jalisco (and a few nearby areas). They both derive from varieties of the Agave plant, known to the natives as mexcalmetl. Tequila is made from only agave tequilana Weber, blue variety. Mezcal, on the other hand, can be made from five different varieties of agave. Tequila is double distilled and a few brands even boast triple distillation. Mezcal is often only distilled once.
"To make mezcal, the sugar-rich heart of the agave called the piña, is baked in a rock-lined pit oven over charcoal, and covered with layers of palm-fiber mats and earth, giving mezcal a strong, smoky flavor. Tequila piñas are baked or steamed in aboveground ovens or autoclaves.
"Tequila and mezcal share a similar amount of alcohol in the bottle (around 38-40%), although mezcals tend to be a little stronger."
Some scattered notes about Whisky (Whiskey) from Wikipedia...
It is always Scotch and Canadian whisky (plural: whiskies), but Irish and American whiskey (whiskeys).
Different grains are used for different varieties, including barley, malted barley, rye, malted rye, wheat, and maize (corn).
Malting is a process applied to cereal grains, in which the grains are made to germinate by soaking in water and are then quickly halted from germinating further by drying/heating with hot air.
Malted grain is used to make beer, whisky, malted shakes, malt vinegar, and some baked goods, such as bagels. Malting grains develops the enzymes that are required to modify the grain's starches into sugars, including monosaccharides (glucose, fructose, etc.) and disaccharides (sucrose, etc.). It also develops other enzymes, such as proteases which break down the proteins in the grain into forms which can be utilized by yeast. Barley is the most commonly malted grain in part because of its high diastatic power or enzyme content.
Yeasts are eukaryotic microorganisms classified in the kingdom Fungi.
Barley (cebada in Spanish) (Hordeum vulgare) is an annual cereal grain, which serves as a major animal feed crop, with smaller amounts used for malting and in health food.
Rye (centeno in Spanish) (Secale cereale) is a grass grown extensively as a grain and forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe (Triticeae) and is closely related to barley and wheat. Rye grain is used for flour, rye bread, rye beer, some whiskies, some vodkas, and animal fodder. It can also be eaten whole, either as boiled rye berries, or by being rolled, similar to rolled oats.
Notes aside:
Baker's yeast is the common name for the strains of yeast commonly used as a leavening agent in baking bread and related products, where it converts the fermentable sugars present in the dough into carbon dioxide and ethanol.
Vodka is a distilled beverage. It is a clear liquid which consists of mostly water and ethanol purified by distillation — often multiple distillation — from a fermented substance, such as grain (usually rye or wheat), potatoes or sugar beet molasses, and an insignificant amount of other substances such as flavorings or unintended impurities.
A note by Ryan Thomas about the differences between Tequila and Mezcal...
"Few understand the difference between tequila and mezcal, and many don’t even know there is a difference. While traditionally, all tequilas were known as a type of mezcal. Today, they are distinct products, differentiated by the production process and taste, much the same way rye whisky differs from Scotch whiskey. Most mezcal is made today in the state of Oaxaca, although some is also made in Guerrero and other states. Tequila comes from the northwestern state of Jalisco (and a few nearby areas). They both derive from varieties of the Agave plant, known to the natives as mexcalmetl. Tequila is made from only agave tequilana Weber, blue variety. Mezcal, on the other hand, can be made from five different varieties of agave. Tequila is double distilled and a few brands even boast triple distillation. Mezcal is often only distilled once.
"To make mezcal, the sugar-rich heart of the agave called the piña, is baked in a rock-lined pit oven over charcoal, and covered with layers of palm-fiber mats and earth, giving mezcal a strong, smoky flavor. Tequila piñas are baked or steamed in aboveground ovens or autoclaves.
"Tequila and mezcal share a similar amount of alcohol in the bottle (around 38-40%), although mezcals tend to be a little stronger."
Some scattered notes about Whisky (Whiskey) from Wikipedia...
It is always Scotch and Canadian whisky (plural: whiskies), but Irish and American whiskey (whiskeys).
Different grains are used for different varieties, including barley, malted barley, rye, malted rye, wheat, and maize (corn).
Malting is a process applied to cereal grains, in which the grains are made to germinate by soaking in water and are then quickly halted from germinating further by drying/heating with hot air.
Malted grain is used to make beer, whisky, malted shakes, malt vinegar, and some baked goods, such as bagels. Malting grains develops the enzymes that are required to modify the grain's starches into sugars, including monosaccharides (glucose, fructose, etc.) and disaccharides (sucrose, etc.). It also develops other enzymes, such as proteases which break down the proteins in the grain into forms which can be utilized by yeast. Barley is the most commonly malted grain in part because of its high diastatic power or enzyme content.
Yeasts are eukaryotic microorganisms classified in the kingdom Fungi.
Barley (cebada in Spanish) (Hordeum vulgare) is an annual cereal grain, which serves as a major animal feed crop, with smaller amounts used for malting and in health food.
Rye (centeno in Spanish) (Secale cereale) is a grass grown extensively as a grain and forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe (Triticeae) and is closely related to barley and wheat. Rye grain is used for flour, rye bread, rye beer, some whiskies, some vodkas, and animal fodder. It can also be eaten whole, either as boiled rye berries, or by being rolled, similar to rolled oats.
Notes aside:
Baker's yeast is the common name for the strains of yeast commonly used as a leavening agent in baking bread and related products, where it converts the fermentable sugars present in the dough into carbon dioxide and ethanol.
Vodka is a distilled beverage. It is a clear liquid which consists of mostly water and ethanol purified by distillation — often multiple distillation — from a fermented substance, such as grain (usually rye or wheat), potatoes or sugar beet molasses, and an insignificant amount of other substances such as flavorings or unintended impurities.
Friday, September 21, 2007
A man with a birthday... Leonard Cohen
Happy birthday Leonard Cohen! Three years ago you turned 70 and the novelty of a new decade is fading away. But maybe it feels more like the revolution of being 23 than the slowing down of 33. One way or another we managed to celebrate it in Edmonton... one way or another.
The whole damn place goes crazy twice
and it's once for the devil and once for Christ
but the Boss don't like these dizzy heights
we're busted in the blinding lights,
busted in the blinding lights
of CLOSING TIME
"Ay, ay, ay, ay! Take this close-mouthed waltz..." wrote Federico García Lorca, and for your hero you wrote a waltz for his words, that you made yours, very yours. Not many birthdays I have been where the celebrated one gives the presents to the guests.
Perhaps that is the secret to have the guests back every year =)
Yeah I missed you since the place got wrecked
By the winds of change and the weeds of sex
looks like freedom but it feels like death
it's something in between, I guess
it's CLOSING TIME
The whole damn place goes crazy twice
and it's once for the devil and once for Christ
but the Boss don't like these dizzy heights
we're busted in the blinding lights,
busted in the blinding lights
of CLOSING TIME
"Ay, ay, ay, ay! Take this close-mouthed waltz..." wrote Federico García Lorca, and for your hero you wrote a waltz for his words, that you made yours, very yours. Not many birthdays I have been where the celebrated one gives the presents to the guests.
Perhaps that is the secret to have the guests back every year =)
Yeah I missed you since the place got wrecked
By the winds of change and the weeds of sex
looks like freedom but it feels like death
it's something in between, I guess
it's CLOSING TIME
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Jante Law
Don't think you're anyone special or that you're better than us.
The ten rules are:
1. Don't think that you are special.
2. Don't think that you are of the same standing as us.
3. Don't think that you are smarter than us.
4. Don't fancy yourself as being better than us.
5. Don't think that you know more than us.
6. Don't think that you are more important than us.
7. Don't think that you are good at anything.
8. Don't laugh at us.
9. Don't think that anyone cares about you.
10. Don't think that you can teach us anything.
In a bar in Helsinki, where you can dance Salsa, a drunk Finn approached me and with neutral tone and face said "Don't smile". Then he went back to his seat. =)
I love Scandinavians! (Specially Jenni, Sima and Chris... and you too Dulce ;-)
The ten rules are:
1. Don't think that you are special.
2. Don't think that you are of the same standing as us.
3. Don't think that you are smarter than us.
4. Don't fancy yourself as being better than us.
5. Don't think that you know more than us.
6. Don't think that you are more important than us.
7. Don't think that you are good at anything.
8. Don't laugh at us.
9. Don't think that anyone cares about you.
10. Don't think that you can teach us anything.
In a bar in Helsinki, where you can dance Salsa, a drunk Finn approached me and with neutral tone and face said "Don't smile". Then he went back to his seat. =)
I love Scandinavians! (Specially Jenni, Sima and Chris... and you too Dulce ;-)
Friday, December 29, 2006
Edmonton in the cold III
Back in the hotel, with the refreshing feeling of having been able to come back with two hands working, I realized another fundamental mistake. I was walking west, towards the forest and the river, instead of south. Days later, during the Departmental Christmas dinner, I will make people at my table laugh with this story. Not only because of my mistake but because I was not the first one to make it! The great majority of the streets in Edmonton have numbers, no names and more precisely speaking there are streets and there are avenues. Streets run south and north, increasing their number to the west. Avenues run east and west, increasing their numbers to the north. At the moment of realizing my mistake I confessed it while phoning to the guy who was waiting for my visit. It may be that my explanation of why I have had not arrived at his place was reasonable enough because he offered to me to pick me up at the hotel in his car and take me back. "Canadians are friendly" I have heard other people telling me. The gesture of that guy was really a good example of it and one of many other examples of friendliness that I will come to find in my later experiences.But, as much as the guy was friendly and he only asked 280 CAN per month, the lack of furniture in the room gave me the illustrative experience that I was talking about before. I agree that a cold floor and an empty room is better than nothing but I wanted to try my luck before taking on them. The next day I changed my search to the more obvious strategy of looking at recently posted advertisements. Fortunately, I had a couple of places more to visit and the question was again "how to decide which option?"
At the end I discovered that there was a simple answer to that question. I have noticed that the prices of a comfortable accommodation were fluctuating between 400 and 600 CAN dollars, including or not including bills and services depending
on the case. (That of course, without having to share with more than one person the house or apartment.) The focus of my decision was more in where and with who I was going to live with. Therefore, I can summarize now my experience of finding accommodation in Edmonton in the following way: all depended in how comfortable I felt when I visited the place I am living now in.
Yes, it is a basement suit, but under a Yoga-Buddhist-Christian centre. =) More about this, later.
Edmonton in the cold II
At -30 C, things outside your common experience start to happen. The steam from your breath freezes in the lens of the spectacles if you happen to use ones. Your hands hurts without gloves and once cold they don't warm up quickly in the gloves, actually you just feel that the blood is stuck there. I happen to use spectacles and the diver's trick of using saliva helped a bit. But why on earth I had to remove my gloves? Of course I didn't want to scratch the lenses when applying the saliva but oh yes, there is another reason why I removed the gloves. To better manipulate the map as I was lost. Without proper light to see the map, not a soul at 8pm walking in the street to whom ask for directions and the funny feeling in my hand increasingly calling my attention, I came to the delirium, I mean conclusion, that something have had to be mad. Either the numbering of the streets or me walking in an area that was increasingly dense in threes instead of houses. It was then when I decided to go back to the hotel. =) If the insanity of the streets numbering or of my mind was serious enough as to stop me finding quickly the way back, that was something that I would have to discover. Fortunately, my concern was distracted by the sight of a rabbit crossing in front of me as I walked. The fluffy rabbit didn't seem to mind the temperature or it was crazier than me. Perhaps more the former than the latter as I bump not longer later with a woman shoveling the snow in front of her house.
To be continued...
Edmonton in the cold
I had a week to find accommodation while staying in a hotel. Perhaps some of us have the concept that something that is cheap, convenient and nice is close to perfection. In fact I thing those are the attributes that advertisements want always to give to the products. In any case my perfect room was not something different to one of these products. I had a great tool to help me in the form of a website that lists a great range of offers. However, that was the first problem: how to choose among the many. For example, that room close to work is advertised as not furnished (as the majority are here in Edmonton!), that cheap one is only for females ("preferred" doesn't say it completely clearly, does it?) and the furnished one is too expensive. Now, the previous examples didn't represent any rule or pattern and when I finally was able to find the best combination I encounter a fundamental problem: all the ones that I carefully chose were taken already.My mistake was not to put enough attention to how recent the ad was. By the time when I have realized why the approach of my search didn't start well I already have had another illustrative experience.
Have you ever lived in a basement? There are from places to places and from basements to basements to be fare, but at the beginning of my search I have discarded basements as I regarded them as "perhaps" too cold, too depressive. (Some pictures that I saw gave me that prejudice =) However, as the options were narrowing and the days passing, I was opening my mind. "Perhaps starting without furniture is not too bad" "Basement? Well, judging by the amount of advertised basements I suppose they are not that cold" and so.
In this context, in one of those -30 C nights I got a room to visit, a room in a basement to be more precise. I had a look at the map, and started my first walk in the city, in the parts outside of my up to now known range (the hotel is besides the Uni). Well, I never got to the place.
This story will continue...
Have you ever lived in a basement? There are from places to places and from basements to basements to be fare, but at the beginning of my search I have discarded basements as I regarded them as "perhaps" too cold, too depressive. (Some pictures that I saw gave me that prejudice =) However, as the options were narrowing and the days passing, I was opening my mind. "Perhaps starting without furniture is not too bad" "Basement? Well, judging by the amount of advertised basements I suppose they are not that cold" and so.
In this context, in one of those -30 C nights I got a room to visit, a room in a basement to be more precise. I had a look at the map, and started my first walk in the city, in the parts outside of my up to now known range (the hotel is besides the Uni). Well, I never got to the place.
This story will continue...
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