Category: food

Ich bin in Frankfurt und esse eine Brezel

December 10, 2024 • 6:45 am

Happy Tuesday; it’s December 10, 2024, and Coynezaa is just around the corner. There’s another holiday, too, but it celebrates a myth, whereas I am real.

It has been a hectic three days, but also fun: giving two talks (I fell off the stage during the first one), touring around Katowice, and eating large quantities of hearty Silesian food. I have a gazillion photos, but, as I’m cooling my heels in the airport in Frankfurt, I have no time to post them—save one. And that is the picture below, showing yours truly eating a classic German comestible in the airport.

If I look a wreck, I am. My plane left Katowice for Frankfurt at 6 a.m., which meant boarding at 5:30, which meant getting up at 2:00 a.m. and leaving my hotel, some distance from the planes, at 3 a.m.

I went to bed at 9, hoping for five hours of sleep, but woke up at 12:15, soon after midnight, and what with the excitement of impending travel it was clear that I wasn’t going back to sleep. So I watched CNN instead (the only English t.v. channel) to discover, via Anderson Cooper, that the police had actually caught the man accused of shooting health executive Brian Thompson. When the law caught up to him, the suspect, one Luigi Mangioni of New Jersey, was chowing down at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania.  And it doesn’t look good for him:

The Altoona officers who took Mr. Mangione into custody found that he had several telltale items that might tie him to Mr. Thompson’s killing, a crime that has riveted the nation while exposing Americans’ deep-seated anger toward the U.S. health insurance industry.

Mr. Mangione, officials said, had a gun and a silencer similar to the ones used in the Dec. 4 shooting, and a fake driver’s license that matched one used by the man suspected in the killing.

He also carried with him a three-page handwritten manifesto condemning the health care industry for putting profits over patients.

“These parasites had it coming,” it said, according to a senior law enforcement official who saw the document. It added: “I do apologize for any strife and trauma, but it had to be done.”

The document specifically mentioned UnitedHealthcare, the insurance giant where Mr. Thompson was chief executive, noting its size and the amount of revenue it takes in, the official said.

Yes, he’s presumed innocent until found guilty, but I’m here to tell you that the probability of any other verdict seems nil. He’s 26 and will surely, if convicted, spend the rest of his natural life behind bars.

Read more about the pinch at the archived link here. It was a nifty bit of police work, made easier by Mangione pulling his mask down just one time, when he was flirting with a woman at a hostel.  But once was enough: look at the hostel picture and compare it to the many circulating pictures of Mangione. I’m glad he’s caught, for nobody deserves vigilante execution, which is capital punishment without a trial. In fact, I don’t believe anybody deserves execution at all. Life without parole is more than enough, and remember that some people can reform.

But they’re very sad about the arrest over at P********a, where the fulminating miscreants are not only delighted, but have been egged on in their hatred by the Chief Miscreant himself, who urges his baying hounds before pulling the trigger to first find out who heads healthcare corporations that deny claims.  Then, as the capo says, “After you’ve followed the chain of decisions, then you can consider terminating some rich a-hole. It’s the polite thing to do.”

Indeed, nothing makes you look better to “progressives” than urging your readers to murder rich people, preferably CEOs of healthcare corporations.

In other news, where is Bashar al-Assad? Is he dead, as some suspect? Or has he fled to his pals in Russia?

Paul Krugman has written his last column for the NYT, and, over in France, the right-wing Marine Le Pen is plotting to topple the French government and replace it with one far more to the right. Sound familiar?

There are reports of continuing peace talks between Israel and Hamas, but I don’t think they’ll amount to much. If they result in releasing thousands of convicted Palestinian terrorists from jail, while not letting all the hostages go—indeed, if a settlement leaves anything of Hamas to govern Gaza, Israel will have lost.

And that’s the nooz till I get home and take a day to recover.

Christmastime in Poland

December 7, 2024 • 8:15 am

It’s a mere 18 days until Christmas and, of course, the First Day of Coynezaa.  Both festivities are marked by an overconsumption of food, and Coynezaa enjoys the advantage of having no religious overtones save encomiums for Professor Ceiling Cat (Emeritus).

Here in Katowice, in southern Poland, the Christmas Market is already in full swing in the town square, and I happened upon it walking back from the Silesian Science Festival (today I registered, tomorrow and Monday I speak). It was exactly what I’d expect a Polish Christmas market to be: full of fun, food, and just a bit of religion in the form of singing angels (not shown). Here are a few holiday snaps I took while crossing the town square.

Yep, here’s where we are:

Katowice has an ancient history, but lacks the charm of other Polish cities for two reasons: it was an industrial hub for mining coal and steel, and, under German occupation, many of its landmarks were wrecked, including the Great Synagogue, shown below next to the City Baths. It was completed in 1900 and razed by the Germans in 1939.  And of course most of the Jews were killed or sent away to be murdered.

Photo from public domain, Wikipedia.

An old building that remains in the city square:

Here is a monument that I take to be in honor of the local miners. Note the flowers and miner’s lamp at the base:

And everywhere people were having fun and laughing, expecially the kids. This one got a big soap bubble:

But the adults were also having a great time. There are various plastic status behind which you can stick your face to get a photograph. Like these people:

A penguin:

And a train chugging the kids through the market:

But of course people were there to get stuff, too: mostly food. Like these roasted chestnuts:

And look at this inventive and mouth-watering display of lollipops:

And, of curse, gingerbread, a Polish speciality for the holidays:

Very fancy gingerbread. These say “Happy Christmas” in Polish:

Various candies (caramels?), some of them flavored with booze (“piwo” is beer):

And what is a Polish market without sausages?

There were stalls selling non-comestibles, too. This one carried a variety of soaps, including these cat soaps in lavender and lily-of-the-valley (“kot” is “cat” in Polish):

Walking back to my hotel on the shopping street, I saw a big line in front of one shop. It was selling a variety of soft pretzels, and I would have joined the line had it been shorter:

There was a variety, including non-twisted pretzels filled with Nutella. The cinnamon pretzels were nearly sold out:

But below is a store selling the quintessence of Polish baked treats: pączki.  Wikipedia describes them:

A pączek is a deep-fried piece of dough shaped into a flattened ball and filled with confiture or other sweet filling. Pączki are usually covered with powdered sugar, icing, glaze, or bits of dried orange zest. A small amount of grain alcohol (traditionally rectified spirit) is added to the dough before cooking; as it evaporates, it prevents the absorption of oil deep into the dough.  Pączki are commonly thought of as fluffy but somewhat collapsed, with a bright stripe around them; these features are seen as evidence that the dough was fried in fresh oil.

Although they look like German berliners (bismarcks in North America) or jelly doughnuts, pączki are made from especially rich dough containing eggs, fats, sugar, yeast, and sometimes milk.

(Note that when JFK proclaimed himself “Ich bin ein Berliner” in Germany in June, 1963, his attempt to forge solidarity with the divided people of that city actually meant, in German, “I am a jelly donut.”  He should have said “Ich bin Berliner.”)

Believe me; these pastries are superb! The only thing preventing me from trying one or three was that I was full from the ample spread of goodies in the Science Festival’s VIP room, to which I have access as a speaker. But have a look at these puppies! There are four zloty to the dollar, so each large filled pastry is about two bucks.

Happy Christmas from Poland!

I have landed!

October 24, 2024 • 10:00 am

When flying to Las Vegas know you’re in another world the moment you step off the plane and enter the terminal. This is what you see. The waiting passengers are right next to a bank of new-generation slot machines.  No, there is no pulling of handles: they’re all electronic and replete with sounds and flashing lights:

I ubered to the hotel where the CSICon meetings are taking place, which happens to be the Horseshoe Las Vegas (for luck I suppose, formerly known as Bally’s).  The main floor is completely filled with slots roulette tables, and other venues of gambling which have been called “a tax on stupidity”:

After waiting four hours to check into my room (I spent it in the food court reading a book I’m reviewing), I finally got a place to stay. CSICon begins this morning; the website is here and you can see the schedule here. Today is mostly workshops, but tonight at 8 pm physicist Brian Cox will receive the Richard Dawkins Award,  As noted by Wikipedia, the award is

. . . . currently presented by the Center for Inquiry to an individual associated with science, scholarship, education, or entertainment, and who “publicly proclaims the values of secularism and rationalism, upholding scientific truth wherever it may lead.” They state that the recipient must be approved by Dawkins himself.

The award will be announced by CFI and Dawkins Foundation President Robyn Blumner, and then there will be a video by Dawkins explaining why Cox is getting the award, and that is followed by the formal presentation (it will be a lovely staatuette) by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson (see below).  Cox will then give a keynote address. Tyson himself got the award in 2022, and I was honored to join the panoply in 2015.

Last night a few people forgathered for dinner at Gordon Ramsey’s Steakhouse in the Paris Casino next door.  It was a lovely meal hosted by CFI.  The wine was chosen by an astrophysicist who is also an oenophile, and is far more competent than I to select the wines. Here he is instructing the waiter that the bottle he brought was, in fact, not of the vintage noted on the menu. We got another bottle:

My meal included a starter of onion soup, heavy with cheese and thick, onion-flavored broth:

And then the famous Gordon Ramsey beef wellington, which was excellent.

On Saturday, after I speak in the morning, a frew friends and I will head to what is often regarded as Vegas’s best buffet, the Bacchanal at Caesar’s Palace, across the street. You can’t consider a trip to Vegas complete without a visit to a buffet.

Here’s a tour of the Bacchanal. I plan to concentrate on the seafood: crustaceans and oysters, and fill in the gaps with the lamb and a passel of desserts.

Oy vey! Groceries!

September 15, 2024 • 9:15 am

I just got back from the grocery store (a large chain where I shop early every Sunday morning), and is it possible that grocery prices have gone up in the one month I’ve been gone? Perhaps I’ve forgotten how high they were, but when a loaf of garden-variety generic bread costs $2 (it’s $1 at Aldi’s, but I’d have to drive a lot farther to get it), a smallish jar of brand-name but not fancy preserves (for my peanut-butter sandwiches) is six bucks, and as for toilet paper or paper towels, well, I’ll have to make more runs to Costco to buy in bulk (at least it’s the season when I can get one of their fantastic and humongous pumpkin pies).  And as for the price of eggs, fuggedaboutit.

Now I am fortunate enough to be able to afford these things, though I took a pass on the preserves (I can order fancy Tiptree British preserves from Amazon at the same price). But I can understand why Americans pinched for cash are beefing about food, which is the one contact with the economy that the average person has on a weekly basis. Note too that while inflation is beginning to decrease, the cost of groceries has increased fully 25% in four years, outpacing the general inflation rate, which was 19% in the same period.  To counteract this, Kamala Harris has proposed a ban on price-gouging when it comes to food. (Economists are dubious.)

I’m not blaming the current administration, as understanding these high prices is above my pay grade and there may be good reasons for this inflation, but I can understand now why people feel that the economy is going to hell.

Anyway, I’m not trying to incite a political discussion here, as I’m not blaming any politician or administration for food inflation. All I’m saying is that I’ve been gone a month and, restarting my weekly trips to the grocery store, I can see why people who are not flush with cash are complaining.  If you have your own beefs about the prices of certain groceries, put them below.

BUT, see below. This alone is worth joining Costco for, as well as their huge $5 pre-roasted chickens:

 

Kruger: Day 5 (and a farewell to the bush)

September 5, 2024 • 9:15 am

This post documents what we saw on our last day in Kruger, the day we had to leave and repair back to Hoedspruit.

First, you might like to see our accommodations at the Satara Rest Camp, which were lovely and inexpensive. Below is my own personal hut with a high thatched roof (thatching is quite a skill, and roofs have to be re-thatched every decade or two.

A view from the inside. I had two beds, a nice bathroom, and a fridge outside with a latch to keep the baboons out. Not to mention air-conditioning, which I didn’t need as it wasn’t hot.

My two beds:

And a view of the thatched roof seen while lying on one of the beds. As you can see from the first picture, the roof was high.

We were near the remains of the buffalo killed by lions, so we dropped by again. One of the lions was still around. Have a look: this is a male with its normal “tawny” color:

And when our guide Isaac told us there were white lions in the park (leucistic ones, not albinos), nothing would do for me except to see them. Given that there are only a few, the chances of that were small. However, Isaac had read on his “Kruger guides” restricted chat group that a white lion had been spotted about a mile north of Satara. So he went looking for it. Given his skills as a spotter, if it was anywhere near the roadside, he’d find it.

And he did!

Here’s one; note that it’s not pure white, but a light yellow, and clearly distinct in color from “regular” lions.  There’s one famous white lion in Kruger called “Casper” (undoubtedly after the ghost), but I’m not sure if this is Casper. It is, however, a male:

One would think that the whiteness might confer an adaptive disadvantage on these animals, either driving away regular lions who don’t like their color, or making these white ones visible to prey. But they don’t seem disabled. As Wikipedia notes:

White lions are not albinos. Their white color is called leucism, and is caused by an allele that is found at the same locus as the allele that causes albinism. It is thought, but not proven, that the allele is inherited in an autosomal recessive fashion.  They vary from blonde to near-white. This coloration does not appear to pose a disadvantage to their survival. White lions were considered to have been technically extinct in the wild between 1992 and 2004, when the Global White Lion Protection Trust achieved the first successful reintroduction of white lions to their natural habitat. These prides have continued to hunt and breed successfully in the wild, whilst other occurrences of white lion births have been reported in the greater Kruger region since then.

There’s more information:

In light of the recent decision by South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) at CITES 2016, to continue to allow the hunting of captive bred lions (“canned hunting”), and the trade in lion bones from captive bred lions, the Global White Lion Protection Trust (WLT) asserts that the survival of lions in the Greater Kruger Park Region is likely to come under threat, and the white lion is the ideal capstone animal to help better protect all lions in the Greater Kruger Park Region.

I like to think this is Casper. But even if it isn’t, it was a great joy for me to see this animal thriving in the wild. Kudos to Isaac for not only making an effort to find it for me, but also to succeed in that effort!

And a “normal” tawny lion for comparison again. Note the dark mane and distinct brown color.

By this time the remains of the buffalo had been picked clean by both nearby lions and, of course, by vultures, seen below on the bones.  I’m not sure whether the spotted hyenas ever got a crack at this carcass:

A rare sight and one of my collection of “animals crossing the road.”  Lion crossing!  The cars, of course, are lined up to see the sight, which attests to how comfortable these lions are with humans—at least when they’re in cans.

The lion who crossed the road then found a comfortable perch on the other side, explaining “why did the lion cross the road?”:

Eventually we stopped at the Olifants Rest Camp to have breakfast. With a lovely view overlooking the Olifants River (a tributary of the Limpopo River), it has bungalows and would be a delightful place to stay, especially in the rainy summer season when the river must attract lots of wildlife. But if you want to stay there, reserve a year in advance.

It was blowing hard that day, and cold as well, but this brave dude was out there re-thatching a roof with no apparent protection from falling off:

And I got the breakfast I had dreamed of: one that had fried eggs and pap: the African equivalent of grits and eggs.  It was topped with a spicy tomato-y sauce generously larded with crispy fried cubes of pork. It was one of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had, and filled me up so much I couldn’t eat for the rest of the day:

On my way to the facilities, I took a selfie in the mirror:

This view of a thunder of hippos (yes, that’s one proper collective noun for a group of them) was probably taken from the Olipants rest camp, but I can’t remember.

We later came upon a dazzle of zebras (again, a proper collective noun).  I waited patiently with my camera focused on these three until I managed to get a shot of them all looking in my direction. What gorgeous animals!

A Red -crested korhaan (Lophotis ruficrista). I remembered this as a “Jewish bird” by thinking that its real name was the Red-crested Cohen.” It has a lovely pattern as described in Wikipedia:

The red-crested korhaan grows up to 50 cm (1.6 ft) in length with a maximal weight of 680 g (1.5 lb).  The feathering of the wings folded on the back is marked by V-formed patterns of a light cream color with some white at the sides. Breast feathers are black. Legs are pale yellow and feet gray.

Click the picture to enlarge it:

A herd of impala, this one apparently heavy on males (females don’t have horns):

. . . and a male impala crossing the road, probably to rejoin his herd.

You’ll know this species by now if you’ve been following my narrative. Look at the butt for confirmation:

This elephant has had a long drink of water from a cement pool, and the warthog was waiting patiently nearby for its turn to drink. But we waited and waited, and the elephant wasn’t sated. (They can take in 100 liters of water at one time.) So we left, hoping the warthog got a drink.

A journey of giraffe. That’s what you call a group of giraffes that is moving, but a group of stationary giraffes is called “a tower of giraffe”. These are appropriate terms.

And at least we reach the end of our journey in Kruger at the Orpen Gate. There are actually two exits, and at one of them you’re obliged to show your receipts showing you’ve actually paid the conservation fee for each day you’ve stayed.  When I took a photo after the first gate, the gatekeeper woman posted for me:

How sad to leave!

And the second gate, when we once again left the bush and entered “civilization”:

Will I go back again? I’d love to see the park when it’s green in summer, though it also rains then. But, as Stevie Nicks said, “I’m getting older, too.”  Who knows?

If you ever visit Kruger, you should definitely engage Isaac as your guide

Many thanks to Isaac, our guide/driver/spotter, shown below getting a coffee at the exit. Thanks too to Rosemary, who did a pile of work to organize this trip and my visit to Manyelete.

 

Another Amsterday (actually a Tilburg Day)

May 17, 2024 • 9:15 am

All went well at Tilburg University yesterday, where I talked about religion versus science. About 100 people showed up and there were no disruptions, though I was told later that there was plainclothed security in the audience. The student protests appear to be confined largely to Amsterdam.

Before I talked, I had a cup of tea for my throat (this nasty cold still hasn’t disappeared), and a Dutch donut, shown below:

Below: a photo taken by one of my hosts showing the title slide of my presentation.  The talk was in English; it’s impossible for me to say much in Dutch because the damn gutteral sound is impossible for me to make, though the Hebrew or German gutterals come easy to me. Every Netherlander speaks nearly perfect English, and some classes in Amsterdam are taught entirely in English. This makes it dead easy to get around, especially if you can’t master those infernal gutterals.

The Q&A guest, local faculty Hans van Eyghen, couldn’t make it as his wife went into labor prematurely (I’m told mother and baby are fine). But that left us 15 extra minutes for student questions, and we could have had even more than half an hour for questions except another lecture was scheduled right after mine.


The talk went well, I think, and there was a full half hour of questions by students. They were good questions, too. It was a lively and inquisitive audience (some were religious), and it more than made up for the mishigas of the Betabreak organization in Amsterdam.

After the talk and a beer, my hosts took me to a fancy restaurant, theAuberge du Bonheur in Tilburg.  We all chose the three-course meal from the Spring menu. Although I was told the courses were small, it was more than enough food.

The restaurant.

We walked past the assortment of cheeses while entering, and I decided that I must have some Dutch cheese at the end of dinner. (The profusion of bovids in the fields between Amsterdam and Tilburg tells you that this is dairy country.)

An amuse-bouche. I won’t be able to tell you all the ingredients of each course, as there were so many things in each course. All I can say is that there is a deft hand in the kitchen that knows well how to meld disparate flavors. This is some kind of cucumber-based soup with other stuff.

Another kind of amuse-bouche soup. Don’t ask me what it was; call the restaurant if you must know. It was terrific.

Another excellent mystery dish, with two kinds of strawberries (red and green), little white puffs of crunchy stuff, and a savory green ice cream. Again, I can’t specify what was in it, but it was very good. And isn’t it lovely?

We had a choice between lamb or fish for the “mains”, and I chose lamb, which came as a bipartite course. This is the neck, served with mashed potatoes and a gaarnish:

And the meat, served with perfectly cooked carrots and white asparagus, which I love, as well as a bit of sauce. The meat had a slathering of pesto:

A pre=dessert dessert, which I believe was strawberry ice cream on top of cooked beetroot.

The real dessert, which I skipped in favor of cheese, but was told it was very good. It was some kind of ice cream or pudding made with green apple and garnishes.

I had the cheese platter, with samples of five Dutch cheeses (the blue was made only a few km from the restaurant). The cheeses were fantastic, as they should be here, and were served with raisin-walnut bread and candied walnuts. My one quibble is that they should also have provided white bread, for you don’t want to dilute the flavor of such good cheese with a fancy fruit bread. But of course I ate everything.

We had no wine as everybody else was driving home, and, truth be told, I had no appetite for alcohol after my post-seminar beer.

I can recommend the Auberge du Bonheur highly, and if you happen to find yourself in Tilburg (unlikely given that it’s a small town there to serve the University) and have a spare 50€ or so, give it it a try. It was a great place to wind down after my talk.

Today the three of us who were deplatformed by Betabreak are going to privately record the discussion we would have had at the University of Amsterdam. It will be put on YouTube at some point, and I’ll let you know when it’s up.

Amsterdam: post 2

May 16, 2024 • 9:15 am

I’ve been fighting a bad cold as well as dealing with the fallout from our cancellation debacle at the University of Amsterdam, so I haven’t gotten out much. This is a great pity as the weather had been good, though now it’s turned rainy.

This evening I will give a talk on science vs. religion at Tilburg University, founded as a Catholic school in 1927. Now it’s only technically Catholic, and is described by Wikipedia as “a public research university specializing in the social and behavioral sciences, economics, law, business sciences, theology and humanities. . . ”

We have had no threats of disruption (Tilburg is a few hours south of Amsterdam), so I’m not worried about that. Tomorrow Maarten Boudry and I, plus perhaps a surprise guest or two, will tape the discussion that was deplatformed at the University of Amsterdam.

At any rate, here are a few snapshots from my limited incursions in Amsterdam.

I’m surprised that this is my third visit to Amsterdam, and up to now I’d missed the “Stolpersteine” (literally, “stumbling stones”) which one encounters from time to time in the pavement in front of houses. They’re easy to miss, which is why I haven’t seen them before. Wikipedia describes them like this:

. . . . a ten-centimetre (3.9 in) concrete cube bearing a brass plate inscribed with the name and life dates of victims of Nazi extermination or persecution. Literally, it means ‘stumbling stone’ and metaphorically ‘stumbling block’.

The Stolpersteine project, initiated by the German artist Gunter Demnig in 1992, aims to commemorate persons at the last place that they chose freely to reside, work or study (with exceptions possible on a case-by-case basis) before they fell victim to Nazi terror, forced euthanasia, eugenics, deportation to a concentration or extermination camp, or escaped persecution by emigration or suicide. As of June 2023, 100,000.Stolpersteine have been laid, making the Stolpersteine project the world’s largest decentralized memorial.

They mostly commemorate Jews, but are also laid for murdered Romani, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, and others persecuted by the Nazis. Here are three I found within two blocks from where I’m staying (there is a pair representing a man and his wife):

It says, “Here lived Elisa Frederika De Jon van Biema, born 1901, abducted 1944 to Westerbork, killed January 27, 1945, Auschwitz.”  Westerbork was the infamous Dutch camp where detainees, including Anne Frank and her family, were kept until they were transferred to the concentration camps (in this case Auschwitz). Elisa was killed at 44.

Below are the stones for a Jewish man and his wife who were deported together; the man died at Westerbork and his wife at Auschwitz.  Prisoners were sent to other camps, too, like Sobibór.  All told, about 98,000 Jews were deported from Westerbork to the camps, and nearly all of them were immediately gassed upon arrival.

Although some people object because these small stones allow people to walk over memorials for dead Jews, I find them moving because, once you look for them, they are easy to find but distressingly common. The houses of the murdered, of course, are still there, so the memorials are ineffably evocative.

Another Jewish man and wife, arrested on April 8, 1943, and gassed at Sobibór only two weeks later.

On a lighter note, here are two pictures from the local “supermarket”, which is a market but much smaller than American supermarkets. Nevertheless, it has a huge supply of cheese, which of course is a speciality of the Netherlands. Look at all the different kinds of cheese!

If you follow this site, you know I always check out the cat food in markets, to see if there’s any local flavor to what they feed the moggies.  Here there was nothing special (France has an array of gourmet-named cat foods), but they did have paté. The label reads, “complete pet food for adult cats.”

And a takeout meal last night from the local Balinese restaurant: rice, beef, chicken, eggplant, beans, and mixed veggies: