Mounting, Slicing, and Loving the Jamón
Jamón is serious a business. You mess with jamón in Spain and you might as well be dead. This leg of the pig is so loved by Spaniards that trying to get it outside of Spain is incredibly difficult. There is really only one brand who exports and I'd bet money the Church is seriously considering excommunicating them for this deed.
I have written before about my love of the piggy leg and of course there is iJam thing if you want a humorous take on the meat. One of the big things I haven't done, despite seeing legs a hangin' everywhere, is to actually carve up a jamón for eating.
As is mentioned in the iJam video, jamón has a use time of about 30 days around Christmas. This is because everyone seems to get a leg from someone. You'll see people at the store with shopping carts that just have four or five hoods sticking out of them with a fresh leg being bought to gift. Now, if the thought of someone presenting you with a large leg of meat seems less than appealing and slightly bewildering, then you've obviously never tasted how good this meat is. It just so happened that my in-laws were gifted a typical jamón serrano. While it unfortunately wasn't the mouthwatering jamón iberico, it was free and it was good. The only issue was slicing it.
The first step was to get a jamonera which is what you see in the first two shots below. It's a secondary business to the leg making, but this holder is oh so required as the exterior of the legs are incredibly greasy and trying to hold one while carving would probably end in one losing their thumb.
The next step is to mount the leg as you can see below and then, it's time to attack it with the knife. The slices need to be thin or they'll end up being being chewy and sucky. This requires a very sharp, thin knife to cut with and a decent amount of patience.
As I found out, my days as a kid helping my hippie life-loving parents to skin and butcher sheep came in handy. Skinning an animal is a lot like carving the jamón meat. It's a slow process and you take your time. All will be forgotten by impatient people waiting to eat once you slap a plate on the table you see in the last shot.
29 12 2008 1 comment
Tags: food, jamon, spain
And then Bam! Roman Temple in the Middle of a House
This is my third (technically fourth) trip to Barcelona. It doesn't get old. Someday I hope it will serve as a new home once San Francisco has played its purpose for me. Due to the whole Christmas holiday, I haven't really spent all that much time in Barcelona proper though. There were only two days this week that I really got to wander around and take in the sights. This wasn't too much of a big deal as I was pretty sick during this time and like I said, I'd also been to Barcelona before, which means that I've covered all the main touristic attractions.
There is a wonderful secret beauty in visiting a city that's been in existence for over 2,000 years in that hidden gems are are always waiting to be discovered for the patient wanderer. While it's very easy to see the old traces of Barcino in the old Roman Wall and chunks of aqueducts that still exist, the hidden parts can be a bit tougher to find, or so I thought. Upon having breakfast with a new acquaintance, I found out about a Roman temple that was inside another building. This didn't really sound very impressive as there are old chunks of the old city embedded in nearly every house in the old town. Regardless, I set out to find this place.
Down on Paradís, 10 you see a sign in to Centre Excursionista de Catalunya. There is also an older sign that says something about Roman columns being there too. You head in and instead of making a left in to the offices, you make a right in to a room that suddenly opens up to a 15 meter skylight ceiling with four massive Roman columns in the middle of it. It's wild and almost seems like a college prank until you read the history on the plaques in the room.
It turns out that these columns are real columns that have been in the exact same spot for about 2,000 years, built as a tribute to Augustus. They were part of the original Roman temple that stood in that very place. The building that you stand in was actually completely surrounding the columns and had encased them until an innovative fellow carved the columns back out a few decades ago so that they would be seen again.
Sure, in reality, it's a few old columns standing in a room, but what's cool about it is that these columns are presented in a way that is really impressive, it's free to see, and it's quite free of tourists. Sure, a few people pop in, look at them and then take off once they've checked this item off their to-do list. But as you can tell in my writing an entire article about them, they're still quite impressive if you happen to like history and Roman shizbang presented in a classy manner.
27 12 2008 1 comment
Tags: barcelona, catalonia, history, spain
Dude, Other Languages Suck
One of the more annoying things I've found with American pop is the fact that a) it generally sucks and b) when there is something good, it's the stolen "sampled" part of the song from another song that got absolutely no play in the US. As an example of this, I've just been tipped off to one of the hottest songs... from two summers ago in Spain which is by O-Zone, a relatively unknown (in the US) group from Moldova of all places. I've included a YouTube embed below and you can watch the proper video here as this loser didn't allow for embeds:
The song is catchy. I dig it and despite the uber-Balkan, open-shirted, cheesy sunglasses, dancing on the wing of a plane quality to the video, it's a good pop song, albeit similar in beat to Remind Me - Remixed. Of course, there was no way in hell this was going to be allowed to play in the US by the powers that be. First off, it was in a foreign language. Secondly, it's by a group that will probably be a one-hit wonder, and who wants to put valuable marketing dollars in to that when you can jolt another album out of Britney Spears? So of course this results in the "borrowing" of the catchy part of the song for this craptastic venture between T.I. and Rihanna. I mean, Rihanna is at least hot and has some singing chops to her, but T.I. is a hack and the fact that this was how "dragostea tin dei" ended up getting heard by US listeners sucks since the mash up is just painful to listen to.
Europe has a great advantage in that due to how many languages there are in the sub-continent, people are used to hearing songs in different languages. In the US, if it ain't English, it ain't heard. But, again, I blame this mostly on corporate laziness more so than public laziness. There will always be those who won't listen to a song because they don't understand it, but really, how many of us have walked around with "Excuse me while I kiss this guy" stuck in our heads by Hendrix. The words aren't so important as to trump the beat and enjoyability of the song. If it can be danced to, who gives a damn how achy and breaky one's heart is?
My hope is such that the internet hipsters, bloggers, and general users out there will end this trend. We have after all greatly changed the manner in which music is stored and distributed. Perhaps it is possible to change the way music is marketed and allow for these one-off songs to get heard, enjoyed, and added to the collective sound that comprises a greater pop.
26 12 2008 1 comment
Tags: language, music, the balkans, the europe
Whack that Effin' Crap Log Kids!
Ah, caga tió. The fact that kids sit around and whack a log in Catalonia to get gifts should be an amusing thought to most. The fact that they call this log a 'crap log' only tips the hat to the beautiful, tradition of lovin' anything bowel-movement related in Catalonia.
Caga tió is a crafty and very stubborn creature, much like a certain dachshund I know. Because of this, you have to really prime him for Christmas crapping. First you wrap him in a little blanket. He is from the forest and should be able to stand the elements, but a blanket only helps him in crapping. Then, you feed him for a couple of days before the big event. You need to feed him to make sure that craps properly. This entails leaving out something every night for the bugger, which in turn means that it should be something the father likes as he ends up having to eat it. If the tió were in my hometown, this would mean a beautiful assortment of Wild Turkey Whiskey, corn dogs, and meth, which oddly enough would result in a constipated log, but we're getting away from the true meaning of the crap log here.
The big day arrives and so do the kids with their sticks. This brings about such wonderful songs as, "crap log, crap turró, hazelnuts and cottage cheese, if you don't crap well, I'll hit you with a stick, crap log!" Of course the log does nothing, a beating occurs and then it is up to crafty parents as to how to get presents to "crap". In #1 Fan's case this involved the stick needing to be "wet" and so the kids would go out to the kitchen, water it a bit and come back to find gifts. If should be known that these are small gifts that the log craps. Not even the silliest of child would expect a bicycle to come out of something so small.
Crafty children (see above) also came up with the idea that maybe upon finding the log in the off season, in the garage (caga tió's other home once emancipated from the forest) that they could hit him then and get some gifts. Naturally, tió gave nothing and since they couldn't tell their parents about it, they had to live in fear for months that once Christmas arrived a crapping log they would not have.
Of course, again, this is a tradition that is dying out a bit, which is a shame as it's solely Catalan. A large influx of immigrants don't really pick it up at all except when it comes to hitting the large caga tió they erect in the center of towns to crap out freebies for the kids. When that happens the charnegos absolutely love the tió. But, this is only one small part of why it is dying. The other is the fact that corporations really only want one holiday to sell for, which is namely American Christmas. They're doing everything they can to get a region to adopt Santa Claus which didn't even exist here a few scant years ago. It's quite sad really and it's one of the many reasons I'd love to see global trade collapse and get reformed in a way that's tenable to local customs and economies. Needless to say, whenever the day arrives that I have kids, they will definitely be smacking the gifting crap out of our log.
25 12 2008 0 comments
Tags: catalonia, customs, spain
The 2008 Caganers are in
For most, seeing a guy taking a dump in the corner of their Nativity Scene would be a bit less than appealing. For the people of Catalonia, it's a 200+ year-old tradition. The caganer (literally, the defecator) is a little figure that is crouched, taking a crap with a large poo below him. Dating back to days of a heavily agrarian society, he was seen as a sign of fertility for the coming year and was thus incorporated in to Christmas tradition.
Now, much like the caga tió (the "crapping log") and Diada de Sant Jordi, the caganer has gotten to be one of those little items that is thoroughly Catalan and highly loved by the folks living in Northeastern Spain.
While there has been an influx over the last few years of those from other parts of Spain, these 'charnegos' have not really taken to Catalan traditions despite being part of life where these immigrants decided to go for a better life. That said, it seems that a number of things are dying off slightly in favor of such crap as Santa or whatever other unholy corporate plan spreads throughout the land.
So, in the interest of preserving tradition, I give a caganer gallery to show the glory of these little buggers. Obviously this year the big crapper was Obama caganer. I saw a number of people "going Barack". Bush was naturally not to be seen anywhere since he is thankfully on his way out and no one wants a caganer from politicians of yore. One caganer that you'll never official see is one of the king as it is illegal to defame images of the king in Spain.
24 12 2008 0 comments
Tags: catalonia, customs, spain
Huh? What the? How do you? I mean...
Ah... they told me that Catalan was just like Spanish, but this, what the hell is this? It's like, "Orx ahta de zooflah" and it's "granissat" and what the hell is... okay, I get "natural" and I think that "llimona" is something to do with limons. But I mean, really what it is saying? What is this? Can someone help? Oh, wait, never mind.
22 12 2008 0 comments
Tags: catalan, language, spain, the europe
It's the Wood that Makes this Cheese Good
One of the major downsides of flying through Charles de Gaulle in Paris is that you will inevitably: miss your connecting flight, be heavily delayed, or get overly stressed through an insufficient four customs windows through which all of Europe passes at various parts of the day. It of course didn't used to be like this and it's our ever-increasing number of flights that is overloading the airports that exist, although Heathrow would probably suck even if it had two flights a day going through it.
A great deal of this can oft be forgiven as in Charles de Gaulle they have things such as free newspapers in all the major European languages, "fast food" kiosks with croissants that are eight times better than almost anywhere else in the US, and a French food and wine shop in Terminal F that is to die for. I have gotten to know Terminal F well and especially Gate F29 as that is where it seems flights down to Barcelona happen most of the time. Of course, the in laws are highly supportive of these F-bound journeys as it means we'll inevitably pass through the French shop and stock up on a number of cheese that they have from a variety of regions in France.
The home run in the most recent trip through CDG is this cheese from the Mont D'Or region which is about here in France. This cheese (and cheese seems too small a word for it) knows no earthly bounds. Describing it is tricky. You can see a shot of its quickly receding mass below. It's definitely a soft, creamy cheese, with a flavor I describe somewhere between the absolute best of cream cheeses and the absolute best of butters. But, there is an element to it that sets it above and beyond most other cheese in that they age the rounds in a layer of tree bark. While it may seem strange, those genius French realized that what's good for wine could also be good for cheese. The wood aging gives it an element that makes it pretty hard to describe other than to say, mutha uckerin' delicious.
Finding the cheese outside of CDG can be tricky. It is often available at Auchan, but not in as good a quality. It runs a bit stale and loses its best elements. So, it appears that short of going just west of the French-Swiss border and getting the cheese in the region where it's made, the best bet for the freshest version of this cheese comes from the airport. Hit that shop if you're ever in Terminal F, although I'm guessing that shops like this exist in other terminals too, in which case, hit them as well.
21 12 2008 0 comments
Tags: airports, cheese, food, paris
To Avoid the Kontroll
I quite like Pestiside. This site and its very NSFW offshoot called, Sexiside light up an otherwise dull Anglophone Hungarian blogosphere. So, it was with great pleasure that I stumbled across their Guide to Staying out of Kontroll. You see, unlike the US where we automatically don't trust anyone, in Hungary, they run their public transit on the principle that you'll buy a ticket, punch it, and honorably pay your way. This system works well in Germany, but has a great deal of fleeting success in countries non-Deutsch. Thus the need for the Kontroll to enforce this honor system, which shows that it obviously doesn't work all that well.
When I was in Budapest last July, I did ride the Metro, but I always bought and punched a ticket despite the fact I could have easily faked speaking only Spanish (Step 3.1) and could have happily Run Tourist, Run! (Step 4.3). Some may call me a sucker, but at the same time, I don't live there and my getting to use the Metro as a tourist is really to my advantage and I certainly don't mind paying for the pleasure. Tourist who don't pay to use public transit in places they visit should go bop around Africa for awhile and see how much fun it is not to have. Those living in Budapest don't often follow through on payment it appears, even though they've got a nifty yearly pass that I'm praying the Translink will somehow become in San Francisco.
For a taste of the Metro in Budapest, you can watch the trailer for the film, Kontroll, which is really a lot better than the actual film was.
20 12 2008 3 comments
Tags: humor, hungary, the europe
Affleck in Congo... Again
Well, it appears that all the Congo travelin' Mr. Affleck has been doing has resulted in the video I've embedded below. I agree with what Wronging Rights wrote. It's like Affleck was scanning the blogosphere just a bit after his whole Nightline thing and saw that people were really annoyed by him popping his mug in to the camera frame so often. In this video, he instead pimps the UNHCR of all things. I'll get to that a bit later though.
As with his previous attempts, I have to say that Affleck is working to be one of the least annoying celebrities prancing around Congo these days. That being said, he is still a celebrity and still an American. I'm guessing that Ben doesn't speak French. If he does and I'm wrong, je lui rends hommage. But, I would put money down that he doesn't. Why you might ask? Because instead of having a single word spoken by the subjects being filmed (despite this shot, Affleck was not the DP) he runs the Stones' "Gimme Shelter" as a soundtrack. Now, that's a great song and it would seem to be more than fitting given that the UNHCR does indeed give shelter (as well as food, water, basic medical care, and varied degrees of security), but again, it strays in to the gaping void that is Western objectification of a downtrodden people.
America is a damned fine country in that when we set our minds on doing something, we make it happen. I mean, we defeated Nazis, split the atom, went to the moon, outlasted most of Communism, and elected a (sorta) black president. That's a pretty impressive record despite all the backfires (Great Depression, Nixon, the 80's). But the reason this worked was because it was "us" doing it. We made it personal. The reason that the problems persist in Congo and we're still fighting a war in Iraq is because this strife is remote and/or with people we really don't care about. Affleck's video unfortunately falls prey to this and while it gives a boost to the UNHCR, it does absolutely nothing for the Congolese in the long term. Why were there no interviews? No personal stories? No perspectives of the actual people? You see how people are looking disdainfully at the cameras in so many of the shots? That's because they're freakin' tired of being zoo animals for the Western media to take pity shots off. I'd be tired of that crap too and I wouldn't give a damn if Oscar Winner (for screenwriting let's remember), Ben Affleck was making a five minute pity video about my life, which isn't really going to net me anything but (hopefully) another cup of rice.
I was wondering when Affleck would get on board and start directing his efforts at a specific agency. With this latest move, he has, but why oh freakin' why the UNHCR? I mean, I recognize that the UNHCR does a massive job that is so incredibly difficult most folks can't even comprehend it. Building an emergency city for a fleet of thousands of refugees is absolutely not like building Burning Man. The people coming a refugee camp have nothing and are often sick as opposed to Burners who come in their own cars funded by daddy's Amex.
Read the rest on Subsaharska
19 12 2008 0 comments
Tags: celebrity, dr congo, in to africa
Emile Hirsch and Congo
Being that I am neither metrosexual nor gay, I read Men's Journal about as often as I get my nails done; ie never. But, apparently in an attempt to get "edgy", in this month's issue, there between Ask Dr. Bob and an article on T. Boone Pickens on Page 60 is an Emile Hirsch's account of traveling to Congo on the protected wings of Oxfam.
Obviously, this is another case of "Celebrity Goes To Africa to Raise Awareness and/or Save African Babies". I don't like these cases. They're a flash in the pan and then they're gone. People forget about what whomever it was, was talking about when they did that thing that was... you know, somewhere over there.
Read the whole article at Subsaharska.
