Is Truffle Aphrodisiac?

"The truffle is not exactly aphrodisiac, but under certain circumstances, it can made women more loving and men more lovable." Said Brillat-Savarin, author of the first encounter with the theme of gastronomy, called 'Philosophy of taste', at 1825. I don't know about other people, but what he said about the after effects of the truffle is enough for me to take it as, almost, aphrodisiac. If not, you are still eating something nice, and when you believe enough in something, they say, it might come true!

Anyway, the shape, the colour and it's hiding place in the earth are not precisely the attractions of the truffle. It's in it's taste and aroma the secret of it's being considered a myth for the gourmets. Exquisite, desired, and very expensive, but just a touch would give another aromatic dimension to any ordinary food or ingredient. Like scrambled eggs with truffle. In the same restaurant, scrambled egg is €9 and with truffle is €35 and, these are just starters; you also need to have a magnifying glass to find it amongst the egg!

One of the new invention featured in some expensive restaurants is caviar with truffles, both extravagant components combining in one tiny little mouthful. It's cheaper if you buy it to take home from a gourmet shop, called Truffle Facon Caviar at €24 for 50 grams. www.delicea.com

Brillat-Savarin might know what he was talking about. It worked!

Tags:truffle,aphrodisiac

Current Mood: Chipper

Making Music With Bricks, Brooms & Bananas?

There are 30 brooms, one enormous rubbish bin and 5 small ones, 10 poles, 4 bricks, 15 kilo of sand, 12 boxes of matches, 200 litre of water and, wait for it, some bananas; all these contribute to the musical instruments the 11 British musicians of 'Stomp' use, in a spectacle that combines music and movements. They had performed in Barcelona in other occasions, the last time 6 years ago. They have come back to the Victoria Theatre.

The most probable of Stomp's success is that they had full house attendance each time, as they constantly renovate their music and choreography in each show, always something new to delight and surprise the audience. They have taken the spectacle all over the world. In fact the show they brought to Barcelona had been in the West End of London for 6 years, where they had astonished the public with amazing sounds & rhythm that came from everyday household objects.

In Barcelona this British company will offer their newest sounds and choreography, inspired by one of their other spectacles 'Stomp Out Loud' which they performed in Las Vegas.

This group was born in 1991 in Brighton, England, The philosophy of Stomp came from the street animation with music and dance practiced in many villages in the middle ages, although it had been revised with innovated touches. The producers emphasised that there are no moral messages nor political connotations, or ideological undertones. The public is already bombarded each and every day with that. Just melodies, rhythm and musical conversations (?). Apart from brooms and bricks, this season they have added truck wheels and paint pots. Do these make music too? What does the banana do? I am intrigued!!

This picture has nothing to do with the article. It just makes me wonder:

Would this be perhaps the musical conversation?

Tags:broom,brick,banana

Current Mood: Accomplished

The Way I Saw Michael Jackson

I posted this in 2009. Looking back I realize I have never written a word about Elvis Presley or John Lennon, even though perhaps I like them more, Elvis first then Lennon, Jackson only came up last. Why? I don't really know. I suppose he is the one I admire for his uniqueness, his daring, his defiance to what's good & normal, his adventurous spirit ... I convinced myself I should post this once again, maybe it would help me to understand ME better ... Whatever Michael Jackson was not, he was definitely a genius. One that marked an era, established a Before and an After with his work (I say Work because it's not just his music Pop), defining the shape of things to come, in the artistic sense. Nothing was the same ever since after the eruption of Jackson, in the 70's and 80's. That's the legacy he left, even though, in recent years, shadowed by his eccentric, tormented and mysterious biography. It's not easy to extract the personal misfortune of the artist to measure the value of his work in all his transcendence. What is left now is the myth, the music, the spectacles, bearing his larger than life personality, had reached such dizzying height that very few have achieved in the whole of music history. Near half a century of Michael Jackson had changed television, spectacles, global communication beyond what's viewed as pop music. He had become one of the most influential icons and symbols because he had innovated Pop music as well as spectacles or stage performance, with his electrifying dance, backed by extraordinary technology in all his shows. The essence of all took form in video-clips, one of his greatest contributions to the culture of the present era. 'Thriller' -1982-, is the best selling disc of all time, and possibly the most viewed in the history, marking the zenith of the phenomenon of Michael Jackson. He also represented another important advancement in the modern culture: the breaking of frontiers, ethnic, sex, age and social class in the way music is consumed. by mixing the best from all, to therefore loved and accepted by all. He connected with the immense majority of the public, incorporating his multiple rhythm and styles, like a brilliant scientist in his creative laboratory, constantly mixing and experimenting. And, like a ingenious mad scientist, he had allowed himself to experiment aspects not so in step with his intelligence and talents. This explains his great professional success and disastrous personal failure, manifested in his unstable life style and, to a certain extent, self-destructive behaviour. Without doubt, Michael Jackson was a genius, a prodigy with enormous natural talent, that the world today had mourned the loss of, amongst other huge personalities that had changed the contemporary music in their time, like Elvis Presley and John Lennon. Tags:Michael,Elvis,John

Current Mood: Artistic