I'm off to Florence and the European University Institute for a conference on the virtues and the passions. I'll be giving a paper with my colleague on Disinterestedness as virtue in the thought of the quietist Archbishop Francois Fenelon, Jean Jacques Rousseau, and the British radical William Godwin. All of the papers look very interesting, and I think this is going to be a very important conference for my work. There are some well known names there, and some rising stars. This should be a very interesting experience.
Once more into the breach,
Ben
Musings on philosophy, politics, photography, and gastronomy.
Monday, February 20, 2006
Friday, February 17, 2006
Green tea cake
Ahreum is here for the weekend, and we are celebrating Valentines day a bit late this year. We're doing things low key as well. But for the menu, we are having green tea cake. I've never made a green tea dessert before, so this will be a new experience. I'll let you all know how it turns out.
But while I'm at it, I thought I'd post a link to the website where I found the recipe. It seems to be a pretty powerful recipe site for cakes, and it has a scaling function which allows you to increase or decrease the recipe by serving portions. So if its normally 12 servings, you could scale it to say, 6 or 20, and the website will do the calculation for you. That's cool. Of course what it doesn't do is scale based on pan size. So if you have a recipe for a 9 inch cake pan, and you want one that will fit an 8 inch pan, you'll have to do some calculations. If 9 inches is 12 portions how many portions will be in an 8 inch pan. We'll you can't set up a simple proportion, because we are dealing with units of volume, not length. So you'll have to calculate the volume of the pie tin. Its a cylinder, so it shouldn't be too hard. But I won't give you the full equation because I'm too lazy . But the area of a circle is Pi * (radius)^2, and the volume of a circle is height times Pi * (radius)^2. So now with that bit, it should be easy to make the calculation of how many serving sizes you need. Then let the website do the recipe modification for you.
So with no further ado, here is the web page: http://cake.allrecipes.com/
If anyone tries any recipes and likes them, let me know.
Once more into the breach,
Ben
But while I'm at it, I thought I'd post a link to the website where I found the recipe. It seems to be a pretty powerful recipe site for cakes, and it has a scaling function which allows you to increase or decrease the recipe by serving portions. So if its normally 12 servings, you could scale it to say, 6 or 20, and the website will do the calculation for you. That's cool. Of course what it doesn't do is scale based on pan size. So if you have a recipe for a 9 inch cake pan, and you want one that will fit an 8 inch pan, you'll have to do some calculations. If 9 inches is 12 portions how many portions will be in an 8 inch pan. We'll you can't set up a simple proportion, because we are dealing with units of volume, not length. So you'll have to calculate the volume of the pie tin. Its a cylinder, so it shouldn't be too hard. But I won't give you the full equation because I'm too lazy . But the area of a circle is Pi * (radius)^2, and the volume of a circle is height times Pi * (radius)^2. So now with that bit, it should be easy to make the calculation of how many serving sizes you need. Then let the website do the recipe modification for you.
So with no further ado, here is the web page: http://cake.allrecipes.com/
If anyone tries any recipes and likes them, let me know.
Once more into the breach,
Ben
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Water contamination
Exeter is a great place. Peaceful, clean, green. Although it is a small city, at its edges it just melts into the rolling green Devon moors. It is this clean air and life that is so appealing about Exeter.
The problem is, this clean and green town is neither clean nor green. Though I can't make a proper reference, I have heard tell, that the air here, at least in the center of town, is some of the most badly polluted in England. This is because there is little industry left in the UK, and it is the cars that do the dirty work. Exeter certainly has traffic stagnation aplenty.
So at least the water is clean, right? Normally it is clean enough for me although not for Ahreum, but this week a new and splendid richness has been added to the pristine font of Exeter's North side. Have they decided to put fluoride into the water to strengthen our teeth or enervate our life energy ala Doctor Strangelove's General Jack Riper? No and no.
Without further elusive and wandering prose, the real problem this week is that Exeter's North side water supply has been contaminated by diesel fuel. I guess they were supposed to put a little chlorine in, but somehow they got mixed up. Campus was squarely hit, and after some concern and confusion, I determined that my house was just outside of the redzone. But had I been one block over...
I suppose they would have contacted me right away, but, then again and knowing the spirit of organizations like South West Water, I suspect I would have had to find out in a more pro-active manner.
The resolution from this whole incident, is that I have to start drinking like a medieval man. From now on, my fluid of choice is a well brewed beer.
Once more into the breach,
Ben
P.S. I am sure that South West Water will not take responsibility for this and will try to pass on the costs of the lost water to their customers. I can imagine that to make it less noticeable, the price hike will be done over their entire range of operations.
The problem is, this clean and green town is neither clean nor green. Though I can't make a proper reference, I have heard tell, that the air here, at least in the center of town, is some of the most badly polluted in England. This is because there is little industry left in the UK, and it is the cars that do the dirty work. Exeter certainly has traffic stagnation aplenty.
So at least the water is clean, right? Normally it is clean enough for me although not for Ahreum, but this week a new and splendid richness has been added to the pristine font of Exeter's North side. Have they decided to put fluoride into the water to strengthen our teeth or enervate our life energy ala Doctor Strangelove's General Jack Riper? No and no.
Without further elusive and wandering prose, the real problem this week is that Exeter's North side water supply has been contaminated by diesel fuel. I guess they were supposed to put a little chlorine in, but somehow they got mixed up. Campus was squarely hit, and after some concern and confusion, I determined that my house was just outside of the redzone. But had I been one block over...
I suppose they would have contacted me right away, but, then again and knowing the spirit of organizations like South West Water, I suspect I would have had to find out in a more pro-active manner.
The resolution from this whole incident, is that I have to start drinking like a medieval man. From now on, my fluid of choice is a well brewed beer.
Once more into the breach,
Ben
P.S. I am sure that South West Water will not take responsibility for this and will try to pass on the costs of the lost water to their customers. I can imagine that to make it less noticeable, the price hike will be done over their entire range of operations.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Two takes on pasta
Today I've got a recipe post for the loyal readers. I like pasta, most people like pasta, so this is a no brainer. These are two directions I took a basic tomato sauce this weekend. One is a classic and the other is a bit more hip.
First the classic, Chicken Parmesan. I doubt its actually from Parma. Its probably Italian American, but I wouldn't want to say for sure. What is important is that its been overdone but still can be great. You'll need to start with some kind of tomato sauce. Something store bought can be ok, but making it yourself is best. This isn't too hard, and canned Italian plum tomatoes tend to yield the best results. I don't really use a recipe, but for guidance google "tomato sauce recipe" or go to www.foodtv.com. Warm the sauce up so it is ready for use.
Anyway, once you've got your sauce down, you'll need to get some chicken breasts or turkey breast steaks (for those of you in the UK, turkey is cheaper and every bit as good. I never buy chicken breasts here because of the ridiculous price). You'll need to pound them a bit so that they are about 1 cm thick. You can use a meat hammer to do this, or your fist. I use a fist. If you hit too hard you can separate the meat. A nice trick is to put the meat between two layer of plastic wrap.
Set the meat aside and put some flour with a good seasoning of salt and black pepper in a plate. In another bowl break in an egg and mix it up. Then in another plate put a couple of cups of bread crumbs (buy them or make them yourself) and add two handfuls of finely chopped pecans.
Now it time to get things rolling. Start by warming up a frying pan to a medium temperature with a mix of olive oil and vegetable oil. Bring a stock pot of water to the boil and get ready to cook some pasta, I like linguine or some substantial noodle. To prepare the meat, coat each piece in flour, then egg, and then the bread crumb mixture. When that's done start frying them. Start cooking the pasta after you start frying the meat. When the meat browns on each side, put it on a wire wrack and put mozzarella cheese on each piece. Put it in a hot oven to finish. When the pasta is al dente drain and put in the warm sauce. Finish the pasta in the sauce. Serve up the pasta on warm plates and take the now finished breaded turkey pieces and serve one with each plate.
Second pasta, with shrimp, mozzarella and rocket (arugala).
Ok, basically you are doing the same thing with the pasta and sauce as above. Get the water boiling, and the sauce just simmering. Only this time toss in some frozen (or fresh) shrimp into the sauce and let them cook (or warm up) depending on what is necessary. When the pasta is finished, toss it into the sauce and stir together over the heat for about one minute. Just as this is finishing off, toss in a few handful of fresh rocket and some small chunks of fresh mozzarella cheese, leaving some rocket for garnishing at the end. Plate up the pasta, put a handful of rocket on each plate, and grate over some Parmesan cheese. I thought these both worked out great.
Here's to cooking inspiration.
Once more into the breach,
Ben
First the classic, Chicken Parmesan. I doubt its actually from Parma. Its probably Italian American, but I wouldn't want to say for sure. What is important is that its been overdone but still can be great. You'll need to start with some kind of tomato sauce. Something store bought can be ok, but making it yourself is best. This isn't too hard, and canned Italian plum tomatoes tend to yield the best results. I don't really use a recipe, but for guidance google "tomato sauce recipe" or go to www.foodtv.com. Warm the sauce up so it is ready for use.
Anyway, once you've got your sauce down, you'll need to get some chicken breasts or turkey breast steaks (for those of you in the UK, turkey is cheaper and every bit as good. I never buy chicken breasts here because of the ridiculous price). You'll need to pound them a bit so that they are about 1 cm thick. You can use a meat hammer to do this, or your fist. I use a fist. If you hit too hard you can separate the meat. A nice trick is to put the meat between two layer of plastic wrap.
Set the meat aside and put some flour with a good seasoning of salt and black pepper in a plate. In another bowl break in an egg and mix it up. Then in another plate put a couple of cups of bread crumbs (buy them or make them yourself) and add two handfuls of finely chopped pecans.
Now it time to get things rolling. Start by warming up a frying pan to a medium temperature with a mix of olive oil and vegetable oil. Bring a stock pot of water to the boil and get ready to cook some pasta, I like linguine or some substantial noodle. To prepare the meat, coat each piece in flour, then egg, and then the bread crumb mixture. When that's done start frying them. Start cooking the pasta after you start frying the meat. When the meat browns on each side, put it on a wire wrack and put mozzarella cheese on each piece. Put it in a hot oven to finish. When the pasta is al dente drain and put in the warm sauce. Finish the pasta in the sauce. Serve up the pasta on warm plates and take the now finished breaded turkey pieces and serve one with each plate.
Second pasta, with shrimp, mozzarella and rocket (arugala).
Ok, basically you are doing the same thing with the pasta and sauce as above. Get the water boiling, and the sauce just simmering. Only this time toss in some frozen (or fresh) shrimp into the sauce and let them cook (or warm up) depending on what is necessary. When the pasta is finished, toss it into the sauce and stir together over the heat for about one minute. Just as this is finishing off, toss in a few handful of fresh rocket and some small chunks of fresh mozzarella cheese, leaving some rocket for garnishing at the end. Plate up the pasta, put a handful of rocket on each plate, and grate over some Parmesan cheese. I thought these both worked out great.
Here's to cooking inspiration.
Once more into the breach,
Ben
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Blogging hiatus and a return to Fenelon
Just a quick word of apology for the lack of blogging of late. I had to hit the ground running on my return from Christmas break. I think I mentioned it, but I need to submit 20,000 words by the end of March. I've probably got half of that done, but there is always editing and revision to think of. Luckily I'm pegging away at it nicely.
In other academic related news, I am really quite thrilled that I am going to Florence to give a paper at the end of the month. There will be some senior academics there and plenty of graduate students as well. And unlike some other conferences, it will just be about the history of political thought. How's that for focus.
I'll be giving a paper with Rob Lamb again, this time on a new subject. Disinterestedness (or the lack of personal interest) and virtue in the thought of Fenelon (my favorite ecclesiastic for the moment), Rousseau, and Godwin. The aim is to show that the kind of disinterestedness in the now much neglected Fenelon is historically important and in different ways makes crucial appearances in the thought of Rousseau and Fenelon.
The notion is that true virtue and virtuous activity must never proceed from any motivation of self interest. The motivation must be totally disconnected with the self in almost every regard. Instead a disinterested love of order, beauty, and God, a kind of rational benevolence, should inform and motivate virtuous action.
But things get better. Not only do I get to go to Florence, I get to stay a whole week, and the whole trip is paid for. How did I become so lucky. We'll I am going to be giving a talk for Early English Books Online. Its a pretty powerful resource, and in it one can read and download pretty much every extant book published in English between 1473 and 1700. This resource has done a great deal of work to evaporate many of the limitations that smaller universities have. I no longer have to go to the Bodleian or to the British Library to access these published texts.
Of course there are shortcomings. Sometimes I can download the full text, it is going to be in a modern lame html format. PDF files are available, but only as individual pages. This is clearly an aesthetic concern more than anything else, but in a real sense, I think, contemporary internet based documents of this kind lack much of the character of the original presentation. In some sense this makes it more difficult to develop a rapport with the original text.
But there is also a less aesthetic reason for highlighting this as a limitation. This is, in understanding the history of ideas, it might be important to have an idea what someone actually read. Knowing what the pages actually looked like, could, conceivably (if not always) be important.
Other times the full text is not available in one document. That means I have to stay at the computer and read at the computer, or download one PDF file after other and print 30, 50, 100 etc. Individual files. Clearly not a workable option. I personally prefer to work with paper copies because I can annotate them. This is something I clearly just can't do with some works.
Anyway, it is exactly this kind of critical exposition that they are expecting. Hopefully it is mainly praise, but a good look at the limitations and shortcomings can help scholars use EEBO more effectively and hopeful convince the people at EEBO to make a few improvements when they are able.
Until then, I'll try to keep the blog updated.
Once more into the breach,
Ben
In other academic related news, I am really quite thrilled that I am going to Florence to give a paper at the end of the month. There will be some senior academics there and plenty of graduate students as well. And unlike some other conferences, it will just be about the history of political thought. How's that for focus.
I'll be giving a paper with Rob Lamb again, this time on a new subject. Disinterestedness (or the lack of personal interest) and virtue in the thought of Fenelon (my favorite ecclesiastic for the moment), Rousseau, and Godwin. The aim is to show that the kind of disinterestedness in the now much neglected Fenelon is historically important and in different ways makes crucial appearances in the thought of Rousseau and Fenelon.
The notion is that true virtue and virtuous activity must never proceed from any motivation of self interest. The motivation must be totally disconnected with the self in almost every regard. Instead a disinterested love of order, beauty, and God, a kind of rational benevolence, should inform and motivate virtuous action.
But things get better. Not only do I get to go to Florence, I get to stay a whole week, and the whole trip is paid for. How did I become so lucky. We'll I am going to be giving a talk for Early English Books Online. Its a pretty powerful resource, and in it one can read and download pretty much every extant book published in English between 1473 and 1700. This resource has done a great deal of work to evaporate many of the limitations that smaller universities have. I no longer have to go to the Bodleian or to the British Library to access these published texts.
Of course there are shortcomings. Sometimes I can download the full text, it is going to be in a modern lame html format. PDF files are available, but only as individual pages. This is clearly an aesthetic concern more than anything else, but in a real sense, I think, contemporary internet based documents of this kind lack much of the character of the original presentation. In some sense this makes it more difficult to develop a rapport with the original text.
But there is also a less aesthetic reason for highlighting this as a limitation. This is, in understanding the history of ideas, it might be important to have an idea what someone actually read. Knowing what the pages actually looked like, could, conceivably (if not always) be important.
Other times the full text is not available in one document. That means I have to stay at the computer and read at the computer, or download one PDF file after other and print 30, 50, 100 etc. Individual files. Clearly not a workable option. I personally prefer to work with paper copies because I can annotate them. This is something I clearly just can't do with some works.
Anyway, it is exactly this kind of critical exposition that they are expecting. Hopefully it is mainly praise, but a good look at the limitations and shortcomings can help scholars use EEBO more effectively and hopeful convince the people at EEBO to make a few improvements when they are able.
Until then, I'll try to keep the blog updated.
Once more into the breach,
Ben
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