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This page is a sorta info center for my students.
Mr. Seezen's Choppin' Blog
Friday, January 18, 2008
des gentes des gentes des gentes des gentes des gentes des gentes
Is what the guys say on the street corner near Barbés. Hubcaps. They are selling hubcaps, probably stolen, or otherwise not above board. A lot easier than saying hubcaps. Can you say "hubcaps" 5 times fast?
Wowee zowie everyone, Cheatham's screen show. (below) Further below: little France Gall telling you that what goes around is gonna come around. And then Sooty. I'd forgotten how fricken great that show was, what's more I never realized just how smart, on it, how good Matthew was. I met him once.
Thanks to there being a large, vibrant Arabic population in our neighborhood, Arabic food stores and halal butchershops are always close by. This recipe goes great with Lebanese flatbread. I never measure my ingredients, but here are roughly the amounts.
1 large can of chickpeas 3 cloves garlic 1/2 a lemon's juice 1 Tbs cumin 1/4 cup tahini (sesame sauce) 1 tsp salt Olive oil
Drain and rinse the chickpeas, but keep the water for later. Everything goes in the chopper thing of your choice. Or mash and mix it up in a sturdy bowl with a sturdy spoon, Rudolf-Leonhard style.
Bear in mind that tahini is somewhat bitter, the lemon juice helps with that. You can also leave it out if you can't find it or are cheap.
Stir in some of the liquid from the canned chick peas to get the consistency right... not too sticky, not soupy.
Garnish with a pinch of cumin and some parsley to impress the mother-in-law, or to make your friends think you are gay.
I was glad to hear that the lads liked their presents, so to celebrate I thought I'd throw together this little how to guide in photos: a make your own stuffed animal tutorial for the common man.
Below is an email that Marí wrote. As some of you may know, the Dresden riverside is losing its UNESCO world heritage status due to a new bridge planned.
Gebets- und Wunschfahnen gegen die Hilflosigkeit
NATUR ERHALTEN: TUNNEL STATT BRÜCKE
Im Moment scheint es, als könne man nur noch beim Bau der Brücke zuschauen und beobachten wie ein nicht wiederherzustellendes Stück Natur mitten im Herzen Dresdens unwiederbringlich zerstört wird. [more]
... and that would take care of my present for little James. I've already done one for Jack as well, and I'll do one for Marshall tomorrow. So I could then ship them off on Monday, but I think I'll wait a few days until we're up in Paris. Seeing as I'm not sure the guys will make it in time for Christmas, I've got an idea...
My Early Birthday Present from Julie is a good one: an oral comprehension book with CD. Definitely good, because listening is the opposite of what I do best -- just ask Julie.
And it's pretty exiting, the dialogs in the book. Why last chapter, a girl asked the waiter at the café out on a date. Before that, people were quite surprised at how much younger Robert's wife is than him.
But this chapter I was less than excited to learn that today, the 15th of June, was their 25th anniversary. Numbers are a real challenge in French for beginners, and that was the theme for the chapter.
There must have been a power outage on the day they made up the numbers, because the tens only go up to 60. That is, after soixante-neuf (69), they just keep on with soixante-dix (sixty-ten) for seventy. I should have seen it coming though: in the teens, French has elegant single words for eleven, twelve, through sixteen. Then for some reason, they just threw up their hands and went with ten-seven, ten-eight, etc for 17, 18, 19. So we are at seventy-one, or rather, sixty-eleven and climbing. Then, after you finally get to sixty-ten-nine, logic steps out for a quick smoke break while we find are selves stuck with a Lincoln-esque "four-score". Four-twenty, that is.
Four-twenty-and-one, four-twenty-two, all the way to four-twenty-nine, and thennnnn....
Four-twenty-ten -- of course. So when you get to ninety-nine, you say quatre-vingt-dix-neuf, or four-twenty-ten-nine. What's that plus one?
she had to get an absess removed after being bitten by Shere Khan on the bum, and had to go back twice because it hadn't healed properly. Her shaved rump is growing back hair, and although still bald is much less unsightly.
The bad news is, however, that she and Shere have both tested positive for FIV, also known as feline AIDS. It is likely that Shere was the one who caught it first, because he was --up until two days ago-- not fixed.
Unlike HIV, FIV spreads easily through saliva, so cats can catch it by being bitten by infected cats, just like the zombie virus.
The vet believes it is highly probable that the other two cats have it as well, even though Shere Khan never attacks them aggressively like he does with Söcki. There are several theories to why this is but that is another herd of cats.
Julie was inconsolable when she heard the news, and rightly so, for it is a fatal disease. However, infected cats can live years before the final stage is reached, and does not occur as offen as it does with HIV. So, it is best not to worry too much, but rather see that your cat leads a healthy life through good diet and exercise, and to be sure to treat any infections with antibiotics should they arise.
Unfortunately, it can be hazardous to one's own health seeing that a cat gets her medicine. Some are easier to give pills to than other's, but Söcki is truely a cat's cat: as long as she has teeth and claws she won't be forced to do one damn thing against her will.
The doc showed us another pill giving method yesterday: hold the cat by the scruff facing you against your chest, and use the metal tongs to pop the pill in, then blow on her face once. It worked like a charm for the vet. Not so at home, but maybe we just need practice.
The upside of this is that I've thought of some really good lolcat captions, none of which I'll use because Julie would kill me.
