Unbelievable: "We Will Not Be Silent"

chickenfeet2003 had this on his journal, and I just have to repeat it here.

From BBC.com: Arabic T-shirt sparks airport row - An architect of Iraqi descent has said he was forced to remove a T-shirt that bore the words "We will not be silent" before boarding a flight at New York..

So much for "the land of the free."

Unbelievable: "We Will Not Be Silent"

chickenfeet2003 had this on his journal, and I just have to repeat it here.

From BBC.com: Arabic T-shirt sparks airport row - An architect of Iraqi descent has said he was forced to remove a T-shirt that bore the words "We will not be silent" before boarding a flight at New York..

So much for "the land of the free."

Another meme...

Also stolen from chickenfeet2003...

( Greek mythological personality test... )

Another meme...

Also stolen from chickenfeet2003...

( Greek mythological personality test... )

Whisky & Chocolate

Another tasting at the Scottish Malt Whisky Society, this time down in Leith: a combined chocalate and whisky tasting.

The chocolate - and the talk - was provided by Bertrand Espouy of Plaisir du Chocolat in Edinburgh. There was one white chocolate, three milk chocalates and five dark chocolates - the differences within each category being the percentage of cocoa solids in the chocolate.

The chocolates were delicious, the taste not being largely related to the percentage of cocoa content (as far as I could tell). I prefer dark chocolate, but the milk stuff was good too.

Espouy was very entertaining, dismissive of most British chocolate (ie Cadbury's!), laughing at the idea of organic chocolate (because of the amount of processing involved, the conditions in which most chocolate trees are grown, the remoteness of the farms, and the fact that it doesn't taste any good*). He described the production of chocolate and how he used it in cooking.

And the chocolate went wonderfully with the whisky. There were three whiskies from the most recent list - a Linkwood, a wonderful 38 year old Longmorn and a Laphroig. Whisky really does go well with chocolate: the whiskies weren't matched to the chocolate specifically, but they all tasted great.

I then had another, younger Longmorn - a 12 year old - just to see the difference. (It was still good, but not as great as the 38 year old, which was very special: you could see that just by looking at it - it was a dark, rich colour; and it tasted raisiny, like Christmas cake. Delicious.)

A great evening!

*though to my mind, eating organic is not necessarily about taste - it is about health, food additives, and the idea that there is a better way to work produce food in the environment.

Whisky & Chocolate

Another tasting at the Scottish Malt Whisky Society, this time down in Leith: a combined chocalate and whisky tasting.

The chocolate - and the talk - was provided by Bertrand Espouy of Plaisir du Chocolat in Edinburgh. There was one white chocolate, three milk chocalates and five dark chocolates - the differences within each category being the percentage of cocoa solids in the chocolate.

The chocolates were delicious, the taste not being largely related to the percentage of cocoa content (as far as I could tell). I prefer dark chocolate, but the milk stuff was good too.

Espouy was very entertaining, dismissive of most British chocolate (ie Cadbury's!), laughing at the idea of organic chocolate (because of the amount of processing involved, the conditions in which most chocolate trees are grown, the remoteness of the farms, and the fact that it doesn't taste any good*). He described the production of chocolate and how he used it in cooking.

And the chocolate went wonderfully with the whisky. There were three whiskies from the most recent list - a Linkwood, a wonderful 38 year old Longmorn and a Laphroig. Whisky really does go well with chocolate: the whiskies weren't matched to the chocolate specifically, but they all tasted great.

I then had another, younger Longmorn - a 12 year old - just to see the difference. (It was still good, but not as great as the 38 year old, which was very special: you could see that just by looking at it - it was a dark, rich colour; and it tasted raisiny, like Christmas cake. Delicious.)

A great evening!

*though to my mind, eating organic is not necessarily about taste - it is about health, food additives, and the idea that there is a better way to work produce food in the environment.