Secret forest: March 2011

>> Wednesday, 30 March 2011

>> Monday, 28 March 2011

This weekend we ate calçots (barbecued onions) for the second time this year, which is unusual, because the whole calçotada is a gastronomic feast. In addition, the sauce recipe and the way they are cooked are quite laborious. As a blogger friend asked me about calçots, I made a short report. Calçots are a variety of spring onion, soft and not too bulbous.

Here you can see them before and after cutting out the ends. They should not be cooked on coals, but on high heat. But since it is easier to lit a little fire, our onions were a bit raw this time...

They should get black, completely burned on the outside. Afterwards some meat is cooked on the coals. Calçots are left wrapped in newspaper for about an hour and are served on tiles.

But why eat barbecued onions? I could say they are very diuretic, but the main reasons are: in first place, this is what everyone does around here. If you're Catalan, you're a calçot-eater once or twice a year. Secondly, it is required to eat them with the hands and get dirty when removing the burned part of the calçot. You even have to wear a bib. So, it's funny. And finally, there's the sauce. Named salvitxada or romesco (or just sauce for calçots), it is made with toasted almonds, roasted red tomato, roasted garlic, nyores (similar to dry cherry peppers), olive oil, vinegar, and salt. It's the bomb.

Say Mèu

>> Wednesday, 23 March 2011

Our old cat! It lives like a dandy at my grandmother's house. Mèu is what Catalan cats say instead of meow.

Visit more Wordless Wednesday participants.

Poetry Day

>> Monday, 21 March 2011

Image source: Quad Royal.

One of my favourite poets, Jordi Pàmias, wrote a poem for the webpage Dia Mundial de la Poesia to commemorate Poetry Day (21st March). Below you can read the translation of that poem, I hope you like it and have a great Poetry Day.

Poetry

Like the almost forgotten
galloping of fairground horses,
today, in our homes, the enchantment
of a brave new world seduces us:
the blurred whirling of the image.
But night knocks at the door,
and silence summons
the words we have lost —
like a handful of grey pebbles
at the bottom of the river,
in freezing fog.
Like a slow tide they ebb back,
far-off cradle-songs, echoes
of elegies, murmurings...

Pierced by nostalgia, the poet falls silent.
And glimpses, behind closed eyes,
the blind enigma
of a time of dream and frenzy,
that spins more swiftly
than the fairground horses.
Seduced by technology's enchantment,
man's sad pride
threatens us.
But words do not die.
A candle in the night, poetry
is shared wisdom
against forgetting. And pure grace
of a full grown art: precision and play.

JORDI PÀMIAS
Translation: Anna Crowe

Spam Chats: the Medalists

>> Thursday, 17 March 2011

☻BRONZE. "An image is worth..."

Me: (posted a Wordless Wednesday photo)

Spammer: hi friends .. I like this article very helpful for me,,,,

☻SILVER. "The test"

Spammer: Just took a personality test @ Twitter. You can also have a look: (link)

(The spammer sends this message via Twitter seven times)

Me: Did you take the personality test seven times yourself?

☻GOLD. "Overcome with emotion"

Me: (posted a Wordless Wednesday photo)

Spammer: Absolutely stunning - Happy Friday.

World Day Against Cyber-Censorship

>> Saturday, 12 March 2011

Map of cyber-censorship.

Launched by Reporters Without Borders in 2008, World Day Against Cyber-Censorship (on 12 March 2011) is intended to rally everyone in support of a single Internet without restrictions and accessible to all.

Source: World Day Against Cyber-Censorship's webpage. You can take a look at that page to know why countries such as Australia, France, or Turkey have been added to the Countries Under Surveillance list, and to remember the Internet Enemies list, in which are included the countries marked with dark purple on the map.

Women's Day & Poem

>> Tuesday, 8 March 2011

My most popular post so far is International Women's Day with a Motto, written last year. For some reason, many visits to that post came last month from Asia, mostly from India. I could not do other than post something once again today, 8th March, a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women. Moreover, this year marks 100 years of commemoration of struggle for woman’s emancipation. The struggle itself is surely older. So, I'm doing exactly the same as I did one year ago: first, I picked a poster (there are hundreds of them only for this year), this time one that comes from Iran, and secondly I looked for a poem by a Catalan writer. I had to translate the poem myself, unlike last year. I hope you like it.

Women talk

their tender
and strong poetry.

Very few stop
to listen to these voices
that, disturbed,
speak a new language
born many centuries ago.

MONTSERRAT ABELLÓ (Tarragona, 1918)
(Included in Dins l'esfera del temps) Link to the original version

Has Anyone Seen a Book Around Here?

>> Sunday, 6 March 2011

I know: the title of this post could be applied to my entire supposedly literary blog. I haven't reviewed a book in ages.

But it reffers to the photo, actually. This photo is included in a book I've been working on the last few days. It will come with a DVD with a short film and some good songs especially composed for its story. It also includes wonderful drawings. There will be a great presentation too, with some performances, a lot of guests, more good songs, actors, professors, speeches... The author told me he is aware that everything surrounding the book is better than the book itself. In fact is just a tiny novella. Apparently, even its characters are getting confused among the hype and can't find the book anymore! At least that's what I thought when seeing the photo above (which, on the other hand, was taken near my home and I find lovely). Anyway, I tried to reassure the author that he was doing a great job and I promised him I would join the book promotion. So... how do you like the photo?