The Stravinsky Fountain

The Stravinsky Fountain (fr: La Fontaine Stravinsky) is a whimsical public fountain ornamented with sixteen works of sculpture,moving and spraying water, representing the works of composer Igor Stravinsky. It was created in 1983 by sculptors Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint Phalle, and is located on Place Stravinsky, next to the Centre Pompidou, in Paris

Within the basin are sixteen works of sculpture inspired by Igor Stravinsky's the Rite of Spring, and his other major works; The black mechanical pieces of sculpture are by Jean Tinguely, the colored works by Niki de Saint Phalle.

The sculptures in the fountain represent:

l'Oiseau de feu (The Firebird)
Le Clef de Sol (the musical key of G)
La Spirale (the spiral)
l'Elephant (the elephant)
Le Renard (the fox)
le Serpent (the serpent)
La Grenouille (the frog)
La Diagonale (the diagonal)
La Mort (death)
La Sirène (the mermaid)
Le Rossignol (the nightingale)
"L'Amour (Love)
La Vie (Life)
La Coeur (the heart)
'Le Chapeau de Clown (the clown's hat)
Ragtime (Ragtime)

Source: Wikipedia

Recipe for Flammkuchen - Tarte Flambée

This is a very typical - and delicious - Alsatian appetizer. This simple thin bread dough topped with onions, cream and bacon is also known as flammekueche (Alsatian name). The name comes from a time when the pie was baked in a fire oven and was surrounded by flames. The tart can be served either with cocktails or as a first course with a spicy Gewurztraminer.

Ingredients for 4 to 5 servings:

500g (1 lb.) bread dough,
40cl (13fl oz) crème double or 1/2 cup low-fat ricotta beaten + 1/2 cup half-and-half,
1 tablespoon oil,
1 large onion, thinly sliced,
80g (3 oz) smoked bacon,
50g (2 oz) butter,
salt, pepper and grated nutmeg.

Preparation Steps:

1. Fry sliced onions in butter over low heat until soft and golden, then mix to the cream mixture and season. Slightly fry the bacon cut into match stick-size pieces.

2. Roll out the dough to form a thin rectangle, place on a buttered baking sheet.

3. Spread the mixture cream and onions evenly over the dough, within a 3/4 inch from the edge. Sprinkle with the oil and dot with the bacon . Brush the edge of the dough with water.

4. Bake for 10 minutes in a very hot oven (maximum thermostat position) or until the pastry is golden brown. Cut into squares and serve hot.

Tip: Pinot Blanc, light Pinot Noir or Riesling are the recommended wines

What is a Kougelhopf

a Kougelhopf (Raisin and Almond Yeast Cake) is a speciality dessert from Strasbourg.

This yeast-risen coffee cake, with raisins and a surface sprinkling of flaked almonds and confectioned sugar, has become one of the region icons. For a perfect shape and texture, it is best baked in the authentic earthenware grooved mold.
In Alsace the cake is served on many occasions all year around: as a dessert; for breakfast, spread with fruit preserves, as appetizers, serve with a Gewurztraminer or a Cremant d'Alsace. It is considered to taste best when slightly stale.

A perfect gift for Geeks

I found the perfect t-shirt for a geek!

Bugatti Exhibition Brussels

From December 18th, 2009 to January 17th, 2010, Autoworld will be celebrating the very essence of the make: sport, design and elegance.

Excerpt from their website:

From the Type 13 to the present-day Veyron Grand Sport (unveiled for the 1st time here in Belgium*), you will also see one of the six Royales (also making its first appearance in our country) and the prototype forerunners of the Veyron. Enthusiasts and fine car-lovers alike will feast their eyes in this exhibition that explores the world of one of the truly classic makes of car.

The vehicles will be displayed so as to contrast the two aspects of a DNA (sport and elegance) that often combine to produce universally-admired models.

Most of the cars in the exhibition come from Belgian and foreign private collections and will not be seen together anywhere else. Several are on loan from the Mulhouse Cité de l’Automobile’s unique collection, others from Bugatti SAS.

On display alongside these iconic cars will be posters, paintings, catalogues, models, sculptures, bronzes and other artworks on a Bugatti theme.

I have 2 free entrance tickets to distribute. Just tell me why YOU should win these tickets.

What on earth is a Theremin?

The theremin, also know as aetherphone / etherophone or termenvox / thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without contact from the player. It was invented by Russian scientist Leon Theremin and was first demonstrated in 1920. It predates the modern synthesizer by about 40 years, but its uniqueness stems from the fact that it is the only instrument that is played without actually being touched. Its electronic circuits are controlled by two antennas, left and right of the instrument, toward which the player moves his or her hands. The closer the right hand to one antenna, the higher the pitch. Similarly the proximity of the left hand to the other antenna controls the volume. The theremin has a range well in excess of eight octaves, and is capable of all kinds of strange effects. These sounds have been put to use in science fiction and other films including Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945) and Robert Wise's The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). This unique instrument has also been used on The Beach Boys' song "Good Vibrations." The late Clara Rockmore was the theremin's greatest virtuoso, and the instrument and its inventor were profiled in the documentary Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey (1994).

Rules of Cricket for Dummies

People sometimes complain that the rules of cricket are difficult to understand. This is of course not true. But still, a bit of simplification has never hurt anybody:

Start: you have 2 teams in the game, one is out in the field and one in.

1. Each man that’s in the side that’s in goes out, and when he’s out he comes in and the next man goes in until he’s out.

2. When they are all out, the side that’s out comes in and the side that’s been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out.

p.s. Sometimes you get men still in and not out. This should not worry you too much.

3. When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in.

4. There are two men called umpires who stay out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out.

5. When both sides have been in and all the men have out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game!