Is it okay to use the blog for commercial purposes?

If you are on the hunt for entertainment of exquisite quality, I have some splendid recommendations to offer: 

Dexter gives you an inside view in the nature of the notorious serial killer Dexter Morgan. The protagonist is a very sympathetic blood splatter analyst (we are about to watch an episode now).

True Blood is a series about an American village where vampires have revealed their identities to the public through mass media. The humans involve themselves in the lives of the vampires. This interaction has a number of interesting consequences... 

One Hundred and One Cookbooks

Friends,

I wanted to write a quick post to introduce you to a great source of joy in my life these days, 101cookbooks.com. After our beautiful night of stuffed peppers back in Glasgow in June, I know you will appreciate it! I'm starting to worry that I'm going to fail school because I like cooking so much. I just can't stop! Today I made chili, cornbread, and eggplant hummus. Yummy. I also went on a bike ride, and read the newspaper. Now, I guess it is time for homework.

But first, here are a few recent favorites from 101 cookbooks!

Beluga Lentil Crostini
Now, I don't know what the heck a beluga lentil is, but I did have the tail end of a batch of French blue lentils that I'd originally cooked up with onions, garlic, tomatoes, and cardamom sitting bored in the fridge, bemoaning me to do something with it. My friend Annie was having a last-night-in-America potluck, so I bought a loaf of bread, cut it into little slices which I then burned terribly, scraped the burnt bits off and put goat cheese and lentils on top, as inspired by this recipe. Both delicious and portable!

Curried Pumpkin Seeds
Okay, so I shouldn't need a website to tell me to toast pumpkin seeds. But it had never occurred to me to do it with curry, and it turned out deliciously! I actually used the seeds of butternut and acorn squash, but it's all in the same family.

Farro and Roasted Butternut Squash
I used whole wheat instead of farro, and, for lack of time, cooked the butternut squash, garlic, and onions in the wok instead of in the oven, and I was thoroughly pleased with the results! Raia and I often have huge containers of things in the fridge, and you've never seen us go through one so quickly. This is quite possibly my favorite recipe out of all of them, which is saying a lot!

Cabbage Soup
The thought of cabbage in soup made me shudder, too, but I'd had such luck with the last recipe that I thought I'd just try it. Plus, I had a huge cabbage from my CSA and I didn't know what to do with it! It turned out to be quite yummy and nourishing, perfect for the sicky I was last week. I think the most important thing is to not put the cabbage in until the very end, and the texture is actually very nice!

Thai Spiced Pumpkin Soup
My christening of my blender, just the other day! I don't have any of this Thai red curry paste, but I put in chilli paste, chilli powder, and paprika-seasoned salt instead, and I thought it was extremely good. Raia and our friend Brett and I ate this along with apple-radish salad and spiced cider, and then we really knew that fall was here!

Well, today I was cooking from imagination, but my next plan is Pepita Salad. 'Tis the season! What are you guys cooking these days?

Book

I decided to write a book, mostly for therapeutic reasons, but maybe one day it'll be a book.
Much love

A Peek Into the Slinning/Panagidis Residence or Need to Take Pictures of the Ever So Tidy Room

My bedroom













My desk

Our love for Venn-diagrams

Shane has inspired us to utilize venn-diagrams as a tool to analyze our social reality. I thought it might be stimulating to get a debate going on the venn-diagrams presented in this post. Response to the following questions would be highly appreciated (as a comment or even a whole blog post):

(a) Which of these venn-diagrams can you best relate to your own life?

(b) In the diagram you chose in (a), what does A, B, possibly C represent? Are they people, emotions, thoughts, institutions etc.?

(c) In the venn-diagram you chose, what is happening in the overlapping area?

(d) Do you miss an alternative of mutually exclusive circles?

(or you can just write something else)

Have a good day cartoonish cute one and shane shane shane (like in the song "shane, shane, shane, shane is cool" my brother still sings this song pretty much every time I see him)!

Blog Activity

Hello friends, just showing a little sign of life here on the World and Other Issues.

LETS BUILD STRAW BALE HOUSES!

Ps, check out Knits'N'Bobs!

My new blog with Naomi!
(There is too much blood in my alcohol stream, remember?)

Click here to check it out. It's only up since yesterday, so no harsh critiques please, hehe.

Can I call you Joe?

how endearing!!!

For the Number Hungry

One of those posts that won't get any comments, because it's not about fashion. Except, wait, no, OMG! Sofie! Today I found the exact same H&M skirt that you got on Colaba Causeway on the way back from project week, that Barbara also had, the peachy colored one, at a thrift store in my neighborhood! It was amazing!

We could also discuss Sarah Palin's outfit at the debate last night, because what I really wanted to talk about was politics.












Check out the garish American flag pin. Ew.

Anyway, the debate last night, my mom and I agreed, was HILARIOUS, especially the part where Palin was like, "OMG, you love Israel? I love Israel too!" No, seriously. The exact quote was, "I'm so encouraged to hear that you love Israel too." Kumbayah, my lord, kumbayah. Unfortunately, she didn't sound quite as dumb as I had hoped, and her blatant untruths make good sound bytes, especially for those not poised at the lap top, madly Googling every exaggeration or outright lie.

This has to be short, but I'll leave you with this chart that my dad put together. Maybe these numbers are more eloquent than any argument I could ever make:

Musical Retreat

My new project brief for this term is to design a musical retreat in Glenluce, Dumfries & Galloway in the south of Scotland, on a site adjacent to the ruins of the old Glenluce Abbey.
It is meant to be a building which offers a "sanctuary" for twelve young musicians and three resident musicians who run the retreat. Seeing as the main aspect of third year is to become aware of environmentally friendly strategies, the site for the retreat is very remote and does not have access to any electricity grid, meaning it needs to be completely self sustaining in terms of heating, lighting, ventilation etc. A pretty "daunting task" as my tutors like to call it, but very interesting and completely in tune with my aspirations as an architect! Of course, also, telling me to design a musical retreat is like sticking a big, fat lollypop into my mouth, seeing as i once was an aspiring violinist (hehe) who used to go to orchestra camps in the summer time. I should pick it up again, considering my knowledge of the violin is pretty much limited to the level of this:


Also, the fact that I did my summer project on sounds is quite appropriate!
I LOVE THIS BRIEF!

In school we are underway with a lecture series with the title "retreat", looking at monasteries, churches etc, and also spas, hotels and the like. Today's lecture was on the "retreat as workspace", and we did a little historic tour of the working spaces of Le Corbusier, Heidegger and George Bernard Shaw. So far, it seems that a huge part of "retreating" is spending time in a pretty austere environment - monasteries and little huts in the mountains. I am quite interested in hearing your thoughts on retreat!
Also, the activities that happen in this building give a lot of meaning to the theme of retreat, seeing as the making and playing of music is definitely quite a sanctuary in its own right.

MANY challenges are coming my way though, in terms of technical strategies for a completely self sustaining building. I intend to start the project with the environmental issues safely planted in my head before i dive into the pool of options of forms and "stylistic language". I was thinking maybe you guys have some keen opinions on sustainability and building that you might want to share with me!

I'll end this post with a picture from one of my favorite buildings, the Mortensrud Church in Oslo by Jensen and Skodvin. Designed within a very strict budget, but so beautiful! This will definitely be one of my major inspirations for this project:


Please share your thoughts on a Sustainable Retreat!