Michele Roohani

“It’s so beautifully arranged on the plate � you know someone’s fingers have been all over it.” Julia Child

i just saw the remake of the very interesting german movie, Mostly Martha; the american version is called No reservations. suffices to say that i didn’t run to the nearest restaurant to eat like i did after i saw Babette’s feast or the Big night or Like water for chocolate. if you decide to see any of these films, make sure that either you have a reservation at a good restaurant or that you have great food at home to have; you will suffer otherwise. anybody interested in french culinary history shouldn’t miss Vatel.

if you have ever looked for a medieval recipe as my friend jean claude has done you would know that cookbooks are not new to human history. he introduced me to Fran�ois Pierre (de) La Varenne.

M.K.Fisher’s “the art of eating” stays my favorite book about food; reading it would help to understand, savor, appreciate and enjoy good food. blasted Mc Donald’s…

Colours of Life
“Cherry red tomatoes cascade
From the hanging baskets,
Bunches of feathery leaves show
The hiding places of orange carrots,
Yellow courgettes lurk beneath
Dinner-plate sized foliage,
Runner beans clamber into the apple tree,
The green pods dangling just out of reach,
Blueberries � do they count � swell
To ripeness beside blue-flowered borage,
Brambles skulk in the hedge, the berries
Plump with indigo coloured juice,
In the glasshouse, violet blossoms
Change slowly to purple aubergines.

I am growing a rainbow in my garden,
And I can eat it.”Pauline Morgan

they say: “While Beethoven wrote seven concertos, Brahms four and Bach, Haydn, Handel and Mozart at most a few dozen, Vivaldi wrote over 500 (and more are being uncovered each year)! When you’re that prolific, some recycling and lapsing into formula is inevitable.” the funnier version would be that Vivaldi didn’t write hundreds of concerti but only one concerto hundreds of times! i fell in love with Baroque violin virtuoso, Giuliano Carmignola, a few years back; it was astonishing to hear Vivaldi’s over-exposed, over-played (ad nauseam) “Four Seasons” in a different way: the presto of summer has never been this fast combined with some feverish allegro sections.

listen to some of his music, or even better watch the short video clip - he’s amazing; Carmignola has mostly played with the Venice Baroque Orchestra using their period-instruments which makes the performance sound the way that the old Venetian, Vivaldi, would have imagined, composed and conducted it…

unfortunately, the above images are not mine - i tried to catch his southern california concert a couple of years ago but he stood us up! got sick on the plane from Venice or got scared of our governor.

“Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option.”

plumb cherries preferably in a martini glass, by the pool, summer breeze, a good book, beautiful music, the sun that sets, the small happiness of waiting for some good friends to share your dinner with, exhilarating conversations, good memories recalled, watching life unwind in front of your eyes.

i believe that happiness comes in small packets (quanta); the background noise of our every day routine is broken by these modest moments of simple pleasures.

“I will plant my hands in the garden
I will grow I know I know I know
and swallows will lay eggs
in the hollow of my ink-stained hands.

I shall wear
a pair of twin cherries as earrings
and I shall put dahlia petals on my finger-nails”

“another birth” by Forough Farrokhzad

“ Je planterai mes mains dans le jardin
Je pousserai, je le sais, je le sais, je le sais…
Et les hirondelles pondront
Dans le creux violac� de mes doigts.

A mes oreilles je pendrai des boucles
Faites de cerises jumelles
Et je collerai sur mes ongles des p�tales de dahlias.”

Emile Cioran (who later repudiated his fascist past) wrote in his book trouble with being born that “Man is a robot with defects”. Westwood, california, was invaded last week by “Robots in Disguise”; five movie theaters (yes i said five) in westwood were getting ready at 9:00 am to welcome the Transformers that night. i looked up from my newspaper in a coffee shop and started to smile seeing the huge robot across the street from me.

i’ve always had a soft spot for robots, friendly or not - i still remember doctor smith bickering with the robot in the “Lost in Space” episodes. being a trekkie (and in love with Spock for my entire 5th and 6th grade), Data has been on top of the list but who can forget the Borg?

i took some pictures in a hurry before they could disappear - which they did the very next day after a night of red carpet fun. only in hollywood…

“Let’s start with the three fundamental Rules of Robotics…. We have: one, a robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. Two, a robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. And three, a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.”

ISAAC ASIMOV, Astounding Science Fiction, Mar. 1942