Breathing Curiosity
“Se conducen bien las aguas; pero cuando la cañería se rompe, no hay manera de encauzarlas. Igual ocurre con las masas. Es peligroso el movilizarlas, porque nadie puede vaticinar adónde llegarán en definitiva”. -- Ortega y Gasset Enlace al libro en PDF Hijo de una familia de la alta burguesía, creció en un entorno marcado… Continue reading José Ortega y Gasset *V 9 1883 / La Vida Que Das
Soaking — not absorbing (Chapter 6 — on the origin of spices)
To employ a spice is to ignore nature's admonishments. We humans intentionally gather plants with high concentrations of defensive chemicals or warning aromas and add them to our food, typically in small doses. The Chemicals associated with the bitter tastes of dandelions and dill, for example, are poisons. The fragrant aromas of garlic, mint, thyme,… Continue reading Creativity amidst destruction
Tinder Box, England, and “Delicious”, by Rob Dunn and Monica Sánchez
Once upon a time we ate raw, then we cooked. Later on we began adding herbs, spices, parts of flowers, seeds, and other tiny parts of nature to our food. Our palate and our knowledge expanded as a result. It is this expansion and refinement on basic products that made us the demanding and complex… Continue reading Deliciousness makes us human
The musician on stage is a hearing conglomerate. He has to listen to himself, perceive what he plays, and react to it. At the same time, he has to anticipate his playing and overlook the complete piece. Simultaneously, he plays for the listeners in the tenth or twenty-third row, and listens, as it were, with… Continue reading Listening while relaying a message
“Transcendent states are often desperately short-lived: a few moments late at night or at dusk; on a plane or train journey across wide open country. But we can, through certain ingredients (especially lavender, cardamom, turmeric, and cinnamon), access them a little more systematically and thereby loosen the grip of our insistent egos.”In “Thinking & Eating”,… Continue reading Prolonging Transcendental States
Thinking & Eating, Last Waltz of the Tyrants, Sapiens.
On a superficial view, we may seem to differ very widely from each other in our reasonings, and no less in our pleasures: but notwithstanding this difference, which I think to be rather apparent than real, it is probable that the standard both of reason and Taste is the same in all human creatures. For… Continue reading On Taste
Brooklyn Fare’s Kensington Blend, with bay leaf (no, this is not the rest of a drink; yes, I often allow a limited amount of water through, for that creates a very different palate experience) / “Wagnerism”, by Alex Ross
Around three in the afternoon, one hundred and thirty-eight years ago today, Dr. Friedrich Keppler established that the great master did not survive a heart attack. Friedrich Nietzsche completed the first part of his Thus Spoke Zarathustra in the “sacred hour of Wagner's death”. After reading the news in the papers the next morning, he… Continue reading February 13 1883
“Indubitable signs teach us that this globe had already undergone several complete changes, which have been in effect ends of the world; and I do not know what instinct it is which warns us that there will be still more of them.”Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826) in “The Physiology of Taste” (Meditation 10)
The seeds found in apples are bitter. Sounds like a natural defense against animals feasting on them. In addition, genetically, each seed will produce an apple tree which bears apples of a different variety. Naturally, each distinct variety would only exist as long as the lifespan of its tree of provenance. Source: “Botany of Desire”… Continue reading Apple Wisdom
Plantain (green banana) purée, marjoram, olive oil, black sesame seeds. A good morning is a warm meal for comfort in a hearty plantain purée; a noble joy to the palate and to the soul, reviving the memory of a wonderful Indonesian rain season; accompanied by the glance at a book that spells out who we… Continue reading A Good Morning is… that the Sun has not come up for nothing
Sila Blume 