The Animal I Keep in the Cage of My Bones

by Leah Falk

For the body

Alan Turing, age 16

is a machine, sharing its eyes
with the horse and the cinemascope,
blood with the gas engine, fountain pen.
What have I in common
with other living things? The moment
a dinosaur’s jaw cracked
in two — one half snapping birdlike,
the other ground to powder. We have
that. We have the objects in this room
where a billion years have come
and laid down on the tile, seeping
out the screen door and down the garden
drain. This parlor: dresser scarf — ashtray —
good light for reading — easy chairs
with ribbing. Moonstone bust of a mother,
a child rising out of her, mountain
from slip-strike. Although it hurts me, out
of a living line, out of stone or meat, I choose
myself again, again that is one of me, here
where my carriage grew vertical, where my fists
forgot the heavy ground. But your body, wedge,
remembered. Cartridge leaking color.
On the year’s white page, parting
black from un-black. I don’t feel much
like writing more today.

Portuguese cuisine may be the most influential cuisine on the planet

From BBC Travel

When 16th-Century Portuguese came to Japan, they brought a special dish with them. Today, in Japan, it’s called tempura and has been a staple of the country’s cuisine ever since.

 In 1543, a Chinese ship with three Portuguese sailors on board was headed to Macau, but was swept off course and ended up on the Japanese island of Tanegashima. Antonio da Mota, Francisco Zeimoto and Antonio Peixoto – the first Europeans to ever step on Japanese soil – were deemed ‘southern barbarians’ by the locals because of the direction from which they came and their ‘unusual’, non-Japanese features. The Japanese were in the middle of a civil war and eventually began trading with the Portuguese, in general, for guns. And thus began a Portuguese trading post in Japan, starting with firearms and then other items such as soap, tobacco, wool and even recipes.

The Portuguese remained in Japan until 1639, when they were banished because the ruling shogun Iemitsu believed Christianity was a threat to Japanese society. As their ships sailed away for the final time, the Portuguese left an indelible mark on the island: a battered and fried green bean recipe called peixinhos da horta. Today, in Japan, it’s called tempura and has been a staple of the country’s cuisine ever since.

However, peixinhos da horta was only one of many dishes the Portuguese inspired around the world. In fact, Portuguese cuisine, still heavily overshadowed by the cuisines of Italy, Spain and France, may be the most influential cuisine on the planet.

When the Portuguese turned up in Goa, India, where they stayed until 1961, they cooked a garlicky, wine-spiked pork dish called carne de vinha d’alhos, which was adopted by locals to become vindaloo, one of the most popular Indian dishes today. In Malaysia, several staples, including the spicy stew debal, hail from Portuguese traders of centuries past. Egg tarts in Macao and southern China are direct descendants to the egg tarts found in Lisbon bakeries. And Brazil’s national dish, feijoada, a stew with beans and pork, has its origins in the northern Portuguese region of Minho; today, you can find variations of it everywhere the Portuguese have sailed, including Goa, Mozambique, Angola, Macau and Cape Verde.

Peixinhos da horta were often eaten during Lent or Ember days (the word ‘tempura’ comes from the Latin word tempora, a term referring to these times of fasting), when the church dictated that Catholics go meatless.

Perhaps not constricted by tradition, the Japanese lightened the batter and changed up the fillings. Today, everything from shrimp to sweet potatoes to shitake mushrooms is turned into tempura.

Abril!

"Aquele que na hora da vitória
respeitou o vencido
Aquele que deu tudo e não pediu a paga

Aquele que na hora da ganância
Perdeu o apetite
Aquele que amou os outros e por isso
Não colaborou com a sua ignorância ou vício
Aquele que foi «Fiel à palavra dada à ideia tida»
como antes dele mas também por ele Pessoa disse"

Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, dedicado a Salgueiro Maia

Feliz Dia da Terra 2020

Com esta obra belíssima da nossa Vanessa Barragão :)

Highway 1

AUTOESTRADA DA COSTA DO PACÍFICO, CALIFÓRNIA – “Às vezes precisamos de sair da estrada para apreciar a beleza da Autoestrada da Costa do Pacífico. Já percorri esta estrada inúmeras vezes pela sua vista imbatível. Como não existem lugares para estacionar, pedi a um amigo para me deixar aqui. Depois do pôr do sol, a névoa marinha fundiu-se rapidamente com o penhasco, e tive a sorte de captar esta imagem. Adoro a Califórnia!”

Fotografia de Jiawei L., 2019 National Geographic Travel Photo Contest

Frank Lloyd Wright

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