Sunday, 1 September 2024

Leisure

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.



Written by William H. Davies


Rupert Aker - artist

The Domestic Goblin first heard about Rupert Aker (a Cotswold-based landscape painter) in April 2024 when she watched a YouTube video by Nicholas Burden aka Nicolas Fairford, talking about a lovely painting he had commissioned and was hanging majestically in his home.

Below are some examples of the colours Rupert uses in his impressionist paintings and the depth and texture he creates by painting oils with a palette knife.


Blockley



Cheltenham



The City of London from Hampstead Heath 




The City from Hampstead Heath 




Thatcher Rock, Torbay


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https://rupertaker.art/


Butter

Rika has dinner with Reiko and Ryosuke

~ Bagna Cauda served with a plentiful variety of steamed winter vegetables and a rich anchovy sauce.

~ Thinly cut slices of warmed salt pork.

~ Tofu and leek gratin.

~ Rice cooked in an earthenware pot with vegetables and chopped oysters.

~ Miso soup.

~ Dessert: homemade candied chestnuts; chiffon cake baked with amazakeband rice flour; and cups of gingery chai.



Victim statements

~ I've been lonely so long that if I can find a woman to take care of me when I'm old, I don't really care how ugly she is.

~ I'm not bothered about what she's like, so long as she' the domestic type who'll make me dinner.

~ She might be fat, but she's a real cosseted princess type. There's something unworldly Nd untouched about her.



Le Salon de Miyuko

~ A women-only cooking school set up by Miyuko Sasazuka in the affluent Nishi-Azabu district of Tokyo with fees starting from 15,000 yen per lesson.

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~ In principle, all women should give themselves permission to demand good treatment.

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~ P.S. I'm really curious about the recipe for the beef stew that you made for Mr Yamamura. I'd be delighted if you'd share it with me.

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~ I learned from my late father that women should show generosity towards everyone. But there were two things that I simply cannot tolerate: feminists and margarine.

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~ Add Echire butter and soy sauce to freshly cooked rice. Cool butter and warm rice. 

~ It tastes like you're falling.

~ It was a taste that could only be described as golden.

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Tarako Pasta

~ Spaghetti with Calpis butter, pollock roe and shiso leaves.

~ Fish roe and butter makes for a truly exquisite pairing!

~ The blend of pink and fresh green puts me in mind of a countryside field in April.

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Traditional izakaya dishes 

~ Braised burdock root
~ Edamame 
~ Atka mackerel
~ Tofu simmered in dashi

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New Years Day food served in Tokyo Detention House

~ Ozoni soup
~ Red and white manju
~ Tiered bento box containing a selection of osechi
~ Deep-fried chicken
~ Nishime
~ Pork kakuni
~ Grilled fish
~ Simmered prawns
~ Kazunoko
~ Yokan
~ Datemaki
~ Pink and white kamaboko
~ Kuri-kinton
~ Kuromame
~ Fruit
~ Pure white rice 

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Traditional dishes particular to the Niigata region 

~ Noppe (a simmered vegetable stew made with ratovabd shitake).

~ Hizunumasu (pickled cartilage from the salmon's head).

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Dinner for One at Joel Robuchon 

~ Amuse bouche of lemon rind jelly
~ Bread and butter
~ Chilled avocado and snow crab topped with caviar and pomegranate seeds
~ Grilled foie gras accompanied by dried persimmons sauteed in butter
~ Flounder in white lemony sauce
~ Caramelised pork served with truffles and silky corn mash plus a popping candy surprise
~ Dessert: an Impressionist painting composed of fig confit and mascarpone, cakes, and coffee

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Soup for indigestion made by Reiko

~ Scallions, daikon, goji berries and ginger.

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Japanese bistro currently in vogue on the main Kagurazaka district

Healthy meals that use plenty of organic vegetables: 
~ Tofu caprese
~ Root vegetable ratatouille 
~ Brown rice paella with basket clams

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Teppanyaki at Miyazaki

~ Water shield
~ White asparagus spears in white sauce 
~ A selection of grilled vegetables
Aged sirloin steak 
~ Rice cooked in garlic butter and the leftover meat juices
~ Dessert: caramelised apple with ice-cream 

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Ramen restaurant on Yasukuni-dori in Shinjuku

Salt butter ramen with harigane noodles to be consumed:
~ Immediately after having sex
~ At three or four in the morning 
~ The colder the weather the better
~ Plenty of butter

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Quatre quarts / pound cake

150g egg
150g flour
150g butter
150g granulated sugar

Optional: 
Zest of organic Japan-grown lemon
Vanilla essence
Glaze finished product with rum

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Kajii's recommendations for restaurants and food to try in Niigata (Snow Country)

~ Praline cake eaten at festivities and gatherings
~ Raisin and buttercream swirl pastries 
~ Le Lecturer yokan
~ Butter from Sado Island
~ Kenshin junmai ginjo sake
~ Buttery waffles at the chain of restaurants owned by Kaji's local yoghurt factory 
~ The place in the old town serving a bowl of rice and topped with a large cutlet
~ The set meal served on a tray in the restaurant that specialised in rice cooked on a traditional stove 

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Akiyama's Dairy Farm

The milk tasted like sunlight spreading out across the tongue.

Yoghurt waffle with whipped butter.

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Masako cooks sekihan 

Red rice and cream stew.

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Macaroni gratin.

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Madame's cookery school

~ Soupe de poisson
~ Carrot, onion and cumin pie
~ Lamb with orange
~ Strawberry mousse

~ Crepe Suzette
~ Sea urchin with beurre blanc sauce

~ White asparagus in a hollandaise sauce.

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~ Roast turkey stuffed with giblets, chestnuts, pine nuts and mochi rice.

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* Information taken from the book 'Butter' written by Asako Yuzuki *