SaltShaker

 If thou tastest a crust of bread, thou tastest all the stars and all the heavens.”
- Robert Browning, poet
As always, playing around with new breads.

Nothing quite like good pumpernickel rye. Fairly classic recipe with a couple of minor adjustments:
1⅛ to 1¼ cups warm water
25 grams fresh yeast
1½ tablespoons corn oil
⅓ cup molasses
2 teaspoons salt
1½ cups [...]

 Shellfish are the prime cause of the decline of morals and the adaptation of an extravagant lifestyle. Indeed of the whole realm of Nature the sea is in many ways the most harmful to the stomach, with its great variety of dishes and tasty fish.”
- Pliny the Elder
It was the age of Pisces, not Aquarius, [...]

 If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment.”
- Henry David Thoreau
Really, disappointing is not the correct word, as in order to be disappointed, you must have had a level of expectation which exceeded the outcome. And, in the case of these two mini-reviews, I had no particular expectations [...]

 But, my dear sirs, when peace does come, you may call on me for any thing. Then will I share with you the last cracker, and watch with you to shield your homes and families against danger from every quarter.”
- General William Tecumseh Sherman
Is there really anyone out there who doesn’t snack on crackers of [...]

 Yet traditional Chilean food, although simple, has a medley of flavors, influenced by the vast diversity of plant foods and products that are naturally available. And this is all thanks to it’s varying landscape and the cultures of the native Chileans, most prominently, the Mapuches.”
Danielle E. Alvarez, Lonely Planet
While most of the world spent last [...]

 Ambivalence dominates the Argentines’ self-identity. Depending on the political climate of the times and the dominant ideological orientations, residents of this country oscillate between an identity stressing commonalities with other Latin-American nations; a shared history of four centuries of Spanish rule; and an identity highlighting the uniqueness of this nation, an alleged Europeanized cosmopolitan national [...]

 I desire a monarch for our state; but I desire one worthy of the honor which he would receive in commanding us; that is to say, I wish a greater man than Prince John of Portugal ; and I wish a monarch who would rule us only.”
- Juan Martín de Pueyrredón, Supreme Director, in a [...]

 Who has given the wind wisdom,
Lent the air a tongue so lightsome,
Ready speech to the yard’s rowan,
And the small birds’ tender bevy?”
(from All Seemed to Be Speaking, Speaking, by Johan Ludvig Runeberg, translated by C.E. Tallquist)
One of the things I like about our historical themes is that I get to learn little tidbits about various [...]