http://www.saltshaker.net Casting a little flavor (and a few aspersions) on the world of food, drink, and life Sun, 11 May 2008 14:34:22 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en  To do justice to the figure of Kafka in its purity and its peculiar beauty one must never lose sight of one thing: it is the purity and beauty of a failure." - Walter Benjamin, theologian, essayist Buenos Aires - There's no question that much of what Franz Kafka wrote had a ... http://www.saltshaker.net/20080511/description-of-a-struggle  [America's] first settlers were emigrants from different European nations, and of diversified professions of religion, retiring from governmental persecutions of the old world, and meeting in the new, not as enemies, but as brothers. The wants which necessarily accompany the cultivation of a wilderness, produced among them a state of ... http://www.saltshaker.net/20080508/fall-back  Everybody has a plan to save the Middle East. That guy with the bumper sticker does. Most of your friends do. Neocons have a plan. Peaceniks have a plan. Likudniks have a plan. The Bush Administration certainly thinks it has one, and we’re told the Democrats are working on theirs. ... http://www.saltshaker.net/20080507/crisis-schmeisis  A waiter arrived with a tray of falafel, the one item on the menu that didn’t taste as if it had been scraped off the wick of Aladdin’s lamp." - Tom Robbins, skinny legs and all Buenos Aires - Continuing on my educational journey about one cuisine or another or method of ... http://www.saltshaker.net/20080504/how-to-roll-a-falafel-and-other-stories  When I am an old woman I shall wear purple With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me. And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter. I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired And gobble up ... http://www.saltshaker.net/20080430/red-hats-at-night  ...born in a mansion and died in a shack..." - from A Fierce Green Fire by Marybeth Lorbiecki Buenos Aires - I've been to the barrio of Barracas (literally "shacks") before, but always with a particular destination in mind. A friend suggested we take a real wander through the neighborhood - perhaps ... http://www.saltshaker.net/20080427/barrio-of-change  One could argue that these [today's] 'plagues' are fundamentally different than the ones in the Passover story because they can be seen as humankind's own creations and not sent by God. - Dan Weiss, Only 10 plagues? Early Egyptians had it easy Buenos Aires - Most Jewish kids I knew when I ... http://www.saltshaker.net/20080426/why-is-this-night  The government of Swaziland, one of Africa's poorest and most Aids-ridden countries, has defended plans to spend nearly $2,5-million on celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of independence. Opposition deputies have called for the celebrations, which will also mark King Mswati III's 40th birthday, to be scrapped or scaled down ... http://www.saltshaker.net/20080423/fire-eyes