Pipas

Last days of August + ajovision.

30 Aug 2008 06:00 am4

  greetings from hot hot happy madrid! how’s the end of summer treating you? are you listening to wonderful, melancholy augustine airliner on repeat like i have? have you found it as difficult as me to place yourself in front of a computer to do anything? even though there were several post ideas floating around the house in the last few days, germinating, growing a bit under this sun. truth be told i’ve been here all week pretty much doing nothing, simply fighting the sweat with lots of cold vinegary soups (cf. gazpacho, ajoblanco*), watching movies half-way (mr arkadin, so concentrated yet oil-n-vinegary, even half of it will do for the time being. btw the real, bass-baritone Orson would love to live in Avila, and doesn’t everyone feel like that too, from time to time?), walking and, goofily, even running through the park, every other day, but that’s more than ever. in three weeks i’m doing a run around battersea park in london - this year’s tree-athlon.. anyone else doing it? first 5k fever, you bet! i’m in a team called ‘cedars forever’, got to sponsor some of my favorite trees (cedars of lebanon) and so far have raised 1£ gracias victor! toward the seedlings. if only i were inventive enough to write a song for the cause.. a pipas running-concept album? hey, you never know. three more weeks to go.. you gotta start somewhere. in the official cedars forever training mix? chantal goya, the lodger, land of ill earthquakes, soon some wei wei, notre dame, ride, etc, and zeebahtronic’s summer 07 mix (no titles but all undiluted GOOD STUFF! specially that song about going to the beach in new york. is that out yet?) xolupe

*a basic ajoblanco recipe: ca. 100 g peeled unsalted almonds, crushed/mashed in a mortar or in a blender with 2 cloves and garlic sprinkled with salt. add ca. 100 g white bread [from a day old baguette is good, but other stuff works too] that’s been slightly moistened with water. keep on mashing. drizzle in about the same amount of olive oil and mix til you get a paste that looks and feels a bit like mayonnaise, and then drizzle in at least a tbsp sherry vinegar (i am partial to this so it’s usually more than. at least 2-3). pour this mixture into a large bowl and blend with a drizzle of ice-cold water, little by little, not too much at once, until the consistency of single-cream is achieved. adjust vinegar/salt to your liking. can even adjust the garlic, needless to say.. ajoblanco should be creamy and pungent all at once. chill. serve with white grapes, if you feel like it..

tagged with: august airliner heat madrid ajoblanco