WHO IS THIS GUY CALLED ARIEL?

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Friday, August 25, 2006

ARIEL'S FAMILY REUNION IN SEVILLE, PART TWO

Once one leaves the mountainous area of Granada Province, the landscape becomes seriously boring; a vast undulating plain, with only an occasional low peak breaking the hazy skyline. At this time of year, the cereals, and other crops have been harvested, and all around are wide expanses of bare, tilled earth – and of course, the myriad olive trees, marching with military precision over the land. The fields of un-harvested sunflowers present an oddly moving sight: row upon row of stiff stalks... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

ARIEL'S FAMILY REUNION IN SEVILLE, PART ONE

Once more, thank you all for reading me, and posting comments, while Lady Ariela and I were in Seville. Now, as dear old Holmes was wont to say “ The game is afoot, Watson! Hand me my Bradshaw! ” ( What? Oh, yeah … right … a ‘ Bradshaw ’ was a book of railway timetables, published monthly in Holmes’s time. Okay? ) There was a palpable air of anticipation and excitement as Lady Ariela and I rose from our bed for our trip to Seville, at ten minutes to the crack of dawn. Much to do; the final bits... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, August 21, 2006

A BIT MORE ARIEL'S STUFF, AND...YIPEEE! OFF TO SEVILLE AT DAWN TOMORROW

If I failed to acknowledge anyone’s comments, please forgive me; you know that they are very much appreciated, don’t you? And due to that thing called Life ( The Curse Of The Blogging Classes ) I haven’t been reading you all as much as I want to. However, manaña. A little footnote to that gazpacho recipe that I posted the other day: to turn it into a spicy dip, add some chilli powder to it. It’s best if it’s made the day before serving. Later on I’ll post a recipe for a much thicker version of... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

HOW TO BE A GREAT CHEAPSKATE COOK, WITHOUT REALLY TRYING. TORTILLA/OLIVES

Bit fragile today, 'cos we were still in town at 3a.m., eating churros and chocolate; and that after a lot of other gorgin' an' swillin'. Fiesta times, see? Got home about 4 o'clock. SPANISH TORTILLA, AND BLACK OLIVES. As I noted in my last post on Spanish recipes, Spanish tortilla is nothing like the South American variety, but is a sort of thick omelette. It is excellent for events like barbecues, picnics etc, and as it’s very filling, it useful to have on hand for when those Hunnish hordes of... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, August 19, 2006

HOW TO BE A GREAT CHEAPSKATE COOK, WITHOUT REALLY TRYING. MIXED VEGETABLES

I seem to have been on the go non-stop lately, and at times my feet have hardly touched the ground. Got a busy day today too, and of course, there's another fiesta in town; the last one this year until Feria de Navidad: Christmas. Don't time fly, eh? Last week it was 37 in the shade; this week it's 12 to 17. Autumn's come in a bang all right! I hope you enjoy this dish. Now, this is an a ancient Spanish dish, dating back to … well, last summer when I first started cooking it: it’s called... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

GONNA BE OUT AN' ABOUT A LOT TODAY, SO TRY ANOTHER BIT OF ARIEL'S STUFF

NIGHT IN THE CITY I muse in my window, gazing out over city sprawl stretching away to earth’s end and maybe – who knows? – beyond. Maybe it only ends at God’s feet. No stars in the city night: maybe they all went out, and nobody noticed. Maybe they all went out for coffee and a Danish at Starbucks. Far away, the vast crow black backdrop of office blocks slashes the neon-stained sky like the frontier wall of some unknown land. They’re a velvet black, yet pierced and stabbed and punctured all over... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

I HOPE ALL MY BLOGIT FRIENDS DON'T THINK ME DISCOURTEOUS!

I do apologise for not having replied to all your nice comments. In 1945, the mayor of Hiroshima is alleged to have said " What the **** was that?" and, in 1865, a reporter is alleged to have asked Mrs Lincoln " Yes, but apart from that, Mrs Lincoln, did you enjoy the play?" And after Waterloo, Napoleon is alleged to have said " Ah! Merde!" Well, a question to match those -- no, let's not beat about the bush ( or Bush ) here -- is the one that goes " So, Ariel, what do you do with yourself all... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

MORE ARIEL'S STUFF. WHAT MADE ME YOUR ENEMY?

What made me your enemy? What made my wife your foe? Why do you hate my daughter? Why would you slay my son? It was not I who took your land: nor your wife by my wife slain: my daughter hates not yours: my son would be your friend. For our God is a god of love: but your god is a god of hate. I hold your children precious: to you my children are pawns. If my God gave me the means, I would make your desert bloom: while you would turn my land and home into a charnel house. No god could look upon... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, August 14, 2006

HOW TO BE A GREAT CHEAPSKATE COOK WITHOUT REALLY TRYING#3 SALADS

I have strong tastes in food, and Lady Ariela often complains at my going a bit heavy with the herbs, although, I must say, nobody else ever has, but maybe they’re too polite to complain. Well, I mean, one would hardly go to a friend’s house for meal, take a mouthful of food, and with an appropriately disgusted expression, blurt out “ Garrrrh! What the hell kinda herb is this, eh? It’s horrible!” Some people would though: like this person … I read some years ago that a woman had a dinner party,... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

THIS REPOST OF A BIT OF ARIEL'S STUFF IS AS TIMELY AS WHEN I FIRST WROTE IT

Thoughts On Seeing A Photograph Of Muslim Children At Prayer. The photograph was placed by the editor at the foot of my second article on Islamist terrorism in a local magazine, which aroused some hostile comment; and of course, accusations of racism for my having dared to criticise Islam. Look at the eager, trusting faces of those beautiful, innocent Muslim children at prayer at the foot of my article on Muslim fundamentalism in the August edition of this magazine. Look at their faces: and feel... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, August 11, 2006

HOW TO BE A CHEAPSKATE COOK WITHOUT REALLY TRYIN' NUMBER TWO

In a previous post ( last year ) I gave some advice as to what to do with a glut of tomatoes, which one usually has at this time of year. Put the tomatoes into boiling water for about two minutes, and the skins will peel of easily, then liquidise and freeze themThey do freeze well. We did 75 lbs of the damned things last year, and we’ve recently used the last of them! You’ll probably find it best to freeze the pulp in smallish square blocks, say about 6X6 inches and an inch thick. ( You can... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

HOW TO BE A GREAT CHEAPSKATE COOK WITHOUT REALLY TRYING ( Or training!!)

My darned ISP has been utterly useless lately! Whether it’s that, or the power being so low, I just don’t know. I mean, some nights one has to get a torch to see if the lights are on. So, if I disappear now and then, it’s not ‘cos I’ve joined.Dave in that flowery dell of his, it’s just esta España! In response to a huge demand from … well … er, two fellow bloggers, here are a couple of traditional Spanish recipes. Like all the others that I’ve posted, ( last year ) they use few, cheap... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, August 8, 2006

WOW! THIS ARIEL'S STUFF IS REAL COOL BEANERS! YOU JUST GOTTA TRY IT!

First of all, many thanks for all your comments. Life has intruded so much lately that I’ve hardly looked at my computer: like they say “ Life is the curse of the blogging classes!”. One of the most appealing things for me about living in Spain is the Spanish attitude to health and safety, and rules and regulations in general. We Britons have developed – or rather have had instilled in us – a slavish adherence to rules, however absurd they may be. If we don’t obey implicitly all those sensible... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, August 6, 2006

NAZISM IS ALIVE AND KICKING IN SAADS'S POST. PART TWO

Keywords. On the Partition of India in 1947, at least 1.5 million people were murdered in the resulting bloodbath. ( saads is a Pakistani. ) I believe that approximately half of these ( 750,000 people ) were Hindus, Sikhs and other non-Muslims slaughtered by saads’s fellow Pakistani Muslims. He vehemently disputes these figures ( on what grounds he doesn’t explain ) maintaining that 70% of the victims were Pakistanis killed by Hindus and other non-Muslims. Call me a dummy, but doesn’t this mean... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, August 5, 2006

NAZISM IS ALIVE AND KICKING, AND LIVING IN SAADS'S BLOG

Keywords. Un-typically for me, I have recently delivered a scathing personal attack on a fellow blogger: saads, for the rabid anti-Semitism, and anti western bias in his blogs. I am always prepared to let my words stand for all to see, and to judge, but for reasons of his own, saads has deleted all comments on his blog. He states that all are welcome to post their own pieces commenting upon his ( very kind of you, saads. ) This is precisely what I do here, and in a further post. But, despicable... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, August 4, 2006

APART FROM A REPOST, DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS IS. JUST ARIEL'S STUFF I GUESS

TOUGH LOVE It’s tough, loving you my love, for sometimes you’re as edgy and spiteful and mean as a junkyard bitch on a tether; all snarling teeth and gleaming claws, and it’s tough not to fight back at those times. I’m a word man, see, and I know words that flay like a Tsarist knout; words that scald and burn; napalm words that stick to your brain and won’t come off. Forever. You try to brush them off, and they stick to your hands and burn you to the bone and beyond. It’s tough not to hurl those... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, August 3, 2006

TASTES GOOD, DOES YOU GOOD. NO KNOWN SIDE-EFFECTS. ARIEL'S STUFF. TRY IT

THE COLONEL’S JOURNAL PART ONE. Being the tongue-in-cheek diary of a rather irascible and ( at least, as far as his tall tales go ) somewhat Munchausen-like, peppery English colonel, now resident in Spain, along with his good lady wife, the Memsahib, as he calls her. At least, I think it’s tongue in cheek! Woke up with pounding head this a.m. Thought for one moment I was back in Rhodesia, hearing the drums thudding away like mad. ( n.b. must get used to calling the damned place Zimbabwe. )... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, August 2, 2006

IT'S 48 DEGREES HOT! WE GOT VISITORS DUE, TRY THIS BIT OF ARIEL'S STUFF

DOWN THERE ON THE COSTAS. Not for me the costas; those hideous concrete labyrinths; those Babels of foreign tongues, where the briny sea air is ubiquitously redolent of frying fish and chips, and loud with children’s shrieks. Not for me those lands of black socks with sandals; of hideous, obscene tee shirts and lurid shorts above nasty little pink legs; sunset pink legs, like the limbs of the prawns that they snarf from cracked supermarket plates. Down there on the costas, those ghost pale... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, August 1, 2006

OH! THE INEFFABLE JOYS OF BEING AN EXTRANJERO JUBILADO IN SPAIN!!!

Oh, dear! Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear! When will it all end? Will there never be a moment’s respite from this endless fiesta, feria and party-going? I mean being a jubilado means you’re s’posed to take it easy, doesn’t it? It’s a lovely word, jubilado, isn’t it? One can picture old dudes and dudesses by the thousand running out into the streets ( or zimmering, if appropriate ): crying, “ Jubilation! I’m retired at last!” Come to think of it, wouldn’t that make a wonderful hot-gospellin’ hymn? I... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, July 30, 2006

ARIEL'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE IN A SPANISH HOSPITAL. PART 4. ANGIOGRAM

Keywords, you’ll find lots of info about the procedures on the net. So … we left me at the end of the last part of this heart-warming load of old codswallop lying like an graven effigy on my own sarcophagus, waiting for the fun to begin: the angiogram. “ Herein lieth ye noble parfit gentle knight, Sir Ariel de Andalucia, righte valiant Crusader in ye Cause of Truthe and Reasonne, and late Gentleman Of The Chamber to his Majesty King Charles III, whom God preserve.” I must say that I just love... Sign in to see full entry.

About this Blog

Fiction, poetry, articles and a whole lot of other Ariel's stuff ; musings and ponderings ; they're all here, and i hope you'll find something here that you like. But I have a deeper purpose in mind. See, reading the papers and watching TV, it's so easy to think that the whole world's motivated by racial and religious hatreds of various kinds. Well most of us aren't, are we? We ordinary people are moved by love and compassion for our fellow humans ; and respect and tolerance for their differences. It's true that all that it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing, so we who are motivated by love have a duty speak out against the evils of the world ; not to be ashamed of our histories, nor embarrassed about being and saying clearly what we are and what we believe. If we don't learn to love each other, we'll perish. Although I am an atheist, my guiding principle is, and always has been, Christ's adjuration to " Love thy neighbour as thyself"

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