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© Cirque Arlette Gruss

Aujourd'hui on est allés au cirque Arlette Gruss. Ça doitt bien faire 20 ans que je n'étais plus allé au cirque. Ce qui m'a le plus déplu, c'était les numéros de dressage d'animaux : ces derniers ont l'air de s'ennuyer ferme, en plus de se prendre régulièrement des coups de chambrière sur les fesses. Je veux bien reconnaître qu'il est probablement difficile d'apprendre à un éléphant à faire le beau, ou à un tigre de monter sur un tabouret, mais est-ce que ça vaut bien la peine de jouer de la carotte et du baton avec de pauvres bêtes (qui seraient probablement mieux dans leur habitat naturel) pendant des années juste pour ça ?

Sinon les numéros d'acrobates étaient impresionant (surtout pour moi qui ne me muscle essentiellement que les doigts sur le clavier), mais tout ça ressemblait surtout à de la danse/chorégraphie, et ce n'est pas non plus ma tasse de thé. Finalement, mes numéros préférés étaient ceux des clowns (dont un qui s'appelle Mathieu; ça n'a probablement rien à voir).

30.4: Määräaikaishuolto, kaikki hyvin, paitsi että äänimerkki ei toimi.

5.5: Mekaanikko sanoo, että äänitorvi on rikki. Varaosa pitää tilata.

11.5: Äänitorvi on vaihdettu uuteen.

12.5: Katsastuksessa: auto on hyväksytty, mutta pakoputki vuotaa, se pitää korjata ennen 22.5. Takaisin korjaamolle. Mekaanikko sanoo että pakoputki pitää vaihtaa, koska siinä on muutama reikä.

13.5: Pakoputken takaosa on vaihdettu, mutta keskiosa pitää tilata.

22.5: Varaosa ei vielä ole saatavilla. Pakoputki on korjattu väliaikaisesti purukumin avulla (oikeasti vanhan näppylähanskan ja letkunkiristimen avulla).

25.5: Pakoputki on vihdoinkin korjattu.

Adapted from the 15 Minutes Microwave Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

• 100g dark chocolate
• 90g butter
• 100g powdered sugar
• 3 eggs
• 70g flour
• 1 half tea spoon baking powder
• 0.9 dL milk

Tools

• salad bowl that goes to the microwave
• (wooden) spoon

Preparation

Put the chocolate broken in pieces into the salad bowl with the butter cut in cubes and 0.5 dL milk. Heat for 1 min in the microwave. Stir well until all the butter has melted. Add the sugar and stir. Add the eggs one by one, and stir well after each egg. Add 0.4 dL milk and stir. Add the flour in a small heap on the top of the preparation, add the baking powder on top of it and stir the preparation in small circles next to the heap of flour. The flour will be incoroporated bit by bit without making lumps. When most of the flour is incorporated, stir by making large circles again.

Put the salad bowl with the preparation in the microwave and cook at maximum power for 5 min at 900 W (or 6 1/2 min at 700 W). The cake is ready when a knife's blade stuck into the cake comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool down. You can alternatively turn the salad bowl upside-down on a plate to unmould it while it's still hot; the cake will come off easily.

Comments

• The cake is more compact than with less liquid, more like the original recipe, without cream
• The “rubberiness” of the cake depends on the water content in the dough.
• Have to try with the same amount of liquid (milk) and more flour, more baking powder, or longer cooking.
• Scientific cooking idea: controling the degree of cooking with an electrical conductivity meter?

Et hop, un micro-blog, parce que je le vaux bien (et le flux RSS correspondant). On verra bien si j'en ai vraiment l'usage. Ça intéresse quelqu'un, d'ailleurs ?

Les chips au vinaigre sont introuvables à Jyväskylä, et le diacétate de sodium qui permettrait d'en faire soi-même est tout aussi introuvable. Après presque trois ans, j'ai fini par trouver une solution de remplacement : saupoudrer des chips normales avec de l'acide tartrique en poudre, qui se trouve au supermarché. Ça ne donne pas un goût de vinaigre (ce n'est pas le bon acide), mais ça se laisse manger avec une Kilkenny.

Adapted from the 15 Minutes Microwave Chocolate Cake 3

Ingredients

• 100g dark chocolate
• 100g butter
• 100g powdered sugar
• 3 eggs
• 65g flour
• 2.2g (1 half tea spoon ?) baking powder

Tools

• salad bowl that goes to the microwave
• (wooden) spoon

Preparation

Put the chocolate broken in pieces into the salad bowl with the butter cut in cubes. Heat for 1 min in the microwave. Stir well until all the butter has melted. Add the sugar and stir. Add the eggs one by one, and stir well after each egg. Add the flour in a small heap on the top of the preparation, add the baking powder on top of it and stir the preparation in small circles next to the heap of flour. The flour will be incoroporated bit by bit without making lumps. When most of the flour is incorporated, stir by making large circles again.

Put the salad bowl with the preparation in the microwave and cook at maximum power for 5 min at 900 W (or 6 1/2 min at 700 W). The cake is ready when a knife's blade stuck into the cake comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool down. You can alternatively turn the salad bowl upside-down on a plate to unmould it while it's still hot; the cake won't come off easily, but the taste remains the same :)

Comments

• The cake is quite light and not rubbery
• The baking powder was not the ingredient that was influencing the rubberiness, so it must be the cream (probably the water in the cream)

Adapted from the 15 Minutes Microwave Chocolate Cake 2

Ingredients

• 100g dark chocolate
• 3 tbl. spoons water
• 80g butter
• 100g powdered sugar
• 3 eggs
• 75g flour
• 5g (1 big tea spoon ?) baking powder

Tools

• salad bowl that goes to the microwave
• (wooden) spoon

Preparation

Put the chocolate broken in pieces in a salad bowl that goes to the microwave with the water and the butter cut in cubes. Heat for 1 min in the microwave. Stir well until all the butter has melted. Add the sugar, stir. Add the eggs one by one, and stir well after each egg. Add the flour in a small heap on the top of the preparation, add the baking powder on top of it and stir the preparation in small circles next to the heap of flour. The flour will be incoroporated bit by bit without making lumps. When most of the flour is incorporated, stir by making large circles again.

Put the salad bowl with the preparation in the microwave and cook at maximum power for 5 min at 900 W (or 6 1/2 min at 700 W). The cake is ready when a knife's blade stuck into the cake comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool down. You can alternatively turn the salad bowl upside-down on a plate to unmould it while it's still hot; the cake won't come off easily, but the taste remains the same :)

Comments

• It's less dry than the previous iteration, but it still could be even less dry
• I have to try again with cream or with less baking powder (using more accurate measurement?)

C'est la saison des allergies, et je me demandais si je devais refaire le plein de cétirizine, ou de trouver un remplaçant. Parmi les choix on trouve de la lévocétirizine et de la loratadine. La lévocétirizine n'est que l'énantiomère actif de la cétirizine et a exactement les mêmes effets, mais elle coûte simplement plus chère. La loratadine (et son métabolite, la desloratadine) sont aussi disponibles (la desloratadine seulement sur ordonnance), mais elles semblent moins efficace que la cétirizine (Day, Briscoe and Widlitz, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 1998 May;101(5):638-45). Les énantiomères actifs et les métabolites sont censés avoir moins d'effets secondaires que les composés d'origine, mais la cétirizine ayant peu d'effets secondaires (je n'en ai remarqué aucun), il n'y a pas de raison de les utiliser. Je reste donc à la cétirizine.

Adapted from the 15 Minutes Microwave Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

• 100g dark chocolate
• 3 tbl. spoons water
• 80g butter
• 1 tbl. spoon hazelnut paste (100% hazelnuts, not the bread-spread kind)
• 120g powdered sugar
• 3 eggs
• 100g flour
• 1 tea spoon baking powder

Tools

• salad bowl that goes to the microwave
• (wooden) spoon

Preparation

Put the chocolate broken in pieces in a salad bowl that goes to the microwave with the water and the butter cut in cubes. Heat for 1 min in the microwave. Stir well until all the butter has melted. Add the hazelnut paste and stir again. Add the sugar, stir. Add the eggs one by one, and stir well after each egg. Add the flour in a small heap on the top of the preparation, add the baking powder on top of it and stir the preparation in small circles next to the heap of flour. The flour will be incoroporated bit by bit without making lumps. When most of the flour is incorporated, stir by making large circles again.

Put the salad bowl with the preparation in the microwave and cook at maximum power for 6 min at 900 W (or 8 min at 700 W). The cake is ready when a knife's blade stuck into the cake comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool down. You can alternatively turn the salad bowl upside-down on a plate to unmould it while it's still hot; the cake won't come off easily, but the taste remains the same :)

Comments

• The cake is quite light and not rubbery at all compared to the previous one
• It's slightly dry, a bit more butter could help, or then a shorter cooking time

Inspired by Julie et la Chocolaterie.

Ingredients

• 100g dark chocolate
• 3 tbl. spoons water
• 100g butter
• 2 tbl. spoons crème fraîche
• 100g powdered sugar
• 3 eggs
• 50g flour
• 1/2 tea spoon baking powder

Tools

• salad bowl that goes to the microwave
• (wooden) spoon

Preparation

Put the chocolate broken in pieces in a salad bowl that goes to the microwave with the water. Heat in the microwave at maximum power for 1 min. Add the butter cut in cubes, heat again for 1 min. Stir well until all the butter has melted. Add the crème fraîche and stir again. Add the sugar, stir. Add the eggs one by one, and stir well after each egg. Add the flour in a small heap on the top of the preparation, add the baking powder on top of it and stir the preparation in small circles next to the heap of flour. The flour will be incoroporated bit by bit without making lumps. When most of the flour is incorporated, stir by making large circles again.

Put the salad bowl with the preparation in the microwave and cook at maximum power for 6 – 7 min. The cake is ready when a knife's blade stuck into the cake comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool down. You can alternatively turn the salad bowl upside-down on a plate to unmould it while it's still hot; the cake should come off easily.

Comments

• The cake is quite light and rubbery (a texture you may like or not, I do)
• More flour may make it less rubbery
• Hazelnut paste may be a great addition (with less butter, then)

Many years ago, AOL was providing users with online services, but kept them well isolated from the Internet. It took ages until AOL finally opened itself to the rest of the Internet. Nowadays, such a provider of online services is unthinkable. But this situation still exists for mobile online services (think i-Mode) and social networks. I was about to write something about it, but the Appleseed project did it already. They also propose a solution, which is technically accessible with nowaday's technology (and was also already accessible with yesterday's). If this project (or one of the other distributed social network projects) succeeds, maybe ten years from now we'll have real open social networks.

The next step will then be to find a use for those (other than the “my network is bigger than yours” contests).