More Springsteen on America.

The Return of Gourmet Sunday

What with Thanksgiving and Sean and Aidan's wedding, amongst other things, Gourmet Sunday has been on the back burner for the past few weeks. In honour of its return tonight, we invited some new faces and attempted to win them over with tastes of Thailand. I think these are guests who will likely be returning for more delicious eats in the coming weeks.

Hosts: Spark and me
Guests: Angelune, Sean, and Aidan
Menu: Vegetarian Spring Rolls and Thai Red Curry.
Desert: Vanilla Ice Cream with shark candies.
Wine: 2007 Misterio Malbec, Georges Dubceuf Beaujolais.

Top o' the Pops

This is a little gem I happened upon last winter while living in London. Originally recorded in 1986 by the Pogues with Cait O'Riordan on vocals, it was re-recorded as a duet with Shane Macgowan and Sinead O'Connor ten years later. Macgowan's and Sinead's voices juxtaposed is a perfection you couldn't ask a genie for.



Another good jam: I knew this song as a Frankie Stubbs acoustic original, but recently found out it is, in fact, a cover of a Nick Cave song. Though I like Stubb's version -dude is a genius- this ain't so bad either.

And while we're on the topic.

"Hello Philly,

"I am glad to be here today for this voter registration drive and for Barack Obama, the next President of the United States.

"I've spent 35 years writing about America, its people, and the meaning of the American Promise. The Promise that was handed down to us, right here in this city from our founding fathers, with one instruction: Do your best to make these things real. Opportunity, equality, social and economic justice, a fair shake for all of our citizens, the American idea, as a positive influence, around the world for a more just and peaceful existence. These are the things that give our lives hope, shape, and meaning. They are the ties that bind us together and give us faith in our contract with one another.

"I've spent most of my creative life measuring the distance between that American promise and American reality. For many Americans, who are today losing their jobs, their homes, seeing their retirement funds disappear, who have no healthcare, or who have been abandoned in our inner cities. The distance between that promise and that reality has never been greater or more painful.

"I believe Senator Obama has taken the measure of that distance in his own life and in his work. I believe he understands, in his heart, the cost of that distance, in blood and suffering, in the lives of everyday Americans. I believe as president, he would work to restore that promise to so many of our fellow citizens who have justifiably lost faith in its meaning. After the disastrous administration of the past 8 years, we need someone to lead us in an American reclamation project. In my job, I travel the world, and occasionally play big stadiums, just like Senator Obama. I've continued to find, wherever I go, America remains a repository of people's hopes, possibilities, and desires, and that despite the terrible erosion to our standing around the world, accomplished by our recent administration, we remain, for many, a house of dreams. One thousand George Bushes and one thousand Dick Cheneys will never be able to tear that house down.

"They will, however, be leaving office, dropping the national tragedies of Katrina, Iraq, and our financial crisis in our laps. Our sacred house of dreams has been abused, looted, and left in a terrible state of disrepair. It needs care; it needs saving, it needs defending against those who would sell it down the river for power or a quick buck. It needs strong arms, hearts, and minds. It needs someone with Senator Obama's understanding, temperateness, deliberativeness, maturity, compassion, toughness, and faith, to help us rebuild our house once again. But most importantly, it needs us. You and me. To build that house with the generosity that is at the heart of the American spirit. A house that is truer and big enough to contain the hopes and dreams of all of our fellow citizens. That is where our future lies. We will rise or fall as a people by our ability to accomplish this task. Now I don't know about you, but I want that dream back, I want my America back, I want my country back.

"So now is the time to stand with Barack Obama and Joe Biden, roll up our sleeves, and come on up for the rising."

*Taken from brucespringsteen.net

Hungry Heart.

Did you know... that Hungry Heart was Bruce Springsteen's first big Billboard song, reaching #5 in late 1980, and later voted best single of the year in a Billboard readers' poll? Listening to it, I always wondered why his voice sounded so different from others on The River. The answer is simple; they sped up the vocal track.

What's more interesting is Springsteen met Joey Ramone at Asbury Park and was asked to write a song for the Ramones. That night he composed Hungry Heart. Following the success of songs written for Patti Smith (Because the Night) and the Pointer Sisters ( Fire, originally intended for Elvis), Bruce's manager, Jon Landau, advised him to keep the song.

Happy Thanksgiving.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I just wanted to take a minute and give thanks to all of the wonderful Toronto restaurants who continue to serve shark fin soup, despite all the press the liberal media has devoted to demonizing those who wish to serve this tasty treat. Keep up the good work!

Below is a sampling of just two popular destinations for those craving a little taste of JAWS. For your convenience I have included extracts from their on-line menus, as well as their addresses and telephone numbers. Be sure to book your New Years Eve parties early!

Dynasty Chinese Cuisine
131 Bloor St. W, 2nd Floor
416-963-3323

Braised Shark Fin Soup
Braised Shark Fin in a rich seafood vé poacehed with crabmeat $69.95

Lai Wah Heen
108 Chestnut St. 416-977-9899

鮑參翅肚類DRIED SEAFOOD

Abalone, sea cucumber, shark’s fin, conpoy and fish maw are some of the most exotic ingredients in Chinese cooking. Starting as dried products from the sea, they are featured in soups or braised in heavy meat stocks, always resulting in strong, aromatic flavors.

Premium-grade shark’s fin braised in a double strength stock. (Per person) $98.00

*Remember they'd eat you if given the chance.

Obama IS the Anti-Christ.

This is all over the inter web.

According to The Book of Revelations the anti-Christ is:

The anti-Christ will be a man, in his 40s, of MUSLIM descent, who will deceive the nations with persuasive language, and have a MASSIVE Christ-like appeal.... the prophecy says that people will flock to him and he will promise false hope and world peace, and when he is in power, will destroy everything.

Now I don't believe in god or anything the bible says, but this is pretty convincing... especially because the bible preceded Islam by a few hundred years.

And the winner is...

Biggest shark: Whale sharks grow to 12 metres in length and can weigh up to 13.6 tonnes (the same weight of drugs that were seized in Australia between 2004 and 2005). They inhabit Tropical and warm water and tend to live in open waters. This gargantuan of the sea was first identified in 1928 when a 4.6 meter specimen was harpooned in Table Bay, South Africa. The species is dated at 60 million years and can live up to 70 years.

Smallest shark: The Dwarf Lantern shark grows to 17 inches, though has measured up to 25 inches. They live off the coasts of Colombia and Venezuela at depths of 280 to 440m.

Fastest swimmer: The Blue shark lives in temperate and tropical waters. They move pretty slow most of the time, but when they want to they can reach up to 100 km/h. To give you an idea of how fast that is, it's about the same speed same as that douchebag in front of you on the QEW when you really need to get somewhere.

Longest migration: Blue sharks receive their second gold medal. Their annual migration patterns take them from New York to Brazil, at a distance between 2,000 and 3,000 kilometers.

Most abundant shark: There are a lot of Spiny Dogfish sharks. I don't know how many and neither does the internet. But, they do live between 25-100 years. I'm not sure what that means because that's a rather large gap. Basically, what I'm trying to say is I don't know anything about them, and I don't care to put in the time.

* The above picture is what came up when I googled "best shark picture."

Science vs Kanye.

According to a BBC article, US scientists have traced one of the original strands of the HIV virus to Leopoldville, the capital of former Belgian Congo (today Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo). They estimate it was transferred from ape to human between 1884 and 1924 and was able to spread as the colonial city grew in population density. Interestingly, 19 out of 20 modern HIV infections can now be traced to this strand.

The thing I'm not sure about is why, instead of spending millions of dollars on research, they didn't just ask Kanye. I'm pretty sure that he already knew where the virus came from: white people started it to kill black people. No?