Harira

Ramadan 2010 have began since few days and it now time to prepare the famous "Harira" (traditional Moroccan soup)
The original recipe I follow is Harira, soupe traditionnelle marocaine. Lot of variant exists but this is the one I like.

You 'll need :
- 250g lamb meat cut in small cubes
- 250g of a mixture of dried vegetables (lentils, fava beans and peas)
- 2 onions, chopped
- 100g chick peas (soaked the day before)
- 100g of a mixture of parsley, coriander and celery leaves

In a pressure cooker, cook all ingredients in 3 tablespoons of sunflower oil for a few minutes. Add a pinch of salt, a little saffron (or lack of turmeric for color), continue to cook before covering with 2 liters of water, close the cooker and cook on medium heat for 45 minutes to 1 hour (you can put the bolling water and described in order to avoid a cold restart cooking.

Meanwhile, prepare the "tomato sauce" by mixing:
- 3 tomatoes, fresh grated
- a 425g box of tomatoes, grated also
- 2 tablespoons tomato concentrated
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large teaspoon pepper
- 1 large teaspoon cumin
- 1 large teaspoon paprika
- 1 / 2 teaspoon ginger

Mix well and reserve

Prepare then "the tadouira"; this will make soup thicker. Mix 50g of flour with 20 dl water in a bottle and shake well. He must get some kind of slurry, the consistency of pancake batter. If lumps are formed, filter through.

After 45 minutes, check the cooking of pulses. If the water level is inadequate and vegetables still hard, add water and cook for 15 minutes.
Then add the tomato mixture and cook about 20 minutes.

Then add a handful of angel hair pasta, cook for 5 minutes then add the tadouira. Stir well to mix it fits without any lumps and cook 5 minutes more. Once the soup has thickened (after a few bubbles), it is ready!

شهية طيبة!

Wacom Bamboo Fun

If you always dreamed to be a painter here is a you need to have to express your self. Bought in France (Surcouf in Paris); it cost ~ 142€. It's a dual tablet, in the way that you can use it with a pen or just with your finger as a touch pad.

Under Ubuntu you can follow this helpful tutorial to make it run : Get Wacom Bamboo Pen Working in Ubuntu Lucid

It is not a professional device, but it worth it. You will maybe take time to be used to it, but it's really nice to play with it.

Finger shoes

I finality decided to get the shoes I was looking at for a while. First sensation: it feel really strange to actually moves your toes in a shoe; it gives a sort of freedom.
The thing is you have to change your way of walking, and I think it will take time to get used to them.
Anyway they look really "wild", some animal feeling to wearing them.
First step before walking/running barefoot.

Did you say sushi ?

Having eating sushi for years (some better than others), I finally decided to test my skills.
Here is what it looks like, seems quit ok.

They are not the best of the world, but tasty anyway.
いただきます