Things to do with: a pumpkin (part 1)

Hallowe'en's gone, all the pumpkins are on sale, and you just can't resist buying one, even though you have no idea what you'll do with it once you've bought it. Herewith, I provide part one of a pumpkin experimentation series, courtesy of india girl. Hopefully, I'll find more pumpkins at the supermarket to continue the series, otherwise you'll have to wait a year!

Stir-fried beef with string beans and roasted pumpkin:

Pumpkin preparation technique is important: should you skin first, then cube? Or cube first and then skin? Or perhaps cut into wedges, cook and then skin? After much discussion, I opted for the first option. Cut off the top and bottom of the pumpkin to give yourself a flat surface, cut vertically in half, then skin. Spoon out the seeds and spread out on a baking tray with some oil. Cube pumpkin and place over the seeds, drizzle with some oil. Add sea salt, pepper, ground cumin, chilli and whole, crushed garlic cloves. Cook for 15-20 in oven, pre-heated to 200C.

Serve with stir-fried beef and string beans, yoghurt, and plain rice.

Casino Royale

Martin Campbell (Dir), Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Eva Green (2006)

Thursday was the Barbican's members' screening of Casino Royale, complete with martinis (shaken, not stirred, but no olive. Not that I give a damn...). Of course, I can think of no better way to precede such an event than a decent steak frites at Smiths of Smithfield just down the road. Incidentally, the "lucky squid" is an excellent starter - smoky, grilled squid with Chinese broccoli, chilli, garlic and ginger. Desserts appear to have changed a little since last time. There I was looking forward to their trifle, only to discover that it's been replaced by a banoffee fool for the winter season (although it's not at all a bad alternative).

Anyway, enough of food. After all the hype about Daniel Craig and the lack of gadgetry in the new Bond film, I was curious to see how Casino Royale would compare to its predecessors. I must admit that I'm not a huge fan of Bond movies. I watch them because it's become more or less a civil duty, but I have no particular passion for them. In fact, other than Pierce Brosnan, I haven't particularly liked previous Bonds, and the last few have had rubbish storylines. I must also admit that I haven't seen the original Casino Royale, and have no idea what it's about. With this in mind, I was pleasantly surprised by this new outing - here's a Bond movie I actually really enjoyed watching (admittedly, this might have been residual endorphin effects from the steak at Smiths, but still...). Daniel Craig makes an unlikely Bond; he lacks that certain charm and charisma. He is, however, a much better actor than most previous ones, and he's a lot meaner. The tongue-in-cheek humour and gadgets are replaced with a much grittier, and more violent, style. It's to Daniel Craig's credit that, thinking back, I have no idea what the plot was about, but I don't really care. The film itself is so engaging, particularly the Montenegro sequence, that you more or less lose sight of the bigger picture (you'll realize that this is quite ironic once you've seen the film...). Eva Green is stunning as Vesper Lynd, and Judi Dench is bitchier than ever as "M". There were other people in the film, but who cares about them? Most of them die, anyway. There are some great one-liners, though, but I can't say them here, so I don't give them away. As for the title song, Chris Cornell's You Know My Name.... the jury's still out on that one. Not sure I'm that keen. Although David Arnold does a reasonable job of weaving it into the score.

All in all, the best Bond movie I've seen, I would say.

Now then, what the heck is this Baz Luhrmann-directed Chanel no. 5 comercial with Nicole Kidman? Anyone else get this before the main feature? It's ridiculous! The thing is unbearably cheesy and it goes on for ages. The credits alone (yes, credits for a freakin' commercial!) are longer than the bloody film! Seriously, yes Chanel no. 5, close-up of Nicole Kidman looking pretty, and then move on already. What else do you need to say? It's a perfume. At least half the audience has no interest in it, and I'm sure the other half will have lost all interest after being made to sit through a commercial reminding them that they look nothing like Nicole Kidman...

Flamenco v The World

Tomatito and Michel Camilo, live at the Barbican, Nov 15th

This was one of the most anticipated concerts at this year's London Jazz Festival. Discovered by Paco de Lucía, Tomatito hails from Almería, in the east of Andalucía, and at 48, is one of the leading flamenco guitarists of his generation. Michel Camilo, a native of the Dominican Republic, is regarded as the pre-eminent Latin American jazz pianist. Putting the two together is seemingly a recipe for a sublime evening of highly controlled chaos. Both are strongly influenced by the music of Astor Piazzolla, and started their set with Libertango. The programme combined another two Piazzolla compositions, an amazing performance of Fuga y Misterio and Adiós Nonino, with compositions by both artists from their second collaborative album, Spain Again (the first one, if you're wondering, was called Spain). Both players traverse the various realms of Latin American, Spanish and jazz music with ease, but their playing is always strongly rooted in their respective Spanish and Caribbean roots, which makes for a fascinating contrast of playing styles and rhythms. Tomatito's guitar playing speaks for itself, but Camilo's piano playing at times leaves you completely speechless, switching effortlessly from tango, to rumba, to salsa, to blues, and sometimes even playing more than one of these at a time. You feel you could ask him to play The Sound of Music over a bossa nova beat and he'd probably throw in some bluegrass for good measure.

Definitely worth the three standing ovations.

Shut Up And Save The Planet

I've been half-spectating the run-up to the US mid-terms with what I can only describe as equal measures of bemusement and bewilderment. Apparently, the elections are expected to cost some $2.6 billion (according to the Center for Responsive Politics, although I don't quite know what they mean by 'responsive' politics. Maybe they mean 'responsible'), which is about 45 times more than the last general election in the UK. Much of this, of course, has gone into financing those imaginative TV ads that have been flying around, those rather Orwellian ones that place Bob Casey alongside pictures of Kim Jong Il and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or ones in which a Senator's opposition to a Bill scrapping federal grants for sexual studies somehow get morphed into: "Brad Miller spent your money to study the masturbation habits of old men." And there was the whole Harold Ford Jr at a Playboy party thing, among other, less colourful accusations of graft.

Other than making dubious allegations about the opposition, the rest of the time has been largely spent on damage limitation from various gaffes by their own party members. Last week, there was Dick Cheney's comment that, as far as he was concerned, waterboarding was a "no-brainer" - it must be some other kind of torture that the US government does not support - and, of course, the latest comment, courtesy of John Kerry, that those not taking their education seriously would "get stuck in Iraq". George W Bush apparently found this comment "insulting and shameful", saying that "The members of the United States military are plenty smart and they are plenty brave and the senator from Massachusetts owes them an apology." Interestingly, John Kerry didn't seem to have said anything about the military's smarts or bravery, so it's unclear what Bush found so insulting. Education, after all, has little to do with smarts - he of all people should know that, having once admitted that even a grade C student can make it to the presidency.

Regardless, one feels that the surest way for the Democrats to take back Congress is to say nothing. As the Democrat House Leader said: "We are thankful for where we are today, to be poised for success. But we have two Mount Everests we have to climb - they are called Monday and Tuesday." Hopefully, someone will inform her that the air up there is pretty thin, so it's a good idea not to say too much on your way up. And this brings me to my public policy intervention of the day. With all this talk of global warming and budget flights and carbon credits, has anyone actually tried to estimate how much carbon dioxide we'd save if we stopped talking nonsense? I suspect that if we encouraged people to think before they speak and open their mouths responsibly, we could collectively save the planet. This way, many people could go for days without saying a thing, and the world would be so much the better for it. So this is the new campaign: "Shut Up And Save The Planet!" (Yes, if you're wondering, I did try to come up with a tacky anagram that read "S.H.U.S.H" or something such like, but I gave up....)

So there, next time you're about to say something, stop and think: "Are my grandchildren's lives worth what I'm about to say?" If the answer is "No", then just keep it to yourself. You'll be doing us all a great favour.

See also:

• US
• mid-terms
• Iraq
• global
• warming
• carbon
• emissions

Remember, remember the 5th of November...

...The gunpowder treason and plot.
I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

I hope you'll all be watching V for Vendetta...

Fado, Sufi, Flamenco....

Qawwali Flamenco, live at the Barbican, Oct 25
Madredeus, live at the Barbican, Nov 2

Last night's Madredeus set at the Barbican was definitely the mellowest concert I've been too all year. It was the Portuguese band's first Barbican appearance for six years, at which they performed songs from their latest two albums, Um amor infinito and Faluas do Tejo, the latter being a homesick dedication to the band's native city, full of the sights, sounds and smells of Lisbon and images of faluas crossing the Tejo. The concert was full of sublimely lyrical songs, often combining the nostalgic melodies of fado with rhythms ranging from blues, flamenco and traditional Andean music. Sadly, Teresa Salgueido, although an expressive singer, does not sing well live, and was off-key for much of the concert. Her emotive singing nevertheless made it a worthwhile experience, although the audience apparently didn't care. Half of Lisbon must have been in the Barbican Hall; you'd have thought that Portugal had won the World Cup. Regardless, I feel I have 20 years of Madredeus to catch up on, so I'll be buying their Anthology album.

By contrast, Qawwali Flamenco must be the whackiest concert I've been to this year. A collaboration set up by a Spanish musicologist, Qawwali Flamenco pits the sufi sounds of Faiz Ali Faiz against the canto jondo of Duquende. The result is an absolutely mesmerizing mix of Punjabi chanting, complete with tabla, harmoniums and lots of clapping, and gut-wrenching flamenco song, accompanied by guitar and cajón. Faiz Ali Faiz's band had been held up in Islamabad for two days due to cancelled flights, and only arrived at Heathrow airport an hour and a half before the concert, but that didn't seem to prevent them from stirring themselves and everyone else up into a frenzy of rapturous singing, often carrying on for 20 minutes at a time, harmoniums chasing Ali Faez as he improvised or led the singers into chorus. The DVD is out - I'll be adding it to my collection......

See also:

• Madredeus
• Qawwali
• Flamenco
• Duquende

Blackberry

It's always interesting to learn about the toilet culture when you first start in a new working environment, so here's an edited excerpt of my e-mail to india girl earlier today:

"ok, so I'm just writing this quickly as I need a distraction between checking proofs of a manuscript and preparing myself psychologically for another session of looking at endless tables of Stata output. But I was just in the third floor restroom and I swear the person in the cubicle next door was tapping away at his Blackberry. All I could hear was this "click, click, click" noise of the keys, and I'm pretty sure it was a Blackberry, 'cos they have a very distinctive key-click sound. But damn was he a slow typist. It was actually really annoying me, not just that he was typing, on his Blackberry, in a toilet cubicle, but that he was doing it so slowly. I bet he was writing a paper for the New England Journal of Medicine or something. Public health's finest, written in a toilet cubicle.......

I wonder if JK Rowling writes on the toilet."