Friday 27 January 2017

ALL ABOUT CELERIAC

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” - Confucius 

Celeriac (Apium graveolens var. rapaceum), also called turnip-rooted celery or knob celery, is a variety of celery cultivated for its edible roots, hypocotyl, and shoots. It is sometimes called celery root. It was mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey as selinon.

Celeriac is a root vegetable with a bulbous hypocotyl. In the Mediterranean Basin, where the variety originated, and in Northern Europe, celeriac grows wild and is widely cultivated. It is also cultivated in North Africa, Siberia, Southwest Asia, Australia, and North America. In North America, the Diamant cultivar predominates.

Typically, celeriac is harvested when its hypocotyl is 10–14 cm in diameter. However, a growing trend (specifically in Peruvian and South American cuisine) is to use the immature vegetable, valued for its intensity of flavour and tenderness overall. It is edible raw or cooked, and tastes similar to the stalks (the upper part of the stem) of common celery cultivars.

Celeriac may be roasted, stewed, blanched, or mashed. Sliced celeriac occurs as an ingredient in soups, casseroles, and other savoury dishes. The leaves and stems of the vegetable are quite flavoursome, and aesthetically delicate and vibrant, which has led to their use as a garnish in contemporary fine dining.

The shelf life of celeriac is approximately six to eight months if stored between 0 °C and 5 °C, and not allowed to dry out. However, the vegetable will tend to rot through the centre if the finer stems surrounding the base are left attached. The freshness of the vegetable can be determined by viewing the hollowness of the vegetable; a fresh celeriac should not have a hollow centre. The freshness of the vegetable will also be obvious from the taste; the older the vegetable, the less potent the celery flavour.

Celeriac is a very good source of fibre, vitamin C and essential minerals such as phosphorus, iron, calcium and copper. It contains many antioxidants that can scavenge free radicals boost the immune system. 100 g of celeriac provides 120 kJ of energy.

Wednesday 25 January 2017

POETS UNITED - CHANGE

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” - Barack Obama

This week, Poets United has as its Midweek Challenge motif, “change”. All things change, and no matter how hard we try not to, we change too. Some change is good some is bad, and if we wish to make the best of the shifting, coruscating, ever-metamorphosing world, we should be the agents of change ourselves. Anticipate change, catalyse it, be part of it, make it ours, own it and be positively influenced by it.

Metamorphosis

I choose to walk away from that image
Looking at me pitifully
Within the silver depths of mirror.
I shed my yellow countenance
I strip my flabby skin
And much like a snake erupting,
Freeing itself from its constricting,
Worn, outgrown, ugly old shirt,
My inner self slips lightly by, and is liberated.

Kicking the pile of hateful flesh
Laughing at the bewildered
Idiotic stare of moon-faced image
In the looking glass,
Resolve has effected change:
Egg, caterpillar, chrysalis…

At last I soar free and beautiful,
A brilliant butterfly,
Unfurling multicoloured wings
Tasting the joys of flight
Grateful for the mystery
Of metamorphosis.

Tuesday 24 January 2017

TRAVEL TUESDAY #63 - ISTANBUL

“If I see my city as beautiful and bewitching, then my life must be so too.” - Orhan Pamuk 

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel!

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us!

Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only. Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.
Istanbul, historically known as Constantinople and Byzantium, is the most populous city in Turkey and the country’s economic, cultural, and historic centre. Istanbul is a transcontinental city in Eurasia, straddling the Bosphorus strait (which separates Europe and Asia) between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Its commercial and historical centre lies on the European side and about a third of its population lives on the Asian side. The city is the administrative centre of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (coterminous with Istanbul Province), both hosting a population of around 14.7 million residents.

Istanbul is one of the world’s most populous cities and ranks as the world’s 7th-largest city proper and the largest European city. Founded under the name of Byzantion (Βυζάντιον) on the Sarayburnu promontory around 660 BCE, the city developed to become one of the most significant in history. After its reestablishment as Constantinople in 330 CE, it served as an imperial capital for almost 16 centuries, during the Roman and Byzantine (330–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin (1204–1261), and the Ottoman (1453–1922) empires. It was instrumental in the advancement of Christianity during Roman and Byzantine times, before the Ottomans conquered the city in 1453 and transformed it into an Islamic stronghold and the seat of the Ottoman Caliphate.

Istanbul’s strategic position on the historic Silk Road, rail networks to Europe and the Middle East, and the only sea route between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean have produced a cosmopolitan populace, although less so since the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923. Overlooked for the new capital Ankara during the interwar period, the city has since regained much of its prominence. The population of the city has increased tenfold since the 1950s, as migrants from across Anatolia have moved in and city limits have expanded to accommodate them.

Arts, music, film, and cultural festivals were established at the end of the 20th century and continue to be hosted by the city today. Infrastructure improvements have produced a complex transportation network. Approximately 12.56 million foreign visitors arrived in Istanbul in 2015, five years after it was named a European Capital of Culture, making the city the world’s fifth most popular tourist destination. The city’s biggest attraction is its historic centre, partially listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and its cultural and entertainment hub can be found across the city’s natural harbor, the Golden Horn, in the Beyoğlu district.

Considered a global city, Istanbul has one of the fastest-growing metropolitan economies in the world. It hosts the headquarters of many Turkish companies and media outlets and accounts for more than a quarter of the country’s gross domestic product. Hoping to capitalise on its revitalisation and rapid expansion, Istanbul has bid unsuccesfully for the Summer Olympics five times in twenty years.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme. 

Add your own travel posts using the Linky tool below, and don't forget to be nice and leave a comment here, and link back to this page from your own post:

Monday 23 January 2017

BOURKE ST AFTERMATH

“The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.” - Marcus Tullius Cicero 

Zachary Bryant (above left with sister Zara), a baby boy has become the first victim of Bourke Street mall car rampage to be laid to rest, as two others continue to fight for life in hospital. Zachary was buried on Tuesday at a private funeral. He was three months and 14 days when he died after being hit by a car aimed through the mall on Friday. A private funeral for Thalia Hakin, 10, will be held on Wednesday. Matthew Si, 33, Sydneysider Jess Mudie, 22, and an unnamed Japanese national, 25, also died in the attack.

Nineteen people were still in hospital on Tuesday after a man drove into the lunchtime crowd, killing five people and injuring more than 30. Two victims are still critical, including new mother Nethra Krishnamurthy. Zara Bryant, Zachary’s older sister is in a stable condition.

Perpetrator Dimitrious Gargasoulas (above right) is excused from court by police, claiming that he is feeling ‘unwell’. He is charged for 5 counts of murder on the day. He has been remanded in custody and ordered to face court via video link in August.