I know it's been forever since I blogged, and there are many pictures coming this weekend! For now, please forgive me, but I'm going to post a shameless plug. I've been drowning in school work as of late, and part of the reason is because for our online journalism class we've launched a blog about infographics related to environment and development.
If any of you lovely readers care to see some cool infographics, please visit http://developmentwatchuk.wordpress.com
You can also follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/devwatchUK
Thanks all! We could really use any followers/page hits we can get!
Hope everyone is happy and well!
Love,
Jess
Friday, February 18, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
Bah!
Hey all,
Profuse apologies to my colleagues Niall and Zayn. They asked me to make a guest appearance on their podcast last week to talk about the Chicago 2016 Olympic bid. I was supposed to spread the word and in all my excitement about haggis below I completely forgot! If you're into sports or funny people (that should cover just about everyone), please check out their podcast, Timeout. Just another example of the talented people I get to work with here at City!
Happy Friday!
Love,
Jess
Profuse apologies to my colleagues Niall and Zayn. They asked me to make a guest appearance on their podcast last week to talk about the Chicago 2016 Olympic bid. I was supposed to spread the word and in all my excitement about haggis below I completely forgot! If you're into sports or funny people (that should cover just about everyone), please check out their podcast, Timeout. Just another example of the talented people I get to work with here at City!
Happy Friday!
Love,
Jess
Thursday, February 3, 2011
The gift of the haggii
That was supposed to be a riff on the short story by O.Henry but I'm not sure if it works.
Isn't O. Henry a cool name? Sounds like an exasperation.
Last week, before I started drowning in coursework and regular work and lovely London people, I was invited to a Burns supper. This is an annual Scottish tradition celebrated on or around the birthday of national poet/megastar Robert Burns.
The main ingredients of this dinner are as follows:
--Haggis (explanation to follow)
--Poetry
--Scottish accents
--Scotch (to assist affectation of aforementioned accent) (alliteration!)
--Karaoke
That last one is optional, but luckily the wonderful people at this dinner were musically and poetically inclined! Check out the festivities:
The feast, including haggis, tatties (potatoes) and scotch.
Glamour shot of the haggis. Haggis, according to the great Wikipedia, is "a dish containing sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally simmered in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours. Most modern commercial haggis is prepared in a casing rather than an actual stomach."
Obviously eager to try this delicacy, I took a heaping portion.
The first bite. In case my poker face is too convincing, I am feeling a mixture of uncertainty and terror. Do I like haggis?
I do! Truly though, haggis is good stuff. Granted, the one we had was a slightly classed-up version from supermarket/sanctuary Waitrose and not in an actual sheep's stomach, but it was definitely not awful.
Tipsy laird, a delicious trifle that was the perfect boozy finale to a great night of lovely people, tasty food and fantastic poetry. This may have been my first Burns supper but I hope it's not the last!
Hope everyone's having a good week!
Love,
Jess
Isn't O. Henry a cool name? Sounds like an exasperation.
Last week, before I started drowning in coursework and regular work and lovely London people, I was invited to a Burns supper. This is an annual Scottish tradition celebrated on or around the birthday of national poet/megastar Robert Burns.
The main ingredients of this dinner are as follows:
--Haggis (explanation to follow)
--Poetry
--Scottish accents
--Scotch (to assist affectation of aforementioned accent) (alliteration!)
--Karaoke
That last one is optional, but luckily the wonderful people at this dinner were musically and poetically inclined! Check out the festivities:
The feast, including haggis, tatties (potatoes) and scotch.
Glamour shot of the haggis. Haggis, according to the great Wikipedia, is "a dish containing sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally simmered in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours. Most modern commercial haggis is prepared in a casing rather than an actual stomach."
Obviously eager to try this delicacy, I took a heaping portion.
The first bite. In case my poker face is too convincing, I am feeling a mixture of uncertainty and terror. Do I like haggis?
I do! Truly though, haggis is good stuff. Granted, the one we had was a slightly classed-up version from supermarket/sanctuary Waitrose and not in an actual sheep's stomach, but it was definitely not awful.
Tipsy laird, a delicious trifle that was the perfect boozy finale to a great night of lovely people, tasty food and fantastic poetry. This may have been my first Burns supper but I hope it's not the last!
Hope everyone's having a good week!
Love,
Jess
Thursday, January 27, 2011
"My wallet is anorexic:" final thoughts on Oslo
Here are the last of the photos from Norway, all of which were taken by Clem, who, as you will see, is a much more talented photographer than myself. Sorry about all the commas in that last sentence--eek!
Oslo from the plane--but you could probably tell that from the wing.
At the top of Frognerseteren
Adorable Norwegian child on skis. Did I mention how adorable Norwegian children are? Possibly even more adorable than British children because they're all outfitted in snowsuits and walk a lot like penguins. I really wanted to take one home but Clem assured me that customs would pose a serious problem.
Walking around the top of the mountain was difficult, especially because we didn't exactly pack hiking boots and the snow was often much deeper than it looked!
Outside Holmenkollen ski jump
Vigeland Sculpture Park
One of the most beautiful sculptures
In the huddle
Intricate Viking sculpture
Downtown Oslo from the pier
Akershus Castle
Downtown Oslo
Inside the cathedral
Look what else we found!
"The Scream," in the Edvard Munch museum
***
Now that we're back in London and courses have started, things have been fairly crazy, but tomorrow night I have been invited to a Burns dinner, in celebration of the Scottish poet Robert Burns, where I am apparently going to eat haggis (which is NOT a three-legged animal as I previously believed) and recite Scottish poetry. Stay tuned for updates! Hope everyone's having a great week!
Love,
Jess
Oslo from the plane--but you could probably tell that from the wing.
At the top of Frognerseteren
Adorable Norwegian child on skis. Did I mention how adorable Norwegian children are? Possibly even more adorable than British children because they're all outfitted in snowsuits and walk a lot like penguins. I really wanted to take one home but Clem assured me that customs would pose a serious problem.
Walking around the top of the mountain was difficult, especially because we didn't exactly pack hiking boots and the snow was often much deeper than it looked!
Outside Holmenkollen ski jump
Vigeland Sculpture Park
One of the most beautiful sculptures
In the huddle
Intricate Viking sculpture
Downtown Oslo from the pier
Akershus Castle
Downtown Oslo
Inside the cathedral
Look what else we found!
"The Scream," in the Edvard Munch museum
***
Now that we're back in London and courses have started, things have been fairly crazy, but tomorrow night I have been invited to a Burns dinner, in celebration of the Scottish poet Robert Burns, where I am apparently going to eat haggis (which is NOT a three-legged animal as I previously believed) and recite Scottish poetry. Stay tuned for updates! Hope everyone's having a great week!
Love,
Jess
Saturday, January 22, 2011
"I have to stop eating or I will lose my hand:" Oslo continued
The title of this post is a direct reference to how cold it is here. Today Clem was munching on some chips as we walked through the streets of Oslo and had to make the difficult decision to put the chips away or suffer frostbite. However, though it continues to be cold, it continues to be beautiful!
Today we went to Vigeland Sculpture Park, the main reason I wanted to come to Oslo in the first place. Get ready for tons of photos of statues--and apologies if you don't find these as touching and beautiful as I do!
Entrance to the park
***
After I spazzed out and took a million photos at the sculpture park, we walked around the fjord to the far side of Oslo to visit the Viking ship museum.
Literally walking in a winter wonderland
Giant viking ship
Looks comfortable, no?
Downtown Oslo from across the fjord
***
After walking around nearly the entirety of Oslo we headed to the Nobel Prize Museum, where I also took a ton of pictures. Those of you who know me know this is extremely out of character, so you shouldn't be too worried that I'll bombard you again like this anytime soon.
Exhibit for Liu Xiaobo, this year's Peace Prize Laureate
Photos of Tianenmen Square 1989, where Liu led a hunger strike. When his wife visited him in prison just after he won the Nobel, he told her he wished the prize could go to the mothers who lost their children in the Tianenmen protests.
A poem Liu wrote for his wife
The exhibit was as much about Chinese human rights as it was about Liu.
What I liked most about the museum was its direct approach to the controversy surrounding many laureates. In the Liu exhibit, it seemed like the curator tried to present a balanced view of Chinese freedom of speech (or lack thereof).
Beautiful (and futuristic) room with a video plaque dedicated to each laureate
Interactive room for kids designed to teach them about refugees
The epitome of free speech--a room full of wall-to-wall comments left by visitors to the museum. Some positive, some negative, some powerful and some nonsensical. Clem found a reference to her pseudonym.
More comments--Niall, your country was well represented.
Gore--laureate 2007--no mention of the crazed sex poodle scandal but a nice tribute to climate change
Mandela--laureate 1993
***
After the Nobel museum we had another supermarket dinner in the hostel and then headed out for a drink, but just one because a pint of cider was 10 euros! No bother though, because after all that walking we were both pretty beat. Off to bed now but more adventures before our flight back to London tomorrow. I hope everyone had a great day!
Love,
Jess
Today we went to Vigeland Sculpture Park, the main reason I wanted to come to Oslo in the first place. Get ready for tons of photos of statues--and apologies if you don't find these as touching and beautiful as I do!
Entrance to the park
***
After I spazzed out and took a million photos at the sculpture park, we walked around the fjord to the far side of Oslo to visit the Viking ship museum.
Literally walking in a winter wonderland
Giant viking ship
Looks comfortable, no?
Downtown Oslo from across the fjord
***
After walking around nearly the entirety of Oslo we headed to the Nobel Prize Museum, where I also took a ton of pictures. Those of you who know me know this is extremely out of character, so you shouldn't be too worried that I'll bombard you again like this anytime soon.
Exhibit for Liu Xiaobo, this year's Peace Prize Laureate
Photos of Tianenmen Square 1989, where Liu led a hunger strike. When his wife visited him in prison just after he won the Nobel, he told her he wished the prize could go to the mothers who lost their children in the Tianenmen protests.
A poem Liu wrote for his wife
The exhibit was as much about Chinese human rights as it was about Liu.
What I liked most about the museum was its direct approach to the controversy surrounding many laureates. In the Liu exhibit, it seemed like the curator tried to present a balanced view of Chinese freedom of speech (or lack thereof).
Beautiful (and futuristic) room with a video plaque dedicated to each laureate
Interactive room for kids designed to teach them about refugees
The epitome of free speech--a room full of wall-to-wall comments left by visitors to the museum. Some positive, some negative, some powerful and some nonsensical. Clem found a reference to her pseudonym.
More comments--Niall, your country was well represented.
Gore--laureate 2007--no mention of the crazed sex poodle scandal but a nice tribute to climate change
Mandela--laureate 1993
***
After the Nobel museum we had another supermarket dinner in the hostel and then headed out for a drink, but just one because a pint of cider was 10 euros! No bother though, because after all that walking we were both pretty beat. Off to bed now but more adventures before our flight back to London tomorrow. I hope everyone had a great day!
Love,
Jess
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