[JDHill]

Some really interesting and beautiful stuff here: basically, this girl has been wandering around the countryside, photographing old Soviet infrastructure, military, abandoned, etc ... http://lana-sator.livejournal.com/

[rusteberg]

Very interesting indeed. Opens up a whole new world of people taking adventures without leaving their couch and a hand held touchscreen device...

I read an article the other day that a major grocer who just bought out a major online retailer has plans to use the acquired web base infrastructure in order for people to be able to shop for their groceries "online"..... (insert spooky music here..)

off topic....... ( ewww eeee ewwwww eeeee uuuuuuu)

[Hervé]

Very interesting indeed. Opens up a whole new world of people taking adventures without leaving their couch and a hand held touchscreen device...

I read an article the other day that a major grocer who just bought out a major online retailer has plans to use the acquired web base infrastructure in order for people to be able to shop for their groceries "online"..... (insert spooky music here..)

off topic....... ( ewww eeee ewwwww eeeee uuuuuuu)

Well here it exists a couple years already... not good.. me think.. but maybe I am too old.. hehe

http://www.auchandirect.fr/frontoffice/

CONS
- Browsing their online catalog, you have a tendency to buy more stuff than necessary
- I like to be able to choose the apple I want, not a half rotten one some guy puts in my basket
- for some people, the grocery shopping is the only social event they go , it's good to go out sometimes..

PROS
- my mom is old and got her purse stolen on the parking lot of a supermarket... not once... twice..

[glebe digital]

Wow some incredible stuff JD.

I can see a lost weekend ahead . . .

[rusteberg]

Well here it exists a couple years already... not good.. me think.. but maybe I am too old.. hehe

oh no, herve. i just don't get out much is all.....

best part of cooking for me is walking into market not yet knowing what I want to eat.

I cooked fresh butcher cut new york strips, roasted potatoes, and green beans with bacon on a large open grill using Texas mesquite.

it was delicious, and it all started with the adventure to the grocery store and telling the local butcher how ugly his wife is in order to rile him up enough so that he gets distracted from what he's doing and places a few extra pounds in for free.

[Hervé]

Very good Tom..

Going to a local Market is indeed the only way to get real fresh products.. and from Local Farmers.. the best..

ahah good one with the Butcher's wife.. I remember when I was young going to the Butcher store with my mom.. I always received a nice piece of sausage..

I a curious... was it REAL Mesquite wood ..?

I'd say let's go back to basic..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMfSGt6r ... r_embedded#!

[RobMitchell]

I always received a nice piece of sausage..

Sorry, did I just walk onto the set of a Carry On film? Ooh-eer, vicar.

To try and get slightly back on topic... that photo journal is really inspiring. Me and my girlfriend have been travelling around various places in the UK lately and she's gotten so click-happy with the camera and taken some really good shots. Will have to show her this and maybe look out for some of the more obscure sights when we next go somewhere.

[rusteberg]

I always received a nice piece of sausage

Herve, I'm not that intimate with my butcher. But there's a new lady at this place I go to get sandwich meat that won't let me try samples anymore...

Yes, real mesquite wood. Old limbs on a mesquite dry out really fast and make great fire wood. Throw in some chips from a larger limb and it smokes well. Mesquites create a lot of sweet sap naturally and spread their seedlings through these things that look like hard cased green beans. In south Texas (where I grew up), before the area had been explored by spaniards, the landscape was wide open plains (or grass land) with a mesquite tree scattered here and there. Cattle ranchers discovered the potential and soon the cattle, like they do, discovered a sweet tooth for the sweet mesquite beans hanging just their height to eat. Cows, shitting all over the place, quickly multiplied the mesquite population into troves of forests. As time went on, ranchers discovered the bountiful supply of firewood added a nice flavor to their meat and was steadily becoming more available. By this time, several generations of cattle had been nurturing themselves with mesquite beans and sap. This small alteration in diet changed their muscle tissue making the meat more tender.

The cows did themselves in, basically.

but back on topic. cool photos.