#always team la sirena

[highfunctioningflailgirl]

Just because I miss him.

[jazzfic]

Chapters: 10/10 Fandom: Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: La Sirena Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Agnes Jurati/Cristóbal Rios Characters: Enoch | La Sirena's Emergency Navigational Hologram, Mister Hospitality | La Sirena's Emergency Hospitality Hologram, Hugh | Third of Five, Soji Asha, Cristóbal Rios, Agnes Jurati, Emil | La Sirena's Emergency Medical Hologram, Raffi Musiker Additional Tags: New Year's Eve, Celebrations, Fluff and Humor, Crew as Family, Background Relationships Summary:

It's 2399. What else is a crashed freighter, a crashed former Borg cube, and a community of synthetic friends to do but see in the new century together? And who better to organise things to the point of disaster than said freighter's quintet of emergency holograms.

-

It’s been a day, but this is now finished! Four chapters added taking us to a sparkly end. Please raise your glass to the hosts, and to the tired writer, who doesn’t really know what happens at parties.

[mappinglasirena]

Upper Deck Under Construction

I have spent the last few weeks amassing a new set of screenshots for season one of Star Trek: Picard, to replace the lower quality ones I had somehow managed to pry off of Amazon Prime back in the day. And as I'm staring lovingly at images of anything and everything La Sirena, occasionally, I notice things I've never noticed before. Usually those are very small things, but every now and again, I discover something absolutely delightful.

So, I thought I'd drop in to share one of my latest observations!

I've probably mentioned before, and many others have, too, that when Admiral Picard (retired) first arrives on La Sirena, the ship is undergoing a bit of a refit or possibly some repairs.

For one, the transporter console is nowhere to be found:

The console is clearly mobile, we see it move around the deck on other occasions.

But apparently, when Picard arrived, it had been taken somewhere else entirely for a while.

Similarly, the chairs on the bridge undergo a lot of transformations throughout season 1 (so many, in fact, they deserve their own post), but one of the most stark ones is from episode 3, "The End is the Beginning" to episode 4, "Absolute Candor":

Clearly, while in orbit over earth, someone on Sirena decided it was a good time to reupholster all the bridge chairs.

Now, if you wanted to, you could find explanations that fit the canon for all of these changes -- the removed transporter console, the reupholstered bridge chairs, the amount of cargo that increases drastically between eps 3 and 4, all of it could have a perfectly logical reason.

However, as I was looking through my screenshots today, trying to find an image of one particular section of the port wall for my 3D model, I noticed another refit, one that had never caught my attention before. And this change, I think, even the most dedicated canon-wrangler will have a hard time explaining (not that we won't try).

Let's go back to Picard's very first arrival on the ship for a second.

I have, on occasion, wondered how they managed to film this shot. I've never thought about it too deeply, but it has always seemed vaguely off in my mind. The thing is: this shot should be impossible, because this is the port side of the upper deck, and there are quarters where the camera man is standing right now.

Of course, this is a film set, so many of the walls are wild and can be moved around to allow for all kinds of equipment and setup. Maybe that's what I subconsciously assumed happened with the shot of Picard's dramatic entrance.

Today, however, I realized the walls had not just been moved aside temporarily to allow access for the camera crew. Rather, when they were filming the ep 3 scenes taking place on the open upper deck, the quarters on the port side of the ship weren't actually there yet!

It's subtle and a little difficult to see, which is probably why I never noticed it until today, even though I've been staring at every inch of this ship for the better part of three years now. But if you look closely at the middle section of the port wall and zoom in (especially on the second image, right next to Agnes's right arm), you can tell that there is open space where the quarters would be built in later.

(Especially compared to the same section of the deck in later episodes.)

(See how much of the beams and the space in between them is blocked here?)

Now, I'm as happy to wrangle the canon into submission as the next detail-obsessed nerd, but I in this case, I have yet to come up with a fitting, canon-compliant explanation for the discrepancy between episodes. I think, in the end, I'll probably file it under: "these things can happen on a tv set" and move on. (Although if one of you wants to try their hand at a headcanon, I would be thrilled to read all about it!)

For now, let's pour one out for the production team, who must have been stressed out of their minds, getting this monumental set ready for shooting while significant parts of it were still under construction.

[thelaithlyworm]

An Alternative Take on Cristobal Rios’s Ending

Because I think Teresa is neat, but also, dropping someone in a milieu where a) people automatically give him gyp for his skin-colour and his lack of papers, b) there is an oncoming world war, and c) he will never see his loved ones or use his skill at piloting again, doesn’t strike me as the pure happy ending PIC 2.10 tried to sell it as.

But consider. Teresa, since the clinic she founded grows into something that is still a humanitarian organisation in 2400 (the logo on the boxes in La Sirena’s medical cargo PIC 2.01) is something of a historical figure. And her son is instrumental in cleaning the ocean and saving the world, even more so. His science team saved the world, you guys! They probably get taught, or at least briefly mentioned, in basic historical surveys of the time period.

Consider that a young Cristobal Rios (history nerd) is dutifully studying the history of the time. There’s a ‘Cristobal Rios’ mentioned in connection with those two people. As one always does, he looks the guy up out of curiosity. Maybe not a heap of info in there, maybe the only known photo of him and Teresa is damaged in a key place. But hey, he sounds like an interesting guy, good values, good family man, heroic in his own small way. Rios tucks that story away in the back of his head and moves on with his life.

Consider that somewhere in the middle of season 2, as the concussion wears off, Rios remembers that story, thinks, Ha! Now *I’m* a Cristobal with a Teresa, too. And then, not long after, Oh shit. I *am* a Cristobal with a Teresa. At the time when Teresa (and her Cristobal) were just getting started... *I’m Cristobal.*

And slowly realises, in the middle of all the chaos, that this isn’t only a question of butterflies. It’s about stable time loops. 

Whatever else happens, Cristobal is never going home again.

And also in the middle of all the chaos, he starts damage control - gets himself used to the idea, talks that delighted spiel to Raffi about non-replicated food and how vibrant the century is, so maybe she’ll have something happy to think about next time she misses him. Mentally writes a farewell speech for Picard... (And y’know, there’s probably a lot of truth in there. The food does taste nifty; Teresa is neat.) Says goodbye to his lady La Sirena.

He gets accustomed to knowing how he will die.

-

I dunno, more bittersweet, but it feels like putting snow-chains on a slippy tyre to me.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

[las-microfisuras]

Buceando hacia el naufragio

Después de haber leído el libro de los mitos,

y cargado la cámara,

y comprobado el filo del cuchillo,

me pongo

la armadura de goma negra

las absurdas aletas

la incómoda y solemne mascarilla.

Tengo que hacerlo

no como Cousteau con su

diligente equipo

a bordo del velero inundado de sol

sino aquí, sola.

Hay una escalera.

La escalera está siempre ahí

colgando inocentemente

de un costado del velero.

Sabemos para qué sirve,

nosotros que la hemos usado.

Si no

sería un resto flotante en el mar

una parte cualquiera del equipo.

Desciendo.

Peldaño tras peldaño y todavía

el oxígeno introduce en mí

la luz azul

los puros átomos

de nuestro aire humano.

Desciendo.

Las aletas me entorpecen,

bajo por la escalera arrastrándome como un insecto

y no hay nadie

que me diga cuándo comienza

el océano.

Al principio el aire es azul y luego

es más azul y luego verde y luego

negro estoy desmayándome pero

mi mascarilla es potente

me bombea la sangre con fuerza

el mar es otra cosa

el mar no es cuestión de poder

tengo que aprender sola

a girar el cuerpo sin esfuerzo

en el profundo elemento.

Y ahora: es fácil olvidar

a qué vine

entre los muchos que siempre

han vivido aquí

agitando sus abanicos festoneados

entre los arrecifes

y además

aquí abajo se respira distinto.

Vine a explorar el naufragio.

Las palabras son intenciones.

Las palabras son mapas.

Vine a ver el daño causado

y los tesoros que perduran.

Paso la luz de mi linterna

lentamente por el costado

de algo más duradero

que los peces o las algas

la razón por la que vine:

el naufragio y no la historia del naufragio

el objeto en sí mismo y no el mito

el rostro ahogado que mira siempre fijamente

al sol

la prueba del daño

convertida por la sal y el vaivén en esta raída belleza

las cuadernas del desastre

que protestan curvadas

entre los indecisos visitantes.

Este es el lugar.

Y aquí estoy yo, la sirena con cabello oscuro

en ondas negras, el tritón con su armadura

Circundamos silenciosamente

el naufragio

buceamos hacia la bodega.

Yo soy ella: yo soy él

cuyo rostro ahogado duerme con ojos abiertos

cuyo pecho aún soporta la fatiga

cuya carga bermeja de plata, de cobre, yace

cuyo rostro ahogado duerme con ojos abiertos

cuyo pecho aún soporta la fatiga

cuya carga bermeja de plata, de cobre, yace

en la oscuridad de los barriles

mal sujetos y abandonados al deterioro

somos los instrumentos semidestruidos

que una vez mantuvieron un rumbo

la bitácora corroída por el agua

la brújula bloqueada

Somos, soy, eres

por cobardía o por coraje

el ser que descubre nuestra ruta

hasta esta escena

llevando un cuchillo, una cámara

un libro de mitos

en el cual

nuestros nombres no aparecen.

(1972)

- Adrienne Rich. Poemas (1963-2000)

Edición, prólogo, traducción y notas de María Soledad Sánchez Gómez

Sevilla: Renacimiento, 2002

**********

Diving into the Wreck

First having read the book of myths,

and loaded the camera,

and checked the edge of the knife-blade,

I put on

the body-armor of black rubber

the absurd flippers

the grave and awkward mask.

I am having to do this

not like Cousteau with his

assiduous team

aboard the sun-flooded schooner

but here alone.

There is a ladder.

The ladder is always there

hanging innocently

close to the side of the schooner.

We know what it is for,

we who have used it.

Otherwise

it is a piece of maritime floss

some sundry equipment.

I go down.

Rung after rung and still

the oxygen immerses me

the blue light

the clear atoms

of our human air.

I go down.

My flippers cripple me,

I crawl like an insect down the ladder

and there is no one

to tell me when the ocean

will begin.

First the air is blue and then

it is bluer and then green and then

black I am blacking out and yet

my mask is powerful

it pumps my blood with power

the sea is another story

the sea is not a question of power

I have to learn alone

to turn my body without force

in the deep element.

And now: it is easy to forget

what I came for

among so many who have always

lived here

swaying their crenellated fans

between the reefs

and besides

you breathe differently down here.

I came to explore the wreck.

The words are purposes.

The words are maps.

I came to see the damage that was done

and the treasures that prevail.

I stroke the beam of my lamp

slowly along the flank

of something more permanent

than fish or weed

the thing I came for:

the wreck and not the story of the wreck

the thing itself and not the myth

the drowned face always staring

toward the sun

the evidence of damage

worn by salt and sway into this threadbare beauty

the ribs of the disaster

curving their assertion

among the tentative haunters.

This is the place.

And I am here, the mermaid whose dark hair

streams black, the merman in his armored body.

We circle silently

about the wreck

we dive into the hold.

I am she: I am he

whose drowned face sleeps with open eyes

whose breasts still bear the stress

whose silver, copper, vermeil cargo lies

obscurely inside barrels

half-wedged and left to rot

we are the half-destroyed instruments

that once held to a course

the water-eaten log

the fouled compass

We are, I am, you are

by cowardice or courage

the one who find our way

back to this scene

carrying a knife, a camera

a book of myths

in which

our names do not appear.

[modayzapatos-blog]

Celebrities y fashion icons lamentan la muerte de Franca Sozzani

La directora de la edición italiana de la revista Vogue, Franca Sozzani, falleció hoy en Milán a los 66 años , a causa de un cáncer que le fue diagnosticado hace un año.

Modelos, celebrities, diseñadores y periodistas han querido despedirse y recordarla a través de sus cuentas de Twitter e Instagram, mientras que en Vogue Italia han colgado en su web una imagen de un corazón junto al nombre de la que fue su directora los últimos 28 años.

Uno de los primeros en confirmar y lamentar la noticia ha sido Kanye West, quien compartió con ella un sinfín de fiestas, front rows y presentaciones.

“Siempre fue muy agradable y sincera. Te echaremos mucho de menos”.

Franca Sozzani was always so nice and sincere. You will be deeply missed. pic.twitter.com/B2Y7OM1uEy

— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) December 22, 2016

La modelo Irina Shayk también compartió una bonita imagen de la italiana de la melena de sirena junto a un emoji de un corazón roto.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BOVCZ7DhaAa/?taken-by=irinashayk&hl=es

Madonna se ha referido a ella como “una pionera y una verdadera rebelde”.

“Eres amada y adorada por mucha gente. Te echaremos de menos 

. Respeto y admiración!!”, ha escrito en su mensaje de condolencias.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BOVIR5CBvkx/?taken-by=madonna&hl=es

Aunque es una de las “recién llegadas” al mundo de la moda, la modelo Bella Hadid tiene mucho que agradecerle a Sozzani, que la colocó en la portada de Vogue Italia en el último número de Septiembre, ni más ni menos.

“Que descanse en paz la bella, increíble y talentosa Franca Sozzani 

Sin palabras”, ha escrito en Instagram.

I can't believe it !!!! September issue of @vogueitalia !! What an honor and a dream come true to shoot with the legendary Steven Meisel for a cover I will never forget!! Thank you #OlivierRizzo @patmcgrathreal and @guidopalau A perfect team! ❤️❤️

A photo posted by Bella Hadid (@bellahadid) on Sep 1, 2016 at 11:27am PDT

Una de sus últimas apariciones públicas fue hace solo dos semanas en esta mesa en la que estaba flanqueada por otros dos titanes de la moda y amigos, Anna Wintour y Karl Lagerfeld, en el último desfile de Chanel en París.

La foto fue tomada  por la periodista de moda Suzzy Menkes.

Paris Ritz Hotel ..Chanel collection! It was so cool to have dinner with Karl Lagerfeld and Anna Wintour looking at Chanel fashion show ! @vincent_darre @karllagerfeld #hotelritzparis #paris #fashionshow #creativity #models #havefun regram from @suzymenkesvogue

A photo posted by francasozzani1 (@francasozzani1) on Dec 8, 2016 at 1:09am PST

http://fashionisima.enfemenino.com/2016/12/los-famosos-y-fashion-icons-lamentan-la-muerte-de-franca-sozzani/

[watchilove]

The revolutionary full-foiling monohull AC75 Luna Rossa has officially touched the water. Launched yesterday at Cagliari’s Molo Ichnusa, where the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team is based, it will represent Italy in the challenge for the world’s oldest sailing trophy.

Marking the ceremony on the wrists of skipper Max Sirena and of the members of the Luna Rossa sailing team was the Panerai Submersible Luna Rossa – 47 mm, part of the collection the Florentine luxury watch brand has dedicated to the Challenger of Record in its role as official sponsor. The watch mirrors the team’s bold character as well as several signature technical features as the case made from carbonfibre, the same material used for the AC75 hull and the dial where Luna Rossa sailcloth fragments are applied.

Attended this important event for all sailing enthusiasts, Miuccia Prada, who officially christened the boat, Patrizio Bertelli, President of the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team, Agostino Randazzo, President of Circolo della Vela Sicilia, and Marco Tronchetti Provera, CEO of Pirelli, co-title sponsor of the Luna Rossa Team and technological development partner.

Also at the ceremony was Gregorio Paltrinieri, reigning Olympic 1,500m freestyle champion who joined the ranks of Panerai’s Ambassadors last April.  His presence underscored yet again the Maison’s celebration of its unique connection with the aquatic sports world.

Luna_Rossa_Launch

“It is an honour to be here today with Panerai for the official inauguration of this Italian flavour project based on commitment to sport, quality and innovation. All characteristics I feel very close to in my role as Panerai Ambassador for Italy,” Paltrinieri declared.

Gregorio Paltrinieri Varo Luna Rossa

Announced last January at the Geneva’s Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH), the partnership between Panerai and the Challenger of Record for the 36th America’s Cup is based on a significant sharing of core values as technical innovation, Italian excellence and an extraordinary passion for the sea.

Luna_Rossa_Launch

“Panerai has always flanked modern heroes in their exploits by providing them with exceptional precision instruments for their most extreme challenges,” said Panerai CEO Jean-Marc Pontroué. “We could not be happier to have our watches on the wrists of the Luna Rossa sailing team to face the road to Auckland together”.

The first challenge involving the new AC75 Luna Rossa in the run-up to the finals in New Zealand in 2021 is the series of preliminary regattas of the 36th America’s Cup presented by Prada, the America’s Cup World Series (ACWS), that will take place in Cagliari from 23 to 26 April 2020.

  Panerai Luna Rossa Ref. Pam1039

The first watch inspired by the partnership between Panerai and the Challenger of Record of the 36th America’s Cup is the SUBMERSIBLE LUNA ROSSA, a diving watch water-resistant to a depth of 300 metres (30 bar) with a case made of carbotech, the innovative material based on carbon fibre introduced into the world of high quality watchmaking by Panerai. With its qualities of lightness, resistance to external shocks and freedom from corrosion, carbon fibre material is also used to make the AC75 monohull, a picture of which is engraved on the titanium back of the watch, together with the Luna Rossa logo and the America’s Cup profile.

Panerai Luna Rossa Ref. Pam1039

The striated matt black appearance of the case (47 mm) arises from the particular arrangement of the carbon fibres and it gives every watch a sports look, high tech and very distinctive. Enhancing the strong personality of this watch are the unidirectional rotating bezel for calculating the duration of a dive, also made of carbotech, and the dial, whose special texture conceals a fascinating secret: pieces of the sails of the Luna Rossa have been applied to it. The indications on the dial are clearly visible in all situations – including underwater – and several details stand out with their red colour: the small seconds hand at 9 o’clock and the central hand indicating the second time zone which, when set up, will enable the start time of the races of the 36th America’s Cup to be followed even if they are taking place on the other side of the world.

Panerai Luna Rossa Ref. Pam1039

The new Submersible Luna Rossa is fitted with the P.9010/GMT Manufacture movement, which is automatic with a bidirectional oscillating weight and two spring barrels, giving a power reserve of three days. As well as displaying the duration of a dive, the watch has a second time zone, a date window at 3 o’clock and a small seconds dial at 9 o’clock. It is supplied with a light, strong and waterproof black rubber strap, with a brushed titanium buckle.

Panerai Luna Rossa Ref. Pam1039 Technical Specifications

MOVEMENT Automatic mechanical, P.9010/GMT calibre, executed entirely by Panerai, 13¾ lignes, 6.0mm thick, 31 jewels, Glucydur® balance, 28,800 alternations/hour. Incabloc® anti-shock device. Power reserve 3 days, two barrels. 199 components

FUNCTIONS Hours, minutes, small seconds, date, GMT

CASE Diameter 47mm, carbotech

BEZEL Carbotech. Anti-clockwise rotating bezel with graduated scale

BACK Screw, titanium with black coating. Engraved

DIAL Dark grey sail with luminous hour markers and dots. Date at 3 o’clock, small seconds at 9 o’clock

WATER RESISTANCE “30 bar (~300 metres)”

STRAP – 26/22.0 Standard

PRICE 21.000 € incl. sales tax

Varo_Luna_Rossa

Luna_Rossa_Launch

Luna_Rossa_Launch

Gregorio Paltrinieri Varo Luna Rossa

Panerai Luna Rossa Ref. Pam1039

Panerai Luna Rossa Ref. Pam1039

Panerai and Gregorio Paltrinieri in Cagliari for the Luna Rossa launch The revolutionary full-foiling monohull AC75 Luna Rossa has officially touched the water. Launched yesterday at Cagliari’s Molo Ichnusa, where the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team is based, it will represent Italy in the challenge for the world’s oldest sailing trophy.

[melissamontoyaphotography]

COMMERCIAL photos: Tarin Sirena Jewelry

Fashion photos are my fave, especially when shooting for a client with amazing jewelry! Today I share with you commercial photos: Tarin Sirena Jewelry! We were an amazing team! With our fashion muse Verina, we were able to provide different fashion looks and styles with her different jewelry pieces. This one I call Fringe Forte (Sirena).

Taken from her site: Tarina Sirena Jewelry was created by Tarin Still in 2016. She is a 200+ RYT, Reiki Master, Energy Healer, and Clinical Herbalist.  She infuses love and magic into all of her work and creates intentional jewelry designed to empower, bring balance, and inspiration to the wearer. Her jewelry is hand crafted and each crystal is hand selected, cleansed in mama ocean, charged by the light of the moon, and infused with Reiki to bring physical and emotional balance and align all Chakras. She believes is spreading love, magic, and sisterhood. 

Our original plan was to shoot this at the beach, clearly we changed our minds. We were on our way to the beach but on the way there I mentioned this hidden spot in La Jolla by the caves and said let’s do a quick pitstop and check it out. As we entered we felt this was perfect for the Fall/ Winter collection.  

The light was perfect, but we did have to move fast as the sun was lowering behind the hill. Thankfully, we had the designer herself, Tarin Still, also be the stylist and so we could quickly change outfits and jewelry pieces. What a trio we made! It all went smoothly and we were giddy with the shots!

This is one of my favorite shoots to date. Verina always brings her A game and is able to create so many different faces and movements. And boy does she wear lipstick well!! I love when she gets moody and we always have a great time shooting with each other. Check back for more from this shoot!

READ TESTIMONIAL

Tarin Sirena Jewelry Instagram Tarin Sirena Jewelry WEBSITE

  COMMERCIAL photos: Tarin Sirena Jewelry COMMERCIAL photos: Tarin Sirena Jewelry Fashion photos are my fave, especially when shooting for a client with amazing jewelry!

[zillowcondo]

Exclusive Interview With Top Chef Stephanie Izard

As one of America’s most outstanding female chefs, Stephanie Izard knows how to inspire, captivate, and cook up a storm. The first woman to win on TV’s “Top Chef,” she’s also the chef and owner of the acclaimed Girl & the Goat restaurant in Chicago specializing in nose-to-tail whole animal cooking.

After mastering her art at various Chicago restaurants for amazing chefs  — Jean-Georges Vongerichten at Vong; Sean McClain at Spring; and Dale Levitski at La Tache — she opened her first restaurant Scylla in Bucktown in 2004. Her James Beard-awarded Girl & the Goat restaurant opened in 2010 with the goal of serving a family style menu of tasty, bold flavored foods with global influence in a fun and lively setting.  Little Goat Diner opened nearby in 2012. Chronicle Books published Izard’s first cookbook, “The Girl in the Kitchen,” a collection of more than 100 of her best recipes plus insights into the top chef’s process. Izard is now preparing the launch of her next restaurant in the same Chicago neighborhood later this year, but first took time to chew the fat with Pursuitist for an exclusive interview.

What was the secret to your success as the first woman to win Bravo’s Top Chef? 

STEPHANIE IZARD: I don’t think there was any secret! I just tried to make good food, and the couple of times I was on the bottom I just accepted the criticism because I knew they were right. At this point, eight years later, I look back at the experience as something you can never fully describe to anyone who has not been on the show. It was fun. Intense. Scary. Hard. Tiring yet exhilarating. A rollercoaster of emotions. I was surrounded by talented chefs and now I have some great friends all around the country which has been the best part.

Girl & The Goat

You also won a James Beard Foundation award for “Best New Chef: Great Lakes.” As a woman succeeding in the kitchen trenches, why do you think there so few James Beard award winners who can’t grow beards? 

The restaurant industry is gaining more female chefs all the time which is great! I honestly think part of it is balancing life and being a chef is hard for everyone, but as a woman it can be an even bigger challenge to balance family with career.  It certainly is not because of the lack of talent – there are amazing female chefs in the field!

You and Michelin-starred chef Domenique Crenn sure kicked some butt in a sold-out event at this year’s big Pebble Beach Food and Wine food festival! The other star chef presenters – Curtis Stone, Daniel Boulud, Masaharu Morimoto and Jose Garces — really took notice.

Pebble Beach Food and Wine was such a blast. We had lots of events and demos — the weekend flew by. It was so fun to try new dishes and to see what other chefs were serving. We made our masa recipe used for chips at Little Goat Diner, but for the welcome reception we served it as a goat mole tostada. We paired these Cubano sandwiches paired with Hoegarden for a lunch with Stella Artois. I demoed our pan-seared halibut with marcona almond butter and nuoc cham. We used blueberries for the dish, but this recipe works year round!

Goat isn’t a meat on most menus or most American’s taste buds. What are we missing, and how did you come to love cooking goat for your restaurants including Girl & The Goat?

Goat is the most widely eaten meat in the world, but for some reason it’s hard to find on menus in the US, though I think its popularity is increasing. To be honest, a lot of goat meat can be very intensely flavored and unpleasant, hence the strong curries and other spices used in goat-eating countries.

We were able to find a farmer who raises amazingly pure-tasting goat. For me and my team, it has been fun to try different techniques with goat and learn various ways to prepare the meat. We serve every part of the animal, from the neck, to the whole leg, to the goat loin. Goat is a lot leaner than its friend the pig, so working with goat can be a bit tricky. But it is a tasty experiment to have to work on!

What exactly is “nose-to-tail” cuisine?  What dishes do you recommend?

It is really just saying that every part of the animal can and should be used. It is not right to eat just the loin of an animal and waste the rest. In fact the other parts of the animal, like the head and neck and tail, are where the flavor is!  Pig tails are quite tasty! Full of fatty, flavor goodness.

What three courses should every first-timer order at Girl & The Goat?

That is a hard one. I think most first time guests get the pig face. And you must try a goat dish — the belly or the neck are my favorites. Then do not forget a veggie. The green beans, cauliflower, broccoli and shishitos are some of the best things on menu. Just vegetables made to taste good.

What are the best restaurants – besides yours – in your hometown of Chicago?

So many! I love all of Paul Kahan restaurants — Nico Osteria, avec and The Publican being my favorite. Aside from Paul’s places, Parachute is amazing, as are La Sirena Clandestina and Momotaro.

Did you and your husband Gary Valentine “meet cute” in Chicago like on an episode of his TV show “King of Queens”?  What dishes did you cook for him that helped win his heart?

We met while I was drinking at the bar of Lillie’s Q where he was a manager. I certainly don’t think I was cute at the moment — I was a bit intoxicated! We became friends first for about a year then one thing led to another. He actually does more of the cooking at home, but I do think that I got him to try new foods when he started eating at Girl & the Goat after we met. He was a bit of a picky eater before and as time goes on he has tried and started to love many new things.

Congratulations on becoming Lexus’ newest chef ambassador. I hear you and your husband are both Lexus drivers. What are your favorite models?

I am awaiting an NX 200t, and my husband a GS 450h F SPORT. I picked the new NX because I love the size — it’s an SUV that’s not too big for me. I had never driven a Lexus before test driving one a few months ago. It’s like hovering, such a smooth ride. My husband has not stopped talking about the GS since he picked it out! His car should be here any day now and he will probably just go drive for hours with a destination in mind the moment it arrives!

What culinary destinations are on your bucket list?

I’ve never been to Italy so an eating trip there is next on my list.

Where and what would you order for your last meal on Earth?

Honestly it wouldn’t be at a restaurant. It would be in my backyard with my husband Gary and maybe a couple friends, ordering whatever Gary is grilling up. That’s my favorite meal always, even if the food isn’t perfect.

Away from the kitchen, what are your personal obsessions?

Sports and travel! I swim on a masters team as often as possible, which helps keep me sane. Traveling is something I have always loved though work sometimes does not allow for many trips. We went to China for research for my new restaurant and are heading to Taiwan in a few weeks, so I guess work also sometimes helps with travel.

If you had a $1 million to spend in the next 24 hours, what would you buy?

That’s a tough one! Maybe a little lake house not far from Chicago where we could escape once and a while.

Guilty pleasures: What do you eat when nobody’s looking?

Cheez-Its.

The post Exclusive Interview With Top Chef Stephanie Izard appeared first on Pursuitist.

Exclusive Interview With Top Chef Stephanie Izard published first on http://ift.tt/2pewpEF

[highfunctioningflailgirl]

I didn’t have the time (yet) to write anything new for Holoween, but since it’s okay to repost old stuff and I didn’t want to NOT post anything today, here’s a ficlet from my Whumptober 2020 series that may suit the bill. At least I think it’s got some spookiness along with some humor, and our holos once more save the day.

What’s A Whumpee Got To Do To Get Some Sleep Around Here?

Hollow-eyed, Rios crossed the bridge to drop into the pilot seat. From the corner of his eye, he saw the Hospitality Hologram shimmering away, but he was too tired to voice his chronic annoyance with that particular crew member, and he secretly had to admit that he was grateful for the cup of tar-black coffee he found steaming within reach. He took a sip of the scalding hot liquid, desperate for a caffeine kick.

“Got any sleep?”

Rios hadn’t even seen Raffi, slumped as she sat in the navigator’s seat. She swiveled around to him with hanging shoulders, her curls wilder than ever, the rings under her eyes so dark they looked like bruises.

“No,” Cris sighed. “You?”

It was a rhetorical question, really, and Raffi huffed, pointing at her face. “Do I look like I slept?”

Fact was, none of them had slept in three days - except for Picard, who was out like a light in his quarters after the EMH had insisted on dosing him with a narcotic, worried about the old man’s heart. Sleep deprivation, he’d lectured them, could kill, and Rios was starting to believe him. Only that he was close to killing someone. Anyone, honestly. After nearly seventy-two hours of being trapped, with an offline engine, in a cosmic phenomenon that was somehow affecting their brainwaves, Rios was suffering from a very short fuse.

The most enraging part: While Raffi, Picard and him - the only human crew members on board at the moment - were turning into zombies, the holograms remained completely unaffected. Bright-eyed, and bushy-tailed, they zipped through La Sirena’s decks, running system checks and analyzing scans and fiddling with the ship’s engine, driving Rios crazy with their limitless energy and chipper mood.

Too bad that a hologram didn’t die when you choked it with your bare hands.

Rios threw a murderous glance at Emmet, the hologram currently slumbering in his seat in front of the tactical controls. He was the worst to bear, falling asleep in an instant as soon as his code told him he was sitting and no hostile activity required him to be awake. Feet propped up on the console, head tipped back and mouth open, he was currently snoring obliviously. And as a hologram, he didn’t even need to sleep.

Rios’ fingers involuntarily curled into claws.

“What is the nature of your psychiatric emergency?”

The EMH had materialized beside him and, hands in his pockets, was studying him with professional concern.

“You heart rate is elevated, your blood pressure is climbing, and your cortisol output-”

“Deactivate!”

“But Captain, I am…”

“Deactivate!”

The hologram disappeared with an affronted poof.

“Nice,” Raffi commented sardonically, chin propped up on a weary arm. “Remind me not to get on your bad side.”

Cris meant to roll his eyes, but it would worsen his headache, so he left it. Scrubbing his hand across his face, he tried to knit a clear string of thoughts together in his increasingly unreliable brain.

“We need to get away from here, Raff,” he said darkly.

She blinked tiredly. “I know.”

And it was true. What had felt like a weird anomaly three days ago - their impulse and warp drive dying suddenly, then the insomnia - had escalated into a dangerous crisis. In spite of incessant work, they hadn’t been able to bring the engines back online, and they didn’t need the EMH’s lectures to point out the consequences of sleep deprivation. They felt them.

Physical exhaustion was the least of it. Cris could get past the headache, the soreness, the nausea and the dizziness. But the tricks the insomnia played on his mind were an altogether different thing. He could no longer concentrate on anything for more than a few minutes, and his short term memory had gone to fritz. It was bad enough that the tiredness was affecting his eyesight, causing the EMH to suggest reading glasses and almost getting his programming wiped by an infuriated Cris. But now he was starting to see things.

Hallucinations. They were a well-known but nevertheless deeply disturbing side-effect, and Cris, all too familiar with the phenomenon from his breakdown after the Ibn Majid disaster, was once more stalked by demons he thought he’d laid to rest. Captain Vandemeer had visited him in his quarters when he’d been staring into the darkness last night, sleepless, but too exhausted to remain on his feet. The top of his head gone, blood and brain matter dripping from the ceiling, Vandemeer had looked at Cris with opaque eyes, and it had taken half a bottle of Pisco to make him disappear.

Rios punched a button on his holographic controls.

“Ean!” He barked. “Status report!”

“We’re still offline, Cap’n,” came the instant reply. “But Enoch thinks he may be on to something. There’s a pattern of sub-photon waves that seems to be targeting the temperature sensors with galandrion radiation, effectively-”

“Only the bottom line, Ean,” Cris cut him off. His brain had shot down after “sub-photon waves”, unable to process anything more complicated than a spaghetti recipe.

“Bottom line?” Ean repeated. “We’re working on it, Cap’n.”

“What Ean means,” Enoch picked up, flickering into existence on the bridge with an avid expression, “is that we think we’re close to solving the problem. Now, if the scan check that I reprogrammed to include sub-photonic and pseudo nano-neurologic patterns reveals that not only the temperature sensors but also the newtonian reverse weight-speed effect of-”

“Callate!”Cris shot up from his seat. “Shut the fuck- Jesus!”

He’d closed up to the ENH in two strides, right fist pulled back to punch, and he’d managed to rein himself in only at the very last moment. He shook out his arms, trembling, trying to get rid of the tension and the shock he felt at his near loss of control.

Eyebrows raised in innocent wonder, Enoch cocked his head.

“Captain?” he asked kindly. “Would you like me to re-activate Emil? I am sure he could provide you with a sedative, if you’d like.”

Rios shot around again, blood boiling. All of a sudden, the bridge’s ambient lights felt too bright, and the cluster of stars visible through the panoramic window seemed to move forward, speeding up, threatening to attack and swallow La Sirena.

“Emmet!” Cris yelled. “Deflector shields!”

The ETH jerked awake and blinked at his screens in confusion. “Que? No veo nada.”

Raffi had gripped the arms of her seat and was looking at Rios in alarm.

“Babe,” she said anxiously and got up. “There’s nothing out there. You have to… Here.” She grabbed his arm and tried to lead him back to his chair. “Here, sit down.”

“What?!”

Rios glared at her. Raffi’s face looked strange all of a sudden. It… reshaped. Her hair shrank back into her skull, getting shorter, smoother… white. Her skin brightened, nose widening, her eyes morphing from brown to blue. Stubble appeared, and her clothes… his clothes… a Starfleet uniform with a captain’s badge.

“Sit down, son.”

Vandemeer. Intact, smiling paternally, he gently led Rios to his seat and sat him down.

Then, still smiling, he lifted a phaser, put it in his mouth and pulled the trigger.

Rios screamed, and he was still screaming when the EMH put a hypospray to his neck and cut his strings.

XXX

“Coffee, babe?”

Rios blinked a veil of deep sleep from his eyes. When his vision sharpened, he saw Raffi’s hand in front of him, balancing a cup that smelled of heaven.

He sat up and stretched before he took the coffee, looking around his cabin. He felt rested, and, to his surprise, he heard the familiar hum of La Sirena’s impulse drive propelling the ship through space at cruising speed.

“We’re back online?”

“Yes. Three days ago.”

“Three days ago?!” Rios almost spilled his coffee. “How long was I out?”

Raffi smiled, but there was an uncomfortable edge to it. “Three and a half days.”

“Dios.”

He racked his brain, memory creeping back in. Memory - and shame. Scratching his beard, he looked at Raffi with unease.

“It was pretty bad, huh?”

“Pretty.” She nodded. Then she placed her hand on his arm and rubbed it gently. “But you weren’t the only one. I cracked a few hours after Emil put you out. He says I was trying to open the cargo hatch to take a walk.”

Cris lifted astonished brows. “Good idea.”

Raffi’s worried face softened into a chuckle. “Not one of my best. I’m glad your holos were there to stop me. They’re not entirely useless, you know?”

“Right.” Cris smirked. God, he hadn’t felt this rested in ages. “Not entirely. But please don’t go and tell them I agreed with you on that. Enoch will never stop rubbing it under my nose.”

As if on cue, the EMH materialised at the foot of Rios’ bed.

“Captain Rios,” he said. “I am pleased to see you awake! And your brain waves have returned to a normal pattern. Now, if I could ask you to meet me in sickbay for a thorough scan of your neural-”

“Deactivate!”

Raffi smiled as the hologram begrudgingly dissolved.

“You ready to come back to the bridge, Captain?” she asked Rios, the twinkle back in her eyes. “Or do you need more sleep?”

Cris swung his legs from the bed.

“Sleep is overrated,” he said sardonically and headed off to take a shower.

[highfunctioningflailgirl]

Look what I can do!

[highfunctioningflailgirl]

He was really something, wasn't he? 🥰

[highfunctioningflailgirl]

Haunted

The EMH heaves a beleaguered sigh when the ship’s biosensors activate him. Hands in pockets, he struts to the origin of the alarm and stops in front of the Captain’s cabin where he straightens and takes a fortifying breath. More out of self-protection than out of courtesy, he pushes the chime button on the door’s panel to announce his arrival rather than overriding the system and storming right in, as the emergency protocol would warrant.

What can it be this time?

While he waits for a response, he analyzes the biosensor readings for a preliminary diagnosis. The Captain’s life isn’t in immediate danger; none of his vitals telegraph a severe injury or illness, but his heart rate and blood pressure are off and–

Oh.

The Captain’s blood alcohol is 0.28 %.

From inside the cabin, the EMH hears a slurred, angry voice.

“Go away! L-leave me ‘lone!”

So it’s going to be that kind of night.

For a moment, the EMH considers his options. Options he doesn’t really have since his hippocratic programming doesn’t leave him any; he’s bound to Star Fleet’s Medical Code, hologram or not. If the ship’s computer reports a medical emergency, he has to respond, even against the patient’s will.

But if he wasn’t a medical officer, and if he wasn’t a hologram, he’d turn on his heel now, evading the Captain’s intoxicated wrath and leaving him to deal with his straining liver, neurological impairment and bubbling stomach acid on his own.

However, he is La Sirena’s Emergency Medical Hologram, and in spite of the challenges that come with the post (and his belligerent and only patient), he is proud of his job, and he intends to execute it flawlessly and professionally. Schooling his features into a stern but non-offensive expression, he disintegrates and re-materializes on the other side of the door, inside the cabin.

He wants to suppress it, but his coding is too strong, and his catchphrase tumbles out of him:

“What is the nature of your emergency?”

The addressee, to his medical dismay, is on the floor by the foot of the bed, half passed out next to an empty bottle of Pisco and trying to bring a second bottle to his lips.

“Go away.”

Rios waves an uncoordinated hand at the EMH and glares at him with dark, blood-shot eyes. With scientific curiosity, the hologram notices that, even on his arse and sagging against the bed, Rios is swaying.

The EMH’s processor lights up with a quick, silent alarm, and numbers flash red across his the hologram’s internal vision.

Blood alcohol 0.3%

“I’m afraid that’s impossible,” Emil replies calmly. “Your intoxication has reached critical levels and requires medical intervention to prevent-”

“GO AWAY!”

It’s more of a growl than a scream, and followed by a string of Chilean expressions even the universal translator can’t decipher, and the EMH is used to such verbal abuse by now, but the dangerous spark in the Captain’s eyes that comes with it shuts the hologram up.

For 3.2 seconds.

“Apologies, Captain, but I’m afraid I can’t. Your level of intoxication has reached critical limits, you’re severely dehydrated and your neurological function is-”

“THEN MAKE IT STOP!”

Although holograms don’t need to blink, the EMH does. Surprised, he looks at the Captain who has now turned his face fully to him. Starlight softly illuminates the otherwise dark cabin, and Emil spots silvery tracks on Rios’ face. The rage in the Captain’s eyes shifts to desperation.

“Can you make it stop?”

An unguarded, brittle question that makes no sense to the EMH, and his processor rattles in alarm. Quickly, it runs through psychiatric and neurological assessment algorithms.

“Make what stop, Captain Rios?” he then asks softly.

New tears falling, Rios’ eyes flicker from Emil to the darkest corner of his cabin, and his pupils dilate in terror.

“Him.” A frightened whisper.

The EMH adjusts his night vision to the highest setting and scans the shadows Rios is staring at. There’s no one there. No one that he can see.

But it’s clear that Rios can.

“Who are you talking about?” Emil asks.

Rios blinks and then, agonized, he looks back at the EMH. Secrets swim in his eyes. Secrets that are clearly spilling out into the night. Delusions, Emil’s processor analyzes. Ghosts, the part of him that’s observed Rios for months suggests.

Whatever is haunting the Captain must be connected to the odd blanks in the EMH’s memory database and the haphazard deletion all of the Emergency Holograms have experienced. They’ve tried to solve this riddle, to no avail.

“Please?” Rios asks pleads again, face contorted in pain. “Can you make it stop?”

“Yes.” With a silent command, the EMH summons a psychiatric emergency kit. “Yes, I can.”

He takes a hypospray out of the case and loads it with a heavy sedative. He expects resistance when he holds it up, but the Captain offers him his neck, pressing his eyes closed, ready to not see anymore. It’s unsettling.

The hologram administers the sedative and drops into a quick crouch as Rios sags sideways. Efficiently, Emil hoists his body onto the bed and turns him on his side. He’d rather have the Captain in Sickbay for monitoring and microinjections, but, from past experience, he knows better than to push that far. From what he’s seen tonight, Rios is going to need him in the weeks to come, and Emil cannot do his job if he’s getting wiped from the mainframe in a bout of post-crisis hangover rage.

Instead, he settles the Captain as best as he can and administers another hypospray cocktail to ensure that Rios will get through the night safely and dreamless. He rigs up a mobile monitoring system that he’s cobbled together a while ago with Ian’s help, during another of Rios’ bad nights. Then he settles into Rios’ desk chair.

His gaze wanders to the starboard corner of the cabin. His internal processor shudders in an imitation of human goose flesh.

They will need to figure out what’s causing the Captain’s breakdowns.

They will have to, or it will kill him.

[highfunctioningflailgirl]

Also trying to come up with a holoween ficlet, and I have an idea for a beginning, but it doesn’t want to seem to gestate.

I may just have to sit down eventually, start typing, and see where my fingers take it.

Enoch? I need one of your lovely pep talks!

[highfunctioningflailgirl]

[ID: The hardcover edition of “Second Self” with Picard, Raffi and Elnor on the cover./end ID]

Look what arrived today!🤩 Just reunited Raffi, Elnor and Picard with Rios and “Rogue Elements” on my shelf.

Always Team La Sirena!

[mappinglasirena]

Resource for Picard Fanfic Writers

Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard is upon us, and I have barely had time to read any of the myriad of new fics that have arrived in the AO3 tag in the last couple of weeks. So many new stories! So many new names! I am so incredibly happy to see you all joining us on this wild ride 😁

It’s been a while since I’ve done some self-promo for this blog, so I thought now would be the right time.

Welcome to the Mapping La Sirena Project!

I started this little blog a couple of years ago, because I was writing fanfiction for Star Trek: Picard, and at the time, we didn’t have any floor plans or layouts of the main location the series takes place in: Captain Cris Rios's Kaplan F17 Speed Freighter La Sirena.

In the intervening years, the production team have been incredibly generous and have given us glimpses of official set plans, construction photos and all kinds of other resources you could use to answer questions like:

“If Rios is sitting on the bridge, can Agnes get his attention if she shouts loud enough from the mess hall?” (Yes.)

“Where is a dark corner for Raffi and Seven to make out in, if they’re too... preoccupied to stumble all the way back into their quarters?” (Blind corridor behind the holodeck.)

“Is there a way to get to the back of the ship from the mess hall that doesn’t involve going up the stairs to the bridge, running along the entire length of the upper deck, and going down the stairs near the engine lights?” (It’s complicated. On the set? No. In universe? Probably, because there is enough space for corridors to go past the sides of sickbay, and not having at least one corridor there would be ridiculous.)

“Is it just me or is the ship bigger on the inside?” (🙈 I’m afraid so.)

And so, so much more.

I have made it my mission (or rather my hobby to an obsessive degree 😅) to collect this information and make posts exploring this little ship. Partially because I have absolutely fallen in love with her and want to know each of her bolts and fittings blind, but also because I want to create a resource for writers like me, who have questions about the location where their Picard fanfics are set.

If you have a question about La Sirena, be it about what we saw of her in season 1, what we’ve seen of her in season 2 so far, or what the beta canon has said about her, but you don’t want to trawl through hundreds of Trek Core photos or reddit threads or TrekBBS forum posts, you have come to the right place!

In my masterpost (pinned post on the blog, I’m not gonna link it here, because I want this post to show up in the Picard tags 🙈), there are links to most of the more involved posts I’ve written so far. I don’t have a masterlist of my tags yet, but my tagging system for this blog is pretty meticulous, so if you want to check if I have mentioned the mess hall in a post that’s not mentioned on the masterpost, just click on the tag under the deep dive and see what comes up.

And if you have a question that I haven’t covered (or you don’t currently have the time, energy, or spoons to go rooting around the archives), my ask box is always open! No question is “too silly” or “too small” or “too nitpicky”. And I’m happy to answer the same question over and over again, if it gives me a chance to talk about this ship!

A Quick Note on “Accuracy” in Fanfics

I don’t want anyone to use this blog as an excuse to police other people’s fic writing (or their own writing, for that matter). From what I’ve seen of the Picard fanfic writing community, all of you are incredibly lovely people and would probably never dream of something like this, but I feel it deserves to be said nonetheless.

If you couldn’t care less about the precise size and layout of La Sirena, that is perfectly fine! I, for one, will love reading your fic/headcanons/meta/what have you anyway, because you're brave and generous enough to share your passion for this world we all love. Who cares if you give the ship a few extra rooms she doesn’t have in canon? I’ve certainly done that before 😋

This project is not a callout or attempt at gatekeeping or a plea for people to care more about accuracy in their fics or whatever. It’s just a resource (or source of entertainment, if you’re into really nerdy, detail-obsessed starship observations) for those who think they might enjoy that.

So, I hope I’ll be able to help some of you in the future and share my joy about the absolute beauty that is La Sirena!