theprofoundandprofane

[theprofoundandprofane]

…I used to think that paired opposites were a given, that love was the opposite of hate, right the opposite of wrong. But now I think we sometimes buy into these concepts because it is so much easier to embrace absolutes than to suffer reality. I don’t think anything is the opposite of love. Reality is unforgivingly complex.

Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott, p. 104 (via myprivatelibrary)

[theprofoundandprofane]

Today Is National Take Your Dog To Work Day.

[theprofoundandprofane]

The archive offers an interesting window into the themes of lesser-known comics in the Golden Age—romance, Westerns, combat, crime, supernatural and horror.

[theprofoundandprofane]

I can't wait till I have grandchildren. When I was younger, I had to walk to the rim of a crater. Uphill! In an EVA suit! On Mars, ya little shit! Ya hear me? Mars

Andy Weir, The Martian

[theprofoundandprofane]

Yes, of course duct tape works in a near-vacuum. Duct tape works anywhere. Duct tape is magic and should be worshiped.

Andy Weir, The Martian

I LOVED this book!! Did I mention I did a lot of reading this weekend?

[theprofoundandprofane]

Whenever I saw the sun, I reminded myself that I was looking at a star. One of over a hundred billion in our galaxy. A galaxy that was just one of billions of other galaxies in the observable universe. This helped me keep things in perspective.

Ernest Cline, Ready Player One

I never expected to enjoy this book as much as I did!

[theprofoundandprofane]

“People who live in glass houses should shut the fuck up.”

Ernest Cline, Ready Player One

I loved this quote!

[theprofoundandprofane]

Zozor! Hello Tumblr! I’m the creator of the languages for HBO’s Game of Thrones, Syfy’s Defiance, the CW’s The 100 and many others, and I’ll be getting up early to answer your questions for #AnswerTime Wednesday, September 30th, at 9 a.m. Pacific / 12 noon Eastern.

My ask box is here! Feel free to ask me questions about my work on the various shows I’ve worked on, my new book The Art of Language Invention (out yesterday!), language in general, or the best time to eat ice cream (answer: every time is the best time).

[theprofoundandprofane]

Happy birthday, Truman Capote!

LISTEN to the iconic author read from Breakfast at Tiffany’s on our stage in 1963.

[theprofoundandprofane]

#AskanArchivist at the Getty, 9am-12pm (PST) tomorrow

Three of our awesome archivists at the Getty Research Institute are ready to answer your questions. Leave a question here, or participate live on Twitter using the hashtag.

What’s the weirdest object you’ve catalogued? What gets you excited to come into work every day? What should I do to be sure my emails won’t get lost?

Read more about our archivists and info about #AskanArchivist here on the Getty Iris.

[theprofoundandprofane]

Never listen to fear! Fear makes you stupid

Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop

[theprofoundandprofane]

Fear transforms your body like an inept sculptor does a perfect block of stone.

Nina George, The Little Paris Bookshop

[theprofoundandprofane]

Tuesday New Release Day

Out this week: Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta; After the Parade by Lori Ostlund; Hotel by Joanna Walsh; The Bamboo Stalk by Saud Alsanousi; Succession by Livi Michael; Selected Later Poems by C.K. Williams; and Notes on the Assemblage by Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera. For more on these and other new titles, check out our Great Second-Half 2015 Book Preview. Support The Millions: Bookmark this link and start there when you shop at Amazon.

[theprofoundandprofane]

YUM

Two dishes with Grana Padano

I got invited to enter a competition to create two dishes using one of Italy’s most famous cheeses – Grana Padano Riserva. 

The obvious choice would have been a starter and main course, but I took on the challenge of creating a main course and a dessert.

First the main course: butternut gnocchi with a grana padano, wild mushroom, blackened onion and sage sauce.

For the gnocchi you’ll need squash or pumpkin, flour and an egg.

For the sauce: butter, sage, dried wild mushrooms which have been soaked for half an hour, spring onions and Grana Padano Riserva cheese.

Roast the squash until soft, then scoop it out and dry it in a low oven for half an hour or so. While it’s still warm, work in plain flour (start with a quarter of the weight of flour to the weight of squash) and a small egg until you have a soft but not sticky dough. Roll this into sausages about 1.5″ thick, and cut into little dumplings.

Blacken the spring onions on a grill, allow to cool and then finely mince them along with the drained wild mushrooms. Melt the butter and add sage leaves, then the onion and mushrooms, and some grated Grana Padano. Keep on the lowest heat while you cook the gnocchi, dropping them into steadily boiling water and waiting until they rise to the surface. Drain and add to the sauce, tossing around, and adding a little of the gnocchi water to loosen. Serve with lots more Grana Padano grated on top.

Next the dessert. How to get a beautifully savoury, grainy cheese into a dessert? One of the most delicious variations on salted caramel is miso salted caramel, and as Grana Padano is similarly rich in umami flavours, I made Grana Padano caramel!

To make this you cook 200g of sugar with 125ml of water until it turns amber, then beat in 100g butter and then 100ml of cream. Then you add 150g of grated Grana Padano Riserva. Beat this in, and then blend at high speed, leaving you with a smooth sauce with just the slightest touch of graininess.

A sauce this rich needs a contrast, so I paired it with a lemon panacotta made with 500ml of full cream milk, the juice and zest of two lemons, gelatine and a little sugar.

The pannacotta turned out perfectly, garnished with a little lemon zest. But would Grana Padano caramel work?

It did. I ate the lot.

[theprofoundandprofane]

Dot By Dot by Ana Enshina

Ana Enshina is a freelance artist and architectural student from London who  uses her creative eye to envision majestic animals as an abundance of multicolored spots. By utilizing different shapes and sizes for her dots, Enshina is able to incorporate a pronounced sense of whimsicality into her work. In turn, this playfulness helps to bring the artist’s subjects to life as they pop off the page in a succession of vivid hues and dotted forms. Follow her on Instagram.

You need the art in order to love the life. We guarantee you that!

posted by Margaret

[theprofoundandprofane]

What do you think?