Simmering Hope

Who does not need or want a little bit (or maybe more) good luck in the year to come? We see the passing year as a renewed chance for the better in the new one to come.

Courtesy of epicurious.com, following is a list of food that is considered to bring good fortune:

The six major categories of auspicious foods are grapes, greens, fish, pork, legumes, and cakes.

Grapes: New Year’s revelers in Spain consume twelve grapes at midnight—one grape for each stroke of the clock. This dates back to 1909, when grape growers in the Alicante region of Spain initiated the practice to take care of a grape surplus. The idea stuck, spreading to Portugal as well as former Spanish and Portuguese colonies such as Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico, Ecuador, and Peru. Each grape represents a different month, so if for instance the third grape is a bit sour, March might be a rocky month. For most, the goal is to swallow all the grapes before the last stroke of midnight, but Peruvians insist on taking in a 13th grape for good measure.

Greens and sour cabbage: Cooked greens, including cabbage, collards, kale, and chard, are consumed at New Year’s in different countries for a simple reason — their green leaves look like folded money, and are thus symbolic of economic fortune. The Danish eat stewed kale sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon, the Germans consume sauerkraut (cabbage) while in the southern United States, collards are the green of choice. It’s widely believed that the more greens one eats the larger one’s fortune next year.

Legumes: Legumes including beans, peas, and lentils are also symbolic of money. Their small, seedlike appearance resembles coins that swell when cooked so they are consumed with financial rewards in mind. In Italy, it’s customary to eat cotechino con lenticchie or sausages and green lentils, just after midnight—a particularly propitious meal because pork has its own lucky associations. Germans also partner legumes and pork, usually lentil or split pea soup with sausage. In Brazil, the first meal of the New Year is usually lentil soup or lentils and rice, and in Japan, the osechi-ryori, a group of symbolic dishes eaten during the first three days of the new year, includes sweet black beans called kuro-mame.

Pork: The custom of eating pork on New Year’s is based on the idea that pigs symbolize progress. The animal pushes forward, rooting itself in the ground before moving. Roast suckling pig is served for New Year’s in Cuba, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, and Austria—Austrians are also known to decorate the table with miniature pigs made of marzipan. Different pork dishes such as pig’s feet are enjoyed in Sweden while Germans feast on roast pork and sausages. Pork is also consumed in Italy and the United States, where thanks to its rich fat content, it signifies wealth and prosperity.

Fish: The Danish eat boiled cod, while in Italy, baccalà, or dried salt cod, is enjoyed from Christmas through New Year’s. Herring, another frequently preserved fish, is consumed at midnight in Poland and Germany—Germans also enjoy carp and have been known to place a few fish scales in their wallets for good luck. The Swedish New Year feast is usually a smorgasbord with a variety of fish dishes such as seafood salad. In Japan, herring roe is consumed for fertility, shrimp for long life, and dried sardines for a good harvest (sardines were once used to fertilize rice fields).

Cakes: Cakes and other baked goods are commonly served from Christmas to New Year’s around the world, with a special emphasis placed on round or ring-shaped items. Italy has chiacchiere, which are honey-drenched balls of pasta dough fried and dusted with powdered sugar. Poland, Hungary, and the Netherlands also eat donuts, and Holland has ollie bollen, puffy, donut-like pastries filled with apples, raisins, and currants.

In certain cultures, it’s customary to hide a special trinket or coin inside the cake—the recipient will be lucky in the new year. Mexico’s rosca de reyes is a ring-shaped cake decorated with candied fruit and baked with one or more surprises inside. In Greece, a special round cake called vasilopita is baked with a coin hidden inside. At midnight or after the New Year’s Day meal, the cake is cut, with the first piece going to St. Basil and the rest being distributed to guests in order of age. Sweden and Norway have similar rituals in which they hide a whole almond in rice pudding—whoever gets the nut is guaranteed great fortune in the new year.

Cakes aren’t always round. In Scotland, where New Year’s is called Hogmanay, there is a tradition called “first footing,” in which the first person to enter a home after the new year determines what kind of year the residents will have. The “first footer” often brings symbolic gifts like coal to keep the house warm or baked goods such as shortbread, oat cakes, and a fruit caked called black bun, to make sure the household always has food.

What not to eat?
In addition to the aforementioned lucky foods, there are also a few to avoid. Lobster, for instance, is a bad idea because they move backwards and could therefore lead to setbacks. Chicken is also discouraged because the bird scratches backwards, which could cause regret or dwelling on the past. Another theory warns against eating any winged fowl because good luck could fly away.

Now that you know what to eat, there’s one more superstition—that is, guideline—to keep in mind. In Germany, it’s customary to leave a little bit of each food on your plate past midnight to guarantee a stocked pantry in the New Year. Likewise in the Philippines, it’s important to have food on the table at midnight. The conclusion? Eat as much lucky food as you can, just don’t get too greedy—or the first place you’ll be going in the new year is the gym.

Throw into the mix round fruits (oranges, grapefruits and especially pomegranates), or persimmons -as per Chinese tradition.

What else to do?
Wear something red and gold, be happy, enjoy the company of friends and family, laugh a lot and send positive thoughts into the Universe. Your kindness and generosity will bring back more prosperity and happiness. In other words, the Law of Attraction will really work.

Happy New Year to all of us!

It made the news around the world: new revelations courtesy of WikLeaks are going to shed light on secret correspondence between the U.S. State Department and various U.S. embassies around the world. Allegedly WikiLeaks is in possession of almost 3 million documents, including sensitive diplomatic cables sent to Washington from the American embassy in London.
The revelations may be include among others allegations of corruption against politicians in Russia, Afghanistan and other Central Asian nations, information on the U.K politics and documents showing that Turkey has helped Al Qaeda in Iraq.

The threat sent shivers on diplomatic world, and prompted the U.S. ambassador to Britain, Louis Susman to pay a visit to the U.K Prime Minister David Cameron to warn him about the content of the documents. Supposedly the sensitive documents contain details of secret discussions on the return of the Lockerbie bomber to Libya, among other information related to the U.K. politics.

On Wednesday, U.S. State Department’s Assistant Secretary Philip Crowley said that the possible release would “put national interests at risk.”
“We are prepared if this upcoming tranche of documents includes State Department cables. We are in touch with our posts around the world. They have begun the process of notifying governments that [the] release of documents is possible in the near future”

WikiLeaks twitters showing how the U.S. government, in anticipation of an imminent expose, is briefing its allies on what to expect.

Newspapers around the world published articles warning about the WikiLeaks documents.
Russian Kommersant daily said that the documents contain the U.S. evaluation of the political situation in Russia and the unflattering characteristics of some Russian leaders.
According to Daily Mail “ There are fears of even the most apparently trivial secrets being hugely damaging. One British official said they feared that mutual American and British contempt for the French would emerge.‘Moaning about the French was practically a sport,’ he said”

The Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz, claimed that the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv warned the country’s foreign ministry that some of the cables could concern U.S.-Israel relations.

The Washington Post reported that the files will contain allegations that the U.S. has supported the PKK, a Kurdish rebel organization that has been waging a separatist war against Turkey since 1984.

The U.S. says it has known for some time that WikiLeaks held the cables.
No one has been charged with passing them to the website, but suspicion focuses on Bradley Manning, an intelligence analyst arrested in Iraq in June and charged over an earlier leak.

As per Global Research “WikiLeaks’ founder, Australian activist Julian Assange, has no home address but he often pops up in Sweden and Iceland, where Internet anonymity is protected by laws. He is being hunted by Pentagon investigators and is suspected of releasing confidential U.S. State Department documents.

Julian Assange in July 2010

“The WikiLeaks website does not have a central office or any paid staff and its operations are run only by a small dedicated team and some 800 volunteers. Its servers are spread all over the world and do not keep logs, so governments cannot trace where the information is being sent and received from” (Global Research)

I suspect that the revelations are going to damage the international relationships to some extent. However, what I am more interested in is to read the truth about the E.U. and Middle East corruption or the deals made by the whole world with China and India or the annihilation (ethnic cleansing) of the Tibetans or the genocide in African countries. Instead of that we are going to read some embarrassing diplomatic gaffes.

To me it’s just sickening watching the drama unfold. Is it Oksana Grigorievna going to succeed in her evil and dirty attempts to extort money and destroy Mel Gibson’s career?
So far the judge seems to be unable to follow his own recommendation: holding her in contempt for ignoring the gag order. Is he biased? Most people believe that.
Is the tribe so powerful indeed as to control not only the Hollywood, but the court as well? The answers seem to be ‘Yes’.

I am a supporter of Mr. Gibson. He may be guilty of having a bad temper, of cheating on his wife, of being a disappointment to his children but I don’t believe it for a second that he is the abuser Grigorievna is trying to convince us he is. And I am 100% certain that she is not the victim of any domestic abuse.

Her supporters bring up the ‘tapes’ as a proof against Mel Gibson. Seriously? are they really that naive? Or do they really believe that most of us are such?
All right then, what about the tapes?
Various experts came out to prove that they have been tampered with.
Apparently clips have been spliced together and edited as to show an out of control Gibson vs a totally cool and under control Grigorievna, who allegedly at that time was afraid for her life and instead of calling 911, took her sweet time recording tapes.
Why the tapes have been admitted in court is beyond my understanding.

Following are two examples of different theories regarding the validity of the tapes and the pictures used by Grigorievna to proof domestic violence. Enjoy it!

And from ABC:

The story as I can see it looks like this:
- O. Grigorievna understood that no baby, no money; so she conveniently found herself pregnant with Mel’s child. At that moment she hoped she would be given an official status, meaning getting a wedding ring. However, Mel had a different opinion and declined to marry her
- O.G. then started using the same tactics she used against Timothy Dalton: fabricating some incriminating ‘evidence’ to blackmail M.G.
- M.G. decided to fight it, hence the current big mess
- Contrary to what she is saying, she could not care less about her daughter’s future, as she is too busy feeling sorry for herself; I guess she knows that her reputation for being a cold blooded gold digger is going to keep any normal man as far away as possible from her from now on. Meaning that for once she is going to be forced to actually WORK to make a living. Not acceptable in her books. She thinks that she is the God’s gift to man and accordingly, she should be looked after and spoiled. She should be more concerned about not ending up in jail for extortion. Hence her doing the talk circuit.

Note: Larry King is an old geezer who does not have the moral compass to tell us who is right and who is wrong. Go home LK! time to retire and leave us alone! Her presence on your show was a disgrace.

In conclusion I reiterate that I am truly sorry for Mel Gibson. He pissed off the tribe and now he pays the consequences; Grigorievna, Larry King, are just tools in their hands. I respect him for fighting as hard as he does. He is a brave heart.

We have just started looking for a good deal to Mayan Riviera when the news hit the net.

As per Associated Press “An explosion believed to have been caused by an accumulation of natural gas killed six people and injured 15 Sunday at a resort hotel on Mexico’s Caribbean coast, authorities said.

Initial reports indicate that three Canadian tourists may be among those who lost their lives in the blast, said Quintana Roo state Attorney General Francisco Alor.

The explosion happened in the lobby of the 676-room Grand Riviera Princess hotel in Playa del Carmen, which is located in Quintana Roo”

According to official reports, the investigations were focusing on the possibility that naturally occurring gas from a nearby swamp had built up under the hotel and somehow ignited.

The world became such a dangerous place lately, that we don’t feel comfortable anymore leaving our house. You read about tourists being hijacked and killed in South Africa, kidnapped in various places, mugged and raped or killed in explosions and it’s no wonder you start considering that a vacation in your backyard sounds not only economical, but safe also.
I guess we are not going to find out if the explosion at Grand Riviera Princess happened indeed because of natural gas natural ignition or it was an act of terrorism.

We did not feel safe to go to Puerto Vallarta because of Mexican ‘pirates’ and started considering the Mayan Riviera as a safe alternative. Now we don’t know what to think anymore.

The news made already the rounds: Liam Neeson has been offered the cameo originally proposed to Mel Gibson: a tattoo artist from Thailand.
Neeson told ‘Variety’ that he just got a call to do a one-day shoot. Has he known that it was a last minute change? Personally I don’t think that Liam Neeson is a good choice for the role. He is way too serious. Bruce Willis would have been a much better option. But I guess Bruce Willis is not friends with Bradley Cooper, who is in Hangover 2.

Celebrity media speculated that Hangover actor Zach Galifianakis was the star who spoke up about not wanting to work with Gibson. In a radio pod cast he said “I’m in deep protest right now with a movie I’m working on, up in arms about something. But I can’t get the guys to listen… it’s very frustrating”

Who is Zach Galifianakis you may ask? For sure he is not Oscar material.
Galifianikis is an ex stand-up comedian, whose punch lines were ‘Shut up you fucking cunt’ to women in the audience. Classy, right?

In my opinion what happened was a retaliation from the Hollywood Bully Boys. Among them Ari Emanuel, the brother of Rep.Rahm Emanuel.

From the article “The Four Gospels of Mel:
James Mee, Ari Emanuel, Alan Nierob and Kevin Youkilis”

“Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel was less forgiving. Just days after the incident, he set the tone for the film colony arguing on his blog that Gibson should be blackballed. “Now we know the truth. And no amount of publicist-approved contrition can paper it over,” wrote Emanuel, kid brother of Rep. Rahm Emanuel (see above) and inspiration for super-agent Ari Gold on the HBO show “Entourage” (see Jeremy Piven). “People in the entertainment community, whether Jew or gentile, need to demonstrate that they understand how much is at stake in this by professionally shunning Mel Gibson and refusing to work with him, even if it means a sacrifice.”

This is the real reason. The stupid Galifianakis and his big fat mouth was just the scapegoat.
As time proved again and again, Hollywood has no problem opening its arms to Mike Tyson (cast in Hangover) and Roman Polanski, both convicted rapists.

So far, Mel Gibson has not been convicted of anything. He only made three big mistakes.
1. Allegedly using anti-Semitic remarks while drunk
2. Getting involved with a gold digger
3. Not wearing a condom

Of course the Russian mistress does not have enough power to ruin his career, only to milk lots of money; however, the Hollywood Tribe can and it’s been happening since the release of The Passion of the Christ.