Pumpkin Soup, Yummy!

iPhoneOgraphy – 22 Nov 2016 (Day 327/366)

Squash soup is a soup prepared using squash as a primary ingredient. Squash used to prepare the soup include acorn squash, butternut squash and pumpkin.

Squash soup is a soup in African cuisine. It is a part of the cuisine of Northern Africa, and the cuisines of Mozambique and Namibia, both of which are located in Southern Africa. Squash soup is also served in other countries and is a part of other cuisines. Soup Joumou is traditionally consumed in Haiti on New Year’s Day (January 1), as a historical tribute to Haitian independence in 1804.

Squash that has initially been separately roasted can be used in the soup’s preparation. The roasting of squash can serve to concentrate the gourd’s flavor. Squash soup can be prepared with chunks or pieces of squash and also with puréed squash. Pre-cooked, frozen squash can also be used, as can commercially prepared packets of pre-cooked frozen squash purée. Butternut squash soup may have a sweet flavor, due to the sugars present in the squash. Additional basic ingredients in squash soup’s preparation can include broth, onion, cream, spices such as sage and thyme, salt and pepper. Pumpkin soup can be served hot or cold, and is a popular Thanksgiving dish in the United States.

Pumpkin “pies” made by early American colonists were more likely to be a savory soup made and served in a pumpkin than a sweet custard in a crust.

Pumpkin soup was a staple for the prisoners of war in North Vietnamese prison camps during the Vietnam War.

Shot & Edited using iPhone 6+

Italian Word For Ice Cream

iPhoneOgraphy – 21 Nov 2016 (Day 326/366)

Gelato (Italian plural: gelati) is the Italian word for ice cream, commonly used in English for ice cream made in an Italian style. Gelato is made with a base of milk, cream, and sugar, and flavored with fruit and nut purees and other flavorings. It is generally lower in fat, but higher in sugar, than other styles of ice cream. Gelato typically contains less air and more flavoring than other kinds of frozen desserts, giving it a density and richness that distinguishes it from other ice creams.

In Italy, by law, gelato must have at least 3.5% butterfat. In the United States, there is no legal standard of definition for gelato, as there is for ice cream, which must contain at least 10% butterfat.

The history of gelato is rife with myths and very little evidence to substantiate them. Some say it dates back to frozen desserts in Sicily, Ancient Rome and Egypt made from snow and ice brought down from mountaintops and preserved below ground. Later, in 1686 the Sicilian fisherman Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli perfected the first ice cream machine. However, the popularity of gelato among larger shares of the population only increased in the 1920s–1930s in the northern Italian city of Varese, where the first gelato cart was developed. Italy is the only country where the market share of artisanal gelato versus mass-produced gelato is over 55%. Today, more than 5,000 modern Italian ice cream parlors employ over 15,000 people, mostly Italians.

Shot & Edited using iPhone 6+

O.M.G Cough Virus Drop By

iPhoneOgraphy – 20 Nov 2016 (Day 325/366)

A throat lozenge (cough drop, troche, cachou, or cough sweet) is a small, typically medicated tablet intended to be dissolved slowly in the mouth to temporarily stop coughs and lubricate and soothe irritated tissues of the throat (usually due to a sore throat), possibly from the common cold or influenza. Cough tablets have taken the name lozenge, based on their original shape, a diamond.

Lozenges may contain benzocaine, an anesthetic, or eucalyptus oil. Non-menthol throat lozenges generally use either zinc gluconate glycine or pectin as an oral demulcent. Several brands of throat lozenges contain dextromethorphan.

Still other varieties, such as Halls, contain menthol, peppermint oil and/or spearmint as their active ingredient(s). Honey lozenges are also available.

Candies to soothe the throat date back to 1000 BC in Egypt’s Twentieth Dynasty, when they were made from honey flavored with citrus, herbs, and spices. In the 19th century, physicians discovered morphine and heroin, which suppress coughing at its source – the brain. Popular formulations of that era included Smith Brothers Cough Drops, first advertised in 1852, and Luden’s, created in 1879. Concern over the risk of opioid dependence led to the development of alternative medications.

Shot & Edited using iPhone 6+

The Pedestrian Bridge

iPhoneOgraphy – 19 Nov 2016 (Day 324/366)

A footbridge (also called a pedestrian bridge, pedestrian overpass, or pedestrian overcrossing) is a bridge designed for pedestrians and in some cases cyclists, animal traffic, and horse riders, instead of vehicular traffic. Footbridges complement the landscape and can be used decoratively to visually link two distinct areas or to signal a transaction. In many developed countries, footbridges are both functional and can be beautiful works of art and sculpture. For poor rural communities in the developing world, a footbridge may be a community’s only access to medical clinics, schools and markets, which would otherwise be unreachable when rivers are too high to cross. Simple suspension bridge designs have been developed to be sustainable and easily constructible in such rural areas using only local materials and labor.

An enclosed footbridge between two buildings is sometimes known as a skyway. Bridges providing for both pedestrians and cyclists are often referred to as green-bridges and form an important part of sustainable transport movement towards more sustainable cities. Footbridges are often situated to allow pedestrians to cross water or railways in areas where there are no nearby roads to necessitate a road bridge. They are also located across roads to let pedestrians cross safely without slowing down the traffic. The latter is a type of pedestrian separation structure, examples of which are particularly found near schools, to help prevent children running in front of moving cars.

The residential-scale footbridges all span a short distance and can be used for a broad range of applications. Complicated engineering is not needed and the footbridges are built with readily available materials and basic tools.

Footbridges can also be built in the same ways as road or rail bridges; particularly suspension bridges and beam bridges. Some former road bridges have had their traffic diverted to alternative crossings and have become pedestrian bridges; examples in the UK include The Iron Bridge at Iron bridge, Shropshire, the Old Bridge at Pontypridd and Windsor Bridge at Windsor, Berkshire.

Most footbridges are equipped with guard rails to reduce the risk of pedestrians falling. Where they pass over busy roads or railways, they may also include a fence or other such barrier to prevent pedestrians from jumping, or throwing projectiles onto the traffic below.

Footbridges are small, but important, because they are usually presented in townscape. The appearance of footbridges, and indeed of any other bridges, in a town, is a major concern for designers. People have to live with these structures, usually seeing them every day. In the towns that are big on architectural or scenic interest, conflicting demands may arise and bridges will be built.

Footbridges, in fact, can be elegant or beautiful, and are built on a more human scale than large road and railway bridges. Railway footbridges tend to be somewhat utilitarian, which were present in the earlier years. Apart from those in stations and in towns, they are generally not much seen, even by the passengers who go under them.

Shot & Edited using iPhone 6+

Juicy Watermelon

iPhoneOgraphy – 18 Nov 2016 (Day 323/366)

Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus var. lanatus, family Cucurbitaceae) is a vine-like (scrambler and trailer) flowering plant originally from Southern Africa. It is a large, sprawling annual plant with coarse, hairy pinnately-lobed leaves and white to yellow flowers. It is grown for its large edible fruit, also known as a watermelon, which is a special kind of berry with a hard rind and no internal division, botanically called a pepo. The fruit has a smooth hard rind – usually green with dark green stripes or yellow spots – and a sweet, juicy interior flesh – usually deep red to pink, but sometimes orange, yellow, or white – with many seeds, which can be soft and white or hard and black.

Considerable breeding effort has been put into disease-resistant varieties and into developing a “seedless” strain with only digestable white seeds. Many cultivars are available, producing mature fruit within 100 days of planting the crop. The fruit can be eaten raw, pickled or the rind cooked.

The watermelon is thought to have originated in Southern Africa, where it is found growing wild. It reaches maximum genetic diversity there, with sweet, bland and bitter forms. In the 19th century, Alphonse de Candolle considered the watermelon to be indigenous to tropocal Africa. Citrullus colocynthis is often considered to be a wild ancestor of the watermelon and is now found native in north and west Africa. However, it has been suggested on the basis of chloroplast DNA investigations that the cultivated and wild watermelon diverged independently from a common ancestor, possibly C.ecirrhosus from Namibia.

Evidence of its cultivation in the Nile Valley has been found from the second millennium BC onward. Watermelon seeds have been found at Twelfth Dynasty sites and in the tomb of PharaohTutankhamun.

In the 7th century watermelons were being cultivated in India, and by the 10th century had reached China, which is today the world’s single largest watermelon producer. Moorish invaders introduced the fruit into Europe and there is evidence of it being cultivated in Córdoba in 961 and also in Seville in 1158. It spread northwards through Southern Europe, perhaps limited in its advance by summer temperatures being insufficient for good yields. The fruit had begun appearing in European herbals by 1600, and was widely planted in Europe in the 17th century as a minor garden crop.

European colonists and slaves from Africa introduced the watermelon to the New World. Spanish settlers were growing it in Florida in 1576, and it was being grown in Massachusetts by 1629, and by 1650 was being cultivated in Peru, Brazil and Panama, as well as in many British and Dutch colonies. Around the same time, Native Americans were cultivating the crop in the Mississippi valley and Florida. Watermelons were rapidly accepted in Hawaii and other Pacific islands when they were introduced there by explorers such as Captain James Cook.

Shot & Edited using iPhone 6+

The Paper Guillotine

iPhoneOgraphy – 17 Nov 2016 (Day 322/366)

A paper cutter (also referred to as paper trimmer, paper guillotine or simply a guillotine) is a tool often found in offices and classrooms, designed to cut a large set of paper at once with a straight edge.

Paper cutters, similar to those of today, were patented in 1844 and 1852 by Guillaume Massiquot. They have been around since the late 1830s, when, in 1837, Thirault built a model with a fixed blade to a flat surface. Since the middle of the 19th century considerable improvements have been made by Fomm and Krause of Germany, Furnival in England, and Oswego and Seybold in the United States.

Paper cutters vary in size, usually from about 30 centimetres (1 ft) in length on each side for office work to 841 millimetres (33.1 in) (an edge of A1 paper) in design workshops. The surface will usually have a grid either painted or inscribed on it, often in half-inch increments, and may have a ruler across the top. At the very least, it must have a flat edge against which the user may line up the paper at right-angles before passing it under the blade. It is usually relatively heavy, so that it will remain steady while in use.

On the right-hand edge is a long, curved steel blade, often referred to as a knife, attached to the base at one corner. Larger versions have a strong compression coil spring as part of the attachment mechanism that pulls the knife against the stationary edge as the knife is drawn down to cut the paper. The other end of the knife unit is a handle. The stationary right edge of the base is also steel, with an exposed, finely-ground edge. When the knife is pulled down to cut paper, the action resembles that of a pair of scissors, only instead of two knives moving against each other, one is stationary. The combination of a blade mounted to a steady base produces clean and straight cuts, the likes of which would have otherwise required a ruler and razor blade to achieve on a single page. Paper cutters are also used for cutting thin sheet metal, cardboard, and plastic. The blade on a paper cutter is made of steel which makes it almost impossible to break.

A variant design uses a wheel-shaped blade mounted on a sliding shuttle attached to a rail. This type of paper cutter is known as a rotary paper cutter. Advantages of this design include being able to make wavy cuts, perforations or just score the paper without cutting, with the use of various circular blades. It is also almost impossible for the user to cut him/herself, except while changing the blade. This makes it safer for home use. Higher-end versions of rotary paper cutters are used for precision paper cutting and are popular for cutting down photographs.

An even simpler design uses double-edged blades which do not rotate, but cut like a penknife. While cheaper, this design is not preferable for serious work due to its tendency to tear paper, and poor performance with thick media.

Most paper cutters come equipped with a finger guard to prevent users from accidentally cutting themselves or severing a digit while using the apparatus. However, injuries are still possible if the device is not used with proper care or attention.

Shot & Edited using iPhone 6+

The Fire Chicken

iPhoneOgraphy – 16 Nov 2016 (Day 321/366)

Buldak is a Korean dish made from heavily spiced chicken. The term “bul” is Korean for “fire” and “dak” translates to “chicken.” A decade ago, buldak became famous for its extreme spiciness. Even some Koreans are unable to eat buldak for this reason.

South Korea’s long term recession and economic downturn made people seek spicy food in order to relieve stress. Buldak was invented by Fuyuan Foods, which first registered Buldak at a patent office around 2000. In April 2008, however, with the expiration of the original patent, the name Buldak became free for public use. There used to be only one chain of restaurants that served Buldak but now there are many more. Famous Buldak restaurants are Hongcho Buldak, Hwarang Buldak, and Hwaro Buldak. Buldak has also become somewhat prominent in supermarkets, with brands such as Samyang Food creating Buldak-flavored ramen. Buldak has led to the development of other dishes inspired from it. In recent years, however, its popularity has somewhat declined.

Shot & Edited using iPhone 6+

Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tarts

iPhoneOgraphy – 15 Nov 2016 (Day 320/366)

Dessert is a course that concludes a main meal. The course usually consists of sweet foods and beverages, such as dessert wine or liqueurs, but may include coffee, cheeses, nuts, or other savory items. In some parts of the world, such as much of central and western Africa, there is no tradition of a dessert course to conclude a meal.

The term “dessert” can apply to many confections, such as cakes, tarts, cookies, biscuits, gelatins, pastries, ice creams, pies, puddings, custards, and sweet soups. Fruit is also commonly found in dessert courses because of its naturally occurring sweetness. Some cultures sweeten foods that are more commonly savory to create desserts.

The word “dessert” originated from the French word desservir, meaning “to clear the table.” Its first known use was in 1600, in a health education manual entitled Naturall and artificial Directions for Health, which was written by William Vaughan. In his A History of Dessert (2013), Michael Krondl explains it refers to the fact dessert was served after the table had been cleared of other dishes. The term dates from the 14th century but attained its current meaning around the beginning of the 20th century when “service à la française” (setting a variety of dishes on the table at the same time) was replaced with “service à la russe” (presenting a meal in courses.)”

Sweets were fed to the gods in ancient Mesopotamia, India and other ancient civilizations. Dried fruit and honey were probably the first sweeteners used in most of the world, but the spread of sugarcane around the world was essential to the development of dessert.

Sugarcane was grown and refined in India before 500 BCE and was crystallized, making it easy to transport, by 500 CE. Sugar and sugarcane were traded, making sugar available to Macedonia by 300 BCE and China by 600 CE. In South Asia, the Middle East and China, sugar has been a staple of cooking and desserts for over a thousand years. Sugarcane and sugar were little known and rare in Europe until the twelfth century or later, when the Crusades and then colonialization spread its use.

Europeans began to manufacture sugar in the Middle Ages, and more sweet desserts became available. Even then sugar was so expensive usually only the wealthy could indulge on special occasions. The first apple pie recipe was published in 1381. The earliest documentation of the term cupcake was in “Seventy-five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats” in 1828 in Eliza Leslie’s Receipts cookbook.

The Industrial Revolution in America and Europe caused desserts (and food in general) to be mass-produced, processed, preserved, canned, and packaged. Frozen foods became very popular starting in the 1920s when freezing emerged. These processed foods became a large part of diets in many industrialized nations. Many countries have desserts and foods distinctive to their nations or region.

Shot & Edited using iPhone 6+

Japanese Dolls “Kokeshi”

iPhoneOgraphy – 14 Nov 2016 (Day 319/366)

Kokeshi (こけし こけし, kokeshi), are Japanese dolls, originally from northern Japan. They are handmade from wood, have a simple trunk and an enlarged head with a few thin, painted lines to define the face. The body has a floral design painted in red, black, and sometimes yellow, and covered with a layer of wax. One characteristic of kokeshi dolls is their lack of arms or legs. The bottom is typically marked with the signature of the artist.

The origin and naming of kokeshi is unclear, with historical ateji spellings including 小芥子, 木牌子, 木形子, and 木芥子. The hiragana spelling こけし was agreed on at the All-Japan Kokeshi Exhibition (全国こけし大会) at Naruko Onsen in August 1939. A plausible theory is that “kokeshi” is derived from wooden (木 ki, ko) or small (小 ko), and dolls (芥子keshi).

Kokeshi were first produced by kijishi (木地師), artisans proficient with a potter’s wheel, at the Shinchi Shuraku, near the Tōgatta Onsen in Zaō from where kokeshi-making techniques spread to other spa areas in the Tōhoku region. It is said that these dolls were originally made during the middle of the Edo period (1600–1868) to be sold to people who were visiting the hot springs in the north-east of the country.

Kokeshi dolls have been used as an inspiration for the style of Nintendo’s digital avatars, called “Miis”, which are created and customized by players. Their appearance has become the symbol of the platform’s overall aesthetic.

“Traditional” kokeshi (伝統こけし dentō-kokeshi) dolls’ shapes and patterns are particular to a certain area and are classified under eleven types, shown below. The most dominant type is the Naruko variety originally made in Miyagi Prefecture, which can also be found in Akita, Iwate, and Yamagata Prefectures. The main street of the Naruko Onsen Village is known as Kokeshi Street and has shops which are operated directly by the kokeshi carvers.

“Creative” kokeshi (新型こけし shingata-kokeshi) allow the artist complete freedom in terms of shape, design and color and were developed after World War II (1945). They are not particular to a specific region of Japan and generally creative kokeshi artists are found in cities.

The woods used for kokeshi vary, with cherry used for its darkness and dogwood for its softer qualities. Itaya-kaede, a Japanese maple, is also used in the creation of both traditional and creative dolls. The wood is left outdoors to season for one to five years before it can be used.

Shot & Edited using iPhone 6+

Special Operation Force

iPhoneOgraphy – 13 Nov 2016 (Day 318/366)

A commando is a soldier or operative of an elite light infantry or special operations force often specializing in amphibious landings, parachuting or abseiling.

Originally “a commando” was a type of combat unit, as opposed to an individual in that unit. In other languages, commando and kommando denote a “command”, including the sense of a military or an elite special operations unit.

In the militaries and governments of most countries, commandos are distinctive in that they specialize in assault on unconventional high-value targets. However, the term commando is sometimes used in relation to units carrying out the latter tasks (including some civilian police units).

In English, occasionally to distinguish between an individual commando and the unit Commando, the unit is capitalized.

The word stems from the Afrikaans word kommando, which translates roughly to “mobile infantry regiment”. This term originally referred to mounted infantry regiments, who fought against the British Army in the first and second Boer Wars.

The Dutch word has had the meaning of “a military order or command” since at least 1652; it likely came into the language through the influence of the Portuguese word commando (meaning “command”). (In Dutch, “commando” can also mean a command given to a computer, e.g., “het mkdir-commando” (= “create a directory”).) It is also possible the word was adopted into Afrikaans from interactions with Portuguese colonies. Less likely, it is a High German loan word, which was borrowed from Italian in the 17th century, from the sizable minority of German settlers in the initial European colonization of South Africa.

The officer commanding an Afrikaans kommando is called a kommandant, which is a regimental commander equivalent to a lieutenant-colonel or a colonel.

The Oxford English Dictionary ties the English use of the word meaning “a member of a body of picked men …” directly into its Afrikaans’ origins:

“1943 Combined Operations (Min. of Information) i. Lt. Lieutenant-Colonel D. W. Clarke… produced the outline of a scheme…. The men for this type of irregular warfare should, he suggested, be formed into units to be known as Commandos…. Nor was the historical parallel far-fetched. After the victories of Roberts and Kitchener had scattered the Boer army, the guerrilla tactics of its individual units (which were styled ‘Commandos’)… prevented decisive victory…. His [sc. Lt.-Col. D. W. Clarke’s] ideas were accepted; so also, with some hesitation, was the name Commando.”

During World War II, newspaper reports of the deeds of “the commandos” led to readers thinking that the singular meant one man rather than one military unit, and this new usage became established.

After the Dutch Cape Colony was established in 1652, the word was used to describe bands of militia. The first “Commando Law” was instated by the original Dutch East India Company chartered settlements and similar laws were maintained through the independent Boer Orange Free State and South African Republic. The law compelled Burghers to equip themselves with a horse and a firearm when required in defense. The implementation of these laws was called the “Commando System”. A group of mounted militiamen were organized in a unit known as a commando and headed by a Commandant, who was normally elected from inside the unit. Men called up to serve were said to be “on commando”. British experience with this system lead to the widespread adoption of the word “commandeer” into English in the 1880s.

During the “Great Trek”, conflicts with Southern African peoples such as the Xhosa and the Zulu caused the Boers to retain the commando system despite being free of colonial laws. Also, the word became used to describe any armed raid. During this period, the Boers also developed guerrilla techniques for use against numerically superior but less mobile bands of natives such as the Zulu who fought in large complex formations.

In the First Boer War, Boer commandos were able to use superior marksmanship, fieldcraft, camouflage and mobility to expel an occupying British force (poorly trained in marksmanship, wearing red uniforms and unmounted) from the Transvaal. These tactics were continued throughout the Second Boer War. In the final phase of the war, 75,000 Boers carried out asymmetric warfare against the 450,000-strong British Imperial forces for two years after the British had captured the capital cities of the two Boer republics. During these conflicts the word entered English, retaining its general Afrikaans meaning of a “militia unit” or a “raid”. Robert Baden-Powell recognised the importance of fieldcraft and was inspired to form the scouting movement.

In 1941, Lieutenant-Colonel D. W. Clarke of the British Imperial General Staff, suggested the name Commando for specialized raiding units of the British Army Special Service in evocation of the effectiveness and tactics of the Boer commandos. During World War II, American and British publications, confused over the use of the plural “commandos” for that type of British military units, gave rise to the modern common habit of using “a commando” to mean one member of such a unit, or one man engaged on a raiding-type operation.

Shot & Edited using iPhone 6+