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Tuesday, October 25

The power of feta cheese

by Mike on Tue 25 Oct 2005 04:32 PM EDT

What a difference a week makes. With an apparent lull in the panic over Avian flu, The EU has turned its attention to more pressing matters...

From FT.com (Financial Times)

UK dismay as Greeks win feta cheese rights

The long-running legal fight over the rights to feta cheese was finally resolved on Tuesday when Europe’s top court ruled that it should be designated as a traditional Greek product and protected as such throughout the European Union.

The decision, which could have implications for other contested food products, came in the face of strong opposition from the UK, France, Denmark and Germany, all of which had argued that feta was a generic name for the salty, crumbly white cheese. (full article)

Thank goodness that's resolved. Now if we can just figure out who holds the rights to American cheese, Brazil nuts and Vienna sausages, we can all sleep a little easier at night.

* Special thanks to the Greek Mangas himself for drawing my attention to this riveting issue.

Comments (1) | Permanent Link | Cosmos

Frida Kahlo, serendipity, and HPB

by Mike on Tue 25 Oct 2005 01:25 PM EDT

On Sunday, I happened to stop by the local Half Price Books store for a look around. After a short time browsing around, I made my way to the checkout with a copy of “Why People Believe Weird Things” by Michael Shermer, editor of Skeptic magazine. As I was getting out my wallet to pay for the book, my eye caught a rather surprising sight behind the counter. Leaning against the inside counter of the checkout counter was a massive 2006 calendar featuring the works of Frida Kahlo. Frida is one of my — and if I may be so bold to speak on behalf of the rest of the family, I will say “our” — favorite artists. In the recent past, I have looked around the ‘net for affordable prints of Kahlo’s work, but they are typically more than I am able or willing to pay. So this calendar, which is around 20” x 27” was a great find because it features prints of 12 of her best paintings — for only $15 total. Now much to my chagrin, there was a tag on that particular calendar marking it as reserved for another customer. I asked the cashier if they had any more in stock and she pointed me towards another area to check for myself. I was happy to find they had a few left, all of which were in cardboard packaging which was by itself a good quality reproduction of a Kahlo painting. Fifteen dollars later, I was on my way out to the car with my good fortune in hand. I can say with all honesty that the three ladies who were waiting for me in the car were also delighted with my find.

Frida Kahlo
The calendar features some of Frida’s most famous paintings, including “Self Portrait dedicated to Leon Trotsky,” “My Grandparents, My Parents and I,” and “The Suicide of Dorothy Hale.” Unfortunately, the collection doesn’t include my favorite Kahlo work, “Moses (Nucleus of Creation).” I’m still working on finding an affordable copy of that one.

I would guess that Half Price Books came upon these Taschen calendars as some kind of closeout deal, so it’s possible that you might find one of these calendars at your local HPB if you’re interested. Better act fast, though, because I would imagine these are going to get snapped up rather quickly.

Now I just have to figure out where to hang ours...