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±0 – Toaster
While pouring yourself a cup of coffee, you butter the toast and take a bite.
Once you’ve spread jam on your slice of toast, you toast another.
There’s a wealth of happiness in the smallest things.

Ottmar’s Viennese Potato Salad

I love potato salad. Where I come from it is made with mayonnaise and/or sour cream and can be a little too heavy. The Austrians do it right, using olive oil instead. Here is my version of a Viennese Potato Salad:

1/2 cup capers packed in salt (not the ones in brine!)
2 lbs. small new potatoes, scrubbed
1 T balsamic vinegar
3 T olive oil
1/2 t freshly ground black pepper
1 t salt
1 1/2 t Dijon-style mustard
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
2 T finely chopped Italian (flat-leaf) parsley

Wash the capers and dry with towel. Fry them in a pan with olive oil until they are crispy.

Place the potatoes in a large pot and cover by 2 inches with cold water. Bring to a boil and add salt, to taste. Turn down heat to a simmer and cook the potatoes until tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Don’t overcook. Test with the point of a knife. When done, drain, then set aside until just warm.

When potatoes are cool enough to handle, but still warm, peel and slice them into 1/4-inch rounds. Place in a mixing bowl.

Add the balsamic and toss gently. Add the remaining ingredients and the fried capers and toss gently.

Allow the potato salad to marinate for at least 1/2 hour at room temperature so the flavors can develop.

SSRI

As of this week you can find the three current SSRI releases One Guitar, Thira and Transit 2 in CD retail stores and online shops nationwide.

Sahara Blues

Want to have a little adventure and catch some great music?

Sahara blues in Mali with Robert Plant – Times Online
The remoteness, and the sublime blank canvas of the desert, turned the first festival into a surreal and haphazard event. Attended by 50 Westerners and 1,000 nomads, it had none of the infrastructure of a Glastonbury, but a magic that was lit by the eerie glow from a full lunar eclipse in the freezing Saharan night.

I love those words: the sublime blank canvas of the desert… via Barrett.