(no subject)

[selene_13]

I'm in India at the moment, on holiday, having a good and fascinating (and sometimes very confronting and bizarre) time, but I just got an email by a friend which told me that unfortunately Robert Jordan has passed away.

I started reading Jordan's books when I was sixteen and have reread them many, many times. I've grown up and lived and breathed those books these past ten years. I once got to see Jordan here in Holland at a book signing, and he was a very gracious and kind man. A great writer has left us, and he will be very much missed.

I hope the concluding book (part 12), when it's released in its final form, will do justice to Jordan's vision and bring his epos to a satisfying and perfect ending.

My good wishes are with his family. What sad news.

Comments

Re: India

[darkirony.livejournal.com]

lol! I actually meant the other way around... meaning, what is a good gift to bring to our Indian hosts. But this is useful to. That space currently occupied by toiletries will have be occupied by SOMETHING on the way home. ;-)

Re: India

[selene-13.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, I did not get that... :) Feel silly now!

On the streets, you will get questions for (naturally) rupees, shampoos (from the hotels), pens and chocolates (from the kids). Some in our tour collected all the shampoos etc in a big sack and gave them off to our guide at the end to give to those who needed/wanted it. Also, again, instead of giving money it would be better to chose a project. Schoolsupplies are good for schools, of course, which are bare and basic. Giving pens randomly to children does not mean they will be used for school (probably they will be sold of).

If you mean for people personally: clothing, perhaps. Kids were very happy with (baseball)caps. People sometimes asked for western clothing (if you bring clothes which you want to get rid of anyway to ease your suitcase, you can always leave them in your hotelroom too or give them away). Kids are also happy with simple things like balloons.

I'm thinking for anything else but I'm blank.

Re: India

[darkirony.livejournal.com]

Ah, great. Pens we were thinking sounded good and baseball caps from the university here will round that out nice. Thanks! We'll try to reserve the bottle of maple syrup for the visit to Leiden at the very end of the trip. That's our usual give to Europeans gift and seems to go over very well.

Re: India

[selene-13.livejournal.com]

You go to India and end up in Leiden? (I got my degree in Leiden). How does that happen?

You know, I have received Maple Syrup as a gift before, and I was happy to be able to make American pancakes for once, so you are right, that's a good gift! :) Now if only people could import the Cheesecake Factory cheesecakes (why oh why does Holland not get about cheesecake?).

Re: India

[darkirony.livejournal.com]

How do we end up in Leiden? Same way we also end up in Torino and perhaps Montpellier, but that's too far in the future for me to worry about... besides gifts.

Cheesecake is really easy to make. Course you have to be able to buy graham crackers and as I recall the philly cream cheese is in the exotic cheese case in Netherlands (*snicker*). But the actually assembly is quite easy.

Re: India

[selene-13.livejournal.com]

Getting cream cheese over here is certainly hard. My supermarket sure doesn't have it. I've tried a cheesecake once with quarck instead of cream cheese (after a recipe), which is okay, but not the same.

There's a chain of lunchrooms here called Bagels and Beans (in Leiden center too, good bagels etc, next to the big V&D) which does sell cream cheese separately, but it sure aint cheap. Maybe I'll give it a go sometime special. They also have a cheesecake themselves, but it's not that great.

Graham crackers? Cheesecake has crackers?

Re: crackers

[darkirony.livejournal.com]

Well, that's always my favorite crust and the easiest kind to make. http://www.ciachef.edu/enthusiasts/recipes/cheesecake.asp

Here's one with a walnut and graham cracker crust that sounds really good:
http://teriskitchen.com/cakes/cheese-b.html

You could probably use dutch windmill cookies, honestly, for the crust.

You know, we had a no-bake recipe we liked that used tofu instead of cream cheese because my boyfriend is lactose intolerant. It tasted pretty good, actually. Much lighter. Remind me in about two months and I can dig up the recipe.

They had Philadelphia cream cheese at den Toom in Rotterdam when we were there.

Re: crackers

[selene-13.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the recipes, I'll try one! The first seems a bit complicated... you first bake the crust 7 mins, then later the batter is added on top of the crust and the whole thing goes back into the oven in a water bath? And when the cream is added to the batter, should it still be liquid or mixed solid?

The second recipe is maybe easier. :)

You're right, a cookie dough mix will do too, I think. But I can get crackers.

Hope you arrived savely and will have a good time.