This Entangled Bank comments

Comment on Fake iPod 4th Generation by Ed

2010-08-18T08:55:16+01:00

Sorry – but the counterfeit ipod is pretty much useless. It’s a con. I bought it on ebay and was able to get my money back via paypal.

Comment on Fake iPod 4th Generation by smho@live.ca

2010-08-17T17:37:19+01:00

Hi, I wanted to know about your fake ipod. I have one exactly the same of the same 9.5.54 edition (or whatever.) I can’t find firmware and I don’t know how to even use firmware or anything about firmware! I also don’t know anything about putting games on it. Do you know anything about this? Is there any chance you could help me? Sincerely, Samira

Comment on Super-sharp and aesthetic too by Jamie

2010-07-26T13:52:33+01:00

I just got this whetstone http://www.axminster.co.uk/king-japanese-combination-waterstones-prod22468/ its the cheapest place I’ve seen for getting them.

Comment on Anyone for ortolan? by Ed

2007-09-14T23:19:12+01:00

Here’s an audio report of Mitterand’s deathbed ortolan experience, given by someone who did actually travel to France to try the delicacy.

Comment on If you like jigsaws then why not try shreds by tim@rogerlaborde.com

2007-03-05T23:12:58+00:00

The human jigsaw is so fascinating. Did you know that Alan Arkin, who just won the oscar for best supporting actor as a heroin snorting grandad in Little Miss Sunshine, co-wrote the Banana Boat Song made famous by Harry Belafonte.

Comment on Anyone for ortolan? by alex

2007-02-22T23:41:22+00:00

I can now answer my own question. Mitterand organised his last feast for New Year’s Eve, 1995, hosting thirty guests at Latches in Landes, SW France. The ortolan, said to embody the soul of France, was accompanied on the menu with other Gallic delicacies: oysters, foie gras, capons. Unstinting in this as so much else, Mitterand ate not one, but two of the illegal ortolans. He died eight days later. It is wonderful to imagine him contemplating the trinity and imminent mortality as he lacerated his mouth with the cracked bones, as described above.

Comment on Anyone for ortolan? by laingan.corio@gmail.com

2007-02-05T19:00:29+00:00

That napkin WAS really a cover-up – this from Brendan Kiley’s website:

You catch the ortolan with a net spread up in the forest canopy. Take it alive. Take it home. Poke out its eyes and put it in a small cage. Force-feed it oats and millet and figs until it has swollen to four times its normal size. Drown it in brandy. Roast it whole, in an oven at high heat, for six to eight minutes. Bring it to the table. Place a cloth—a napkin will do—over your head to hide your cruelty from the sight of God. Put the whole bird into your mouth, with only the beak protruding from your lips. Bite. Put the beak on your plate and begin chewing, gently. You will taste three things: First, the sweetness of the flesh and fat. This is God. Then, the bitterness of the guts will begin to overwhelm you. This is the suffering of Jesus. Finally, as your teeth break the small, delicate bones and they begin to lacerate your gums, you will taste the salt of your own blood, mingling with the richness of the fat and the bitterness of the organs. This is the Holy Spirit, the mystery of the Trinity—three united as one. It is cruel. And beautiful.

According to Claude Souvenir, chewing the ortolan takes approximately 15 minutes.

Comment on Anyone for ortolan? by ed

2007-02-05T14:20:44+00:00

How about this unattributed version:

Devotees claim they can taste the bird’s entire life as they chew in the darkness: the wheat of Morocco, the salt air of the Mediterranean, the lavender of Provence.
The pea-sized lungs and heart, saturated with Armagnac from its drowning, are said to burst in a liqueur-scented flower on the diner’s tongue.
Enjoy with a good claret.

Comment on Anyone for ortolan? by laingan.corio@gmail.com

2007-02-05T03:08:33+00:00

I didn’t know what the bird looked like – so I looked on Google images – it’s a very tiny, pretty songbird, and comes in different colours – Now I’d like to hear its song – did it sound so awful that some one once upon a time, thought ” I wish that bird would stop that bloody racket, if it doesn’t shut up soon, I’ll drown it in my glass of Armagnac. Jeez, it’s taking a ridiculously long time to sink , have to hit it on the head with a spoon or something. Wait a sec, that’s a waste of a good drink, I s’ppose I’ll have to eat it. Should I wring out the feathers?” Munch, munch, “Oh noooo, they’re all looking at me, maybe if I cover my head with a napkin. . . “

Comment on Anyone for ortolan? by alex

2007-02-01T17:15:06+00:00

Is that the Nico Landenis restaurant?

I believe that the dying President Mitterand insisted on a last meal of Ortolan, consumed with full ritual, before turning his face to the wall. I wonder what else was on the menu?

There is surely a successful niche for this blog as home to advice on all manner of unusual ways to kill small creatures: drowning in Armagnac must surely be one of the happier.