I took this picture from the famous Victoria’s Peak.

The mountain town in New Taipei City has a storied past but is now a quaint village with narrow streets and many vendors selling local crafts and food.

I’ve been in Taiwan for almost three weeks now playing recitals, giving lessons and master classes and presenting at an International Conference on the Editing of Music. The students, especially those in high school, are amazing. And so is the food!

My (former) Facebook page was recently hacked and stupid messages were sent to a large number of my friends containing links to bogus gift card and other offers. Perhaps it was hacked or maybe all this activity originated somewhere in the bowels of Facebook as a ploy to generate more traffic and collect even more information. In any case, that was the last straw for me (I had earlier planned to delete my account as my very first New Year’s Resolution for 2011 and wish now I had gone through with that). Facebook is an ugly place. A place where monkey-see, monkey-do American consumerism meets corporate greed face to face (so to speak!). The “new profile” really irked me as well. It removed any hint of originality and interest from a person’s profile to a form designed to collect and display the most pertinent demographic information right at the top (location, level of education, etc.). This ruse was covered up by putting some thumbnail images across the top to give it the appearance of a “new profile.” Even worse, you can’t put something whimsical on your profile like you live in “Oz” or work for the “Empire” – whatever you fill in must be in the database – all the better to collect your prime information and target the advertising.

I spent a great deal of time last year scouring the internet for reliable, unbiased news outlets. I long ago dismissed the nonsensical for-profit media spin outlets like FoxNews (with its phony red, white and blue color scheme) and even other players such as CNN and MSNBC (their more centrist message is only a different  product offered up by their corporate Overlords). “Alternative” sites like the Huffington Post and alternet.org do get my attention and support, but so often I have to sift through the radial far left articles that pepper their news.

Then, by accident, I found the solution: go beyond the borders of this country where you can find sane, responsible reporters looking in at the mess and writing objectively about what they see. This photo (and linked article) come from Germay’s Der Spiegel and exposes the shocking level of hunger in America (something you don’t see mentioned in the mainstream American media except around Thanksgiving and the Christmas Holidays), usually wrapped up in some feel good story – after all how can it be that in the world’s “only superpower,” “wealthiest country,” and “largest economy” that fifteen million people are starving?

Here I am with Annabelle and the two other Jersey cows on which I rely for the ultimate in fresh milk, the possibility to make cheese of every sort, and the best Cappuccino this side of Italy. And the kine really do come home at the end of the day.

Whenever I have tedious work to do (like mountains of paperwork) I try to balance that activity with doing something fun at the same time. And this past weekend, that would be making sourdough dog biscuits (I could count on two very happy and appreciative customers). To make the biscuits I took about 1 and 1/2 lbs. of my sourdough starter, 1 and 1/2 lbs. of  flour (about 1/3 whole wheat flour, 2/3 unbleached white flour), about a 1/4 cup each yellow corn meal and wheat germ, 2 tsp. of salt and a 1/4 cup olive oil. I put all of this in the bowl of a mixer. While mixing just about anything can be added for more  flavor (some chicken or beef broth, some bacon drippings, grated hard cheese, whatever). When the consistency seemed right, I took it out and worked it on a lightly floured counter and then wrapped it up to rest for a few hours at room temperature. Preheating the oven to 400 degrees, I rolled it out to the desired thickness and cut it using any type of cookie cutter (seasonal scary cats for these – which did not scare the dogs one bit). I baked them for 30 minutes and then turned off the oven and let them remain in the oven with the door ajar for another 30 minutes.

I just pulled these up today from the garden. Whether it is the variety or the compact soil, they didn’t grow more than about 4 inches or so. The taste, however, was magnificent, with perhaps their diminutive size concentrating the sweetness. When I begin garden Phase II in September I will plant them in looser soil.

Right click here to download a scan of the manuscript for the Cerf-Block “Ma plus belle histoire” (as found on YouTube). For some reason, page one is very faint in the manuscript. However pages two through five are much clearer – and as there is much repetition in the piece, the notes for the first page can be ascertained by looking at analogous passages. The lines crossing out some measures on page four should be ignored.

Welcome to Project Locavore. It is my plan not to set foot in a grocery store from July 1, 2010 until at least October. The centerpiece of this plan is garden 2010 (pictured above) which has doubled in size from previous years. I will have to stock up on things like flour, rice, cooking oils, vinegar, etc. I have also secured a supply of raw cow’s milk from Mrs. Scarlet, Annabell and Lizz (three Jersey cows in which I now have a partial interest). The same ranch also offers farm fresh eggs and naturally raised chickens. In a pinch I will hit the farmers market or a health food outlet. More to come as the project unfolds!