What did Europe Look like in the 20th century?

whilst people are getting all excited about Brexit, I am always reminded about what Zhou En Lai (China Premier) was reputed to have said in 1971 about the French Revolution of 1789..."too early to say"> By the way, the quote is wrong, see here. But I like the idea that there are very long term repercussions and we need to be cognisant of that. I frequently use the example that we are still paying for World War 1...No literally, the British Public was still paying for World War 1 expenditure till recently.

So it was with interest I saw this map of Europe

its 115 years back now...1900. You had the Ottoman Empire. you had the austro-hungarian empire, the russian empire, the german empire, all faffing around. Also, Norway was part of Sweden then..no Finland.

in 2016, all of this has gone...Brexit, my dear friends, is a pimple on the dimple on the left arse of a busy ant in the greater sweep of things.

Is the Croissant Really French?

This was a fascinating story kids. About how the croissant was born and then moved to its adopted country France. I always thought that it was invented as a response to the win over the ottomans but no. The French really make delicious croissants. I loved their food. The only quibble is that the portions are too small. 

Today is the final of the great British bake off. It's so popular. No wonder. I think desserts and pastries are the toughest to make. You have to be precise. Desserts are unforgiving. Unlike main dishes and starters and soups, a good dessert is a mark of a great chef. Takes time. Takes precision. Takes dedication. Takes huge amounts of practise. And practise. And practise. Quite a tough one. And all that I am not. All you are so health conscious that I cannot even practise. So my idea of going on a dessert course is now shelved. Grumbles. 

Anyway. Have fun reading this. 

Love

Baba

Is the Croissant Really French?
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/croissant-really-french-180955130/
(via Instapaper)

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One bite of a croissant just pulled from the oven at Michel Lyczak’s bakery in the southern Parisian suburb of Malakoff is bliss: a satisfying crunch and scattering of crumbs, the indulgent mouthfeel of butter wrapped in the overwhelming sensation of lightness. Few foods are as culturally iconic as this flaky breakfast food, so quintessentially French that many English speakers defer to its native pronunciation (krwa-sohn).

Yet as recently as the 19th century, the French viewed the croissant as a foreign novelty, sold only in special Viennese bakeries in the pricier parts of Paris. And how it came to France in the first place remains obscured by layer upon layer of legend.

Experts do agree that the croissant was inspired by the Austrian kipfel, a crescent-shaped baked good featuring a generous amount of butter or lard and sometimes sugar and almonds. According to popular lore, the kipfel originated in 1683 as a comestible celebration of Austrian victory over the Ottomans at the siege of Vienna. The story follows that a baker, up early to make bread, saved the city when he heard the Turks tunneling underneath the city and sounded an alarm. The kipfel’s curved shape, said to mimic the crescent moon of the Ottoman flag, then would seem to pay poetic tribute to the indomitable spirit of a city that resisted a powerful invading force. (Conveniently, another legend holds that the cappuccino was invented almost simultaneously, inspired by the strong 

Breathtaking vision to join gas networks of 8 countries!

I personally like people who paint grand visions which are realistic at the same time. When you hear about it, you go, bloody hell, it makes perfect sense and why on earth did nobody think of it before? Its not like proposing a vision to setup holiday camps on venus, but to join the gas networks of 8 countries. For core infrastructure like this, it is a scale matter, and bigger the scale, the better it is. And it provides energy security to Europe by providing an alternative to Russia. I quote:

Mol, the Hungarian oil and gas company facing a take-over bid from OMV of Austria, has proposed a merger of the gas transmission businesses of eight countries in central and south-east Europe to form a new $10bn company that could be floated on the stock market.
The radical project, given the working name of the New Europe Transmission System, would create one of the biggest gas networks in Europe. It would bring together the pipeline systems of Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Austria.
Mol says unifying the networks would encourage investment, build connections between countries and create a single gas market in the region. It would also help open up alternatives to Russian sources of supply, such as the Nabucco project to bring gas from the Caspian region to the European Union.

Execution will be tough, but hey, so is any great and wonderful thing!, go for it!

Read, wonder and hope!

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!