Am I crazy?

It was winter, 1994. Our politicians were talking about Europe and globalization, Jugoslavia was torn by a civil war, Forrest Gump and Pulp Fiction were shot and the following year they would win the Oscar prize. In the meantime, in Rwanda two enemy tribes, the Tutsis and the Hutus, were fighting each other cruelly.

In the USA and all around the world the radio was transmitting the song "Basket Case": punk rock was still alive, Green Day were the proof!

Listen to this song:

 

The American punk rock band released their third album, Dookie, in 1994. Its popularity made Punk music mainstream and it won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album.

Even if the music sounds dynamic and overwhelming the real meaning of the lyrics is actually quite different and not so positive. Let's have a look at the meaning!

Do you have the time to listen to me whine

About nothing and everything

 

All at once I am one of those melodramatic fools

Neurotic to the bone

No doubt about it

Sometimes I give myself the creeps

Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me

It all keeps adding up

I think I'm cracking up

Am I just paranoid?

Am I just stoned?

I went to a shrink to analyze my dreams

She says it's lack of sex that's bringing me down

I went to a whore

He said my life's a bore

So quit my whining cause

It's bringing her down

Sometimes I give myself the creeps

Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me

It all keeps adding up

I think I'm cracking up

Am I just paranoid?

Uh, yuh, yuh, ya

Grasping to control

So I better hold on

Sometimes I give myself the creeps

Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me

It all keeps adding up

I think I'm cracking up

Am I just paranoid?

Am I just stoned?

 

The singer is talking about himself: he is worried about his actual situation. He asks to himself "Am I  just  paranoid? Am I just stoned?" He is going to a "shrink", a psychoanalyst, to a whore... he's looking for answers about his state, but nobody seems to be able to help him. The singer is cracking up, he doesn't know what to do and when he looks at his own situation he "gives himself the creeps".

The energetic music and the hallucinatory state of the dazed singer are the main features of the whole song.

 

Glossary

torn: divided, lacerated

shot: filmed

alive: if you are alive, you are living, in other words you are not dead

to release: to set someone or something free, like a caged animal or a prisoner / to prepare something for public distribution

mainstram: what is viewed my most people as normal

overwhelming: something very intense and

lyric: the words of a song

to whine: to complain in an annoying way, to cry like a baby

fool: idiot

bone: a single section of a stone

to give someone the creeps: to have the feeling of fear and revulsion

to play trick: to deceive, to make someone believe something untrue

to crack up: to suffer a nervous break down

stoned: under the influence of narcotics

shrink: it's the informal word to refer to a therapist, a psychiatrist

lack: the absence of something (eg. when there's a lack of food, people starve, they die)

to bring someone down: to move  something or someone to a lower position

whore: a prostitute

bore: if your freinds fall asleep every time you open your mouth, probably you are a bore (in other words, you are not very interesting)

to quit: to stop doing something

to hold on: to be persistent, to refuse to stop

 

 

 

SOS PAELLA!

Some years ago I was having a few days off in Barcelona. I was with some friends of mine and we were having a great holiday there. Barcelona is a stunning city where you can find people and food from all over the world. One day we decided to have a walk along the Ramblas, the main and most popular avenues in the city, and suddenly we saw this building:

It was a big indoor market called “La Boquerìa”.

Have you ever found yourself, hungry and hot, in the middle of a blast of scents, tastes, juicy and colourful dishes and foods? I have. And I decided not to starve! The dish that rescued me was the traditional Spanish Paella. This is the way I was taught to cook it:

Ingredients
Herb Blend:

1 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, minced


Paella:

1 cup water
1 teaspoon saffron threads
3 (16-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
8 unpeeled jumbo shrimp (about 1/2 pound)
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 skinned, boned chicken thighs, cut in half
2 links Spanish chorizo sausage (about 6 1/2 ounces) or turkey kielbasa, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
1 (4-ounce) slice prosciutto or 33%-less-sodium ham, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 cups finely chopped onion
1 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1 cup canned diced tomatoes, undrained
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
3 large garlic cloves, minced
3 cups uncooked Arborio rice or other short-grain rice
1 cup frozen green peas
8 mussels, scrubbed and debearded
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Lemon wedges (optional)


Preparation

To prepare the herb blend, combine the first 4 ingredients, and set aside.

To prepare paella, combine water, saffron, and broth in a large saucepan. Bring to a simmer (do not boil). Keep warm over low heat. Peel and devein shrimp, leaving tails intact; set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large paella pan or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; saute 2 minutes on each side. Remove from pan. Add sausage and prosciutto; saute 2 minutes. Remove from pan. Add shrimp, and saute 2 minutes. Remove from pan. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add onion and bell pepper; saute 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add tomatoes, paprika, and 3 garlic cloves; cook 5 minutes. Add rice; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in herb blend, broth mixture, chicken, sausage mixture, and peas. Bring to a low boil; cook 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add mussels to pan, nestling them into rice mixture. Cook 5 minutes or until shells open; discard any unopened shells. Arrange shrimp, heads down, in rice mixture, and cook 5 minutes or until shrimp are done. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup lemon juice. Remove from heat; cover with a towel, and let stand 10 minutes. Serve with lemon wedges, if desired.

Glossary

A day off: a day when you don't work
Stunning: extremely beautiful
Blast: explosion
Scent: a pleasant natural smell
Taste: the flavour of something (es. chocolate has a good taste)
juicy: full of juice
dish: a container from which food can be served
to starve: if you say you are starving, it means you are hungry and you want to eat something
to cook: to prepare food
blend: a mixture of different things
cup:a small container with a handle that you use to drink tea
tablespoon: a large spoon used for measuring or serving food
can: a closed metal container used in which food or drink are sold (es. a can of coke) / in a recipe "can" is used to refer to the amount od food or drink that is contained in a can.
wedge: a piece of food in the shape of a triangle
to set aside: to save, to keep
pan: a round container used to cook food
saucepan: a deep pan with a handle and a lid
skillet: a frying pan
simmer: to cook something liquid at a temperature under boiling
to add: to put something with something else
to stir: to mix a liquid, usually with a spoon
to sprinke: to scatter liquid in drops
towel: a piece of paper or cloth used for drying something

Soul kitchen... Music and food for the soul!

Have you ever thought about opening a restaurant with crazy and funny friends?
Zinos, the main character of the movie Soul Kitchen (directed by the Turkish director Fatih Akin), has!

Zinos, a German of Greek descendant, owns Soul Kitchen, a shabby restaurant providing working-class food in the Hamburg area, in an old warehouse space. The business is struggling financially, and tax inspectors ask Zinos for payments. Occasionally a punk rock band uses the restaurant as practice space, but never pays rental fees.

Unable to cook, Zinos finds Shayn and hires him as Soul Kitchen's new cook. Shayn insists on changing the menu to a new haute cuisine menu. This drives away the old clientele. Illias, Zinos’ brother, has the idea of being a DJ at Soul Kitchen with the help of his criminal friends. In the meanwhile Shayn begins to teach Zinos gourmet cooking skills.

Gradually, the restaurant's reputation and fortunes turn around. One evening, Shayn spikes one dessert with an aphrosidiac ingredient…This will have an effect on everyone in the restaurant!

Glossary
To own: if you own something, it belongs to you
shabby: extremely old
warehouse: a place where a company stores things they are going to sell
to struggle: to fight to overcome something
fee: the cost of something
unable: incapable of doing something
to hire: when you hire someone you invite them to work for you
to drive away: to force to go away
to turn around: to go from bad to good
to spike: to change, to make different

Welcome on board!

Hi guys!

Welcome on this brand new blog!

We are going to use this virtual place to chat about two interesting subjects: Food and Music. Considering the subjects you can easily understand the title of the blog!! ;)

The goal is to share information about songs, singers, bands in order to spread our knowledge about music. We can propose songs in English describing the emotions and the feeling that music generates in us. Maybe someone doesn't know our favourite songs, so... what about sharing it?

We will do the same for Food! When we talk about food our senses usually activate immediately…so why not sharing particular recipes, juicy food pictures and secret suggestion? Many of us can cook special dishes, exotic and foreign specialties.... and we would love to become a virtual kitchen! We can post here recipes, video tutorials, delicious pictures of our dishes!

What are we waiting for?

LET'S START COOKING LISTENING TO OUR FAVOURITE SONGS!

Glossary

brand new: completely new

goal: aim to reach

to spread: to propagate, to publicize

recipe: directions for making a dish

suggestion: an idea someone proposes