C'est sous un soleil radieux que la journée Parc(ing), organisée par le collectif Montréal à vélo, a été interrompue ce vendredi par des policiers à vélo du Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM). L'activité de sensibilisation est pratiquement tombée à l'eau. Mais il en fallait plus pour décourager les membres de Montréal à vélo (MAV) qui ont tout de même tenu l'événement à une échelle réduite.

Une journée Parc(ing) se veut une invitation à remettre de la vie dans nos villes saturées de voitures, de béton et de pollution. Des citoyens transforment de façon temporaire une place de stationnement en espace public, notamment en une de ses formes les plus conviviales, un parc.

Les policiers ont indiqué au MAV qu'un permis est nécessaire pour occuper un espace de stationnement autrement qu'avec un véhicule routier. Les vélos ne sont pas considérés comme des véhicules routiers. Il faudra demander une autorisation à la Ville pour plus tard retenter le coup. L'espace de stationnement avait été aménagé avec du gazon véritable, des chaises et des plantes. Une chaine stéréo mettait de l'ambiance et un vélo-mélangeur permettait de concocter de savoureux jus de fruits.

Mais un peu avant 11 h, trois agents du SPVM ont obligé les membres du MAV à retirer tout ce qu'il y avait sur l'espace de stationnement pour qu'une voiture puisse s'y stationner. Ce, même si l'espace avait été dûment payé dès le départ.

La journée s'est poursuivie autour du véhicule de l'entourage de l'un des membres du MAV. Véhicule qui a été recouvert de gazon! Plusieurs dizaines de personnes ont reçu de l'information à propos des objectifs de la tenue d'une telle action. Parmi ceux-ci, Montréal à vélo veut aider les citoyens à réfléchir à la manière dont on pourrait réaménager l'espace urbain où chaque rue est réservée à l'automobile. Plus d'espace aux transports actifs que sont la marche et le vélo doit être accordé.

Voyez deux membres de Montréal à vélo réagir à l'expulsion de la police dans ce vidéo.

Cliquez sur le montage photo pour l'agrandir.

Look at them - aren't they just beauuuutiful? To cook rhubarb, simply chop off the top and tail of the sticks, sprinkle with copious amounts of sugar, a little splash of water and bake for 10-20 in a low oven. Too easy! The cooked rhubarb looked like this:

In my search of a recipe to cook rhubarbs with, I came across it on the lifestylefood.com.au website (recipe here). Parkin is a traditional ginger cake from the somewhere up the top end of England. It doesn't use any sugar, but its sweetness is made up by the use of black treacle. What *is* black treacle?

I thought it would be a darker version of golden syrup. I wasn't far off, but the taste was not something that I expected. The consistency was a lot stickier than golden syrup, and was definitely darker in colour (well... it is called black treacle after all). The flavour was like an intensely salty, sweet and licorice tasting goop. It was surprisingly tasty for someone who doesn't like licorice.

This is a seriously spicy cake. Look at the ingredients: 2 tablespoons of ground ginger, 1 teaspoon of nutmeg, 1 teaspoon of ground mixed spice. And to top it off, the syrup has yet another teaspoon of mixed spice! And the amount of sugary syrup - definitely not something for the diabetic. Just look at that mixture - butter and nothing else buy syrup!

This death-defying mixture is then mixed with the dried ingredients to make the cake batter. Hm... one lick of the bowel and I can tell this is going to be tasty! It was only after putting it in the oven that I realised I forgot to put in the brown sugar - oh well... let's see how it turns out!

It took an hour to bake the cake. The resulting cake was actually a lot more crumbly than I thought it would be. Probably because of the self raising flour... or could just be me being a bit impatient and dived right into the cake. I have read that you are suppose to leave the cake around for a week for the flavours to develop. Screw that! I had some of the cake, with the rhubarb AND the syrup.

The cake was warm, and slightly crusty on top. I only taken a small wedge of it, but it was definitely more than enough. It worked so well with the rhubarb! The tartness was definitely offset by the cake. Not to mention the syrup. The syrup is definitely needed - otherwise the cake would be a bit dry and won't mess well with the vegetable. The missing sugar didn't hurt it much either.

All in all, it was a tasty treat :) I can't imagine having more than a serving though!

Well. I'm done for the week.... or not! As a bonus, I've made a sour dough starter. Given how cold it is at the moment, I don't have much hope for it to actually ferment. But here's what the thing looks like - 1 cup of warm water + 1 cup of flour.

Most recipes have asked for unbleached flour, so that could also be a point of failure, since I don't have anyway. Let's see how it pans out :) It should take a day or two before anything happens, and after that, I'll have to keep feeding it like a little pet!

And I really am done for the week :) phew!

Update: The cake was really dense the next day. The texture is sort of like those spicy fruit cakes, but not dry at all. I do prefer it when it was warm and more fulffy though :)

Firstly there is the taxi, this may be the best method if your trip is not too long as it wont cost you very much, you will be able to take quite abit of luggage and be dropped straight at the door.

Secondly there is the option of public transport either train, coach or bus. This may be quite a hassle if you have a lot of members travelling with a lot of baggage. Also keep in mind that public transport does not always run on schedule.

Lastly we have the option of bringing your own car and using the airport parking facilities. This will be a great way to save time and money as airport parking is very affordable.

Whichever route you decide just be sure not to miss your departure!

O estudo, publicado na última edição da revista Science, revela ainda que o novo dispositivo de memória consome menos energia, tem um custo de produção inferior, funciona durante semanas sem necessitar de recarregamento e é mais resistente, por não ter partes soltas.

A capacidade de armazenamento "abre a porta à criatividade para desenvolver suportes e aplicações inimaginados até agora", afirmou Stuart Parkin, director do projecto, acrescentando que este tipo de memória "lê 16 bits de dados através de um só transistor".

Isto permite interpretar e escrever informação cem mil vezes mais depressa do que as memórias flash utilizadas no presente.

Um leitor de mp3 ou um iPod poderão vir a armazenar meio milhão de canções ou 3.500 películas, quando o iPod Classic de 160 gigabytes (que é o de maior capacidade) apenas permite guardar até 40 mil músicas.

Chamada "racetrack", esta memória utiliza o movimento giratório dos electrões para armazenar dados, tecnologia cujo estudo deu o Prémio Nobel de Física 2007 a Albert Fert e Peter Grunberg.

Os autores da investigação agora publicada reconhecem que a "racetrack" ainda está em fase de desenvolvimento, pelo que decorrerão dois a três anos até ser fabricado um protótipo e cerca de uma década até que os primeiros artigos com esta memória cheguem ao mercado."

by Lusa.

Rob made some wonderful parkin for us both, it was very tasty. I'm getting into taking pictures of everything he cooks as a document, but it is fun to take some more arty, posed shots. I really like the way this macro of the corner came out, as it really shows the detail of the oats and the treacle colour of the surface.

Parkin (detail), originally uploaded by Johnson Cameraface.

Ruby got a call last night from an estate agent saying they would like to come round and do a viewing. This is not the estate agent I have been dealing with, I guess the landlord wants them out of the loop when it comes to the selling competition. It's a landlady looking to buy all three flats in our building and allegedly it is likely she will buy. I am crossing all my fingers and toes that she does buy, that we get to stay, that she is lovely, that she doesn't hike up the rent and that we can be left to live in peace. I'm tired of stressing about this.

On Monday night I went round to Max's to wish him happy birthday and he was watching Hostel 2. This is not a film I had any interest in seeing myself as it's the kind of horror that goes places I don't really want my mind to go. I watched about 20 minutes, some of it with my eyes shut and my fingers in my ears, and then he turned it off and said he would watch it later. Last night I had horrible Hostel-esque dreams with stabbings and weirdness and also, an Elizabeth Bathory type woman, which does make sense if you've seen the film. I think.

Before the horridness of dreams I rescued a snail from our recycling bin (how crazy am I if I spoke to it while setting it on the windowsill?) and made Parkin for work as we are having a good bye tea for Fiona on Thursday. She's going on maternity leave so obviously needs feeing up with Parkin, scones and Victoria Sandwich cake before she goes. I rarely make Parkin, and even then only at certain times of the year. If I don't I feel like my grandmother will somehow know and be very upset about it. It's her recipe you see and she only ever made it at certain times of the year (it reminds me of Bonfire Night, but I guess I'm close enough). I guess it makes it more special that way too. It's the first time I've made it with proper black treacle, so I'm a bit scared it might have too much kick to it. We'll see. I love Parkin.

I am having a healthy snack of apple slices. Oooh, so unlike me.

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