H is for Horsepower

 Romania, 2011

It excites me that no matter how much machinery replaces the horse, the work it can do is still measured in horsepower.....even in this space age.  And although a riding horse often weighs half a ton, and a big drafter a full ton, either can be led about by a piece of string if he has been wisely trained. This to me is a constant source of wonder, and challenge.

     ~ Marguret Henry, American author (1902-1997)

 

A new morning... a new hard day for beasts of burden. For both man and his horse. And so it has been since the New Stone Age, roughly 10,000 years ago, when man transformed from forager to farmer.

[all photos can be enlarged with a click]

Then came the Industrial Revolution with its machinery. Since these new inventions often replaced the work of horses, it was considered useful to compare the output of machines with the power of draft horses.

Did you know that one horsepower equals 33,000 foot-pounds per minute? So it was determined by James Watt of the unit of power fame.

The story goes that Watt was working with ponies lifting coal at a coal mine, and he wanted a way to talk about the power available from one of these animals. He found that, on average, a mine pony could do 22,000 foot-pounds of work in a minute. He then increased that number by 50 percent and pegged the measurement of horsepower at 33,000 foot-pounds of work in one minute. It is that arbitrary unit of measure that has made its way down through the centuries and now appears on your car, your lawn mower, your chain saw and even in some cases your vacuum cleaner. [source: How Stuff Works]

To learn what other units horsepower are converted to, read here.

The letter of the week is H and this is my link for ABC Wednesday.

[Our World] Queasy Stomach? Don't Read This.

Most Asian visitors to this blog post won't comprehend my title. What's the big deal, they'll ask? But the rest of you...? If you do not have an adventurous palate, or you are vehemently vegan, this post may not appeal to you.

For Our World today I want to tell you how something outwardly repugnant can be oh so delicious. I am referring to chicken feet.

Wikipedia explains:

Chicken feet are a part of the chicken that is eaten in Chinese, Trinidadian, Jamaican, South African, Peruvian, Dominican, and Philippine cuisine. Most of the edible meat on the feet consists of skin and tendons, without much muscle. This gives the feet a distinct texture different from the rest of the chicken's meat. There are many small bones which makes it difficult to eat for some; these are often picked out before serving. Being mostly cartilage, chicken feet are very gelatinous.

I venture to say that people are put off because the feet are, not to mince words, hideously ugly.

Manila, 2011

But that makes them nonetheless tasty. Oh, and for the curious, the hard yellow scaly outer skin the live chicken stomps around the yard on is removed, usually before the feet get to the market.

There are a number of standard Chinese recipes for chicken feet. Perhaps the most famous is the dim style in black bean sauce. My honey stews them with black eyed peas, preserved bean curd, peppercorns, cloves and laurel leaves. Served with garlic stir-fried bok choy and a red-brown rice combo, and we've got a perfect meal.

To eat the feet, you bite off a piece at a joint, roll it around your mouth to chew off anything that is soft, then, as gracefully as possible, spit out the bones. Yumm!

Decades ago, my European-bred mother would have been mortified at the thought of any of this. But over the years, as she traveled to visit me, she too came to appreciate the wonders of Asian cuisines.

So, have I totally grossed you out? What is your favorite "strange" dish?

Dong Bridge

Guizhou, 2006

This is a Wind and Water Bridge built by the Dong ethnic minority people in Guizhou province of China. I find it interesting that the first one I posted (here) ranks as one of the top ten viewed pages on my blog.

Linking with Sunday Bridges and Scenic Sunday.

Puddle Reflection I

Manila, 2011

An old government building reflected in a puddle.

This is a James shot - surely understood by those who follow his meme... Enlarge it to appreciate fully.

And it's linked with Weekend Reflections and Weekend in Black and White.

T is for Theatre - Peles Castle IV

It's time for Alphabe-Thursday and the letter is T. My T today is for theatre... that is theater for my American blogger friends. 

While I often use American spelling, in my mind, the King's English befits this word. Especially so when the subject of my post is the elaborate private theatre in the gorgeous Peles Castle in Romania I visited last May (first introduced here and here). 

The theatre, built in the style of Louis XIV, holds sixty seats.  

We were not allowed in the room, so these are only quick walk-by shots taken from the door.

 Sinaia, Romania, 2011

This second photo is very similar, but I wanted to show you as much as possible, as I find this mellow yellow room quite extraordinary. Enlarge the photos to take a closer look at the murals painted by the Austrian Art Nouveau duo Gustav Klimt and Franz Matsch. I'm sorry I didn't stop to take better photos of the murals, but believe me, this palace produces sensory overload!

A final piece of historical trivia: the first motion picture in Romania was viewed in this room in 1906.

G is for Gazebo

Why did the gazebo cross the road?

To get to the other side?

Philippines, 2010

Hand-crafted bamboo gazebos are popular in the Philippines. Besides offering a cozy space to relax, dine or socialize, they provide shelter from the searing sun or pouring rain. They are found in local cuisine restaurants, resorts and back yards.

The letter of the week is G at ABC Wednesday.

[Our World] The Portrait Painter

For centuries royalty and aristocrats submitted themselves to sit for weeks while a portrait painter created their likeness on canvas for posterity. In more recent times, anyone with sufficient coin could commission a private or public portrait.

Other than on the streets of Europe and America where tourists roam, I have seldom seen this art form and thought it had pretty well gone the way of the horse and buggy ever since portrait photography studios became the norm. 

Yet today I chanced upon this man of talent in a small stall in a mall. 

 Manila, 2011

Give him a photo and in a matter of days he can create a fabulous likeness or an amusing caricature of you, a loved one, or your entire family. You can choose pastel, charcoal or oil. Take a good look, you may recognize a face or two. I think you'll agree with me that this painter is gifted. 

And no, this is not a sales pitch. Just sharing a bit of my world for Our World Tuesday.