"There it is," says Gemma, who's taking me for a walking tour around the former Spanish fishing village of Sitges, "The last standing fisherman's home." I yank my neck towards her finger and barely make out a squat, single storey home facing the placid sea. The antiquated fisherman's home stands forlornly like a broken tooth. Sandwiched between stylish buildings five odd storeys high, it's the last man standing in a land of former seafarers.
Propped on the Mediterranean Coast, just south of Barcelona, Sitges is separated from the city by the Garraf Massif, a calcareous rock mountain, and literally means 'deep hole.' In the Middle Ages, it skirted the country's Arab and Christian regions, yet owed allegiance to none. No man's land over the centuries began to develop, nets being cast in the ocean by most dwellers. But only in the late 19th and early 20th century Sitges blossomed. The Americanos, Sitgetanos who'd earned fortunes in Cuba and Puerto Rico, returned to the hamlet to construct imposing homes designed straight from the annals of fantasy. The palm trees brought back from the colonies dot Sitges, corporal reminders of those far off lands the Americanos once lived in.
It wasn't only the nouveau rich immigrant who changed the complexion of Sitges. Painter and writer Santiago Rusinol fell in love with the city of anglers and moved here, ushering to the boondocks the Modernisme or Catalan Modernism movement, immortalised in architecture, and brought with him a touch of genteel culture.
Far from its fishing origins, today Sitges oozes with bohemian counterculture, a spark fuelled in the '60s during the dictatorship. Millionaire mansions dot the shoreline, nudist beaches skim the seas, clubs have sprouted across its girth, and it holds pride in being one of the most gay-friendly regions in the world.
Strolling from the train station to the sea, I wandered through narrow pathways with road names spelt out on colorful tiled signs tacked up high on buildings. Gemma pointed out thick lines painted outside homes in the old quarter, running parallel to the roads, "Blue meant it was a fisherman's house, brown a farmer's," speaking of the tradition.
Americano residences reared high over the others so the merchants could climb atop the towers and watch the shipments of wine and coffee and more sail safely out of the harbour. At the main square, the Clock House, a towering example of the latter, is the most distinct of modernist homes, its spire atop a ceramic encrusted tower, piercing the skies.
As we continued forward, a warm balmy breeze from the yet unseen sea washed over the city, funneling through the silent Raco de la Calma, aptly named the quiet corner. On one side was the Maricel Complex - a museum and palace, the latter a clutch of fisherman's cottages put together. Maricel, meaning the sea and the sky, was a palace built by American millionaire Charles Deering. An image of the sun dipping into the ocean was frozen for posterity on a ceramic tile. On the other end was the other the Cau Ferrat Museum, the lovely home and studio of Rusinol. From here, we walked on to La Punta, a point where I could see the beach bereft of umbrellas in the nippy spring weather. The esplanade was littered with beach bars, known quaintly in Spain as chiringuitos, named after the original one on the beachfront; and wandering tourists. And of course, rows of palm trees, tall and knobbly, their mop like heads in stark contrast to the pino, bushy Mediterranean pine trees. Beyond this was the aquamarine sea with nary a boat breaking the waves.
2012年4月15日星期日
2011年11月1日星期二
Cheap kitchen tiles and incorporating kitchen tiles in kitchen design
Marble tiles have an air of sophistication whether your kitchen area is small or large and the range of styles available is huge, there are many variations of marble tiles in the form of marble mosaic tiles, larger marble slabs and standard sized tiles. The choice is largely yours and the size of your budget will play a part in the wall tiles you choose.
Marble tiles are not really the cheapest of tile options but this doesn’t mean that they cannot be used in some way or another within the kitchen area. Marble tiles can be used in small areas, as border tiles and in dark insignificant areas that need brightening up.
Marble tiles work well with other cheap wall tile options and ceramic tiles are a great wall tile material to incorporate with marble tiles. Ceramic wall tiles are considered one of the cheap tile solutions but they are not compromised at all in the way of style, design and choice and they are the most versatile and durable tile you can have in the kitchen area. They are also ideal as floor tiles and if the area you are tiling is particularly large, ceramic floor tiles are a great solution for home owners.
Marble tiles come in many variations and colour styles and home owners need to give some thought to the style they are trying to create. The kitchen may have a contemporary style that reflects the trend of today and there are some real sophisticated marble tiles on the market that work well for contemporary styles. Marble tiles can be used as border tiles around other wall tiles and they make great solutions for countertop tiles again as a border tile. Marble tiles can also be used and incorporated in the backsplash design in the form of marble mosaic tiles in various colours. Glass tiles can also be used together with glass tiles to create a really fantastic contemporary design style.
If the kitchen area is traditional, marble tiles are also great and they come in some really great earthy tones that will suit a traditional design beautifully. Marble mosaic tiles can also be used across a wall space to really create a focal point and there are some really earthy tones out there in soft beiges and crèmes which will really bring the natural into the home.
Marble tiles are not really the cheapest of tile options but this doesn’t mean that they cannot be used in some way or another within the kitchen area. Marble tiles can be used in small areas, as border tiles and in dark insignificant areas that need brightening up.
Marble tiles work well with other cheap wall tile options and ceramic tiles are a great wall tile material to incorporate with marble tiles. Ceramic wall tiles are considered one of the cheap tile solutions but they are not compromised at all in the way of style, design and choice and they are the most versatile and durable tile you can have in the kitchen area. They are also ideal as floor tiles and if the area you are tiling is particularly large, ceramic floor tiles are a great solution for home owners.
Marble tiles come in many variations and colour styles and home owners need to give some thought to the style they are trying to create. The kitchen may have a contemporary style that reflects the trend of today and there are some real sophisticated marble tiles on the market that work well for contemporary styles. Marble tiles can be used as border tiles around other wall tiles and they make great solutions for countertop tiles again as a border tile. Marble tiles can also be used and incorporated in the backsplash design in the form of marble mosaic tiles in various colours. Glass tiles can also be used together with glass tiles to create a really fantastic contemporary design style.
If the kitchen area is traditional, marble tiles are also great and they come in some really great earthy tones that will suit a traditional design beautifully. Marble mosaic tiles can also be used across a wall space to really create a focal point and there are some really earthy tones out there in soft beiges and crèmes which will really bring the natural into the home.
2011年10月7日星期五
The Great American Beer Festival
The Oxford Companion to Beer in hand, I took off for three days at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver last week. This beer-lovers Mecca boasts the largest collection of American beer ever served, its popularity growing with each passing year. In 1982, the festival’s first year, there were 800 attendees in a 5,000 square foot festival hall. This year’s festival sold out 50,000 tickets in the first week tickets went on sale. A small pavilion at the back of the convention center recreated the layout of the original 1982 festival for this year’s GABF 30th anniversary, and looking at that modest room against the backdrop of the Denver Convention Center was like looking at a tiny ceramic tile within an extensive mosaic. In 1982 Charlie Papazian, a legend in the beer world, chose a rather audacious name for the festival he founded. But that name has proved visionary in 2011.
So who are these hordes who flock to Denver for GABF each year? Mostly hardcore beer fans, of course, and there are many of them. One gauge might be to look at the number of homebrewers in the country. The American Homebrewers Association estimated that there were around 750,000 active American homebrewers in 2010. I asked a few individuals if they had anything fermenting back home, and heard everything from honey porters to seasonal spiced and pumpkin ales. The strangest answer was from a man brewing a lager using 7Up as a sugar source. He claimed it was a big hit with his friends.
Not everyone at the GABF was a professional or amateur brewer, but everyone was passionate about beer, and that passion manifested itself inventive ways. At the first session I attended on Thursday, I saw a group of men waiting in line dressed in Where’s Waldo outfits. I entered the floor to find a bevy of costumed attendees. There were lederhosen and kilts, of course, and beer maids in traditional Bavarian attire. But there were also more unusual beer garments. “Hop heads” wore rubber hop cones on their heads, or laurels made from hop vines. Three men wore cut-outs of actual kegs around their waists. There were the sillier costumes that had no discernible connection to beer, but contributed to GABF’s celebratory atmosphere. A group of grown men wore white bathrobes. A convincing Charlie Chaplin tapped his cane and tipped his top hat for photographs. Tigger the Tiger bounced about beside a group of twenty-somethings dressed as monks. Halloween came early for me this year.
But for all there was to see at GABF, it was the beer that took center stage. Try a flight of beers at a good beer bar, or drink a few beers from a well-stocked refrigerator, and you get some variety. It is another thing entirely to walk about the GABF floor armed with a single ounce plastic tasting glass, sipping 30 or 40 beers in a session. It was a bit like the first time I visited the Boston Aquarium as a child. I thought I had a pretty good handle on fish, but when I went to the aquarium and saw luminescent squid, Moray Eels, and colorful reef dwellers, the huge range of these creatures that I thought I had known overwhelmed me. The rows of brewery tables were like those fish tanks, demanding that I pay attention, because beer is more plentiful, more exotic, just more than I knew existed.
The most unusual beer I tried? That would be the Humidor IPA, brewed by Cigar City Brewing in Tampa, FL. Aged on Spanish cedar, the same wood used for cigar boxes, this beer smelled and tasted exactly like a Cuban cigar. It was so odd, but delicious, and proved the endless creative potential inherent in beer. Further proof was everywhere I looked. The Grapefruit Jungle beer brewed by the Sun King Brewing Company in Indianapolis is an IPA that uses three hops with grapefruit-like characteristics. It has a subtle aroma that builds slowly and convincingly – you can really smell, and taste, the grapefruit. Kriek, a sour beer flavored with cherries, is a style that I had heard of but never tried, until I stopped by the Sam Adams booth for their American Kriek. It tasted to me like sour cherry soda, and I while I didn’t love it, I was amazed that beer could taste this way.
So who are these hordes who flock to Denver for GABF each year? Mostly hardcore beer fans, of course, and there are many of them. One gauge might be to look at the number of homebrewers in the country. The American Homebrewers Association estimated that there were around 750,000 active American homebrewers in 2010. I asked a few individuals if they had anything fermenting back home, and heard everything from honey porters to seasonal spiced and pumpkin ales. The strangest answer was from a man brewing a lager using 7Up as a sugar source. He claimed it was a big hit with his friends.
Not everyone at the GABF was a professional or amateur brewer, but everyone was passionate about beer, and that passion manifested itself inventive ways. At the first session I attended on Thursday, I saw a group of men waiting in line dressed in Where’s Waldo outfits. I entered the floor to find a bevy of costumed attendees. There were lederhosen and kilts, of course, and beer maids in traditional Bavarian attire. But there were also more unusual beer garments. “Hop heads” wore rubber hop cones on their heads, or laurels made from hop vines. Three men wore cut-outs of actual kegs around their waists. There were the sillier costumes that had no discernible connection to beer, but contributed to GABF’s celebratory atmosphere. A group of grown men wore white bathrobes. A convincing Charlie Chaplin tapped his cane and tipped his top hat for photographs. Tigger the Tiger bounced about beside a group of twenty-somethings dressed as monks. Halloween came early for me this year.
But for all there was to see at GABF, it was the beer that took center stage. Try a flight of beers at a good beer bar, or drink a few beers from a well-stocked refrigerator, and you get some variety. It is another thing entirely to walk about the GABF floor armed with a single ounce plastic tasting glass, sipping 30 or 40 beers in a session. It was a bit like the first time I visited the Boston Aquarium as a child. I thought I had a pretty good handle on fish, but when I went to the aquarium and saw luminescent squid, Moray Eels, and colorful reef dwellers, the huge range of these creatures that I thought I had known overwhelmed me. The rows of brewery tables were like those fish tanks, demanding that I pay attention, because beer is more plentiful, more exotic, just more than I knew existed.
The most unusual beer I tried? That would be the Humidor IPA, brewed by Cigar City Brewing in Tampa, FL. Aged on Spanish cedar, the same wood used for cigar boxes, this beer smelled and tasted exactly like a Cuban cigar. It was so odd, but delicious, and proved the endless creative potential inherent in beer. Further proof was everywhere I looked. The Grapefruit Jungle beer brewed by the Sun King Brewing Company in Indianapolis is an IPA that uses three hops with grapefruit-like characteristics. It has a subtle aroma that builds slowly and convincingly – you can really smell, and taste, the grapefruit. Kriek, a sour beer flavored with cherries, is a style that I had heard of but never tried, until I stopped by the Sam Adams booth for their American Kriek. It tasted to me like sour cherry soda, and I while I didn’t love it, I was amazed that beer could taste this way.
2011年6月14日星期二
Pittsfield's medals of honor
Sabic Innovative Plastics and Hi-Tech Mold & Tool teamed up to create 3,000 limited-edition, commemorative medallions to mark the 250th anniversary of Pittsfield’s incorporation.
Designed by Pittsfield 250 Steering Committee member Peter Drozd, one side of the medallion depicts an historic image of Park Square and the old elm tree; the other side commemorates the plastics industry’s long and innovative history in Pittsfield.
The medallions are made of Lexan, the virtually indestructible plastic invented in Pittsfield and produced by Sabic. While Sabic donated the plastic in three different and precise colors, Hi-Tech Mold & Tool donated one of its master mold frames to form the medallions.
The project took more than six months to complete from its initial concept to the completed product.
The medallions will be available at the city’s Welcome Back Reunion Weekend, July 1-4. Each will sell for $3 or for $5 with a display sleeve.
Designed by Pittsfield 250 Steering Committee member Peter Drozd, one side of the medallion depicts an historic image of Park Square and the old elm tree; the other side commemorates the plastics industry’s long and innovative history in Pittsfield.
The medallions are made of Lexan, the virtually indestructible plastic invented in Pittsfield and produced by Sabic. While Sabic donated the plastic in three different and precise colors, Hi-Tech Mold & Tool donated one of its master mold frames to form the medallions.
The project took more than six months to complete from its initial concept to the completed product.
The medallions will be available at the city’s Welcome Back Reunion Weekend, July 1-4. Each will sell for $3 or for $5 with a display sleeve.
2011年4月13日星期三
Dardens' compensation about $4.8 million each
Toby Darden, board chairman for Fort Worth-based Quicksilver Resources, received compensation valued at slightly more than $4.8 million for 2010.
His brother, Glenn Darden, president and CEO of the natural gas and oil producer, posted compensation of just under $4.8 million.
Both had moderately lower compensation than in 2009, when the compensation for each totaled slightly above $5 milllion.
Both Dardens drew a 2010 salary of $440,000. The bulk of their remuneration was in the form of grants of company stock and options and other incentive compensation.
Jeff Cook, Quicksilver’s executive vice president for operations, had 2010 compensation totaling more than $2.5 million, and Philip W. Cook, senior vice president and chief financial officer, had compensation of nearly $2.1 million.
The compensation totals were in a company proxy statement.
His brother, Glenn Darden, president and CEO of the natural gas and oil producer, posted compensation of just under $4.8 million.
Both had moderately lower compensation than in 2009, when the compensation for each totaled slightly above $5 milllion.
Both Dardens drew a 2010 salary of $440,000. The bulk of their remuneration was in the form of grants of company stock and options and other incentive compensation.
Jeff Cook, Quicksilver’s executive vice president for operations, had 2010 compensation totaling more than $2.5 million, and Philip W. Cook, senior vice president and chief financial officer, had compensation of nearly $2.1 million.
The compensation totals were in a company proxy statement.
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