Art snobs must forgive the analogy, but when Lionel Messi collapsed in pain and fear on the Camp Nou turf clutching the back of his priceless left knee, it felt for a moment as though Leonardo da Vinci had mangled his painting hand just as he was about to apply the final brushstrokes to the Mona Lisa.
Imagine her unfinished, waiting forever for Leonardo to give her that pursed, so famously enigmatic smile. Equally gruesome would be if Messi falls just short of completing his own masterpiece - of setting a new record for goals scored in a calendar year.
Messi has 84 for his club, Barcelona, and country, Argentina, in 2012, an otherworldly achievement but still not the record. That, for the next few days or weeks at least, belongs to Gerd Mueller, the Bayern Munich and Germany striker who was nicknamed "Der Bomber" with his stocky, power-lifter's build and explosive shots with both feet. In 1972, the same year he also lifted West Germany to victory over the Soviet Union with two goals in the final of the European Championship, Mueller scored 85 times in just 60 matches. Astounding.
That the record has stood for 40 years, untouched by successive generations of brilliant scorers such as Diego Maradona or Brazil's Ronaldo, is a measure of how special Mueller was and Messi is to get so close to breaking that mark.
So it made total sense that Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova brought on Messi for 30 minutes in the Champions League on Wednesday night, even though he really didn't need him.
With four wins in Group G, Barcelona could have lost this last game against Benfica and still have comfortably gone through to the knockout stage of the competition that begins in February.
As he did for Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez and his other first-choice players who watched from their seats, Vilanova could have given Messi a rare night off, saved his most valuable star for more vital encounters and avoided the unnecessary risk of injuring him in a game of such little import that four of Barca's starting XI were B-team, not first team, players.
But Messi, football addict that he is, hates sitting games out. And, although he's only 25 and the best footballer of his generation, perhaps any generation, even Messi cannot be sure he will get this close again to Mueller's mark.
So, of course, he had to come on. He owed it to his sport as much as to himself. The buzz, cheers and applause from the Camp Nou crowd when Messi slapped hands with Rafinha, the 19-year-old B-teamer he replaced on 58 minutes, and ran onto the pitch, showed how thrilled his fans were at the prospect of witnessing Barcelona's all-time leading scorer write yet another page of football history.
The sickly hush and the way Vilanova chewed his thumbnail 28 minutes later told a story, too.
There are few grimmer sights in football than Messi being gingerly helped onto a stretcher and carted away. Not just because football would be poorer if it lost this treasure for any extended period of time but also because there's always that nagging concern with Messi that he is only a bad tackle away from serious injury, because of his slight build and because he's so quick and skillful that some lesser opponents have no other answer than to hack him down.
Like Luisao. Messi had been on the pitch for just 49 seconds when the Benfica captain and defender upended him, with one of those calculated fouls cynical professional footballers are so expert at, chopping legs and then trying to shaking hands. Referee Svein Oddvar Moen from Norway knew better, whipping out a yellow card for the Brazilian.
Barca captain Carles Puyol, always so protective of Messi, gave Luisao a piece of his mind. But Messi, as is his wont, just picked himself up without fuss. He needed growth hormones as a youngster to get to the 5-foot-5 (169 centimeters) he is now. He's generally smaller than the players who clatter into him but he doesn't give them the satisfaction of knowing they've stung.
Which is why it immediately seemed serious when Messi didn't get up after coming together with Benfica's goalkeeper, Artur, another Brazilian. Messi, to his credit, generally doesn't do the whole rigmarole of rolling around in agony like other players, including some of his teammates. So many feared the worst this time as he lay on the ground, hiding his face with gloved hands.
Messi grimaced with the impact of running at speed into Artur with the ball at his feet. He could have gone down right there. Many other players would have. But Messi stayed upright, took a few more steps, swiveled and shot at goal with his aching left leg before collapsing in a heap. Even though he was hurting, he couldn't, wouldn't, waste a chance to score, to match Muller's record. As it turned out, Artur saved Messi's lob.
"I sincerely thought it was the last ball I would be touching for a long time because of the pain. I tried to go ahead and shoot but I didn't have the strength," Messi said.
Vilanova said he had no regrets and that it wasn't the Barca way to molly-coddle its superstar.
"He's a player that likes to play," he said. "He's not focused on breaking the record that everyone is talking about."
"If I had a do-over I'd make the same decision, seeing that he can get injured at any moment."
The diagnosis for Messi was reassuring: bone bruising to the outside of his left knee. Barca said he did gym work Thursday. Messi had injuries earlier in his Barca career, notably left out of the team that won the 2006 Champions League final, because of a thigh injury. But more recently he has been remarkably durable - one reason why he has moved so close to Mueller's record. Barca said Messi hasn't missed a game with injury since Sept. 2010, when Atletico Madrid defender Tomas Ujfalusi crunched his ankle in a tackle, damaging ligaments.
Messi has four more games in 2012 to overtake Mueller - or less if he doesn't recover for Barca's league trip Sunday night to Betis.
"It is not an obsession. If it happens, it will happen when it does," Messi said Thursday. "It would be nice to reach a record that has been there for such a long time. But it is not something that worries me. If I don't make it, no problem, but I am very close."
He may never be closer.
Like Leonardo, he needs to put a smile on his Mona Lisa.
---
John Leicester is an international sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jleicester(at)ap.org or follow him at http://twitter.com/johnleicester
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Wouldn't it be more cost effective if they launched multiple vehicles at at time instead of just one? Perhaps NASA could work with other nations by building more rovers and letting them launch their own. If it's going to be in the name of science, why not?
With all the self driving technology we have now, (and will have by 2020), why not make it faster, and give it a capability to cover 20 or 50 miles a day or some such.
The rovers we've sent really don't have the capability out of sight of their landing zone. That makes picking landing sites a huge challenge.
With a slightly taller vehicle with a wider stance (bigger wheels) you could probably cover most of the martian terrain at substantial speed, totally autonomously. It could map as it went, and pick up soi
Netflix offers an online flat rate DVD and Blu-ray rental by mail, as well as video streaming in the US. It is headquartered in Los Gatos, California. In 2009, Netflix offered a collection of 100,000 titles on DVD and had... More ?
Scientific American has combed shopping malls and Web sites for 10 of the geekiest gadgets that leverage science and technology in novel and surprising ways
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Editor?s note:?Tadhg Kelly?is a game designer with 20 years experience. He is the creator of leading game design blog What Games Are, and consults for many companies on game design and development. You can follow him on Twitter?here.
For retailers and publishers in video games, Christmas is the busiest time of the year. All the big releases stack up through October and November, and are judged by consumers to be worthy or otherwise. On the digital side, Christmas is often one of the slower periods but, when the dust settles and spring begins, often new heroes emerge.?Either way, the holidays mark the end of a cycle, and then we begin to wonder what?s next.?Assuming the world doesn?t end on December 21st, what?s going on for games in 2013?
The games industry has become an awfully complicated place. In part this is due to new platforms, free-to-play business models and apps. At the same time the market has changed, with crowdfunding giving voice to tribes of fans. And yet old-school developers continue to make mistakes and shutter their doors (sometimes spectacularly). There has been an explosion in the ?gamelike? industry, in areas such as gamification, educational and health gaming, but all are now showing signs of weakness. And, like a Balrog rising from the deep, the console industry is stirring once more and its fires cannot be ignored. The year 2013 is shaping up to be a year of disruptions and transitions.
Consoleapalooza
Nintendo recently launched the Wii U, and effectively fired the opening shot of the 2013 console race. The launch itself seems to have gone passably well, though not as well as the Wii. It seems that Nintendo has a tough time explaining what Wii U is and why you should get one, and there are also issues, such as battery life, its social-networking setup and the way that data transfers from Wii and storage are handled. And the initial game lineup is pretty quiet.?Nonetheless, Nintendo says that it has already sold 400,000 machines,?and some launch games ? such as Zombie U and Nintendoland ? are receiving good reviews.
Nintendo?s hope is to recapture the market once more by playing the same card it always does ? a new kind of control ? and will probably have some success in doing so. This time, however, rather than aiming solely for the mom and pop players, Nintendo is trying to encourage gamers back to its system. There it is running into trouble, as many of those fans felt somewhat left behind by the Wii, and they also suspect that Wii U is underpowered as gaming machines go.
Microsoft is also expected to unveil the next Xbox in 2013. Xbox 360 is generally considered to be ancient these days, and also somewhat crufty with video, music, social networking, Kinect and so on. Its digital strategy is also outdated, more publisher and less App Store, despite once being a leader in that area. Beyond that, Microsoft also has a big challenge in finding a new Xbox marketing story. It?s become very difficult to tell what Xbox really means any more (and in console, where players are very tribal, that?s a big deal). So their challenge is to find a new sense of inspiration, which is no small feat.
This is also true for Sony, expected to announce a new PlayStation in 2013. While Sony has been trying hard to recapture gamers (with games like Journey), it has a big problem convincing the world to buy PS Vitas. The company as a whole is still losing money, although at a slower rate than before?but, like Microsoft, its complex ambitions have resulted in a mixed bag of projects that sit uncomfortably next to one another.
The opportunity for either company is to be the console that gets back to being about games.?While players love Netflix and other video on console, they generally don?t care about meta-stuff like social networking. Many of them want their machine to be about games first, and many developers want to be able to access the player market.?The question is whether either company is able to see past its own over-wrought ambitions and make that big bet, and also which of them is able to get out of the way of developers and curate, rather than manage, their digital offering.
There?s one more story that could help light that way. Sure, maybe Apple will open up the Apple TV to apps or Samsung will throw its hat into the ring, but I?m talking about Ouya. Designed specifically for indie developers and distributing only through digital, the Ouya project raised $8.6 million on Kickstarter in 2012. It demonstrated that there is a market for indie consoles and that that market is genuinely passionate. This is a quality that has been lacking in the console space for some time, a?story totally different from the big-corporate consoles. So it has the nimbleness to maybe make an impact. If it manages to own content of the sort that console makers cannot easily allow themselves to publish, then it could become the punk label to which all the cool kids gravitate.
And that might be the biggest disruption of them all.
Wherefore PC?
While we live in a post-PC age, the PC is trying hard to adapt. Sales might be down, but the PC is still probably the most ubiquitous gaming device in the world after mobile. It is host not just to retail or indie games, but also (via browsers) social and open web games, World of Warcraft and other MMOs. So there?s a lot to play for.
In particular I think it?s a great time to be looking at Windows 8 as the next stage for social and casual PC gaming. Microsoft has already sold 40 million licenses of Windows 8 and each of those has a Store attached, which adds up to a lot of eyeballs.?What will be really interesting is if Windows 8 developers apply the learning of browser-based gaming.
The browser has hit something of a roadblock in terms of performance, with Flash dying, Unity not quite there (in browser) and HTML5 struggling to make an impact. But if there?s one lesson that Apple has taught it?s that users actually prefer apps. They?re faster, easier to find and generally a superior experience because they don?t have that browser layer attached.?Windows 8 enables free-to-play games to the desktop, much as iPad enabled CSR Racing. That by itself is a really big deal.
Now that Microsoft has closed the loop of payment solutions, and that, combined with desktop-level visibility, makes for a potent formula for the PC. Furthermore notifications from games can go to the desktop, which is a massive value-add for developers. These are all very good things.
I also think 2013 will be difficult for Steam. Steam is overwhelmed by its catalogue and not included as a part of the default Windows 8 dashboard. Its audience may stay fixed, or even decline, depending on the impact of the Windows Store. Steam is ? and will always be ? great value for the kind of indie PC gamer who loves his games, but it may have reached its zenith. What would be interesting is if Steam got involved in crowdfunding. It has the passionate audience and the payment solution, but so far Valve seems nervous about going all the way.
SoLoMoVille
Then there?s social, tablet, mobile, location, augmented reality and so forth. While it?s increasingly clear that this space is all about being on tablet first, the days of it only being about iPad are drawing to a close. Androids tablets and their Kindle cousins are finally starting to make inroads, both in terms of distribution and getting better at monetisation. And Microsoft may eventually crack the Surface question.
The larger question facing social games is what their second generation looks like. Zynga remains troubled, now no longer in a special relationship with Facebook, and overly heavy. On iPad, newer developers like Supercell and Natural Motion have adopted the Zynga formula and are doing well, but that formula has a half life, which induces user fatigue pretty quickly. Once the platform amnesia phase passes, tablet/social could well become a sticky place in 2013.
Hopefully 2013 will mark a year of greater experimentation away from the roleplaying-game format that marked most G1 social games. Studios like 22cans are messing with ideas like Curiosity, a game in which players chip away at a giant cube. There are also lessons to be learned from Minecraft and collaborative creativity. On the more focused side, something very interesting is happening in social tournament games, which is quite a different kind of multiplayer from the turn-based games like Words With Friends that marked 2012. (Disclosure: I?m going to be involved in this social tournament area next year.)
There?s also the draw of cash gaming. Zynga is widely expected to move into real-money gambling next year to generate revenue in gambling-friendly countries like the UK. Gambling is a very different beast to social and has many expert companies already within it. It?s also a very difficult space within which to differentiate on content, because every provider?s games are largely the same. Lastly, gambling is much more heavily regulated than other games, which brings many associated costs. We?ll see, but I personally think Zynga will struggle in this space.
Finally there?s something interesting in the intersection of location and augmented reality. Location games have proved a bit of a dud because they?re very thin. A couple of years ago location was considered hot (remember Gowalla and SCVNGR?) but these days checking-in has become just another function. Foursquare is still the only name in location, and its gaming applications have largely stalled.
However I think there?s something to the idea of ?local? gaming, where players gather together in real-world spaces with their digital equipment to play games. There?s something in the area of digital glasses, tablets and colocation that could prove very interesting. Imagine sitting down at a table and playing an enhanced board game, like holo-Chess in Star Wars perhaps, or a version of Magic: The Gathering where the spells are enhanced by image recognition to play animations. Next year might be too early, but it?s coming.
Gamelikes
2013 is likely to be a tough year for the ?gamelike? industries (such as gamification, transmedia, etc). My recent gamification post seemed to hit a nerve with many and I?ve received several emails from people who are tired of high-concept theory, and instead want simple actionable plans. A lot of questioning of the efficacy of gamification has emerged, and that kind of talk usually precedes a downturn. My anecdotal experience leads me to think that gamification?s hype days are almost done, and so the movement will likely enter a period of introspection.
Similarly, transmedia projects remain stuck in that high-concept space. Transmedia might be a big talking point at conferences, but so far little has really come of it. Like the virtual world buzz of five years ago, there?s only so long that you can continue with high concepts before numbers surface that show that the trend is more fiction than fact. And that?s the point where investors, brands and so on start to cool on the whole area. I would not be surprised if this happened to transmedia in 2013, as it feels due.
I also expect something similar to happen with exercise, education, health and several other gamelikes as their novelty wears off. There will likely be some consolidation in specific markets, such as diet and exercise trackers, while others will fade entirely. Perhaps this will lead to a new round of gamelike hype around a new technology like augmented reality. A year from now we may have conferences springing up to tell us how the future will be like an overlay on reality, and we can all get excited by the prospecting of game/life crossovers.
Maybe, but we?re probably not quite there yet.
Conclusion
A year of consolidations and retrenchments for some, of attempting to transition for others. However, also a year of potential disruptions. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the games industry, and why it feels fragmented these days, is that sense of permanent disruption. Can console makers really continue as they have for years, releasing updates only every once in a while and dealing exclusively with preferred developers? Will tablets eventually supplant consoles entirely, with their much cheaper (and improving in quality) games and business models? Can gamelikes find a new story to tell, or are they going to get stuck in this phase of questionable value for a long period?
These and many more are the continuing questions that we should all be asking.
Regardless of how our economic situation fares, the pharmacy technician career will have an easier time staying afloat and the demand for it will only continue to grow. Pharmacy technician jobs are teeming all over the place, but the heavy competition may make things had for you. So if you want to find yourself being sought after by an employer, receiving proper training and certification is necessary.
You don?t really have to undergo formal training in order to become a pharmacy technician, but there are additional benefits if you do. Educational institutions such as vocational schools, community colleges, and hospitals offer formal training programs ranging from a 6 months to 24 months. If you want to be qualified for the best pharmacy technician jobs, getting formal education is recommended.
Once you have completed you formal training program, you can make yourself even more attractive to potential employers by working hard to attain certification and other credentials. Certification is an excellent indication of your competency as a pharmacy tech. You can seek to become certified by either the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB) or the Institute for the Certification of Pharmacy Technicians (PTCB).
If you try to notice the requirements among the majority of pharmacy technician jobs, they require applicants to have reliable communications and interpersonal skills since they will be spending most of their time working with healthcare workers and interacting with patients. Sound mathematical and analytical skills are also a must when preparing medications.
Pharmaceutical firms are not the only places where pharmacy technician jobs can be found ? there are also plenty of employment opportunities in hospitals, convenience stores, and department stores which have their own pharmacy. To help make your search easier, you can take advantage of the internet and you can also submit your resume to online job directory websites.
The classified ads section of your local newspaper can also give you plenty of options when it comes to pharmacy technician jobs. If you have decided that you want to apply for a job in a pharmaceutical firm, you may want to drop by the company website to check out their employment opportunities and know more about what they are looking for.
If you think getting a diploma from a pharmacy tech school is very difficult, well think again. Check out our website about pharmacy technician certification and we?ll provide you with materials to help you reach your dreams. Visit www.pharmacytechnicianreviews.org now.
Holiday gift ideas for food and drink lovers. Now, I know that covers everyone because we all eat and drink but some of us care more about what we eat than others.
We are the connoisseurs, or gluttons if you will, or perhaps the wine or beer aficionado who talks incessantly about the new breweries or local wine. Hey, that's me! Anyway, I've come up with a list of ideas for the foodie (I was trying to avoid that word) in your life.
First, I think everyone should be giving gift certificates to restaurants, breweries and wineries with a note attached saying, "We're going together because part of this gift is that we are spending time together and enjoying great food and drink." So, we really could end all this holiday gift quandary right now.
However, if you want something a little bit different, get someone on your list a cooking class at Stages at One Washington in Dover. Chef Evan Hennessey's concept restaurant in the mills there has two or three themed dinners each month and the chef has thrown something new into the mix ? you can take a cooking class that cooks the dishes for a given dinner. Alice in Wonderland? Indulgence? Sounds like a ton of fun. The kitchen is spectacular, I really want to get my hands on some of that equipment and the food will be delicious. www.stages-dining.com
While we're on classes, take a brewing class. At A&G Homebrew Supply in Portsmouth and The Homebrew Barn in Hampton, you can get someone the gift of learning how to brew beer and wine or even cider, vinegar or make cheese. That's something you can do together, too! www.aghomebrewsupply.com and www.thehomebrewbarn.com.
In October I did something that was a heck of a lot of fun. Over at the Lindt Chocolate Outlet in Kittery they have Create Your Own Chocolate Bar set up where you get a tray with melted chocolate, which is just like a Lindt bar (so much so that it actually is a Lindt chocolate bar), and then you go over to the bar where you can festoon it with all sorts of treats like gummy sharks, hot cinnamon hearts, coconut, nuts ? oh about 30 or so fun "toppings" in all colors. Then, the expert there will put it into a machine to harden it, wrap it up and label it and voila! You have a personalized, creative, and delicious gift for someone. This is one of those things your kids can make and give to Grandma and Grandpa (which was always the difficult part at the holidays for me). It's just $10. Now, while I was there, I discovered all sorts of new things about Lindt, including chocolate bars I'd never seen before (the outlet has a vast selection including many made in other countries). They also introduced me to the technique of putting one of those Lindt truffle balls into my coffee. I had a big "hey why didn't I think of that" moment. They have their fun gold foil-covered bears and colorful foil Santas as well as many other chocolate figures this year too. www.lindtusa.com.
I'm also recommending, as did Oprah, the Corkcicle, which you put in the freezer, then your white wine and your wine stays nice and chilled. www.corkcicle.com.
The SodaStream is on my gift list too (you can carbonate vodka!) because you can make your own soda out of an infinite list of flavor possiblities (bacon!). www.sodastreamusa.com.
I'm thinking about getting a juicer too after seeing "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead," and there are many to choose from at all price points. I love kale and carrot juice, I really do!
There are many great food-related books on the top of my list this year, including "Pastries," by Alison Pray who owns Standard Baking Co. in Portland (co-writer Tara Smith) Down East Books. The book is wonderfully designed and the recipes are easy and tasty.
Timothy Ferriss just came out with "The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life" (Kindle Edition and in hardback from Amazon Books) His whole premise is that you can become a world-class chef in six months or less and he takes us from Manhattan to Okinawa, and from Silicon Valley to Calcutta, unearthing the secrets of the world's fastest learners and greatest chefs.
Ferriss uses cooking to explain "meta-learning," a step-by-step process that can be used to master anything, whether searing steak or shooting 3-pointers in basketball. That is the real "recipe" of "The 4-Hour Chef." You'll train inside the kitchen for everything outside the kitchen. Featuring tips and tricks from chess prodigies, world-renowned chefs, pro athletes, master sommeliers, super models, and everyone in between, this "cookbook for people who don't buy cookbooks" is a guide to mastering cooking and life." I'm pretty intrigued by this. He brings you through meta-learning, then the building blocks of cooking, foraging and more before sending you on your way to lifelong mastery of everything.
Wine lovers will like "The Juice," by Jay McInerney. (Alfred A. Knopf, 2012). It's a collection of his columns from the Wall Street Journal and you learn about wine through entertaining and well-written stories from his life. He's quite an expert. He'll also be at The Music Hall Loft tonight (Nov. 29) if you can get there.
There is always a great new cookbook from Phaidon press to get, and this year it's "The Lebanese Kitchen," the definitive book on Lebanese home cooking, featuring 500 authentic and delicious recipes that are simple to create at home. Salma Hage is a Lebanese housewife from Mazarat Tiffah, with more than 50 years of experience as a family cook and the recipes are simple and elegant at the same time.
If you know any restaurateurs or anyone who works in a restaurant, get them "The Art of the Restaurateur," which reveals the hidden stories behind some of the world's best restaurants, and celebrate the complex but unrecognized art of the restaurateur. It's by Nicholas Lander who owned L'Escargot in London in the 1980s and is now a renowned food columnist for the Financial Times. It covers everything you ever wanted to know about the highs and lows of the restaurant business, presenting the untold stories of the world's best restaurateurs, from luxurious Michelin-starred restaurants, to bustling neighbourhood bistros, to stylish fast-food cafes.
I also like "Jerusalem" (Ten Speed Press, 2012). This is a collection of 120 recipes exploring the flavors of Jerusalem from the New York Times bestselling author of "Plenty," Yotam Ottolenghi along with Sami Tamimi. You'll explore the vibrant cuisine of their home city ? with its diverse Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities.
Also great is "Burma: Rivers of Flavor" by Naomi Duguid (Artisan, 2012). She tells terrific stories interspersed with 125 recipes and teaches you about the culture through food.
That's all for now! As I find more, I'll post them on my Facebook and Twitter pages so follow Rachel Forrest on both.
Rachel Forrest is a former restaurant owner who lives in Exeter. Her column appears Thursdays in Go&Do. Her restaurant review column, Dining Out, appears Thursdays in Spotlight magazine. Buy "Maine Classics: More Than 150 Delicious Recipes from Downeast," written by Chefs Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier with Rachel Forrest at www.rachelforrest.com. She can be reached by e-mail at rachel.forrest@dowjones.com.
We reserve the right to remove any content at any time from this Community, including without limitation if it violates the Community Rules. We ask that you report content that you in good faith believe violates the above rules by clicking the Flag link next to the offending comment or fill out this form. New comments are only accepted for two weeks from the date of publication.Food and drink lovers: Rachel Forrest's 2012 gift guide | SeacoastOnline.com
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If your gift recipients like Lindt chocolate, they'll love making their own giant bar.Andrew Moore courtesy photo
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Holiday gift ideas for food and drink lovers. Now, I know that covers everyone because we all eat and drink but some of us care more about what we eat than others.
We are the connoisseurs, or gluttons if you will, or perhaps the wine or beer aficionado who talks incessantly about the new breweries or local wine. Hey, that's me! Anyway, I've come up with a list of ideas for the foodie (I was trying to avoid that word) in your life.
First, I think everyone should be giving gift certificates to restaurants, breweries and wineries with a note attached saying, "We're going together because part of this gift is that we are spending time together and enjoying great food and drink." So, we really could end all this holiday gift quandary right now.
However, if you want something a little bit different, get someone on your list a cooking class at Stages at One Washington in Dover. Chef Evan Hennessey's concept restaurant in the mills there has two or three themed dinners each month and the chef has thrown something new into the mix ? you can take a cooking class that cooks the dishes for a given dinner. Alice in Wonderland? Indulgence? Sounds like a ton of fun. The kitchen is spectacular, I really want to get my hands on some of that equipment and the food will be delicious. www.stages-dining.com
While we're on classes, take a brewing class. At A&G Homebrew Supply in Portsmouth and The Homebrew Barn in Hampton, you can get someone the gift of learning how to brew beer and wine or even cider, vinegar or make cheese. That's something you can do together, too! www.aghomebrewsupply.com and www.thehomebrewbarn.com.
In October I did something that was a heck of a lot of fun. Over at the Lindt Chocolate Outlet in Kittery they have Create Your Own Chocolate Bar set up where you get a tray with melted chocolate, which is just like a Lindt bar (so much so that it actually is a Lindt chocolate bar), and then you go over to the bar where you can festoon it with all sorts of treats like gummy sharks, hot cinnamon hearts, coconut, nuts ? oh about 30 or so fun "toppings" in all colors. Then, the expert there will put it into a machine to harden it, wrap it up and label it and voila! You have a personalized, creative, and delicious gift for someone. This is one of those things your kids can make and give to Grandma and Grandpa (which was always the difficult part at the holidays for me). It's just $10. Now, while I was there, I discovered all sorts of new things about Lindt, including chocolate bars I'd never seen before (the outlet has a vast selection including many made in other countries). They also introduced me to the technique of putting one of those Lindt truffle balls into my coffee. I had a big "hey why didn't I think of that" moment. They have their fun gold foil-covered bears and colorful foil Santas as well as many other chocolate figures this year too. www.lindtusa.com.
I'm also recommending, as did Oprah, the Corkcicle, which you put in the freezer, then your white wine and your wine stays nice and chilled. www.corkcicle.com.
The SodaStream is on my gift list too (you can carbonate vodka!) because you can make your own soda out of an infinite list of flavor possiblities (bacon!). www.sodastreamusa.com.
I'm thinking about getting a juicer too after seeing "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead," and there are many to choose from at all price points. I love kale and carrot juice, I really do!
There are many great food-related books on the top of my list this year, including "Pastries," by Alison Pray who owns Standard Baking Co. in Portland (co-writer Tara Smith) Down East Books. The book is wonderfully designed and the recipes are easy and tasty.
Timothy Ferriss just came out with "The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life" (Kindle Edition and in hardback from Amazon Books) His whole premise is that you can become a world-class chef in six months or less and he takes us from Manhattan to Okinawa, and from Silicon Valley to Calcutta, unearthing the secrets of the world's fastest learners and greatest chefs.
Ferriss uses cooking to explain "meta-learning," a step-by-step process that can be used to master anything, whether searing steak or shooting 3-pointers in basketball. That is the real "recipe" of "The 4-Hour Chef." You'll train inside the kitchen for everything outside the kitchen. Featuring tips and tricks from chess prodigies, world-renowned chefs, pro athletes, master sommeliers, super models, and everyone in between, this "cookbook for people who don't buy cookbooks" is a guide to mastering cooking and life." I'm pretty intrigued by this. He brings you through meta-learning, then the building blocks of cooking, foraging and more before sending you on your way to lifelong mastery of everything.
Wine lovers will like "The Juice," by Jay McInerney. (Alfred A. Knopf, 2012). It's a collection of his columns from the Wall Street Journal and you learn about wine through entertaining and well-written stories from his life. He's quite an expert. He'll also be at The Music Hall Loft tonight (Nov. 29) if you can get there.
There is always a great new cookbook from Phaidon press to get, and this year it's "The Lebanese Kitchen," the definitive book on Lebanese home cooking, featuring 500 authentic and delicious recipes that are simple to create at home. Salma Hage is a Lebanese housewife from Mazarat Tiffah, with more than 50 years of experience as a family cook and the recipes are simple and elegant at the same time.
If you know any restaurateurs or anyone who works in a restaurant, get them "The Art of the Restaurateur," which reveals the hidden stories behind some of the world's best restaurants, and celebrate the complex but unrecognized art of the restaurateur. It's by Nicholas Lander who owned L'Escargot in London in the 1980s and is now a renowned food columnist for the Financial Times. It covers everything you ever wanted to know about the highs and lows of the restaurant business, presenting the untold stories of the world's best restaurateurs, from luxurious Michelin-starred restaurants, to bustling neighbourhood bistros, to stylish fast-food cafes.
I also like "Jerusalem" (Ten Speed Press, 2012). This is a collection of 120 recipes exploring the flavors of Jerusalem from the New York Times bestselling author of "Plenty," Yotam Ottolenghi along with Sami Tamimi. You'll explore the vibrant cuisine of their home city ? with its diverse Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities.
Also great is "Burma: Rivers of Flavor" by Naomi Duguid (Artisan, 2012). She tells terrific stories interspersed with 125 recipes and teaches you about the culture through food.
That's all for now! As I find more, I'll post them on my Facebook and Twitter pages so follow Rachel Forrest on both.
Rachel Forrest is a former restaurant owner who lives in Exeter. Her column appears Thursdays in Go&Do. Her restaurant review column, Dining Out, appears Thursdays in Spotlight magazine. Buy "Maine Classics: More Than 150 Delicious Recipes from Downeast," written by Chefs Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier with Rachel Forrest at www.rachelforrest.com. She can be reached by e-mail at rachel.forrest@dowjones.com.
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