London Summer Olympic Games 2012 + Homemade Noodles in Broth

ART

The Summer
Olympic Games,
London 2012
Exciting!

(PS: The logo forms the numerals 2012.)

England issues their

Official Olympic Royal Mail Stamps

Visual art is hard to find at these London, Summer Olympic Games: stamps, the logo, the color light show on the exterior of the stadium, the Anish Kapoor Tower and the "installation" style of Olympic Cauldron are about the limit, as far as I can tell. Oh, I forgot those silly mascots that the public and the souvenir stands always demand.

London 2012 Mascots: Whenlock & Mandeville

This year's Olympic Cauldron has the most clever design in the history of the Olympics, although it is understated in size and invisible except to those who have tickets to the events held in the main Olympic stadium.

The cauldron was created by Heartherwick Studios (installations & architectural elements) by artist/designer thomas heatherwick. The multi-coned design, is composed from 204 petals (one carried in by each competing nation), which were attached to levered stems that pump natural gas to each petal. The stems gently rose from the floor upwards and converged to form 'one great flame of unity' - representative of the transitory togetherness and the embodiment of the Olympic games. Images: Heartherwick Studios & LOCOG

The individual cauldron cones.

Below are some stamps issued for the London, 2012 Summer Olympics!

(Photo source for this article: www.london2012.com)

A color light installation, inspired by the flags of the various nations, was created by artist Sophie Smallhorn and can be viewed every night on the exterior of the main Olympic Stadium. The Olympic Stadium itself was designed by "Populous".

Olympic Tower designed by Anish Kapoor

The Olympics 2012 Tower, next to the aquatics center is scheduled to remain after the London 2012 Olympics end. It more or less has replaced the Olympic Cauldron as the outwardly visible symbol for these games. Designed by England's own Turner Prize winning sculptor, Anish Kapoor, the tower stands 115 meters tall and cost 19.1 million English pounds to build. It incorporates the 5 Olympic rings in distorted loops, is titled "Arcelor Mittal Orbit" and has an observation deck near the top.

Sculptor Anish Kapoor next to a model
of his "Arcelor Mittal Orbit" Olympic Tower.

The most photographed object - the freestanding Olympic Rings.

The Olympics may be the best event humanity has ever devised, with representatives from most of the nations of the world, peacefully gathered in one place - at one time, in freindly competition and getting to know each other on a personal level.
(Pictured) Decathlon winners Ashton Eaton (Gold) and Trey Hardee (Silver) pose in front of the Olympic Cauldron.
(For photos showing the many countries and events go to www.london2012.com/)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

in New York City posted this Childe Hassam Painting

in celebration of the London Games.
(Source Metropolitan Museum of Art)

FOOD

Homemade Noodles in Broth

You might ask, "Isn't this just a fancy Cup-of-Noodles?" (Which you have been trying to avoid ever since the last time your piggy bank was empty.) My answer is a resounding, No! This is gourmet comfort food with noodles that are silky and a real treat for the mouth. Now I am always making chicken and turkey broth and freezing it for times like this, but you can use canned broth which can be made better after 30 minutes of boiling with slices of onion and a few cloves of chopped garlic (strain and use this as your homemade broth.)

Ingredients:

36 oz. of homemade chicken broth

3 cups flour (+ flour for rolling the dough)

1/2 cup cool or room temp milk

1/2 cup cool or room temp water

Make the noodles:

- Have two bowls ready, put 1 cup of flour in one bowl and set aside.

- Put another cup of flour in the other bowl, add the milk and water, and mix well with clean hands, until the lumps are all gone. Add another cup of flour (2 cups total) and hand mix until the sticky dough holds together.

- Transfer this messy dough to the first bowl of flour and knead, incorporating flour into the dough until it forms a solid, workable and firm consistency. 

- Clean and "flour" a solid workable surface

- Roll the dough out until it is 1/8" to 1/16" thick.

- Wipe the surface of the dough with floured hands and let the dough dry for 10 minutes.

- Bring the chicken stock to a boil in a large pot. 

- After drying, cut the dough into 1" x 2" noodles, peel them up (if dough is still sticky on the reverse side, rub the sticky side in some flour) drop the noodles, a few at a time, into the boiling broth and stir to separate. Cook for 10 minutes.

- Taste broth for seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed.

- Ladle the noodles and broth into individual bowls and enjoy.

+ If you add some cubed, cooked chicken to each bowl, you will have a new variation of Chicken and Dumplings, a kind of a Chicken and Noodles. 

(Source: Atkinson Family Cookbook)

Until later,

Jack

ARTSnFOOD, is an online publication dedicated to "The Pursuit of Happiness, the Arts and Food." ™ All rights reserved. Concept, Original Text & Original Photographs are © Copyright 2012 Jack A. Atkinson under all International intellectual property and copyright laws. All gallery, museum, fair or festival photographs were taken with permission. Images © individual artists, fabricators, respective owners or assignees.