Tierra Unica

Bruce Lee - "Be Water My Friend"

"Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend." ~ Bruce Lee.

Bruce Lee was the 1960 and early '70's global superstar icon, martial artist, Hollywood actor, movie producer, teacher, businessman, philosopher, husband, father, and founder of "Jeet Kune Do".  From 1971 - 1973, Bruce Lee was the world's biggest celebrity and most famous person on Earth surpassing Brazil's Pele and the U.S.'s Muhammad Ali.

   

 

Jeet Kune Do emblem

 

Photos Of Peru's Ollas y Sueños (Cooking Up Dreams)!

A set of pictures and images from the Peruvian documentary "Ollas y Sueños" (Cooking Up Dreams) released in August, 2009 about the 500 years of fusion (mixture) cuisine in Peru. 

Peru is the birthplace of world fusion cuisine and the cultural mixture and miscegenation (marriage) of ancient native cuisines with that of several different types of cuisines of four continents. 

Ask.com wrote - "Thanks to pre-Inca and Inca heritage and to Spanish, Basque, African, Sino-Cantonese, Japanese and finally Italian, French and British immigration (mainly throughout the 19th century), Peruvian Cuisine combines the flavors of four continents.  With the eclectic variety of traditional dishes, the Peruvian culinary arts are in constant evolution, and impossible to list in their entirety.  Suffice it to mention that along the Peruvian coast alone there are more than two thousand different types of soups, and that there are more than 250 traditional desserts.  

The great variety in Peruvian Cuisine stems from three major influences:

• Peru's unique geography, 84 of the 104 possible life zones on Earth according to Holdridge

• Peru's openness and blending of distinct races and cultures

• The incorporation of ancient cuisine into modern Peruvian Cuisine"

Peru - A Food obsess Nation  

Peruvian Cuisine is one of the main driving forces of Peru’s rapid economic development in the last 15 years, and growing national pride.  Similar to France, Spain, Italy, and Japan, cuisine in Peru, and the people that make it, are respected at all levels of society.  It is the most revealing aspect of Peruvian society, more so than music, art, or futbol (soccer).   Guarango's De Ollas y Sueños, (Cooking Up Dreams), is a beautiful filmed released last year which opened to much domestic and international acclaim.  The film follows Peruvian Cuisine around Peru and around the world. 

Peru is considered one of the most important center for the genetic diversity of the world's crops:

• Choclo (corn), 35 varieties
• Tomatoes, 15 species
• Potatoes, Peru is the birthplace of the potato.  The Ancient Peruvians (pre-Inca civilizations) cultivated and domesticated the potato almost 10,000 years ago.  Of the roughly 4,500 varieties of potatoes on Earth, 3,000 are indigenous to Peru.
• Sweet Potatoes, 150 varieties
• Peanuts are native to Peru and were taken by Spanish and Portuguese merchants to Africa.
• Fruit, 650 native species

 

 

Peru's Pisco Cultural Heritage - El Pisco Patrimonio Cultural Del Peru - Part 2

Here is part 2 in Castelliano (Castillian Spanish) of this impressive video called "El Pisco Patrimonio Cultural Del Peru - Parte 2" (Peru's Pisco Cultural Heritage).

There is a short interview with restaurateur, Peruvian media mogul, publisher, hotelier, and #1 Latin American celebrity chef Gaston Acurio in Lima, Peru.  Gaston is the owner of the five star Astrid y Gaston, La Mar Cebicheria Peruana, Tanta, and other top Peruvian brand restaurants.  He currently owns 40+ upscale Peruvian restaurants around the world.  He also owns the Mistura Peruvian Cuisine Expo, the largest cuisine expo in all Latin America.

Also in the video is Pedro Schiaffino, one of Peru's top young chefs and the owner of Malabar in San Isidro, Peru.  According to this month's Food & Wine Magazine here in the United States, Malabar is the 4th best lounge & bar in the world!

According to Food & Wine Magazine - "the Peruvian Pisco Sour is the most elegant of Latin American drinks.  Far superior and more refined than the Cuban Mojito, the Brazilian Caipirinha, and the Californian Margarita.  Pisco Sour made with Pisco Peruano and the Limon Peruano, the best lime in the world, has no rival."    

 

The one and only "Coca Sour Peruano" -  the mind boggling & sheer ecstasy inducing drink from the ancient Incas the Peruvian Coca Sour made of coca leaves (the raw leaves that is used to make cocaine)!!!  This is pure coca leaves not extract or coca infused Pisco.

Picture of the truly unique "Coca Pisco Peruano" at an upscale restaurant in Miraflores, Peru.  This drink is illegal in the Unites States and in most countries around the world.  But in San Francisco I know a top Peruvian restaurant that serves a Coca infused Pisco Sour!  It is much diluted, so it not the same thing.  But it is the closes thing you can get to being in Peru.          

Peru's Pisco Cultural Heritage - El Pisco Patrimonio Cultural Del Peru - Part 1

Just released yesterday Friday, Feb 5, 2010 in Castellano (Castillian Spanish) by Peru's government cultural and tourism bureau is this magnificent video called "El Pisco Patrimonio Cultural Del Peru - Parte 1"  (Peru's Pisco Cultural Heritage- Part 1).

An impressive display of 30+ different types of Peruvian Piscos at a 5 star lounge in San Isidro (outside of Lima), Peru!

 

Pisco Is Peruvian - El Pisco Es Peruano!

Champagne is from France, Tequila is from Mexico, and Pisco is from PERU!

Is there any doubt?

Anything else is just an imitation.....

PERU'S NATIONAL PISCO SOUR DAY TODAY - DIA NACIONAL DEL PISCO SOUR EN PERU HOY!

A picture of one of the last priceless bottles of Peru's Pisco from the 1500s (16th century) on display in Lima, Peru!!! 

Veterans Day - America The Beautiful!

 

Veterans Day November 11, 2009 - "America The Beautiful" to all the services men and women in all the armed forces who serviced the United States of America throughout its 234 year history!

  

  

  

  

   

September 11, 2001 - As It Happened - The South Tower Attack!

This segment is comprised of a succession of newscasts that feature the impact of Flight 175 into the South Tower as it happened LIVE at 9:03 AM.  This segment documents and preserves how just about each and every network covered the moment the South Tower was struck on live television.  Included are clips from ABC News, CBS News, WNYW-TV (Channel 5, New York), WNBC-TV (Channel 4, New York), NY1 (New York One, All News), Fox News Channel, WCBS-TV (Channel 2, New York), WPIX-TV (Channel 11, New York), etc.  Also included in this segment are four NON-BROADCAST angles of the impact of Flight 175 into the South Tower.

They are included here for completeness and utilize audio from NPR Radio from the morning. This is an excerpt from the DVD - "September 11, 2001 - As It Happened - A Composite."

Unforgettable images of September 11, 2001:

 

Fastest Human Ever Shatters World Record In The 100 Again - Superman Usain Bolt!

The fastest human being ever, 22 year old Usain Bolt of Jamaica did the impossible again.  He surpassed his herculean & cocky performance of last year's 100 Meter world record of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics yesterday, August 16, 2009, at the World Championships!

According to respected sports doctors and physiologist, Usain Bolt is a physical, anatomical, and physiological "Phenomenon" because of his almost 6'6'' height (197 centimeters).  Before Bolt's Summer Olympics achievement last year, it was an accepted fact that human beings above 6'5'' (195- 1/2 CM) are physiologically incapable of producing the best times in the sprint races (60, 100, 200, & 400 meters).

Well, Bolt has dumbfounded the scientific community and sporting world again.  Look at what he did yesterday at the World Track & Field Championships in Berlin, Germany.  In the fastest 100 Meter field in history, which included American record holder Tyson Gay and fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell (the former Fastest Human Ever), Bolt annihilated the competition!!!  

Look in HD video, Usain "Lightening" Bolt is an athletic god among mere humans.  He really is ..............SUPERMAN!!!

Video from Rai Sports in Italy, Bolts super human performance.

Happy Birthday Peru! - ¡Feliz Cumpleaños Perú!

Today is the 188th Anniversary of the Independence of the Republic of Peru from Spain!  But it has over 10,000 years of scientifically verified history.  The domestication of the potato in Peru has been verified by European and American scientists to be 8,000 years before Christ!

From Alaska, USA to Tierra de Fuego, Argentina, Peru is the oldest civilization in all the Americas.  In northern Peru, Caral has been verified by European scientists to be over 2,000 years older than the oldest Mayan civilization in Guatemala and Southern Mexico.

In Latin America, Peru has no rival when it comes its archaeological, biological, historical, religious (Catholicism) and culture influence (especially in South America).  When it comes to its historical alliance to Spain, the Viceroyalty of Peru or Viceroyalty of New Castile (el Virreinato del Peru o el Virreinato de Nuevo Castilla) was the largest, richest, and most powerful viceroyalty of the Spanish Empire from the 15th, 16th, and 17th century.  Lima, Peru was capital of practically all of South America, including Brazil!                   

In world significance, Peru's ancient civilizations are as old as Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), Egypt, China, and India.

On a global scale, Peru is by far the most biologically diverse country in the world with the most animals, fishes, incests, birds, and plant species in the Peruvian Amazon (lowland & highland jungles), tropical Andes, Andean glaciers, and coastal deserts.

Here, in high-definition (HD), is the national anthem of Peru with spectacular scenery of present day Peru.  The anthem is not well known like the U.S., French, or English one; but if you hear it to its entirety you will come to the conclusion that it has to be among the most beautiful anthems.

Listen to the instrumental version in the 1st-half and then listen in the 2nd-half to the vocal version by Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez, argumentatively the best tenor in the world today and heir to Spanish great Placido Domingo.         

Happy Birthday Peru! - ¡Feliz cumpleaños Perú!

Peruvian Anthem in HD cinemascope 2.35:1 ratio - Stereo Sound.  New comprehensive English translation subtitles.   See spectacular scenery of Machu-Picchu, the Peruvian coast, Lima and other inland places.  Peru - a large Latin American republic in the mid-west of South America on the equator and south of the equator.

Map of Peru during most of the colonial era - Virreinato/Virreynato del Perú Viceroyalty of Peru - The "Peruvian Empire" so to speak.  Quote - "If Spain is the motherland of Latin America, Peru is the motherland of South American."  Originally stated by King Juan Carlos of Spain in 2007 and later used by current President of Peru, Dr. Alan Garcia in 2008.   

Present day Peru, Central and South America.
 
Juan Diego Florez and his wife, fashion model Julia Trappe.

Historic Launch Of NASA's Apollo 11 Saturn V To The Moon!

July 16, 1969. NASA's Apollo 11 Saturn V launch vehicle, blasting off into history!  Look at how it punches thru a cloud at about the 1:15 mark!

A few pictures of the Apollo 11 launch on July 16, 1969.