Orange Peel Art

Bored and wanting to boost your vitamin C intake?

While many will discard the peel when they eat an orange, others will save the zest for later use. There are a few who will turn it into a work of art. Jeu d’oranges is a site that hosts a monthly orange peel sculpting contest. The name of the site means Orange Game, or Game of Oranges. To enter your creation, you must carve it out of one whole piece of peel and photograph it on a black background, without letting it harden and dry. Every 15 days, the peel with the greatest number of votes will be posted on the homepage.

More Robots – The LongPen

Apparently, Margaret Atwood hates signing books. Note that the picture is not actually the LongPen, as it has yet to be unveiled. Stay tuned…

Margaret Atwood of Canadian Sci-Fi author fame has created a little gadget to help her laziness and potentially piss off her fans and fellow authors. She has invented a robotic hand called the LongPen, it will help her do book signing tours by allowing everything to be done remotely. The LongPen will include a video screen so she can still communicate with her fans and she will also still do actual signing remotely and the robotic hand will emulate the strokes.

Medici’s Influence not Just Art, But Chocolate

A new exhibit at the Civic Museum of Monsummano Terme, just north of Florence, explores the history of chocolate in Europe. The show pays particular attention to the ways in which the patronage of the Medici dynasty furthered the art of chocolate making in much the same ways it advanced the areas of art and architecture. Cosimo III de Medici commissioned new chocolate recipes in order to compete with those of the Spaniards and to impress other aristocrats. One of the results was a jasmine-infused chocolate drink, often presented to visiting dignitaries as an example of the Medici splendor. The exhibit, “Chocolate: from Spanish perfection to the exquisite courtesy of the Tuscan court” continues through April 30.

Via Slashfood