Iyara Thai Restaurant Review ? Forks-Up Reviews

I first visited Iyara Thai Restaurant a few weeks ago with a friend who lives locally. She had never been, but had heard good things about it, so we decided to make it the venue for our long-overdue catch-up dinner. Since I hadn?t intended to make Iyara the subject of a restaurant review, I had left my camera at home. But I was so blown away by the excellence of the food and the friendliness of the service that I just had to return the following week with my regular dining partner so that I could put pen to paper. Situated a few minutes? walk from South Wimbledon tube station, Iyara is a small, pleasantly decorated local restaurant with a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere. It?s family run, with the owner acting as bartender, ma?tre d? and head waiter all rolled into one. That can mean some long-ish wait times between courses at busy times, but never detracts from his enthusiasm. On both my visits, he came over to chat when we paid our bill, keen to share his passion for authentic, fresh Thai cuisine and making much of his ability to tailor his dishes to cater for diners? allergies if necessary.

I was keen for my dining partner to experience the starters I had enjoyed on my initial visit, but also wanted to sample some of the other tempting items from the broad starters menu. It therefore seemed only logical to splash out and share the Iyara Mixed Starter Plate ? a generous selection of Fish Cakes, Chicken Satay, BBQ Honey Pork, Duck Spring Rolls, and Tempura Prawns all served with a variety of dips. Every one of them was a delight. The fish cakes were firm textured, not too fishyand had a brilliant twist of lemongrass which really lifted the flavour. The chicken satay was perfectly chargrilled?and had a delicate but defined kick of spice, especially when topped with a dollop of the accompanying sticky peanut sauce. The ?tempura? prawns were coated in golden panko breadcrumbs rather than actual tempura batter but the slight mislabelling didn?t make them any less enjoyable and they went perfectly with a spiced plum sauce that was one of the four accompanying dips. My two favourites on the plate though just had to be the BBQ honey pork ? wonderfully succulent skewers of grilled pork, marinated in a sweet yet tangy barbecue sauce, and the duck spring rolls ? fantastically flaky thin layers of pastry cooked to give an audible crunch when bitten into and stuffed to bursting with tender shredded duck and mixed Asian vegetables.

Moving onto main course, I was tempted by several of the traditional Thai curries (red, green, massaman and more), and some of the slightly more unusual seafood dishes (like the deep fried crispy whole seabass with chilli sauce and sweet basil), but I just couldn?t quite resist the call of that old favourite, Pad Thai. A good Pad Thai is often the mark of a very good Thai restaurant and Iyara?s was no exception. The flat rice noodles were served just al dente, with the crunchy beansprouts providing a satisfying contrast in texture. The sauce hit just the right balance between sweet and sour with the distinct tamarind flavour tempered by the soft, smooth pieces of egg that were scattered through the dish and the accompanying smattering of chopped peanuts. The whole thing was really brought together by the sharp juice from the fresh lime wedge which I squeezed liberally over the top of it all. I had gone for prawn Pad Thai (chicken, beef and veggie options are also available), and the central feature of the dish was beautifully presented ? butterflied and cooked to perfection, served peeled but with tails on for visual effect. My only slight criticism was that I could have done with a couple more of them ? four prawns don?t quite make a main course in my book. In presentation as much as in taste, Iyara really takes pride in its food ? both our starter plate and my Pad Thai were garnished with intricately hand carved carrot flowers. Unlike many such garnishes in other restaurants, Iyara?s carrots were just as fresh as the dishes they accompanied and I thoroughly enjoyed crunching my way through them as a sort of palate cleanser at the end of each course. My dining partner?s main of choice was an enormous bowlful of red chicken curry. The sauce had a proper kick of spice from the dried long red chillis used in the cooking, but this was tamed by a generous dose of coconut milk and, together with the bamboo shoots and basil leaves, the overall effect was a delightfully delicate, fragrant dish. A simple side of Thai fragrant rice was all that was needed to soak up the sauce and make an excellent meal.

Drinks-wise, Iyara offers the standard soft drinks, a couple of different Thai beers, and a short but well-chosen and reasonably priced selection of wines. Having thoroughly enjoyed an aromatic Gewurztraminer on my first visit, I decided this time to sample a rose ? the Torre Alto Pinot Grigio ? which was pleasantly soft with distinct strawberry notes, but managed to avoid over-sweetness. Iyara?s dessert menu is remarkably brief, offering just one Thai dessert (mango and sticky rice, only available in season), or handmade ice-cream from a small company based in Kent. My dining partner and I had thought to try some ice-cream (honeycomb flavour did sound enticing), but in the time we waited to give our order, changed our minds and decided just to get the bill instead. Another point in Iyara?s favour is the value for money it offers ? despite having really gone to town on the starter plate, our bill came in at just under ?23 per head including tip for two courses and a drink each. So, with fantastically flavoursome, authentic Thai food that?s simply bursting with freshness, friendly service and a pleasantly relaxed atmosphere, you?re definitely onto a winner with Iyara. Final rating? A fabulous four and a half Forks-Up. (Add an extra couple of prawns to the Pad Thai and you?d be looking at a full five)!

Iyara Thai Restaurant 136 Merton Road Wimbledon London SW19 1EH T: 020 8543 6213

Source: http://forks-up.com/london_restaurant_reviews/iyara-thai-restaurant-review

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HTC One versus Sony Xperia Z

The HTC One is due to launch globally in the next month, so how does it compare to Sony's latest, the Xperia Z?

The Xperia Z is Sony’s best smartphone yet, and it’s one of the first major flagship devices of 2013 to hit the market. But there’s competition coming, and not just from Samsung. HTC will be launching the HTC One in Europe from the end of the month, and the Taiwanese manufacturer’s going all-out with its very best build quality, redesigned software and a new kind of smartphone camera.

So how does HTC’s latest hold up against Sony’s glass-clad beast? We’ve got comparisons in video, pictures and words after the break.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/dkpX7Gss09I/story01.htm

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CERN release preliminary results: particle looking 'more and more like a Higgs boson'

CERN's latest update to its god particle project is that the new particle that it was able to pick up is behaving "more and more like a Higgs boson." The team isn't being particularly specific here, as its not certain just yet whether it's detected a 'standard model' particle or the lightest of several possible bosons predicted in other spin-off theories. Researchers are referencing the interactions of the particle (particularly its spin, or lack off) as the main reason why they reckon they're dealing with a genuine Higgs boson and work will now focus on exactly what kind of boson they've managed to snag.

Filed under: Science, Alt

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Source: CERN

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/14/cerns-preliminary-results-higgs-boson/

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Venezuela in the Chavez era: a reporter's view

In this June 10, 2007 photo, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez speaks with AP reporter Ian James in San Fernando de Apure, Venezuela. During more than eight years covering Venezuela, James says he has gained more street smarts, become a tougher, more resourceful reporter and developed a deep affection for Venezuela, a country where events often collide in unpredictable and dramatic ways and where a wide gap frequently separates the reality on the street from the socialist-inspired dreams that Chavez has instilled in his followers. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

In this June 10, 2007 photo, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez speaks with AP reporter Ian James in San Fernando de Apure, Venezuela. During more than eight years covering Venezuela, James says he has gained more street smarts, become a tougher, more resourceful reporter and developed a deep affection for Venezuela, a country where events often collide in unpredictable and dramatic ways and where a wide gap frequently separates the reality on the street from the socialist-inspired dreams that Chavez has instilled in his followers. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

In this June 10, 2007 photo, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, right, speaks with AP reporter Ian James who sits in the passenger seat of a Toyota 4 Runner in San Fernando de Apure, Venezuela. During more than eight years covering Venezuela, James says he has gained more street smarts, become a tougher, more resourceful reporter and developed a deep affection for Venezuela, a country where events often collide in unpredictable and dramatic ways and where a wide gap frequently separates the reality on the street from the socialist-inspired dreams that Chavez has instilled in his followers. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

In this undated photo released by Miraflores Press Office, Hugo Chavez poses as he serves time in the Yare II prison near Caracas, Venezuela. During more than eight years covering Venezuela, James says he has gained more street smarts, become a tougher, more resourceful reporter and developed a deep affection for Venezuela. During an interview with James, Chavez talked about his years as an army officer plotting against the government and how growing up in the rural plains had shaped his radical ideas. (AP Photo/Miraflores Press Office)

FILE - In this Oct. 3, 2012 file photo, supporters of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez cheer during a campaign rally in Maracay, Venezuela. During more than eight years covering Venezuela. AP reporter Ian James says he has gained more street smarts, become a tougher, more resourceful reporter and developed a deep affection for Venezuela, a country where events often collide in unpredictable and dramatic ways and where a wide gap frequently separates the reality on the street from the socialist-inspired dreams that Chavez has instilled in his followers. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File)

FILE - In this April 25, 2010 file photo, swimmers are taken via boat to the starting race point of the "swim across the Orinoco and the Caroni rivers," in San Felix, southern Venezuela. AP reporter Ian James, who swam the race in 2010, is finishing his assignment in Venezuela the first week of March 2013. James says that he has gained more street smarts, become a tougher, more resourceful reporter and developed a deep affection for Venezuela. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? Pushing our infant son in a stroller, my wife and I stepped out of the terminal at Simon Bolivar International Airport and were approached by several taxi drivers offering to take us to Caracas. One of them, a soft-spoken young man in his 20s, offered the lowest fare by far, and I handed him one of our bags.

The small white car crawled up the hill in the darkness, then slowed and stopped. Doors opened. Two men burst into the car, one in the front passenger seat and the other in the back seat, pressing against my wife.

"Be calm," the young man in the back said, holding up a revolver so that we could see it, a frightened look in his eyes.

"Don't worry, nothing's going to happen to you," the man in the front said, turning another gun on me. "Don't look!"

That ordeal eight years ago introduced me to life in Venezuela, a country where events often collide in unpredictable and dramatic ways and where a wide gap frequently separates the reality on the street from the socialist-inspired dreams that President Hugo Chavez has instilled in his followers.

During more than eight years covering Venezuela, I have gained more street smarts, become a tougher, more resourceful reporter and developed a deep affection for this country where I've met many warm, free-thinking people.

Venezuela's many long-term challenges, such as crime, corruption, a troubled economy and bitter political divisions, can seem as vast as the sea of crude oil that Venezuela sits atop. And with Chavez battling cancer, the country could be headed for big political shifts and possible turmoil.

___

A couple of years after the robbery, I found myself sitting in the passenger seat of a Toyota 4Runner while Chavez drove through the lush, green plains of Apure state.

In our interview, he talked about his years as an army officer plotting against the government and how growing up in the rural plains had shaped his radical ideas.

"What hurts me most is poverty, and that's what made me a rebel," Chavez said.

When he slowed and lowered the tinted window, passers-by gawked and then broke into a run, screaming, "Presidente!"

One woman ran to the window with tears in her eyes and cried out "I love you!"

Chavez clasped hands and planted kisses, while they asked him for help replacing shacks with houses or treating sick relatives. Chavez promised to rescue them all.

It was a role I saw him play many times: the larger-than-life leader supporters expected to solve their many problems. At rallies, I watched as people pressed letters into the hands of Chavez's aides, asking for money to help their poor neighborhoods or fledgling cooperatives.

It was a remarkable up-close look at a populist leader in the mold of the classic Latin American caudillo, who often seemed to want to use his power and charisma for good.

But there was a downside. He could use the same force to sideline opponents and rule Venezuela with few checks.

He dominated power to such a degree that he once said on television that Judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni should go to jail for 30 years for freeing a banker while he awaited trial. Today, she is still under house arrest.

Some Chavistas told me at political rallies that a leader like Chavez comes along once in a century, and that may be one point Venezuelans can agree on, whether they love or hate him.

At a news conference in late 2011, I asked him point-blank what type of cancer he was diagnosed with, whether sarcoma as some have speculated, or another type. He had managed for months not to reveal many details about his illness.

Chavez chuckled at the question at first, then said: "You know more than I do."

He explained that a baseball-sized tumor had been removed from his pelvic region and asked: "You want me to tell you more? What for? What for? ... Isn't there some morbidity in that?"

More than a year later, after saying tests showed he was free of cancer, Chavez won re-election. Eventually, he announced the cancer was back, but he still has not said what type.

___

One morning in January, I noticed dozens of young men had blocked an avenue by dumping trash in the road and setting it ablaze. Police in riot gear lined up and pushed the embers off the pavement, while the protesters milled around on the sidewalk.

They explained that they'd been demanding jobs at a construction site where the government was building public housing, but the company in charge wouldn't hire them.

"The only thing we want is to work," said one of the protesters, John Jairo Bello. "We're hungry to work because we have children. We have to eat."

The nervous, uncertain look in their eyes reminded me of the young men who had stolen my family's belongings and left us on the highway back in 2005.

With the guns pointed at me, I had wondered about the robbers: Who are they? Off-duty police officers trying to supplement their income? Or simply a gang of young toughs who prey on foreign tourists? What desperation drove them to this?

I remember putting my head down and laying my hands on the back of the front seat as the robbers demanded money and jewelry. I slowly pulled my wedding ring off my hand and reached for my wallet.

Our son, just shy of 1 year old, began to cry in his baby seat. My wife hummed a lullaby, and that quiet, noble song had brought me enough clarity to think how we might escape.

As we passed through a tunnel, I told the guy in the front seat: "You've got everything now. You can leave us anywhere."

On a stretch of freeway flanked by slums, they finally pulled over. The car sped away carrying our suitcases. Alone, we embraced nervously, and then walked on pushing our son in his stroller through the darkness.

___

As I prepare to leave, I know I'll miss the macaws flying past my window and the spectacular views of El Avila, the forested mountain that towers above Caracas.

I also will remember the rivers, polluted and majestic.

The Guaire River runs through Caracas filled with sewage and flanked by the encampments of drug addicts under freeway overpasses. Back in 2005, Chavez had pledged a full cleanup, saying on television, "I invite you all to go swimming in the Guaire soon."

Recently, as I drove across the river, I noted it still smelled of sewage and detergent, and it seemed a fitting metaphor for Venezuela's many unresolved problems. They existed before Chavez burst onto the scene, and they're likely to remain long after he's gone.

A few years ago, I swam a race at the meeting of the Orinoco and Caroni rivers, a grueling endurance test of 3.1 kilometers (1.9 miles) that's an annual tradition.

With hundreds of others, I stepped into the mud-brown waters, and we stroked out into the middle of the Orinoco. The challenge was staying on course amid the strong currents, which knocked some swimmers off track. I was proud to make it to the other shore with the majority.

Now this, too, seems like a fitting way to think of the challenges that lie ahead for Venezuelans.

While some people call the situation hopeless or insist that one political camp or the other holds the answers, I take the view that the country's problems can be solved. The challenges are many, but Venezuela has plentiful oil earnings, creative entrepreneurs, and a strong sense of national identity that transcends the pro- and anti-Chavez political divide.

They must now make it across a turbulent stretch, aiming for the shores of a better future as a united nation.

___

Ian James has been the AP's bureau chief in Venezuela since 2004. He finished his assignment in the country this week.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-01-Venezuela-A%20Reporter's%20View/id-8d3e9ba4a4454cf7818844a8925cdef7

vicki gunvalson

WISE space telescope feels the heat from Orion's sword

Feb. 5, 2013 ? The tangle of clouds and stars that lie in Orion's sword is showcased in a new, expansive view from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.

Orion, the famous hunter, is visible in evening skies throughout the world from about December through April. The constellation appears tranquil and still to the naked eye, but lying in its sword, at what appears to be a slightly fuzzy star, is a turbulent cauldron of stellar birth.

WISE scanned the whole sky in infrared light, capturing this vast view of the dynamic region, called the Orion nebula. The telescope picked up the infrared glow from dust heated by newborn stars. The colors green and red highlight this warmed dust, while the white regions are the hottest. Massive stars burned through the dust, carving out cavities, the largest of which is seen at the center of the picture.

Astronomers think that our sun was probably born in a similar cloud some five billion years ago. Over time, the cloud would have dispersed and the stars would have drifted apart, leaving us more isolated in space. The crowded newborn stars in the Orion nebula are less than 10 million years old -- billions of years from now, they will likely spread out.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages, and operated, WISE for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The spacecraft was put into hibernation mode in 2011, after it scanned the entire sky twice, completing its main objectives. Edward Wright is the principal investigator and is at UCLA. The mission was selected competitively under NASA's Explorers Program managed by the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The science instrument was built by the Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah. The spacecraft was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo. Science operations and data processing take place at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

More information is online at http://www.nasa.gov/wise and http://wise.astro.ucla.edu and http://jpl.nasa.gov/wise

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/6dmhft6WsBw/130205152257.htm

Allyson Felix

Manti Te?o Girlfriend Death: One Giant Hoax?!?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/01/manti-teo-girlfriend-death-one-giant-hoax/

sarah palin today show

Documents by Readdle: Free and easy content management for iPad

Readdle is a development firm that has made a name for itself with apps like Scanner Pro (US$6.99) and PDF Expert ($9.99) that make creation and markup of documents a snap. Now the company has released Documents by Readdle (free), a significant update to the earlier ReaddleDocs app that is essentially a completely new app.

The iPad app is, according to the company, about 80 percent new code. The company launched the app as an update to ReaddleDocs, as that app currently has over 230,000 existing users and this will make their transition to the new app as painless as possible.

Several of us at TUAW had an opportunity to beta test Documents by Readdle, and it is a polished and speedy app. Documents combines a fast document viewer with a media player and file manager. There's a built-in browser, so you can view web pages or other online documents within the app, then save them in folders on the device or in the cloud.

Once saved, you can call up the documents at any time, annotate them and share them easily. But Documents by Readdle not only handles PDFs and Office documents, it also lets you look at and store images, play music or watch videos.

Documents by Readdle syncs with Dropbox, Box and iCloud, but works with many other cloud storage solutions. In fact, it's hard to find a service that doesn't work with Documents: I tested it with a WebDAV server on a web host, Google Drive and FTP and SFTP servers with no problems, and it also works with CloudMe, Storegate, Filesanywhere, MyDisk.se, SkyDrive, Office 365 Sharepoint and SugarSync.

Since Documents by Readdle is free, I don't think it's going to be a "hard sell." Go out and download it to give it a try. If you're not sure that you'll need the app, download it anyway; you'll be amazed at how quickly you start moving documents into this well-implemented app.

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Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2013/01/16/documents-by-readdle-free-and-easy-content-management-for-ipad/

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