Borsjtj - The Russian Beetroot Soup

Add comment August 31st, 2007

Sweet beetroots add flavor and color to dishes. Now it is root vegetable season in Sweden. Carrots, white cabbage and beetroots are very low at price. I always cook a beetroot soup at this time of the year. A rich and healthy soup with lots of fibres, minerals and folic acid.

My husband is a big fan of this soup and if there are any leftovers, I put them in the freezer.

INGREDIENTS:
serves 8-10

* 2 ½ l beef stock
* 500 g boneless beef
* 1 yellow onion, cut into chunks
* 1 carrot, cut into chunks
* 10 pepper corns
* 1 bay leaf
* 1/4 head white cabbage
* 1/4 celeriac
* 3 cloves garlic
* 1 bunch parsley
* 2-3 tablespoons butter
* 4-6 raw beetroots
* 4-5 potatoes
* ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
* lemon juice to taste

METHOD:
1. Bring beef and stock to the boil, skim off scum.
2. Add onion, carrot, leek (green parts only), parsley stalks, pepper and bay leaf.
3. Simmer slowly for 1 ½ - 2 hours, or until beef is tender.
4. Meanwhile shred white cabbage, celeriac and potatoes.
5. Cut the remaining leek into rings.
6. Chop the parsely, peel the beetroots and coarsely grate them.
7. Fry all the vegetables in butter without browning them.
8. Add pressed garlic.
9. Add strained stock and cook for ab. 10 minutes.
10.Cut beef into small cubes, remove all visible fat.
11.Add beef to the soup and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
12.Taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice.
13.Finally add the chopped parsley.

Serve the soup hot with crème fraiche, sour cream or whipped cream.

Beetroot is a popular ingredient in East European cookery. The ingredients of a Borsjtj (Borscht) vary depending on its origin - Russian or Polish. Sometimes this soup is served as a side dish. If you want it to be completely vegetarian, omit the beef and use vegetable stock.

I happened to be in Leningrad, Russia, in 1991 (The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991). Then Leningrad had not changed back its name to St. Petersburg. It was not a holiday trip. No. The purpose was to study another culture, and to bring some school things to a school. It was an overwhelming journey, but I hardly remember any food at all. The hotel I stayed in served breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The only dish I can remember is a cabbage soup. They served cabbage soup every day. At the end of my stay, the soup resembled diluted dish water, if you know what I mean. I also remember a side dish. There were some shredded beetroots laid crosswise on a plate.

Now, a lot has changed, I suppose. For the better, I hope.

A Russian-theme dinner party idea: Invite your friends and make borsjtj, (borscht), pasties and buckwheat pancakes.

Dell Q2 Preliminary Results Released

1 comment August 30th, 2007

Folks who read Direct2Dell pretty regularly know I am not an Investor Relations person. That means I will not be commenting on financial results. I just wanted to make this information available to people who are expecting it.

–Lionel

DELL REPORTS Q2 PRELIMINARY REVENUE OF $14.8 BILLION; PRELIMINARY EARNINGS PER SHARE OF $0.32

Quarter Highlighted by Improved Growth and Profitability Across All Regions and Strength in Enterprise Products       

ROUND ROCK, Texas, Aug. 30, 2007—Dell today reported preliminary results for its second quarter of fiscal year 2008, with revenue of $14.8 billion, operating income of $896 million and earnings per share of $0.32.  Strength in enterprise products and services, improved average selling prices and favorable component costs drove profitability in the quarter.  Cash and marketable securities were $13.8 billion at the end of the quarter.   

“We continue to invest in company initiatives that align our products and services around customers’ needs in order to drive long-term, sustainable performance and extend our position as a trusted technology partner,” said Chairman and CEO Michael Dell.  “While our results demonstrate we’ve made progress against our goals, we are still in the early stages of transforming our company’s structure, costs and operations.”

Operating Profit Impacted by Higher Expenses

Several factors adversely impacted operating expenses in the quarter, including $102 million, or $0.03 per share, in incremental compensation expense related to payments for expired in-the-money stock options; $59 million, or $0.02 per share, in costs associated with the Audit Committee’s investigation into certain accounting and financial reporting matters; and higher headcount and associated costs related to investments in sales and customer support. 

As the company continues to implement its transformation program, the priority is to drive profitable growth while reducing operating expenses as a percentage of revenue.   The company expects to accomplish this by improving front-line productivity, reducing headcount where appropriate and investing in infrastructure and key growth initiatives.  The company is focused on the optimal alignment of resources, coupled with scaling via growth initiatives and cost reduction, and continues to pursue reductions in headcount. 

Transformation Update

Several actions during the second quarter reflected Dell’s ongoing strategy to simplify IT for its customers by reducing the cost, time and complexity of managing information technology, including:

• The launch of the Vostro^TMbrand of notebook and desktop computers, the first product line designed for the unique needs of small businesses, featuring simple-to-use tools that address problems such as data back-up and PC performance and health, and dedicated customer support. Vostro products do not include “trialware” and feature specialized networking support for customers who don’t have dedicated IT staffs.


• The introduction of our new flagship ultra-portable notebook, the XPS^TM M1330, the world’s thinnest 13.3-inch notebook, featuring cutting-edge design elements and a durable magnesium alloy chassis with brushed aluminum accents. In addition, new Inspiron notebook systems feature mobile broadband, widescreen displays, built-in webcams and eight color choices.


• Agreements to acquire ASAP Software, a leading software solutions and licensing services provider; privately-held SilverBack Technologies, Inc., a service delivery platform provider for remote monitoring and management of information technology infrastructure such as servers, storage, networks, desktops and notebooks; and Zing Systems Inc., a consumer technology and services company that focuses on always-connected audio and entertainment devices.


• Announced plans to reach more customers globally via indirect distribution channels through partnerships with Wal-Mart and Sam’s Clubs in North and South America, Bic Camera Inc. of Japan and Carphone Warehouse in the United Kingdom.

Product Performance Driven by Continued Focus on Server and Storage Solutions

Server revenue in the second quarter was $1.6 billion. For Q2, Dell was again No. 1 in the United States in server units shipped with 32.7 percent share.  Storage revenues were $0.6 billion.  During the quarter, Forrester Consulting¹ issued a report that demonstrated how Dell’s new IT simplification solutions, which include server consolidation and virtualization solutions, increased the ROI benefits for one of Dell’s customers.

Dell also announced a partnership with Emerson Network Power and its Liebert power and cooling business to help customers lower their datacenter power and cooling requirements by up to 42 percent and increase systems performance by up to 80 percent compared to prior generations of Dell servers. 

Revenue from mobility products was $3.9 billion while desktop revenue was $5.0 billion.  During the quarter, the company ran a higher-than-normal product backlog, driven by better-than-expected demand for the new Inspiron and XPS color notebooks coupled with supply constraints for several colors, and a tightening in supply of certain flat-panel displays.  The company believes the supply environment will improve in the second half of the year.  Enhanced services revenue was $1.3 billion and software and peripherals revenue was $2.4 billion. 

Company Outlook

The company is focused on IT simplification for its customers, including transforming its business to provide better value to customers while expanding its growth opportunities.  These efforts set the stage for a more sustainable balance of liquidity, profitability and growth.  During this period of transformation, operating results will vary as the company focuses on making investments and realigning the business.  Near-term results could be adversely impacted by a slower decline in component costs in the second half of the year.  The company does not expect to resume its share repurchase program until after it has filed its fiscal year 2007 Form 10-K, which is expected to occur by the first week of November.

Preliminary Results Subject to Change

As previously announced on Aug. 16, 2007, Dell will restate its previously issued financial statements for fiscal 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 (including the interim periods within those years), and the first quarter of fiscal 2007.  In addition, the company has not filed its Forms 10-Q for the second and third quarters of fiscal 2007 and the first quarter of fiscal 2008 or its Form 10-K for fiscal 2007.  Consequently, all financial results described in this press release, as well as the previously announced financial results for the second, third and fourth quarters of fiscal 2007 and first quarter of 2008, should be considered preliminary, and are subject to change to reflect any necessary corrections or adjustments, or changes in accounting estimates, that are identified prior to the time the company completes the restatement and these filings.   

NASDAQ Listing Update

            As previously announced, on Aug. 17, 2007, the Board of Directors of The NASDAQ Stock Market issued its decision to give the company until Nov. 12, 2007 to file its past due periodic reports and regain compliance with NASDAQ’s listing requirements.  Dell previously announced that it expects to file its past due periodic reports by the first week of November.

Annual Meeting and Analyst Meeting Update

            The company’s annual meeting of shareholders is being planned for Dec. 4, 2007.  The company plans to hold a strategy call on Nov. 29, 2007 when it releases fiscal third quarter 2008 earnings.  The company also plans to hold a full analyst meeting on April 2 and 3, 2008, in Round Rock, Texas.

About Dell

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services they trust and value. Uniquely enabled by its direct business model, Dell is a leading global systems and services company and No. 34 on the Fortune 500. For more information, visit http://www.dell.com/, or to communicate directly with Dell via a variety of online channels, go to www.dell.com/conversations. To get Dell news direct, visit www.dell.com/RSS.

¹The Total Economic Impact^TM Of Dell’s Server Consolidation And Virtualization Solutions Single Company Analysis A Commissioned Study Conducted by Forrester Consulting on Behalf of Dell. The complete report may be accessed at www.dell.com/research.

Special Note

Statements in this press release that relate to future results and events (including statements about our preliminary and expected future financial and operating performance) are forward-looking statements based on our current expectations. Actual results may differ materially from the forward-looking statements because of a number of risks and uncertainties, including: the risk that additional information may arise during the completion of our work on the restatement, our independent auditor’s review of the investigation and completion of its audit work, the Audit Committee’s final review of the investigation and the restated financial statements, and as a result of other subsequent events; any additional issues or matters arising from the ongoing SEC investigation; our ability to successfully remediate identified internal control deficiencies; our ability to meet NASDAQ requirements for continued listing as a result of our past due periodic report filings; general economic, business and industry conditions; our ability to maintain a cost advantage over our competitors; local economic and labor conditions, political instability, unexpected regulatory changes, trade protection measures, tax laws, copyright levies and fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; our ability to accurately predict product, customer and geographic sales mix and seasonal sales trends; information technology and manufacturing infrastructure failures; our ability to effectively manage periodic product transitions; our reliance on third-party suppliers for quality product components, including reliance on several single-source or limited-source suppliers; our ability to access the capital markets; litigation and governmental investigations or proceedings arising out of or related to accounting and financial reporting matters; our acquisition of other companies; our ability to properly manage the distribution of our products and services; effective hedging of our exposure to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates and interest rates; obtaining licenses to intellectual property developed by others on commercially reasonable and competitive terms; our ability to attract, retain and motivate key personnel; loss of government contracts; expiration of tax holidays or favorable tax rate structures; changing environmental laws; and the effect of armed hostilities, terrorism, natural disasters and public health issues. Additional discussion of factors affecting Dell’s business and prospects is contained in Dell’s periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Easy Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream & Strawberries

Add comment August 28th, 2007

INGREDIENTS:
serves 4
* 4 egg yolks, preferably free range
* 4 tablespoons sugar, or icing sugar
* 4 dl whipping cream
* 1 vanilla bean, or 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
* 1 liter (1000 ml) fresh strawberries
* 4 tablespoons orange liqueur

METHOD:
1. Cut vanilla bean open and scrape out the seeds.
2. Beat the egg yolks with sugar and vanilla.
3. Whip the cream and fold it into the egg mixture.
4. Pour your prepared mixture into a wide plastic freezer container.
5. Put it, covered, into your freezer for a couple of hours.

Optional: You may take the ice cream out of the freezer after 30-40 minutes, break up the ice crystals by beating it and making it smooth again, and repeat this now and then. However, there is really no need to stir this ice cream while it freezes. I don´t do that. When there are so many egg yolks in the ice cream mixture, I find it unnecessary.

TO MAKE THE DESSERT:
1. Soak the strawberries in orange liqueur and place them, covered, in the refrigerator for an hour or more. Gently stir around now and then, without mashing the strawberries.
2. Place the strawberries in serving glasses and spoon the ice cream on top.

So, even if you are not the owner of an ice cream maker, and even if you only got a refrigerator with a small freezer, you can easily make a delicious strawberry ice cream dessert.

Parfait or ice cream?
Perhaps you prefer to call this “ice cream” a “parfait” instead. That´s fine with me. I find the difference between “parfait” and “ice cream” exceedingly fine. In Sweden, a parfait is always made with cream and has a creamy, porous texture.

It seems to me that in English it has several meanings. The more I read about the difference, all the more the English meaning of the words “ice cream” and “parfait” puzzles me. Can anyone explain, please?

XPS 700 Motherboard Exchange: Order Confirmations

Add comment August 27th, 2007

I’ve been getting comments from several customers like who have submitted their orders and have not received a response. Wanted to clarify how the process works, and the easiest way to illustrate it is to break it down into two main groups: Customers who purchase something, and customers who don’t. Basically, if no purchase is involved, you will receive an e-mail notification when your order is processed. If you are purchasing something, Dell will be contacting you directly to process work out payment details to process your order.

In all cases, please allow up to 10 business days (two weeks) for us to process your order and get back to you.

No purchase: you will receive e-mail order confirmations when your order is processed.

• XPS 700 customers who opt for the hardware kit at no charge
• XPS 700 customers who choose on-site installation service at no charge

 Orders with payment: you will receive order details from the Dell representative who contacts you to process you order.

• XPS 710 customers who purchase a hardware kit
• XPS 710 customers who purchase the on-site install
• XPS 700 customers who purchase the discounted quad-core QX6700 processor 

A Traditional Greek Country Salad

Add comment August 25th, 2007

Horiatiki Salata

INGREDIENTS:
serves 4

* 1 kg (1000 g) hard salad tomatoes
* 1 medium sized red onion
* 1 green bell pepper
* 1 cucumber
* ab. 80 g Kalamata black olives
* ab. 180 g Feta Cheese, diced, sliced or crumbled
* dried oregano
* 80 g (80 ml) olive oil
* red wine vinegar (or lemon juice) and salt to taste

METHOD:
1. Cut the tomatoes in segments and the cucumber in slices.
2. Arrange on a plate and season with salt to taste.
3. Add the onion and the green pepper cut in thin rings.
4. Add dried oregano, the Feta Cheese and olives.
5. Pour the olive oil and vinegar to taste over the salad. Too much vinegar makes the salad too sour.

If you should ever find yourselves in the Greek countryside or on any of the beatiful islands of Greece, seek out the Greek Country Salad.

My husband and I visited Greece in 1993, and again in 1995. There, in small in size taverns we found the most delicious “Horiatiki salatas” for our lunches or snacks.

Why does this salad tastes so good in Greece?

The Greek olive oil - probably the best in the world.
The olives of Kalamata - smooth and with a meatlike taste.
Feta Cheese - the most popular cheese in Greece; an excellent accompaniment to this salad.
Oregano - a low bush, which grows throughout all Greece; tastes more like oregano than most oreganos. This herb is used extensively in Greek cooking.
The vegetables - onions sweet in taste; perfect tomatoes, cucumbers and bell peppers. I don´t know why, but for some reason vegetables taste better in Greece than they do elsewhere.

However, when the vegetables are in season, everyone can make an awesome Greek Country Salad - whereever you are. There are other quality olive types and good olive oils. Try to find a Feta cheese which has a rich and creamy taste and a mildly salty edge.

Enjoy!

Inspiron Notebook Product Delays

Add comment August 25th, 2007

Thanks to all of our customers who  continue to wait for your orders despite the delays. We apologize for the frustration that they have caused all of you. I know that many of you have seen the blog posts about the XPS M1330 delays, but many customers are asking for details behind the Inspiron delays.  I wanted to spend a few minutes to try to address some of the fundamental issues we’re dealing with.

Regardless of what product we’re talking about, generally speaking there are two things that dictate when we will ship your order: 1) the order date and 2) parts availability. There are other variables that factor into this, but in general, we expect to ship products in the order they were received when we have the components to build your system.

Speaking of components, many of you have asked which ones are delaying your orders. The reason that’s not a simple question to answer is that the supply picture changes frequently. Once we are aware that  a component is in short supply and will add time to your estimated ship date, we try to indicate that on the configurator in Dell.com to give you an indication of further potential delays.  Here’s an example screenshot here:

To date, color options are the main source of delay on Inspiron notebooks. Basic colors like black are easier to produce. Premium colors and finishes like we use on the Inspiron models introduce complexity into the process, and that’s holding things up. Just as Alex mentioned in his post about colors on the M1330, producing smaller quantities is not the issue—it’s mainly an issue of scale. We’ll continue to work directly with suppliers to ultimately increase our production on color notebooks. Besides scale, we are also focused on maintaining the levels of quality we established when we designed these notebooks. In other words, we’re not going to relax our quality standards to ship more products.

While premium colors are the main reason for delay of our Inspiron notebooks, displays are a secondary reason—some screen sizes are in short supply.

As long as we have lots of customers waiting for systems like we do now, we have some tough work ahead of us. I can assure you that people at all levels in many departments across the company are working around the clock to resolve all the issues preventing us from shipping your systems. Beyond that, we have added dedicated sales and support resources in the United States and around the world specifically to address the customer experience issues that these delays cause. We also understand that shipping your system is key, and we’ll continue to work to do that.

Thanks again to all of you who continue to wait for your orders. We appreciate your patience and your business.

Dell’s Solution Provider Direct Update

Add comment August 22nd, 2007

Back in May, Michael appeared on the cover of CRN and announced that Dell is expanding its channel strategy and will launch an “authorized partner” program and deal registration by the end of this year. Since then, we’ve been having lots of conversations with our current channel partners like Eze Castle Integration. Some customers have questioned our efforts, but I assure you Dell’s commitment to solution providers is real. Moving forward, I and others will blog about developments in our strategy to make the long-term vision more clear.

Yesterday, members of our Solution Provider Direct team updated hundreds of channel executives and media at the annual CMP XChange event in Orlando on progress Dell is making with our channel initiatives. 

 At XChange, we also circulated a survey to get feedback on authorized partner program elements that will most influence solution providers to do business with Dell. We’d love your feedback, too. Later this week, we’ll add a link to the survey when we get it set up.

We still have a ways to go and won’t be ready to announce the details of authorized partner until later this year, but here are some points I made during the XChange conference:

• We have new VPs in Europe and the Americas (which encompasses the United States, Canada and Latin America). Josh Claman is the VP of channels for EMEA, and Greg Davis now serves as VP for our channel business in the Americas.


• We’ve recently hired IPED-a member of the CMP family-to help us flesh out details of our initiatives. Their channel expertise and credibility is extremely valuable to us, and we are excited about the partnership.


• We acquired SilverBack Technologies. Dan Phillips, SilverBack CEO and now a Dell director, and his team will be instrumental in helping us build a partner network and program we think will be very compelling.


• One significant component of authorized partner that is fairly far along in its development is Deal Registration. According to a Bain survey recently commissioned by Dell, it’s not surprising that about 60% of solution providers surveyed have concerns about Dell’s direct hardware business competing with their sale or resale of hardware to customers. Deal Registration will reduce this conflict and hopefully increase solution providers’ trust in Dell.


• You will see a tiered program from us. Dell is a performance-based culture, and we want to set up our partner program in much the same way.


• Finally, we are upping our marketing efforts to the channel with regional Solution Provider Direct customer briefings, investments in events like XChange, and a dedicated marketing team.

I’ll add the link to the survey to this post when it’s live. Appreciate your feedback.

Raspberries & Gooey Chocolate Muffins

Add comment August 22nd, 2007

My sister-in-law accompanied me to a forest the other day, where there were loads of raspberries. In other words - “a raspberry forest”. I would never go alone, because they are not easy to pick. There are brown bears in the forests, but I am not afraid of them. I am more concerned about my legs, my ancles, my wrists or so. You have to watch your steps to avoid falling.

After five hours fighting in thorny thickets, I went home again with nearly 6 kg (ab. 13 pounds) sweet tasting raspberries.

Into the freezer they went, packed and labeled, waiting for rebirth. The most beautiful raspberries were placed in one layer on a tray. They went into the freezer for a couple of hours. When frozen, the berries were put into a freezer container, waiting for future treats.

Chocolate Muffins (a dessert for 6 people)

INGREDIENTS:
* 150 g dark chocolate
* 100 g butter
* 2 eggs
* 1 dl (100 ml) sugar
* 2 teaspoons orange zest, grated
* 1 dl (100 ml) flour

TOPPING:
* 50 g dark chocolate, whipped cream, raspberries

METHOD:
1. Preheat oven to 180° C [= 350° F]
2. Grease a muffin tin or 6 large muffin paper cups.
3. Melt chocolate & butter in a large heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of almost simmering water.
4. Beat eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.
5. Fold in the chocolate batter and orange zest.
6. Finally fold in sieved flour.
7. Pour batter into the muffin cups.
8. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 15 minutes.
9. The muffins should be sticky in the middle.

TOPPING:
1. Melt chocolate and spread it evenly on top of cooled muffins.
2. Serve the muffins with raspberries and whipped cream.

Wild raspberries are extremely fragile; easily crushed and bruised. If you are going to pick your own; use small containers. Otherwise you end up with a terrible mess of mashed raspberries.

I am living in another mess right now. My husband and I recently started a renovating project of our house. So, if I am not writing blog posts, you know, that´s why.

XPS 700 Motherboard Exchange Program Update

Add comment August 20th, 2007

Thanks to all of you for your strong support of the XPS 700 Motherboard Exchange Program. Due to overwhelming global demand of the program, we need to order more components for hardware kits to support the demand.

What this means is that we are able to fulfill all orders up through Thursday, August 16 within the original estimated shipping times. Orders submitted after that date will take us about six weeks to fulfill. Between now and then, we will do everything we can to shorten that timeframe, but that’s the best estimate I can provide at this time. My apologies to customers who will have to wait a bit longer for their hardware kits.

As a reminder, the link for the XPS 700 Exchange Program is:

www.XPSUpgradeProgramDell.com

Plate of Fruit & Raspberry Sauce

Add comment August 19th, 2007

INGREDIENTS:
* ab. 400 g raspberries
* 2 - 5 tablespoons icing sugar
* 3 kiwi fruits
* 1 small fresh pineapple
* 1 small melon
For non-weight watchers:
*2 dl whipping cream + 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar (optional)

Raspberry Sauce

METHOD:
1. Pass the raspberries through a fine-meshed sieve.
2. Discard the seeds.
3. Add enough icing sugar to make a syrupy and not too sweet sauce.

THE PLATE:
1. Prepare the fruits as usual, wash and peel.
2. Cut melon into wedges and slice kiwi fruit.
3. Cut pineapple into slices, then into smaller chunks.
4. Divide sauce among six serving plates.
5. Make a decorative fruit arrangement in the raspberry sauce,
6. Top with a vanilla scented dollop of whipped cream (optional).

A quick warning! This dessert can´t be done in advance because the rasberry sauce has a tendency to discolour the fruit. It doesn´t look nice.

I grow raspberries in my garden. They also grow wild where I live, and in many other polar regions down through temperate climates of North America, Asia and Europe. I find the flavor of wild raspberry much more sweet and aromatic than the garden raspberry.

Last summer was too hot and too dry. I was not able to find any wild raspberries at all. This summer has been both rainy and warm. In my surroundings there are large forests where I can find delicious and healthy raspberries.

My father used to say that raspberries ripen in the darkness of August. This may not be the truth everywhere. Harvest time depends on other things.

In the beginning of July every year, there is a Raspberry Festival held in a very tiny village in France. This small village (Concèze) celebrates raspberry, and holds the official world record for baking the biggest ever raspberry tart. Over 6.000 visitors are provided with treats made from raspberry (la framboise). I have never visited France. There´s the festival I wouldn´t mind visiting!

Raspberries are versatile. Other than in cakes, pies, in preserves, as a salad ingredient, and in boozy cocktails, they also work very well in a dessert combined with fruit.