"When he was born, his hands looked like they had been boiled in oil, " said his mother.

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These long, medium-thick slices of Idaho russet potatoes are first boiled, then fried twice in a sunflower and canola oil blend before receiving a dash of salt, and presented either as a stand-alone dish or alongside a feta-topped, chargrilled lamb burger.

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The other has mangu plantains boiled, beaten, then drizzled (not fried) with olive oil.

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Always bubbling beneath the surface, these tensions boiled over in late October, when Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the boss of Yukos, one of Russia's biggest oil companies, was arrested at gunpoint, charged with tax evasion and stuffed into jail, where he still languishes awaiting trial.

ECONOMIST: Buttonwood