Toque roots are sometimes traced to the "casque à meche" (stocking cap) worn by 18th-century French chefs. The colour of the "casque à meche" denoted the rank of the wearer. Boucher, the personal chef of the French statesman Talleyrand, was the first to insist on white toques for sanitary reasons. The modern toque is popularly believed to have originated with the French chef Marie-Antoine Carême (1784–1833), who stiffened the "casque à meche" with cardboard . The pleated, low, round hat worn in French universities the equivalent of the mortarboard or tam at British and American universities is also called a toque.
A Kind of Alchemy clear rhythm section. A Kind of Alchemy A Kind of Alchemy is the second studio album from the alternative/progressive rock band byron. Released on 23 October 2009 at The Silver Church Club in Bucharest. It contains two singles, "Diggin' a Hole" and "King Of Clowns". A Kind Of Alchemy contains blues, progressive and funk influences. Dan Byron said that "the mood is nocturnal, rather intimate, sometimes playful or even exuberant", and the album as a whole deals with the "process of creation, ranging from madness to zen". One part of the album has an extra sensitivity, another part is more