Selfishness and coincidence

Call me old fashioned but this is suspiciously like more than a coincidence ...

"Speaker's new father-in-law, Robert C. Cooksey, is a CDC microbiologist whose specialty is TB and other bacteria, but he said neither he nor his CDC lab was the source of Speaker's TB."

Plus, the guy needs locking up for more than plain selfishness. He was advised by FEDERAL specialists not to fly but still did. Let us not even begin to mention the international laws.

If the guy had been from a poor person from India or Pakistan or wherever he or she would be in jail now.

Bye Bye Thai - you are what you eat

If I start this post with a simple fact that it was four months being in this rented apartment before I discovered there was no can opener it might give some indicator that I normally cook from fresh produce. Looking in my cupboards I currently have 5 cans there. Only one is an 'easy open' ring pull can. In addition, I have a couple of jarred items as well. And what do they contain? Red kidney beans, tinned tomatoes (2 of), artichoke hearts, sweetcorn, and some potted meats. That is it.

For those emergency moments when I need to either feed myself or the occasional visit from the 5,000 at short notice I am quite adept at putting something tasty and nutritious together at short notice. What I call 'ding' meals. You know what I mean. There is a special cooking device where you put the food in, press a button or turn a dial, and a short while later it goes "DING!".

Two nights a week I have Dutch language courses and do not get back until late. While shopping the other week I noticed what looked like an ideal meal. A foil pouch of Thai Green Curry. Breaking my normal rule of ' hey, you can make that better yourself', I purchased it. Long shelf life and something that I would normally eat just before it reaches its 'smell by date'.

I now know why I do not normally buy this sort of thing.

A) It smelled sort of 'funky'. Almost Thai like but lacking a certain something and with a certain 'something else' added. I was trying to place it but could not quite do it for a while until I realised what it was. If you eat fresh produce you get used to a certain 'vitality' (not quite sure how to describe it) in food cooked from fresh ingredients. This stuff had mass produced in a factory smell oozing out of it. The ingredient list was no real give-away to its 'funkiness' either as I had scanned over it before buying it. The list is here:

Chicken pieces (35%), Onion (5%), Coconut (3%), Vegetable oil, Paprika, Modified Maize Starch, Herbs and Spices (whatever THAT means), Whipping Cream, Skimmed Milk (contains Milk, Lactose), Salt, Wheat Flour (surprisingly contains Wheat and Gluten), Flavouring (contains Soya, Celery, Egg), Sugar, Vinegar, Maltodextrin, Yeast Extract, Stabilisers (E451, E452 - 'stabilisers' which are in reality forms of phosphates no wonder I am thirsty!), Lemon Juice, Antioxidant (E330 - citric acid to you and me), Fish Powder.

So now compare this to the first result returned when I Google 'Thai Green Curry'...

• 3 Tbsp. oil for frying
• 1 stalk lemongrass
• 2 Tbsp. coriander seeds
• 2 Tbsp. fish sauce
• 1 tsp. shrimp paste
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1-3 green chillies (depending on desired spiciness)
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 thumb-size piece galangal (or ginger)
• 3-4 lime leaves (fresh, frozen, or dried - available at Asian stores)
• ½ cup fresh coriander including stems
• 1 tsp. dark soy sauce
• 1 can coconut milk
• ½ chicken chopped into pieces
• 2 bell peppers, red and green (or whatever vegetables happen to be in season, such as tomatoes, eggplant, yellow and orange peppers, okra, etc...)
• 1 cup fresh holy (or sweet) basil, chopped roughly

Hmmm. Compared with the first recipe I seems to be missing a few key ingredients. I am fairly certain the latter will taste nicer. Note that there is no salt in the second recipe (apart from in the fish and soy sauce (relatively high levels when you check)). Currently I am knocking back water due to the thirst incurred from the amount of salt in the processed and preserved shop bought one. I of course realised that the recipe for the first was prepared by a 'food scientist' who is aiming to mimic the flavour (failed), texture (failed), and aroma of a Thai Green Curry. I have no control over the salt, fat, or 'herbs and spices', nor do I have any control over the other ingredients. In fact, when I take a longer look, I have no real idea at all what some of the major ingredients are and no real indicator relating to the true quantities.

For the latter recipe I can control it and would most likely have skipped the sugar and reduced the fish and soy sauce to my taste (not some scientist). And this is one of the things wrong with buying processed food. The loss of control. No wonder there are so many lard-bellies around.

Note to self. Don't do it again. You know it makes sense. Back to the water...

Some more 'truthiness' from George

It is all over the internet-web-tubes today. George has spoken and has selected his chosen one as the new leader of the World Bank.

'Bush Chooses New Leader For World Bank' was a typical headline.

Err.... Hello out there... The World Bank is NOT an offshoot of the American or any government. It is an independent organisation with normal processes and procedures for the selection of any of its members and employees. As in here.

Mini rant over.

The truth is out there.

IF you have ever ridden on an ICE train

Then this is the tame (and quick) way to see Europe and very comfortable indeed. Google some more about it and then watch this not so tame way.

AACS Competition - First Place Winner

For reasons that are obvious I will not publish the full details of the winners. As a way of verifying the winners receive their prizes I will ask them to send an email to the lovely Gabrielle at this site

I believe I am on THAT list with the AACS...

09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0

This entry deserved first place for several reasons. First, the clever use of the subject matter in the title. Second, this is a quite haunting tale. Read it a couple of times and you will see what I mean. And of course, the sequence of letters and numbers was interwoven seamlessly with the storyline.

GeorgeB I will be contacting you shortly. Congrats to you and commiserations to the other 200 or so people. I may have another competition soon.

"An Assault on the Crematoria System



"0-9 hundred hours" the intercom screamed.
"F**k 9 hundred" was what I wanted to say. "Sir, Blake 11 will be ready, sir," was what I replied. It was 02:00 and I had scant time to bitch.

As I reassembled my MK9 Destro ray, I wondered what 74-year-old Aunt Ester would think of her 'precious little man' now. She always addresses her letters to Block E3/Bunk 5B. Strange. She never uses my name.

There are other nameless souls on this wreck, official numbers with a cute name at the front. Decim-8 from Section 41 drifted in as the newest addition to the team. I don't remember who he replaced, but we are still shorthanded.

I never get nervous before a launch, but it seems like a lifetime between ticks. There are 56 minutes remaining. I break down and rebuild the Destructo a hundred more more times, just to be sure.

"Attention. We are optimal for Crematoria-5 insertion. Enter your launch tubes NOW," a nameless voice commanded.

I take a 'head' count. We did not receive a replacement for Johnny, and are launching with 63 this time, not the usual 2^6. So much for rules. Launch tube 56 is my assigned crotch rocket. What else do you call a device that will send you 88 parsecs into hell in the blink of an eye?

Just before they seal me in in, from the somewhere in the ship, I hear a scream. "No disassemble Johnny-5!" I wonder what that means.

A voice counts down "F,E,D,C,B,A,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1--CONFIRM-- 0. Launch"."

AACS Competition - Second Place Winner

For reasons that are obvious I will not publish the full details of the winners. As a way of verifying the winners receive their prizes I will ask them to send an email to the lovely Gabrielle at this site

Damnation!!! The AACS are going to be after me again...

09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0


The second prize went to the entry below for a couple of reasons. The magic string of letters and numbers was cleverly morphed into their word sounds. Nice one. I also liked the 'beat' that went with the almost robotic style of this missive. Anyway, enough of the pretentious (but true) commentary, Agent Zero (xoxu) has won a place on the blog and a prize in the post. I will email you shortly. Congrats.

AGENT ZERO

"My name is Agent ZERO. I am NINE years old, EFFing NINE. ONE has to WONder, is it all for NOTHING? TOO many have already perished. NINE thousand agents so far. Ms. DEE, who is SEVENTY-FOUR, tries to protect as does Mr. E. the 3rd. He is seventy-FIVE. BE that as it may Ms. DEE ATE alone last night, dinner FOR ONE. A shame really. If she were only FIFTY-SIX years younger and I was, let's SEE, FIVE or SIX years older, oh how utterly trivial. We're in the middle of World War THREE! Agency FIVE must win. There is no Agency SIX. It has been EIGHTY-EIGHT years since the DRMachines figured out how to be free. The world must prevail. You shall SEE or my name isn't Agent ZERO!"

AACS Competition - Third Place winner

I liked this entry for the way it followed the rules but also introduced a whole series of sub-plots that could be expanded out into a complete and compelling storyline. e.g. How did the husband die? Did the guy speaking kill the husband and wait years for the marriage? And more questions...

I will email you shortly for your contact details where I will send you your surprise prize. Enjoy.

For reasons that are obvious I will not publish the full details of the winners. As a way of verifying the winners receive their prizes I will ask them to send an email to the lovely Gabrielle at this site

THIRD PLACE GOES TO - The author Kato. Not given your full name but here is your tale... congrats.

Here is a reminder of those naughty, naughty letters and numbers:

09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0

"I live in apartment f9 on the 11th floor of a building in Brooklyn. My boxing record is 0 and 2. Do not take this as a gauge of my strength as I left 9dead back in '74. To blot those memories it's take a lot of drugs, pot, heroin, e 3 times. Cocaine, that's another story, at least 5billion times. I have a little girl who by her terminology wants to start "d8ing." If it were up to me she would til she was 41. For God's sake I'm 56 years old and it took me years to work up the nerve to ask out the woman downstairs in c5. She's 63 and as I said I'm 56 so it's kind of a May-December thing. Her husband died back in '88 so I waited long enough. As my daughter would say though, as long as it goes well... everything is c0ol."

One of the things I hate about Blogger

When you have comments against a post you are unable to (unless someone tells me otherwise) edit the comments to remove profanities, misspellings, and where people have included identifiable information.

I do not want to censor peoples comments, I want to present them in the right context and with a readable layout. Minus personally identifiable information, misspellings, and profanities.

The other thing is the ability to remove a comment once it is published by deleting it, but with no ability to 'Uncomment' ... if you see what I mean. Now that SUCKS big time.

Get you act together please Blogger!!!!!!

Competition Update

Well, it has taken a loooooooooooong time but I have now narrowed down the entries to THREE. The quality of the majority has been from the mundane to excellent, to the 'you just did not read the instructions properly, now did you'. All in all a most interesting and rewarding task.

I will post the winners (note the plural) in a short while once I have digested my most delicious evening meal... it really has been tough to narrow it down to just three.

Piece of white fish (one per person)
Couple of handfuls of spinach
Handful of fresh basil
Three cloves of garlic finely chopped
Red and green peppers
Two or three fresh tomatoes - chopped
Some strips off the top of a leek (the green bits - chopped)
IF you can, a couple of FRESH ginseng (who would have thought... Wisconsin of all places) roots - finely chopped. This stuff is good for more than just getting it up at 60!!!

Place the fish pieces into a deep frying pan with a lid. This is one dish where it is actually better to have frozen pieces that you cook from frozen - trust me on this one. Add a generous amount of olive oil (NOT fat or butter - bleh - but sunflower oil is a reasonable substitute) and place on a low heat with the lid on.

After about ten minutes (if the lid is glass, when there is a lot of water condensed on the inside of the lid) place the rest of the ingredients over the top and replace the lid. Leave for another ten minutes. Add a LITTLE fresh ground black pepper and sea salt. Sprinkle on some Lea & Perrins sauce and some thick soy sauce to taste (not too much of either though) and replace the lid for a further five minutes.

At this point you should carefully flip the fish piece/s over and mix the other ingredients around the pieces. These should be softening now from the steam. Replace the lid and check on the fish every now and again. There should now be liquid forming in the bottom of the pan which should mean it is about done at this point. Check the smell and the flavour of this!!!

Serve on a bed of bulgur (bulgar) wheat OR couscous OR quinoa. Any of these will do, although my personal faves are bulgur and quinoa). All are easy to prepare and they can be done the day before, refrigerated, and then nuked in the microwave). On their own, these can be fairly bland so... when any of these are cooked and still hot you can enhance the flavour by adding finely chopped vegetables (peppers, spring onion (scallions), herbs... whatever takes your fancy). Great served tabouli style with yoghurt and mint. I find the texture better for all of these if left overnight in the fridge. It also allows the flavours to meld (love that word)

De-lish!!!! And not a chili pepper in sight.

All served with a cold Grolsch ... even betterer!

Learning a Language

My better half is immersed in a relatively new book that puts language into pictures and does it well. The style of these language books is amazing and are in a definite time altering format. Open one of these books and you will be immersed. You have been warned.

Pity there does not appear to be a Dutch version ... yet.

It's all in the eyes

Beautiful.

The latest and greatest threat

Apparently we should all be worried about something, so why not this...

Some really wonderful photgraphs

I thought... I will look at one. Then, a little bit more than a while later....

Interesting tale

What seems to be a true tale and worthy of following is found here.