Wednesday; Nonsense; plus an authentic Swiss Roesti.

I have heard of a heart of gold, or a golden heart, but never heard of a potato heart.

Well here it is in its full potato heart glory. Does it  not look splendid in its original dirty jacket.

I mean what is  a heart of gold, I have never seen one but  this heart of potato is real, it is so real one can cook it, eat it and...i guess that is about all one can do with a potato heart.

...and here is the original recipe for  a authentic Swiss Roesti.

the first job is to cook the potatoes in their jackets.

It needs 1 liter  water,  1 tsp salt, 1kg  slightly floury potatoes;

cook the potatoes until soft for about 20 min,  take the potatoes out of the water and let them cool.

Peel the cold potatoes  and use a special implement called a "Roestiraffel" it dices the potatoes ,
otherwise you have to dice them finely by hand.

Roestiraffel


Put 2 1/2 tblsp. butter or lard  in  frying pan, when melted and hot but not smoking add the diced potatoes, add the salt;
Let the potatoes fry  and turn slowly until slightly brown then you push the potatoes together to form a flat cake, now you put the lid on and do not stir the potatoes anymore.
On med to light heat let it fry for about 15 min until you get a golden crust, then you add 1tblsp of butter and leave it for another 5 min.  Turn the Roesti, the crust on top, on a nice plate  and  it is ready to eat.


It is very easy to prepare and to cook and is truly delicious. Bon appetit.




The potato is about 80% water and 20% solids.


The Irish referred to potatoes as "spuds," the name that came from a type of spade used for digging potatoes.


Hot potato -- a problem nobody wants to deal with

William Shakespeare had one of his characters proclaim, in The Merry Wives of Windsor ,

"Let the sky rain potatoes!" Some people of Shakespeare's time thought that potatoes were an aphrodisiac!

I do like nonsense, Dr Seuss is so right;  “Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.”   TS

Tuesday; Flirt with fantasy;

Jacek Yerka, Painting

You say why dream  things that never were, I say why not? TS





The gift of fantasy means more then learning,  at my age.  TS



“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
Mark Twain 

It is early morning, exactly 6 hours and 13 minutes, ticking away; still raining heavily with some interludes. The garden has a big, green smile on its face. Let the day begin.... 

Monday; Blue Mondays?

No, today is not a blue Monday, it is a very ordinary Monday, like any Monday before and after.  In 2012 the most depressing day of the year was said to be January 23rd.
I don't think it was depressing for me. It was Chinese New Year,and this is generally a happy time. So take your calculation and throw it in the bin!

Blue Monday is a name given to a date stated, as part of a publicity campaign by Sky Travel, to be the most depressing day of the year. It is considered pseudoscience. 
Perhaps I should stop here  and leave pseudoscience to the pseudo scientists!


This date was published in a press release under the name of Cliff Arnall, at the time a tutor at the Centre for Lifelong Learning, a Further Education centre attached to Cardiff University. Guardiancolumnist Dr. Ben Goldacre reported that the press release was delivered substantially pre-written to a number of academics by public relations agency Porter Novelli, who offered them money to put their names to it The Guardian later printed a statement from Cardiff University distancing themselves from Arnall: "Cardiff University has asked us to point out that Cliff Arnall... was a former part-time tutor at the university but left.


Hogwash makes the world go round and blue Mondays. 


Nearly forgot to say that most of this dribble comes from Wikipedia.

Saturday; thoughts, end of this week;

A new morning;

Things that prove a trend towards a one world government include; a rising amount of globalization, privatization of government assets which belong to the people, foreign investment, mergers, international organizations, debt, international problems that need international solutions.

Governments are forced to sell assets, lose sovereignty, and place citizens in poverty to repay their debt. 

To gain full control of the world's money would mean full control over everyone, especially those in debt. This is exactly what the international bankers conspiracy is doing. Every government is in debt to them. This debt is increasing. Personal debt is very widespread and increasing. Hence almost everyone is in debt. Wasteful spending, borrowing and debt are encouraged. Therefore people and governments are becoming increasingly in the bankers control, as they have to pay interest, which the bankers can manipulate to their will.The banks and multinationals may eventually merge together and then merge with the one world government, who will make sure almost no small businesses are left to bypass their system. Probably almost the only ones selling will be multinationals, controlled by the one world government. Therefore everyone will be forced to rely on a monopoly, which will have complete control over everyone. 

Per example the growing of food

Genetic Engineering: A giant experiment with our food and environment

The food we eat has been changed. In just a few years three multinational chemical companies have altered the genetic makeup of the world's most common food crops, by creating new life-forms that would never occur naturally.

Over millions of years of evolution, tomatoes have never crossed with fish, until now. Unlike conventional breeding or cross-pollination, geneticists have taken genes from bacteria, viruses, plants and animals and inserted them into soy, corn, canola and cotton and released them into our environment and food chain.

Unpredictable

Genetic Engineering (also known as Genetic Modification or GM) is not an exact science and experiments are frequently unsuccessful. When they do work, the effects are unknown. Already unintended side-effects of GM include:

Genetically engineering salmon caused the salmon to turn green and have deformities. 

A genetically engineered soil bacteria unexpectedly produced alcohol that killed wheat. 

A brazil nut gene when genetically engineered into a soy bean was found to cause allergies.

Super weeds

Canada is already suffering unmanageable genetic contamination where 'super weeds' resistant to three different herbicides are spreading rapidly. The problem escalates as one variety of herbicide resistant GM canola pollinates another, creating a crop that is even more resistant. When seed is spilled at harvest, it remains in the ground and sprouts later as unwanted weeds in crops of different species.

GM contamination

Agrochemical giant Aventis engineered a GM corn called StarLink to produce its own insecticide. The US authorities restricted it to animal food because of the risk of allergies from the corn . However they couldn't keep it out of the food chain resulting in widespread contamination of food, which cost Aventis over one billion dollars in compensation as products had to be taken off supermarket shelves.

Where are the brains of those people, if they feed the animals  with this contaminated corn, then sell the meat to the public, hey 1+1 = 2, stupid or just foul play.

Who benefits?

Multinational chemical companies use GM technology to increase sales of their weedkillers and increase their control over farmers. Food shoppers, the public and our environment get no benefit but are expected to carry the risks of a technology that no insurance company will cover.Canada is already suffering unmanageable genetic contamination where 'super weeds' resistant to three different herbicides are spreading rapidly. The problem escalates as one variety of herbicide resistant GM canola pollinates another, creating a crop that is even more resistant. When seed is spilled at harvest, it remains in the ground and sprouts later as unwanted weeds in crops of different species.

American farmers who grow GM foods are losing markets in Europe and Japan whilst also getting lower yields. Meanwhile organic and conventional farmers in the US have had their crops contaminated by neighbouring farms. New Zealand runs the risk of losing key export markets if GM is allowed..

Genetic engineering is the latest in a long line of industrial food practices that degrade food quality, undermine farmers and destroy our environment. Thankfully there are healthy, safe and productive alternatives. By rejecting GM food we can slow the treadmill of pesticide use and support a better way to grow food. By buying GM-free, organic and local produce more of our money goes to farmers who protect the land.

People do not want this, but Governments are in the pockets of the Multinationals,Oligarchs, don't care, don't listen!

In my view, all politicians are short term adventurers.  I

Politicans can't be controlled in a world Government. We, the people don't want it and don't need it. Globalisation for the 99%; has only brought misery, wars ,unhappiness, exploitation, debts, contaminated food, languages and traditions are changed for the worse, education has declined, healthcare has declined, whole villages, communities have disappeared.  Governments spend more and more money on wars. Wars are huge money spinners for the 1% .They  create enemies with lies and lies and lies. Where and when does it stop? 

Sunday; Cloud watching;

Watching the clouds, some merge slowly and some are swallowed up quickly;

like the days , some are gone quickly and some are lingering, leaving us --

A day, a week, a month, a year!

"Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will him about mine ears; and sometime voices,
That if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again, and then in dreaming
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked
I cried to dream again."
- William Shakespeare, The Tempest, 3.2

  ©TS

Friday; Paper and pen;

Papyrus

Papyrus  is a thick paper-like material produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt. Papyrus is first known to have been used in ancient Egypt. Chemically, papyrus is composed of 57 percent cellulose, 27 percent lignin, nine percent minerals, and seven percent water.Papyrus was first manufactured in Egypt as far back as the third millennium BCE. In the first centuries BCE and CE, papyrus scrolls gained a rival as a writing surface in the form of parchment, which was prepared from animal skins. Sheets of parchment were folded to form quires from which book-form codices were fashioned. Early Christian writers soon adopted the codex form, and in the Greco-Roman world it became common to cut sheets from papyrus rolls to form codices.

Codices were an improvement on the papyrus scroll as the papyrus was not pliable enough to fold without cracking and a long roll, or scroll, was required to create large volume texts. Papyrus had the advantage of being relatively cheap and easy to produce, but it was fragile and susceptible to both moisture and excessive dryness. Unless the papyrus was of good quality, the writing surface was irregular, and the range of media that could be used was also limited.

Papyrus was replaced in Europe by the cheaper locally-produced products parchment and vellum, of significantly higher durability in moist climates.  Its last appearance in the Merovingian chancery is with a document of 692, though it was known in Gaul until the middle of the following century. The latest certain dates for the use of papyrus are 1057 for a papal decree. All papal "bulls" were on papyrus until 1022. Its use in Egypt continued until it was replaced by more inexpensive paper introduced by Arabs. Papyrus was documented as in use as late as the 12th century in the Byzantine Empire, but there are no surviving examples. Although its uses had transferred to parchment, papyrus therefore just overlapped with the use of paper in Europe, which began in the 11th century. Papyrus came in several qualities and prices; 

Until the middle of the 19th century only some isolated documents written on papyrus were known. They did not contain literary works. The first discovery of papyri rolls in modern days was made at Herculaneum in 1752. Before that date the only papyri known were a few survivals from mediaeval times.

Courtesy excerpts from Wikipedia

Macbeth:

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,

To the last syllable of recorded time;

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.

Macbeth Act 5, scene 5,

Wednesday; a happy day;

Early this morning the clouds sort of formed a heart, illuminated  by the sun.

Yesterday is mystery
Where it is Today
While we shrewdly speculate
Flutter both away
Emily Dickinson


♥


The Logan berries are ripening rapidly now. This means freezing and using.
I cooked jam today.  Using only half  sugar and not cooking them to death. Quite a nice job to see  the black berries turn into a wonderful dark raspberry red. Some for us and some to give away.


♥

♥


For dinner  I made potato gnocchi; they turned out light as a feather.  Still had some  tomato sauce in the freezer . I thought I better use some of my broad leaved Basil  before the grasshoppers take it all.  I love Pesto, it just breathes  Mediterranean  cooking.

♥




A simple tasty dinner, no meat,  potato gnocchi,  tomato sauce and pesto plus  a mixed salad of  cucumbers, tomatoes, red capsicums,
red onions, garlic olive oil and a drop of white balsamic vinegar.