Posted by zeno on November 13, 2008
If I keep up this tremendous output, I may manage another post by Christmas.
Life’s been odd. This floating back and forth between home and Brussels makes me feel as if I am never really either one place or the other. Anything that needs done can always be put off till “the next time” and then it gets forgotten about. My memory’s going, K?
So we seem to be living in a new world these days, or at least one with the potential to be new… ish. I have been a fan of Barack Obama but my fanship is tempered with the hindsight that I was also a fan of Tony Blair, and look where that got me. So, I do feel hope but it’s with a bit of cynical realism, the guy is a politician after all, and we have lots of exerience of politicians, don’t we?
I am planning on stopping smoking again, yeeehaw! But i can’t decide on whether to use nicotine replacements or just go cold turkey. Any advice?
Events of this summer (which I will write about another time) have made me look seriously at my life and the people I have in it. Also those that, for one reason or another, I am no longer in touch with. I have cntacted some old pals over the last few weeks and, by and large, it has been a positive thing. I will keep doing that and see how it all turns out. There’s definitely something sort of comforting having friends who knew you when you were young and stupid. It’s grounding and, at the same time, heartening to know that they still like you and you still like them.
Still and all (to borrow a phrase from the colonials) it is still jolly nice to meet and get to know new people too… like you, and you.
Posted by gjoe on September 27, 2008
Two things…
Anyone who puts themselves second when in the Hollywood Hurricane is OK in my book.
Anyone who makes a spaghetti sauce for charity is OK in my book
Paul Newman, possibly the best looking man in the history of the planet; certainly a hero for anyone wishing to know how to deal with wealth, fame and notoriety; and without a doubt, someone to view as a role model, has died. He was 83 so I suppose it’s not unreasonable that he should pass away, but it’s still sad. Me? I still model myself on Cool Hand Luke. Plus… we share a middle name.
Sad.
“You can’t be as old as I am without waking up with a surprised look on your face every morning: ‘Holy Christ, whaddya know - I’m still around!’ It’s absolutely amazing that I survived all the booze and smoking and the cars and the career.”
Posted by zeno on September 25, 2008
Says who?
lugs
Whilst I may accept that creating soft and stylish handbags from pigs ears may be a bit of a stretch (literally?), there are so many other things we can do with them.
Food for example.
Forgotten delicacies like “Crisped Ear with Mustard”, lost in the mists of time, that we really should try again; especially now that we are all flat broke and can no longer afford the foie gras or the Kobe beef.
My grandfather was a cattleman. He owned a farm, a slaughterhouse and a butcher shop, so he did all the lovely things to herbivores that the vegetarian belt object to. Sadly I never knew him but my mother (bless her) was awfully fond of bringing various bits of dead animal into the house when I was growing up. Kidneys and liver were common (though she cooked the liver so long it was more like shoe leather) as were thngs like tongue, oxtails and sweetbreads. I recall one day, arriving home from school and finding a calf’s brain floating in a pyrex bowl on the kitchen counter. I gave that one a miss.
But our palates have become accustomed to choicer cuts of meat these days. I read somewhere that today’s eating habits are a direct result of the years of plenty that occurred immediately after rationing stopped, back in the ’50s. After such straightened times, our parents got mad and decided to no longer eat like peasants. I think that is a real shame. Being a peasant and all.
I reckon that most people don’t have the foggiest which part of a sheep/cow/pig the various cuts of come from. In fact, in these days of supermarket fluorescence we don’t ever get to see the blood and gore, so many people can mentally separate the meat they eat from the donating animal and thus kid themselves on that they are two different things. Unfortunately, as a result, we don’t get much opportunity to be adventurous with our tastebuds.
Yummy piggy toes
My local butcher is BRILLIANT so I have been doing my thang with sweetbreads, kidney and lambs hearts over the past few months. Much to the disgust of my family but much to the delight of MacGregor, my curmudgeonly neighbour.
I bought a book recently called Nose to Tail Eating, by Fergus Henderson (Chef at St John restaurant, in London, which specialises in “interesting dishes”). There are recipes for things like “Warm Pigs Head”, “Jellied Rabbit”, “Grilled, Marinated Calf’s Heart” and all sorts of fabby stuff. I am not as hardcore as I would have to be to eat “Rolled Pig’s Sleen” but I am all for trying out less bizarre items. SO, today I bought a bag of pig parts (ears, feet and cheeks) and I am going to spend the weekend indulging and experimenting.
I’ll keep you posted and let you see the results in picture. If it were possible to post smells, I would but am sure you will be drooling anyway.
Any of you have old recipes you think I may enjoy?
Posted by gjoe on September 17, 2008
I couldn’t take the silence any more. My ears hurt, my fingers twitched and my eyes swivelled manically. Too much sitting alone in a darkened room, but with way too much stuff going on in the world, demanding, calling, begging for me to address it and put it all to right. And believe me, I will put it all to right.
We’ve got war, politics, famine, pestilence, crime, the collapse of capitalism, the death of music, celebrity wisdom and kinky sex… and that’s just for starters.
If you know me you’ll know where I’ve been. If you don’t, you’ll just have to take it on trust that I have been around for a while. I won’t be linking to old stuff though, as the old has passed and a new thing has been born, conceived in the very foothills of Kilimanjaro (as I was).
If you like it here, hang around, join in the debate. If you don’t like it… accept my apologies and move on to something with more pictures.