Tummyrumble

A near future we would like to see

This piece was posted on a forum I am a member of recently. Why isn't the world more like this...?

OK, partners, here is my Budget final offer (Puts a large naff kiddies alarm clock on the table).

We all know that the hypocrisy and absurdity of this process are passing any reasonable limit.

I am being asked to give more UK taxpayers money to an EU which for years can not produce properly audited accounts. Mon ami Jacques with the support of most of you is nagging me to give the EU more money while the refusing to surrender an inch or even a centimetre on the CAP - a programme which uses inefficient transfers of taxpayers money to bloat rich French landowners and so pump up food prices in Europe, thereby creating poverty in Africa, which we then fail to solve through inefficient but expensive aid programmes. The most stupid, immoral state-subsidised policy in human history, give or take Communism.

Managed to find a link to it. Read it, it is a good laugh and an extremely sharp poke in the eye of our EU representatives.

URL: Primary Document by Charles Crawford on National Review Online

Grass root activism: end democracy now!

Well, let's just say that the Swedish minister of justice isn't making many friends as of late.

Democracy and terrorism doesn't mix...
Originally uploaded by Manne.

In English, the image reads:

"Democracy and terrorism can not co-exist.
Let's get rid of democracy."

The guy is the Swedish minister of justice, currently on record for being a strong proponent for the new EU Big Brother Bill and having made some truly interesting statements in the media.

URL: About the new Big Brother Bill
URL: Jinge.se - picture of Bodström (in Swedish)
 

Why Swedish birth rate figures are struggling

Oh. My. God. This is completely off topic, but to good to pass unnoticed!

Frankly, I'm not sure how Sweden would manage to keep up its relatively high birth rate (compared to rest of Europe, at least) without the existance of such things as massive quantities of Carlsberg beer (see, some good things do come out of Denmark) and ferries to Finland that make it possible for Medel Svensson to purchase Absolut at affordable prices.

Ms. Curiosa goes on to describe her observations on the Swedish dating scene (which really should be called the mating scene since we do tend to do things in the wrong order out of shyness and feeling awkward about meeting new people, funny that) and it is not only hilariously funny, it is also spot on.

Probably, the rescue of the Swedish people will be online dating sites like Match.com where we can hide behind our screens while lulling out in the comfort of our own home (and fridge...) whether we actually want to meet the other person or put them on our ignore list.

URL: Kommissarie F. Curiosa - Feminine curiosity can be deadly: Swedish Mating and Dating.

Moussaka: the festival life saver

Stumbled across a recipe for moussaka earlier today, and remembering how moussaka once saved my life I decided to try it on for tonight. Besides, I needed a big batch of something suitable to freeze for lunches.

Saved my life... Ok, not really, in the strictest sense, but let's just say that moussaka is what kept med and my friend KW going when we were at Roskilde a few years ago. Cheap, nutritious and filling, moussaka makes the perfect festival food.

Unfortunately I didn't follow the recipe to the letter. I say unfortunately since I after I was done and tasted the completed masterpiece realised that this particular recipe relied on the moose mince to get a really good flavor going. Since moose mince is a bit hard to find a Sunday afternoon in Elephant & Castle (no, really) I used pork mince instead which probably made the dish taste less than intended. Still good though, very good, I just felt that most of the taste actually came from the chévre in the bechamel sauce (I used what was left of the chévre from the baked beet root recipe, probably the tastiest bechamel I have ever made) and some additional spices could have been used to offset the cheese.

Part of the recipe confused me a bit, the part about seasoning the aubergine slices with salt for ten minutes and then wipe them off before using them. Once I did that I realised why though, the salt pulls the juices out of the aubergine and makes it less bitter. Slicing the aubergine length wise and not across (as I did...) makes this part somewhat easier.

Googling a little I found a recipe at BBC that sounds great to do with pork mince (or lamb, as it should) and another pretty advanced one that sounds more like a traditional way of doing it (and not so much the lasagna kind of way, like the other recipes are).

Next time I do it I will combine the three. And add some more garlic too. What definitely was really great was that bechamel though. Yum, the chévre made the whole thing. Adrian certainly loved it. Scraping the bechamel pot with a spoon...

Adrian is force fed the moussaka
Originally uploaded by Manne.

Lunch box goal went well though. Six containers of moussaka in the freezer. Fuel economy meter well in the green.

URL: Moussaka with moose mince (in Swedish)
URL: BBC moussaka recipe
URL: Traditional (?) moussaka over at About.com

Food made with love tastes better?

There is a component to cooking that makes it more than a science, more than chemistry. Without this, cooking is reduced to a simple mechanical procedure of following a set of instructions and mixing a certain number of ingredients. I don't know what that component is, maybe it is the personality of the chef, maybe the chef's love of food or some other ethereal aspect of the cooking process. Whichever it is, this is what makes great cooking an art form and somehow gives it a flair of magic.

"Silly bugger", you think, "what's he on about or rather, what is he ON?" But wait, I have an anecdote to tell that exemplifies the importance of cooking with love perfectly.