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Today is World Day Against the Death Penalty and as it gets hardly any coverage I'm posting this link to some statistical info on Al Jazeera.
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Still absorbing the idea of the B & B. I have at least 4 devices that take moving pictures and have wanted to make a simple short film for ages but have never got around to more than making a few notes and sketches. Last night I found that one of my ideas had already been done. And so much better, and so much BIGGER that I could ever have achieved. It makes you sick! I did not hear about Damien Hurst's new work on the radio, - so perhaps you haven't either - but think it is rather good and appropriate to the setting. Better than half a cow anyway This imposing and beautifully preserved building was once the home of potted shrimp tychoon James Baxter. (Not to be confused with shrimp tychoon James Barratt.) Just to the left of the picture are a row of bijou fishermen's cottages where the lowly shrimpers used to live. (see below) It is now destined to become B & B for the discerning and cultured traveller. Yes! Viv is buying the house, and we will be open for business in 2014. While staying in Salatiga I was very taken with the Indonesian style of delivering breakfast to one's room at 6.30 am. Rice, noodles, egg, a bit of something and a glass of sweet black tea. No choice. I'm sure this simple and labour saving breakfast would be very popular with guests, and would get the chore of preparing breakfasts over with early enough to give us the whole day day to ourselves. The sea is literally a stone's throw away. An Olympic stone thrower, but still a stone's throw. The location is ideal for cycling and we will offer guests guests bike, deck chair and picnic basket hire, and a host of other delights to make their stay more delightfuller that the average B & B. Extra charge to view the sunset. So book now for 2014! That's my gudeg there. It turned out very well, but I think fresh jackfruit would be even better for both taste and texture. As I could not get the tofu or tempe I needed I improvised some crispy fried tofu I had marinaded in spices. The eggs - which are not optional in real gudeg, Jill! - were boiled in tea and jackfuit juice to give the proper taste and dark colouring. What I really want to do is experiment with jackfruit as a replacement for meat in some of the traditional stews and cassaroles. Next time, it will be a jackfruit cassarole with new potatoes, carrots and green beans. Today I am eating the pigeons that are downstairs marinading in red wine. It is Sunday morning and I have been irresponsible and put the heating on for an hour or so. An extravagance I cannot really afford. If I save on heating there is more money for travel, rum and gadgets. The rowan tree tells me it iwill soon be getting colder. She has produced a fine crop of berries and her leaves are yellowing with autumn. Some of that damn smugness has gone now she is burdened with all the responsibilities of berryhood. A group of gypsy redwing came the other and plundered the berries for a morning before moving on. Watching them I thought about their nomadic lifestyle as a strategy for survival. There seem to be five possible strategies of movement, if you can call them that, nomadic, migratory, merantau*, fixed and a mixture of the first that may come about through changing circumstances. The gypsy life of the redwing seemed to give them certain advantages in the modern world; they were not as easy to shoot as predictable migrants, they could plunder both city and countryside and having no fixed territory they moved with changes to their environment. As the changes expected through global warming kick in will we see a rise of the gypsies? I have not given much thought to population movement before, but it has come up a few times. I have often met people with a second name that is the same as a nearby village, which probably means that their family has lived there for generations without moving on, yet modern society seems so much more mobile. Is this really true? In some ways modern western society seems more settled despite the increasing ease of travel. I am reminded of Bloch's picture of feudal society. There is too much to think about here. There seems to be an infinity of stuff stretching out in all directions around me. Even the biggest brain could not cope with it, and mine is rather small and rather sensitive to the pain of thought.. The sensible thing to do would seem to be to go back to sleep, or get drunk. Or both. Instead I amforced by the twin tyrants, Life and Nature, to do things like clean the kitchen floor. Or ironing. It is unbearable! I must think like the mouse and just get on with it I suppose. Though I draw the line at ironing. It is just a sacrifice at the alter of Futility. There are those pigeons and the rest of the wine they are bathing in. * Merantau. A word often associated with the Minangkabau and Batak people, meaning to go off and seek your fortune but always with the intention of returning to home and family. In reality this frequently means moving to Jakarta or one othe the other big cities to find work. I use this word because I can't think of one in English. While tidying up my bedroom - this consists mostly of sorting books, films and the stuff that grows off computers. -- Digital epyphites. - I found my old round glasses and put them on, then I caught a glimpse of a figure reflected in the glass of the large Rothko print - once Jill's - that hangs above the quondam fireplace.* - The vision seemed like a grotesque parody of the artist, minus moustache. I was immediately thrown into a state of deep fear and depression by the sight of it. Fear and Trembling and Sickness unto Death you may think. Existential nausea you may think. And you would be right. So I turn for solace to the trivialities of this blog, and the internet at large. I have seen some good films lately and recommend three that, more or less coincidentally, have two things in common; they are in French - though from different countries, France, Canada and Belgium - and are all a kind of what might loosely be called social realism. Of the first two I won't say anything about why I liked them, I'll just let the links do the explaining. Le Petit Lieutenant (2005) What interested me about Incendies, and I have not noticed it mentioned in any of the reviews, was the similarity between the plot and that of a Jacobean Tragedy. That kind of thing is rarely attempted these days except in popular horror films, and I thought it was very cleverly used to give a structure to what in reality would likely have been an unresolved and fragmented story. Denis Villeneuve has recently been added to my list of favourite new directors, especially after watching a short film of his on Vimeo. I'll put it at the end of this entry. I find short films often give rein to a director's imagination in a way that a sustained work cannot, and often they are favourites of mine, though they rarely get shown in cinemas. Other things. Philosopy Bites has a discussion on the Ethical Behaviour of Ethics Professors As you might expect they are not as a whole particularly ethical. Surprisingly I don't remember a reference toPeter Singer. Saint Peter surely must be an exception. He and marsupials are the two things that justify the existence of Australia in the eyes of God. Something badly needed just now. An interesting, but short, article in New Scientist about vines taking over the world. They are starting with South America it seems. I should say, these are not the vines of vinyards -That would be cause for joy - but the parasitic kind, like strangling fig. If you are interested watch this video. I can't say I have noticed any increase over the years in the places I visit in Borneo where a little pristine forsest is still standing. But there will almost certainly be an increase in vines among the secondary forest that grows after felling, because of gaps in the canopy that give vines a chance to thrive. Potentailly this could be the start of yet another huge enviromental change. In the same issue of NS is a piece about Gobekle Tepe. Surprisingly, this 10,000 year old site is still not very well known, despite being one of the major archeological discoveries of the last century and one that has the potential to change many of the established ideas of Neolithic society. I suppose the troubles in the Middle East have set back both study and tourism, and so there has been less media coverage of archeology in the area. Do follow the link if you don't know about Gobekle Tepe and the other similar sites. That's it, I have spent too long away from nausea and the hoover, and there is a strange bleeping noise to investigate. * Not to be confused with my quantum fireplace that is only there when I look at it. Next Floor from PHI Centre on Vimeo. I don't usually use recipies for everyday cooking but this weekend I am going to make gudeg - pronounced goodug - a famous Jogja dish.
It is an unusual vegetarian dish, and I think it very tasty. Madison differs. But she is a soto person. I looked for a recipe online, and here it is. From: Indonesia Secret Kitchen Cooking ingredient : – 3 cans of young jackfruit – 1 can coconut milk – 800 ml of water of tea – hard-boiled eggs to taste (do not boil over time, as long as solid only), skinned – white tofu / tofu skin (optional) – 125 grams of brown sugar, coarse combed – 1 tablespoon cooking oil – bay leaves enaugh Spices that are: – 6 garlic – 1 / 2 red onion – 2 tsp coriander seeds – 3 / 4 tsp cumin – 1 tablespoon salt – galangal enaugh – 1 stalk lemongrass (white part grab) Paste Sauce: – red chilli / cayenne pepper / dried chili (but boiled first) to taste – salt enaugh – paste enaugh – brown sugar enaugh – tomato enaugh (fried first) Cooking Gudeg Jogja: 1.Nangka filtered and washed, because the water preserved to make a sour taste. 2. Stir-fry ground ingredients until fragrant, put brown sugar and bay leaves. 3. Enter the jackfruit and boiled eggs, stirring until thoroughly blended with spices. 4. Add coconut milk and water until all jackfruit tea and eggs submerged. 5. Cover the pan and cook over low heat. Do not often open, just 1 / 2 hours. 6. If it is long enough to try diicipi* have to taste what is not. 7. Enter to know when the water left over a half, so know not too hard. 8. Cook until the water is low / almost dry. 9. Ready to serve and eat with hot white rice and sambal shrimp paste, or it could be with meat or chicken as a side dish Empal enhancements. How to Make a sauce paste: 1. Blend all ingredients. 2. Saute with a little oil until slightly dry. enjoy it!! Oh, that word 'enough'. About time it was replaced by the nicely simple 'nuf. * 'Try dichipi' is Indonesian for ask at your local takeaway. |
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