Taomeow

In Lima, Peru, I visited a 500-year-old Franciscan Monastery, where they have a huge painting of the Last Supper on the wall of the monks' dining hall.  In that painting Jesus and the apostles are drinking ayahuasca and eating a guinea pig.

While this cuisine is far removed from what they could have been consuming at the Last Supper in Jerusalem, I think it's the art of translation doing its best -- translation not of texts "as is" but of complex cultural references, philosophical and spiritual ideas separated by time, space and very different human experiences.  In this case, the translation into the local idea of spirituality was perfect.  I don't think any locals at the time could possibly grasp how anything can be holy without ayahuasca. 

Matter of fact, I've trouble believing that any religion that has rid itself of entheogens is more than a cargo cult.   Whereas in their presence, the sacraments "explain themselves" directly, so to speak, and may help bridge the space-time-experience rift between cultures.    

3 hours ago, old3bob said:

or no electricity at all... a lot can be said for these old reliable babies most of which were so called "upgraded" with a small electric motor.

 

But you can't have a wardrobe stuffed with hundreds of items of mass-produced clothes made of plastic made of oil (that's what polyester is) using this!  Can't have fast fashion, can't have landfills choking with billions of jeans (because the fashion once decreed that they have to be bell bottoms but then straight but then skinny but now wide leg -- gotta keep up!)  

14 minutes ago, Sanity Check said:

 

 

Personally, I would rather have electricity generated by steam machines than solar panels.

 

Solar panels can last 20 years before losing a significant amount of power generation.

 

While there are 100 year old steam engines still generating peak power (afaik) if properly maintained.

20 years is generous.  In March, one hail storm destroyed 4,000 acres of a solar farm in Texas.  And in April, a storm destroyed the world's largest floating solar farm in India.  

There are more, and bigger, problems there though.  Start to finish, it's such a god-awful environment-destroying scam...  I sometimes wonder if there's anything left in today's world that isn't.  You look under the hood of any industrial process blessing us with our technologies, it makes your hair stand on end.  

Steam is much nicer, that's for sure. 

As for older tech lasting much longer, and being fixable when in need of repair...  well, I have a Norwalk hydraulic press juicer made in the 1970s, an exact replica of the original 1934 model, all solid stainless steel and 1/2 horsepower motor.  I bought it used (heavily) from a juice bar going out of business in the late 1990s.  (They are crazy expensive when new, and don't depreciate much as time goes by...  so I jumped on that bargain.)  I subjected it to heavy use over the years, sometimes super heavy for long stretches of time.  About ten years after I bought it, I had to refill the hydraulic fluid (did it myself), and another 10 years later, I had to replace a rubber belt on the motor pulley (also did it myself).  Nothing else has ever been wrong with it, it still makes the best juice under the sun the likes of which no newer design models can hold a candle to.       

44 minutes ago, old3bob said:

 

there are some alkaline products that can reduce their digestion/gas output

Yeah, they're called grass and hay.  Cows are not equipped to properly digest corn seasoned with ground dead cows, their typical factory farm feed.  They don't fart that much on grass and hay, if at all.  At least I don't remember it being a problem with privately owned cows I've encountered in the countryside (where they also didn't spray anything on the grass the cows grazed on). 

Incidentally, I have pictures of my kids from one of those trips, standing beside cows who were milked five minutes earlier, drinking raw milk.  In those pictures they are 5 years old.  My son always had trouble with store bought milk (allergic) and couldn't drink it (still can't), but with raw milk there were no adverse reactions.  

By the way, there were no fewer than 60 million bison in North America in the 1800s, in perfect balance with their ecosystem.  No farting issues.  And no soil erosion issues until they were all killed in order to starve the Native Americans whom they sustained for tens of thousands of years.   

So they are working very hard on replacing all energy sources (and all pastures) with solar panels, and simultaneously on sun-dimming technologies.  Interesting.    

Where's the shopping bag?

21 hours ago, Nungali said:

I suppose there are no depictions of risotto either .

No, doesn't look like it.  Even when I went to Chinese representations of rice dishes in art.

21 minutes ago, Sherman Krebbs said:

 

mountains topped with snow

slumbering lords witness my

quiet solitude

Quiet solitude.

A ruby red rose blooming

in a beer bottle.  

Tragedy upon tragedy.   Salmon is apparently dangerous!  I already knew they named it after salmonella, but I had no idea there's other perils hiding in that fish!    

Speaking of dangerous foods:

Once upon a time I had a summertime romance.  He was working during the day while I was on vacation, and I spent my daytime hours foraging for wild mushrooms which were abundant in that location.  On my last vacation day I cooked a large skillet of the choicest, chiefly boletus mushrooms, and brought it to the farewell party he and his friends were throwing for me.  He was taking pictures of me the whole time while the romance was going on, dozens of them, and was supposed to mail them to me once processed (that was the era before smartphones, photos were physical.)  I never got any mail and never heard from him again.  Which left me with a lifelong unanswered question:

did he just decide that what happens during the summer stays in the summer, or

did I kill him and/or some of/all of his friends by inadvertently letting a death cap slip into my mushroom harvest?  

8 hours ago, Nungali said:

SALMON   (3)

 

I get up one morning and decide to have salmon on toast for breakfast .

This time I am better prepared .

I have been to the shops and got two tins of salmon.

(Just in case something goes wrong .)

I have been to the bakers and got a loaf of sliced toast bread .

Also one new large pat of butter graced by bag .

I look in the cupboard , yes there is salmon .

I look in the tin, yes there is bread .

I open the salmon and  place it in a strainer to drain .

I put 5 .. not 4 not 6 ... but 5 drops of lemon juice on it .

(One for each corner and one in the middle )

I toast the bread and put the toast on the rack on top

to stop it going soggy .

I delicately  sculpt some butter curls from the pat .

The moment has arisen !

I butter the toast

I mash the salmon  on top with a  fork

spread it our even .

I stand back to admire my handiwork .

- something is missing .

It seems  .....  'lacking' .

I know ! It needs a sprig of parsley on top !

So I go outside and wander down to the veggie garden

I pick the freshest , greenest, most glowing sprig of parsley  that  there is

I take it back to the kitchen , only to find

The cat has had it .

It's almost Chekhov.  There's a classic short story of his about a guy who was waiting impatiently to be served blini (pancakes similar to crêpes) by his cook, full of anticipation, three kinds of vodka on the table waiting to help the blini along -- and then, when they arrived dripping with fresh butter, he grabbed the first one burning his fingers in his impatience, garnished it with smoked salmon and sour cream and caviar (at three rubles forty copecks a pound -- i.e. the expensive variety in his time, the kind that is $600 a pound today), wrapped everything into his blin (the singular of blini), smacked his lips and was about to take a bite and had a stroke.  

Made goulash with mashed potatoes for dinner.  The boring part?  It was yesterday and it's gone...  so I'll have to cook something again tonight.  But what?  All I have left in the fridge is vegetables.  Boring...

The first song I ever heard in English -- I think I was 8.  I fell in love with it then and it's still a favorite. 

Who'd have guessed that getting "unburdened by what has been" can be expressed with such deep feeling and beauty and meaning...  instead of whatever "it" "has been!"   

2 hours ago, doc benway said:

PS - I'm also fond of Saint-Emilion Gran Cru wines, along with Pomerol, my favorite of the Bordeaux's. I've become increasingly enamored of wines from eastern Washington state - cabernets and syrahs in particular. Although, truth be told I rarely drink anymore. My brother is visiting next week so it will be an alcohol heavy 10 days! Gotta start doing some preparation...

I drink very little, but appreciate it when it's something good.  Will have to check out the Washington state wines, it's terra incognita to me.  As for relatives thwarting our modest drinking habits, I'm no stranger to that phenomenon.  Las month I spent a few days with my brother- and sister-in-law and it's interesting that, while most people (to my knowledge) who don't have an abnormal relationship with alcohol tend to drink less as they get older, here I observed the opposite phenomenon -- they both drink way more than they used to in their younger years, and it's hard liquor too, and they start early in the day...  and don't think twice about pouring a glass for their (adult) daughter to the brim -- first thing they do when she comes to visit.  And since they all have different tastes in alcohol (gin, cognac, whisky respectively), the house is choke full of every variety.  And of course you have to partake -- every bottle is advertised by its aficionado as something special that you simply have to try.  I think I consumed way more alcohol in three days than I usually do in three months.

Hang in there while your brother is visiting.   

55 minutes ago, old3bob said:

 

 yep,  and a look at Mt. Palomar telescope and stars, also cookies in Julian.

Julian used to be famous for its apple pie (still is but read on).  But a while ago (2019?) when I was there the last time, I was half disappointed ordering a slice in a cafe, and then when I went to the bakery specializing in those pies to get a couple that someone asked me to bring, I spoke with the owner and she told me that they are not allowed anymore to buy (or get donations of) local apples from residents with orchards the way they used to.  They now get buckets of pre-sliced apples from some corporation -- she showed me those plastic buckets with wilting pre-cut apples of some uninteresting variety or other.  Oh.  So that's why I was half disappointed -- I did seem to remember better Julian apple pies from a while before...  

29 minutes ago, doc benway said:

 

Much appreciated!

The knee is generally fine but when running it tends to limit me to about 2-3 miles, it varies considerably.

It gets very tight along the front and lateral side and if I try to push through the pain it can give way.

When it acts up I simply alternate walk/jog and its easily manageable.

I did have a bad episode with it a few years ago which was most likely a torn meniscus, though I did not do any imaging or seek medical treatment.

I used some topical medicine recommended by my shifu (dit da jow from Taiwan) and it recovered over about 6 weeks.

I will give your recommendation a try, thanks very much. 

I also have some dit da jow on hand, but only the kind that works best with immediate rather than recurrent or chronic or old problems.  I've read some fascinating info on different traditional varieties of dit da jow and even thought of making my own "real deal," but it requires more patience than I have (e.g. they are aged by burying the bottles in the ground for 3 to15 years, among other things).  Apparently analysis has determined that in those aged ones, the molecules keep getting smaller and smaller as they age, so you wind up with a kind of natural nanorobots doing the repairs.  There was  a huge difference in molecular structure of those super performing ones compared to the shortcut ones.  Maybe someone still makes the old school dit da, but who knows where to look for them... 

In any event, that honey-mustard thing cured my left knee after a nasty altercation with a giant agave that landed me on that knee smack on a boulder, at high speed at that.  (I have no allergies, so it was the only time in my life that I was attacked and injured by a plant... which is why it's my least favorite plant of them all.  Celery which I don't care for is second, but a very distant second, not a close one, since all I have to do to avoid it is refrain from biting.)  

31 minutes ago, doc benway said:

Working from home today, a rare treat, which gave me the chance to go for a morning jog as it was a balmy 5C and the sun was out. First time I've run outside in a few weeks due to weather but I was unfortunately interrupted by right knee pain. 

I cured several people's knee pain over the years with this old country home remedy pack (BTW originally recommended to me by an old country MD, not an old wife  ): 

1T good quality honey mixed with 1T mustard powder (Colmans is the only one I found working outside the old country) mixed with 1T flour (mine is rice, but it doesn't matter which, it's used just as a thickener in this recipe, and the amount can be adjusted depending on the thickness of the honey.)  Mix into sticky paste, smear over the knee and also apply to a piece of linen or cotton cloth (or wool flannel, which is best but not necessarily on hand, so an old cotton sock, cut lengthwise and to size, is a sensible substitute), wrap over the knee, secure with saran wrap or parchment paper (which I prefer), wrap an old wool scarf around and secure with some safety pins (or a bandage if you don't feel it's safe to use pins) --

leave it on overnight, every night until the problem resolves.  (Usually between a couple of days and a week.)  Maybe wear old pajama pants over the whole contraption (optional) for extra stability.  By morning the mustard and honey will completely get absorbed.  

41 minutes ago, old3bob said:

Btw, it snowed at San Diego State College (its old name) about 56 years ago, and perhaps more recently than that?

Not at sea level.  But you can drive for just an hour upward in San Diego County and at 3,000 feet elevation you get your snow -- every year.  

Do you switch your wardrobe to season-appropriate clothes four times a year?

I have to do it four times a day, every day. 

The US is 4% of the world population, accounts for over 70% of worldwide pharmaceutical profits, and ranks 60th in life expectancy.