Panicketh Not

Many problems happen in this world as a result of panic. The wall street crash happened because people panicked and rushed to cash in their bonds- of course their money didn't exist it was a figment of the bank's imagination. Panic was partly responsible for the recent collapse of the housing market, banks and whole countries such as Ireland and soon Portugal and maybe Europe. Panic was the causative agent of a huge traffic gridlock in Blantyre on Friday night. There is a fuel crisis. Two filling stations received a tanker at the same time, just at peak rush hour. The cars start to queue for petrol on the left hand side of the road, leaving a newly created middle lane for cars going towards town. A mini bus runs out of fuel and blocks the road. People think, "I will just overtake to get past this blockage" and soon find that others have done the same and oncoming traffic now has no access to their own side of the road coming the other way. A mini bus driver decides he's had enough and he's never going to meet his deadline, so turns around and gets stuck going back from where he came. GRIDLOCK! People become irrational because they are on the way to hospital with their sick relative's supper or need to get to the show and refuse to let you in front of them even though it is obvious that this will prevent further congestion. Panic, panic. Not many drivers are good at scenario planning. Don't panic, ask yourself,what will happen as a result of my action?

It's avocado season again

My favorite cookbook is a small paperback called 'Flavours of Mexico' by Marlena Spieler.
It is the definitive guide to authentic Mexican cuisine.The way it is written is fresh off the grill,fragrant, absolutely "bubbling with enthusiam" and served with fresh coriander, a wedge of lime,a shot of tequila and chopped fresh green chilli. Your mouth drools as you read the descriptive recipes.You are literally transported to rural Mexico where the ageless earthy scent of warm tortillas and carnitas permeate the air. Would love to go back there one day but a bit scared of Montezumas revenge and of course all the nasty killings that seem to go on.

TO A CORNISH PASTY

(On seeing how something nice can be over exploited for tourists)

Oh! you impudent lard laden beastie,
Ye stodgy all- in- one feastie,
Thou brazen parcel devoid of all meatie,
All tattie and swede.
How dare ye represent pies all o'er the place
And inspire such greed.

Ye giant, crusty lunch and dinner,
Dessert and main course for saint and sunner
From Bodmin to Lands End you are the winner
All in yer face!
How many devoured in St Ives in one day?
Nae wonder there's no space.

Ha! thou who wouldst exploit this creation
Think of those from the rest of the nation,
Who used to buy it at the station,
Now can't face one.
We'll gae somewhere else and seek our dinner
Now the tourists are gone.

With apologies to Robert Burns

Bum in the Butter

It's a real bummer when a pound of rancid butter costs K1800 (US$12 or 7 pounds 50 pence).

I can understand why it is so expensive. It is because duty on Dairy products is so high to discourage people from buying it so that they will buy domestic produce instead. Why buy Clover, Kerrigold or Lurpak when you can buy the home-made variety? Trouble is, there isn't an alternative. Dairibord doesn't produce butter, neither does Suncrest Creameries. I cant find any Farm butter. The Dairy industry were whingeing that it was cheaper to buy imported milk, making their production costs high. So now, we can buy Dairibord milk cheaper but has this improved their product? It is still sour and watery, sometimes lumpy and reconstituted. The yoghurt is too tart, the cheese rubbery and tasteless. With all these market advantages, surely Dairibord can now be competitive and produce reasonably priced butter that isn't rancid and other dairy products that are edible?

Maybe the demand isn't there. Maybe its only those with their bum in the butter who are getting cheesed off. I shall just have to make my own........

Panderia

There's no question that there is a very real threat of a swine flu pandemic (p.s it's officially a pandemic now) and it might kill a large number of people. One of the biggest killers, in fact, the second biggest killer of under 5's in Africa, is diarrohea. This is because ordinary people do not understand that washing hands after going to the toilet and changing a baby's nappy, or sterilising water can prevent it. Mostly they don't even have access to safe drinking water, let alone tissues.
Tuberculosis, complicated by HIV, is another infectious disease brought about by overcrowding, poor hygeine and lack of knowledge about how droplet infection can spread disease.It usually occurs in poor uneducated people.
Despite these being massive killers that no flu epidemic could ever match, the message of hygiene has still not been impressed upon people.
I heard a BBC World service interview the other day- a doctor was saying that it was vital that governments prepared people for the eventuality of swine flu. People must be told how to prevent person to person infection by washing hands regularly, avoiding overcrowded places, using tissues and disposing of them correctly. This all involves the principles of infection control. It also requires a safe supply of drinking water

If it takes swine 'flu hysteria (panderia) to impress upon people about hygenic practices that prevent infection of any sort then it is a positive thing- perhaps it will help to reduce diarrohoea, malaria, TB and HIV too. Perhaps people will get into the habit of washing their hands and it will have a knock on effect.Sadly, swine flu is much more sexy and there is lots of money to be made out of vaccines, so I doubt we will have time to see it.

Every Cloud has a Silver Lining

Recipe for Paneer (Indian cottage cheese a la Floyd)


3 Litres full cream milk
90ml lemon juice or vinegar.


Put milk in a saucepan and heat it. Just before it boils add vinegar or lemon juice which will curdle the milk. Turn off the heat, place a muslin cloth over a suitable sized vessel and strain curds and whey through the muslin. Once curds are totally drained, squeeze them into a ball in the muslin and place under a heavy weight for 3 hours to turn it into a block that can then be cut into cubes. Then refrigerate and use for your favourite indian dish such as tandoori paneer or sag paneer (with spinach- see Floyd)


or........ Go to the shop where you always win in Blantyre. Buy a few boxes of Parmalat full cream milk. Open one to pour over your cereal in the morning and notice the whey trickling on to your cocoa pops. Smell the milk. It's not sour, so get a pair of scissors and cut the box open. Voila! beautiful fresh paneer- ready made. No need for muslin and suitable vessels nor heavy weights. Give some to the dog to check it's not poisonous. Looking forward to my sag paneer.

Question is, what agent caused the milk to curdle inside the box?

Who am I to play small?

In the words of Nelson Mandela

'We ask ourselves: Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone.'