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.'

Blue plastic bag

All over Africa, the blue plastic bag. Blown by the wind, swept by the river, washed by the rain, lodged in a tree, deposited on the plains, baked in the sun, dumped in the landfill. On mountains, in deserts, at the bottom of the ocean, washed up on the beach, on river banks, in wells, in top soil, in lakes, in power stations, in sewage, in our own back yard.

The ubiquitous blue plastic bag, who makes it?. Ban its production now before it choke us. Do not accept the blue plastic bag.

Dragon Fruit

The sexy fruit I was telling you about in an earlier post cannot be named the St Valentine's pear because it is called a Dragon Fruit. I'm always too late- someone always pips me to the post.

Question is, apart from slicing it in half and wickedly scooping out the flesh with an extra small tea spoon nicked from SAA, what can be done with it? Make a sorbet! Boil some caster sugar and water to make a syrup. Add the flesh of a few dragon fruit. Put it in the freezer, give it a stir half hourly until it is at the slushy stage. Delicately fold in a stiffly beaten egg white (if that is politically correct) and pop back in the freezer. Stir once more after an hour. Leave to set. Voila!You now have a sorbet. Pile scoops of sorbet back into the reserved dragon fruit shells. Oops, go and retrieve them from the bin, wipe off the egg shells and potato peelings- no one will ever know.......

Value Added

Chocolate sales are going up in Britain, this is because more people are staying at home instead of travelling- small affordable treat instead of large treat due to the credit crunchie. Not going on holidays is good for Cadburys whose profits have leaped up by 30% but not good for the obesity epidemic. At the same time, Scottish doctors are advising the government to put a tax on chocolate. They argue that the high calorific value of chocolate fuels the obesity problem and hence diabetes and heart disease. Good for the government, not good for Cadburys. To get back to an earlier post about the world being controlled by lizards. The slimey guys in the government have noticed that Cadburys are the only ones making a profit in these hard times, what better way to glass and a half them out of some more money than by getting doctors to advise the government that there should be a higher tax on chocolate. How would the chocolate be taxed? For instance, if it contains 70% cocoa solids, will it be taxed more than say a Wispa bar that only has a whisper of cocoa in it. I think a few eyebrows will be raised in Belgium. Or will it be taxed according to fat and sugar content? Will it mean that dark chocolate, which is supposed to be good for us ,will now be cheaper than a milky bar? Why stop at chocolate? Potato Crisps are just as calorie dense and just as instant.
At the same time, developing countries such as the cocoa growing ones in West Africa, are coming around to the concept of 'value added'. Why export your cocoa to Cadburys then import it back again as a finished highly taxed chocolate bar when you can manufacture your own? Why doesn't Africa make its own chocolate and export it to Britain to replace the tourists who can't afford to grace Africa's beaches but are now sitting at home eating chocolate bars? Good for the developing world, not good for the credit crunchie.
If I was a politician in Africa I would put a lot of effort into encouraging manufacturing instead of sending all my raw materials out.

Who is on your Board of Directors?

I have a friend who has an imaginary board of directors and the Chairman is Oprah Winfrey. I wonder who would be on your board of directors?
Mine would be a very small board, not because I dont like to take advice, it's just that I don't meet or hear of many people that inspire me. Perhaps i'm not getting out and about enough.
Lucy Kellaway would definately be the Chairman. In control, humorous, intelligent with an ability sift through all the management twaddle.
I know it's fashionable to like Barack Obama and he's highly sought after right now but he certainly talks a lot of sense and he always seems to be in the right place at the right time. This morning I heard him say to the American people, now's the time for us to work on our foundations, not on our home decor, drawing the analogy with the economy- how cool is that. It is also the Chinese New Year of the Ox, the sign of prosperity through fortitude and hard work. Apparently Obama was born in the year of the Ox- no wonder he is inspiring me with confidence.
Meryl Streep would have to be on there- so graceful, serene, a calming influence for my boardroom, infinite wisdom and experience. A multi-tasker.
Robert Plant would be there to make sure everyone carries through on their decisions and sticks to their moral values.
Honorary members would be a famous architect I know for his ability to give silent approval and quiet constructive criticism. Mary Poppins for her way with children, networking abilities, for good advice and encouragement.

Virgo and Taurus

Virgos find Taurus the bull patient and loving. Taureans find Virgins peaceful and composed. The bull likes to luxuriate in the bath for hours at a time, lights off and candles flickering- the Virgo too likes to lazily watch the last shades of twighlight on the living-room wall. Taurus loves to plan and cook sumptuous feasts whilst the Virgo likes to pick the herbs and chop the garlic (crush it more like). Virgos and Taurus both love attention to detail. They understand each other. I wonder why I haven't bumped into many Taureans in my lifetime?
From a tiny book on starsigns by Stephanie Russell

Mona on high-tech gadgets

Lucy Kellaway hits the nail on the head every time. She is the business reporter in the Financial Times and also talks on BBC world service. She has a friendly voice- the type of person I would have liked to have been friends with if I went to her school at the same time as her. She talks a lot of sense and has the confidence to put her point of view across in a business world dominated by men.
Recently she talked about the pen being mightier than high-tech gadgets. She was glad that there was still such a thing as customer service when it came to pens- Cross replaced her pen lid when it broke (even though it was a conference give away in the pre credit crunch days). I have had a similar experience with the valve in a Prestige pressure cooker, although I was told that next time I would have to pay for the replacement- a tiny little rubber thing. (Who uses a pressure cooker these days anyway?)
High tech gadgets such as ipods and Sony Vaio laptops, Canon printers and Sony Eriksson cell phones on the other hand are a different kettle of fish. Lucy is right when she says there is always a Genius Bar in the retail outlets where we try to return the product just when it has reached its warranty expiry date. The genius always explains that it cannot be fixed, “nah, it’ll be cheaper to buy a new one…Have you seen our latest model…that one is obsolete now anyway… this new one has much higher spec than the old one.”. If you wait a couple of weeks, we will have a new delivery of the Canon IP4750.999”. Of course the new model requires completely different print cartridges which Game (where they always win) haven’t got in stock and the difference in quality? You have to buy 5 print cartridges instead of 4.
I have never been a Gerty gadget market leader. I’m what’s described as a 'late adopter'.
Remember that fish that sang “Take me to the river”? I Only just discovered it 2 years after it first hit the shops (thank god). I’m still using my Panasonic Digital (In 1990, digital was a modern word) portable stereo CD system RX-DS303 MASH. It has a depth of sound no ipod nano could ever match. Never been able to work out the MASH aspect of it though.
The $1,400 Sony Vaio does not come with Microsoft office the genius tells me, you can’t get that sort of spec at that sort of price with Microsoft Office thrown in, he says (but not at the point of sale). Couldn’t even give me a Sony Vaio bag to go with it but he could throw in this cheapo one for free.
Did you know also that the new ipod nano cannot be recharged on the Bose docking station? Why? So you have to buy a new updated version of the docking station or yet another adaptor to add to the cupboard full of redundant adaptors, leads, connectors and USB cables. These are what are known as 'late adaptors'.
What needs to be tackled is this constant updating of gadgets- I’m all for technology, R&D but only if it improves my life. At the moment, my life is too complicated, very expensive and the sound hasn't improved. I’m all for the recession if it is going to stop this supply of marginally updated this season's must-haves that already my children think are "so one second ago”.
I have bought them a fountain pen each; perhaps they will be new market leaders and provide a tipping point for an epidemic of quality, longevity and customer service.

Further additions on the postal service

I have just received a Christmas card form an old friend. It was posted in Chelmsford on the 10th December 2008. it is now 16th February. This means it takes 2 months for an air mail letter to get from England to Malawi. Where has it been this Christmas card? Must do some research......

Don't take anything personally

Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you wont be the victim of needless suffering. If people tell you how wonderful you are, they are not saying it because of you. Humans are addicted to suffering and we support each other in maintaining these addictions. Humans agree to help each other suffer. If you have the need to be abused you will find it easy to be abused by others. It is as if they have a note on their back that says "please kick me". Wherever you go you will find people lying to you, and you also lie to yourself. Do not expect people to tell you the truth bacause they also lie to themselves.
If someone is not treating you with love or respect, it is a gift if they walk away from you. If that person doesnt walk away, you will surely endure many years of suffering with him or her. Walking away may hurt for a while, but your heart will eventually heal.
From 'The Four Agreements' by Don Miguel Ruiz

Mona on getting older

It crossed my mind earlier that there would be nothing better than to sit in my new wing back chair and put my feet up on a foot stool and just enjoy the moment, the solitude, the serenity, the pictures on the wall and read a book in the comfort of my surroundings, with no guilt, in the knowledge that the clock is ticking anyway whether I do something about it or not. I then imagined an elderly person in a care home who was doing just that. A theory came into my head that perhaps elderly people don't mind sitting in a wing back chair with their feet up, just thinking, in solitude, watching time pass in the comfort of their familiar things. The clock ticking, the moment continuing on and on with no interruptions, nothing to take you away from your train of thought, staring and smiling knowingly when someone asks you a question. "You what dear?", "isn't she lovely?", "what have you been doing since I last saw you Agnes?" "Now't fresh" will be your reply. How irritating the interruption when you had just got thinking about something. "Time for your bath Agnes!", "What's for dinner Mum?". "It's tea time pet, up we come", "where's my sports kit Mum?". You deserve to sit and think and stare and not recognise anyone, you've earned it, you've been on your feet and worked your fingers to the bone for a long time.

Gemini

Life is never tedious when Gemini is in the game. The twins adore life in the fast lane. Gemini requires an entourage to keep its fluctuating moods appeased but time flies with Gemini when you sit down to a volley of ideas. The twins flirt from one thing to another with lightening speed, they are an innovator and entrepreneur. The twin's fierce energy will add some much-needed spice to our lives but they may quickly tire of our regular dull routine. The twins are often absent, they love freedom to wander and roam but when they have finished travelling, they will happily repair to a sedate environment in- waiting.
quoted from a little book on star signs by Stephanie Russell

Sexy fruit

I just discovered a new fruit- never seen anything like it- absolutely beautiful. People would pay a fortune for this in M&S and it's literally just evolving out of my cactus tree. It tastes a bit like a kiwi but looks absolutely heavenly. If it doesn't have a name I'm going to call it a St Valentine pear. This is my fruit bowl-guess which one it is.

Feast or Famine

I love avocados, I have four trees, they all come at once in February.

I have guacomole with fresh hot green chillies and coriander also from the garden.

I have Avocado Ritz for lunch, sometimes with cooked chicken, tuna or prawns mixed with a dollop of freshly homemade mayonnaise.

I have greek salad with avocado in it and just plain sliced with salt and pepper and lemon juice.

My daughter makes a vinaigrette, spoons it over half an avocado in the skin and scoops it out with a spoon

One member of my family recalls having it with sugar as a kid.

How do you preserve avocado?

My Mum, an expert in all things, says you can't. But you can mash it and freeze it she said. I said "Doesnt it go brown?" Never got to the bottom of it as the conversation swiftly changed to a heated discussion (much to the interest of the other guests in the restaurant) about the world being run by reptiles and bloodlines. The rest of us are just mind- controlled through the media like the News of the World which of course is controlled by the very same lizards. She has a point. More about this later......

On being human

Someone asked me the other day-
" What's it like to view the human race from an outsider's point of view?"

Things I hate, by Billy Connolly

People who point at their wrist when they ask you the time.
People who tell you they are going to the toilet (whilst pointing at their....)
Political rallies in rush hour
Powercuts
New roadworks with inadequate road markings
Policemen who stop you just because they can

What's Hot/What's Not

What's Hot / What's Not

1. Voluntourism / Managed Portfolios
2. Footing /Mini-bus drivers
3. Lucy Kellaway /Anne Widdecombe
4. Freckles /Belly rings and tattoos
5. Good Black leaders /Political correctness
6. Self-improvement /Conservatives
7. Quality /Quantity

Diplomacy on the back Burner

If you're going to opine
don't do it on wine
you'll raise a fracas 'tis true,
have a richt guid blether
'bout such like the weather
auld aquaintance you'll lose but a few.

If you want to be greetin'
best go to the meeting
and not be rigid nor wise
rather be mute
without any dispute
and only tell lily white lies.

By Mona with a little help from Rabbie (patent pending)

How to win friends and influence people

I like to learn from my mistakes and hopefully improve myself. Learned a lesson this weekend- How to win friends and influence people is not to speak your mind. It is to keep your opinions to yourself. How to stay everybodies friend is to agree with everyones point of view and never say anything contentious. Hold your counsel and move onto the next subject so as not to offend anyone. Never be negative, always smile and say how do you do. Just laugh and be gay (in the old fashioned sense of the word). Always listen to others point of view and nod in the right places. If you make others feel good, they will always seek your company. Dont talk about business at 11 o clock at night and if there is a disco on, get up and dance.

Mona on Food and Nutrition

I would have been good as the kid in the Bisto advert, a real sensible kid, with sensible eating habits giving her mum some cookery advice she learned in Domestic Science that day- I can trace my good sense about nutrition back to when I chose to do Home Economics at school instead of typing. At times I have regretted not doing typing but I have always been glad that I know what a balanced diet is. I might not be Mrs. Beeton, I was always the one left with a huge pile of dishes with my final ensemble still in the oven and no garnishes at the end of the Home Ec practical. Time Planning was not my forte, Organisation was not my Hamlyn’s all colour lemon meringue pie, but I know how to put a healthy meal together. I know all the food groups, recommended daily allowances and food tables. I instinctively know how to make a roux sauce, a mayonnaise, a béchamel, a tartar and sauce béarnaise. I know how to make a short crust pastry and a rough puff; bread dough and plum duff. I can do choux pastry and hot water crust. Etouffe is not a problem; guinea fowl salmis just give me the cloves. Pasta sauces like mamma used to make, Biriani?- even make my own yoghurt for marinating the lamb. Bouillabaisse, vichyssoise and consommé. The secret of cooking rice, I have it. I know the theory of the pressure cooker and raising agents, how to fillet a fish and I can name and know what to do with a cut of meat just by looking at it.
Good food takes time to prepare. The longer food takes you to prepare, the healthier it will be and the better it is for you. Instant gratification makes you fat.
The kilojoules spent adding the oil drop by drop to the egg yolk whilst you beat furiously with a garlic clove skewered on the end of a fork- more than makes up for the dollop of home made mayonnaise you will have over your delicately grilled Chambo fillets.
Pounding of the spices in a pestle and mortar and grinding them on a curry stone after you have ventured to the bottom of the garden to pick some fresh curry leaves and coriander and jointed the chicken yourself before tempering it in your freshly ground paste will just about cover the knob of ghee and cream you have added for flavour.

Tips on how to be the weight you want to be:

• Always eat breakfast- porridge and banana with a dollop of honey and cinnamon is good.
  
• Try not to eat between meals. If you do, make it fruit, nuts or raw vegetables
  
• Eat at least one square meal a day. Eat little and regularly
  
• Keep your portion sizes down. Our stomachs are the same size as our fist!
  
• Eat 5 portions of vegetables and fruit per day
• Eat some dietary fibre/roughage every day (brown bread and rice, potato with skin, beans, pulses)
  
• Kilojoules IN should equal Kilojoules OUT. Try exercise!
  
• Drink plenty of water.
  
• Wine is good but don’t overdo it or you’ll get a wine bop.
  
• Eat as much fish as possible- especially oily fish
  
• Spend a long time preparing your food- the results will be worth waiting for.
  
• Eat a varied diet- that way you are sure to get all the nutrients you need. Be adventurous, try new things. Try making a paratha!

Dont get hung up about food- take a leaf out of Nigella's book. Try her lemon linguine X

Always do your best

Always do your best, no more, no less. Dont try too hard to do more than your best or your best will never be enough. If you always do your best, there is no way you can judge yourself and if you dont judge yourself, there is no way you are going to suffer from guilt, blame and self punishment. From 'The Four Agreements' by Don Miguel Ruiz

Mona Lisa by Tamar age 11

Mona on the Postal Service

I Love Postman Pat. What a lovely world he lives in with his little red van and black and white cat delivering all the postbags early in the morning just as day is dawning. I admire his work ethic, his honesty and his sense of community service.
The day will dawn that I receive any post through the Royal Mail. Why cant Post offices get their act together? They charge enough for stamps.
It's easy.... you write a letter, put it in an envelope, put on a stamp to the correct postage (it doesnt have to be a pantomime), post it into a postbox (those red things that look like waste paper bins these days). Pat 1 will then collect it in the morning. In the afternoon it gets sorted by Mrs Goggins. The next day it goes to the airport by train (now there's another issue) to catch the next available flight to Malawi. Two days later it arrives in Blantyre post office (which by the way is looking a bit run down these days). In the afternoon it is sorted and no one opens the letter or parcel to rifle through its contents before putting it in the correct box number.
I'm still waiting for a Christmas card posted on 1st December, a book from Amazon dispatched on 12th December and a certificate dispatched on the 15th. Come on Mrs Goggins. Post offices everywhere- it shouldn't take 6 weeks for a letter to arrive. Time to jack yourselves up.
Pat only thinks he's a very happy man.
Purum pum pum pum pum pum...........

Appreciate what you've got

After all, one can't complain. I have my friends.
Somebody spoke to me only yesterday.
And was it last week or the week before that
Rabbit bumped into me and said "Bother!"
The Social Round. Always something going on'

From 'The Secret of Pooh's Social Success' by A.A Milne and E.H Shepard