Friday, June 29, 2007

Thought of the day

Of all acts of man, repentance is the most divine. The greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none.

Thomas Carlyle

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Next Time You Get Into Your Car..

.. think about what you are doing, or about to do.. the consequence can be tragic..

Sunday, June 17, 2007

From Out Of The Mouths..

If ever you want a family secret made public, the one surefire way is to ensure that your kids overhear it. The innocence of youth precludes taking into account 'responsibility' and, in many ways, what kids say can be quite endearing but now and again, it can all go very wrong.

Take the case of the Matriarch and young son seeing off 'Pater'. All has not been well of late, but appearances are there to be kept, so the father gets into his car and backs out of the driveway, the matriarch waves just like everyday and half shouts 'Bye, see you later'. The young son follows up with 'Bye, loser'. No guesses for the source here.

It is a good thing that actions speak louder than words. In the next case, we have a Matriarch and young son who having been visiting grandparents, and are about to be met at the airport by 'Pater'. The final instruction to the young son before disembarking (no pun intended) was this. "Now, remember ... run to Dad first, THEN the dog."

Is it the same family? I am not telling..

Monday, June 11, 2007

The Answer Is Out There..

.. but is it the right answer, the answer we want to hear, or the answer that they want us to believe? The answer could be any combination of the three conditions.

OK. It's quiz time, but before you look at the questions, I would like you to view a video clip. If you live near an airport, or are a frequent flier, you will have seen something similar many times, but still take a look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEBNnJSq5KI

I will never cease to be impressed watching stuff like that. Now, you are ready to take the quiz. As with all questions, read them thoroughly, and not just once. Ensure that you understand each question before answering.

http://www.asile.org/citoyens/numero13/pentagone/erreurs_en.htm

So, how did you make out? 5 of 5? If you passed on any, I have some more for you to read and look through.

Some reading for you.. http://www.freedomfiles.org/war/pentagon.htm

.. and another video clip to watch.. http://www.pentagonstrike.co.uk/flash.htm#Main

For more on that day, visit our video bar in the basement, the second of the two.

The events of that day have changed the lives of everybody on the planet. There were events that happened behind the scenes before that day still begging the question "why did they do that?". There were events that happened after the initial strikes that beg the same question. If you come to the conclusion that I did, you are most probably scared too.

If all of the above was staged to get us 'in the mood' to accept the now discredited propaganda that took us to war with Saddam Husseins Iraq, it most surely worked. The worst is that it could work again, and maybe you or somebody you know will be on the next death roll.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Beef Wellington.. fit for a Duke..

An introduction:

Some say it was his favorite meal, and others claim it resembled the boots that he wore. Whatever the case may be, the Duke of Wellington has a grand dish named after him, which became the entertaining extravaganza of the 1960s.

Ingredients:

  • a 3 1/2-pound fillet of beef tied with thin sheets of larding fat at room temperature
  • 3/4 pound mushrooms, chopped fine
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1/2 pound pâté de foie gras (available at specialty foods shops) at room temperature
  • 1 pound puff paste or thawed frozen puff pastry plus additional for garnish if desired
  • 1 large egg white beaten to an egg wash made by beating 1 large egg yolk with 1 teaspoon of water
  • 1/2 cup Sercial Madeira2 teaspoons arrowroot dissolved in 1 teaspoon cold water
  • 1/2 cup beef broth
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped black truffles (available at specialty food shops) if desired
  • watercress for garnish if desired

Preparation:

  1. Roast the beef in the middle of a preheated 400°F oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the thermometer registers 120°F.
  2. Let the fillet cool completely and discard the larding fat and the strings.
  3. Skim the fat from the pan juices and reserve the pan juices.
  4. In a heavy skillet cook the mushrooms in the butter over moderately low heat, stirring, until all the liquid they give off is evaporated and the mixture is dry
  5. Season them with salt and pepper, cool completely.
  6. Spread the fillet evenly with the pâté de foie gras, covering the top and sides, and spread the mushrooms evenly over the pâté de foie gras.
  7. On a floured surface roll 1 pound of the puff paste into a rectangle about 20- by 12- inches, or large enough to enclose the fillet completely, invert the coated fillet carefully under the middle of the dough, and fold up the long sides of the dough to enclose the fillet brushing the edges of the dough with some of the egg white to seal them.
  8. Fold ends of the dough over the fillet and seal them with the remaining egg white.
  9. Transfer the fillet, seam side down to a jelly-roll pan or shallow roasting pan and brush the dough with some of the egg wash.
  10. Roll out the additional dough and cut the shapes with decorative cutters. Arrange the cutouts on the dough decoratively, brush them with the remaining egg wash, and chill the fillet for at least 1 hour and up to 2 hours.
  11. Bake the fillet in the middle of a preheated 400°F oven for 30 minutes, reduce the heat to 350°, and bake the fillet for 5 to 10 minutes more, or until the meat thermometer registers 130°F. for medium-rare meat and the pastry is cooked through.
  12. Let the fillet stand for 15 minutes.
  13. In a saucepan boil the reserved pan juices and the Madeira until the mixture is reduced by one fourth. Add the arrowroot mixture, the broth, the truffles, and salt and pepper to taste.


The recipe is for a party of eight. Bon appetite!

Thursday, June 07, 2007

A Maintenance Nightmare..

Next time your power or telephone is not working,


.. spare a thought for the guy who has to fix it..

Thought of the day

When one dreams, it is a dream. When two dream the same, it is the beginning of a reality

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

A New Look..

What can be nicer than sitting in a park on a warm Sunday afternoon, or a walk in a forest, or watching the sun go down over an azure sea. Well, it's all about to change. As fossil fuel resources run low, and use of them becomes more of a criminal act due to their effect on the world's ecosystem, we have to find new ways to power our world.

Welcome to the new look Central Park and Brazilian Corn Forest. Yes folks, this is how everywhere is going to look. I just hope that yellow is your favorite color. If we can get enough corn planted quickly, our reliance on fossil fuel will be over, and we can worry about converting carbon dioxide to oxygen later. The trees do it now but there will be other ways for sure. Nobody will feel left out either, because there is a nice crop just suited to back yards, window boxes and hanging baskets called rapeseed, and it has the cutest little yellow flowers you ever did see.
For those of you who live near the ocean or desert, your world will not be so yellow, and people in mountainous regions may even get to keep a few trees. Give a big welcome to your new noisy neighbors. If anybody told you that a high pole carrying a generator and three very large variable pitch blades was anything other than noisy, they were having you on, but you have to admit that they do look very high tech.


For the fauna and flora that we have grown to love so much over the centuries, it's a time for a quiet adios. We loved it, but it is just no use to anything anymore. Anyway, all we have to do is subscribe to the History Channel, and we will be able to watch movies of forests and all of the animals in high definition.

So bring on the yellow, whooshing world. We have a gas tank to fill.

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

The End of Freedom..

If you are not with us, you are against us. Us over here and you over there. Do not worry about the 'like I care' people in the middle. They say to us 'well, you know what the people over there are like'. They probably say it to you too. They can't be trusted.

If you are not with us, you are against us. Yes, we know that you are saying the very same thing, but we count for more than you. Our beliefs are better and more worthy than yours. The 'like I care' people in the middle say anything just to be liked. They can't be trusted.

If you are not with us, you are against us. Our color is more important than your color. The 'like I care' people in the middle are all colors and mixed colors. They can't be trusted.

If you are not with us, you are against us. We have more guns than you have. The 'like I care' people in the middle won't back you up because they don't like guns. They can't be trusted.

If you are not with us, you are against us. We have more people who hate you than you have people who hate us. The 'like I care' people in the middle say that they don't hate anybody, but they hate us and they hate you because you and we try to tell them what to think. They can't be trusted.

If you are not with us, you are against us........



This is what happens to the 'like I care' people in the middle..