Month: July 2011

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Chronicles of the Heart, Part 20 – confirmation of heart failure (again!)…

Yesterday I was devastated by extreme nausea – so extreme that I was, at one point, seriously considering suicide. And if you don’t understand why, then you really haven’t had the misfortune tp explore the extremes of nausea in any meaningful way – it is, without doubt, far more soul-destroying even than pain, something I know from experience.

But why, what brought it on?

Well, yesterday (Saturday), I got up early to go to Sainsbury’s (shopping on a Sunday, when I can get up at a sensible time, is Continue reading →

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Online anonymity – why?

People are getting their knickers in a twist because Google+ is insisting they register under their proper names, not pseudonyms. Aw, diddums!

Look, unless you live in a country where there is a real risk to one’s life or liberty, or to one’s family, in using one’s own name online, I don’t see that total anonymity is necessary or desirable.

The culture of online anonymity, which originated in the US (guaranteed by the constitution, apparently), is responsible for Continue reading →

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WordPress – remember you have adult members…

WordPress has taken to suggesting subjects for blog posts. God knows why – keeps the geeks busy, I suppose, as a break from addressing me as if I was a cretin every time I publish a blog post, like this:-

This is your 1,329th post. Dope! This post has 787 words.

Dope! is apparently a compliment among the juveniles they have running WordPress these days. Or something.

These are the latest post suggestions:- Continue reading →

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What makes a good writer?

Steven Pressfield, in his book “The War of Art” says this:-

“If you find yourself asking yourself (and your friends), “Am I really a writer? Am I really an artist?” Chances are, you are.

The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death.”

Now I have no idea what the hell a “counterfeit innovator” might be (by definition, an innovator produces original work and therefore is not a counterfeiter), but I am sure that this is the purest bovine ordure.

I’m a good writer. On occasion I’m very good. I know this (nor is it just my opinion), and have every confidence in my ability, and my grasp of the English language – were this Continue reading →

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Weschenfelder stainless steel mincers…

As I reported in my Making Lamb and Rosemary Sausages post, I now have a No.8 stainless steel mincer from Weschenfelder.

It’s extremely good at what it does, mincing meat very nicely, with minimum effort – less effort, in fact, that my Kenwood Chef mincer attachment which, basically, is crap.

However, excellent though it is, the mincer has a design fault, presumably shared by the No.10 size too. I wrote a very favourable review for Weschenfelder, in which I also described this fault in detail, and suggested a fix. However, they Continue reading →

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Crackdown on antibiotic prescribing…

From Pulse Today (registration required):-

Exclusive Ministers have been encouraged to set national targets and use revalidation to hold individual GPs to account for their prescribing of antibiotics to combat fears of spiralling antimicrobial resistance, Pulse can reveal.

A policy from which Continue reading →

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A Japanese-style pork stew…

As I said a little while ago, I want to dip my toe into the waters of Japanese cookery and, while I suspect that this isn’t remotely traditional, after making my lamb and rosemary sausages last weekend, I had half a pack of Sainsbury’s Streaky Rashers left (essentially, good-quality belly pork, skinned and sliced).

So, I thought, I’ve got a load of Japanese ingredients sitting in the cupboard, maybe I can do something interesting with it. Not necessarily Japanese, but definitely Oriental, and it worked out very well.

Exceedingly well, in fact – one of the best pork dishes I’ve ever cooked. Continue reading →

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Making Lamb and Rosemary Sausages.

My second sausage-making session went very well, and the results look impressive. I’m sure they’ll taste equally good (I have confidence in me!).

Image

Click to view full size, Back to return. The individual sausages are made with the meat left in the filling machine’s outlet, filled by hand. The rest need linking, which will tighten up the apparently slack casing.


You need:- Continue reading →