Change the World Wednesday – 1st Oct

A problem tree

Well, the tree problem is still around.

Thanks to a regular reader, who sought the help of her knowledgable father, it’s a Kassod tree. Not an acacia after all; although they are similar, the acacia is more spindly.

Kassods are from Asia, they are used in Thai and Burmese cuisine, and have a use in medicine, although overuse can cause liver failure.

Sad news. My attempt to grow a sprout of my beefsteak plant failed; I changed the water in the jar and two days later it withered. So did the celery base that had sprouted. I will have to try again.

My sushi was more successful. I had a trial run at home, then the next day, the real McCoy.

My sushi platter for lunch at the botequim. Looked more glamorous than I thought.

Now I have top find a regular source of the short grained rice.

I’ve been for my constitutional around the park today, and the kassod tree is in full flower; dark green studded with bright yellow. I came to get the camera for an update photo, but discovered the battery was flat.

Once again, Small is still on her brief hiatus, so we’ll continue. No link to click to today.

Small returns next week, if all goes as planned.

If this is your first visit to my blog, then I suggest you browse through the the weekly CTWW posts that I have written. Simply type CTWW in the grassy area of the top banner.

Those of you more familiar with my accepting each challenge that Small puts up, will know that I am striving little by little to become greener; not always with success, there have been some failures.

But even before CTWW, I was somewhat green.

It wasn’t intentional, it was the way I was brought up. Reusing stuff, not wasting stuff (particularly food), but even when making something I was taught to make the most of all material; that way, if I had extra, the extra piece was bigger and more use at a later date.

My mum was a great housekeeper, a fact she denied often. She always made jams, preserves and ketchup, every year. We never bought this stuff until later years when she had a small business and less time. She baked, she baked a lot, she cooked all our meals. We had TV dinners once, because they had become the tihing, advertised on the telly. Afterwards she declared that we would never have another load of crap (one of the few times I heard my mother use a ‘naughty’ word).

My father was also diligent. We always had a thriving vege garden. His carpentry skills rubbed off on me somewhat, as did his mechanical training.

So I was surrounded by ordinary examples that most people have discarded.

The last time I shot competion in Peru, 2001

Now, I make my own pickled onions and preserves, I cook at home, I love cooking, I am a chef. I hate dishes. I make things out of wood, because it’s cheaper than buying. I used to do all the mechanical work on my cars, even to reconditioning the motor. In my sport which was fullbore shooting, I reloaded hundreds of thousands of rounds (bullets) thereby saving the manufacture of new ones. Like my father, I always strived to have things growing.

Of course, I gave up shooting many years ago, similarly I haven’t had a car in twenty years. Besdies today with cars, you need a university degree just to open the hood. It’s all high tech, and computerisation, I would be lost.

So I am a product of the old school. They call today progress, I’m afraid I don’t.

I distrust anything that is packaged or pre-cooked in the supermarket. I have learned that corporations lie through their teeth to sell their products that are being made with ever cheaper ingredients that are health hazards simply to increase their profits.

Sadly, there are some many people in the world who swallow their bullshit hook, line and sinker. People today believe the bullshit assuming that companies don’t/can’t/won’t lie.

Look at the obesity epidemic. They blame the sugar, they blame the salt, they blame the cholesterol, they blame the butter… that list goes on ad infinitum. But they never blame their products, HFCS are to blame. HFCS appears in everything you buy in the supermarket. HFCS is one of the biggest threats to your body.

No, this is NOT progress.

I will not change my ways, I will remain a velho caduco (grumpy old man).