From Compote to Coulis

The Value of Cooking

Being able to cook, or at least understanding the processes of cooking, not only informs you about quality and taste, but it also helps you appreciate the kind of labour involved in bringing a dish to the table.

Sometimes, we allow convenience to trump the need to slave over a cooker or an oven, or, in these times, a crockpot or slow cooker, a steamer, and an air fryer. Well, a rice cooker has now joined the appliances in my cramped kitchen. Utility meets facility, and the rest is the memory of the palatable.

Convenience Versus Craft

Supermarkets tend to offer convenience at the expense of kitchen activity; the onions come ready-chopped in a pack when I could use a mandolin and store them in a Ziplock bag in the freezer. When I could not get Agege bread in Cape Town, I began to bake my own; now that it is sold here, I simply buy it in the shops.

One time, whilst mixing the dough, one of the mixing hooks broke. It should have been an easy replacement, but by then the novelty of baking had worn off.

I can make most of what I like; it is the lack of time, patience, or will that militates against the creative process, so you reach instead for the processed food shortcuts in supermarket packs or obtain takeaways from restaurants.

Experiments with Yoghurt

For a while, I stopped buying yoghurt with fruit servings. Instead, I would get Greek yoghurt and add it to a fruit salad drizzled with honey, but I wanted something different. I made a compote of blueberries and raspberries, cooking the fruits with a little water and lemon juice, though I did not have any vanilla essence.

I liked the first result with Greek yoghurt and honey, but I left the compote too long in the fridge and it was developing a culture, so I had to throw it away. I soon made another portion, which I never used. I warmed it up in the microwave and it bubbled out of the container, filling the microwave plate with red juice. That was annoying to clean up.

From Compote to Coulis

When I went out shopping yesterday, I bought a pack of wonky raspberries and one of blueberries. Something about the chunky feel of the compote did not appeal to me, so this time, after cooking the fruits and mashing them in the pot, I decided to try something else. What about blending the compote, I thought?

Well, that changes a compote into a coulis. I did not pass the blended compote through a sieve, but I think the NutriBullet blender did a good enough job, and this time I added some Madagascan vanilla essence. I might also add a splash of brandy to give it longevity, which is what you would expect in a compote rather than a coulis.

The knowledge of cookery does not just give you the ability to follow a recipe, even though much of one's expertise comes from learning, experience, practice, and memory. The recipe, like rules, can be broken to suit your own requirements and taste, and you would be neither persecuted nor prosecuted for it. That, my friends, is the joy of knowing how to cook.

A Google NotebookLM AI Podcast on this blog

The Just Can't Wait Card Test

The Tale of Two Responses

It was eventually going to happen: a moment when I wielded my Just Can't Wait Card and was met with a Just Can't Be Bothered apathetic response. It was yesterday, just before 7:00 PM, when I alighted from the tram at Cornbrook, slightly pressed and hoping to make up the shortfall of my daily 10,000 steps.

As the breezy chill of the cold hit me, my bladder was at bursting point. I needed to go and go now. I turned into the entrance of one of the new developments and showed my card to the concierge, pleading to use a toilet on their premises.

She gave it no consideration, expressing the fear that if her manager found out a non-resident had used the toilet, she would be in trouble. Lady, the reason I came here was that I have a medical condition. I need the respite borne of your human kindness to allow me access. Surely, no manager of human provenance would think helping someone with a medical condition is so bad as to warrant a sanction. Common sense should prevail.

It fell on deaf ears; this conversation was going on as Brian was on the other end of the phone. She then said I should try the Co-op shop around the corner, to the front. The daring I once had of telling anyone who refused my entreaties that I would do whatever was pressing standing in front of them deserted me.

A Worrying Contingency

In the worst-case scenario, I would have wet myself and depended on my incontinence underwear to save my blushes in the 30-minute walk home. However, I did go to the Co-op shop and showed my Just Can't Wait Card. The lady at the till immediately summoned the store manager.

He explained that there were no customer-side toilet facilities, but he would take me into the back of the store and would have to wait outside until I had finished. The difference? Human compassion with a sense of humanity, rather than the readiness to sacrifice suffering on the altar of keeping the rules. More so, it is the presence of initiative, agency, and autonomy.

I had this large, disabled-equipped convenience to myself for as long as I wanted, and I was done in a few minutes. I thanked him profusely and made for home: relieved, succoured, and comforted by understanding human beings.

The Absence of Initiative

My earlier experience made me wonder: beyond manning the concierge desk, if any resident had suffered an emergency, would this concierge have risen to the situation to help? I would be quite doubtful, because she would be thinking her manager would upbraid her for any attempt at being human. It is best not to be distracted by the other descriptions that are present in what could be hitting below the belt.

My condition was manageable. I would not want to extrapolate on a more serious condition with someone else, who needed the presence of mind, the abundance of initiative, and just a modicum of courage, with the beating heart of humanity. How would our conscientious concierge, attending to her duties in the strict diktat of the letter of her contract of employment, have responded?

Names and Places

On getting home, I wrote to the management company of that apartment complex. I may not get a response, but what it takes to escalate this episode by averring to the press that there are certain establishments in this friendly Manchester city of ours, heartless apparatchiks are in customer-facing roles, oblivious to the charitable consideration of the disabled or those with medical conditions.

Heck, I have been in places where I had neither my card nor a Radar key, and I was allowed the use of their toilets and a place for respite before I continued on my way. The talk on this matter is not over yet. Names and places to come in due course.

A Google NotebookLM AI Audio Overview Discussion of this blog

Photons on the Prostate - XVIII

Just Can’t Wait

At the culmination of radiotherapy for prostate cancer in early October, apart from the fatigue, I had serious bladder issues accompanied with pain and the regular inability to pass urine. Any time I stepped out of my home, I needed to know there was a convenience about, because I needed one within 30 minutes of leaving home and frequently thereafter.

While I had many conversations with the Macmillan Cancer Support nurses, it was the Cancer Support Nurse Consultant that came through my employer’s insurance services who was the most helpful, in that, she had the time for extensive conversations and the knowledge to deal with issues around cancer, treatment, the management of the side effects, and recuperation.

On her advice, I got the Just Can’t Wait card and a Radar key to facilitate urgent access to conveniences when needed. The times they have been life savers and helping the avoidance of embarrassment are precious beyond expression.

Changing side effects

On one of our conferences when I talked about the changing side effects I was experiencing, she intimated the side effects are not textbook experiences that would occur as indicated in the various medical notes referenced. Some may never occur or would occur at different times for different people depending on innumerable factors. I just had to work through them.

To deal with the pain beyond easing the constriction of my much-enlarged prostate after radiotherapy, I was on Codeine which I later learnt metabolises to morphine in the body. This informed my moderated use of it to avoid addiction.

Rather than adhere to the recommended early dosage of two tablets up to four times a day, I only took two tablets at night and immediately weaned myself of it once the pain had subsided, some six weeks later.

Until recently, I have had no bowel issues, they were slightly irregular, but I had no urgency pertaining to that. Codeine could exacerbate constipation, so, I did take a laxative just to avoid complications. It never really came to that.

Please, toilet, now

However, lately, I think I have been quite daring with my outings, I have had some uncomfortable bowel urgencies that have had me considering how I navigate my city and my outings. Pitifully wielding my Just Can’t Wait Card and rushing to access a disabled toilet with my Radar key while preserving my dignity, is a test of composure without paying much heed to embarrassment. Needs must.

Yesterday, as I attended the Pearson Vue test centre to take a Microsoft Certification examination, I had missed the direct bus to the location, the alternative was a longer walk than I anticipated, and soon I realised, having a toilet nearby would be a great relief.

We are required to register at the reception but there was no time for that, I walked in and emphatically said, “Please, can I use a toilet, now?” The receptionist helpfully directed me to the toilet dispensing with the required formalities until after my emergency.

Today, halfway back from shopping for ethnic goods, I knew I had to find a toilet before boarding my next bus as I was unsure nature would allow me to avoid any embarrassment.

One would think a shopping centre would have public toilets, but what use are they when they are closed? Even as many public toilets have been closed due to cuts and other issues, I am becoming more aware of people with bladder and bowel issues are limited in their abilities to leave their homes.

The large Tesco store behind the vaunted shopping centre came to the rescue, I would not have survived realising they had no toilets and thankfully, the disabled toilets were close by.

More toilets needed

We can wear incontinence underwear or some with even more serious abdominal issues might have colostomy, ileostomy, or urostomy bags to divert waste or urine from the body where the natural organs have been bypassed due to medical issues. [Salts Healthcare: What is a stoma?]

You do wonder if some public action is required to address access to more public facilities without the need to expose oneself to the indignities, we have little control over.

I am thankful the mishaps have been minimal, contained, or have happened so close to home that they have been bearable. Life is not just finding a toilet but knowing that you can find one when needed makes life a little more fun.

Blog - Men's things - XXII

Blog - Photons on the Prostate - XVII

Thought Picnic: And we all were not Will Smith at the Oscars

We all have opinions

I have read with interest the many fanciful and interesting ideas and notions of people who with the benefit of hindsight and the ample opportunity for reflection would have done something differently well away from the heat of the moment when presented with circumstances that demand immediate response for which limited restraint is possible.

It reminds me of many football fans who with the benefit of panoramic views of a stadium and sight of literally all angles come to the conclusion that a footballer who has through dint of hard work and recognition of coach and peers has earned their place by virtue of talent and ability to be in that team. We forget that the person is limited to their span of vision in that setting trying to assess and respond to situations happening to and around them to find advantage for themselves and the team whilst seeking to disadvantage the opposing players and still contribute to winning the match.

Rarely the real perspective

If a footballer had the range of vision of television camera or a spectator with the kind of full anticipation of the pace and the direction of the game, we probably would be watching a different kind of football. If anything, it shows how penalty kick deciders are more than just being able to kick a ball into the net at close range, the tension, the expectation, the anticipation, and most evidently luck plays increasingly important parts in a goal being scored or the ball being saved.

A recently globally televised altercation of a rather insensitive joke made in ribaldry, to shock and amuse was met with a necessary whilst unfortunate rebuke in defence of a spouse whose partner might have been urged by her apparent discomfiture to act quite decisively to put an end to such levity. You can make jokes of anything, and yet, courtesy demands that some courtesy, sensitivity, and understanding be paid to difficult situations or unfortunate infirmities, you do not have to disgusting.

That we blab from our armchairs

To make jokes at the expense of race, disability, or sexuality would be so readily frowned upon and excoriated with the heaping of opprobrium on the joker. That we would readily accept a joke at the expense of a person who has lost a particular expression of their personality and beauty due to a condition that cannot be arrested and managed is to lose a certain sense of perspective.

Now, this is not an excuse for violent retribution, but we should be careful that we do not from our suitable armchairs of comfort be so conveniently positioned for unencumbered postulation, ruling the world on our ample backsides with opinions of idealistic but usually impossible to live realities. How we all would have acted with wit, restraint and the wherewithal to cool our tempers in the heat of the moment, as we are the epitome of the best manners and perfection. You never have to walk a long hard mile in anyone's shoes when you're sitting down.

A willing rapscallion averse to chopping onions

Chop! Chop!

The onion is a versatile vegetable that always makes an appearance in my cooking. The processing of the onion is, however, a fraught process of looking for convenience over tearing eyes when chopping them.

By the time I got the chopping of onions down to an art, I was walking down Oxford Street in London and at one of the entrances to Selfridge’s a man was demonstrating the use of a mandolin. This was long before we had a QVC television channel where someone told you everything you could do with a saucer, absent of the teacup. I watched it happen.

Perfecting the chops

We exchanged £15 for a mandolin and that was probably that last time I chopped onions with a knife for a very long time. I just never found any more fun in manually chopping onions, whilst using a mandolin allowed me to prepare onions I could use for days, by chopping large quantities and keeping the rest in the fridge.

That also presented a few other issues, the onions that were not chopped, kept in the larder for weeks either shrivelled or began to bud, if I had a garden, I should have planted the budding onions. Along with the ones that took on the rot, they all ended up in the bin. I was wasting onions.

Yet, I do like fresh scallions or spring onions, I would readily chop them, but they are never good after a day of storage.

Outsourcing the chopping

Then, the other day, I was in my local and saw a pack of prepared vegetables Diced Onion going for a song. To that point, my life of chopping onions became a closed chapter. Where I could not find prepared vegetables, I was the very last resort if I could find no one to help me out. In Cape Town, Brian readily offered that service. I remember when I asked Kola, he came to some harm whilst using the mandolin or the knife, I think.

My quest for conveniently pre-prepared onions have not ended though, as in the ethnic shop, a few weeks ago, I found large bags of Crispy Fried Onions, I bought two, though what I would want flour, salt and oil in my onions before use in cooking somewhat escapes me. The only advantage is I do not have to freeze it like I do the Diced Onion or see the budding of fresh bulbs.

Now, some might dismiss this all as being lazy, I guess there are times you do not want to be bothered with certain things. Chopping onions is, for now, something I can do without.

The Mark of the Beast

Vorsprung durch Technik

We all got familiar with the German punch line Vorsprung durch Technik in the Audi adverts of the early nineties – whilst it means Progress Through Technology, it has also become representative of German efficiency.

This weekend, I witnessed two perspectives of this generalisation that has been contestable and can be easily debunked by views of other people, but I stand my ground.

Yesterday afternoon in the Kreuzberg district, there was a whole parade of floats representing all countries contesting in the World Cup.

Sweep them away

Even cynics have to agree that the German do have a word for fun – spass – and they do have fun, flag waving, load chants, friendliness and camaraderie.

Unfortunately, this about to be destroyed by another poorer sight of Germany – adherents of National Socialism who in their quest for racial purity, take civilisation and civility out of humanity and send the human race back to Gorillas in the midst. Regrettable!

Anyway, I walked up the road towards the tail-end of this procession and there, people were sweeping, cleaning as road sweepers moved in tandem clearing up after the procession.

Basically, behind those trucks it was like nothing had ever happened before. I had seen this activity once before as I watched a pride procession of floats disappear towards the East, now, I know that it is all part of the arrangements for street parades. That is efficient.

Leaving on a train again

So, on my way back from Berlin, I got to my seat just in time, which was occupied by a couple who should have been in an entirely different part of the train, but as the doors had closed, and there was no interconnecting link between the joined-up trains, they had to wait till the next stop.

I tried as much as I could to find them alternative seating arrangements, but in the end, they walked the length of this end of the train to bring them into proximity of the other to be able switch trains at the next stop.

There are probably 8 or so stops between Berlin and my change-over station Duisburg. However, in a journey of the duration of just about 4 hours, it is reasonable to have ones tickets checked twice.

But just as we approached Duisburg and we were quite close, because announcements for the station had been made and everyone stopping off had already moved towards the exits, along comes a third conductor.

Miffed with Jobsworthy

I remonstrated, I have already shown my ticket twice from Berlin, but he insisted on seeing them regardless, I could have just refused and had him get off with me at Duisburg, but I could not be bothered anymore, so I opened my bag retrieved my ticket and had it stamped again by Conductor Jobsworthy.

Suffice it to say, I was quite miffed, but this not my idea of efficiency nor is it the right way to go about massaging employment figures. Well that is another side of German efficiency.

Convenience is what I need

However, it then struck me that I would prefer to have a situation when my ticket was checked once and soon after that, any subsequent conductor just knows it has been done.

The convenience of not being bothered by anyone and ensuring everything is just so, like, walk into a shop, purchase whatever you want, the till is your exit with the tags on your goods charged to the account read from the chip embedded in you.

Instant identification for the ultimate convenience and computers churn away in global data warehouses linking your whereabouts to your lifestyle, your purchases to your purchasing capability and your life risk ratio is computed against your health data to ascertain your comprehensive insurance premium automatically charged at the computer’s discretion.

The global Patriot Act

Who you meet; what you say and wherever you do is private; until you hit an inconvenience threshold. That brings on the scrutiny of eyes bigger than Jupiter.

The product is complete convenience driven by unsurpassed efficiency, everyone wants it, not knowing that the Mark of the Beast it the hallmark of convenience – we are not far from that day.