Warm, red wine Goes to my head Makes me forget that I still need a friend…
I am not refrigerating red wine any more I am not refrigerating red wine any more I am not refrigerating red wine any more I drink it at room temperature.
Glory, glory what a hell of a way to go Glory, glory what a hell of a way to go Glory, glory what a hell of a way to go Drunk on warm red wine.
I fortify my red wine with some fortified red wine I fortify my red wine with some fortified red wine I fortify my red wine with some fortified red wine Any port in a storm is what I say
Glory, glory what a hell of a way to go Glory, glory what a hell of a way to go Glory, glory what a hell of a way to go Drunk on red wine fortified with fortified red wine
They have to call it Tawny, Port is appellation controlled. They have to call it Tawny, Port is appellation controlled. They have to call it Tawny, Port is appellation controlled. But it mulls up just the same
Glory, glory what a hell of a way to go Glory, glory what a hell of a way to go Glory, glory what a hell of a way to go Drunk on red wine fortified with fortified red wine
Tawny in the red wine warmed up in the microwave Tawny in the red wine warmed up in the microwave Tawny in the red wine warmed up in the microwave
It’s a short cut to inebriation mate. Glory, glory what a hell of a way to go Glory, glory what a hell of a way to go Glory, glory what a hell of a way to go Drunk on tawny red wine heated in the microwave
Mulled wine sends you off to sleep in a few seconds flat Mulled wine sends you off to sleep in a few seconds flat Mulled wine sends you off…
I really really like a kipper I have done since I was a nipper But why, oh why? I hear you beg Would you cook it with an egg? Because it’s there Because I can I am an experimental man.
Then: I’ll always love you And you can depend on me.
Now: I’ve moved on And so should you. Be determined… to be free.
Oxford
I seem to be working through a bout of bitterness at present.
Hot days and nights. Inactivity. Too much time to think.
The music I listen to triggers memories and emotions.
I don’t want to be bitter. I can understand how some men become hateful misogynistic arseholes when they feel hard done by in the wake of a broken relationship. If I had behaved like an arsehole in the first place I might accept I deserve to be where I am. Maybe. If I really had been an arsehole I would probably be blind to the faults that led to me being deserving of the karma that has been wrought. I would still be an arsehole now.
Am I?
I play with words, and vent my spleen. It helps.
“Get a life” I tell myself. But my options are limited.
I garden, I cook, I chat with friends, neighbours and the checkout ladies. I exercise my limbs as the physio prescribed. I pedal my trike with assistance from an electric motor. I listen to music. I reminisce.
The irony; she depended on me.
This has been a “Dear Diary” post.
Oh look, there’s a skink traversing the drive and eying me warily.
This is the first time I have committed to writing the thinking and the steps I take when devising or adapting a recipe to publish on my food blog It is usually all done in my head.
DISCLAIMER: until I actually make the sauce, approve of it, document it as it was made and then publish with pictures the recipe, this is a work of speculative fiction.Mango Chilli Sauce as I envision it has not yet been made. Soon, however.
My apologies for the crappy format. Pasting this over from notes did not allow me to keep the formatting I had already spent so much time on. Frustrating.
To continue. Chilli Mango Sauce or Mango Chilli?
Here I decide on another potential use for my chillies. This process is why I see cooking as an art and an enjoyable challenge. Also why I read a lot of recipes but don’t necessarily follow them.
This is not about a mango sauce, it is about a mango flavoured chilli sauce. I learned quite a bit from making my hot sweet chilli sauce. This is the next iteration. Definitely more complicated. But others have done it. A quick google showed that. But I have some ideas of my own.
I am often referring to other recipes as examples. They give me an idea of what works. Comparing their differences is also helpful.
I work out a recipe using ingredients available to me or on hand along with available resources such as blenders, slow cookers, etc.
This recipe, I repeat, has not yet been made. Therefore it is not published here. This post is really about the process I go through to write an /“original” recipe. When I was doing my Cert IV Training and Assessment I learned to break down even the simplest operation into even simpler and easily comprehended steps . That is what I’m trying to do here. Possibly with limited success. You decide.
My Research and (some of)My Thinking
Notes
Below is an example of how I looked at other recipes before I decide what would go into my recipe in terms of ingredients and procedure. Internal dialog on the pros and cons of using canned vs fresh fruit, for example, is partially included in the notes.
It must be cooked because it must keep well. I live alone and won’t be using this every day. Nobody likes food as hot as I do except Lyn. Not a Christmas gift then.
It is acidified which is an important factor for keeping.
How much? Say one large can of mangoes, everything else in proportion
Since it is cooked and processed, canned mangoes are just as likely to give good results. Known amount to work with.
It is really about the chillies 🌶️. Hot!
Spice? (Watties tomato sauce is best because of that underlying warm spicyness-is that a word? ) anyway another warm spice will contribute?
The recipe (not yet) published is (what I actually shall do). Including any Tweaks along the way. If the final product had not been as good as I hoped for, or it looked really really unappealing then no blog post would result. You would not be reading this. Amendment. You are reading this because I turned it into a sprculative tutorial..
I work out beforehand my recipe as a proposal. (Example Below). In general I then put it into practice, and as I proceed, sometimes, I add a tweak or two, adjusting amounts, proportions times or temperatures as I see how the product is coming along. Then I rewrite the recipe as actually carried out and completed.
Amounts and proportions can be important to record. If it comes out well it must be repeatable to be a proper recipe. Otherwise advice to wing it must give a sense of what works. Cooking is art. Not paint by numbers, but there are sensible rules to bear in mind, and perhaps even follow.
Some recipes make small amounts of final product, some too much. When one lives alone one must consider how much of a product such as this one might use in the time it might reasonably be expected to keep. On the other hand how many friends or neighbours might be grateful for a bottle?
Another consideration is how much of the ingredients one has on hand, or can afford. If using canned mangoes (or plums as in my plum sauce (link)) how many cans? This will determine the proportion of other ingredients needed.
Also important. Are there suitable containers on hand sufficient to store the product? Could it be frozen?. Just thinking out loud.
I did give it some thought. Since the sauce is cooked, I concluded it would not matter if the mangoes were already cooked. The health inspector in me insisted even though it is acidified the product be bottled hot in sterile jars. Even so I’d keep it in the fridge. Probably.
(Caravan life Mango chilli Chilli Mango Sauce, my way. Proposed – Draft)
References below. Not the only recipes I checked out, incidentally. Included for educational purposes only. Three is the charm.
Chillies (hot!). How many/ how much? Which?
X g Can of mango in juice/syrup. (+sugar?)(honey?)
Lime juice. (??). Yes. Lime will give it a subtle tropical nuance complimenting the mango and ginger. ( pretentious Git).
Apple cider vinegar (!!) always
Salt (amnt ?) low sodium option, or normal? What is normal? Buggered if I know.
Xanthan (??) or arrowroot?
⁃ amounts to be determined.
– Procedure
Cook onion garlic etc first (in suitable pan). ( caramelise?)
Add all ingredients to a food processor. (Blender wand!)
Process until smooth.
Add (remaining ingredients) to a suitable pan and bring to the boil over med heat while stirring
(Insert blender wand here)
Reduce heat and simmer on low heat for X0 minutes. Watching and testing viscosity
Pour while hot into hot sanitised bottles or jars and cap.
References:
I copy the Internet recipes into notes so I don’t have to keep referring to a website with all its pop ups each time I want to check or compare. However, here I’m including only the links. And perhaps a comment.
One of the earliest semi-scientific experiences I recall was on the TSS Captain Cook in 1957, when I was five. I was fascinated by the bubbles in the ice cubes. Just this evening I discovered that I still am.
I have a great ice tray that makes enormous cubes. These are essential in Australia because smaller ice cubes melt much more quickly here.
I am looking at one of the cubes it makes right now, floating in a nonalcoholic drink of sugar-free lime cordial and water. Lines of bubbles arc upwards through the cube in a spray that looks to me just as if it were an explosion or a bouquet of algal beads.
In 1957 at some stage of the journey to New Zealand I wandered the deck of the Captain Cook in tropical heat with a huge glass of lime cordial and ice. It was the first time I noticed there were bubbles in the ice. I noticed also, that they were not randomly distributed (though I did not know the word ‘random’ I recognised the concept).
I wondered how they got there. What happens when water freezes that makes bubbles appear in patterns? I was very interested in finding out why. I did not know how. The problem occurred to me later on many times, usually when I was drinking something with ice. Sometimes I asked about it. Mum said she didn’t know. I should look it up in a book.
I’m seventy one years old now. I have the internet to consult. So far I have found plenty of information on how dissolved gases form bubbles as ice freezes. I had already figured that out long ago, in the days of encyclopaedia and libraries, but still I have come upon no discussion on how the bubble patterns are formed.
It’s not so easy to get an ice cube to float on its side.
Another photo in my “Round Things and Square Things” series.
This photo is part of my continuing efforts to combine the arts I love; photography, Creative Art, Cooking, Philosophy, Creative writing.
The image was taken to illustrate a recipe on my cooking blog. The image was composed as an hommage to those women who taught me to cook; my mother, my mothers in law, my wives, and my best friends. The fritters are arranged to represent a woman – her head and breasts – the sources of wisdom and kindness, nourishment and comfort, and dare I say, pleasure. The parsley symbolises her voice that all too many times is the missing ingredient in the discussions, that invariably are dominated by men, regarding any decision involving matters highly pertinent to the future and continued survival of humanity. The basil is a metaphor for the fact that she is the basis of humanity. The potential mother of all our species in a thousand generations.
This blog post is a work of fiction.
Really.
Science fiction.
It’s real title: A Recipe For Fritters.
(Part One of the Skilletworld trilogy.
Are you sure the Pope drinks crème de menthe? No wonder they have to carry him round in that chair.
Tinned fish and rice I need not tell you twice Is very very nice.
But…
Tinned fish makes me repeat.
Tinned fish and rice I need not tell you twice Is very very nice.
But…
Tinned Fish and Rice Tinned fish and rice I need not tell you twice Is very very nice. But. Tinned fish makes me repeat. Tinned fish and rice I need not tell you twice Is very very nice.
The latest consultation with Dr Mehdi was a positive one. My blood iron and haemoglobin counts, though still low, are greatly improved. my vitamin D likewise.
The really good news is that despite being so unlikely at this stage of my life, my kidney function has also improved. It has shot back up to 34%. My weight is down. Mehdi is really pleased. He encouraged me to carry on with whatever I’m doing.
All I’m doing is dining well, but thoughtfully. Omnivore three days a week and herbivore the other four. At least one meal a fortnight that might be considered extravagant for a tubby person, such as stuffed mushrooms or fish and chips.
No matter what I eat and drink I always drink at least two litres of water during a day in four mugs of 500 mls in addition to whatever I drink by way of tea, coffee, or other beverages. And I do drink quite a bit of tea,coffee and other beverages. I believe this may be one of the secrets to keeping those nephrons ticking over.
A good proportion of my vegetable intake is now coming from my own garden. Tomatoes,snow peas, herbs, spinach, bok choy, silverbeet, chilli, capsicums, even a few potatoes. All grown in pots or portable beds which are basically big pots.
The potatoes were not a great success in terms of volume produced but it was so good to enjoy that wonderful new potato flavour that one only gets from freshly dug spuds. I shall try again. I’m using a spud bag to grow them instead of digging the ground, which I’m not permitted to do here. This time I’m going to use proper seed potatoes instead of supermarket spuds that sprouted in the cupboard.
Through Hollow Lands and Hilly Lands 