Off topic. I have been cooking a lot for myself recently and have struggled with how poor quality food is, particularly any kind of instant meal. Bit I have just discovered instant rice. The quality is better than rice I can boil and you don't need to wash up. As such, many meals become possible to cook for yourself in the matter of a few minutes.
Perhaps learn to cook? It honestly isn’t hard and it can be very relaxing
There are lots of lovely meals you can whip up in 20-30 minutes. Nutritious and delicious and really simple enough that you can chug a beer or drink some wine and listen to music as you do it
It becomes a definite pleasure. Not a chore. And the benefits to your mental and physical health are significant
I've never really understood the idea it is hard to cook. Probably hard to cook well, but I tend to just follow instructions and it usually works out pretty well, and the process itself is relaxing.
Absolutely
As for recipes - you can’t go wrong with Delia Smith, even now. Yes she’s ancient but her simple recipe style is a godsend to a beginner. Just do what she says. It will taste good
My alternative.
I can cook - very well, if I want to. But after cooking for my family for years and years and before then for myself there are other things I want to do with my time.
So I married a man who loves cooking and is good at it. I taught all 3 children to cook. They are all good at it too and one even worked as a chef for a while.
Life skills passed on, delicious meals cooked for me and lots of free time. Result! 😁
Mums are great for that. My dear old mum taught me the basics - more importantly, she taught me enthusiasm for food
Then in my late 20s I discovered I enjoyed it and in my affluent 40s when I could afford fine ingredients and ace wine I came to love it
I agree if cooking has been your family job for decades it will be less pleasing
Walking is the same. My mum had to walk mikes and miles to school from the age of 5-18. It induced a lifelong hatred of walking in her. She cannot understand people who go hiking for pleasure
Agree, I took the skills my mum taught me and then added in a whole bunch of western techniques and flavours as well as East Asian flavours that my mum could never master. This evening we had my sister's family over and I made karahi chicken, rice(!), fresh naan, lamb sheek kebabs, chicken tikka skewers and a tomato/carrot spicy chutney. My mum is vegetarian and wouldn't know how to do any of it but it's the skills she taught me that mean I know how to combine Indian flavours.
Even my sister said it was as good as what I consider the UK's best authentic Indian restaurant.
It’s an art form, Indian cookery. The most demanding of the four great cuisines, but also the rewarding, when you get it right.
I fiercely dispute “four”
I count at least eight or even nine
Chinese Japanese Thai Indian Italian French Spanish Mexican And - controversially - Georgian
With several other contenders battling for a place: Turkish, Lebanese, Moroccan, Malay
Traditionally it’s four greats: Indian, Italian, French, Chinese
But, it probably isn’t four, really.
Agree with your list (but have never had Georgian).
American barbecue Caribbean
Two potential additions to argue about all night long
American is a weird one. It’s added so much food to the global cookbook - hamburgers to fried chicken - yet it is almost too varied to be called a cuisine. Plus it has made food a lot worse in some ways
There’s also that whole Eastern European/Russian pickles and herrings and pierogi cuisine
My criteria are: has to be reliably delicious, has to be noticeably unique and different from its peers, and has to have sufficient variety - to be a great cuisine
I’m content with my list. And now I must go to sleep in Catania. Thanks to Pb for a very entertaining chat and a welcome diversion from Everything Else
Is Argentinian food any good? (since that's where tonight's election is taking place)
Bland, good beef cooked over fire though. But it can get a bit much if you're there for longer than a couple of weeks IMO. Mexico has the best Latino food, then Peru.
Switzerland 2023 General Election - National Council
with all 200 seats decided
National Council
Swiss People's Party 28.55% 62 +9 compared with 2019 Social Democratic Party 17.95% 41 +2 The Centre 14.57% 29 +29 The Liberals 14.38% 28 −1 Green Party 9.38% 23 −5 Green Liberal Party 7.24% 10 −6 Evangelical People's Party 1.87% 2 −1 Federal Democratic Union 1.18% 2 +1 Swiss Party of Labour 0.69% 0 −1 Ticino League 0.53% 1 0 Geneva Citizens' Movement 0.49% 2 +2 Christian Social Party 0.09% 0 0 Other 3.08% 0 0 Total 200 – Registered voters/turnout 46.6% +1.5%
As a kid, some 35 years ago, our local Chinese takeaway sold “crispy noodles”. These were massive, hot, deep-fried things you ate like crisps. Absolutely glorious. I have never been able to find their like again and believe me I have looked.
I will now refresh this page every two minutes throughout the night in case any PBer knows what I’m on about and where they might be obtained.
Fried noodles, Chow Mein. But you need to have them fresh in the restaurant or they'll be soggy by the time you get home.
Close! But these ones were a lot thicker than chow mein - almost like fast food fries. I wonder whether they were a bizarre speciality of this one takeaway.
Oh I know what you mean, Mein Gow. But you won't find it in a lot of places.
As a kid, some 35 years ago, our local Chinese takeaway sold “crispy noodles”. These were massive, hot, deep-fried things you ate like crisps. Absolutely glorious. I have never been able to find their like again and believe me I have looked.
I will now refresh this page every two minutes throughout the night in case any PBer knows what I’m on about and where they might be obtained.
Fried noodles, Chow Mein. But you need to have them fresh in the restaurant or they'll be soggy by the time you get home.
Close! But these ones were a lot thicker than chow mein - almost like fast food fries. I wonder whether they were a bizarre speciality of this one takeaway.
Oh I know what you mean, Mein Gow. But you won't find it in a lot of places.
My favourite food of all - my go to comfort food - is a really good broth. My mother made a wonderful one and I lived on broth as a student - sometimes padded out with pastina (tiny pasta) and parmesan.
I make a clear broth for our Xmas lunch - (made from proper bones etc slowly) - served with fresh ravioli and Parmesan. Utterly delicious and 2 or 3 servings can really fill you up.
The last 3 days we've had a delicious vegetable and lentil soup made with real homemade stock slowly cooked on the log burner. Scrumptious!
Reading that, I just realised I tried another noodle with a raw fish dish I had on Jeju. Couldn't work out what it was at the time.
Cheonsachae (천사채) - half-transparent noodles made from the jelly-like extract left after steaming kelp, without the addition of grain flour or starch. The taste is bland, so they are generally eaten as a light salad after seasoned or served as a garnish beneath saengseon hoe (sliced raw fish). Cheonsachae has a chewy texture and is low in calories.
Matthew Syed @matthewsyed The gathering storm. China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are working hand in glove to end democracy. And we’re too busy squabbling amongst ourselves
According to the BBC’s Westminster hour “hundreds” “are thought to have died” in an attack on the hospital last Tuesday
Seems one sided by implication
4,650+ Palestinians dead in Gaza since the 7th according to Wikipedia, 14,245 wounded, 1.4 million displaced.
According to wikipedia???????
We have no idea how many have been killed in Gaza. The Gazan Health Ministry have been exposed as blatant liars. They are the only people who are providing figures so far as I know. And even if we knew how many have died we wouldn't know how many have been killed by the Israelis and how many by Hamas and Islamic jihad - either by accident or on purpose.
Matthew Syed @matthewsyed The gathering storm. China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are working hand in glove to end democracy. And we’re too busy squabbling amongst ourselves
... And America is about to elect an anti-democrat just to add to the fun.
There is over a year until the next US election and by then Trump may be in jail if convicted in his criminal trials, the first of which starts next March
With 140 of 200 seats decided [looks like uncounted are in Bern canton]
Swiss People's Party 44 Social Democratic Party 28 The Centre 24 The Liberals 21 Green Party 16 Green Liberal Party 3 Geneva Citizens' Movement 2 Ticino League 1 Liberal Democratic Party Basel-Stadt 1
SSI - these results appear to confirm exit polling showing gains by Swiss People's Party
It looks like the SVP are dominating the Bern Canton results as well.
What I found surprising was turnout which is only about 45%
It's not that surprising, Swiss turnout is always pretty low because they have so many votes. It all just turns into noise eventually. My wife forgot to vote this time. She only remembered at some point today that there was an election on.
I think also the fact that the makeup of the national government changes only rarely is a factor too, alongside the fact that the cantons have a degree of power, plus all the referendums.
Matthew Syed @matthewsyed The gathering storm. China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are working hand in glove to end democracy. And we’re too busy squabbling amongst ourselves
... And America is about to elect an anti-democrat just to add to the fun.
There is over a year until the next US election and by then Trump may be in jail if convicted in his criminal trials, the first of which starts next March
So no exit polls released and we might not get any results until 1am UK time I think like Poland, results might be released in big blocks rather than a live count.
Fwiw, what the campaigns are supposedly saying:
- Milei: "We won with 36%, Massa with 30%, Bullrich 29%."
- Massa: "We are ahead of Milei with around 28%."
- Bullrich: "We will be on the runoff, 36% for Massa, 29% for Bullrich."
My gut feel is it will be a Milei-Massa runoff, with Milei to win - latest BF prices are Milei 1.2, Massa 3.45, Bullrich 9.2 .
Turnout was 74% which apparently is the lowest for a presidential election since 1983.
The good news is that after a hectic week of elections (New Zealand, Poland, Mid Beds, Tamworth, Switzerland, Argentina), that's almost it for the year, with just a potential Argentina 2nd round on 19 Nov and Netherlands on 22 Nov to come.
We have found a new division in British politics. Pathetic Remoaner rice snobs still wanking away with washing their stupid rice for sixteen hours and then wondering why everyone thinks they’re boring, and chic suave Leaver Tilda microwave rice people who chuck it in the micro for 2 minutes leaving time for excellent sex with multiple partners
So these are my options? Washing rice or sex with multiple partners? Sheez.
There are clubs in Soho where you can do both at once.
By 51% to 49% Americans aged 18 to 24 think the attacks by Hamas against Israel can be justified by the grievances of Palestinians.
Not surprising really since they've had an education focusing much more on the benefits of decolonisation than on the history of antisemitism in the Islamic world.
So no exit polls released and we might not get any results until 1am UK time I think like Poland, results might be released in big blocks rather than a live count.
Fwiw, what the campaigns are supposedly saying:
- Milei: "We won with 36%, Massa with 30%, Bullrich 29%."
- Massa: "We are ahead of Milei with around 28%."
- Bullrich: "We will be on the runoff, 36% for Massa, 29% for Bullrich."
My gut feel is it will be a Milei-Massa runoff, with Milei to win - latest BF prices are Milei 1.2, Massa 3.45, Bullrich 9.2 .
Turnout was 74% which apparently is the lowest for a presidential since 1983.
Matthew Syed @matthewsyed The gathering storm. China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are working hand in glove to end democracy. And we’re too busy squabbling amongst ourselves
... And America is about to elect an anti-democrat just to add to the fun.
There is over a year until the next US election and by then Trump may be in jail if convicted in his criminal trials, the first of which starts next March
So?
He will run from jail.
He's told us that.
It is perfectly possible Congress and Biden will pass legislation prohibiting a presidential run from jail by that date. Not to mention polls show even most Republicans wouldn't vote for Trump if he was in jail
Matthew Syed @matthewsyed The gathering storm. China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are working hand in glove to end democracy. And we’re too busy squabbling amongst ourselves
... And America is about to elect an anti-democrat just to add to the fun.
There is over a year until the next US election and by then Trump may be in jail if convicted in his criminal trials, the first of which starts next March
So?
He will run from jail.
He's told us that.
It is perfectly possible Congress and Biden will pass legislation prohibiting a presidential run from jail by that date. Not to mention polls show even most Republicans wouldn't vote for Trump if he was in jail
I think this is actually a partial vote count - but not sure how big it is, and it might be rather unofficial or leaked even, I think from one of the parties, but another set of numbers from another party has similar figures.
But these early unofficial leaked results would have to be very wrong for it not to be Milei v Massa in the runoff.
Matthew Syed @matthewsyed The gathering storm. China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are working hand in glove to end democracy. And we’re too busy squabbling amongst ourselves
... And America is about to elect an anti-democrat just to add to the fun.
There is over a year until the next US election and by then Trump may be in jail if convicted in his criminal trials, the first of which starts next March
So?
He will run from jail.
He's told us that.
It is perfectly possible Congress and Biden will pass legislation prohibiting a presidential run from jail by that date. Not to mention polls show even most Republicans wouldn't vote for Trump if he was in jail
This is the US Congress where the GOP holds the House, right?
Ready to be proved wrong, but I'll be absolutely amazed if that happens.
Get a 60ml measure (¼ of a metric cup) and scoop out one measure per person of dry rice.
Put in a pot and completely cover with water. Stir all the rice for 30 seconds. Leave for 2 mins.
Pour the milky water away. Rinse with clean water and pour it away.
For every scoop of rice you put in, put 1½ scoops of water in the pot, so for two people, two scoops of rice and 3 of water.
Heat until it boils. Put a lid on the pot. Turn off the heat.
Leave for 30 mins. DO NOT REMOVE THE LID because the pot is acting like a steamer.
After 30 mins, remove the lid and serve. It might need fluffing with a spoon or fork, but that is rice for you.
I mean, lol
I find it hard to believe people are still doing this. Given how good microwave rice is - which takes TWO MINUTES and is perfect every time. And I can get whole grain basmati with wild rice for crunch. But bravo
That reminded me of one of those parody tweets where they say “it really is that simple” at the end, after talking about something deliberately convoluted
Matthew Syed @matthewsyed The gathering storm. China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are working hand in glove to end democracy. And we’re too busy squabbling amongst ourselves
Matthew Syed @matthewsyed The gathering storm. China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are working hand in glove to end democracy. And we’re too busy squabbling amongst ourselves
... And America is about to elect an anti-democrat just to add to the fun.
There is over a year until the next US election and by then Trump may be in jail if convicted in his criminal trials, the first of which starts next March
So?
He will run from jail.
He's told us that.
It is perfectly possible Congress and Biden will pass legislation prohibiting a presidential run from jail by that date. Not to mention polls show even most Republicans wouldn't vote for Trump if he was in jail
That wouldn't help as it's a constitutional right to run for president.
The snag for Trump would be if he's locked up in a jurisdiction that doesn't allow felons to vote.
Matthew Syed @matthewsyed The gathering storm. China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are working hand in glove to end democracy. And we’re too busy squabbling amongst ourselves
... And America is about to elect an anti-democrat just to add to the fun.
There is over a year until the next US election and by then Trump may be in jail if convicted in his criminal trials, the first of which starts next March
So?
He will run from jail.
He's told us that.
It is perfectly possible Congress and Biden will pass legislation prohibiting a presidential run from jail by that date. Not to mention polls show even most Republicans wouldn't vote for Trump if he was in jail
That wouldn't help as it's a constitutional right to run for president.
The snag for Trump would be if he's locked up in a jurisdiction that doesn't allow felons to vote.
There is no constitutional right to run for President from jail
Matthew Syed @matthewsyed The gathering storm. China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are working hand in glove to end democracy. And we’re too busy squabbling amongst ourselves
... And America is about to elect an anti-democrat just to add to the fun.
There is over a year until the next US election and by then Trump may be in jail if convicted in his criminal trials, the first of which starts next March
So?
He will run from jail.
He's told us that.
It is perfectly possible Congress and Biden will pass legislation prohibiting a presidential run from jail by that date. Not to mention polls show even most Republicans wouldn't vote for Trump if he was in jail
This is the US Congress where the GOP holds the House, right?
Ready to be proved wrong, but I'll be absolutely amazed if that happens.
Most of the US House has even voted against Trump's nominee for Speaker
Comments
Seems one sided by implication
There’s also that whole Eastern European/Russian pickles and herrings and pierogi cuisine
My criteria are: has to be reliably delicious, has to be noticeably unique and different from its peers, and has to have sufficient variety - to be a great cuisine
I’m content with my list. And now I must go to sleep in Catania. Thanks to Pb for a very entertaining chat and a welcome diversion from Everything Else
The cliches are true
with all 200 seats decided
National Council
Swiss People's Party 28.55% 62 +9 compared with 2019
Social Democratic Party 17.95% 41 +2
The Centre 14.57% 29 +29
The Liberals 14.38% 28 −1
Green Party 9.38% 23 −5
Green Liberal Party 7.24% 10 −6
Evangelical People's Party 1.87% 2 −1
Federal Democratic Union 1.18% 2 +1
Swiss Party of Labour 0.69% 0 −1
Ticino League 0.53% 1 0
Geneva Citizens' Movement 0.49% 2 +2
Christian Social Party 0.09% 0 0
Other 3.08% 0 0
Total 200 –
Registered voters/turnout 46.6% +1.5%
Couldn't work out what it was at the time.
Cheonsachae (천사채) - half-transparent noodles made from the jelly-like extract left after steaming kelp, without the addition of grain flour or starch. The taste is bland, so they are generally eaten as a light salad after seasoned or served as a garnish beneath saengseon hoe (sliced raw fish). Cheonsachae has a chewy texture and is low in calories.
Definitely chewy.
Matthew Syed
@matthewsyed
The gathering storm. China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are working hand in glove to end democracy. And we’re too busy squabbling amongst ourselves
https://twitter.com/matthewsyed/status/1716025133599453693
... And America is about to elect an anti-democrat just to add to the fun.
We have no idea how many have been killed in Gaza. The Gazan Health Ministry have been exposed as blatant liars. They are the only people who are providing figures so far as I know. And even if we knew how many have died we wouldn't know how many have been killed by the Israelis and how many by Hamas and Islamic jihad - either by accident or on purpose.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/67189998
He will run from jail.
He's told us that.
Fwiw, what the campaigns are supposedly saying:
- Milei: "We won with 36%, Massa with 30%, Bullrich 29%."
- Massa: "We are ahead of Milei with around 28%."
- Bullrich: "We will be on the runoff, 36% for Massa, 29% for Bullrich."
My gut feel is it will be a Milei-Massa runoff, with Milei to win - latest BF prices are Milei 1.2, Massa 3.45, Bullrich 9.2 .
Turnout was 74% which apparently is the lowest for a presidential election since 1983.
The good news is that after a hectic week of elections (New Zealand, Poland, Mid Beds, Tamworth, Switzerland, Argentina), that's almost it for the year, with just a potential Argentina 2nd round on 19 Nov and Netherlands on 22 Nov to come.
By 51% to 49% Americans aged 18 to 24 think the attacks by Hamas against Israel can be justified by the grievances of Palestinians.
Not surprising really since they've had an education focusing much more on the benefits of decolonisation than on the history of antisemitism in the Islamic world.
presidential run from jail by
that date. Not to mention polls show even most
Republicans wouldn't vote for
Trump if he was in jail
🔵 Massa 36,7%
🟣 Milei 30%
🟠 Bullrich 22,4%
🟤 Schiaretti 7,2%
🔴 Bregman 3,7%
https://x.com/electo_mania/status/1716231591129731427
But these early unofficial leaked results would have to be very wrong for it not to be Milei v Massa in the runoff.
BF odds now Milei 1.5, Massa 1.82, Bullrich 22
Ready to be proved wrong, but I'll be absolutely amazed if that happens.
The snag for Trump would be if he's locked up in a jurisdiction that doesn't allow felons to vote.