Heat 2 ltrs. full-cream milk to 100deg.. Stir in 1/2 tsp. of citric acid [or try tartaric acid or even vinegar]. the mix must coagulate into curds and whey, [ if not, reheat and add more acid]. Leave aside for 12 hours. Scoop out the curds into muslin [or sterile Chux], Hang over a bowl in frig for a few hours. DONE! I've made this only twice and find it quite bland, but fried its very nice. Good for use in recipes like tiramasu, and can be mixed with cream. For a hard cheese, put the curds in a mould and press with a weight [tin of beans?], and store at 12deg. for as long as you wish...but turn and clean every 3 or 4 days. If you want to get professional and use proper starter culture and rennet, the only supplier I know is in N.Z. [quick and cheap service]. Using above recipe will give cheese a slight acidic taste. I have found an excellent addition is honey and salt [ but do not use table salt...use cooking salt]. If you made the yoghurt from my previous recipe, or if you have excess store-bought, you can make an even easier yoghurt cheese. Mix 1tsp. salt in 1kg plain yoghurt, pour into muslin, let drain in frig for 2 days. DONE! Maybe roll in chives, herbs, paprika etc. You can marinate these cheeses in oil and keep in frig around 3 mths. EXPERIMENT and have FUN.
Saturday 31 January 2015
Thursday 29 January 2015
WHEN THE RIGHT IS IN THE WRONG.
Day 5 and the media is still pumping us full of the cataclism that will befall the country because Prince Phil got knighted. Here's the real nasty bit..... the right-wing commentators to a man/woman have condemned the PM's appointment for their own grubby ends. Oh! the criticism per se is fine but some of us are not fooled. You see folks, every now and then, conservative media voices need badly to be seen as non-biased, to be seen to arc up against their pin-ups, to appear totally independant and even-handed. In this case they have hung their hats on an issue of trivia and they know full-well that the next zephyr of political import will blow those hats to oblivion, never to be remembered when the next election is around the corner. BUT, they can always claim: hey! didn't we lead the criticism against the PM. This is reverse dialectics!! Another recent example is the Bikie clubs donating to the LNP to make a very salient point. Another is: the Chinese communist politburo setting up a phoney Catholic hierarchy. I"m not the dill these commentators want me to be. SHAME on you.....Andrew Bolt, Alan Jones, Janet Albrechtson, Miranda Devine et al. Tell it like it really is...a touch of trivia that has merely rushed in to fill the vacuum of a sparse news cycle.
Tuesday 27 January 2015
MARRIAGE should be happy but NOT GAY.
To add to the previous post on "gay marriage", [click the article from Crisis magazine]: gays do not have a "right" to marry under any natural law or otherwise. It is becoming a very common mistake to claim "rights" to this, that, and the other. What gays have a right to is the right to protest, petition and persuade, i.e., the right to seek a change in legislative law. They have no rights to something that is deemed not lawful. They do have a right to seek a change to the law. I say "common mistake" as all and sundry seem to claim a right to do what suits in our present social milieu. E.G., claiming the right to voice an opinion! In fact, no such right exists without qualification: one cannot voice an opinion if it is calumnous, slanderous, racist, sexist or a clear lie. However, all have a clear right to any view, but at times that view ought not be voiced. This is basically what the A.G. meant when he said we all have a right to be bigots [but it may well be illegal to give voice to one's bigotry].
ART Vs CRAFT
The term ART has become confused over time with colloquial usage. E.G., an "art" exhibition displays paintings and/or sculptures but the fine arts encompass dance, music, plays, story-telling, poetry, painting, sculpture and occasionally items that are, over time, elevated from "craft". The difference may be arbitrary but, I would argue, is not down to "the eye of the beholder", as though an individual can decide on a personal whim what is ART and what is CRAFT. It is quite possibly a truism that "beauty" is in the eye of the beholder. But beauty is not a pre-requisite of art [e.g. the paintings of El Grecko], nor of craft [tribal war/death masks]. But there well may be some validity in claiming that true art is often determined as such by the many eyes of many beholders over time, which principle in no way concedes to the notion of the individual "eye". So what are some of the differences between art and craft? Craft is predominately an object and remains so, although there are exceptions like say, juggling or acting or whip-cracking. Essentially, a craft is utilitarian.Art is not, [not to say that art is useless, far from it], but craft is distinguishable by its functionality. ART affects the many, pertains to and contributes to culture, is emotive, value-laden and societal. Art is determined as such generally by a collective philosophical determination and acceptance, usually over time. Craft is obvious and immediately accepted for what it is and its purpose is obvious. Art can often be attributed a moral value. Craft has no morality. Consider examples. The Sistine Chapel, Brahm's concerto and Swan Lake would certainly have been considered admirable at first, but nobody would argue decades later that they are not art. Such things point mankind to matters beyond the mundane. The writings of Shakespeare and Dickens contributed to actual culture change. Early religious paintings leave society with a record of its religious development. When a primitive society had no alphabet [written], to pass on knowledge and advance its culture it used rock-art, which is one of those examples of craft elevated to art. Mankind would be far more beastial without art. What is or is not art is not determined by an individual's likes or dislikes. One may dislike classical music, hate the Mona Lisa or be repulsed by a Caravaggio but one's opinion does not disqualify art from being art. In a similar way, I happen to "love" the Valiant Torque Flite among cars and the Spitfire airplane gives me goosebumps but I could not class them as art. I do not like Andy Warhol's art, but it is art. And I venture to claim that, for all the reasons given so far, the post-terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo will one day class those cartoons as ART. The eye determines beauty, not what is art.
Wednesday 14 January 2015
DEAR MOHHOMED [ C.C. Jesus Josephson ].
Dear Sir, Your followers have had to put up with some insults in recent times and they have reacted by killing people around the world, e.g. Sydney, Paris, Iraq, Africa etc., including the kidnapping of 200 schoolgirls and the butchering of a lot of kids in their classroom. Let me tell you about my society, a largely Christian one. We have had art exhibitions depicting rude insults to the Mother of Christ, artwork entitled "The Piss Christ" and so on. We have a satyrical TV show by "the Chasers" which demean everything religious, spiritual or of a value that we hold up as dear and noble. We have a main-stream media that impunes rightiousness. While your followers want laws banning such things, we don't have them nor even seek them. Do you know why? Its because we are above petty insults. Our values are not shaken by this psuedo-comedy or partial commentary. We are too strong in our values, our psyche and determination to stay free. Sure we have hiccups. The man who is now our P.M. saw to it that an opponent called Pauline Hanson was sent to gaol on a technicality because her views were too popular. Then a political commentator called Chris Kenny was cartooned having sex with - I think a pig with the PM's face - for which he sought private redress in the courts. Then another commentator was prosecuted for highlighting that some folk on Aboriginal welfare were more European than indigenous [ and found guilty too ]. Yes we have hiccups. Mind you, satyrists like the Chasers and others are careful not to demean gays, Aboriginals or Greenpeace, Green pollies, satanists, bikies, climate proponents et al.. [They don't even demean you and your kind]. No sir, we even laugh along with those who make fun of us and our values, simply because such carry-on has no fundamental influence. After all, Jesus is hardly going to curl up in a foetal position because somebody painted a profane picture of him. We have a - rather hackneyed - saying that could even be as old as you: Sticks and stones....etc.
Tuesday 13 January 2015
SECRET BIKIE BUSINESS.
Ask Siri to tell you where the nearest abortion clinic is...she won't. Ask predictive speller to write "fuck" and it won't. A moral law is being applied here, while abortion and swearing do not break legislative law. In the reverse, Catholic law does not prohibit the theft of food to a starving person, but under state legislation that person will be prosecuted. The fact at work here is that there is a moral or natural law and a legislative law. Sometimes they intersect to either agree or contradict. Great problems here as exemplified by Jesuischarlie: Hebdo contravene a moral law but not a legislative law, hence the assassins believe moral law comes first, so the following is offered in good faith. Enter Newman's LNP bikie association laws, [love the name "disestablishment act"....personally I'm into antiredisestablishmentarianism ]. Forget [for mine], any U.N. human rights treaties [only because I have personal problems with the U.N.], for they are not needed here. It would seem to be a natural and moral law that humans have a right to associate with others; in fact that doesn't have to be legislated for. But the LNP have done just that .... by legislating against associating with a certain group, the general population is being told by law with whom they can associate. This absolutely has to be a contradiction and arbitrary quashing of a natural law. The dictum of: "if you are not doing anything wrong then you have nothing to fear", [as arguably applies to CCTV monitoring], has no application here because it criminalises normal and even admirable everyday activities. A hundred scenarios could be given where innocents will accidentally break these laws, but they will be guilty nevertheless. How the heck does anyone know who will be at the neighbours birthday party? This has to be said: yes, at times we need extreme laws to protect the population, such as anti-terror laws, curfews in an emergency and so on. But bikies are simply maladjusted throwbacks who profess a peurile code of anarchy, hate for rival clubs, hatred of cops, pronounce the death penalty on any who hurt family, produce and distribute substances that could kill our kids, are into weapons, racketeering and so on. They are stupid and misguided more than evil. They are les of a danger to the populace than paedophile priests, extremist moslems, con men, serial killers and rapists, maniac drivers, fast-food chains, ciggy companies, asbestos producers and banks. So no, this is not written in their defense. It is written in the defence of moral law and as an ALERT to the thin edge of the wedge of Totalitarianism . And I haven't even gone on about bikie's relegation of women, [we don't even need to ask, "relegated to what?" because categorising women is sufficient. Nor have I gone on about their suppression of the individuality of each soul for conformism or conformity to their many childish mores and rules. That grown men need immediate approbation of the group numbers under the banner of demons [hell's angels] or barbarians [mongols] and so on is more of a danger to themselves than to society. Outlaws, so self-styled can be dealt with by the organisation society has instituted for its freedom from harm, that's spelled c-o-p-s. Totalitarian laws are a heinous over-reaction. THE CONUNDRUM: I'm happy to harangue all voters in any election. Why? Because we all too often vote to the criterium...What's in it for moi? Rather, shouldn't we temper this with what may be good for our community at large. So yes, the Queensland Opposition has promised to repeal these laws, but Queensland voters must ask; which mob will do the best for the state. I don't envy them.
Friday 9 January 2015
EASY-PEASY and CHEAP YOGHURT.
NO SPECIAL EQUIPMENT NEEDED: 1 litre milk, bring almost to the boil; let cool to 40deg. [or blood temp such as you would test for a baby's bath. Add 2tabs natural yoghurt [store-bought or saved from your last batch]. pour into a thermos and let set overnight. Decant and refrigerate up to 10 days. BINGO! One-third the cost. TIP: For a Greek-style thicker type, buy a good pot-set thick brand like Mundella. [Cornflour or gelatine can be used to thicken, if thats your go]. TIP: For a sweet yoghurt, add sugar or sweetener before heating. TIP: Make it yummy by adding good amount of vanilla before heating. TIP: Bits of fruit can be added but ensure not to use too much juice, and don't let the temp. drop. TIP: While a thermos and sugar thermometer are ideal, they are not vital, especially in warmer weather when the saucepan will remain warm overnight. If not using a thermos, wrap the saucepan in foil then a towel. TIP: Ensure all utensils are sterile and DRY, as any soapy residue will kill the useful bacteria as will too much heat, [While if too cool, the bacteria will not grow].
Monday 5 January 2015
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