h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My quinoa-stuffed peppers recipe is already on http://flamingpiecafe.com, about 3 entries down.

Mace - it's the lacy, yellow covering of the nutmeg pod. It's flavour is similar - but different. The traditional way to use it is in potted shrimps, but it also goes very well as an ingredient in garam masala. (Hint: get a spare electric coffee grinder for making fresh curry powders and Garam Masala. It will change your life!)

This week, we didn't so much cook well as shop well. I stopped at my favourite Asian supermarket on Friday, which likes to cater for various immigrant communities. I got frozen falafels (Syrian - makes a change not having to buy Israeli, Tahini, Halva, lots of A3100168 - and some Lavash - a thin, oval-shaped Iranian bread, about a meter long.

Tonight I'm planning on a barley risotto (strictly speaking, an 'orzalano' with dark mushrooms and green cabbage. Great comfort food.

I wasn't aware that they were related, chemically. I've never had any Mexican food which contained mace. Maybe the officers you were speaking with were thinking that *pepper* spray might not work as well because of all the peppers found in Mexican food. It doesn't sound likely to be true- but I'll reserve judgement till I check some facts.

Wherever I go, I leave confusion in my wake.

Right...the mace as in the spray is named after the big bashy thing that knights of old used to hit each other with. It contains the chemical 'capsicain', derived from chilli peppers. As far as I'm aware, it has nothing to do with the spice mace, and mace (neither spice nor spray) are not a common ingredient in Meckskin food.

I'm fairly sure the 'Mexicans are immune to mace' story must be an urban myth. You wouldn't want chilli in your eyes, would you? I suspect there's a hint of 'These guys are so crazy that even Mace won't stop them!' A 2nd Amendment thing.

Prolly...

According to this: http://www.crimedoctor.com/self_defense_1.htm, a 15% concentration pepper spray is rated at 2 Milion Scoville units - compared with 80,000 - 300,000 Scovilles for a habanero/ Scotch bonnet.

Maan...imagine getting some on your a$$!

I've had pepper spray in my eyes before- bought one of those little keychain canisters they sell for "personal safety", and had it backfire while performing the monthly test... needless to say, I chucked it after that. Personal safety, my a$$!

It burns like a mother.

I've not experienced pepper spray - which is illegal over here - but I did once catch a whiff of CS gas, during my enforced military training as a teenager. Nasty stuff, but not as bad as something else I experienced as a teenager - spraying aftershave on my b***s.

On a separate topic - and totally irrelevent to Recipes...another reason for you to rent Alan Partridge...he DJs for Radio Norfolk, which is sort of where you've visited, isn't it? So you might get the cultural references.

UK GPs use various abbreviations in their patients' notes. Amongst my favourites are:
TEETH - Tried Everything Else, Try Homeopathy
and
NFN - Normal For Norfolk

I will check out Alan Partridge if I can find him (although whether or not the brief visits I made will help me get the cultural references is another issue- I had a very antisocial host, unfortunately, and an unpleasant stay on both occasions).

I can imagine what it felt like to spray after shave on your b***s (presumably after shaving them?). I've had a somewhat similar experience myself, also involving the nether regions.

Although the worst thing ever to happen to my pubes was knocking a candle into my lap while nude... don't ask.

And I think I should quit discussing pubes on my "recipe" thread.

Well I am origionally from just over the border of Norfolk, in Suffolk... its a very odd part of the country went to the farm shop earlier got in some more food and now I'm totally bl blank as to what to make for dinner... Got more sweet potatos so I'm tempted to do more crhisps with them, or sweetpotato chips and I've some sausages I got which would probably go with either of those Though my slightly mor ehehealth conscious side keeps trying to make me do something with the other vegetables, celery, onion red pepper garlic and mushrooms, which I also ahve in which way to go < also got more pickling onions today, and now the house stinks of onions they'l be ready to bottle up tomorrow look really good ones as they are ultra small little onions so I think they might be even better than the first batch i made with the somewhat too big onions Ooo all this talk of spices I'm tempted to try and concoct something a bit spicey myself ... Though I did eat spicey hot food last night so maybe something differnt for a change

I've always found that the little onions pickeld more nicely than the big ones.

Except for the cucumber salad I used to make... though it's not really a pickle. It's just sliced cucumbers, sliced onion, white vinegar, and fresh dill. One can mix in a bit of sour cream before serving, too.

Tonight's dinner was leftover stuffed squash.

We had a door-to-door s**t salesman come round last night. I bought four big bags, and he threw in another for free.

Guess I'll have to get the veg plot dug now.

Jeez, did he come around wif a big wheelbarra?

Or quite handily stashed in nearby vehicle? He musta had the gift of the gab - I can't imagine a salesman getting past your front door Ed, never mind getting you to check out stuff in the back of his whatever

It was a white van, obviously. What other kind?

Good well-rotted stuff it is, too.

Did I ever mention the time I took part in the Ottawa Firemen's Christmas Parade? My job was to 'follow the horses' dressed as a clown.

>My job was to 'follow the horses' dressed as a clown<



Can you collect fresh horse poo for gardening use, or does it need to be treated/cured first to become manure? I don't think zoning ordinances here allow for manure (if we had a garden in our yard, which we don't anyway, but I digress...), I wonder about mulching...

Isn't it appetizing how my recipe thread has spiralled into anecdotes about genitals and poo?

Yes, you can use fresh horseshit. You can also get a rotted mixture of shit and straw from farms.



Q What has one wheel and flies?
A A wheelbarrow full of manure.

"Do you put soot or manure on your rhubarb?"
"Manure"
"That's funny - I put custard on mine!"

Q What is brown and sounds like a bell?
A Dung.

There's pie in them thar hills!

I've just posted another recipe here: http://flamingpiecafe.blogspot.com (remember and click 'refresh' to make sure you've got the latest one)

for the update. Awesome stuff! I'm gonna try making some risotto from scratch one day soon.

"Excuse me, but someone's shoved a big knob in my barley!"

Made a quinoa pilaf last Sunday, with green peas and carrots, and a big knob of butter. I was quite pleased with how it turned out. I'll be making a lot more "Food of the Hippies", moving forward. I can't believe I'd missed out on it for all these years.

You spotted that one, then.

It was the italic bit at the very end that got a big out of me when I first read it.

ing this thread back up for Terri...

This morning I made my specialty omelet:

freshly grated ginger
fresh lemon grass
few cloves fresh garlic, mashed
handful coarsely chopped fresh cilantro (coriander leaves)
four green onions, sliced
four jalapenos, seeded and sliced

Sautee the herbs, onion, and chilies in a little olive oil. When they're slightly tender, add four lightly whisked eggs. Completely cover the herb mixure with egg, and sprinkle the top with curry powder. Cover, and simmer on low heat till eggs are firm.

We had ours with garlic naan and Major Gray chutney.

I do the same, only without the lemongrass, with cumin and mustard seeds, and sometimes with a diced tomato. And I don't necessarily use jalapenos. Sometimes bullet chillis, sometimes a thin, straggly kind.