Lentil Soup of the Week
If ever there was a sign that Abbott the Rarebit will never strut the world stage as a leader of anything, it would have to be his utterly uncalled for and ungracious remark about Julia Gillard on her 50th. ‘I wish her a happy birthday but…….. I am not sure she will have many more years as Australia’s PM”, followed by his very best and very special condescending sneer.
He just couldn’t leave that last remark out, could he? How silly and utterly telling of a small man no matter how often or how big he prances around in his speedos or hops from the bicycle.
Then there is the opposite; Julian Burnside making an apology to Tony Abbott for the words ‘Paedos in Speedos’, a remark he claims to have heard on a BBC comedy. A twitter Gaffe, apparently. It’s all becoming very edgy lately.
Last but not least, a real cruncher on all world markets again, despite Europe promising to not let Greece go into faillissement, the markets are continuing their downward path . Finland is vehemently opposed to bailing out Greece. Is Europe now doing a US and print billions in order to stave off the inevitable?
Last but not least (again), the supermarkets are continuing their downward spiral as well, in rubbish food that is. The ready- made sauces, the instant noodles, the shelves groaning with all sorts of pre-digested sugar, salt and fat items. I saw cheese in a tube today! Just as a challenge for you piglets, try and find dried lentils.
In the US, a voluntary set of nutritional standards on food was put into place together with information for shoppers to help make up their minds. It looked good but did not work. Which stressed mother/father has the time to read about kilo-joules or carbon hydrates on every item? Of course, when the setting of standards was left to those that profit from killer food items, it did not take long when Frooty Loops were found to be on the list of ‘high nutritional value’. It all came to nothing.
Anyway, the time for lentils might well be upon us. We will all start to lose weight and regain what was here before the Age of Aquarius.
Window Dresser's Arms, Pig & Whistle 
who needs to get saved today in nepal? RayConder@hotmail.com
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Blue-tongued Lizard Habitat And Life Cycle
Blue-tongues occur across most of Australia. They like open country with lots of cover like tall grasses, leaf litter, rocks and logs, low shrubs etc. under which they will shelter at night. (They also like burrows).
During the day they sun themselves until they are warm enough, and then they forage for food during the warmer parts of the day.
Blue-tongue lizards live alone for most of the year. It’s only during the mating season between September and November that the male will pursue females (and fight other males). Mating is a rough affair and many females carry scars from the male’s teeth…
Female blue tongues stay within a defined home base. The males wander over an area the size of about 15 house blocks and have several females. (Does something sound familiar here or what?)
Blue tongues are born alive, about three to five month after mating. From the moment they are born they have to look for food themselves (they start by eating the placenta), and they will be off on their own within a few days.
The Common Blue-tongue Lizard has the largest litter (up to 25 young at once) and the smallest young. The baby blue-tongue lizards are 13 to 14 cm long and weigh 10 to 20 g. The Shingleback is at the other end of the scale with only two or three young, about 22 cm in size and weighing 200 g.
The Common Blue-tongued Lizard breeds annually, but other species breed only every second year. How often they breed also depends on the amount of food available.
A lucky blue-tongued lizard can live for many years. Lizards in captivity have lived for as long as 20 years, and some in the wild may live for up to 30 years.
The main predators that may cut a blue-tongued lizard’s life short are lawn mowers, cars, and cats and dogs. Cats are the worst. Dogs are often perplexed enough by the blue tongue and the threatening behaviour of the lizard to keep a distance. But cats are ambush predators and the lizard doesn’t get a chance to show its scary tongue…
Baby blue tongues may also end up as dinner for currawongs, kookaburras, raptors or snakes.
Blue-tongued lizards can drop their tails if necessary to escape a predator. The stump will heal quickly and a new tail will start to grow. It takes about a year for the new one to fully regenerate. That’s if the lizard has a stable food source. All the food and water reserves are stored in the tail. If the tail is lost the skink has nothing to fall back on and needs a steady supply.
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Blue Tongues In Your Garden
Blue-tongue lizards are an asset in the garden as they keep the numbers of snails, caterpillars and other pests down.
It’s not hard to make your garden blue-tongue lizard friendly. All they need is plenty of shelter and food. If you have lots of rocks and logs on the ground, piles of leaves, mulch, ground covers and low shrubs, then you are taking care of both requirements. Because beetles, spiders, snails and other critters will like the many moist and protected hidey-holes too.
The quickest way to wipe out your blue-tongue lizard population is to use snail pellets. Blue tongues love snails and can’t go past them. The lizards eat the poisoned snails and die as well. The snail population will recover, the lizard population won’t. (It’s a typical scenario that replays over and over again wherever people use chemicals to control pests.) Leave the snail control to the lizards, they will eventually catch up. Don’t panic if you see a few snails. You need a few or the blue tongues will go hungry.
The other thing to be careful of is blue tongue lizards hiding in the grass when you are mowing. The noise will not scare them away. Rather they will turn around and threaten the lawn mower with their blue tongue, which in this case is somewhat ineffective.
Keep your cat indoors (which you should anyway), teach your dog to share its food (a good poke in the ribs whenever it looks in a lizard’s direction has worked well in this household), and of course, don’t run your blue tongue lizard over on your driveway while it tries to get warm enouough.
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Jolly good show. 100 posts.
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Well, our regular was female, as it got obviously pregnant, so they seem to have got that bit right. I wouldn’t pay too much attention to the bit about them dealing with all the snails though. Never worked here anyway. My grandmother’s remedy was sending out the kids in the drizzle to chuck the snails in a bucket of salt water.
They also sound way too optimistic about dogs.
An open compost heap is good for them if you have a corner where you can hide it. I stopped adding fruit/vegies to mine because of rats but leaves and grass clippings attract a lot of worms and bugs over time.
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Well, I do have a large square PVC composter. A Bunnings 2002 special. I bought it over from my other place. I have hesitated about getting it going tyhough. Rats & mice being one of the reasons. We back on to a canal here and there are some around.
Plus, this time I have gone for organic soil and Horse-shit. So it could be redundant.
Garage sale coming up, methinks. 8ft pool table n’all!!! Complete with racks & cues.
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Je ne peux pas attendre pour obtenir ma tondeuse à courir sur une fièvre catarrhale du mouton[ I support Australian wildlife]
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Tooute a l’heure.
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Oui[No]
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I can’t post underneath your posts. So it’s all out of sinc. But let’s leave on an upbeat note.
Cheerio chin chin 😉
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No worries mate, she’ll be right
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Angry Andersomeone is joining The nationals. I have seen him on the news before. I always thought that he was a lefty agitator?
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Nah, latent poofter
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Il est un homme chauve en cuir. Il partage les vues de 1% de la population[Typical National party]
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Hungsie, what is all this… this perpendicularly expressed quasi french?
Are you emulating the speakers-in-tongues paranoids?
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Nah, just having a bit of fun with the translator then putting my own spin on it
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Frightening stuff!
Glad you’re your usual self though Hungsie!
Keep up your good work with the spindle!
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Lizard is still there. It’s only moved about a foot. It’s taking deep breaths, sporadically. 5:57 Qld time.
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Why won’t this post insert higher up?
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We had a whole family of blueys at the old house, and never a snail in sight. WE don’t have so many at the new house, but we have a Water Dragon(s) (it may be one, or may be many that we see one at a time) who, unlike the blueys, is pretty skittish and runs for cover if humans enter the yards.
Had a baby green snake last week, but the previous sighting of a greeny was in the jaws of a kookaburra!
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Big M, saw a Brolga or what looked like a small one out on our walk today, I’ve seen them before not really knowing what they were.
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Cranberry sauce goes well with them 😉
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ah but how should you cook them.
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Ooops, I just realised, ‘dahl’ in your ling is short for mate or summit. Apologies.
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Hermaphrodite, Hung. Maybe?
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Vivipary. this though, according to Wiki.
BTW I had to come up here, because you keep slotting your posts in all over the shop. Showing off your moderatory skills 🙂
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Je veux obtenir un fusil et me brûler la cervelle [ I cannot wait for the joys of tomorrow]
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Le renard brun rapide saute par dessus le chien paresseux [Suicide can be achieved by killing yourself]
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Avec la mort, il est la résolution{ Tomorrow brings another day]
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Il n’ya qu’une seule chose mieux que les lentilles et les lentilles qui est plus [There is only one thing better than lentils and that is more lentils] Old tribal saying
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What’s up?
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Sounds pretty grim to me??
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If’n youse sais so.
Once every 2 months.
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La grenouille sur le rocher utilisations non stéroïdiens anti-inflammatoires[ Go in peace and let us meet in another life time]
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La chèvre dans la cour arrière attend votre plaisir sexuel[ Please enjoy yourself when possible]
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J’ai un gros qui va s’intégrer dans votre groove incroyable[ I like you]
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Le traducteur veut me donner le sexe oral[Situation normal]
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Un oiseau dans la main vaut mieux que deux dans la brousse[Roll over baby]
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Je suis le vicaire de Saint Pauls
Alors que de sonner la cloche clocher
Eh bien, le sol de l’église a pris feu
Ou le couvercle a sauté l’enfer
Dois-je sonner la brigade des pompiers
ou dois-je faire confiance au Seigneur
Bon Dieu, je viens juste de rappeler
Je ne pense pas que nous sommes assurés
Quoi de cela, dit le chef des pompiers
Est-ce C église de E
Il est, alors nous ne pouvons pas le mettre hors
Mes gars sont tous RC
Yes this id the last thing I have to say…….
Until tomorrow
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You sound depressed.
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Yes I am
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Bonsoir, Hung. [While there’s life there’s hope.]
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Il n’ya pas de Catherine espoir, il ya seulement Hung[ Hunky dory, as per usual]
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You do realize that it will be midnight in Sydney 1st? What time is it there Hung?
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9:30 1968
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Sixty eight?
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Okay then 67
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“Fun With French”, the new text for those that would have it said differently.
Pre-press orders are now being taken.
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We all know that the Danes delight in eating lentils for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But they too are now gaining in weight. About 10 % are now considered obese. The Danish Government, with not a moment to lose, are now slamming a tax on fatty food. They know that over-weight people risk their health and it costs money. It might not work in which case they will try something else that will work. The government governs. In the mean time they receive a bit of extra revenue.
Here we have a rate approaching 50% obesity. You would have thought that the billions in extra medical expense created by this epidemic would result in some action, something, anything.. No, we musn’t interfere with the ‘market’. Grown ups make their own choices. They all know about kilojoules, carbon hydrates. If it ain’t broke don’t fix etc… . Latte/chardonnay sippers are ruining the country. . blah… blah
Indeed, they do.
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They should tax all American invented food. However where the real money is–is in a looking tax. I have long been an advocaat* of this.
It can be multi lateral since everyone does it, even the sheilas with Burquas.
Can you imagine this huge fund of cash sloshing around in the world’s economy. It would be a boon for creating some more civil servants to look after it. We could have titanic high-rises, stretching for mile and miles, bulging with busy people, emailing each other & The Drum 😉
*In deference to our Dutch section.
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Laddie,
I don’t mind in the slightest if the govn’t collects taxes even for such trivial things as, say, betting on nags or sneezing, so long as, the amount is sensible, equitable across all levels of wealth and it finally sees itself back int the lives of the contributors in ways these contributors need it: services, such as hospitals, schools, roads and utilities, affordable housing, employment initiatives, etc.
Nor do I mind if the Govn’t employs lots and lots of bureaucrats, so long as they are doing something useful, are not over payed and over pampered and are australian citizens.
The “World” is being fractured at the moment. It was once divided into sovereign geographical entities. The likes Wall St, Fleet St, our streets and the streets of all the other vassal states of the US and UK have begun to unite them all in slavery; and the concoction of the euro was (and, as we speak, still is) an attempt to turn Europe into one pool of slavery also -much like China has done with its pop.
However those attempts, being based on base motives hasn’t quite got there. Its base motives have been found out and its thinly veiled gruesomeness has been detected. So, it’s fraying. Unraveling. Unreveling. Rebels are pulling it apart.
The “world” then is fracturing and I’m not sure if it will end up with all its geographical borders intact (Turkey right now is claiming the whole of Cyprus and many of the islands in the Aegean and Papandreou is making visits to Netanyahou) but fracturing economically it certainly is.
It’s a short, potted, cursory and definitely simplistic look at geopolitics but it’s how I see it, sitting behind my puter screen, watching my TV, talking with people in Greece, the UK, the US, Japan, Box Hill North and Port Melbourne!
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I,m not averse to paying tax. And having it used.
I also accept that mistakes will be made, whether it be on the left or the right. I accept things like the pink bats: I believe that their heart was in the right place: the original intention was nice. I accept that another $100m provisional liability expense has been raised, to now put it right.
Believe me I am not being sarcastic. I accept those mistakes. I believe that The ALP rushes into things with out proper prudence & planning. But that’s just always been my belief, since I discovered it many loooong years ago.
What I hate is the overpaid office workers. There are too many of them and they are inefficient. I’m not referring to teachers (my wife and daughter are those), fireman, nurses, policeman ect ect.
I observed it when I worked for The Ministry of Aviation In London. There are just too many employees, duplicating jobs, but not the work.
They even build buildings to house more. It’s their way. I will not be dissuaded. They don’t see it as waste, because it’s just a never ending gravy train. Straight from the workers, as tax, into the pockets of the uslessers. There is no sense of ‘value for money”. No trading of skills for recompense; just
Look at Greece. Now they are having to make people redundant. People who weren’t doing much anyway, except getting paid. Again exclude the aforementioned teachers firemen ect.
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Apologies, I faded then, on penultimate paragraph. I was trying to think of a clever analogous comment. Art for art’s sake came into my head, but it was inappropriate (the real, French meaning, didn’t fit)–so I left the sentence unfinished.
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“I don’t mind in the slightest if the govn’t collects taxes even for such trivial things as, say, betting on nags or sneezing,”
If only you could have convinced your ex-compatriots of that a decade or so ago. At least that seems to be the sentiment of the rest of Europe towards Greece. French, yes, and Germans, but also various central Europeans that I know personally. The Greeks in Greece have a reputation for not paying tax.
A lot of people believe there is a certain amount of idealism in Europe as a political and financial entity and I agree with them. Has to beat the heck out of the wars that preceded it.
The geographical borders that you mention have never been stable.
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Cameron and Haig were on ABC radio this morning, saying, “I told you so,”.
They want to keep The EU together, but get back some of their power and decision making.
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Evans, the employment minister (I think…I hope), was on ABC thios morning, trying to put a spin on diving manufacturing employment.
He basiclly sounded as if he was talking Swahili, or summit. He appeared bewildered; trotting out Yes Ministerese and platitudes about work in 20 years time.
Now I know that at this point atoblow, you would expect (if I was a lefty), to explode with invective about his ears, or his evil habits and how he will eat babies. However all I can say is that he seems to struggle in his job 🙂
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“The Greeks in Greece have a reputation for not paying tax.”
So do the Italians, the Spanish, the Portuguese, the Irish, the Icelanders, the Poms, the French, the Germans, the aussies (remember the bottom-of-the harbour schemes?) the yanks, (begin with Madoff’s ponzi schemes, go on with enron, the huge military corps…)
the Saudis… But then, ask yourself, “which Greeks, in particular? Which Italians? Which Spaniards…
And then ask the question, “why?” followed by the question why is this the “sentiment” of the rest of Europe? Could it be that the guilty arseholes are desperately looking for scapegoat?
“The geographical borders that you mention have never been stable.”
Quite so, but the past does not have to be the determinate of the future. I repeat, “it doesn’t have to be” If the borders do change again it doesn’t mean that they might change for the same reasons. The yanks and the poms constantly interfere with the borders of other nations. Constantly! Either militarily or economically. (With the aid of their vassal, tributary, client, puppet states and suzerainties, of course!)
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I thought it was the EU being scapegoated. A lot of people think that the USA was pushing for Turkey to be admitted to the EU in order to weigh it down with problems, and that weakening the euro was the reason for Goldman Sachs to cook the books so Greece could be admitted to the Eurozone.
Well, the British Empire was the leading power in the world for a while, then the USA. It’s traditional for leading powers to interfere with borders. Even lesser powers. You seem to have overlooked many other border interfering countries of modern times, the Germans and Russians being the most obvious, and ALL of those of less modern times. Even Poland had a turn at interfering with other countries’ borders at one stage there.
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Just finished Skyping (45mins). Grandson was fascinated by the lizard. He said he’s coming to see it next Saturday…sigh.
They’ve been having warm days 29 yesterday. BBQ, at brother-in-laws today.
Job offer for D-I-Law, at Southampton University; she resigned from her London job, when they relocated. So it’s all happening.
Got through two cups of orange pekoe during Skype, so might go for…water next. Ha ha.
NB: None of that was abstract. That was real 😉
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Lentils are the quintessence of my childhood!
I still remember the drip, drip that they made during the night as they fell from the bush in all the bedrooms of the village house. They are gathered in summer and then hung upside down on a long string up against the wall and left there to dry and to fall into the buckets under them. Delightful stuff. You could get totally mesmerised watching them during the day and drop off to sleep hearing them during the night.
Like I said I’ve never cooked any red or black lentils, just the greenish/brown (browner in Greece for some reason) and so I’ve no idea whether there’s any difference to cooking time. By the feel of them, they seem to be the same.
Cooking them is a bit like cooking pasta. Most Italians will insist on eating the damned thing near raw. I prefer them well cooked. Certainly not mushy but well cooked. Same with the lentils. Taste them around the 20mins mark and if you like them as hard as that, then, Funston’s your uncle. I prefer them to be cooked much more, not only because they get softened but because the whole soup becomes far more flavoursome. The real, the gorgeous flavour of the lentil comes out after a great deal of cooking. Much like its cousin the dried bean. Cook them too little and whilst you might get a crunchy business happening in your mouth, the taste buds would not be too excited.
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Oh, and the next day the soup is even more flavoursome -same with dried beans (generally cooked as a stew)
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Dahl, atomou, dahl.
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Actually, I was jesting of course. Dahl is a fabulous Indian/Paki dish.
The best that I ever had was in Nepal.
I’ll stop, because I have told you this one…….I think.
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Yes, lad, some do prefer it dahl, others would rather have some excitement thrown in.
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I like dahl. But my favourite lentil food is brown lentil salad, made by the mother of my son’s Armenian friend.
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At my house dried beans are generally cooked as minestrone, not stew.
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Actually, you’ve just reminded me, Voice. With the lentils I also add a tbl spoon of tomato puré. The bean stew is done in much the same way but with more tomato puré and with three or four crushed tomatoes. More parsley, too. Potatoes again, a wee bit of pumpkin, perhaps some eggplant, a bit of zucchini, celery, carrots and here you could also add some gahhhlique. Bean stew must be much thicker than lentil soup -one being a stew and the other a soup… dahhhh!
By the way, one might add, sparingly, some lentils in his rice, if one wishes.
The Greek kitchen is a humble one but a bloody flavoursome one!
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And in chilli con carne of course. One of the peasant foods of my childhood.
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Yes I was raised a poor country kid. My parents would put me on a train every Monday to the country and pick me up Friday, Central Station, McWilliams and sarnies
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And if you don’t get the McWilliams reference you ain’t a ….
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Oh, I give up, I’m going for the gun, bye…….
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This does not sound like a genuine atomou recipe. Where are the smoked paprika and ouzo?
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You are right. Cooking them longer improves the taste. Of course, herbs are essential and with a mix of mint and chopped up parsley par for course naturellement. Even better, we squeeze a lemon on top as well. ( a glass of Shiraz)
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MY dwarf beans are growing well, in the horse shit. Green & yellow. Both looking green at the mo.
However you were ‘right’ about one thin Viv. The grass is growing up. I’m getting a dab hand at the lightning hoe and the two fingered pull.
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Some born optimist out our way has small bags of horse poo for sale at the gate for $2.00 each. He’s dreaming. Previous optimists had large bags for 50 cents each. The sign should of course say ‘free horse poo’. The bags will sit there and sit there because nearly everyone in the district has their own horse shit (or cow, or sheep or chicken).
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Just found a blue-tongued lizard, out by the re’cycle bin. It looked a bit squashed, after I moved the bin, oblivious to the lizard. I’ve put un morceau of dog food next to it. maybe it will revive anf partake. that is my dearest wish. I just took a couple of shots and will send them through to Grandson, when we Skype this evening.
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Oh dear. Did you put the recycle bin on top of it and thus squish it? They are tough buggers.
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Can a lizard be “a bit” squashed? It might be pregnant. They tend to look a bit flat then as their bellies spread sideways. But I think that’s usually in the middle of summer, at least down here in Sydney.
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He has moved, but hasn’t touched the dog food. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that he/she is OK. I’ll monitor it and take some more photos of his progress.
Just sent off the pics to grandson. So I have to shoot off to the park, to walk the dogs, to get back in time for the Skype. Then they can get on with their Sunday morning in Hampshire :).
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Didn’t know lizards like dog food. Must look up some info.
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They eat snails, slugs, flowers, fruit and COMPOST. Give our squished one some compost before you head off VL.
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My kids used to feed ours live snails. If you have a vegie patch they will be easy to source unless you use snail bait (death for blue-tongue lizards) or find a successful alternative. We also inadvertently fed it strawberries by growing a few in a pot. There must have been more than one bluey as every year we’d find some live babies around the place.
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…or deep shit.
There’s an old bloke up the road who bags all varieties of excrement. Not cheap, but discounts for bulk, otherwise the only place is the race course, where blokes and their trailers are queued round the block.
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Hey, BIG, Maybe I could get a few hundredweight and drop them off to Newcassel. I can get trailers of the stuff, for nix .
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Hmm, I guess asking for a red lentil recipe on this page may not be appropriate
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You wanna be careful Hung. Your request could trigger another round of internecine debate. There are some of us here that wouldn’t trust a red lentil. They know that’s just code for a socialist lentil with revolutionary tendencies. The kind of lentil which, if left to its own devices, would force us all into starvation for want of well prepared soup.
I mean, red lentils; all they really want is a better, more equitable distribution of the soup; but there are other lentils that would take this askance, seeing any attempt to redress the imbalance in soup distribution as interfering in the soup market; and they can’t have, won’t have that! Not the soup market.
They believe that some cooks are more entitled to a larger bowl of soup, even if the size of that bowl means other bowls have to be emptied to fill it.
These cooks think that they deserve all the extra soup, with white lentils I urgently add, because they’ve put up with the heat in the kitchen. Well I say it’s just as hot in all the other, smaller, seemingly less important kitchens and the soup is just as good and often better, whether or not its made with red lentils.
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That is the funniest thing I have read in ages, socialist lentils, brilliant 🙂
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But it’s what you meant Hung. In fact I chuckled when I saw it. You were the only one that understood my abstract post.
I can see that Warrigal── latterly ──did too. However, just when on to gripe; not suggesting any way to segue the loot, at the appropriate moment. Which was the thrust of my question
To Helvi:
Point one: You wrote , “now my patience is wearing thin as well.
Well for something to wear thin on someone. One would assume that they had receive/suffered a multitude of insults.
Obviously, that cannot be the case, since, never in 3 years have I been rude to you.
My comment is abstract, as Hung noticed. For (the word) Helvi, just delete and add “present congregation”.
Did you ever read Ibsen? Did you ever understand it?
It is very hard for me in here. I am just not on the same wavelength. And despite my perseverance, feel that I am just back to, Henry Lawson & AB Patterson every-time.
Never mind, I’ll hang around for a bit, to see if it turns out nice .
But, as you say Helvi, it wears thin.
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VL – well don’t name names if that is not what you mean. You remind me of someone but I won’t say who. You’ve got Helvi, Voice and me disagreeing with your expression today.
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Well, Voice ‘IS’, an Australian, after all 😉
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Although, I think Voice’s comment was deeper than you credit.
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In deep shit you mean, VL.
Vivienne, you surely don’t believe I’m such a self-righteous twit as to have described myself that way seriously.
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Voice, you were ‘driven to sorrow by by unclear and unwelcome utterances’ – how does that not agree with what I said about VL’s expression.
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VL, I read Ibsen in primary school, and yes, I had no problem understanding it.
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Don’t talk about it too much but rumour has it Abbott got 2 kilos of the red ones hidden under his bed. He is supposed to sometimes kneel down in front of the mattress, pray a bit, then take them out and then just stare at them intently.
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Sadly, as soon as you boil the red ones they go through some kind of change/osmosis and turn green, just like the rest of them.
I am glad so many of you are turning to the lentil for sustenance. Stock up on them. They will tie you over through the next decade or so. A couple of weeks ago ‘Farmer’s Market’ here were selling huge cabbages for just 99 cents each. You could be feeding yourself for a year with an outlay of not much more than $ 150.-
I have also just heard on the green lentil-vine, that after Abbott stares at the red lentils in front of his mattress long enough, he takes out a special little whip and flails the red ones into total submission.
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Helvi, I am the antitheses of Ibsen, in my writings. The opposite.
;;;;;
Anyways. back from the walk. The lizard has moved about 30 cms. I reckon it’s pregnant, or ill.
The dog food is untouched. I watered around the ground in case it wanted a drink. Obviously it’s alive.
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Crikey. First you put down food to attract the dogs to it, then you try to drown it. Wouldn’t a blow with a spade be quicker?
If you’re concerned, phone Wires or whoever it is up there for dealing with injured wildlife.
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Also you could offer it one of your worms maybe?
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Well, if we had a PA facebook and an expansion of patrons…..IE, a vet??
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Just call up the RSPCA and tell them you wheeled your compost bin over it, then put down dog food next it, then poured water on it and you want to know what to do next. 🙂
I think WIRES (wildlife rescue) might just be for NSW so maybe what I wrote before didn’t mean anything to you.
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Jeeps, glad nothing serious happened
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I mean we will find out that homosexuals are gay. Imagine waking up to your partner to find out they were homosexual or even worse gay.
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Well, the lizard turned up while you were out of the kitchen, Hung.
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Was he a gay lizard Vectis? I mean did he try to hump your leg?
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Hungsie, I’ve never had the red ones myself but here’s one recipe that I think would be tasty:
http://www.schuetz.net/schuetz/SCH%C3%9CTZ%20Germany%20(HQ)/en/INDUSTRIAL%20PACKAGING/Start/
Lentils are extremely versatile. You can cook them pretty much with anything you like -from curries (I never have) to added extras with roast meat or egg plants and possibly every other veg.
My brown lentil soup is easy and I’ll post it up at the next post.
Preparation Time
15 minutes
Cooking Time
30 minutes
Ingredients (serves 4)
80ml (1/3 cup) Olive Grove Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 brown onion, halved, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 x 415g cans diced Italian tomatoes
1L (4 cups) vegetable stock
175g (3/4 cup) split red lentils
20cm baguette (French breadstick), thinly sliced crossways
100g feta, mashed
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh continental parsley
1 tbs finely grated lemon rind
Olive Grove Extra Virgin Olive Oil, extra, to serve
Method
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes or until onion softens. Add the tomato and stock and bring to the boil. Add the lentils and stir until well combined. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes or until the lentils are tender and the soup thickens. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, heat a chargrill pan over medium-high heat. Brush both sides of the bread slices with remaining oil. Chargrill for 2-3 minutes each side or until toasted. Spread with the feta then place on a serving tray and season with pepper.
Combine the parsley and lemon rind in a small bowl. Ladle the soup among serving bowls and sprinkle with the parsley mixture. Drizzle soup and feta crostoli with extra oil and serve immediately.
Notes
Olive oil tip: Extra virgin olive oil has a much stronger flavour than other olive oils, so it’s great for salad dressings and drizzling over finished dishes.
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Thanks Sir. I will give it a try
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And here’s the Brown lentil soup recipe:
Brown lentil soup
1 k of brown lentils
3 medium spuds, cleaned and cut into small pieces
1 small wedge of your favourite pumpkin cut into small pieces
½ cup virgin olive oil
1 tbl spoon of dried oregano or fresh if you have it.
1 handful of parsley.
1 spring of sage
3 bay leaves (optional)
1 large, finely sliced onion
Seasoning to your desire.
Anything else to your desire… Pregnant women might add sardines at this point.
Method:
1. Wash the lentils thoroughly under hot water to remove dust and other matter from alien worlds.
2. In a pot toss 3 litres of water and the spuds and pumpkin.
3. When these items are well and truly boiled, blend to turn them into cream.
4. Add another litre of water and then the lentils. Cook for 45 mins.
5. Add all other ingredients.
6. Cook for another ten mins.
The density or viscosity of the soup is at your pleasure. I prefer this to be a rather thick soup. Others like it very thin. If you prefer it very watery, then omit the spuds, or add fewer.
The soup can be sipped or swilled hot or cold. It’s a great, refreshing dish during summer, when, just before serving you toss in some very finely chopped mint. Great with beer in summer, red wine (I prefer a good fruity shiraz) in winter.
I think that’s it!
Please check it over boys and girls and tell me if I’ve neglected something.
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Do ypu have one for green lentils, Ato?
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Yes algy, just for you:
Green lentil soup
1 k of Green lentils
3 medium spuds, cleaned and cut into small pieces
1 small wedge of your favourite pumpkin cut into small pieces
½ cup virgin olive oil
1 tbl spoon of dried oregano or fresh if you have it.
1 handful of parsley.
1 spring of sage
3 bay leaves (optional)
1 large, finely sliced onion
Seasoning to your desire.
Anything else to your desire… Pregnant women might add sardines at this point.
Method:
1. Wash the lentils thoroughly under hot water to remove dust and other matter from alien worlds.
2. In a pot toss 3 litres of water and the spuds and pumpkin.
3. When these items are well and truly boiled, blend to turn them into cream.
4. Add another litre of water and then the lentils. Cook for 45 mins.
5. Add all other ingredients.
6. Cook for another ten mins.
The density or viscosity of the soup is at your pleasure. I prefer this to be a rather thick soup. Others like it very thin. If you prefer it very watery, then omit the spuds, or add fewer.
The soup can be sipped or swilled hot or cold. It’s a great, refreshing dish during summer, when, just before serving you toss in some very finely chopped mint. Great with beer in summer, red wine (I prefer a good fruity shiraz) in winter.
I think that’s it!
Please check it over boys and girls and tell me if I’ve neglected something.
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Thats the same as the brown lentil soup with brown changed to green. I thought a side of grilled bananas might of been on the list.
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How come only the red lentils do not have to be washed? Frankly any lentil could be used Ato. Should the lentils have gone to mush or still be in basic form? Either way all sounds fine to me. Cobram Olive oil is good and well priced. I am sure Aussie tomatoes would be just as good as imported Italian ones. I get them half price at Shep cannery outlet in Albury (everything is half price).
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Algy – Ato can be a bit of a dag. He didn’t specify what kind of spud to use but he did with the toms.
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Which type of spud would you suggest would go well, vivienne
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Its nonsense that the red lentils don’t wash. That’s just lentilism of the cheapest kind.
You must remember when your mother told you never to put money in your mouth, because it might have been in a Chinaman’s pocket. Yes/No?
Well, that pocket was no more, nor less likely to contain pathogens than red lentils are soap dodgers. It’s just a scurrilous rumour put about by other coloured lentils in the hope that we might continue to denigrate red lentils and never discover that they too have a valuable contribution to make to the soup.
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There’s no such thing as a bad lentil. Each one starts out the same. However some get brain washed, instead of been given (by God, the almighty), freedom of choice 😉
Somes are affable, somes are irascible.
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Algy – in a soup, any potato. Not the best, most expensive. Use the slightly older ones you already have on hand. Different matter when one is roasting, mashing or making chips.
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Ato, were there ever any handsome English sailors wrecked on that idyllic Greek island you hail from? That dry humour has to come from somewhere. 🙂
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See? that’s where you anglos are sooooooooooooooo wrong about engaland and the continent.
The continent, particularly the med part of it, where I hail from, is the habitat of all the flavours of humour given by the gods: from the wettest, to the driest, from the darkest to the most light flooded! It’s just that the poms -due to their weather, I reckon- they missed out on a few grades of it. We tried to sell them some but they kept stiffening up their bloody upper lip and tightening up their colons. Still can’t work that one out.
Not from an island, Voice but during the war, I was told, an aussie and a New Zealander were hidden by the villagers at one stage when they got lost and stranded there and the Germans had come to the village and stayed there for four days(?). The aussie ended up coming back to Oz with one of the village girls. I don’t know what followed that wedding and how they fared back here. Probably Sydney.
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More pig ignorant, really, mixed in with acknowledging the humour. I don’t really know if there is a typical Greek sense of humour or not, so I just took a punt.
What do you think of that Vasili guy on Vasili’s Garden?
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If he lost the squeeze box I’d like him even more. Quite often he has some very good tips but, just how many tips are there to be had in the realms of a garden?
I cringe every time he says, “m’aresei!” And when they attempts to dance… I get very close to puking.
Not easy to satisfy I am, Voice!
And what’s that other hairy twit called on SBS! Never managed to see a full show with him wearing his huge wooly long johns over his head!
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Costa’s Garden! That’s it. Costas is a big hairy monster with a Poh like overabundant exuberance.
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Sometimes I watch Vasili but he’s a bit full on for me, kind of talks over the top of his guests and a bit prone to one-upping them.
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Hmm, seems like lentils are the hot topic of the week.
One of Tutu’s recipes was lentil burgers
Cook heaps of really good food together till it falls apart then get Macca’s
Only joking
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Well, there is the beginning to tackle obesity. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-02/denmark-introduces-food-fat-tax/3205392.
We should do the same but on the bloated and obscene monetary obesity of the rich..
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Why don’t you and Helvi, send a begging letter to Rod Stewart, or Paul McCartney, they’re incredibly wealthy and notoriously tight fisted, if you want some of other people’s money. Of course tyou are an artist–and if by some miraculous turn-of-fate, you become fabulously wealthy, by virtue of your painting, perhaps you would be kind enough to send me some of your wealth. Because obviously you can’t send it before you earn it. just as Clive Forefinger couldn’t. he was wheeling and dealing risking his chances to buy his first company that led on to his huge girth. I’m sorry, I meant wealth.
With hindsight you could have nobbled all these [people; Noam Chomsky included, and made them promise to give you some of their money, once the risky part was over–and you knew that your portion would be safe.
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What on earth are you talking about?
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Yes, Viv, I’m baffled by VL’s post too. Gez and I have enough, but we would like everyone else to have something as well. We Labor people are generours, we don’t just think of ourselves….
Vectis, I have been kind to you at all times, and have felt sorry for you when the others have lashed at you harshly…now my patience is wearing thin as well.
Gez is not me, and I’m not him, if you haven’t noticed..
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Helvi, in a very round about way I think I can figure out what VL was trying to say. Trouble is that he has made the wrong assumption on which he has based his very strange reply. It is the usual result of not reading or understanding the very thing he is responding to.
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Dear VL,
As generous, kind, sympathetic and patient as I am, even I feel myself being driven to sorrow by your unclear and unwelcome utterances.
Tsk, tsk, tsk. And a string of tuts.
I must now take my leave of you to help fight obesity by sneering at fat people. Somebody has to help those unfortunates. A righteous person’s work is never done.
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http://www.couriermail.com.au/business/clive-palmer-plays-santa-claus-with-10m-christmas-bonus-for-queensland-nickel-staff/story-e6freqmx-1225956761056
You could apply for a job with his company. 🙂
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Yes G, very interesting, but what I’m really waiting for, what we really need, is a tax on fat-heads.
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What I’d like to see is a tax on the use of the word “unaustralian”.
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Or a tax on absurdity surely Warrigal. It’l come tomorrow? Although one would wait for ever down under I suppose.
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It occurs to me that believing in Abbott as a source of the solution to our national woes is akin to those who, having witnessed the collapse of the Wiemar Republic, gave their support, a kind of purblind support, to the National Socialists, who were of course neither nationalist so much as they were imperialists, or socialists so much as they were totalitarian fascists.
The rhetoric is alarmingly similar. Constant exhortations to national pride, a belief in the predestination of the supremacy of their particularly bankrupt theory and praxis, deliberate division of the polity to create the fear of internal dissent, and then whipping up the dissent so necessary to that belief.
What else can explain people like Bolt, Akerman, toads like the Parrot, and the host of entitled that provide succor and support to the dehumanising policy platform of the current coalition, peopled by the likes of Mirabella, Cobb, that SA senator Bernardi and the jackass Joyce. I could keep naming the filth that infests the opposition benches but you all know who they are and their disgusting ideas on Australia’s future. Let’s not forget those that are truly down in the dirt, like principal shareholder and CFO of the Liberal party, Clive “Jabba The Putz” Palmer, or Gina “do my billions look big in this” Rinehart and “Twiggy”, “I’m really just another miner on the make” Forrest. Does it not occur to anyone that while everybody else in the country is slowly being impoverrished by the actions of a tiny few, these people have never made more money so quickly in their putrid, mean, self absorbed lives.
The more alarming thing is that Labor has the taint of collapse on them, just as the Wiemar politicians must have felt as the 1932 election loomed.
Who will join me on the barricades when the time comes? Who will pass the ammunition?
Who will win?
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I’ve thought for a while now that there is little between the Liberal Party and certain dictatorships of Europe of the 1930’s. I don’t think that Abbott is a murderous bastard though. However there are some in that party that done’t have problems with that. Speaking recently with my Liberal mate on the Gold Coast.. They told me of their local member. Child in the Army, member of the party. Told him of his love of shooting “towelheads” and had shot four already and wanted to shoot more. Do we really need psycopaths like that in the armed forces. Do mainstream political parties, need people like that. The Liberals would call that patriotism.
What sickens me is the lack of respect shown for the position. No other PM has had to put up with the garbage thrown at them like Gillard has. If she were a man none of that would happen. Yet the opposition aided and abetted by the shock jocks can spew forth their misogeny at will. Shock jocks are almost a protected species, and nice to see Bolt get his comuppance this week. Love to see more of it.
Sooner or later media might start doing their job and show Abbott et al for the hollow folk they are.. A policy any policy would be nice to see. Its also interesting to see that the support for the Liberal party collapses if Labor were to put Kevin Rudd back in as PM, an election winning lead whats more. In other words the support for the Liberals is very soft.
One day people might wake up to the fact that Abbott might be good a filletting fish or packing a bag of carrots but very little else. They might wake up to the fact that he is a one dimesional NO.
I don’t theike the Labor party quite has the taint of collapse about them yet and with two years to an election their is hope. As a government they’ve passed more legislation in the past year than in any year that Howard did and that from minority government. At this stage though I wouldn’t be putting the house on Labor winning the next election.
In my Sam Cooke moments today I fould this. Change the Republican for Liberal and its most apt.
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Is that because his parents are Anglican, or because his son was born with a hole in his heart, or because he critisised Garrett for cutting back on funding for tThe national Academy of Music?
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Yes, lad but also because he’s a bilious fascist. Born like that, raised like that and will be like that till dust clogs his mouth. And his shamans at the church help him by digging their finger down his throat to help him puke all over this country.
The Libs -and sadly much of the Lab constituency, Tanya’s latest utterance sounded like a dangerous dog whistle to me – are part and parcel of the last days of Rome. Rome being the whole world. They keep playing the fiddle. They keep lying. They keep screaming “poor” and “communists!” and “we need productivity!” They keep flagellating and flogging and funstoning the poor because they don’t know how not to turn in on themselves and eat their own flesh, since there’s bugger all flesh left on anyone else.
Where does the parasite turn when he has eaten all the flesh of his host?
We are witnessing these days now and whilst I expect a considerable amount of pain while this worthless scum die, I welcome it, at least for the generations to come. Who knows, History might furnish a lesson to the world. A lesson about human values, about genuine and not manufactured or plastic joy and about the smallness and the frailty of our planet.
But there are lots of lessons like that already in History and yet the parasites have not learnt.
Alan Alda was interviewed by Andrew Denton on the ABC and the wise old actor’s greatest wish was to learn what we’re made of. How is it that we can be so nurturing one minute and within the same hour be so torturing? Nurture and torture within the hour. It’s like going to some bizarre shop and when you ask for a bit of nurture, the attendant asks you, “do you want torture with that, sir?”
It’s the old Platonic/Socratic “duality of the human spirit” question but it is worth reminding oneself of it.
You’ve mentioned the fact that Abbott is Anglican, lad. He’s more than that. He’s a religious nutter. And the most dangerous folk are those who feel that there’s a god up there somewhere and that he’s kind and forgiving and is looking after all the god fearing people in the world and that all will be well in the end and they will all go to heaven, if, at the end they take their communion and say, “sorry, big daddy!” They’re the most dangerous because, while they’re alive, they will reek havoc in the name of their “big daddy” with all the passion of a psychopath.
And they are usually stupid because their head is completely taken over by religious claptrap, leaving no room for anything else.
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No. I was referring to Stephen Ciobo, the local member up here.
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Ato, I think Vectis is talking about Bolts parents being Anglican. His personal life or that of his of no interest to me. Abbott is a catholic and only has daughters. Bolt is perfectly entitiled to have a go at Garrett should he have substance in what he is saying. He fronted court for breaching aspects of the Race Discrimination Act bought by 9 people who it must be pionted out were not suing for any finacial gain. He’s comments which were found to be without substance were racist and deliberately meant to be.
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Unlikely that Steve Ciobo at 37 has a child in the armed forces.
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Well, he’s the local member.
I reiterate: for the umpteenth time: I had never heard of Bolt until he was mentioned here & in The Drum. I did look him up then–and noticed that he was from Holland. I bought this up to needle gerard. But it was only light heartedly. Bolt doesn’t write about anything that interests me, even though he seems literate.
I am really more interested in world affairs. Running Australia is a fairly easy job. There’s huge taxes coming in from mineral pillaging. It’s just a case of divvying it up really. Barnaby Joyce could do it–it’s so easy.
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With 500000 people on the Gold Coast I think it has more than one local member.
You could put your hand up Vectis to run the country, background in small business, you’d be just the ticket.
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Oh, right!
I thought you had Abbott’s religion wrong and I didn’t know who had farted on Garrett.
But, let’s face it…
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I just watched that clip Algy, Very amusing.
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Good stuff, Gez.
Some are born with a silver spoon in their mouth and others with shit-packed sneer. Others with a constricted anus, others with a plentiful brain and yet others with a capsicum in their hand (Iron chef producer). The contrast between Abbott and Burnside couldn’t be any starkerererer!
On one level it’s horrible watching the demolition of Greece and the Eurozone. We are watching a train wreck in slow motion and we’re saying, “hurry up, for Gorrrd’s sake! Get it over and done with!” But on another level we might be watching the cremation of a phoenix, knowing that it will rise again. I am engaging in fairly intense and aggravated cyber conversations in a number of blogs where the opinions vary from one precipice to another. Some people want to drop an ocean of shit on all the Greeks on the planet (because they’re all handing out wooden horses to the world) and others want to drop an ocean of shit on all the bankers and shysters of the world. Sympathies swing wildly on this issue, while, as you’ve so correctly noted, the food price manipulators are doing their quite work of making it impossible for people to buy anything of nutritional value and at a logical price!
Incidentally, our pantry always has at least three or four kilo packets of lentils, bought from the friendly Greek deli, a few Ks down the road but it’s getting towards summer now and the girls don’t go for soup during this season. Not even lentils -which I love cold, nor pumpkin (and spud) soup, which is simply delish cold!
Oh well! What can a man do but obey with gratitude!
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ato, more like silver-plated for ignoramuses pretending to be of high society; the real aristocrats, the ones with breeding, had silver spoons in their mouths when born … The squattocracy a la Forrester et all, were waving plastic spoons at birth…
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Helvi, Andrew Forrest is the great grand nephew of th Sir John Forrest who was the first Premier of Western Australia, who shortly before his death was to be elevated to a peerage as Baron Forrest of Bunbury, however he died before the patents were issued. He did attend the most prestigious schools in Perth (important in WA), so to a certain extent he could be said to have been born with silver (plated possibly) spoon in his mouth.
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algy, anyone who’s ever had anything to do with alpacas, knows all about the Forrester family. Andrew’s mum remarried into the Street family and they live next door to us in Berrima. Andrew imported some of the early alpacas from Peru to Australia. His half-sister Jane runs the big alpaca farm in Berrima. They all appear charming, but are hard headed business people…we never entered into any business dealings with them; we were able to keep ‘charmed’ relationships with them without spending a cent…..
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He’d have to be hard-headed to build up the giant business that he has. how many does he employ?
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Yes I’m sure they’re “charming”. Some people would cut your legs of whilst smiling at you.
New my fair share of “charming” people (plastic spoon types who thought they were silver spoon) where I grew up.
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Probably thousands Vectis.
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Money makes money.
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Goats last week. Gout this week. Whatever next?
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Goats head soup
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