Friday, July 29, 2005

Prolapsed catholic cooking.

One thing about food, you gotta love it.

I did a stint as a breatharian in my misguided younger days, and one thing I learnt was that breatharians didn't actually live on air alone. The live on basically a liquid diet. No quite vegan, but definitely more substatial than you'll get from your local oxygen bar.

One thing I got from those 10 months or so of not eating much was an ability to cook soup like you wouldn't believe. Just for the hell of it, I'm going to share some of my recipes. Just occasionally.

This first one is not soup. It has nothing to do with breatharianism or any woo-woo rituals. I'm talking the one, the only...


Chicken Chippy Sanga

This is really, really easy. If I can make this, you can too.

First, you need:
1 pkt chicken flavoured chips. aka crisps for those of a more pommy extraction.
2 slices of your favourite bread. I like fresh baked white bread for this.
steak sauce to flavour
butter or margarine.

Next,
Apply butter or margarine to one side of each slice of bread.
Open pkt of chips and pile up chips on one slice of bread. On the buttered side.
If you wish, apply sauce to the buttered side of the other slice of bread.
Place the sauced slice of bread to the stack of potato chips et voila!
You have your chicken chippy sanga.

This is a great tv snack.

This recipe is also a way for me to practice my modest html skills.

You can modify this very simple recipe to suit your individual tastes. I am sure that there are plenty of unusual variations out there.

Cheers, and enjoy!

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Budding Buddhas.

From the Waverley Leader, 15th December, 2004

ENLIGHTENMENT NOW A LESSON FOR STUDENTS
By Matthew Burgess.

Deep meditation and Buddhist enlightenment have rarely featured in religious classes in state schools - until now.

Essex Heights Primary School in Mt Waverley has been offering Buddhist instruction to its students since last term.

More than 35 students have already taken up the chance to learn about the popular religion.

Offered through the Buddhist Council of Victoria, the half-hour classes cover the life of the Buddha, breathing and visualisation exercises and meditation.

Instructor Sirini Kularatne-Samarapthi said Essex Heights was one of four primary schools to introduce Buddhism to its curriculum.

Another four schools were to begin offering classes within months, she said.

She said it was important to introduce children to Buddhism from a young age because of its values.

"It teaches compassion, love and kindness to all beings and understanding of all people," Ms Kularatne-Samarapthi said.

"When you cultivate a seed, it grows and strengthens the mind."

Ms Kularatne-Samarapthi said students did not have to be Buddhists to take the classes.

Principal June McDonald said the Department of Education and Training approached the school, asking if it would start the classes.

Ms McDonald said the school introduced the classes after consultation with parents.

"Our school practices inclusion and recognises individual difference," she said.

"The classes bring another dimension."

Ms McDonald said about 35 ethnic groups were represented at the school, which also offered Jewish and Christian classes.

Parent Judy Crigan enrolled her six year-old daughter Phoebe in the Buddhist classes after hearing they would be offered at the school.

Ms Crigan said while the family was not religious, she wanted her daughter to have an alternative to Christian teaching.

"I would like her to understand about faith, but I don't really want her to be a believer," she said.

The classes would hopefully show her daughter how passionate people were about their religions and the reasons for religious conflict, she said.


Well, really, what is there to say about this?

State schools indoctrinating your children with religious classes, no less. No wonder I want to homeschool.

Parents, if you want your kids to learn about religious beliefs, send them to religious schools, take them to church or better yet, live the way you want them to grow. Provide good role modelling.

The state schooling system is in dire enough straits without turning out children who can't read or write but can quote the life and times of Buddha.

Where on earth is the time for children to actually learn. It seems to me that they go to school, get a few hours of lefty, warm-fuzzy brainwashing, and come home to spout off about their rights.

As an old friend pointed out to me years ago, the kids are taught all about their rights and nothing about their responsibilities.

Maybe I'll school the rugrat in all of her responsibilities and none of her rights! Nothing like a bit of balance in your life.

Essence of moonbat.

One thing I find frustrating is alternative/attachment parenting. I'm trying to be a practitioner of that concept, but I find it really hard to relate to a lot of the others that I've come into contact with who also espouse this.

So far, in my travels over the last 3 years or so, I've been made aware of homeopathic vaccinations. Lotus births. Recipes for placenta, and if you can't bring yourself to eat one of those, then how about a little essence of placenta instead? Ear candling and chiropractic for newborns.

I'm all for sheltering your little one, but let's get real on this.

Homeopathic vaccinations? One list I've been a member of for a while got most upset with me because I suggested that the AVN (Anti) Australian Vaccination Network have their own agenda. And that's not providing parents with clear, unbiased information about vaccines and what's in them. Needless to say, I don't have a lot to say on that particular list.

This is the same group that supplied me with recipes for placenta, and instructions on how to extract essence of placenta.

For those who wish to know, here it is:

Place a piece of placenta - if not the whole organ - outside in the evening under a full moon.
Ensure that it's safe and that animals don't get to it, of course.
Next, add elements of earth, water, fire, air and metal. Ideally, the water will be in a crystal bowl, and the placenta will NOT be in the water. That would contaminate it. You can, however, put your own crystals in the water.

After you have extracted the essence, you can decant the water into a brown bottle. If you wish to preserve the "essence" for some time, then feel free to add some brandy.

My thoughts on this? What a crock of shite! The reason that we don't eat placentas as a species is because we don't need to. Yes, it may be a great source of iron and protein, but it's not necessary. Animals that do eat their placenta tend to be wild and needing to hide their presence from predators. Okay, they will also be weakened somewhat from giving birth, and it is a handy food source in a pinch.

That does not mean that we need to imbue this piece of meat with all sorts of mystical properties.

How can these people be for real? I find it terrifying to think of the next generation. There is no question that they love their children and are devoted to bringing up a generation of caring adults. But the logic. The logic! Where did it go?

Probaby melted away with the wax from the candles they stick in their ears.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Testing one, two, three.

Okay, time to see how this works.

Wish me luck!