Sunday, October 31, 2010

It’s Peanut Butter Lover’s Month!




 

It’s Peanut Butter Lover’s Month

Do I have a treat in store for you today! Yes, indeed. To celebrate the fact that it’s Peanut Butter Lover’s Month, I’ve got some nutty ideas for you. Of course my Peanut Butter and Banana Muffins are delicious, as are Peanut Butter cookies. I haven’t yet got up the courage to try a peanut butter and sardine sandwich. Care to do some research and report back? Didn’t think so. Never mind.

Remember, peanut butter is full of iron so it’s good for you, too…long as you’re not allergic, that is. I know someone who, when they walk into your house, can tell if you have peanut butter – even if it’s in a sealed jar in a cupboard. There must be some residual PB energy that hovers around the house.

Peanut butter is one of North America's favourite foods. You’ll find it in close to 80% of homes and it’s considered by many to be a staple like bread and milk. While the traditional kid (and big kid) comfort foods favourites - pb&j sandwiches and pb cookies remain favourites today, peanut butter is also delicious in savory sauces for pasta, meat and vegetables.

Here in Thailand as well as Malaysia and Singapore, pork, chicken or beef, barbequed on little skewers and dipped in a peanut sauce are found everywhere. I cheat and use peanut butter with a dash of cayenne and squirt of coconut milk.

Another idea, this one from the Philippines, is Peanut Stew. If you have an Asian store nearby look for a series of packaged mixes called Mama Sita’s. She has a Peanut Stew mix (though I think it has another name). Again, I ‘adjust’…make my stew and drop in a generous dollop or two of smooth peanut butter. I think it adds another dimension to an ordinary stew. Watch it, Bob, let’s not get back on the dimension stuff for a while, okay!

One of my current favourite novel heroines is Stephanie Plum…a rather inept bounty hunter. (Author: Janet Evanovich). Stephanie exists mostly on peanut butter and her choice is a peanut butter and olive sandwich. Haven’t tried that yet, but I will. If you try it first, let me know, all right?

Gotta go take care of a time crunch!

Bob

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Happy Hallowe’en and Pumpkin Jack!





Happy Hallowe’en and Pumpkin Jack!

Are you dressing up and heading out with the kids tonight? Take along a thermos of coffee in case you need a respite.

Here in Thailand, although the stores sell Halloween stuff, it is not a known fete among the populace.

In case you want to impress the ‘know-it-alls' around you, here are a couple pumpkin facts:

The Daily Mail reported that a couple of British brothers grew the biggest pumpkin in Europe. The pumpkin weighs 660 kilograms. It grew for 129 days. Everyday, the pumpkin needs 1.5 tons of fertilizer. You'd soon get a whiff of that, let me tell you. It was the second biggest pumpkin in the world.

The world's biggest pumpkin weighed about 766 kilograms and was grown by an American. It's a special type I call a hernia pumpkin.

I've been known to make pumpkin muffins (with sunflower kernels). Tasty! And, pumpkin bread is great, too. You'll find all kinds of recipes on the net.

Friend of mine, an oil rig engineer, once gave me the recipe for Pumpkin Jack. It's a secret so don't tell anyone, okay? Here's how you make it (he said in a whisper)… Take a pumpkin about the size of a soccer ball or smaller. Cut the top off. Scoop out the seeds and pulp, leaving the meat. Fill the cavity with sugar. Put the top back on and drip hot candle wax on it to reseal it. Let it sit and ferment for two weeks. Best put a net/mesh around it because the pumpkin will get soggy. Hang it so it doesn't flatten out or get mouldy underneath.

After two weeks, tap it (put a small hole in one side towards the bottom). A spigot is the best thing to use. Be sure you have a mug or two handy to catch the drippings. These will now by a tad syrupy and taste a little like pumpkinny Drambuie! Whoo…ie! Strain it into a sterilized bottle like a 26 oz. empty gin bottle… not that you'd have one around but maybe you can borrow one from a neighbour. You may have to promise him a taste. Pumpkin Jack's got quite a kick to it. You'll be the hit of the neighbourhood… Haven't tried dunking doughnuts in it but you could drizzle some over ice cream...

Bob

Friday, October 29, 2010

Transhumanism and Power Porridge!

Transhumanism and Power Porridge!

Well, looky here! Glad you could make it today. Fill your cup… fill your plate…let me fill your ears…

You know all this stuff I've been feeding you over the last month or two? Multi dimensions… microbots…
panspermia… cowbirds, no, not cowbirds…just making sure you're not dozing off on me…jellyfish and collagen, brain fingerprinting and all… well if you put all that together it turns out that most of it has a name… transhumanism .

Transhumanism is a philosophy that humanity can, and should, strive to higher levels: physically, mentally and socially. It encourages research into such areas as life extension, cryonics, nanotechnology, physical and mental enhancements, uploading human consciousness into computers and megascale engineering. Right on, eh, I guess! I haven't tackled megascale engineering but I likely will soon's I figure out what it means.

Transhumanism's the theory behind my flaxseed power muffins, isn't it... making oneself a tad healthier and improving everything you can from your brain to your bod, n'est-ce pas?

Used to be a morning bowl or porridge was enough. Now, I'm into Power Porridge as part of my transhumanization! Gotta take care of numero uno, huh? I can see the puzzled look on your face across the table there. Power Porridge? Ol' Bob's eating' power porridge. Gone to his brain most likely.

Well, I should hope so. That's the idea, no? Kick the gray matter up a notch. My power porridge is quite simple in its complexity. It's just your basic oatmeal with a number of early morning additions. I dump a tablespoonful of flaxseed into the water as it starts to boil. Softens up the seeds. I may add some sliced almonds as well. While that's brewing, I slice a banana into my bowl, liberally shake in cinnamon, possibly some raisins, a little brown sugar and a teaspoon of bee pollen. Add the cooked oatmeal and either skim or soy milk. Gives me the power kick I need in the morning. Trying to watch my weight as well so I've cut out eating between snacks!

Like I say, there are so many interesting things happening out there that I'm planning on staying around another hundred years or so…given my druthers, that is…

Bob

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Panspermia...The Origin of Life on Earth?


Panspermia...The Origin of Life on Earth?

I’m just tickled pink that you stopped by again today.  Coffee’s hot; new tray of assorted goodies on the virtual counter. Choose your pick!

The majority of good folks believe that God created the world...a la bible, torah, qu’uran, whatever. Scientists on the other hand hold with Darwin that man evolved. Hey, Bob, if we’re descended from apes, how come we still have apes? You’ve got me there…

A possibility that I think is worth considering is that we’re all immigrants anyway because, as you may have heard me utter before, I don’t fully buy that big bang stuff. I suspect we came from somewhere other than “Poof! Here we are!” Cosmic Ancestry says that Life comes from space because life comes from life”. Now that, I can comprehend, I think.

Cosmic Ancestry is a new theory pertaining to evolution and the origin of life on Earth. It holds that life on Earth was seeded from space, and that life's evolution to higher forms depends on genetic programs that come from space.

Part of Cosmic Ancestry is called Panspermia...(no, it’s not spreading joy and goodwill wherever you and I go, although...!) It’s the theory that originally we hitchhiked here as microbes on the backs of meteorites. Just like little sperm buddies swimming merrily along, we would have been brought here from elsewhere in the universe and evolved there from – just as we evolve today from sperm, egg and chips up to the magnificent creatures we are today.

Then my friend… if you are prepared to accept the possibility that we came from other planets, it would appear that we are not alone here!

Got any thoughts on it?

Meteorite muffins… crusty on the outside…even harder on the inside…might be good to dunk in your coffee...or possibly as hockey pucks!

Bob

George Orwell would be Proud!



George Orwell would be Proud!

See that fly on the wall over your coffee mug? Swat it would you? Just watch it doesn’t drop in and start swimming around. Take a bite of that virtual pastry you’re clutching and hear me out. You remember t’other day, I was rattling on about Big Brother watching you? Well listen to this...

You’ve probably heard all about these nanotechnical things they’ve got now. In case you haven’t, they’re cknown as MEMS (Micro Electric Mechanical Systems) or MicroBots. They’re also called ‘Fly on the Wall’ technology for a good reason and they’ve got two kinds – swimmers and fliers.

Swimmers are minisubs the size of grains of salt. These can be injected into the bloodstream like in that movie ‘Fantastic Voyage’. Doctors are already using them to discover such things as arterial blockages. Amazing, huh?

The first flying microbots were several inches long...but now they’re down to the size of a mosquito. They can provide audio and video coverage virtually anywhere...and there’s not many places a mossy can’t get into, right? Not only that... they can recharge themselves simply by getting close to a magnetic field. That could be a power outlet, computer, cell phone, electric motor or audio speaker, for example. This means the microbot could transmit audio and video indefinitely.

So now… not only is Big Brother watching you...Little Brother is keeping an eye on you, too! Why didn’t Noah swat those two mosquitoes while he had the chance! Nanotechnology is changing our lives slowly and surely. We don’t know half of it. I believe they are only scratching the surface. Swat that mosquito! Yes, the one with the laser mike and miniature camera tucked under its wings! Give it one for me, too!

We need a microbot repellent! Do you want to look into that?

Bob