To celebrate spending the weekend with friends on their farm, which we have not done since our farm found us, I am sharing this old story of our adventure. It is the kind of story I would like to share widely. The tales of adventures that will surely attract kindred adventurers from afar.
Come to Namibia, bring your friends, and experience nature and space like nowhere else.
To quote Alanis Morissette, “isn’t it ironic”, that I write so much about doing the right thing, and good corporate governance, and then name a dish we were first introduced to in Turkeia, as Guptas?
The reason why, is because the husband likes to replace words with similar sounding, often used words, regardless of their meaning. So, Koftas became Guptas. Because we talk so much about corruption…..
By the way, I have discovered the reason why one must knead bread, specifically sour dough bread, twice. Some would say I can call this experiment “rock bread”, Being a lifestyle optimist, I prefer to say that I have discovered the perfect way to make melba toast. This post represents a test to “the husband”, to see how long it takes him to read my posts. Because I am sure I am going to get a picture from him enjoying his “lightly toasted lunch” before even reaching the office. And once he reads this post, I will get some commentary about the standard of today’s fare.
Anyway, I promised the recipe for the Guptas:
| Mince | Maybe about 500g, which should make about 10-12 Guptas |
| Onions | Grate the onions, or even better, use caramelized onions. Did you know you can make caramelized onions in the slow cooker? And you do not need to use sugar! (Thanks for that inspiration Neil) |
| Slice of bread | To bulk the mince a bit, I like to soak a slice of bread in milk. In this specific case, we did not have any, so I used about half a cup of Jungle oats, which also acts as binding agent. |
| Binding agent (egg or Jungle Oats) | Use an egg, maybe two for firmer kebabs. Or, if you soak half a cup of Jungle oats in warm milk, stirring well to create that glue texture, that worked very well. That is something we often must do at the farm, replace a missing ingredient. Did you know, you can use mushed butter beans instead of butter? Great keto recipes to be had there! |
| Sunflower seeds | Yes, you read right. Sunflower seeds give a really good texture to the kebabs. Maybe about half a cup or so. There is the story where our travelling troupe of 3 ended in an anonymous village in Turkeia. We had settled into our family room “pansione” and heard loud music. We traced the music to the square, where a traditional wedding was taking place. We were invited to join the peasant “tannies” on their chairs, shelling and snacking on sunflower seeds. I can’t remember, Anthony, did you take the bride for a spin on the dancefloor? |
| Baking powder | No more than a tablespoon. It makes the gupta’s a little lighter. |
| Spices | Here I use what comes to hand first. Usually Paprika (including smoked Paprika – gives a nice tang) Curry Salt (depending whether you also add Soya), Worcester sauce etc. Any of the “black sauces“ that are usually left in the door of the fridge. |
| Secret ingredient | Fish sauce. I know, smells terrible, but the Umami that brings, is incredible. I previously described Umami as the “Aromat” of flavours. It is defined as one of the basic 5 flavours, and it is the one that brings everything together quite nicely. It has also been described as the flavour that develops with leftover lasagne, or braaivleis that you find in the fridge the next day. |
Mix all of these ingredients really well, targeting even distribution of the myriad of flavours and textures, and form rugby ball type shapes on pre-soaked wooden sticks, or if you happen to have those dramatic Turkish swords, nice! Layer them on oiled tin foil. The reason will be apparent shortly.
Make these earlier in the day, so that they can settle in the fridge. But if you are pressed for time, leave them in the deepfreeze while the fire is being prepared.
Now you can braai them on the normal grid, which is ideal. But if the mince did not “settle in”, you may find they fall apart in the process. That is why I use tinfoil. I transfer (or more correctly, I have The Husband transfer) the batch on its tin foil to the grid. Once the tin foil side is nicely done, flip over the grid to the open side, to develop that “braai” flavour. You may choose to remove the tinfoil now, and “smoke” both sides.
The base case side dish was a butternut-based recipe.
Cube the butternut. Small pieces work well, because they provide flavour bursts in the salad.
Roast in the oven with olive oil, spices (salt & pepper, a dash of cayenne pepper). No, caramelize in the oven is a better description.
Toss together with prepared Cous-Cous (another staple base case ingredient).
Add something sweet (Dried cranberries – an excellent super food, or chopped dates).
Add a zing. Always, a zing for the base case salad. I have not tried fresh or pickled ginger in this version, but there is no reason it cannot work. Here, I added mint from the garden.
Likely, you do not even need a salad dressing for this one.
This was going to be another test, to see if I could write and load a post within half an hour. But I am having too much fun, and I do need to run a spell check, and my lift to the office is about to leave, so I guess this blog wont make it to live status today.
Oh well, hope you get it in time to plan your weekend menu!
PS – serve with “uch effes” – Try ordering that in Turkeia, and see what you get….
For me to put you the right frame of mind, I need to paint a picture. Windhoek Country Club, the scene of many beauty pageants since Michelle Mclean was the Namibian beauty crowned as Miss Universe.
It is a few years ago, I am on stage for the annual Miss Namibia event. The question is: If you could have one wish, what would it be. I wont answer “world peace”, although I do wish for that. I would answer “for accountability to be intrinsically part of our human nature”.
Now the fact is, that I was on stage, more than once, but I was that black suited arm in the corner of the television screen, handing “THE ENVELOPE” to Michelle to announce that year’s winner.
Even though I was not asked that awkward politically correct question, I would still have no qualms to give the same answer.
And this brings me to the title of today’s blog. Too many conversations over the last week, have had the same spottled vein of tenets running through as a consistent thread. Too many examples exist of where too many people try their luck, once, twice, and before you know it, we have another Fishrot.
And it is not even just people trying their luck. A fair amount of simply not stepping up to the plate to do the right thing, because its “not my problem” (even though it actually is), or because “I’m waiting for so and so to do this and that” as if someone else not stepping up gives you the excuse that you too need not step up to the plate. There was also a fair amount of S-curve answers to direct questions. You know the type of answer, when the person does not want to give you a straight out response, because they know you are not going to like it, and you end up being dragged around the bush several times, believing you still have an opportunity for the answer you want thus robbing you of the time and effort to bring about alternate solutions.
So that is the rant part of this blog, and it is over. As I had said before, I have a limited capacity for pessimism. I also need to point out examples of where many other people have expressed the theory, and the practise, of doing the right thing.
Take Dr Matthias Ngwangwama’s article in the Namibian last week, titled “Blending Everyday Life with Science”. He was conveying the principles of attuned leadership, and the one that resonated the most with my conversations over the last week, was
“being attuned to the moral imperatives of integrity, probity, humility and a sense of efficacy”.
I am not going to delve into the dictionary meaning of each of these words but want to leave with you a sense of the “imperative”. Crucial, urgent, essential, important, must, need.
Another brilliant example of accountability in practise, is the apology from Velchamy Sankarlingam, president of product and engineering for Zoom, after a service failure in August. Long story short, personal accountability was beautifully illustrated by the excerpt from his apology
“I am personally disappointed that we have let you down…. I’m here to get this right and will personally do my best to prevent …”
https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/zoom-just-failed-its-biggest-test-its-apology-is-an-extraordinary-example-of-emotional-intelligence.html
And now I must borrow from another colleague, who acted as muse for this post. After sharing some profound words on the nature of modern-day illiteracy
with our leadership group (admittedly, not my words), Salomo responded with “use the MIC”. So I am going to ask you, in your week ahead, please loudly and proudly declare the need for each one of us to continue (and in some cases start) doing the right thing not for our own best interest, but because it is the right thing to do in the interest of us all. And I am going to ask you to challenge all those in your circle of influence to make sure they are doing the right thing, not the easy thing. And I am going to ask you to celebrate the occasions where someone did the right thing, especially if it was difficult.
Then we can spend less time policing compliance with laws and regulations that can never even hope to catch all those who are intent on their venal ways. And we can “apply a sense of efficacy” to our productive ventures intended to repair our economy, and our world.
I think I’m going to write a “base case” recipe book. You start with one ingredient, and add to it what you can find in the cupboards. In this case, the base was spinach harvested from my own vegetable teepee. A teepee is what you get when you place a goal (a place to keep my veggies safe from the critters) in front of your able bodied farm worker, and leave execution up to him.
Anyway, back to the recipe. What can one do with spinach, other than a flash dry with olive oil, garlic, salt & pepper, and a dash of lemon juice? Which is a perfectly good recipe by the way.
Well, you can make a spinach risotto. In the middle of the week!
Blanch spinach and parsley.
Zirts it with olive oil and butter. Ps – rather don’t use the parsley stalks. Let’s just say it’s strings don’t go well with the blade, and leave it at that.
Fry raw rice (yes, even speko long grain rice will do), with freshly harvested leeks (yes DBP leeks) and garlic, until translucent.
Add a good glug of dry white alcohol (martini, dry white wine, or in this case, some Chinese liquor left over from a New Year’s Eve party several years ago. Thanks Brian, thanks Claire.)
Then comes the trickiest part. Add a ladle of stock (or water if that is what you have). Continually stir (if using martini. Because that it what James Bond did. And if you are using something else, still stir, because that is what is required). Until liquid is absorbed. Then repeat, and again, and again, until the rice is done.
Add your blitzed spinach purée, season and add a blob of butter.
Bob’s your uncle.
Top with anything of your choice. Parmesan is nice, but not a common fridge ingredient. You can add stir fried chicken, crispy bacon, or game meat balls as per illustration.
And that is what was for dinner last night, ala #popuprestaurantdreams. Now I’m off to collect that cheque that was in the post as mentioned in same captioned blog https://thegreatreset-thorn.com/the-cheque-is-in-the-post/ of few weeks ago. Wish me luck!
Picture the scene, our space faring descendants have just crash landed on a hostile earth. And the earth has good reason to be hostile, because we are not very kind to it right now, are we?
Anyway, in the movie “After Earth”, Cypher (played by Will Smith), instructs his son, Kitai (played by his son), to “Take a knee soldier!”
Obviously there are hordes of dangers intent on taking revenge on human kind, and the scene I need you to recall, is where Kitai is scared *&^%!less, and is just running blind, not aware whether he is running away from, or towards, even greater danger.
So, it is time to take a knee, and take stock.
I am sitting here in my most favourite Ginger Mary T-shirt, (and if you know me, you have seen it many times over the last decade), wondering whether this should be a blog about our metaphysical existence and growth during this change that COVID has brought, or, whether it should be about the progress of my living off the land experiments.
I guess it will be a little bit of both. After all, life is about balance, correct? You may not be fantastic at all levels in your life, but if you pay attention to all aspects in your circle of life, your wheel balancing will be optimal. I was going to try and sound clever, by quoting the ideal wheel balance as 20˚S-0.1, but instead I found some fitting life lessons at https://www.liveabout.com/the-what-why-and-how-of-wheel-balancing-3234378.
Just like no tyre’s weight is perfectly distributed, life’s pressures and stresses are not evenly spaced out. It takes resolute action to take stock; and adjust.
2. Balance changes over time.
Today’s oh-so-important and urgent task may very well be trivial tomorrow morning. So, what works today, will not work tomorrow. But before you sink into the doom and gloom of things are only going to get worse from here, there is a 50/50 chance that it will get better, not worse. Back to step 1 – take stock; and adjust.
3. Balancing only fixes balance.
There is no one size fits all solution. Sometimes it is going to take a more than just a few tweaks here are there.
After those few tweetable statements, all is right in the world again. There is simple and clear logic. 
Yep, now if only everyone would be logical. Now that I have addressed the existential questions and our future, lets tackle the next taking stock item, with reference to the content promised in my first blog. https://thegreatreset-thorn.com/sugar-spice/
Growing vegetables
Menu planning for an odd assortment of ingredients
The reason that this salad is called “Base Case”, is because I started with lettuce that I found in the fridge. From there it was a case of “what else can I add” given that we dont have any of the salad staple tomatoes, feta, cucumber.
I ended up with the finest slivers of picked ginger, crispy green apple, some sesame seeds for panache, and chickpeas for substance.
The combination worked well. So if you are going to create a dish out of what you can find in your fridge, I would suggest one element of zing (ginger usually is a good option), and one element of sweet/sour (crispy green apple in this case). Let’s see what you tried, leaf a comment. (Did you spot the wordplay there? 😉
Creativity
Sorry, the Christmas box surprise is now spoiled. But it will be a surprise if I can finish it before the Chicago winter is done.
Contrasted collections observations
Just check out the titles of my posts. From corporate governance, to menu planning. I know, you should see what it looks like inside my skull!
Produce from Stone Store by DBP
Here is just a small selection of farm fresh sourdough breads. One of the best experiments, was the olice and caramelised onion bread. One of the healthiest ones I was happy to share with overnight guests, was a pumpernickle style seed bread. And nothing, but nothing beats that first slice, slightly warm, with farm fresh butter……
Taking stock is all good and well, but now I have to go do some weeding. Good week ahead to all my friends, colleagues and followers.
