Text 22476, 133 rader
Skriven 2009-03-28 16:20:00 av Glen Jamieson
     Kommentar till en text av Michael Loo
Ärende: ALTITUDE 396  90328
===========================
 -=> Quoting Michael Loo to Glen Jamieson <=-

 GJ> The last time I stayed in one of those places I left my larger luggage
 GJ> with the elderly Chinese lady concierge, who spoke no English, while I
 GJ> disappeared Northward to Malaysia and Thailand for 2 weeks.  It was
 GJ> well looked after, and ready for me to collect when I returned and
 GJ> signed her book.  No charge.  I found that those Chinese-run hotels
 GJ> were quite safe, and scrupulously honest.

 ML> I am not so trusting. It takes one exception, and the
 ML> likelihood that the thief will be apprehended in short order
 ML> and flogged within an inch of his life won't make the result
 ML> any better.

That was in 1971, in pre-Lee times.  It was my first foray into any
overseas travel (apart from TPNG, where I lived and worked at the
time), and I was wary of the unknown.  My travel was partly along the
"hippy trail", from Darwin by yacht to E Timor, through Bali, Java,
Singapore, Malaysia, to Thailand and return to Pt Moresby via Manila.
Nancy accompanied me for part of that trip, and being impecunious, we
usually stayed in the sort of cheap Chinese-run hotels with names like
Kian Hua and Rex Hotel that local business travellers used.  Along the
way we talked to other youngish travellers, and I only heard of one
case of theft from any guests in such places, of a watch, which was
found to have been stolen by another traveller, a German.
 
 GJ> The last time I was in Boston, I remember seeing an extension of the
 GJ> subway which was being built using the open cut then fill method.  At
 GJ> least that was what I was told that large hole in the ground was.
 ML> If you mean the Red Line extension, that was back in the '80s
 ML> I think. The Orange Line rerouting took it above ground, and
 ML> the Green Line reconstruction in the mid '00s merely moved the
 ML> mouth of the tunnel north a few blocks.

This would have been at the time (1999, I think) when you hosted the
Echo mob in Boston, and we dined in that excellent Chinese restaurant
and you took us on a walk around you old student stamping ground.  I
saw that hole while looking down from a car travelling along a higher
level road.
 
 ML> And Courvoisier.
 GJ> Or a reasonable red - or two - or three.

 ML> One doesn't get "reasonable" wine on any US carrier
 ML> these days. But at least the mediocrity is not confined
 ML> to domestic product - last few tries at United First,
 ML> I found the red to be the selfsame DeBortoli Shiraz that
 ML> you get by the boxful for single digit dollars.

My first international flight of any distance was a night flight on
the Qantas 707 from the old tin shed terminal in Manila to Pt Moresby.
The sole food served, by a brawny, footballer type FA, was a plate of
curling, dry sandwiches, but it was accompanied by an excellent
Coonawara red, so I didn't bother to order more food; just wine.
 =
 ML> Every time, by hand. This was more effective when I was
 ML> spending more time lifting violin bows professionally and
 ML> was calibrated to within 0.5 g in the range of 50 to 70
 ML> grams, somewhat less accurate outside that range, but
 ML> hefting a package to see if its apparent and claimed
 ML> weights are compatible is still a routine for me.
 GJ> Hmmm.  Better than 1%.  My hands are not calibrated that accurately.

 ML> I spake too soon. I guessed one bow at the convention and was
 ML> off by 1.5 grams. The purveyor, reacting to my intense chagrin,
 ML> did point out that my inaccuracy may have been contributed to by
 ML> the unusual balance of the bow toward the tip.

Did s/he give a reason for such an unorthodox balance?
 
 GJ> Yesterday there was an affray at Sydney airport, with a fight between
 GJ> bikey gangs and a man was bashed to death.  Other passengers were

 ML> I'm glad it was Sydney rather than elsewhere - Sydney is one
 ML> of the most horrible places I have ever encountered.

Not my favourite, either, but LA airport is even worse.  I dislike
airports where international and domestic terminals are separated.

In Barcelona I bought an excellent book on Catalan food.  For some
months Kevin has had it to copy, and he has finally got his scanner
working, so I should be able to post some more of those delicious
recipes fairly soon.

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05
 
      Title: ESTOFADO de TORO a la CATALANA      [TSK]
 Categories: Beef, Spanish, Stews, Catalan, Ole!
      Yield: 6 Servings
 
    150 g  Green streaky bacon, [5oz]
           -sliced into strips
     90 g  Lard [3oz]
    900 g  Stewing beef [2lb], cut into
           -large 60g/2oz pieces
           Salt
           Pepper
      2 tb Flour
      2    Onions, sliced
      2    Carrots, sliced
      2    Tomatoes, peeled & chopped
      1 pn Cinnamon
      1    Bay leaf
      4 tb Vino racio, or dry vermouth
      2 tb Anis
    790 g  Potatoes [1 3/4lb], peeled
           -and cut into large chunks
    225 g  White butifarra, or other
           -good meaty sausage
     12    Spring onions, trimmed, but
           -left whole
 
  Fry the bacon in the lard until the fat starts to run. Season the
  meat with salt and pepper, flour it and fry until brown in the fat.
  Add the onions, carrots and tomatoes and let them soften. Sprinkle
  with a pinch of cinnamon, add the bay leaf and enough water to cover.
  Cover and simmer for
    2 1/2    hours.
  
  Add the wine, anis, potatoes, sausages and spring onions and simmer
  uncovered for a further hour, or until the potatoes are tender and the
  sauce is reduced and thickened. AUTHOR'S NOTE: Catalan beef stew. A
  tuesday favorite in Barcelona restaurants during the bullfighting
  season, the meat coming from the noble creatures slain in the ring
  the previous Sunday. -Nicholas Butcher
 
MMMMM
 

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 * Origin: Braintap BBS Adelaide Australia (3:800/449)