Brenda Lee - Rockin Around the Christmas Tree
: music, December 07 2024 ▶
Mery Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you with this wonderful song! Out of many other hits, this is the one that I will point out for this year's celebrations. I am 100% sure you have heard it one way or another, but the success of this track is absolutely mind-blowing. Originally written by Johny Marks (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, A Holly Jolly Christmas...) in 1958, it became gradually the 4th most sold Christmas single. Mrs. Lee, at the ripe age of 78, made a music video in 2023 which topped US Billboard Top 100 chart, breaking numerous records. During the ages (literally!) the song had a plethora of artist creating their own versions - Kim Wilde, Cyndi Lauper, Meghan Trainor, Kelly Clarkson etc.
Gornooryahovski Sudzhuk
: food, December 01 2024 ▶
A friend of mine gave me the recipe to be put in the "hall of fame" - soon to be tested on premise. What you need:
- Tender beef (rib lifter)
- salt (22g/kilo)
- sugar (1g/kilo)
- potassium nitrate a.k.a. saltpeter(1g/kilo)
- ground black pepper (2.5g/kilo)
- ground cumin (2g/kilo)
- sausage casing of your choice
Preparation:
- Cut the meat in large pieces, put it in a deep bowl and add the salt
- Mix well and leave it to rest for 24h in the fridge
- Remove the liquid and transfer the meat to anoter bowl
- Add the sugar, saltpeter, pepper and cumin, mix
- Use the large-hole gitter of the meat grinder to grind the meat
- Mix well and put it in the fridge for another 24h
- Use smaller gitter to grind the meat one more time, mix again
- Fill the casings at 45cm lenght, use string to tie the ends
- Use a needle to make several holes in each casing
- Slightly press the sausages to remove excess air
- Hang them in a cool, dry place
- On the third day (and every 5 days after) use a rolling pin to flatten the sausages
- Edible after 25 days
Marinated mushrooms
: food, November 19 2024 ▶
Why are these things so freaking expensive in the store? I finally sat down and made my own. A perfect cold appetizer, lasts ages in the fridge and very easy to make.
Ingredients:
- 1kg small button mushrooms - these are the most common ones
- sunflower oil - 8ts
- vinegar - 120ml (~1/2 tea cup)
- water - 120ml (~1/2 tea cup)
- sugar - 2ts
- salt - 3ts
- bay leaves - 4
- black peppercorn - 8
- 1 clove of crushed garlic or 1ts dried garlic
- 1 red onion for garnish (you can skip it)
Action:
- rinse and clean the mushrooms carefully, if they are bigger, just cut them in half
- mix all ingredients (without the mushrooms) together and bring them to a boil
- put the mushrooms in for 7-8 minutes
- let the whole thing cool down. I usually prepare more than 1kg and keep it in a big jar for several servings. You will be surprised how mushrooms shrink after cooking.
- serve cold, garnish with thinly cut onions if you wish
Self Sufficiency in the Second Cold War
: history, July 17 2024 ▶
The half decade behind our backs shows, that self sufficiency is one of the most important things any country should strive for. Let me remind you some events:
- the man-made, semi-lethal pandemic quickly showed how dependat we are on the global workshop - China. Many governments finally had to admit the fact, that in times of crisis the Globalism falls apart faster than a tower of cards. Their decade-long agenda collapsed. The brain washing campaign had to switch the focus from the globalist fairy tale to testing the limits of their citizens obedience. Countries selfishly hoarded resources, cooperation and coordination were non-existent. Supply chains were brought down - intentionally or not, it really does not matter. Conclusion - you can trust only on what you can fully control.
- on 24 February 2022 the Russian patience exploded in the form of an invasion of a sovereign (on paper) country. The fools like me expected a quick victory, especially when 2 weeks later the tank column reached 60km from Kiev...and they just stopped and turned back. Russians put the most incompetent, badly equipped and inexperienced troops to hold the line. Then I knew something was fishy. The goal was not the Ukrainian defeat (or whatever dumb stuff they came on the TV with). The US goal was to bring down Europe (secondary - inflict as much damage to Russia as possible), Russian was to cut oligarch's money-lifeline and shift country's dependency to the east (secondary - push NATO's no-mans-land back to the west). Foreign military aid was negligible back then, but sky-rocketed at US command. EU puppet politicians stripped-naked the mediocre troops we have, leaving own armies inadequate and incapable to fight, plus a hefty cut from the taxpayers money to indulge the masters from the other side of the ocean. Of course the pre-COVID-crumbling EU economy could not sustain anything of this magnitude, so ECB just continued printing money. The "official inflation" was media-pampered to 3.5% - I do not need to explain to anyone here what a blunt lie that is.
- on 26 September 2022 US decided to test grip over Europe by blowing-up Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The test was successful. Every EU-involved country played dumb ("see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil") and stopped any investigation (or undermined it to a farce state) - any real outcome would lead to the "state funded terrorist attack on their own soil" conclusion. The response for such thing is only one. Nevertheless this was a cold shower for the declining powerhouse of Europe - Germany. Definitely not the first time their ally (and occupator still) intervenes brutally in their affairs. The entire industry, production of electricity and home-heating is reliant on natural gas. Although attempts were made to mask the Russian gas imports with third-party fig leaves, the price difference, combined with the lack of capacity killed whatever competitiveness was left. The German government could not pick a better time to shut down the last 2 nuclear power plants. One may say "yeeah, but the DAX index is record high" - sure it is, driven primarily by international companies, shifting all production (and profit) abroad. Meanwhile, despite the incredible sanctions imposed, the Russian economy is rising steadily.
- spring 2023 - Russia is advancing steadily from several directions on the front. The intensity of the fights is going down. Some western countries start to question the goals and the outcome for Ukraine. Unofficially the war is already over. But the dividing lines in the world are already set, and set to stay that is.
- on 09 June 2024 the treaty between USA and Saudi Arabia to use $USD in all petrol deals expired. Some experts say this is the beginning of the end for the $USD, but I think the petro dollar died when Vladimir Putin met Xi Jinping on the 04 February 2022 and announced, that there are no limits to their strategic partnership. Although BRICS cannot just move away from the dollar, prominent steps are being made - plans for own currency, independent exchange system.
- 13 July 2024 - a brainwashed kid tried to assassinate Donald Trump the other day, basically winning the elections for him. Trump does not want (and economically cannot afford) to follow the line that democrats held with Putin. He will officially end the war as soon as possible. Even, in some unlikely turn of events, where he is not the new president, whoever assumes the position will face the bleak perspective of total collapse - war on several fronts, rising internal friction, loss of allies (Europe is already changing).
Is the Second Cold War already here? Indubitably!
The first one was characterized by two utterly different regimes, physically and politically separated by clear borders. It led to unprecedented technological leap for the entire world. Western countries, especially US, lived in a rigged prosperity for generations. USSR lost it, not realizing that if they do not "shift" their problems to the future, and dump all the burden to the new generations, they cannot keep up.
This Second Cold War will be a total mess. The dying Europe is on its own now. USA and its semi-vassal, UK, will soon face extreme internal problems, due to the century-long cultural and population replacement. BRICS has no rules - it is held together by the handshakes between dictators, whose fellow citizens can turn on them at any given second. Other small alliances are being made, vulturing around the big ones to benefit from the highest bidder. Structures above governments (WEF, IMF, World Bank, WHO, European bureaucrats, a small non-islamic state in the middle east, etc.), under different (and often insane) false pretexts, will waste no time to impose their dystopian desires - regardless how ruthless or harmful they may be. The islamic fanaticism in the heart of Europe has never been stronger, since the times of the Umayyad Caliphate (~7th Century AD). The virtual battlefield is a completely new war dimension. The raise of the weaponized AI, alongside the ordinary bot activities is turning Internet into a wasteland. To tackle this, the major "players" above are creating their own, sometimes physically separate, networks - the only protection from the backdoor-rigged software.
The Globalists lost when the people and their respective countries/aliances, realized that the only way to survive is to become self sufficient. Or at least as much as possible. A state, doing the opposite, is clearly rotten to the core - it will either perish or lick the revolutionary wounds.
Self sufficiency is really hard to achieve. By some economical statistics, the "best countries" in this aspect are ... Sudan and Cuba. Of course this is absurd as they measure the export/import rates only. So I started making some general list, what might be the full plethora of "independence-requirements":
- Territory - if a country is too small, non of the other requirements can be fulfilled. I think the smallest size matches UK, 243 000 square km. There are 78 countries bigger than that.
- Location - no land-locked country has achieved greatness in the human history. Switzerland is the most prosperous such, but they fall of the chart in many other categories. Also, if a country is literally destroyed once per year by a hurricane/earthquake or the winter last 8 months, or the average temperature is above 20C it cannot really compete.
- Population and demographics - you are getting nowhere without a lot of (young, healthy, educated) people. China, India, USA, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria ... but I would put Germany as the best on the list (19th place with 84 million). I think any country below 20 million cannot achieve neither economical nor technological significance.
- Variety of natural resources - there is not a single country to have them all, but the more - the better. Russia, USA and Brazil lead the chart here and Qatar can be given as a really bad example. If you rely on the export of just one thing, sooner or later the history teaches you a harsh lesson. Diversification of all imports should be prioritized.
- Food production capabilities - if you take the pure amount of agricultural production - again the biggest countries take the lead, but that's a bit misleading. France, Australia and Argentina are good examples. When a vast territory of the country is just dry/frozen desert, this does not necessarily mean it cannot sustain the needs of the population.
- Industrial power - this includes also the capability of keeping up with the technological progress and innovate. USA is the absolute leader so far. China has twice as many patent application and immense manufacturing capabilities, but with 4 times the population. US also leads by GDP by far. The work attitude is also very important as any extremes lead to other problems.
- Defence capabilities - a tough one also. The main powers are obvious leaders here, but that does not matter in our list, as in case of global nuclear war we are all dead. Defense spending of USA is unsustainable and under-funding as Russia is questionable. South Korea and Turkey are good examples.
- Cultural resilience - the ability of the local population to withstand cultural/religious/ideological/racial takeover. In Europe there are many states, soon to crumble under the pressure of alien invasion, leftist/eco extremists (clueless about communism/ecology), forced DEI, misunderstood tolerance. China on the other hand has no remorse whatsoever to crush any such activities at will. Defending your own culture is a key element of the self sufficient society.
Is there a single country to achieve such sustainability? No.
Is there an alliance to get it? Also no. Both NATO and BRICS fail on many points.
Some speculations: Argentina/Colombia if you eradicate the crime with a magic stick, or a warmer, conservative Canada.
Fish soup
: food, October 15 2023 ▶
It has 2 parts - the soup itself and the garnishing sauce. As my father says "without the sauce you are just wasting the soup". You can use whatever fish you have, preferably different types. The important part is to be cleaned good, slow cooked and properly deboned. The key ingredient here is the lovage - I would not even try to make fish soup without it. Sadly, I had only a dried one.
For the fish stock:
- 1kg dorade (sea bream, zipura)
- 2.5l water
- 2 celery sticks
- 2 bay leaves
- 1ts black pepper corns
- 2-3ts salt
Put the stock ingredients in a proper pot. Boil for 1 hour. Strain the stock and put it aside. Remove the fish from the other ingredients (discard them) and let it cool down, then debone it. You need small fish pieces.
For the soup:
- 2 medium sized potatoes
- 2 medium sized carrots
- 1 celery stick
- 1 red pepper
- 1 big onion
- 4ts chopped lovage
- 80-100g butter
- 2-3 table spoons finely grated horseradish
Thinly chop all components from the "for the soup" part above. In a new big pot saute the onions with the butter for ~5-7 minutes, then add the carrots, celery, pepper and potatoes. Cook them for 10 minutes, stirring now and then. Add the fish stock and the deboned fish pieces. Boil everything another 30 minutes. If using fresh lovage, add it after you turn off the heat.
For the garnishing sauce:
- 2ts lovage
- 2ts chopped parsley
- 2ts chopped dill
- 8-10 cloves of garlic
- 1-2ts salt (you can adjust this to taste)
- 1ts sugar
- 2ts hot chili flakes
- 150g vinegar
Press the garlic into a paste. Chop the spices. Mix all ingredients.
Honestly, every soup that I cook, tastes better on the next day, but I just could not resist.
After serving, put 2-3ts sauce in your hot bowl of soup and enjoy (yes, 50ml brandy is a nice addition).