When a branch fails vol.2
: tech, March 11 2021 ▶
Just a month after the first "when a branch fails" article, we finally got a vaccine. What a relief! In late autumn 2020 BigPharma finally decided it is time to open the gates - the dollars are ripe for picking. They used a massive government donation (as if they needed such), to "develop" adequate weapon against the virus. Delivery contracts were already signed, the vaccine(s) was zooming through the fast lane of EMA's (European Medical Agency) drug approval procedures, vaccination centers were being prepared. What could possibly go wrong?!
"$" steps in with "hold my beer!"
At that point nobody, except the people who signed them, knew what exactly is written in the contracts. Everything was covered under the "top secret" blanket - not only because of the falsified price data, but probably also because it would have shown exactly how bent over the politicians were. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) board chair Christa Wirthumer-Hoche, reached another level of face-palming hypocrisy, by declaring an early approval of the Russian vaccine "Sputnik V" to be equal to playing a "Russian roulette", despite it was the FIRST mass-introduced one, with good results for over 6 months. The obvious politically-forced decision not to use it, was scrapped by many EU countries, who showed EMA the middle finger, and even started producing it by themselves.
Meanwhile BigPharma was showing EMA the same finger, after using them to legitimize their product, and announcing indirectly they will just sell to the highest bidder - and this is how Israel, and recently UK and US, managed to get a record numbers in their immunization campaign. The greed (and the lack of consequences) kicked out any remaining business-integrity. No such can exist, when you get big and try to play with the top players (oh, what a nice topic for another article this is!).
In Germany, the "Impfzentren" are almost empty, due to insufficient supply of vaccines, nevertheless generating serious expenditures - the taxpayer has nowhere to go,...right? FFP2 masks were introduced as mandatory and nobody (except me) asked himself "whose cousin brought a FFP2-loaded cargo ship from China?". I hate to be right - last week 2 parliament representative burned when somebody uncovered they lobbied for these specific masks and put over a million in the bag. At the same time fraudsters were scamming the Ministry of Economy, just calling them from the name of legitimate companies "in financial need" and asking for some money. "Just transfer them to this account". And the ministry complied... , then stopped the entire program (temporarily).
Again - no resignations, no penalties - nothing! The 2 lobbyists were forced out by their own parties. One went away, the other left the party ... but remained in the parliament! Just think about this next time, when Germany moralizes over the corruption in your government. Many times people's memory is just too short. Like my all-time-favorite innovation from Ursula von der Leyen (2013-2019 Germany's Minister of Defense), who spent €650K for uniforms for pregnant soldiers. You know her better as The President of the European Commission (2019-since) - the same commission who put the entire continent in the COVID19 fiasco.
I am not even mentioning the side effects and questions, regarding the medical application of all rushed vaccines. Questions, that will cost EMA (us, the tax-payers) billions in the upcoming lawsuits. There are numerous reports of people dying after vaccination, dubious effectiveness, lack of quality control, etc. This article continues the legacy of the first one, by just giving a glimpse on how the failure spreads in a system of communicating vessels. The flaws of the fist are fueling corresponding such in the second one and vice-versa. This is not the end of the story. I am absolutely sure we will have more "incredible" examples by the end of the summer 2021.
Roasted Lamb Leg
: food, March 07 2021 ▶
Yep, roasted lamb leg. On the butcher's schematic - it is the thing in the back of the poor (but delicious) animal. The front one is called "shoulder" and the "shanks" are the bottom parts of the front and back legs. Do not let anyone bullshit you - this recipe is neither quick, nor a cheap one. You need minimum 4 hours (roasting) plus the overall preparation. A good piece of lamb is a costly one. What you see here was ~3kg. Anyway - let's get down to business.
The "before" pic:
The making:
- I always rinse and pat dry any meat,...just in case.
- There is a thin membrane covering the meat. Some people remove it, but I leave it as a protective cover. Trim all other non-meaty parts.
- Using a sharp, thin knife - make holes at 5-7cm uniform distance from each other.
- The rub - 2ts salt, 2ts paprika, 1ts cayenne pepper, 1/2 ts black pepper, 8ts sunflower oil.
- Rub it!
- Put 1/2 garlic clove (or even the whole clove if it is too small) and some rosemary in each hole you made. Do not let the garlic to stick out of the meat or it will fall off during the roasting. I would have used fresh rosemary if I could find one...
- Use a tray with a rack, that can fit the leg. If you do not have such, you can put some fresh onion (scallion) or leek, so it lifts the meat ~1cm.
- Put some water (or beer...yeaah shame) in the tray, so it barely touches the meat.
- Cover the whole thing with aluminum foil and close any holes.
- Roasting time (with fan):
1/2 hour at 200C
3 hours at 160C
uncover the meat (remove the foil)
1/2 hour at 160C
- Remove from the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes.
- Under NO circumstances serve this cold!!
- It goes pretty well with mashed potatoes, dry rose` or wheat beer.
Potatoes Lilly
: food, February 05 2021 ▶
You may wonder "why writing about something as bland as potatoes"? Let me stop you there with a brief example: yesterday I made pork chops with peaches, garlic, rosemary and bourbon - a recipe from Jamie Oliver. Then, on the side, I decided to make some french fries using the "Lilly" potatoes (did not know the sort before that) and some duck fat. 10 minutes into the meal, being the heavy-meat-eater, I was thinking to myself "well, I do not need the pork chops...".
This article is more as a reminder to myself, what should I look for. The story goes back a couple of months ago, when I bought accidentally a bag of "Lilly"-potatoes. Prepared them all ways imaginable and the result was always perfect. These potatoes are, by far and with enormous lead, THE BEST POTATOES I have ever had. Of course, I threw the bag before getting the sort, then desperately binge-buying random bags of potatoes in different stores...but alas, none of the got even close. And that was till yesterday! Thank you, Lord!
Found an online shop selling them, could not find the botanical name, but will continue searching. Again: roast or deep fry some in high-smoking point fat (they will get a bit mashy when you stir, which is perfect, as the thin end will get so crispy), put some salt, grab a wheat beer and enjoy life.
Roasted Duck
: food, January 30 2021 ▶
Not my own recipe, but more like a recommendation - it works really good.
What you need:
- Duck
- 2 lemons - if you are not sure of their skin's quality just remove it!
- 1 garlic head
- 1ts honey
- 2ts (balsamic) vinegar
- salt
What you need to do:
- Score the duck's skin (sharp knife needed), try not to touch the meat underneath.
- Cut one lemon in 4 parts, break the garlic head (you do not need to peel it) and mix together. Put both inside the duck.
- Tie the legs with butcher's twine or make one from aluminum foil.
- For the glaze: mix the lemon juice from 1 lemon, 1ts. of honey and 2ts vinegar. DO NOT use it now!
- Salt the duck generously and put it in a tray with rack (pic above), breasts upwards. If you do not have such you can improvise by putting a smaller tray or a heatproof bowl, upside down inside the bigger one, so it raises the bird at least 1cm above the tray's bottom.
- Put 300ml water on the bottom of the tray.
- Roast the duck 1 hour on 180C with fan (else 190C).
- Pull it out of the oven, pour out the fat and save it for roasted potatoes.
- Rotate the duck so the breast point downwards, roast another 40 mins.
- Pull it out, apply some glaze on the back and rotate it again - breasts up. Apply glaze and return it in the oven for 10 mins.
- Apply glaze again, roast another 10 mins.
- One more time.
- Done.
As mentioned - I served it with roasted potatoes, which I made in the same already heated oven. Using some salt, 1/2 beer and 6ts from the bird's fat. Put some Grenache (or any kind of Merlot) on the side and you have one perfect (and stylish) dinner.
Ultra-hypocrisy on the stock exchange
: money, January 30 2021 ▶
I want you to look at the picture and let the data sink a bit in your head. This is what happens when small people unite and beat the hedge fund vultures in their own game. 2 funds went almost bankrupt and some Robinhood-Reddit-users went wealthy overnight.
I.LIKE.IT!
What is worse - if some of this funds really fail, guess who will bail it out (and with whose money). What is even worse is that the social media overlords reacted in an instant, to shut down the major means of communication and organization of the so-called "degenerates" - so much for the Freedom of Speech I guess.