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Post by lagatta on Jun 1, 2020 23:29:02 GMT
And all those laws go back to a time when chattel slavery was legal! That means not just exploiting labour, but the very bodies of slaves belonging to their masters, who had every right to separate spouses, steal their children etc. Serfdom (as in Russia) was horrible too, but usually conjugal and family units were respected.
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Post by lagatta on Jun 1, 2020 22:01:13 GMT
Oh, I love Riesling, not only from the Alsace but also very dry, mineral Rieslings from the Rhinegau in Germany on the other bank of the Rhine.
But I would NEVER forgive a human who murdered one of my cats. I'd lie in wait for him until he was old and feeble and strangle him slowly, telling him it was payoff for murdering my kitten.
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Post by lagatta on Jun 1, 2020 20:52:32 GMT
I certainly understand the latter! The delivery system just hasn't worked very well here, and I'm not going to pay for stale veg. I've been going very early (as you've seen) to groceries, greengrocers, a butcher I like (Portuguese, and not expensive) so I don't wind up in a dangerous queue. Indeed recently it has been better to go after 9 and certainly not to take the bus when essential healthcare workers are on it!
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Post by lagatta on Jun 1, 2020 12:59:43 GMT
Cheery, how do you do your essential shopping if you don't go out? It's about 5:30 here, I'll be doing a shopping when a small grocery near me opens (although it is very chilly this morning, as strange as the heatwave last week and far more unpleasant, at least for me - for people who have to work in the heat and sun it was rough for northern people.
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Post by lagatta on May 31, 2020 14:15:41 GMT
And as for Tropical Trump: www.pagina12.com.ar/269238-un-pozo-sin-fondo-llamado-brasil Un pozo sin fondo llamado Brasil (A bottomless pit named Brazil) from Argentina. Neighbouring South American countries are very afraid of that shitstorm - pandemic + possible return of fascist dictatorship. Bolsonaro's cabinet included a former functionary of the Pinochet régime in Chile!
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Post by lagatta on May 31, 2020 14:08:49 GMT
Black bloc goons have also attacked trade union and popular activist demontrations here for many years, but they seem to be in decline. They have damaged the May Day demonstrations here for years, always showing up at the end, but some of the unions have some very tough marshalls of their own(guys who were building workers etc) and I think they got a bit of a taste of their own medicine. They utterly took over the annual demonstration against police brutality which was originally a peaceful protest welcoming people from racialised communities and other groups likely to be subjected to unfair treatment; when it became a pitched battle of course Black, Brown and Indigenous people stayed away. Trump seems nostalgic for the Old South governors and mayors who were keen to release vicious dogs on African-American Civil Rights marches. www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/5/30/1948869/-Trump-threatens-protesters-with-dogs-says-Secret-Service-eager-to-attack-calls-on-MAGA-supporters?utm_campaign=trendingAnd it is also very cruel to weaponise dogs in the first place.
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Post by lagatta on May 31, 2020 14:02:45 GMT
Ha, after a pleasant blast of heat, it is only 7c now! It will go "up" to 15 or so. Go away, cold!!! Tod, I remember how cold it was in ZA during your World Cup. There was a large Argentine contingent and they seemed to be freezing, though they have the same seasons.
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Post by lagatta on May 30, 2020 23:38:01 GMT
What is steak pie? A beef pie made with steak cuts? Steak and kidney pie? (yum).
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Post by lagatta on May 30, 2020 21:17:05 GMT
Yes, and that was a much-needed lung in a largely working-class district back then. I spent long periods in that area in the 1980s and remember arbiters of taste declaring the Buttes-Chaumont was overgrown and needed to be restored to its original "minéral" concept. Remember, it was "Bald Mountain!"
Mossie, I do hope that restaurant wasn't the one with the kind and comely waitresses where you like to hang out during forays to Paris!
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Post by lagatta on May 28, 2020 22:32:14 GMT
When did Christmas - or New Year's for some of us - become an orgy of gift-giving. In the 1960s? - though certainly not for everyone.
My parents sent me to a public school in an area close to but much posher than mine; the difference was seething.
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Post by lagatta on May 28, 2020 21:49:18 GMT
I think that with humidity, it was almost 40c here, which would be very strange where you live. I was really nauseated this morning (not something that I often experience). I was shopping at our historic Jean-Talon Market early this morning and almost felt sick (and there was nothing smelly nearby). These days I get up very early and turn in by 21h (9 p.m.)
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Post by lagatta on May 28, 2020 16:53:26 GMT
I was thinking that should be Wankhand, but I guess you were referring to the wankee, not the wanker. Sorry, we are getting quite crude.
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Post by lagatta on May 28, 2020 15:25:06 GMT
And Fucking, Austria?
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Post by lagatta on May 28, 2020 15:20:17 GMT
36°C here yesterday - a record for May.
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Post by lagatta on May 26, 2020 19:27:11 GMT
I'll have to check on the temps in ZA right now - of course they are deep into autumn, but that doesn't mean the same thing as here. Except for that frigid World Cup...
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Post by lagatta on May 26, 2020 9:53:49 GMT
Indeed; any way to access the beautiful historic photos without the vandalism?
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Post by lagatta on May 26, 2020 9:48:05 GMT
They are also served with coffee at events in the Netherlands. The speculaas (Dutch spelling) are very tasty, the Dutch coffee is meh.
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Post by lagatta on May 24, 2020 18:55:21 GMT
I think people are misreading statistics. A 90% chance of getting out of it? That means a 10% risk of dying - and not dropping dead as with a heart attack but dying gasping for breath.
At the same time, we do have to be aware of the very grave effects of a loss of physical human contact. We are apes, after all. I doubt I'd be sane without cuddling Livia, who is a feline, not a human.
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Post by lagatta on May 24, 2020 18:46:21 GMT
K2, I also found a good-sized plastic tub of piment d'Alep, a very interesting spice, not hot-hot, more piquant with a bit of heat. One has to be careful with some spices that lose their power quickly, but you have a freezer.
We've had Syrian restaurants here for quite a while, but there is a new wave with the current refugees.
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Post by lagatta on May 24, 2020 11:04:01 GMT
Utterly lovely here. A bit cool yesterday - high of 22c - but will be at least 28 and perhaps 30 today. Also very low humidity; I love hot, dry days as were common in Perugia (which, being atop a high hill, has good cool sleeping weather as well). I'm going to a nearby Italian caffè here to get an espresso - we have to drink them outside but they have benches - I'll go fairly soon as I cycled past late yesterday morning and there was already a compact herd of men NOT practising social distancing. A young couple now owns the local laundrette and madame is producing pretty masks in pure cotton. I don't wear mine cycling; there is not such crowding where I live, but do wear it shopping and will have to wear it at our lovely, spacious branch library where alas I can't wander round the stacks or sit in the lounge area with the periodicals (and where there is a gas fireplace in cooler weather). We are also allowed to drink tea or coffee there. Or rather, were... montreal.ca/lieux/bibliotheque-marc-favreauGawd, I need a haircut.
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Post by lagatta on May 24, 2020 10:42:57 GMT
Such a disgusting thought, but entirely possible.
Not hard to counter sexism: just take a look at Trump's two (adult) sons.
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Post by lagatta on May 24, 2020 10:34:12 GMT
We can buy prepared pastes for Roghan Josh and several other curries here, in some supermarkets as well as specialised South Asian shops that are one neighbourhood west of mine. There are several restaurants featuring Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan etc food. However my favourite South Asian restaurant, Thanjai, is a bit farther away and I have to take the métro there. The food is South Indian and mostly vegetarian, though they do also serve fish, chicken and lamb (no pork or beef). It is quite delicate (though can be very spicy) unlike some of the others which can be a bit heavy and greasy.
I have an interpreter friend in Paris who is a Torontonian of Indian Tamil ancestry, and whose wife is Mexican. Interesting combination, also in terms of food (curries - moles?) tortillas - dosas? They have a daughter whom I remember as a little girl but who is an adolescent now. They live in the 19th, just across the railway lines from K2.
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Post by lagatta on May 23, 2020 19:29:16 GMT
I also add a bit of nutmeg to béchamel. Mine isn't so economical as I use goat's milk. But then, I don't make lasagne very often. Yes, I've also tried soya milk, but it is meh and has an odd texture. I definitely prefer béchamel to ricotta in lasagne. Ricotta (once again, goat's or ewe's for me) makes wonderful cheesecakes that are lighter and more interesting than the cream cheese kind.
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Post by lagatta on May 23, 2020 19:15:51 GMT
I can like a bit once in a while, but with the same budget would far prefer the dry wines made in the same region. www.wineanorak.com/douro2004_1.htm (An old article, but the offer has only expanded and improved in quality). Obviously, in centuries past, Port and Sherry were far easier to ship overseas. I have friends who live in Porto and would love to visit them some day (when my travel to the European continent is paid for another function). They are both professors and I do hope they have some pull to get me a summer spot in a university residence (which other prof friends have done in Paris and Perugia). I'd have zero problem attending a beginners' Portuguese course for that,though it would be more logical to improve my Spanish before "activating" Portuguese. I'm sipping on a Portuguese white right now, but it is a Dão, not a Douro.
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Post by lagatta on May 22, 2020 21:46:23 GMT
Such a horrible loss of veteran African musicians who have reinvented musical genres. Music that can be party music and also much deeper.
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Post by lagatta on May 22, 2020 18:58:26 GMT
That latest Michael Moore film has received strong criticism from climate scientists.
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Post by lagatta on May 22, 2020 12:29:00 GMT
I think I'd find it too rich - not that I'm averse to rich food but sometimes my digestive tract really doesn't like it. I had some of my black bean/minced lamb chile (chilli? - chili?)with fresh coriander from Jean-Talon market. That is still from Mexico or the US, but the local will be coming in soon. I bought a big bunch of green beans as the "bargain basket" was only $1 and they looked perfect. I think I'll roast them in my little oven - I also have a large yellow potato and I think I'll cube it and do those together - they'll get the parsley rather than the coriander.
Forgot if I mentioned bixa's very cute grafito fridge - I'm jealous of the large freezer compartment. I don't need a larger fridge at all but would like a larger proportion of it to be freezer.
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Post by lagatta on May 21, 2020 12:10:45 GMT
I'm impressed by the resources found in such places as the Bali community Questa referred to, but there seems to be far more anomie in Western societies not among the wealthiest ones, especially urban centres in the Americas. Brazil has some of the worst inequality in the world, though in many ways it is a modern American society.
But there is also underage prostitution in Indonesia...
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Post by lagatta on May 21, 2020 10:20:12 GMT
My ficus is huge. But sometimes he drops leaves, which frightens me. His name is Fabrizio (a Stendhal character, also known as Fabrice).
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Post by lagatta on May 20, 2020 21:43:00 GMT
Yes, I know that this isn't a traditional dish, despite Diana Henry's vintage recipe: dianahenry.co.uk/recipes/lamb-beer-black-bean-chilli/ To my mind, there is far too much tomato. I do add some cumin (not too much) and some caraway, and other savoury spices. Leaf sage and Greek oregano were added early on. I discovered that one can add either masa or instant polenta (which I do have) if it refuses too thicken enough. Just a bit - you don't want pap. Mine is made with minced lamb, onions, garlic, a finely chopped sweet red pepper etc.
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