Christmas presents

Capon? That's a castrated cockerel, yes?

I didn't think that was easy to find anymore.

 

<>:

Well... er, yes. What else is there?

I'd add goose to the list of stuff. A nice free-range one. Potatoes
done in goose fat. Sprouts with chestnuts. Glazed carrots. Mash. Sick
sauce. Mmmm.

 

But, but, you forgot the parsnips! May I also put a word in for guinea
fowl (particularly stuffed with morels and armagnac).


--

+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Er...

 

Apart from gratification of the senses do you mean?

<contemplates attaining an age of three score years yesterday>

I may be giving the matter some thought later and will get back to you.
--

+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+

 

I did forget to list the parsnips. Good point. They would have been
there. Guinea fowl's good too, maybe as stuffing for the goose...

 

I'd stuff the guinea fowl with snipe (or any small songbird, come to
that).

 

What one?





And, as Scraggy linked, Lindsay's.

 

Deep thought has gone in to hibernation mode pending internal
application of ethanol.

Discussion of these concepts, which border on the metaphysical, could
attract the wrong sort of attention you know.

<looks around for the usual suspects - coast appears clear for the
moment>

All in the head eh? Well, yes and no. I suspect many pleasures appear to
manifest themselves mentally, however, I would submit that the most
intense variety involve what Pirsig refers to as pre-intellectual
awareness. When hurtling round Pahnd Island the higher thought processes
may be operating to remember which bends are coming up (probably at
least three ahead?), and look for signalling boards etc. But I would
submit that the feedback from the machine is being processed at a lower
level of awareness. This may not always be pleasurable at the time, but
later intellectualising may put it in a different context.

Food and drink are a particularly tricky area, because there are other
signifiers which might give rise to pleasure, other than the direct
organoleptic sensations of odour, flavour and texture. Sight is the most
obvious (nouvelle cuisine perhaps). Sound could be indirectly involved
in the form of good conversation or music. To some, I suspect, pleasure
is derived from the sheer novelty or rarity of the dish. To others the
pleasure sometimes seems directly linked to the expense of the
experience whatever the quality of the food.

So, personally, I reckon that a really good rider, driver or musician is
not 'thinking' about what they are doing, particularly when factors
combine to provide those rare peak experiences when everything comes
together perfectly (intentional pun).

IMO certain creative thought processes can take you there just as
effectively as direct sensation though, so accusations of being on a
head trip (without any help from substances, either illicit or not) may
be misleading.

Ultimately, though, the here and now is where IT [1] is, and if you
catch yourself thinking, "this is it", it ain't, IYSWIM.

[1] Information Technology is not necessarily excluded from this arena -
see "the great gob" as discussed in 'The Olduvai Imperative' by De Grace
and Stahl.


--

+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+

 

They knew how to live, those medieval types. Probably came from knowing
they would die horribly.

 

Good point. We wouldn't be discussing this if we weren't able to put it
in to words in the first place.

The sensations don't require a very highly developed nervous system. A
flatworm will move away from [aversive/uncomfortable/inconducive/BAD]
stimuli, and seek out food in response to chemicals in the water in a
way that we would describe as odour or taste. The reaction would be
totally autonomic though.

What degree of consciousness is required to recognise the sensation let
alone associate it with pleasure or, perhaps more obvious pain? Primates
only, or do dolphins get a buzz out of their gymnastics? Does a trout
get pleasure from snatching a juicy mayfly from a tricky current, or
experience pain when I hook it after making a marvellous, pleasurable,
cast to a precise spot? Many would argue that it 'feels' the pain. It
certainly reacts to the sensation of being hooked, but can a fish
experience terror?

<bzzt - excessive question mark warning>

So, yes the pleasure exists only because we have an organ capable of
giving the sensation a name after the event. The naming, remembering and
discussing is mental, but it is not the *real thing*. Are you suggesting
that there is no way to take pleasure in life without being able to
intellectualise about it?

I'm not expressing myself very clearly.

<goes off to open a bottle of 12 year old Amarone, so that later it may,
albeit temporarily, open the doors of perception a crack>

--

+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+

 

I reckon there's a case to be made that hurtling round Pahnd Island is
mental per se.

 

sounds bliss to me. similar things will happen in this house.
--
Adie
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UKRM FAQ: http://www.ukrm.net/faq/
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YZF-R1 : ZX9R E1 : GPz 750 turbo

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It does, doesn't it?

D.
--
des
French Biking Vocabulary: http://minilien.fr/a0kg0p

'Kaiser: Can you prove to me the existance of G-d?"
Bismarck: The Jews, your Majesty. The Jews".'

 

I love sprouts. in fact we'll be having some this afternoon.
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Adie
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UKRM FAQ: http://www.ukrm.net/faq/
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That was repeated on 4 or more 4 or film 4 or somethingelse 4 the other
day, no doubt it'll be on again over the christmas period.

The bit that does it for me is not that it's 10 birds [1], deboned and
stuffed inside each other, but that every last gap between them is
filled with pork meat stuffing. Weightwatchers ahoy!

[1] 15 kilo monster turkey, goose, duck, chicken, pheasant, some others,
and a woodcock, iirc.

 

Doesn't sound awful to me - just pointless.

Why wait until the middle of the fourth week of December to do
something you enjoy?
--
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(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 WG*
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\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4 YTC#4 two#11
'^' RBR Clues: 00 Pts:0000 Miles:0000

 

And the rest.

The 15kg of turkey alone gives about 13000 calories. And that's just one
bird, no stuffing.

 

I hate sprouts, i'll give that a go, ta.[/QUOTE]

Fried Bacon and Brassica works. It works especially well with the
stronger tasting Greens and makes Kale a delight which is only equalled
by Sprout based Bubble. Low salt Bacon is advised for the sake of both
your palette and your heart.

 

Try them the Nigel Slater way; even people who *don't* like sprouts like
em.

Chop a few rashers of streaky bacon up into lardons and crisp them up in
a frying pan over a medium heat. Shred some sprouts finely, then once
the bacon is crispy, turn up the heat and stir fry the sprouts in the
hot bacon fat for only 2 minutes.[/QUOTE]

which would make what started out as a joyous vegetable tasting like
something I'd happily vomit over.

sprouts = delicious

Bacon = bleurgh.

--
Adie
(replace spam with nickname to reply)

UKRM FAQ: http://www.ukrm.net/faq/
keeper of the ukrm faq for my sins

YZF-R1 : ZX9R E1 : GPz 750 turbo

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