| Beautiful |
[Nov. 3rd, 2007|11:37 am] |
As I sit in the sun with a thousand questions
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| notes: meaning of life |
[Sep. 25th, 2007|06:55 pm] |
what is the meaning of life?
meaning: a human concept
life: not exclusive to humans
ownership as illusion
ownership as another human concept
all things are interrelated, but no things 'belong' to others.
all things change hands
all things are impermanenent
nothing can be held onto or possessed
ownership and authority
authority implies ownership
ownership can be proven false
authority only lies within oneself
objectivity and subjectivity
objectivity as fact
subjectivity as mental content
no true objective
objective data is the product of subjective processes
objective data is experienced on a subjective level
authority and objective data
authority only lies within oneself
no true objective
authority and meaning
meaning can only be subjective
meaning can only come from oneself
meaning and life
meaning cannot have authority over all life
there is no meaning of life
life
simply is. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 22nd, 2007|06:45 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | cabaret voltaire - groovy laid back and nasty | ] |
no-one told me cabaret voltaire made a top shelf house album! |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 7th, 2007|07:57 pm] |
ive just had my first listen of brian eno's music for airports.
it capped off a day of little buddhist thoughts. just my day to day observation of other people, wondering what the world is like through their eyes.
as 2-1 picked up, i stood in front of the mirror by my front door.
in an instant it was clear that i wasnt looking at 'me'. what i saw was my body, and my identity. I was there far behind the shirt, the cropped hair, and the 28 year old eyes. I was behind my opinions and my feelings.
isn't it amazing. i dont know quite how to respond to the chronic illusion that we live in. it's as if day to day life is schizophrenic, hopping from face to face, from desire to desire, attachment to attachment.
i dont feel like its a bad thing at all. its something to be accepted. the best way to go must be somewhere in between. |
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| Just Brilliant |
[Jul. 9th, 2007|09:56 pm] |
What an absolutely cracking sauce.
It all started last Wednesday morning, as I walked home from Dewsons with a green bag full of marrow bones, a jar of tomato paste, carrots, celery, and onions.
I roasted all of those ingredients in my largest trays, the bones coated in tomato paste and flour. All of them ended up in my 24L stockpot, simmering away until the last minute before I had to leave for work on Thursday night.
When I checked on the chilled laundry tub of strained stock on Saturday (It took up half of my fridge space, most of the shelves had to be removed), it had formed an inch-thick lid of orange fat. That stock underneath was an almost opaque brown, it rested in an imperishable state.
On Sunday I pulled that seal off with a paring knife and a large spatula. All but a litre of the stock returned to the stockpot. As it warmed up I reduced on the side 2 litres of red wine and shallots down to 1 litre. This was then strained into the stockpot. I left the stock and wine to reduce down for another 24 hours.
By lunch today the 10 litres of stock had transformed into 1 litre of demi-glace. This is the stuff of gods. My little plastic tub held an almost solid, pudding-like brown-black mass. I was starting to get excited about tonight's dinner.
Much french cooking is based on the transformation of inexpensive and nasty ingredients into something special. Now making stock and demi-glace is a basic principle, but it's all about that magic that takes place over days of flavour interchange.
But then the recipe for the sauce I wanted to try called for something else. Cognac. This is often the case. There will be some gourmet ingredient that costs a fortune, most often because it's hard to get a hold of, or it needs to be imported. I bit the bullet and grabbed an $85 bottle of Hennessey.
One hour ago, it was on. I thought I'd try this out with a nice piece of fillet steak, crusted in cracked peppercorns, and some fries. Once the steak was seared off, I took it out of the pan and rested it.
All the stuff stuck to the pan is a major ingredient. A splash of the Cognac served to deglaze the pan. The first amazing smell reached my nose. Within seconds it changed from sharp and sweet, to aromatic and deep. I let this bubble away to half.
Next came four soup spoons of the dark beef stock, and one soup spoon of the demi-glace. The smell of this combination in the pan was almost a meal in itself. Again, I let it reduce down to half. It looked a bit like gravy, but it was so much more.
Almost done. I quickly threw the cooked chips and steak back into the oven to warm them up. I added a couple of spoons of butter into the sauce and stirred it through, quickly stacked my chips and steak onto a plate, and tipped the sauce over the lot.
Now That was something else. Such a dark, rich flavour, a thick coating texture, the statement made by the sauce coating the plate, the remnants of cracked peppercorns floating around the bottom. The cognac had given it this mysterious property, I can't put my finger on an accurate description, though I can say it's enlightening to find you don't need to drink the stuff to fully appreciate it. At the end, a piece of bread to mop it all up.
There's plenty more where that came from.
Thankyou Tony Bourdain, and the Les Halles cookbook. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 8th, 2007|12:19 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Mark Stewart & The Maffia | ] |
All is well. I'll be starting at Notre Dame in two weeks.
As you can see I'm going in prepared with a new pair of glasses. The optometrist said my left eye is so bad that if I lost my good one, I wouldn't be able to drive a car. This explains the eye strain I've lived with since childhood.
I can't wait to be a student again, I definitely have the right mind for it now. I'm never in any hurry to run out, get hammered and escape things. Times have certainly changed ;).
I had a talk with a customer recently in the liquor store, an ex-patriate Italian. All about the pleasure of a home cooked dinner with a guest and one or two glasses of wine. I considered the futility of extreme regulations such as vegetarianism and refraining totally from alcohol.
Everything has its place, No one element or ideal should govern the others.
Something really clicked since my Chef Apprenticeship. Responsibility. Probably has a lot to do with the Buddhism as well.
No complaints, no regrets, everything has been valuable. It's so important to keep moving between roles, environments and social groups. It keeps me honest, and it keeps me on my toes. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 4th, 2007|09:36 pm] |
Well, I haven't posted in this since forever.
For those of you I haven't spoken to in some time (that's most of you I think!), life is going well, I'm on my best behaviour.
I chucked in being a chef at the beginning of the year, I had to be honest, couldn't do that forever. However it's one more skill under my belt, a very useful one too :)
So after a lot of soul-searching over summer I realised that I'm best suited to working with people. I have the ability to take care of myself physically and mentally, so thats something which i should be sharing.
I've decided to go into Nursing. STAT test tomorrow, this week I've been learning the forgotten art of essay writing. It should be fine, I'm relaxed now. So long as I don't dawdle and think too much.
What else, I'm giving vegetarianism a try, just as an experiment, and it seems to be working. Really well. Its a great help that I can make stuff taste good. I've taken up Ashtanga Yoga as well. That's really hard work. I have a class every morning at 6am. When I step out of class I feel on top of the world. The battle is staying awake for the rest of the day!
So, here's to cultivating a physical and mental insurance for the future. The money still doesn't feature as a priority. I always say that if you're happy with nothing, then you're ready for anything. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 13th, 2007|05:51 pm] |
well i had my mind blown yesterday in an aerobatic flight somewhere over the ocean between jandakot and garden island.
it was a constant battle adjusting to the G-forces. but my weet-bix stayed put, and i didnt black out or anything. i was wiped out for an hour after landing as all my blood returned to the right places. it was a much more physical experince than i expected. we hit 4Gs and -1G.
my pilot was a top bloke, and he said i was doing well, so he put me through what seemed like every trick in the book.
these all look familiar. there were a number of maneoeuvres that my pilot combined and executed in succession.
the tail slide, if thats the correct diagram, was the most mind-bending. basically we went up into a stall with the nose pointing straight up, fell over backwards, then sort of span down and over like a leaf. it really made those segments ive seen on telly where people do a single loop the loop look tame, and video games have not been the same.
so by the end of it all i was mentally thrilled but physically rattled. today i kept thinking about it, and i cant wait to start lessons. the edge has really been taken off, pilot training will be at a very slow pace, just learning how to turn the rudders at first.
in addition to this one of my old head chefs, the one who i got along with best, called me up today and asked me to work for him. this is after my having quit the trade. i must say its tempting, because we got along so well. if i did though i couldnt make it full time. theres too many things i want to do this year, and i have a commitment to myself to try them all. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 27th, 2006|10:52 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | guus guus guus guus guus guus | ] |
| [ | music |
| | ultratech allstars - pacino | ] |
someone tell me we didnt get knocked out last night. |
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| johnny go sideways |
[Jun. 20th, 2006|03:56 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | nescafe noir bitter | ] |
ive got to buy some scritti politti. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 17th, 2006|06:39 pm] |
far out, just made a killa pesto. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 12th, 2006|12:52 pm] |
pennsylvania six five oh oh oh!
just got some ass kicking knives. ill probably come home tonight with 9 fingers. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 28th, 2006|02:38 pm] |
just caned a bunch of 12 hour shifts and it felt great. its great fun to be on top. my hands are notched and my arm is scorched with oil burns. god knows what kind of a nutcase im going to be when i qualify! |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 23rd, 2006|10:27 am] |
| [ | music |
| | the smiths - shakespeares sister | ] |
fwaar winter has landed. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 23rd, 2006|12:17 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | weighing it up | ] |
| [ | music |
| | still chet, a bit quieter. | ] |
the theory running through my mind is -
the longer i stay at work, (the earlier i get there)
the easier the shift will be.
so lets get the balls together and put that to the test.
i just hate WITH A PASSION running out of shit, and trying to do prep during service. which is what oriel cafe is all about, being a 24 hour joint :( its just such unnecessary stress.
just like maxie said, ive got to love the job.
NOTE TO SELF if i look at this entry on saturday, and have put those extra hours into the playstation, i am full of shit. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 22nd, 2006|03:23 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | chet baker - baby breeze | ] |
good old chet baker. |
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