I had a fascinating morning, listening to the BBC about decaffeinated coffee. I'm not a coffee drinker so I could listen without worrying about anything. I learned that the caffeine enters the brain within two minutes of drinking a cup of coffee and that 50% of us suffer from anxiety after drinking it. It's genetic and so, if you are one of the positive people for anxiety, there's nothing you can do about it.
What's more uncomfortable is that 80% of the world's decaffeinated coffee is decaffeinated using something called methyline chloride (or something like that) which is also used to strip paint. Oh dear! Lucky Canadians can relax because in Canada it's not allowed - the process has to be done with water. The BBC went to a company in Vancouver where the work is done. The first step is to empty the jute bags and then filter out unnecessary things, such as bullets - that's right, bullets! I'm glad I'm a tea drinker.
Now one of my comfort foods is sardines; I love them on toast. Today I decided to treat myself. I bought some that had been caught in Morocco so I thought they'd be reasonably healthy. As I'm eating them, I thought I'd read the label on the box. "Warning! Contains chemicals known to California to cause birth defects, reproductive harm." Whoops! People send me a lot of funny statements and this has to be one of them. Why only California? People in the rest of the world wouldn't know about this? "Reproductive harm" presumably means men and women could have problems. Where do I go for a decent sardine?
After lunch I got over the sardines by playing my weekly game of Skip-Bo with Srun and Phearak. We have a great time and we talk in English for an hour. I still haven't figured out why Phearak always wins.
I'm reading a book called, "Lost and Found in Russia", by Susan Richards. She is fluent in Russian and has friends all over the place. It's a book about history, politics, personal relationships etc; it's wonderful. After reading today's chapters I've decided I'm way ahead of the rest of the world in understanding why Russia took Crimea. So here's a lesson for you.
I didn't know that it's been a favoured place through the years for different nations to conquer. During Greek times it was called the place where the gates of heaven and hell were located. Lucky people - they didn't have far to go no matter which place they visited. Eventually Catherine the Great decided she wanted it so she took it from the Turks. The Brits tried but failed. Dear old Khrushchev, who was a Ukrainian, decided in 1954 to give Crimea to Ukraine, but the USSR and now Russia would be able to keep their naval base in Sevastopol. The deal was that the Russians would pay rent until 2017. Ha ha!! You are saying. Russia would most likely be afraid that Ukraine wouldn't allow them to keep the base after 2017 so let's take it back. Another thing the Russians had noticed is the fact that Crimea was developing into the Hong Kong of the area - so let's take it back. I've not heard any of this via the media, and it makes a lot of sense. I learn a lot on the BBC.
Talking about Khrushchev; does anyone remember when he paid a visit to the north of England? He visited a factory and, when he met the workers, one dear lady, dressed in pinny and headscarf said, "Hello mi old fruit!" He turned to the translator, who shrugged and said, "It means ripe peach!"
I had a cooking experience with Samnang. I'd thawed some fish so he decided it should be seared with a coating of flour. Into the flour mix he put oregano, paprika and pepper. I'd already steamed potatoes and cabbage but he decided the potatoes need to be dipped in the same flour mix and fried - one little piece at a time. It took ages but it tasted good. He's always going on about Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay so I introduced him to "The two fat ladies", my two favourite chefs. He said, "they cook so slowly"! Modern male cooks seem to be moving at a mile a minute but not these dear ladies. He was horrified at the amount of oil and butter they used. Then the phone rang. It was Cina, his tiger mother, "Time for Chinese class!"
Now I'm relaxing and wondering if the other two will be here for the night after class. I'll have to kick them out in the morning as I'm off with a group of youth for the weekend.
