Saturday, July 18, 2009

WHEN A MEME IS NOT A MEME, ALMOST

Over at 'Risotto is the opiate of the masses' they had a comments thread about what bad food we eat when we're alone and can't be bothered with the full 5 serves of anything good. Grilled cheese on toast was a favourite.

I love cold baked beans sandwiched between great slabs of fresh white bread. I have heartburn for about a week not to mention wind that could power the Cutty Sark on the tea run from China.

If I'm really good I'll mangle an omlette with grated cheese and have that with toast but I do love hot chips. I steam them first then crisp them up in hot olive oil, a bit of grated lemon, pepper and lots of salt (forget the blood pressure, it went up at the first mention of 'chips') and maybe a fried egg. No tomato sauce, I refuse the tomato sauce.

Chocolate is not bad, it's an essential food group and it's acceptable as a light meal as long as you don't have a deep-fried Mars bar for dessert.

Chips, mmmmmmmm, damn, have already chopped the good stuff for stir fry but with Thai noodles.

So this afternoon, gloomy and cold afternoon, I watched "The Time Machine" with our own Rod Taylor not the new version which I haven't seen yet. It's stood the test of time although I felt sorry for the poor Molocks who slaved for the Eloi in return for a bit of fresh meat from time to time and got smoked for their trouble.

Brave George decides to go back to the future and help restore civilization and takes three books with him. Well, that's caught my attention for the last few hours. Which books would start civilization from scratch? It's all supposed to be mindless football on a Saturday arvo, not thinking stuff.

It's easier to say what wouldn't be on my list. No it's not, I'm stumped there as well.
Go for your food and book choices in the comments.

13 comments:

River said...

Food and book together in "You Can Have Your Permaculture And Eat It Too"

Anonymous said...

Australia history in some sort of context, Cousin from Fiji. There is a lot in that book even though it is somewhat soap operaish. People in the past survived very well on almost a diet of solely red meat. It must be good.

Jayne said...

Book - 'How to smoke hagfish into being acceptable to one's stomach".
If that's out of the library try "How to tell wild spinach from Deadly Nightshade; the adventures of a myopic man who's managed to survive multiple poisonings".
Or just eat the lilly pillies till the cows come home :P

GreenSmile said...

I am preparing to save the future as it just so happens. I could not keep it down to 3 books. I am laying away mostly technical manuals, math, physics, chemistry, agriculture, a few languages and a few good tomes on buddhism and sustainability...hardly any fiction unless you count Karen Armstrong's accounts of our collection of world religions.

I am up to about 500 kg of book in water-tight boxes and counting.

hazelblackberry said...

Food - scrambled eggs on toast, with plenty of salt.

Or tinned spaghetti on toast with corn fritters.

Or frozen veggies with instant gravy.

Books - Something from the Jeeves & Wooster canon. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. And Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace.

Because humour might be in short supply in the future.

JahTeh said...

River, it's your bad food habits we need not the good ones.

Andrew, that's what the Molocks were living on, it gave them green skin and glowing eyes. Geez it's quiet around the web with Fleetwood.

Jayne, You're never alone to eat bad food? I should read the book again and see if there were any oldies alive, in the film there weren't so a basic on sex education might be needed. A bit of a plot hole there, if they kept getting eaten, where did the replacements come from. We definitely need Fleetwood's expertise.

Greensmile, in the film, all the books had turned to dust so no-one could read. Can you imagine today's younglings without an iphone, computer or blackberry?
My first would be a farmer's almanac or a basic commonsense for beginner humans.
It worries me a bit that the Molocks might have been tending the machines to make oxygen, in which case not a book would be needed.

HB, frozen vegies with instant gravy and I didn't think you could sink lower than beans straight from the can. Now chips and instant gravy is acceptable.

River said...

@ Andrew; people in the past did a lot more physical labour than people do now; it helped their bodies with the processing of such large amounts of red meat. Nowadays with our more sedentary lifestyles large amounts of red meat are not a good idea.

I love vegetables and will cook them even when I'm cooking for one. Even a frozen Lean Cuisine curry chicken gets added fresh broccoli and carrot, or cauliflower and peas, whatever I've got handy.

River said...

Bad food habits? Chocolate. Fried onion sandwiches. Chocolate. Banana roll:-peel a banana, roll it up in a slice of bread, eat. Chocolate. Chips and gravy, but not the instant kind. Chocolate. Fried egg sandwiches. Have I mentioned Chocolate? Jelly and icecream. Coco Pops straight from the box. Nutri Grain straight from the box. Chocolate.

JahTeh said...

Thank goodness you have bad habits River, but fried onion sandwiches?
I'm half way through a block of Coles peppermint chocolate, noice.

Middle Child said...

MMMM hot chips...I got some homemade ones from the Prawn and oysetr shop today (a local seafood shop) they make their own and then freeze them I think thats for tea tonight and yes maybe an egg as well...thanks for reminding me...and no tomato sauce either

Kath Lockett said...

Your "wind that could power the Cutty Sark on the tea run from China" is beautiful!

Bad foods I should be ashamed of:
* Marshmallows for afternoon tea - pink ones preferably
* microwaved beaten egg then served up in between two slices of white bread, salt, pepper and sauce
* Kit Kat Chunky Caramel x 2 with a hot coffee for breakfast
* Cup-a-soups with corn/rice cakes to dip into it
* Condensed milk.

Zoe said...

Home alone tonight with okonomiyake (japanese cabbage pancake-y type arrangement) and a north Italian cookbook.

phil said...

They're a Weird Mob, Puckoon and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas accompanied by beer, cheese and vegemite on toast followed by chocolate.

WV=hyonse. That's the noise you make after you've ingested the lot.