—spiceitupp.com/curry-powder-vs-garam-masala-powder/

Blends vs Spices

Who knew? Well I did, but I will admit I really didn’t understand. Although “curry” and “Garam Masala” are sold as spices they are, in fact, spice blends. What I didn’t know is that they are pretty similar in constituent parts (turmeric seems to be the big difference along with chilli powder).

According to the article and chart Garam Masala focusses on the “stronger pungent spices” like cloves, cinnamon, cardamom as opposed to curry powder, which uses more “mild spices like turmeric, cumin, coriander and fenugreek” which tend to be “sweet mild spices.” Being someone who thinks “mild” is usually way too hot this is a bit of a revelation.

Recipe confusion

What is got me thinking about all this is that recipes often call for one or the other and occasionally even add in even more spices. I am not sure if there is an international recognized “curry” standard but my guess is not — so that means you are rolling the dice a bit every time you try a new recipe. It’s a coincidence, but my randomly chosen “go to” curry recipe doesn’t call for either blend. Instead it asks for:

Spice blend
– 1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
– 1 tsp ground cumin
– 1/2 tsp turmeric
– 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
– 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
– 1/4 tsp ground mustard
– 1/4 tsp ground cloves
– 1/4 tsp cayenne

Which I now discover (according to the chart) is mostly a curry powder. I don’t own any cardamom or fennel seed but I guess I should get some to be more authentic. 😉 Still, I guess I am bit proud of the fact my subconscious decided to go for a custom blend rather than a prepackaged blend. Maybe next I will try grinding my own spices from whole…lol.

Aftertaste

Ironically I didn’t have any mustard or coriander last time I made it so I added in a bit of Garam Masala… I guess that really crossed a line in terms of authenticity… but we ate it anyway—and it didn’t kill anyone. Which is pretty much all I ask of my cooking.

I thought I would give Wordle a try and by guess two I had declared myself a genius…

Turns out, not so much…

Uhmmm…

I seemed to have missed Saturday. Speaking of missing things…

Writing progress

Uhmmmmm…

Not so much?

I have a friend who sets out every once in a while to do some sort of challenge… an illustration a day, a painting a week. She inevitably trails off and eventually stops.

A failure?

I think not. Because there are always some lovely drawings left behind to commemorate the attempt. Trying is never a failure. Not trying isn’t either. The idea of failure is an external force… at least that’s my excuse.

And I have some great outlines and background info now so that’s a positive. I am sure I will get back to it. Eventually. Maybe. No drama though…

Old and unfinished

I started this back in 2014. Theres about 2500 words more and then it just trails off. But I kinda like it.

Morning was definitely broken. Henry ‘Hank’ Hagar Jacobs slammed his index finger unerringly down on the cancel button of his alarm clock and buried his face in the remains of his pillow. It had been a life-long dream to hunt down the sonofabitch who’d invented mornings and show him the real meaning of life.

He kicked off the faded purple comforter and rolled his feet to the floor. From the scratched and dented blue and brass trunk at the foot of the futon he dug out a new pair of black cheenos, tags still hanging from the waist. He had a client to see this morning and you never get a second chance to not give a crap about making a good first impression.

Rubbing his eyes with the back of his knuckles, he staggered across the room to the small kitchen, plugged in the dingy electric kettle and sat on the edge of his table while he surveyed the jars and cans piled haphazardly on the counter. Spotting the nearly empty jar of instant coffee, he grabbed his mug from the pile in the sink and opened up 5 sugar packets from his stash, courtesy of corporate coffee, and poured them in. He dumped the last of the coffee in the mug, banging on the bottom of the jar, hoping it would be enough for a caffeine fix. The hot water went into the coffee jar and a few swishes ensured that he’d gotten all he could out of the efforts of Juan and his hardworking ass, before it joined the spoonfuls of sugar in the mug. Just the medicine I need. he thought as the sweet, syrupy liquid flowed down his throat.

As life started to seep back into his brain Hank stared sightlessly at the garishly stained red doors of the wooden cabinets. What in god’s name was that lunatic of a landlord thinking when he did that? For the forty-millionth time he resisted the urge to buy a can of black enamel spraypaint and rectify the situation. But I don’t want to start down that road, do I.

Mug empty, it went back into the sink and he gathered up a chipped but clean Denby bowl acquired recently from the local discount store and a bright yellow box of generic cereal and turned to the single chrome and vinyl chair at the table.

Jacobs brushed the pile of magazines and unopened mail to one side, a couple of them sliding to the already littered linoleum floor. The box of generic toasty Oaty O’s yielded most of a bowl of disgusting circles of dirt-flavoured breakfast before dumping the obligatory hated pile of cereal dust and chunks on top of his breakfast. He blew as much of it away as possible, gave up and glanced around the table.

“Fuck. I knew it. There is no spoon.”

Someone was trying to promote a Youtuber [Dr. John Campbell, RN, PhD] (https://www.youtube.com/c/Campbellteaching) as giving the expert advice on Covid. I poo-poo’d him and he took umbrance, accusing me of not even looking at his credentials:

Originally Posted by Midnight Son
He teaches Nursing in a Northern England University and is interviewed quite often on DW the German Television Network, about Covid issues.

So look before you bark please.

I told him I did look… And I had, I’d dismissed the guy months before because…well…

---

Seriously you actively want people to turn to YouTube for the “truth” on a subject as broad and deep as this pandemic? If I want to find out what’s the deal with Log4J or why the latest Space X blew up I totally go to YouTube and watch a synopsis. But I don’t walk away thinking I know anything more than a supposed SME can dumb down and squeeze into the 20 minute video format. And who know just how educated the presenter is or what his agenda is? All I have is a briefest whiff of the issue.

But our egos always make fools of us don’t they? There is a humorous trope in Universities that involves the undergraduate — having taken 40 hours of any given subject — spouting off like he was going to solve the world’s ill in one brilliant stroke (see Good Will Hunting for a fictionalization of this — I’ve see it in real life). Sometime they grow out of it, sometimes they don’t.

This stuff is complex. 80% of the people on these forums (and in the “real” world) just can’t/won’t wrap their head around that and so are just looking for the quick fix. They are like the supplicant going to the parish priest looking for the meaning of life…if that priest actually knew it I highly doubt he would be a lowly parish priest. Instead the priest does what he is good at and explains it some way the poor sod is capable of grasping and sends him away to contemplate his own ignorance.

But what of the other 20% (he says liberally making up statistics)? Some give facts as they see them and leave it up to us to recognize the depth of our cluelessness and some valiantly try to impart the, admittedly greater, knowledge they hold—of course they too often express that understanding as “fact” thus adding to the level of general misinformation. But a few accurate units of knowledge doesn’t mean they—or any youtube/twitter/self-proclaimed virologist/generic expert — can correctly interpret what’s going on out there any more than the parish priest. It’s complex. Thousands and thousands of scientists from many, many disciplines complex.

I’ve got 6 years of studying renaissance drama under my belt, some of that at the graduate level, and I tell you it is with profound humility that I approach the topic of Shakespeare and Marlowe. The depths of what I don’t know astound me and just catching up on the scholarship I have missed over the last 20 years would probably break me.

Dr. Campbell is not a virologist. He is not a sociologist. He is not an expert in international relations, internal medicine, supply-chain management, economics, city management or even bio-chemistry. He doesn’t know how to make a vaccine, distribute it, budget it, or figure out how to get a scared and/or ignorant population to take it. He doesn’t know the social and psychological factors that differentiate Canada from the US, or Britain from Australia and the unique political systems that each follows, and he sure as h*ll doesn’t know what backwoods Africa or India is making of all this.

What he is, is a teacher. So he is trying. Unfortunately — unlike the ill-educated high school English teacher I had that harmlessly tried to convince us that Shakespeare thought all nuns were whores — he has a world wide audience and is frankly, to me, so far from harmless as to be an active danger to the public weal.

So ya. I do comprehend…at least that little bit. The rest I am, like the rest of us, desperately struggling with. Rant over.

Never heard of it before, but I gave it a shot…

Your primary type is

Seven.

98% MATCH
Type 7 is described as The Enthusiast. Sevens want to have as much fun and adventure as possible and are easily bored.

Nine

97% MATCH

Type 9 is also called The Peacemaker. Nines like to keep a low profile and let the people around them set the agenda.

—https://www.truity.com/test/enneagram-personality-test

Sevens are defined by their desire to experience everything good and pleasurable that the world has to offer, while avoiding pain, boredom, and limitations. Although Sevens appear enthusiastic and fun-loving, deep down, they have a fear of getting stuck in negative emotions. Thus, they tend to disconnect from their deeper feelings, instead focusing on their imagination and zest for life to keep them moving forward and gathering new, pleasurable experiences.

Sevens aim to fill every minute with an activity. They approach life as an endless rollercoaster of fun, joyous experiences—and if not fun, at least not sad, bored, anxious, depressed or painful. Sevens use their charm, enthusiasm, imagination, and positive attitude to get as much enjoyment as possible out of every moment of life. Ideally, a Seven aspires to ride a continuous high, avoiding the drearier aspects of reality.

Super power:

Optimism. Your dedication to a glass-half-full mentality keeps you going when others might give up, and gives you the courage to try things that many might see as too risky. You genuinely believe that things usually work out for the best, and with your determination to make things go your way, this is often a self-fulfilling prophecy. You have a tendency to be optimistic even when things are dire, and sometimes this means that you gloss over the negative and are taken by surprise when problems arise. When it comes to important plans, be sure to take time to think about how things could go wrong, even if it feels unnatural and overly pessimistic. Once your due diligence is done, you can move forward with even more confidence that things will work out in your favor.

Two

61% MATCH
Type 2 can be described as The Giver. Twos want to be liked and find ways that they can be helpful to others so that they can be loved and belong.

Three

56% MATCH
Type 3 is also known as The Achiever. Threes want to be successful and admired by other people, and are very conscious of their public image.

Four

68% MATCH
Type 4 is known as The Individualist. Fours want to be unique and to live life authentically, and are highly attuned to their emotional experience.

Five

92% MATCH
Type 5 is described as The Investigator. Fives seek understanding and knowledge, and are more comfortable with data than people.

Six

48% MATCH
Type 6 is also known as The Skeptic. Sixes are preoccupied with security, seek safety, and like to be prepared for problems.

Seven

98% MATCH
Type 7 is described as The Enthusiast. Sevens want to have as much fun and adventure as possible and are easily bored.

Eight

63% MATCH
Type 8 is also known as The Challenger. Eights see themselves as strong and powerful and seek to stand up for what they believe in.

Nine

97% MATCH
Type 9 is also called The Peacemaker. Nines like to keep a low profile and let the people around them set the agenda.

One

43% MATCH
Type 1 can be thought of as The Perfectionist. Ones place a lot of emphasis on following the rules and doing things correctly.

“Laughing Baby, she am no more…”

Not completely, but nevertheless it’s a sad day for us. The West Marine 310 RIB we lovingly called Laughing Baby has reached the end of her working life and it’s time to put her out to pasture. (What’s the marine equivalent of pasture…lagoon?) She still floats and as of today doesn’t leak at all. But the wood transom is starting to go and it makes us nervous to put the big 8hp on her these days and worse, the dinghy guys say the vinyl is nearing end-of-life. And since we charter her and the Never for Ever as a team… well she just isn’t up to snuff anymore.

We’ve been keeping an eye out for a good used RIB but haven’t seen anything come on the market that was suitable. Oddly enough there are lots of inflatable bottomed tenders, but the sharp rocks and oyster-filled shallows of the PNW make that just a bit contra-indicated.

A lucky find?

I was  checking out kijiji in BC the other day and came across a Highfield 290 UL for under $3000. That was way more than I had in the budget, but the more I looked at it the more intriguing it was. The UL stands for ultralight which means it had an aluminum bottom which was both tougher and lighter the fiberglass of the current boat. At 9’7″, the 290 is about 7 inches shorter that the current RIB and comes in at 86 lbs vs the  113 lbs. But it will still handle the 8HP and fit 4 people comfortably.

I figured if buying new might now be on the table, then I should do my due diligence and call around. At the time I assumed the 2021 Vancouver Boat Show was off (turns out it now is being held virtually in late February) so it thought waiting for a show deal was off the table. I checked out a bunch of dealers and talked to Nanaimo Chandlery — which is run by the same people as Nanaimo Yacht Charters — to see if they could get me a deal but it seemed this Highfield’s price was as good as it first appeared.

So I called SG Power in Victoria to get the scoop. Turns out it was a 2020 floor model and yes, it was still available. So I bought it.

A Small Problem

So now I had a problem. Actually a couple of them.  I was in Alberta, the marina was in Nanaimo and the new tender was in Victoria. And we weren’t going to be on the coast before May at the earliest — and even that was up-in-the-air with the Covid situation. The fellow at SG Power was, rightly so,  reluctant to commit it to commercial shipping as it was out of the box and it would be hard to ensure it made the trip intact. He did however volunteer to store it for me, even after I told him worst case was us not making it out until spring. Great service and a pleasure to deal with these guys.

The other problem was I really didn’t think Laughing Baby deserved to be unceremoniously discarded as she still had a lot of life left, albeit perhaps not zooming around at high speeds. So now we had two dinghies.

I talked to a few friends on the island but none of them had the facilities or vehicles to help with the problem and the people at NYCSS didn’t have any trips to Victoria planned—although they did generously offer us use of the truck when we finally made it out. So we had a fallback plan but I was hoping to get it dealt with earlier. Then I sent a note off to Matt from Gudgeon to see if he knew anyone. Matt is back in Victoria after he left his boat in Mexico Sadly she is now for sale). He said he would ask around and actually sounded semi-hopeful. I offered a trade of transportation in exchange for Laughing Baby just in case someone with a truck was looking for a cheap dinghy. Fingers crossed.

In the meantime I am talking to a few other contacts/friends and if I have to, I will pay for a rental truck—although that solution still leaves me trying to find a home for the old dinghy.

What’s in a Name

First world problems: another conundrum is what we name the new tender? The original was a compromise, because we thought Laughing Baby wouldn’t play as well on the VHF as Never for Ever, so the I suggested we assign that name to the tender. And that deal still stands. But do we keep the name as is? Add a “Two” or “II” to the end (or “Too” as some people go for.)

I guess we will wait and see—these boating rituals are sometimes a puzzle.

Happier Days

So that’s that. Hopefully we have some fun oaring ahead of us and maybe even a bit of zooming. Finally here are few final images of the adventures we’ve had with the original Laughing Baby over the years—and if you know anyone who will give her a good home, let me know.

 
—Bruce #Equipment

One door closes (hopefully). Another opens. Onwards as ever…

I wrote this back in 2013 as part of my write-something-everyday project (It’s Novel).

7 years later it most certainly applies to my current thinking of the state of the world.

It changed everything and changed nothing. The mere existence, the actuality of it, the overwhelmingly realness meant that nothing could ever be the same. The reality shift had occurred and could never, ever be erased.

And yet nothing had changed. Planets orbited, children starved needlessly in wastelands while their neighbours nodded their heads. Young girls discovered love and old men counted their regrets like a miser counts his gold. The season slowly shifted, the morning was alive with sound and sun, and the birds started to get restless, eager to move on but not knowing why.

There were tasks to be performed and jobs to be done, just like yesterday; yet it was all so … different. And that difference was what it was all about. Or rather, the difference that the difference made. Everyone reacts differently to change and everyone is afraid of the unknown. Some revel in their fear and drink in the elixir from their adrenal glands, but many, even most, see it as a bizarre illness or an uncontrollable affliction that shreds their sanity simply by the fact of its existence.

Knowing things have irrevocable changed is often the reward for curiosity. And knowing it existed, changed it again.