Chopping Garlic

Chopping garlic with Ken’s professional kitchen blade

Ken’s a farmer, moving into cheffery

I put the knife down for sudden mosquito combat

Clapping maddly

Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn…

Too late - a tiny, rotten needling

An anonymous Wednesday, but in mathematical terms

A very special day

Where a cloud of quarks, or waves, or matter

Shuffles across a small, humid kitchen in greater Tokyo

In search of Tobasco sauce

Because it wants to

Wants?

Mushrooms sliced now, ready to fry

Pasta simmering

Time to eat

And now for something completely different.

The other day, as I was unpacking my Pokemon bento box to chow down on a squashed pickled-plum rice ball and radish salad, I had a sudden yearning for a good sandwich. After moving to Japan I realised that I couldn't really manage to replicate any of the sandwiches I enjoy, as the bread is sugary and soft, the lunch meats intolerably expensive, and the cheese isn't really cheese. My state of lament was such that it inspired me to write this blog entry - my favourite sandwich I have invented (of many). I am sure it closely resembles the famous "tuna melt", which ironically I had always avoided as it sounded unappetising, and I was not consciously aware of how it was made.

This is perhaps the most important sandwich to me, as I invented it in my second year of university, and it remained a staple the whole year, I loved it so much. It also went down well with my housemates and girlfriend. Goes nicely with a packet of plain crisps and a bottle of ale.

1. Slice a good, mature cheddar finely (but not too much, this shouldn't be the main flavour in the sandwich, two or three very thin slices only).

2. Chop olives and pickled gherkins (I used to use green olives, but black work too). Chop them up roughly, but into fairly small chunks. If the pickles are large, cut into two or three length-ways sections first, before slicing.

3. Put a generous couple of tablespoons of good-quality mayonnaise into a bowl, and grind in pepper quite generously, as well as a small dash of Tabasco and a tiny splash of Lee and Perrin's. No salt required as ingredient are all salty.

4. Drain a can of tuna fish.

5. Add pickles and olives and tuna to mayonnaise and mix thoroughly.

6. Toast a bagel lightly.

7. Add cheese to one side of bagel so it melts a bit.

8. To the other side of bagel add salad leaves - like lambs leaf lettuce or something with a bit of crunch, but only a few, don't cram them on.

9. Spoon mix onto cheese side of bagel, and close bagel.

10. Eat straight away while warm. Fantastic!

Unfortunately, there's no way I can eat this until I leave Asia, but you enjoy.

Deafening silence

Deafening silence, and when good men do nothing, evil triumphs.
But here a fearless warrior, cheerful in her fiery tirade, splendid in her call for revolt.
The time is now, she cries!
And the famous podcaster's eyes glaze over dully, full of warm admiration but child-like terror, he is cocooned in a safe space of ambivalence, a facade of ignorance.
But she shouts out what he knows in his heart: the world is burning, and it's up to us all to put out the fire.

The man under the tree

Today I saw an old man napping under a tree.
He was wearing short black rubber wellington boots.
After a while he woke up, propped his head on one hand, and lit a cigarette.
When he finished his smoke, he got slowly up, rolled up his mat, picked up a bag of rubbish, and headed towards a van, which had another old man in the driver's seat.
Before getting to the van, he asked a fat man with a clipboard something.
The clipboard man had been striding around importantly.
The clipboard man prodded a phone and put it to his ear.
Lots of old men in short black or grey rubber wellington boots, some of whom wore brightly-coloured green or red safety hats, were standing or walking around the flower garden by the river. One was taking pictures. Two of them were chatting and a loud chuckle rang out.
They were having a good time.

Edogawa

Over by the reeds, a boy has set his shoes neatly down

Nearby, the purple grasses shudder in the late summer breeze

A bronzed old man picks his way across the meadow, hauling unknown cargo

And soon a train, on the slatted metal bridge, will shatter the quiet

Phoebe

Her hair grows long, wild and grey

There may be goose feathers in her smock

Some say she crazy - but she ain't

She just a cool old lady who seen a lot

Sometimes the kids come round her porch

She don't tell them to go away

She just give them that old Phoebe stare,

Wheezes on that black old cigar -

And starts on another yarn

That's what they been waiting for

Sometimes they leave her presents

They all love her, that old gal Phoebe

123-year-old Phoebe 

Ain't as active as she used to be

Her main activity be

Sittin' on her porch

Tendin' her bees

And swillin' that ol' cider

She been brewin'

That old gal Phoebe

Pigs trapping troubles

Stifled struggle
Selfish muffle
Trapping troubles
Why?

Told the way
Fold the way
Hold the way
Why?

Shiver notes loosen bones
Shiver notes gust the clouds
Shiver notes soar the gulls
I'm alive

Shiver music touch my feet
Shiver music rub my knuckles
Shiver music cradle ears
I am free