A Short Personal Note

I'm leaving for a couple of days, so all the comments will go into moderation until my return. I planned a post which will go up during my absence though, so stay tuned:)

What I've Been Up To

No, I haven't disappeared, I just had an incredibly busy week. One of the things I've done was baking sourdough bread.

For starter, I used this recipe, however, later I switched to the instructions from here.

I was rather creative in following them, so it took me a longer time to create a starter of my own, plus I used a lot of wholegrain spelt flour I had which wasn't exactly a great success, imo. Luckily, I don't have it anymore:)

This was enough for two (smallish) breads:

Bread number 1 didn't quite rise enough after about 4 hours. As you see, you have to bake it in a pan so I used a cast-iron one:

Which again, wasn't a great success since the enamel started melting!

The result is above, not very glamorous and quite sticky inside, but eatable, my first sourdough loaf!

The second loaf spent the night in the fridge and rose better as a result. I also switched to stainless steel pan. It also turned out considerably better but still on the sticky side:

As you can see, it's much more plump. Next time, I'll probably try adding some rye flour instead of spelt!

Should We Bring Back Dueling?

The last official duel in France was fought in 1967. Yes, you read it correct:) One politician called another a name during a debate and refused to take it back, and thus the duel ensued. It was filmed, and can be watched on YouTube:



It just made me wonder. Should dueling be legal? Wouldn't it be fine if politicians nowadays could be officially forced to answer for their words and deeds in a similar manner? And not only politicians, but anyone who has a habit of shooting his mouth off? What do you think? After all, it's a longstanding Western tradition, more or less:)

Homemaking Is A Healthy Occupation

as opposed to sitting in the office for hours on end:

Sitting on one's butt for a major part of the day may be deadly in the long run — even with a regimen of daily exercise, researchers say.
In an analysis that pooled data from 41 international studies, Toronto researchers found the amount of time a person sits during the day is associated with a higher risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and death, regardless of regular exercise.
"More than one half of an average person's day is spent being sedentary — sitting, watching television or working at a computer," said Dr. David Alter, a senior scientist at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, who helmed the analysis.

• Sitting time linked to disability regardless of physical activity
• Prolonged sitting can increase Type 2 diabetes risk
• Physical activity needs for health payoffs often underestimated
• LISTEN |​ "Sitting is the new smoking"

"Our study finds that despite the health-enhancing benefits of physical activity, this alone may not be enough to reduce the risk for disease."

Read the whole article over here and don't forget the comments from offended desk job types, they are pure gold:)

Of course, a housewife can be at risk, too, especially if she is older and has no small children to take care of, or if she spends most of her time in her car, driving to various activities. Spending the whole time locked inside with your TV/smartphone or in your car is not healthy! There are lots of things one can do to improve the situation, like walking or bicycling instead of driving, taking a dog to keep you active if the children left home, gardening or having another hobby which will keep you outside at regular intervals, and, of course, don't forget that housework, cooking and baking can also count as a workout since they will keep you on your feet. A housewife is the primary caregiver of the family, often including extended family which means we should take trouble to be in top physical condition! Men, children and pets depend on us:)

You Know It's Autumn...

...when you've spent the whole weekend making preserves:

In what my mother called "my Jane Austen dress"

It's getting too cold for it, though...

The bottom-feeder:

We are kindly people, we didn't kill him:)
How are you preparing for autumn?

If Meat Eaters Acted Like Vegans

I mean no offence to anyone but this is just plain funny:

Harry Brown

Harry Brown is a British movie from 2009 which can be best described as "revenge p*rn". The plot is rather simple. Harry Brown is an elderly gentleman in reduced circumstances which means that he is forced to live in a "bad" part of the city where criminal "youths" fight, deal in drugs, weapons and prostitutes and occasionally commit murder.

Harry's daughter died many years ago and his wife is dying. Besides her, the only person he appears to be attached to in this world, is his old friend Leonard, and he is threatened and harassed by the criminal gang running the neighbourhood. Soon afterwards, while Harry is still mourning the passing away of his wife, the police knock at his door to inform him that Leonard was murdered. Yet, it doesn't take long for the suspects to be freed to roam the streets again, the all too common situation in many Western countries.

Then one night Harry is attacked on his way home from the bar where he was getting plastered the whole evening. However, there is one thing the attacker doesn't know, namely that Harry Brown isn't just some random old guy, he is a retired Royal Marine and he has killed before...

The movie is short, dark and to the point. It succeeds in depicting the social decay of a modern city and the whole atmosphere of hopelessness and degradation, and it doesn't glamourise the criminals like some Hollywood productions are prone to do, but instead shows them as irredeemable scum the only way to deal with which is to eliminate it which makes the film essentially very illiberal.

The main character is fully prepared to unleash his inner savage and to fight fire with fire and cruelty with cruelty; and yet, despite the overall darkness of the film, you get a shot of positive energy when you finished watching it because it makes you believe that if one man decides to stand up and fight, things can change for the better, and the fact that this man is elderly and sick and not some superhero only adds to this feeling.

Speaking of men...another thing which distinguishes Harry Brown from many American films is the way the female police inspector comes across. She can be irritating at times, she kinda sees the light in the end, but the fact is that she reacts and behaves like a woman. She gets scared. She doesn't turn into Rambo in the crucial moment and she doesn't save the day with karate kicks and machine gun fire. She gets rescued by men. This alone will probably make the movie worth seeing for some:)

So if you are into dark European drama, you should definitely watched this film, however, the subject matter and graphic violence make it unsuitable for kids.

Here is the trailer: