insomniac
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Posts posted by insomniac
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I am full of admiration for your stamina as you MUST have been jetlagged for most of those days......what an idyllic place your sister-in-law and her family lives in, and how lucky are you to have all this bounty in front of you in the years to come...just gorgeous, thanks.
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Hey, cool!
I just tried a google on bamboo worms (they live in the roots) and I picked up a link that I'm blocked from that suggests that they may be hallucinogenic!
www.erowid.org/animals/bamboo_worm/ 1984_britton_j-ethnopharmacology.htm
Anyone want to follow this up?
(I'm still excited about finding out that Uncle Scrooge was an MDA addict, hooked on nutmeg, and so wired he had to send Donald and the boys to the jungle to secure his supply)
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A Pointer to a New Hallucinogen of Insect Origin
E.B. Britton
27 Galway Place, Deakin, Canberra ACT 2600 (Australia)
(Accepted August 28, 1984)
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The purpose of this note is to draw attention to a long forgotten observa-
tion which points to the existence of a new hallucinogen, unique in that its
source is an insect.
Augustin de Saint-Hilaire (1779-1853) travelled extensively in eastern
Brazil between 1816 and 1823 and after his return to France published
valuable observations on the geography, ethnology and natural history of the
country. In two of his unpublished works Saint-Hilaire (1824, republished
Jenkins, 1946, p. 49; 1830, pp. 432-433) described the use of an insect as
food and medicine by the Malalis, natives in the Brazilian province of Minas
Gerais.
The relevant passage (1824) (translated) is as follows:
When I was among the Malalis, in the province of Mines, they spoke much of a grub
which they regarded as a delicious food, and which is called bicho de tacuara (bamboo-
worm), because it is found in the stems of bamboos, but only when these bear flowers.
Some Portugese who have lived among the Indians value these worms no less than the
natives themselves; they melt them on the fire, forming them into an oily mass, and
so preserve them for use in the preparation of food. The Malalis consider the head of
the bicho de tacuara as a dangerous poison; but all agree in saying that this creature,
dried and reduced to powder constitutes a powerful vulnerary (for the healing of
wounds). If one is to believe these Indians and the Portugese themselves it is not only
for this use that the former preserve the bicho de tacuara . When strong emotion makes
them sleepless, they swallow, they say, one of these worms dried, without the head
but with the intestinal tube; and then they fall into a kind of ecstatic sleep, which often
lasts more than a day, and similar to that experienced by the Orientals when they take
opium in excess. They tell, on awakening, of marvellous dreams; they saw splendid
forests, they ate delicious fruits, they killed without difficulty the most choice game;
but these Malalis add that they take care to indulge only rarely in this debilitating
kind of pleasure. I saw them only with the bicho de tacuara dried and without heads;
but during a botanical trip that I made to Saint-Francois with my Botocudo, this
young man found a great many of these grubs in flowering bamboos, and set about
eating them in my presence. He broke open the creature and carefully removed the
head and intestinal tube, and sucked out the soft whitish substance which re-
mained in the skin. In spite of my repugnance, I followed the example of the young
savage, and found, in this strange food, an extremely agreeable flavour which recalled
that of the most delicate cream.
If then, as I can hardly doubt, the account of the Malalis is true, the narcotic
property of the bicho de tacuara resides solely in the intestinal tube, since the sur-
rounding fat produces no ill effect. Be that as it may, I submitted to M. Latreille the
description of the animal I had made, and this learned entomologist recognised
it as a caterpillar probably belonging to the genus 'Cossus' or to the genus 'Hepiale'.
These observations are repeated in Saint-Hilaire (1839, pp. 432-433) with
the addition of the information that the "bicho de taquara" are half as long
as the index finger.
The intoxicating effect of the larvae from bamboo has apparently been
forgotten in Brazil and the seven volume Handbook of South American
Indians (Steward, 1946-1959) while referring briefly to the observation of
Saint-Hilaire in Vol. 5 (p. 557) gives no additional references. This is perhaps
not surprising as the Malalis were a near-coastal tribe long ago overrun by the
advance of civilisation. The name "bicho de taquara" is, however, still in use
and according to Ihering (1932, p. 236) and Costa Lima (1936, p. 266;
1967, p. 246) refers to the larva of the moth Myelobia (Morpheis) smerintha
Huebner (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae : Crambinae).
Costa Lima (1967, p. 246) states that the larvae feed in common bamboos
including Nastes (=Nastus) barbatus Trin., "taquara lixa" (Merostachys
Rideliana Rupr.), "taquara poca" (Merostachys Neesii Rupr.) and "taquaras-
su" (Guadua sp.) (Hoehne, F.C. et al.). The larvae feed inside the internodes
of the bamboo and attain a maximum length of about 10 cm. The moth
emerges in September and has frequently appeared in plague proportions.
There are 24 species of Myelobia in South America, one in Mexico and one
in Guatemala. The statement by Saint-Hilaire that the larvae are only found
when the bamboo is in flower probably means that the host bamboos flower
annually (as do a number of Brazilian species) and it is at that time that the
larvae reach their maximum size. As the adult moth emerges in September
this is probably in July or August.
It appears from the observations of Saint-Hilaire that the active substance
is not destroyed by drying, and the need to remove the head and gut to
avoid intoxication suggests that it is contained in the salivary glands. The
active material could therefore be concentrated initially by removing the
head plus salivary glands and part of the gut, discarding the rest of the body.
In view of the interest in the pharmacology of hallucinogens and the
medicinal use of the dried and powdered larvae it would seem to be woth-
while to investigate what appears to be a new source, and as the insect is
large and common it would be well suited to biochemical study. It is of
particular interest that this would be the first hallucinogen of insect origin.
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And here’s the finished result, the lifeguards’ dietary supplement for today.
I hope they wait a half hour before going back in the pool.
hahahahahaha do NOT mentally scar your children or they will wait until you are in a home and scar you
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the kitchen floor is covered in quinces and I'm about to start on the membrillo, thanks, PG, P the E and Abra for other great quince stuff as I have a quince mountain here
ps. do you know that if you put a quince in your clothes cupboard it makes everything smell lovely (just don't forget to take it out before it starts to rot
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The Egyptians have a wonderful saying (the Egyptians have a lot of wonderful sayings, actually, they’re a lot of fun) “ma fish mishmish” – “there are no tangerines”. These would be on the shelves literally for only one day of the year (but they were good when they were there).
oh bollocks, I thought mishmish meant apricot, no wonder I had 'em rolling in the aisles in Egypt with my 'very funny Gulf accent', and yes, have to agree, Egyptians are a very amiable people....(my bro used to live in Maadi, could never pronounce that either
)great blog!
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As for your stray cat kebab story................YIKES!
This is exactly why I have a fear of eating street food if I ever travel (I intend to of course) to Asia!
Those food vendors in Asia are what makes the places so charming to me -but I've got no idea which ones are safe to eat and which arent...
don't worry too much Ce'nedra, I'm betting I'm one of many on this forum who have eaten street food for years without any noticeable ill effect
....and the 'goat curry ' I had in Sumatra (99% sure it was cat) was tasty.....as long as the food is fresh and turnover seems to indicate so, don't use too much imagination, just enjoy....(I'm remembering being asked as I was munching on a dried BBQ camel meat skewer if I didn't worry about the TB, and being told that the 'prawns' I was loving were, you know, those things you find in the hedge, i.e. bugs.....)
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Yes to the Panko and I'd say Yes to the mascarpone, but I wouldnt do it. Mascarpone is very rich and expensive( at least here anyway). Its also bland so I'm not sure why you'd want it in the Mac and Cheese.
I have some lying around and wanted to use it. I'm more of a savory person than a sweet person and thought that the mascarpone would add a nice smoothness to the sauce.
hey lucky
(you must be with 3 8's after yr name)...I use mascarpone in bechamels etc, eg. for lasagne, and find it gives a great result, also use it in some risottos at the very end, so I would definitely try it in mac and cheese altho I've never made that particuar dish (it's not expensive here ) -
I've strayed. I've been posting in other threads.
Maybe we need an egulleters anonymous group?
Still, when I saw my daughter run in terror from the box of moon cakes we brought back, I figured I had to write something.
my son would be running fast but in the opposite direction, would hate to see his cholesterol reading right now (love mid-Autumn festival.....and durians)
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Gosh Insomniac, it looks like Henry dV has a glut of venison there. He should send some down our way don't you think?
I'll come and get it
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maybe next time you could try venison chops with chicken mousse and tarragon wrapped in the caul and sealed in a pan then into the oven for a few minutes a la Jean-Christophe Novelli's signature lamb chop dish??
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khanom buang?
bingo
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Serena’s just mixed me up a vanilla milkshake for dessert. She feels that hand whipped is much better, as it conserves energy.
She’s got way too much energy, if you ask me.
Let’s go back to Bangkok.
It was last Tuesday, and Yoonhi had just arrived to join me.
Flush from a fun overnight haul in cattle class, she figured the best thing she could do was stay awake. Sort of like in the film Crank, except for the parts that weren’t.
We were at the Dusit for a reason. I’ve long been a Sukhumvit sort of guy. I like the street; I like the mix of restaurants, shopping, and club life, particularly from Phrom Phong up through Thong Lor; I like(d) the now-shut Colliseum at Ekkamai; I liked the ghost at Phrakanong; and I like(d) (if it’s still there) White Lotus Books just past the Tesco at On Nut. Heck, just the fact that the road goes all the way to Cambodia is neat.
But, when you’re a creature of habit, you need to break out from time to time. To temper yourself.
I was in a rut.
I’d tried staying in the older part of town, down near Wat Po, last year, but found I missed all the things I’d just mentioned (except for the ghosts). Some good street food, but no real mix.
Kao Sarn holds little attraction for me, outside of a vague interest I have in the anthropology of world travellers (a completely different tribal grouping). Generally, the food there isn’t up to snuff (although Tha Phra Arthit, nearby, has some good options).
One area we hadn’t tried was Silom/Sathorn. Restaurants, street food, clubs, shopping. Could this lure me away from upper Sukhumvit? Only one way to find out. Hit the pavement.
Something you must understand about Asian women – they’re on a different clock from us. They need to be fed and watered often, and woe betide you if you let them get hungry. So, outside and around the corner from the Dusit I had already staked out some eateries.
We’d found a khao man kai (Hainanese chicken rice) place, the chicken cooked in the reserved chicken stock from the boiled chickens. Across the street was a place with good looking stewed pork, but their must’ve been a feud between the two, as they wouldn’t let us share a common table. As Yoonhi thought it stupid for us to sit on either side of the lane, we just went with the chicken, as it was already ordered.
There’s a certain mystique to chicken rice. People will fight over who has the best. Current pride of place generally goes to the Montien Hotel, but every Thai (especially every Sino-Thai) has their own preference.
I queried Yoonhi for her opinion.
“Tastes like chicken and rice”.
Also in the environs was the standard fruit trolley with melons, mangoes, cantelope, bags of fermenting things, bananas, and the world’s best pineapples
And next to it was something I’d long admired, but for some reason had never eaten. The little pancaky things (Okay! I’m looking for a little help here! What are they called?)
The flour and egg shell is that perfect taste we all recognize from the fortune cookies of our youth, just thinner, more delicate. And then there’s the topping of coconut and shredded palm sugar (it looks like cheese at first to me), which gives a thick, coconut marshmellow feel in your mouth. I’d asked the lady for only two so I could test them, but she only sells them by the sack (for about 5 baht).
Maybe I could get used to this part of town.
More tomorrow. It’s time for bed. I’m still four hours out of whack.
I think they are tong yod?? phonetically speaking
it's been a while -
well, our kids were also happy to eat most Thai dishes toned down at first (I cunningly added Thai herbs to their homemade pureed babyfood when they were very small
)most of the starters are fine,fish/prawn cakes, gai pad bai toey (chicken in pandanus leaf) satay etc etc, tom kha gai(chicken cocnut soup), gaeng jued (clear broth with veg. and bean thread noodles), any pad priew wan (sweet and sour), any pao (grilled fish etc), gai yang (bbqed chicken) moo wan or moo knob (crsipy or glazed pork)mee krob (crsipy noodles) guay tiew (rice noodles) anything tom gaathi (boiled in coconut milk), the veggie dishes....actually I could go on and on....just ask for a dish or 2 to be 'mai pet' (not hot) or 'pet nitnoy' slightly spicy'....my daughter is 21 now and has just dumped a boyfriend for not liking spicy food
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I never knew the Powerhouse Museum had a cafe/restaurant?! Does it have a name or is it just referred to as 'Powerhouse Museum'?
as far as I recall when dragging the kids to be 'educated and enriched' (i.e. it was raining) the Powerhouse only has a bog standard cafe
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I am usually pretty good about leftovers - lunch for next day. This is working out well this term as I stay at school everyday over lunch hour.
I "try" to use up all the vegetables I buy. During the summer is difficult because I want to buy everything at the farmer's market. DH is not much of a veg. eater other than corn, so sometimes, I just cook all the bits of vegetables and eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. healthy, I guess.
But, tonight, like acouple of other functions I have been to lately, I was appalled by the wanton waste of food - by newly arrived Chinese immigrants.
Tonight was the Harvest Moon Festival social at the university. The food was cooked by volunteers, and served by our students. I saw men and women loaded down with platefuls of food. Some of them have little children - age 3, 4 and they were given huge plates of food - baos, dumplings, meat, veg. I thought, ok, it was just another plateful really for the parents. If they are THAT hungry, fine. BUT, I saw plates of food thrown into the garbage because both the parents and the children couldn't eat that much.How can one explain that, yes, this country offers many opportunity for plentiful, good, healthy food, but not to waste! I am sure they never did that in China.
ETA: Just so readers don't think I am bashing Chinese people, I am Chinese. The non-Chinese guests didn't throw away any food. Is it just the newer generation?
when my Filipino foster son arrived in the UK he ate soooo much that he ended up looking like a little chipmunk, piling his plate high and often not being able to finish the food; now he realises that the food is not going to disappear and it won't be his last good meal and has slowed down and slimmed down...perhaps a similar thought process is taking place in the minds of the Chinese immigrants, not being able to believe their eyes at the foodie abundance??(altho I must admit I used to sit open-mouthed in wonder at some of the towering plates at buffets in HK
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My breakfast this morning actually started last night. I gathered my ingredients:
I LOVE that oatmeal (and its tin
) - that's one of my favourites, too!my oatmeal too, once tried you will never return to the quick stuff
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if you have the time drive up the mountain for lunch a few miles past Mont d'Arbois to the altiport which has a lovely outside dining area with a stunning alpine vista and very good local food...you can also watch the small planes negotiating the tight turn against the 2000ft col to land on the airfield.....we enjoyed Flocons de Sel for dinner, can recommend
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the only place I've been asked not to take pix of the food was Pierre Gagnaire.....I think that is his restaurant's policy.
On a very recent trip to Lyon/Haute Savoie I actually took photos of a lot of the meals we ate because I was absolutely blown away by the standard of cuisine(we had flown down from England in our small plane) and we were eating lunch at airfields we had landed at....very small airfields, some above 5000 feet in the mountains and very remote and short.....we couldn't believe there was a small resto at every field! We were served uniformly fantastic plates, normally of local specialities. We were staggered because the equivalent in the UK is the boringly predictable greasy fast food followed by crappy coffee (if indeed there is somewhere to eat)....and the wine was wonderful.......................only joking
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went for lunch yesterday.
Brilliant!
most ambitious new startup opening since Tom Aikens. almost 2* std off the bat.
mind you, I think they will need to scale back in the beginning and work up to their expected standards. seemed a bit overkill for a place only open a few days.
My son has worked for Aggie for the past 2 years and from what he has told me the man is both a perfectionist who takes no prisoners when it comes to maintaining the standard he insists upon in his kitchen, and a culinary genius. I look forward my birithday lunch there
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I ate at Under Bridge Spicy Crab last month with some friends.....it's not exactly waterfront in Wanchai but a pretty memorable meal and brought back memories of taking the kids to eat in the Causeway Bay typhoon shelter long ago from floating kitchen 'restaurants'; just beware of seafood due to recent health scares, ask locals to fill you in, but please don't let that snippet of info put you off, HK is still foodie heaven to me
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And yes, as a woman you do get hit on a fair bit, but personally I find it endlessly amusing to screw with the heads of those who can't take a hint that you're not in the market for a one night stand. Also many times I've had a drink or two or even my whole meal paid for by whomever I ended up chatting with even when it was clear that I was not available (gotta love people with big expense accounts).
it's not the hitting on per se but it always seems that the other women at their table don't take too kindly to the chat
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It's World Cup time again, this time for Rugby of course, and this week's 'Journal du Dimanche' noted that two Parisian institutions are celebrating. The first is Poilane who has created a Pain Poilane football made from 2,3 kg of pain de mie in the shape of a football, or rugby ball I suppose.
The second is the Bristol hotel, whose bar will be serving a special beer menu throughout the championship with beers from each country competing.
the thought of such stellar bread is but a dream where we live at the moment, beers a tad more accessible, however I will, as usual, be eating my fingernails, hmmm, I'm from Oz, husband Kiwi, kids went to French school in HK and daughter played rugby for the school at the HK 7's, lived in Fiji for 4 yrs, now in England,....who to back????? actually reset position seems to be allez les bleus (with a bit of all black
)ps. we are eating lamb tonight
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Those are bauerenwurst, weiswurst, chorizo, andouille and quark which I will use to make tzatziki to go with the spiedie later. I also picked up Westphalian ham and Black Forest ham for sandwiches.
What flavor quark did you buy? Up, down, top, bottom, strange or charmed?
Seriously: I haven't heard of this outside particle physics before. It looks like a dairy product -- what is it exactly?
Oddly enough, there is a dairy product connection to the use of the word "quark" in physics.
From Wikipedia:
The word was originally coined by Murray Gell-Mann as a nonsense word rhyming with "pork". Later, he found the same word in James Joyce's book Finnegans Wake, where seabirds give "three quarks", akin to three cheers (probably onomatopoeically imitating a seabird call, like "quack" for ducks, as well as making a pun on the relationship between Munster and its provincial capital, Cork) in the passage "Three quarks for Muster Mark!/Sure he has not got much of a bark/And sure any he has it's all beside the mark."
Note: This is in reference to the City of Munster, where Munster Cheese originated, which is completely different than the American Muenster Cheese.
SB (who say physicists have no sense of humor
)you have just eductated me, thanks
and I always thought quark rhymed with shark (the physics sort I mean) maybe it's an American accent
Thai Cooking at Home, 2007 – 2012
in Cooking
Posted
Ce'nedra, enough already with the prolific cooking and posting.....you are going to fail uni if you keep up the pace here......and you never seem to sleep, I don't want to see any more posts after midnight your time, now GO TO BED
