the blame china chronicles continues

first, allow me to say that my first gander (haha) at cooking a goose was a cracking success. i roasted it and served it alongside a port-enriched gravy, with the goose-fat roasted tatties and the casserole (i skipped the corn). it was delicious! the verdict is in: goose is > turkey by about a billion. the meat is so rich and flavourful and because of the high fat content in the animal, it doesn't taste dry in the least. also, i think geese are more active birds, so unlike the freakishly over-fed and lethargic turkey specimens we get nowadays, the flesh has actually developed some toughness and flavour. the thing i hate about turkey is that most of the time, people overcook the poor thing so that it's dry as f**k, and the meat is spongy and beyond bland. i lurve the goosey goose!

the cake also turned out amazing. you can't tell from the picture, but part of it buckled under it's own weight and collapsed a bit. heehee. isn't she a beaut? the lemon curd was a last-minute addition but it helped to add some freshness and a suggestion of lightness, even if a slice of the cake itself probably consisted of your day's caloric intake.

i saw pictures of an old high school classmate's wedding that took place in nelson b.c. in their backyard, and for the first time in my LIFE, i wanted to move there. they have a huge property with a river running through the back, and views of mountains. it's absolutely stunning. the thing that gets me is, i can't imagine being 5 hours flight away from my family. i mean, you never know where people are going to move, but still. being proximal to my family is something that definitely factors into the equation. although, now with the dollar being almost par, and knowing how cheap housing is in the states, i just might move down near rochester and buy a house in the finger lakes. a 3 bedroom (decent) house on a large-sized lot costs under a hundred grand in the states. redonkulous. also, the top rated music school in the whole united states, the eastman school of music, is based in rochester, which definitely has piqued the boy's interest.

okay, finally, the "blame china" brigade continues. we watched the final few episodes of planet earth and it ends in a SPIRAL of blame china (and africa. and the rest of the non-westernized developing world). basically, the last disc is reserved for all the proselytizing about the coming doom of the planet that they refrained from (though it was subconsciously implied) during the previous episodes that make up the bulk of the series. it's the head of the wwf, and noted conservationists and academics and the camera people talking about how as people in china start to want to consume on the level that we do, that we're in dire straights. it was REALLY annoying listening to a bunch of poncey brits blather on about how it hinges on the DEVELOPING WORLD to save the snow leopards and shiz. it's like, "oh really britain? how many NATIVE SPECIES DO YOU HAVE LEFT?!?!!!" there was no point when they were like, "you know what, we effed up royally" it was all finger-pointing at how it rests on china and africa's shoulders. EFF YOU! i hate that crap. clean up your own backyard you colonialist, imperialist f**ks.

on that note: today is my long day and i'm packing a nicoise sandwich again.

fin.