> > It of course is possible to make alcoholic liquid out 
> > of bread yeast and most sorts of sugar, but there is 
> > better to be made - or, even in this distressed
> > marketplace, bought.
> I've never had homemade hooch; there's a craft brewery around the corner if
> I really got desperate.  

It wouldn't have applied to you, but every
teenage boy worth his salt has experimented
at one time or another with home brewing. I
didn't get it right until I was in my thirties,
but I did make some very respectable hard cider
at one point. In general, though, proving that
it can be done is enough.

> > > True enough, but I don't feel like playing russian roulette. 
> > It's different if you're playing with six chambers
> > or a thousand or more.
> OTOH given my luck even those odds aren't that good.

The CDC now indicates that not only are you not 
likely to get sick from virus particles on 
surfaces, if you do get sick, your chance of dying 
is now estimated at 0.4%. This news released in 
anticipation of reopening. Am I accusing the CDC 
of political shenanigans, not exactly - as a public 
health agency, it serves as an aggregator of 
information more than anything else. Do I detect a 
whiff of political expediency in the recent studies 
that it is aggregating, well, that's a different 
story altogether. Also, the rate of contagion is
estimated at R0 between 2 and 3, in line with the
flu, colds, and the original SARS. Compare the
measles, whose number is above 10.

> > I very strongly dislike the custom of hand sanitizers.
> I use it when necessary, but it's not the first choice.

They leave residues that are more likely to harbor 
both resistant and new germs than no hand sanitizer.

> > the rest has any good effect, it's dilution. As with 
> > masks, it's ritual.
> The masks don't keep you from getting sick, but do a good job of keeping
> you from getting someone else sick.  

To misquote Gilbert and Sullivan in Pinafore:
Oh, yes, of course. If ... you ... sneeze.

> The alcohol gel is building bigger and
> badder bugs.  

That too.

> > > If that's all I got to eat, I'd probably wish I were dead. 
> > One can endure a Golden Corral or Boston Market meal,
> > its effects will last only a day or so. Death, well,
> > the effects are longer lasting than that.
> OTOH we can't get into why I might find that idea appealing. 

The idea might be appealing in a nonreligious
sense, too. but even that would be skirting close
to trouble. Which reminds me of what a friend of
mine who was working backstage for a recital by 
Mieczysław Horszowski, heard. The pianist, then 90 
years old or thereabouts, kept moaning How long do
I have to keep on, O Lord? Then they wheeled him 
out and installed him at the piano, hidden behind a
screen. Instead of a curtain rising, the screen
was removed, and he played - beautifully, by all
reports. Sadly, or happily, he continued to perform
for nearly a decade after.

> > > At least I get a good tune out of it.
> > Ah, you should have been a hippie.
> I'm allergic to flowers in my hair. 

And I didn't like the smells of dope and drugs.

+

> >  RH> re-open tho, those areas where there's miles and miles of wide open
> >  RH> spaces (farmlands, prairies, etc). Areas where people can  make 
> >  living without being on top of one another should be less restricted
> >  than major urban areas.
> That's what I was thinking.  Places like nursing homes and assisted living
> facilities need to be locked down even tighter; that's where 2/3 of
> Connecticut's fatalities occurred. 

In many countries the story is the same. If
you're not in a nursing home, you're not likely
to die from it. Elder and convalescent care has
to be totally rethought, here and elsewhere. In
Sweden, which I hold up as the way the problem
should have been met, almost all the S2 deaths
have been in nursing facilities. Maybe it's 
shed in pee or something.

Braised pork trotter bee hoon
categories: Singapore, main, pasta, semi-homemade
serving: 6 4o 8

400 g packet Dried Bee Hoon (Chili brand)
2 cn pork trotters (Insist on Narcissus brand)
300 g Cai Xin (Wash and cut into 3" sections)
3 to 4 cloves garlic (minced)
1 Tb cooking oil
h - Sauce
1 Tb Oyster Sauce
3 Tb Dark Sauce
2 Tb chinese wine
2 ts fish sauce
pepper
500 ml chicken stock (sub hot water)

Soak the dry bee hoon in water until softened, 
about 30 min. Drained and set aside.

Mix all ingredients for the sauce. Stir well 
and set aside.

Heat up a frying wok and stir fry the garlic 
in cooking oil until fragrant without browning. 
Empty the cans of pork trotters into the wok. 
Keep frying and at the same time break up the 
trotters into smaller bite size.

Pour in the sauce mixture, turn up the heat 
and bring it to a boil.

Add the bee hoon and stir well to ensure the 
noodles are well coated with the braising 
liquid. Cover the wok with a lid and braise 
the noodle on high heat for about 10 min or 
until noodles are cooked. In between, give 
the bee hoon just a slight toss to ensure 
even braising throughout. Do not allow the 
gravy to dry up. (Add hot water if required)

Just before noodles are cooked, add the 
vegetables and mix well. Continue braising 
until both noodles and vegetables are done.

Sprinkle homemade crispy fried shallot over. 
Serve with sweet potato ginger soup.

Welcome to Heaven.

http://chefandsommelier.blogspot.com