Words and ideas of others ...

I said the same thing on my last post: it's a connecting experience reading the words and ideas of others. I love finding phrases which describe thoughts or experiences I can so relate to.

Here are two quotes from extremely different sources, but which coincide for me :

Albert Camus: Le Désert (Les Noces) Sorry, it's in French

"Le matérialisme le plus répugnant n'est pas celui qu'on croit, mais bien celui qui veut nous faire passer des idées mortes pour des réalités vivantes et détourner sur des mythes stériles l'attention obstinée et lucide que nous portons à ce qui en nous doit mourir pour toujours."

OK - it's a bit heavy and the sentence is unusually long for a French text. Translation ? Here goes:

"The most repugnant form of materialism is not the one we think of generally, but the form which wants us to believe dead ideas are in fact living realities and the form which distracts our obstinant and clear-sighted attention on what we carry in us which is destined to die forever, which distracts this attention towards sterile myths."

On a much lighter philosophical note, but which deals in materialism and sterile myths: this article from Natasha Robinson in her column 'Plus Life' (The Weekend Australian, Feb 2015)

"COOKING CULT THAT LEAVES ME COLD

THERE is a target on my back. 1 unwittingly have become

an apron-wearing whistleblower and the strings

of that apron may one day be found around my throat.

The devotees of the cult 1 have blown wide open

number in their tens of thousands, They are organised,

they are rich and they will go to any length to defend

their master, They are steadily taking over the means of

production and inserting it into every kitchen in the

country. If you can come up with $2000, that is, Or even

if you can't, don't worry. You can pay it off.

Yes, 1 am speaking of the Thermomix. You may have

heard of it referred to as the Thermy. It's essentially a

glorified food processor, It chops, it steams, it grinds, it

whirrs and it cooks at the touch of a button. It's a lovable-

sounding name, but let me assure you it's not a lovable

machine. It gives you no love at aIl. It's noisy, and

it's clinical. And did 1 mention it's TWO THOUSAND

DOLLARS?

Now 1 don't want to be unfair, If you can't cook to

save your life, the Thermomix may be your best friend,

If you have special dietary requirements to cater for and

 must cook from scratch it's useful, If you're an activated

almonds kind of type you also may worship the Thermy

as you pump out cold-pressed almond milk and churn-your-

own butter, aIl while engaging in a headstand .

1 may be the only busy mum in the inner-city cirde of

Sydney who does not love the Thermomix. People, 1

tried, 1 attended a demonstration night. We made the

risotto; we made the custard. Heck, we even made the

pizza dough, l've gotta say, aIl of it was average.

Undeterred, 1 borrowed my neighbour's Thermomix

for three weeks. l gave it a really good go. 1 know

that plenty of hatted chefs have a Thermy in their kitchens

 for knocking up ganache, but let me tell you, for ordinary

mortals, using a Thermomix is not cooking.

For aIl its wizardry, you are still left with the worst

parts of cooking (peeling onion skin, washing up) without

aIl the best bits.

1 don't want to boast but 1 make a mean risotto.

Creamy, with just the right amount of cream. How do 1

know? Because 1 taste. A lot. 1 mix. For 40 minutes. And

I love it.

Yes, 1 couId be doing the mopping while Thermy

makes stodgy risotto, but guess what? Mopping can

wait. So can the bath. Because my kids are right up there

at the stove with me, adding chunks of butter, mixing

flour and water in their own little ceramic pots and feeding

their version of risotto to their dolls.

This is what 1 love about cooking. It's labour-intensive,

it's hypnotic, it's creative, it's messy, and it's a grand

excuse for licking spoons of chocolate batter. What

cornes out when the oven is opened is always unique.

And properly homemade."

__________________________________________

Natasha Robinson didn't really write this column. She is

merely the conduit for a brave Thermowhistleblower