Kyle – with that sort of output, maybe you should get an expert in to check them out. Presume they'll be back next year?

Yeah, if I knew where you went to find a cheap mycologist in my area I would have.

Interestingly, we had no mushrooms last summer, a…

Kyle – with that sort of output, maybe you should get an expert in to check them out. Presume they'll be back…

Question: How can you tell if a mushroom is safe to eat?

Answer

A mushroom is safe to eat if you find it in one of two places- at a supermarket or a local growers' market. Unless you happen to be some trained expert, don't eat mushrooms you…

Update, I ate the mushrooms. They are safe

Yay!

The safe ones look almost exactly like the incredibly dangerous ones."

I ate them... now I read this I wish I hadn't :)

Every web page I could find on identifying mushrooms basically said in…

The focus on LAQC's is somewhat of a red herring in terms of tax.

yup. don gave my dogmatism a reality check over a beer yesterday (thanks for that don, btw).

that said, setting up an laqc for the sole purposes of rental property speculation is an unintended consequence of…

I don't know. But, the tax benefits are no different than if the property was owned by individuals. The real benefit of LAQC's is…

Try the Mallard reaction instead. No caramelisation so not very sweet .... but I hear it packs a real punch!

Apropos cider: I understand that there are special cider apple varieties which together with the sheep carcase and the rusty…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQvkS689DZY

I'm always amazed by the way people will believe anything. There seems to be a presumption that some sort of government agency is out there stopping dodgy businesses from taking our money. As if Acme Gilt Edge Securities couldn't advertise and take people's money if they…

If you were serious about "living off the land" in NZ then the only consistent way to get coffee is to trade some delicious speciality of your own for it, which will make it the rare treat it was for your great-greatparents.

If you're serious about living off the land,…

I note in the Herald article:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10500398

Investor 'Big Sam of Maketu' lost $532k he had *borrowed on his mortgage* his house had previously been unmortgaged and he doesn't now how he will afford to service his new mortgage.…

Ah. Now you may be talking Kyle. Got a foolproof recipe? It has to be foolproof, I've brewed wine before & all but alcohol poisoned all my friends on one occasion at least.

No, my foolproof recipe involved asking my friend how he did it. The first time I tried it,…

Maillard reaction: Here comes the chemistry. I have a book at home that gets into that kind of detail about baking.

Ben, rather than take the space arguing I'm just going to assert that I find culinary, economic and lifestyle sense in occasional pickling. You don't understaaand!

I have a…

Ben, rather than take the space arguing I'm just going to assert that I find culinary, economic and lifestyle sense in occasional pickling. You don't understaaand!

Nah, I do understand. Just giving my particular reasons why it isn't for me. The real main one is I don't eat much jam…

I have two apple trees at my house

As I recall the bad news is you need two trees to get apples.

I only have ginger beer experience – my only guess would be to favour a 'quick' brew; that is, drink pretty much immediately. My thought being any imperfections in…

Comatose fortunately, not dead.

And I'm just appalled at the binge drinking culture of today's youth.

Sadly the cider turned out to be barely drinkable (but nicely alcoholic).

OK, looks like we're from the same school of brewing. I'll weigh in with my story of home made saki one day... our front room resembled a scene from 300 at one stage, there were so many bodies…

If you were serious about "living off the land" in NZ then the only consistent way to get coffee is to trade some delicious speciality of your own for it, which will make it the rare treat it was for your great-greatparents.

If you're serious about living off the land,…

Made 25 litres of cider

Ah. Now you may be talking Kyle. Got a foolproof recipe? It has to be foolproof, I've brewed wine before & all but alcohol poisoned all my friends on one occasion at least.

Ben, rather than take the space arguing I'm just going to assert that I find culinary, economic and lifestyle sense in occasional pickling. You don't understaaand!

Several hundred trees says 'farm' to me rather than 'garden', though :-)

Technically it's a small orchard. Predominantly macadamia nuts, but pretty much at least one of everything else too.

I have to admit, the only fruit we've bought since we owned it has been bananas.

On the home cooking…

The cherries don't ripen all at…

Heh, just watch me do a Homer impression...But, rethink the usage of the land? Different crops for a continuous yield? Several hundred trees says 'farm' to me rather than 'garden', though :-)

I have two apple trees at my house, and I can't eat the yield off one of them.…

That's OK unless you have several hundred fruit, berry & nut trees – it is such a waste to see the birds get everything you can't eat or palm off on friends & rellies.

Heh, just watch me do a Homer impression...But, rethink the usage of the land? Different crops for a…

Maillard ducks?

not quickly enough, obviously.

Microwaving works by cooking things from the inside out..

Not really. It uses microwave energy to vibrate the water molecules in things, but microwave energy still has to penetrate the food, from the outside in. Anyone who's tried to reheat a big slab of lasagne or something else solid will…

I'd rather just gorge on the fresh fruit than spending hours making what I could buy in minutes for the cost of a few minutes work.

yeah, but compare those alexandrian nectarines with the supermarket ones, and translate that through daleaways rather impressive ennerding of cookery.

jams are not created…

I'm planing to build myself a death ray robot, to protect my herb garden from computer geeks.

all ur herbs r belong to us.

Apologies if that damages your brain, Kyle.

I was with you until you said C6H12O6. Which seriously, that's not chemistry, that's a robot off star wars, stop trying to pull the wool over my eyes.

Cocoa and coffee beans grown under glass?

(and no Baldrick recipes!)

As for jam, I'd rather just gorge on the fresh fruit than spending hours making what I could buy in minutes for the cost of a few minutes work.

That's OK unless you have several hundred fruit, berry & nut trees – it is such a waste to see the birds…

But microwaving jam feels... wrong. Aren't there laws about preserving fruit and jams and whatnot that say it have to be done on top of an oven?

Or you'll get burned as a witch, in your own microwave oven....

But microwaving jam feels... wrong.

It will feel so right when…

But microwaving jam feels... wrong.

a lot of the prejudice against microwaves is warranted. try microwaving a roast dinner for example.

sometimes you need to cook things slow to let the flavours combine, the sugars and acids to change, and other tricky stuff i've seen chefs wax lyrical about.

people…

Public Address is there for me.

But microwaving jam feels... wrong. Aren't there laws about preserving fruit and jams and whatnot that say it have to be done on top of an oven?

I see a lot of chefs still giving out recipes for lemon curd using a double boiler and stirring for 45 minutes. Are they demented?…

What absinthe does do is get you extremely drunk very quickly.

Only if you drink it fast.

It's not called the "green hour" for nothing...

Microwave? What's the world coming to?

Outrageous, but actually pretty green. Who in this day and age doesn't have a microwave?

Put feijoas, juice, ginger in a large bowl and microwave on high, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Stir in the sugar and nuke again for another five minutes.

Microwave? What's the world coming to?

Feijoa Jam

This is adapted from a recipie for guavas in a big Krishna-style book I've got at home. Is also from memory.

You will need
Equal amounts by weight of fruit and sugar (as per any jam expect berries). You might include some jaggery…

Yes, quarter acre sections (thats 1010 sq metres) do exist.... but even before the infill housing of the last decade and a half, they were no longer the norm.

I don't know when sections that…

I reckon the government now uses immigration like the OCR – as a macroeconomic lever, but without the consideration and control that goes into the reserve bank

That would be more sensible than what they actually do, which is to mount a kneejerk response everytime Winston plays the race card.

…

2 cups roughly chopped feijoas (or scooped out feijoa pulp)
2-3 tbs chopped preserved ginger
1 tbs lemon juice
1 cup sugar

Put feijoas, juice, ginger in a large bowl and microwave on high, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Stir in…

I reckon the government now uses immigration like the OCR – as a macroeconomic lever, but without the consideration and control that goes into the reserve bank

That would be more sensible than what they actually do, which is to mount a kneejerk response everytime Winston plays the race card.…

not illegal and NOT FRAUD

That's because our level of securities industry regulation is grossly inadequate. In the UK (and I think most of the EU) it's illegal to operate a securities business (which the miscreant is doing) without proper licensing and compliance. But here we have this dumbass belief…

There is very little evidence that thujone has any hallucinogenic effects. It acts…

got any feijoa jam recipes?

Anathoth might be able to help.

Sorry, no sympathy, for private people to borrow to invest is just mad. Greed is not good.

Actually, I'm very symapthetic to the guy, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. However, I wouldn't shy away from criticising his stupid decision to borow to invest or his decision not…

When I lived in an old apartment building in the city a few years ago, we had far more to do with our neighbours than we…

So which democratic country doesn't practise some sort of aspiration? and space is good for us cavemen.

Surely logistics is the real debate not our natural aspirations for comfort.Feel entitled to a happy life che, on me.

And what's been glaringly overlooked in the housing debate is infill and high-density living.

as i said yesterday, kiwis and their sense of entitlement.

everyone "deserves" to live on a quarter acre. i'm not sure how doing nothing but going to school, then going to work, makes you "deserving" of…

Che, got any feijoa jam recipes?

nope. i could ask 2nd chef's mum though.

Complicating things…

The risk was hidden, he's probably saving for his retirement and his family and every financial advisor in New Zealand tells him he needs investments.. You got to have some sympathies surely. 66…

"We're terrible cheaters. Ya know the macbeth thing, it fucks with us."

Investor 'Big Sam of Maketu' lost $532k he had *borrowed on his mortgage* his house had previously been unmortgaged and he doesn't now how he will afford to service his new mortgage.

Sorry, no sympathy, for private people to borrow to invest is…

Wasn't that a Judas Preist lyric? but seriously we should design it, we're pretty good designers.

Someone would.It's just the banking system. Its not the real work.
it's admin.

It's just the movement of money, vatican like in it's invinciibilty as a system but as rationally corrupt '

Their industry screws up and we all feel it.Doesn't make sense?

Ah, I think it's just human nature. Human nature combined with the natural incompetence that arises from people trying to hit their quarterly targets at any costs. Terrible system. Don't know of a better one.

The marinas only own a right to the posts so as long as you don't tie up to the post its free to drop anchor in the marina.

You can't anchor in any marina that's in a port, it's against the law. The marina authority will get you to move…

Thanks malcolm.

That's the guys I get pissed off at, lenders and the way they get the spooks all the time .We know the market likes a good crash now and then and we ask them basically to pick…

Jeremy: Ummm. Informed guess. Assuming we're not heading for a massive international crash (which I don't think we are). Partly it's a calculation about when tax cuts will be implemented and the immigration lever turned back on. That's a political timing thing. Partly it's…

(even though I don't want to turn this blog into Trade and Exchange)....
If any one is passing through Hamilton East in the next two weeks and wants to travel on with a bag of feijoas, just bung me a message

Geoff, as it happens, yes I will be travelling…

(But all IMHO – your mileage may vary, seek independent investment advice, and sell me your children by return post)

Couriered or in a small envelope with a 45 cent stamp (she should fit)?

I want her back though when she gets to working age (what age are children big…

I've got coupla hundred nikau's potted up, grow native grasses like, well, it's grass (take a few sead heads from a plant or two and chuck them in a tray of seed raising mix and you should get 50 plants plus in no time, I just potted…

What do you all think? Are people just spooked, or are there really hard times ahead?

Well, seeing as you asked ...

I think there is a serious problem with, not just confidence, but investment and credit. That'll rattle around the system for a while (watch for the flow on…

Hey Geoff , are you the same guy who used to be at Otago Uni – I used to enjoy your lectures ... if you are?

'fraid not. I have only put in an occasional appearance at Otago.

(even though I don't want to turn this blog into Trade and…

that should be front page news.that's fucking mental.

"Not a silly idea. The marinas only…

Not a silly idea.

The marinas only own a right to the posts so as long as you don't tie up to the post its free to drop anchor in the marina.

Free accom at the Vaiduct!…

I have to admit that technically the feijoas are not mine (ha ha). There's an old, overgrown and abandoned orchard behind our place. I watched the fruit rot the first year I lived here and in the last two…

There are people who have lost their savings, and ...

LOL, this on a page about consuming nutmeg and absinthe?

Ha, organic gardening, herbal medicine, and weird drugs. "My body is a temple, here's a cool way to fck it up". It's like a Green Party conference in here.

But without the dancing.

like everything in the botanical gardens if you are visiting on days when they are digging up beds a nice hello and a smile will get you whatever they are digging up, or pruning.

For a couple of years in the 90s employees in the Bot Gardens cultivated mushrooms. I…

they have them in the botanical gardens as well
and like everything in the botanical gardens if you are visiting on days…

but comparing taste. we drove the sth island this past feb and stopped in alexandria for stone fruit. the better half described the nectarines as being like "eating sunshine" (and promptly ate 2kg...).

Mmmmm.

It is quite noticeable how good farmers' market produce can be compared to stuff that's come…

wombat

OMFG

nice to finish the blog for the day with some light-hearted news.
truly, the web is taking over from TV

Y'all know compost helps hold water in the soil, right? Also regular hoeing or good ground cover. Windbreaks too. Good free soil to help young plants quickly grow tap roots.

If you want more winter variety, you can keep your excess with preserves or a big freezer. Not…

his eyes misted over, and he stated, "that smells…

Brain chemistry is just something you shouldn't feck with

LOL, this on a page about consuming nutmeg and absinthe?

Nutmeg..one experience, a friend, she actually turned green. and wernt too happy for a few hours, coulnt leave the hallway for some reason.

like i say, "ur doin it wrng".

1 whole nutmeg. grated. mixed with a lot of sugar and warm milk.

i think i did three... but... hey.

and you get to grow whatever kind of tomatoes you like. Not that I've tried it, I'm just frustrated that the ugly, lumpen, butter-ily yummy variety that was at the LHutt market last year seems to be missing. Just the 'normal' small medium and large ones.

we've been getting reasonably…

off topic, but this just hit the Nelson Mail. Its proof that some reporters CAN do a good job.

"I'll retract the rape complaint from the wombat, because he's pulled out,'' Cradock told the operator at the communications centre, who had no idea what…

Emma, perhaps the dosage is hard to control...but how strong is it really?

Not that I actually drink it anymore. It didn't do anything, in pill or tea. Probably cause I'm not depressed or anxious...

I'm just amused at how much people pay for the stuff when it grows like…

you can use a yoghurt maker to make cultured buttermilk too. Which tastes like cheese.

Cultured buttermilk... I imagine the uncultured buttermilk has an ocker accent.

I used to feel the same way about actual weed.

It may grow like a weed but it gets harvested like ... gold?

I'm just amused at how much people pay for the stuff when it grows like a weed.

I used to feel the same way about actual weed.

Not that I actually drink it anymore. It didn't do anything, in pill or tea. Probably cause I'm not depressed or anxious...

I'm just amused at how much people pay for the stuff when it grows like…

I'm considering running a sweepstake for when trailerparks get recommended & by whom.

On the subject of Auckland's pessimistically perceived accommodation problems, house boats?

I'm considering running a sweepstake for when trailerparks get recommended & by whom.

Re cheese, it does get fiddly and specialist very quickly

Yeehaa! Titration!! I recall expressing skepticism to my 6th form chemistry teacher that titration would ever cross…

that doesn't sound good... find out.

Oh we will – but the whole thing is a long story....

supposedly an anti-anxiety drug – but it seems to be causing her to hallucinate quite badly.

that doesn't sound good... find out. Hypericin is not known for being a hallucinogenic but another contraindication is sun exposure. St Johns Wort can change the way your skin synthesizes sunlight.

As a bored…

When it's out, it's an all-singing, all-dancing caberet girl. At home, however, it's a monoamine oxidase inhibator.

Thanks Emma, I must ask what it is my sister has been taking this week – supposedly an anti-anxiety drug – but it seems to be causing her to hallucinate quite badly.

Never try to smoke a chilli. ever. apparently it feels as if your blood is on fire, and skull. didnt last long though.

Absinthe didnt do much…

Use grey water. Or black

I quite like what Kapiti Coast DC are proposing for new housing developments – that is along the lines of every new house will have to install a 25,000 litre rain collecting tank OR a 10,000 l tank & a grey water system.

We've got a…

Food Not Lawns: How To Turn Your Yard Into A Garden

http://katipo.net.nz/index.php/cPath/37?osCsid=9c9dfd8266ca278c2ebdb0feadae32f9

sure the tomatoes are 99c a kilo when you're harvesting them, and the only advantage is taste,

we are talking capitalised TASTE here though., even the best, ripest, peak of season supermarket toms never come close to the taste explosion of any tomato hand grown in sunny suburban beachhaven.

even…

Do the herbal "medicine" manufacturers standardise the hyperforin/hypericin in the product?

They bloody well should, but I don't know if they all do. Look on the label for some kind of indication of dosage.

What's an MAO inhibitor when iots at home Emma?

When it's out, it's an all-singing, all-dancing…

Use grey water. Or black (yuck, but it works for the Chinese. Don't blaim me if you get cholera).

I'm most amused by people who'll pay $20 for a bottle of St John's Wort pills. I planted one little $3 plant and it took over my whole garden in 2 years. Chuck a handful in your tea.

Okay, half my garden is herbs, for eating, bathing and teas, but…

anyone have a figure handy on how much the "tax offsets" in the form of LAQCs are costing the taxpayer? i know there are tens of thousands of the things, but an actual figure on what this subsidisation is costing me would be interesting.

Maybe we will get to…

She had an…

"but saving $5 by knicking rosemary out of the public gardens in central wellington really adds up over a year.

Indeed! It is the only place to find fresh growing tarragon in the city."

Wellingtonians are getting free food , so the rumours are true

There is also the broadleaf…

but saving $5 by knicking rosemary out of the public gardens in central wellington really adds up over a year.

Or growing a plant, u naughty thief. It's extremely hardy, basically plant and forget.

I'm most amused by people who'll pay $20 for a bottle of St John's Wort pills.…

Wellingtonians are getting free food , so the rumours are true

last year they planted the central divider on lambton quay with silverbeet!!

i was this >< close to taking a heap and making spanakopita.

goes to show how affluent new zealanders really are.

Indeed! It is the only place to find fresh growing tarragon in the city."

Wellingtonians are getting free food , so the rumours are true.

but saving $5 by knicking rosemary out of the public gardens in central wellington really adds up over a year.

Indeed! It is the only place to find fresh growing tarragon in the city.

'Dorresteyn, husband Richard and four partners are the cheese pioneers behind Clevedon Valley Buffalo Company.

Although newcomers to the specialist cheese industry, this South Auckland-based company upstaged veteran cheesemakers by winning two golds and two silvers at the Cuisine New Zealand Champions of Cheese Awards last week.

The buffalo ricotta…

Geoff – I believe that AgResearch was quarantining exactly those animals for the people in Clevedon. Could be wrong

Mark – will be for sale at the Clevedon Farmers Market in a month or so. It certainly had that fibrousity (??) to it – I had…

rabbit population

there's still heaps of rabbits. i saw thousands of the little buggers swarming all over the place, when i was in otago last weekend. the rail trail is nice though

http://www.clevedonfarmersmarket.co.nz/news-events.shtml

mozzarella...could use it for plastic

one crowd out of Clevedon

where can i buy that clevedon mozzarella? is it kind of fibrous and stringy like the good fresh stuff in europe? i've despaired of the plasticky mozzarella i've found in NZ

I am all for vege gardens but it has been hard work this…

He ground up some coriander and cumin, and mixed them with some almonds he had lying around, to add some flavour.

Once he'd prepared all of this, he filled his pipe and took a couple of puffs with…

Perhaps you could show us with another one of your cookbook posts?

i wish. my cheese-making skills are woeful.

the next few food posts will doubtless be "making decent food on a budget". i did learn all my best recipes while on a student's income, after all.

:)

Plant a…

making cows-millk cheese is easy.

making it *well* is another matter.

Perhaps you could show us with another one of your cookbook posts?

And I'll second daleaway's comment about a vege garden. Not that I have much of one, but I (try to) grow a few things, and its nice…

Plant a vege garden.

I do, but I can honestly say it doesn't save you much money. What it does do is give you the freshest most organic food possible, and it's really good exercise. But the sun's rays are a bitch, I do all mine early in the morning…

New Zealand and Australian mozzarella is made from cow's milk and is not the same thing at all.

Except for one crowd out of Clevedon who have got a herd of buffalo and producing our first ever mozzarella di bufala. And it's taaaaaaaasty...

I agree, risk is used in happy financial terms as a way of "sorting the business men from the boys " , ya got to take a risk, as oppossed to…

making cows-millk cheese is easy.

making it *well* is another matter.

Making it economic is another thing again.
Unless you know a dairy farmer or have a house cow / goat, it is difficult to make home-made cheese economically from supermarket-purchased milk. It depends on the type of cheese you…

Mad. Americans.

Beware that cheap mozzarella, Craig. I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot cattle prod.

In January, the BBC told us that half the Italian buffalo herd used for the production of mozzarella had brucellosis and were compulsorily being culled. Now this week they tell us…

Maybe we need a bit less of the propaganda that convinces people that red meat five times a week is a healthy diet?

ditto on dairy products. the stuff isn't actually all that good.

i'm no vegan, but i've felt worlds better since cutting bovine milk out of the diet.…

But why should…

The first party to suggest that some sort of price control/local quota system for our local agricultural produce be introduced would be onto a vote winner.

Maybe when the streets aren't full of fat kids and we don't have some of the highest obesity/diabetes levels in the world?

Maybe we…

We looked at buying a house in Cromwell awhile ago but the bank manager said it was out of our league

Cromwell is not as bad as Wanaka nor Queenstown, the latter would rank as bad as the North Shore. I would thank that bank manager for not lending you…

I had a brief look through the RBNZ´s monetary policy statement. Higher wages are generally considered a good thing, international…

when he claimed that he was feeling something from the thyme

those were high and heady thymes. not like your modern thymes.

There will be a few people on the North Shore thinking Cromwell looks pretty good at the moment ...

We looked at buying a house in Cromwell awhile ago but the bank manager said it was out of our league.

Now where do I vote...

My copy of The Destitute Gormet (number 2) says you can make marscapone from non-fat milk, cream, and white vinegar. Maybe I'll try it next time I go overboard and make tiramisu.

making cows-millk cheese is easy.

making it *well* is another matter.

all this kerfuffle is probably a good…

This is the story of a lot of worry out there. Mortgages are crazy here in Auckland and have been for a while. There's…

Out of interest – is he getting in the milk, or does he own animals of some sort?

I think he's using ordinary milk.

My copy of The Destitute Gormet (number 2) says you can make marscapone from non-fat milk, cream, and white vinegar. Maybe I'll try it next time…

But stay away from allspice, man. That stuff will eat your conscious expressionism, man.

The New York Times goes in search of the grand daddy of experimenters

http://www.research.gold.org/prices/annual/

Depends entirely on the period, like anything else. As the above chart show, if you bought gold after it peaked in the early '80s, then you'd have taken a very long time to get level, and that isn't…

Years ago, a friend of mine got bored and decided to see if the spicerack could get him high by trying them in his bong.

getn wasterd, ur doin it wrng.

This one's really whack, I've been trying it recently. You stay completely sober for a few weeks. I've noticed a dramatic improvement in mood that no mood altering pills have ever matched. Also I'm having dreams again, which are far more detailed than any trip I've ever…

the one they really want to keep an eye on is nutmeg.

back in the day i remember being 3 days into a trip and thinking... "fck... i'm going to stay like this..."

Years ago, a friend of mine got bored and decided to see if the spicerack could get…

And finally, Pete Darlington came out of the digital hat for the MarchFest prize pack.

Thanks Russ, I'm well chuffed with this.

You won't regret drawing my name out of the hat either as, unlike with most people, beer makes me more charming and interesting. :)

Loads of room to save money in the present downturn.

i now drink swappa crates of bushman draught, $22/doz at The Mill. bargain. goes well with home kill

"Slumpy Cashflow" sounds like the name of a hobbit or an elf or something...

Or a porn star. A really amateur one.

Property has to take a hit, whether through an actual drop in price or years of no growth. That's not a factor of the recession though – property just went through a bubble. Why it went…

This post is on a completely unrelated topic, I'm sorry, but is in response to Act's stirring of the education voucher pot on behalf of the Education Forum. I think it was Roger Douglas who came out with how social democratic Sweden has adopted a voucher system.

What got my…

It came in an unmarked bottle. It…

I got around the food price by putting a steer in the freezer.

Bastard put up much of a fight?

Ahhhh nutmeg – the one that needs absolute-shit-loads to get you high and absolute-shit-loads-plus-just-a-tiny-bit-more to kill you. Perhaps it's the danger adrenaline that does it?

Catnip! If you dig up…

A friend of mine has started making his own cheese

Out of interest – is he getting in the milk, or does he own animals of some sort?

dramatic reduction in diary consumption

A friend of mine has started making his own cheese – though I'm not sure whether its because its now economic, or because they want marscapone and mozzarella on tap...

Bad things happen because we don't think happy thoughts. Do you really think the world would have had to endure Hitler or the Great Depression if we'd all stuck our fingers in our ears and sung lalalalalaaa really loudly? No!

Figured (happily),…

the one they really want to keep an eye on is nutmeg.

Ahhhh nutmeg – the one that needs absolute-shit-loads to get you high and absolute-shit-loads-plus-just-a-tiny-bit-more to kill you. Perhaps it's the danger adrenaline that does it?

As for le economie – my personal feeling is that we are going…

The consumer confidence survey actually isn't too bad an indicator of how the domestic economy is going to go. If you look back to the early 1990s it has moved ahead of GDP overall, on most occasions the economy turned since then (the one exception was early this…

Maybe it is the Presbyterian in me, but I could see the debt fuelled spending binge that has happened over recent years coming to an end together with the inevitable hangover.

i'm not presbyterian, and i agree with you whole-heartedly.

there's also the issue of subsidisation of housing.

anyone have…

I'm not so sure on house prices. A lot of rental "investors" must be running out of…