What a dreary day weather wise it's been today, didn't inspire me to go anywhere, not even out the back to do a bit more tidying in the garage. That job will have to wait for another day. Never mind, me and the pusscats have had a lovely day indoors. My very best friend Bugsy is getting on a bit now, he has been with me for about 16 years, just plods around, sleeps a lot, and enjoys sunning himself on the window sill, when there is any sun that is.
Mayze came with four kittens, they were found new homes, Mayze stayed here.
Heidi also came with four kittens, again new homes were found. She stayed. She loves her new cushion.
I've been getting on with the latest artwork, I didn't have any definate picture in my mind before I started. I keep adding bits to it, stepping back from it and studying it. It's not telling me anything at the moment, I think that's because it's quite a boring shape, sort of square-ish. It's an experiment in texture and colour. At the moment it's all yellow, but I'm thinking about how to add the colour.
I've been listening to Radio4 a lot today, and caught The Food Programme. The topic of the moment is the horse meat scandal. I knew the meat content of burgers and processed meat was pretty bad, full of all sorts of crap, but I didn't think it was that bad. Apparently we have huge frozen blocks of yucky suspect meat coming into the country from all over the place, Romania, Poland, and goodness knows where. In fact there seems to be very few checks made by the food standards agency, of foreign slaughter houses and factories.
The manufacturers are under so much pressure from the supermarkets to meet the price demanded of them, that they cut corners all over the place, and end up using all the unpalatable bits of the animal to bulk the food out. Even feathers go into the mix.
Neglected horses in Ireland are rounded up and used in food production, the USA ships 100,000 horses a year over here, and the processed meat which ends up on our shores has had a very long and tangled journey half way across the world. God knows what processes it has been through before it reaches our dinner tables. Just thinking about it makes me feel sick.
If you want to listen to The Food Programme you can do so here.....
In the meantime, here is my lovely veggie dinner. The last portion of veg curry, bulked out with peas, with steamed brocolli, potato, and celeriac. Not a dead animal in sight.
Bye bye for now. Toodle pip.
I heard this programme too. Like you I never eat meat and very much hope this latest "scandal" will encourge others to consider becoming vegetarian. I have often wondered what must be in these cheap ready meals and am amazed that some people don't seem to care what they eat or to give a thought to animal welfare. BTW love your blog and have also had a quiet day accompanied by my cat.
ReplyDeleteYes I am amazed too, some people don't give a second thought about what they are stuffing into their mouth. I know my diet isn't perfect, but at least I limit the amount of crap I eat. Some folks eat crap every single day.
DeleteGood evening from Jan.Weather been pretty awful here all day aswell.As usual,got taken out on a constitutional by my 16year old dog.Animals are amazing aren't they?Such spirit and capacity to live life to the full,talking of which,your cats look brilliant.Little Heidi on the new cushion made me smile.The horsemeat scandal is pretty sickening but,like you,I don't eat meat(been vegi for over 30 years).Not out of anything to do with health really,just an animal lover.Your dinner looks yummy.Good to know exactly what we're eating isn't it?Maybe more people will think about what they are consuming in the light of the current scare.What some scoudrels will do for a profit is beyond belief,no concern for the effect it may have on anyones short or long term health.
ReplyDeleteWe're having veg curry tonight too.It's another beautiful (but cold) sunny day today,but freezing rain moves in tonight(blech).
ReplyDeleteKisses for the guysxxxxxxxxxx
Jane x
Lovely cats you have there Ilona, Bugsy is my favourite I like his colouring. I've never owned a cat, dogs have been a constant companion throughout my life.
ReplyDeleteI find it amazing that meat is being brought in from all over the world. Surely it makes sense to process meat reared in our own country. If it is a matter of economics, no wonder we don't know what we are getting. Blah. I made lovely burgers for our dinner yesterday, they were delicious and I knew exactly what was in them. Our local butcher told me once that although there are strict eu regulations on slaughtering and preparing animals, they are flouted in some countries, he saw it first hand when a group went on a fact finding mission. If it wasn't for my meat loving husband, I would make more vegetarian meals.
If you did nt laugh you d cry wouldnt you - it reminds me of Upton Sinclair s The Jungle set in Chicago in the last century where sometimes actual people fell into the sausage making machines. I read that organized crime is behind this horsemeat thing and wonder if there is anything worse than horsemeat in the frozen blocks !!!
ReplyDeleteI buy what little meat and poultry I eat from a small family farm about fifty miles south of here.
Arent cats great to be indoors with when the weather is bad - so calm and patient, they never seem to get bored and they are so happy to be at home. Busgsy is the salt of the earth type is nt he.
Yes, my cats are lovely company. The two girls keep coming back to me throughout the day to check I am still around. Bugsy is laid back, a bit shy, but he has accepted the newer cats, no problem.
DeleteHeidi looks like my Beckham's twin puss-cat :0)
ReplyDeleteWe aren't vegetarian but I try to make meals from scratch so I can see what is going into them. I wonder if this will shake people out of their complacency over the origin of their food any more than some of the Hugh FW and Jimmy's Farm type programmes? I remember watching one where they showed that ready made chicken Kievs and nuggets etc were made from pink goo - YACK
We had a lovely homemade spinach and ricotta lasagna tonight with a herb salad. Requested by my DS16. He doesn't like to eat out much as he prefers his mummy's cooking. We eat veggie twice a week but he doesn't like beans or pulses of any kind. Not even the Heinz varitey. He's not keen on potato either so its hard keeping him filled up.
ReplyDeleteYou need to be friends with your butcher if you eat meat. My butcher slaughters his own meat from his own farm. He can point at a piece of meat on his stall and tell you when and where it came from. I wouldn't have it any other way, and there is no way I will ever buy any meat or processed food from a supermarket ever again.
ReplyDeleteQuite agree Janet. If people want to eat meat they should be prepared to pay a bit more for it, get the best quality, and have it as a treat, not an every day food.
DeleteMore reasons not to eat it! Love the puss photos.
ReplyDeleteLove the pictures of your cats - they are lovely :-)
ReplyDeleteLook forward to seeing your artwork when it's finished.
I'm so glad I'm veggie. Your dinner looks yummy.
Toni
Takes ages to get a decent puss photo, they will not sit still, ha ha.
DeleteYour cats are gorgeous, I could sit and look at them all day.
ReplyDeleteThe horsemeat scandal makes me very glad I've been a vegetarian for most of my life, it just seems to get worse. x
Sometimes you really get what you pay for. If folk mostly want 10 burgers for a pound in Iceland etc what sort of 'meat' do they honestly think will be in them!! I would rather search high and low and get 'yellow stickered' good meat or meat from the local butcher for my Lovely Hubby than buy anything mass produced by machines in factorys containing I don't know what. Otherwise even he does without, you can't beat a good vegetarian meal.
ReplyDeleteYour cats are all beautiful, and you simply can't beat a cosy day spent at home in the company of cats.
Sue xx
Good morning Ilona, snow is in the air here in Hampshire. From House fairy.
ReplyDeleteIt is nice spending the days at home, I just wish home was at the seaside.I grew up by the sea and miss the beach.
Glad you are getting on with your craft, all the cream colour made me thing of a harvest picture.
I am near the end of knitting my blue cardie. Just the button band to do.
Yesterday, I had a sort out of my button box. I had them all over the floor. I put the buttons into sets. 4 or more I made into little tidy bracelets with some spare wool.Can't think why I did not do this before? so much easier to see what you have and how many in the set.
Dinner was roast pork by request from husband.
Roast potatoes, Yorkshire puds, carrots, parsnips, leeks and cabbage.
Wile the oven was on, I baked x2 large fruit cakes with brandy in.
Since I found this cake recipe, the family love it. I heard both husband and daughter making comments of goodness at diffrent times.
Husband was in charge of finding tins for them when they cooled down. Bet we have the cutting ceremony today.
Hi Ilona, I too have followed the horsemeat scandal from here in Spain. We eat meat too much really and given the choice I would prefer more vegetarian meals, however, I must say that the meat I buy here has travelled no more than about 25 km, the butcher is very knowledgeable and most of the meat comes from in or around the village. Our New Year Turkey came from the couple who live across the road from our house... we were even invited to come and choose which one. If everyone had to pick out their meat when it was alive there would be a lot more vegetarians!! I shamefully looked the other way and just asked the lady to pick us a nice one. Oh well, I am still a beginner at this homestead lark!! Love the pusscats. Mine are the best friends a girl could have at the moment while hubby is still working in the UK... and the dog too of course.
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