Degringolade

Hoh River

We would like to live as we once lived. But history will not permit it.

John F. Kennedy

Speech to the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce

Most of the time, history is written by those who have climbed to power or who have attached themselves to that power.  But sometimes another set of folks manages to get a word in.

Now, I see this kind of thing as time dependent.  There is one kind of history that is written when the trajectory of a culture is tracing a positive slope (M⩾0).  In democracies, these are the “good old days” When there is enough excess in the system that the powerful can widely share the fruits, that makes a time of power and the pangyrics that are sung during these times are of power and its good uses.

When people are well fed and clothed and there are enough goodies being passed around to keep the majority happy, the histories are of great men doing great things, taking credit for the society's efforts.

Right now the histories are being written by the folks who just complain about the decisions made in the past.  There are no decisions that come out 100%.  As the decisions recede into the past, the negative consequences become more and more evident 

Now, the hard part is remembering that, even if the folks who are writing about the decisions and actions of past leaders are correct, all that really means is that, if the alternatives that they seem to espouse would have been implemented at the time, all we would be looking at now is a different set of consequences that we would have to deal with.

Yay….a batch worked

I think that I might be getting the hang of this tempeh thing.  I have my fingers crossed and I just put in another batch with the same approximate parameters.  

• 200 grams of dried beans.

• Add 1 tablespoon of Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar to a five quart pressure cooker filled to ⅔ full with tap water

• Bring water/vinegar to a boil and when boiling hearty, dump in the beans.

• Put the lid on the pressure cooker and bring to pressure 

• Reduce heat to medium low when at pressure and let go for eight(8) minutes.

• At eight minutes, take pot off element and let cool

• Drain beans in colander and let dry/cool for 35 minutes covered loosely.  When cool, back into the pressure cooker pot.

• After beans are cooled, add ½ teaspoon of homemade starter in ¼ teaspoon increments with tossing and stirring until evenly distributed

• Put bean/starter mix into the prepared bag (side cuts) and press to distribute into an even layer.  Punch 4x4 airhole grid into bag.

• Weigh bag (410 Grams) and place it into “incubator” with temperature monitors.

Temp profile of first “happy” batch.