Quinoa for peace and security

I was once in a swanky Westminster bar advising a senior civil servant - the one who was responsible for the UK drugs strategy - what to do regarding opium growing in Afghanistan.

The problem was: he said - the farmers in Afghanistan depend on the income of the opium poppy. The solution was: a replacement crop or source of income. But the problem is: what? He elaborated that Afghanistan is actually a pretty tough growing climate, and poppies do really well there.

I said. "Friend, I've got two words for you. Specialty grains."

He looked at me as if I were mad or drunk. (To be fair, I was at least one of these.) I elaborated - quinoa, grown in the Andes (a landscape like Mars) has all kinds of health benefits, but it's hard to find and people will pay a premium for the stuff. Same could be said for amaranth. I explained how they could introduce the crop, set up co-operatives and promote these grains in the UK and US markets - which could really take off as people start to become more health concious. And sure, it's not quite as glamourous or lucrative as opium poppies, but it would be a pretty good source of income with a little forethought and support.

And what happened? Nada. Bupkiss. Zip.

And Taliban heroin has flooded the global (and especially European) markets.

I really should be in charge.

-0-

I flashed back to this incident because of Kathy's quinoa recipe post.

Fridge cleaning

We went shopping yesterday after a disastrous trip to the park. It was colder than we expected, we were underdressed and cold, we left the park as soon as it started to rain.

As is our habit, we got two shopping carts and split up. Unfortunately, we covered some of the same ground. Ooops. We have a lot of yoghurt now. I mean a lot.

The Vol-in-Law puts the food away. He has a system it's best I don't mess with. On the upside it means I don't have to put the food away - on the downside it means he does go on a bit about using up the fruit and veg we already have in the fridge before buying any new perishables. (It sounds like this...blah, blah, blah)

He was especially disturbed by the amount of fruit we had and the amount of fruit we had just bought. He suggested that I make a fruit salad. I'm not big on fruit salad - but I did use up a full bag of plums making a delicious plum cobbler.




After tasting that, all was forgiven in the fruit overstocking front, I think.

I might have been a bit better with a bit more fruit. But here's the recipe I used. I had to use the batter bubble up from the bottom type of cobbler rather than the biscuit topping type recipe because, well - I wanted to use up milk, egg and use melted butter - since butter in this country doesn't come conveniently packaged with tablespoon and quarter cup markings.