Postscript Life full of Surprises

 "Life is the sum of all your choices. Man is the only creature that refuses to be what he is." Albert Camus.                                                                                                                                Humans have an eight months reduced life expectance due to too high noise according to scientists, I am not surprised, but don't expect that this knowledge (should it eventually reach Tunisia) will change anything here. Tunisians love lots of noise, the louder the better. I never heard anyone tell a child to stop shouting, tuning once's motorbike to pollute the air with a stinking black cloud and extreme noise seems to be okay. Anyhow, in Paris two Noice Radars will be installed, for a start, next year all over the country. Drivers who modify their vehicle and violate the noise restriction laws will have to pay fines. Fines of course only work as an detergent if there are persons who observe, report and charge, not ignore. The "broken window" theory, if one window gets smashed of an unoccupied building and left like that, the other windows will eventually also be broken, I see this here demonstrated, a bit of rubbish is dumped by one person others follow suit and you end up with yet another wild rubbish dump. Bad habits die hard, even if they are against the law. - As my little feline treasures get older, I have to spend more on medication and on veterinarian treatments, but even the little ones are all too often not all that healthy. Pets' imune system is generally speaking much weaker than in Europe, poor little darlings. Nature provided them with a lot of beauty, ignorant folks, though, may be too blind to see. Today I only had three visitors to my Cats' Table, I am worried.  Hope they are okay and will return tomorrow, not murdered (e. g. poisoned) by evil folks. We have repeatedly been told that the cats, now that I feed them, are more quiet and relaxed. It has a positive influence on them.  I know my lovely little treasures as gentle and well behaved. I wish I could say this also about the kids in the neighborhood, some of course have respect and good manners. The others I try to teach not just to demand: "Bonbons, Bonbons" when they see me, but to also say "please". My husband likes to donate sweets, also to taxi drivers who are usually pleasantly surprised. I remember the time before the revolution, Ben Ali's dictatorship, when folks were frightened to talk about politics, even in a taxi, later on it come to light that several taxi drivers worked for the secret service. There used to be large posters of Ben Ali (together with his greedy wife Leila the biggestet bankrobbers in Tunisian history) everywhere, no shop seemed to be without, not that the citizens loved him, it was just fear. Reminds me of Machiavelli's words: "It is better to be feared than loved, if you can not be both. Hatred is gained as much by good works as by evil." Bred is very cheap, 4 baguette less than one Dinar, but it is only delicious while still very fresh, that is why folks are throwing away a lot, some is collected for processing as animal food, sadly also bred with mold. Anyhow, North Africa, Germany and Great Britain (probably even more countries) have recipes for stale bred.

 Leblebi (Tunisia) : Soake in a pot chick peas over night, then cook with the water for 45 to 60 minutes. Add olive oil, cumin, a bit of Harissa, stale bred cut in small pieces, perhaps also one hard boiled egg and some olives.

Hobes Bel Halib (Tunisia) : Boil milk, add stale bred cut in small pieces, a bit of sugar or honey, decorate with chunks of fried bred.

Tajin (Tunisian version) : Fry onions, garlic and tomatoes, add chopped or minced meat, lots of stale bred, tomato pure, peper, parsley, safran, cucuma, black peper, grated cheese, then place on a baking tray and bake for one hour.

Arme Ritter (poor knights) Germany: 1 egg yolk, 1/8 l milk, 1 tablespoon sugar, mix, place slices of stale white bred briefly in this mixture, then in bred crumbs and fry golden yellow. Add a bit of sugar on top.

Bred and Butter Pudding (Great Britain) : 150 g stale bred without crusts, or buns, butter, 50 g raisins, a little candid peel, 2 tablespoons white sugar, 1 large egg, 300 ml milk, nutmeg.  Butter a pie dish of aprox. 1 litre, slice the bred, butter it and cut into small pieces. Place half the bred in pie dish, sprinkle on the fruit and half the sugar. Cover with remaining bread. Beat the egg and milk, pour over the bread and leave 30 minutes to soak. Sprinkle top with remaining sugar and grate on a little nutmeg. Bake in a moderate oven, gas 4, 180 grade C for about 1 hour.     

Brotlinge (Germany) : onions, spring onions, caps parcley, vegetable leaves, mix under stale bred pieces, possibly grate vegetables like carrots etc, soak in a bit of water, spice, egg is not necessary, shape in flat balls and fry. 

One can of course also use a toaster to make stale bred taste delicious again, or cut it in chunks, fry and sprinkle on salads. There are many methods to save money and not waste food. I was brought up to believe it is a sin (haram) to waste food. In France (or GB?) a restaurant opened that charges guests extra if they ordered more food than they managed to eat. It is popular I heard. Tourists who booked all inclusive sometimes leave extensive food on their plates, I watched this in various countries, in poor countries I find this kind of behaviour especially embarrassing. Anyhow, while the weather is catastrophic in European and other countries, we enjoy lovely sunshine here. We should be grateful for that. Sad news: shortage of bred in the South, looks like artificially created to make bigger profits. - Dicovered a dead medium sized black and white cat near my house, injured face, was hit by a car. I have been informed that someone caught cats near my doorstep, put them in a transport van and drove off. The cats were possibly drugged first, I found some yellow oily substance in my water boil outside. Anyhow cats won't let strangers pick them up just like that. I may be wrong, but I fear the worst, not kind folks getting them spayed and neutered (if so, where are they now?) but rather a grim fate for gentle, innocent beautiful little treasures. I feel depressed and can't help crying.