Not that I have any immediate plans involving air travel in Pakistan...

Perilous journeys: aviation in Pakistan: Few board a plane these days with complete confidence in the systems intended to keep them safe:

The airlines would often appeal against regulators by going to friends in the government or in Pakistan's powerful military. "Sometimes they could get away with things that were less than ideal," the former official says.

When I was bopping around Pakistan in '78 on the state airline, the pilots' spiel would include the routine line that 'We shall arrive in [Karachi/Quetta/Rawalpindi/Lahore/etc], insh'allah, at [scheduled time of arrival]'.

It was vaguely worrying then: it would be even more worrying now.

100 things blogging challenge: 49

The 100 things blogging challenge.

Marissa Lingen & Alec Austin, Brief Interviews With Therianthropes.

Culinary over the loooong weekend

Saturday breakfast rolls: basic buttermilk, with buckwheat (and some wholemeal flour in the mix, as the strong white ran out).

Sunday lunch: megrim, which I rubbed with garlic and seasoned then panfried in butter, and served with cut lemon, and was very nice, served with Gervioline potatoes sauted in goosefat, sweetstem broccoli steamed with dill, and asparagus smoked over hickory chips following commodorified's suggestion - mmmmm, though next time I think I will use a somewhat less assertive oil than walnut for brushing them.

Monday lunch: Pouting fillets, which, following the suggestion on the packet that they were best baked, I baked in seasoned breadcrumbs according to Eliza Acton's excellent way with soles, and served with sugar snap peas roasted in pumpkin seed oil and splashed with balsamic vinegar, and sea aster and okahijiki stirfried with garlic and star anise.

Notwithstanding the rather dismissive tone taken towards these two sorts of fish, they were actually rather nice.

Today's lunch: along with using up various other things, I stirfried some small white cup mushrooms according to the recipe for white-cooked mushrooms in Georges Spunt's The Step-by-Step Chinese Cookbook, and roasted the remaining potatoes in goosefat.

Bread: I woke up the sourdough starter yesterday morning (I meant to do this on Sunday, but forgot), made up a dough with starter, buttermilk, strong white flour, white spelt flour, and wholemeal flour (the strong white and wholemeal being 'Women's Institute') and a dash of molasses, left this overnight, gave it a slow rise in the loaf pan today and it has turned out very nicely.