Your Story : How We Play the Game of Life

I’m not drinking coffee at the moment as it seems to make me feel a little jittery too easily so I’m discovering the joys of tea again and the most interesting a varied form of tea, especially if I want something more exciting, rather than soothing, is Chai. While recording the last podcast episode with Tiffany Bond at Chez Laila in Portside we enjoyed a pot of Chai which lead to a discussion on the joys of it.

It’s only been a couple of years that I’ve been making Chai and when I mentioned to Tiffany that I make it she seemed a little surprised but I explained how easy it is to make and how there is no one recipe for it, rather it’s an artform that is as unique as the individual, their mood at the time, the weather and the spices and tea on hand. However there are a few ingredients that are basic to all recipes.

My method is simple and easy, and I throw it together, let it brew over and hour or so to enjoy over the next couple of days. Tiffany asked for my recipe and as I wrote the email to her I thought that others may be interested in just how easy this is so here is my recipe.

Just remember there is no correct method and all and every component of this recipe can be changed to suit you but this is a good basic recipe to get you started.

All measurements are loose and dependent on how much falls into my hand on the day or my mood. It will never be wrong, although occasionally a batch will be better.

• 1 litre of water
• 6 cloves
• 5 cm of cinnamon or half teaspoon of powder
• 6 peppercorns
• 8 green cardamon pods (cracked open with the back of a knife or spoon)
• 2 cm of fresh ginger (sliced finely)
• 2 desert spoons of sugar(or to taste)
• 2 desert spoons of good black tea (I like Dilmah)

Heat all spices and let simmer for 15 to 30 minutes.
Add sugar and return to simmer to dissolve it.
Turn off heat and tea add immediately.
Allow to steep for 5 minutes(too long and it’ll go bitter).
Strain off all spices and tea, then refrigerate liquid for use as required.

I heat 2/3 cup of tea to 1/3 cup of milk in a small pan as needed.(add more milk for a chai latte).

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Tags: Chai, Personal, Tea

Welcome To Episode 48 of Your Story.

What would you do if you had suspicions of your partner having an affair? Could you confront them and have a discussion? Even then how would you know that what you were being told is the truth? What if you were told that nothing was happening but despite that reassurances you still had it eating away inside of you saying something wasn’t right? Would it be good to find out for certain one way or other, or are you just being insecure?

Tiffany Bond has discovered that not only is there still a demand for infidelity investigation but business is booming as the times may change but people don’t and there is a constant stream of husbands and wives contacting her, seeking information and advice to settle their concerns and suspicion of their partner having an affair.

Tiffany’s talent revealed itself when she used her training with her own relationship, leading her friends to suggest that she could help others, as she was helped, by finding the truth and slaying her own demons.  Starting her private investigation business the Detection Group she has added to previous experiences to tell many more stories written about in her first book Confessions of a Female Private Investigator.

The book is really a series of short stories of her adventures as a debt collector, police officer and private investigator and the experiences that she and her clients find themselves in with suspicion, discovery and resolution of some of the more disappointing aspects of peoples relationships. It’s actually a bit of a page turner in it’s simple short format story telling style forcing me to drag myself away to get this episode published rather than while away the day indulging in the voyeurism of peoples behaviours.

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Tags: Adultery, Affairs, Career, Crime, Family, Infidelity, Investigation, Life, Private, Relationships, Writing

I’ve been messing around a little taking some long exposure shots of Brisbane, the River and the Freeway at night but my good friend Adam (@gtowna) found this stunning footage and it’s worth sharing. It’s just the thing with Brisbane that the climate and the weather makes it so attractive that with this skill great things can be produced. I might have to have a go at something similar myself now that I’ve been inspired.

Brisbane by Night from Geoff A Charters on Vimeo.

Tags: Brisbane, River, Video

Have you ever noticed how people mask who they really are so they can seem more professional. Sure we do a variety of roll playing in all areas of life, partner, parent, employer or Christmas party clown but some people change profoundly from what they are in their personal life to their professional life, it’s almost like a split personality disorder.

I recently heard the when Oprah was a television news reader she modeled herself on Barbara Walters only to one day loose the persona while news reading, became her true self and the rest is history. This is the first thing that I noticed when I started watching this video but there are a lot more good ideas in this little gem that I found over at Please Feed The Animals. Enjoy

While watching Michael Moore’s Sicko tonight on YouTube I discover the name of Tommy Douglas (1904-1986), regarded in 2004 as The Greatest Canadian. Now I don’t care who they are but if a country names a single person, particularly  a politician, The Greatest in that country I think there is something probably going for them and maybe they might have something to teach us. So on digging around I discovered this video animation with Tommy’s voice telling the story of Mouseland.

In many countries as the corporations slowly get hold of the governments to do their bidding and we end up with political duopolies where both parties are a subtle shade variation of their political agendas I think old Tommy may have a timely reminder for us.

Here in Australia after having a Liberal Government making moves into introducing an Internet Filter we now have a Labor Government doing similar despite making moves of moving away from such a ludicrous idea prior to their election.

To my disappointment the Rudd Government has turned out to be just another cat.

Wait for the coalitions

Tags: Community, Sicko, Tommy Douglas

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Welcome To Episode 47 of Your Story.

Cliff Hawkins story is of someone who in helping his own family with food allergies discovers that he has found a mechanism to help the greater community with some of the most damaging and deadly autoimmune diseases and cancers. Only then to be financially destroyed by the greed of a large corporation when he attempted to move his discoveries to the rest of society.

My local, wonderful sour dough bakery, Sol Bread recently started using an additive within some of their range that allow people with gluten intolerance to eat their bread. I immediately wondered how is this possible and what has been created that allows the bread to function during the baking process to still be as good as normal but doesn’t have the negative effects on people with these issues.

As many of us know wheat, dairy, soy and peanut/legume allergies cripple millions of people around the world with ill health effects from irritation to full blown life threatening Anaphylactic Shock and long term health issues.

I tracked down Cliff Hawkins of Biohawk to share with us exactly what he has developed, but I had no idea how deep this rabbit hole was to go.

Cliff explains that most food allergies come from the part of the protein within the food that is designed by nature to protect it from damage so that the plant can continue to utilise it for it’s needs. This protection mechanism unfortunately for some people is the cause of food intolerance.

As with 30% of the Australian population Cliff’s family, with it’s Irish heritage has a gene that reacts to these proteins in harmful ways, creating many dangerous health issues for his children and grand children. He set out 40 years ago to find a food and the relevant enzymes that would achieve the amazing task of neutralising these proteins. Using sound scientific processes gained as a medical research scientist he searched food sources dipping into knowledge known for centuries to discover within the ginger plant, specific enzymes that had the ability to cut out these dangerous proteins rending them harmless and making available all of the protein for digestion. Cliff explained to me that, within the individuals genome there are genes that when turned on, causing an immune response to these specific proteins.

Simply through the use of a natural, whole food in this unique way, Cliff has developed a product that makes the protein easily digested, with better nutritional value, tastier and without any health issues. I have no idea how Cliff has managed to pull this off but he has not synthesised anything or stripped out just the reactive components insofar as creating a substance that could be defined as a medicine but uses the whole ginger food. He has some limited, simple processing which I have no idea of but the essence of his work is that his product is nothing but ginger, so falls into the safety of the Pharmacopoeia as an accepted, approved additive to any food or medicine.

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Tags: ADHD, Autism, Autoimmune Diseases, Cancer, Career, Casein, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Corporate Greed, Cure, Dairy, Disease, Family, food allergies, Food Protein, Ginger, Gluten, Health, Lactose, Mental Health, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Schizophrenia, Wheat

This is just an attempt to see how the WordPress app on the iPhone is as a publishing tool while on the go. It would be a great way to get content up while out and about but the thought of writing long text on this key board seems exhausting. However a quick comment, then a photo and a link would be valid, I wouldn’t want to do much more than that though.

Just to see what it’s like I’ve added a photo also.

Tags: iPhone, nothing, test

Welcome To Episode 46 of Your Story.

As some of you may know I’ve recently been working for a short time on the latest in the The Chronicles of Narnia at the Warner Roadshow Studios on the Gold Coast. This next, Episode Three, is The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and as it was for the previous two episodes this one is being Executive Produced by Doug Gresham.

As I mention in the introduction, I meet Doug very briefly while I was working on the film but didn’t have a chance to engage with him while working there. However my supervisor mentioned a few of the things that Doug had mentioned to him and I immediately thought, this sounds like an interesting fellow who wouldn’t mind a chat if he has the time.

Doug is the step son of C.S.Lewis and is now responsible for the continuation and is the head of the C.S. Lewis Company. From that wellhead these films have sprung. After a lifetime of wanting to have them produced he is now, for want of a better title the Executive Producer but as he says, he’s the one to blame. We chat about some aspects of the challenges and the joys of film-making and if you listen to Doug you can hear his passion for film-making and particularly the production of these The Chronicle of Narnia.

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Tags: C.S.Lewis, Christianity, Conversation, Film, Movie, Narnia, Podcast

This morning my good friend Adam Daniel Mezei who I had on the show while I was in Prague asked on twitter what I thought of the Argentine Beef and how much did I eat.

Mmmmm well.

As we know Argentina has a long history within the beef industry being one of the largest exporters in the world. The main reason for such an extensive industry is due to the Pampas, a huge treeless area of South America, much of which is in Argentina cover in rich grasslands perfect for grazing and fattening beef cattle.

I learnt most of what I know about the Argentine beef industry from the show episode that I did with Mike where he explained the difference in the methodologies of raising cattle between Argentina and the US. He wrote an interesting article on how the industry is changing in Argentina and the compromises that he is being forced to make. Suffice to say, what I learnt and tasted of the beef in Argentina is that it is different to what I’m familiar with, particularly in flavour.

I’m not a substantial meat eater, I’m not vegetarian but I eat a primarily vegetarian diet and add meat protein from time to time. My favourite these days is kangaroo for the health and environmental reasons but I do eat beef occasionally. Going to Buenos Aires I ate beef more than I had in many long years which was a bit of a shock on my system but as they say “when in Rome…”

I observed some interesting differences with the way beef is used in the Argentine culture. The retail of it is everywhere. It’s possible to walk into a small corner store and out the back someone is breaking down a side of beef placing chunks of it in the refrigerated display cabinets. At the markets huge quantities of it are just hanging in different stages of butchering as you walk past, next to the cheese and vegetables. It’s everywhere, raw and real, rather than in plastic wrapped Styrofoam trays, just like the old days.

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Tags: Argentina, Beef, Buenos Aires, Travel