From Julie we get both the wise words and the heavenly-sounding spinach recipe.
The wise words actually come from author Terry Pratchett whom, I confess, I often have difficulty reading. But this is brilliant:
“Right. Right. That’s people for you. Now if I’d seen him [God], really there, really alive, it’d be in me like a fever. If I thought there was some god who really did care two hoots about people, who watched ‘em like a father and cared for ‘em like a mother … well, you wouldn’t catch me sayin’ things like ‘there are two sides to every question’ and ‘we must respect other people’s beliefs.’ You wouldn’t find me just being gen’rally nice in the hope that it’d all turn out right in the end, not if that flame was burning in me like an unforgivin’ sword. And I did say burnin’, Mister Oats, ‘cos that’s what it’d be. You say that you people don’t burn folk and sacrifice people anymore, but that’s what true faith would mean, y’see? Sacrificin’ your own life, one day at a time, to the flame, declarin’ the truth of it, workin’ for it, breathin’ the soul of it. That’s religion. Anything else is just … is just bein’ nice. And a way of keepin’ in touch with the neighbors.”
Julie has more of that good stuff (from Pratchett’s book Carpe Jugulum) at her place.
And then the recipe! Just lay me back and pour this spinach into my mouth, please.
If you ever have a chance to eat a Japanese food called “goma-e”, don’t miss it. I detest spinach, but the combination of spinach and sesame and whatever else they put on it (vinegar?) is to die for.