Porn with the Q sounds Quorn

What's (a) waste? When the light turns green for the pedestrians, you feel you are wasting time if you do not rush to reach the opposite side of the street: this is a silly automatism, unless you are Italian and then you are used to a more flexible idea of where to cross what. Kidding. Yet, the same situation changes if you are kissing your girlfriend: in this case all the time passed is not wasted is invested, stopped, treasured. Today I witnessed this scene: I was crossing next to the Meadows and a couple hesitated at the traffic-light.

Jimeny Criket, in his Disney sweetened version,
in Collodi's Pinocchio he does suffer a much more
severe treatment.

A Jimeny-Criketish-voice, inside me, was yelling to make them notice to haste longer. The first and misleading impression, was that they were spoiling the chance to pass on the other side. But then, suddenly, unfairly - with no red signal anticipating this very eventuality – they kissed: naturally, without a particular emphasis or tenderness, but with a certain undeniable grace. 

Kissing at the traffic light

From that new angle, my solitary crossing appeared - along with the inner yelling voice - even more miserable: quite pathetic, honestly. Once at home I doubled the quantity of spaghetti for my lunch and chocolate was my final shell, my fireplace, and my oblivion! Maya Gold organic dark chocolate provides that righteous amount of happiness. It is so ravishing that if you seed it in a graveyard you are going to awaken zombies. Don’t try!

Worth trying but quite expensive, over 2,30£ each bar.

Then, while gurgling on the sofa, sipping my holy-after-lunch-moka-coffee, I was pondering how could we deal better with what we consider wasting. How should we define wasting? Why waste is also a synonym for rubbish? What's rubbish then? Let's start from the end! Rubbish, in abstract terms, is what we reject because we cannot conceal it with any of our good or evil purposes. In this sense rubbish is something completely useless: this conception links on one side the innocuous discard in a table game to the dregs of society, which – sadly - are those human beings we fail to recognize anymore as “thy neighbour”:

Polystyrene cases and glasses, obtained during the oil refinement

Another example might be the walkman (or the i-pod): these devices make us listen to what we wish while we are on our way to what we think is our goal: to Uni, to the job, to the gym, to the restaurant, toward home etc, but is that really wasted time? If we walk in a park, for instance, aren't we missing the sound of Nature, of the seagulls digging out prays from the mud, of the simple emotions conveyed by a sunset? Once, also the “voyage” was part of one’s experience:

Sunset in the Meadows

If rubbish is something irrecoverable, what we waste is, instead, more redeemable, and it is linked more to sloth.

Tenderly sleeping sloth

Sloth - in a biblical sense - makes us buy rubbish-ready-meals wrapped in rubbish-packaging; takeaway drinks in depressing paperboard holders; junk food devoured in the street and served in polystyrene dishes. This appears to be insane and ludicrous: with few worldly wisdom actions it is actually possible to cut down the production of garbage (for instance investing really some minutes on the packet-lunch):

Slim Line Quaddi Blue lunch box:
made from lead-free virgin material

A handy idea: although they could have chosen a different liquid for the bottle

Wasting is slightly different: wasting is a problem much more related to self-organizing. For instance a lunch box will provide a suggestive approach. I’ll list only three of them but there are loads out there:

Fake moulded bag to avoid office stealing

http://www.muji.eu/

Steel lunch box from Muji

Another bento/lunch box by Muji

My bento box, by Muji

Today, I had to throw away some turkey breast - belonging to Andrew, a dear friend, landlord, and flatmate - who had been very busy lately: a deep sorrow caught me for this squandering of animal flesh, I found it unacceptable. I never condemn the sinner, only the sin! Yet the sacrifice of an animal is something sacred for me – not for religious principles but on a logic assertion: the life you take from the animal becomes your nutrient, your same life, so to say. It would be better then to avoid this sort of omissions - to avert the slaughter happening in vain. It is irrational because you would never throw away banknotes & quite offensive for all those people, who struggle to knock up lunch and dinner every day. Do not let your conscience sleep:

Do not let your conscience sleep

As a conclusion, my aim, tonight, was that of cooking with what I had in the fridge in 12 minutes (square-bracket numbers indicate when to add the ingredients):

http://www.quorn.co.uk/recipes/

START

• 2 tbspn of Tesco Finest* Extra-virgin olive oil [1];
• an old pak choi [2];
• two Tesco Finest* sweet mini peppers [2];
• half a bag of Quorn pieces [2];

Sweet mini peppers

Pak choi

LET IT GENTLY FRY FOR 5 MINS the juice of ½ lime [3]; a light spring of Maldon smoked salt [3] a sprinkle of black pepper [3] 2 tbspn of tab water [3]; 1/3 of tspn of British mustard [3]

Smoked Maldon salt

PUT A LID ON, LET GO FOR 6 MORE MINS

• a new light spring of Maldon smoked salt [4];

STIR FOR 1 MIN AFTER HAVING ADDED THE BEANS

• 2 tbsp of Heinz organic baked beans [5] …

DONE

The final dish: 12 minutes and a perfect second course

...in a way all there ingredients were leftovers, castaways condemned to a slow agony into the fridge forgetfulness. What came out was sensational and rich of intensity, an excellent second course delivering character and revenging the poor wasted turkey. The moral learning then is “buy what you are going to eat and consume to the end what you bought”. Don’t trust momentary urges. It’s easy, wise, intelligent and helps saving extensively.