The Purge

Imagine a day where laws are relaxed to the point that murder is allowed. This is the basis of "The Purge".

"Oh my gah it's Ethan Hawke" - Peter Griffin, Family Guy.

The Purge

It's a very interesting concept, it got me thinking and also discussing what the consequences of an annual cull would mean. It would mean survival of the fittest for sure; natural elimination, more natural than postponing people's deaths when they are unfit and unwell, and would also mean that the human gene pool would be less diluted with weaker individuals.

It would also mean those that could afford private security personnel, or pay for military grade home protection, bunkers or panic rooms would have a better fighting chance of a fighting chance. It would unbalance all the good (if you could call the inhumane way of killing off our fellow man) that this purge allows.

There is a message that is broadcast on the annual day that states how the new founding fathers of America have reduced crime to 1% for some measured period of time, excluding the actual day of chaos. People in support of the day put a certain species of flower on their front lawn to show their support of the day.

Ethan Hawke is James Sandin, and he sells security systems to wealthy people. His own family have profited annually and show their wealth by having the biggest home in the neighbourhood of large homes. There is a hint of jealousy from his neighbours as they wish the Sandins a safe purge night.

The film is quite well put together; there are plot twists, introduction of characters like Zoey Sandin's (Adelaide Kane) boyfriend and a stranger trying to escape from hunters taking part in the purge. We see a development of the Sandin characters via their interaction with these mentioned characters, neighbours and, the enemy in the film, a crazed purge gang of well-educated youngsters.

There are well-placed jumpy scenes where the youngsters, who are dressed in Public school uniforms and creepy white dresses complete with face masks, just suddenly appear. They want something from the Sandins, and they either want it handed to them or they will take it from them with fatal force.

So it is a creepy film, with some genuinely disturbing content to think about, but this makes it an uneasy, but enjoyable watch.

Hawke has done some films of late that seem to poke the audience into thinking while they watch, which a lot of new films do not try as hard to do any more.

Kudos. Go Purge...

:-)

Elky

Curly Kale Crisps

All recipes state kale chips rather than crisps, but over here in Blighty we know them for what they do! They (are) crisp!

I read somewhere that kale was a new super-veg / leafy thing from the cabbage family sporting magical properties such as the same vitamin k content as 242 baby carrots and other similar super-facts which are actually accurate. I've been looking for more green in my diet for a while and was getting bored of the same old ways that I eat spinach or lettuce so this was a welcome new addition.

The first time I tried the it, I put a bit of olive oil in a pan and sweated off the kale until it was slightly wilted, and it was really quite enjoyable! This brings me to today. I've seen a bunch of recipes and videos on how to bake kale crisps that are as good as, if not better than, regular potato chips / crisps.

The problem with all of these recipes is that they start with whole kale leaves, which are then are ripped into bite-sized pieces. However, no matter how hard I look (my local supermarkets and markets), I cannot find it in this form. It is already pre-cut into thin strips, which is not ideal. But I tried it out anyway.

I started with my kale which I washed and drained in a colander. I then laid out half of my 200g packet on a tray with grease-proof paper / parchment paper and drizzled a bit of olive oil over the top. I also seasoned it with (too much) salt.

After 15 minutes in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius I nibbled on a few of the leaves and found them still ... leafy and hydrated; they hadn't crisped up yet, so I put them in for a bit longer. When I eventually took out the blackened, salty kale crisps, I was underwhelmed. It was like eating crispy seaweed, which is fine at a buffet but not something I go out of my way to find, make or eat.

Maybe it's because my batch was over-salted, or perhaps because the kale was thinly cut rather than in large crisp-shapes, but I don't think I'll be cooking kale this way again.

I will however be eating kale again. Two-hundred and something-or-other baby carrots-worth of vitamin-something? That's a big number, and I don't like carrots. Vitamin intake win!

:-)

Elky