Whoops, I accidentally didn't post anything through all of June. I was busy turning 22, dammit. To make up for it, have some delicious chili.
I don't know why chili gets such a bad rap. Maybe it's because people mistakenly believe that red meat is bad for you. Maybe it's because people pair it with beer and beer is terrible for you. Whatever the reason, chili - or at least, my chili - is one of the healthiest dishes I cook. Kidney beans, lean ground beef and mushrooms pack a ton of protein; tomatoes bring vitamin C; spices boost your metabolism and a couple shots of cinnamon practically elevate this recipe to the level of superfood. Eat this every day if you like. You'll get strong and healthy!
In a soup pot, cook 1lb lean ground beef, separating and stirring with a spatula to get it evenly browned. Add black pepper to taste, Mexican hot sauce, three or four shots of tabasco, 1tbsp smoked paprika, 1tsp dried parsley, a bay leaf, a pinch of salt, and some chili peppers (I used a couple of dried chile de arbol ground up in the food processor, but fresh would be great too). Add about three cloves of garlic, minced. Cook until meat starts releasing fat. Add about 1-2tsp ground cinnamon.
Add 2tbsp tomato paste and mix it evenly with the meat. Add about 1C diced or crushed tomato (more or less to taste). Thickly chop mushrooms (as many as you want) and stir them in. Fully rinse 1 can dark red kidney beans in a sieve under running water and add. Finally, add corn to taste - about half a cup. Can be frozen or fresh.
Add about 1/2tsp fresh chopped cilantro. Taste and add more spice if you like. Heat through, remove bay leaf, and serve with a little grated parmesan or sharp cheddar if you choose.
Thursday, 4 July 2013
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
Non-negotiable?
Whoops, I haven't posted here for a month. In my defense, I've been busy. However, I'm breaking radio silence because of a graphic that came up on my Facebook feed this morning.
Okay. So here's twenty rules plus some value judgements and arguments by authority. Let's look at them one by one.
1. Drink a large glass of water before every meal. No excuses.
True. Doing this will solve two problems at once; the chronic dehydration that many people suffer from if they don't really pay attention to their water intake, and the fact that it's very easy to confuse thirst with hunger.
2. Don't drink your calories.
False. I think what this probably means is "don't drink soda" (which is a good idea, but not for this reason) or "don't drink fruit juice" (again, has nothing to do with calories; it's just better for you to eat the whole fruit and drink plain water in addition). But it ignores the idea of drinking protein shakes, which I do in abundance and which is pretty crucial if you're planning on building muscle and not just getting skinny-fat, and which in my case account for over 600 calories a day.
3. Eat protein at every meal - or stay hungry and grouchy.
True, but rude. You should be eating protein at every meal because if you don't you will never, ever eat enough protein and you won't build enough muscle. But the tone of "eat your protein or go to bed without any dinner" is patronizing and offensive.
4. Slash your intake of refined flours and grains.
True. Refined grains contain way less fiber which is an essential component of going to the bathroom once you're actually eating the amount of protein you're supposed to. I've heard they also mess with glucose/insulin levels but I don't know enough to say whether that's actually true. The fiber intake is a good enough reason not to bother with things that aren't whole grain.
5. Eat 30-50g fiber every day.
True. God, yes, as a minimum. See above. Bowel movements are desirable.
6. Eat apples and berries every single day. Every. Single. Day.
True, but kind of arbitrary. Eating any variety of high-fiber fruits or vegetables every day will be good for you. Apples and broccoli would be just as beneficial. Oranges, bananas and collard greens are an equally good choice. Berries are often high in fiber and antioxidants so they're a good choice, but they're also very expensive compared to other choices. Don't feel like you have to break the bank or sacrifice other (more) important foods like chicken breast just because this dude decided to pick berries from the list of things that are good for you.
7. No carbs after lunch.
False. Especially if you're planning on lifting in the evening, but also for this reason (see #3).
8. Learn to read food labels so you know what you are eating.
True, but with caution. Labels aren't everything, and ideally, you really out to be eating mostly things that don't come with labels. But knowledge never hurt anyone and knowing how to read the labels isn't a bad thing.
9. Stop guessing about portion size and get it right.
False, mostly. Eating the right amount has nothing to do with portion size, it has to do with paying attention to your hunger and stopping eating when you've had enough. Measuring out half a cup of pasta and one-third of a cup of pasta sauce and one tablespoon of parmesan not only spoils any possible enjoyment of the food and reduces you to the equals sign in a math equation, but it also takes away your responsibility to pay attention to your own hunger, and therefore reduces your ability to learn about your own body and feelings.
10. No more added sweeteners, including artificial ones.
Half false. Artificial sweeteners are terrible for you. They fuck with your insulin levels and make you crave food when you don't need it (see #5 in the article linked above). Natural sweeteners, though, are fine. Put a couple spoons of brown sugar on your oatmeal in the morning. Eat yogurt and honey - local honey if you can afford it, because it has a slight innoculating effect against local pollens and can reduce hayfever symptoms. The idea that any amount of sugar is bad for you is insane alarmism. There's nothing wrong whatsoever with using natural sugars as ingredients in meals. Of course, there is also a difference between eating plain cultured yogurt with honey, granola and sliced fruit and drinking a bottle of Mexicoke that is made out of carbonated water, caramel coloring, 23 teaspoons of sugar and pure cocaine.
11. Get rid of those white potatoes.
Irrelevant. White potatoes aren't bad for you; just don't peel them. Potatoes are a great pre-workout food, and the skins contain a lot of important nutrients. Sweet potatoes are probably more valuable than white or red potatoes, since they contain more protein and a metric fuck-ton of vitamin A, but there's nothing inherently terrible about white potatoes and I'm honestly not sure why they're being brought up.
12. Make one day a week meatless.
False. Do this if you want to fuck over your gains and spend a day hungry, cold, and not getting nearly enough protein to support muscle recovery from your weight lifting the night before.
13. Get rid of fast foods and fried foods.
True, false. Fast food is a waste when you could be cooking something good for yourself with much more nutritional value per energy unit, that also tastes a million times better. Fried foods, however, are fine. Demonizing an entire cooking method displays a woeful lack of imagination and assumes that healthy people are ones that live off nothing but salads and solitary laughter, rather than ones who respect their bodies and also food as an entire creative medium. Also, olive oil is damn good for you, use it when you fry.
14. Eat a real breakfast.
True, assuming that you know what a real breakfast is. You want something high in fiber, protein and energy (calories). Don't eat a grapefruit, a bowl of special K and a cup of tea. That's not enough food. My favorite breakfast is a bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar, strawberries, cinnamon and milk (about 180 calories), a double scoop of chocolate protein powder (400 calories) with water and a little milk (30 calories), and scrambled egg whites (60 calories) with one whole egg for taste (70 calories) and a shot of espresso or a tall glass of black coffee (fresh ground). That's a crap ton of food, nearly 750 calories, and it enables me to go do my physically demanding job without getting hungry or tired, or burning muscle.
15. Make your own food and eat at least 10 meals a week at home.
True. It's better for you, you can control exactly what you're putting in your meals, it tastes better, it tastes fresher, and it's a creative pursuit and a valuable skill. Learn to fucking cook and keep practising all the time.
16. Banish high-salt foods.
False. There's nothing wrong with salt. It's often used to cure meats and it tastes great. If you eat more than about a teaspoon of salt a day, though, adjust your water intake so that you don't dehydrate.
17. Eat your vegetables. Just do it.
True. After high-quality protein, vegetables are the most important thing you're going to be eating. But that doesn't mean salads. It doesn't mean lettuce. Vegetables that are high in fiber are your friend, such as broccoli, greens (esp collard greens), mushrooms, carrots, sprouts, avocados and eggplants. Find vegetables you like to eat. I don't like the last two on that list and I almost never eat them.
18. Go to bed hungry.
False. See 7. Also, when I do this, I wake up in the morning feeling like I'm about to throw up; on a few occasions I've dry heaved in the shower as a result. Just don't overeat.
19. Sleep right.
True. Get between 5 and 10 hours of sleep a night; more or less than that is bad for you.
20. Plan one splurge meal a week.
False. This is a bad mentality. Every meal you eat should be delicious, creative and fulfilling. You should never, ever, ever feel denied eating food, and you should get into the habit of wanting food that is good for you, rather than waiting for the one chance you get to 'splurge' and eat what you 'really want'.
Well, those are the rules. Now let's examine the blurb at the bottom.
Firstly, I'm put off that he had anything whatsoever to do with The Biggest Loser. That show is demeaning, promotes stereotypes about fat vs thin people (fat people sweating uncomfortably on the treadmill while being yelled at by aggressively slim personal trainers), and doesn't work. Practically everyone gains back, not least because their self esteem has been effectively pulverized by a season of being made an example of on national television.
Secondly, the 'skinny' rules? I don't want to get skinny. You shouldn't either. The best thing to be is 'fit'. You want strength, speed, flexibility. You want to gain abilities you didn't have previously. Body type is irrelevant. You want to improve yourself as a person, and this means gaining knowledge and gaining skills. The shape of your body doesn't fit into either of these categories.
Thirdly, "simple, nonnegotiable(sic) principles". Well, they aren't simple, for one thing. A part of gaining knowledge is not only knowing what you should do, but knowing why you should do it. You can't just do as you're told and expect to change your lifestyle. You have to acquire the knowledge yourself, and that is never simple. It might not be difficult, and it ought to be fun, but it isn't simple. Also, as I think I've demonstrated, these principles are definitely negotiable. And they ought to be. A lifestyle should be adaptable. If you give yourself rigid rules, you're going to break them. If you give yourself flexible knowledge, you can bend and adapt it to your situation, be it financial constraints, curiosity and a desire to try new things, moving to a different country or going on vacation and being surrounded by different foods, or anything else.
Long story short, don't base your value on your appearance, and don't let anyone else tell you what to do. If you want to accomplish something, accomplish it yourself. That includes acquiring the knowledge, as well as keeping up the motivation.
Okay. So here's twenty rules plus some value judgements and arguments by authority. Let's look at them one by one.
1. Drink a large glass of water before every meal. No excuses.
True. Doing this will solve two problems at once; the chronic dehydration that many people suffer from if they don't really pay attention to their water intake, and the fact that it's very easy to confuse thirst with hunger.
2. Don't drink your calories.
False. I think what this probably means is "don't drink soda" (which is a good idea, but not for this reason) or "don't drink fruit juice" (again, has nothing to do with calories; it's just better for you to eat the whole fruit and drink plain water in addition). But it ignores the idea of drinking protein shakes, which I do in abundance and which is pretty crucial if you're planning on building muscle and not just getting skinny-fat, and which in my case account for over 600 calories a day.
3. Eat protein at every meal - or stay hungry and grouchy.
True, but rude. You should be eating protein at every meal because if you don't you will never, ever eat enough protein and you won't build enough muscle. But the tone of "eat your protein or go to bed without any dinner" is patronizing and offensive.
4. Slash your intake of refined flours and grains.
True. Refined grains contain way less fiber which is an essential component of going to the bathroom once you're actually eating the amount of protein you're supposed to. I've heard they also mess with glucose/insulin levels but I don't know enough to say whether that's actually true. The fiber intake is a good enough reason not to bother with things that aren't whole grain.
5. Eat 30-50g fiber every day.
True. God, yes, as a minimum. See above. Bowel movements are desirable.
6. Eat apples and berries every single day. Every. Single. Day.
True, but kind of arbitrary. Eating any variety of high-fiber fruits or vegetables every day will be good for you. Apples and broccoli would be just as beneficial. Oranges, bananas and collard greens are an equally good choice. Berries are often high in fiber and antioxidants so they're a good choice, but they're also very expensive compared to other choices. Don't feel like you have to break the bank or sacrifice other (more) important foods like chicken breast just because this dude decided to pick berries from the list of things that are good for you.
7. No carbs after lunch.
False. Especially if you're planning on lifting in the evening, but also for this reason (see #3).
8. Learn to read food labels so you know what you are eating.
True, but with caution. Labels aren't everything, and ideally, you really out to be eating mostly things that don't come with labels. But knowledge never hurt anyone and knowing how to read the labels isn't a bad thing.
9. Stop guessing about portion size and get it right.
False, mostly. Eating the right amount has nothing to do with portion size, it has to do with paying attention to your hunger and stopping eating when you've had enough. Measuring out half a cup of pasta and one-third of a cup of pasta sauce and one tablespoon of parmesan not only spoils any possible enjoyment of the food and reduces you to the equals sign in a math equation, but it also takes away your responsibility to pay attention to your own hunger, and therefore reduces your ability to learn about your own body and feelings.
10. No more added sweeteners, including artificial ones.
Half false. Artificial sweeteners are terrible for you. They fuck with your insulin levels and make you crave food when you don't need it (see #5 in the article linked above). Natural sweeteners, though, are fine. Put a couple spoons of brown sugar on your oatmeal in the morning. Eat yogurt and honey - local honey if you can afford it, because it has a slight innoculating effect against local pollens and can reduce hayfever symptoms. The idea that any amount of sugar is bad for you is insane alarmism. There's nothing wrong whatsoever with using natural sugars as ingredients in meals. Of course, there is also a difference between eating plain cultured yogurt with honey, granola and sliced fruit and drinking a bottle of Mexicoke that is made out of carbonated water, caramel coloring, 23 teaspoons of sugar and pure cocaine.
11. Get rid of those white potatoes.
Irrelevant. White potatoes aren't bad for you; just don't peel them. Potatoes are a great pre-workout food, and the skins contain a lot of important nutrients. Sweet potatoes are probably more valuable than white or red potatoes, since they contain more protein and a metric fuck-ton of vitamin A, but there's nothing inherently terrible about white potatoes and I'm honestly not sure why they're being brought up.
12. Make one day a week meatless.
False. Do this if you want to fuck over your gains and spend a day hungry, cold, and not getting nearly enough protein to support muscle recovery from your weight lifting the night before.
13. Get rid of fast foods and fried foods.
True, false. Fast food is a waste when you could be cooking something good for yourself with much more nutritional value per energy unit, that also tastes a million times better. Fried foods, however, are fine. Demonizing an entire cooking method displays a woeful lack of imagination and assumes that healthy people are ones that live off nothing but salads and solitary laughter, rather than ones who respect their bodies and also food as an entire creative medium. Also, olive oil is damn good for you, use it when you fry.
14. Eat a real breakfast.
True, assuming that you know what a real breakfast is. You want something high in fiber, protein and energy (calories). Don't eat a grapefruit, a bowl of special K and a cup of tea. That's not enough food. My favorite breakfast is a bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar, strawberries, cinnamon and milk (about 180 calories), a double scoop of chocolate protein powder (400 calories) with water and a little milk (30 calories), and scrambled egg whites (60 calories) with one whole egg for taste (70 calories) and a shot of espresso or a tall glass of black coffee (fresh ground). That's a crap ton of food, nearly 750 calories, and it enables me to go do my physically demanding job without getting hungry or tired, or burning muscle.
15. Make your own food and eat at least 10 meals a week at home.
True. It's better for you, you can control exactly what you're putting in your meals, it tastes better, it tastes fresher, and it's a creative pursuit and a valuable skill. Learn to fucking cook and keep practising all the time.
16. Banish high-salt foods.
False. There's nothing wrong with salt. It's often used to cure meats and it tastes great. If you eat more than about a teaspoon of salt a day, though, adjust your water intake so that you don't dehydrate.
17. Eat your vegetables. Just do it.
True. After high-quality protein, vegetables are the most important thing you're going to be eating. But that doesn't mean salads. It doesn't mean lettuce. Vegetables that are high in fiber are your friend, such as broccoli, greens (esp collard greens), mushrooms, carrots, sprouts, avocados and eggplants. Find vegetables you like to eat. I don't like the last two on that list and I almost never eat them.
18. Go to bed hungry.
False. See 7. Also, when I do this, I wake up in the morning feeling like I'm about to throw up; on a few occasions I've dry heaved in the shower as a result. Just don't overeat.
19. Sleep right.
True. Get between 5 and 10 hours of sleep a night; more or less than that is bad for you.
20. Plan one splurge meal a week.
False. This is a bad mentality. Every meal you eat should be delicious, creative and fulfilling. You should never, ever, ever feel denied eating food, and you should get into the habit of wanting food that is good for you, rather than waiting for the one chance you get to 'splurge' and eat what you 'really want'.
Well, those are the rules. Now let's examine the blurb at the bottom.
Firstly, I'm put off that he had anything whatsoever to do with The Biggest Loser. That show is demeaning, promotes stereotypes about fat vs thin people (fat people sweating uncomfortably on the treadmill while being yelled at by aggressively slim personal trainers), and doesn't work. Practically everyone gains back, not least because their self esteem has been effectively pulverized by a season of being made an example of on national television.
Secondly, the 'skinny' rules? I don't want to get skinny. You shouldn't either. The best thing to be is 'fit'. You want strength, speed, flexibility. You want to gain abilities you didn't have previously. Body type is irrelevant. You want to improve yourself as a person, and this means gaining knowledge and gaining skills. The shape of your body doesn't fit into either of these categories.
Thirdly, "simple, nonnegotiable(sic) principles". Well, they aren't simple, for one thing. A part of gaining knowledge is not only knowing what you should do, but knowing why you should do it. You can't just do as you're told and expect to change your lifestyle. You have to acquire the knowledge yourself, and that is never simple. It might not be difficult, and it ought to be fun, but it isn't simple. Also, as I think I've demonstrated, these principles are definitely negotiable. And they ought to be. A lifestyle should be adaptable. If you give yourself rigid rules, you're going to break them. If you give yourself flexible knowledge, you can bend and adapt it to your situation, be it financial constraints, curiosity and a desire to try new things, moving to a different country or going on vacation and being surrounded by different foods, or anything else.
Long story short, don't base your value on your appearance, and don't let anyone else tell you what to do. If you want to accomplish something, accomplish it yourself. That includes acquiring the knowledge, as well as keeping up the motivation.
Monday, 18 March 2013
Shopping around
I edited this week's shopping list pretty significantly since I first posted it up, and I'm going to re-list it here, but this post is mostly going to be about the benefit of shopping around. Being a wop, I'm a huge foodie. However, I'm also married to a Jew (Writer Husband) who manages our money, including the grocery budget, groceries being something that I am obviously in charge of. It is therefore in my best interest to shop around and get the absolute best price on everything, because if I spend more money than I have to on fresh basil and imported wine, I'm going to be stuck buying the shitty 99c spaghetti from Safeway instead of the whole wheat pasta for a buck forty-nine, and fresh mozzarella is totally out of the question. So I shop around. I have prices for certain essentials (like olive oil and tomatoes) memorized for comparisons at different stores. I compare food by price per weight unit. And goddamnit if I didn't buy some fantastic food to feed a family of four for a week at only $95.89.
First off, we went to the Grocery Outlet, which is my absolute favorite store in the world because it sells imported wine at a price I can actually afford. Sure, I don't get to choose what type of wine, but the sad truth is that from the age of four I was raised by a single Englishman who suffered from severe depression and at this point, I don't actually know enough about wine to care. So I picked up two bottles of Sangiovese di Rubicone at six dollars plus tax each, and after a quick scout around the store we also got:
10lbs of potatoes
Seven bananas at 25c each, compared to Safeway's 39c (yes, I have this memorized, and if you don't then you don't care enough about bananas)
A jar of pickle chips for $1.99 compared to Safeway's $2.29 (seriously, I'm not even checking any of this. I don't even like pickle chips! They were for Vet Tech Husband!)
From the Safeway, I bought:
Two loaves of whole wheat sandwich bread
One can of diced tomatoes
Three cans of albacore tuna
Two cans of beef broth
One can of sliced black olives
A tub of margerine
Three tubs of full fat plain probiotic yogurt
A parmesan wedge from the deli
Garlic hummus
Two bunches of collard greens
Half a pound of white mushrooms
A box of whole wheat penne and one of spaghetti
1lb of fresh mozzarella at 50% off
A three-pack of yeast
Frozen strawberries and peaches
One shallot
A gallon of fat free milk
I spent fifty-six and change on that.
Finally, today before work (for which I have to carry a backpack full of cleaning supplies with me on the bus), I walked one and a half miles each way to get to an asian market in the International District in Seattle to pick up the last few bits and pieces I wanted. For $15.89 plus great exercise, I think it was well worth it.
5lbs of fresh chicken breast
1lb of ground beef
One fresh mango
1.2lbs of sweet, sweet tangerines
A HUGE bunch of fresh basil, I mean HUGE
A can of pineapple
For reference, the absolute cheapest you can buy fresh chicken breast at Safeway is $3.69/lb. Frozen, it's $2.49/lb. That means that from Safeway, the chicken breast alone would have cost me $18.45. Frozen chicken comes in 4lb bags for $9.96, but 5lbs worth of it would cost $12.45. Oh, and the cheapest you can buy ground beef is $3.49/lb. And don't even get me started on fresh basil! I'm not even quoting the price here because nobody should buy it. Get it from the Asian market like I do, or buy a basil plant.
I got home at around seven o'clock tonight, immediately got dinner started, and by eight-thirty we were eating whole wheat spaghetti with bolognese sauce (fresh onions, fresh garlic, fresh basil, fresh beef, fresh mushrooms, canned olives, canned tomatoes, red wine, olive oil), bread fresh out of the oven, deli parmesan and a generous couple glasses of red wine! Exactly what I wanted to eat after work and all that walking, and yes, cooking it myself made it taste even better.
To finish up, from the Italian-Jewish household, a flawlessly Italian-Jewish argument that was had earlier this evening.
Me: Yeesh, it's freezing in here! I guess the heat's still not on...
Writer Husband: Hey, I've been saving a lot of money by keeping it off.
Me: But it's so cold!
Writer Husband: Well, I just saved you twenty dollars that you can spend on food!
First off, we went to the Grocery Outlet, which is my absolute favorite store in the world because it sells imported wine at a price I can actually afford. Sure, I don't get to choose what type of wine, but the sad truth is that from the age of four I was raised by a single Englishman who suffered from severe depression and at this point, I don't actually know enough about wine to care. So I picked up two bottles of Sangiovese di Rubicone at six dollars plus tax each, and after a quick scout around the store we also got:
10lbs of potatoes
Seven bananas at 25c each, compared to Safeway's 39c (yes, I have this memorized, and if you don't then you don't care enough about bananas)
A jar of pickle chips for $1.99 compared to Safeway's $2.29 (seriously, I'm not even checking any of this. I don't even like pickle chips! They were for Vet Tech Husband!)
From the Safeway, I bought:
Two loaves of whole wheat sandwich bread
One can of diced tomatoes
Three cans of albacore tuna
Two cans of beef broth
One can of sliced black olives
A tub of margerine
Three tubs of full fat plain probiotic yogurt
A parmesan wedge from the deli
Garlic hummus
Two bunches of collard greens
Half a pound of white mushrooms
A box of whole wheat penne and one of spaghetti
1lb of fresh mozzarella at 50% off
A three-pack of yeast
Frozen strawberries and peaches
One shallot
A gallon of fat free milk
I spent fifty-six and change on that.
Finally, today before work (for which I have to carry a backpack full of cleaning supplies with me on the bus), I walked one and a half miles each way to get to an asian market in the International District in Seattle to pick up the last few bits and pieces I wanted. For $15.89 plus great exercise, I think it was well worth it.
5lbs of fresh chicken breast
1lb of ground beef
One fresh mango
1.2lbs of sweet, sweet tangerines
A HUGE bunch of fresh basil, I mean HUGE
A can of pineapple
For reference, the absolute cheapest you can buy fresh chicken breast at Safeway is $3.69/lb. Frozen, it's $2.49/lb. That means that from Safeway, the chicken breast alone would have cost me $18.45. Frozen chicken comes in 4lb bags for $9.96, but 5lbs worth of it would cost $12.45. Oh, and the cheapest you can buy ground beef is $3.49/lb. And don't even get me started on fresh basil! I'm not even quoting the price here because nobody should buy it. Get it from the Asian market like I do, or buy a basil plant.
I got home at around seven o'clock tonight, immediately got dinner started, and by eight-thirty we were eating whole wheat spaghetti with bolognese sauce (fresh onions, fresh garlic, fresh basil, fresh beef, fresh mushrooms, canned olives, canned tomatoes, red wine, olive oil), bread fresh out of the oven, deli parmesan and a generous couple glasses of red wine! Exactly what I wanted to eat after work and all that walking, and yes, cooking it myself made it taste even better.
To finish up, from the Italian-Jewish household, a flawlessly Italian-Jewish argument that was had earlier this evening.
Me: Yeesh, it's freezing in here! I guess the heat's still not on...
Writer Husband: Hey, I've been saving a lot of money by keeping it off.
Me: But it's so cold!
Writer Husband: Well, I just saved you twenty dollars that you can spend on food!
Wednesday, 13 March 2013
The best bread recipe ever
As someone who struggled with making bread for six years before finding this recipe, this claim is pretty outrageous. Before, I would have said there's no such goddamn thing as a good bread recipe, just different variations of frustrating and sticky and flat and crap and time-consuming. The soft, fluffy sandwich bread that rises more than a hand's width is literally made out of magic and capitalism, because nothing I've ever made with flour and yeast has ever come close.
And this isn't sandwich bread! But it does make the best dinner rolls or sandwich buns ever. It's whole wheat, it's soft and fluffy on the inside, pleasantly crunchy on the outside, and it only takes 30-40 minutes meaning you can cook it alongside the rest of the meal, start to finish. I don't remember where I found the original recipe, but I've modified it sufficiently everywhere from the ingredients to the cooking temperature that I don't feel even slightly bad posting it as mine.
Since I discovered this recipe, I have been literally baking my own bread from scratch whenever I fancy eating some bread. That just never happens with other yeast bread. You have to plan ahead and schedule it in because it's going to take you at least four hours to make. But no, with this recipe I'm just like, "I feel like some bread and jam for lunch", and half an hour later I'm eating fresh, hot bread that just came out of the oven.
I appreciate that half an hour might seem like kind of a long time for some of you to wait for bread, but given the freshness, the smell in my kitchen, and the fact that there's usually at least a half hour wait for any of the food I eat that is more complex than yogurt and honey or a piece of fruit, personally I think it's more than worth it.
Preheat oven to 425F.
In a large mixing bowl, combine 1C warm water, 1tbsp white sugar, 1tbsp olive oil, and 1 packet yeast, in that order. Mix with a wooden spoon and let rest for 10-15 minutes.
When yeast is frothing, stir in 1/4tsp salt and 1 egg. Add 1C AP flour and stir. Add 1C whole wheat flour and stir. Then scoop out 1C AP flour and add from the cup until dough is just barely not sticky. It's nice when it's moist in my opinion. I have rarely finished off the whole cup.
Let dough rest for 5 minutes. Then split into whatever shapes you like - I like to split it into 9 balls and put them in a square cake pan to make dinner rolls, but you can do it however you like. I grease the (nonstick) pan with olive oil and flour all the dough balls, so that the finished product comes out dusted with flour on the tops.
Bake for 15 minutes.
Enjoy with fruit preserve, gravy, tomato sauce, honey, or even just plain butter - the bread is delicious enough to make it taste sublime!
And this isn't sandwich bread! But it does make the best dinner rolls or sandwich buns ever. It's whole wheat, it's soft and fluffy on the inside, pleasantly crunchy on the outside, and it only takes 30-40 minutes meaning you can cook it alongside the rest of the meal, start to finish. I don't remember where I found the original recipe, but I've modified it sufficiently everywhere from the ingredients to the cooking temperature that I don't feel even slightly bad posting it as mine.
Since I discovered this recipe, I have been literally baking my own bread from scratch whenever I fancy eating some bread. That just never happens with other yeast bread. You have to plan ahead and schedule it in because it's going to take you at least four hours to make. But no, with this recipe I'm just like, "I feel like some bread and jam for lunch", and half an hour later I'm eating fresh, hot bread that just came out of the oven.
I appreciate that half an hour might seem like kind of a long time for some of you to wait for bread, but given the freshness, the smell in my kitchen, and the fact that there's usually at least a half hour wait for any of the food I eat that is more complex than yogurt and honey or a piece of fruit, personally I think it's more than worth it.
Preheat oven to 425F.
In a large mixing bowl, combine 1C warm water, 1tbsp white sugar, 1tbsp olive oil, and 1 packet yeast, in that order. Mix with a wooden spoon and let rest for 10-15 minutes.
When yeast is frothing, stir in 1/4tsp salt and 1 egg. Add 1C AP flour and stir. Add 1C whole wheat flour and stir. Then scoop out 1C AP flour and add from the cup until dough is just barely not sticky. It's nice when it's moist in my opinion. I have rarely finished off the whole cup.
Let dough rest for 5 minutes. Then split into whatever shapes you like - I like to split it into 9 balls and put them in a square cake pan to make dinner rolls, but you can do it however you like. I grease the (nonstick) pan with olive oil and flour all the dough balls, so that the finished product comes out dusted with flour on the tops.
Bake for 15 minutes.
Enjoy with fruit preserve, gravy, tomato sauce, honey, or even just plain butter - the bread is delicious enough to make it taste sublime!
Olive oil pie crust and shopping lists
So today I really wanted to make a quiche, but we're out of stick butter and have been for a while, and it's not grocery buyin' time just yet. I do, of course, keep three liters of olive oil in the house at all times, and I thought I might as well just google to see if there was a way to make pie crust with olive oil.
Turns out that not only is there, but it's simple, takes half the time and mess of butter crust, and instead of rolling it out and laying it down in the pan you squish it with your fingers, meaning that there's no waste and none of that "flour your worksurface" nonsense that I hate so much!
The method, which I found (and modified slightly) here, is to boil up 1/4C water and 1/3C olive oil in a pan.When it's boiling, take it off the heat and add 1C AP flour sifted with 1tsp baking powder, and just stir the shit out of it until it forms into a basic ball. Put the ball in the greased pie dish and just press it down around the bottom of the dish and up the sides with your fingers. It literally couldn't be easier and it is SO flaky and light!
I haven't tried it yet, but I have a suspicion that it would be better with the liquid ingredient quantities reversed; that is, 1/4C olive oil and 1/3C water. The crust was slightly on the greasy side for me, and also tasted faintly of olive oil even though I didn't use EVOO; for a sweet recipe I think it would be too strong of a taste.
Thanks to a recent budget change, partly due to Writer Husband managing the money now, and partly due to me having a job, we now have enough money to buy the food I want to buy every week. So - this is mostly for my loyal reader Olga whom I know loves reading this stuff - here is my shopping list for the coming week!
Pre-sliced whole wheat bread
Albacore tuna in water
Beef broth
Margarine
Cottage cheese (4% minimum)
Medium cheddar cheese block
Parmesan cheese wedge
Whole milk mozzarella (the wet kind)
Full fat plain yogurt with active cultures
Hummus
Frozen pineapple, mango and strawberries
Canned tomatoes
Bananas
Gala apples
Tangerines
Collard greens
Kale
Roma tomatoes
Russet potatoes
White mushrooms
Fresh basil
Whole wheat penne
Thin-cut beefsteak
Chicken breast
Red wine
And the ingredients that I already have in my fridge/pantry and won't run out of before the following week are:
Eggs
Skim milk
Tomato paste
Peanut butter
Honey
Fruit preserve (strawberry and blackberry)
Yeast
Whole wheat flour and AP flour (plus associated baking ingredients like baking powder/soda and salt)
White sugar
Brown sugar
Steel-cut oats
Brown rice
Shallots
Garlic
Carrots
Spices and dried herbs including ground oregano, dried basil, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, cayenne pepper, curry powder, oriental mustard, etc.
So I have an emphasis on whole grains (rice, oats, bread and flour, pasta), protein (beef, chicken, cottage cheese, tuna), and a variety of fruits and vegetables. I use white sugar for proofing yeast and brown sugar as an oatmeal topping, along with cinnamon and nutmeg. Peanut butter is a favorite post-workout snack and I love honey and yogurt as a dessert! Also note that I just buy sliced bread for sandwiches to take to work; if I'm eating at home, I make my own bread from scratch, the recipe for which I shall be posting shortly.
Turns out that not only is there, but it's simple, takes half the time and mess of butter crust, and instead of rolling it out and laying it down in the pan you squish it with your fingers, meaning that there's no waste and none of that "flour your worksurface" nonsense that I hate so much!
The method, which I found (and modified slightly) here, is to boil up 1/4C water and 1/3C olive oil in a pan.When it's boiling, take it off the heat and add 1C AP flour sifted with 1tsp baking powder, and just stir the shit out of it until it forms into a basic ball. Put the ball in the greased pie dish and just press it down around the bottom of the dish and up the sides with your fingers. It literally couldn't be easier and it is SO flaky and light!
I haven't tried it yet, but I have a suspicion that it would be better with the liquid ingredient quantities reversed; that is, 1/4C olive oil and 1/3C water. The crust was slightly on the greasy side for me, and also tasted faintly of olive oil even though I didn't use EVOO; for a sweet recipe I think it would be too strong of a taste.
Thanks to a recent budget change, partly due to Writer Husband managing the money now, and partly due to me having a job, we now have enough money to buy the food I want to buy every week. So - this is mostly for my loyal reader Olga whom I know loves reading this stuff - here is my shopping list for the coming week!
Pre-sliced whole wheat bread
Albacore tuna in water
Beef broth
Margarine
Cottage cheese (4% minimum)
Medium cheddar cheese block
Parmesan cheese wedge
Whole milk mozzarella (the wet kind)
Full fat plain yogurt with active cultures
Hummus
Frozen pineapple, mango and strawberries
Canned tomatoes
Bananas
Gala apples
Tangerines
Collard greens
Kale
Roma tomatoes
Russet potatoes
White mushrooms
Fresh basil
Whole wheat penne
Thin-cut beefsteak
Chicken breast
Red wine
And the ingredients that I already have in my fridge/pantry and won't run out of before the following week are:
Eggs
Skim milk
Tomato paste
Peanut butter
Honey
Fruit preserve (strawberry and blackberry)
Yeast
Whole wheat flour and AP flour (plus associated baking ingredients like baking powder/soda and salt)
White sugar
Brown sugar
Steel-cut oats
Brown rice
Shallots
Garlic
Carrots
Spices and dried herbs including ground oregano, dried basil, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, cayenne pepper, curry powder, oriental mustard, etc.
So I have an emphasis on whole grains (rice, oats, bread and flour, pasta), protein (beef, chicken, cottage cheese, tuna), and a variety of fruits and vegetables. I use white sugar for proofing yeast and brown sugar as an oatmeal topping, along with cinnamon and nutmeg. Peanut butter is a favorite post-workout snack and I love honey and yogurt as a dessert! Also note that I just buy sliced bread for sandwiches to take to work; if I'm eating at home, I make my own bread from scratch, the recipe for which I shall be posting shortly.
Thursday, 28 February 2013
Food choices
It feels like months since I've posted here, so I'm glad it's only really been a couple of weeks. I've been pretty exhausted on account of starting my new job as a housekeeper! The company I work for is called Exec. They were a big deal in San Francisco and they've just moved to Seattle this month (so if you live in Seattle, please hire us!).
As a result of making regular money now, I've been thinking a lot about food. I have heard people refer to foodie-ism as a kind of oral fixation, and while I guess that's kind of potentially true, there's also a great deal of skill and artistry in cooking. I also appreciate food from a health point of view; things like garlic, ginger root and local honey are actually really good for you (for the immune system, the digestive system, and for pollen allergies and hay fever respectively). Eating well makes me feel well, and that matters to me!
As such, I've been thinking about what kind of food I want to keep in the house. Plenty of meat, for sure - chicken breast, venison and veal are good, as well as beef. I want to start cooking with rabbit and lamb more often, too. I want to get good cheese; we stopped buying Kraft grated parmesan long ago, but even so, we're still only getting soft wedges of parmesan and bags of grated Lucerne cheddar and mozzarella. Good cheese is a wonderful thing, and honestly, I miss getting wet mozzarella, I miss brie, camembert, halloumi, emmenthal, feta. Cheese is so damn good for you. There were years when I was so disordered and mixed up when it came to food that I wouldn't eat cheese. I was scared of the stuff. Shows how warped I was! That's what you get for buying into diet logic. Cheese is high in protein, not to mention calcium and vitamin B (teeth, bones and skin). Delicious!
After meat and cheese, fresh fruit and vegetables - a LOT of them - is my main concern. We've been poor for so long that everyone's immune systems are totally in the shitter. I'm talking grapes, oranges, apples, bananas, strawberries, mangoes, coconuts, pears, peaches - the works. Same for veggies.
As for bread... I'm a fan of bagels but honestly, I have enough quick bread recipes that I don't really feel like we need to load up on carbs. Oatmeal? Yes. I want to get steel-cut oats, which are universally acknowledged to be the best kind.
I'm buying a food processor, and I'd prefer to buy nuts and mason jars and make my own nut butter than I would to buy big jars of Skippy. Up until now we've only ever had a blender, but home made always leaves me feeling better afterwards. I want to buy jam, though, and plenty of good olive oil. And yogurt, plain probiotic Greek yogurt that I can put fruit and honey in.
I don't care about eating 'raw' or 'paleo' or about carbs or whatever the hell else. I don't count calories, I don't eat fat-free or sugar-free or calorie-free (what does that even MEAN? How is it food if it doesn't contain energy?). Fats are necessary for your body and eating sweetness without sugar will fuck with your blood sugar levels. I would rather learn to eat well, to feel good when I put the right things into myself and bad when I put the wrong things, than to cheat my way around it with things that aren't what they appear to be. I definitely don't do diet fads, never ever again.
I just want to eat as fresh as possible. I want to eat exactly what it feels like I'm putting in my mouth, nothing more, nothing less.
As a result of making regular money now, I've been thinking a lot about food. I have heard people refer to foodie-ism as a kind of oral fixation, and while I guess that's kind of potentially true, there's also a great deal of skill and artistry in cooking. I also appreciate food from a health point of view; things like garlic, ginger root and local honey are actually really good for you (for the immune system, the digestive system, and for pollen allergies and hay fever respectively). Eating well makes me feel well, and that matters to me!
As such, I've been thinking about what kind of food I want to keep in the house. Plenty of meat, for sure - chicken breast, venison and veal are good, as well as beef. I want to start cooking with rabbit and lamb more often, too. I want to get good cheese; we stopped buying Kraft grated parmesan long ago, but even so, we're still only getting soft wedges of parmesan and bags of grated Lucerne cheddar and mozzarella. Good cheese is a wonderful thing, and honestly, I miss getting wet mozzarella, I miss brie, camembert, halloumi, emmenthal, feta. Cheese is so damn good for you. There were years when I was so disordered and mixed up when it came to food that I wouldn't eat cheese. I was scared of the stuff. Shows how warped I was! That's what you get for buying into diet logic. Cheese is high in protein, not to mention calcium and vitamin B (teeth, bones and skin). Delicious!
After meat and cheese, fresh fruit and vegetables - a LOT of them - is my main concern. We've been poor for so long that everyone's immune systems are totally in the shitter. I'm talking grapes, oranges, apples, bananas, strawberries, mangoes, coconuts, pears, peaches - the works. Same for veggies.
As for bread... I'm a fan of bagels but honestly, I have enough quick bread recipes that I don't really feel like we need to load up on carbs. Oatmeal? Yes. I want to get steel-cut oats, which are universally acknowledged to be the best kind.
I'm buying a food processor, and I'd prefer to buy nuts and mason jars and make my own nut butter than I would to buy big jars of Skippy. Up until now we've only ever had a blender, but home made always leaves me feeling better afterwards. I want to buy jam, though, and plenty of good olive oil. And yogurt, plain probiotic Greek yogurt that I can put fruit and honey in.
I don't care about eating 'raw' or 'paleo' or about carbs or whatever the hell else. I don't count calories, I don't eat fat-free or sugar-free or calorie-free (what does that even MEAN? How is it food if it doesn't contain energy?). Fats are necessary for your body and eating sweetness without sugar will fuck with your blood sugar levels. I would rather learn to eat well, to feel good when I put the right things into myself and bad when I put the wrong things, than to cheat my way around it with things that aren't what they appear to be. I definitely don't do diet fads, never ever again.
I just want to eat as fresh as possible. I want to eat exactly what it feels like I'm putting in my mouth, nothing more, nothing less.
Thursday, 14 February 2013
Perfect cop, perfect person
I love cops. My brother is going to become one. Writer husband almost did become one. I always trust them and have always been friendly with them, and I've never regretted it. Least of all now!
I mentioned in my previous post that we'd had some very disappointing trouble with a neglected dog. We found a very old Irish Setter wandering on the street with no collar or microchip, and it was in a deplorable state. Nails untrimmed, fur greasy, very severe hair loss, a rash covering its entire body, fleas, an eye infection, a double ear infection, a secondary skin infection, open wounds under its front legs from scratching, three cysts, and worst of all its canines were broken off and its teeth were all black and yellow and worn down. We brought it inside, gave it a bath (we had to change out the water twice), and took it to the vet, where we spent about $250 on veterinary care, prescription medications, flea control, dog food, a collar and a dog bed. We had its ears cleaned and its nails trimmed. We had its teeth examined. The vet told us it would probably need a full mouth extraction, or would at least need to lose most of its teeth, in order to be healthy.
This dog was utterly precious. It was sweet, quiet, wagged its tail, it was very affectionate, very loving. It knew sit, but nothing else. We named it Atlas.
Well, to avoid being charged with stealing a pet, we called up our local animal shelter, which also happens to be the authority for animal control in our city, and reported it as a neglect case. I made it very clear that I was afraid of any owner who would allow their pet to remain in this condition, that I was afraid the dog would go back to the owner, that I wanted to help the dog and the entire situation alarmed me.
The shelter gave my phone number to the owner without my consent and not ten minutes later the owner called me at home demanding his dog back. We immediately booked a cab that we couldn't really afford to get to the shelter and have the vet there look at Atlas, since the shelter couldn't legally withhold a dog without seeing it first to determine its condition.
We had to sign Atlas over to the shelter in order to have it examined - this was, at the time, our only recourse to prevent a neglected animal from going back to its original situation.
The vet, to put it bluntly, did not give a fuck. Phrases that were used included "Well, it's not normal in terms of a dog you or I would own, but..."; "Oh, the teeth aren't broken, they're just worn down. You know, from chewing on rocks and stuff."; "Your vet says the teeth are rotten? That's a matter of opinion."
As our vet pointed out, if a dog is chewing rocks, it's hungry. Plus, the owner had already said the dog had a flea allergy (and yet he did not have it on flea control), and that its skin condition was entirely an allergic reaction. The unpaid shelter vet refused to acknowledge the secondary infection that the vet we paid to make an assessment said was definitely present. The shelter vet then walked away from us as we were speaking and refused to commit to either educating the owner on dog care when he came in, or setting a checkup visit for the dog. Basically, she saw a neglect case, but she could weasel out of it and she just didn't want to do that much work on a Sunday.
Atlas went home with his neglectful owner the next day.
That day, we called the shelter to ask: has the dog gone home; was the owner educated on dog care; did you give him the prescription medications that we paid for and show him how to use them? We were told "we took care of it" three times in a very clipped tone, and then hung up on.
We called the owner back and left him a voicemail offering to buy his dog flea control. 24 hours later we hadn't received any response.
The day after, I was pretty much sick of it. Neither of us could get over the fact that we had taken a neglected dog to the people who are charged with protecting animals and nobody had bothered to make sure it was comfortable and living happily.
I spent all day on the phone. I called the county police. I called state patrol. I called just about every major shelter in the state. Four hours later I had nothing. I was transferred and redirected so many god damn times and half of those transfers were to the shelter that had blown Atlas off and sent him back uncared for.
Every time I called a law enforcement office, I received the same automated message: If it is an emergency, or if you want to report a crime, please call 911. Okay, I thought. Is it a crime?
Hoo, boy, yes it is. The full law is here, the relevant parts are as follows:
Suddenly, I had a crime to report. I called up Everett Police to make sure it was all right, and after hearing the story, I was advised to wait until the shelter was closed so that the case wouldn't be sent right to animal control, i.e., the shelter, and then call 911 and ask an officer to go out to the owner's house. We found his address by checking his number in the directory, and I made the emergency call and explained the situation.
Pretty soon the officer on duty phoned me directly to ask me to tell her the whole story again. She commended us on the "phenomenal" effort we put in to making sure that the dog was all right, and went straight to the owner's house to check up on Atlas.
She took my concern for my privacy seriously and simply told him "I understand you've been involved with the animal shelter recently". She told him that if he continued to neglect his dog, the police would have to intervene. She educated him on the basics of dog care, and told him that that care had to be ongoing.
She then called me back, related this to me, and told me that the animal neglect (second-degree animal cruelty) law works a lot like trespassing or child neglect - the offender has to be warned first, before any action is taken. She gave me the incident number and her name, and told me to call back in a month, and she would personally go out and check up on the dog to make sure it was doing better.
The moral of this story is that just because a place says it's an animal shelter, says it has the best interest of animals at heart, just because a person says they're a vet, or that they care for animals, it's no guarantee of anything. And unless you live in New York or New Jersey and you have the ASPCA at your disposal, your best bet is the find the relevant legislation FIRST, and get the cops involved at the first sign of mishandling or irresponsibility.
I mentioned in my previous post that we'd had some very disappointing trouble with a neglected dog. We found a very old Irish Setter wandering on the street with no collar or microchip, and it was in a deplorable state. Nails untrimmed, fur greasy, very severe hair loss, a rash covering its entire body, fleas, an eye infection, a double ear infection, a secondary skin infection, open wounds under its front legs from scratching, three cysts, and worst of all its canines were broken off and its teeth were all black and yellow and worn down. We brought it inside, gave it a bath (we had to change out the water twice), and took it to the vet, where we spent about $250 on veterinary care, prescription medications, flea control, dog food, a collar and a dog bed. We had its ears cleaned and its nails trimmed. We had its teeth examined. The vet told us it would probably need a full mouth extraction, or would at least need to lose most of its teeth, in order to be healthy.
This dog was utterly precious. It was sweet, quiet, wagged its tail, it was very affectionate, very loving. It knew sit, but nothing else. We named it Atlas.
Well, to avoid being charged with stealing a pet, we called up our local animal shelter, which also happens to be the authority for animal control in our city, and reported it as a neglect case. I made it very clear that I was afraid of any owner who would allow their pet to remain in this condition, that I was afraid the dog would go back to the owner, that I wanted to help the dog and the entire situation alarmed me.
The shelter gave my phone number to the owner without my consent and not ten minutes later the owner called me at home demanding his dog back. We immediately booked a cab that we couldn't really afford to get to the shelter and have the vet there look at Atlas, since the shelter couldn't legally withhold a dog without seeing it first to determine its condition.
We had to sign Atlas over to the shelter in order to have it examined - this was, at the time, our only recourse to prevent a neglected animal from going back to its original situation.
The vet, to put it bluntly, did not give a fuck. Phrases that were used included "Well, it's not normal in terms of a dog you or I would own, but..."; "Oh, the teeth aren't broken, they're just worn down. You know, from chewing on rocks and stuff."; "Your vet says the teeth are rotten? That's a matter of opinion."
As our vet pointed out, if a dog is chewing rocks, it's hungry. Plus, the owner had already said the dog had a flea allergy (and yet he did not have it on flea control), and that its skin condition was entirely an allergic reaction. The unpaid shelter vet refused to acknowledge the secondary infection that the vet we paid to make an assessment said was definitely present. The shelter vet then walked away from us as we were speaking and refused to commit to either educating the owner on dog care when he came in, or setting a checkup visit for the dog. Basically, she saw a neglect case, but she could weasel out of it and she just didn't want to do that much work on a Sunday.
Atlas went home with his neglectful owner the next day.
That day, we called the shelter to ask: has the dog gone home; was the owner educated on dog care; did you give him the prescription medications that we paid for and show him how to use them? We were told "we took care of it" three times in a very clipped tone, and then hung up on.
We called the owner back and left him a voicemail offering to buy his dog flea control. 24 hours later we hadn't received any response.
The day after, I was pretty much sick of it. Neither of us could get over the fact that we had taken a neglected dog to the people who are charged with protecting animals and nobody had bothered to make sure it was comfortable and living happily.
I spent all day on the phone. I called the county police. I called state patrol. I called just about every major shelter in the state. Four hours later I had nothing. I was transferred and redirected so many god damn times and half of those transfers were to the shelter that had blown Atlas off and sent him back uncared for.
Every time I called a law enforcement office, I received the same automated message: If it is an emergency, or if you want to report a crime, please call 911. Okay, I thought. Is it a crime?
Hoo, boy, yes it is. The full law is here, the relevant parts are as follows:
(2) An owner of an animal is guilty of animal cruelty in the second degree if, under circumstances not amounting to first degree animal cruelty, the owner knowingly, recklessly, or with criminal negligence:
(a) Fails to provide the animal with necessary shelter, rest, sanitation, space, or medical attention and the animal suffers unnecessary or unjustifiable physical pain as a result of the failure.
Suddenly, I had a crime to report. I called up Everett Police to make sure it was all right, and after hearing the story, I was advised to wait until the shelter was closed so that the case wouldn't be sent right to animal control, i.e., the shelter, and then call 911 and ask an officer to go out to the owner's house. We found his address by checking his number in the directory, and I made the emergency call and explained the situation.
Pretty soon the officer on duty phoned me directly to ask me to tell her the whole story again. She commended us on the "phenomenal" effort we put in to making sure that the dog was all right, and went straight to the owner's house to check up on Atlas.
She took my concern for my privacy seriously and simply told him "I understand you've been involved with the animal shelter recently". She told him that if he continued to neglect his dog, the police would have to intervene. She educated him on the basics of dog care, and told him that that care had to be ongoing.
She then called me back, related this to me, and told me that the animal neglect (second-degree animal cruelty) law works a lot like trespassing or child neglect - the offender has to be warned first, before any action is taken. She gave me the incident number and her name, and told me to call back in a month, and she would personally go out and check up on the dog to make sure it was doing better.
The moral of this story is that just because a place says it's an animal shelter, says it has the best interest of animals at heart, just because a person says they're a vet, or that they care for animals, it's no guarantee of anything. And unless you live in New York or New Jersey and you have the ASPCA at your disposal, your best bet is the find the relevant legislation FIRST, and get the cops involved at the first sign of mishandling or irresponsibility.
Sunday, 10 February 2013
Exhaustion
I always try to stay optimistic, but to be quite honest, I'm having a terrible day. Between an abusive dog owner, an animal shelter who gave out my phone number without permission to that owner, and the shelter vet who walked away from me as I was speaking and said that it was a 'matter of opinion' as to whether or not the dog's teeth were rotten, I am pretty much ready to just go and be a hermit for a little while and avoid the public because they're just so fucking frustrating.
After all of that, the fact that the Comcast website tells me that their agents are available by phone 24/7, but when I call up I get an automated message telling me that they're only 7am to 8pm, Monday to Saturday is making me want to kill people and break things.
Sigh.
After all of that, the fact that the Comcast website tells me that their agents are available by phone 24/7, but when I call up I get an automated message telling me that they're only 7am to 8pm, Monday to Saturday is making me want to kill people and break things.
Sigh.
Thursday, 7 February 2013
Garlic and cheese soda bread rolls
It's always a huge shame when you're cooking dinner, realize you're out of bread when bread would be delicious, and then realize you don't have three hours to make yeast bread. For those moments, I have prepared this recipe! These puff up like muffins in the pan with big puffy domed tops. They come out soft and fluffy on the inside, and when vet tech husband tried one (fresh out of the oven!) he split it perfectly in half with just his hands, saw the soft inside and picturesque steam rising out of it, and declared it to look "like food on TV". That's good enough for me!
Preheat oven to 425F.
Sift 2C AP flour, 2C whole wheat flour, 2tsp baking soda and 4tsp baking powder into a large bowl. If the bran bits in the whole wheat flour get stuck in the sieve, just pour them back into the bowl - you're sifting it to get air into it.
Add at least 5tbsp garlic powder, more if you like garlic, and about 1-2tbsp of mixed dried herbs (I used mixed Italian herbs and some parsley), and 1/2-3/4C shredded cheese such as mozzarella or cheddar. Pick the herbs and cheese depending on what you want to pair them with - if you're making a chicken dish, rosemary and thyme might be a good choice!
Mix in 3C water until fully combined. Prep a 12-cup regular-size muffin pan, either with Pam or with oil and flour, and fill each cup right to the top. Bake for 30mins.
These are seriously delicious as snacks or as rolls to go with dinner and you don't have to start them three hours before everything else!
Preheat oven to 425F.
Sift 2C AP flour, 2C whole wheat flour, 2tsp baking soda and 4tsp baking powder into a large bowl. If the bran bits in the whole wheat flour get stuck in the sieve, just pour them back into the bowl - you're sifting it to get air into it.
Add at least 5tbsp garlic powder, more if you like garlic, and about 1-2tbsp of mixed dried herbs (I used mixed Italian herbs and some parsley), and 1/2-3/4C shredded cheese such as mozzarella or cheddar. Pick the herbs and cheese depending on what you want to pair them with - if you're making a chicken dish, rosemary and thyme might be a good choice!
Mix in 3C water until fully combined. Prep a 12-cup regular-size muffin pan, either with Pam or with oil and flour, and fill each cup right to the top. Bake for 30mins.
These are seriously delicious as snacks or as rolls to go with dinner and you don't have to start them three hours before everything else!
Gainful employment
I have some good news for today: I got a new job! I work for a maid service company as an independent contractor. I make $13-$16 an hour, depending on the work volume, I work four days a week and pick my own shifts. I'm really looking forward to having a job that will keep me active! I have to commute an hour or two into Seattle every morning but honestly, I can read in that time, so I'm not really complaining. I'd rather have an extra hour than how up to work right after I've showered and gotten dressed - I'm very slow to wake up.
What I find interesting is that just the fact of having a job is boosting my self-esteem. I'm getting more done. I have more energy. I take better care of myself, too - instead of cleaning my teeth every day, I'm also putting my whitening trays in for half an hour every night and rinsing with mouthwash twice a day. I'm exfoliating with natural products and taking better care of my skin. The whole time I've been jobless I've been thinking to myself, "boy, better remember to whiten my teeth tonight!" and then I forget. Somehow now I'm remembering every night!
This happened the last time I had a job, too - I got so much more done despite having less free time. I think part of it is definitely just that I know I have to go out and make a whole lot of first impressions on people, but another part of it is the self-esteem boost that comes from actually getting stuff done outside of the home. I feel that in terms of motivation and energy, knowing that I'm going to go out and do things is basically critical. It could be the same for you too!
Anyway, I'm going to go and clean my face with yogurt and olive oil.
What I find interesting is that just the fact of having a job is boosting my self-esteem. I'm getting more done. I have more energy. I take better care of myself, too - instead of cleaning my teeth every day, I'm also putting my whitening trays in for half an hour every night and rinsing with mouthwash twice a day. I'm exfoliating with natural products and taking better care of my skin. The whole time I've been jobless I've been thinking to myself, "boy, better remember to whiten my teeth tonight!" and then I forget. Somehow now I'm remembering every night!
This happened the last time I had a job, too - I got so much more done despite having less free time. I think part of it is definitely just that I know I have to go out and make a whole lot of first impressions on people, but another part of it is the self-esteem boost that comes from actually getting stuff done outside of the home. I feel that in terms of motivation and energy, knowing that I'm going to go out and do things is basically critical. It could be the same for you too!
Anyway, I'm going to go and clean my face with yogurt and olive oil.
Tuesday, 5 February 2013
Perfect Chicken Pizza
I made pizza for my family tonight. I've tried a bunch of recipes that involve rising the crust, but I found a crust recipe that didn't involve any rising at all and goddamn if it wasn't the best pizza I've ever had. Crispy, but super soft once you bite into it. This pizza is better than any takeout you will ever get, and it's a damn sight cheaper, too.
I used this crust recipe, with a few changes. I added a whole bunch of garlic powder and a little ground basil, and I subbed in 1C whole wheat flour. I also changed the preparation - I mixed the yeast, sugar and water in a bowl and let it froth up, poured it into the flour, stirred until it became dough and then added the olive oil. I just like it better that way. I've heard it's better, though I have no idea why, and it does seem to make tastier crust! I do it that way for bread too.
Then I heated a can of plain tomato sauce, added mixed herbs, paprika and about nine or ten cloves of garlic minced in the garlic press (mincing by hand wouldn't have gotten them fine enough for me).
I rolled out the crust - I like thin, Italian-style pizza crust and this crust made one big-ass pizza. I put it on the pizza tray, drizzled a ring of olive oil around the edge and spread it around the crust, especially the edges, with my fingers. I ladled some of the sauce on and spread it with the back of a spoon until it was even, and then sprinkled on some chopped mushrooms and bell peppers. Then I put a ton of shredded mozzarella, probably a good cup and a half of cheese. Then more mushrooms and peppers, and some shredded chicken - then a sprinkle more mozzarella and some red pepper flakes.
Bake at 425F for 25-30 minutes and let the mozzarella crisp up - even if it gets a little black it'll taste divine! The cheese came out gooey and perfect, and the crust wasn't in the least bit oily. This is way better than takeout pizza that leaves the box see-through with grease, and there's no irritating rising time either!
I used this crust recipe, with a few changes. I added a whole bunch of garlic powder and a little ground basil, and I subbed in 1C whole wheat flour. I also changed the preparation - I mixed the yeast, sugar and water in a bowl and let it froth up, poured it into the flour, stirred until it became dough and then added the olive oil. I just like it better that way. I've heard it's better, though I have no idea why, and it does seem to make tastier crust! I do it that way for bread too.
Then I heated a can of plain tomato sauce, added mixed herbs, paprika and about nine or ten cloves of garlic minced in the garlic press (mincing by hand wouldn't have gotten them fine enough for me).
I rolled out the crust - I like thin, Italian-style pizza crust and this crust made one big-ass pizza. I put it on the pizza tray, drizzled a ring of olive oil around the edge and spread it around the crust, especially the edges, with my fingers. I ladled some of the sauce on and spread it with the back of a spoon until it was even, and then sprinkled on some chopped mushrooms and bell peppers. Then I put a ton of shredded mozzarella, probably a good cup and a half of cheese. Then more mushrooms and peppers, and some shredded chicken - then a sprinkle more mozzarella and some red pepper flakes.
Bake at 425F for 25-30 minutes and let the mozzarella crisp up - even if it gets a little black it'll taste divine! The cheese came out gooey and perfect, and the crust wasn't in the least bit oily. This is way better than takeout pizza that leaves the box see-through with grease, and there's no irritating rising time either!
Saturday, 2 February 2013
α and β
I went to the bank yesterday to close my account. They've been charging me for all sorts of things without telling me beforehand which I wouldn't have minded except that the charges resulted in me being overdrawn. So I threw on my workout clothes, walked down there with writer husband, told them I was sick of it, got them to refund me all but four dollars of the money they'd taken out, and closed down my account.
While I was having my account closed, a woman came up to our counter. Her hair was undone and her clothes were shabby. She was glaring and pouting. She huffed and said to the cashier helping me "I'm going to go because I've seen four people get served ahead of me and now I'm late for an appointment" in the teeny tiniest voice. I mean, I know I'm a little deaf, but seriously, her voice was teeny tiny.
The cashier apologized for the delay and offered to book her an appointment. A not-really-argument ensued in which the woman complained in that quiet, whining voice of hers that she had to cash a check right now to pay a bill that was due Monday, complained that the bank was about to close and just said "oh" when she was told that it was open for another hour, and finally consented to doing what the cashier suggested which was to make an appointment.
All the time I was thinking, holy smokes, if it was that important to her why didn't she make more of a fuss about it? Why was she talking in such a tiny voice? Why was she pouting at the cashier and looking to her to do something about the problem? Why wasn't she taking charge of her situation in any way?
This is pretty much a perfect example of the difference between alphas and betas. I got the bank to pay me money, got an appointment twenty minutes after I asked for it and had everything I wanted done without trouble. She got nothing and left dissatisfied.
This is another big reason that I always disliked the "how to care for your introvert" stuff that goes around every so often on social networking sites. Because, yes, drunken club parties or whatever it is that "hipsters/nerds" complain about on the internet are boring for some people (introvert and extrovert alike), but introverts are also often betas. Not speaking up, not being clear in what you want and backing away from fights are major attributes of introverts and betas alike. And, frankly, alphas get shit done. Alphas tend to be more successful in their endeavors than betas because they are effective.
I'll say it again: it has nothing to do with social rules, bullying, or dominating. People who are clear, self-assured and firm get stuff done better and more efficiently than people who don't. This would hold true under any social climate.
People should not be encouraged to be inefficient, passive, ineffectual and timid, because it will damage them. Even if it's difficult for some, people should be encouraged to get their shit together and build confidence. Whether or not it comes naturally is no excuse for not practising a skill.
While I was having my account closed, a woman came up to our counter. Her hair was undone and her clothes were shabby. She was glaring and pouting. She huffed and said to the cashier helping me "I'm going to go because I've seen four people get served ahead of me and now I'm late for an appointment" in the teeny tiniest voice. I mean, I know I'm a little deaf, but seriously, her voice was teeny tiny.
The cashier apologized for the delay and offered to book her an appointment. A not-really-argument ensued in which the woman complained in that quiet, whining voice of hers that she had to cash a check right now to pay a bill that was due Monday, complained that the bank was about to close and just said "oh" when she was told that it was open for another hour, and finally consented to doing what the cashier suggested which was to make an appointment.
All the time I was thinking, holy smokes, if it was that important to her why didn't she make more of a fuss about it? Why was she talking in such a tiny voice? Why was she pouting at the cashier and looking to her to do something about the problem? Why wasn't she taking charge of her situation in any way?
This is pretty much a perfect example of the difference between alphas and betas. I got the bank to pay me money, got an appointment twenty minutes after I asked for it and had everything I wanted done without trouble. She got nothing and left dissatisfied.
This is another big reason that I always disliked the "how to care for your introvert" stuff that goes around every so often on social networking sites. Because, yes, drunken club parties or whatever it is that "hipsters/nerds" complain about on the internet are boring for some people (introvert and extrovert alike), but introverts are also often betas. Not speaking up, not being clear in what you want and backing away from fights are major attributes of introverts and betas alike. And, frankly, alphas get shit done. Alphas tend to be more successful in their endeavors than betas because they are effective.
I'll say it again: it has nothing to do with social rules, bullying, or dominating. People who are clear, self-assured and firm get stuff done better and more efficiently than people who don't. This would hold true under any social climate.
People should not be encouraged to be inefficient, passive, ineffectual and timid, because it will damage them. Even if it's difficult for some, people should be encouraged to get their shit together and build confidence. Whether or not it comes naturally is no excuse for not practising a skill.
Thursday, 31 January 2013
Dessert Hummus
I didn't modify this recipe at all, so I'm just going to link to the original: Snickerdoodle Cookie Dough Dip. I made this for writer husband whose two favorite foods are cookie dough and hummus, and that's what this recipe is. Cookie dough flavored hummus. The site says it's skinny and I guess it is, compared to real cookie dough - the whole batch worked out to a little over 1000 calories (with fat free cream cheese, which was all they had at the store I went to), and split in four there was still quite a lot of hummus in each portion. I don't actually count calories myself, though - that's my writer husband's schtick - and what I like about it is that instead of the butter-sugar-sugar-flour nonsense that cookies have, this dip is all peanut butter and old-fashioned oats. Along with the chickpeas, that makes it super nutritious. Tons of fiber and protein! I made it with dark brown sugar instead of the light brown used in the recipe, because I prefer the richer taste of dark brown - it's also less processed if that bothers you.
I also used fat free milk because that was all we had, but I'd love to try it with almond milk. I'd also prefer to use reduced or full fat cream cheese instead of fat free because it would be creamier and richer, but if you do count calories, it tastes just fine with fat free!
I also used fat free milk because that was all we had, but I'd love to try it with almond milk. I'd also prefer to use reduced or full fat cream cheese instead of fat free because it would be creamier and richer, but if you do count calories, it tastes just fine with fat free!
Monday, 28 January 2013
Time-wasting VS Time-using
I've gotten rid of a lot of the time-wasting sites that I used to spend so much time on, but I'm still a little in awe of how much time it's freed up. I deleted Tumblr a couple of months ago but I still find myself casting about for things to aimlessly scroll through on the internet. I barely use Livejournal at all any more, and my Facebook is just a way to keep up with a small handful of people, literally about three or four, that I don't have any other way to talk to. They only update with about 8-10 new posts every day so at worst, I'm just wasting ten minutes.
The funny thing about it is that after I've exhausted every other site, I usually just come here to doodle around and write something, and then I end up being productive because I'm updating my blog. I don't consider this cheating - running a blog properly is something I've been wanting to do for years, and I typically end up dropping (too busy refreshing Tumblr), so every post is a victory as far as I'm concerned. If I'm not writing here, maybe I'll play a bit of a video game that I've been working on, which again is productive for me since I have wanted to get better at video games for years.
What I'm seeing from this is that it is worth putting thought into picking the things you do. Going to Tumblr or Livejournal becomes a habit, but really, just about anything can become habitual. If you want to be productive, pick sites and activities that are purposeful and valuable to you and relate to a goal that you have. At the end of the day you aren't going to just sit and blankly do nothing - you're going to find something to occupy your time with, and it's going to be the things that are most immediately accessible. If you make sure that those things are valuable, and put purpose and thought into choosing them, you're going to end up doing those things as regularly as you did Plurk and Pinterest. Except that you're also going to progress, instead of spending all afternoon scrolling through image posts and other people's personal updates, and realizing that you're in the exact same place and you're the exact same person that you were three hours ago.
Think about it: in three hours you can work out, write a blog post, drink a cup of tea, make pretzels, and defeat a level of a video game. You can get hooked on a new novel. You can clean your entire apartment; watch three documentaries; complete a chapter of a Teach Yourself language course. If you keep these kinds of things beside you on the table or the nightstand or your purse while deleting Tumblr and Facebook from your favorites bar or your app list, you'll turn to the things that are valuable to you in order to occupy your time just as easily.
Now I've written a blog post, and I'm going to go and make pretzels.
The funny thing about it is that after I've exhausted every other site, I usually just come here to doodle around and write something, and then I end up being productive because I'm updating my blog. I don't consider this cheating - running a blog properly is something I've been wanting to do for years, and I typically end up dropping (too busy refreshing Tumblr), so every post is a victory as far as I'm concerned. If I'm not writing here, maybe I'll play a bit of a video game that I've been working on, which again is productive for me since I have wanted to get better at video games for years.
What I'm seeing from this is that it is worth putting thought into picking the things you do. Going to Tumblr or Livejournal becomes a habit, but really, just about anything can become habitual. If you want to be productive, pick sites and activities that are purposeful and valuable to you and relate to a goal that you have. At the end of the day you aren't going to just sit and blankly do nothing - you're going to find something to occupy your time with, and it's going to be the things that are most immediately accessible. If you make sure that those things are valuable, and put purpose and thought into choosing them, you're going to end up doing those things as regularly as you did Plurk and Pinterest. Except that you're also going to progress, instead of spending all afternoon scrolling through image posts and other people's personal updates, and realizing that you're in the exact same place and you're the exact same person that you were three hours ago.
Think about it: in three hours you can work out, write a blog post, drink a cup of tea, make pretzels, and defeat a level of a video game. You can get hooked on a new novel. You can clean your entire apartment; watch three documentaries; complete a chapter of a Teach Yourself language course. If you keep these kinds of things beside you on the table or the nightstand or your purse while deleting Tumblr and Facebook from your favorites bar or your app list, you'll turn to the things that are valuable to you in order to occupy your time just as easily.
Now I've written a blog post, and I'm going to go and make pretzels.
Sunday, 27 January 2013
Gatsby's House
Another little thought I had regarding The Great Gatsby is the symbolic significance of Gatsby's house. Nick goes into the history of it at one point, talking about how it's designed to look like an old castle with turrets and such, and how the original designer offered to pay five years' worth of taxes on the surrounding properties if they agreed to thatch their roofs with straw (which they refused because, as Nick said, Americans don't take to being peasantry).
Given that this was written during the 1920s, which was the time of Art Deco and Bauhaus modernism, I feel that this is very telling. The design and history of the house is representative of the absurd archaism of the upper classes - the way they clutch at the past and pretend at being nobility when the time for nobles has long since passed.
The fact that this is the house that Gatsby buys is in itself metaphorical, of course, but so is the lifestyle he operates out of it. His famous parties which everyone in the city attends are a closed world to Daisy, full of life and opportunity, the height of Jazz Age culture. Gatsby doesn't belong in the world he tries to occupy - but that is a credit to him.
Given that this was written during the 1920s, which was the time of Art Deco and Bauhaus modernism, I feel that this is very telling. The design and history of the house is representative of the absurd archaism of the upper classes - the way they clutch at the past and pretend at being nobility when the time for nobles has long since passed.
The fact that this is the house that Gatsby buys is in itself metaphorical, of course, but so is the lifestyle he operates out of it. His famous parties which everyone in the city attends are a closed world to Daisy, full of life and opportunity, the height of Jazz Age culture. Gatsby doesn't belong in the world he tries to occupy - but that is a credit to him.
Saturday, 26 January 2013
Whole Wheat Walnut and Oat Bread
I made this bread as a complement to my carrot and coriander soup, and also as a way to use walnuts up in recipes so that I would actually enjoy eating them. I can say with the full support of my three husbands that it was a wild success on both accounts! I hope everyone enjoys making and eating this delicious bread.
Preheat oven to 435F.
In a small bowl mix 2tsp yeast and 1tsp white sugar, and add 1/4C warm water. Leave for about 5-10 minutes or until frothy.
Put 1 1/4C (one and a quarter) warm water in a large bowl, and stir in the yeast mixture. Add 1tsp dark brown sugar, 1/4C old fashioned oats, and 2C whole wheat flour. Stir to combine.
Mix 2tbsp olive oil to dough and stir to combine. Finely chop 1/2C walnuts and toast; stir walnuts into dough. Make sure they're distributed evenly!
Then, begin adding all-purpose flour (between 2 and 3C) by the half-cup until the dough is soft and no longer sticky. Knead as you incorporate, and slap the dough a lot while you knead.
Put in greased or floured bowl, cover with a towel and let rise for an hour or two, until doubled in size. Knead it down, shape it into a loaf and place it on a greased baking tray (I put foil on my trays and spray the foil with Pam). If you like, you can wet the top of the loaf and top it with more oats (or poppyseeds!). Cover loaf with towel and let rise for 30-45 minutes.
Bake in oven for 30 minutes, and make sure to tap the bottom to make sure it sounds hollow! If it doesn't, put it back in and check every 5-10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 435F.
In a small bowl mix 2tsp yeast and 1tsp white sugar, and add 1/4C warm water. Leave for about 5-10 minutes or until frothy.
Put 1 1/4C (one and a quarter) warm water in a large bowl, and stir in the yeast mixture. Add 1tsp dark brown sugar, 1/4C old fashioned oats, and 2C whole wheat flour. Stir to combine.
Mix 2tbsp olive oil to dough and stir to combine. Finely chop 1/2C walnuts and toast; stir walnuts into dough. Make sure they're distributed evenly!
Then, begin adding all-purpose flour (between 2 and 3C) by the half-cup until the dough is soft and no longer sticky. Knead as you incorporate, and slap the dough a lot while you knead.
Put in greased or floured bowl, cover with a towel and let rise for an hour or two, until doubled in size. Knead it down, shape it into a loaf and place it on a greased baking tray (I put foil on my trays and spray the foil with Pam). If you like, you can wet the top of the loaf and top it with more oats (or poppyseeds!). Cover loaf with towel and let rise for 30-45 minutes.
Bake in oven for 30 minutes, and make sure to tap the bottom to make sure it sounds hollow! If it doesn't, put it back in and check every 5-10 minutes.
Carrot and Coriander Soup
When I was little, my father bought these delicious fancy soups that came in paper tetra-paks and were absolutely heavenly. I don't think they were organic, but they were fresh as hell, and have always been my standard for seriously delicious soup. I actually forgot about it for a while - how tasty fresh pea soup, tomato and basil, and carrot and coriander used to be before I switched to canned tomato and forgot that soup could be delicious.
When I remembered, I had to look up a recipe. I tried making carrot and walnut a little while ago (one of my mother in laws bought us a bag of walnuts, and I dislike walnuts on their own so I try to find recipes to make them taste good. Unfortunately, that soup didn't turn out right at all in my opinion, although my husbands loved it.
This soup, though? This soup is perfect. It's like I could have poured it out of the packet back in 1997, except that I had the satisfaction (and got the credit!) for making it myself.
In the bottom of a large soup pot or stockpot, chop and fry 1 shallot in some olive oil until translucent. For reference, the shallot I used was about the size of my palm. In a mortar and pestle, grind 1/2tsp caraway seed, and add to shallots. Add 2 medium white potatoes, diced, and fry for a few minutes.
Add about 700g carrots, chopped, plus 3C beef broth and 3C chicken stock. Stir and cook on medium-low heat for an hour.
Remove from heat and liquefy the soup in a blender, along with 1 bunch fresh coriander (cilantro). I just chopped the leaves off and used those, but you can use the stems too if you like a stronger coriander taste. You might need to blend it in two batches depending on the size of your blender - just pour the first batch into a large bowl.
Return the soup to the pot and put over low heat. Add chicken broth (or water) to thin it to desired consistency, and then serve with delicious bread!
When I remembered, I had to look up a recipe. I tried making carrot and walnut a little while ago (one of my mother in laws bought us a bag of walnuts, and I dislike walnuts on their own so I try to find recipes to make them taste good. Unfortunately, that soup didn't turn out right at all in my opinion, although my husbands loved it.
This soup, though? This soup is perfect. It's like I could have poured it out of the packet back in 1997, except that I had the satisfaction (and got the credit!) for making it myself.
In the bottom of a large soup pot or stockpot, chop and fry 1 shallot in some olive oil until translucent. For reference, the shallot I used was about the size of my palm. In a mortar and pestle, grind 1/2tsp caraway seed, and add to shallots. Add 2 medium white potatoes, diced, and fry for a few minutes.
Add about 700g carrots, chopped, plus 3C beef broth and 3C chicken stock. Stir and cook on medium-low heat for an hour.
Remove from heat and liquefy the soup in a blender, along with 1 bunch fresh coriander (cilantro). I just chopped the leaves off and used those, but you can use the stems too if you like a stronger coriander taste. You might need to blend it in two batches depending on the size of your blender - just pour the first batch into a large bowl.
Return the soup to the pot and put over low heat. Add chicken broth (or water) to thin it to desired consistency, and then serve with delicious bread!
The Great Gatsby
---Spoilers for The Great Gatsby---
I always knew Fitzgerald as someone that associated with Hemingway and Gertrude Stein, and as a result I've avoided reading any of his books because I really cannot stand Hemingway or Gertrude Stein. With the movie coming out, though, my husband gave it a try, and he liked it so much he persuaded me to read it. I was seriously taken aback.
As far as I understand it, it's a fantastic criticism of wealth and status for wealth and status' sake, and of the historical upper classes. Class is an interesting English invention, and what has happened to it in America is even more interesting, but this isn't the place to go into that. As I understand it, here is what ought to be taken from the book:
The concept of the "old money" upper class is a self-referential standard of success. It has no criteria or standards for value except the fact of its own existence. As a result, it has become a ruinous, greedy, shallow way of life, lived by spoiled, immature, self-absorbed people who view anyone that does not belong to their class as existing for their pleasure and will treat them accordingly. Additionally, as a broader criticism of (1920s) society, the "old money" class is held up as the highest and most refined of people, when due to their lack of ethics, compassion, direction or responsibility they are in fact the worst and most worthless.
There is a passage in which Nick describes Gatsby as "the son of God" in that he had no desire to follow in his parents' footsteps but had a dream of his own perfect happiness that he was willing to do anything to pursue. The young Gatsby sees himself as unlimited, and essentially as transcending class. He's willing to fish and clam for food and money, but he detests doing janitorial work to pay his way through college (while, presumably, surrounded by boys who are not working class and do not have to be subjected to the 'humiliation' of working for their education). Gatsby takes risks, retains his integrity, conducts himself honestly and never loses sight of his goals or his dreams.
Daisy, on the other hand, looks to others to define her life (to use Nick's words) and doesn't even have the redeeming feature of being loyal. While Gatsby's love for her is motivated by his "incorruptible dream", Daisy's love for him is transient and inessential to her happiness. She personifies the fickle immaturity of her class, not understanding Gatsby's devotion to her and not wanting to either. She has no goals or dreams, and looks to others to define her and give her life meaning (a metaphor, I decided, for the upper class's lack of definable value beyond that which everyone has decided to give it), but as a result of her lack of dreams, she doesn't actually care how it is defined. Her happiness is not important to her - her way of life is.
Her husband, Tom, is an appalling man. He cheats on his wife, he hits women, he bullies, and he has no ambition of his own except to retain power over others. From beginning to end he is portrayed as a racist and white supremacist in the most ridiculous ways possible. I have heard that people refuse to read Fitzgerald because of racism in his early works, but I can certainly say that he has lost his racism by the time of Gatsby. Tom's hysteria over whites and blacks marrying and the dilution of the "dominant Nordic race" is painted in such an absurd light that it's completely impossible for anyone to sympathize with.
What is really interesting to me, though, is the character of Meyer Wolfsheim. He is a Jewish mobster, and he helped Gatsby make his fortune. Meyer never goes to Gatsby's parties or to his house, but he is always there for Gatsby - at Gatsby's request, he sends him a full staff of servants so that Gatsby can keep the lid on the rumors about him and know that he is surrounded by people he can trust. But given the time period, he couldn't be less acceptable in polite society. Now the most negative interpretation possible is that Meyer is there as the "dirty Jew", the stain on Gatsby's reputation that prevents him from ever becoming truly respectable. But set against the very deliberate pantomime of Tom's hysterical racism, I can't think that it was intended that way.
Throughout the whole book, we see people we have grown to love being torn apart by Daisy and Tom's frivolity and aimlessness left and right. Throughout the story, Nick berates Gatsby for trying to repeat the past, for trying to find himself in the past, for trying to live in the past - and yet by the end, Nick is completely consumed by the past. He was constantly being forced to stay in situations that he didn't actually want to be a part of by Daisy and Tom - constantly being forced into getting involved. As a result, he ends up chewed up and spat out by the same vortex that consumed Gatsby - that is the tragedy of the book.
Yet there is Meyer, in the background, the only character who gets a good ending as a consequence of making the right choices. Meyer is portrayed as sensitive, loyal and obliging to Gatsby, very honest but also very self-assured. It is obvious that he loves Gatsby, but he refuses to go to his funeral. It is slipped in between Nick's frantic attempts to get a hold of all the other high society people who didn't truly care for or love Gatsby, and at first glance it is easy to write Meyer off as one of those. But if you read what he's saying, it doesn't quite seem that way. He tells Nick that he won't go to the funeral because he doesn't want to get involved. When Nick tells him that everyone's dead and there's nothing left to get involved in, Meyer simply repeats that he doesn't want to get involved. I believe he was referring to not wanting to get involved in anything of that upper class world - very sensibly, given where involvement got Nick and Gatsby.
He also tells Nick that he hates funerals, because he believes that one should honor friends in life, not after they're dead. This is the only time in the whole book that a person doesn't dwell on the past, and instead focuses with integrity on the future. Nick and Gatsby end up both obsessed with people who are no longer there, and in her final betrayal, Daisy cries that Gatsby should just be satisfied that she loves him now - in other words, erasing her mistakes and absolving herself of responsibility for her actions. Between these people, Meyer's solemn, ethical, private approach to friends and to Gatsby's affairs are like a few flakes of moral gold in the silt and mud left behind in Daisy's selfish wake.
I think that Meyer's unrespectable status was that way on purpose, to invert the standards of respectability, as a part of demonstrating how odious the old upper classes were. Those who were supposed to be great are in fact the scum of the earth, and those who were supposed to be low, tacky and untrustworthy are the moral, loyal, dependable ones.
Personally, I got very emotional about Gatsby because I identified very strongly with Jay. His wanderlust, all of the different lives he's lived, his dreams, his patience, his devotion, and the intense way he loves everything all struck very close to my heart. He is one of the protagonists that is most 'like me' in anything I've read. So I couldn't help but be sad when I finished the book - I wished that Nick had taken Meyer up on that "business gonnegtion" and Jay had ended up falling for Nick and the three of them had gone off and been successful and rich together, instead of being all torn apart by shallow, superficial Daisy. But ultimately, even if it was very sad, the book was a masterpiece and will always be very close to my heart.
I always knew Fitzgerald as someone that associated with Hemingway and Gertrude Stein, and as a result I've avoided reading any of his books because I really cannot stand Hemingway or Gertrude Stein. With the movie coming out, though, my husband gave it a try, and he liked it so much he persuaded me to read it. I was seriously taken aback.
As far as I understand it, it's a fantastic criticism of wealth and status for wealth and status' sake, and of the historical upper classes. Class is an interesting English invention, and what has happened to it in America is even more interesting, but this isn't the place to go into that. As I understand it, here is what ought to be taken from the book:
The concept of the "old money" upper class is a self-referential standard of success. It has no criteria or standards for value except the fact of its own existence. As a result, it has become a ruinous, greedy, shallow way of life, lived by spoiled, immature, self-absorbed people who view anyone that does not belong to their class as existing for their pleasure and will treat them accordingly. Additionally, as a broader criticism of (1920s) society, the "old money" class is held up as the highest and most refined of people, when due to their lack of ethics, compassion, direction or responsibility they are in fact the worst and most worthless.
There is a passage in which Nick describes Gatsby as "the son of God" in that he had no desire to follow in his parents' footsteps but had a dream of his own perfect happiness that he was willing to do anything to pursue. The young Gatsby sees himself as unlimited, and essentially as transcending class. He's willing to fish and clam for food and money, but he detests doing janitorial work to pay his way through college (while, presumably, surrounded by boys who are not working class and do not have to be subjected to the 'humiliation' of working for their education). Gatsby takes risks, retains his integrity, conducts himself honestly and never loses sight of his goals or his dreams.
Daisy, on the other hand, looks to others to define her life (to use Nick's words) and doesn't even have the redeeming feature of being loyal. While Gatsby's love for her is motivated by his "incorruptible dream", Daisy's love for him is transient and inessential to her happiness. She personifies the fickle immaturity of her class, not understanding Gatsby's devotion to her and not wanting to either. She has no goals or dreams, and looks to others to define her and give her life meaning (a metaphor, I decided, for the upper class's lack of definable value beyond that which everyone has decided to give it), but as a result of her lack of dreams, she doesn't actually care how it is defined. Her happiness is not important to her - her way of life is.
Her husband, Tom, is an appalling man. He cheats on his wife, he hits women, he bullies, and he has no ambition of his own except to retain power over others. From beginning to end he is portrayed as a racist and white supremacist in the most ridiculous ways possible. I have heard that people refuse to read Fitzgerald because of racism in his early works, but I can certainly say that he has lost his racism by the time of Gatsby. Tom's hysteria over whites and blacks marrying and the dilution of the "dominant Nordic race" is painted in such an absurd light that it's completely impossible for anyone to sympathize with.
What is really interesting to me, though, is the character of Meyer Wolfsheim. He is a Jewish mobster, and he helped Gatsby make his fortune. Meyer never goes to Gatsby's parties or to his house, but he is always there for Gatsby - at Gatsby's request, he sends him a full staff of servants so that Gatsby can keep the lid on the rumors about him and know that he is surrounded by people he can trust. But given the time period, he couldn't be less acceptable in polite society. Now the most negative interpretation possible is that Meyer is there as the "dirty Jew", the stain on Gatsby's reputation that prevents him from ever becoming truly respectable. But set against the very deliberate pantomime of Tom's hysterical racism, I can't think that it was intended that way.
Throughout the whole book, we see people we have grown to love being torn apart by Daisy and Tom's frivolity and aimlessness left and right. Throughout the story, Nick berates Gatsby for trying to repeat the past, for trying to find himself in the past, for trying to live in the past - and yet by the end, Nick is completely consumed by the past. He was constantly being forced to stay in situations that he didn't actually want to be a part of by Daisy and Tom - constantly being forced into getting involved. As a result, he ends up chewed up and spat out by the same vortex that consumed Gatsby - that is the tragedy of the book.
Yet there is Meyer, in the background, the only character who gets a good ending as a consequence of making the right choices. Meyer is portrayed as sensitive, loyal and obliging to Gatsby, very honest but also very self-assured. It is obvious that he loves Gatsby, but he refuses to go to his funeral. It is slipped in between Nick's frantic attempts to get a hold of all the other high society people who didn't truly care for or love Gatsby, and at first glance it is easy to write Meyer off as one of those. But if you read what he's saying, it doesn't quite seem that way. He tells Nick that he won't go to the funeral because he doesn't want to get involved. When Nick tells him that everyone's dead and there's nothing left to get involved in, Meyer simply repeats that he doesn't want to get involved. I believe he was referring to not wanting to get involved in anything of that upper class world - very sensibly, given where involvement got Nick and Gatsby.
He also tells Nick that he hates funerals, because he believes that one should honor friends in life, not after they're dead. This is the only time in the whole book that a person doesn't dwell on the past, and instead focuses with integrity on the future. Nick and Gatsby end up both obsessed with people who are no longer there, and in her final betrayal, Daisy cries that Gatsby should just be satisfied that she loves him now - in other words, erasing her mistakes and absolving herself of responsibility for her actions. Between these people, Meyer's solemn, ethical, private approach to friends and to Gatsby's affairs are like a few flakes of moral gold in the silt and mud left behind in Daisy's selfish wake.
I think that Meyer's unrespectable status was that way on purpose, to invert the standards of respectability, as a part of demonstrating how odious the old upper classes were. Those who were supposed to be great are in fact the scum of the earth, and those who were supposed to be low, tacky and untrustworthy are the moral, loyal, dependable ones.
Personally, I got very emotional about Gatsby because I identified very strongly with Jay. His wanderlust, all of the different lives he's lived, his dreams, his patience, his devotion, and the intense way he loves everything all struck very close to my heart. He is one of the protagonists that is most 'like me' in anything I've read. So I couldn't help but be sad when I finished the book - I wished that Nick had taken Meyer up on that "business gonnegtion" and Jay had ended up falling for Nick and the three of them had gone off and been successful and rich together, instead of being all torn apart by shallow, superficial Daisy. But ultimately, even if it was very sad, the book was a masterpiece and will always be very close to my heart.
Drugs, Exercise and London
An acquaintance of mine blogged about medical marijuana being especially good for Crohn's disease, which is apparently a fucker to treat with other medications (which often cause bowel distress - I have this problem a lot and I don't even have a bowel disorder). I've heard other things about it being a good pain reliever for chemo patients, and the like. And it occurs to me that perhaps if idiots with their 420 nonsense would stop cluttering up the debate, marijuana probably could be cleared for medical use. The simple fact of the matter is that it is incredibly hard to take a product seriously when it is more famous for its associations with white people that carry Jamaican-flag-print lighters, wear weed-shaped belt buckles and tell any captive audience they can find about their last wild trip or how acid totally doesn't have any side effects than for its associations with actual medical patients who need help.
inb4 "not all potheads are like that", yes, as with all social groups there are exceptions to the rule. But the fact remains that the vast majority of outspokenly pro-weed people (I refuse to use the term "420" in a serious context because it is just so stupid) are twats who, if they do raise the medical benefits, typically do it to talk about how The Man is oppressing people because He won't admit how, like, totally okay weed is, man. When cancer and Crohn's disease patients are the most vocal demographic in favor of legalizing weed, call me.
Unrelatedly, I went for a run today after contracting bronchitis in November and staying sick until early January (and then being too cold to move for a few weeks after that), and it was agony. I was out for about ten minutes and when I got home I was asthmatic, gasping, had an excruciating headache and was shaking all over. Two months of lying on the couch can ruin a body, my friends.
I don't think exercise ever actually becomes pleasant for anybody. Pushing yourself past your limits is a fundamentally physically uncomfortable activity. Yes, your tolerance will rise as you become fitter, just as an averagely unfit person has a perfectly fine tolerance for walking around town whereas a morbidly obese person may not have the tolerance even for that, but the whole point of working out is to push yourself all of the time so that fact is kind of moot.
I think the people who say they enjoy exercise have simply retrained their minds to interpret those uncomfortable chemicals that exercise releases as positive, even if they feel unpleasant. People do this all the time - for example, skydivers, who reinterpret the physical feelings of fear as something positive that will encourage them to jump out of the plane, instead of something negative that will keep them inside it - so it's hardly a big jump. But the fact still remains that unless you do eventually reinterpret the unpleasant feelings like that, exercise is still going to wring you out and make you feel like shit.
That isn't any excuse to not exercise, because there are much worse shitty things that you put up with doing every day, that don't protect you from disease or improve your physical and mental health in any way.
Finally, I'm blogging at seven in the morning because I can't sleep. I got thinking about London and I'm too excited.
My father owns an apartment in Tufnell Park that has just been empty for literally more than twenty years, half-finished, gathering dust and storing some of his old crap that should really be thrown out. The other day my husbands and I decided that I should call him up in a few months' time and tell him to sign the property over to me. I will then go over with writer husband, do the place up and rent it out, splitting the rent with my father. My father will then get to see me relatively regularly as my family and I will have a place to stay in London, the property will be making money instead of lying fallow, and I'll be getting some of that money. Since it seems pretty likely that my father will only have a year or two more of tenure at the University (if that), now would seem to be the perfect time to do it, and I won't have to pay 40% taxation on the property when my father dies (legal loophole in England that says if you signed it over more than 7 years before your death, the beneficiary doesn't have to pay death duties).
I can't sleep because I'm mentally picking out furniture for the apartment and making checklists of things that need to be done there, like sanding the floors, cleaning the chimneys and getting a fire escape put in.
inb4 "not all potheads are like that", yes, as with all social groups there are exceptions to the rule. But the fact remains that the vast majority of outspokenly pro-weed people (I refuse to use the term "420" in a serious context because it is just so stupid) are twats who, if they do raise the medical benefits, typically do it to talk about how The Man is oppressing people because He won't admit how, like, totally okay weed is, man. When cancer and Crohn's disease patients are the most vocal demographic in favor of legalizing weed, call me.
Unrelatedly, I went for a run today after contracting bronchitis in November and staying sick until early January (and then being too cold to move for a few weeks after that), and it was agony. I was out for about ten minutes and when I got home I was asthmatic, gasping, had an excruciating headache and was shaking all over. Two months of lying on the couch can ruin a body, my friends.
I don't think exercise ever actually becomes pleasant for anybody. Pushing yourself past your limits is a fundamentally physically uncomfortable activity. Yes, your tolerance will rise as you become fitter, just as an averagely unfit person has a perfectly fine tolerance for walking around town whereas a morbidly obese person may not have the tolerance even for that, but the whole point of working out is to push yourself all of the time so that fact is kind of moot.
I think the people who say they enjoy exercise have simply retrained their minds to interpret those uncomfortable chemicals that exercise releases as positive, even if they feel unpleasant. People do this all the time - for example, skydivers, who reinterpret the physical feelings of fear as something positive that will encourage them to jump out of the plane, instead of something negative that will keep them inside it - so it's hardly a big jump. But the fact still remains that unless you do eventually reinterpret the unpleasant feelings like that, exercise is still going to wring you out and make you feel like shit.
That isn't any excuse to not exercise, because there are much worse shitty things that you put up with doing every day, that don't protect you from disease or improve your physical and mental health in any way.
Finally, I'm blogging at seven in the morning because I can't sleep. I got thinking about London and I'm too excited.
My father owns an apartment in Tufnell Park that has just been empty for literally more than twenty years, half-finished, gathering dust and storing some of his old crap that should really be thrown out. The other day my husbands and I decided that I should call him up in a few months' time and tell him to sign the property over to me. I will then go over with writer husband, do the place up and rent it out, splitting the rent with my father. My father will then get to see me relatively regularly as my family and I will have a place to stay in London, the property will be making money instead of lying fallow, and I'll be getting some of that money. Since it seems pretty likely that my father will only have a year or two more of tenure at the University (if that), now would seem to be the perfect time to do it, and I won't have to pay 40% taxation on the property when my father dies (legal loophole in England that says if you signed it over more than 7 years before your death, the beneficiary doesn't have to pay death duties).
I can't sleep because I'm mentally picking out furniture for the apartment and making checklists of things that need to be done there, like sanding the floors, cleaning the chimneys and getting a fire escape put in.
Thursday, 24 January 2013
Gatsby and Banana Slicers
I will have you all know that I turned on my laptop today to find that vet tech husband had left this on my offline IMs:
For those of you who don't know me too well, cats and deer are my favorite animals. This brightened my day immeasurably.
I finished reading The Great Gatsby this morning in preparation for the upcoming movie and oh boy, was I blown away. Long post to follow about that.
I had a homemade chocolate muffin of vet tech husband's own personal creation for breakfast (he somehow unintentionally recreated a chocolate muffin recipe that I used to love when I was a kid), and then for lunch I had oatmeal with brown sugar and sliced bananas. Writer husband bought me an amazing gift a few days ago: the Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer.
Click on that link and go to the Amazon page. Read the reviews. Do it. They are all hilarious. I read through about eight or nine pages (of 245) before I had to call it a day, but holy shit, they're funny. And then because I browse Amazon on writer husband's account, of all the things I had looked at, Amazon sent him an email about said banana slicer recommending that he buy it. He then had to turn around, this being the first he'd ever heard of it, and actually ask me if I had been looking at banana slicers on Amazon.
It showed up in the mail a couple of days ago and I am still laughing about it. He bought bananas today and I had to slice one.
In other news, I got a second job - some ritzy cleaning company that pays a minimum of $13 an hour (with a max of $16) hired me full time. I have training the week of February 4th, and I start work the week after that. I'm a little nervous since this is the first time I've properly worked, but the money's good and I'm fed up with being so tight for cash so on the whole I'm excited for it!
We're going out to a burger place by the mall that we haven't been to before, so I guess I'll be writing a review of that pretty soon.
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