OK, it looks really gross, but I assure you it was really yummy. One of my favorite Vietnamese restaurants makes a really “hearty” mixed veggie congee, so I tried my best to knock it off. Since that's not much of a description, this basically tastes like a thick barley vegetable soup.
I cooked some chopped garlic, jalapeno peppers, shitake mushrooms, and zuccini in a couple cups of water. About half an hour later, I threw in some lentils (already prepped) and some sushi rice (for bulk and texture) and a pinch of cumin. I let that simmmer for a few hours, and then yum yum yum.
She really wishes the food was for her. She'll eat anything she's given, even cloves of garlic (well, it was very mild elephant garlic, which is actually a kind of onion).
This was my appetizer… If it's not obvious, I shredded a bunch of garlic and a bunch of ginger, and cooked up some yellow zucchini in it (and some oil). Again, yum yum yum!
First, read this report on human experiments conducted by the US (often on its own citizens). To the few of you here that were on active duty in the Gulf War, it's old news, but it's worth reading… It may be easy to write off 1930's syphillis testing on black men as “a different time”, but realize that for example in 1990, researchers gave 1500 (one thousand five hundred) black and hispanic babies unapproved experimental measles drugs without even telling the parents.
America has certainly been profoundly evil and terrorist nation for the past seventy years or so, but it gets worse all the time. Not only does it meet every definition of the word evil, but it's not even a nation run by evil men — it's a nation run by evil corporations, and supported by the evil media they own. Bow to your vengeful gods!
Oh, and I see now that America is basically admitting that its attack on Canadian soldiers was no accident, and that no information on it will be shared with the Canadian people. Run out of brown skinned people to drop bombs on? Need a target with a flashing infrared strobe marker on it? Might as well drop them on Canadians, right? Maybe the Japanese now too, since they've snubbed the US?
Oh, and if you're a foreign student studying in the US (or an old black woman), I hope you don't mind being tracked. Not that the US has any respect for the international community (or its children), international law (let alone the rights of its own citizens), or any treaties signed by former US presidents. At this point the US is a fascist rogue state (or empire I suppose) that supports other rogue states to encourage perpetual war (which is by definition not winnable — it is designed to be a neverending stalemate). If the current US power struture is not eliminated, humans will not survive with any nobility in the long term.
Maybe I'm just upset because my brother is among the troops sent in to replace the Canadians that were killed by US bombing.
As I said, I read a lot, and I figure I might as well share what I read last night in the tub, as well as early this morning:
- The Black Panthers Speak – I really enjoyed this book — it's a compilation of speeches, interviews, pamphlets, etc. done by the core members of the Black Panther Party. I think what I most appreciated was seeing the very raw, unrefined radical idealism in these young people. Also, this book really went a long way to explaining what most people see as racist overtones in BP philosophy; the interviews about their interactions with middle-class white activists was very interesting. And everything in this book is still very relevant — I'm not sure that any of the issues they fought for have been resolved yet.
- The African Dream – I figured these books would go together well. Reading The Motorcycle Diaries a few years back had a profound effect on me, and I greatly appreciated Che's book on guerrilla warfare as well, although it is a much more dry read (if your interest is warfare, I also recently read Mao's book and Giap's book, which make good companions). I was happy to find that The African Dream is as engrossing as The Motorcycle Diaries (these are in effect their evolved counterpart). That said, I strongly recommend that anyone interested in Che Guevara to read The Motorcylce Diaries first as it very clearly puts everything into context.
In any case, I definitely recommend both of these books.
I try and read a book or two a day. I enjoy it, and it's good for the mind, especially if coupled with writing and thinking… If I have an hour to kill, it's hard to make a solid case for a television show over a book (although I do regularly succumb due to my own weakness).
This morning I read Loving and Leaving The Good Life, Helen Nearing's emotional biography of both herself, and her husband Scott. It starts at her childhood, spends time on her six year relationship with Krisha (yes, that Krishnamurti), and then her life with Scott until his planned death at one hundred years old. I very much enjoyed Helen's kind clean writing, although I was a little disturbed by the self-depreciating nature of the book (perhaps it is a byproduct of having spent her life with two undeniably overpowering and impressive men), and the unresolved pain that Krisha's overly cold breakup with her brought.
In any case, the book offered a great deal of insight both into their life philosophy and about the nature of Love that you don't find in Scott Nearing's books… While I believe that men may well be smarter and stronger than women, and most violent historical shifts are accomplished through the will and action of men, ultimately it is women that are the foundation that the world is built on, and it is to women that we collectively owe this world. Not just in that women bear children, but in that it is women who have the real lasting strength, endurance, vision, and beauty of soul, that is required for communities to grow and flourish and create great things. Not that I ever forgot, but this book really helped me think about how much I Love Rachel, and why she's so special to me.
PS. I should also say that Helen's cookbook is awesome. In many ways, the best cookbook I own.
A lot of days when I'm working, I watch all generations of Star Trek… They play TOS, TNG, DS9, and VOY all in a row on Space (Canadian Sci-Fi channel)… Anyway, something that struck me about it recently is that in the old series characters are regularly utterly revolted at the concept of eating “living flesh” — I imagine at the time it was written everyone just made the logical conclusion that advanced societies would reject eating meat…
But then in the later series, the characters actually embrace meat eating — there are even numerous scenes dedicated to characters talking about how much they love it… Given what a leftist group of writers the show employees, and given how pro-”terrorist” (remember the Maquis?) DS9 was, and how shockingly “unamerican” and pro-Muslim (Suliban?) Enterprise is, it really surprised me that they wouldn't also include pro-vegan messages…
LostMayan just pointed out that in later generations of Star Trek, most of the meat eaten would be replicator produced, and not the actual flesh of an animal. That said, I'm pretty sure though that there are numerous episodes that include fishing and hunting references… I wonder… Would 250 years of eating replicated flesh make you more or less likely to be upset by the real thing?
