Yesterday we were up at Yorkdale at supper time so we decided to eat up there and ended up at “Rainforest Cafe”… Both Caitlin and I can’t stand the place, but Nefarious loves it and is a total sucker for the faux thunder storms and animatronics. Even though we ate the least expensive items on the menu, the bill for the three of us was still a ridiculous, and in my opinion, staggering, $60.
Tonight I cooked as usual and we ate a great meal of tuna steaks in a garlic teriyaki sauce with rice and fresh veggies — a million times better than last night’s meal, and with a total cost under $5 a person. On the subject of tuna, I read that fancy-pants restaurant “Nobu” got hassled by Greenpeace for selling endangered bluefin tuna. Nobu’s response? They just labeled it “endangered” on their menu, I guess in order to increase the cache of the dish for wealthy douchebags.
Earlier this week Cory from BoingBoing blogged about two classics of parenting books — How Children Learn and How Children Fail, both books that I also wholeheartedly agree with and recommend. The discussion in the comments on his posts are worth reading as well if you’re interested in the subject — especially the recommendation to read John Taylor Gatto‘s book on education, which you can check out for free on that link for free (I’ve recommended it in the past if that sounds familiar).
Other than that, I got tattooed last Friday, but I’ll wait for it to heal so I can post it looking proper.
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I ordered those two books after I read Cory’s review of “How Children Learn” on BoingBoing yesterday. I can’t wait to read them after reading what others, and now you, have said about the books. My son is two and I’m already stressed out about the local public school system and the lack of any good alternatives near where I live. On a related note, there is a great video of Ken Robinson giving a talk on educational systems at TEDtalks in 2006 … HERE
Your link is dead :(
i took my nieces to that *awful* rainforest cafe once and was horrified by the craptastic quality of the food. so. bad! and while your meal looks a million times better…ugh…i can’t eat mostly raw tuna!
your veggies and rice on the other hand…loves it.
Oh how I adore the TED talks! I periodically get happily stuck watching lots of them at once until I can manage to stop and save some for another time. I think this page will enable you to download the talk by Sir Ken Robinson about children and education: https://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
Caitlin and I went to TED in I think ’99 or 2000 — really amazing, and worth every expensive penny. I think it’s awesome that they’re putting the talks online free now!
I went to Rainforest Cafe in Chicago probably 10 years ago and the food was really good. Almost all the meals were based on beans and rice and the food was mostly unique.
The next time, the beans and rice had been replaced with mashed potatoes.
The third (last) time, the menu looked like Applebee’s.
I’m sure as they americanized (and blanded-down) the menu, they got more customers. Most americans, and I assume Canadians, don’t like flavor in their food. Sure, artificial hot flavoring is ok, but nothing else.
Shannon,
More ink? Lucky dog! My artist is fairly pricey (and, y’know, lives in Hawaii instead of California…) and I’m in grad school, so I have to wait. Off topic, I know, but most of my friends are ink-free and just don’t understand why that’s an issue.
I wish you still ran some mod forum. I still read ModBlog, but since you stopped administering it, it’s gotten bland and they regularly post run-of-the-mill pictures of decent, or even bad work. Not being able to rely on BMEZine to come through with eye-popping, never-been-seen stuff really hurts.
Do you have any forums or sites you recommend? I’ve got some decent photos of my latest tattoos, and had been planning to post them to BME/ModBlog, but I’ve lost all desire to have anything to do with them.
Yeah, some days it drives me crazy not to be able to post about body modification!!! I have so much I want to write about and come across so much good material, but it’s legally not an option for me unfortunately. Same goes for me recommendeding other good body modification blogs and forums unfortunately. Good luck!
There was a period when BME, and ModBlog in particular, was the only thing keeping me sane. How the mighty have fallen.
Shannon, are you not allowed to post anything about body modification any more? Not even on a new site? If you’re not allowed to answer this I understand. Stupid legal system.
Congratulations on new ink! I can’t wait to get something done myself but it’s not gonna happen any time soon.
I hope work on your new book(s) is coming along well!
Oh, and on the food thing- my newest thing is slicing fresh corn off the cob right into a frying pan and stir-frying it up with some salsa. Super tasty! Tossing in other veggies (tomatoes, peppers, etc) also works, as does various meats (if you’re so inclined) and I bet it’d go well with shrimp!
Shannon, have you eaten at Nobu?
I know it may seem like an entirely overpriced and “fancy-pants” restaurant, but I do have to say that their food is uniquely and beautifully prepared, with proper respect and attention given to each and every ingredient. Having eaten at the restaurant, I have to say that the way they prepare their food, and the freshness with which their ingredients are presented, is every Chef’s dream.
I agree that it’s pretty terrible to be serving endangered fish, but you have to keep in mind that, although an American (and now English) institution, Nobu has its roots firmly in Japanese culture; it is owned and operated by a man who barely speaks English. As such, it is understandable that bluefin is served there, given that it is a staple in any of the high end Japanese sushi restaurants. I agree, labeling it “endangered” on the menu is overkill, and undoubtedly done in order to drive sales up from individuals who have no respect for the delicate balance our oceans require. It is also currently not illegal to fish for bluefin, so, while it may seem distasteful, it is not equivalent to “tiger burgers” as Greenpeace put it. Their suggestion of designating 40% of the ocean as reserves would definitely help improve the overfishing crisis, but it would also certainly put a limit on your tuna steaks. I think the inevitable question, as with all edible protein-related questions (read: foie gras, hydrogenated fats, trans-fats), is would you give up what you’re eating to support a cause?
Now that it has been irrefutably shown that saturated fat and cholesterol have absolutely no relation to levels of coronary heart disease within any population (by the Harvard School of Public Health in 2004, I believe), the solution is clear: eat sustainably and respectfully farmed beef and pork.
Shannon, as somebody who is clearly interested in the issues surrounding food today, I would highly suggest you read “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “In Defense of Food” by Michael Pollen. I think you’d find them to be absolutely fascinating, and perhaps would illuminate you a fair amount on the process that most of the food we eat goes through. When I first read the books, they horrified me. When I read them again, they reassured me that my interests in eating (and sourcing) local and sustainably farmed foods that are, as a whole, unprocessed is an entirely valid expedition.
I wish you well Shannon. BME/IAM sucks without you. The site saddens me more each and every day. I’m watching something that helped me come into my own being turned into a corporate whore with nothing interesting to say. I think my days there are definitively numbered (and I’ve been a member on and off from the very beginning).
I have no doubt that the food at Nobu is brilliant…
I also completely agree with you on those books — Caitlin picked them up recently and I read and enjoyed them a lot.
Hey Shannon…you might be interested in reading Brent Cameron’s book on natural learning. We are homeschoolers through his SelfDesign community and I really appreciate his learning philosophies :)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brent_Cameron
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