Recipe

By request:

Ma Po Tofu

serves 4 - 6

1 Tb Vegetable Oil

1 large Garlic Clove, crushed

1 ounce of fresh ginger - peeled and jullienned (I use a generous sprinkle of ground ginger if I don't have fresh)

2 green onions or scallions, sliced

12 ounces ground pork or beef or ground chicken (Or none, if you wish)

1 pound firm tofu cut into 1/2 inch thick squares

1 tsp chinese dark soy sauce (If you can, use the good stuff you get in the Asian Market. None of that La Choy or Kikkoman!! YAAAK!!)

1 tbs light soy sauce

2 tsp hot bean paste or hot garlic chili sauce (I use Hao Pao Wang)

1/2 cup chicken stock

1 tsp tapioca or cornstarch

1/2 tsp pepper

salt to taste

stir fry the garlic ginger and scallions until fragrant then add the ground meat and stir fry until done. lower the heat to medium low and add tofu, soy sauces and hot bean paste

Whisk together the chicken stock and starch until smooth and add it to the pot along with the pepper and salt. simmer for 20 minutes. stir gently just a couple of times being careful not to break up the tofu too much.

I got this recipe from ESSENTIALS OF ASIAN CUISINE FUNDAMENTALS AND FAVORITE RECIPES BY Corinne Trang. Great cook book. I got it as a wedding gift from an Asian friend of mine.

hope you love it!

peace,

gin

Blogging? not so much

It occurred to me I should say something about not writing for so long.
The truth is, I got all hung up on Facebook and Kingdom of Loathing and the blog just - well, it fell off my radar!

I don't know when I'll write again, but if I do I hope you'll read.
peace,
Captainwow (aka gin)

Rant Follow Up

A follow up to yesterday's Rant post seems in order.

After I wrote that the thought that always comes to me regarding this whole issue of over consumption came to me once again: "So, why am I not thin yet!?" If you know me, you know I'm not super thin. If you don't know me I'll just say that I'm carrying an extra 30 or so, in my opinion. Being skinny is not the point. Being perfect is not the point. Living a life that most closely resembles the the life I know I want to live, am meant to live, that is the point. I think we all struggle with that to some degree. I certainly don't wish to sound like a Pharisee.

Part of the journey is learning to live a more integrated life. That is to say a life that not only talks the talk but walks the walk; practices what it preaches. All that good stuff. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm working on it. Two of my favorite lines from the movie Tombstone is where Johnny Ringo says "Eventus stultorum magister. " (Events are the teachers of fools) and another one where Doc Holiday says "It appears my hypocrisy knows no bounds." Of course I loved all kinds of quotes from that movie, but I won't digress here too far.

Food is not the only excess I struggle with, I also struggle with trying to spend less, use lest gas, buy fair trade, fairly treated meat, recycle, compost, waste not, gossip less...etc... That is another painful part of growing up - learning how integrated I'm not and yet how intertwined with the whole mess I am. The whole human race is effed up, if you will pardon my french abbreviation, but we are indeed interconnected in some glorious way. We are all imperfect. Somehow God/the Universe/whatever one calls It.... I AM is still the I AM, and the ordinary is truly holy, and that gives me hope.

Rant

I doubt God is a republican or a democrat, but I bet God is a "greeny".
It's just a hunch, but that's what I think.

I doubt God really gives a flying flip if we have to drive our cars less to care for creation more. Many christian friends of mine have adopted a "Live simply, so that others may simply live." attitude. I think they may be on to something. Regardless of where we should or should not drill for more stinking OIL, or who we may or may not have killed for it.... Isn't it remotely possible that maybe we are just a teensy bit out of control with our overall consumption? One might also call it greed or gluttony, but that's beside the point. Maybe the OIL problem is just the tip of the zit, so to speak? The real problem is underneath.......

I read somewhere that the line between good and evil does not run between us, it runs right down the middle of me and you. This is the painful part of growing up and learning about paradox and complexity and nuance. Things are not exactly black and white or Them and Us. I'm part of the problem, and so are you... and no GOVERNMENT is going to take care of it for us. God help us if we really think that. A Savior is not waiting in the wings to drill more oil for us or grow more corn for us or figure out how we can continue to consume more...
Quite to the contrary Jesus said something like "When you fast, keep your mouth shut about it." He assumed people fasted, but he pointed out that it's nothing to brag about.

Most, if not all faith traditions embrace some sort of aesthetic self denial. Most people, when pressed for the inner truth will agree that having everything we want is not good for our souls, though it may take some time to cut through the crap and get to that point. It took me a long time to fully recognize that and I suspect I still don't recognize it as much as I will in another 10 years.

These days, I think of sin less in terms of breaking the rules and more as something that harms or causes suffering for myself or others. In this light the idea of overconsumption becomes very uncomfortable for me personally. For instance, I have been thinking about the "deadly sin" called gluttony. I never understood how eating too much would be a sin. Though it is hard on the body, and obesity can lead to all kinds of disease, I used to think "What is the big deal?" Isn't that my problem, if I'm overweight or eat too much? The devil is in the details. When I require large amounts of food - or any other resource - I also want it to be cheap. I don't want to get poorer, I want to get richer. So, I need my food and my oil and my clothes to be cheap. How do we get cheap goods? You probably know what road I'm going down now... (especially if you read my post about chocolate and slavery) Someone out there has to work for very little or maybe even nothing so that I don't have to pay too much for my supper.

Who am I hurting when I eat too much habitually? Who am I hurting when I demand more cheap oil? Who am I hurting when I always require more? That bottomless pit of More.
Now, multiply this by the population of an entire culture that lives this way and the ripple effect is absolutely sickening. Deadly sin? I do think so.

So I guess if we asked God if we should drill for more oil - wherever - there might be some different questions asked of us than we might expect.

Just sayin....

Butting In

I don't think anyone tagged me, but I'm going to do a MEME.

The deal is, pick up the closest book to you, turn to pg 123 and quote the 5th sentence in your blog. Then tag five more people.

"Cooperation is alien to the ego, except when there is a secondary motive." - Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening To Your Life's Purpose

My ego says that since there is nothing in it for me, I must not tag 5 other people.

Favrit Frazes

There you go go go go go!

Kitty bye bye bye!

You OKAY??

Nice tree. Awwwww Nice Tree....

These are some phrases that Sam likes to say a lot right now. Also, he says buh BYE to everything and everyone!!

Stuck Up

Yesterday I superglued my fingers together. This is the second time I have done this in the past year! That little tube leaked all over my hand when I wasn't paying attention. I was repairing a book of Sam's when it must have sprung a leak out the back end and peed glue all over my pinky and my ring finger. Stuck together they were, and right quick.

What is it with repeating my stupid mistakes lately?


(This website was helpful......)