Maebius Musing

Two friends and I are engaged in a fun Iron Chef challenge, using Artichokes as our secret ingredient.

See my blogroll (Kwitchery, andalso Nettle’s Blog) for details and updates.

My own entries, are all cold dishes, making a subtle nod the Northern regions we live in (relatively speaking). Simple picnic fare mostly, representing the humble joy of country life, and it’s casual connection to nature, yet still holding within it’s myriad ingredients a mirroring of the complex web of life. Each dish is topped with a fresh violet, symbolizing the spring season, and offering a token of friendship towards this chef’s lovely challengers. (Sound sufficiently Asian/esoteric?!?!)

-=- Appetizer -=-

First, we have a Artichoke Pâté, served on a bed of fresh Romaine leaves, surrounded by various multi-grain crackers and pita slivers. Garnished with a fresh violet leaf and flower. Recipe was mostly followed, with some minor adjustments in terms of slightly less olives, slightly more garlic, and a touch of cilantro-sprout to bulk out a slightly insufficient quantity of Parsley.

* 15oz artichoke-hearts, drained
* 4oz low-fat cream cheese
* 1/3 cup grated parm cheese
* around 3 Tbls fat-free mayo
* 1.5 tsp minced garlic
* 1-2 tsp lemon juice
* 2 Tbls finely chopped parsley
* 2 Tbls finely chopped black olives
* 2 Tbls chopped, roasted red peppers
* Salt and Cayenne pepper, to taste
Process the heck out of all ingredients, then leave in fridge for a while to let flavors blend. (will it blend? Yes!) Serve with starchy/firm accoutrements like crackers, breads, or melba toasts.
The taste was pleasingly subtle, with the initial tartness of the peppers, lemon, garlic, and artichokes offset by the cooling firmness of the cream cheese.

-=- Main course -=-

Artichoke pasta salad with grilled chicken. Grilled chicken tenders, marinated in artichoke juice & minced garlic, rubbed prior to grilling with a mix of paprika, oregano, salt and pepper. Served on a nest of linguine pasta tossed with more artichokes, black olives, peppers, olive oil, and cider vinegar, plus the seasoning mix used on the chicken, atop a plate of fresh romaine lettuce leaves. Served cold, except for the chicken, which was added at the last moment steaming hot off the grill.

While using similar ingredients to the appetizer, this meal was quite tasty. More tangy and very full of marinated artichoke flavor. The kid loved this a lot, especially due to “slurpy noodle” potential.

-=- Dessert -=-

I had planned to make an artichoke-based ice-cream (since EVERY japanese recipe seems to involve some sort of frozen treat using almost any ingredient you can imagine), but ran out of time to prepare it again, as the initial attempt did not work right. More of a sorbet, I rinsed marinated artichoke hearts to remove most traces of the vinegar and oil, and pureed them until smooth. Then I added about a quarter cup of table-sugar and some more water (less sweetness than traditional European Sorbets, more like Asian “green tea ice-cream” in palate).

Unfortunately, the making of good sorbet requires a constant freeze/mix cycle that I was unable to work into our schedule properly, and am not submitting without a proper consistency and last-minute tweaks of recipe to ensure a quality entry. My initial result either froze solid and needed quite a lot of blending/refreezing, or started to separate a bit and freeze mostly sugar-water on the top of a denser artichoke-dust.

While this entry may sound rather off-putting, it was not too bad by my initial test. The artichokes, once rinsed, became more of a binding agent than a flavor, and added merely a slight subtle ‘greenish-bitter’ taste to the otherwise sweet frozen sensation. I think removal of a bit more vinegar, or using fresh artichokes blanched/boiled, then powdered, might work better. Still nothing earth-shatteringly well received, but a unique dessert which does compliment the other two dishes in flavor.

Summary, the initial sweeter appetizer, with crunchy crackers, followed by a more hearty and savory-salad made for a fairly well-rounded meal. While the desert course was initially unsuccessful, it was mostly due to time and technique rather than a failure of ingredients, and got a head-shaking (semi-sarcastic) bonus point for creativity and risk-taking.

Bon Appétit!

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Inspired, somewhat loosely and somberly by this post, this thought kept bouncing around in my head today for some reason. (note: any sarcasm below is not intended to be directed towards Nettle or anyone else reading this…..consider this post privately cathartic and thought-provoking, not ranting)

Perhaps one underlying cause of a mis-balanced economic, ecologic, and commerce-centric infrastructure is due to overspecialization. In life, very few people want to be sailors; they want to be captains. Why be a soldier when you could aspire to be a general? Why be a slave when you could be a slave owner? Everyone wants to be great, and there simply aren’t enough peasants to go around, so people get frustrated and let their lives fall asleep. I am guilty of having a “great character” complex, so yes, I’m part of the problem.

I won’t pretend to ignore the problems with rising fuel/food prices, shortages, and the spiraling problems that affect not only our country, but the worldwide system. As Nettle mentioned, I too feel a certain fear and sadness that I probably can not do much to help those kids in Haiti who are starving and eating mud. But then I wondered, should I?
Should I rally against the world, selflessly burning my own resources to create some Great Charity which will help re-stabilize the socio-industrial machine? Should I cast off my own greediness and eat only minimal rice and beans so that the 3rd worlders don’t have to export their own meager supplies of grain to my bountiful abode? (a rhetorical question, of course).

Nettle describes her own efforts and lifestyle which certainly aligns with the current trendy ‘green’ lifestyle pushed by the eco-media lately, but I know she does them out of respect and her personal sacred paradigm. These simple efforts may not stop the suffering overseas, even if the entire east coast starts living to the same standards. It might be a start, but I doubt such efforts will resolve those issues within the next few decades, and by that time, Hubbert’s Peak will be a historical news-item, and our own culture will have moved on or pushed away.

But that does not mean the little things like buying local are useless.

It is the overspecialization of industry that makes the little local lifestyles like Nettles stand out and appear somewhat “puny”. Why grow a few tomato plants, a few corn stalks, a row of beans, and the like, when for far less personal investment, and with far greater efficiency, we can dedicate one large farm to beans, many fields to corn, and the like.

Problems like disease and natural disasters aside, monoculture makes real Economic sense in the short term! Even on a local level, my in-laws have a big garden which raises foodstuffs that are not found in my own personal garden. We share the bounty and are both enriched by it. It’s easy to extrapolate this outward to today’s mega-farms.

Yet, there crosses a point where the ‘mega’, becomes a mega headache. Even so, we humans still build and build, and build up each thing until it becomes top-heavy. I’m just as guilty of it.

Business, almost by definition, finds a niche and needs to grow until the niche is the standard. You either grow and expand, or you fail. Yet why should it be failure? Does everyoneneed to be the biggest best and baddest in the neighborhood? Human nature seems to say yes.
In the medical industry, this effect is being felt.

The AODA’s archdruid reported on this very topic, and it finally clicked with me. And his words are stated far better than my own ranting ones. Go read it if you want. I’ll wait….

But I wonder, what’s wrong with being a peasant? What’s wrong with a bit of humbleness? If we work in some little things every so often, our lives become simpler, and do not really require the existence of overspecialized industry. Walmarts would vanish (Doubt that will ever happen though).

This may sound like a plea for humanity to regress to a pre-industrial world, and in a sense it is…but I would hope it to be an intelligent regress. Having your own garden is a bit of work, true, and it is much easier to go shopping than it is to go weeding. I won’t deny that fact.

Yet, at least on out own tiny scale, the little changes add up. Being humble helps that person, personally. It may not feed the starving kids in Africa ( or elsewhere, since the shortages are felt in the US now), but making similar changes in my life might feed Me.

When it comes down to it, affecting ME is really the only thing I can do with assured success. I can help myself, and hope my own efforts offset the global gestalt so that one other kid gets to eat tomorrow. Maybe being humble, helps.

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Firstly, this is more rhetorical, but comments are greatly appreciated, as there are big shreds of truth behind the example. It’s been too busy to have a proper New Moon Musing, so pretend this is one, if you’d like….
Edit: pesky uploading-at-work filling the second part of this with ASCII garbage. I’ll re-upload when I get time this weekend…if I get free time online.

There comes a time as a parent, when one’s thoughts turn to the proper upbringing, and relationship of friend-but-THE-authority that evolves as a child ages. At first, during the stages of pregnancy, we planned all sorts of rules and regulations, the types of games we’d play, and the values we want to teach to our offspring.

In terms of socialization, it was discussed in great length the types of talks we would have as our only child went to school and inevitably encountered those “other kids” who might not have the same type of personality. You probably know what I mean here. The bullies who help give us opportunity to discuss social-anger redirection. The selfish kids who help teach that sharing is preferrable to hoarding the school’s toys. The teachers who help re-enforce an authority-figure status among adults. The list goes on.

And yet, in addition to the more immediate life-lessons presented in preschool, there is the fowarded parental gaze, which thinks of things to come. Girls, homework, college, girls (or guys, no pressure there), and the teenage angst-filled years to prepare for. Without dwelling on such topics, it is still something all parental types probably think about from time to time. (I hope that ALL parents do, but sadly, I know this is not a perfect world).

My musing this week, however is related to those types of questions when they involve someone other than one’s immediate offspring. Specifically in relation to the angst-filled teenage years. For example, the elder-child of a friend who stays over at our house. This other parent may have mentioned that they appreciate having us available as a safe place to visit, and enjoy our lifestyle and ethical acceptance of many less ‘mainstream’ ideals and philosophies. I do not judge easily, those who are welcomed into our home. Yet this means I become ultimately responsible for the care and teaching example-setting that happens around such guests.

Those who know me well probably know that I am not one to push my own values on others. I live as I live, and figure if folks appreciate my way of doing things, they are more than welcome to try them out too. Not all my friends would be as accepting of raising beef only to eat our ‘pets’ later. But I don’t hide the fact that the burgers for dinner were once named Norman if folks ask.

But what happens when I am asked specifically to impart some specific parental authority and wisdom towards those who may be a guest in our house? What if, one of our visitors displays some behavior that may not sit as safely within my comfortable acceptance zone? As an adult, and responsible party at our household, it is my moral obligation to address this topic. Yet as a chosen friend of the guest, my own nature does not wish to make waves and force a confrontation that could result in less happy feelings towards visiting us. Nothing actually happened during our visits, but our guest has told stories about events which cast a doubt in my mind about this person’s choice of friends. It’s the proxy-parent syndrome at it’s finest.

Mentioning, without going into details, this topic to the parental authority of our guest tends to result in an over-protective reaction, where my hesitant and minor complaints are overblown into “well, he better straighten up if he knows what’s good for him” style replies. This is also against my better judgement and not the nature of how I would deal with the topic at hand.

This whole situation involves nothing overly serious or illegal at the surface. It’s more a choice similar to “inviting the less popular kid to play Capture the Flag in the woods, and leaving them there to go do something else” rather than “vandalize the less popular kid’s locker or stink-bomb their house”.

Thus far, I have not addressed the situation with the younger guest myself, but feel some vague concern that I really should. On one hand, I think back to my own past and teenage years. At 16, I did a few things I wouldn’t encourage others to do, and yet I still think I turned out alright. One of my ‘favorite’ memories from Boy Scouts was replacing the drink mix with orange-flavoured laxative and watching the poor low-ranking kids play leapfrog with the outhouses all morning. Us teens could be downright mean, and I’d NEVER encourage this prank with my own son…yet I know something like it will happen.

We all live and learn lessons in life as we get out in the wilder world. I also had the luck of a decent set of parents, and stable home environment, which is a good bit different from the guest at our house. I have no personal reference point to make exact comparisons with.

So, to avoid rambling on for about eight more pages of hyperbole and vague comments (due to refusing to name specifics here), I’ll wrap things up for now.

To summarize my musings lately, what role does a surrogate parental figure have in relation to another teen who enjoys visiting us? Do I err on the side of authority and have a serious sit-down-talk, which I KNOW from experience (with other topics and another friend of ours regarding this person) will result in casting me out of the “safe place to hang out” and into “overbearing Parental figure” territory? Or do I err on the side of “being the cool safe place to hang out” and merely remind the real parent of my thoughts regarding the issues?

I don’t need answers from you, kind readers, for that is not why I muse here. Comments are welcome, but I plan to look back on this posting and see how things turn out in a few month, and wanted to put down in words what my brain’s been pondering this week.

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Recently, I was told about a potential opening at a nearby military-type base, for an IT support tech. Essentially, what I am doing now at my current job of 10 years, though with a more UNIX bend, while I have more Windows experience, and relatively no experience with Emacs or butterflies.

The pay for this ‘entry level’ position seems to be on-par with my current wages, (and with a 5 year gap of not even a cost-of-living increase here, that’s hardly surprising), and has the additional benefit of being a “government job”. This means much better benefits, potential to promote upwards as time/experience qualifies me, and a decent chance of retirement in 20 years or so, if current social economics stay the same, and the world doesnt suddenly go into a post-hubbard’s-peak implosion.

I am applying, though it is with a huge amount of fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

At the surface, and to everyone I’ve talked to, this is a great opportunity. Go for it, they cry, even if you take a minor pay-cut now, in 2 years you’ll be further ahead than you are at this current place. …and it does sound like a decent job, if I buckle down and brush up on my Unix and re-familiarize myself with Java instead of PHP.

However, I keep coming around to the question of “do I want this?”. I have generally thought in my inner-most worry that I simply do not think I prefer to be in an IT support position “when I grow up”. I can’t put my finger on it, and have written and said over and over in my head how to explain the doubt, but have yet to nail down the feeling in concrete terms. Don’t even try asking “Well what DO you want to be when you grow up?” because I’ve asked that very question over and over again, with little headway towards and answer.

In the interest of brainstorming phrases, proceed with caution below, this could get wordy…

I want to ‘Do something” with my job, and somehow, even at this current place, I dont get that satisfaction. I like the job itself, but every time a mouse or keyboard breaks, I replace it. This can be argued to be “helping” that customer do their job, but doesn’t seem to “fill my soul” in the same way that helping rake the neighbor’s yard does.<

I love computers, and don’t think I would deal well if I had to distance myself from the online world. World of Warcraft is an escape for me, from the drudgery of life, and a way to keep social contact with distant friends. Heck, even this blog is an online way to network for me. But I under that all, I keep thinking the online world is still “virtual”, and it would be even better if I could get involved with groups of people consistently off-line, such as the Open Drum group I recently found. The problem, is all my current outside interests involve camping, drumming, gaming, and other distinctly non-technical situations.

I have said and pondered before that my ideal “job/lifestyle” would be to own a hunk of land, grow things on it, and have either a teashop, or otherwise hold workshops there to teach others about herbs, winderness survival, ecological stuff, painting river rocks, etc.

For those who know what I mean when I say “I want Susan Weed’s land and workshop-meetings”, it fits my mental image of Utopia somewhat, though with a different focus. However, in that regard, I am also honest enough with myself to know that I do not have the business-mind to pull something like that off. I tend to start 10 projects before I finish the first one. If I was to suddenly win the lottery and all bills were paid off, I could see myself getting a teashop and paying people to actually run the place, while I helped be a creative influence in planning events, and helping restock shelves. …but then again, would I keep the interest up in 5 years, or would the novelty of non-computer-support wear off then?

Additionally, there is the matter of my current job. For all I complain about it, it’s not really that bad. Sure the boss is irritating, but aren’t we all at times? Granted, I have no immediate promotion opportunities unless I look outside this department, but that makes me at the “top of the heap” here on the bottom rung of this ladder. I’ve been here longest, I am frequently called upon to help with the tricky things, since I stuck around through the last 10 years worth of changes, and if not the most technical-minded, I know the processes that changed, and how they fit into the current workings of the company better than my co-worker. And I am willing to backup our night-shift operator in emergencies, often with only a few hours notice, unlike some other folks. I know the mainframe print position better than the official mainframe print operator. And because of how this, if I need to take an emergency day off to deal with something unexpected, I can simply walk over to my boss and say “I’ll be back tomorrow” and not feel bad about leaving early. King of the molehill is still a king, right?

In talking to my wife, we both agree that the worst that could happen is I grab a temporary place at McDonalds if needed someday. Heck, when I first moved to New York with nothing but a bag of soot-stained books and some spare clothes, I got hired at my current office within the week. I don’t mind temp-jobs and we can adjust financially without too much strain. Life has a way of helping work out the kinks and moving us all forward.

So, I sit at a tough crossroads here.
On one hand, there is an opportunity before me, which would require a change on my part, and a bit of re-learning to happen if I am hired. On the other hand, there’s the sinking feeling that if I stepped across that bridge, it would burst into flames and send me into the river below.

I can swim, no problem…but is the stick I might be grabbing for this journey tipped with sulpher and flint, or a nice comfy rubber-foot?

I don’t have the answer yet, nor do you. Could this even be the dreaded “Midlife Crisis?!” I doubt that.

I wanted to muse about it here, so there you go.

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Happy new Year New Moon!

This post is about food. Specifically, the sacred and divine nature of yummy-ness that is consumed to feed our bodies and thus fuel our daily activities, be they mundane or miraculous. Eating is necessary to survive, and most food is taken in to do simply that. but then there is Food. Food with a capitol ‘F’, and is something which is eaten to Nourish us. Things like rich, organic, 80% cocoa, chocolate bars. Things like fresh-baked bread with a drizzle of honey and butter.

But specific things we can eat, even twinkies, can become Food if we are mindful of their consumption, and attach a bit of thought and intent to the process of sticking in in our gut. Granted, some items are better suited for such sacrament, and Twinkies are not really recommended over healthy foods, but they work as periodic treats/rewards if you are so inclined.

Each day, I am trying to be mindful of my eating choices. Instead of grabbing a bowl of Sugary cereal(like Capt’n Crunch) I choose generic Raisin Bran. Instead of a shoveling in a fast-food lunch, I bring leftovers from home, which taste better and are cheaper. Little steps like this, while small, can add up quite well in the long run, and are helping transition my general eating habits. (See prior post regarding salad-craving).

In addition to choosing what I eat, and this choice is by NO means a strict diet, more of a “I’ll skip the soda today and have a tea” type of thing….In addition to that, I am making an effort to really acknowledge my food as I hold it up before my mouth.

The meatloaf leftovers I have…they taste good, and I remind myself this beef is/was part Norman (our cow). The potatoes are from either our garden or my in-laws. The beans, from the store, but once a green living plant.

I know we all realize on an intellectual level that beans are a plant, and beef=bovine, but the sacred part of what I am trying is to Remind yourself that, each and every time you take a nibble on some food. I don’t feel drawn to offering up a prayer and blessing to cows of the world when I eat a burger, but slowly, the more I am reminded that’s where the burger comes from, the more the deep inner bits of my spirit smile. I now am starting to find my food-origin thoughts are becoming a reflex, that the mental this=that connection springs to mind automatically now.

In the case of a Twinkie, I have to stop and think a bit more, realizing in some way, part of the cake was a wheat plant, which has gotten mangled, drowned, and tortured into the current form. It’s not quite as bad as those particular terms, but they sprung to mind when tracing back to the origins of a Twinkie. This process leads me naturally to think, along the lines of “wheat = grain, perhaps a granola bar or actual home-baked cake leftovers would still be yummy and more wholesome than the Twinkie”.

It won’t stop me from treating myself to one from time to time, but it does make the decision be more informed and help avoid mere cravings for sweet and concentrate more on when I’m actually just hungry. (Though actually I have not eaten an actual Twinkie for years, but is a good metaphor for other foods)

As I mentioned before, keeping up this practice for an entire month on something so ‘mundane’ and continually present in my life such as ‘food’, is practice for the habit of meditation.

Referencing what many would consider the more wholesome foods, such as “80% cocoa” or fresh whole-grain bread with local honey, the experience becomes a bit closer to what some might consider a sacred ritual.

Example of today’s meatloaf: we raised the cow which provided the meat in this meal. We dug in the dirt, and grew the spuds which accompany it. Consuming this food completes a circle of life and death. Gifts and effort on our part, returning to us again. Energy sent into the world, to care for and keep healthy a bunch of other living organisms is now providing myself energy and health. Can’t define magick better than that, can we?!

And since magic[k] as I understand it is so intertwined with spirituality, and I do believe that Norman had a spirit of his own, I am reconnecting with the divine Spark of Life by taking in this Food. It’s a subtle thing, and much deeper than my meager words can relate to you, but I hope you readers understand the concept between these words.

What we eat, if it is consumed with a nod to the origins, and with an occasional almost-reverence, is Food. Food nourishes our bodies and spirits. I challenge you folks to try this little practice for one week (or one cycle of the moon if daring). I’d love to see comments about the results.

And to paraphrase Valentine Michael Smith…….May you never Hunger.

-Nate

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