Saturday, December 8, 2007

Food of the Incas

Made two loaves of half quinoa and half whole wheat today. Kneading it was a bit bizarre~ it was unbelieveabley sticky and wet so I had to keep adding flour to it. It rose twice as much as usual and required 25% less cooking time. It's got a gorgeous nutty taste and a surprising (but not so bad) bitter aftertaste.


But why quinoa? Check it out:





- NASA designated it as THE "controlled ecological life support system crop" due to its high protein content and perfect amino acid balance.



- the Catholic Church supressed it due to its importance in "heathen" ceremonies...


- contains loads of fiber, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, and it's gluten free!


- it's grown organically up in the highlands of Peru and Bolivia and hand harvested by Sergio (see below)

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Penny Wong

Senator Wong bacame the highest ranking politician from South Australia after Rudd nominated her as the Minister for Climate Change and Water. She is the nation's first openly gay and first Asian-born person to serve in a PM's cabinet. She studied in Brazil, does yoga, plays Sudoku to relax and will accompany the PM to Bali for the UN Climate Change Conference. She's only 39 years old. Damn, I gotta get to work on my life.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Anyone see a pattern?















Wave bye-bye!






Gaza City غزة


Monday, November 19, 2007

All look same?





Do you think everything Chinese, Korean and Japanese looks the same? Or do you think you are Asia-savvy enough to tell the difference? Take the tests and see for yourself.

I made the mistake of relying on fashion and hairstyles more than facial features in trying to discern the faces - I only got about half correct. I realized later that these people are residents of NYC making the former traits less reliable than if they had been photographed in their home countries. The art, food and architecture tests were much easier.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

And the stars look very different today...

My new hobby is collecting astronauts. Here are a few
of my favorites. Above you see Yi So-Yeon and Ko San from South Korea. Below is Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor - Malaysia's first rocketman.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Who needs Second Life? Get a Real Life!!


This game was designed for social studies students but I am addicted and have to admit I've learned a lot about how friggin lucky I am in such a cruel and random world. In the game, just like in life, you are born according to probability - half of the time in China or India and 95% of the time poor. However, as you age you are given choices - how to spend your free time, whether or not to pursue romance, when to move out on your own, whether to immigrate legally or illegally, as well as lots of moral decisions (help a beggar, do a shady business deal, have an abortion, protest against the government, etc). It's quite complex and much better to play than to explain.



In my "first life" I was born a bi-sexual boy into a poor family in China, but studied hard and became an entertainment technician in Guangzhou. Saved up my money and immigrated to Overland Park, Kansas where I landed a sweet job as a lab technician. Retired in Scottsdale, but got bored and moved to Mexico where I had an affair with a hot construction worker 20 years my junior. I died at 80 from diabetes. My next life I was born a girl in northern Kenya - I died at 2 years old from malaria.

Recently I was born into a struggling working-class family in Slovenia but I noticed that compared to the rest of the world we were incredibly rich. After I got a job, we became upper-middle class and our economic level compared to the rest of the world was completely off the chart. Makes you truly appreciate your privilege and gives you the realization that life can turn out billions of different ways.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Hakodate 函館


This is one of my favorite places in Japan. A gritty port city in Hokkaido crammed onto a thin isthmus with Russian, British, and American clapboard consulates dating from the 1800's. Old houses, funky bars, and a Russian Orthodox church wind their way up Mount Cow's Back to a park and viewing area (in the foreground). Red brick warehouses around the port (left side) were converted into restaurants, shops and a microbrewery. A star-shaped castle (back-left corner) and a fairly nice beach (along the right side) are worth a look and the whole place is cyclable. Hakodate is home of the ika-odori (squid dance) - performed by locals at the summer port festival. Go to the morning fish market to taste fresh crab and squid - and in the evening have a beer at the Comfortable Octopus or Peace Place - friendliest bars in town.

Friday, October 26, 2007

New Hero: Rod Serling



Writer and narrator of The Twilight Zone was apparently an anti-censorship and anti-corporate rebel of sorts. Check out his interview by a handsome (who knew?!) Mike Wallace in 1959 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ8dTT2BRp4). You should see it if only to watch how many cigarettes they fucking smoke! My favorite part is where Rod describes how some wacko fundamentalists pressured his sponsor to censor a Lassie episode he wrote where Lassie has puppies. The fundies couldn't handle the suggestion that animals have sex!! I'm well impressed by how articulate he is and the fact that capitalistic control of creativity was so openly discussed in mainstream media back then. Unfortunately it makes me feel that things never change... Who is the Rod of the 2000's? Hao Wu?

Friday, October 19, 2007

Mother of the year

Mauzi - do you worry about the sound of jackhammers?
(found on Boingboing via haha.nu)

Friday, October 12, 2007

Cartagena, Colombia

A view of Bocagrande - the part of the city that stretches out into a thin little stip around the bay. So many cool pics of this place, it was difficult to choose just one.

Monday, October 8, 2007


Had to use a google-searched image of autumn because in reality the leaves aren't quite changing yet, but it's cool and rainy here today - and after sweating like a hog all last week in the Tokyo sauna - it feels like fall has finally come to relieve us. Am wearing my cozy flannel shirt and have the windows open to let the end-of-the-year "spider musk" smell into the house. Gonna curl up on the sofa with a huge mug of cinnamon tea and Ray Bradbury's The October Country and listen to U2's "Stranger in a Strange Land". Later, I'll have crunchy green apples and cheddar for a snack and draw up plans for this year's Halloween costume. I love the bittersweet nostalgia that comes from memories of buying new notebooks and pens for school at the TG&Y and my hands getting cold riding my Schwinn to Todd's house over on Lamppost Lane. Now if the friggin' mosquitoes would just leave me alone...

Friday, October 5, 2007

Do you see any students in this picture?


Walked into my Business Basics class yesterday and this is what I saw. Empty chairs far and wide. It's not unusual for only half the kids to show up, but this is ridiculous. I waited about 20 minutes then left a message on the board to email me if someone showed up. I failed 50% of them last semester for poor attendance and look at all the good that did. The bright side is that I don't have to plan a lesson for next week~

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Where th'... part ??


Love this pic 'cause it has a sort of fake look to it - like it's a model train set or something. It's San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

War is cute

Yesterday was the 52nd anniversary of Japan's surrender to the Allies of WWII. I noticed a dozen elderly people with banners and leaflets standing outside Kawagoe Station in the 40+ heat reminding people of the dangers of military aggression. God luv 'em - none of those iPodded kids nor the harried housewives seemed to give a shit. However, don't think the Japanese haven't learned a grave lesson in empire building. They reduced their military (in name) to a "defense force" and only recently was the defense department allowed to become a regular ministry in the civilian government. But what says it all (to me anyway) is the logo adopted by the fascist goosesteppers - oops, I mean, defense forces - for their occupation of - arg, I mean, dispatch into non-combat territory in Iraq. Who would suspect such an adorable character as that of invading and pillaging your country? Oh, by the way, his name is "Prince Pickles". I shit you not. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070221f3.html

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Mangosteeeeen!



I can't believe these are in my supermarket now... I haven't had one in years and it was even better than I'd remembered.


"The mangosteen has only one fault; it is impossible to eat enough of it, but, strictly speaking, perhaps that is a defect in the eater rather than in the fruit."

Eric Mjöberg

Friday, July 13, 2007

Death visits the garden


The mantis that ate the minty aphids was found bitten in two... her once bright emerald eyes a dull black. We buried her under the monkey grass and then I desperately searched for her two sisters - neither of which I found. Totally depressed and further alarmed by the spreading yellow patch in the grass, I thought I could sense the sweet rotting smell of death creeping over the garden walls. Could winter be coming so soon?



Monday, July 9, 2007

Cool Asian Art

Check out the latest in Asian modern art : http://www.startdrawing.org/home/
(thanks Metafilter!)


I spent the better part of two hours wandering around here and looking for ways to buy prints of this stuff!


One of my favorites is a Malaysian guy named Munako - he recently did a series involving Ultraman's homoerotic relationship with Godzilla. Would love to have this stuff hanging in my genkan.

Monday, June 25, 2007

FREE BEER!!

About a month ago Shinichi and I were in the supermarket and a woman who worked there came up and asked us if we liked beer. "Well, duh! Like, yeah!" I said ( but in Japanese). She handed us postcards to fill out which were sent off to the Suntory Brewery and we totally forgot about it until... the postman arrived surrendering 4 cans of Suntory Premium Lager!! Can you believe it? Free beer delivered right to our door! See? Miracles do happen.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

夏至 Summer Solstice

In celebration of the summer solstice, Shinichi and I took part in the 1,000,000 Person Candle Night (http://www.candle-night.org/).

At 8:00pm we turned off our computers, lights, fan, dishwasher, and stereo. Then, with windows open and 5 candles lit, we sat on the tatami and enjoyed the peace and quiet. The point was to detach from "civilization" for two hours and to think about the world as one place, but we actually just fell asleep. I must say it was nice not to have the temptation of the Internet constantly beckoning for attention.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Part III


A gold coin for the name of this southern city...

Friday, June 15, 2007

Where th'...? Part II

Hint: it ain't Pittsburgh

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Where th'...?

Un besote for the first person to guess this city...

Monday, June 11, 2007

Poopy Picker


I've seen dog-owners here lovingly wiping the fuzzy bottoms of their canine pals after doing a jobbie on the road, but I had no idea that there were special products out there for doing just that. I wandered through the pet section of the supermarket and saw "Poopy Picker - good manners good dog life". Ahhh Japan, land of the clean heinies.

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Working hard and slacking off... is there something I'm missing?

Stumbled across this comic while researching Porfirio Díaz and the history of the artichoke (yep... totally slacking off). Reading the first two panels you see on the right gave me a feeling similar to the one you get when you suddenly realize you've missed your train stop after spacing out for too long. In spite of the sunny weather this week, I've had the blues for no good reason and am finding it impossible to shake off the funk. Beer doesn't help, going into Tokyo didn't work, yoga, movies, reading, studying Spanish... everything seems so over planned and repetitive or else carries the feeling of obligation. Then I read this and it all makes sense... I've transcribed it below 'cause it's too small to read.

Take wrong turns. Talk to strangers. Open unmarked doors. And if you see a group of people in a field, go find out what they're doing. Do things without always knowing how they'll turn out.

You're curious, smart, and bored, and all you see is the choice between working hard and slacking off. There are so many adventures that you miss because you're waiting to think of a plan. To find them look for tiny interesting choices. And remember that you are always making up the future as you go.

This artist/physicist (Randall Munroe) has created some laugh-out-loud classics - especially appreciated by computer nerds (Shinichi), scientists (Phil), and even wannabes like me and Cinny. If Navajo code talkers, the internets, and captioned cat pictures tickle you in the right spot, then go to:

http://www.xkcd.com/archive/

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Liberator or thug?

I've been following Chavez for about 5 years and have been alternately impressed and frustrated by him. I respect several of the programs his administration has put into action (especially in education like the Mision Robinson: http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=42510&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html), but I cringe when he pulls shit like announcing the cell phone numbers of his critics on TV and asking his supporters to call and harass them.


Lately, he's been getting a lot of flak for, as CNN put it, "forcing a TV station off the air". It's not quite as dramatic as all that. Actually, he is simply not renewing RCTV's license to broadcast over public airwaves. They still get to show their soap operas and game shows on cable and satellite. Seems like they got off pretty easy considering they committed the treasonable offence of inciting people to overthrow a democratically elected president. What if CNN anchors started telling Americans to overthrow Bush? As much as I might like that to happen, I can appreciate that the illegality of that situation would cause more damage than good.

In any case, Chavez and RCTV are both right and they are both wrong. Alan Mota explains it in detail: http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?no=363833&rel_no=1



With all of the propaganda and misinformation being beamed at us constantly, it's easy to think everything is in black and white. The situation in Venezuela seems to be the rich vs. the poor or freedom against tyranny (depending on whose side you are on). However, if you do a bit of research, you'll find a myriad of opinions and differnet ways of perceiving the situation. In Venezuela there are other forces at work besides the wealthy elites and the teeming Chavistas.

!Vivan los Libertarianos y Anarquistas!http://www.nodo50.org/ellibertario/english.html


Lots of discussion on BoingBoing: http:http://www.boingboing.net/2007/05/28/venezuelan_media_cra.html//


The Mefites have something to say as well: http://www.metafilter.com/61570/Venezuela-replaces-opposition-TV-with-state-network

Saturday, May 26, 2007

100%ChocolateCafe

Last year a cafe opened in Chuo-ku that serves chocolate... only chocolate. Choclate drinks, chocolate pasteries, chocolate ice cream, and, well, chocolate. Can't believe I've never heard of it until now. Take a gander at the website and try not to drool into your keyboard. http://www.meiji.co.jp/sweets/choco-cafe/shop/index.html
















Friday, May 25, 2007

Heads up!



Something random I saw on the way to put the trash out this morning...

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Russian roulette recipe a la Google

All that was in the kitchen was a half-box of couscous, freezer-burned shrimp, a wrinkling red pepper, and a sliver of some forgotten feta. Had no energy to think of what to cook and couldn't be bothered going to the supermarket either. I typed in the four previously mentioned rations into the Google bar, added "recipe" and what to my wondering eyes should appear than a recipe that called for those exact ingredients! Slowly simmered the couscous in veggie boullion and saffron. Meanwhile fried the shrimp with onions, the red pepper, red wine vinegar, about ten cloves of garlic, and various herbs. Threw it all together and crumbled the feta on top. It called for zucchini, but no way was I going to pay 300yen for one of those things. Next time I will add peas and olives but leave out the shrimp!

Monday, May 7, 2007

Smoothie Season~


It's warm enough now to have smoothies for breakfast and the supermarket started carrying this wonderful ingredient: soymilk with pineapple and coconut juice!! Add yogurt, banana, and frozen mango. Makes it worth getting out of bed.

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Arthropodic treats

Had a couple of pieces of pastry dough left over from a veggie pie I had made so drizzled honey on them and added cinnamon, nutmeg, and crushed pecans. Rolled 'em up and put 'em on the rack of our new super-duper-can-cook-anything-perfectly steam oven and let the vaporized water do its magic. The bottoms sunk through the grill creating dozens of "legs" as you see in the pic. I carefully pried them out, placed them on the crazy samurai plate, then concealed their hideousness beneath generous shovelfuls of vanilla ice cream. The tops were warm and flaky; insides gooey, sweet and piping hot; and the "feet" were a searing crispy honey-toffee... unbelieveably good for things that look like a couple of overfed centipedes.

Sunday, April 22, 2007