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)

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.

Anyone see a pattern?

Wave bye-bye!

Gaza City غزة

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.

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.

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.