My Cooking Challenge

For a handful of years now (I cannot recall when I actually started) I have used Pinterest to save and collect recopies but what usually ends up happening is I find something that looks good and save it than forget about it or I will skim my Pinterest looking for ideas for dinner that night, or because I want to bake something but not sure what, and most the recipes I find have ingredients I do not currently have and either it is not in the budget to buy what I need or I Just don’t feel like going to the store. So I have created a challenge for myself. I have scrolled through to the very bottom of my Pinterest recipe board and I am going to plan to make everyone of my recipes starting from the bottom (the oldest items added) working up to the top (the newer items).

Now as I mentioned before I like to bake to there will be a large number of baked goods and sweet treats in my list but there are some savory items thrown into the mix as well.

Here is what I have made from my Pinterest recipes thus far:

S’mores bars: I love S’mores as many of us do but it is not always practical to make old fashioned s’mores. You might not have what you need on hand to make a fire, or the weather may not be conducive to being outside or maybe you just don’t want the hassle of the mess they can cause. This is a great, easy, and not overly time consuming way to have all the taste and texture components of a S’mores baked in your oven. They are quite additive and I almost prefer this alternative to the original S’more.

Pan Roasted Chicken and Vegetables:  A great hassle free easy dinner and very adaptable. Cut up some chicken, quarter some potatoes, add the vegetables and seasoning of your choice, and through in the oven.

Baked Chicken Parmesan; Chicken Parmesan has always been one of my favorite things to order when I go out but it always seemed a bit daunting to make. But this recipe made it fairly simple. I did some adaptations to it. Traditionally it is served over pasta, but my partner is not a big fan of pasta as a side dish (He likes his pasta full of meat and veggies) so instead I served it with an Italian style air fryer roasted potatoes and rosemary and Parmesan broccoli.

Ricardo’s Lemonade Chicken: A very tasty dish. The original recipe said to let the chicken marinate in the sauce for two hours and I completely forgot that step so around five’o clock I start getting things together to make dinner and do not want to wait an extra 2 hours, so instead I just coated the chicken in the sauce and than dumped the remaining sauce in the pan and simmered the chicken in it and it turned out great. I served it with a pineapple corn bread made in the crock pot (It was actually quite good) and a chili-lime rice.

Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies: I just baked these today, they are still cooling in the pan so I cannot comment on the taste or how they came out. I did sort of simplify the recipe. In order to get the swirl look you were supposed to divide the batter in half, and put the chocolate in half the patter and the peanut butter in the other half and than make a checkerboard pattern in the pan with the chocolate and peanut butter portions. Yeah I did not feel like doing it and did not really care if it looked pretty or fancy, I just wanted to eat something gooey and chocolaty so I Just miked it all up together.

Man Booker Prize and Beyond

I have decided to read the ENTIRE Man Booker Prize by which I mean not just the official winners but the long and short list as well. A bit excessive (or obsessive) perhaps? But I look it as a good reference to introduce myself to books I may not otherwise have come across of it I did had not originally thought to actually pursue. I have random system for choosing which books I read next so there is no special significance to the order they are listed in.

I will  divide the nominees from the winners to make it easy to distinguish which is which. I will post the books I have read thus far with some commentary as to my thoughts on the book.

For those books I have read prior to officially starting this challenge I will post separately.

Winners

Nominees

The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt: While I am not listing these books in any chronological order this happend  to be the book that really kicked off this challenge for me and gave me the idea to do this. It was in many ways a very interesting book that had a lot of elements which I very much enjoy. For one I love book that center around art and this book dealt with the contemporary art world. I thought it was quite poignant in its observations and criticisms and addressed the struggles of women in the art world. It also used multiple narrators and segments of letters, interviews etc.. to tell the story, which I generally find a compelling technique.

Derby Day by D. J. Taylor: I will admit there were parts of this book that were a bit dry and tedious but for all that it was still quite entertaining on the whole. It deals with the seedy underbelly of the Victorian Age particularly revolving around horse racing at the time.  I loved the dry statistical wit and there is an compelling (if not altogether respectable or likable) cast of characters) One of the things that was great about the book is that each chapter starts with a clipping from an actual Victorian newspaper or magazine/pamphlet.

Child 44 by Rob Smith: A very dystopic book that is yet set in actual history and revolves around events that truly happend. A book set in Communist Russia it features Leo Demidov a loyal MGB officer who becomes wrapped up in an investigation involving the murder of children which ultimately begins to make him question everything he has done for his government and his former faith in his government. There is a lot going on in this novel, it is a murder mystery but also so much more. A good fast paced thriller.

English Passengers by Matthew Kneale: This was in many ways a very unique book. I was first drawn to it because of my enjoyment of seafaring novels. I did think that it got off to a bit of a slow start, but by midway through I was quite hooked. It has a great satirical humor. Most of the characters of in many ways quite awful people but that should not be a deterrent for reading the book. It is very much a parady of English Colonialism. It details the English colony of Australia when it was used as a dumping ground for prisoners as well as the interactions between the English and the Aboriginals.

Feasting, Fasting by Anita Desia: I thought this book was quite lyrically and beautifully written. It was one of the those books in which I did want to keep turning page after page. It is the book of a young girl, Uma, growing up in India who does not quite fit in. She lacks the beauty and grace of her younger sister, and she is clumsy at the domestic chores her family (and the society and culture of the time) expect of her. She loves school and wishes more than anything to continue her education and yet she is in spite of her best efforts a poor student. In addition we have a few rather eccentric relatives.  A rather religiously zealous Hindu aunt and black sheep of the family uncle who Uma into a few misadventures.

The Gate of Angels by Penelope Fitzgerald: A quite delightful book about how the lives of two people are quite drastically changed after a rather misfortune bicycle collision. A rather charming humorous book.

 

Read Pre-Challenge

A Brief History of Seven Killings by  Marlon James (Winner)

Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel (Winner)

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (Winner)

Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Winner)

The Blind Assassin by Margret Atwood (Winner)

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (Winner)

Possesion by A. S. Byatt (Winner)

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (Winner)

The Bone People by Keri Hulme (Winner)

Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie (Winner)

The North Water by Ian McGuire (Nominee)

The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng (Nominee)

Room by Emma Donoghue (Nominee)

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell (Nominee)

On Chisel Beach by Ian McEwan (Nominee)

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (Nominee)

Saturday by Ian McEwan (Nominee)

Cloud Atlass by David Mitchell (Nominee)

The Master by Colm Tobin (Nominee)

Oryx and Crake by Margret Atwood (Nominee)

Atonement by Ian McEwan (Nominee)

Alias Grace by Margret Atwood (Nominee)

Black Dogs by Ian McEwan (Nominee)

Such A Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry (Nominee)

Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood (Nominee)

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (Nominee)

An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro (Nominee)

Empire of the Sun by J. G. Ballard (Nominee)

Shame by Salman Rushdie (Nominee)

A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul (Nominee)

The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark (Nominee)

Fire from Heaven by Mary Renualt (Nominee)

Eva Trout by Elizabeth Bowen (Nominee)

Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brien (Nominee)

 

 

Let Art Speak Don’t Strangle It

Just because someone creates something that acknowledges a tragic event and uses it for inspiration in some way does not mean they are in fact intending insult, mockery or by default making less of the event or trivializing it. People need to turn the sensitivity meter way down and not just react automatically whenever their sensitivity meter flashes a red-flag that something is “insensitive” or “offensive” and take a moment to actually think and consider before lashing out. This is one of the bad things about the internet you get that instant response so you just spout off you knee-jerk reaction (yes I am aware of the irony that I am doing the something).

So the issue at hand is there is a fashion house who makes dystopian inspired clothing and they created a new line of what they call “School Shooting Hoodies” which are hoodies that are riddled with bulled holes and of course people are outraged and offended and think it is horrible. Now here is the problem with that response. Fashion design is a form of art should create poignant commentary on our society and address what is happening in the world around us. As mentioned above it should not presumed they are being malicious, that they are mocking the event or the victims, that they are making light of it. But rather I see it as an acknowledgement of this epidemic that we our facing. It is a commentary on the truth of what is happening, It is raising awareness to the tragedy.

Now I  can hear some people already saying but they are using this as a way to profit. Cars all over the place are plastered in little stickers or magnets of ribbons of blue, black, yellow, pink and every other color representing a vast array of causes. Tragic things which have happened to people that have become “causes” and are marketed to be people to display to raise awareness. Someone created these things because they believed they could make money off of it.

I do not see the hoodies as different. They raise awareness, they force people to remember that this happened and they are in fact more visually impactful than just slapping a yellow or red or whatever ribbon on your car.

Art makes people talk. Art makes people think and people talking and thinking about serious issues is a good thing.

If someone was wearing one of these hoodies out and about town while many people might think they were just wearing an old hoodie full of holes, someone might actually make a comment to them about it, ask about it and they can explain what it means and why they are wearing it and this will generate more awareness and discussion on the issue.

 

 

A New Government

We all know that the government just isn’t working and has become a clusterfuck and frankly it has gone beyond the point where it can be fixed by simply voting in new people will make a change because no matter what side they are on they are all the same and the system is so broken that even if someone had good intentions they would not be able to function and get anything useful done.

Government has to be entirely resurrected for there to be any real change so I have come up with a new system of government to address many of the problems that we currently face.

I have come to the conclusion that we need an oligarchy type system. There needs to be a diverse council that rules us. There would be members that represent various different fields that would be necessary for running a country. For example there would be a social economics expert, an environmental scientist, someone experienced in world affairs (and so on), and it would be a requirement that there is always at least one atheist on the council to serve as the “religious control”  to be the watchdog against religious corruption creeping into the government and to prevent laws based upon any religious belief from being made.

The council members would be elected but some things in the election process would be different to prevent the same issues we have now from creeping back in.

To start with there would be no political parties. The government would not recognize any political party and none of the candidates would be permitted to declare, identify with, or affiliate with any party.

There would be particular specifications for running for council. The candidate would have to choose what particular position they want to run for and prove they are qualified to meet it. For example one would have to select the Social Economics seat to run for and prove they are educated in this field and have working experience with it.

Campaigning would be different. Candidates would not be allowed to use their own money not accept donations from any source. Each candidate would be given a campaign budget by the government. They would all receive the same amount of money and that is the only money they will be permitted to use on their campaign.  It will no longer be a question of who has the most money, who can raise the most money, who accepts the most money from this or that group, but simply who budgets and plans the best. When a candidate either chooses to drop out or looses they money they have left is rolled back into the government campaign budget.

In order to get things done and be able to make real progress as well as to try and cut back more on corruption so council members are not campaigning again almost as soon as they get elected they would serve a 10 year term but to keep an eye on how they are doing an insure that incompetence or corruption does not just run rampant the members of their particular fields would be able to evaluate their performance and put in a petition to have them removed if they appear to be preforming poorly.  For example individuals who work in environmental science will evaluate how the council member in the Environmental Science position is preforming and if he is fairly and honorably serving the requirements of that position. If the person who is supposed be serving environmental science decides to vote to allow drilling for oil in a nature preserve fellow environmental  scientists can vote to have them removed before their term is up.