Freedom is a shoebox

I just came by for a glass of Mavrodaphne

and instead got a shoebox full of dollars

what arrogance at a time when one bitcoin would have sufficed to buy

a few cucumbers

Let's not talk politics while we starve our children

and drink Hammy's stuff when we could be enjoying Baumard

or quietly just basking in the shadow of 

our intimate friends

a slice of toast and thou

company in our precious solitude

perhaps never to be attained again

(2022)

Recipe for Simple Burmese Fried Rice - Modernized

Burmese fried rice is as simple as it gets.  Take a handful of cooked garbanzo beans (chickpeas), mix them in with some leftover stale rice and fry in a little peanut oil - some salt to taste - and serve!  Although it is that simple, it is much loved by many who have a chance to taste it.  How it is made has a lot to do with the final outcome - and some even say that love makes it taste better!

The measure of my tastes (March 2015) - Our Daily Bread

There is nothing quite like producing something from practically nothing.  Water, some flour, a tiny amount of yeast and another tiny amount of salt - together with heat and time - results in bread. Once upon a time it was thought that making bread also involved quite a bit of energy - and perhaps salt from the physical exertion supposedly required in the process of kneading the dough.

The measure of my tastes (March, 2013) - On brewing and drinking tea.

Sitting in the lobby of a posh British hotel at teatime is a good time to meditate on the reason why tea is one of the most sophisticated drinks on the planet.  And it is not just the British who have a monopoly on its appreciation.  There are many cultures which celebrate life and friends and the passing of time with them, over a pot of tea.  This celebration ends up being refined to what might appear as extreme as in the case of the Japanese tea ceremony, or as simple as a desert nomad preparation of a pot of water and tea over a fire of a bunch of broken-up twigs while the cold wind howls all around.  Even now, as I sip an excellent grade of gyokuro Japanese tea which is served in elegant British porcelain china cups, I learn the simple etiquette that a guest may have as many pots of as many different teas as they wish (although British sensitivities would probably preclude asking for more).

The chandelier of the Corinthia lobby in a cup of gyokuro - November 2012

Poem for a 60th Birthday.... (Posted late)

It has been a while
From the time when
I could remember a friend's laughter


Until today

Folded Cake "Khauk Moan(t)" (Burmese)

Sitting on a brick

        The woman fans a small fire which itself is surrounded by bricks

A little fortress holding up

   ... the flat pan which she has just whisked with a scant amount of butter

                    Payment rendered, we watch her choreographed movements with anticipation

                    The mastery of the folded cake

Gem Identification

Find a stone....


Rub it gently until all the dirt has been removed


Sometimes you can find bright colors that way.

Aged Food - The longer the better. Hong Shao

Continuity
Exists in many dimensions
Not just in the (x,y,z) coordinates

A cup of Pu'erh.

Last year, thanks to several outstanding blogs (and to several outstanding sources),  I was able to effectively reduce my cholesterol level.  Perhaps it was my very kind (and immensely patient and understanding) physician's treatments, but I am going to credit this particular success to tea.  I don't think I will be rescinding that decision anytime soon.

Big Brother is WATCHING...

We don't want our government to be a big brother to us - but - we have no issues with our government being a BIG brother to the rest of the world.

Pork Curry with Mango Pickle [Burmese]

Burmese Pork and Pickle Curry

The most complex dishes can be created from a few simple and basic ingredients.  As in Cajun cooking, the basic ingredients for Burmese dishes consist of onions, garlic and ginger where varying the amount of any one ingredient significantly changes the tastes and textures of the finished dish. This is one which I consider to be a "fusion" of various Asian components: Chinese soy sauce; Indian mango pickle cooked in the standard Burmese manner.  Goes well with a mound of freshly cooked white rice (we use "Haiga" or "Gen ji mai" polished brown rice) and a medley of freshly sliced veggies (cucumber, cabbage, tomatoes, Thai pea-eggplants, etc.)

A good mango pickle

Ingredients:

• 1 lb pork butt cut into 2x2 cubes (could go as high as 2 lbs)
• spice mix for marinade: powdered coriander seed, red hot pepper powder, ginger powder, onion powder, garlic powder, turmeric powder, fish sauce, soy sauce, small pinch of sugar, big pinch of salt
• 1 large onion chopped fine
• 3 cloves garlic chopped fine (or crushed)
• 1 slice ginger
• [Optional - a few potatoes cubed to the same size as pork]
• 2 T oil
• 2 cups stock

Method

1).  Mix pork with spices and leave to marinate for an hour or so.
2). When ready to cook, heat oil (moderate heat) and saute onions until translucent and the smell has dissipated.  Add garlic and ginger and saute for 2 minutes. 
3). Increase heat to med-hi. Add all of the pork and marinade ingredients and stir until the pork is browned. 
4). If using potatoes, put pork aside on a plate and saute potatoes in remaining oil.  Add more oil if the pan dries out.  When potatoes have been seared, return pork to pan. 
5). Wash out the bowl that the pork was marinated in and pour this over the pork in the pan.  Add stock to cover and bring to a hard boil.  Reduce heat and taste.  If needed, add salt and/or sugar.  Simmer until pork is cooked.  The gravy will be thick and should be the consistency of heavy cream.  If it is thicker than that, add a bit of water - a tablespoon at a time.  Best to let this sit for a few hours and let the tastes blend before reheating and serving.
6). Reheat, put into serving bowl and put a dollop (1 tablespoon or so) of chopped pickled mango on top.  Sprinkle chopped fresh cilantro on top if desired.

The end

Haiku: "Old Pond" (Quoted)

The best-known Japanese haiku is Bashō's "old pond":

古池や蛙飛込む水の音

ふるいけやかわずとびこむみずのおと (transliterated into 17 hiragana)

furuike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto (transliterated into romaji)

This separates into on as:

fu-ru-i-ke ya (5)

ka-wa-zu to-bi-ko-mu (7)

mi-zu no o-to (5)

Translated:

old pond . . .

a frog leaps in

water’s sound

Raw ingredients

You don't have to go too far back in human history to find someone eating uncooked meat and veggies.

The taste of a pear.

I have taken wine and beer appreciation classes, and they help to highlight the characteristics of these beverages in relatively standard terms.  However, I am often dismayed when I cannot identify tastes and aromas of which some critic has waxed eloquent  - in the glass of wine which I have just poured for myself!  There are a few "characteristics" which often come through in a specific type of wine.  Sauvignon Blanc, for example, has a "lemony" character in taste - and who cannot remember the taste of a lemon?  On the other hand, the description of "chalky" generally completely baffles me.  Although I have tasted chalk in my childhood (and it is another one of those tastes which I believe no one forgets), no wine that I have had has ever actually tasted of chalk [Montrachet].  Pencil shavings [Cabernet Sauvignon]?  Clearly a memory that lingers is ...  A pear?

Aging it - Pi Dan (Chinese)

The measure of my tastes (2012)

I grew up a foodie.  I am not exactly sure how that happened.  Perhaps because my father would take me to formal dinners to which he was invited and to which my mother would not attend.  Perhaps due to having a cook who could and would cook anything we requested - no dish was beyond his reach.  By the time I was 7, I had already learned to cook a complete meal, and had tasted various dishes from caramel custard to deep fried crickets.  My later years, however, were formed and influenced by several people whom I never met.

Tea vs. Coffee

The choice of these two as alternative drinks has always been a source of puzzlement for me.  Living part of my childhood above "Ko Aye's tea shop" at my grandmother's downtown building  - one which always had a huge cauldron of "milk tea" - and smelling the fantastic aroma of that tea,
I had no real concept of coffee until I arrived in America - the ultimate land of coffee drinkers.  My early working life's memories consisted of trips to the place where coffee was provided as part of the company benefits.  In those younger days, it was not unusual for me to ingest six to ten cups (mugs actually) of coffee within the short span of about 6 hours.  The subsequent effect was sufficient to provide a certain perceived level of energy - which I am not quite sure was actual.

Re-grouping and rethinking this blog site.

It has been a while since I last posted to this blog, and I owe you my readers an apology and an explanation.

After taking an initial stab at writing, I realized that there are many things I want to say - but much of those have already been said by many writers on the internet - some of whom are held in significant regard.  Repeating those would be a waste of your time (and mine).  So I took some "time out" to reconsider my approach to this blog space and to think things through.  Particularly to consider if there was anything which I might write which in some way would provide a personal and different, if not useful, perspective on things.  For example, I love food and drink (and photography and travel and a few other things).  And so do (practically) millions of others who write in blogs.  Some write about restaurants and dishes they have had, or about food and drink they have a personal interest in (my favorite is Hobbes - a British Mathematician who writes mostly about "sheng puerh" - which is also known as "raw" puerh tea) or, in general, on some "focused subject" such as family, God, politics, etc.  Most are reviews of things.  I would be doing them all a disservice if this blog was yet another repetitive experiment reviewing things!  Many of those who know me also know that I am not quite that focused! My contribution to your entertainment would definitely require a representation of the "true me".  This would require me to write a blog that varies in focus from article to article - yet provide some thread of continuity over time. Of course, there is no way to totally avoid a "review type" blog  - so I will have to justify that writing style when using it, by adding the "personal aspect" of photographs and so forth.

Super Bowls

The city with the winning team is probably energized.

The city with the losing team is not motivated to get to work early.

September to Maine - Day 4

We slept in.  The only thing we had to do today was get home - and even that was open to discussion if we found someplace nice to stay at along the way.  There was no set time when you had to be seated for breakfast.  No community dining.  Do what you want, when you want.  So - we slept in.
But as usual, hungry mouths must be fed and we were lulled into action by the smells of breakfast below.   J2 declared the coffee good - which was a resounding accolade.  The coffee service is set up in the main hall and is self-serve: