Letter to Julia 20111210

In the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful.

Life is like the rain. God sends it down from the sky, it nourishes and rejuvenates the vegetation, which bears flowers and fruit, then becomes dry stubble which the wind blows. Meanwhile, God is the Only One Who prevails over all things.

Oh, I'm getting old, Julia. I sing and play the drums for two hours, then I feel like passing out. Two hours! When I was your age, I could go on all night, and dance as well! Well, my wisdom makes the music better, but I gave up much of my libido along the way. But a young man usually has no idea what to do with his libido. What the hell am I saying? Well, you can have what's left of my libido, Julia.

HOW TO COOK WITHOUT COOKING OIL

Perhaps you would like to cut down on the oil content of your foods, or perhaps one does not have access to cooking oil because it is too expensive or unavailable because it was sold in bulk to a wealthier buyer. Most foods, no matter how fat-free, have some level of oil content. Most packaged oils today are produced from plants like soybeans, corn, coconut, peanut, olive, sesame, oil palm, flax, sunflower, safflower, cottonseed etc. While it can be tedious to press or boil meal to extract oil, that is certainly how the ancients did it back whenever, and most of them were dirt poor. Mulch the grain/seed into a meal, then press for oil. Or heat the meal in water, then separate the oil from the water.

More efficient would be to stretch one's oil dollar. One way is to fry items in a closed pot, preferably with the food elevated above the oil by using some sort of grille, so the food does not come in contact with the oil. The oil is heated to evaporation, and coats and cooks the food. Very hot! But less oil is used, and the food tastes less oily. Of course one can recycle cooking oil by straining it, and reusing it. I've heard stories of Italian housewives deep frying calzones in iron drums filled with ancient olive oil.

Animal fat is the way to go for a dense oil supply, plus protein at the same time. Don't throw away that beef fat or chicken skin! Cook the beef or chicken fat first in a dry pot or pan, then separate the oil to be used for cooking vegetables. Animal fat is denser, so you would use less of it. Not too much heat either, because burned animal fat leaves a lingering stench which is unbearable. Now, one would assume that ground meats like sausage would generate more oil, which can be true. But gyro meat, which is beef and lamb sausage, leaves an oil which is disgusting and totally inedible, and is only good for greasing bicycle chains.

Funny, huh? Tick, tock....