Thursday, July 31, 2014

Letter to Julia 20140731


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

There is a feedback loop going on in my cooler.  At the same time, my cooler is a dead end for food.  My cooler is like one of those fractal deep zooms, but not as pretty.  I live alone with my cats, so if I don't eat it, and the cats don't eat it, then it goes into the trash.  Perhaps I could give it away, but that's easier said than done, especially since I already give away much food in the form of raw foods.  I don't have many friends.  And I accumulated a lot of food over Ramadan.

My cooler isn't very big, about 3/4 or less the size of a typical one door cooler you would find in a modern home.  So what's in the cooler?  Let's see: steak, chicken breast, a snapper head, 3 chicken ribs, 2 containers of sambal udang (prawns in a hot pepper sauce), rendang (beef in spicy coconut and lemongrass sauce), snapper roe, burgers, butter, coconut milk, pastry dough, sliced cheese, fried anchovies, chocolate chips, bamboo shoots, tamarind, 2 containers of mole sauce, sardine dip, soybean milk, chrysanthemum tea, rose tea, 3 big bottles of water, 2 containers of Mom's sweet pickle, ginger, turmeric, hot peppers, oyster mushrooms, yeast, sourdough starter, 2 containers of salted fish, leftover shepherd's pie, 2 eggs, a bottle of Worcestershire sauce, a bottle of dipping sauce for fish crackers, home made mayo... is that it?  Oh yeah... a kilo of sugar,  5 kilos of rice, and 2 kilos of Atta flour which I have to keep in the cooler because the bugs have figured out how to get through the packaging.  I'm sure I missed some items.

So I had to stop accepting food, and start eating all the food in the cooler, or it would go to waste.  So for dinner just now, I made a stew of most of the bamboo shoots with garlic, onions, seaweed, mushrooms in anchovy broth.  I put the snapper head in there, and let it simmer.  Then I took the fish head out, and added ramen noodles and chopped hot peppers.  I dismantled the fish head and removed the flesh.  The stuff behind the eyes is awesomely tasty.  I put the stew in a large bowl, then sprinkled the fish meat on top.  Oh no!  I made too much food!  I have leftovers!

You must join me regularly for eating.  Please?  I love you, I love you!  And I need you, I need you.

Qur'an 20140731


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

23.  God cannot be questioned for God's acts, but they will be questioned.

24.  Or have they taken for worship gods besides God?  Say, "Bring your convincing proof.  This is a Message of those with me and the Message of those before me."  But most of them know not the truth, and so turn away.

The Prophets  21:23-24
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Bring your convincing proof.  This is a Message of those with me and the Message of those before me.