Tuesday, September 14, 2021

Qur'an 20210915

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

68.  Say, "O people of the Book!  You have no ground to stand upon unless you stand fast by the Law, the Gospel, and all the revelation that has to you from your Lord."  It is the revelation that has come to you from your Lord that increases in most of them their obstinate rebellion and blasphemy.  But sorrow you not over people without faith.

(The Repast 5:68)

Hummus for my Natty

 

Hi Natty!  How are you feeling?  Still having back pain?  Yeah, labor is a bitch.  I'm quite experienced at massaging back pain mashaAllah but since I'm not there with you, I made some hummus for my beloved Natty.  Steamed hummus.  I normally pan fry the hummus in a circle mold but today I steamed the hummus in banana leaves, you can see above what it looked like before I put it in the steamer.  Yeah the bottom one is a bit sloppy, I'll admit.  It's just my standard hummus recipe: lentils, garlic, lemon juice and salt.  Yeah I know chick peas and wheat germ, but lentils tastes and behaves the same at 25% cost.  The banana leaves impart a slight green flavor, but not a dominant one.  It's just the most common means of steaming things around here.  As you know I only have a toaster oven, so I fried the bread.  The meal tasted like hummus with bread, with a sweet aftertaste.  Hummus isn't a big deal for me but I still needed my daily dose of animal flesh, so I had my hummus with steak (not shown).







Monday, September 13, 2021

Hi Natty!

 

How are you feeling today, Honey?  I hope you are feeling great, and having an easy life.  I think of you all the time, I do.  I want you to know that you are MY girl, and I love you with all of my heart.  It's been raining all day today, and the rain stopped about an hour ago, and it's sunset right now.  It's been a nice cold day, I like the cold.  Not the freezing cold of course, who can bear that, but cold as compared to sweltering tropical heat.  I went to the hospital in the morning to pick up my Dad's meds.  Oh don't worry Honey, I took the car.  I had takeout lunch.  I've been having takeout lunch a lot lately, I find it more convenient and economical than I had ever anticipated.  I cooked my dinner, though.  I found eryngii mushrooms on sale at the big supermarket when I went to pick up a second helping of globe grapes.  Eryngii are the meatiest mushrooms out there, so I whipped up some steak and cheese sandwiches.  Want one?  I'm in such a good mood right now.  This weather is so comfortable, alhamdulillah.







Sunday, September 12, 2021

Qur'an 20210913

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

59.  Say, "O people of the Book!  Do you disapprove of us for no other reason than that we believe in Allah, and the revelation that has come to us and that which came before, and that most of you are rebellious and disobedient?"

60.  Say, "Shall I point out to you something much worse than this, by the treatment it received from Allah?  Those who incurred the curse of Allah and God's wrath, those whom some God transformed into apes and swine, those who worshipped evil: these are worse in rank, and far more astray from the even path."

(The Repast 5:59-60)

Worthwhile labor

 Hi Natty!  How are you feeling?  Still having back pain?  That's what happens when you do a lot of stooping and hunching over.  You've never really done labor before, have you?  Labor isn't the same as exercise, right?  That's because labor hurts, and the pain messes with your emotions.  So it's important to love what you do in order to tolerate the labor involved.  As for the back pain, don't sleep on a soft bed because that will make it worse.  I wish I could give you a massage but since I'm not there with you, try lying flat on your back on the floor.  No pillow, legs together, toes pointing up, hands on your chest, for 20 minutes at a time.  So are you going to be making more bags?  Don't forget to snap!

My Mom gave me a crab today.  It's been a while since I ate a crab, since I'm not apt to buy one myself as there are other options that fit my budget better.  Eating crab is a lot of labor, but I like the flavor.  Crab is best as is, without spices.  You're a crab too, right?







Saturday, September 11, 2021

Avatar

 

Hi Natty.  What are you doing today?  It's the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and certainly a solemn occasion.  I remember 20 years ago I was the first to arrive at the restaurant, so I started my routine as usual.  Next the boss came in, and he brought a TV.  Then we watched the news unfold, and I felt on the edge as you may expect, as did everyone else.  The situation sucks, and that's the world.  I don't wish to discuss my perspective on the matter.

Hey, Abba is getting back together!  And they are using avatars for their live shows.  This means hooking up motion sensors to the face and body, and what people see will be young and beautiful, just as the crowd would like.  I suppose Abba will be doing the singing, and somebody else will be doing the jumping and kicking.  The Japanese have been using avatars for live shows for a while already, as you can see in the video below.  I'm sure it would be possible to have motion sensors activate the avatar in the Second Life context, but I haven't seen anyone do the programming for it yet.  I'm sure the Japs would program such if financially motivated, but I don't have the bucks to get it done for Mary at this time.  She's not going to do any jumping and kicking while singing, period.  Her voice is very sensitive.  Right now, using stock animations serves our agenda just fine.








Friday, September 10, 2021

Kelp!

 

Kelp?  Honey, I eat that stuff all the time!  It's a must-have for my ramen.  What else I put in there depends on how I feel, what's in the cooler or at the grocer, but kelp is always a part of my ramen.  I had ramen today, in fact!  I guess I should have taken snapshots but I guess it's a good thing I didn't, lest people start selling ¥50,000 Zam-style bowls of ramen.  But I'll go ahead and describe what I did today.

See the amount of seaweed that my fist is gripping above?  That's the usual amount I snip off and soak to generate kelp broth.  After a while, I took out the kelp and poured the water into a pot and boiled a hardtail scad along with some fragrant leaves (Vietnamese coriander) and anchovy bouillon at medium heat until the flesh began to fall off.  I took out the fish to cool down in the fridge, fried up some garlic then added the broth to it.  I sliced up the kelp into noodle-like strands then put it into the broth along with sliced tofu, fish cake, and a couple of squid balls.  Then I removed the bones from the fish, put the white meat into my soup, and gave the rest to Lookie and Adolf Kitler.  The noodle brick went in next (don't stir!), while I put a dash of soy sauce at the bottom of my bowl.  When the noodles were soft enough I fished them out of the soup, placed them on top of the soy sauce, and cracked an egg to the side of the noodle brick.  I poured the hot soup on that then topped the bowl off with some dried fried onions and home made hot sauce.  Want some?  Please don't tell me you don't like to eat kelp!