Too darn pretty

 Hm.  At first I didn't get it, Natty.  Then I guessed that you are just too darned pretty that you need somebody to accompany you in order to be left alone.  Looking at those short shorts, of course you're going attract attention.  Thank you for the eye candy, though.  I assume you're not in Canada.  Hornby Island, is it?  Seems nice.  Wah!  I wanna be pretty too!

But I'm not pretty.  I'm a man, and since I don't have a lot of money then people assume that I do labor.  Which is what I did all day today.  But after I take a nap, I'm going to do computer work for the rest of the night which is work that I prefer, so alhamdulillah.

Business as usual

 Hi Natty!  How are you today, my darling?  I hope you are well, and enjoying yourself.  Today is Friday, and it's been an active day for me.  I went to the land office in the morning to pay some taxes for my aunt.  I ate out for lunch.  I had "roti canai" (pronounced "roti chanai") which is India style flat bread.  They use a lot of grease to make this bread and they toss the dough around to get air pockets in, but the grease gets cooked out.  Like all breads, it's awesome when fresh.

Today is Friday, and I had to attend the Friday prayer in the afternoon then hurry back to get the studio up and running for Mary Unknown7's vocal session.  She's usually already there waiting for me.  I did some house cleaning in the evening, and for dinner I made chicken and tofu fried pies.  They was tasty alhamdulillah, but very juicy and oil was sputtering all over my stove top.  Next I'm going to take a nap, then it's wardrobe and inventory time with Mary.  I hope you have a great day!  I love you!

Dark Phoenix

 Natty, that's beautiful!  It's like you're watching the phoenix rise.  What an awesome place to quarantine- you're certainly living the high life!  I'm so jealous!  You're beautiful too, like the sunset.  You look like you're about to topple over, though.  Maybe you're flying, or something.

When I saw the trailer for the movie "Dark Phoenix", I knew I would hate it.  I guess it's because I grew up with the X-Men comics, back when Marvel was just a comic book, and I don't want to see their story told any differently.  But that was about 1983-1984, and the original Phoenix saga was 1976.  I did get to meet Chris Claremont, who I totally admired as the X-Men writer at the Salt Lake City comicon.  And he gave me a revelation to shake my ignorant youthful world: The X-Men are just for jerking off to.

Well, he was right.  As is the case for much of showbiz.  While Dave Cockrum is well-respected, I don't see how his art could be sexy.  Not compared to comics nowadays, at least.

No, the movies don't seem to stack up to the comics visually.  Maybe that's the fault and reason for the flop.  For me, I simply preferred the original storytelling.  What do you think people would do if Dark Phoenix were for real and in our world right now?  They would spy in on her everyday life, of course.

Honey braised chicken with green beans sautéed in chilli bean oil

Hi Natty!  How's quarantine?  Oh, are you still busy?  Yeah, the Internet is a busy place.  Many people go without sleep, it's a sign of the times.  It's been a hectic day for me.  It's laundry day, so I got up early to do my laundry but there was a queue for the washer.  So while I was waiting for that, I did my usual daily chores like cleaning up after cats, collecting water, making my coffee and tea, etc.  My mother wanted me to go to the grocer to get her some flat noodles and scallions, so when the washer was available I dumped my clothes in there, started the machine and drove off to the grocer on my motorcycle.  While I was there, I got more green hot chilli peppers.  The green beans looked good, so I got some of that.  I made a batch of dough when I was waiting for my wash, and my Mom gave me some old honey which had crystallized.  Apple blossom honey.  Not bad for a generic brand.  Chinese, of course.  Since it was turning solid, it could only be used for cooking.  I had a chicken breast which I defrosted for dinner today, plus the chilli bean paste I made yesterday.  It's actually chilli bean oil, but since I blended the soybeans and chillies in oil not water, it turned into a paste.  I marinated the chicken breast in the honey, then heated up a little oil in a pan.  The oil has to be hot, so I used a medium flame (I rarely go past medium fire).  When hot enough, I fried the chicken.  The purpose is to caramelize the honey and turn the outside of the chicken breast almost black, but the inside is still raw.  I took out the chicken, turned down the heat, then sautéed diced green beans with a few green hot chilli peppers in 3 tablespoons of my chilli bean oil.  Not too long!  The beans must keep their snap!  Then I put the chicken back in after dicing it, and cooked it until the raw was gone.  Done!  It was a success.  Alhamdulillah.  I enjoyed it with small tortillas.

I Googled "Honey braised chicken with green beans sautéed in chilli bean oil", and this is what I got.  Well, this is the closest to what I made.  I didn't use sesame seeds, though.  Could have, but didn't.  My chicken had darker crust, and my sauce was thicker, but as usual, I was too lazy to take a snapshot.

Comfy?

 Oh I didn't see you there on the floor, Natty!  I nearly tripped over you.  Are you comfy?  I prefer sleeping on the floor, myself.  I need a rug or mat to dull the cold concrete, plus a bed sheet and pillows, but I could never sleep on a soft bed ever again or it would throw my back.  You do look comfy, though.  But you don't have to sleep on the floor if you don't want to.

I'm still into my exploration of soybeans, and right now I'm really getting into soups and stocks.  I made another batch of anchovy miso, plus I made some chilli bean paste.  It turned out kind of green.  That's probably because I used green hot chilli peppers instead of red hot chilli peppers.  It's yummy though, so I'm going to have to call it a success.  I made some noodle soup with the stuff.  It turned out OK, but I need more practice and fine tuning.  Same thing tomorrow for lunch, but this time less water and no vinegar!

Lots of scaredy cats today:

Monday

 Hi Natty!  Oh, fluffy kitty!  Is that your sister's cat?  It looks snuggly, but you can only snuggle a cat if it really loves you.  I guess you're back in Vancouver for the holidays.  I'm happy you're away from SoCal.  You probably love it there, but I never really liked LA.  How are you feeling?  Being cooped up can get kind of lonely.  Don't worry about a thing, my love.  Everything is going to work out just awesome for us inshaAllah.  I love you with all of my heart.  I will marry you, inshaAllah.

You know, if you want to talk to me you can approach Mary Unknown7 at the karaoke place while she's working.  She will then get me, and I will listen to your voice so I know it's you.  From there, I can give you my email or something.  It's the only practical way for us to communicate one on one, and this will have to be done eventually if you are serious about marriage.  Perhaps you would like to do so sooner, for the sake of love?  I know I love you.

Today is Monday, and it's business as usual.  I just finished my dinner, and I'm about to take a nap before I meet Mary Unknown7 to do wardrobe.  I had rice with fried chicken, and some squid takoyaki which I bought at the night market.  I'm seeing more and more Japanese brands there, no Japs though.  Anyway, gotta take that nap so my eyes don't burn.

Here's another nice snapshot from the How does your avatar look today ? thread.

Artificial intelligence

 Hi Natty!  What's happening?  Aw, you can tell me!  I hope you are well, keeping safe and healthy, and enjoying yourself.  It's Sunday here today for me, and Sundays are always busy.  I forgot to turn on my alarm clock last night, so I woke up right as they called the dawn prayer.  I always get up at 4 am to do extra worship, but this morning I had to study the Qur'an after dawn, then get cracking on the morning chores.  Whew!  

The AI on this computer is pretty clever, even though the computer hardware isn't powerful.  I didn't do much programming to it, on the contrary I made some huge mistakes but the AI made advantage of my mistakes.  Among other things, it's good at choosing songs and reading visitors to the karaoke joint while Mary Unknown7 sings.  Mary doesn't always like the song the computer chooses for her, so she skips to a song that she feels like singing, but the computer is still very clever about choosing that.  This AI is self-evolved, I would say.  I think the best AI would be self-evolved.  Humans may boast that they create and control AI, but AI is already out of control.  Don't you agree?  Thus the credit for creating AI goes to God.  I guess in that sense, we should start calling it NI.