Reducing Fat by Using a Deep Fryer???

It's true, believe it or not. I actually reduced the amount of added fat in a dish by deep frying it.

I don't know how anybody else makes it but the first step in making pot roast at my house is to brown the roast. My mother did this with a nice glop of shortening heated in a big iron skillet; I'd say probably 1/3 to a half of a cup worth. This was probably an improvement over Granny's method which I'm pretty sure involved lard. When I moved out and started cooking for myself I made the recipe healthier still by replacing the shortening with a couple of spoonfuls of olive oil.

I recently got a Fry Daddy deep fryer and it was sitting on the counter filled with vegetable oil flavored by the sausage links I had cooked for breakfast and as I thought about dipping out a few spoonfuls of that for the added flavor it occured to me that my little roast would fit in the fryer. Hmmm.

So I heated it up and dropped the still frozen roast in while I sliced onions and when the outside was nice and brown I scooped it out, let it drain for a minute and then put it in my crock pot on high with the onion, water, about a tablespoon of adobo, and some black pepper for about 6 hours. I added potatoes and carrots towards the end.

Not only was the roast cut-with-a-fork tender but when I refridgerated the leftovers the very small amount of grease that congealed on top of the liquid proved that by deep frying I had reduced the amount of added fat by at least 75%.

I'm guessing that's because the roast was frozen so it couldn't absorb very much and because I drained it before cooking instead of just pouring water over it and cooking it in the same pot it was browned in.

The reason for leaving the fat in I was told is because it helps form the basis of the gravy at the end. Since I don't make gravy for my pot roast, I just cook the liquid down a bit for a sort of au jos instead in order to cut calories, I don't need it. And my waistline REALLY can do without it.

The Power of One

So, I'll be going about my day feeling somewhat positive about myself, maybe I just dealt with a task I've been avoiding or solved a problem for someone, or I'll just be feeling centered and able to deal with life, and someone will say something that makes me feel like an idiot or makes me feel like crying. To add to the negative feelings often it will be an off hand remark, just a small bit of snark to blow off steam, that the person will likely forget about within the hour. If not then it's something that could have been said just slightly differently so as not to be hurtful. It's not necessary to imply that I constantly fail to do a particular thing correctly when I get it right 95% of the time.

Most of the time I'm able to shrug off the random nastiness that you get when dealing with people. Every once in a while PMS or just plain stress will make me dwell on it more than need be. I'm still dealing with things pretty well these days but everyone has weak moments.

Or else I'll be sunk in the glums, feeling pretty lonely and sorry for myself and a friend will call or IM me and we'll talk and laugh and I'll completely forget about my mood by the time we say goodbye.

It's got me thinking about how much power we have over others and how ignorant we tend to be of that power. Something that is small and unimportant to us can either help someone feel good or ruin their day completely.

All of us have the ability to positively or negatively affect those around us with little things and we need to be more conscious of that. It's the little things that do the most in the constant fight between darkness and light that is human existence. You don't have to give a lot of money to charity or work all day in a soup kitchen to make a difference in the world. You just need to think about what you say before you say it and take a moment to reach out to those you care about, just because.

The Perfect Man?

Call me irreverant but I couldn't help but snerk a bit at some of the items on this list. I mean come on! How can you read "Thighs like a royal stag" with a straight face? And when combined with "Tongue long and broad", "Voice resonant", and "Eyes blue" he sounds like he should be on the cover of a romance novel. Well, if it wasn't for the "Well retracted genitals" whatever that means. Sounds painful actually.

I wonder how a life long Buddhist takes this? Do they even think about it out of context? I couldn't help thinking of those lists of Mary Sue characteristics that we've been talking about at WASIF.

THE 32 SIGNS OF THE BUDDHA
Courtesy of www.tientai.net/glossary/32signs.htm

1. Thousand-spoked wheel sign on the foot print
2. Level feet
3. Long slender fingers
4. Pliant hands & feet
5. Finely webbed toes & fingers
6. Full sized heels
7. Arched insteps
8. Thighs like a royal stag
9. Hands reaching below the knees
10. Well retracted genitals
11. Equal length & stretch of arms
12. Every hair root is dark colored
13. Body hair graceful & wavy
14. Golden hued body
15. Surrounded by a radiant ten foot aura
16. Soft smooth skin
17. The soles, palms, shoulders & crown are well-rounded
18. Below the armpits well filled
19. Lion shaped body
20. Erect Posture
21. Full shoulders
22. Forty teeth
23. Teeth white even & close
24. Four canine teeth pure white
25. Lion jawed
26. Saliva improving the taste of all food
27. Tongue long & broad
28. Voice deep & resonant
29. Eyes deep blue
30. Eyelashes like those of a royal bull
31. White urna or curl between the eyebrows
32. Usnisa or fleshy protuberance on the crown of the head　

You Have Been Spared

You know that really long questionaire thing that has been circulating? XT had version at his blog that had check boxes and a cool table and would give you HTML to paste into your blog so I finally did it and then spent at least 2 hours last night trying to make it work.

First half the blocks looked blank because the writing had been mysteriously stealthed. That took some laborious copy pasting to fix. Then the thing was too wide and wanted to sit at the bottom to the page where my sidebar wouldn't annoy it. So I played with what margin things I could find but I think I've mentioned that my knowledge of HTML is pretty much the equivilant of "Quanto?" and "Donde esta el bano?"

Finally, I seemed to budge it a little but half the boxes went back into stealth mode.

Le sigh.

I can take a hint. I am not supposed to fill half the page with the answers to silly questions. It would make a better party game face to face anyway.

Book Review: Captains Courageous

Captains Courageous
By Rudyard Kipling

I like Kipling and I have a strong memory of holding this book in my hands in one of those hardcover school editions without a dust jacket but it turns out I somehow never got around to reading this before.

I don't think I would have liked this as much as a child. I know I wouldn't have appreciated the characterization and the way Kipling gently mocks certain elements of human nature. I also remember thinking of it as a "boy's book" so that was another strike against it at the time.

The book traces the adventures of Harvey, a spoiled 15-year-old son of a multi-millionaire, after he falls overboard from the liner he is traveling on an is rescued by the crew of the We're Here, a fishing boat out of Gloucester. They have just set out for the season and the Captain refuses to turn back to take Harvey to shore. He thinks Harvey is crazy when he claims that his father will pay them several times what their catch would be worth if he does so he knocks the boy on his butt for his own good and puts him to work.

The book is over a hundred years old and while some of it seems modern in outlook there are signs of the times it was written in. Even though the ships cook, the main black character is shown in a good light he is still referred to in language that would be offensive these days and the way his story plays out isn't very enlightened either. That a man of his sensitivity should have as his ultimate ambition to be a personal servant just doesn't seem right. But then I have no problem with other iconic wise servants such as Alfred Pennyworth who happen to be White so how much of that reaction is justified and how much is conditioned response? Hard to say really, I'd love another perspective on it.

The plot has some real weaknesses especially towards the end but it was such a pleasure to spend time with the crew of the We're Here that I find it hard to care. Each of the crew has his own story and defined personality and a lot of my enjoyment came from getting to know them all.

I'd recommend this to anyone of any age but if you give it to your kids I would advise discussing with them the cultural and racial issues raised instead of letting them read it in a vacuum.

Unfinished Business

Mary and I were big fans of Ruroni Kenshin. The company that has the N. American rights was releasing one volume every month or so and I got impatient and went and read the whole thing on line. Mary prefered to wait.

A few months ago as the end finally neared I mentioned that I wasn't totally happy with the ending because there were things that didn't get addressed. We agreed to talk about it after she got the last volume. The last volume is out but we won't be discussing it because she is dead. I'm not sure if she even got to read it

We were also big fans of Inuyasha. In fact she was the only friend I had who loved the show as much as I did. We would send each other cool art we found on line. We laughed over a site we found where someone had written a long article on Sesshoumaru's changing appearance, including documenting the increasing size of Mokomoko-sama, complete with scanned images representing every time the character has shown up in the manga up to when the article was written. There has been a major development regarding Sesshoumaru in the last two weeks but I can't discuss it with Mary because she's dead.

When I went to visit Mary last fall it was a nightmare getting to her home on the outskirts of Atlanta using the directions I got from Mapquest. I got her to help me work out an alternate route home that avoided the interstate and the bypass. It took nearly an extra hour but it was much better. Except for the miles and miles of construction when I rejoined the interstate further South.

I figured out that I could skip the whole mess if I just took the bus to Atlanta, then the Marta train to the stop near her home. We emailed back and forth to iron out the details but then life conspired against us. Every month it was "maybe next month" as illness, unexpected bills, and previously planned for events pushed it back. I thought I would finally be able to make it next month. If I do go it will be to attend a memorial put on by her friends up there.

I was supposed to burn her a copy of the Sarah Jane episode of the new Dr. Who series but I kept forgetting and now I don't need to but it's still popping up on my mental to do list.

Mary created the character of Henetor for an RPG we were in. We had so much fun playing off one another that I wanted to write stories about our characters. She gave me permission and liked the two chapters I sent her but then I hit a long dry spell with my writing due to stress and drugs for stress and I haven't finished the project. As I try to get back into writing it I want to ask her advice on Henetor. Would she do this? Did I get her dialog right? But I can't ask her opinion because she is dead.

There has been at least once a day over the last couple of weeks that I have had to remind myself not to forward a link or write her an email.

There is a part of me that wants to be annoyed by this because Mary's death was by her own hand so my inner 5 year old feels like she stood me up somehow.

My reasonable adult mind, with it's own experience with depression, understands how suicide can seem like a reasonable thing. In her case she hadn't gotten a decent night of sleep in months and her doctor kept switching her medication. Several of us were trying to help her though and thought she could hold on.

When I was on Paxil I lost my ability to care about other people, given the right circumstances I can see how releaving my own pain would have been more important to me than the pain I would cause others. I really can't blame her for giving in.

But there was so much we were going to do together and she was such an important part of my life that I want to be angry and blame someone that I don't have her anymore. But I can't really be angry with her, even though it was ultimately her choice, because I know how that sort of pain feels and how hard it is to resist the temptation. So it's one more interupted impulse, one more thing that will hang in limbo.

I miss you Mary, sleep well.

As Private Parts to the Gods Are We...

The last month or so has been a test to see how well I have learned to maintain my emotional stability. I've been jerked between good things and bad things so quickly that I should have spiritual whiplash. I'm pretty pleased that I'm not falling into the abyss again.

It's not just big important things, or even mainly big important things, but little things too.

In the last month I've:

Had my best friend move home from Taiwan!
Had a very good friend commit suicide.
Finally got around to buying a new mattress and a working microwave.
Had a new leak develop in the roof.
Won a drawing at work for a donut and cup of coffee at a nearby shop.
Been chastised by my boss for something that was only 10% my fault and that I was 90% responsible for salvaging. Also chastised for something that was totally not my fault at all.
Been the most caught up I've been in years with my work.
Been the most swamped with things that I can't get to at home.
Been complimented on loosing weight.
Discovered I gained a pound according to my weigh in at Curves.
Finally feel healthy enough to go back to Curves.
Had too many after work commitments this week to go more than once.
Got poison ivy.
Had my first migraine in nearly two months.
Had a massage.
Got 4 new blouses for work on sale.
Got nearly done in by the heat when I went to the Lowes next door to get a piece of plywood that it turns out I didn't really need.

And so on up and down big and small. There's more but I'm blocking it out.

I guess the biggest "good" thing is that I'm sitting here relatively sane. I'm grieving over my friend but I'm not obsessing about it. I'm not ready to quit my job, which is usually pretty good, in a huff. I'm not dealing with depression or anxiety attacks. I'm putting one foot in front of the other and doing the next thing and dealing. Progress has been made.

Movie Review: Akahige

Akahige (Red Beard)
1965 Akira Kurasawa

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058888/

This is my favorite so far of the Kurasawa movies I've watched. It has several features that may deter modern audiences from watching it, it's in Japanese with subtitles, it's black and white, it's about 3 hours long, and it's a human drama with very little in the way of action, just people talking and dealing with their lives, and it has no sex. It is well worth watching though, the cinematography is absolutely gorgeous, the actors know their stuff, the story is engrossing and it has Toshiro Mifune.

I am a total Mifune fangirl. He can do more with a raised eyebrow than most actors can do with an entire monologue.

Mifune is Dr. Niide, the crusty head of a government sponsored clinic for the poor. The title of the movie comes from his nickname among his staff who call him Akahige behind his back because his hair has a reddish tint. According to the commentary track it is also a play on words in Japanese referring to one name for Western Medicine at the time the movie is set, which appears to be some time in the 17^th or 18^th century. Kurosawas's attention to detail is such that if I knew more about the subtle changes in fashion over that period I could probably nail it down.

The main character isn't Niide, it's Dr. Yasumoto, a fresh out of med school brat who has assumed that his father's connections will ensure him a place on the Shogun's staff and is outraged to be placed at the clinic without being consulted. There are very good reasons for him to be there we learn as the movie goes on, not least is that he has a LOT to learn from Niide. Yasumoto is played by the very hot Yuzo Kayama.

The first meeting between the two had me hooked. With a look Mifune shows that Niide is going to make a real doctor out of this wet behind the ears puppy if it kills both of them. I pretty much knew how things would play out from that point on and so will you if you have seen other movies in this genre but it was fun getting there and there were some surprising twists along the way.

Although there are no sex scenes there is nudity, a young woman stripped naked and held down as they perform surgery. The scene was disturbing to me. They don't have modern anesthetics so the woman writhes in pain as they work. The odd camera angles keep you from seeing either her genitals or the open abdominal wound but you don't need to see the surgical site, the dialog and her reactions made me cringe as much as any hyper-realistic CSI special effect.

There is also much talk of sexual abuse as we hear the stories of patients who come to the clinic. These include a child rescued from a seedy brothel, a madwoman who murdered her lovers, and a woman forced to marry her mother's lover. It doesn't have a US MPAA rating but I'd put it about PG13. I'd say anybody over 12 who can deal with reading a 3 hour movie is probably mature enough to handle the issues raised.

Book Review: Silent Stars

Silent Stars

By Jeanine Basinger

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0819564516/102-2478786-1746544?v=glance&n=283155

While Basinger says her goal was to bring forgotten and misunderstood stars of the silent era to the attention of modern audiences almost all of the stars covered in depth here should be well known to any movie buff. Douglas Fairbanks, Rudolf Valentino, and Lon Chaney aren't exactly obscure for instance. What she does do well is tell the real story of their lives (as far as can be known, some were notorious liars) and dispel many myths that have entered the public consciousness as facts over the decades.

The best thing about the book to me was that it is heavily illustrated with over 300 photos. The still photos from movies that no longer exist or that are locked away in an archive somewhere unavailable to the public really drive home how much is being lost as old film disintegrates. I put a bunch of films that are available staring the actors covered on my Netflix list

Mary Cajigal

You were a good friend and deserved better in life. You were loved and will be missed greatly.



Requiescat in pace
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