a good day

I started my three day weekend today by immediately going to the Red Iguana today. It opened in 1985, I started eating there on cinco de Mayo '86. Son #1 and three of his buddies wnet there tonight. My wife and I kinda crashed their festivities. Strangely enough they were seated at the same table that I first ate at 23 years ago.

I don't eat at Red Iguana as much as I should. It's mainly the distance involved....and the wait. We left there tonight a bit after 8:30 on a Thursday night. It was still standing room only. Why? For me it is the moles. The poblano is a perfect combination of sweet/spicy/smoky. I no longer eat mole the traditional way, served over pork/chicken or TURKEY (Lord have mercy!!) because I don't eat meat any more. But I got a cup of poblano and dredged tortillas through it.

The problem with eating it to start my weekend? It's all downhill from here. Barring something truly spectacular.

Naturally, my thoughts at some point turn to Ramon Cardenas. The honcho until he died a few years back from an aneurysm. I spoke with him only once. He no doubt forgot our conversation. In fact he was quite annoyed with me at the time. My wife and I had ordered a paella the day before. We had reservations and our table was set for paella. After we were seated, our drink orders was taken. I asked for an appetizer. The waiter gave me a strange look and disappeared into the kitchen. Ramon Cardenas came out, carrying a large non-knife kitchen implement, and coarsely informed me that there would be nothing else served with our paella. I honestly expected I was going to be beaten to death.

Two minutes later the paella appeared. Saffron rice, peas, clams, shrimp, mussels, chicken, chorizo, lobster, peppers. A classic, perfectly balanced and prepared dish. Everything prepared separately and perfectly and combined in the final minutes before my arrival. As we were finishing Ramon sat at our table and lamented the fact that he was not able to prepare it outside over a fire......and then he left. A few weeks later we were able to share an even larger paella with frineds of ours. Sometime after that I read the obituary for Ramon Cardenas. With it the artistry of paella was snuffed out. I've not had anything like it since. Every time I go to Red Iguana I get misty eyed. A few times afterwards, I have cried tears when I am alone.

Food carries the potential for emotional responses. I have had some food epiphanies in my life. I also carry memories of people that are attached to the food. I remember Beulah and Ray and the El Charro and the tacos and salsa that are like no other. There was Miriam at the della Fontana and the Salsiccia fresca dolce. I fondly remember the parties thrown by, my childhood neighbors, the Ybarras. There was the beef teriyaki by Mr. Ryujin at the Dai Enko Tei. And of course, the paella by Ramon.

I was feeling real good before I started this entry tonight. I review the prior paragraph and think about these good things that are lost forever. I am overcome with melancholy

Absolute value and other rants

I'll try to keep this brief. Quick points........not a lot of explanation

The gentle reader no doubt recall 'absolute value' from junior high algebra. It was a concept that had no mathematical application to me at that point. It's philosophical ramifications are quite strong. I cannot remember the exact quote, nor the person credited with it, but when asked what his two favorite things in life were the response was, "pleasures of the flesh and my personal relationship with God". These two points are related.

Another quote I am fond of is, "there is a fine line between love and hate". I think that might serve as a better example of absolute value. For example, a woman that I dated back in my single days. She was a nice girl. Not smart, but not dumb. OK looking (which made her a lot like me). After two dates and going to second base, things ended. I got a nasty note and that was that. Someone else, I was involved with, shall we say, more intimately. That one ended a bit more harshly. If somebody love you a lot and you burn them they will hurt you a lot. That's about it. Therefore I make a point of always being nice to loved ones

So what about pleasures of the flesh. It means unbridled debauchery to some. And there was a time, I sampled it. TO me it means enjoying the finest foods. Being pampered. Being lazy. Soaking in warm water for an hour or two. It also means physical exertion in wilderness. Trips through the west deserts. Feeling cold, hungry, tired, sore, miserable, sick. Musing about the perfect meal on a cold evening above 10,000 feet with nothing to keep you alive but you carry on your back. These same things are also what increases a sense of spirituality in some.

Look, I'm a pacifist by nature. I despise war and killing. I love peace, harmony, and working things out through collaboration and diplomatic means. I am also convinced that the only way to achieve these ends is by having things like the United States Marine Corps. And periodically turning them loose when there is good reason, a clear objective, and defined exit strategy. Without these we fail.

back to traditional values

Not only am I not posting frequently enough, I feel as if I have drifted away from what this blog should be about. Namely, we bitching about things.

So without further ado:

Rant 1- I saw a billbaord today that was attempting to resurrect an old 70's jingle. It read, "Baseball, hotdogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet" and underneath in smaller print "Toyota is sumo and sushi". I suppose that was their way of making it up to date. Here's the problem as I see it.

Baseball vs. Sumo. I'm gonna burn in hell for this, but I'd rather Sumo. Both sports are steeped in tradition and ritual. Sumo takes on even a religious element with it's ties to Shinto. The difference being Sumo is still governed with authority. The overarching emphasis is still on the purity and integrity of the sport. The last professional sport game that I watched completely was the Jazz vs. Bulls final part 2 in the 90's. Sports had already become about egos and personalities long before then, but since Stockton was still playing............

If a sumo wrestler gets out of line, they are cracked hard and fast. No appeals, no lawyers, no bullshit, and everybody KNOWS what is going to happen and why. Professional sports today? They should take Manny Ramirez and his ilk and ban their nasty, steroid-plumped, asses for life. No questions, no appeals, and permanent. Honestly, who watches it anyway. Where does the money come from. Screw 'em all.

(Get back on topic now). Advantage Toyota. As for apple pie, I love it. No doubt about it. The Japanese are either incapable or unwilling to make decent pastry. God Bless America and advantage Chevy.

Hot dogs vs. sushi. C'mon now. If I were at a ballpark and had the choice of a Chicago dog or a spicy tuna roll, my choice would be......neither. I don't eat meat. If my choice were oshinko roll vs. a 'veggie dog'. Advantage Toyota.

Overall analysis? Give me some rice and kimchee. I drive Korean baby!

Rant 2- Second up, is to let all my gentle reader(s) know a "Greek" restaurant to avoid. I don't even know the name of the place. I have the credit card receipt though. These guys are just north of the Harmon's in Roy. I love Greek food. Still do. But being a vegetarian, it has severely restricted my Greek options. I can have the lettuce/cucumber/pepperoncini/olive/feta/dressing concoctions. I can devour an entire tray of spanikopita. Which gets me thinking about how much I enjoyed working with Rob Holbeck back in the day. Dear Lord, the spread his wife Tonya put on for Christmas................yeah................ummmmmm...............Ahem. Let me think here........I can also eat vegetarian dolmathes, and Moussaka without the meat. I also love hummus. So I ordered some hummus today. The chick peas weren't even cooked thoroughly. What I got was a thick, lumpy mass that didn't even resemble hummus. Perhaps, I thought to myself, it still tastes good. I heaped some onto a piece of pita and dug in. I swallowed it successfully. Ate the lemon rice that I also ordered (say, isn't this supposed to have some trace of lemon taste?) and the remaining three quarters of pita. After promptly throwing the entire mound of hummus out in front of the guy at the counter, he asked how it was. I told him it was dreadful. He paused for a moment and said, "so you liked it?" No you f**king idot! Dreadful means something else. Total tab was over 9 bucks too. Which means I got reamed as bad as my wife did in her colonoscopy last week.

The bright side being, her colonoscopy was negative. We also enjoyed a wonderful meal with our neighbors Rob and Lorraine last Saturday at Mazza. I'm still thinking about it. Lotsa of yummy stuff there, and much of it vegetarian. I'll be back again and again!

Rant 3- I saw the headline and accompanying photo in todays paper. That idiot 30 something teacher that was boning a 13 year old boy was sentenced today. She got 10 years to life! I am still flabbergasted. Before I finish this rant allow me to divert to the fother side of this coin. Namely, the seminary teacher in Utah county that was dicking a sixteen year old girl. (By the way, if anyone reading this knows Dustin Moutsos let him know that they have an opening at Lone Peak H.S.) Anyway, this yutz had been getting it on with this girl for a while now. He was pulling her out of school for field trips. My reaction to hearing this story was one of revulsion. The girl will need support and counseling and will likely have added issues with future relationships. As for the guy? Well let's just say he's got a real pretty mouth. He'll be very popular in prison.

So back to the 13 year old boy and the late 30's teacher. He'll be fine. Just have his old man sit him down and teach him about what, with whom, and when these types of relations are to occur. It's a double standard to be sure. Still don't believe me? Women ask your men the following question (and guys be honest with your answer), "Would you have screwed this teacher when you were that age?" I got a good look at the one in the paper and my answer is no. The one from Florida a few years back that was doing the baseball team? Hell yes!

Graduation day

over the last few weeks, just about everyone I know has been subjected to this annual event. I had not attended a high-school graduation since my brother-in-law's back in the mid-90's

Today was son number one's high school graduation. About the only positivie thing I have at this point is that the Bingham High orchestra is really quite good........for a high school orchestra anyway. It was the only thing that I wouldn't classify as painful anyway.

My mother said and did some things today that I was quite proud of. She made a stand for dignity and decorum. The party next to us was prepped and ready to whistle, hoot, and holler. The old guy had some kind of high-pitched dog whistle that he tooted. But the real champ of this bunch was the sister of one of the graduates shouting out. "We F**king love you!" .......twice.....at the top of her lungs. Nice! You can imagine dear old mom let them know.

Anyway, it took 1 hour and 35 minutes to start calling off names. Even that took 45 minutes. The valedictory speak was not overly nauseogenic. Still, it left me drained for the day. After the sun dips a bit, I'm going back into my garden.

All my lovely plants makes me feel good.

indecison

many times I've had things I've thought I should get on her and discuss Today, I've nothing structured. No long diatribe. So, I'll just provide brief snippets.

I really should be gardening right now. I've got the new greenhouse, the seeds have been started too late because of the late snow and cold weather. It's been five days and nothing has even sprouted yet. I did manage to plant about 60 canes of raspberries and an almond tree last week and that's it. Today, I cannot even roto-till because it's too wet. Maybe tomorrow. Some people think that is working on the sabbath. I think that hoeing for an hour is as much work as playing the organ at church. At any rate, I've more than doubled the size of our garden for this year. In addition to feeding the bunnies, we will be eating lots of veggies and fresh herbs.

I understand that a lot of people are planting gardens now. It is reminiscent of the victory gardens in WWII. Of course, the precise reasons are a bit different. There isn't any rationing going on now. And let's be honest.........growing a garden doesn't save you that much money. Yes the vegetables are free, but the water, seeds, materials, equipment etc aren't. I grow what I use out of self-defense it seems. I tease people about 'organic' food because I despise the word organic. It literally means that it contains carbon. So does a pack of menthols!

I grow food because it is fresh, fast, and my bunnies love it. They love dandelions too. That is why I leave them in my lawn. In fact, I take great care not to uproot them in the spring when I pick them for my bunnies.

A few years back I went vegetarian for a few months but stopped. I started again about a week back. I didn't really have a reason then, I do now. I have been reading accounts and writings of various Presidents of the Church. And while none condemn the eating of meat, they would have it only rarely. The same thing with hunting, which they abhorred. Our scriptures say that meat is to be used sparingly and only in times of need. Somehow that has all been forgotten.

Here's my view. I feel that a cetain moral authority is required to eat meat. What does that mean? If you are appalled by, our think that the slaughter of animals is a task that is 'beneath' you then you have no right to eat meat. I know that we can't all go out there and slaughter a pig. It is also best that this process is done in central locations with efficiency, hygiene, and by people that know what they are doing. In a hypothetical world, if you would be unwilling to kill a pig and do everything that goes with it then you shouldn't eat pork. I've killed a pig, a deer, a dog, squirrels, snakes, rabbits, and fish and eaten them. (Eating the dog was an afterthought). After killing the deer, I immediately felt remorse. The rabbits took longer. During the winter months, I take timothy hay and lay it out along the roads where I've hunted rabbits in the past. Hopefully showing some kindness to their offspring will compensate for my past misdeeds. Killing just for sport is wrong. If you are going to eat the animal, not merely waste it, then one can justify it. Personally I cannot kill, or harm, scentient creatures any more. So I don't eat them.

Yet, I ate some scallops a few days ago. Why? I don't think that scallops, clams, mussels etc. are scentient. They do not sense their environment. They do not have eyes, ears, taste buds. They do not move, interact. They basically strain water for food, grow, and reproduce. They are basically armored mushrooms. So why don't I eat oysters?. They are oily and gritty. Even when I ate meat, I hated them.

presidential greatness, the war on drugs, and Carl's Jr. chili dogs

I was reading an editorial by Thomas Friedman today. The gist of it being that every great president has overcome a large challenge. With the economic woes we are having, he asserts that Obama will have his shot at greatness. Of course, he can also be vilified I suppose.

Being a Taoist, I have to read such things and dismiss this as foolish. Allow me paraphrase and 'modernize' a parable that I've read. A prominent, physician, a cardiothoracic surgeon at a major teaching hospital, performed a pioneering procedure that saved the life of a critically ill patient. It was a marathon effort involing a large team of medical professionals and took the better part of a day. Soon thereafter, the governor of the state he lived in heard of his exploits. A special day was declared in the legislature. The lawmakers wished to send large amounts of money to continue his work. Finally an elaborate dinner ceremony with the good doctor as the guest of honor was arranged. The doctor not only declined the dinner ceremony, but asked that it be cancelled. He did ask to appear before the lawmakers to discuss what should happen with the money.

The day arrived for him to speak to the lawmakers. He explained that he was the youngest of three brothers. All of them were doctors. He explained how his middle brother was very good at diagnosing problems in patients while the problems were still small. He had prevented many people from becoming very sick. As such, he was only known as one the better physicians in his county. His oldest brother was able to diagnose problems before they even happened (i.e. preventative medicine) and had prevented an equal number of people from ever getting sick. As such, he wasn't recognized as being any good. The younger brother explained that he was not the greatest physician, rather it was his oldest brother. That is where the money should go towards. Preventing things before they happen. Where the most benefit can be realized for the least amount of money.

So what is my point? When we ask for the greatest presidents we hear Lincoln, Washington, Roosevelt etc. Undeniably they presided over some of the darkest times in our country's history. My assertion is greatness is not necessarily found in overcoming mountains, but in stopping things and changing course while it is a molehill. The greatest President would therefore be one who presided over a calm, prosperous period devoid of strife, corruption, or international intrigue.

If Lincoln were "great" he would have been able to defuse Southern secession and put an end to slavery (as had the rest of the Western world at that time). If Lincoln were a "good" President he would have ended the war quickly to prevent the wholesale destruction of the South as well as a per capita casualty count that made all other wars this country has fought in look tame by comparison. Nope, Lincoln was a so-so President that gutted it out. I could make similar arguments against Washington and Roosevelt. The one major difference with Roosevelt being he inherited a huge damn economic mess from a Republican administration. Sound familiar? However, he should have started playing rough with the Fascists starting in '36 and '37. It's what a "great" president would have done.

I'm going to keep my comments about the war on drugs brief. Far all I know I might have discussed it earlier. Certain 'illegal' drugs need to be made legal or at least decriminalized. We as a nation need to have a rational examination about what drugs do and don't do. What is safe, what is not. What is safe to produce, distribute, etc. and what is not. What are the effects of long-term use? Casual use? Heavy use? And have it done by scientists that are armed with data. What we have is elected officials that still believe that only black jazz musicians smoke marijuana and that hippies are jumping off of cliffs, believing they can fly, after taking LSD. After they work themselves into a puritanical frenzy they go home and take some Xanax.

Ask yourself, what is more dangerous alcohol or marijuana? Before you answer, look up the LD50's on each.

People throughout history have always wanted to get high. Criminalizing it is new to the last 100 years or so. We have spent untold billions on the war on drugs. We've lost.

Finally, CJ's chili dogs. In a word........"DON"T".

Motivational Phrases

So I'm eating a can of Beefaroni this morning and reading yesterday's paper. On the cover of Parade is Liza Minelli. The combination of Beefaroni and Liza Minelli should have been enough to have me going for some more of the same promethazine I took last Friday (see previous blog). But since I am a glutton for punishment, I found the article and started reading. I got one sentence in and had had enough.

It started something to the effect, "If you got one foot in yesterday and one foot in tomorrow, you aren't living for today". Nice sentiment Liza. I suppose that gives validation to those of your ilk that are impulsive and do whatever they feel like doing today with no regard for tomorrow.......or the past. But I'm going to stick with you analogy Liza. If one of my legs is in yesterday and one is in tomorrow that leaves my 'third leg' in today. That's exactly how I should think. Of course with your picture staring back at me it's pretty much impossible.

There's a whole slew of motivational phrases out there, many of them contradictory or just plain stupid. There is a company called 'Despair' that has a line of products that spoofs just such phrases. I have had calendars from them for the past three years. Check out their website at despair.com and I think you'll agree.

Ms. Minelli's little acorn of wisdom notwithstanding, the phrase I most loathe is "It's better to aim for the stars and miss, than aim for the mud and hit it". There's one thing I find wrong and even offensive about this one. Those of us who have more realistic goals bristle at the notion that they are aiming for the mud. Perhaps we could have NASA retool this phrase. You have to have sub-orbital missions, then orbital, before you attempt the moon. Why, because it is highly unlikely you will make the moon in one shot and billions will be wasted and the lives of the crew will be sacrificed. Of course, people that adhere to the always shoot for the stars philosophy probably wouldn't understand what I just wrote. So keep aiming for the starts children!

As a reference back to the previous blog. Apparently the last part of "The Wrestler" features Mickey Rourke going up against his former arch-nemesis called "The Ayotollah". In the movie he was a guy named Bob who owned a car dealership in Arizona. The reason I dredged this up again, is because there are some Hollywood types visiting Iran this week. And the Iranian government used it as an opportunity to rail against the portrayal of Iranians in movies. They didn't like the stereotypes in "the Wrestler". I suppose someone hadn't explained professional wrestling to these morons. It is a passion play FOR morons. It is about nothing but sterotypes. And this Bob guy probably wasn't named Rafsanjani.

The Iranian government also objected to Persian portrayal in the movie '300'. The Greeks were pious family men, while the Persians were oversexed degenerates. (The few Greeks and Persians I know are all relatively pious family men and women. Including one of the single pharmacists I work with that should try a little sexual debauchery before he marries). Fair enough I suppose, except this happened over 2000 years ago. It would be like me objecting to the portrayal of the Swiss in 'Gladiator'. My Aunt Babetta, if she were still alive, would correctly point out that those filthy barbarians were either Germans or Austrians. Not Swiss.