How I Imagine It

OK this is how I think it went down:

Dish Rack Engineer #1: Our dish rack design has undergone extensive testing and is ready for production. The design is solid. It's been tested with various sizes of plates, cups, and passed all our real world scenarios.

Dish Rack Engineer #2: Wait, let's remove some of the material leaving a gap that a standard glass tumbler can fall out of, shattering itself on the kitchen floor and causing general distress for our user.

Dish Rack Engineer #1: *shrugs* Oh, ok.

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Chinese Soups

My skepticism on the nutritional value of Chinese soups might best be summarized as a belief in a Law of Conservation of Nutrition - a soup's nutritional content cannot exceed the sum nutritional content of its ingredients.

Eating a chicken/onion/carrot will always be just as nutritious as boiling it for 3 hours. Not sure if I plan to eat some of the weird stuff my mom puts in there though... O.o #StillLovesHisMommysSoups

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An oldie but a goodie, gives me shivers every time I read it.

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

- Theodore Roosevelt

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The Call...

Currently Reading:
The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"Discipleship is not limited to what you can comprehend - it must transcend all comprehension. Plunge into the deep waters beyond your own comprehension, and I will help you to comprehend even as I do. Bewilderment is the true comprehension. Not to know where you are going is the true knowledge. My comprehension trancends yours. Thus Abraham went forth from his father and not knowing whither he went. He trusted himself to my knowledge, and cared not for his own, and thus he took the right road and came to his journey's end. Behold, that is the way of the cross. You cannot find it yourself, so you must let me lead you as though you were a blind man. Wherefore it is not you, no man, no living creature, but I myself, who instruct you by my word and Spirit in the way you should go. Not the work which you choose, not the suffering you devise, but the road which is clean contrary to all that you choose or contrive or desire - that is the road you must take. To that I call you and in that you must be my disciple. If you do that, there is the acceptable time and there your master is come" (Luther)

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Under $10, Under 20 Minutes, Microwave Soy Sauce Chicken

Introduction:

This is one of my mother's recipes which combines some traditional Chinese food with the convenience of a microwave. I was skeptical of microwave cooking (I'm a big texture person) but the results are fantastic! The best part is you have an entire cooked chicken in under 20 minutes with no prep or marinading required.

Read on for instructions and pics.

What You Need:

-glass or corningware container that holds the chicken (fairly snugly)
-whole chicken (I've only tried smaller birds so far)
-soy sauce
-sugar
-chinese rice cooking wine (available in the ethnic grocery area)
-microwave

Instructions:

1. Begin with a whole chicken, defrosted (preferably close to room temperature)

2. Bring a pot of water to boil, slowly pour over the chicken in the sink. This helps firm up the skin and removes any gamey flavor. A couple litres is fine.

3. In your corningware, combine ingredients:
1 Cup - Chinese cooking wine
1 Cup - Sugar
1 Cup - Soy sauce

4. Stir this up (sugar won't fully dissolve but that's ok, it will during the cooking process)

5. Add chicken (doens't matter which side up). Add a bit of water or more soy sauce if the chicken is barely covered. Aim for about 1/2 covered. Place lid on container (make sure your lid has no metal in it, I had to use a plate instead.

6. Microwave approx ~9 minutes on high. Time will vary for size of chicken and microwave wattage.

7. Flip the bird!

8. Microwave another ~9 minutes on high. Poke the thickest part of the chicken near legs with a chopstick. If it runs clear you're done! Cooking time will vary based on the size of the chicken, whether it was straight from the fridge, microwave power, etc. Expect anywhere from 18-24 minutes.

9. Remove chicken from liquid. Let the chicken cool and drain for 10 minutes before chopping.

10. After chicken is plated, drizzle some of the leftover liquid to add some moisture and taste.

Enjoy! Click on photo album below to see how mine turned out.

Leave a comment with your results or any tweaks you've tried! =)

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Tales

Having sufficiently completed my assigned tasks from my assigned oversized closet, I closed my work bag with a short sigh. The elevator doors closed with it's unchanging chime and began it's unusually slow descent... landed I swung my heavy leg over my bike and began to pedal home... alone... in the cold wet rain... mostly uphill...

(Tales from a Melodramatic Office Worker)

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Deal with the devil

My face burned with the shame of betrayal - yes for I was betraying my fellow man. Supporting the very corporations and bourgeoisie that enslave both you and I! For that I am sorry... What now of my dreams of a new world? Where now is my revolutionary spirit? Had I traded my soul for... for this? I stared at it in my hands.

It was my precious - I held it carefully, oh yes very carefully and with both hands. I repositioned my fingers to take full advantage of it's radiant warmth. With closed eyes I inhaled deeply of it's rich aroma - a glorious wave of bliss came over me that, albeit momentarily, appeased my guilty conscience. It was my medium double double, my precious Tim Hortons.

(Confessions of a Conflicted Marxist Office Worker)

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just trying to say something

first i was going to update my msn status, then my gtalk, then thought i might as well buzz my tweet, or tweet my buzz or whatever. this was all too complicated so maybe i'd just statusize my facebook, but then i bumped my knee into my desk and gave up. 

so it ended up on blogger. i'm bad at this whole social media thing

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The Power of Perceived Value

A talk from an ad man about the power of perceived value. Hilarious and fascinating.



He ends with a hilarious example from our Canadian cereal Shreddies, this is the remarketed image of Shreddies, LOL.



And for those who reluctant to embrace the new:

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Possibility

"Saying yes to one thing means saying no to another."

I find it weird to consider that much of our life is the product of countless tiny decisions.

I find it even weirder that perhaps it is not the chosen path that defines us, but the countless paths that lie unchosen.

Not sure where I intended to go with this... but an image enters my mind... we all plot but a narrow course through the vast ocean of possibility.

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