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The anti-choice contingent descended on Washington, D.C. last Thursday and Friday, and I am confident in saying the average age of those attending was less than my 23. The combination of the sheer fact that these protesters were children – literally, though I’m sure the mental definition extended to some of their chaperons – and the continued opposition by the movement to any “abortion reduction” strategies (as if the “we want abortions banned or we want nothing at all!” strategy that isn’t just shooting yourself in the foot) only further illustrates for me that the people who proclaim themselves “Pro Life” have no concept of the lives they would affect. I don’t expect a child (and we are talking children, the groups I saw were no older than 16, and at times definitely no older than 12) to understand the nuances of the pro-choice movement, the arguments for ownership of one’s body and personal volition and the many complicated, individual situations that can arise involving a woman + pregnancy. So I sure as hell don’t expect these children to understand “pro life” in any more complex terms than “don’t kill babies, it’s wrong,” though the social and political implications of what they’re trying to enforce are vastly more complicated.
That said, today’s article in Newsweek about anti-choice advocates daring to commit the heresy of pushing for abortion reduction (while still, I’m sure, wanting a total ban at the end of the day) is kind of heartening. It is, I hope, something that can bridge the gap between some people on the anti-choice side, and some on the pro-choice. Because, despite the “Stop the Abortion Agenda” stickers that were ever so popular Thurs/Fri, there just isn’t any such thing. No one who is pro-choice wants a woman to have an abortion. We want her to have the option of having a (safe, legal) abortion. And though I doubt “safe, legal and rare” will become the mantra of those on the right pushing for abortion reduction, they might, at least, come around to resembling something that really is “pro-life” – both “pro” for babies, so they are conceived and born into healthy, supportive and loving situations, and for those women who would much prefer not to get pregnant in the first place than have an abortion.
EDIT: Just brought to my attention via Jezebel, the Vatican calls Obama arrogant for the repeal of the gag rule that previously prevented overseas funding for anything that even breathed the word abortion ever. According to Archbishop Rino Fisichella, this particular flavor of arrogance is “the arrogance of someone who believes they are right.” The Archbishop went on, “What is important is to know how to listen, without locking oneself into ideological visions with the arrogance of a person who, having the power, thinks they can decide on life and death.”
That strikes me as funny, good sir, because I’m pretty sure that’s what the Vatican and all those who subscribe to its ideological visions have been up to since… forever? Only I guess you’re just right, not arrogant because you <i>think</i> you’re right and imposing your worldviews on others to damaging and sometimes fatal consequences. Right? Right.
Pardon my frustration, but I’m always confused with how the woman in these equations, if the religious right ever considered her a person to begin with, suddenly stops being a “life” herself.
China reports the fifth death related to bird flu.
Pardon my skepticism, but when it comes to the Chinese government and providing the rest of the world with possibly reputation-damaging information, I can’t take their word for it – especially when it comes to the deadly combo of disease, high population and low income and sanitation. I predict that more, likely many more, than five people have died from bird flu, and that the government is perfectly aware of it.
My friend Sarah is learning to cook – and when I say “learning to cook,” I mean we are venturing out of the territory of microwaves and hot pockets and into the possible conversion of raw ingredients into something totally new. So with that, I present one of my favorite homemade vegetable dishes – it’s quick, it’s easy, it’s pretty, and it’s really tasty with absolutely no seasoning. Also I suppose it’s good for you, but then vegetables tend towards that. I usually just eyeball this when I cook it, so it was difficult for me to try to gauge times/amounts/other precise sort of measurements for the sake of giving Sarah proper instructions. I didn’t really succeed. So here you go. Practice makes perfect.
Colorful Veggie Stirfry
(Ingredients can be increased/decreased/added/subtracted depending on your personal taste.)
8-10 cloves of garlic
1 medium yellow onion
1 head of broccoli (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 bunch of spring onions
2-3 bell peppers (red, yellow and orange)
1 medium sweet potato
1-2 cups white mushrooms (or whatever mushroom you prefer – I bought mine pre-sliced and washed this time around, so unfortunately no instructions as to how to do that will be found here)
wok (or laaaarge skillet)
oil for cooking
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| Cooking Lesson 1 – Veggie Stirfry |
1) Peel and dice the garlic.
- To peel the garlic, take a large knife (I go right ahead with a butcher’s knife) and press the flat of the blade against the garlic clove. Press down until you hear a lil’ *crunch*. The peel should now pop right off.
- As far as dicing, my method is to group all the peeled cloves in a circle, then slice downward willy-nilly with the butcher’s knife. You should not move the blade back and forth, but up and down, in a sort of rocking motion, with the front of the knife blade resting on the cutting board and the back (ie the side you’re holding) bobbing up and down. The garlic will try to hop away, just regroup every once in a while until it is all little pieces.
2) Peel and dice the onion.
- The gallery (see above link) is handy for seeing how this is done. Ignore that I was not paying attention and cut both ends off, rather than just one. Anyway, you halve the onion, then lop one end of the onion off and peel off the crispy outer layer.
- With the flat part of the onion half on the cutting board, slice horizontally towards the uncut onion end. Don’t slice all the way to the end and through the other side, but stop so all those little sliced pieces are still stuck to one another.
- Now cut the onion vertically, with the tip of your knife pointed at the uncut end. Once again, don’t slice all the way from the cut end to the uncut end, but almost all the way, so the sliced pieces are still stuck to the Greater Onion Alpha (brother to the Spaghetti God? who knows).
- Finally, slice vertically, but with your knife parallel to the uncut onion end (ps, you can finally cut that end off). Now the onion should collapse into a bunch of diced squares.
- As for “cutting form,” I think it was best described by a Japanese woman while she was teaching me to make soup: “Like a cat! Meow.” (But it was in Japanese, 猫みたい！にゃお。Therefore 10x cuter.) Anyway, this means that as you do that rock-up-and-down slicing you were doing with the garlic, the other hand holding the onion in place should be “like a cat” – tips of your fingers curled in (not a full fist) and fingers together. Hold down the top of the onion line this, and move it back as you slice towards it.
3) Cut the broccoli into chunks.
- I like florets and dislike the stem, so I just cut the little florets off individually. There’s nothing special to this, or at least I don’t think there is until I start getting questions about it.
4) Slice the spring onion.
- I don’t do a lot of cooking with spring onions, but the good part is from the base (minus the rooty bits) up until the stalk starts getting kind of leafy and splitting off. You just have to eyeball it, and you will be throwing a lot away.
- I find it easiest to cut these guys by lining them up and just slicing down the line. Cut all the root ends off at once, and cut all the tops off at once. Hold them down with the flat of your hand (the cat hand won’t work here) and cut into thin round slices.
5) Dice the bell peppers.
- Sarah dislikes bell peppers, so Sarah can skip this part. But for the rest of you: Cut the ends off so you can see the otherwise hollow pepper and the big seedy thing in the middle. Cut down one side so you can “roll open” the pepper by sliding your knife along the inside and disconnect the seedy center.
- My peppers were pretty tall, so once I rolled them into one long, seed-free strip, I sliced down the center, then held the pieces together as I cut them width-wise.
6) Cut the sweet potato into small chunks.
- I like sweet potato skin, and I’m lazy, so I didn’t skin this.
- A long, thin sweet potato is probably best for fresh dicing, as these guys are pretty thick and hard to cut when uncooked. I have no specific strategy – I just cut it in half, then cut it into squares from there.
7) Cooking time! Put your wok/big skillet on the stove on medium-high heat. Splash with oil and add the garlic. Scoot it around with a spatula for about two minutes, then add the onions (both the yellow onion and the spring onions). Cook for another 5 minutes, until the yellow onion is starting to turn transparent.
8) Add the sweet potato pieces and splash the pan with water. Not too much, just enough that the sweet potatoes get slightly steamed and cooked through. Cook for another five minutes.
9) Remember those mushrooms I lazily bought pre-washed and sliced? Toss those in now, along with the broccoli florets. If you’re using broccoli stems, those will need to go in a smidge sooner.
10) Splash with a little more water (the water you added before should be just about cooked off – if there’s still a bit left, don’t add more) and cook until the florets are just starting to turn bright green, about 7 minutes.
11) I like my bell peppers crunchy, so throw them in while the broccoli is still firm but getting pretty bright green. Add a little more oil, now, and cook for another 3 minutes.
12) When the broccoli is at the consistency you like (I prefer mine firm but not crunchy) and the sweet potatoes are soft enough to be easily pierced by a knife, turn heat off and remove the veggies from the pan.
That’s it! This is also a nice dish to get a better feel for the stovetop cooking times of various vegetables – not everything will be perfectly cooked the first time around, but you’ll have an idea of about how long it takes to get a piece of broccoli to your liking, vs onions, vs bell peppers, and so on.
This blog was not born yet when Project Runway: Canada first premiered, but rather got its taste of foreign fashion show spinoffs with Project Runway: Australia. But never fear, my people, for PR: Canada returns! On Tuesday, January 27, we will be able to get our clothing competition fix – albeit one that exists in this weird, alternate universe where everyone, and I mean everyone, is really damn polite. The first season was spectacular, and though I’m not sure this year’s winner could top the strong, powerful superhero theme, like Superfriends but AWESOME, that swept last year (unless it is of a similar ‘the woman wearing these clothes is both stylish and capable of kicking your ass’ bent and they give all their final pieces to me), I look forward to it with great anticipation. Also: Iman. You can’t beat that.
Tune in, people, you won’t regret it. Besides, with the American PR in legal limbo, what else are you going to do?
Speaking of movies I am excited for based on source material, I wasn’t aware Scott Pilgrim had any more than indie presence until I heard about the really awesome sounding movie adaptation. The best part? Now when I talk about the “vegan police,” people will actually get it – or, at least, understand that being vegan gives me superpowers.
It’s a rare day indeed that I’m excited for a movie not because I liked the source material (see: Wolverine, Watchmen, and other superhero movies of days past) but because I believe it’s a brilliant collection of talent and storytelling without having anything to base that on but the trailer. I’m kind of picky like that. But when I saw the trailer for 500 Days of Summer, starring eternal favorites Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, I wondered why this perfect storm of talent took so damn long to happen. JGL has proved himself time and time again in projects like Brick and The Lookout, and deserves to be more famous than he is – and Zooey, the eternal It Girl of the hipster crowd without being a hipster herself, has always deserved better than supporting roles and/or half-baked comedies. Though I doubt this will break JGL out of the quality indie niche he’s carved for himself (and from my brief observations of his very talented manager, who has the power and skill to break whatever balls necessary to get him whatever jobs he wants, I’m not sure he wants to be anywhere but that niche), I hope it will get Zooey a little more firmly planted at project quality level she deserves.
But then, working with Jim Carrey might score bigger paychecks, and I can’t really fault her for that.
