Form follows function
July 31, 2008
As an obsessive reader of the New York Times health and science sections, I ran into this article the other day on Olympic swimmer Dara Torres. She’s been in the media quite a bit lately; as the mother of a two year old and because of her age–she’s 41–she an anomaly in the ranks of teenagers and twentysomethings poised to show the world their stuff in Beijing. The article–which tries to draw a comparison, and a rather unfavorable one at that, between Torres’ physical appearance and that of an 80 year old broadway actress–is a prime example of just how immaterial, irrelevant, and wrong so much of the media coverage on female athletes is. As I sputtered to Brian, “But what she looks like is irrelevant–she’s not a swimsuit model, she’s an Olympic athlete!“ Fortunately, a few folks out there in internet-land who are far more eloquent than I am also picked up on this. Here’s a nice piece over on, strangely enough, the Male Pattern Fitness site (my favorite quote: “To compare [Torres] to an average, diligent exerciser like Parsons isn’t just comparing apples and oranges, it’s comparing apples and nuclear-powered rockets.”), and also a comment from Mistress Krista at Stumptuous.
Mapo Dofu
July 29, 2008
Mapo dofu and gai lan, mmm...
I’ve been meaning to try to make mapo dofu for a long time now. Always in search of tasty cheap and proteinaceous foodstuffs, it seemed like it might fit the bill. With ground meat and tofu as its base ingredients, it’s definitely cheap, anyway. Really, I’ve only eaten it a couple of times (at a restaurant, of course), and that was back when I lived in Houston, so I don’t even remember what it’s supposed to taste like. However, that’s a rather common cooking challenge for me–there’s a great deal that I can’t personally cross check.
I used the recipe from Mrs. Chiang’s Szechwan Cookbook, which I got several years ago from the big Goodwill in Portland. It was a bit fussy in the prep work (chop garlic and ginger into a paste, cut cloud ears and water chestnuts into cubes “the size of match heads”, etc.) but takes only about five minutes to actually cook. I used ground pork and soft tofu; I think next time I’ll try it with ground chicken. 
The pork has an earthy taste that I don’t appreciate so much; I’m a bit of a wimp when it comes to meats that actually taste like an animal. It’s definitely a keeper though; it’s spicy and filling, and the Szechwan peppercorns add a very unique flavor. It does seem like more of a cold weather dish, though.
Mapo Dofu
Pour hot water over 1/4 cup tree ears (black fungus) and let soak.
Peel and finely chop a 3-inch piece of ginger.
Chop 5 scallions.
In a bowl, combine 1/2 pound ground pork, beef, or chicken, about a quarter of the chopped scallion, a tablespoon of the ginger, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon mirin or sherry, and 1 teaspoon sesame oil. Let sit while you prepare the following:
Cut 1 package tofu into 1/2 inch cubes. Peel and finely mince garlic to make two tablespoons, chopped; chop 6 water chestnuts and the (now soft) tree ears into “match head sized pieces”.
Assemble and have handy 1.5 teaspoons hot pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon sugar, 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 1.5 teaspoons ground, roasted Szechwan peppercorns, and another teaspoon of sesame oil. Add 1 tablespoon corn starch to meat mixture. OK, ready to cook?
Put a few tablespoons oil into your preheated wok or big frying pan (you want the heat pretty high), and when it’s hot add the garlic and ginger first, cook for 30 seconds, then add the hot pepper flakes (beware the mace effect), then the water chestnuts and tree ears. After another half minute, add the meat. Cook until it’s, well, cooked, then add the tofu and the rest of the scallions. Cook a minute. Add the sugar and give it another half minute or so. Add the soy sauce and about 1/2 cup water. Let it bubble for a couple of minutes. Add the Szechwan peppercorns, cook 30 seconds, add the sesame oil, and voila, it’s done. Not bad, eh?
Big birds
July 27, 2008
Today I took a break from studying and Brian and I went to the Cascades Raptor Center.
There were three bald eagles at the center--but we see these all the time around here...
We’ve meant to visit ever since we moved to Eugene. We saw a talk featuring a dark morph Swainson’s hawk, and a “developmentally delayed” barn own. The birds on display are only the ones that have no chance of being released back into the wild due to serious impairment from injuries. They have 63 birds on view, and who knows how many more being rehabilitated.
You can't really tell from the photo, but these golden eagles were monsterous.
We got to see some birds being fed; the rodent eaters get dead mice or rats, depending on how big the bird is, and the bird hunters get dead chicken chicks. These white tailed kites, below, got two chicks each for lunch.
The two kites had brain damage due to heat stroke when they were fledglings.
The vultures had signs all over their enclosure, like every two feet, that said "I bite hard!" I wonder how many fingers this one has tried to take off...
One of the turkey vultures was pretty endearing, believe it or not. She was very imprinted on people, and was all about trying to get you to interact with her. She obviously had pretty good success in getting people to stick their fingers through the chain link, judging by all the signage.
Brian and the birds.
A minute and a half of toenail chewing
July 24, 2008
Last night Sumi was far more interested in her toenails than in the chemistry of aromatic compounds and benzene derivatives.
Today's topic
Problems
July 23, 2008
general chemistry, anyone?
Here’s a good one:
A cube of solid ice is floating in a glass of water. After the ice melts, the water level in the glass:
A. is higher
B. is lower
C. remains the same
D. cannot be determined with the information provided
Squat day
July 21, 2008
this gym does kind of suck
Today is Monday, commonly known as squat day in my world. I don’t particularly look forward to squat day, but I go to the gym and do it anyway. Why, you ask? Because if you want to get stronger, you must squat. There is no way around it. Most gymgoers don’t squat, or even worse, in my opinion, they load up the bar with a ton of weight and do butt-bobs, little quarter squats, surreptitiously looking around between every set to make sure all the people around them see how much weight they’re moving.
For me, squats are an exercise in discipline, focus, and most of all, perhaps, humility. You see, my squat is one of my worst lifts. At my current bodyweight of 116 lbs, my deadlift PR is 240 lbs, but my squat PR is 140. That’s pretty out of whack. (To be at the same approximate “level” as my deadlift, I’d have to be squatting something more like 180 lbs.) So, my squat sucks. I don’t like doing things that I suck at. Plus, heavy back squats are the single most strenuous movement I have ever come across. A single slow set (I have no speed setting besides slow when it comes to squats) makes me huff and puff like I just sprinted a quarter mile. Plus, they’re technical. Plus, they’re kind of scary. It’s about having all that weight loaded onto your spine, it’s not like you can just drop it easily if something goes wrong. You have to be very, very careful, and as focused as you can be to squat heavy.
I don’t like squatting, but that’s one of the reasons why I do it. Only by practicing will I ever get a not-sucky squat, and that is something I want. So I check my ego at the door, and do what I can as well as I can, because that’s the only way to move forward.
Nothing special here
July 20, 2008
The tower of power.
It occurred to me today that I like to hear from my friends, and I think they like to hear from me. Problem being, they don’t hear from me much. I have fallen out of touch with some of the people who are most important to me, and I have a million excuses. I’m busy with school, it’s always too late when I remember to call, they are all doing such cool things and must have more important stuff to do than chat…
So, I have no big reason to start a blog. I didn’t move to a foreign country, or have a baby, or become enlightened, or make the Olympic team in anything. But you never know, there might still be some people who’d like to check in on uncommunicative me every now and then. I guess that’s reason enough.
