Over the weekend my cousins in Queens gifted me with a recipe I had thought long lost to death. My grandmother on my dad's side passed away in the mid 90's. She was a terrible cook. All of her food was cooked until it had died a second death, turned to mush, and ceased to be palatable. She used bisquick for pizza crust for god's sake. But her pies were to die for, especially her pie crusts. Here I gift you with her recipe. I promise you the crisco makes it extra flaky and delicious, though I admit I've never encountered a recipe that encourages you to heat the fat in pie crust.

Pie Crust - makes 2 crusts

3/4c Crisco
1 Tblsp Milk
1/4c boiling water
2c flour
1 tsp salt

Scoop crisco & milk into a bowl. Add boiling water and whisk until the consistency of whipped cream. Add remaining ingredients. Mix until just combined. Turn out and knead a few times before dividing and rolling into two crusts.

I'm pretty sure she didn't even bother with chilling before rolling, what with the boiling water and all, but I'd have to verify with relations to be sure.

At some point I would like to, in no particular order:

-Take Scott to Yellowstone
-Take the trans Siberian Railroad from Moscow to Beijing
-Go back to Japan to purchase a bowl of plastic food, see a kabuki or geisha performance, and eat curry.
-Go on an amusement park trip to King's Island and the Beach in Ohio before visiting old childhood home of Chillicothe, OH and staying with the Egberts
-Travel with a group of at least 4-5 friends someplace cool and rent a house for a week or so
-Go back to Cape Cod when the Carnival celebration is happening in Provincetown.
-Go to India, specifically the holy city of Varanasi
-Go back to Pompeii and spend more than 4 hours there as well as go to the temple to Poseidon at Paestum
-Go to the Amalfi coast and sip some Lemoncello
-Drive down hwy 101 again, but this time get to the Big Sir as well as San Francisco
-Go to New Zealand
-Go to the Cook Islands
-Go to Rio di Genarro...maybe during Carnivale
-Go to Tunisia to see the site of ancient Carthage and other parts of Northern Africa....would go to see the pyramids, but worry it would be anticlimactic and tourist hell
-Go to Greece and wallow in ancient world geekery
-Go to Lebanon and do the same
-Go back to Istanbul and spend more than an hour in Hagia Sophia, also visit the Grand Bazaar
-Go to Paris and eat myself dead
-Go hang outt in Marseilles and pretend I'm Julia Child

I encourage you to read this article about new high tech graveyards in Japan: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8302476.stm

The part that particularly struck me was this section:

"Visiting bereaved families swipe a card in a reader attached to a computer to activate a robotic arm in the darkness of the vault.
Burial spot at the hi-tech facility
An attendant shows relatives where the ashes are kept

It moves to the appropriate place on the shelves, picks up the box and delivers it to one of several mourning rooms.

Sombre music plays and photographs of the departed are displayed on computer screens.

Then a frosted glass screen slides back, revealing the box framed by a black marble tombstone set off with vases of flowers and a trickling water fountain. "

Now theoretically I am not squeamish or reverent about what happens to my body after I die. In fact I've told Josh to pretty much do whatever makes him happy with my body after I die, and preferably costs the least. I think that funerals and the cost of burial are a giant scam. I'd rather my body be donated to science or something (and yes I say that even after having read the book Stiff that describes all kinds of indignities visited upon bodies donated to science) rather than have my loved ones spend ungodly sums of money to fill a hole in the ground.

That said this article disturbed me in it's unflinching modernism. Cremated bodies stored in little boxes in what sounds like a vending machine of the dead. I mean you go into a room where all other families also go and a robotic arm deposits the remains of your loved ones into a viewing room while magic screens show you chosen images of the deceased. There is something about that scenario that chills me. I really can't put my finger on it, but it just seems terribly terribly wrong. So plastic and prefabricated and high tech. It's like the ipod of cemeteries. There is nothing sacred about it.

But then maybe that's just it. It's not sacred. It's practical. And just like my own wishes are to not be a burden on those I love after I die perhaps in it's own way this is a very convenient and economical option that is properly suited to the geographical and anthropological realities of the modern world.

Man all I know is leave it to the beloved Japanese to make a cemetery sound like something out of a far flung future based sci fi movie.

DID I MENTION THE ROBOTIC ARMS THAT RETRIEVE THE DEAD FOR YOU TO LOOK AT?!?

I am officially killing my livejournal. I barely come here anymore and I spend all of my time on facebook and twitter. Please find me there...same name on twitter. hugs to all.

terrain! terrain! pull up. terrain! terrain! pull up.

...bracing for impact. Easy victor?

Sooooo I'm not really updating LJ that much. It's probably because Facebook and Twitter are eating up my internet posting points. Sorry LJ folk...then again most of you are on Facebook anyway.

The farmer's market bok choy turned out tasty. Not as orgasmic as that place in Chinatown, NY. I think my broth was too intense and I didn't use enough garlic. Maybe a little too much soy sauce as well. Also who needs a wok when you've got a Le Creuset dutch oven?

Now...make veggie stock, or play wii, or both? Hrmmm....

So today I am doing some deep cleaning. You know, the kind where you your desk and the tv and after clutching yourself in horror you break out the hazmat suit and begin the dust bunny slaughter. Part of that for me today involved going through this little drawer unit I have in the closet and realizing I had way too much old electronic equipment that is just useless junk now. Old cellphones (and I mean old...black and white screens man), random usb chords, broken digital cameras, ac adapters to god knows what, etc. In that search I came across some memory sticks for a camera I used a lot in 2003. I also came across the extra memory chip for my current HTC Touch phone. Behold:



Startling, no?

Aside to scoticus: Would you want any of this old electronic equipment to fiddle with for any reason? Would any of you for that matter?

I love your eyes, my dear
Their splendid sparkling fire

When suddenly you raise them so
To cast a swift embracing glance

Like lightning flashing in the sky
But there's a charm that is greater still

When my love's eyes are lowered
When all is fired by passion's kiss

And through the downcast lashes
I see the dull flame of desire

Mojitos are great
Cheese is great
Geeky friends are great
Video games are great
Scott is really great.
Enchiladas are great
Fire is great
Spoon sleeping is great
Dancing is great
Non insane family members are great
Mountains are great
Tamarind tree is great
Sleep is great

I'm thinking it might be time for a hair cut and significant removal of some facial hair...

Storm really is the best female comic book hero ever. EVER!!! No...ever. No I'm deadly serious. I will accept no debate on this. Ok, yes, Halle Barry destroyed the character and made her awful...but I don't judge Wolverine on Hugh Jackman (who is not gritty enough btw).

THE BEST I TELL YOU!



Image borrowed from skywardprodigal 's journal

...I just got a raise! A reclassification of my job class actually, but it means more money. My boss called me on my cell last night. When I saw here number I was like, "Oh hell no you're not calling me at home about work!" but then she told me the good news and I did a little happy dance.

This reclass will also help protect me more if layoffs come to our office because it will give me more options if I need to start pulling seniority on other union members.

SWEET!

I love the sly or obscure references that come up in RPG's every now and then. I'm playing Persona 4 right now and in addition to all the mythologygasms that it has it also has cool item names. One is a "tesla coil" that is a real thing and in the game deals electrical damage. I just found out, completely by coincidence, that Tesla refers to Nikolai Tesla who was an amazing electrical engineer who did awesome stuff.

...is my friend