A good food blog contains lots of pictures.

Unfortunately, most of the time, I am without such niceties.

Recently, I can blame this on a connectivity problem with our Mac Mini, aka the computer the pictures live on.

I like food pr0n as much as the next person.

So, I'll give you a few links of where I get my fix.

Bento
Lunch in a Box

Bento Anarchy

Bento Lunches

No, I don't make bento lunches myself, I don't have the time or equipment, but I think the intricacy of some of them are awesome.

Cakes
Cupcake Bakeshop

Cupcakes Take the Cake

Jintrinsique

Gluten-free
Gluten-free girl

Gluten-free Goddess

Gluten-free Blog

Veggie
Vegetarian Organic Blog

Misc
Potlikkery

I come back to these, though I do peruse new ones every so often. :)

You know you wanna share. Where do you see gorgeous, drool-worthy food?

Maybe there's a joke to this that I don't get. PLEASE let there be a joke here.

Otherwise, Joaquin Phoenix can't spell his own name.


Maybe someone else wrote his 'speech'. Maybe.

I think I've said it before, but the Christmas season sort of crushes me. The rushing and crowds and the stress...eating too much or not finding a gift for that one difficult person or general Bah Humbuggery...

Singing at Christmas time always makes up for it. It's why I go to church so many times at Christmas. It breaks my crotchety little heart to see people coming together to sing.

Unfortunately, my favorite carol is never sung by congregations, so I just have to hope that it gets chosen from time to time by whatever choir master/mistress I happen to have from year to year. Admittedly, it would be hard for a congregation to spontaneously sing this one. :)

I didn't know until recently that it is connected to Aberdeen. The Scots words were written by a musician from the Wedderburn family in the 16th century. It's called Balulalow.

Here's a rendition of the last verse from King's College Cambridge.



O my deir hart, yung Jesus sweit,
Prepair thy creddill in my spreit!
And I sall rock thee in my hart
And never mair fra thee depart.

Bot I sall praise thee evermoir
With sangis sweit unto thy gloir.
The kneis of my hart sall I bow
And sing that rycht Balulalow.

Merry Christmas, if you celebrate it. If not, have a warm and happy time.

Tomorrow is the carol service for our church.

I'm not sure how the stars aligned to produce the state of affairs for tomorrow. I'm not only preaching the sermon, but as the minister of music, I'm in charge of getting something for the kidlets to sing.

We've thankfully decided not to have them sing during the nativity scene. Instead, I suggested Christingles.

I found out about them while reading through the hymnal during the Sunday service one week at King's Chapel.¹ One of the hymns was called 'It's rounded like an orange' set to the tune of 'The Holly and the Ivy'. As a non-Brit/non-Anglican, I'd never heard of Christingle services before.

It seemed like something visual, tangible, and easy that the kids could get involved with during the Advent season.

In theory.

In reality, dates for the carol service got moved about and it ended up a week early, which is why it is tomorrow and not the 22nd. So, the kids won't have a chance to make them.

So, yesterday I spent a while wrapping 70 oranges with red ribbon and sealing them with a candle-image stamped bit of sticker. Sticker doesn't really stick terrifically well to orange peel.²

Tomorrow, everyone in church will get an orange. The kids will hand them out before singing the hymn I mentioned above. Honestly, I hope the congregation eats their gift of citrus during the sermon. It will stop them paying attention to me.

And then my plan will be complete.

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¹- I don't feel I should have to listen to more than one sermon a week. *shrugs*
²- This did give me a fantastic chance to watch some TV absolutely guilt free. :)

I'm putting the finishing chapters on my sermon for tomorrow.

maygenoytoe sent me a link to some wonderful quotes about writing by many people, many of whom are pretty famous writers.

The hopelessly stuck [writer] would find it expensive but worth it to hire a gunman to pound on the door and threaten death as a spur to composition.

Enjoy.

I've been thinking more about politics more recently than I do on a usual basis.
I avoid it, not because I don't find it interesting, but because of the devisiveness that I see whenever politics is brought up. The ad hominem attacks by either side, in US politics, or from the various sides, in UK politics, are ridiculous and are fit more for 3 year old temper tantrums than for people trying to persuade.

This was probably due to the talk of politics over dinner on Friday night at which we were joined by a 20-year-old gay candidate for the Scottish National Parliament. He is running as a Tory. Which strikes me as almost as odd as a gay man running as a Republican. Good luck to him, I'm not eligible to vote for him even if I was already a British citizen since he's running for Aberdeen North, apparently.
Wish I could remember his name. He was charming.

I looked at the profile for the US presidential candidates last night as I was going to bed.
Honestly, as grass roots as people say that the various candidates are, they really don't know what's going on every where. Or they do, but they don't understand it.
(For example, I'm a Southerner, I'm Christian, and I'm more conservative than liberal on many things, but I'm vehemently pro gay civil rights. Didn't expect that, did you, Southern profilers?)

I came across a poem today by G.K. Chesterton. It's probably familiar to Brits, especially the line 'For we are the people of England, that never has spoken yet', but as I said, I'm the last one to the party.
I liked these lines:
We hear men speaking for us of new laws strong and sweet,
Yet is there no man speaketh as we speak in the street.

I firmly believe that America has become too diverse in its goals, backgrounds, religious beliefs, and political views for any one person to make the majority happy.
(Though, I wish that religous beliefs didn't have to be included in that list, I'm such a separationist.)

The candidates this time around will have a tough time of it. I'm glad I'm not one of them.

If I had one word of advice to give to any of them, it would be this: don't use scare tactics to win the election. Don't try to make one portion of the population despise another.

One last thing...there are some pictures of the wedding here.

Hopefully, this is funny even without having seen the The Great Race.

I was going to make this great travelogue post, but I don't think I'll have time to get to it this month.

So, photos are here. Have fun.

Today, I discovered three things that are interesting to me.

1. EAT@Crombie isn't open until noon in the summer.
this led to two other things

2. While walking up College Bounds to buy some milk to put in my afternoon coffee, a plum hit me on the head.
That's right, there's a plum tree in front of the Humanity Manse. I ate three of them. Yum.

3. On the way back to E@C, I noticed a tiny little sign that said 'Snow Kirk'. It's now a cemetary.
It's tucked between Crombie, a car park, and some houses. I feel full of squee when I come across new things I'd not seen here before.
Apparently, the little kirk was started to be the parish church when Old Aberdeen became the Burgh of Barony. I did recognize one grave stone, that of Gilbert Menzies, a Catholic. (I recognized the name because he's one of the provosts of Aberdeen about the time the university got started.)

Speaking of things I'd not seen before, the Townhouse at Old Aberdeen is now open to the public.
Currently, there are a few paintings on display. I believe they have plans to make it a bit more of an attraction.

Also, I should take more pictures of Old Aberdeen. It's truly like living in a renaissance town sometimes. :)

I wrote for ages today. I'll be so glad when Friday comes, even if Dr. S thinks my paper is a pile o' poo.

I snapped a couple quick shots on the way out, thought they'd be interesting.

Possibly. :)

Click through on any of the photos, except the one of the bag, to get Flickr notes for each.


Pictures of my desk and some handwriting samples. (Idea via welten.)

I got the idea of taking a picture of the things I carry around from Flickr. It's meant to be 'what's in your pockets', but I carry this bag around because I don't use plastic bags anymore, so this substitutes.



Yes, I'm highly amused by the 'My _______, let me show you them' snow clone. *hangs head*

A friend of mine¹ mentioned that when you've not been vegetarian and you're trying it on for size, it's difficult to decide how to plan your week's meals/grocery list.

I've gotten most of my meal planning from my mother and grandmother. They've always been about simple, healthy meals. This is what I default to when I'm doing meal planning. I can cook big, elaborate meals, but you know...I'm not being paid to cook, so I've got to be economical with time during regular days.

The biggest thing to remember, for anyone planning a meal for vegetarians, is that you cannot directly substitute meat from meals with vegetables.

For example, if you take a beef stew and change it to be zucchini/courgette stew, it won't have the same sticking power. Put another way, you're probably not going to feel as full. Why? You taken away the fat and protein from the dish.²

So, when you plan your meals, think of what you will use for protein, and yes, fat, in each dish. If you can't think of a way to alter a recipe to include protein/fat, have some nuts or a bit of cheese as a side dish.

So, a sample week.

I do meal planning from Friday to Friday because I like to have the best selection in my pantry/something already prepared for Sabbath.

Also, in case you're wondering, this list is largely gluten free. I'll indicate any places that would need substitution.

I'm not including lunch/breakfasts, for the most part. I eat very little other than fruit/cheese/raw veg for those meals, so there isn't much I can tell you about them.

Friday: Put some beans on to soak in the am. (Pinto or black, black for preference.) In the afternoon, boil them and have some of those beans with some rice for supper.
If you're not into beans, have some lentils over the rice instead.
( Beans or Lentil recipe )

While you're preparing for Friday's dinner, make up a casserole with the rest of the beans, if you've made them. If you're not into making your own beans, you can cut corners and use the Heinz Mexican beans/pinto beans in water that come tinned.
( Tortilla casserole recipe )

Saturday/Sabbath:
Bake casserole. Eat. (Ah, simplicity.)³

Sunday:
This usually ends up to be an eating out sort of day.
If it isn't, I make some sort of curry.
( Fast curry recipes: Thai and Indian )

Monday:
You will have leftovers from something from the weekend.
Eat those. Leftover curry is brilliant.

Tuesday:
Pasta. Use rice pasta if going gluten free.
Serve with sauce.
Have a side of carrots.

Wednesday:
Soup.
Serve with a cheese toastie/grilled cheese sandwich. I make gluten free bread in my breadmaker when needed, but you can buy it very easily in the UK and relatively easily in the US.

Thursday:
Eggs, sausage, peas, and oven browned potatoes.
( Oven browned potatoes recipe )
I prefer the Cauldron Cumberland Sausages, though they aren't gluten free. drjoan has a fantastic burger/sausage recipe. Perhaps she'll post it... She did, there it is.

So, that's a sample week. Hope it's helpful.

I'll be sending more recipes along to him via email, but I'll ask:
Got a good vegetarian recipe you'd like to share to get him started?

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¹- percible, for the curious.
²- Yes, I know that fat is teh evilz, but we need a bit of it every now and then.
³- I eat my biggest meal at lunch time on Sabbath.
⁴- The firm kind. Seriously, if you get silken tofu and try to put it in things, it will fall apart. Such is the way of silken tofu. Trust me on this.
⁵- I love burnt things. I don't know why. It's genetic. drjoan does too.

Clever Graffiti.
SFW, though a couple use a bit of language.

A simple, yet infuriating game.
It's ybunny's fault for finding the link.
SFW, though there is music with the game.

Cat Laws
So true. YES.

Tetris with the US States?
Fun for one or two gos.

Photos linked to the place they were shot.
I'd be tempted to do this, but I'm always worried that sites like this will shut down and I'll be out hours of organization.

Blues Brothers, in Lego.
Sweet.

Bird scaring tactic doesn't work.
The owl for scaring has a sort of 'D'oh!' look about him. :)

Photos of Atlanta, Georgia, then and now.
I lived in Atlanta for 5 years. Interesting to see older pictures with the newer one right below it.

Some YouTube links:

Anti-Nazi Daffy Duck Cartoon
I remember watching this as a child. I don't know that it is actually banned.
golfbisquit, redthought, and I used to say 'Danke Schön' to each other ad nauseum after seeing this.

Pachelbel Rant
You've maybe seen this already, but if not, there you are.
Hilarious rant about how the Canon in D is everywhere.

Craig Ferguson interviews Gerard Butler
Bit of an older clip.
I love that those two, as Scots, can shift into American accents so seamlessly. Wish I could do the opposite.

Song by Gaelic Storm called 'The One' with animation
I can't think of any other way to describe this.

Liam O'Maonlai sings in Irish Gaelic
Infectious song done impromptu with the singer named above and a band in a pub.
I couldn't even begin to tell you what he's singing about. My Irish Gaelic vocabulary runs to about 15 words. EDIT: magaidbhan has come to my rescue. Here's the lyrics to the song, in Gaelic and English.
Apparently, the singer is usually with the band Hothouse Flowers.
The video hangs up in the last few seconds. Doesn't crash browser, but just sounds funny.

ybunny comes home tomorrow! Much rejoicing!

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I was mentioning to atticus_frog that there is a difference in my mind between being a fan and being a fangirl (or boy, whatever). I feel to old, too crochety, or too busy to get as excited as I once did about as many books/films/people.
As hatsumomo pointed out, it is a very dull person who can't get excited about anything, even if those things are supposedly childish. (Insert mumbling about finishing Book 7 in about 4 hours. *mumblemumble*)

I believe my first instance of fangirling anything came at 9 when I received the old Del Ray box set of Tolkien novels. Four books...The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy...which I wore to pieces reading.

I tried to make my way through the Silmarillion, but at 10, when I picked it up, it wasn't a very good read.

Cut to 6 years later. This was before the advent of online booksellers that made finding books easy. I spent a good bit of time scouring the used bookstores of Western North Carolina trying to get my hands on some more books by Judith Tarr. (Finding A Wind in Cairo took forEVER.)

While at the Asheville's Downtown Books and News on Lexington, I happened upon a book by Guy Gavriel Kay. I wasn't looking for that, but the name was familiar. I liked the cover art, so I took it home.
It finally dawned on me, this was the guy that had worked with Christopher Tolkien to edit the Silmarillion.

The book in question is The Lions of Al-Rassan. US Amazon link and UK Amazon link Sadly, they've changed the cover art.

The story is gripping. Set in a world easy comparable to medieval Spain, the plot involves a love triangle with protagonists representing three religions, renamed versions of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. There's a bit of El Cid legend thrown in for good measure.

Well friend, Hollywood has gotten hold of Lions. magid mentioned it previously, but I'd sort of blocked it out, I suppose. The original discovery is hers.

The only detail forthcoming involves the choice of director, Edward Zwick.
Because I love the book so much, I fear for its translation to the big screen. But, I have to admit that I really liked Zwick's Last Samurai (even with Tom Cruise). He was also involved with two of my favorites, Shakespeare in Love and Dangerous Beauty, as a producer.

Kay's site, Bright Weavings, has little to say on the topic, but does admit to 'low grade discussions with Hollywood'. As of 15 June, Warner Brothers has the first draft script, but no casting decisions have been made.

Here's the thing, Zwick: I'll be there for the film, if/when it gets made. You've got my money already, as it were. But, please, let's keeps to the story. Don't let the them push you into making a swash-buckling film that hollows out the plot. (Not that I have anything against buckling swashes.)

What book would you like to see made into a film?

Back about a year ago I had a bit of a problem with a seagull baby living in my back garden and harassing my runt of a cat.

A few of you were concerned that I might harm it, enormous though it was.

I'm here to tell you that Aberdeen seagulls can fend for themselves.
The [seagull] first swooped in Aberdeen's Castlegate earlier this month and made off with the 55p crisps, and is now a regular.

I'm just incredibly amused by the preview pic for the video clip. He looks so pleased with himself.

In case you don't know, I'm an animal lover. I wouldn't hurt anything intentionally...except spiders. Most of that is caused by me flailing to get away. Plus, we all know they started it. :)

fabu linked to an entry by hth_the_first about the idea of racial colo(u)rblindness. She speaks specifically about portrayals in film/TV, but it has wider implications.

I have to say that race relations, ethnicity and nationality are topics that I think of on a weekly, if not daily (or hourly!), basis.

As someone living as an ex-pat, I'm very aware at times of my nationality. Anyone seeing me on the street in Aberdeen would not pick me out as an American.
I simply don't do the things that are seen as stereotypically part and parcel of the 'American abroad'.

This illusion lasts until I open my mouth. I might be red headed, freckled, and paler than whipping cream, but I'll never master a Scottish, much less a Doric accent.*

But, the reason I fit in while silent? It's because of those physical characteristics that were passed down through my family.

While I was back in the US last time, I was struck by the sudden return of diversity of ethnicity. Living in Aberdeen is pretty mono-chromatic.

I performed a very unscientific, random survey of people walking along Union Street** while I waited for the bus one morning. Because it was a long wait, I saw about 400 people go by. I noted the number that appeared to be of colour.*** That came to about 35. That's less than 10%.

So, as far as colour goes, I should feel like part of the majority. I really don't. I feel like an impostor.

The UK doesn't seem to have as much of a colour racism problem as a nationality racist problem. Whether it's the semi-good natured 'hatred' of the French or the critical problem with racism towards members of Islamic countries, it's more about where you're from than what you look like.

But, even though a good majority of the people in Aberdeen are white Scottish, we're all part of some minority or other.
For example, I'm part of a minority...Seventh-day Adventists. Yes, I'm a Protestant, but most Protestants look a bit askance at us. At best we're 'odd' at worst a 'cult'.****
There are ~300 Adventists in Scotland. We comprise 0.00006% of the population. (In the US, 0.003%.)

Does it hurt when someone asks if I'm a member of a cult? Yes. But, I can choose to just not mention it. To have no control over disclosure of the thing that makes you a minority and causes people treat you badly must be heavy to bear at times.

That's all fine and good to say, but what should we do about it? hth_the_first mentions the idea of forgoing this blindness. Because it's so easy in today's world to say 'I won't see the differences, and I'll treat everyone the same'.

That's sheer laziness.

Think of the stereotypes that come to mind when you think of someone who is Christian or pagan or black or white or old or young.
For all of those, there will be many people who are 180^o opposite from them. Treating everyone exactly the same will offend more people than it will help. Courtesy should be universal, but its application will, and by nature, must variety in form from one individual to the next.

I know we don't have time to get to know the intricate workings of the minds of everyone we come into contact with*****, but it sure would be nice if we gave it a try.

I'm part of the colour majority, but that doesn't mean that I don't know how racism feels. That doesn't mean that I don't have physical scars from encounters that went badly when I was told that I needed act 'more white'.
I can't know what it's like to be something other than myself. But, I can try to understand. Intentions may boil down to nothing, but I would hope that my actions far out pace any intentions.

I don't know where I want to go with this yet, but I'm trying to learn to stop hitting the 'delete' button and actually post the things I think of.

---

And believe me, I wish I could. I have a few phrases down, but anyone concentrating closely on what I'm saying would burst that façade.
** Aberdeen's main street.
*** Remember how I said this was an unscientific, random survey?
**** I invite you to take a look at the definition of cult before lumping me into that label.
***** I'm not telling you that I'm some sort of on-pedestal example.

I've been up since 6 am. I am starting to carry my weekday schedule over into the weekends.

Tons of things are already done, so I'll take a few minutes out to respond to Jake's Blog

Provisos:
1. List eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged [can] write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog, you [can] choose eight a few people to get tagged and list their names. Any one who wants, go ahead. If you're not keen on posting memes, leave 8 things in comments. Or don't. Whatever. :)


1. To echo Jake's hair oriented points, I'll just mention that I'm quite frustrated that I'm going grey so quickly. It started with a few white hairs here and there when I was 22 and now, at 27, I actually have 'highlights' of white. I'm not going to bother dyeing my hair on a regular basis, but damned if I'll be grey at my wedding.

2. There is a wide difference between being enthused and preaching about something as far as I'm concerned. I'm unlikely to ever take a recommendation on books/films/music/brand of toilet cleaner if you tell me 'You have to try this!' I don't actually know why. I'm less bothered by this sort of thing in blogs or other print medium. If you preach the gospel of authentic hand pressed fly juice to me over dinner, I'll likely want to drown you in it.

3. The song that plays during the end credits of Red Dwarf reminds me of early days during my relationship with ybunny. I don't think that many people get sappy over Fun in the Sun. Yes, that's right...I'd never seen Red Dwarf before 2004.

4. If I had a nickel for every time someone said 'you're American but you understand sarcasm' with that shocked look on their face, I'd have enough to fill a sock and thump people.

5. I'm learning to embrace the idea that even though I had 13 years of voice lessons, I'll be more likely known to play the piano.

6. One day, oh yes, I will open a restaurant. It's a toss up between a joint venture with my mother-in-law here in Aberdeen (she likes the name 'Waffle Hoose') or something with my sister and mother (possibly called The Red Oven). Regardless, it will serve biscuits. Mmm...fluffy biscuits.

7. I really hate working in my office. I spend most of my time there daydreaming. I don't think that's the point of an office. I primarily work there on days that I have to go back and forth to the library often.

8. I used to dress with a very...well, odd sense of style. I'd still be dressing that way, but I feel like if you're going to be eccentric, you should probably be brilliant. I don't think I have the brains to pull of some of the outfit combinations I could put together.

I want to make a post today, solely for the purpose of having made a post on 07-07-07.

I think now would be a good time to provide a links post.
I tend to store up cool and interesting sites in a bookmarks folder called 'to blog'. Unfortunately, or fortunately...depending on your point of view, I've not been without things to write about for the last few weeks.

So, on with the links dump.

1. A list of snow clones. Snow clones are formulas for clichés. The one that will have been flashing noisily in your face for the past few months is 'I'm in your X, Ying your Z'.

I wasn't surprised to find this had a name. Everything has a name. The snow clone I use most frequently is 'Friends don't let friends X'. Obviously, the original was 'Friends don't let friends drive drunk'. Which is irritating, because surely it should be 'drive drunkenly' or 'drink while drunk'.

2. A great site for poetry. I found it while looking for the text of Edwin Morgan's poem 'Strawberries' to send to my sister-in-law.

I've been reading through them starting with the shortest first. It's a great collection.

3. A podcast from the Film Factory with Geoffrey Rush and Bill Nighy on Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Link opens a Quicktime movie.

I love how Rush and Nighy talks about the presence of British pirates. We have a long history of [piracy]. The Irish, the Scots, the Welsh, the English...we've always had an enthusiasm for going to sea and robbing other people.

4. A time lapse video of mushrooms growing. Link goes to YouTube.

Obviously, there have been other time lapse vids of mushrooms, but this one just picked some fantastic music to go along with it. Plus, it should gross out ybunny. ;)

5. While in Edinburgh, athousanderrors mentioned a song sung at a Breast Cancer fundraiser.

I found it, to my amusement. Here's Tim Minchin singing 'Inflatable You'. Link goes to YouTube and the lyrics are Not Safe For Work.
The lyrics are here, in case you're at work when you see this.

I love when I see humour used in conjunction with fundraising. Plus, it'll get stuck in your head. Just fyi. :)