Recipes, and photos

Today's writing challenge on BlogHer.com is about photo-inspired kitchen wizardry. More specifically, "Do you sometimes make recipes due to the accompanying photo?"

The visual writing prompt is Bokeh.

I'm not really sure at this point what I'm going to write about, and frankly, I'm not particularly inspired by either of those subjects. I love bokeh -- I just don't feel inclined to write about it.

But here's a picture of my doggie, my little man, Sattva (ZAHT'-vuh ... second half of bodhisattva) (which I just found out is the name of a horse running the Preakness this weekend; the horse is the same color as my little man Sattva!):

It's kind of hard to see his color in this pic because of the filter I put on it. But it's a bokeh filter from a photo editing app on my smartphone, PicsArt. I love PicsArt.

As far as diving into recipes based solely on the photo alone ... umm, have you HEARD of Pinterest? Hel-lo-oo, I gain weight just looking at the delicious yumminess on that website! It's not fair!! And the blogs out there dedicated not only to delicious food but equally delicious photos to go along with them are too numerous to mention. Thank God for small favors, I say. I've seen more than one blogger whose passion for photography matches their passion for food. Here's one: The Simple Veganista. She explicitly states that she loves taking the pictures as much as preparing her subjects. And she's really good at it.

Speaking of food -- and bokeh -- here's a picture I took of the sign outside The Spaghetti Warehouse in Toledo, Ohio. Again with the lovely bokeh filter from the PicsArt app.

The air temperature was in the single digits when I took this picture. We won't even discuss the wind chill. This was taken on January 25, 2014. I just absolutely adore the vintage look the filters lend to this shot. It makes bone-chilling cold seem friendly. And delicious.

I do love living in this digital age.

I love that I can capture pictures like this ... on my phone. 

*** DIGRESSION ALERT***

Last night I saw the movie Hackers for the first time. I was drawn to watch it because the actor Jonny Lee Miller is the lead. Miller is also the star of one of my absolute favorite TV shows (oh; I should add that to my profile) in production right now, Elementary. I can't stand the character Miller plays -- Sherlock Holmes -- but I adore his performance. Miller has a sublime gift. He's brilliant. And he's surrounded by talent matching his in the form of Lucy Liu, Aidan Quinn (mmm, Aidan Quinn ... ....... .....................) ... oh sorry, I'm back, heh, and also Jon Michael Hill. The writing, the directing, the acting ... some of the best commercial production around. I say, kudos to CBS for making TV better with this show! The dialogue is so complex, I have a hard time following it. And I mean, c'mon, who doesn't love Lucy Liu??? She plays Joan Watson. Yes, that's right, Joan Watson. And I don't care what kind of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle purist you are, she owns it. The whole cast absolutely kills it, week after week after week.

I can't tell you how many people I've met who are watching the British version, Sherlock, and they won't even consider watching Elementary. I mean, I get it; when you experience something as well done as those shows are, anything that smells remotely sacrilegious to the original, pure inspiration seems unbearable. But it drives me crazy. If one were going to attempt to rewrite Sherlock Holmes, CBS productions managed to assemble exactly the right people to pull it off with Elementary. It's worth watching one lousy episode, at least.

It just really bugs me when people draw conclusions about something they've never experienced, never looked into or looked up.

*** DIGRESSION END ***

The point of bringing that up, about seeing Hackers, is that it got me thinking about how far we've come since that movie came out. And I love all of it. Life is better now for all the technology we have. It's a blessing.

Yes, it's being used to hurt people.

So are knives.

Knives can be great, when they're used to cut fruit or carve wood. But just like the internet, knives are a tool. The internet and computers (and knives) are not inherently evil, nor do they attract evil by their nature. Because the internet and computers are also doing great things by bringing positive messages to people who really need to hear them, and by bringing people together who otherwise would remain separated.  Among other things. More importantly, I seriously doubt God put the grey matter between our ears to sit there and look pretty. This digital age we live in is, in my opinion, one of the highest achievements human beings have heretofore dreamed up.

It's a beautiful, sublime thing.

Hello, blog. It's good to be back. :)

The Life of a Mosquito

It was a suicide run, I knew that. But still, my thirst would only be quenched my sinking my stinger into that human flesh hovering oh, so near to me! I needed blood; ironic, isn't it? That my quest for life would only result in my death.

She was an aggressive one. There would be no 'sip-and-run' this time. I'd only managed to narrowly escape the clap of her hands as she tried to thwart my attempts at getting close to her. One time the burst of air from one such hand clap grazed my wings, sending me spinning as I drunkenly dodged her next two assaults. She almost got me! But she failed - that time. I had to dive for cover before trying again. She was onto me like a bloodhound...no pun intended.

I circled around in the shadows while the human moved about the room, preparing something hot to drink herself. I waited for my next opportunity, but I was running on fumes, and desperate to taste blood.

Finally, it happened: she was busy doing whatever and she moved close to me which I was waiting for. There it was - a flash of bare skin, illuminated by light from the window.

She stood still, I made my move.

Landed stick it in drink; ahh ...

... The end.

Ahoy mateys!

 

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    A pirate's life isn't easy; it takes a tough person. That's okay with you, though, since you're a tough person. Even though you're not always the traditional swaggering gallant, your steadiness and planning make you a fine, reliable pirate.    Arr!
   
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Nocans.com, and Feeding Your Pets Homemade Food

Author's note: I must make the assertion here that at the time I wrote this I was very passionate about the subject of feeding raw food to our pets. I'd stumbled across two websites which provided lots of information making an argument FOR the diet ... and I got swept away with it. I confess I didn't do a lot of research into the arguments AGAINST the diet, and so this entry comes off sounding rather one-sided. That's because it is. Read with caution and do your research. 

For the record, I still believe feeding cooked meat is bad, but I give my "little man" carrots and apples as treats, also peanut butter -- the organic kind with no sugar added, just mashed-up peanuts -- and occasionally I'll tear off a corner of a pound of ground beef and give it to him raw. I've never seen him suffer any ill effects from this. At the same time I'm not willing to gamble. 

I'm keeping this post here because I believe it's important to keep the discussion going about what we feed our beloved family members -- both the four-legged and the two-legged kinds -- and to constantly demand nothing but the highest standards of quality from the pet food companies we patronize at our local pet stores. I am fundamentally against abuse of ALL kinds, but to me abuse of non-human animals (and children) is worse because they can't speak for themselves. 

~ Sarah Barres, May 12, 2015

Conducting a search of "are apples good for dogs" I stumbled across this website: No Cans - Make Your Own Pet Food. I poked around the website reading everything the person posted on dogs with interest. Like the author of NoCans.com I too became extremely worried and paranoid about what we were feeding our dogs after the Big Giant Pet Food Recall of '07. I totally sympathize with the author of that website because all the bad things happening to our beloved pets just broke my heart, and I wanted answers. Mostly, I wanted to stop feeding my pets poison, since that's about what it amounted to. Unfortunately it takes a big devastating event like that to bring to light the harm other people will do to each other and pretty much any living creature.

However, I was disappointed to see all the cooked meat in the dog recipes. I looked and looked for a way to contact the website administrator but I found nothing obvious. Many people close to me know that I feed my dogs raw meat and raw organ meat from time to time, and I wanted to direct the NoCans.com author to some of the stuff I found. She/he certainly did her homework and research and I totally relate to what that means, and the desire to share what one has found. Neither one of us wishes to make a profit off our findings; we simply wish to share what we found in the hope that other people can benefit from our hard work and enjoy healthy pets like we are. 

Well NoCans.com, here's what I found, I hope you enjoy it! Pet-Grub.com, a website and administrator that is full of so much compassion it pours off your computer monitor and overflows into your life. NoCans.com, the reason your cats don't like the people food you're giving them is because you're cooking it. Your cats want a whole, entire, raw fish, head, eyes, tail and all. Give them that and see how they respond! They will love it, and you can feel satisfied knowing you're giving them exactly what they need and love. 

If anyone reading this can forward this information to the site administrator of NoCans.com, please do!

Anyone else reading this, I sincerely hope you also benefit from this information. Most people probably can't afford to completely switch their dogs/cats over to a raw meat diet as it is quite expensive nowadays, but giving your pets some raw meat and raw organ meat once in a while is not only safe, it is recommended. 

I am not a veterinarian. But I know several veterinarians who would endorse what I'm saying here. Check with yours first, always, especially when it concerns your beloved pet. 

One word of caution: NEVER FEED PORK OF ANY KIND TO A CAT OR DOG!!!

Here's another fantastic resource, although I should say as a disclaimer that I haven't actually read the book yet, but it gets raves from other raw meat diet proponents: ladies and gentlemen, I give you the BARF diet.  (Bones and Raw Food diet ... get it?)

Here's to good health ... all around! :-)

Nothing at all

Which is precisely what I've posted in nearly a year! What is wrong with me? I'm going to have to turn in my "blogger" status card.

My excuse is that I never have any time. But the truth is that I simply choose not to do it; I can't deny that. I love blogging ... I love writing, about myself, about other people, about subjects that interest me such as camping, human and animal rights, living off the grid, environmental awareness in general, politics, all things Japanese, news broadcasting, news journalism, to name but a few. I've reduced myself to only discussing such topics with co-workers and my husband, but the blog post is always percolating in the back of my mind. I can't help it. I've had a very intimate relationship with words since I was about 4 years old. I don't write because it's "fun" or "cathartic" or because I feel it's good for me to do, nor for any one reason, nor for any combination of reasons. I write because it's what I do. I write. That's me. I'm a writer. What do I do? I write. I don't act, or speak, or build houses, or manage funds. I write.

And ever since I realized my superpower if you will, I've realized how I can either spread hatred or make the world a better place. I keep my hatred posts private; only I see those. (Those are what I'd call episodes of catharsis.) The more edifying journal entries capture the public spotlight on my blog, however. Of course I write such subjects knowing that, like beauty, the message is in the eye of the beholder.

I also enjoy writing fiction, and my absolute favorite thing in the world to do is invent dialogue:

***

"Nuh-uh! You told him??!? Holy crap, I can't believe you did it!" Jenny starts laughing loudly and heartily. All I could do was stand there beaming.

"You told Dustin that you found out about the scam he was running. I can't believe it!! I gotta say, I really did not think you would go through with it, Becca."

"If you think that's amazing, you should have seen the look on his face, AHAHAHAHA!!!" Now I was laughing right along with Jenny. "His face froze, Jenny, like a statue! Like all the life, all the emotion just drained out of him! I had to resist the urge to poke his face to make sure he was still human, hee hee hee!!!" I was almost shaking from giddiness, a nervous giddiness, granted. A month ago I stumbled on some documents on my brother's desk that proved what I'd been suspecting for several months now: that he was actually scamming college students into believing they were paying off loans, when in fact they were paying his personal bank account. I was furious because I myself had student loans once upon a time, but back then I kept the amounts as low as possible and paid them off quickly...

***

Ah, but I digress. That is not the most inspired thing I've ever written so forgive me for the lack thereof.

The point is, blowing the dust off this blog here is hopefully the start of a new leg in my journey. I can't wait to see where it takes me ...