Japanese curry

It's been a quiet day at the shelter. Half my staff are out on holiday or escorting clients. I can't seem to wake up. So I decided to work on the photos from my dinner last night.

I made a Japanese curry! It's ridonkulously easy. And I used vegetables entirely from my CSA:

onion
carrots
potatoes
butternut squash

Dice to bite size chunks. Saute onions in oil for a few minutes. Add the other veggies. Stir until all are coated in cooking oil. Add water. Boil for 10 minutes (until vegetables are tender but firm). Add Japanese curry cubes (it looks like the weirdest chocolate bar you've ever seen). Boil until thickens. Serve over rice.

After I added the curry, it looked so murky and ominous I thought it resembled something one might boil in a cauldron for potions class. So I took a little movie of it and even made an icon today:



Here are two pics of the final product. Which do you like better?

( With spoon: )

( Without spoon: )

FYI, I used Golden Curry (mild). Next time I will go for the medium, as the squash made it taste rather sweet for a savory dish.

Picspam - a study in colors. And my CSA pickup list

I have a flickr account. I have woefully neglected it. But in the past two days I took photos of things I found particularly striking. So I share with you a study in colors:

Brown - I found the decay visually appealing - shoes, rusty old fan and the edge ( of a skip )

Orange - Tomatoes from my ( CSA today )

Black - I saw this sign sticking out of some bin bags on my street and thought How utterly gothic. Black-on-black. Perhaps we need the goth detectives to find out what in those bags we should be ( wary of )

Oh, and my CSA pickup this week includes:

Swiss Chard
Basil
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Orange Tomatoes
Green Bell Peppers
Green Chile Peppers
Poblano Peppers
Bosc Pears
Macintosh Apples
Nectarines

Google and NYTimes Alert help

So I've decided that the extra-curricular assignment for my class should be reactions to current articles on poverty, income disparities, welfare, public assistance, etc. in the United States, framed by readings the students have for that week. I tried to set up a NYTimes alert with massive FAIL. Any suggestions on how to set up a reliable alert that won't include things like international poverty issues?

Also, I see this means I will have to end my disturbing news media blackout. And what a time. Not that I've literally blocked out the disturbing news in the media, just my energy focus on it. Oh well, at least in the midst of the $hitstorm around the Islamic cultural center downtown, this diamond came out of the pile. A blessing of a rational statement from one who usually exemplifies my political polar opposite - and a reminder that you never know who might show up on your side for any given topic.

 

PSA bump

It seems there's a new "feature" whereby anyone who posts a reply on LJ to an entry (whether that entry is locked or not), can have their replies x-posted to Facebook. This is an option that shows up when you hit the reply button (the quill on my LJ).

I am issuing a formal request to all who comment on my LJ, please do NOT x-post your replies, especially to locked entries. Quoting others in your comments may breach a confidentiality, and sometimes I post about things of a more sensitive, private nature that elicit equally private responses. Your comments will show up like x-posted entries on FB, if you do this. Also, if you reply to an entry that's been x-posted, it seems I will be notified of your comments twice. So while I dearly appreciate the comments I receive and the conversations that get generated, my inbox is bulging enough without that added double-stuffed treat.

I intend to complain to LJ.

This info was brought to my attention by rm. Thanks. Please pass it on, yeah?

ETA: You can complain to LJ directly here.