smihilist's Profile

I just don't get the appeal. I know people swear that they consume more leafy greens this way, but bananas are just great to consume as, I don't know, bananas. And I'll take my kale without the sweetness of fruit, thank you. And chew my own food.

Designer companies don't lose money to knock offs. That is a problematic myth. Seems to be based on an absurd assumption that everyone who buys a knock off would magically feel compelled to buy the (pricey) original if only that pesky cheap thing weren't there. The fact is that familiarity with a design concept gets those with means exposed to the original and this facilitates sales. The open exchange of ideas allows for cheaper objects to become better designs. The myth of the genius designer needs to end.

this post epitomizes why I despise veganism as a worldview: these products are garbage and nothing on god's green earth will convince me that there is anything ethical about consuming them--ethics being the top reason vegans claim to value their own existence. These products may not incite complaints among omnivores because we all know we're eating garbage when we eat them, but I HATE claims that a desert tastes so good that you can't tell it's not vegan. Do you not get that you are actually telling the world that you know you are compromising your own pleasure for your stupid rules when you make such claims!?! The only reason to eat such nonsense is that it is an indulgence. Why would you indulge yourself in something that does not hit the sweet spot of decadence!? Total BS. People who eat real food can tell when something is not made with butter or other real food products even if they don't go into hysterics when they eat something that isn't made that way. And anyone concerned with making the world a better place knows that alternatives for food products designed to be cheap, tasteless, high sugar, totally processed, and chuck full of additives, derivatives and preservatives and always available, and never go off are not products that should be lauded even if they technically fit into a a set of fundamentalist rules.

there are many many features of this home that are stunning and beautiful, but that sofa needs to be countered by something so much more appropriate or inappropriate than those mirrors. It all seems wildly out of balance. The beige rug is also a really disappointing way to offset that exuberance.

I am a fan of garlic, but to keep it from overwhelming anything, I roast it slowly in olive oil on a low heat skillet until buttery. Finely diced onion. Lime, but modest amounts. And a chunkier mix than pictured here. I dice the avocado, and stirring makes it creamy and holds the mix together. Cilantro is nicest, but still good without. I am also in the serrano camp. BTW the roasted garlic is something I picked up from Rick Bayless.

I am an artist, I run an art gallery, and I have a respectable eye for valuation at the lower tier of the market. I respect art and art practices very much. I hesitate to encourage people to gleefully paint away, but I think the veneration for everything an artist produces is just plain dumb. We artists make crap all the time. It isn't because art has no value, and it isn't because there are so many bad artists out in the world. Though there are a lot of bad artists among us. It is just part of the process. Is something valuable lost ever? Sure. Do I cry about that sort of loss? No. The destruction of art is a part of the deal, and part of the respect for it. We artists value the edit.(ok, not all of us, but it is extremely important in professional realms to edit) If you feel the work may be of value, important to an art community, important to someone;'s history, it is clear enough that that is not the canvas you choose to paint over. Putting a valuable work of art in a thrift store is more disrespectful than destroying it. There is a clear valuation that goes along with that gesture, and the gesture is made public. If something is a little bit old and in a quality frame, check it out. If you have that lingering notion that it isn't your thing, but it looks like real art--try to find a place it could belong. But please quit the pretension that the world owes respect to everything artists produce. That's just crazy.

And for the record--a quality canvas on good stretchers is indeed cost prohibitive. But if a painting is on good stretchers--maybe, just maybe, the artist who made it is worthy of some attention. As with most things, better artists tend to use better tools--so if the stretcher is not one of those crappy Blick pre-fab flimsy jobs, that is a clue.

Then there is the matter of your less than masterful circle job--it is unlikely that it will actually make a painting that deserves territory on your wall unless you love irony. Paint because you want to paint. Paint on found materials because it is more affordable, it loosens you up so you don't feel uptight about the outcome, or because you want the remnants of the original work to become a part of the outcome (as withthe landscapes with monsters added). And then look at it, learn, and do what a respectable artist would do--move on and away from your crappy circle blob painting. Why would anyone want to look at either the crappy before or the crappy after everyday?

I know this is not how many think of this, but tofu is bland. If you add spice to the stir fry or other dish it will be less bland too. I was taught by folks introducing me to Japanese cooking that tofu should be a sensual texture experience. This method of cooking may be more pleasurable to some than tofu out of the box, but there are so many other pleasurable texture possibilities than this. Tofu is a deeply problematic food in these United States. It is heavily processed. Further, because it is bland to the American palette, it is often flavored with things that chemically resemble dorito juice. I know, none of y'all would ever do that because you are cooking your own, but there are clearly a ton of soy fake meat products consumed precisely because this method is not that satisfying. The vast majority of tofu consumed here comes from gmo soy. Even though there are veg sorts who claim to love the stuff, I find that most add it to a meal to provide protein. But the whole bean would provide protein and a bunch of other nutrients too. And the veg that goes with the dish will also have protein. I think exploring tofu dishes from Asian cuisines will do more to transform the boring use of tofu than this method ever will.

things to remember: recipes this simple are extraordinarily adaptable: thinly slice a serrano or similar hot greet chili, change salt for a spot of fish sauce and rough chopped peanuts and it becomes Thai. Sesame oil, mirin exchanged for sugar, soy for the salt, and sesame seeds, leave out the cilantro and it becomes Japanese. A tablespoon of finely minced onion and freshly ground white pepper--more than you think you would need so it becomes the dominant flavor--with a sprinkle of sesame seeds is great variation that shifts the entire thing more than you would expect. A tablespoon of finely minced onion, some grated parmesan, and chopped hazelnuts and leave the sugar out of the dressing is a favorite variation for me. Sometimes I will vary that variation with the addition of a tablespoon of dijon mustard in the dressing.

I am single, so I shred the veg in similar proportions, but in the amount I wish to eat in a sitting as the cabbage left on the head will stay fresh longer than the shredded--and I can enjoy all these variations as is appropriate with the other part of the meal. If you want to eat the salad before it has marinated in the dressing for an hour, scrunch the shredded cabbage, and rub it roughly in your palm after just adding the salt. After you've added the dressing--presto magico--it has the texture of a slaw that has been marinated. Oh, and I love garbanzo beans as the veg version of protein way more than fake tofu chicken product. I guess I eat slaw a lot. It is cheap, delicious, healthy if you dress it that way, and can be adjusted so it goes with nearly everything.

These basic cooking methods are right on. However, the problem in many American kitchens is that these basic methods are exactly the beginning and the end of the adventure. Because we view vegetables as the side, we expect them to fade into the background rather than be a feature, and we flavor them blandly and wonder why they aren't appealing. A fave for me--start with the caramelized roasting technique. Stir into a pan of sweated onions, add a healthy dose of freshly ground black pepper and a hit of tarragon, a minced preserved anchovy. Salt to taste--sometimes a slight hit of lemon or lime juice brings the whole into balance.

Another fave: barely blanch and then kool Finish a salad with grapefruit, small bit of minced shallots, a diced avocado, a vinaigrette based on the grapefruit juice encountered in the section prep, and finish with a small amount of finely grated asiago cheese.

And a third fave: again, barely blanch and kool. Make a dressing of 2 tbs hot chinese mustard, 1 tbs mirin, 2 tbs soy sauce. Leave in refrigerator for up to a week. Sprinkle with lightly roasted sesame seeds right before serving.

Can we be a little more careful about how we identify things and refer to these examples as DIY decoration? There is nothing wrong with decoration but it has different intentions and contexts than art.