|
Photo goes here
Around the World in One Bite
Lucy F. H. (original recipe)
I've been to Mammoth Caves in Kentucky twice and you are really missing out if you've never been there. In fact, the rhyming couplet that begins "Beaches what with ponies running wild" ends with "Cave crickets perched on the child", a reference to our experiences there. Freshman year of college, my girlfriend got annoyed with me because I abandoned her for one weekend to take a caving course (where is she now?). It was lots of fun and in retrospect, I was a hell of a lot braver back then. Visit Mammoth Caves and you won't have to worm your way through a narrow passage with an old-timey carbide headlamp strapped to your head. Mammoth Caves is very accommodating and fun for the whole family.
This recipe is called "Around the World in One Bite." No one cares about foreign policy, but that doesn't keep it from being an issue. There are our allies of course but they are mostly pretty uncontroversial. More interesting is our adversaries, so I'll weigh in with my impressions of the Big Three.
Let's start with China. So, China has an authoritarian government and a poor human rights record. They use technology and conventional methods to track citizens and even Chinese in foreign lands who might show a hint of dissident tendencies. This is clearly not good and even fairly scary (we don't do this, right?). No one seems to talk about it, though. Mostly they hate on you for economic reasons. The Chinese economic system is pretty weird and maybe not the best for the people of China, from what I know about it. In 20-50 years I hope we aren't exploiting Chinese workers as much, inadvertently raising the cost of Chinese labor and leveling the playing field. But in the meanwhile, it's slightly their own business and when it comes to things like cheap solar panels and electric cars for under $5,000, I feel like China can be a part of the solution. I think we should shelter U.S. industries that are vital to American national security, like agriculture, and even energy to a reasonable extent, but collaborate with China in areas that can keep the planet hospitable. Also, my friend going back to middle school said it (in college) when he observed that the first time he really felt his government's impact on his life was the banning of Napster in the early 2000s. So I think the banning of TikTok (which I've never used) is similarly stupid (OK, maybe much stupider). Will kids even be using it still in 5 years? Let people make their own choices about their privacy. I heard a kid on the radio say, "what am I afraid of? China knowing how attractive and talented I am?" Hahaha. It's weird how you folks are all free-market, capitalism, until China is involved. My final thoughts on China is that you may make mistakes but you think big and I respect that. I have a friend who moved to China to teach English and math. China has its issues but any (1 of 2) country of 1 billion people, surely we must work together to make this world a better place!
Russia: People claim this issue is complicated but I'm pretty sure Russia invaded with violent force to try to change borders and that is kind of shitty. I don't really fault Ukraine for trying to defend its territory, and I bought a painted stone from a tiny child to help your cause. There are French people living in Canada and Somalians living in the Midwest and somekinda Asians living in Chile and Guatemala, etc., but these countries don't invade and kill lots of people because Putin wants Sheep Port. If I were President, I'd lean pretty hard on Russia to stop. Otherwise, I find your country fascinating. I read a well-researched roleplaying source book about Medieval Russia and it is pretty interesting. And Crime and Punishment might be my favorite book, certainly Top 3. The absolute coolest thing about Russia is that, due to the curvature of the Earth, you literally cannot see the whole country, its western and eastern ends, at the same time at any position on a globe. It's THAT big, specifically, that wide. This may downplay your cultural achievements but no one else can contiguously claim this. I made an eBay purchase from someone in interior Russia and had a nice little correspondence with her until the dumb eBay messaging system became too much of a burden to continue. If Pussy Riot is any indicator, not all Russians are conservative wanks that hate on gays and drink potato vodka until they go blind. It's a vast country, much like the U.S., with lots of different peoples and so I can't vouch for all of you but I know some of you are pretty special in a good way. That being said, I'd have canceled your most-recent Olympics, for being homophobic assholes. It seemed unimaginable at the time, but then they postponed the Japan games over something as trivial as Covid, so goes to show, the power of fear over actual disease compared to fear over the societal disease of homophobia. The funny part about Cold War sentiments is that Russia is basically not all that different from us, including our flaws. Trump loves them for this reason. Putin is an asshole but I think Russia is pretty neat. I think we need to love the people of Russia so they will stop voting for their shithead leader and I ask that the people of Russia love the American people and you can, should, ask the same of us, that we stop electing shithead leaders.
Iran: So, executing women for witchcraft, etc., I'm not going stand here and claim that isn't pretty backwards. But you have a proud history, at least prior to the 20th century, and I know for a fact many of you are good-hearted people who hate your backward government as much as I dislike my own. So it's really hard not to love the Iranian people even as we wish your government would embrace freedom and pluralism. The thing is, why do we hate on Iran but not our Middle-Eastern allies that are in pretty much the same ballpark (Israel is #1 in foreign assistance but Egypt is #2 and 80% of baby girls there have their clits snipped off!!!!!!!!!!!!*) (was that enough exclamation points?!) (And Saudi Arabia may be liberalizing in safe ways like letting women drive but they still persecute the women who fought for these very rights so that's really not very 21st century is it?). Maybe we need to extend love. I don't want Iran to develop the bomb because I don't want anyone to stockpile nuclear weapons but why this double standard, Israel has it, history clearly shows having the bomb is a deterrent so I'm not surprised Iran sees it as desirable. Muslims agree Jesus was a prophet! One of three! They tithe for the poor and needy. Maybe we should tithe a little from our hearts. I hear right-wing talk radio, especially when the hockey broadcast is a little late, and they say, "Iran hates us," I'm not exaggerating, they say they hate us, a monolith, but what kind of loser Christians are they, even if they believe this, if they don't love Iran even harder for it? I'm not even a Christian, why am I lecturing you about love thy enemy? Iran is a work in progress (so are we) but we systematically enslaved black people until not that long ago so maybe we hold their hand, be as patient as we can, call out their misdeeds with compassion, wish them better governance, and remember, it took us time to get to where we are today, the only path forward is love.
*Sorry, this is upsetting and graphic but we need to acknowledge it if we want it to stop!
So there you have it. Call me soft. I would stand up to our adversaries but never forget, they are people like you and me. I doubt there is a perfect government in the world. If nothing else, let's not confuse the people for their shitty governments.
Ingredients
- 2 Tbs. red Bell pepper, finely chopped
- 1/4 cu. Sweet potato, grated
- 2 Tbs. cubed Pineapple in juice
Dipping Sauce
- 1 Tbs. plain vegan Yogurt
- 1/4 tsp. Agave syrup (or Honey, if you do honey)
Preparation
Check back later!
Discussion
**WARNING** I have not yet made this recipe and so I can't vouch for the results.
|
|
Oregon