Cooking Diary: Garlic Prawns

I cooked this today, for a quick meal! Here's my version of the recipe:

150g prawns, peeled and deveined
50g beans
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tbsp shaoxing wine
1 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp water
1 tsp cornflour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar

(1) Heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic and fry until it starts to brown. In the meantime, combine the water, cornflour, salt, and sugar.

(2) Turn up the heat and add prawns and beans. Cook for 2 mins or until prawns are just cooked through.

(3) Add the wine, soy sauce, and cornflour mixture, and stir-fry until sauce thickens.

Done!

The fundamental flaw in the first amendment

Hmmm... so much for not blogging before Monday.

Anyway, my blood boiled when I read this article tonight.

The Americans sure are proud of their Constitution, and most especially the first amendment to the Constitution, the one that protects the freedom of religion, of the press, of assembly, to petition, and of course, freedom of speech. There is much to appreciate, as surely much of these rights are fundamental human rights.

However, according to the article, the law also protects the freedom to discriminate, harrass, and incite hatred. Does this sound like the foundation to an advanced, civilized nation?

This has always been a flaw in classical liberalism / individualism, where the freedoms of one individual impinge on the freedoms of another. No, this form of liberalism is nearing the end of its useful life and I hope that soon the world's most influential nation will adopt to a more socially responsible form of liberalism.

Sue Bradford's resignation

Big news indeed. There's been a press release on this, and various blogposts with different opinions, and I'm not sure what there is to add except a personal perspective on the whole issue.

I'm personally very sad to see her go. A very effective politician, a very effective activist working within parliament to generate change from within. Certainly one of the best MPs in the last ten years.

I'm sad, but not disappointed. She's given ten years of service to New Zealand, which, even as a backbencher, is a fair chunk of time. Losing the leadership was, in her own words, "personally disappointing", and that is understandable. I don't think you can begrudge someone their right to resign given that she felt that she had lost the support of her own party's members. (The Greens democratically elect their co-leaders.)

On the other hand, this may not be a loss for the Green Party. Bradford polarised the nation over S59 - and public opinion was mostly against her, as demonstrated by the referendum. A comment on the Greens blog said that she "lives in the wrong century". I agree, she's a century ahead of our time, and in a few decades we will probably wonder why we as a nation fought so hard to defend our right to assault our children. But right here, right now, she's a political hindrance to a party that is trying to extend their influence beyond their traditional grassroot activist voter base.

The woman who beat her to the co-leadership is no slouch either. She's green left through and through, but Norman and Turei are so politically adept that they just might reach through to the centrist but environmentally-concerned vote. They are also more than capable of touching base with the younger professional vote, and indeed I envision that the Greens will become a mainstay of Left politics in the future, especially whilst Labour with Goff sinks into irrelevance.

In summary; it's a big loss to New Zealand, but a politically smart move for the Greens.

I'm still here!

But internet has been capped and I've been playing a bit of an old game, Warcraft 3: Frozen Throne. I'm not very good at it but it's fun enough.

Forgot to take photos of the cool red dust storm on Wednesday. :(

This weekend will be Magic: The Gathering prerelease which I'll go to, and then back to posting on Monday!

Gay Parade in Belgrade

A news item to watch tomorrow:

Whilst Sydney's Mardi Gras Parade is a popular annual event on the calendar for gay and straight Sydneysiders alike, Serbia are having their first gay parade in eight years in Belgrade tomorrow.

There are many in the Orthodox Christian nation who oppose the parade, including the Church and the Mayer of Belgrade, but neither condone the expected violence that is almost certain to descend upon the event.

This is surely homophobia at its worst, but that's not the whole story; the nationalists are also using it to pursue a different agenda. They see this parade as a positive step towards joining the European Union, and so disrupting it would be a significant setback for the pro-Western politicians.

Many eyes will be on the outcome of this parade. It will be a true test of a nation that has only recently embraced democracy and has recently been fractured by the declaration of independence by both Kosovo and Montenegro.

Edit:

I'd only just written this post up and it appears that the event has been cancelled within the last hour. How disappointing that freedom of expression clearly does not exist in a country that calls itself democratic.

Cooking Diary: Split Pea and Coconut Cream Pudding

I've been looking around the internet for some recipes for Chinese desserts. Unfortunately it seems that desserts aren't traditionally a course on the Chinese menu, and most of my memories of Chinese desserts come from my Hong Kong background. The concept of dessert was likely imported by foreigners, since Hong Kong has always been an important international trading port.

Anyway, I've been following a food blog, Christine's Recipes, which have some wonderful and easy Chinese dessert recipes, including this one:



Mmmmm yummy!

Greedy Company Knowingly Killed People

This particular news item from today disgusts me in so many ways.

It appears that a maritime waste dump off the coast of the Cote d'Ivoire was known to be highly toxic and dangerous, but for the sake of a quick buck, the company was still willing to dispose of it in the waters off a populated coast.

This is capitalism and greed at their worst. Since when does healthy competition include wilfully endangering the lives of innocent people? The company involved with the operation, of course, claim that they "intended no harm". Yeah right.

When will we bloody capitalist "civilized" Western nations learn to respect the lives of all people, and think about something other than our own pockets?