Hit Me!

Everyone seems to like food. I love cooking, and I love eating. I'm a big fan of trying new things, and I love when experiments work out. It seems to me that lots of the people I know love new foods, sharing recipes, and trying interesting bits, so I'm thinking today about recipes.

This morning I made a sausage, cheese, and egg sandwich on toasted bread. Nothing fancy. It made me start thinking about the egg. The egg is a fantastic vessel, a perfect protein, and tasty if you like that sort of thing, which I do.

So, what's your favorite egg recipe? Anything a little out there, a little strange? Maria's favorite used to be something she created called "L'Ouef de Barf." Basically, she scrambled eggs with some butter, threw in blue cheese, salsa, and whatever else happened to be in the fridge. The important bits were the cheese and salsa, because they made the eggs look, well, similar to its name.

It was scary to see. No-one in their sane minds would want to eat it based on looks. The smell didn't really help, either. The taste? Awesome. Fantastic dish.

So, I'm willing to try weird stuff. Do you have any egg recipes that are a little off-the-wall? I'd love to hear them!

Blame popfiend

I got called a racist the other day. It wasn't over anything particular, and it wasn't really even said it anger. It was more phrased as a question, but it felt like a slap in the face. Even phrased as a question, it had vibes that were very strong with accusation. I'm not even sure what prompted it.

"Are you racist?"

How is one supposed to respond to that? A flat "No" can make you seem like you're either in denial, or denying it out of hand. If you take a second to think about it, well, you just look silly. "I don't think so" comes off fairly well, actually, and might get you a smile in the right company, but in the wrong company it might get you ostracized. The answer "Why do you think that" was probably the best to come up with on the spot because it allowed me to answer to exactly where the problem was, as opposed to coming off as dismissive.

Turns out, she thought I was talking to her husband and not her because she's black and he's white. In reality, I talked to him because he seemed to like dogs, where she obviously wasn't interested. (It had to do with one of the strays I found.) I explained it, and she admitted that she really didn't like dogs.

I was thinking about it today, and for a white man, the accusation of racism is very difficult to deny. Things like "I have black friends" get laughed at, saying "I never use racial epithets*" and even my very defensible position of "My brothers and sisters were adopted from Korea, so no" gets derision.

How is someone supposed to defend themselves against accusations of racism? White, black, yellow, red, brown, etc; if you're accused of what is essential a thought crime (that can obviously become an outward one, but that's not what I'm talking about here), how can you defend yourself against it? What would you do, if you were approached as I was when I worked at Hollywood Video by your manager, who is of the same race as you, and he asked, "You're racist, aren't you? You can be honest with me, I just need to know.**"

How would you respond to that? You can be honest with me, I just want to know.

*Link courtesy of popfiend.
**Turns out, he was a member of the Klan, and was looking to recruit, but that's not the point here, I don't think. I left that job because of his affiliations and actions.