More Cooking

So the House finally approved the foreign aid bills they've been stalling for so long. I don't approve of more funds for Israel's war, but it also has aid for Gaza, so that's a wash I guess. Hopefully Biden will keep pressuring Netanyahu to stop killing civilians. And maybe the Israelis can protest too until the government changes. I'm discouraged though that some California university canceled their valedictorian's graduation speech just because she's pro-Palestinian. Fucking "safety concerns" to hide their censorship.

Meanwhile, in Texas, early voting starts tomorrow for the May municipal elections. But I heard that there are additional elections later due to the property tax law they passed. Such a nuisance; why couldn't they combine the elections?

Anyway I successfully cooked some fried tofu with tomatoes today. Until I found the recipe I totally forgot that my mom used to make this all the time when I was kid. Didn't realize how much I missed it. That'll save me some money to go meatless more often, and the Asian grocery always sells fried tofu, making it even easier.

The Long Game

I saw the golf movie The Long Game starring Jay Hernandez of Magnum P.I. It's about some Mexican-American students in 1950s Del Rio, Texas who form a golf team and compete in a tournament while overcoming prejudice from white country clubs. Jay plays JB Pena, the school superintendent and head coach of the team. He also is a war veteran who is aware that his military service doesn't translate into respect. Dennis Quaid and Cheech Marin also have small roles in the film. I liked it overall, though I did find the ending weird, because JB had to go to jail for a thing, but then suddenly the issue didn't matter anymore. Maybe that part was fictional. But I wish Hollywood would make more small films like this, instead of all the horror films and the blockbuster franchises. Little stories like this are interesting and help to un-whitewash history.

Meanwhile, I forgot to comment before on the news about The CW ordering a Sherlock & Daughter show. Amelia is apparently American and the premise seems mysterious/ambiguous about whether Holmes really is her father. I'll see if it's any good, but I wonder if Watson will feature at all. Also CBS has cast Morris Chestnut as Watson in their medical procedural. I hope neither show gets too lost in tangled Moriarty conspiracies.

Sherlock Melodrama

I saw a fantastic farce called Sherlock Holmes the Melodrama at the Pocket Sandwich Theatre. It's a dinner-theatre in Carrollton that encourages audience participation--including singing, cheering, booing, and popcorn-throwing. The show is very funny and outlandish, featuring Watson delivering dad-jokes and frequent puns on "elementary." Apparently following the example of the Enola Holmes movie sequel, Moriarty is a Black woman, but she keeps her status as a professor, and at least she's a separate character from Irene Adler. I hate shows that conflate the two, or that make Irene evil rather than merely ethically gray. (This Irene at least is canon-appropriate, a widow of Godfrey Norton who is out for revenge against the King who sent his agents to murder Godfrey. Thank god for writers who remember the admirable, wronged woman who is sympathetic and even fun.) Meanwhile, Mary Watson is also a Black woman here, and very charming. It's interesting how theatre is quick to accept new innovations in the Sherlock Holmes genre.

This melodrama is actually a revival of a 2010 play by the now-deceased founder of the Pocket Sandwich Theatre, so it has some local history. The spoof is set in 1892, but alludes to Reichenbach Falls being in the future, so it's kind of nebulous time-wise like Without a Clue. But it is certainly full of references to Sherlockian lore and deep cut characters like Kitty Winter and Lord Holdhurst. There's also anachronistic dress, such as Mrs. Hudson dressing like an medieval tavern wench, and the prime minister wearing a powdered wig and tricorne hat. Also Inspector Lestrade dresses like a lowly police constable with a helmet. These things may be deliberate to increase the broadness of the stereotypes and the fun. When Holmes disguises himself as Kitty Winter, the actual actress appears. The whole thing's delightful and runs through May 11th, so see it if you can.

Meanwhile, in June, Stage West will put on a Sherlock Holmes adventure of their own.

Awesome

The eclipse was great. There were a lot of clouds in DFW, but they moved enough in the afternoon that we could see it happen. I didn't try to get any photos. Just enjoyed the experience.

Meanwhile, I saw Wicked Little Letters this past weekend. It's a funny British film based on a true story about poison pen letters in the 1920s. They do take some dramatic license, omitting any involvement of Scotland Yard, changing Edith Swan's age, and tweaking some details about Edith's and Rose's family members. Also "woman police officer" Gladys Moss gets her own feminist arc investigating the crime while her male colleagues dismiss her. (Surely her title should have been WPC, woman police constable, like in See How They Run.) The movie features colorblind casting, and I recognized one of the actresses as Kitty from the original Ghosts show in the UK. It's less a whodunit than a delightfully quirky bit of British coziness.

Cooking Adventures

I got a new rice cooker, though I haven't tried using the included vegetable steamer yet. It seems okay, though the handles don't have holes like my previous rice cooker. That's where I used to store the rice spoon; now I don't have anywhere to put it. Meanwhile, I also tried deep frying in my wok, based on a youtube video which said it was better than frying in a dutch oven. The oil did come out fairly clean afterward, though I need more mason jars to store the cooled oil I guess. My cooking thermometer helped.

I was deep frying lumpia, which I discovered is a Filipino food similar to egg rolls. My local Asian market sells frozen lumpia much cheaper than they sell frozen Vietnamese egg rolls; it may be because the lumpia is smaller. Since the lumpia were frozen, I needed an icepick to separate the lumpia enough so I could put them in the fryer. It's hard to make the lumpia brown on all sides, though, because when I flipped them over, they just flipped back on the same side again.

Anyway I'm looking forward to the solar eclipse on April 8th. My workplace is having a party and I'm considering whether to bring some lumpia to the party or even bring some mooncake. Those are traditional Asian treats for the Mid-Autumn Festival, but they sell them at other times too. They're super dense and rich, like a fruitcake, and even though it's small, it's hard to eat a whole cake by yourself. You're supposed to share it with friends and family over tea.

A Play and Movies

I recently saw a very funny play called POTUS by Selina Fellinger. It's a political farce that's very feminist and very sweary, but entertaining. The women are various family members and White House aides of the unseen President; they are all trying to keep a reporter from finding out about his various scandals (e.g. the President just insulted his wife as "cunty," and his secret mistress is pregnant.) The crisis builds, and many of the women display such brains and skills that some ask "why isn't she the President?" Even the chief of staff Harriet starts to wonder why she should be so loyal to the President and shield his ego, instead of looking out for the country. I loved it. Stage West is extending the run, so see it if you can.

Also I found another foreign-language mystery show called The Three Detectives on Disney+. It's about three teen girls starting a detective club, and it's in German. I've only seen one episode so far because it's hard for me to watch this and Astrid on PBS unless I can pay 100% attention to the subtitles. This isn't something I can watch while looking away and crocheting.

Meanwhile I did see some movies too, such as Kung Fu Panda 4. I didn't like that they wrote out the Furious Five, just to focus on Po and the new character Zhen. If Po needs a successor, then why can't it be Tigress? Other than that, it was ok for a kids movie. On Saturday I saw One Life, the movie about Nicolas Winton saving children from the Nazis just before World War II. He didn't do it alone, getting help from volunteers in Czechoslovakia, while he returned to London to raise funds and get visas for all the children. His mother even helped with the organization of the operation. Unfortunately, then Hitler invaded and stopped the last train of children from escaping. What a tragedy. Also a tragedy that many nations refused Jewish refugees who could have been saved from the Holocaust. Apparently Hinton could only get Brits to accept the children, even if they wouldn't take the entire families.

It's sad that anti-immigrant Americans won't take refugees from the Mexican border now, pretending that we're being invaded by a crime-ridden horde seeking to "poison our blood." These immigrants are just seeking asylum, which is perfectly legal. Would they rant the same way about the Vietnamese refugees who came here after the war? It's crazy that any court is entertaining the xenophobia and racism of the Texas border law; even aside from the "invasion" absurdity, the law is clearly unconstitutional as well.