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.

Spring Showers

I saw an ugly Tesla cybertruck on the highway yesterday. Why on earth would anyone buy that? Tesla makes normal looking electric cars, you know. I've no idea if Elon will try to bail out Trump. Doesn't he have enough problems of his own with Twitter?

Anyway, we've had rain lately, and it always wakes me up in the middle of the night. Hard to get back to sleep again. Also my computer keeps acting up. My internet speed seems okay, yet it takes me up to 30 minutes to get my computer started and my browser working in the morning. Really annoying.

Hard to keep up with all the stupid government shutdowns and the chaotic court rulings about the Texas border law. Then ISIS attacked Moscow in revenge for something Russia did in the Middle East? I'm not sure of the exact history. But it's not Ukraine that did it, no matter what Putin says.

The Ides of March

Amazing that Chuck Shumer called for new elections in Israel. Finally saying that Netanyahu needs to be ousted as Prime Minister. This is a major development that I hope means that Biden's administration will defy Israel more. Is this really the moment that Democrats are no longer scared of AIPAC, and are willing to pressure Israel in public instead of behind the scenes? I can only hope so.

Airdrops are starting now, but much more needs to be done. They keep talking about ceasefire, but it looks like Israel is rejecting it and starting to invade Rafah, in open defiance. Beware the Ides of March. This cannot last forever. Already 8 senators are asking to cut military aid to Israel. The dam seems to be breaking finally. Israel cannot get away with war crimes forever.

Cabrini

I had no idea this movie was made by the same director and same studio as Sound of Freedom. I only realized it when most of the trailers were for Angel Studios films. Apparently it's a "family friendly" studio and streaming service that makes a lot of faith-based movies and TV shows. (However, this article claims it was already made before Angel Studios bought the film.) I didn't realize that the movie had a religious angle either (Francesca Cabrini was made a saint in the Catholic Church). My main takeaway from the movie description was that it was a biopic about an important historical woman, and that she fought against poverty in 1880-1890s New York; that subject interests me because of my unfinished Sherlock Holmes novel, where I want to have Helen Stoner involved in charities in New York.

So anyway I went to see the Cabrini movie, and it was actually good. The movie had a feminist, pro-immigrant tone, and it pointed out how each wave of European immigrants, including Irish, Polish, and Italians, had been met with racism and discrimination from nativist New Yorkers. (There was no commentary on non-European immigrants, and no we don't see Chinatown.) The religious angle isn't pushed so much as a general humanitarian tone. John Lithgow even appears as a Mayor of New York, who keeps trying to sabotage Cabrini and drive her back to Italy. We also learn that Cabrini is chronically ill, due to her almost drowning as a child; but she refuses to be held back, pushing always against men who underestimate her.

Cheers for Progress

Well Super Tuesday happened, and Kyrsten Sinema announced that she won't run for re-election. It's surprising that she caused so much damage in one term. Good riddance to that Benedict Arnold.

Meanwhile, over the weekend, Biden finally decided to start airdropping humanitarian aid to Gaza, bypassing Israel's restrictions on aid trucks. Thank goodness. He finally caved to public pressure. Plus Daily Kos said something about Kamala Harris meeting with Benny Gantz as a way to piss of Netanyahu. So it seems they finally see that Israel's government is part of the problem. That's why I'm still voting for Biden this November. Because although he says things like he's a "Zionist" and he was slow to act against Israel, he can be moved to finally change policy. We've finally found his red line.

Maybe we can push him further to hold Israel accountable for war crimes, or to push to oust Netanyahu. Progress can be made with this administration. If he makes more progress, he can possibly win back the voters that he's alienated with this war.

Ranting

Fucking Israel attacking civilians waiting for food in Gaza. So much for ceasefire hopes. Why can't Biden do something? Would America tolerate this kind of behavior if we were helping fund any other nation's war? Like if Ukraine was committing war crimes, we'd just shrug and say that's their choice to defend themselves that way? Everyone keeps saying that Biden has to delicately negotiate behind the scenes and not inflame Netanyahu by publicly criticizing Israel. But don't all negotiations involve carrot and stick, both reward and punishment? I haven't seen any stick used whatsoever against Israel. Where are your fucking red lines?

In other news, apparently I missed Biden coming to the border in Texas and the news of wildfires out in the panhandle. I've stopped watching TV news as the morning shows devolve into pure entertainment fluff and advertisements disguised as news. I did see Biden on Seth Meyers, but was discouraged by him saying, with no prompting, that he's a Zionist. What the hell? Talk about a 2-state solution, but don't toady to Israel about their so-called divine right to the land. I thought you were trying to appeal to Arab Americans what with the protest in Michigan? Yet you use that loaded word "Zionist". Fuck.

But yeah, Republicans suck too. Governor Abbott ought to be working on the emergency wildfires instead of toadying up to Trump at the border. After all, a federal judge just blocked the Texas deportation law SB4 by pointing out there's no invasion. Who knows how the conservative appeals court will rule, though.

Meanwhile blogs like Daily Kos will scream about 1 news story--the Supreme Court taking the Trump immunity case--for dozens of diaries/posts for days, crowding out any other important news story. I don't need that many hot takes from different people on the same topic.