Carnage du Jour - 11 August 2010

"There is simply no more versatile cut of meat than the pork tenderloin." 
- Antonin Lavoris

 OK, I actually made that up, but had Antonin Lavoris said that (or even existed), I would agree most heartily, and last night's meal was a particularly tasty example of that versatility.

A whole tenderloin was rubbed with a mix of chipotle chili powder and beau monde, then slow roasted on the charcoal grill, using the indirect cooking method.
This let the flavour of the charcoal permeate the meat - mixing beautifully with the chipotle's own smokiness - whilst not charring the outside.
In about 20 minutes (it's hard to know for sure, as I was also mowing the lawn as I cooked the tenderloin), with a couple flips and turns in there, the internal temperature was north of 160F and all was well with the pork. (I love my instant read thermometer!)

The side dish was a delicious chick-pea salad that Heidi made using scallions, tomatoes, parsley, cilantro, olive oil, lemon juice, and white balsamic vinegar.

All in all, a delicious repast, and a wonderful end to an overly hot day.

Try it - you'll like it!

Reading List Update

OK, I've come up with some additions to the reading list, and they're likely quite familiar to many of you.
You may look at them and say (to yourself, one hopes) that those are just children's books - how can they be worth reading as an adult?
Well, my friends, here are my thoughts on that topic.  It seems to me that the best children's books are those that can be read at any age.  Typically, there is a period in one's life where reading those books (whichever they might be) is beneath one.  With maturity, though, comes a time when those books are once again appropriate.
I think you'll find that you appreciate much more of the stories and the writing than you did when you encountered them as a child, and that you'll have a doubled reading experience - you'll get that nostalgic feeling for when you first read the book, and you'll get the enhanced experience of understanding parts of it for the first time. 

Try it, you'll like it.

• A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle 
• The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis 
• Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson
• Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt

Here's the original list, just in case you haven't finished it yet:
Read, learn, and enjoy:

• Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler
• Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
• Anthem, Ayn Rand [free gutenberg.org version here]
  
• The Unheavenly City, Revisited, Edward Banfield
• The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis
• That Hideous Strength, C.S. Lewis
  
• Little Brother, Cory Doctorow [free creative commons version here]
  
• 1984, George Orwell
• Animal Farm, George Orwell
• Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
  
• We, Eugene Zamyatin
• The Martian Way, Isaac Asimov
• Freehold, Michael Z. Williamson
• Ted, White, and Blue, Ted Nugent

I Miss Them Already

Just a few days ago, I finished listening to the Chronicles of Narnia which had been dramatised for radio by Paul McCusker of Focus on the Family.
These are simply spectacular.  The cast is great, the sound effects and music are spot on. 

My only quibble is that they present them in the revised order (chronological within Narnia) rather than the original order (in which they were written & published).
That was easily overcome by simply listening in the order I prefer, rather than in the order in which the CDs were labeled.

With Paul Scofield as the storyteller (narrator) and David Suchet as Aslan (no, he doesn't mention his moustaches, nor does he sound at all like Hercule Poirot), there is a real sense of authenticity, and a real sense of the stories as being really real.  (I know, I just used real thrice in that sentence, but I don't care.)

As I said in the title, I miss them already.  My first trip to work and back after I had finished the series meant I was back to the radio or music CDs or whatever, and while that's what I had always done on these drives, it wasn't right, somehow. 
"Oh bother," I thought, "I miss Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy, Eustace, Jill, Digory, Polly, Puddleglum, Reepicheep, Aslan, oh, all of those friends one makes in Narnia."

I don't think I can recommend these highly enough - they really are wonderful in all the senses of that word.  Please, find them and listen!  Of course, nothing can replace the books, so you ought to read them as well, but this is a great way to get your Narnia fix on the go.

Suggested Reading List

OK, many of these may be a bit depressing, given the state of things in our world, but here are some books that I think are important and (sadly) timely. They're listed in no particular order, just how they came to me as I was typing up the list, and I'll be adding to it as more relevant titles occur to me.

Read, learn, and enjoy:

• Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler
• Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
• Anthem, Ayn Rand [free gutenberg.org version here]
  
• The Unheavenly City, Revisited, Edward Banfield
• The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis
• That Hideous Strength, C.S. Lewis
  
• Little Brother, Cory Doctorow [free creative commons version here]
  
• 1984, George Orwell
• Animal Farm, George Orwell
• Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
  
• We, Eugene Zamyatin
• The Martian Way, Isaac Asimov
• Freehold, Michael Z. Williamson
• Ted, White, and Blue, Ted Nugent
• 
  

What is Maturity?

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

Years ago, my good friend, Terry, told me that his definition of maturity is knowing what you won't do. I think that's a pretty good (and simple, easy to apply) definition.

It focuses, though, on the end result, not on the process that gets one there. Maturing and maturity are clearly related, but their definitions don't necessarily line up quite so easily.

All of us have different roles we play.
Perhaps they can be described simply: I'm a son, a brother, and a father. There may be more to it - we may seem (even to ourselves) to be a different person in each of several different arenas, such as work, home, school, various social settings, etc.
At any rate, I think real maturity and maturing consist of:

• realising that these different roles or personae exist,
• noting that there are parts of each that differ significantly to the others,
• seeing that there are good and bad aspects to each of the personae, and
  
• moving to integrate the best parts of each mode of behaviour into a single persona.

This, it seems to me, is a pretty good way of analysing one's level of maturity. If there are still different modes of behaviour, based on the situation, then it is quite difficult to say that one knows what one won't do. If, however, the best parts of all the roles one has taken can be combined - be integrated - into a single self, then one may well be able to say he is (at least) maturing.

Thoughts?

My current favourite colour

is Orange!
Go you crazy Dutchmen, Go!

Who would have expected an all-European cup final? Not this writer. (I was expecting a US v Brasil finale down in South Africa, but - apparently - that is not to be.)

Still, with no Yanks and no Red Devils, who could ask for a more entertaining and skillful side than the Dutch have turned out to be? A great run from these guys - especially Wesley Sneijder.

Fast Food

(get it?)