Pointer

If you happen to be exceedingly curious as to who I am, I wrote up a little FAQ and then buried it in the mists of time so I don't have to keep staring at it. It can be found here.

The Prostitute and the Porn Star

The other week, when the former governor of New York was busy getting busted for hiring a prostitute, a bunch of sex-positive liberals came crawling out of the woodwork to point out that maybe prostitution should be legal.

The point was endlessly discussed in blogs, on news sites, even in the New York Times. And then Andrew Sullivan said (as quoted in The Marginal Revolution,

We live in a country where it's legal to pay two people to have sex and film them and sell the film; it just isn't legal to pay two people to have sex and simply watch them. That's what I call absurd.

Good sex-positive liberal that I am, I looked at this and frowned to myself and said, "Huh, that is weird." And I sent the quote to some of my friends, who all said approximately the same thing I had said; I assume that you, reading the quote now, are also saying to yourself, "Gosh, that's odd," or words to that effect[1].

Of course the question which sprang immediately to my mind was, "Why is it weird?" What is it about this situation which strikes us all as bizarre?

Americans, of course, are capitalists, which means that we have a strong attachment to the idea of property and privacy. Having money allows us to purchase things, for example a house or the use of a hotel room, and because we own this place and no one else does, we are entitled to the use of it without being disturbed[2].

In public places, we enjoy what I believe has been called a diminished expectation of privacy, which is to say that some things - quite a number of things - which we do in private without consequence are not entirely or at all legal when moved into the public sphere. I can walk around my apartment naked, but if I were to walk down State Street in the same state of dishabille, I would quickly be taken into police custody. This is based on public decency, which is of course a social construct, but one we must obey[3].

So we have one category of things, like nudity and (non-prostitute-involving) sex, which are legal in private and illegal in public. We have another category of things (like murder or rape) which are equally illegal in both public and private. But is there anything which is illegal in private, yet becomes legal when done publicly?

I thought about this for a long time, and nothing came to mind. This is, then, where the paradoxical feeling springs from, in the prostitute vs porn star debate: both of them are the same in private, but one is later publicized - and it's legal, whereas the one which remains private is illegal. So this brings me to my second question, which is, "What's the difference?" There's some rational behind this law (or there should be), but what is it?

The two acts seem virtually identical, especially when phrased the way they've been set out above. In fact, if you were to pay the two prostitutes to have sex and film it, and then later show that film to people, that would still be illegal. Even when we make the two acts exactly the same, then, they're still different. What's going on here?

If the acts are the same, maybe those doing the acting are what's different. The prostitute and the porn star. That there is a difference is intuitive, but when I considered what they actually do a little more closely, it started to fall apart. To wit, both accept money and have sex with people, either those paying them or those designated by those paying them. Both may actually enjoy their jobs or not, but will certainly give all pretense of enjoyment to those employing them. Both may turn up on film from time to time. But there is a difference.

Intent is a huge part of our legal system. For example, if I shoot a man in Memphis just to watch him die, that's murder. And if I shot him while I thought he was asleep, but he had in fact died of a massive stroke a few minutes earlier, that's attempted murder. Whether or not I actually killed him is less important than the fact that I meant to kill him. Similarly, if you get angry at your cheating husband and run him over with your car, that's murder. If you fall asleep at the wheel and run into a highway divider, killing your cheating husband in the process, that's unintentional homicide or a dumb accident or any number of things - but it's not murder, because it clearly wasn't the intent of the driver (you) to kill the passenger (your husband).

Similarly, when you hire a couple of porn stars to have sex on camera, you are hiring them for the purpose of making a film. You could be hiring them to read Hamlet naked on tape, or you could be hiring them to ride bicycles fully clothed, or any number of things; it's all legally the same. This can't be stopped for the same reason we can't stop Hollywood from making films staring Paris Hilton: canceling a film, or excising part of it, or whatever, on the basis of things like taste or decency is censorship, and therefore something which falls squarely under our first amendment rights.

On the other hand, when you hire a prostitute or two, you are hiring them for sex, by definition. If you were hiring them to play Go with you or something, they wouldn't be prostitutes, they would be something like the companions who visit old people. The intent is crucial - whether or not you or the film's director or anyone ever gets off on the proceedings is immaterial.

It's outside of my scope to say whether or not the laws themselves are just, or the acts which they govern are morally acceptable, but this does raise an interesting question: if an aging man hires a prostitute but, being unable to perform, sits down fully clothed to play a game of Go with her, also fully clothed, can he still be arrested for prostitution? Offhand, I'd say yes, because the intent was there, but the defense would almost certainly argue that the man just wanted a Go partner; that's the problem with intent, it's so difficult to prove what someone actually intends to do. But I can just imagine the bad headlines.

--

[1] If you don't think it's odd, you're excused. This probably won't be of interest to you.

[2] For more on how this leads to the downfall of society, see Karl Marx's The German Ideology. For more on how this is normal and even beneficial, see John Locke's Second Treatise on Government or Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia. Marx, of course, goes on to talk about how ownership causes the stratification of society, the oppression of the poor, and so forth. You don't have to accept this little communist critique for my purposes, you just have to agree that Americans think privacy is very important.

[3] In France, public decency dictates other things, like it's okay to be topless on public beaches, where in America this is not the case. It's just something we make up to make our lives easier, and Americans have made it up in a particular way. I'm not saying if it's right or wrong; that's not really the point.

Szechwan Eggplant and Tofu

I had some eggplant leftover from my earlier experiment with vegetable casserole, and the tofu needed to be used before it went bad or something, so I dug up this recipe for 四川茄子豆腐. It was marvelous; I wound up using a motley assortment of eggplants, which gave it some lovely different textures. Beyond that, I made only a few modifications to the original recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 12 oz package firm tofu (Chinese)
  
• 1 T. soy sauce (dark) [for tofu marinade]
  
• 2 T. water [for tofu marinade]
  
• 1/2 T. garlic oil [for tofu marinade]
  
• about 4-5 c. chopped eggplants
  
• 1 c. water plus vegetable bouillon
• 2 T. chopped garlic
• ginger, about 1/2 tsp.
  
• 1 T. vegetarian stir-fry sauce (oyster sauce)
  
• 3 T. soy sauce
  
• 2 T. rice vinegar
• 1 T. black vinegar (黑醋, can be found at Asian grocery stores)
  
• 1 tsp garlic oil
• 1 tsp kecap manis (sweet Indonesian soy sauce, found at Asian grocery stores)
• 1 tsp Sri Racha sauce or similar hot sauce
  
• about 1/2 tin tomatoes, diced
  
• 3/4 c. brown rice
• 1 1/2 c. water

Methodology

I was a little confused by the original recipe, mostly because I was rushing and not reading closely. I will try to make this clear-ish.

0. Put the rice and 2x as much water (so 3/4 c. rice + 1.5 c. water, or 1 c. rice + 2 c. water, etc.) in a pan and turn it on. Cover. It will cook on its own, but keep an eye on it so it doesn't boil dry - if the pan is quite wide compared to the volume of rice, you may need to add more. Don't let it boil over, either, it makes a mess.

1. Mix the soy sauce, water, and oil labeled "for tofu marinade" in a flat-ish dish. Pat the tofu dry and slice it into about 6-7 slices 1/2" thick (little tofu steaks). Dip each steak into the marinade and flip over, then put into an oiled wok[note 1] over medium heat. Do not touch them again right away - wait a couple of minutes until they are browned, then flip and cook the other side. When done, take them out and cut into about 8-10 pieces per steak. Set aside.

2. Wash and chop the eggplants [note 2]. Put in the wok with a little oil. After about a minute, add in 1 cup of water and the bouillon, then cover and leave it to cook. When it's about half done, add the garlic and the ginger, then re-cover.

3. Meanwhile, mix the stir-fry sauce, the soy sauce, the kecap manis, the oil, the Sri Racha sauce, and the vinegars. I threw everything into the same container that the tomatoes happened to be in, on the basis that vinegar is good for tomatoes [note 3] and the law of diminishing returns in dishes.

4. When the eggplant is done, add the tomatoes, the sauce mixture, and the tofu. Stir and heat until everything is warm. Serve over rice. Yay.

Notes

1. You really don't need much oil for this. Maybe a tablespoon.

2. I used 1/2 a regular aubergine, 3 small Thai eggplants, and 1/2 of a Japanese eggplant (see photo.) It came out to be about 4-5 cups of purple and green goodness; I love the different textures between the varieties.

3. I had about 1/3 tin of diced tomatoes left from the casserole, which I supplemented with about 3 whole tinned tomatoes (Asian Midway didn't have diced tinned).

4. This had an awesome flavour and I had no problems at all during the cooking process. 0/7 on the disaster scale!

5. The 1 tsp of hot sauce wasn't quite spicy enough for me (I'm a fire eater after all my time in Asia) but if I were making it for guests who are not quite so keen on the spicy, it would be a good amount for them - flavourful, but not overwhelming.

Vegetable Casserole

A strategy for using up vegetables. Based on a Giada De Laurentis recipe found here.

Ingredients

• 1 sweet potato
• 1 quarter green bell pepper
• 2 carrots or about 10 baby carrots
• 1/2 eggplant
• about 1/4 of a cabbage
  
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 white onion
• 1 large zucchini
• salt, pepper, and basil
  
• 1/2 tin diced tomatoes
  
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• 2 tablespoons dried bread crumbs

Methodology

1. Preheat oven to 400°. Wash and chop potato, carrots, pepper, eggplant, and cabbage into 1/2 inch pieces. Place them in a casserole about 2 inches deep and 13x9 and toss with salt, pepper, basil, and 2 T olive oil. Make an even layer.

2. Slice onion into thin rings and layer over the top of potatoes etc.

3. Slice zucchini into 1/4" thick rounds and make a layer on top of the onion. You may not need the whole zucchini.

4. Spoon tomatoes onto the layer of zucchini.

5. Mix bread crumbs (see notes below) and Parmesan, add a little basil, and spread on top of the dish. Drizzle with 1 T. olive oil. Put in the oven with the top off for about 40 minutes, until veggies are cooked and the cheese and bread crumbs are browned.

Notes

*You can make bread crumbs easily using very stale bread and the largest holes on a box cheese grater.

*The eggplant came out well, but I thought the sweet potatoes and carrots were underdone. Still, Dan and Claire really liked it, which was nice. If I hadn't been cooking this directly after a run, I probably would have cooked it for longer, maybe letting it go the first 10 or 15 minutes with the lid on so the topping didn't overbrown with the added cooking time.

*3/7 on the disaster scale. Not bad; could have been better.

*What not to do: run 3.75 miles at a very brisk pace and then drink tequila. Wow.

Mango Sticky Rice

Cleaning out the files. Here's a recipe from 22 March 2007.

Called Khao Niaow Ma Muang in Thai, this could be seen as a variant of rice pudding. Regardless, it makes a nice warm dessert with fruit, which means it's healthy and you don't have to feel bad about eating it. =] Hurrah.

Stuff you need:

• 1-2 mangos, ripe
• 1-2 cups rice. You're going to want "sticky rice", which is more glutinous; risotto rice would work, also possibly sushi rice. You should look around.
• 1-2 Tbs brown sugar
• 1 tin coconut milk (actually you want "coconut cream" but it's about the same)
• 1 cup water
• spices, including salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom

Procedure:

1. Peel the mangos, or if you have a fucking imperialist vegetable peeler that doesn't work for left handed people, make your roommate do it. Cut the mangos off the pits, then slice them into smallish bits.

2. Measure rice into pot. Add water and coconut milk in a 1:.5 ratio, so 1 cup of rice would get 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup coconut milk, 2 cups would get 1 and 1, and so on. Turn it on over low.

3. Add in cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, salt, brown sugar to taste. Keep stirring so it doesn't burn. When it starts to bubble and thicken, add the mangos.

4. Keep cooking, stirring a lot. This will cook up very quickly, so be careful; also, be ready to add more coconut milk/water as needed if it starts running out of liquid.

5. Eat! Yum.


Notes:

Possible variations: You could add...sliced roasted almonds, raisins, pineapple instead of mango, papaya instead of mango, possibly cantaloupe melon instead of mango, grass jelly (uh, I don't know how to explain what this is. It's...green?)...Bananas might also be nice.

I'd recommend that you use powdered cardamom instead of the whole type if this is possible. Whole cardamom is really nice in theory, but in practice I always wind up biting down on the pods, which is gross. Also, you could add chili powder if you were into it - I think that would be good, and surprising.

Hmm, now I'm thinking of a dessert with cocoa powder and chillies...

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

People who know me, or who read this blog a lot, know that I have a weird thing about eggs. It's not that I'm worried about the cholesterol or calories (at 70 calories per egg they're actually pretty healthy), I just don't like to keep them around. I have this weird sense that if I leave them unattended for too long, they will start to explode and fry themselves on the counter...

What I did have was overripe bananas, so I decided to make banana bread. But what to do without eggs?

Turns out it's not that hard. Recipe based on one from Dan and Claire.

Ingredients

• 1.5c whole wheat flour
  
• 1tsp baking soda
  
• 1.5tsp baking powder
  
• 1tsp salt
  
• 1/2c brown sugar
  
• 2 very ripe bananas
• 1tsp vanilla
  
• 1 T. margarine
• 1/3c. + 1/4c. + 1 T (about 11 T. total, or a little less than 3/4 c.) buttermilk
• 1/4 c. nonfat yoghurt (fat free, maybe?)
  
• 1tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. cloves
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
  
• 1/2 c. chocolate chips, or until it looks right

Methodology

0. Preheat oven to 350°.

1. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, chips). Set aside.

2. Mix wet ingredients (buttermilk, sugar, vanilla, margarine, yoghurt). Add bananas; mash with a fork.

3. Add wet into dry (mostly because the bowl the dry was in was much larger). Mix together and don't overstir.

4. Put into a greased bread pan (5"x9" is standard, I think). It will be quite full. Bake for about 1 hr, until a tester comes out clean. Turn out of pan to cool.

Notes

*Very easy. The baking time seemed a bit lengthy (read, I don't like to wait), but it came out almost exactly at 1 hour, done perfectly.

*Part of this was a bribe for Sean for helping me wrestle a chair up into my apartment. He liked it (the bread, not the chair).


*Fantastic and easy; 0/7 on the Lupton Disaster Scale.

*Make sure you check out today's comic!

Idiot Wind Cabbage Rolls

I've had a weird day. It began with running a 10k, and then went on with grocery shopping, a nap, drawing a comic, eating some carrots, taking care of Dan and Claire's apartment, reading The Name of the Rose. The sort of day where, despite being fairly busy, I didn't really get much done.

I didn't eat that much, either; my main meal was the frozen yoghurt and hot fudge sundae I had directly after the race, and I only ate half of that. But despite that and the race, I wasn't very hungry. Also it was refrigerator clean out day chez Emily, which meant that finding a recipe which might use up some of the tail ends of vegetables I had lying around would be ideal.

Cabbage rolls are a German/Eastern European variation on an old idea echoed in nearly every culture: goi cuon, cha gio, 包子, 饺子, egg rolls, pot stickers, samosas, sambucas, dolmades, dolmadakia. Call them what you want, the idea is the same: take something and roll it up in something else, then eat it.

This recipe came from reading about 50 other recipes for various stuff, but it wasn't taken from anywhere in specific, so I'll claim credit for making it up.

Ingredients

• 1 large baking potato
• 3-4 baby carrots
• 3 mushrooms (Crimini or similar)
• 1 small onion
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• oil
• bouillon + water, about 6 oz.
• 1/2 zucchini
• one head of cabbage (green)
  
• 1 T. margarine
• 2 T. milk
• 1/4 c. tomato sauce (from a bottle)
• a grating of parmesan cheese

Methodology

I have to admit, these are pretty labour-intensive.


1. Wash and cook the potato. I tried to boil it, but that takes forever, so to hell with that. Poke it full of holes and stick it in the microwave for 5 minutes.

2. Dice the onion, mushroom, carrots, and zucchini. Think small. Put some oil and garlic in a pan, when it sizzles, add the onion. After a few minutes add the carrot, then the mushroom and zucchini. Season with chili powder, paprika, basil, salt, pepper. Wait a few minutes until they start looking kind of dry (like the oil is used up) and add the bouillon powder and water. Cover the pan and walk away.

3. Wait, don't go too far! In a couple minutes, all the liquid will have cooked off, leaving you with cooked veg (very tasty). Turn the heat off.

4. Mash the potato in a bowl with the margarine and milk. You can peel it if you want, I guess. But why?

5. Mix the vegetables in and add more seasoning: cayenne pepper, chili powder, cinnamon, salt, pepper.

6. Take the cabbage and peel off the outer couple of leaves and discard them. Then take the next one and remove it gently, then cut off the rib as much as you can. You'll wind up with a pac man shape. Wash the leaf. Put about a quarter to a half cup of the potato mixture in it and roll it up like a spring roll - tuck the bottom, tuck in the sides, roll. This will take some finegaling to get right, but there is a definite way the cabbage wants to roll (it's sort of naturally bowl-shaped) so figure it out and go with it. If it rips, try putting another little piece of cabbage over the hole. You may want to stick a toothpick through it when you're done. And they may wind up kind of triangular - see photo.

7. Make these until you are out of the potato mixture. Squish them into a steamer basket and put them over some hot water in a wok with a lid. They will cook in about 5-10 minutes; watch to make sure you haven't accidentally turned on the wrong burner (oops) and that the wok hasn't run out of water.

8. Top with about 1/4 cup of tomato sauce and a garnish of parmesan. I suggest serving with a salad made from sauteed broccoli, mixed greens, and this awesome salad dressing.

Notes

*These take so long to make, but I wasn't that hungry. Also, they're really good for you, can easily be made vegan, and two of them plus tomato sauce will run you about 100 calories. What more could you ask for?

*They are super tasty.

*Seriously, don't do turn on the wrong burners. I think the teflon on that pot is ruined.

*Recipe makes about 9 cabbage rolls. Results may vary depending on the size of your potato etc.

Sweet Asian Salad Dressing

I impress myself sometimes with how clever I am.

Ingredients

• 1 T. kecap manis (sweet Indonesian soy sauce)
• 2 T. rice vinegar
• 1/4 t. soy sauce
• about 1/4 t. ginger
• 1 clove garlic, diced

Methodology

1. Put ingredients in a jar.

2. Mix.

3. Serve over salad.

Notes

*What's not to like?

Curried Sweet Potatos, aka Low Cal Comfort Food

This is kind of a stupid recipe - it seems almost too easy to be worth blogging. But I was thinking to myself, what if there's someone out there missing out on this delicious treat?

The problem with most comfort food is that it's really intensely caloric. Polenta, for example, runs about 90 calories/3 T. That means if you eat half a cup of it, you're eating 240 - and that's before putting butter and cheese and whatever else in it. Other types of comfort food, like mac and cheese, latkes, French toast, and fried chicken (I don't eat this last one, but I remember my grandmother making it when I was young, so it could be a CF) fall into the "don't ask, you won't like the answer" category.

What we need, obviously, is something that can be prepared quickly after a hard day, which is tasty, filling, and relatively low calorie and healthy (something fried chicken would never, ever be described as).

Ingredients

• 1 sweet potato, washed and poked full of holes
• 1.5 T. margarine or butter, softened
• 1 tsp brown sugar, not packed
• about 1/2 - 3/4 tsp Indian curry paste

Methodology

1. Put the sweet potato in the microwave for 5 minutes.

2. Mix the margarine, brown sugar, and curry in a small bowl until well combined. You may want to taste and add more curry or brown sugar, depending on how you feel. I've found these proportions work pretty well, though.

3. When potato is cooked (you can tell by sticking a butter knife or similar into it - if you feel something crunchy, it's not done yet), take it out and split it open. Put margarine mixture on (I usually don't use all of it), add salt to taste. Enjoy!

Notes

*Lame, right? But good. Depending on the caloric content of your margarine and curry and the size of your sweet potato, this runs about 250 calories. It's perfect for when you have just come home from karate and are starving, maybe because your sensei made you run burnout heats and then do like 100 push ups and sit ups. And it's equally perfect for lazy Saturday mornings when your whole body is kind of tired and you're beginning to think getting out of bed at all was kind of a mistake. Not that I've been in either of those situations recently. *cough*

*If you are still here reading, here is a link to a WikiHow article about how to celebrate the Ides of March. Sweet potatoes aren't on there, but I'm not of Italian descent, so I don't care that much.

*0/7 on the disaster scale. Fantastic!

Ribollita

I took the recipe from Dan and Claire and modified it.

Ingredients

• olive oil
  
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 T. crushed garlic
• 1 15oz can diced tomatoes
  
• 1 10oz package frozen spinach (thaw in microwave)
  
• 1 15oz can cannellini beans
  
• 4c vegetable stock (bouillon)
  
• 1c water
  
• basil, oregano, paprika, salt, and pepper
  
• bread
• 2/3 c. orzo
  

Methodology

1. Chop onion. Put in pot along with olive oil and garlic. Add spices. When it turns translucent, add the tomatoes, the spinach, and the beans. Add the water and bouillon and bring to a boil.

2. Add the orzo and cook until tender.

3. Meanwhile, put bread in oven until it is stale. Drizzle with olive oil if you like.

4. Put a piece of bread in the bowl and pour soup over the top. Serve with Parmesan cheese (and, if you're me, Sri Racha sauce).

Notes

*I've been really into "one pot" meals this winter. Especially with my workout schedule, it's nice to be able to make something and then have leftovers to eat all weekend, preventing me from chewing off my arms or whatever in the time between practice and dinner. But here is the problem: when you put pasta in liquid, it absorbs the liquid.

*This is kind of obvious, because that's how pasta cooks. But as I've noted before, this doesn't stop when the cooking is done.

*So I made the soup on Monday, and then Tuesday after Karate I found that it was no longer soup but vegetable and bean stew with orzo.

*Still delicious though. Needed more spice.

*3/7 on the disaster index. Makes about 9 servings. I recommend it with focaccia, but any type of bread is probably good.