My heart burns for you.
Jul 21
¡Lengua de Cerdo!
This is a fresh pig’s tongue as might be available from a specialty butcher. Not very appetizing, is it? What if I told you it was most delicious, and that I created a recipe to cook it?
Pork Tongue prepared in a pressure cooker
3 fresh pork tongues, cleaned
3 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
1/2 medium onion, sliced thickly
3 peppercorns
Salt to taste
Place tongues in pressure cooker, any kind, and add 1 cup water or broth and all other ingredients. Put on lid and bring to a boil. Cook at medium-high for 20 minutes. Cool off under cold running water in the sink and remove. The rough skin on the outside will peel off.
Eat as is, or shred for tacos. Pork tongue has a light flavor than beef tongue, which is on the gamey side. Once it’s shredded you can feed it to guests and they won’t know what they’re eating. Imagine the surprise when you tell them!
Jul 17
Worldbuilding Wednesday 7/17/19:
The Best of Twittersnips I
xxxx(Characters)
Elric of Melniboné, by Mathew Stewart.
A pretty memorable character himself.
I’ve posted almost 1,000 randomly generated names on Twitter so far, and I thought it would be interesting to showcase my favorites. These are names up to June of 2018 that may be used for characters, either in a story or in a gaming situation.
Characters I
| Queen Kapranje Liegestrud, an imaginary Scandinavian monarch
Chanphry of the Hollow Eye, an evil sorcerer Queston, Necromancer of the Wounded Finger Valdandis Oorf, AKA The Red Beetle, a notorious scoundrel and thief Laird Corbrit Glengally, a Scottish highlander Lady Taffuma Grinform (Steampunk) Lyrilette of the Brown Kirtle Chryserto of the Numinous Phoenix Pirate Captain Squint-Eyed Nicholas Satatareth, The Angel Of Good Hygiene Outlaw Gold Tooth Pearl Shenplen of the Violet Shoes, a mystic Lady Khanstandia Torjanelle Smerri Peachlake, a Hobbit Halina of the Genteel Cloak Whiskey Wesley, a cowboy of the old west Sally Hawk, a cowgirl Gosti Threeclasp, a Hobbit Gandian Graymurgh, a wizard of Middle-Earth Injun Dutch, a cowboy Preacher Ford, a cowboy Luthnox the Slippery, thief and rogue Pellaphor the Eternally Amused, a wizard Grantliet Moonbull, Man at Arms Tal Avoch, a Star Wars villain |
Jul 10
Worldbuilding Wednesday 7/10/19: Arabian Nights Tales II
Illustration by Virginia Sterrett
It’s not only the translations of One Thousand and One Arabian Nights that have changed over the years; illustrations of the classic have changed as well. The oil painting Alnaschar’s Fortune, by William Ewart Lockhart, embodies a realistic, dramatic Victorian style, but starting in the 20th century, children’s book illustrators showed a move towards abstraction and fancifulness influenced by the larger art trends of their time. The above watercolor by Virginia Sterrett has a slinky 1920s Art Deco feel, halfway between the more realistic Maxfield Parrish and the later stylizations of Erté. The empty space above the princess may have been left for the book’s title, but many interior illustrations of the time showed generous amounts of unoccupied space as well, such as this illustration by Sterrett’s contemporary Kay Nielson.
As the Arabian Nights hodgepodge of Persian, Indian, Arabic, and Jewish tales is presented as belonging to a unified mythical “East” that never really was, the illustration combines elements of various Eastern cultures as well: a Chinese-style headdress on the princess, Ancient Egyptian collar, sheer North African pantaloons, Indian slippers, and Turkish minarets in the background, with the small pursed red lips and sultry eye makeup of a 1920s It Girl.
Unwritten Arabian Nights Tales II
| The Tale of the Serpent-Charmer and His Father
The Porter’s Tale of His First Brother The Mishaps of the Concubine and the Parakeet Queen Taryal and Her Slave-Girls Zariq and the Swallow’s Curse Princess Awaryet and the Amiable Miller The Fat Serpent-Charmer and the Lazy Fakir Garden of the Forty Mice Kelemen the Gem Cutter The Hyena, the Spider, and the Acrobat The Six Lamps of Al-Ibhreen The Wise Son and the Silent Daughter The Gazelle, the Devil, and the Jewess The Voyages of Zartu the Traveler Princess Zulakka and Her Flying Coffee-Set A Letter to the Renowned Imam of Zarrush The Barber’s Tale of His Grandfather Six Times Removed The Ten Cunning Pilgrims Khefren and the Mishap of the Forty Melons The Twelve Daughters of Rhanaziah King Quryn and His Sons, Baraz and Sidyal Bendaisha the Ghoul Queen Faykhaat and the Learned Seamstress The Sultana Who Became an Envoy The Tale of Young Wasdul and His Grandmother The Old Weaver and His Magical Loom The Dillemna of Emir Quaaz and His Elephant The Twelve Queens of El-Zarinda The Lady Arzeena and the Ghost of the Cripple The Journey of Queen Rubanja and Her Brother Sharqeera the Baggar-Woman and the Talking Spider Faldan and the Golden Orange |
Jul 08
Naughty Arabian Nights
Some kinky, Aubrey Beardsley-like shenanigans are going on in this
Arabian Nights illustration by early twentieth century book
illustrator Kay Nielson. Not for kids.
Jul 04
Reading Challenge 2019 Update
All the books I’ve read for my 2019 Reading Challenge up to July, with ratings and links.
4. What you will read to your grandchildren: A children’s book (middle grade or younger).
A Swiftly Tilting Planet, by Madeleine L’engle.
5. East meets West: A book taking place in Asia (Turkey to Japan, Siberia to Vietnam)
The Last Samurai, the Life and Battles of Saigo Takamori, by Mark Ravina.
9. Best friend: A book with a dog on the cover.
Being a Dog, by Alexandra Horowitz.
14. Crossing the (color) lines: A book about a person of color (PoC), any variety, written by an author of the same variety.
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, by N.K. Jemison.
25. Flights of fancy: A book in which airplanes figure prominently.
Jet Age, by Sam Howe Verhovek.
39. Tuesdays with Balaam’s Ass: A book with a non-human (animal or fantastic creature) main character.
Tales from Watership Down, by Richard Adams.
49. What you read: A book you loved as a child.
A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. LeGuin
EXTRA CREDIT:
Tales from La Vida, a LatinX Comics Anthology edited by Frederick Luis Aldama
Jul 03
Worldbuilding Wednesday 7/3/19: Arabian Nights Tales I
Alnaschar’s Fortune, by William Ewart Lockhart,1879
One Thousand and One Arabian Nights is a treasure trove of literature of the fantastic. I’ve randomized its pseudo-Arabic names and places here, and the titles of the stories themselves also make for an interesting randomization stew. They stick to a simple formula of “Tale of the Something” or “Something of Something” repeating elements such as relatives preceded by a numerical designation (e.g. second sister) and characters referred to by adjective and an occupation ( the wise washer-woman.) Animals are frequently used in titles as well: peacocks, monkeys, fleas. Often they are given human attributes, Aesop’s Fables-style. Randomizing these titles for me was fun and quick.
Unwritten Arabian Nights Tales I
| The Unseemly Harem of Sultan Muzhein
The Strange Voyage of Zedefren and his Parrot The Adventures of Nevanja the Slave Girl The Wise Hashish Eater The Young Queen’s Story of the Pigeon and the Ogre The Three Devout Barbers The Tale of the Seventh Youth, Faraed, and the Apple of Darkness The Romance of Turmash and Kishranja The Dream of Queen Simyel The Emir’s Grandfather and the Raucous She-Goat The Tale of Bishera and Her Grandmother The Pomegranate Slave Boy The Goat, the Fish, and Sultan of Falga The Princess Zoyana and the Young Doctors The Tale of the She-Ghoul and Her Child An Entry in the Journals of Sharhan the Fortune-Teller The Sheik’s Aunt, Zariyah, and the Sparrow The Three Tailors of El-Hahmut Badzar and His Marvelous Palace The Young Wife’s Trials The Unwise Boy and the Ghoul Adventures of a One-Legged Pilgrim The Story of the Spinster and the Senmurv The Lady of Haraaz and the Three Honey Jars The Tale of King Waszrin and His Daughter Zhuphena the Prophetess and the Invisible City of Yediz The Lady Dirun and the Strange Pilgrim The Devout Gem Cutter and the Clever Tray-Maker The Mare, the Sparrow, and the Efreet The Voyage of Sahmira the Slave Girl Princess Esmrilla and the Cripple The Beggar and His Pet Scorpion The Curious Asp King Princess Therina and the Aspiration of the Three Onions |
Jul 02
The Last Samurai [Reading Challenge 2019]
The Last Samurai
by Mark Ravina
Wiley, 2005
[Challenge # 5: A book taking place in Asia (Turkey to Japan, Siberia to Vietnam.)]
I really wanted to like this book. It’s a biography of Saigo Takamori, a Japanese historical hero who might be compared to Abraham Lincoln in American history, a down-home politician who embodied national values and perhaps died for them. Saigo was a politician of the Samurai class towards the end of the 1800s, a time when Japan was experiencing rapid change. The bulk of the change was regarding its struggle to move from a feudal state of disparate kingdoms only loosely united by an emperor to a true, cohesive national state. Envoys from Western Europe and the superior technology they offered exacerbated this change. In Saigo’s lifetime steamships replaced sailing ships and the first railroad lines were constructed. (Before that, everyone walked everywhere.) In the reading the book, I can see how this period of rapid industrialization was directly responsible for Japan’s involvement in WWII and everything that happened after.
I did learn a fair bit about the guy, which was good, and I’d like to know more, so in that sense the author, who was a professor of Japanese History at Columbia, did his job. But it was oh so dry. A fine book with lots of scholarly information, but it’s more of what a biographer would read for background material — it did not act as a biography itself. Not knowing much about Japanese history I got frustrated with all the names, places, and dates with nothing about them that made them come to life and engagement. The book had no glossary either — you had to look up the glossary on the book’s website. I would have liked a chapter on the samurai and the ruling system of the time as an introduction so things would have made sense.
So, I can’t recommend this unless you have a solid ground in Asian history.
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