and then it was Sunday

[jlh]

I bought a phone and groceries and I made a meatloaf that is in my fridge resting before I bake it and I have stewed some chicken for tacos this week. My dishes are done and my flat is reasonably clean. Good thing, as calloocallay came by for the last Six Feet Under of the season! Wah! However, I have an icon to make me happy.

evil_erato said this the other day:

But you know what? If you let yourself, you have enough space to hold both of those points of view at the same time. I just wish that people would get over themselves enough to realize that not everything is black and white.

And I couldn't agree more. Is it so difficult to see things in a nuanced way? To have two superficially contradictory ideas in your head? The absolutism, it's wearying. And it's about everything: fandom, interpersonal relations, global politics. All this my way or the highway and we'll all just be driving aimlessly, with no place to stop. It's worrysome.

Comments

[wordplay.livejournal.com]

Heh. I generally have the opposite problem; to have just two superficially contradictory ideas in my head would be a bit restful, I think. As it is, I'm usually busy trying to juggle every possible viewpoint on a topic, struggling to make sense of all of it. Surely this can be no better.

I often joke that it's not that I don't have an opinion; it's that I have all of them.

Also? Mmmmmm, meeeaaatloaf.

[mahoni.livejournal.com]

I have the same problem as tea_and_toast - every issue has so many facets.

I frequently make a conscious decision to abide by one particular point of view, but if you press me even slightly on it, I will have to admit that I can see where other points of view are coming from. Even if I don't agree, and even if it's an emotional or 'moral' issue, I at least understand that alternative emotional, social, and/or cultural forces exist that create points of view that are, within their own context, as valid as mine are within my context (and frequently valid across contextual situations as well). Everything has a parenthetical or corollary. And maybe it feels like spinning one's wheels, because acknowledging many sides of an argument often stalemates at agree-to-disagree; but to me it's better to spin your wheels for a while than to drive off a cliff, which is where stubborn absolutism occasionally takes you.

Though I have to admit, I *can* see where absolutism is comforting. Knowing (or thinking you know) exactly how the world works and should be can be less scary than admitting everything is mutable, fallible, and uncertain.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

And you know, that comfort in absolutism is as much a problem on the left as it is on the right, regardless of what Barthes might think. And see how someone who doesn't want to be absolute and see these shades of meaning, gets labelled wishy washy? Drives me nuts.

Stupid question

[skg.livejournal.com]

But how do you stew chicken for tacos? Do you add certain spices?

Whenever I make chicken tacos they are abysmal compared to restaurant chicken tacos, and I am pretty sure it is my lack of finesse with the chicken.

Any advice?

Re: Stupid question

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I poach the chicken first, in water to which I usually add a few spices (I use cumin and coriander, but really, whatever you like) and salt and pepper. Traditionally this should be done with thighs, bone-in, for the most flavor but last night I only had breasts in the house. I definitely noticed the difference in the flavor, though, and while breasts are fine in a pinch thighs are preferable.

Then I shred the meat and stew it in some canned tomatoes. A small can of tomatoes should do you for a lb of chicken. You can use either diced or stewed tomatoes, whatever you prefer, and add a little bit of water to make sure it doesn't cook dry before the tomatoes seep into the chicken. Also, you could cook it to a more soupy consistency than I do; I like mine moist but not wet. I also add to this mixture, at the start, some onion that I've sauteed with garlic, minced jalapeno, ground cumin and ground coriander. (Cooking the spices with the onion not only brings out their flavor but also distributes them more equally as they are stuck onto the onion. I also much prefer sauteeing a fresh jalapeno or serrano pepper to adding cayenne pepper with the dry spices. If you want to keep it mild for the girls, try a poblano or even a bell pepper.) Salt to taste but often there is salt in the tomatoes so you may well not need much.

Also, resist the temptation to have soft tacos in flour tortillas. Soft corn tortillas make it taste more like a taco and less like a weird burrito or fajita. Try to find a little gourmet or specialty store for the tortillas rather than buying the mass produced ones, as they will be more "authentic" in taste and texture, and they do freeze very well.

Hope that works for you!

Re: Stupid question

[skg.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I will let you know how it turns out. :)

Re: Stupid question

[jlh.livejournal.com]

OH! You know, I replied to this at work and didn't see the email, and from the icon I thought you were Peg! Please ignore the reference to making it less spicy for the girls, hahaha!

[heart-of-wine.livejournal.com]

I agree, the absolutism is wearying. We think in nuanced ways, why should we always be polarized in opinion?

Hugs,
Elia

[bookshop.livejournal.com]

My mother the conservative likes to tell me in a chiding voice, 'Don't get so open-minded your brain falls out.'

I think there's a big difference between absolutism in theory and absolutism in, say, relationships. Because you can believe in an idea that is an absolute--say, a political cause or a spiritual worldview or something, and be an absolutist about it without it affecting other things in your life if you let it.

But there really--I really don't think you can ever draw absolutes about people. Where people and feelings and relationships are concerned, there will always be different versions of truth, and it will never belong only to one side. Even if that side is yours.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Where this started was a very minor skirmish about some people posting 9-11y things, and then other people saying, "I don't know why this is a big deal as it isn't the first act of terrorism and guess what the rest of the world hates the US anyway so shut up", so what I was saying is, I can feel melancholy about 9-11 and still realize that a lot of other people have died; it doesn't have to be one or the other. Similarly, I can think that Sadaam Hussein was a horrific dictator and the world is well rid of him, and feel that the war was wrong. So it was less an absolutism about a particular world view (such as, discrimination on the basis of color or religion or sexual orientation or gender is wrong, period) than an understanding that there is more than one truth.

But I think about people, that is certainly true. You know: "The time to make up your mind about people is . . . never."