"My mother, who was the first cat, told me this..."

I have just had the pleasure of reading We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and in that way discovered the writing of Shirley Jackson, all of which has been absolutely delightful. Currently barrelling through Haunting of Hill House, and realising with woe that the husband's collection of books seems to have lost the vast majority of its Jackson. Castle I read as a rather good study of witches as independent women who happen to know a few things others do not, like how to tell apart poisonous plants from the edible ones, without ever actually stating outright that it is what it is, or involving the supernatural (beyond the protagonist's imagination). I was fond of Merricat, decided she was quite easy to sympathise with, and how can I not like a protagonist with a fascination with poisons, talking to animals and a sheer dislike for most of humanity, anyway? I found the ending quite awful for the people involved, rather wished the whole town died of mushrooms, in fact. But one can hope.

It was quite nice to have gotten some reading done. I don't read nearly enough, having lacked the concentration for many years. It is one of the little joys of living with scanner_darkly, in that I am no longer quite so stressed out I can't pick up a book and read. I'm sure I've said this before, but most of the books I read when I was younger depended heavily on what books I could get. English-language books are still very expensive in my native country. Even barring the high prices due to the currency exchange and mark-ups for import, the choice of books is also usually limited by manages to be brought in at all. A couple of relatively recent trends have made books much more accessible, such as the prevalence of both rental bookstores and second hand book shops, but as with such stores, again, it is a lot about what you can find. When I was a child, I had the good fortune to have been in schools with good libraries. The mix of books I found was eccentric enough. School libraries, by virtue of relying on donations, are often offered some old gems as well as say, boxes of Robert E. Howard with scandalous cover art hidden under the librarian's desk. Thus, I was able to read virtually all the Enid Blyton books, Wombles, Little House, Little Women and What Katy Did ones, as well as Stranger in a Strange Land, The Painted Bird and Helter Skelter, but have very little exposure to many of the books my friends consider fairly normal for pop cultural purposes. I am only now catching up. It has led me to listen in awe to conversations the people I know have with other people on books they've read though, since inevitably, I would have read very little of it.

Also, and apropos to nothing, finishing Feminism in Islam has somewhat strained my brain for scholarly works, at least for a month or so. It is an educational book, and the quality of the writing can get a little hodge podge. I'm glad I finished it. I just find that when faced with even a slightly serious piece of informative non-fiction afterwards, my eyes glaze over. Else, I would be quite excited to read Wanted: Equality and Justice in the Muslim Family, an up to date collection of essays on the status of women's rights in Muslim countries which just came out care of Musawah, a grouping of women's issues NGOs from Muslim nations worldwide. Incidentally, if you're interested in reading the essays, they're available online for free, with an option to order printed copies.

Vegetarian Fried Rice Vermicelli

Earlier in May, I got this craving for fried rice vermicelli, which I don't think I'd made in almost a year. Since I can't really make small portions of this dish, I used to freeze individual servings to eat over the week. It really helped when my schedule was crammed with work, and is quick to reheat even while frozen. The version I make is mostly vegetarian, though it is definitely possible to augment its flavour with fish sauce, some eggs and almost any kind of meat. The choice of vegetables that go into this is pretty flexible. Any kind of Asian green vegetable would work in this. Mushrooms can be replaced by bamboo shoots, if anyone is averse to mushrooms, or some other crunchy vegetable. The kind of tofu is also up to the cook's imagination. Everything from plain strips of deep fried tofu puffs, firm seasoned tofu to sliced vegetarian meats is a go, in any combination.

It's like college students' noodles, just more homemade, and no MSG.

(Speaking of which, I need to get me a big box of instant ramen to slowly absorb like a killer slime, because I am an adult.)

( Vegetarian Fried Rice Vermicelli )

"Tastes like dumpling"

With the husband's help, made a chicken noodle and dumpling soup for dinner, because noodles and dumplings together must be twice as good. Seth was brave and went out for ingredients, and did most of the chopping, while I made the dumplings and put together the broth. It was his idea that I make dumplings based on a recipe on the back of the Bisquick box, because he has concerns about my dumplings -- I believe I got off on a bad foot when I first made dumplings for us, as these early samples were largely boiled flour. I make a peculiarly light and fluffy spaetzle that is somewhat different from the heavier versions German restaurants make, which the husband prefers over theirs. These are basically much smaller dumplings. But I suppose that's a matter of semantics.

Because I was feeling stubborn, I threw in an egg into the dumpling mix. And scallions.

We both have this idea of noodle soup, probably from individual childhood memories of those awful Campbell's tinned soups, where the noodle must be cut up bits of spaghetti. That is fine, since my mother's homemade noodle soup involved real macaroni and other pastas, and I can't abide it, it's just the wrong noodle. So, Seth got us a pack of spaghetti, and I cut up a quarter of the pack with a pair of scissors to a recognisably noodle soup-sized noodle.

The dumplings were ginormous and very fluffy when they floated to the top. There must have been a good deal of baking powder in that Bisquick. The husband declared them, "Tastes like dumpling," so everything must have been alright. Now we are both recovering from two servings of soup and three dumplings each like beached whales. The soup was satisfying, and made both of us feel much saner and less sniffly. I don't suppose I'll have a craving for noodle soup for a good long time, though. I'm also still having a craving for chicken ovaries, which clear chicken broth invariably makes me think of. I hear they're delicacies in Peru, so surely someone in the Mission must have heard of them too?