Yummy recipes

Greek style chicken
I use less water than the recipe calls for because it gets a little soupy.

1 pound chicken breast tenders
1 tsp olive oil
1 medium green bell pepper cut into 1 inch strips
2 medium shallots
1 14.5 ounce can if diced tomatoes unsalted
1/4 cup low salt chicken broth
1/4 cup kalamata olives coarsely chopped
1 tsp oregano dried
1 tsp lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Directiins: Discard all fat from chicken. In a large skillet heat oil over medium high heat. Cook chicken for 2 minutes on each side. Stir in peppers and shallots and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients bring to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes.

Apple pear walnut salad
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons orange juice
1 orange zested
1/2 cup raisins (I use golden raisins)
4 apples
2 pears
2/3 cup toasted walnuts coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Directiins: In a large bowl whisk together vinegar, orange juice, zest and raisins. Core and cut apples and pears into chunks. Add fruit and nuts to the bowl. Add oil and toss. Season with pepper and salt. Refrigerate for an hour. 

The reality of self

You make yourself stupid with false imaginings, and so you do not see, what you would see, if you discarded them.  -- Dante Paradiso

This quote means something special to me. It's a quote about throwing aside your preconceived notions and looking at the reality around you. It's about not letting all of those beliefs you have about individuals blind you to their humanity.

I think it's something that we've lost sight of as a society. So many problems could be fixed if we all would just take these words to heart. The righteously arrogant hatemongers who would have us believe that the country and the world are broken and evil would fade if we would all just look around us and see that most people in this world are just trying to get by without hurting other people.

You can stop reading here. The rest is a personal revelation.

Now Beatrice in this passage is telling Dante to quit painting her as some angelic being when all she was was a human being just like hum. If he would truly love her he has to cast aside his purple prose and notions of what she was and deal with her as a person. Only then will he be a worthy man.

I mentioned this to a friend this weekend because I used it in a thesis and I think I mentioned it because I had forgotten what it's true meaning is and I need to remember it,

I have let my anger, frustration, and  feelings of inadequacy turn into a kind of self loathing. I need to see that people are good and they can be kind and I need to see that for every time I have been unworthy I have made up for it by being worthy. I know that's a run on sentence.

Several people have expressed concern over my attitude lately and they have every right to. I am sullen and self defeating. But I think I see something better ahead.

Is it something new or special? No. It's just remembering that I have to put aside my notions of who I am to build a better me.  I'm starting to see that everything will be ok if I just let it be ok. That's what I learned on my yaycation. 

Anger in America

Hate is a drug, and Americans like their drugs.

Pushers line the airwaves of various television and radio talk shows calling out to passersby for a free sample of vitriol and bile. They start you out with the tame stuff such as a visit by former politicians pushing their biographies and getting in digs about how no one really understands how bad the other party is. Then it moves on to the daily soundtokes of anger that spew from candidates or politicians on a daily basis in Washington,

But hey, it's OK. You can handle it. Then before you know it you're mainlining O'Reily and rubbing your gums with Madow residue. Oh, you're hooked now.

That's when you can't get enough hate, so you branch out and start watching anything you can use to get your dander up. You'll find yourself watching Hoarders just so you can look down on someone. You laugh with evil glee at Toddlers and Tiaras because you need to feel the hate of being superior to those awful parents and their messed up children.

Soon, the caring person you used to be is a burned out shell of hate and anger towards everyone around you. You are a wasted thing with red-rimmed eyes from the high blood pressure.

The real war in this country should be the war on hate. We spend so much of our time hating people, situations and supposed problems that it paralyzes us. More than anything, what's wrong in this country is that we spend our time finding new things to hate rather than fixing our problems. Hate ruins you when it gets into your soul. You become this purveyor of anger, infecting others with your hate.

Hate ruins love. I had a friend once who loved, just loved, the Star Wars franchise. When the new movies came out, he took each one of those movies and turned them inside out and upside down until he found something to hate about each and every scene and character. He still calls himself a fan, but in reality he has taken the films and embedded them with hate and loathing. This person does the same thing with friends, picking at them until he can't stand them anymore.

I find myself stuttering and stumbling out my Rodney King-like plea to stop hating. It sounds simplistic, but really, "Can't we all just get along?"