Philip got some good shots of Cake Party action. Here’s a sample:
That’s spelt flour, my favorite kind of flour. Click to see full size.
It’s late and I’m tired and need to take a bath. I’ll post more later.
Archive for the 'social' Category
I just got home from yet another Blazers game. Philip M got free tickets through work again. I met some of his coworkers, and there might even be a job opportunity that comes out of this. Cool.
This time we watched from a “sky box.” You can’t see the individual players and moves as well, but it’s a great vantage point to keep an eye on the whole game. It was a fairly uninteresting game, but it was a fun experience.
A dark & blurry view of the proceedings.
Philip and I spent most of the time chatting about relationships and love and meeting new people and what not. That was good. Very therapeutic, although we didn’t arrive at any definite answers to the harder questions/issues.
A semi-interesting photo of the view above our heads. It took me a while to notice this.
I rode the MAX across the river and then walked about two miles home in the rain. My outer garments were wet, but I stayed warm (layers, yo!). I love walking home in the rain at night. There’s no better time to think and feel.
The best thing about having a cake party at your house is that you get to eat all the leftover cake. Or maybe that’s the worst thing. I don’t know. Either way, the cake party was on Sunday and I had cake for breakfast, lunch, and before-bed snack on Monday. The only other thing I had Monday was Olives and Nuts at Holocene. That was pretty tasty but awfully salty.
Anyway. It was a relatively small party, but it was fun. We played a game of team Scrabble. Isaac and I whooped ass with a bunch of multi-word plays. (Not that I’m bragging, because that would be unseemly.)
And then there was the cake. Mmm mm mm. (Did I spell that right?) Originally, I thought there were going to be several cakes and that at least one of them would be “normal” (that is, non-vegan). As it turned out, there ended up being only two cakes and both were vegan. I hadn’t been planning to make one, but I did.
Jason W. made a chocolate cake. I made a vanilla cake using the recipe on this page[1]. Of course, I modified that a bit by using spelt flour and Sucanat instead of normal sugar. Philip M. made some really excellent raw frosting that we put on both cakes. Both cakes came out well (we used the convection bake option) and were very tasty, though I liked Jason’s better, especially with Philip’s frosting; it reminded me of the German chocolate cake I loved so much growing up.
Most of my pictures didn’t come out well. This is maybe the best one:
Philip and Isaac watching me make cake. Actually, I don’t know what they’re doing or why they’re making those faces, but I was making cake right there at the edge of the counter. Jason was working on his cake to my left.
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[1] Here’s the recipe, in case that page disappears:
“This sure to be a party pleaser!
- 1/2 cup soft soy margarine [I used Earth Balance]
- 2-3/4 cups all-purpose white flour [I used spelt flour]
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda [I used 1 1/4 tsp b.s. and 1 1/4 tsp b.p. because the directions below say baking powder]
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons Ener-G Egg Replacer
- 1/4 cup water
- 3/4 cup soy milk
- 1/2 cup water
- 1-3/4 cups sugar [I used Sucanat]
- 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Spray two round 8″ x 1-2/3″ pans with Pam, or lightly oil and flour. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. Mix Egg Replacer and 1/4 cup water and set aside. Mix soy milk and 1/2 cup water, and set aside.
In large bowl of electric mixer, beat soy margarine until it is creamy, about a minute. Gradually add sugar until well creamed. Beat in vanilla. Add mixed dry ingredients and mixed soy milk/water alternately to creamed margarine, sugar, and vanilla, beating after each addition. Begin and end with flour mixture. (Add flour in 4 steps, liquids in three.) Add mixed Ener-G along with the third addition of liquid. Turn evenly into pans.
Bake at 375 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes, or until done (wooden pick inserted into cake comes out clean). Remove from oven and let cool on cake rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and let cool on rack until cold. Frost as desired.
- Total calories per serving (without frosting): 295
- Total fat as % of daily value: 12% Fat: 8 gm
- Protein: 5 gm carbohydrates: 54 gm
- Calcium: 69 mg Sodium: 298 mg
- Dietary Fiber: 1 gm”
After dinner at The Farm, Philip and I went to a Blazers basketball game at the Rose Garden Arena. Philip got free tickets from somewhere, and I’m always down for a novel experience, which this definitely was for me. I’ve been to one other pro sporting event that I remember, a Red Sox baseball game in Boston back in the late 80s. I went to one Ducks basketball game while I was at the University of Oregon.
I’m no sports fan, but I love basketball as a game. It’s such a dance–part choreographed, part freestyle–conducted by intricate rules of timing, interaction, and boundaries.
Part of the fun was people watching. Watching them get excited when the Blazers scored or screwed up. Watching them ogle and take pictures of the cheerleaders. Watching them spend $6.50 on pints of Budweiser.
The arena takes great advantage of the large captive audience and advertises with all kinds of flashing lights, announcements, and giveaways of junk.
I took some pictures (of the game and crowd, not the cheerleaders) with my phone, but none of them are worth posting here.
Friday night started with dinner at The Farm with Philip. Michael B. stopped by also and had a couple beers with us. The Farm “support[s] local farmers by buying direct when ever possible.” They are located at SE 7th & Burnside.
I had a cup of split pea soup. Philip and I both had the “Herb Crusted Tofu with Mushrooms Marsala.” Holy shit! That is some good grub. Menu.
From the outside, the place looks like kind of dump, but inside it’s quite nice and homey–in fact, it’s in an old Victorian house.
Slightly spendy but definitely recommended.
Why would you do that to yourself?
Why would a person do that to him or her self? Why would someone, for example, pick up a blade and cut a wrist? What factors motivate this kind of behavior? What thoughts and feelings must one be having? What state of mind must one be in?
Emotional distress is part of the answer–a surpassed threshold of stress, change, distrust, lack of understanding, and pain with no viable or believable solutions. Self harm is an expression of pure pain, of agony, of not knowing what to do or how to proceed, of not being able to express oneself at some fundamental level.
But most people choose other methods of dealing with their issues. Most people numb or pacify themselves with food, alcohol, drugs (including government sanctioned pharmaceuticals), TV, work, shopping, etc. Some people get counseling or seek a higher purpose. People that harm themselves may try these things too.
So, what kind of life experience leads to self harm? What kind leads to self harm with a suicidally tinged expression (e.g., cutting a wrist along a vein)?
I don’t think there’s a simple answer. Some people harm themselves when they’re freaking out. Others are calm and rational. Some want to hide. Some want to feel. Some want to bring something to the surface.
From what I’ve read, a larger percentage of people engage in some kind of self harm than might be expected.
So, what’s wrong with our culture? Can we blame culture? What interaction of culture and certain individuals leads some to self harm? Is self harm always a bad thing?
What is the definition of self harm? Usually it means something like cutting oneself. But what about eating too much? Drinking too much? Repressing emotion? What qualifies? Should it be any act that a person knows to be harmful? Any such act that is done instead of addressing an underlying issue?
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