Cauliflower

Grilled cauliflower is so good.  It takes the smokiness of the charcoal really well!  When I went through my vegetarian phase, I wish I had tried this.

I think it would be cool to have a whole cauliflower-based meal - maybe a grilled cauliflower steak with a chimichurri sauce, then cauliflower rice with diced tomatoes, onions and garlic, and cauliflower pickled in red wine vinegar.

(Spoiler alert - I reveal a lot about the book below)

I just finished reading this book.  A friend challenged me to finish this book and explain it.

As I got through the first third of the book, I found that it was alternating between the author's narrative of his motorcycle trip with his son and friends, his struggling recollection of a person that he referred to as Phaedrus, and his chautauquas - his musings on philosophy.  As his memories of Phaedrus become clearer, the chautauquas start overlapping his recollection that Phaedrus is actually the younger version of himself, who was so frustrated by his inability to reconcile philosophical dilemmas that he drove himself insane.

I had to suspend my attempts to make sense of his philosophizing, because doing so would require me to spend a lot of time reading and pondering, and I wasn't about to make that commitment given that I might still not understand what he was talking about.  At the core of his philosophical division were the realms of classic vs. romantic understanding of life, reflected through the maintenance of the motorcycles that they were traveling with (hence the title).

At the end, he rediscovers his insanity and is about to go off the deep end again, when a dream about his relationship with his son shocks him back into reality and he's able to connect with his son.

Upon finishing the book, there was mild satisfaction that he seems to connect with his son.  But through the book, I not only didn't feel like rooting for the main character, I actually thought he was a pompous douchebag.

I don't know if he had decided to embrace a more romantic notion of fatherhood.  But to see someone convert from an asshole to less of an asshole wasn't terribly satisfying to read.

I don't feel like I am any better for reading this book.

Things I am interested in for future reference and planning

(Jiro Dreams of Sushi - watched)
(The Art of Happiness - the Dalai Lama - listened to)

Eating Culture:  An Anthropological Guide to Food - Gillian Crowther
Soul of a Banquet - Wayne Wang
Do Hollywood - The Lemon Twigs
Dispatches from the Edge:  A Memoir of War, Disasters and Survival - Anderson Cooper
Stiff:  The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers - Mary Roach
DJ Shadow
The Untold History of Ramen:  How Political Crisis in Japan Spawned a Global Food Craze - George Solt
Lawrence of Arabia
The Tale of Genji
The Bible

Oktoberfest

I love food (doesn't everybody?).  I also love cooking - learning techniques and applying them to solve "problems" is pretty much the foundation of all creative endeavors, from engineering to music to cooking, all things that I love to do.

I wanted to prepare a dinner for Oktoberfest.  I sauteed some bratwurst in beer, and made a sauteed cabbage dish called rotkohl.  It's a sweet and sour cabbage sweetened with sugar, apples and caramelized onions, made sour with vinegar, and then enhanced with a huge douse of cabernet.  I served this with a side of traditional German potato salad, which is made without mayo.

I had just assumed that Oktoberfest ran through the month of October, but in fact it typically starts in the middle of September and concludes during the first weekend in October!

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind - Yuval Noah Harari

This is a highly engaging non-fiction book that spans history/religion/philosophy/sociology/psychology/anthropology/political science/economics, and explains how Sapiens transitioned from  small social units to huge societies via (imaginary) concepts of money, religion and imperialism.

Though much of the author's hypotheses can't be substantiated and can in fact disputed, these hypotheses nonetheless make a lot of sense and are certainly plausible explanations for the order of the world.

Twenty One Pilots - Vessel

This is Twenty One Pilots' debut album on Fueled by Ramen records in 2013 but is actually their third album.

It's a great album from start to finish and is fairly diverse, ranging from the almost Train-ish ukulele based "House of Gold", to the anti-suicide "Guns For Hands", the Eminem-styled rap of "Migraine" (minus the misogyny and violence), and the anthemic "Trees" that sounds as big as anything Chris Martin has ever written.  In fact, if they can keep writing material as good and diverse as this, they are poised to be my new Beatles or Queen.

Though piano, synth and ukulele dominate the songs instrumentally, the prominence of drums in the mix, and the beats propel this album with a funky swagger that matches the rapping perfectly and keeps this metalhead's head bobbing instead of banging.

It's a very positive and upbeat album, though it has it's screamo moments.  Definitely a classic, and an album that cheers me up when I sometimes need it the most.

Confessions of a Heretic - Adam Nergal Darski

I'm a huge fan of Adam Darksi, aka Nergal from the Polish blackened death metal band Behemoth.  Adam has had an interesting life, growing up in a highly religious society, founding his band Behemoth, battling leukemia, and finding somewhat unwanted fame by dating a famous Polish pop star.

This book offers insight into the development of his philosophies on life, religion, love, and self empowerment.  It's very inspiring, and reflects his quest for knowledge.  After reading about his desire to learn new languages, it reminded me to research learning to speak Japanese, something I've wanted to do for a long time.