Writing

I write things when I can actually get enough letters together to make sense.

Three Waves of Cuisine

In cooking one can boil the where of their culinary homeland pretty easily. When it comes to recipes the case is a little harder, but still manageable. Many times though when people ask someone who cooks what kind of food they like to cook this little detail goes out the window. In any case here are the three general time frames of cuisine.

Classical
This would be the recipes that are often heralded by many critics. These are the ones that have passed from generation to generation. Things that have been around for many years in some cases hundreds or even thousands. From here you will see less technical ways with common ingredients of the era. This food often while have a higher bar of detail in flavoring using a strict set of ingredients while still trying to create new recipes within it. Le Tour D’argent’s hey day was due to more popular recipes that could be seen as classical french food. Often times also the French, Japanese, Chinese, and Italian cuisines will go more back in to their culinary history as they have many centuries of recipes to go through in a style of food that has been found pleasing on the world stage.

Modern
This would be the most popular time frame of cooking simply with what you have using the basic techniques that the common person has access to. Most places nowadays will go through this era of food as it is often the easiest to create often by here say or just by the equipment and time available to cook. Here is where will we say newer countries really begin to make their stand as well as some who maybe have not been given the same opportunities due to simple lack of knowledge about it. This would include a fair mix of countries including the America’s, Spain, Indian, Korean, and most of the Arabic states.

Neo Cuisine
This is where fusion would be situated, and the realm of neo cuisine is the unexplored the new and brash scientific edge meeting a different set of flavor combinations that neither era of cuisine before it could have dealt with. David Chang has a great penchant for making good food no matter the ingredients. Another style of food that would be here is molecular gastronomy. Where more of the new ground is still being made. Every national cuisine can be done in to a new style making it an interesting exchange between the new style and the older version. A restaurant idea could be even made on highlighting the difference between the old and the new while having the tasters enjoy them both in their own special ways.

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Ten Colors of Chinese Food

Chinese Food has always interested me for many reasons. One is the simple size of the country translated well in to bringing a wide diversity with many different forms. Another is the diversity of recipes withing the styles. To be a master of Chinese cooking makes someone respect the ingredients and use them with great grace, attention to detail and more then a thousand years of food history to go look through for inspiration.

Eight Regional Styles

Sichuan – Any self respecting fan of the old iron chef will know a little about this as Chen Kenichi was trained in this form of Chinese cuisine by his father. It is popular for using fresh water fish as well as beef, pork, and chicken. Most times it will be associated with hot and spicy flavor combinations using different kinds of peppercorns and condiment with garlic as the basic flavor components in sauces. Sichuan peppercorns will make an appearance sometimes and one of the more well known dishes is mapodoufu. A spicy chunky bowl of warming happiness with tofu.

Anhui – From the Huangshan Mountains it is relatively close to everything allowing it and Jiangsu style to be the family when it comes to style. What separates Anhui from many of the others is the more prolific use of herbs. Many Chinese styles classically use spices and not herbs or very little in comparison. Herbs give the most flavor through liquids, and that is the case as some of the more popular cooking techniques include wet methods like stewing and braising. It also a larger number of mushroom dishes due to the home environment in the forests I truly think as we all get more health conscious there may be a resurgence of Anhui and Jiangsu dishes.

Hunan – Hunan in some cases may be the spiciest of cuisines, but that doesn’t stretch to every dish with one of their most well known dishes being orange beef. It is one of the more unknown cuisines. You can look at this and Sichuan as brother cuisines both known for using chili and garlic, but each having slightly different ways of using ingredients. Preserved meats are also popular in both often times to add a bit of seasoning as well as protein to the dish.

Beijing – Based on the capital of China it has a more well rounded appreciation not making it strong or weak using any cooking technique. It is more difficult to do well as it will often use more complicated procedures to make everything just right. It is also known as Peking style food the most well known recipe is Peking duck and one of the more interesting subsections of food comes from this city cuisine.

Shandong – One of the most interesting things in this version of Chinese cooking is the uses of steamed and fried breads instead of using rice exclusively. It also seems to be one of the most influential depending on who you ask. In any case this food from the northern coast line. It can almost be looked at a step from the balanced Beijing style to the more specialized cuisines. Between those two camps lies Shandong style food with some ingredients that people in western countries that people would be more comfortable using then those found in other cuisines.

Jiangsu – As the brother in style to Anhui you will find a major difference when looking through some of the food and that is the basis of texture. Texture is very important in Chinese food on the same level as the basic flavor of the thing. Jiangsu brings out softer textures in food for people to enjoy and works on keeping that while flavoring the dishes making sure the texture works with the flavor. Braised spare ribs are popular dish and a good example of this relationship of texture and flavor.

Fujian – This cuisine has more seafood dishes then some of the other cuisines due to its placement on the south eastern coast. A number of their dishes do not focus more on the spicy or salty instead trying to be the fifth flavor, umami to the forefront. For those who do not know umami can be categorized as a harmonizing savory flavor. Soups and broths are more popular in this style of food as well.

Guangdong – This is also known as Cantonese and is one of the more popular forms of Chinese cookery in Hong Kong and does not favor one technique of cooking over another. So you are just as likely to deep fry in this cuisine as steam. Seasonings will be a little lighter with a wider range of fruits and vegetables being used versus something like Hunan. Dim Sum would also mostly based from this style of cuisine.

Two Circumstantial Styles

Imperial
Imperial Chinese cuisine or the food based on the recipes used for the royal family. Normally when trying these recipes my experience shows it will be more meticulous then other cuisines. But, if you have the passion to add then this can really be artistry on a plate. Often times the balance of flavors will be important while other cuisines may be more known for one set of flavors over another.

Chinese Medicinal Cuisine
As America and the rest of the world begun the shift to pharmaceuticals the ancient way of medicine in the forms of meals still continues. The history that this cuisine has can reach back a couple millennia by conservative estimates meaning that this has had many years where new ideas can be built and re worked and I really think that every country should have a form of native medicinal cuisine. People can eat themselves to better health, and some people may have problem because many of the items is based on the health first.

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Police protests – Thoughts as of late

So you have a group of people who thought they were completely within their rights and through the actions of another group they are insulted and made a mockery of. The tension rises and things get more severe. Emotion overtakes common sense and many things that would seem clear suddenly become so confusing.

Who did I just describe? The protesters who feel the racism is still as prevalent today in the police force or the police themselves that feel that through a mistake which happens in all occupations and made worse by wondrous storm of idiocy. It seems that both of these groups seem to want blood and honestly that makes me a little sad.

I don’t know the stories about what runs in each side’s collective thoughts so I cannot say if one is right or one is wrong. Both sides have made moves I do not agree with on a basic scale. Is someone instantly a martyr if they try to rob a store with a loaded firearm and get shot? Continue reading →

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Experiences on Youtube 1

Let it be said that if something was easy then everyone would do it. After doing some videos I have had a little bit of views in the small amount of time that I had done. 125 views in the two or three months. Not bad, but after some conversations and a hard look at it I realized some things.

After some communications throughout different branches I need to focus it in a little bit more. I want my channel more about the positive but instead of investing my time showing the good of a game I just did what I thought would be good and hoped it worked. So I did some thinking and figured out how I am going to do this. So I have my journal for youtube stuff and reading over it it seems that my videos do need to be more focused. I can still be about the good in the games industry I just should pick my spots a little bit better and work on building a base first then overall just doing what may be good.

It may be embarrassing for someone to tell you that you are doing something wrong, but when someone does it you can tell if they are just trying to rankle you or just trying to make it so you get depressed. It is hard to do when you love something and you want it to succeed from the very bottom of you but it doesn’t.

Learn from it and keep your focus which sounds so easy on your screen, but is so difficult to pull off in truth. Good luck, in your goals and now I am going to try this again after more research to make my stuff even better.

Oh and here is my youtube channel for games and currently on break to try some different things.

https://www.youtube.com/user/MrBigTAnderson/

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The legend of the brother’s shields

For those who had never heard of it there was a show in the nineties called Legends of the Hidden Temple and me growing up in this era I wanted to be on it. Never did though, but trying to put myself together from a bout of flu I remember the fables that I loved sometimes factual and sometimes all hot air it was all fun explaining why some artifact was important before informing the would be explorers where in his temple held the item. So since I never made it to the temple (If I did I wanted to rock the parrot or snake jerseys) I thought the next best thing was to make a short legend about a random artifact that could have been in the temple one day.

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During the late twelve hundreds William Wallace was on his way to freeing Scotland from the invading British. Under his command where a pair of brothers whose abilities on the battlefield differed as much as their personalities. Despite that they were proud fighting for their home both armed with their trademark shields. To know each other on the battlefield the younger brother who worked often commanding the first waves would add a second spike on his targe. His brother often responsible for the platoon behind would carry a tower shield much heavier then the targe taken from a fallen British knight.

During the battle of Stirling castle the numbers were against the brothers and Wallace before the older brother got an idea.

“If we can hold them to the bridge we won’t get over powered by their numbers. They would have to come to us in smaller numbers.”

Wallace agreed with the plan soon making it so as long as they held the bridge they would not fall. As the battle began men came like waves against the shore. The Scots had to take the castle and this was their only chance. Holding the front line before charging he saw his brother come up with the tower shield he had made his own.

“Brother, what are you doing don’t you have to watch your men?”

“The bridge will not allow any of yours to escape if I do so I decided to come up here to help you out.”

Soon the battle begun as the British began to push against the warriors. Wave after wave of fighting begun to wear on the men it was a full day of fighting before the sounds of swords breaking began to ring in the air. Before nightfall new soldiers brought more weapons while the men pushing the bridge began to grow desperate.

“Push your shields. If we go down it will be for Scotland!!” The younger brother yelled.

Heavy with arrows the younger brother soon felt shade as the tower shield taking the moment to pull the arrows that his dirge had caught the large tower shield gave him enough time to repair his own shield and finish the battle. By morning of the second day the castle had been taken against an overwhelming British force with little left of their own weapons but the shields that took the castle. The brothers were promoted to full commanders while their shields made their way to the temple. Where they can be found in the tomb of the tomb of the ancient kings….

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Nanowrimo Attempt 2014

So for those reading this I had tried to go and finish nanowrimo with nothing more then an old story a couple pages long and a wonder if I could. Between computer issues, personal issues and other things that made me lose my focus I got to just about 21,000 words. that does not make it a loss it just did not get to my goal in the time allotted so here are some things I learned about this so if any of my readers want to try it they are better equipped.

1. Basic outline – The easiest part of typing the story as far as I did was to take the pages and read them. Normally my writing is very rushed one to the next. Boom, boom, boom. Having an outline set allows you to have a basic form to go by and that form can change as you see fit but you would still at least have the knowledge of where thing a would connect to on thing b even if thing c and b don’t meet you can still make it in to a skeleton you like for your story.

2. Focus – Give yourself some time every day and leave yourself a note, write it in your schedule, give yourself a time where you can just sit down and write it out only coming out in the case of serious emergency or mob en route to your writing spot. In short let everything else go and just let it be.

3. Learn how you work – Often times each person has different things, little nuances that can make their own efforts easier or harder. Like me typing with my big ‘ole ham hands can be hard sometimes unless I either stretch or find a bigger key board which I don’t think exists in many places. Either way, knowing how you work and how to best play off the positives while hiding the negatives will make your writing time more breezy less enraging.

4. Go in with a vision – If it is to get rich selling books then that will be more on the problem of advertising and quality control which you can only do half of that while you write. If you want to finish a full novel as your goal then this is a great way to at least get a jump on it. If you do not do it in thirty days then you will have a major portion complete by the end of the month.

5. Finish the story – Even if you are serious about competing against the dead line then make sure you have everything needed nearby when you write. If you get down about not making the time limit then try to pick yourself up and finish the story. Because the worst thing you can do is leave the story half finished after you put so much work in it.

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To Gil Caroya of the Huffington Post

So I read an article that kinda got to me you can read it for yourself here. I’m not going to make any bad puns so let’s just get to it.
I took a bit of insult to this article so I decided to let the Huffington Post know about it my response is below.
What do you think about this piece of literary work? (The article not my response.)
Hi, my name is Tj Anderson and I am 25 years old. According to your last article I am one of those idiotic millennials prone to know it all rants and is clueless about the ISIL threat. Well, as for idiotic everyone has their moments, and I am not different from others in that regard. About the know it all rants we all believed that we knew everything at some point. That just seems to be the wonder of human nature, and some people grow out of it while others live with it. So finally about being clueless I can say without shame that I am clueless about this subject. Thinking I wanted to get some insight I looked on to the Post website and saw your article. The sad thing was your article did not bring much about ISIL and instead talked about how a group of people is so “stupid”.

Which brings me to this email. In the pursuit of learning about a terrorist group I only found someone who is very intelligent with an ability to route his passion not only of the goodness of people, but of what things can be in to a thinly veiled vent of anger on a platform supposed to bring more information to people who don’t know. I actually thought maybe I don’t understand something maybe I’m just not getting something. I have taken a couple pans to the head in my years in kitchens, so I try to give people the benefit of the doubt on that. Trying to see things through your eyes I looked at articles and found you have a background in tech tried doing some research in to the award you earned in 2005. Didn’t find much on it I just signed that off that I was just looking in the wrong area.

What I did find though is you still had a great passion in the tech industry you still got some fire in your belly and you want to make some good things happen. You want to make the world a better place every day either through the acceleration of your own skills and abilities or through the bodies of work you contribute to society. That wanting to make the world better came through to me in two articles I read to help get a better view of things through your eyes. It was your last article on the Post in September and the first one in October. “Technology’s Gender Bias — A Subconscious Shot in the Foot?” and “Why Don’t People Care When It Doesn’t Affect Them?” both showed your willingness to fight for what you believe in. It is great you do that, but in the forms of fighting sometimes we forget who we fight, what we do it with, and how we achieve our goals. Fighting comes in various forms not all of them physically, but it just seems that you seem to have lost your way in your personal quest. Maybe I am wrong I am just going off what I think and I am making this email to communicate that.

You have abilities and your are passionate about your causes just do not lose sight or one day you may put something up that will cost you your platform or will cost you progress to your goals. If you want to talk because if I did misunderstand something then let me know. Through whatever format you are most comfortable with, info below. I may not know everything, but I am going to at least try to make the world better through my means, and I wish you success in your quests as well.

(End.)

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Thoughts in the culinary world – Bobby Flay and James Beard

Now it seems that everyone worth their knives has something to say. The world of professional cooking is sometimes akin to the world of professional wrestling when larger then life personalities clash. Everyone has their own thing to say and everyone makes mistakes. When you do something you love so much, and someone makes you feel subpar some people are going to shoot off their mouths. From Top Chef to Paula Deen everyone seems to have their hand halfway in a boiling soup pot which is sad.

Bobby Flay is the most hated person in cooking. Which I can see as he seems very abrasive, almost disrespectful of other cultures and just sometimes acts like an ass. Seeing the food he makes and listening to him talk as well I really would not want to go to his restaurants. One thing no one can take away is he knows the business side enough that he has put himself in position on cooking shows for many years. Releasing books and through all the mistakes he has made one must give credit that he has used his business to back up where his cooking fails.

It is kinda sad he will be the most well known chef of the era because one of my cooking heroes is an Oregon born man by the name of James Beard. Cooking wise his recipes were never the absolute best, but across the board there was not a man who could boast the skill set he did. On top of that you would have to search to have someone say a bad word about him he always seemed to have a love of food that was only matched by the size of the man himself. The only thing you may find if you actually looked was how nearing the end of this life he decided to take endorsement deals to open more cooking schools. Which he even said made him feel like a “gastronomic whore”.

Sometimes we forget that the measure of a person is not just by popularity. A man can be the best without being the most well known. For the most part we as a culture bring much more infamy for all of our bad before allowing some to spotlight the good. Just some thoughts

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Self publishing options

So when you want to publish you have a few options one of the most popular is taking your work to a literary agent so that you can get someone in the business to get your words to the masses. In today;s era things are getting more and more difficult as more and more want to make their mark at the end of a pen. You can try sending your work to the publishers themselves except they may not be even looking what you want to publish so that may not even mail you back.

Self publishing is when you do the printing and advertising yourself. Please note that you will not have a company pushing it to the moon, but there are ways to build an audience especially with the advent of the nook or amazon e reader. If you have any comments about your experience with self publishing please leave a comment below.

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