Psychophant's Rants
26.4.06
Cooking
It is no secret that I really enjoy food. And when I am stressed or anxious, my fixation with food grows exponentially. Possibly because food has become the only sure pleasure in hard times.
Cooking however became an interest much later. One problem of enjoying almost any food is that you have little incentive to look much farther, so although my mother used to be repetitive in food (with plenty of fish and vegetables, however) I did not mind.
Only when I started to live on my own did I really start to cook and to search for the possibilities of a kitchen. My mother will never forgive me for cooking now, rather than when I was home.
It is also strange, considering the obvious parallels between cooking and Chemistry, taken to the utmost in many recipes. But I was not aware of it till I got a cooking book, which was quite late in my life. Oblivious could be my second name.
But once I started, those same two factors made sure I kept at it. Mostly safe chemistry that you can do at work, and which recovers part of the fun of the first years before you discover what it is all really about. More alchemical than chemical. And food you have cooked yourself always tastes better.
In Spain lunch is the main meal. During the week I eat lunch on my own, while I have dinner with my wife. So I usually cook my lunch (when I am home) and I almost always cook dinner for the two of us. That varies, however, because stress affects me in strange ways, so I eat more, have lowered standards, and cannot summon the willingness to cook anything complex.
Indeed, this post comes about because after a couple of months of sparse creative cooking (rather than subsistence cooking) I am once again in the mood. I suspect I need a certain good mood to devote time to food, rather than taking the easy path.
I see three main attitudes when it comes to cooking:
I do not claim to be a great cook. Always liking my own meals does not give me enough of a critical sense to really improve. Or see where improvement is necessary.
But it is a sign that I am relaxed if I get into the kitchen at 9 (one hour before dinner time) to start looking around (not that I need to, I know all the food we have in the house, but that is the way to get inspired).
Now an example. As in all my "creative" recipes, quantities are approximate, and depend on what is available in the house.
Corned beef hash (something I am sure most people do differently). It is based on a German Labskaus recipe, but I took off the red beet (dominate too much the taste), the herrings (not usually available here) and changed the meat/potatoes ratio. Unless there are guests I usually skip the eggs (too much food for two people). The same with the tomatoes.
Recipe for two.
A 340 g Corned beef tin, Argentinian by preference (other origins give worse results. Good but not good enough).
Half a big onion, or a small onion, or two echalottes.
Two garlic buds, or one spring onion, or two young garlic plants.
Roasted hot bell pepper.
3-5 middle sized potatoes (400-600 grams)
Freshly ground black pepper
Optionally, fresh tomatoes or two beaten eggs.
I start by roasting the potatoes in the microwave oven. I have used the conventional oven and boiled the potatoes, but the microwave is the fastest way and gives a very good texture. In my MO, first five minutes at maximum power, turn the potatoes, 4 minutes, and it is done.
In the meantime I mince very finely the onion and the garlic (or its alternatives). Then heat two spoons of olive oil in a big pan, and once it starts to smoke add the minced onion. While the onion gets transparent, open the tin, and add the corned beef to the pan. Some squashing to get it well spread and to melt the grease, and lower the fire to medium. While it starts to smell nice, peel the roasted potatoes and add all the potatoes to the pan, squashing and mixing when necessary. After all the potatoes are mixed in, it is the time to add the tomatoes, if desired. They should be peeled (easy after putting them briefly in very hot water, which in my kitchen can be done with the hot water tap in the sink). Squash the tomatoes too, and keep cooking till they are soft. Once it is well mixed it should be cooked already, but some people like it juicy while others like it brown. I usually get it out when it starts to brown. Then if adding eggs I do it with the fire off, cooking the eggs in the residual heat in the pan and food, and mixing all the time till you cannot differentiate the egg from the potatoes.
Serve, add a big portion of roasted red bell peppers, kept meanwhile covered in olive oil and garlic. Goes well with earthy red wines. Thirty-forty minutes since you enter the kitchen till you go out with the tray.
Depending on the hunger and if you have a side dish or not, I add more or less potatoes. Goes exceedingly well with a cold gazpacho (my gazpacho is extremely orthodox, but I skip cucumber). ¶ 8:27 PM 0 comments
It is no secret that I really enjoy food. And when I am stressed or anxious, my fixation with food grows exponentially. Possibly because food has become the only sure pleasure in hard times.
Cooking however became an interest much later. One problem of enjoying almost any food is that you have little incentive to look much farther, so although my mother used to be repetitive in food (with plenty of fish and vegetables, however) I did not mind.
Only when I started to live on my own did I really start to cook and to search for the possibilities of a kitchen. My mother will never forgive me for cooking now, rather than when I was home.
It is also strange, considering the obvious parallels between cooking and Chemistry, taken to the utmost in many recipes. But I was not aware of it till I got a cooking book, which was quite late in my life. Oblivious could be my second name.
But once I started, those same two factors made sure I kept at it. Mostly safe chemistry that you can do at work, and which recovers part of the fun of the first years before you discover what it is all really about. More alchemical than chemical. And food you have cooked yourself always tastes better.
In Spain lunch is the main meal. During the week I eat lunch on my own, while I have dinner with my wife. So I usually cook my lunch (when I am home) and I almost always cook dinner for the two of us. That varies, however, because stress affects me in strange ways, so I eat more, have lowered standards, and cannot summon the willingness to cook anything complex.
Indeed, this post comes about because after a couple of months of sparse creative cooking (rather than subsistence cooking) I am once again in the mood. I suspect I need a certain good mood to devote time to food, rather than taking the easy path.
I see three main attitudes when it comes to cooking:
- Subsistence. You work as little as possible in getting something appetizing. Only highly tested recipes with commonplace ingredients. In my case, lots of pasta, potatoes, bacon and chicken. Most vitamins come from fruit in this period (subsistence but not foolish).
- Fancy. Following recipes from many sources, but trying to do something different. It usually starts when shopping, so either I have a recipe in mind, and shop for it, or I see a raw material I enjoy (mmmh, sweetbread), and then look for a recipe. I tend in this case to follow recipes to the letter. Or as close as possible, at least. That usually leaves a lot of left-over ingredients, exotic spices or whatever. Fortunately there is a third category.
- Creative. This is the greatest fun, and the biggest disasters (usually fun as well). Being quite squareminded, or maybe it is professional deformation, I start from a recipe (usually but not always one tested already some times). Then there are two possibilities. If I like the recipe, in theory, but I do not like the results, I start changing things till I do. Or, looking at the fridge or the pantry, I may have some ingredients for one recipe but not all (I tend to combine two, feeling confident in the written world). In an exception to what I said above, I feel so comfortable with those recipes I have modified that I do not follow a strict recipe, and to my wife's chagrin, I seldom record the ingredients, as anyway they change often. There is some fresh basil in the fridge (from a salmon and fried basil omelette)? Let's try a chow mein, marinating the chicken in oil, basil and soy sauce, and then adding the marinating liquid at the end...
I do not claim to be a great cook. Always liking my own meals does not give me enough of a critical sense to really improve. Or see where improvement is necessary.
But it is a sign that I am relaxed if I get into the kitchen at 9 (one hour before dinner time) to start looking around (not that I need to, I know all the food we have in the house, but that is the way to get inspired).
Now an example. As in all my "creative" recipes, quantities are approximate, and depend on what is available in the house.
Corned beef hash (something I am sure most people do differently). It is based on a German Labskaus recipe, but I took off the red beet (dominate too much the taste), the herrings (not usually available here) and changed the meat/potatoes ratio. Unless there are guests I usually skip the eggs (too much food for two people). The same with the tomatoes.
Recipe for two.
A 340 g Corned beef tin, Argentinian by preference (other origins give worse results. Good but not good enough).
Half a big onion, or a small onion, or two echalottes.
Two garlic buds, or one spring onion, or two young garlic plants.
Roasted hot bell pepper.
3-5 middle sized potatoes (400-600 grams)
Freshly ground black pepper
Optionally, fresh tomatoes or two beaten eggs.
I start by roasting the potatoes in the microwave oven. I have used the conventional oven and boiled the potatoes, but the microwave is the fastest way and gives a very good texture. In my MO, first five minutes at maximum power, turn the potatoes, 4 minutes, and it is done.
In the meantime I mince very finely the onion and the garlic (or its alternatives). Then heat two spoons of olive oil in a big pan, and once it starts to smoke add the minced onion. While the onion gets transparent, open the tin, and add the corned beef to the pan. Some squashing to get it well spread and to melt the grease, and lower the fire to medium. While it starts to smell nice, peel the roasted potatoes and add all the potatoes to the pan, squashing and mixing when necessary. After all the potatoes are mixed in, it is the time to add the tomatoes, if desired. They should be peeled (easy after putting them briefly in very hot water, which in my kitchen can be done with the hot water tap in the sink). Squash the tomatoes too, and keep cooking till they are soft. Once it is well mixed it should be cooked already, but some people like it juicy while others like it brown. I usually get it out when it starts to brown. Then if adding eggs I do it with the fire off, cooking the eggs in the residual heat in the pan and food, and mixing all the time till you cannot differentiate the egg from the potatoes.
Serve, add a big portion of roasted red bell peppers, kept meanwhile covered in olive oil and garlic. Goes well with earthy red wines. Thirty-forty minutes since you enter the kitchen till you go out with the tray.
Depending on the hunger and if you have a side dish or not, I add more or less potatoes. Goes exceedingly well with a cold gazpacho (my gazpacho is extremely orthodox, but I skip cucumber). ¶ 8:27 PM 0 comments
24.4.06
Comments
I have been asked recently, and it is not the first time, that I enable comments on this page. The few times this has happened it usually was because a rant was particularly likable, or popular.
Considering the number of posts, I should be self-deprecating and consider why only 2 out of almost 200 posts bring out this response. If it is so, I prefer to avoid myself the humiliation of having comments activated and getting no comments.
Seriously, the main reason why I do not allow comments in the blog is the same reason why this is not posted in a forum or in a shared blog. If I wanted inmediate or guaranteed feedback I would post there and wait a bit, maybe whine a little if I did not get any commentary. Because those are two direction communication exchanges, while this is intended as purely one way.
No comments also frees my friends from the chore of making sure they read and make a witty or appropiate comment in every post, something that I am unable to do, so I would spare them from doing it. Or my own despair when they don't do so.
Finally, this blog will very rarely get a random reader, and I have absolutely no interest in what a random reader has to tell me. Non-random readers, those that may know a bit about me besides this collection of loose thoughts and ideas, can contact me easily enough in several e-mail addresses, and they are encouraged to do so if they feel it is necessary. I will do my best to answer all mail I get, as always.
In a way, it is related to why I seldom comment in other people's blogs. I only feel the urge when something is wrong or incomplete, and then I would rather not do the correcting in public, as it is like insulting someone in their own house. I have trouble complimenting others, more when they usually know already that it is good enough to go public with it.
It is the possessive in the title. If this was just "Rants", then I would invite you to rant in the comments section, and probably get more interest from the comments than the posts. But this is mine, and it is a mix of howling to the moon and my small black notebook, so I will not allow guest stars. Get your own blog. Most of you already do. ¶ 11:10 PM 0 comments
I have been asked recently, and it is not the first time, that I enable comments on this page. The few times this has happened it usually was because a rant was particularly likable, or popular.
Considering the number of posts, I should be self-deprecating and consider why only 2 out of almost 200 posts bring out this response. If it is so, I prefer to avoid myself the humiliation of having comments activated and getting no comments.
Seriously, the main reason why I do not allow comments in the blog is the same reason why this is not posted in a forum or in a shared blog. If I wanted inmediate or guaranteed feedback I would post there and wait a bit, maybe whine a little if I did not get any commentary. Because those are two direction communication exchanges, while this is intended as purely one way.
No comments also frees my friends from the chore of making sure they read and make a witty or appropiate comment in every post, something that I am unable to do, so I would spare them from doing it. Or my own despair when they don't do so.
Finally, this blog will very rarely get a random reader, and I have absolutely no interest in what a random reader has to tell me. Non-random readers, those that may know a bit about me besides this collection of loose thoughts and ideas, can contact me easily enough in several e-mail addresses, and they are encouraged to do so if they feel it is necessary. I will do my best to answer all mail I get, as always.
In a way, it is related to why I seldom comment in other people's blogs. I only feel the urge when something is wrong or incomplete, and then I would rather not do the correcting in public, as it is like insulting someone in their own house. I have trouble complimenting others, more when they usually know already that it is good enough to go public with it.
It is the possessive in the title. If this was just "Rants", then I would invite you to rant in the comments section, and probably get more interest from the comments than the posts. But this is mine, and it is a mix of howling to the moon and my small black notebook, so I will not allow guest stars. Get your own blog. Most of you already do. ¶ 11:10 PM 0 comments
22.4.06
Computer envy, or mine is bigger than yours
This kind of electronic pissing contests have never really appealed to me. A computer is a tool, and I use one that I feel comfortable with. Many people are horrified when they find out I am writing this in a computer running Windows ME, which has not had a serious problem in three years (which is why it is still in use). Or how I am back to using my i-book in trips and when doing like working in the sitting room, i-book that is six years old and still running Mac OS 9.
I have a newer laptop, but it has been out for ten months (broken screen) and I do not feel like paying half the price of a new one just to get a three year old computer back in use. And XP does not really impress me. So ocasionally I plug it into a screen, a keyboard and a mouse, to play some games that only run in XP, but that is it.
So, the only computer faster than 1 GHz in the house, is not in use, and I have not worried about it for almost a year. And yet now I watch the PC offers keenly, and almost bought a Sony Vaio (1149 €) last Saturday.
First of all, yes, it has to be a laptop. For the use I give to it, mobility is a must. But that does not explain why I suddenly require a 256 Mb graphic card, or 1 Gb of RAM memory.
It is a 44 € game, Oblivion, sequel to a series of computer RPG. I spent six months playing and then playing, replaying and exploring the previous game to this, Morrowind. It is also available for X-box, but although cheaper, that is not mobile, so I would rather get a new table top PC than a console. It is not out for Macs, so that means I am not considering Macs this time round.
It is not the first time game computer requirements have affected my acquisitions. The deciding factor to choose between the i-book and a Toshiba PC was that besides being prettier, Blizzard would release Diablo II for Mac, and it could be played in it.
Then Neverwinter Nights could not be played in the i-book, so combined with my wife's desire for a family computer, made us get one. Many games could be played (and still can) in that equipment. But I missed my mobility, so I got a laptop soon afterwards. Mobility meaning playing Morrowind anywhere, at that moment.
Now, three years later, another game makes me feel obsolete again. It is not the first, and playing obsolete games is not only good in that you get to pick sure winners, but cheap as well. So I may well wait till 2007. Unless my tax returns are bigger than I expect. Sometimes size matters, after all. ¶ 10:19 AM 0 comments
This kind of electronic pissing contests have never really appealed to me. A computer is a tool, and I use one that I feel comfortable with. Many people are horrified when they find out I am writing this in a computer running Windows ME, which has not had a serious problem in three years (which is why it is still in use). Or how I am back to using my i-book in trips and when doing like working in the sitting room, i-book that is six years old and still running Mac OS 9.
I have a newer laptop, but it has been out for ten months (broken screen) and I do not feel like paying half the price of a new one just to get a three year old computer back in use. And XP does not really impress me. So ocasionally I plug it into a screen, a keyboard and a mouse, to play some games that only run in XP, but that is it.
So, the only computer faster than 1 GHz in the house, is not in use, and I have not worried about it for almost a year. And yet now I watch the PC offers keenly, and almost bought a Sony Vaio (1149 €) last Saturday.
First of all, yes, it has to be a laptop. For the use I give to it, mobility is a must. But that does not explain why I suddenly require a 256 Mb graphic card, or 1 Gb of RAM memory.
It is a 44 € game, Oblivion, sequel to a series of computer RPG. I spent six months playing and then playing, replaying and exploring the previous game to this, Morrowind. It is also available for X-box, but although cheaper, that is not mobile, so I would rather get a new table top PC than a console. It is not out for Macs, so that means I am not considering Macs this time round.
It is not the first time game computer requirements have affected my acquisitions. The deciding factor to choose between the i-book and a Toshiba PC was that besides being prettier, Blizzard would release Diablo II for Mac, and it could be played in it.
Then Neverwinter Nights could not be played in the i-book, so combined with my wife's desire for a family computer, made us get one. Many games could be played (and still can) in that equipment. But I missed my mobility, so I got a laptop soon afterwards. Mobility meaning playing Morrowind anywhere, at that moment.
Now, three years later, another game makes me feel obsolete again. It is not the first, and playing obsolete games is not only good in that you get to pick sure winners, but cheap as well. So I may well wait till 2007. Unless my tax returns are bigger than I expect. Sometimes size matters, after all. ¶ 10:19 AM 0 comments
20.4.06
Communal food
This week we have had many business visitors to the company. As general jack-of-all-trades and speaker of foreign languages, I usually get to attend most of them, if only to translate what is going on to the manager, and to let him participate in the conversations.
We have had the opportunity then to try many different possibilities: formal restaurant, informal (tapas) restaurant, new cooking demonstration, and traditional communal bench eating.
Maybe because it was a refreshing change, but the last one was specially enjoyable. Or maybe it was the two liters of cider.
Formal restaurants tend to be somewhat rigid. Starters, main dish, dessert, coffee and spirits. You can exchange some food with your neighbours, but most of the time you are facing your plate on your own. Usually only the wine is shared freely, which makes talking about wine such a typical dining topic. And probably why you are expected to drink so much. As well, the last step, coffee and spirits, marks the end of the meal, so if the company is pleasant and you enjoy it, you may end up too perked up or too drunk, just by prolonging the meal. Or both. Good for business, however, as there are many opportunities to talk shop, and then defuse any problem through a food or drink comment.
In a tapas bar you get many small dishes, some that you choose, some that someone chose for everybody ("You have to try the fresh anchovies..."). And you are encouraged to recommend what you like to the rest for the following round. But that system, that works very well among friends that more or less are familiar with the system, does not work when you have strangers that may not be used to eating as much (or as little), may not have the same tastes ("veal stomach? Excuse me, I have to go to the restroom...") and of course are not allowed to choose. Then it becomes a minefield of things to avoid and commonplace choices rather than an excuse for exploring new or unusual tastes. And the food dominates the conversation, if only for the amount and variety of choices. Not good for business.
In a "nouvelle cuisine" tasting choice has little to do. The menu is usually fixed and quite rigid, although composed of dozens of small dishes. If you do not like the deconstructed potato omelette, which after all fits in a small spoon, just skip it and wait for the cayenne pepper sherbet. However once again the food, whether you like it or not, dominates the conversations. After all, that is the aim of the chef, to be the focus of interest. So little business gets done. As well usually there are some who do not enjoy these experiments, so they drink too much, and an imbalance in alcohol level kills also any possible serious talks that could take place. Add that you usually do not eat much (in terms of quantity), and drunkenness by the end is almost commonplace.
So I finally get where I wanted to arrive (before the cider wears off), the communal bench eating house. That is not too common in Spain, except in the Northern coast. We tend to take food formally and seriously, with your friends and family only. But we went to a Navarrese cider house, just to change after the terrible week we had had. Unlike other common bench eating establishments, such as Bavarian beer gardens, here you are supposed to move a lot, because you can drink as much cider as you want, but you have to serve yourself. As well, the traditional way of serving cider (to air it and to homogenize it and mix the lees in) requires a long stream, high pressure and a big glass, so you end up spilling almost as much cider as you get in your glass, and getting your hand (and often other body parts) soaked in cider. That may be troublesome at first, but you soon stop worrying about it. At random intervals the host cries "Xortz" (basque for hook) and you are expected to raise up and follow him to taste some other cider or wine, either in the cellar or the garden, at the same time raising a spirit of comradeship with the fellows in your table.
The choices in food were non-existant. They had three main and three other varieties of cider, but the food is the same everyday: cider cooked chorizo, fresh cod omelette, a three pound t-bone steak for every two people (although you can order one for yourself if you feel up to it), old style farmer white bread, and for dessert strong cured cheese, quince paste and walnuts. Pot brewed coffee and traditional berry or herbal spirits complete the meal.
The dishes are all communal, but the lack of choice helps to limit conversations about food. You end up talking a lot about cider, but by its very limited scope (compared to wine) it is quickly exhausted. And after the first liter, and sharing all dishes, tongues are loosed and you end up talking about anything, if not when you are sitting at the table, then when you are waiting your turn at the cider cask spout.
The walnuts are a great touch. While breaking walnuts, conversation flows naturally and smoothly, and it can go on for a long time if you want. But when you eat the crumbs and clean up your crushed walnut, you have no other choice but to listen to the others. Great effect.
The problem is that if you take someone fashion conscious in his Armani suit, or made up to kill in high heels and a mini-skirt, they may well be so worried for their clothes and image to relax. But if you are with someone you feel comfortable with, obviously meat-loving, and who does not mind some common ridicule, it is the best choice. ¶ 6:10 PM 0 comments
This week we have had many business visitors to the company. As general jack-of-all-trades and speaker of foreign languages, I usually get to attend most of them, if only to translate what is going on to the manager, and to let him participate in the conversations.
We have had the opportunity then to try many different possibilities: formal restaurant, informal (tapas) restaurant, new cooking demonstration, and traditional communal bench eating.
Maybe because it was a refreshing change, but the last one was specially enjoyable. Or maybe it was the two liters of cider.
Formal restaurants tend to be somewhat rigid. Starters, main dish, dessert, coffee and spirits. You can exchange some food with your neighbours, but most of the time you are facing your plate on your own. Usually only the wine is shared freely, which makes talking about wine such a typical dining topic. And probably why you are expected to drink so much. As well, the last step, coffee and spirits, marks the end of the meal, so if the company is pleasant and you enjoy it, you may end up too perked up or too drunk, just by prolonging the meal. Or both. Good for business, however, as there are many opportunities to talk shop, and then defuse any problem through a food or drink comment.
In a tapas bar you get many small dishes, some that you choose, some that someone chose for everybody ("You have to try the fresh anchovies..."). And you are encouraged to recommend what you like to the rest for the following round. But that system, that works very well among friends that more or less are familiar with the system, does not work when you have strangers that may not be used to eating as much (or as little), may not have the same tastes ("veal stomach? Excuse me, I have to go to the restroom...") and of course are not allowed to choose. Then it becomes a minefield of things to avoid and commonplace choices rather than an excuse for exploring new or unusual tastes. And the food dominates the conversation, if only for the amount and variety of choices. Not good for business.
In a "nouvelle cuisine" tasting choice has little to do. The menu is usually fixed and quite rigid, although composed of dozens of small dishes. If you do not like the deconstructed potato omelette, which after all fits in a small spoon, just skip it and wait for the cayenne pepper sherbet. However once again the food, whether you like it or not, dominates the conversations. After all, that is the aim of the chef, to be the focus of interest. So little business gets done. As well usually there are some who do not enjoy these experiments, so they drink too much, and an imbalance in alcohol level kills also any possible serious talks that could take place. Add that you usually do not eat much (in terms of quantity), and drunkenness by the end is almost commonplace.
So I finally get where I wanted to arrive (before the cider wears off), the communal bench eating house. That is not too common in Spain, except in the Northern coast. We tend to take food formally and seriously, with your friends and family only. But we went to a Navarrese cider house, just to change after the terrible week we had had. Unlike other common bench eating establishments, such as Bavarian beer gardens, here you are supposed to move a lot, because you can drink as much cider as you want, but you have to serve yourself. As well, the traditional way of serving cider (to air it and to homogenize it and mix the lees in) requires a long stream, high pressure and a big glass, so you end up spilling almost as much cider as you get in your glass, and getting your hand (and often other body parts) soaked in cider. That may be troublesome at first, but you soon stop worrying about it. At random intervals the host cries "Xortz" (basque for hook) and you are expected to raise up and follow him to taste some other cider or wine, either in the cellar or the garden, at the same time raising a spirit of comradeship with the fellows in your table.
The choices in food were non-existant. They had three main and three other varieties of cider, but the food is the same everyday: cider cooked chorizo, fresh cod omelette, a three pound t-bone steak for every two people (although you can order one for yourself if you feel up to it), old style farmer white bread, and for dessert strong cured cheese, quince paste and walnuts. Pot brewed coffee and traditional berry or herbal spirits complete the meal.
The dishes are all communal, but the lack of choice helps to limit conversations about food. You end up talking a lot about cider, but by its very limited scope (compared to wine) it is quickly exhausted. And after the first liter, and sharing all dishes, tongues are loosed and you end up talking about anything, if not when you are sitting at the table, then when you are waiting your turn at the cider cask spout.
The walnuts are a great touch. While breaking walnuts, conversation flows naturally and smoothly, and it can go on for a long time if you want. But when you eat the crumbs and clean up your crushed walnut, you have no other choice but to listen to the others. Great effect.
The problem is that if you take someone fashion conscious in his Armani suit, or made up to kill in high heels and a mini-skirt, they may well be so worried for their clothes and image to relax. But if you are with someone you feel comfortable with, obviously meat-loving, and who does not mind some common ridicule, it is the best choice. ¶ 6:10 PM 0 comments
19.4.06
Ataraxia
A misrepresentation in Lucky numbers Slevin (an entertaining movie, by the way), made me go back to some philosophy texts to refresh a bit my stoic thinking. As so many people my first contact with the term was through Nietzsche's ironic take on the term, but I went a bit further than that.
Slevin (who has a different name as well, but that is a spoiler) said that he suffered from ataraxia, a disorder that made him unable to worry about things. Although there is no such a disorder, it is true that anyone who has reached the state of ataraxia (tranquility) should be beyond worry in the stoic progression, so if Slevin is a true stoic (and he behaves as such most of the time) it would be true.
That fits because I have been quite unable to worry lately, so much that I may have started to engage in deliberately destructive behaviour just to see if I got to care (because worry is just a subcase of caring). However I stopped, because I realised that could end in a red sports car and pursuing young girls, and that is too unlike myself to be contemplated.
However I suppose that may well be why some people my age go through that exact way, to inject some feeling in their life. Others probably embrace stoicism and turn what comes naturally into a virtue.
Checking the parallelism of stoicism and non-social buddhism, I was reminded of the Japanese tradition of making public characters leave their posts when they turned 40 and enter a monastery. Besides the obvious making place for the new generations, I wonder if there are not some philosophical views that can only be intellectually accepted when you have acquired a certain experience. Conversely, some positions may be fit only for those people who can still care and have the ability to spark a conflagration.
Forty is of course an arbitrary barrier. I know people older than me that still care too much, and some younger ones that are even more careless.
But I cannot be a true stoic, as I also suffer from a Romantic's hate of predetermination, and a stoic finally does believe in a Fate that resides behind his eyes. So I want to have a simple life without real choices, but I also detest not having the freedom to choose, even if my lack of choice is self imposed through what I consider unacceptable choices, many of them ones that I would have found very appealing twenty or even ten years ago. Indeed, we become our own Fate. ¶ 5:36 PM 0 comments
A misrepresentation in Lucky numbers Slevin (an entertaining movie, by the way), made me go back to some philosophy texts to refresh a bit my stoic thinking. As so many people my first contact with the term was through Nietzsche's ironic take on the term, but I went a bit further than that.
Slevin (who has a different name as well, but that is a spoiler) said that he suffered from ataraxia, a disorder that made him unable to worry about things. Although there is no such a disorder, it is true that anyone who has reached the state of ataraxia (tranquility) should be beyond worry in the stoic progression, so if Slevin is a true stoic (and he behaves as such most of the time) it would be true.
That fits because I have been quite unable to worry lately, so much that I may have started to engage in deliberately destructive behaviour just to see if I got to care (because worry is just a subcase of caring). However I stopped, because I realised that could end in a red sports car and pursuing young girls, and that is too unlike myself to be contemplated.
However I suppose that may well be why some people my age go through that exact way, to inject some feeling in their life. Others probably embrace stoicism and turn what comes naturally into a virtue.
Checking the parallelism of stoicism and non-social buddhism, I was reminded of the Japanese tradition of making public characters leave their posts when they turned 40 and enter a monastery. Besides the obvious making place for the new generations, I wonder if there are not some philosophical views that can only be intellectually accepted when you have acquired a certain experience. Conversely, some positions may be fit only for those people who can still care and have the ability to spark a conflagration.
Forty is of course an arbitrary barrier. I know people older than me that still care too much, and some younger ones that are even more careless.
But I cannot be a true stoic, as I also suffer from a Romantic's hate of predetermination, and a stoic finally does believe in a Fate that resides behind his eyes. So I want to have a simple life without real choices, but I also detest not having the freedom to choose, even if my lack of choice is self imposed through what I consider unacceptable choices, many of them ones that I would have found very appealing twenty or even ten years ago. Indeed, we become our own Fate. ¶ 5:36 PM 0 comments
