China

China:

Today is the Zonghe Festival in China. During this festival celebrates the dragon who is believed to be the ancestors of all humans. The dragon is also believed to bring rains.

Book:

“The Bone Setter’s Daughter” is a story by Amy Tan. The goes through three generations of Chinese/ Chinese American women. The youngest is Ruth, who struggles with to understand her mother’s behavior. Her mother’s behavior is explained by how she was raised in China. While living in China, LouLing was raised by a mute nursemaid. This nursemaid is the daughter of a medicine woman (a bone setter).

TV Show:

“An Idiot Abroad”. Season 1 Episode 1. “China”. The first episode seems to be Carl’s first experience out of the country (England). He is very out of place, and it does not help that Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant purposely send him into awkward situations. He seems to hate China, and he does not quite get what is so great about the Great Wall of China.  

Food:

For dinner I will be making my dad’s stir fried chicken, over steamed rice. Here’s how I make it.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts

½ cup frozen pees

½ chopped carrots

¼ cup soy sauce

1 tbs. sesame seed oil

1 tbs. cornstarch

2 tbs. vinegar

1 ½ cup water

Water for chicken

Directions:

1)      Place two chicken breasts in a crock pot. Cover chicken completely with water. Cook on high for 8 hours. If you do not have a crock pot, you can use 1 large can of canned chunk white chicken breast in its place.

2)      Mix cornstarch, soy sauce, water, and vinegar.

3)      Heat Oil in a wok. When the oil is heated, add chopped carrots. Once cook for 3 minutes or until carrots are tender.

4)      Add peas. Cook for 3 additional minutes.

5)      Drain Chicken. Chop chicken, and add it to the wok. Stir for an additional minute. Reduce heat.

6)      Stir soy mixture again to ensure that the starch is fully mixed and add it to the wok. Stir in the wok until the broth thickens.

Serve this over steamed rice.

 

References:

 

Gervais, Ricky. “An Idiot Abroad”. Season 1. Episode 1. “China”. 2010.

Tan, Amy. “The Bone Setters”. Published: 2001

“Zonghe Festival”. Wikipedia. Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhonghe_Festival. Retrieved: March 2, 2014.

South Korea

South Korea

I was watching the closing Olympic ceremonies on Sunday. Part of the ceremony is that the team that hosts the next winter Olympics does a presentation. The 2018 Olympics will be hosted by South Korea in PyeongChang.

Last week I had written about North Korea. After the Korean war the North and South divided along the 38^th parallel. Families were separated. North was communist, and South became capitalist. Today South Korea has one of the top economies in Asia.

Media:

Many of us became more familiar with South Korea after YouTube’s release of “Gangam Style”.

TV:

Last week I had watched a third of season 9 of M*A*S*H. This week I finished the season.

Food:

I had a lot of the ingredients from when I cooked for North Korea. So this week I finished up using the same ingredients and made a lot of the same food.

St. Lucia

St. Lucia:

Yesterday, February 22, was St. Lucia's Independence Day. This is a Caribbean country where English is the official language, but French and Creole are widely spoken. 

Poetry:
St. Lucia is primarily supported by the tourist industry, but that does not mean this is the only thing to this beautiful island. This Island is also home to Derek Walcott, a painter, play write, and poet. Though this poet is still alive, most of his poetry was written prior to Saint Lucia's Independence in 1979, so much of his poetry is about the turmoil this country faced as a place that had at times been a French colony and at times been under British Rule (Teicher).

Food:
I celebrated with them by eating food typical to the Caribbean. I had fried plantains, which I spiced with paprika and salt. I also had black bean soup and Caribbean rice. I cheated with the rice, making it from a package. The rice had coconut shavings, pineapple, and bell peppers in it.

This is how I made my black bean soup:

Ingredients:
1/4 cup dry black beans
1 tbs. cooking oil
1/2 onion
1 chicken bullion cube
a pinch of celery salt
2 cups water + some for soaking the beans

Directions:
1) Soak the black beans over night.
2) Chop the onions. In a pan heat up the oil in a pan.
3) Sauté the onion in the pan until the onion is translucent,
4) Place all ingredients in a small crockpot and cook on high for 8 hours.
 


Work Cited:
"St. Lucia". Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Lucia. Retrieved: February 22, 2014

Teicher, Craig Morgan. " 60 Years of Poems Mix Anger, Ambivalence and Authority." Published: 24 January 2014. Web Page:  http://www.npr.org/2014/01/24/264518550/sixty-years-of-poems-mix-anger-ambivalence-and-authority . Retrieved: February 22, 2014. 
 

Russia

Russia

Earlier this year, I had done a piece on Russia and how it celebrates Christmas. With the end of the Sochi Olympic games, I thought that it would be appropriate to take a second look at them.

The closing ceremony was a great look back at this international event. The Russians put on a great show for this, featuring Russian classical music, Russian ballet, opera, and Russian circus performers. At the end thousands of children came out to show the change from winter to spring.

Our expectations of Russians ability to host the games had been low, and the American media seemed to revel in any hick-ups that occurred in the Olympic village. A top list of these include:

1) The 5th Olympic Ring Not Opening.
2) Bathroom fiascos where people had to share toilet stalls
3) A possibility that there would be a lack of snow due to high temperatures.
4) People going through there hotel walls.
5) Heavy security risks from terrorists and extremist groups

Reports like the one above make me question one thing: Where we rooting for Russia to fail at this? We as American people had spent so long thinking of them as our enemy.  We have been out of the cold war for the past two decades, and we basically won the war, so do we have to still vilify them? 

 Media of the Past:

During the cold war, Americans had adopted the Russians as the stereotypical enemy, whether we were watching spy movies, movies about the cold war itself, or cartoons. Those with Russian accents were always the enemy.  My favorite example of Russian villainy comes from Rocky and Bullwinkle, where the antagonists were Boris and Natasha.  For no reason what so ever, they were always trying to rid the world of “Moose and Squirrel”. According to the show the two characters are actually from the fictional country of Potslavania, but they sounded Russian.

Book:

I followed up this post by listening to "The Communist Manifesto" by Carl Marx. This text is considered to have started the whole communist movement back in 1848. The book just stated fact: This is what we believe and why. Some of it was far from what many people here believe, but I was surprised how much of there beliefs we have. For example we believe in free public education for all children. Some of what was stated was far outdated, for example we no longer have child labor, which is cited as being one of the disadvantages of Capitalism.

The book constantly refers to the enemy as the Bourgeois, those who are rich and oppressing the lower 90% of society. With the widening gap between rich and poor it is hard to ignore some of the points made in this text. Still, many of the what Marx seemed to think would happen haven't occurred. One of his fears was that we would produce so much that we providing for us would no longer be valuable causing the normal man to starve. I am not sure if I understood why this would happen.

Food:

For lunch today I made borscht out of beats, and tomatoes. I also had potato salad.

There is no proof where potato salad really came from.  Potatoes themselves, came from South America, and were taken back to Europe by the Spanish. Potato salad spread throughout Europe and the former Soviet Union. American Potato salad most likely came here from Germany, where potato salad possibly originated.  However, Russia also has its set of potato salad recipes, such as the one here: http://kosherfood.about.com/od/koshersaladrecipes/r/pot_russ.htm

Work Cited:

Ward, Jay. "The Adventures of Bullwinkle  and Rocky ".  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi03bifJFTo#t=22

" Sochi Opening Ceremony 2014 Olympic Ring FAIL - Sochi Russia ". Fox News. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ygd6KynacY#t=59 . Retrieved:  February 23, 2014.

Shimoni, Giora. Russian Potato Salad Recipe (Parve). About.com. http://kosherfood.about.com/od/koshersaladrecipes/r/pot_russ.htm. Retrieved: February 23, 2014.

Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan:
Turkmenistan is not a well known Middle Eastern Country bordering Iran, Afghanistan, and Kazakhstan. Out of all countries that were formerly part of the Soviet Union, Turkmenistan boasts the highest record temperature.

Earlier this week, I did a post on North Korea. Though this is a Middle Eastern Country there are similarities between the two places. Both are run by a "president for life" (dictator). Both have extreme restrictions on foreign travel, and both countries governments are guilty of human rights violations, where there is extreme discrimination against the countries ethnic minorities.

                  "According to Reporters Without Borders' 2012 World Press Freedom Index, Turkmenistan had the 2nd worst press freedom conditions in the world, behind North Korea. It is considered to be one of the "10 Most Censored Countries".(Wikipedia)

Recently, Turkmenistan lifted its ban on Opera (it had seamed opera not Turkmeni enough to be played in there country.

Unlike North Korea, foreigners are allowed into the country.
 

Story:
I was looking for a personal experience to share with you about this country. Not my personal experience, but something. I asked one of my friends at work who had been in the military if she had been stationed in the bordering country, Afghanistan. She had not, but she told me her husband had been stationed in the Middle East. She hadn't been sure if he was in Turkmenistan or another country, because he usually referred to the country as Jerkoffistan. According to my co-worker, they referred to it as such because there really was not that much to do on base.

Food: 
Because this is a Middle Eastern country, I ate Middle Eastern food. Typical food would be rice pilaf and kabobs, and flat bread.

They also adopted some cuisine from the Russians, so many of there salads are mayonnaise based salad, so for lunch, I ate potato salad, and cantaloupe (This country used to export melons to Russia).  

They also often drink green tea with milk, so instead of coffee, I have been drinking green tea all day.

Most of the time when I look up cuisine in Muslim Countries, I do not get a list of most popular alcoholic beverages, so I was surprised when I saw that it listed Vodka, beer, wine, and brandi as popular alcoholic beverages. So, with dinner I had a glass of wine.

Work Cited:

"Turkmenistan". Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkmenistan. Retrieved: February 19, 2014.
"Turkmen Cuisine". Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkmen_cuisine . Retrieved: February 19, 2014. 

Canada

Canada:
 
Yesterday, February 17, 2014 is Canada's Family day. A day dedicated to families spending time together. This day always occurs on a Monday. This year, it occurs the same day as our President's Day. So, I will eating "Canadian Food" on Tuesday.  

I recently moved back to Michigan, the state where I went to school. A state that I continued to visit every year since. I work just down the road to the bridge to Canada. One of the radio stations I get in the best at my new home is a station out of Windsor, Canada. My supervisor is Canadian.  
I have seen Canada many times from across the Great Lakes. Last Summer I saw it at Niagara Falls, yet I have only been to Canada once.

I went the month before I met my husband. I had gone to Glacier National Park in Montana, where Canada has a sister park, Waterton Lakes National Park. On the Canadian side, I was able to rent a scooter and ride around.

Movie:
Unfortunately, my favorite Canadian Movie is not one I necessarily want all everyone reading about and associating with me. I will tell you, that you can find the movie on Netflix.

So I will tell you about an American Movie I view as a classic, "Canadian Bacon". If you think you hate Micheal Moore, you still may like this movie that he directed back in 1995. This movie stars John Candy, Rhea Perlman, and one of my favorite actors, Alan Alda.

In the movie, the U.S. is going through hard times. To boost the economy the president of the U.S. is convinced that they must go to war, but the Russians are out of the question and there are few countries suited as suitable appointments. They finally decide that they must convince the American people that Canada is out to get them. This launches a rise in American Patriotism. A small misguided team of working class decide to take it upon themselves to sneak into Canada and launch the first offense. The result is funny and highly entertaining.

Food:

I started my day by going to Tim Horton's for coffee, a doughnut and a sandwich to go. For those of you who have never eaten at a Tim Horton's it is a doughnut, coffee and sandwich café that is slightly nicer then Subway, but just shy of being as nice as a Panera. The food is good, and reasonably priced. The chain itself, started in Canada. For lunch I had the sandwich along with Canada Dry Ginger Ale (originating in Canada but now owned by Texas based Dr. Pepper).

For dinner I had mac and cheese (known as Kraft dinner in Canada), A Labatt beer (a beer brewed in Canada).

Work Cited:
Moore, Micheal. "Canadian Bacon". Released: 1995

Illinios

Illinois:

Last Wednesday was Lincoln’s Birthday. He is hailed as the most important president in this nation’s history. While I was not able to write about him last week, I was thinking about him.

Lincoln started his political career in Illinois. As many of you know, I recently moved from there.

My husband and were looking for places to live in Bloomington, Illinois. One of the places we looked at was supposedly a place that Abraham Lincoln had stayed. According our would be landlord, he had once rented one of the apartments to a “psychic” who would do Lincoln tours and pretend to see Lincoln and other ghosts in the building. The landlord himself didn’t actually believe in psychics or ghosts, but was happy to rent the place to someone who could make money out of the place.

When I was a child, my mother took me to Springfield, Illinois, where we toured one of the houses that Lincoln lived in.

Documentary:

The Smithsonian has a great documentary about Lincoln called “Mystery Files: Abraham Lincoln”. It explains that his martyrdom insured that many people forgot any of Lincoln’s flaws, such as his problems with depression and anxiety.

Living in Central IL:

I lived several years in Illinois. Peoria is supposed to be one of the best places in Illinois to do outdoor activities. Peoria is hilly because it is in the Illinois River Valley. There are many parks with great walking paths that go through forests. This contrasts greatly with surrounding areas that are flat cornfields.

Other great places to visit if you like being outdoors is Starved Rock; a place where two Native American Tribes battled, and one got starved out on the rocks. Aside from the gruesome history of this place the locating park is quite beautiful, with sand stone hills, the Illinois River, and forest.

Another great place to go is in Southern Illinios. It is called Shawnee National Forest.

Food:

One of the first times I went to Illinois I had deep dish pizza. On Wednesday I had the same thing. This time however, I washed it down with 312 Goose Island wheat beer which is brewed in Chicago.  

Work Cited: 

 Stroan,  Roger. "Mystery Files: Abraham Lincoln". Released: 2010.