[insert] lives matter!

A week ago Friday we decided to take advantage of things beginning to open back up and did the only rational thing by socially distancing in the woods. 

Since I use this blog as a family journal I had intended to post about the uplifting experience. 

As we crossed the Brent Spence Bridge going into Cincinnati around 10pm traffic came to a stop. We assumed it was construction and after sitting for several minutes decided to take the longer way home through downtown. The streets of downtown seemed empty and quiet, we assumed it was due to Covid-19, but as we sat at a stop light near the police station we saw protestors. While we were having a great time as a family hiking in the woods, the nationwide outcry against George Floyd's death had begun.

The first few days of protests in Cincinnati saw some damage to buildings and looting downtown with police responding by gassing people but since then they have been peaceful. Today, the 10th consecutive day of protests, saw over 4,000 people gathered downtown. It's incredible to see people come together especially since Cincinnati has a history of racial discrimination in their police department.  

After the first day of protesting the city started a curfew which was first 8pm, then 9pm, and for the last several days has been 11pm. I have managed to break curfew every night while taking Link for a run. 

That's my privilege of living in a relatively quiet part of town.

A year ago, if you had told me "Black lives matter" I would have responded, "yes, and brown, and white - all lives matter." I believe all life has value and God loves each of us the same. I don't know why I was born white while someone else was born black but I know that God loves us equally, irregardless of color or nationality, and that I should do the same.

So when George Floyd's death made the news, J and I were saddened though we didn't see it as "racial discrimination" case but as a "police brutality" case. What was the officer doing kneeling on the George Floyd's neck for almost nine minutes? He wasn't resisting arrest, he wasn't acting threatening, why was he even on the ground? The national publication of his death, to us, seemed racially charged because white people are killed by cops and black cops kill people too. 

Cue this video:

Person A - "Hey, what are you doing?" 

Person B - "Oh, this house is on fire so we're going to go help them. We're going to go put out the fire."

A - "Well, what about my house?"

B - "What?"

A - "What about my house? Doesn't it matter?"

B - "Is your house on fire?"

A - "No, but like it still matters."

B - "Nobody said that it didn't. It's just that this house is on fire and people's lives are at stake. We want to do something about it."

A - "Oh, ok, all houses matter!"

B - "What?"

This is an argument that I understand. By saying, "black lives matter" I am not saying that black lives are more important, I am recognizing that there is an endemic (where people of color are 2.7 times more likely to be killed by police) and until it is addressed all lives can't matter. 

However, I have several friends that have been openly criticizing the protests and one friend in particular whom I respect saying, "all lives matter." This friend is a blue-collar worker who lives in a part of town that sees a higher percentage of criminal activity which is committed by a higher percentage of black people. His family, already struggling financially, was hit hard by the pandemic as his son lost his job and our friend's work hours were cut back. The discrimination that black people receive by others (in general, not by police) are what he experiences due to his profession, lack of high school education, and where he lives. To him, saying "black lives matter" probably feels like, "your struggle is not as important" and that, once again, the upper classes of society are forcing their beliefs and expectations on him. Telling him that "black lives matter" only results in pushback (and an invitation to unfriend him on facebook). 

I am amazed by how people have come together this past week, large organizations are listening. In a way, the Covid-19 pandemic needed to happen for the protests to have the fuel and strength to cause people to come together the way that they have. Now, how do you reach people (like my friend)?

Campbell's Kitchen: a take on my favorite dish

When we lived in Oregon there was this peanut sauce that I would buy from WinCo (aka the best store ever) to use in my stir-fries. Aldi does not have the same brand and the few peanut sauces I have come across have not been as good; so I have taken it upon myself to try and create a good peanut sauce.

I have yet to succeed. 

My latest attempt was exactly two weeks ago.

I found a site online, scrolled through the obnoxious obligatory ten pages of back story and ads to get to the recipe (just kidding, this website got straight to the point which I appreciate), and got to work.

I was super excited for this recipe because it included quinoa and coconut (two of my other favorite foods) with the peanut butter and tofu dish I was trying to recreate.

Early in the day I pulled the tofu out and placed it on towels between two plates with a container of flour on top because I am basically MacGyver in a kitchen.When it was time for me to start cooking dinner the tofu was really dry, which makes a nice crispy tofu when cooked.

The recipe only called for broccoli but I am a rebel and I love eating the rainbow so I chopped up yellow squash, zucchini, and carrots. Also, broccoli doesn't last long in this house (my kids looovvve it) so I didn't have any. 

For the sauce, I also didn't have any rice vinegar, so I used white. Or soy sauce. Apparently it was a bad week for my kitchen basics so I used lemon juice instead. But I doubled everything the recipe called for because I like a lot of sauce with my vegetables and tofu.

The recipe said to mix everything until incorporated. The peanut butter in my sauce never completely became smooth. Probably because I used a spatula instead of a whisk but more likely because I only spent two seconds trying to blend it in before I decided to move on with my life.

I doubled the amount of quinoa because there's no such thing as too much quinoa and I decided to use my smallest pot because I also like to live on the edge. I am pleased to report that, despite rising to the lip of the pot, it did not boil over.

When cooking the coconut I became distracted (probably by a small child, I don't remember it was two weeks ago) and burned it. Instead of throwing it out and starting over I decided to just go with it because it wasn't that burned and coconut is amazing. Also I am cheap and grew up poor so throwing food out is really hard for me to do.

After burning the coconut I cooked the tofu in some olive oil in the same cast iron pan (I love that pan), when the tofu was done I pulled it out and cooked the vegetables for a few minutes before pouring in the sauce and letting that simmer until thickened.

When finished, I served up the food and then tried to maintain composure when my kids stoped eating and decided they did not like the dinner I had prepared and they had been enjoying when J came in from work and made a disparaging remark on the food.

It was delicious. 

Promise.

I just happened to be married to a philistine. 

But I am still on a mission to find a recipe that he will not try and then say, "do you remember that peanut sauce that you used to make when we lived in Oregon?" And then I have to explain for the up-tenth time that we DO NOT have that brand of peanut sauce at Aldi. I guess I could try Kroger or Walmart but I just love that feeling of disappointment when my family tells me that they don't like my cooking.

My next attempt will be with this recipe (because honestly, that bok choy looks amazing). 

The Masked Singer: Season 3 Finale

J and I don't watch a lot of television.

We don't even have a tv.

What we do have is a computer, the password to his parents' Netflix and Xfinity accounts, and no shame. We take comfort in the fact that J's siblings also pirate off his parents' accounts but his older sister pays for Hulu and shares her account with his parents so that's more of a symbiotic relationship compared to our purely parasitic one.

Occasionally we decide to follow a show together. For the last year it has been The Masked Singer. I found it when a cousin started sharing the first season on Facebook (#socialmedia works). A few youtube videos later I introduced it to J, we discovered it was on Xfinity and have been following along when we have the time (and remember) ever since.

The show is Dancing With the Stars meets American Idol with costumes so you have no idea who the celebrity is until they're voted off. The show is taped (not air lived) so only the in-studio audience may vote on who they think was the best performer. J and I will try to guess who the audience will vote off but we will also discuss who we personally think was the best. J tends to judge based on how well they sang, I like a good performance and will forgive a weak singer so long as they're energetic and fun.

Night Angel (aka not the best performer of the season)

We finally watched the finale of season 3 yesterday and while we have been disappointed in some of the episodes before this is the first time that we have been disappointed in their season finale. The episode before the season finale there were four contestants left: three men and a woman. Each contestant shared what it would mean for them to win with the woman (Night Angel) saying that it would mean that she was the first female to win the competition. At that point J said, "she's going to win".

Kitty (aka better vocals than Night Angel)

While Night Angel was not wrong, she was the first woman to win, she was not the best singer. In fact, she should have been voted off several episodes previously. Kitty is a better singer than her. Every time Night Angel performed J and I were both, "eh, that wasn't my favorite".
EVERY TIME.



In (I think) the final clue package Night Angel shared that she used to be in a girl group but could not make it as a solo artist. Based on her performances we are not surprised.

Frog and Turtle
(aka better performers than Night Angel)

Turtle and Frog were consistently my favorites throughout the season and I am so upset that one of them did not win (so much so that I am actually taking the time to dedicate a blogpost to it). J was not as emotionally attached to any one performer as I was but he is also disappointed.

Now to make a political statement:
We both feel that the only reason Night Angel won was because she's a woman.
Voting on the show (like in politics) should not be done based on gender.
There's a former Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, who said, "There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women." I feel like there should be an asterisk,  It does not help women if they are given a job or award that they do not actually deserve. In some ways, that is actually sexist.