A sanity-maintainng technique

As part of my job, I go through a bunch of online conservative journals and newspapers and choose articles we might want to use in our publications. Of course, these journals publish on more than just Israel and the Middle East; they talk about "ObamaCare" and a host of other domestic issues. I am an unashamed left-winger, so reading some of these articles (even just skimming the first few sentences) sometimes makes me want to yell at my computer screen and write invictives to the editors of the papers involved.

Instead, people at the office are getting used to hearing me shout, "Someone is wrong on the internet!"

Oddly, that helps put things in perspective and get on with my life.

Adventures in cooking: Spiced red lentil dal

Tonight I was adventurous (for me) and tried Mark Bittman's spiced red lentil dal recipe. (You can see the accompanying article and video here).

I made a few changes, mostly due to my not having all the ingredients. I skipped on the ginger and mustard seeds (and the cilantro for garnish) and instead used a tsp of curry powder and a tsp of coriander seeds. I may also have gone heavier on the garlic and onions than he did, but there's nothing wrong with more fried onions.

All told, it turned out very, very nice. Marc liked it, I liked it, and it served enough to fill both of us and give a portion left over for tomorrow. The only problem was that I burned the underside of my arm when I was putting the onions into the pan, and now it hurts. I'm sorry, arm. These are the sacrifices I make in the name of learning how to cook.

Changes I'd make for next time: skip on the coriander seeds, try to have ginger on hand to add.