Vegetarian Udon Noodle Soup

This recipe is vegan and has no oil at all. It is very filling and one portion can feed about two people or one very hungry person.

Ingredients

A packet of Udon noodles
A small slice of ginger
A clove of garlic
Edamame beans - I have found bags of this stuff in the frozen section shelled and ready to be boiled.
Spring onions chopped fine
A few pieces of bell peppers
thinly sliced mushrooms

These are the vegetables I have if I had them I would add carrots, sliced onion, bean sprouts and broccoli. I didn't have any tofu either which I bake (see previous post).

Miso paste
Soy sauce
Since I was craving a spicy soup I added a little gochujang to the recipe

I chopped the ginger and garlic finely and added them to the pan with some soy sauce and a few table spoons of water and let this boil for two minutes i added more water and let this boil for 5 minutes before I added the rest of the vegetables, leave a few spring onions for garnishing. I don't like overcooking my vegetables so I cooked them for 3 minutes. Boil the udon noodles for 2 minutes in hot water or dunk them in a dish of hot water and cover. Rinse them in cold water to make them chewy.

To serve get a deep bowl with the miso paste at the bottom put the noodles on top pour the soup over this and sprinkle with the remaining chopped spring onions

Transgender Day of Remembrance

Every year Transgender people are killed or allowed to die across the world. Some are kicked out by their families. Exploited and abused their lives are in danger. This violence must stop. Killing people is wrong. Killing people because we don't understand them is wrong. We need to accept people for who they are if you believe kindness wont change people neither will cruelty.

To my transgender brothers and sisters out there you are not forgotten. You will be missed. 

Here are some images from the memorial service at Manchester 

Why fighting feminism is counterproductive.

I got talking to a young polite man yesterday who said ‘I like to be a gentleman, I wish women would let themselves be treated as women’. I did want to say several things but seeing as he was very naive about the issue I held back a bit. Women would behave in a dainty way if society around them were dainty. Manners alone don’t protect us. As Audre Lorde said ‘my silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you’. The well idea of the idealised womanhood is still cherished by men who assume a woman would want to submit to this once she is married. The idea is flawed- marriages fall apart. The well-behaved woman stops behaving nicely once she knows her good behaviour makes her vulnerable. Feminism wasn’t born out of a need to be difficult it was society that was being difficult to women and still is.

Not being able to stand up for oneself isn’t a virtue it is a curse. I have a friend who once said she didn’t trust men polite or not, she wasn’t difficult, just hurt. Her hurt had taught her that men who open doors for women also let themselves out of those doors and abandon women. Politeness is wonderful, and I do appreciate that quality in both men and women, however politeness needs to be matched with a deeper sense of morality. If opening a door is a way to emulate your grandfather and feel nostalgic don’t do it. Do it because you respect the woman in front of you, do it because you feel a need to humble yourself, afterall good manners are a way of saying to the other person I respect you and think of you as important. To men who think they respect women I will say this feminism isn’t your enemy, patriarchal oppression is. It teaches both men and women they must conform even when it hurts them. Men are taught to be loud and coarse to display their masculinity and women passive to their aggressions. For those of us who reject such narrow definitions of gender feminism provides an answer. Don’t blame victims for taking up arms against their oppressors. To polite gentlemen I say this look at the men around you look at how they behave around women does their behaviour inspire trust?

Feminism comes from a deep wound one which needs healing not injuring. Women protesting aren’t the problem they are a symptom of an unequal society. People who have been treated unfairly have a right to be suspicious of their oppressors. Women bear their oppressions in silence and with dignity. Women with broken ribs and black eyes claim to have walked into doors. Their silence and their obvious lies don’t protect them. Women are scared when a man holds open a door he might touch her bottom. These are genuine fears that have a basis in truth. Women have come to fear not just aggressive men but polite ones as well. If politeness could protect us then we would have redeemed ourselves.

To the gentlemen amongst you I will say if you claim to respect us then join forces with us. Talk to your fellow men who treat us unequally don’t tell us silence ourselves. 

Free Cakes for Kids

This might be use and seems like a good idea - Free Cakes for Kids is a community service to families who find it difficult to provide a birthday cake for their child. The cakes are baked by volunteers from your community with your kid’s favourite theme or style. Free, friendly and confidential.

Here is a link to their home page 

http://www.freecakesforkids.org.uk/

Lest we forget.

Trans gender etiqute 101

Immigrants built this nation …. What if they didn’t?

With elections round the corner there is a lot of talk of  immigrants and their benefit to the nation. I had a conversation earlier this year with my priest and very rarely am I told off (I was glad I was in this case). I pointed out how good immigrants were for the economy as I contribute by paying taxes and paying for things…. I was stopped there and then and asked what if I didn’t do any of that should I be asked to leave the country?

While the anti side protests that we rob precious resources the side that supports us thinks of us in terms of how we benefit society and them. both these arguments are selfish… its just that one is less selfish than the other. I have heard people tell me how grateful they are to immigrants who built roads as there were none in Britain till we came in. Sounds like a compliment or is it? What if we didn’t build roads? I find this assumption problematic as it positions the immigrants as the new working class and can only think of them in terms of productivity. This argument calls to mind a sketch by Rowan Atkinson about immigrants and curry.

I will let you watch it.

The line now that we have got the recipe is hilarious and it points to a deeper problem – we have stopped being useful and therefore should be asked to leave. Working class immigrants are elevated and white ones demonised as scroungers which ferments animosity and has lead to the rise of groups such as the EDL.

What if we didn’t make curry, roads, or take up any job that came our way would we still be welcome? Working in jobs no one wants to is not our choice it is a necessity (we aren’t given allowed access to public funds). I agree we contribute to the economy however human society isn’t about working alone.

Is our worth to be measured only in how we can make the lives of the middle classes comfortable and exotic? 

  

PS: Comments about the previous post ruffled some feathers. Yes some white people are very nice and have wonderful personalities and good intentions which I have every right to question. Good manners are not being questioned here just the thought process around certain ideas.