Jenn Dolari @dolari@driveinsaturday.org

This Week's Fancy Pants Meal: Babi Kecap

Oh, this is good. THIS IS GOOD. But it's Indonesian, so I knew it was going to be good. Brasied Pork in a sweet soy sauce. It calls for kecap mani, but since we dont' get that round here, I made some homemade kecap mani by using soy sauce and brown sugar and boiling it into a syrup. Tastes a lot like the Taiwanese Braised Pork, but a little sweeter. It works with the salty pork. :9

# Babi Kecap

Asia: The Beautiful Cookbook

2.0 pounds boneless pork
1.0 tsp salt
1.0 tsp black pepper
0.25 cup vegetable oil
1.0 whole onion
2.0 tsp garlic (crushed)
2.0 tsp ginger (minced)
1.0 tsp red chili (minced)
1.0 cup thin coconut milk
0.25 cup soy sauce
0.25 cup brown sugar
0.125 cup brown sugar

1 - In small pot, add brown sugar and soy sauce.
2 - Boil the sauce over low to medium flame until thickens resembling maple syrup. If the mixture starts to boil vigorously and looks like it is going to overboil, move the pot away from the flame until the boiling has calm down and continue to boil over low heat. As the mixture cools down, it will further thicken.
3 - Cut the pork into 1/4-in (4-cm) cubes and sprinkle with the salt and pepper.
4 - Heat the oil in a large pan until very hot and fry the pork until evenly colored; do not overcrowd the pan or the pork will begin to stew instead of browning.
5 - Transfer to a heavy saucepan or baking dish.
6 - Peel and finely chop the onion.
7 - Sauté the onion in the remaining oil with the garlic and ginger until softened
8 - Add the chili and sauté again briefly.
9 - Add to the pork with the remaining ingredients.
10 - Bring to a boil, then simmer gently over low heat or in a 350°F (180°C) oven for about 1 1/2 hours, until the meat is completely tender and the sauce is well reduced.
11 - Add a little more coconut milk during cooking, if needed. Skim the fat from the surface before serving.

#thisweeksmeals #cooking

Smoke...

So, I'm planning to make Sticky Rice (臘味糯米飯) next week. Do I make a meal-serving? Or a bread-serving. Cause that's gonna be a TON of carbs.

So, the City Council meeting.

I often say that you need to put politicians feet to the fire when they do wrong. Originally, I'd planned to go to really give it to City Council about the removal of the Pride Wall. But after the City went out of their way to let us know they were being proactive about finding ways to bring it back, or at least codify a way that it could go back up, I'd changed my tune.

Now I was going to speak about how the removal was wrong, but if the city was willing to move forward with a way to put it back up, they had my support. And instead of going full Shatner in my comments, I pulled it back to...not quite lighthearted...but a softer approach. Still serious, but softer.

I showed up very early. The sign up was set for 5:30PM, but the meeting was set for 7PM. Even showing up early, I was #12 to speak, which I considered a good sign as that meant others were there speak as well. And then I sat and stayed. Second row. Directly in front of the Mayor.

I do not pass. And in my early days of transition, I used that to my advantage - if I'm going to be seen, I'm going to be seen for exactly who I am and set an example. And since I'm fairly visible, I wanted the council to know that a transwoman was here. And was going to stay the whole time. I was here, and I was present for whatever the next five hours would hold.

The City Council knew what was coming, and worked accordingly, basically tabling all business until an hour before they needed to vacate the building, and devoting the rest of the time to public comment.

Over the next hour and a half, more and more people poured in. Rainbow flags everywhere, rainbow shirts, so many rainbows. I'd made a very specific decision not to have any rainbows flags or trans pins, despite having them. While I'm in support of the Pride Flag, and the Pride Wall, this was personal. And I was here to talk to the people around me about how this affected me. I wore black. This was personal.

Between the first presentations and before the city council meeting in general, the mayor talked with us to thank us for showing up (by this time Axton, the artist who created the Pride Wall and the girls had joined me), again, confirming for me that the city was being proactive in getting this fixed.

The City Council meeting began, and you may remember I was #12, and that a group had likely signed up to speak. This was true, but it was not the folks here for the Pride Wall.

The very first speaker espoused christo-fascist talking points. A push for how we all needed to get good with god, the only power was god and everyone who wasn't Christian better convert before they die cause they'll meet the One True God in the end.

The next set of speakers, while not as christo-fascist basically parroted the same old talking points. The usual "I don't hate Gay People, buuuuut...." speech I would hear so many times that night. I was genuinely surprised by one speaker who was there to hurt, very specifically, the trans community. Their words were chosen not to convince, but to stab, twist the knife and feel good about landing the hits while they could.

And I sat there. And I listened. I heard every word these people were going to say. I wanted to know why, to understand their reasoning, to hear it from the horse's mouth as it were. And what I came away with was, when it wasn't just parroting the same old right wing talking points, it was a healthy dose of "I don't like you, and don't want to see you or anything that reminds me of you."

The two who spoke before me were two children who sadly were being indoctrinated in the same angry hateful world, and in fact, I'm fairly sure four of the speakers were from the same family.

There were fifty-some speakers, and I would say two thirds to three quarters of the speakers were pro-Pride Wall. I was genuinely surprised at how much opposition we had...but at the same time, most of it was from out of town, and we definitely outspoke them.

I spoke with a speech I'd written, honed and edited over three days. These speeches were personal, from the heart, and incredibly powerful. We saw more and more people speak about how that wall meant they were seen, felt supported, and how seeing it came down hurt them deeply.

Eventually the city business had to be done, and comments were suspended for that. IT wasn't so much "this is how we're going to bring it back" as it was "here's our proposals for policies" which were definitely speaking towards finding ways to bring it back without actually saying so.

A few more comments were made after the business was over, up to 15 minutes before we had to leave the building. Still some anti-LGBT comments, but again, overwhelmed by the pro. And a few issues with fireworks, which were a welcome break from the emotion of the night.

At the end of it all there was some talk with the people behind the city council titles, and I felt better about the direction we were all moving towards. But I also saw that the people opposing us were faces I saw about town, that they were outnumbered but numerous, and that there's still a ways to go yet.

This Week's Bread: Yeast Rolls (from Threagill's)

Oh, I shouldn't have fretted. These are GOOD. Still a little dryer than I'd prefer, but not nearly as much as the Luby's one and once you've melted a pat of butter on them, they're great. Still trying to find one where the bread is moister without butter, but as usual Threadgill's does not dissapoint.

ALSO: given that I make really tiny bread rolls to fit my 15g carbs rule for bread (the recipe makes 24 regular rolls), I got a muffin pan, and THESE ARE ADORABLE.

# Yeast Rolls

Threadgill's: The Cook Book

6.0 cups flour
1.0 tbsp baking powder
1.5 tsp salt
1.0 cup sugar
1.5 tsp sugar
0.25 oz dry yeast
1.875 cups warm water
1.25 cup vegetable oil
1.0 large egg
1.0 large egg yolk

1 - Combine flour, baking powder salt, and 1/4 of the sugar in the bowl of a mixer with a dough hook and mix on low speed for 1 minute.
2 - Combine yeast and remaining sugar in a small bowl and cover with the warm water. Set aside for a few minutes until the yeast begins to look foamy on top.
3 - Whisk together 3/4 of the oil with the egg and egg yolk and add to the yeast and water
4 - Add the liquid to the dry ingredients in the mixer bowl and mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened.
5 - Turn the mixer off scrape down the sides of the bowl, and then knead on medium speed for about 5 minutes, adding a little flour if necessary to form a ball of dough.
6 - When dough is smooth and elastic, add remaining oil and knead only to incorporate it into the dough ball.
7 - Remove the dough to a well-oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight until the dough has doubled in bulk.
8 - When the dough has doubled in bulk, punch it down and divide it into the designated number of rolls and place in well-oiled muffin tins.
9 - Cover loosely and allow to double in size again.
10 - During the rising time, preheat oven to 350°.
11 - Bake the rolls for 15 minutes or until crispy and golden.
12 - Cool for about 10 minutes and turn out of pans.

#thisweeksmeals #cooking #baking

The Threadgill's recipe is not looking good for this week's yeast rolls, which didn't rise at all. The recipe they give us is HUGE, making 24 regular rolls or 52 Jenn-sized rolls. Cutting it down to just 6 makes for teeny tiny measurements, and I'm fairly sure they're too small to do their magic. In fact, one of the measurements was so small, my scale just wouldn't calculate it and it kept re-zeroing itself trying to do it.

We'll see. May be having large croutons for bread this week....

Nerve pain willing, I'll finally write about the city council meeting today. But first, sleep.

Welcome...to Jurassic Park. ::music plays::

Smokey skies....

(Why yes, my neck isn't bothering me allowing me to type today, why do you ask?)

That bat came back. This time it's in the car!

One of the wierdest pushbacks I got when informing people of my transition was that I shouldn't transition because "Being a woman wasn't easier." Another was "why would I give up having it easier."

It's funny, but, at the time, I told them "I'm not doing it because it's easier." But looking back at it, it's funny how them telling me this made the fact that life as a woman is rough was something to expect.

Sure, they told me this as a reason to not transition, but in the end, all they did was prepare me for the task ahead of me.

320x200x256 is the golden screen and none but the blessed may tresspass upon it.

I've seen a few posts from friends talking about how it's getting harder and harder to relate to the younger generations. I worry about that myself a lot.

I don't think I've lost touch with younger generations, but the divide is there. But I do make the effort to keep in touch. Not by watching the latest shows, or listening to the latest music (although I tend to do the music thing), but by just talking and listening. And learning, specifically.

In becoming a "trans elder," something I'm trying hard to do is to allow myself to listen and learn from the younger folk. I don't want to end up like the folks in Boulton and Park who, when faced with an 18 year old in 1992, gave advice that was fine for a transwoman living in 1972.

It's not that I want to be a forty year old teenager walking around and saying "How do you do, fellow kids?" I just don't want to be the stuffy person giving bad advice to our younger folk who actually know better than me, learn from our younger folks, and be aware of the world around me as it is, and not as I remember. I may have the wisdom but they're living in the now, which is much different.

Also, I want to be the 2050s version of that awesome 1980s grandma who listened to death metal and genuinely enjoyed it.