Perrymecium

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.

-Invictus by William Ernest Henley

My name is Ozymandias, king of kings. Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!

-inscription on the base of his statue

“Don’t worry about genius and don’t worry about not being clever. Trust rather to hard work, perseverance, and determination. The best motto for a long march is ‘Don’t grumble. Plug on.’

You hold your future in your own hands. Never waver in this belief. Don’t swagger. The boy who swaggers - like the man who swaggers - has little else that he can do. He is a cheap-Jack crying his own paltry wares. It is the empty tin that rattles most. Be honest. Be loyal. Be kind. Remember that the hardest thing to acquire is the faculty of being unselfish. As a quality it is one of the finest attributes of manliness.

Love the sea, the ringing beach, and the open downs.

Keep clean, body and mind.”

-Sir Frederick Treves

Here’s a great recipe from a sushi despot down in LA. He’s a guy that kicks out customers for violating Japanese customs like asking for miso soup before entrees, pouring soy sauce over sushi, and ordering California rolls. His justification is that you would never go to a three-star French restaurant and ask for ketchup, so you shouldn’t trample on Japanese culture and its proud culinary history either. Asking a sushi chef who has decades of training for a roll with cheese in it is the American equivalent to showing up to Thanksgiving dinner with pizza. Someone in Japan would fight you for that faux pas.

Actually, his philosophy has given me a lot of motivation to learn to pack sushi in the correct manner. Here’s a brief list of ways that you know a sushi restaurant is low class and probably not Japanese:

-rolls are offered with mayonnaise or spicy sauce (to cover up the taste of bad fish)
-the restaurant lets you pour your own soy sauce (all the food is bad, sushi despots dole out soy sauce by the drop)
-you ask for extra rice (you should be eating fish, good chefs are at the docks at 5 AM examining purchases)
-the sushi does not have wasabi in it (the chef doesn’t know what he’s doing)
-the rice falls apart when you pick up the sushi (the chef is just a monkey who copies what sushi looks like but doesn’t know how to actually pack it)

Anyways, the recipe is magnificent. This recipe makes the fish perfectly cooked and the miso sauce is heavenly. This was one of the best dishes I’ve ever cooked.

Miso Sauce

Yield: about 1 cup

1/4 cup sake
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon S&B hot-mustard powder or other mustard powder
1 cup fine white miso paste, also known as shiro miso
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons rice vinegar (not seasoned)
A drop of yuzu (a Japanese citrus fruit) or lemon juice
A drop of toasted sesame oil

* Bring the sake to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Boil for 20 seconds to evaporate the alcohol. Set aside to let cool.
* Transfer about a tablespoon of the sake into a small bowl and mix in the mustard powder until dissolved; return to the pot. Add the miso, sugar, vinegar, yuzu or lemon juice, and sesame oil and whisk until smooth and well-combined.

Oven-Roasted Salmon With Miso Sauce

Serves 4

4 (6 ounce, 1-inch thick) skinless, boneless salmon (or other thick white fish such as halibut) fillets
6 to 8 tablespoons miso sauce

* Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil.
* Pat fish dry. Generously slather fish all over with miso sauce. Arrange fish in a single layer, skin side down, on the prepared sheet pan. Roast until fish is just slightly undercooked in the center, 6 to 7 minutes.
* Preheat broiler and broil fish 4 inches from the heating source, until the sauce on the fish is lightly golden and fish is just opaque in the center, about another 2 minutes. Transfer fish to 4 plates and serve immediately.

Invincibility lies in the defense; the possibility of victory in the attack.

-Sun Tzu

Study strategy over the years and achieve the spirit of the warrior. Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men.

-Miyamoto Musashi

I am convinced that, in the United States, a program that deals only with the poor will end up being a poor program.
-Wilbur Cohen

The ultimate test of the validity of a theory is not conformity to the canons of formal logic but the ability to deduce facts that have not yet been observed, that are capable of being contradicted by observation, and that subsequent observation does not contradict.

-Milton Friedman

We’re having a potluck to have a mini-birthday party for two of our friends, Mikey and Dana. My contribution is two finger foods, bacon wrapped chestnuts and bruschetta. Both are crowd favorites, although I’m trying a new recipe for the bruschetta. It’s too much work to dice tomatoes so I’m just going to try slicing it with the cheese grater today.

Bruschetta with tomato and garlic

Yield: 15 servings

4 large ripe tomatoes
2 large garlic cloves
8 tablespoons extra -virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sherry vinegar
Coarse sea salt
2 baguettes, sliced

* Cut tomatoes in half crosswise, and, using a cheese grater, grate the pulp, discarding the skins. On the fine side of the grater, grate the garlic into the tomatoes. Whisk in the olive oil and season with salt.
* Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Coat both sides of sliced baguette with olive oil. Toast the bread until golden brown on both sides (about 5 minutes). Generously spoon the tomato-garlic mixture over the grilled bread. Serve on its own, or as a side dish with cheeses and cured meats.

Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts

2 lb. bacon, slices cut into 3 sections
3 cans drained water chestnuts
1 bottle barbecue sauce

*Wrap a piece of bacon around each water chestnut. Hold bacon together with a toothpick. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 45 minutes or until brown. Drain off grease.
*Dip each chestnut in barbecue sauce and cook for another 45 minutes.
*Serve warm (they won’t last long, don’t worry)

Upon seeing his first ocean steamship:

“Why, the thing looks as if it was propelled by the force of circumstances!”

-Lieutenant Sidney Smith