The mind's eye, aphantasia, Buddhism, soda bread and Spring

It seems as if yesterday's weights post was a minor public service, if people are encouraged to do resistance strength training. Today the Freecycled small weights are already outside awaiting pickup, so there's another person onto it. And I continue with my own practice, always working to do the moves slowly, since I tend to rush. My besetting sin in many contexts.

Moving from body to the spirit, I've been reading Pema Chodron and today there was an oddly related article in Aeon online  magazine..

Written by Mette Leonard Hoeg, it discusses her own aphantasia and relates it to philosophies of life. We talked about aphantasia a while back in here, with that mind's eye test of visualizing, where people ranged from not much to very much, in terms of visualizing an object or visualizing remembering an event.

She makes the interesting point that to her, with no visualization capacity, the Buddhist notion of meditating is rather easy, since she has no images floating in her mind's eye to distract. She also has little attachment to places and objects, so Buddhist detachment comes rather naturally.

This made me wonder to what extent religious following in general is governed by brain function. I also wonder if those of us with a different brain function are being asked to fit into an ill-fitting religious or spiritual framework. Just wondering here. 

I know that I'm not an extroverted working in groups person, and much of religion and spiritual practice insists on group and community activity. Professed religious, monks and nuns,  are powerful in insistence on the value of community.  

I was taught, by professed nuns in the community that housed my high school (!) that hermits and mystics, lone rangers, were weak.  Yet so many of us don't thrive in groups. We learn to cope and manage, but that's not the same as getting the right fit.

Just wondering here, and considering the possibility that our place on the autistic spectrum is significant in spiritual terms. 

Anyway on to other important matters, soup and soda bread. I made celery soup, not one of my more successful, a bit low in flavor, but I also made a lovely loaf of soda bread, crunchy crust and buttery crumb. 

And since spring can't seem to get here, despite the equinox as of early evening, 5.24 EST, Sandra Boynton sums it up

Happy day everyone, in reality rather than theory, and please weigh in on my rambling and somewhat disconnected musing about personality, brain function and spiritual practice! 

ANZAC biscuits for Remembrance Sunday and other stuff

This is partly my subconscious at work. Yesterday I had a sudden urge to bake ANZAC biscuits, ANZAC being Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. Did so

Then today realized it's Remembrance Sunday, poppy wearing in some places ss a remembrance of the poppies flourishing in the battlefields of World War I, as a result of the upheaval and deaths on the land, a grim fertilizer.

Today remembers everyone, all wars, including the brave Australian and New Zealand soldiers who crossed the planet to fight at Gallipoli. These biscuits are based in the recipe devised by women to send to them from home, sturdy enough to survive the journey and still be edible. I'm honoring them all in a small way.  And this includes Veterans Day, it's all related 

And while I was baking in international mode, I made a loaf of Irish soda bread. Why not.

And, after watching and  doing screenshots and editing and all that that entails, as the BBC used to intone, a wonderful presentation about the textile treasures in the Tudor court, for another post, this seemed like a good idea

Reminder to self and other helpful things

I made the soda bread Friday, planned for Saturday,  because my usual Friday  Misfits box was delayed to Saturday. I just switched plans.

And here's how it worked out

It had a glum expression, but was fine

And I thought you'd like to see the crumb, because this was a really good result, change of flours.

It takes four cups of flour and this time I used two regular whole wheat, one AP, one whole wheat pastry flour. I really like this combo. Lighter than the last one.

And Kerrygold butter on a warm slice, for testing purposes. 

Then I noticed a couple of ideas on YouTube, one for red lentil flatbread, which I liked the idea of, maybe for dosas.

Naturally I don't have red lentils. Used them in soup. A lot of my cooking ideas come from a position of scarcity.

But I do have green split peas. So I thought I'd soak them overnight and go from there. And, since I'm liable to come down in the morning and wonder what that's about, I made a little note to self about it.

I checked the channel where I saw the recipe, and found a lot of Indian commenters who like the idea, do it traditionally, and use other legumes the same way. Ah, that will include my split peas.   Not so unlikely an idea after all.

You blend the peas/lentils/chickpeas, whatever you've got, with twice as much water, to create a batter, and proceed as for pancakes.

I really like the idea of caramelized onions and sauteed mushrooms rolled up in these. Or spicy potatoes, as I did ages ago for dosas, or wraps with salad. Tomorrow's box has potatoes, mushrooms and salad greens, among other items, so I can plan ahead for once.

The Umami book is already taking hold!

Library and blossom catching up

 Still in Olivia Goldsmith, and today picked up two more attractions, print books this time

And the current Bite Club selection

On the way home, after chats with a couple of friends,  into the park, lovely blossoms smelling like honey

And lovely other blossoms, without smelling of anything other than spring.

And forsythia in the park, all sprawling about, the way I like it, not all tailored and neat the way nature isn't

And my little patio cherry bushes returning after I pruned them down wildly because the fences were going to be replaced any minute. Last summer, that was.

Spice bush likewise

And this little plant is back underfoot, I think chickweed not sure.

 The English version of this smells like ripe apples when you pinch the flower. 

Asparagus here soon. When I grew it, I'd bite the tips off newly picked stems, tasted like green peas. 

Then home to reading, knitting and Irish soda bread

The aggrieved expression on this loaf cracks me up. I bet her relief $$ hasn't come.

Not a bad line-up, all in all.

St Patrick's Aftermath

Today, since I'd mashed bananas last night so as to commit to banana bread today, I went ahead to make banana bread, though I really felt like trying Becki's Irish Soda Bread, but anyway, a commitment's ironclad when you've mashed the bananas already.

So I sorted out all the ingredients, noticed that the soda bread needed the same amount of butter as the banana bread, in passing, but not melted.  The banana bread needs it melted. It also needs the baker to remember to put the melted butter into the mixture. Which this one didn't until much later, when I noticed the microwave still quietly flashing end end end.  I wish it had an alarm like a car or something, or just shouted END END END. Then I would have discovered it before the banana bread was done.

And I found it didn't make much difference.  Just more breadlike texture, less cakelike, and still perfectly edible.

So now I had butter, once melted, now hardening up again, and I thought, well why not go ahead and make the soda bread, since the butter's half way there anyway. It needed cutting in to the dry ingredients, and was easy to do, because of being rehardened into a disk, not solid chunks.

I also found it might be an easy way to make ghee.  If it were left for longer, that is. For years when I used to make Indian food, I'd make my own ghee, clarified butter.  It just involved patiently cooking it down until all the milk solids rose up and you could scoop them off, leaving the clear liquid which is ghee.  

It has a very high smoking point, good for some cooking purposes, and is just good to cook with in general.  One of my Indian friends was amazed that I made my own!  She said, my mother still does, but my generation buys it made, can't believe you go to the trouble!  But I liked it, so that's fine.  Also I used ghee to make herb butter, where you beat in fresh herbs and keep it in the fridge where it hardens up till needed for cooking.

Anyway, this is why you see my first loaf of soda bread accompanying the banana bread up there. And here you can see the texture of the butterfree banana bread, just fine, really, used golden raisins.  And a slice of the warm soda bread, ready buttered.  It has the best crust evah!  Crunchy, so good. And the crumb is moist.  Thank you Becki.

So the marathon of baking was worth it. When Handsome Son visits sometime over the weekend, he can have some celebratory soda bread in honor of St. Patrick. I think he'll like it.  I know I do.  Can't think why I waited till now to get on with it and make it.

Becki, you'll love this: I checked your blogpost from a year ago, when you gave the recipe, and noticed in your comments one from me saying I was going to make it right away, it looked so good...anyway, I finally did.

Rain all day today, unceasing.  I had to get wet to take out the garbage, but I don't like it sitting on the step looking as if nobody lives here. While I was there, I checked the mailbox in case any wonderful stuff had appeared. 

My ACLU membership card arrived, this being one thing I thought I could do about all the vote suppression bills all over the country, help to fund the ACLU legal battles now in progress to overturn them and all the reproductive health intrusions in legal form, too.  I live in a state where reproductive health is better protected than most, and women's health in general, but a lot of women can't count on their state legislature for protection.  

And our vote  by mail is in place firmly, dropboxes, too,  also vote curing, thanks to a lot of us campaigning for three years.  So that's my little bit. No, it's not lucky when we get laws and pols who do good things. It's the result of endless grass roots work and great leadership from people like Winn Khuong. The harder we worked the luckier we got. 

Now we have to find ways to fight back the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) hate crimes blessed by the previous administration, and who better than Winn, a Vietnamese refugee with her family, to spearhead this effort, along with other Asian Americans.  She needs to catch her breath after the shock of yesterday, just now, but I'm ready when she is.

I've signed on to the MoveOn petition to remove the sheriff's officer who claimed the man who gunned down six Asians, mostly women, at three different establishments, was just having a bad day. Yeah, not as bad as the day for the women and their families. We want him removed from law enforcement entirely. He has Nazi sympathizer material on his social media accounts, and China blaming for the pandemic. Not a person I want administering the law.  Most people having a bad day might dig into a carton of icecream, or wave their fists or something. 

Onward, friends.  Every day we have some battles to fight.  And we can also find things to enjoy.  It's the tapestry of life.  The Shakuhachi effect.  Nothing is an interruption to our lives.  Everything is part of our lives.