Pure as the driven coconut?

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Originally uploaded by Isotope of me.

Raw. When I hear the word I typically think of being thirteen years old and listening to a copy of a copy of someone's Eddie Murphy tape well before he got boring mellowed out. It did not conjure images of an expansive grotto with the sounds of The Sea and Cake gently wooing patrons into ording "live" food. Until last night that is.
Pure Food & Wine changed that for me. After a course of their Biryani Coconut Curried Vegetables on a bed of Cardamom & Coriander Couscous (they were awarded bonus points for alliteration) I decided that my habit of never cooking may be able to go on indefinitely, and that raw food does not always equal that boring old salad that makes you feel guilty for ordering the ultra-burrito instead.

The addition of a great glass of wine and lovely company rounded out a perfectly pleasant dining experience.

Bon appetit!

I'm rendered (nearly) speechless by this picture on Ms. Maya's site. I am torn between revulsion at the indignity of forcing an endangered species to wear a paper birthday crown and the inexplicable, childlike reflex to regard all things panda as cute. Follow her link for more nausea inducing pictures of birthday pandas.

The cutest violation of animal rights you'll see all day

This pissed me off. I know it's old news and boring to be an armchair environmentalist, but really I just want to go help clean the beaches and waters.

Sea Change

Tonight an old romantic interest called me. These day's she's married and the step-mother of a young girl. She's had a successful career that she has been in for all of the 7 years that I've known her, owns a nice house which she has renovated in a nice small city and has many pets. She has built her little piece of the American Dream, and in typical suburban style is not truly satisfied with it.

I don't propose that it isn't possible to be happy with a decent suburban life, millions of people can't be that ignorant about their own state of being. I trust that many people are happy with that style of life, as it has many advantages over both truly urban and rural modes of living. But I sense that this particular woman is not happy with what she is built. I would go so far as to suggest that she feels stuck and bored now when she looks at what she has built.

I didn't answer her call, only listened to her message. There was a long silence at the beginning of the message, then in a soft voice she began to describe the ocean and beach in Miami, the temperature of the water and the way the wind felt in her hair.

I wouldn't think anything of this exact same message if it were from another friend that I was in contact with more often. I would take it at face value and appreciate it for a little glimpse into another person's experience. Coming from this particular person though, it is more likely that this is following a pattern of extended hugs, long stares, ommisions of my presence in her conversations with her husband while she is changing her clothes in front of me in a hotel room across the country from him.

Obviously there is something of my previous post in this one, although it was sparked by the behavior of someone else entirely.

What if you make a deal, a contract, a covenant with another person? What of it? Does it make a difference if the agreement is implicit or explicit? What are the responsibilities of the people that have agreed to the contract? Beyond that, to what extent is the agreement to be respected by those who are not party to it?

When we talk from our logical or moral centers where we imagine ourselves to be the best possible manifestation of ourselves, I think that most people would tend to answer that once they have made an agreement that they will stick by the terms of that agreement until such time as it is re-negotiated or it's terms have expired whether it means paying back credit card debt, mowing your grandmother's lawn or remaining faithful to a partner.

However, it is only when faced with the immediate temptation of violating a contract without suffering any consequences that we truly know our own nature. Similarly we are shown our moral fiber when we are offered the opportunity to assist in breaking another person's contract, which we do not share a part in. Of course this is true only for those who subscribe to whatever social mores that we are assuming to be in place around the contract.

Just a few thoughts ramblings and rhetorical questions.