The Bok choy stir fry meal

Today was my first venture into working with bok choy. The result was pretty decent. Good even.

         I followed my brother Jonathan's advice along with the confirmation of a friend who is a fantastic cook. The advice? He uses bok choy in stir fries and sweet and sour soups and such things. Stir fry sounded good, and I just happened to find a basic stir fry that called for green beans (of which we have waaay too many).

Thank you, Allrecipes!

INGREDIENTS:

1 teaspoon peanut oil 3 tablespoons minced shallots 2 carrots, sliced diagonally 1 cup fresh green beans, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 cup chopped bok choy 1/3 cup low sodium, low fat vegetable broth 1 tablespoon light soy sauce

DIRECTIONS:

1.

Heat the oil in a wok or skillet over high heat. Add the shallots and saute for 3 minutes. Add the carrots and stir fry for 3 minutes. Add the green beans and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add the bok choy and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add the broth and simmer for 2 minutes. Add the soy sauce and serve.                  It's a nice base. I didn't exactly follow it. or measure anything really. I chopped stuff up and threw it into the skillet.  first, I thinly sliced half a medium onion. no shallots. minced some ginger and garlic. because flavor! sliced three carrots thinly cut a bunch of green beans into approx. one inch lengths cut the stems off the bok choy and chopped them into 1 in pieces chopped the leaves  sliced 3/4 of a red bell pepper and minced two jalapenos finished stir fry         I heated a skillet and added some light olive oil and some sesame oil (flavor!!!) commenced to add garlic and ginger. after 30 seconds or so, added the onion and sauteed for roundabouts two min. Then added carrots and stir fried for 3-4 minutes then added green beans when I felt like it, I added the bell pepper. probably after five minutes. almost immediately after that, I added the bok choy stems. gave it 3-5 min and added the leaves. when they wilted I poured in chicken broth (enough to look good) and simmered it for about 5 min to 10 min. splashed in some silver swan and stirred it to mingle the soy sauce and served in a bowl with garnish.          To go with that I fixed some bean thread noodles. 5 minutes in boiling water. drained. rinsed in cold water and immediately upon placing in a bowl tossed it with some sesame oil to keep it from clumping into a mass of scary bean-stuff that no one is sure what to do with.  noodle success!!!          All in all, it was a good pretty meal, that is, until I started serving it up. There was a massive blank spot on the table and on each plate that I served. No meat! We sat and ate. people complimented it. It was happy and light. Then the youngest two asked for second servings. I knew then that this would not be enough for Dad. The chicken that never was fixed was crying out, "I told you so!!!" My food conscience was burning because I had the thought that chicken would be good with this. Mom eventually came the the rescue of the nice, but unbalanced meal and appeased every stomach that craved meat with the leftover carne asada from the previous day. Every stomach lived happily ever after until the next meal when they would feast *spoiler alert* on BLTs.  OH! I almost forgot, for dessert we had fresh strawberries and whipped cream. they were fantastic! Good day, all!

Arming bears?

A slight misprint in my research paper would yield "the right to keep and arm bears." That's a constitutional right, isn't it?

Man Bites Dog

So... the question is how do you get reliable news?

My answer is "multiple sources".  Biblically, this would correspond to the principle of two or three witnesses.  Below is my usual scanlist with caveats.
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DrudgeReport  for the frothy edge of the news.  There tends to be a bit of dishonesty in the headlines posted.  There is a lot that is taken out of context for the apparent purpose of sensationalism.  Still Drudge does a good job at covering edge issues.

BBC world service for historically solid source.  They provide largely reliable reporting except they editorially push the climate change hysteria and homosexual politics.  CNN/NPR/CBC/Christian Science Monitor largely occupy the same center-left ideological space.  Deustche Welle was once useful for a eurocentric view, but they are now completely overcome with the progressive mind set.

Google News is another good aggregator, but with left of center blinders.

WorldMag is a very good news source from a reformed christian viewpoint.  Really these folks do very good reporting and often beat the mainstream at quality and depth of coverage.

Slashdot - news for nerds/stuff that matters.  The tagline says it all.

Al Jazeera English provides a "second world" viewpoint.  They cover events in countries that never make BBC/CNN/NPR.  At least they aren't poisoned with climate change nonsense and sexual politics.

First Things is a journal concerned with faith in the public square.  They are one of the few sources that actually has a diversity of viewpoints expressed on a focus issue.  The articles go deeper than the bumpersticker news cycle.

Volokh Conspiracy - a legal blog that has some of the most insightful commentary from a libertarian viewpoint.  
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In listing all of these news and analysis sources I have probably disclosed my prejudices and blindspots.

What are your sources of news and why?  Help fill in what is missing.

Approximate Chow-chow Recipe

This is the chow-chow recipe (or at least a close approximate) that we made a while back.

1 pint red bell peppers
1 pint green bell peppers
1 quart cabbage
1 pint white onions
4 cups sugar
1 quart white vinegar
1 hot pepper
5 tablespoons salt
2 teaspoons celery seed
5 teaspoons mustard seed
   (Those last two we did not have.)
Curry-ish seasonings (We added.)

Chop up all vegetables. Mix with all other ingredients. Let stand eight hours. Put in jars. Keep cool.

Note: Do not heat vinegar!

A Nation is Born :)

 

The People's Democratic Republic of Ursi

Motto: Quidam ursi sunt magis par quam alii

Anthem: Forward March  (Kindly ignore the video.  Maybe...)

Soliciting further ideas for consideration at the First National Sleuth

Fort Monroe

If you get a chance, visit Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia.  Truly an extraordinary historical site. 
The base closed down in 2011, so the dirt is open to the public.  There us a museum in the casemates, the fortified wall surrounding.  

Celebrate

Happy National Atheist's Day!