I suppose an education of classics has always been penciled on my bucket list, but navigating the prolific output of the genre and separating wheat from chaff is a daunting task. Spurred by the quality of The Stars My Destination, I'm planning on wending my way down the list of SF Masterworks, a series of out-of-print sci-fi novels republished by Orion/Gollancz. My hope is to discover some writers I may have missed, and visit left of center novels of authors I enjoy. Also of interest, are the Gollancz Future Classics, and Fantasy Masterworks titles. Apparently these objects are highly collectible, but seeing as how I'm mostly interested in content, I'm sure I'll find most books at the library.

Bonus:

Edward Gorey's online comic strip interpretation of Star Trek episode, The Trouble with Tribbles.

Pad Thai - minimalist with just noodles, eggs, and chicken; not bright pink or overly sweet!
Papaya Salad - real hot, almost like the real thing, as in, on a real Thai beach.
Red Curry - fresh vegetables and tender beef!

We ordered the affordable (under 8 dollars), combo dinner that includes rice, edamame, salad, soup (slightly tangy), with fried dumpling and eggroll (better than Panda Express, but not as good as my grandma).  Choice of meat in each dish, and interesting specials on the board. Looks like small portions, but we were not left wanting. I might try the family meal for an extra large portion of the main dish without extras for a dollar more. Not the most refined either, but certainly towards the top of my list for Thai food in this area. Definitely a great value.

The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester

This book is on countless best of sci-fi lists and for very good reason; hard and soft, prose and pulp, literary and accessible, scientific and mystical, fantastical and satirical, cyberpunk and steampunk, fastpaced and thoughtful... Hitting the sweet-spot between the directives of speculative techno/cultural fiction and new-wave psycho emo/humanism is a rarity - a feat even more astonishing, given the truly well-crafted storytelling and Bester's liberal though accomplished writing style.

There's almost nothing, including my typical gender nitpicks, that I really dislike about this book, from premise to structure to execution. And while countless imitations, spin-offs and sub-genres have centrifuged away from Bester's serialized novel with enough conviction of their own, The Stars My Destination manages to think and read fresh more than 50 years later. An excellent read.

The Blade Itself (The First Law), Joe Abercrombie

Abercrombie's first novel reads like one of the Coen Brothers more violent movies, with blood spattered everywhere and wry dialogue. But where the Coens are calculated and sparse, Abercrombie is halfway to a potentially cheesy version of cheesy 80's fantasy classics on tv. The scope may be a tad ambitious, but on a whole, the book is easy to take in even with all the blood and gore.

I appreciate the author's handling of magic. While all fighting is described viscerally, furiously, and becomes almost baroque, the magic doesn't include a lot of flowing robes, muttering of abracadabra, exposition on mechanics, or zipping lances of light which explode into fireballs. Instead, the magic happens internally, producing dramatic results without mysticism shrouding the proceedings. In fact, it feels more dangerous this way. Ultimately, I appreciate Bayaz, the magi and not-so-simple butcher. I like him a lot in fact and am glad that Abercrombie leaves the mystery intact.

Abercrombie's greatest strength is the unusual humor that his characters are prone to wittingly or unwittingly inspire. However, sometimes the transition for their actions seems rushed and implausible, the reconciliation between the inquisitor and West for example. Overall, the author developes a unique tone of brutal animism and satirical farce that spar from chapter to chapter and at the end, from scene to scene within the chapter. This structural climax is where the slow construction of the book shines. The clash/knitting together feels highly intuitive and natural, mirroring the plot and reinforcing the connections between the characters. And while the stereotypes themselves come from a shallow barrel, their perspectives are broached slightly off center enough for the reader to get something out of it. Logan, the barbarian, is a cipher through most of the book, withdrawn and full of internal conflict, but by the end of the tale, when Abercrombie shoves us into the mindset of his berserker rage and hacks down corrupt minions, we understand where all that comes from. This structurally devised suspense was subtle enough when it needed to be yet satisfyingly dramatic. The weight of the images is all words here and works quite well.

While the slow pace and unusual structure of climaxes in the book didn't bother me, much of the fighting scenes are simply descriptive scenic detours, ones that didn't really move the plot as much as get the characters from one place to another. They felt almost extraneous, a novelized version of a flashy film scene - or what I'm calling action writing. Like an action movie you can fast forward through them and sometimes not miss a thing. I'm not sure that this kind of detailed play by play serves a book that flirts with being an epic. The intensity actually makes the book seem slower than it really is.

This is not only just literary snobbery talking - to show and not tell - because don't get me wrong, Abercrombie is good at telling about picturesque medieval gore, but some aspects of the written word don't translate well or easily to cinema in terms that we are used to, and so the reverse. I wouldn't put that down as a universal rule but perhaps any discussion of action writing should be spoken about in tandem with the bias against cinematic spectacular, particularly, the argument that they are essentially empty of meaning but visually rich. And while this becomes a hairy topic when comparing visual and visual meaning, it is even more strange to find such a comparison between written images and mental ones. I can't quite circle my finger around the entire objection right now, but the distance between reading and imagining is part of it. Perhaps this novel has a workmanship that I can't appreciate, like a really good splatter scene in a slasher movie, or a particularly fine special effect in a sci-fi flick. Maybe The Blade Itself is more like porn and romance novels in function. In that case, this book is genre bending and pretty awesome right?

Definitely uneven, The Blade Itself accomplishes some sound literary feats that I appreciate. The author's prose is serviceable enough, if not completely polished, but falls apart as a story when indulging in description or weak plotting that perhaps work better on screen. Definitely flawed, but I'm invested in the characters and their backstory enough to be curious about the next novel in the series. If there's just going to be a lot more "telling" however, I'm going to take it as an invitation to bash the fast forward button.

Edit: The second two novels made no impression except more of the same unfortunately. Perhaps this a flaw in my ability to pick up the pleasures of such a text.

Beyond the Great Wall (NPR link), by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid, features recipes from the non-Han territories of China. These recipes can be previewed here. I'm not sure why the Tsampa Stew in the book is so red. I'm guessing it's because I used pressed instead of whole grain barley. I might add tomato to the leftovers just to see how I like it.

Bone Broth:

2 lbs ox tails or shanks, sliced into 6 pieces by the butcher
1 whole dried anise
1" ginger, peeled and sliced into 1/4" pieces
1/2 tsp salt

In a large pot of cold water, bring all the ingredients up to a boil. Skim of the scum. Turn down the heat and simmer with the lid cracked for 1 - 1 1/2 hours till the beef is tender and is easily pierced with a fork. Keep skimming during the cooking period. If  possible, refrigerate and skim off excess oil.

Tsampa:

2 cups whole grain barley. I used pressed grain because that's what I have. Barley flour that is similarly roasted as below, can also be used for recipe's that use tsampa as a thickener. For tsampa porridge, home roasted whole grains have a softer, less grainy texture.

Roast grains in a dry pan over medium high heat. Stir continuously for around 10-15 minutes to prevent scorching and make sure that all the barley is evenly toasted. The grains will crackle and turn golden then darker colored and release a toasty smell. If the grain yields easily to a bite, it is done. Take the pan off the heat and continue stirring for several minutes until the pan is cool enough not to burn the barley.

Grind the toasted grain in a coffee, spice grinder, or flour mill to get an even, fine consistency. Let cool completely and store in a sealed container either in the fridge or in a cool cupboard.

Tibetan Barley Stew:

1 onion
1/2 lb of sirloin steak cut into strips 1 1/2 in long and 1/4 in wide
6 cups bone broth, beef or chicken stock
1/2 asian radish, daikon, peeled and shredded
2 cups spinach, chopped, baby spinach, or other greens like bok choy
2 tsp salt, to taste
2 tbsp butter*

In a small amount of oil or butter in a hot pan or wok, saute onion and sirloin till browned but not cooked through. Set aside. Deglaze pan with 3 cups of stock and bring to a boil. Add tsampa and stir till smooth. Add remaining 3 cups of stock and bring to a boil. Add radish and lower heat, simmering for 10 minutes or until tender. If necessary add 1 or more cups of water, and return to boil. Add onions and meats to simmer for several minutes, adjusting salt and water level. Then add vegetables and continue simmering till they are almost ready. Just before serving, swirl in butter. 

Not the film based on Do Angels Dream of Electric Sheep, but The Bladerunner, a 1974 novel by Alan Nourse. In some near future, good health care is provided to anyone who agrees to pay the fee - sterilization. Those who don't want to comply with these terms are forced to turn to black market practitioners. The idea is to weed out those who have genetic diseases or those with less immune resistance, allowing the rest to breed healthier, stronger children. Truly deadly epidemics, however, choose victims indiscriminately regardless of healthcare choices. The book is really a cautionary tale about the dangers of "socialized" or two tier medical systems.

I suppose in the the early 70's, this doomsday prediciton may have sounded like a pile of invisible cymbals making an unnecessary din, or communist evil. But substitute "lots of money" in place of sterilization and "HMO/single payer/insurance" for government medical center and Nourse's book is amazingly prescient. Some of these fears have become founded - a two class system of those who have and don't have healthcare, "free" clinics = black market, mutated man-made super virus, children with poor immune defense systems, etc. We have yet to see if nationalized healthcare will produce such a staggering social program like the one in The Bladerunner, but we know that China ran such an experiment for a long time. To think of this story loosely and in global terms is important because disease is transmitted in exactly that way.

These doughnuts were a labor of love. First, after soaking my beans overnight with some foresight and spending all day babying my boiling beans, I ended up overfatting my first painstaking batch of bean paste with duck confit. Not my best idea. Determined not to give up, I starting over with just enough beans for half a recipe and started making the doughnut dough by hand. Contrary what you would think given the fried doughnut's pillow soft nature, this is not a gentle process, as the dough is very sticky, floppy and yet extremely elastic. Rolling in otherwords is likewise a tricky proposition to fulfill.

After several days of ongoing work, I am however, generally pleased with the results. The bean paste recipe is a Frankenstein culmination of techniques and ratios in three separate books. The dough is almost verbatim  from The New Best Recipe by Cook's Illustrated for Yeasted Doughnuts.


Sweet Red Bean Paste

1 cup dried red beans, adzuki
water
4 cups tepid water
3/4 cup sugar, white or brown. Some recipes call for as little as 1/2 or as much as 1 1/2 cups. Adjust to taste and the final use of the bean paste. Likewise, add less if you are making paste to store and just add more sugar later.
1 tbsp peanut or vegetable oil, or lard. Butter also works depending on the final use.

Soak beans in water overnight. Or in a pinch, cover beans with 3 cups of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil for several minutes. Beans should be covered at least 1" by water. Drain. 

Return beans to the pot, and add 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil, cover and turn heat to low for a simmer. Cook for 30-60 min or until the beans are very soft. Halfway through, crack the lid. If the beans didn't soak overnight, this may take 1 1/2-2 hours. Monitor the process so the bottom doesn't burn. Stir once in awhile and if necessary, add a little hot water. By the end, most of the water should have evaporated, with concentrated liquid covering only the very bottom 1/3 layer of bean. Carefully gauging this process means you will not have to reduce or squeeze the liquid out later.

Once soft, let the hot beans cool till easily managed. Put beans and liquid through a food processor or blend with stick blender or blender to a smooth consistency. Alternately, to make a very smooth paste, smash through a sieve, reserving bean water and tossing the solids. You can now reduce the paste further in a pot or press it in cloth to get rid of some moisture if necessary. The consistency will depend on what you might be using the paste for.

On low heat, add sugar and stir till glossy, for 5 minutes, reducing slightly while the mixture "burps". Swirl in the oil, and leave on the range to cool. For a more traditional approach, heat the oil in a frying pan and add the red bean paste till mixture becomes thick. Stir and stay attentive, so it doesn't burn.


Doughnuts: 

Adapted from Yeasted Doughnut recipe in The New Best Recipe

1 1/2 cups plus 2-3 tbsp extra all purpose flour if needed for hand mixing
1 1/4 tsp yeast
3 tbsp granulated sugar plus 1-2 tbsp for rolling
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp whole milk, room temp
1 large egg, 
3 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces, softened but still cool
2 1/2 cups Crisco

I added at least 3 tbsp of flour during final mixing to make the dough more workable. Adding flour also makes the doughnut a bit more bread-like. If using a mixer, this step may be unnecessary. After rising, the dough is still gooey but not too hard to shape. My dough was still quite springy (maybe due to undermixing), so I just "pasted" my shapes to the Silpat surface without using a lot of flour.


To shape, the dough needs to be rolled rather thin, about 1/8-1/4 of an inch. Roll (or press the dough by hand into a circle) with the desired thickness at the center and tapering to the edges. You can make 2 rounds and fill it like a sandwhich, or 1 round and pull up the edges as you would for a char-siu bun. Whatever works so the filling doesn't squeeze out when fried. Give the closure a firm pinch. Put the doughnuts sequentially on a floured surface, with the seam side down for bun shape, and give them a 30 min rest while the oil is heating up.

Despite my reservations, I used Crisco and the results are superior to oil - virtually no oil squeeze when biting, crisp crust, no off flavors towards the end. The dough should poof up immediately. I only cooked about two at a time in a small saucepan, as that was the number I have the presence of mind to concentrate on at once. The sandwich shape is easier to fry, as they capsize less, but more difficult to shape. Either shape should take about 30 sec to fry.

Drain hot doughnuts on paper towels. Roll the finished product in granulated sugar when cool enough to handle. Serve immediately. The doughnut in the back is a first and rather overcooked attempt at a sandwich shape. The bun shape in the front was more golden than mahogany but a tad undercooked inside. It takes several tries to get the oil just right, but you can eat all the mistakes!

My friend's grandmother was a wrinkly toothless little mite with a big temper. She made the most wonderful mung bean pancakes which I couldn't stop eating. While the filling can be as fancy as you like, grandma's thin 4" pancakes only included strands of bright green chives that required no sauce.

When using store bought mung bean flour I find it advantageous to leave it soaking in water overnight or at least several hours. The flour is dry and drinks up a lot water, making the final product less gritty.

3/4 mung bean flour
1/3 cup rice flour
2 1/4 water
pinch red pepper flake*
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp salt

Additions:
green onions or chinese chives
red pepper, sliced thin
onions, sliced thin
kimchee or cabbage, thinly sliced

I am partial to the original Chinese version of Zha Jiang Mian 炸酱面, which consists of fried and lightly sauced meat with fresh shredded vegetables on top. The Korean version is another animal altogether and is composed with a rich syrupy sauce in which the vegetables are braised.




For this recipe, the vegetables should be diced uniformly to bite size pieces, about 3/4" square is ideal. The total amount should be about 6 cups, or 1 1/2 quarts, in about equal ratio of vegetables and greater proportion of meat and onion, but adjust this to your taste.

fresh korean wheat noodles
pork belly, diced or sliced
daikon or korean radish, peeled, diced
waxy potato or sweet potato, peeled, diced
1 large onion
1/2 cup fermented black bean paste, chunjang
3 1/2 cup water
3 tsp potato starch dissolved in 2 tbsp water
1 tbsp sugar
cucumber* for garnish, thinly shredded

In a large pot, fry pork belly briefly on medium heat until the meat releases some liquid. It doesn't need to be cooked through. Scoop into a large resting bowl and drain most fat from the pot. Turn down the heat a little and gently saute vegetables in the pot for several minutes, adding one at a time, first daikon, then potato, and a shorter period for onion, and very briefly zucchini. Do not brown. The goal is to sweat them so the final texture is uniform but the vegetables remain relatively intact after braising. Add vegetables to pork belly bowl.
In the same pot, heat in almost smoking hot oil, and fry the black bean paste till broken up and glossy.
Return vegetables and meat to the pot with the water. Vegetables should be barely covered. They will release  Bring to a boil then lower to a simmer and cover for 15-20 minutes till vegetables are tender. Meanwhile boil water for noodles.
Once the potato and daikon are cooked through 
Add the potato starch in water, then add sugar. Adjust seasonings. The final sauce should be a little sweet with the aroma of bean paste dominant. Smooth like a gravy but glossy and translucent, the texture is comparable to a Japanese curry but less thickened by potato starches. 
Serve with slices of bright yellow danmugi, also known as takuan.

The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen -  Grace Young