Hints of lakes and sunset breezes, or: A life thus far in shitty beer.

States in which Rainier Beer may be feasibly obtained:

(Obligatory links to other stuff from the visited states map dude.)

Train of thought? Well, sure, since you asked. ( Essay warning )

Dinner

Dragoon Salad

Make sure you got:

• Tofu
• Oil
• Paprika
• Thyme
• Garlic (super-fresh)
• Ginger
• Onion (maybe)
• Lettuce
• Tomato (kinda-sorta optional, but not really)
• Annie's Goddess Dressing
• Hemp seeds (best) or ground flaxseed (passable and hella cheaper)

Why? Usually because it's too damn hot out for carbohydrates, but the sun's been down long enough that people won't necessarily hate you forever if you turn the stove on.

Heat oil in a skillet. Cut half a pound of firm or extra-firm tofu into strips (~1/3 inch thick), squeeze and shake each strip over the sink to get the extra water out, and put them in the oil to fry. Dust with heaping quarter-teaspoons of thyme and paprika, and add half a handful each of diced garlic and ginger once everything's been sizzling for a minute or three. Add a few slices of onion if desired; don't if not. Cook tofu, flipping occasionally, until very lightly browned; then cut into smaller strips with edge of spatula and cook for just a little while longer. (This is basically my recipe for tofu, period.)

While the tofu is cooking, clean and cut some lettuce and dice some tomato; mix into salad bowls and chuck in the fridge until tofu is done. Dump tofu chunks and the crispy garlic/ginger/oil slurry over the top of the salads. Pour Annie's Goddess Dressing (or equivalent tahini/lemon/garlic-based salad dressing) over the whole deal, and top with hemp seeds or ground flaxseed.

Serves two-ish; scale up as necessary.

(no subject)

Oh, so THAT's why I so gross--it's 37 degrees out there.

But hey, via Amanda at Pandagon, I've now got a treasure trove of Sleater-Kinney, Heavens to Betsy, and Excuse 17 rarities. Dudes, I only had like one of those tracks before this morning. Kudos to the person who compiled that. (The tags and metadata were pretty shitty, but nothing I couldn't wrangle in iTunes.) As always, use DownThemAll for all your mp3blogslurping whatchamacallits. (Be sure to throttle it down a ways, first.)

Wow, haven't watched any anime for a while.

Hey vaulted_eel: You were totally right, Ouran High School Host Club is frickin' awesome. (Just finished the first ep, have #3 in the queue, and am fighting a particularly recalcitrant torrent for #2.)

I don't have much else to say about it... but I really like Haruhi as a protagonist. Aside from my long-standing just-in-general appreciation for boy-dressin' girls, I really like that she's... sensible. She just seems to react the way a real person would when absurd shōjo manga shit starts happening.