The Committee

 - 1 tbsp porcinis, in a cup of water just off the boil
 - sea salt
 - fresh black pepper
 - olive oil
 - 6 cups sliced button mushrooms [this would also make up great with creminis if you have them, or a blend of any mushrooms that you like. OMG Morels. Maitakes. Enoki.]
 - Sprig rosemary leaves [take woody bits off and discard]
 - 6 or 7 sprigs of thyme leaves [as above]
 - 1 tbsp. dried parsley [it’d make up bitchin’ with fresh parsley also, but that’s what I had]
 - 1 celery stalk, roughly chopped
 - 4 cloves garlic, sliced
 - 1 large shallot, sliced
 - 2 medium potatoes, cut into a large dice [or whatever’s easiest]
 - White wine [I used a chenin blanc I think]
 - 2 boullion cubes, chicken or "faux chicken".  You could also use 6-8 cups veggie or chicken stock instead.
 - splash Bragg’s [OPTIONAL]
 - 1/2 cup raw cashews
 - water [plenty]
 - more salt and pepper and Bragg’s to taste
 - the juice of half a lemon

Put porcinis on to soak.  The grit will fall to the bottom, so try not to disturb them once you get ‘em going.  In a big soup pot, heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pot on med-high heat.  Add salt and pepper.  Sweat the button mushrooms out on fairly high heat; add herbs when they start to release their juices, and keep them sauteeing until you can see the bottom of the pan [i.e. when you stir them the juice is thick enough not to run back over the pan-bottom].  Then sautee the garlic, shallots, and celery for 2 minutes or until shallot is translucent.  Add potatoes and stir to cover them with mushroomy goodness.  Keep sauteeing and stirring for another 3-4 minutes.

Deglaze pan with about 1/2 cup white wine and the porcinis and their soaking liquid [discard grit].  Keep cooking on high heat until most of the liquid is gone.  Then add stock or boullion cubes and water, bring to boil, reduce heat and cover.  Cook until potatoes fall apart when pressed.  Take off heat to cool before pureeing.

During the cool-down period, make your cashew cream:  grind the dry raw cashews to a fine powder in the blender, then add water until you’ve reached your desired consistency.  When you’ve pureed the soup, add the cream, lemon juice, Bragg’s, and any additional salt/pepper that you need to taste.

The following will raise red, red Commie flags in my head if I hear or read them:

1.  Anything extolling the unbridled virtues of the free market

2.  Moaning about paying taxes

3.  a)  Chortling over your enterprising buddy who’s at home on Compo drinking Jack and sticking it to the man, while

b)  stewing bitterly about women going shopping with child-support money

4.   Whining that not everything on Stuff White People Like is stuff that you like.  That’s the joke, dummy.  For bonus jerk-points, even DARING to mention the R-word in connection with the aforementioned blog.

5.   Claiming that the crunchy-granola Democrat 90s a) ended sexism b) ended racism c) began a reign of terror and fear where the best books written by old white guys weren’t allowed to be on college reading lists anymore, heaven forfend.  Yeah, cause "Moby Dick" is so awesome.

6.  Talking about "political correctness" like it’s a bad thing.  If you’re saying that you want to be free to express stereotypes and be offensive at will, go for it [you’ll notice that you actually ARE still able to be offensive at will, nobody takes you to the Grunge Era Gulag, just that it’s much less popular than it once was…I wonder why?]:  it will only make your stupidity and cruelty easier to notice, and then I’ll be able to stay away from you.  Thanks.

I keep forgetting that Canada still has some cultural cachet.  Not as much as, say, Paris or Monaco or something.   But some.  Listening to Boards of Canada makes me feel weirdly flattered as well as enthused about hardcore analog synth geekery.

I tried, I really tried to take the high road and win a convert, in the form of this internet d00d from the Midwest who seemed smart enough to Get It with some moderate prompting.  I don’t think that people come to feminist theory naturally, since the cultural cloaks are way too impenetrable; however, once you start to find out you’ve been drinking the Kool-Aid all your life, some small seeds of information here and there will be sufficient to clarify your vision.

How wrong I was.  I had forgotten the most important part:  Nobody WANTS to give up their privilege.  I don’t.  This guy didn’t.  He didn’t want anything to do with the Ebil Womenz after his divorce and everything I offered him was some kind of weird liberal conspiracy.  It was the classic back and forth of:  "I don’t see sexism, therefore feminism is sexist".  "I don’t see race, therefore racial activism is racist".  It went on and on.

I finally cut the cord last night when I realized that I had already presented all the possible facts and links and studies and f***ing COMMON SENSE and we weren’t having…what’s that thing?  Rarer than unicorns?  A "Good Faith Argument".  When I take on educating resistant humans as MY burden, I just feed into the idea that it’s not already out there and self-evident.  If you want to find out about animal rights, rape prevention, feminism, fighting racism, you’ve got all the intertoobs to play in.  If you’re asking me for that information, that is easily found with some rudimentary Googling, what you really want to do is FIGHT WITH ME.  And I’m not into it. 

Preheat oven to 350.

In a enamelled cast-iron pot [Le Creuset or similar], put:

 - diced white onion

 - 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

 - 1 large or 2 small carrots, roughly chopped

 - 2 dried whole red chilies

 - 3 medium potatoes in 1/4" dice

 - 1 stalk celery, finely diced

 - quarter head white cabbage, thinly sliced and roughly chopped

 - 1 28-oz can organic diced tomatoes w/juice

 - 1 can organic cannelini beans, roughly chopped

 - splash Bragg’s

 - black pepper to taste

 - pinch sea salt

 - water to cover the whole shabang [or stock; if using just water add 2 boullion cubes]

 - 1 tbsp fresh Greek oregano leaves

 - splash olive oil

 Put the lid on, put it in the oven, and leave it in there for at least 2 hours or until potatoes are tender and, well, everything tastes like everything else.  The genius of this type of pot is in profound neglect, so just find something else to do while you wait, and leave it alone as much as possible.  Serve with some multigrain toasts.

Friday day was lunch at Nuba.

Friday dinner was Ethiopian at Fassil.  I’m fascinated by the cool frothy sliminess of the injera that’s underneath all the various lumps of goo.  Spinach goo and chickpea goo are my favourites.

Saturday I dragged my manz to Nuba for a repeat engagement.  Potato-coconut soup, oh my!  If I say that it’s the best falafel ever, you will still only be able to imagine about 65% of the possible goodness without actually having eaten there.

Saturday night was a long-haul walk along the seawall, stopping at Ocean 6 17 for some vino.  In this case, the vino took the form of an adorable half-bottle of Masi Campofiorin, which gave us that pleasant "I’m a Giant!" feeling holding this tiny bottle.   Up against the window watching the sunset were several moneyed False Creek condo-owners; we were tucked in the corner, and feeling particularly transgressive, we ordered some of the artisanal Camembert up on the specials board.  [wooo transgressive!]  It arrived in three little chunks with:

 - slivered pistachios

 - sea salt flakes

 - organic walnuts

 - pepitas

 - a thinly sliced pear

 - tiny, oily little garlic chips [beyond belief]

 - crostini

 Once again, me trying to describe the combination of the above to you, even if I use the most florid, gratuitous language possible, will still only let you imagine about 60 - 65% of the goodness.

 And then today was dim sum at the Bo Kong.  Spinach dumplings, bean curd skin rolls, potstickers, gingery three-mushroom noodle soup, and deep-fried sesame balls [w/the red bean paste in the centre].  I’m gastrointestinally reeling.

[This interview takes place over locally grown organic salad and some kind of esoteric tea that smells like those little shops on the Gulf Islands that sell pressed-flower bookmarks and ceramic doorstops in the shape of cats.]

CP:  [an enthusiastic hug]  It’s so good to see you.  It’s about time we got together. Long overdue, really.

ME:  [kinda sheepish]  I know…I’ve been hanging with the other girls lately.  They’re fun, but…

CP:  [nodding knowingly]  Look, I’m not as stupid as they think I am.  They’re A LOT of fun.  They’re just kind of, um…

ME:  Discouraging.  It’s weird, when I’m with them I feel like they have a really solid grasp of the way the world really is, and that you are more..

CP:  Idealistic.

ME:  I was going to say "naive" but [laughs] yeah, all that stuff.  Naive.  Idealistic.  UNrealistic.  Irrelevant.

CP:  Why do you think that is?

ME:  Wait, isn’t this supposed to be your interview? 

CP:  We’ll get to me, but I think this is important.  Why do they, and you sometimes, feel like I don’t know what I’m talking about?

ME:  [a bit squirmy]  Well, the Professah thinks there are class issues at work, and Sissy wouldn’t exactly say it like that but I’m pretty sure she feels the same way.  Like you only get to do the fancy stuff you do because you throw money at it, or because you feel entitled.

CP:  Go on.

ME:  And you do give back to the people that are in your life but sometimes it all seems a little…froufrou, I guess.  Too much on the Pleasant side of the board, whereas maybe Hot’s more about the Unpleasant.  Hot would say that you’re not down in the trenches with human suffering enough.  She’d say that talk is cheap, and that the disenfranchised aren’t assisted by rich white people standing around supporting other rich white people and "empowering" them.

CP:  Yeah, I’ve heard that before.  I suppose the question is, then, are disenfranchised people assisted by rich white people feeling sorry for themselves and being pissed off all the time?

ME:  [giggles]  You said "pissed off".

CP:  Well, I’m not exempt from reality, I just think that feeling good has its own gravity.  It pulls you towards it.  When you’re not in the slump of depression you describe yourself as "in the zone" and that’s where I like to work from. 

ME:  Then why do the other girls have such compelling voices?  Like, that makes a lot of sense, so why do you guys fight so much?

CP:  They have a lot to offer too.  You just have to remember that the facts don’t change, only your initial assumptions.  If you believe the world is crap, and we’re struggling over the scraps, then that will be your worldview.  If you believe that BELIEVING that helps the people and situations that pain you, you can’t ever get out.  You could spin any of the "scarce-resource" situations you come across, whether it’s energy in a relationship or at work, or Southern Sudan, in a bunch of different ways.  Thinking that getting on the cross assists those in need is a bit egotistical.

ME:  Saying it that way makes me re-examine the Judeo-Christian assumptions under there…

CP:  Exactly.  Although that’s probably more a conversation for The Prof.  But in the meantime, now that we’re finally hanging out more, do you see how remembering this is going to help you, ironically, do more good in the world?  And that it is logical, and not silly and naive?

ME:  I get amnesia, I think.  I forget that all the time.

CP:  You’ve blogged about it now, there’s no going back. Mmm…I could go for some pie.  They have an organic strawberry-rhubarb here that is to die for.