SansPoint

Even living in a dorm, I loved to cook, and since I have a full, though small, kitchen, I’ve been relishing the ability to prepare things that use my supplies and skills to their full ability. Today, to celebrate Memorial Day, I prepared Oyakodon, a Japanese dish consisting of chicken and egg over rice with leeks^[1]. It gave me a chance to try out my rice cooker, and try some cooking techniques I’m new at.

The recipe is pretty simple, though I was forced to make some substitutions due to my local grocery store lacking the proper ingredients. You will need:

• 1 cup Dashi stock
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 2 Tsp Mirin
• 1 Chicken breast
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 leeks

I ended up using generic seafood stock for the Dashi, being unable to find proper Dashi stock. Instead of Mirin, I used Vietnamese “Fish Sauce”, which is pretty similar. More crucially, the store also lacked leeks, and I ended up using scallions, to no detriment.

First, slice your leeks and chicken thinly, on an angle. Mix the Dashi, soy sauce, sugar, and Mirin (or equivalents) in a saucepan or Oyakodon pan, and boil. Once the sauce is ready, add the chicken and leeks, and boil on medium until chicken is cooked. Add your beaten egg, making sure it coats your chicken and leeks, then cover until it’s mostly cooked. Take off the heat, and pour the contents, liquid and all, on bowls of freshly cooked rice.

It’s quick, tasty, and fairly healthy, too. I’m going to have to make it again, sometime. Probably later this week, in fact. Special thanks to Spike of Iron Circus, for the cookbook scan I shamelessly borrowed this from.

1. In a perfect example of Japanese culinary humor, the name translates to Parent Child Bowl, as the chicken and egg are parent and child. A related dish, Tanindon—pork and egg over rice—, translates to Stranger bowl. The explanation for this is left as an exercise for the reader. ↩

The nightmare is over. I’m settled into the new place, and things are getting back in order. Expect regular posting to resume here shortly.

GTD… GTD… GTD… I’ve had it with GTD. I’ve tried many times to implement a GTD system to manage my life: classes, personal projects, bills, and all those damned things. Every time, I’ve failed. I’ve tried web-based systems, text-based systems, specialized GTD applications, and each time it’s failed me. Something about it isn’t clicking, and honestly, I’ve had enough. For the past week or so, I’ve been using something dead, stupid simple: a single TextEdit document open on my main desktop, listing the things I need to do for the next week, and when they’re due, or scheduled for. The scariest thing about keeping track of my life this way? It works^[1].

Because of this, I’ve begun to consider dropping GTD like a bad habit^[2]. There’s some aspects of GTD that I rather like, and have found useful, so I will keep them in one form or another.

• Collection device always on hand: I know my brain is like a sieve^[3], and this at least gives me a bucket to catch things in. I’ve got to work better at emptying it before the top goes all scummy and moldy, and I’m going to quit this metaphor now before things get real bad.

• Inbox: See above. It’s just great to have a place to put things and keep piles from accumulating… not that I don’t have any piles, but it’s saner with than without.

• Tickler File: This one I’m keeping, but in a different way. Having a full 43 folders is nearly unmanageable, especially since 90% of them are going to be empty at any time. Because it’s such a mess to deal with, I find myself not bothering to check it, even just to move one folder to the next month. It’s too much for someone with comparatively so little. I’m probably going to switch to a 9 folder tickler: one for each day of the week, one for the next week, and one for things beyond the next two weeks, and see if that’s easier to manage.

• File Folders: I know if I don’t file stuff, I’ll lose track of it. I’d rather keep my documents in a cabinet than risk them being crushed, lost, torn, or urinated on…^[4].

I’m going to drop, though, things like NAs, Project lists, Someday/Maybe lists, and the GTD lifestyle thing. A simple to-do list, keeping track of due dates and things, is more than sufficient. I’ll probably tweak it some, move appointments, and hard landscape stuff to iCal, for example. I’m also thinking about putting the list-thing into VoodooPad Lite, a wonderful desktop wiki application with a UI slightly less minimalist than TextEdit. That way, I can have an overview list and separate wiki-listed pages for information about assignments and the like.

No matter what, however, I’m going to throw off the formalist shackles of the GTD system. It’s too complex, too overmanaged, too… something, for me. Instead, I’ll just focus on WSD instead.

1. mostly ↩
2. natch ↩
3. This musical reference is likely to fly over the heads of all but three or four of you readers… ↩
4. All of which has happened to various important documents of mine. ↩