Blessed Are the Cheesemakers

 So, it's hard, this figuring out how to live thing. If I try to focus on what's important and let go of what's not I end up with the certainty that nothing is really important pretty quickly. Which is fine, but doesn't really help on a practical level.

Balance is resonating with me, I can work with balance. But what to balance? So many factors. Apollo and Dionysus. Mind and Body. Inside and Outside. Work and Leisure. Stillness and Action. Past and Future. Following Your Bliss and Confronting Your Fears. Birds and Bees. Country and Western. I could go on.

There's a part of me, a large part, that would be content to continue to drift, quietly sell whatever I have of value but otherwise just fritter my money away on food and suchlike until I have nothing left and have to start fresh. I'm not at all sure that's not what I should do. But I'm not sure that it is, either.

Dumpling Update: Salty-Sweet Bean Puddings with Coconut Cream Topping

Let me just say right off the bat, I fucked these up. They're another layered pandan and coconut pudding, this time individually sized. So you make two batters. So you have two mixes of dry ingredients and two sets of wet ingredients. I, of course, poured wet ingredients 2 into dry ingredients 1. Sigh. And used up my coconut milk in the process, so I couldn't start all over, I just forged ahead as best I could, pandan layer on the bottom. At least my dipping bowls seem to be the right size. Though I neded up with 12 dumplings instead of 8, even though I used a tablespoon of each batter for each, as instructed.

Ah well. First batch didn't set up right (they steam in shifts) so I mucked around with the times. I think it's a problem with the batter proportions, though. However, not quite jelled and eaten with a spoon, they are still pretty tasty. I will have to try again and, you know, actually follow the recipe. I think making a full batch of each batter and cooking up small batches of dumplings over the course of a couple of days would probably work. Though it's possible I could eat the whole batch for a meal, they are fun-sized snacks.

If nothing else, trying all these dumplings has taught me that steaming small portions of things is a pretty nifty way of keeping myself fed. It doesn't even seem like it heats up the kitchen that much which is odd because there is a lot of steam, but it's not generally for very long, I guess. I poached a whole chicken today which, okay, not a small portion and not actually steamed BUT it didn't heat up the kitchen badly and, the other aspect of steaming and poaching that I love, as long the pot doesn't boil dry nothing's gonna burn or even overcook. It's magic.