The Hungry Vegetarian

Were Russian secrets shared with ‘space alien’ visitors? - Times Online

2010-05-06T16:19:00.000-07:00

This is about as good as it gets.

Were Russian secrets shared with ‘space alien’ visitors? - Times Online

CBC News - Nfld. & Labrador - UFO sighting puzzles N.L. residents

2010-05-03T20:35:00.000-07:00

CBC News - Nfld. & Labrador - UFO sighting puzzles N.L. residents

Hernando sheriff to seek congressional seat as Ginny Brown-Waite bows out - St. Petersburg Times

2010-05-01T06:44:00.001-07:00

Seems like the local party members are a bit upset with Ginny's tapping of the OGF Nugent. I guess they have been making their bones with the organization for years. Theres trouble in fascistville tonight!

Hernando sheriff to seek congressional seat as Ginny Brown-Waite bows out - St. Petersburg Times

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Shanghi Expo: the PRC cannot stop lying. They just cant do it!

2010-04-30T13:23:00.000-07:00

The Shanghai World Expo, which officially opens tomorrow, May 1st, is yet another multi-billion dollar propaganda spectacle put on by the Chinese government.

Heres the BS right here

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8651057.stm

CHINA DOES NOT OWN OR HAVE RIGHTS TO TIBET. THEY ARE AN ILLEGAL OCCUPYING FORCE!!!

Spring Hill situation should embarrass residents too lazy and cheap to recycle - St. Petersburg Times

2010-04-30T13:13:00.001-07:00

Another story about my fellow Americans from Hernando county,this time more specifically Spring Hill. Its also called Butt Gully in some circles. The fool hardy Republican County Commissioner has drummed the idea up about getting rid of curbside recycling because so many of his Republican constituents are too busy saving their last pennies to by Milwaukee's Best. Not only do these idiots want to drink swill, but they want to toss the cans in the landfill. These people arent just lazy, there are cheap to a incredible fault.
These are the same people who will vote for Obergruppenfuhrer Nugent.

Spring Hill situation should embarrass residents too lazy and cheap to recycle - St. Petersburg Times

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Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite announces retirement from Congress | Tampa Bay, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Sarasota | WTSP.com 10 Connects

2010-04-30T13:06:00.000-07:00

This is a relief and then again its not good at all. She is endorsing one of the most hard hearted evil law enforcers that has ever come down the pike. Of course, thats what the good evangelical and retiree crowd love so much, someone with absolutely no heart whatsoever. They love that. It makes them think their god is out there making the world safe from humanity. Its too bad. Nugent will win more than likely because he is a fool hardy republican and the area is filled with fool hardy republicans. blech.
The world of politics keeps getting better and better doenst it.

Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite announces retirement from Congress Tampa Bay, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Sarasota WTSP.com 10 Connects

Ex-VP Dick Cheney endorses Rubio for Fla. Senate | ajc.com

2010-04-22T08:26:00.001-07:00

Ex-VP Dick Cheney endorses Rubio for Fla. Senate | ajc.com

Well, Rubio , i am not sure if you really want to be connected to one of the most vilified men in the history of the USA but i guess whatever works.
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Tibetan monks ordered to leave China's quake zone

2010-04-21T19:25:00.000-07:00

This story was impossible to blog directly to the Hungry Vegetarian so here it is cut and pasted.
The Chinese Government is so full of shit i dont even know what to say.

By ALEXA OLESEN (AP) – 1 hour ago
BEIJING — Earthquake survivors say the Tibetan monks helped first, bringing food, pitching tents and digging through rubble after disaster hit far western China a week ago, killing and injuring thousands.
Now the Buddhist monks who responded first are being pushed out of the disaster area and off of state media — apparently sidelined by Beijing's unease with their heroism and influence.
Monasteries were given verbal orders this week to recall their monks. Amid hours of coverage for China's national day of mourning on Wednesday, no monks were visible in the official proceedings.
It was a jarring omission in light of their contributions to the weeklong rescue and relief effort following the quake, which killed 2,064 people and injured more than 12,000 others.
Tsebtrim, an ethnic Tibetan who works as a translator in Yushu, the county in Qinghai province hit hardest by the April 14 quake, was among thousands left homeless. He recalls heading to the horse racing grounds shortly after the earthquake with hundreds of others who heard it would be a safe place if the local dam broke.

"There were these monks from Sichuan's Ganzi who had put up all these tents, 100 tents, in just a couple of hours and they provided drinks and food," said Tsebtrim, 31, who like many Tibetans has one name. "That night, a lot of people didn't have a place to stay so I am really glad those monks showed up."
In the days that followed, Tsebtrim saw monks digging through rubble for survivors or bodies, first alone and then with Chinese soldiers. He also saw them handing out food and medicine.
"It really impressed me a lot," he said during an interview from Yushu, where he is helping run an aid station.

Chinese military officials said this week nearly all the roughly 12,000 soldiers who rushed to the quake area struggled with altitude sickness and many had trouble communicating with Tibetan survivors. Tibetan-speaking monks, many of whom live in high-altitude areas or frequently make pilgrimages to them, didn't have those problems.
They flooded into Yushu within hours, on motorbikes and packed in the back of trucks.
On Saturday, they held a cremation ceremony, preparing hundreds of bodies, praying and burning the corpses in a massive trench outside of Yushu.
Yet state-run broadcasters have given scant attention to their efforts, spotlighting instead the hard work of the military and the People's Armed Police as they delivered tents, water and food, and lifted injured people from cracks of crumbled buildings.

Monks also live in the quake zone, though they were not shown in media coverage Wednesday
Robbie Barnett, director of the modern Tibetan studies program at Columbia University, said the monks' contributions pose a dilemma for the communist leadership, which distrusts the Buddhist clergy because of their loyalty to the Dalai Lama.
Beijing insists the Dalai Lama is fighting for independence for Tibet, which the exiled spiritual leader denies.
Monasteries are tightly control by Communist Party authorities who routinely order political re-education campaigns for the monks. The tensions have occasionally erupted in violence.

"China has never faced this situation before, where the monks it has demonized for 15 years as potential enemies of the state turn out to be energetic contributors to social construction and community-building — the same role that the party has always claimed for itself," Barnett said in an e-mail.
"Perhaps that's why the work of the monks has been featured very little, if at all," on China Central Television, he said.
On Wednesday, a monk and a Tibetan activist in touch with people in the quake zone said monks from Ganzi in Sichuan and other surrounding areas had also been ordered to leave the earthquake zone.
Yixi Luoren, the head of Ganzi's Gengqing Monastery, said 150 of their monks went to Yushu but 120 had left by Wednesday on orders from the Religious Affairs Bureau and the Communist Party United Front department in Ganzi prefecture, where the monastery is located.
A rugged, deeply Buddhist region filled with monasteries and nunneries, Ganzi is known for its strong Tibetan identity and has been at the center of dissent for years.
"They told us to do so on the phone," Yixi Luoren said. "The authorities didn't tell us the reason, but we assume they might have worried that there are too many people there and wanted us to come home safely."

Radio Free Asia on Wednesday quoted a Tibetan man in Yushu as saying monks held a candlelight vigil on April 19 that officials feared might take on political significance. The report said the man had asked not to be identified by name.
Woeser, a Beijing-based Tibetan poet and activist, said Han and Tibetan acquaintances in the quake zone told her similar orders were given to monks from several other monasteries. She said the monks were upset and not willing to go but had no choice.
"A clear reason for the order wasn't given but it was very strict," said Woeser, who also uses just one name. "Local officials told them through translators in Tibetan 'You've done everything already. You've done too much. You have to leave Yushu now, otherwise there will be trouble.'"
Woeser said local Tibetans were frustrated because they believe the monks are still needed to help dig out the dead and perform funeral rites.
"There is an opportunity here for the state finally to recognize the immense cultural resources that the monks can offer," said Barnett, the Columbia University professor. "But it will take great cultural sensitivity and compromise on both sides for that to be achieved."
Associated Press researcher Yu Bing in Beijing contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Rachel Maddow to air documentary comparing Timothy McVeigh to ‘anti-government extremists’ | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment

2010-04-16T16:37:00.000-07:00

She hit the nail right on the head. These people are the American Taliban

Rachel Maddow to air documentary comparing Timothy McVeigh to ‘anti-government extremists’ The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment

Cincinnati Blog: Hannity Rains on "Tea Party"

2010-04-16T16:25:00.001-07:00

Cincinnati Blog: Hannity Rains on "Tea Party"

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How does hate group fund national protests? - St. Petersburg Times

2010-04-16T16:10:00.001-07:00

How does hate group fund national protests? - St. Petersburg Times

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YOU DONT OWN THE GADSDEN FLAG

2010-04-16T15:37:00.000-07:00

YOU DON’T OWN THIS FLAG

Tax day, April 15th 2010 was a big day for America’s cheapskates, gun nuts and bible huggers. It’s funny, at least ironic, that these cohorts of individuals are all the same person. Yes, it was a reason to get out your cheesy flag shirts (ones that would have gotten you arrested in the 60’s for wearing) and old man pants to complain how Barrack Obama has ruined the nation in the year and one half or so that he has been in office. He has been used as the all purpose scapegoat for everything and anything that the bible and gun crowd sees wrong in America. Unfortunately for the sane, these people reek of ignorance and menace and are really something the world doesn’t need at this particular time.

These folks ,the former millenialists of the end of the 20th century , figured out that god wasn’t going to come and rapture their foolish asses away , and have found a new way to annoy and whine their way into the already over run minds of Americans.

They think that we are being over taxed and that the Feds are just wasting our money on social programs and handouts to the immigrants that are here legally and illegally. What you never hear out of these people mouths is that we have utterly wasted trillions of dollars in wars whose whole purpose was to destabilize a region, drive up oil prices as well as to annoy our enemies Russia and China and inhibit their oil deals that they have made with Iran.

I guess America’s cheapskates are happy with the arrangement over there. I suppose the occasional funeral for a local boy or girl, or man or woman, makes them feel all warm and patriotic inside. That those poor unfortunates who were caught in between a strong urge to serve our nation and private sector business interests, that were just way too big to truly grasp, makes this group feel that the America that they were raised on still exists.

They bring a lot to the table this group. They realize that the racial demographic is quickly changing forever and that soon their whole “Birth of a Nation” vision of white protestant supremacy will be a long forgotten past part of American history. It couldn’t come soon enough for this vegetarian I will tell you what. These folks that go to these meetings have some real grievances against our government. So did the people who followed and psychotically propelled National Socialism of the late 1920’s and 1930’s in Germany. In fact, many of the same complaints that the bible and gun crowd in America have echo identically to what the majority of Germans who followed another, but sinister vegetarian. Little Adolf made sure that those Germans were terrified of Stalin’s drooling socialist hordes as well as the pestilential effects of European Jewry. In fact the Nazi’s irrevocably linked these phenomena together for their constituents. If you are really interested in understanding the similarities, please read Sally Marks; The Illusion of Peace: International Relations in Europe, 1918-1933on the inter war years in Europe.

Funny thing about Stalin, he was doing business with Standard Oil and other oil firms in the USA. (SEE FOOTNOTES). I guess some socialists and capitalists are more equal than others especially when there is a shit horde of money to be made.

As Bob Dylan so astutely said so long ago:

From the poverty shacks, he looks from the cracks to the tracks

And the hoof beats pound in his brain

And he’s taught how to walk in a pack

Shoot in the back

With his fist in a clinch

To hang and to lynch

To hide ’neath the hood

To kill with no pain

Like a dog on a chain

He ain’t got no name

But it ain’t him to blame

He’s only a pawn in their game.

Of course, this begs the question whose game and whose money is keeping this game afloat? Who do you think? Who is behind Sara Palin? Who are the interests with all of the money?

Oh And one last thing,Just remember this. You don’t own the Gadsden flag. It belongs to ALL AMERICANS, not just those who are trying to mobilize another masking ideology to subvert the multi cultural democracy that has evolved during the last century. Hitler used German mythos of the Teutonic Knights as a masking ideology to mobilize a fascist racialized agendas. I don’t see much of a difference with the tea party folks really. They hate the same people and probably could be talked into the same things the Germans. Dont Tread on Me, it cuts both ways fella.

New York Times, Great Oil Terminal Building in Russia,9 April 1928, 5; New York Times, Soviets Make Drive for Oil Markets,10,October 1928, 31.; New York Times, Sue Oil Companies for Soviet Seizures,21 June 1931,6; New York Times, Court Here Backs Big Soviet Oil Deal,11 March 1933,23;New York Times, Soviets Make Drive for Oil Markets,10,October 1928,31

GOGOGOJIRA

2010-04-16T09:43:00.001-07:00

Prayers and help for the Tibetan earthquake victims.

2010-04-15T11:25:00.000-07:00

As everyone is probably aware a large 6.9 to 7.0 earthquake has hit the Kyegudo region of Kham in eastern Tibet. The region is called Yushu County (Yushu prefecture, Qinghai province) by the Communist Chinese occupying government and most of the world media. The death toll is reaching toward 1000 and I am sure the totals will rise. This is not to mention the thousands that are injured and homeless both ethnic Tibetans and Chinese. Thrangu Monastery was destroyed and many of the monks are either dead or missing. The Tibet fund has reported that 85% of the homes in "Jiegu, a town of 100,000 people nearest the epicenter, were destroyed." Please send all your prayers to these peace loving people in Kham.

If you have any means whatsoever, even only five dollars please send them to the Tibet fund http://www.tibetfund.org/ You will be directly helping those suffering families in Tibet.
OM MANI PEME HUNG
OM TARE TUTARE TURE SOHA

The Hungry Vegetarian is beginning to move

2010-04-15T10:53:00.001-07:00

The Hungry Vegetarian is moving again, albeit in a slow lumbering way like Gojira after a very long nap under Monster Island. We at the Hungry Vegetarian will be widening the scope of posts to include whatever comes to mind. SO, the pole sirens are blaring, the ee awww ee awww of the police cars are screeching through the doppler spins of our minds. we are coming.

The wonderful and very important world of Indian Food Blogging.

2008-01-09T10:27:00.000-08:00

I discovered the blogging world though my relentless search for authentic recipes to satisfy my obsession with vegetarian Indian food. I was introduced to Indian food back in the fall of 1983, when I was a student at the New School for Social Research. A friend of mine, who grew up on the Upper East Side, wanted me to expand my food horizons as I was, at that time, a hick straight from the sticks of Nassau County Long Island. He said “you need to try it”! I was afraid thinking, “well isn’t it too hot”? He assured me I shouldn’t worry. Well, I think my friend was playing a bit of a trick because the next thing he suggested was to get a lamb Vindaloo. I did, and for the next hour or so tried to finish the chili pepper infused bowl of death. I was sweating into my bowl of stewed lamb. He sat there and said, “That’s not even hot”! The thing is -- I was hooked. I loved the taste and the papadum lentil wafers before the food came and the lassi. He was right about it all; he just was having a little fun with me telling me to get Vindaloo instead of a nice Tikka Masala. That was well before I heard of ahimsa or anything remotely resembling a doctrine of non-harmfulness regarding our fellow beings.

As we walked back to his parent’s apartment suite, I felt this feeling come over me as the fire from the vindaloo napalm in my mouth subsided. It was a calm that I never felt before. It wasn’t that supposed tryptophan sleepiness after eating the poor Melagris gallopavo, it was more like the feeling of being very content and settled or one could say being stoned in some way. Of course, these were the world famous endorphins people are so addicted to that were locking up the receptor sites in my brain – the endogenous opiate-type molecule that makes people jump out of planes race motorcycles or eat spicy curry. I think the spicy food path is much more satisfying and in some ways much more safe. Everything in moderation right!?
So, I was hooked. Not necessarily on the heat, but on the complex and in some instances simple, savory flavors that came from the food. The food, to put it bluntly, was psychedelic. So my desire for great Indian food got more and more intense. I found out about 6th Street on the Lower East Side in NYC where the whole block is lined with Indian restaurants. The joke goes that there are many storefronts and one big kitchen for all of them. What is interesting is the food is all basically similar and most offer the same condiments such as the delectable onion chutney (that I have yet been able to duplicate) and a dal shorba or soup that is simple and wonderful. I have not had either in a long time as I am far away from NYC, and when I go I am not able to fully satisfy my addiction as others do not share it to the extent that I do. I would eat it breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday forever with the occasional break for pizza, Pad Thai and veggie dim sum.
So now fast forward to the present. During all those years, I tried to master the simplest Indian dishes. In the beginning, it was an utter disaster. Chickpeas undercooked, too much spice not enough spice. I bought a number of cookbooks and they always seemed like a puzzle with so many steps, obtuse sounding ingredients and stages of preparation I just gave up and waited until I could get to an Indian restaurant. Then someone gave me a book that is probably the best Indian cookbook I have found to date entitled Dakshin: Vegetarian Cuisine from South India by Chandra Padmanabhan. This book, with its amazing photography and detailed instructions, allowed me to make sambar (see previous blog entry) and it tasted dead on to the restaurant. So, I found that some of the problem with duplicating these foods at home had to do with the actual instructions.
While searching the internet for more detailed instructions for things like dosa and puda, I happened on this wonderful blog called Mahanandi. Mahanandi is an Indian food blogger that introduced me to the encyclopedic volume of information that is available in the blog universe concerning Indian cooking. I found recipes and high quality photos for many things I was familiar with and more importantly not familiar (like ponganalu!) with but was interested in trying.
Mahanandi is part of a larger network of food bloggers that offer recipes as per a specific ingredient such as coconut, rice, etc. The results of these jhiva’s are wonderful in depth studies all focused on one main ingredient. There is no understating the importance of these blogs as they, if only from an anthropological perspective provide the eater or student of Indian food a synthesis of thousands of years of techniques and shortcuts culled from grandmas and aunties from all parts of the Indian subcontinent. No one cookbook can do that nor do many even try. Furthermore, the thing with individuals is that there is feedback between the users and you get a window into a cooking world that is mostly unavailable to the westerner thusly providing a front row seat at the meal and even more importantly in the kitchen. I want to thank all of these people as they have enriched my life personally because they have enriched my enjoyment of eating and allowed me to show other people who thought preparing Indian food was something that stood outside their availability. If anyone who reads this is even remotely interested in Indian food, I urge you to pour a cup of tea and enter into the world of healthy Indian food through the doorway of the blogosphere. Here is a list of some of my favorite Indian food blogs:
Mahanandi, Mysoorean, Bong Moms Cookbook, Recipe Junction.

Udipi Cafe

2008-01-06T18:08:00.000-08:00

This it the maiden voyage of the Hungry Vegetarian a blog dedicated to the enjoyment of vegetarianism and all things related. I just returned from a trip to New York City and had some wonderful vegetarian meals and in the coming days I will share my experiences with you, but my first review of sorts will be of one of my favorite veg restaurants in the Tampa Bay area called Udipi Café. Udipi Café is located in Tampa at 14422 North Dale Mabry Hwy and serves a pure vegetarian menu based on the cuisines of South India. I have been here a number of times and each time practically sinking into a feeding frenzy unable to communicate, eyes rolled back into my head, in ecstasy.
The weekly lunch buffet is a fantastic way to sample many of the curries and accompaniments that are available on the menu. An additional bonus for the lunch guest is that everyone gets their own small sized Masala Dosai as part of the lunch buffet price! YUM! I would definitely go hungry to Udipi Café at lunch time. I always say get there early for any lunch buffet when the food is the hottest and freshest.
On this particular occasion my wife and I sampled the Masala Dosai and the Coconut Rava Masala Dosai. Dosai are a thin crepe-type pancake made from a slightly fermented batter of ground rice or a combination of ground rice, lentil or cream of wheat. The rice or other materials, depending on the recipe and the style being made, are ground and soaked for a number of hours or overnight and the slightly product is spread in a circular pattern on a very hot griddle or special dosa pan. The dosai are served most often with sambar, a spicy and tangy lentil based vegetable soup that is flavored wonderfully with tamarind water and a complex mix of roasted and ground spices. Some people like to dip pieces of the place mat sized crepe into the sambar. I have no problem with that! Coconut chutney is ubiquitously served with dosa as a condiment and is cool and a wonderful dipper for your dosa.

Masala Dosai with Sambar and Coconut Chutney

The dosa at the Udipi are wonderfully light and come out rolled and are larger than the plate they are served on. The presentation is exciting and is accompanied with coconut chutney and sambar as I described above. My wife ordered the Masala Dosai which is thin and slightly crisp on the margin and filled with a healthy portion of potato masala. The potato masala is lightly spiced with mustard seed and turmeric, but beware of the odd red chili hidden in the mix if you can’t handle the heat.
I ordered the Coconut Rava Masala Dosai which is a slightly different variety. The batter is made up of, not only rice, but cream of wheat. This dosa was filled with the same potato masala and was also massive though it came out folded rather than rolled. The consistency is a bit thicker than the Masala Dosai but light and airy as well. Fresh coconut was grated in the folds of the crepe which lent a delectable nuance to the dish. My only complaint was that the potato filling may be a bit too oily and can make the portion of the dosa in sits on somewhat soggy. My wife left that behind but I, ehem….didn’t let anything go to waste. It just tastes too good.

Coconut Rava Masala Dosai with Sambar and Coconut Chutney

I am sure I will be back at Udipi Café and will report back to HQ about any new experiences.
Dosai or Dosa are popular snack or tiffin in south India and are becoming quite well known in the USA as more and more restaurants are offering them. In fact, there is one person in New York City that makes a living selling fresh to order dosai from a cart in Washington Square Park, I have unfortunately not gotten down there for it but he is very well known and they say his dosai are great.