Monthly Archives: June 2013

Tofu Salad

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I’ve recently been trying a number of new recipes that held the promise of entertaining the tastebuds. Sadly, many of them failed to impressive, leaving disappointment as an aftertaste. One recipe that did have Jo and I wanting more came from The Sexy Vegan Diet, which in turn got it from rawfoodchef.com: Tofu Salad. The recipe is not strictly raw food because of the inclusion of tofu, though we are not complaining.

2 packets of tofu
2½ dl vegan mayonnaise
4 tbs finely chopped onion
1¼ dl grated carrots
¾ dl parsley
4 tbs nutritional yeast flakes
1 tbs dijon mustard
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper

I think that the above amounts make the recipe to heavy, so I take less mayonnaise and add a bit more carrot. The end result is still rather stodgy, though. I also omitted the parsley, having none at hand. We have also tired it with black salt powder (kala namak), to give it an eggy taste, which works very well.

Slugs

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I was walking home with Freya this evening after her very rainy football practice, when we came upon a path scattered with slugs. It got me thinking just how rubbish slugs are. I needed proof, of course, so I did some quick research.

Snails are pretty poor creatures, with the bonus of having shells to protect them. Scientists who have studied one particular sea snail have found out that its shell is made up of three different layers, each layer offering different benefits and forms of protection. I still believe that, overall, snails suck. Slugs, as we know, don’t even have this to aid them against predators; however, their slime does not taste at all nice.

Despite this, they are apparently preyed upon by virtually every major vertebrate group, which makes me wonder just how effective a defence vile tasting slime is. Should they get caught, they are able to lose their tails at will. They will also chew off their own penises (or their partner’s) when they get stuck during mating. This, apparently, is not an uncommon occurrence.

Self mutilation is definitely an attribute of suckiness. Slugs ARE rubbish.

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My First Ukulele Composition

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After spending quality time this weekend with the ukulele, I was ready to start the week having learnt a new song, the Spiderman theme music from the original cartoon series. It wasn’t a difficult tune (the lyrics took a while to get right), but there were some nice chords, sounding similar to something that Cornelius Vreeswijk might have penned.

Fuelled with enthusiasm, I arrived at school early this morning and came up with the beginning of an untitled children’s song. By the end of the day it had become a two verse, one minute ditty now known as The L/eg/g Song. Because the risk was big that I would forget some of it by tomorrow, I videod myself playing the song. The benefit of this is not only a personal one, but in the future my children will have a film of my doing something creative, and I am sure it will mean as much to them as it means to me to have actually made up a song.

It was many years ago I last composed anything, and at that time it involved computers, synths and other electronic bits and pieces. Now I am completely unplugged, just a man and a uke. This simplification of technology may well see a number of new songs being produced in the near future.

My Ukulele

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My first encounter with a ukulele occurred over a year ago. My friend and work colleague, Jeremy, brought one to work after his wedding in Hawaii. Whilst he strummed away over the following months, I never thought much about trying it out myself, even though I appreciated his own child friendly compositions. In fact, I cannot remember when my own interest was aroused, only that I started playing properly three or four months ago on another, worse quality, ukulele that Jeremy had been given.

The more I played, the more I enjoyed the sound that a uke could produce. It also had the advantage of size, being much easier to play than a guitar in the presence of children, and being easier to transport. The additional benefit of a smaller fretboard and fewer strings to control also gave me the illusion of being more adept at playing a stringed instrument. I could knock out chords on a guitar, but had more trouble producing a decent sound, especially with some of the harder finger configurations.

About a month ago I started seriously considering buying my own ukulele. I was becoming good enough, enjoying it immensely, and tiring of the bad quality uke I was using at school. One of the tuner screws had threaded, meaning that the particular string in question would constantly go out of tune.

After some research, I found a model which was rated by other players, and fitted my budget of one thousand crowns. I deliberated a couple of weeks, whilst finding a shop in Stockholm that stated it stocked just the model I was after, a Lanikai LU21. I decided to take the plunge and visit the shop today, with the intention of purchasing one such uke, providing it played, sounded and felt right.

On arrival, I immediately found what I thought was the model I was after, and politely asked if I could try it. As soon as I held it, it felt right. I strummed out a few songs I had learnt, and the sound produced was sweet. I expected it, of course, but having been used to a uke that cost a quarter of the price of the Lanikai, it was none the less impressive.

Just to make sure, I tried a couple of other models, one of which was similar to the one I had just played, and also a Lanikai. When I started to play, it seemed familiar. On closer inspection, I noticed that this model I had in my hands was, in fact, the LU21, and was much closer in every aspect to my school uke than the previous uke I had just tested. It was then I realised what had happened.

There are different sizes of ukuleles. The one that Jeremy and I have at school is the smallest, called a soprano. The first uke I picked up in the shop was an LU21C, the “C” standing for “concert”, which is the next size up in the range. My lack of knowledge of ukuleles made me somewhat bewildered, not knowing the implications of finding a different size than had previously been intended. Whatever the implications may be, I knew that I had found what I was looking for, so I made my way coyly to the lady behind the counter to make a purchase.

It turned out that the display uke was the only one the shop had in stock, and I was offered it for eight hundred crowns, which I accepted without problem. I walked away a very happy customer, and look forward to a future as a casual ukulele player, thanks to Jeremy.