Ashi

Billie Holiday is jazz staple!

This is a variation of Lana's Divine Spaghetti Sauce featured on Allrecipes.com. It has my own spin on it. Here is the link to the original recipe: http://allrecipes.co...uce/detail.aspx Spaghetti a l'Ashi Ingredients 1 pound lean ground beef 24 IKEA Swedish meatballs 2 (28 ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste Instead of those two, use two jars of Bertolli spaghetti sauce, your choice of flavor. Prego works too, but Bertolli is better. If you have the access, use Dave's Gourmet spaghetti sauce. Not easy to get, and it's a San Francisco based company and usually only specialty cooking stores carry them. Oh, they have a website and you can buy them there.... I never tried their website though. ALTERNATIVE: If you like to make your own sauce, use three cans of S&W Italian Recipe Stewed Tomatoes, which can be bought in Costco in bulks. Don't know the size of the can offhand.... The reason I don't use Lana's tomato sauce from scratch is..., it takes too much time!!! You need to cook overnight to achieve perfection. Using my method, you can finish it in as little as an hour if all ingredients are washed, cleaned, chopped and ready to go. 1 large onion, chopped 4 stalks celery, chopped Ashi's note: this cannot be omitted, I found out by experience. This is the secret ingredient that keeps the sauce divine as it is. If you don't like celery, use two stalks instead of four. Chopped them up finely so no one would be aware of them. Their existence will soak up the acidity level of the sauce, and make the sauce sweeter) 2 green bell peppers, chopped 1 red bell pepper, chopped 15 fresh mushrooms, sliced 5 tablespoons Italian seasoning 1/4 cup of Italian seasoning 1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes 4 bay leaves Ashi's Note: Turkish bay leaves. California bay leaves don't cut it and are completely different products. 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil (I don't use it, but you can) 3 cloves garlic, minced 12 cloves. 1 pound spaghetti (as much as you need! I usually cook a lot!) Some olive oil Following are Ashi-specific formula 2 pounds squid or calamari, cut them into strips (Ashi's own formula) 2 pounds shrimps with head on (Ashi's own formula) Shredded Gruyere cheese (optional) LOTS AND LOTS of love Preparation: (this is very different from Lana's, so please use this version instead of hers) Clean the squid and shrimps. Cut the shrimps' heads off, and put them in a large infusion ball. We'll cook squid and shrimps later. Grease a large saute pan, probably a 16-18" one, with olive oil (please don't use non-stick. It's not the same) and spread Italian seasoning all over the pan, and turn on high heat. Put the Ikea Swedish meatballs in, sway the pan around so the meatballs are coated with Italian seasonings. Do not let the Italian seasoning to burn. Lower the heat if you suspect it's about to burn. The water from meatballs should keep it from burning, but do be careful. Cook for 1-2 minutes, and put them aside (they don't have to be fully cooked. We're only coating them with Italian seasoning here..) Use the same pan, saute 12 cloves of garlic just enough to get the flavor out, take them out and put them in the same infusion ball with the shrimps' heads. Cook the pasta sauce (or stewed tomatoes) in the same saute pan, which should still have plenty of Italian seasoning in it (you want it to give flavor to your sauce, so don't dump it!), put the meatballs back in, and turn to medium-low heat. Put the bay leaves in the infusion ball and close it. Immerse it in the pasta sauce. Add chili pepper flakes to the sauce. In a separate pan, saute the onion and celery. Allow them to be caramelized, then add sliced mushroom, then add chopped bell pepper. Some people (especially with French cooking training) will broil the halved bell peppers in the oven until the skin is burned. Then remove the charred skin by using a French knife in scraping motion..., and then dice them to desired size. For people who don't like bell peppers, that way the bell pepper will be really soft and sweeter. I prefer my bell pepper visible in my sauce, so I don't do that. Bell pepper skin is very nutritious, so another reason not to scrape it off. Keep slow cook the sauce for at least an hour. For best result, 4+ hours. Cook the spaghetti (or spiral pasta if you like that better) until it's almost done..., and drain the water with a colander. If you think it's already fully or almost fully cooked, "shock it" with cold water, so it doesn't keep on cook through even when it's out of the stove. Shock is not a good cooking method.... It washes away nutrition, so it's the last resort.... It's often used in restaurants because it's easier to control cooking time. On a separate saute pan coated with some olive oil, stir fry in high heat one or two servings of shrimps and squid (or whatever the amount you think you can handle at once), adds a ladle full of pasta sauce (per serving) and mix them thoroughly, and then stir fry the almost done pasta (of corresponding serving) until it's fully cooked. That's it. Top it with extra sauce with veggies on the serving plate. Repeat this step if you are serving more than 1-2 servings. If you want, add shredded Gruyere cheese on top for final presentation (I don't like Parmesan... Gruyere is creamier). ALWAYS COOK WITH LOVE! Serve with red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon preferred, but any red should be okay). Bon appetit!

I like red head.... Blood orange red.

Cool. Hello AJ.

Not one session free, just a tapioca drink....

Hmmm.... Interesting. Now, tell me about your childhood. Oh, I am sorry, I didn't notice the time. 8 o'clock next time for another one-hour session? Just kidding. I think you sensored something out.... Anyways, I almost told you something about myself.... Phew! (*picks up the exploded fried rice on the ground*)

Oh well, if it's incompatible, then at least you gained a nice friend. (as long as you don't fight for the same guy later on... MEOW)

I don't know what to say except I had a female friend who told me she didn't like having female friends because they're difficult to deal with, just right before she stopped seeing me.... (*sighs*)

Yettie..., if I included that option, don't you think everyone would just vote that? Too easy! You gotta make people think, and think hard! There has to be a prevalent preference. Freud said everyone is born bisexual.... Bisexual my *ss. I am not even confused.... I can't agree with you more, vanity is a very unattractive attribute to me as well, though sometimes I like to feel attractive just for myself. I once announced to a group of (mostly) straight folks that I want to be pretty, and one guys said, "Don't you mean handsome?" "No. I want to be pretty!" The princess responded. LOL! I was outrageous back then.... Everyone is young once, and I was just being silly. That said, I think most people have a vulnerable side. And how they perceive themselves is a common one. I don't think I mind that much, but I just hope they'll realize, just being themselves is attractive enough, if they do have some substance, and if they met "the right one," the one who truly loves them for who they are. But not knowing if the person you like really loves you is the center of the problem here isn't it? Once a while I'll meet someone who would talk to me using big words, when I know that's not his usual vocabulary.... All that stuff..., exterior, shell, or whatever the word that describes the appearance. When I first met Linguica, I didn't even consider him, because he was too handsome for me (I know..., that's like reverse-vanity). I probably had a lot of insecurity of my own (okay, not probably, I had a lot of that..., okay, I still have... ), and his reputation was not encouraging. I thought he was just a bimbo (and he was like never serious about anything). I was wrong. Yes, he was very street..., always f*ck this, and f*ck that, but once I got passed all that, he was actually a very wise person. Underneath all that shallow appearance was a very profound person without pride or conceit (I feel I am reciting a Jane Austen novel... ). So yeah, there are people who have both.... An average looking guy might look totally irresistible to me because of their personality. I think that's charming. You know..., (in British accent) charming. Now, how could we send Bang Bang off to Abu Dhabi?

So she is the butch and you're the queen? Just kidding.... (*runs away and hides under a rock*) I hope you feel better soon.

When I didn't go to my high school prom, I was pretty much unofficially out to the world. I think I even pulled a stunt by inviting a girl who was unavailable, so I had an excuse.... Anyways, all that happened before I was consciously aware/admit I am gay.... Funny isn't it? Who am I kidding except myself? I remember my school actually made a fuss because it was like the first time they actually said it's okay to have same sex prom date. Keep in mind this was in the 90's, so yeah, my school was pretty cool and forward thinking. And unlike some weird parents in the 2000's, no parent actually protested. I had a feeling it's because of the suicide that had just happened right around that time. They didn't want to tell people why the guy committed suicide, but even the pre-out Ashi knew the reason probably had to do with sexuality (why else would a star student shot his brain out and told his parents he's sorry with a suicide note?). It was the 90's, the age of reason, and people were 10x smarter. After the dot.com boom, people were caught in the easy money game and their kids became jaded and lots of dysfunctional family problems began to surface..., and Facebook made school gossips 100x worse (I bet the speculation of why he committed suicide would be all we heard about in school had Facebook existed..., instead of let the poor sod RIP. Even high school kids had manner and respect for the deceased back then...). Life were much better. Anyways, yeah, me and my mom are like BFF..., but we have our share of bickering.... My mom treated me like her fashion adviser also.... I have always been the daughter she wanted, but never had even before I was out to her.... After out, it was only worse.... I have to remind her that I am actually a guy (gay /= girl!!! Even when I am a bottom pansy boy..., I don't feel like a girl! I don't even look androgynous). And she would just say "let's go home" after she did her shopping, and I would be like, "Umm..., aren't you forgetting something?" Then she'd offer to pay for the pants, which were the reason we were in the mall to begin with.... So it's only right that she paid, because of all the work I did for her (hey, fashion advice isn't easy when she doesn't even want to listen to me, unless I agree with her...). LOL! Just kidding, I am not ungracious like that. I only buy clothes when necessary, and usually I look at price tag when I am using her money (I am really Taurus...). Sometimes I would talk like really disrespectful to her in eyes of others, but I always have a soft spot for her, especially when my dad is such an *ss. All that "this skirt would look good on you if you would eat less" really is my way of concerning for her health.... I would love to see you telling that F*CKED UP lie to your parents. You...? Y_B is straight? hahahaha100x You're like a foul-mouthed bottom.... If you were a Chinese dish, you'd be mabo tofu.... Spicy and hot outside, but soft inside. Anyways..., I should really stop talking to you, or I'd never able to leave here....

(*hugs*) My grandma was really nice. I was her favorite grand children.... My grandma from mother's side was also very nice. Funny thing is, I think people from my grandparents' generation probably would accept homosexuality more than my parents' generation....

I have the exactly same relationship with my mom as Y_B with his.... Freaky. I guess it's some sort of symbiotic relationship.... Should we update Wikipedia's entry on "List of Symbiotic Relationships" to include Asian moms and their gay sons? Do they constantly ask you why you don't have a girlfriend, Y_B? Even after I told her I am gay, she still has some thread of hope that I would marry a girl.... It's both massively infuriating and at the same time I feel bad for her.... Gay boys and their moms' relationship is like a convoluted mess....

Yes, the guy in Conrad Boy couldn't act.... Project like that is usually very personal, so he probably wanted to do it himself (he is also the writer, btw), but sorry, that's why we have so many bad gay genre movies.... Keep things separate!!! The script does have potential, but he needs some people to help him out on some of the more technical stuff. The movie garnered some interests from what I read, and I can see why (we totally lack of any Asian American gay story that really does speak so earnestly about Asian American experience. I can totally imagine him as my next door neighbor because it's pretty real that way). Though underneath his gentle demeanor, I do think he has some of that Asian parents' tendency to control-freak1 everything showing through while I was watching the movie... (kind of Virgo-ish...). I guess you have to be an Asian American to understand it.... 1I know that's not a verb.

I didn't know how to answer that question, but now I reread your statement and I guess I'll just say... I wouldn't want to meet you. I hardly know you and you hardly know me. If I were younger, I would be super excited if someone I know online would come visit me... (I used to beg them to come or I threatened to visit them). Not nowadays. I've met a couple of Internet friends offline before and the encounters were never really interesting, though encounter #2 was more interesting though we hardly said anything interesting to each other. It didn't feel like how it is when we are online (and we knew each other for years). And I am one of those very quiet person in RL. That's also one reason I don't go on chat. One guy got really interested in me and I thought he joined that group I was in just to talk to me.., and he decided to chat with me and I was bored.... Ruined a perfectly nice impression of each other. Mutual disappointment. Besides, I am out of my social butterfly stage. I am more of a recluse nowadays.... It's just me and my camera which is fine by me. I am a mess, as I mentioned several times. You really don't want to meet me. I'll leave GA soon anyways, maybe just pop in once a while and see if someone's story is done. Yeah, I don't remember how I met my friends also. Things do move slowly, especially me. Things can take months or years before I decided someone is truly my "friend." That's the kind of person I am in RL. Not I am stuck up, but I prefer to observe the person for a long while before I make a decision if the person is trustworthy. Not saying I don't trust people, but I do need a long period of no opinion on someone's character before I finally make a judgment.

It's a gay road trip movie. An HIV positive guy met a do no-good drifter (reminds me of Y_B for some reason) and they kind of "eloped" together because Luke (the reckless drifter) kept doing outrageous things like killed several gay-bashing thugs and eventually killed a cop.... Anyways.... Nice movie, though I was actually taking a Y_B break.... A little amoral and irresponsible (the latter is the director's own word) for my taste but it's fun sometimes. Don't know what to think of the ending, which is not bad in a way, because it kept me thinking about Thelma and Louise while watching it, which has a really sad ending..., so I really don't want it to end like that. Young Brad Pitt was actually cute in T&L, and he was speaking in Southern accent.... What do you guys think of it, for those of you who watched it?

Yes, he is probably single, just like you, just poking around the world.... Marriage isn't for everyone I suppose, but please, some of us do care about more connection than just friction..., so don't put down others or don't think the way you think. The rest is just too inappropriate to answer. I am old, okay? I can't handle stuff like this anymore. My blood pressure is rising just reading it.... I feel sorry for your parents.... What did they do to deserve you? If I were your dad, I would go kaboom in two seconds.... I can't handle kids. Sorry, I just can't! Anyways, Mr. jamessavik..., it's not always about azz, sometimes it's about....

Why is everyone who I call my twin brother always turns out funky? I think I shall stop declaring younger people as my twin brothers, no matter how much younger that could make me feel.... Because that's just like wrong.... I don't talk like you..., like ever. You really raised the bar. You made me feel I was raised in the 50's..., and I mean 1850's.... You are kind of intimidating. I think I shall die from heart attack very soon.... Wait, someone already did.... Maybe I'll just wait for another month for propriety reason.... And your taste is like bad.... I mean, Justin Bieber? Really? And you would pay to have him do that? I am pretty quiet in RL. I am more of a listener. But nobody believed me.... Not even my co-workers in my previous jobs.... Online I can talk a lot, but not on the same level as Y_B of course....

Oh, goodie, I love that phrase. But seriously, I don't think I overlook my friends' "flaws" because that would imply I think they're..., well, let's not be impolite. Anywayz..., I guess sometimes I project a little bit, because I really want people to explore me (stop that, Y_, so I keep things open and just observe people for who they're rather than who they appear to be. The result is usually like there is a little gem in everyone. And sometimes that little gem inside can hook me harder than the exterior. I used be like, I want a guy who is tall and this and that... blah blah blah and all those appearance factors. Yeah, I still want my guy to be tall, and that's most of that 20% of look I care about..., but if the guy has no substance, share nothing in common with me, bores me to tears while I was trying my best at giving a polite smile (and still doesn't get the hint and stop to bore me), talk about how good he looks while ignoring me , I think I wouldn't care the guy looks good or not. I think finding a guy like that is much harder than finding a good looking guy.... But then I live near San Francisco.... We don't have a shortage of good looking guys around (which makes it more difficult to compete also, of course...). I kept thinking about my Linguiça when I thought about my idea guy.... I don't think I'll ever find a boyfriend if I keep thinking like that.... But I could listen to him talking about his life and problems all day long, because he was so fascinating. Anywayz, do you guys find it when a guy talks to you about something that concerns about them so deeply, they look lost-in-thought attractive? Or maybe a whole body blush when you tease them? I thought those are like the freaking turn ons....

Happy Birthday.

And you're Einstein.... Oh come on, that's about as obvious as Anderson Cooper is gay. But I am sure AC is beautiful on the inside....

I think that's pretty much what I think also, and that believe or not, hurt me more than anything. Okay, I am going to say to me 80% is inside, and 20% outside. I am not picky on the outside, as long as I feel we're sort of compatible. I can't date with someone at all who I don't feel we have some sort of common ground or someone I cannot possibly respect. That to me is like the big thing. Unfortunately how could someone know what the person is REALLY like until you get to know them for a long while? I've had some friends, who pretend to know me based on how I look.... That drives me nuts! INSIDE.... It's INSIDE that counts. Get into my inside!!! Know what I like and feel what I feel! Flower will one day fall apart and fade away. I am not only saying that because I am aging. Really.

What do you guys think? After taking the survey, please do a short elaboration if you can. Or if you want to do a percentage, that's fine, too.

I love it when people make things up. There is no proof that Ghandi is gay, just like there is no proof for Jesus Christ and Buddha's sexuality. They're practicing celibacy for religious reason. BTW, you cannot just make story up.... Please watch the movie "Shattered Glass" about a real story of a journalist locked up in jail because of doing such. The guy has a lot of issues, and what he did was a little more elaborated (he made a fake website to support his fake story he wrote in the article). It's wrong and deceiving the public is the lesson here. Journalist's integrity anyone? Are we back to the yellow journalism era, sell by sensationalism? The world is going backward....

I remember quite a few: The Perk of Being a Wallflower, Running with Scissors (I watched the movie, exceptional biopic), Maurice (Merchant/Ivory production), Howl and Other Poems (never read it, though I did read a partial of it over the Internet, but mostly knew about it because of James Franco's movie...), The Color Purple (via movie). I still have my copy of "The Perk of Being a Wallflower." Kind of overhyped, but pleasant read (probably because I am too old for the target audience..., I was in my mid-20's when I read it, and it is clearly aimed for high school age kids). I really don't know why it is controversial. The initial issue about coping with suicide sort of wane away as the book goes on (and never mentioned again...). What I am surprised about it is, the guy who is playing the story in the movie version (I didn't know it exists!) is the Ezra Miller! OMG. I just watched "We Need to Talk about Kevin," another disappointing overhyped movie, but he was GREAT in it!!! Great method acting, did his research about the role and delivered. Maybe I am not super crazy about the novel (The Perk...), but I'll look forward to see the movie, because of Ezra Miller.