Peanut Butter AND Chocolate Brownies: September Means Both

It's Bi Visibility Month!

Those of you who follow me in other places on the internet know I'm bisexual, so you get why I'm excited. It’s all too often that those of us who are bisexual are erased by the gender of our partners—or our lack of one. People assume being bi means that you’re constantly craving the company of two sets of genitals, instead of understanding that it means that we can find our perfect partner amongst people of more than one gender.

The bi pride flag is made of three colors. Blue, pink, and purple. The purple rests solidly in the middle as a visual metaphor for what it’s like to be bi. No matter the gender of the person I may one day choose to spend the rest of my life with, that will never change my sexuality. It’s like being a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. Not chocolate, not peanut butter, but BOTH.

So let’s talk about how to make some mouthwatering peanut butter brownies!

Ingredients:
Brownie Batter -
3 oz unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped
⅓ cup unsalted butter (plus a little greasing the pan)
1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp coarse sea salt
⅔ cup all-purpose flour
(Store bought is also fine if this sounds like too much work)

Peanut Butter Batter -
¾ cups peanut butter
⅔ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
¼ tsp vanilla extract
A few pinches of salt

Before you begin, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. You’ll want to dig out an 8’’ square baking pan as well, and line it with parchment paper and then coat that with nonstick cooking spray or butter.

Once you’re done with that, we can start in on the respective batters. To make the brownie batter, melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a gently simmering pot of water. Turn off the heat when they’re mostly melted, and stir them together until they’re fully melted and smooth. If you don’t have a heatproof bowl, you can melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave using thirty second bursts. Be careful not to microwave for too long, though, because you could burn your chocolate or cause it to separate.

Next, whisk in your sugar. Then your eggs (one at a time). Then your vanilla and salt. After your whisking is done, stir in your flour with a spoon or spatula.

The peanut butter batter is much simpler than the brownie. Just throw all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk/stir until completely combined. I find whisking works best when using smooth peanut butter, but can be tricky when using crunchy.

Once both batters are ready, spread a thin layer of brownie batter across the bottom of the pan. Then toss alternating spoonfuls down in rows to fill the pan. Use a butter knife to swirl the batters together in pretty wavy fashion. This works best for me if I think of drawing figure eights or infinity signs. Now the brownies are ready to go in the oven! Bake for thirty to thirty five minutes, and check with a toothpick to make sure the brownies are cooked all the way through.

There’s a very special book I want to talk about this month. I only just got my hands on a copy a few weeks ago at Rose City Comic Con in Portland, and the artist (Irene Koh) was sweet enough to even autograph it for me.

That’s right, you guessed it. The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars Part 1!

“But what’s so exciting about this book?”, those of you who didn’t guess what I was talking about might ask. What’s exciting about this book is that it’s a fantasy story about a young woman named Korra, who is tasked with keeping her world in balance. She is the Avatar, capable of manipulating all four elements and communing with spirits. And she just happens to be in a relationship with Asami Sato—another woman, who also previously dated Korra’s ex-boyfriend.

That’s right. You heard me. There’s an A-list title out there that features two bisexually behaving women in a relationship with each other THAT ISN’T FOCUSED SOLELY ON THEIR RELATIONSHIP.

That doesn’t mean the relationship between them isn’t a large part of the story, though. And what’s even more exciting about it is how realistically Korra and Asami’s love story is handled. While the previous iteration of The Legend of Korra that ran as a cartoon on Nickelodeon refused to even acknowledge the same-sex relationship Korra and Asami canonically started during the events of the cartoon, the Turf Wars Part 1 gives Korra and Asami room to talk about what it was like when they were still questioning their feelings for each other.

These two pages made me cry because they were so spot on about what it’s like when you first discover you might have feelings for someone of the same sex as you. You’re scared they might push you away, you’re not sure what you’re feeling is real—and yet ultimately you come to the conclusion that you want to take the leap.

The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars Part 1 doesn’t fall prey to the trope of letting Korra and Asami exist as the only queer characters in a non-queer vacuum, either. Almost as soon as Korra and Asami return to Republic City from their vacation, one of the previous Avatar’s children Kya notices their relationship—in part because she’s in a same-sex relationship herself.

The book then goes even further to retcon how same-sex relations were handled by the different cultures in the entire Avatar franchises continuity.

Normalizing same-sex relationships, giving them a place in the historical narrative even when they weren’t accepted… These are new, exciting things for an A-list title to do. Korra and Asami meet with different reactions as they navigate their new relationship. Korra’s parents are worried she and Asami will be mistreated if they don’t keep it private. Due to their reaction, Korra and Asami are nervous about telling their friends, and their mutual ex/friend, Mako. The truth comes out after a battle when Korra rushed to the side of a possibly wounded Asami.

Everyone reacts well, except for Mako. But Mako doesn’t react poorly! What’s exciting about Mako’s reaction is that it hints at further discussion about how friends can support their friends who come out. Sometimes people feel that someone else’s sexual preference reflects on them. In particular, sometimes men who have ex-girlfriends that come out as bisexual or gay will feel emasculated and respond poorly, taking their misplaced hurt out on others. Mako isn’t the sort of character to take those feelings out on Korra and Asami—but he is the sort of character that might be confused about his feelings after hearing that two of his exes got together. Should something come of that and a conversation is had between Mako, Korra, and Asami, it will serve as a positive example for how other people in Mako’s position can respond.

All in all, The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars Part 1 is exactly the sort of representation I’ve been craving all these years. It couldn’t have come at a better time—and we finally got that kiss Nickelodeon refused to give us at the end of Season 4.

Curried Acorn Squash: The Spice of Life is Diversity

This took me forever. I couldn’t for the life of me decide on a recipe that wasn’t going to be taken as some sort of racial slur—and, since this post is about diversity primarily in comics, I just didn’t want to take any chances. Then, as I was grocery shopping with my mother, I passed an acorn squash. I love squash, but I’ve always been really terrible at preparing it. I pointed to the squash and told my mother, “I wish I knew how to cook this.” A woman in the next aisle who through her skin color and accent presented to me as a woman of Indian descent reached out to me and said, “Would you like me to tell you how?” I spent the next twenty minutes in conversation with this woman about how to prepare the squash. I have been kicking myself ever since that I didn’t have my usual paper and pen handy. When I returned home and sat down to record what she’d told me, I couldn’t even remember her name. So, after a week of experimentation and hunting, I’ve found a recipe that I can only deem as similar to the one she gave me. I’m so sorry, but I hope you will enjoy this vegan curried acorn squash recipe. Ingredients: 1 acorn squash, peeled and deseeded, then cut into ¾ inch cubes 1 cup coconut milk or ½ cup grated coconut 1 tsp cumin seeds 2 dry red chillies 2 tsp grated ginger 1 tsp coconut oil 1 medium onion 1 tsp cumin powder 1 tbsp coriander powder ½ tsp turmeric 2 tomatoes Salt to taste 1 tbsp brown sugar or raw cane sugar ½ cup chopped coriander (for garnish)

First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees on Bake so the oven is hot when the squash is ready to go in. Next, toss the acorn squash cubes with some salt and pepper. Once done, coat them with oil—a spray is recommended by some sites, but so long as they're coated in a thin layer of oil it doesn’t matter. Then spread the squash on a baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes or until the squash is tender. While the squash is cooking, add the coconut milk, cumin seeds, red chillies and ginger together in a blender. Blend into a smooth paste. If you’re using grated coconut, you’ll want to add some water to make the paste. If spice isn’t your thing, feel free not to put the red chillies in the blender. Instead, take your chillies and use them for the next step of the process. In a separate pan, sauté your onions until the edges start to brown. Place your chillies in with the onion to get some of their flavor without as much of their heat. You can also add some garlic at this point, if you like. Then, add the turmeric, cumin powder and coriander powder. Be sure to stir while your onion sautés to coat it with the spices. After you’re satisfied with your onions, add the spiced coconut paste you made in the blender earlier to the pan. You’ll want to stir your pan contents frequently until most of the moisture in it has evaporated. This is important, because if there’s too much moisture the spices won’t have blended together properly.  Once the moisture is mostly gone, add your acorn squash cubes and tomatoes and mix everything together. Next you’ll want to bring the mixture to a boil and let it simmer covered on low heat for about five minutes. If the curry looks like it’s too dry to boil and/or simmer without burning, you can add some water to the mixture. Last, add your sugar, mix, and serve over rice or rotis with chopped coriander as your garnish. I really wanted to choose a dish to cover today that had a lot of ingredients in it and that doesn’t speak of white privilege or straight white feminism. Essentially, I didn’t want anything in this post to read like this:

This post is about the positive portrayal of women of color in comics and feminism that ISN’T just white feminism in comics. I hope you’ll enjoy my findings.

We've all heard the cries of how #WeNeedDiverseBooks. Fortunately, the comics industry is listening! Ms. Marvel has been a woman of Muslim descent since August of 2013, the Batman universe finally got a story centering around three women of color with Gotham Academy in October of 2014, and in the dystopia of Bitch Planet where non-compliant women are sent off world to a prison planet and only two women could even potentially be read as white amongst the group cast has been running since December of 2014.

The refreshing part about these portrayals is that they read like real people. Instead of a token black girl in the background, these women of color are the main characters. Kamala Kahn struggles with how to create a superhero costume that will allow her to cover her body in a way that aligns with her religion. Olive Silverlock hates Batman for locking up her mother. Every woman on Bitch Planet has a story and a reason for not complying with their patriarchal dystopia. These characters are not defined by their skin color. Instead, they are defined by their beliefs, their pasts, their values—just like any other human being.

The other refreshing thing about these comics is the lack of prejudice due to skin color. There are a few moments where Kamala is made fun of for being a girl, and of course there is a massive tendency of prejudice towards women in Bitch Planet. However, Gotham Academy seems to be a very diverse setting in which every main character is a person of color; and, while one might argue that since the setting for Bitch Planet is a prison and the cast is primarily made up of women of color that there is a racial prejudice inferred, there are no racial slurs and the characters themselves don't seem to acknowledge it. The respect for these characters is a welcome breath of fresh air.

The authors writing for these stories also warrant a mention. To begin with, all of them are women. Ms. Marvel is a girl of Islamic faith—and her writer is too! G. Willow Wilson has been writing for the new Ms. Marvel series since it started, and is an Islam follower herself. Becky Cloonan is the first woman to write for the Batman comics universe. And Kelly Sue DeConnick is a local Portlander who is known for her feministic attitude.

However, some people still think that for a piece of media to be "feministic" it simply needs to pass the Bechdel test. Some comics know it takes more than that to impress the ladies these days.

One of my all time favorite comics that knows this is the Avatar: The Last Airbender Free Comic Book Day chapter produced by Dark Horse Comics. A few of you may be familiar with the idea of the "fake geek girl." This ten page installation to the Avatar series deals directly with that scenario. Suki of the Kyoshi warriors—the all female fighting force of the Earth Kingdom—is shell shopping with her sweetheart Sokka. When another young woman who is obviously interested in shells walks in and starts perusing the shelves…

As you can see, he isn't very nice to her, and Suki immediately steps in. When the shopkeeper tries to physically throw Suki out, she defends herself, and, due to the shopkeeper's own poor fire bending, his shop burns down. Suki then goes after the girl and offers to teach her how to defend herself, in true Kyoshi warrior fashion. She adds to the ranks of girls who won't stand for being treated like fake fans, and writer Gene Luen Yang makes a mockery of the "fake geek girl" myth as well. Yang also takes some time to portray what a supportive male feminist/ally looks like in the portrayal of Sokka. Not only does he believe in Suki's abilities, but he doesn't try to step in and doing the fighting for her. He does offer Suki help at one point, but she turns him down, kisses him, and tells him that it was sweet of him to offer.

This story is one of my favorites because for a very long time, I was actually afraid to go into comic book stores because of all the stories I'd heard about the poor treatment of women there. We're fortunate to have a welcoming and diverse comics community in Portland, so when I finally went, it was amazing. I braved my first expedition in order to get this very book on Free Comic Book day. It felt like as good a time as any, and the support I found amongst the book's pages was well worth the risk.

Ms. Marvel has also been doing a fantastic job of bringing up feminist issues. Tricked into coming to the lair of her adversaries by her new crush Kamran, Kamala and Kamran have a conversation that is very reminiscent of the victim blaming prominent in rape culture:

Kamala's will to survive and her fight response when Kamran corners her during her escape attempt help Kamala get through her feelings of betrayal, guilt, and failure. It's important to understand that it's not as easy as a good plot point for many survivors to get over the victim blaming they deal with, but the fact that Ms. Marvel is acknowledging the problem and bringing it to the forefront of discussion is noteworthy.

Deadpool is also a comic that loves to fit social commentary into its panels—amongst the jokes of course. One of the most comically executed is the transphobia lecture that Deadpool receives while chasing a shape shifter.

Deadpool has been including a lot more women as main characters lately as well. Agent Emily Preston of S.H.I.E.L.D. becomes one of Deadpool's dearest friends when she's killed during the battle of the dead presidents and thrown into Deadpool's mind to keep her alive until a suitable vessel can be found for her to live in again. A ridiculous jaunt through Dracula's gauntlet finds Deadpool in love with succubus and mighty queen of the underworld Shiklah—whom he later marries! And, on top of all that, an old back issue brings to light an afternoon of passion Deadpool had with a Carmelita Camacho, leaving him with a daughter he fears affiliation with might endanger and Preston can't help but want to find.

All around, comics is working for the benefit of gender and racial equality. Not all comics are being so inclusive, and there are definitely a lot of steps to take to true equality; but here are some steady anchors for the staircase. Enjoy!

Spirits: Whiskey in Japan

Recently, I found a whiskey bar in Shinjuku called Zoetrope. It was completely because of this list that I found it, but since it has been impossible to find a good drink anywhere in Tokyo up until this point, I was overjoyed.

Remember how I mentioned the Japanese love of sweet pervaded everything from cocktails to hamburgers? Yeah, I wasn’t kidding.

Those of you who know cocktails will know what I mean when I say that American cocktails typically make their cocktails “spirit forward.” Well, here in Japan, even the most spirit forward cocktails are made so spirit backward that I sometimes question why anyone would waste good scotch on a Japanese style Rob Roy when they could have it straight and actually taste the whiskey.

The large selection of whiskey that I was able to choose from at Zoetrope was a beautiful, savory, dream come true. I was surprised when I walked in and the bar was completely populated by men, however. Then again, I probably should have expected it. Japan has a thriving drinking culture, and one facet of it is the drinking businessmen do together after a day at the office. As Zoetrope specializes in whiskey, it attracts a specific type of crowd, and that crowd includes the businessmen. Zoetrope also attracts a lot of foreigners like myself because the owner, Atsushi Horigami, speaks fantastic English and is exceptionally welcoming.

If you don’t know anything about Japanese whiskey, let me give you a quick rundown: Once upon a time, a man named Shinjiro Torii imported a bunch of foreign whiskey. The whiskey he liked best was from Scotland. Then, in 1924, he started up his own whiskey distillery in Yamazaki city—a city near Kyoto that was known for its pure and delicious water. This distillery is known today as Suntory and is still one of the leading makers of Japanese whiskey today. The other distillery that has made a name for itself is Nikka, but the best whiskey that Horigami presented to me when I visited his bar was the Ichiro’s malt and grain whiskey. To learn more about this lesser known distillery and their delicious bottlings, click here.

Which brings me to this week’s media tie in: spirits (as in alcohol) and spirits (as in supernatural beings).

Recall the drinking culture of Japan I mentioned earlier? A JRPG called Catherine decided to include drinking in its game mechanics.

That’s right: the more drunk your character, Vincent, becomes, the faster he is able to move in his nightmares that night. This might seem like a funny ability to want, but when you’re climbing a tower that is literally dropping off beneath you, you’ll find every little bit of added speed helps. One only needs to consume three drinks in order to max out Vincent’s speed for the game play, but Catherine added a little extra incentive to drink at least four drinks each night: beverage trivia. Every night a new bit of trivia is unlocked for each type of drink that Vincent can consume. The options are beer, sake, a cocktail (Vincent always seems to end up with a Cuba Libre), and, of course, whiskey. When the player finishes a drink, the narrator of the game interrupts the game to inform the player of an interesting fact pertaining to the type of beverage they just finished. The trivia is interesting enough to keep one drinking enough to move quickly in the puzzle stages of the game even if the player is completely oblivious to the three drink counter to the side of the screen. Ranging from distilling techniques, naming conventions, and historical context, a new bit of trivia is unlocked per night, and if you have one of each beverage per night, you will be given the titles of “Cocktail Connoisseur,” “Beer Baron,” “Sake Sensei,” and “Whisky Wiseman.” If you’re curious, feel free to check out the video of all of the whiskey trivia below.

The next example of “spirits” is the punned version—supernatural beings. Spirits in media tend to be one of two types: either the spirits of the dead or the spirits of things, such as household items, trees, fire, and anything else that might possess a personality in the human imagination. Spirits can manifest in lots of ways, born from the residue of a life extinguished, born from intense emotion concerning a certain item, because there was simply a will to live within something, etc. In the Avatar: The Last Airbender and Avatar: The Legend of Korra franchises, the origin of spirits is rather unexplained. It becomes plain that they are different from humans, however, and thrive on all things magical and wild. During The Last Airbender timeline, the spirits exist in their own world known quite plainly as The Spirit World. However, in the events of The Legend of Korra, it comes to light that the world in which humans dwell was once shared between spirits and humans. The two portals that kept the worlds separated are opened, and the humans and spirits once again begin to live in the same world. This is not without its contentions however.

Avatar Korra lecturing a spirit about compromise

When the spirit and human world merge once more, both the living arrangements of humans and spirits are disturbed. The human’s great cities are suddenly overrun with magical flora, and the spirits are baffled by the technology humans invented to do things that magic had always been used for in their world. But the job of the Avatar, as illustrated in the above picture, is to keep the balance between humans and spirits. Why does this responsibility fall upon the Avatar’s shoulders? It’s because the Avatar is a human with a spirit living inside of them. As such, they are the unbiased party, the middle ground, between the two races.

It isn’t always an easy job, but regardless of the “spirits” you’re working with balance seems to be a good thing to strive for—even if you’re not the Avatar or teetering up collapsing nightmare puzzle towers! Drink responsibly and tastefully, everyone!