- I heated up the wok on the stovetop for a long time as I chopped the vegetables, so much that the smoke alarm went off even before I was finished with the slicing and dicing. I used three potatoes and an onion, and I was glad to be able to finish off the broccoli, celery, and carrots. I put all of these together in one bowl, sliced the mushrooms and put them in another bowl (because mushrooms are the last things to go in the dish), then I sliced up the wild boar sausage, put that in a third bowl, and mixed the spices in with the meat. (2 cloves garlic, pressed and chopped; 1/4 teaspoon sage; 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg; 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.) On impulse, I thew a dash of black pepper into the hot iron wok, and it immediately smoked as the bottom of the cooking surface was speckled with tiny red-hot dots of coal. The wok was definitely ready! My lack of experience in cooking regularly reveals itself, because I always make at least one mistake when I cook. I added a little canola oil, which began smoking after only a few seconds; and at this point I should have added the sausage right away. But I threw in the big bowl of vegetables first, and the vegetables seared instantly in the hot canola oil. I immediately regretted this, realizing I should have done the meat first. But it was too late to turn back, so I turned over the vegetables in the wok, then after about two minutes I placed my hand close to the hot food and felt the layer of heat that indicated the wok was still good and hot. And so I then threw in the meat, and mixed it together, making certain to sort the meat and work it through the vegetables so that it would sear as much as possible on the bare iron, beneath the greens. I worked at it in this manner for maybe five to seven minutes, occasionally using my metal wok turner to cut a piece of meat in half while still in the wok, to make sure it was cooked through. This was pork, after all – not just that, it was "wild" pork. Finally, as it looked as though the meat was cooked thoroughly inside and out, I added the mushrooms and turned it all around for another couple of minutes. The vegetables were seared to the point where I was just beginning to get a smell of burning, and I knew I had to get it all out of the wok right away. So I did.
- I concentrated on the sigil as I cooked supper. I don't know if the sigil helped (you can't tell what is magic and what isn't), but it was an exercise to keep the image in my mind as I made sure the meat was properly cooked. This was a first step towards what I hope will be a way of making magic with cooking.
- And the result was…success! I managed to take it out at just the right moment! The vegetables were thoroughly cooked, with that blackened-but-not-burned taste. And the wild boar sausage had the consistency of steak tips. What's more, they were DELICIOUS! It was a stronger pork taste than you'd usually get from a sausage, which made me glad I had decided not to add any additional sauces to the stir fry. The initial seasoning of the meat was enough. The flavor of this food was standing out. Because wild boar sausage is a rarity, I'm glad I took the time to specially prepare – and now, I'm glad I took the risk of cooking it the way I did. This is good eats!
- Sigils are supposed to be discarded, and I looked at the suggestion of creating an "alphabet of desire." It makes sense: because the intent of a sigil is to project intent into the subconscious, the sigil cannot be interpreted by anyone other than yourself. I've also seen at least one YouTube video with advice from another magician on making your sigils in other languages and other writings. In essence, the thing to do is create your very own lingua magicus (magus?), a language of magic that only you can understand, and invent your own alphabet to go with that language. Since I've only been doing this for a few days, I realize such a project would take a very long time to accomplish. On the other hand, since junior high I've never lost my love for J.R.R. Tolkien and his Elvish Tengwar writings. Until I develop my own voice and my own alphabet of desire, I could use the Tengwar as the basis of my magical writing, or even base sigils upon them. That would also encourage me to use more curves in my designs, rather than all straight lines. I like the idea, and as I write this I'm getting the feeling that it's the right thing to do.
- I expect a lot of former readers of my blog to unsubscribe, or have done so already, because I'm writing personal thoughts instead of digging up "bulldada" news on a regular basis. This is intended more for my own perusal than anything else. Still, if someone wants to comment on any of this, feel free to do so.
- And since my local town isn't offering anything that would allow me to cook on Halloween, I'm putting together the beginnings of a simple plan to do something that night. It's been suggested I give away toys, and this weekend I'll get a bunch of them to fill up some of my cast iron pots. Between that and carving a pumpkin on the Sunday before, this would at least be a start. As for the cooking…I haven't given up yet.
- * A plug for what continues to be my favorite Webcomic – Freefall!