Every time a discussion regarding tourism to North Korea starts, this point always comes up. After all, it is a valid and natural point of concern.

Yes, North Korea has concentration camps and an atrocious human rights record. Nobody (except the North Korean government) is going to deny that. Yes, any foreigners in North Korea will have significant restrictions on freedom of movement. No one who has gone there is going to tell you otherwise.

Having been educated and cultivated in the West, where oftentimes we can take matters like human rights and freedom of movement for granted, our instant reaction is to be disgusted by this - so disgusted that we'll cry out "North Korea is the most evil place in the world" and instantly clam up in anger. Sometimes that anger, and the lack of reliable information about North Korea, will lead us to sensationalize. We'll try to explain unexplainable evil as a massive prison camp or a farcical socialist movie set.

This is natural and has basis in reality, but, in my opinion, is unhelpful.

If we want to truly make some sense out of that unexplainable evil, which to an appreciable extent is a prerequisite for any sort of meaningful change, we need to take a more nuanced approach. Sometimes, that could involve taking a visit.

From my perspective, going on a tour to North Korea is not supposed to be like sunning in Mallorca or frolicking in Disneyworld. You don't go there to have "fun", you go there to learn. If your objective in traveling is to have "fun", then by god don't go to North Korea. But my objective in traveling places is not to have "fun"; it's to learn.

The next instinctual response is to cry out: "But you won't learn anything! They're just going to parade you around and show you propaganda!"

Again, I think this line of thinking trivializes the matter. In earlier stages of Western education systems, we oftentimes learn about bias and come to perceive it as an absolute negative. In secondary schools you might hear kids going "oh, this source is biased, so we can't use it!" This is incorrect. Bias is not an absolute negative; biased sources like propaganda simply need to be approached differently. Propaganda is rich with information, but not the factual, face-value information you might expect from some place like an encyclopedia. Instead, you glean the wealth of contextual information it offers. Let's say you're reading Chinese propaganda from the Cultural Revolution, and some of it praises this guy named Lin Biao, while some of it denounces him. From that you shouldn't conclude "some of this shit must be fake". Instead, you can extract hints of the regime's worldview, and use the propaganda to piece together the context that perhaps Lin Biao had a falling out with Mao.

Visiting North Korea is much like that. There's a richness of context from both what's seen and unseen, from what's heard and unheard. If you're equipped with the right advance knowledge and the right academic mindset, there is in fact a lot you can internalize about actual North Koreans and the country itself.

Yes, there remains the issue of lining the pockets of the regime and whatnot, and I'm fully aware of that fact. As with everything else relating to the DPRK, there's layers of nuance to this financial facet of the regime that would take rather long to explain, so I won't do it here.

If you do want to hear that explained/debated, and go beyond CNN articles and "Team America", I'd recommend starting off with the following books:

• Under the Loving Care of Fatherly Leader, by Bradley K. Martin: A 900 page behemoth that's probably the most comprehensive guide to the North Korean regime out there.
  
• Nothing to Envy, by Barbara Demick: If you want to learn more about the ordinary lives of "actual North Koreans" from outside Pyongyang.
  
• The Aquariums of Pyongyang, by Choi-hwan Kang: The first book published from someone who went through one of those infamous concentration camps.
  
• The Impossible State, by Victor Cha: Written by a former White House official and Six-Party Talks participant, this book provides a view into the complex foreign policy calculus relating to the DPRK.
  
  If after you finish reading all that stuff you get curious enough to go, then that's your choice. If you don't, no one's going to force you to go either. We're fortunate enough to live in societies that generally respect freedom of choice and movement; if we want to play the game of moral superiority, being able to visit North Korea is the ultimate manifestation of that freedom.
  
  

Woo ok! Sorry, I had to make this two nights in a row to make sure it tasted right the next day!

Hummus

1 2/3 cups canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed (rinsed!!!!) (you can use dried just fine, it's cheaper, but requires some finesse to get a consistent result like you can with canned)

1/3 cup water (some people use the water the chickpeas came in/were cooked in, but I just rinsed the fuck out of these chickpeas for a damn reason...)

1/3* cup lemon juice (fresh squeezed is best here! but 95% of the time I use the giant bottle you get in the juice aisle)

1/4 cup tahini (don't cheap out on this! you will RUIN your hummus! I'd rather use peanut butter than a bad tahini. You should feel like hedonism bot eating a spoonful of pure tahini of your choice. I've used like 50 kinds of tahini and the one I always return to is Joyva -- I've gotten it for $6 at wal mart before.)

1 tbsp evoo + 1 tbsp drizzle on top to serve

1-3+ garlic cloves

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cumin (this is kind of strong, but I like cumin, you can probably cut this back to 1/2 tsp... I've gone as high as a heaping tablespoon)

black pepper to taste*

^^^These ^^^measurements ^^^will ^^^give ^^^you ^^^a ^^^nice ^^^dipping ^^^consistency ^^^like ^^^you ^^^get ^^^in ^^^tubs ^^^in ^^^a ^^^store. ^^^I ^^^prefer ^^^stuff ^^^you ^^^could ^^^lay ^^^bricks ^^^with ^^^so ^^^sometimes ^^^I ^^^really ^^^cut ^^^back ^^^on ^^^the ^^^water.

Take half your chickpeas/water/lemon juice, and the rest of your ingredients and toss them in a food processor. Food process it. Add the rest of the chickpeas/water/lemon juice, and finish food processing it. Bingo bango you made hummus. I add water usually last in the process so I can make sure I'm not making hummus soup. Ages best with flavors mixing a few hours in the fridge.


**

Let me know if you end up making it and/or hating it and/or liking it! If it doesn't hit the spot for what you're looking for in hummus I'm sorry, but I think this is the best plain traditional hummus possible (beats the SHIT out of anything I've ever eaten in a store tub). If you want advice tweaking it to your tastes I'd be happy too, I'm getting a new food processor and I'm gonna make a few gallons of hummus this weekend now that I've finally written down the recipe =)

I've replaced basically every ingredient with something at some point in my years of using this recipe.

This is shitty food porn, so if you really want to make some garbage that would make me mad: use the worst pre-squeezed lemon juice you can buy, use jif shit peanut butter instead of tahini, garlic powder instead of garlic. That's some /r/grilledcheese vs melt type of offense for me.

Edit: If you've got strong taste buds or aren't looking to watch your figure, get really generous on your tahini, olive oil, garlic, and cumin. You can up those on this recipe alone as a start.

Do my best. CI is really good about keeping their recipes off the net and this is from memory. I highly recommend the Cooks Illustrated Cookbook, I've never made a bad meal cooking from one of their recipes. (Except that lentil soup, but that was my fault for buying old lentils.)

Take your 4-5lb roast and pull it apart by the natural seams and remove most of the fat. Tie it up into two smaller roasts with kitchen twine. Season with salt and pepper and let sit at room temperature for a couple hours.

Take a bottle of Pinot Noir and start reducing it (and I don't mean by drinking it). Continue until your 750ml is approx 2c.

In your dutch oven, cook 3-4 strips of bacon, cut into 1/4" pieces, until crispy. Remove and reserve. Pour out most of the grease. Brown your roasts on all sides and set aside.

In your dutch oven, add one onion, chopped fine, and cook until starting to go translucent, about 5-10 minutes. Add a three cloves of garlic, chopped, and a tbsp of all purpose flour. Cook until fragrant, maybe 3-4 minutes.

Add your wine reduction and 4c beef broth. Add a few sprigs of fresh parsley, three sprigs of fresh thyme and a couple bay leaves tied together with twine to the pot. Add in reserved bacon. Place your roasts on top of this concoction and place in a 300°f oven. One of the tricks here is to cover your dutch oven with tin foil before putting the cover on. This gives you a much better seal and keeps more liquid in the roast. This is apparently a pretty important step.

This will cook for 2-3 hours, until a fork slips in and out easily. Turn your roasts once an hour. When cooking has approximately 1 hour left, add four carrots, peeled and cut lengthwise into quarters by about an inch and a half long.

While waiting for it to cook, take 10ish oz of frozen pearl onions (thawed) and cook them in a saute pan in a cup of water and three tablespoons unsalted butter, covered, 12-15 minutes until soft. Uncover and cook until all water has boiled off. Add 8oz button mushrooms, quartered, and cook until everything is evenly browned.

When your roast is cooked, remove it from the oven, remove the roast from the dutch oven and tent with foil to keep warm. Add your pearl onion and mushroom mix to your braising liquid. Place the dutch oven back on the stove and reduce liquid by about a quarter. Skim as much fat off the top as possible. This will be your gravy for the pot roast. When nearly finished, add a tsp unflavored gelatin to the sauce to add richness.

And there you have it. By far the most prep I've ever done for a pot roast, but, bar none, it's the best I've ever had.

Sardine lover here. They're sustainable, delicious, and really healthful! When you feel like giving them another try, be sure to get high-quality sardines - bad ones are very bad. My favorite brand is Bela, but they're pricey, usually between $3 and $4 per can. Another good brand that's a little more widely available is King Oscar. They come in lots of different flavors; my favorite is Mediterranean.

Neither one of these brands includes the head, though Bela sardines are a little bit bigger so the bones are a BIT more prominent - but as /u/parallelrule said, they are barely discernible. If that still grosses you out, go with King Oscar.

Add a few drops of hot sauce to the sardines and eat them on saltines. One of the best convenient lunches out there.

It's turning out PRETTY FUCKING DANK DUDE (just pulled it out of the oven like 2 minutes ago, ended up throwing the can straight in like you said since that made the most sense).

Thanks for the recipe and the idea this shit was decently cheap to make too A+

E: I threw some Carolina Reaper Hot Sauce on top of it and mixed it in the bowl and it's super tasty would recommend

Go to Target or similar store and buy a half gallon glass pitcher. They aren't that much, they're about $6. At whatever your local grocery is, pick up a box or two of Celestial Seasonings fruit tea. Any of the fruit Zinger teas are good. The blueberry or cherry ones are also tasty.

Technically, it's a tisane, but that's a gatekeeping distinction, because tea is a tisane, and differentiating based on what particular herbs are in your drink is boring.

Anyway. Drop two teabags into the pitcher, and fill with water. We used filtered, but that's up to you. Stick it in the fridge, and let steep at minimum overnight. Eighteen hours is better, but if you get it in by about eight o'clock, it should be ready mid morning.

Pour and enjoy. Water is boring after awhile. This is pretty much all I drink anymore. There's no sugar, no caffeine, nothing in it except herbal tea. And, a box will get you about five gallons. It's not quite as cheap as water, but it beats pretty much everything else.

Hope things get better for you, too.

The only one I've ever used was that one from the wedding (and later the super bowl party). I'm not even sure where they got it, but amazon has the same model for like $250. So it was good, but I wouldn't call it cheap. They have a bunch more in the $40-60 price range, but I can't say if they are good or not.

I always thought a banana soylent smoothie sounded amazing. I wonder how this would work added to the powder.

By the way powdered peanut butter is great!

Do yourself a big favor and get one of these. I am pretty good with a knife but, over the next decade would will save your self a lot of time (father of 19 year old twins).
https://www.amazon.com/Calphalon-Easy-Apple-Corer-Slicer/dp/B000SOAT0Y/ref=sr_1_4?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1525537485&sr=1-4&keywords=apple+slicer&dpID=41kYvGdkxmL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

Nobody I know believes me, but banana and ketchup actually make a pretty good combination. In fact, you can even buy bottles of banana ketchup.

It's a character from Moomin! My favorite children's series. That "pad" is a book collection of stories, that we used to use as a laptop support to keep my bf's balls from cooking, and now that the laptop died and we have a desktop, we realized it's the perfect texture for a mouse pad. Love it :) though the one I'm using for my mouse is book 2

The Non-Dairy Evolution Cookbook: A Modernist Culinary Approach to Plant-Based, Dairy Free Foods https://www.amazon.com/dp/1499590423/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_R8pLxbNHPQ4Y7 is a really good cookbook made by a modernist chef (think molecular gastronomy) that goes over making vegan alternatives to dairy ingredients that closely match the characteristics they need. The cheeses will even melt and stretch! The flavors don't match 100% but I am allergic to casein, so it's the best I got. They also have whipped cream, coffee creamers, butter, etc. for all dairy 1:1 ingredient subsitutions.

It's probably a food grade Slow Cooker Liner which is perfectly safe.

I tried to make this sans the chutney but evidently I did something wrong and it all fell apart while frying. It literally looks like shit. Oh well.

It tastes pretty decent though, and not seen in the photo is the amazing mint chutney I've grown to love.

To be honest, I hardly use my oven anymore. Ever since I got one of these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00005IBXJ?pc_redir=1409137881&robot_redir=1 highly recommend it. Cooks a frozen pizza in 18 mins flat start to finish.

Thats why i invested in one of these things.
https://smile.amazon.com/Presto-03430-Pizzazz-Plus-Rotating/dp/B00005IBXJ/
Waking up to cold cooked pizza in the morning is way better than waking up to the smoke alarm and no pizza in the middle of the night.

Also great for nachos, you put the plate right on there and set it to just broil from the top.

You need one of these. Best invention of the new millennium.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00EI7DPOO?cache=501ecc0a62393eae0f7b279f17bd010a&pi=SY200_QL40&qid=1407347110&sr=8-1#ref=mp_s_a_1_1

This is the best invention ever: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EI7DPOO/

It seems at least 999 people own one. And apparently overwhelmingly love it.

do yourself a favor and buy a Pizza Pizzazz

auto-times out (20 minutes max) so worst case scenario you wake up to a cold pizza