It would not at all surprise me if honey mustard and sweet onion sauce were literally made for each other.
Because boy did they augment one another. I couldn't tell where one began and the other ended. All I could tell is that it was far far far better than the sweet onion sauce alone and thus, instantly a permanent addition to the sub. At this stage I'm actually not quite sure what I'll add next. I'll have to get inspiration from someone in front of me I suppose. We'll see.
Anyway!
I promised a ramble about Mulan, and why she's one of the best heroes of all time, and this is why.
Mulan, at every step of the way, is altruistic: she's not doing what she does out of some selfish desire to prove herself. She's doing what she does because she has a genuine desire to help. She wants to be the person her parents wish her to be, not for her own sake, but for theirs. When she leaves for war, it is out of desire to protect her father.
When she has fears of being found out, it is purely because she doesn't wish to disgrace her father. When she is cast out, her desire to help isn't because she wants to be accepted--it's because there was a really freakin' huge threat to the Empire, and she wanted to warn them, knowing that it was going to be difficult, going to be hard, on her emotionally if nothing else.
She's there, trying to help, at every step of the way. That's just about as heroic as you can get. Then you get into all of her efforts, all of her contributions, every step of the way. She works hard. She worked hard to try and be the image of a lady, even though she was really bad at it--it didn't matter, though; she still tried. She kept going, she kept trying, she kept giving it effort, even knowing how people were looking down on her.
This trait continued as a soldier. She lacked anything resembling physical strength when enlisted. Yet all the same, she still trained hard, she still fought hard, she still was willing to put in the time and effort to better herself, for the sake of accomplishing the goal at hand.
But most memorable about her is that while she ends up being no slouch in the strength department (able to keep up with all the guys, so she's not physically weaker than any of them), far more defining of her character is how she operates: she's smart. She plans. She thinks. She uses every resource available. She's intelligent, and approaches problems to find the best solution, no matter how indirect it may be.
From the flagpole to the avalanche to the climax, every step of the way she utilizes tricks, showing a level of cunning which makes her a worthy opponent against any foe. She's a fighter, in every sense: spirit, strength, and strategy. Even stamina, given she receives a bad wound yet keeps going even after that.
All the while, however, she never compromises her identity. She's still her. She's still a woman, just a very powerful, resourceful one. She's still feminine. She's plenty masculine alright. But she's still a girl. Yet because of her experiences...to some extent, she blurs the gender line. She can empathize both with "the guys" and "the girls", having lived as both and understood their ways of life.
That's impressive enough on its own. In fact, it's almost the kind of thing you'd accuse a Mary Sue of being. Yet, she's not perfect, either. In spite of her natural skills, she would have failed so many times if not for receiving outside assistance. (In particular, from Mushu.) She didn't really ever get lucky, so much as she did have helping hands to guide her.
And the people she interacts with don't have that kind of perfect relationship. She might've formed a friendship with the guys easily enough, yet it was shown that all the guys formed a friendship with each other, which makes sense for the given setting: as soldiers, they're going to bond together because they're allegedly going to be fighting together, and being close to the people you're fighting with is going to cause you to fight better.
Even then. When her secret is exposed, it's not like things suddenly and magically go her way: they actually cast her out. Exiling her, and dishonoring her family. Instead of magically being accepted back, instead of magically being forgiven easily, in order to win them back, she had to earn their trust. And incidentally, when she first tried, she actually failed to do so.
While she was ultimately in the right, her opposition was also reasonable, especially within the culture, the setting. (At least given Disney modifications of course.) Plus, the idea of Huns in the heart of the Empire especially after their supposed defeat would be a bit audacious to believe, so it's not like her insistence was something which seemed rational. The only reason she was there was because she first-hand saw it herself and thus knew it to be true.
Basically, at every step of the way, Mulan had to fight to get what she did. It wasn't given to her. It was earned. And she wasn't perfect, she wasn't invincible. She got hurt, injured. She actually kind-of sucked at the girl stuff she was supposed to do, and at the end of the film she didn't magically suddenly get better at it. She's capable, but she's still inherently human.
She's altruistic, she's resourceful, she's empathetic, she's loving, and she's strong, facing adversaries of all kinds: usually succeeding, but sometimes failing, and then getting back up anyway. I might've had more reasons than this, but this is about all I can think of. Suffice to say, though, I stand by my opinion. Mulan is an awesome woman. And especially for me, she's someone I think makes a good idol.