One of the highlights of living at Casa Sammamish is seeing the plethora of wildlife. This year we’ve been watching a nesting pair of Canada geese and their six offspring. The goslings are eating machines. They’ve at least doubled their size in the last week.
Last Friday night there was a panic for the little family. Two of our resident eagles were double-teaming the adults, in an attempt to pick off a gosling or two. Luckily, Papa Goose repelled the raptors, which flew away empty-taloned. The goslings instinctively huddled together to make it more difficult for the eagles to snatch them.
Sunset at Casa Sammamish. The geese are at the bottom of the photo. The goslings are concealed under the wings of Mama, on the left. (Courtesy of Julian.)
in the next week the goslings will lose their cuteness and acquire a more adult shape. Shortly we should also see if our neighborhood eagle couples (Eddie and Edwina, Edgar and Edna) hatch their own progeny. Baby eagles are nowhere near as cute as goslings or ducklings. As my friend Shira says, you can tell birds evolved from reptiles by looking at the hatchlings.
Addendum: Julian took this closeup of Mama Goose and her offspring last night. The remaining two are under her wings.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/05/09/goslings/
Luka is our elder statescat. His full Cat Fanciers’ Association name is Velva’s Luka Get Off the Table. He lives up to that moniker on a regular basis. He’s also a serious lap – and shoulder – cat.
We got Luka as a kitten from a breeder in Ohio. We’d just lost our first Russian Blue male, Jasper, to cancer. Phoebe, his sister, was inconsolable. Luka arrived at the airport in the wee hours of August 15, 2007. I went to the airport alone because Julian wasn’t feeling well. Luka didn’t make much noise on the drive from the airport, but he bounded out of the carrier ready to play when we got home. He hasn’t stopped since.
Luka’s naturally curious. This trait nearly cost him big time. Several years ago we were packing up the car for a day trip to Mount Rainier with friends from Houston. Luka decided to make his escape. He was on the town for nearly 24 hours. Nobody noticed he was missing when we got back from Rainier. I woke up the next morning and noticed he wasn’t in his usual spot at my feet. After I got dressed, I walked through the neighborhood twice looking for him. I went out one more time and asked my neighbor, “Have you seen a lanky gray cat?” He said, “He just walked that way.” I caught up with him in front of another condo in the complex. It’s a miracle he didn’t wind up as coyote or eagle chow that day.
Luka didn’t read the part of the Russian Blue manual that mentions being shy. He’ll snuggle onto any visitor. When we have friends over, he’ll go from lap to lap hustling head scratches. Unlike many of my previous cats, he doesn’t go to the person who’s most allergic or averse to felines first. Luckily, most of our friends are indulgent of his affections.
Luka as shoulder fungus
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/05/08/luka-is-ten/
These are little snippets of life that don’t add up to full posts on their own.
Why is it that the voice on the Metro bus pronounces Seneca as Senokot? Maybe it’s because you’re guaranteed to lose sphincter control if your car’s brakes die going down Seneca Street in Seattle? As I recall, Seneca Street in Ithaca is also of similar steepness, although you won’t land in salt water at the end.
In an early post, I introduced the acronym RTFR. The other night we had an experience of RTFL (Read the *&^%ing Label). Julian thought a bag of raisins was a bag of prunes. Had he bothered to RTFL, he would have known better.
You know you’re working in a cube farm when the handicapped stall in the ladies’ room has more square footage than your work space.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/05/04/random-access-musings/
Yesterday was the March for Science in downtown Seattle. Residents of our fair metropolitan area turned out in force, despite inclement weather. We skipped the speeches at the beginning and joined the march downtown. A festive time was had by all, and we hope that we raised awareness of the importance of scientific research to our national prosperity.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/04/23/marching-for-science/
Strange things happen hereabouts when the daytime temperature gets above 50°F. Sunroofs and convertible tops are opened. Skin is exposed. People wear sandals without socks. College students sun themselves on the quads in an attempt to lose the winter pallor. (No spray tans here – too Trumpian.)
This rite of spring is not unique to the Seattle area. Spring semester my junior year at Cornell was freakishly warm and sunny. Libe Slope and the quads were teeming with nearly naked students catching rays. The weather gods got the last laugh, though. It snowed the last weekend of class.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/04/23/peculiar-phenomenon/
By now you’ve probably heard about the Juicero, a Wi-Fi-enabled juicer that squeezes $8 packets of juice into your glass for a mere $399 (plus tax, shipping, and handling). Venture capitalists with more money than common sense funded this company. One investigative reporter found that she could hand squeeze the packet into a glass herself and save $399 and loads of spam emails saying, “Time to order more packets!”
This tale brings up a variety of issues:
- First, where is that juicer you bought back in the 1990’s? Still sitting on the shelf at the thrift store?
- Each $8 packet of juice contains ingredients you could get at any neighborhood supermarket for less than $1.
- The packaging of these juice packets is as ecologically conscious as all of those foil coffee pods people burn through in a week.
- One hopes these packets are processed in a health department-approved facility, which would involve pasteurization of some sort. Twenty or so years ago, a popular organic juice company got into trouble with the FDA for contamination of its products with barnyard bacteria. The juicers were set up in a barn with free access to anything floating in on the wind. Heat pasteurization would negate the effect of cold pressing the ingredients for the packets.
Despite its popularity amongst the glamorati, juicing is overrated nutritionally. Most centrifugal juicers separate the fiber from the liquid portion of the fruit/vegetable. That fiber serves several purposes. It stimulates satiety and moves things along the gastrointestinal tract. In addition, fiber can slow the transit of simple sugar (glucose) from the gut into the blood. You may have heard of something called the glycemic index, which measures the speed at which glucose is absorbed from a particular food. Whole foods containing fiber spike blood glucose more slowly than their juices do. Folks are more likely to drink these juices as a snack or meal replacement, which could be troublesome if someone has problems keeping their blood glucose under control.
While juices are better nutritionally than sodas, it may be better to drink more water and get your fruits and vegetables in their whole, fiber-rich forms. Go have a salad or a plate full of roasted vegetables. Nibble on carrot and celery sticks as a snack. Eat an apple with the peel. Save your money and avoid the juicers.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/04/23/getting-juiced-getting-fleeced/
In a previous post, I talked about how government-funded research contributed to the return of bald eagles from near extinction. Here’s an example of how scientific research directly saves human lives. One of the most dramatic medical developments of the last 40 years is the transformation of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV, the virus that causes AIDS) from an inevitable killer to a manageable chronic disease. This has been accomplished by scientific research, much of which was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Let’s go back to 1982. I went to a Medicine Grand Rounds at the University of Texas-Southwestern Medical Center about a mysterious new disease affecting gay men. The presenter didn’t have much in the way of research to discuss, which was unusual for this venue. The condition at the time was 100% fatal. The medical community couldn’t even decide on what to call this malady. Public figures, including President Reagan, wanted nothing to do with the disease or its patients. Some called it God’s retribution for the patients’ “sinful lifestyle”. (For a more complete history of the early days of HIV in America, read And the Band Played On, by Randy Shilts. I donated my copy to a library before one of my previous cross-country moves.)
Even though HIV/AIDS wasn’t a politically popular research topic in the 1980’s, scientists at the NIH and L’Institut Pasteur in France went to work. Eventually the virus was identified, although who did the identification was a hotly debated question for years. HIV is different from many other viruses in that its genetic material is RNA rather than DNA; therefore, standard antiviral drugs are ineffective against it. Scientists had to isolate and develop unique drugs that attack various stages of the virus cycle. Taking a cocktail of these drugs, known as highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has been shown to reduce the load of viruses in patients and control the infections that can be fatal. This therapy, for those who have insurance to cover it, has been nothing short of miraculous. HIV-positive people are now living – and thriving – 10 or more years after their diagnosis. I know one person who is at least 25 years post-diagnosis.
HIV/AIDS would still be 100% fatal were it not for the efforts of NIH-funded research. Current epidemics such as Zika and Ebola need continued funding to develop effective treatments against these viruses. This scientific research will save lives, and deserves our support.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/04/21/thank-scientists-again/
When Easter and Passover occupy the same week, as they do this year, things can get a little weird at Casa Sammamish. I made my traditional hot cross buns today. Then I made some haroset, the fruit and nut paste that symbolizes the mortar the Jews used to build pyramids during their bondage in Egypt. The haroset will go to the annual mixed-marriage Seder tonight. We’ll take the buns to an Easter egg-decorating brunch tomorrow.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/04/15/holiday-haze/
Another Exercise in Futility
Blow-drying my hair
After early morning swim
When it’s pouring out.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/04/12/haiku-du-jour/
I was looking for an appetizer to make for a department potluck last week, and happened upon a recipe for salted figs with oregano in Diane Kochiias’s book, Meze. The recipe is embarrassingly simple. You soften dried figs in boiling salted water for five minutes. Drain the figs and place them on a sheet of parchment paper. Sprinkle on some oregano and freshly ground black pepper. Wrap the figs in the parchment paper, then overwrap the package in foil. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes, and serve warm. I drizzled some balsamic vinegar on top after baking. The figs were well received at the potluck. I had some leftovers, so I served them to our cronies the following night. All were impressed.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/04/11/more-figgy-goodness-2/
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