Why wait until there’s an ice or wind storm to trim branches away from overhead lines, especially if you don’t want to bear the expense of burying said lines? When we lived in North Carolina, we had two ice storms that cut power to our neighborhood for two days each. Some folks lost power for a week with these storms. (One of my acquaintances had to board his kids’ pet iguana with friends because it was too cold at home for the poor reptile.) Similarly, we had a wind storm two Saturdays ago that knocked out power to our neighborhood for several hours and to the towns next to ours for a day or more. A few hours of work with a chain saw would prevent thousands of nasty phone calls and more than a few auto accidents.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/09/07/a-question-for-utility-companies/
Sep 05
4 AM Feline Fracas
Sometimes we can sleep through the night without the pitter-patter of 8 feet bouncing around the bed. Not so this morning. Our elder statescat, Luka, started a sequence of doing laps around the pillows, burrowing under the covers, emerging from under the covers, and repeating his actions. After a few reps, I got him to stay under the covers and settle down for a nap. Shortly thereafter, Neli decided to jump on the bed and pounce on the lump that consisted of Luka. He resurfaced and chased after her. Yes, the thought of closing them out of the bedroom has occurred to us. That could allow them to foment more chaos that we wouldn’t discover until the next morning.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/09/05/4-am-feline-fracas/
Aug 29
Be Careful What You Ask For…
You just might get it. This is one of my favorite proverbs by way of one of my favorite movies, The Big Chill. It has been a record dry summer here in the Northwest, and a record summer for wildfires. However, it was pouring when I woke up today. The five-day forecast calls for more rain. This could be a curse in disguise. While this might help the firefighters control the growth of the fires to the northeast of us, today’s forecast calls for thunderstorms and gusty winds that could exacerbate an already precarious situation. Let’s hope that neither comes to pass. We’ve already lost three firefighters in the Okanagan County wildfire.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/08/29/be-careful-what-you-ask-for/
Aug 29
Swimming as a Social Activity
At first glance, swimming is the ultimate introvert exercise. It’s just you, the water, and the clock (or your waterproof digital activity monitor). For most of us, swimming means sharing a lane in a public pool with other people and showering in a shared locker room. This is where the socializing comes in.
When I first started swimming seven years ago, I divided my training sessions between two public pools in Seattle. The Medgar Evers pool is down the hill from my workplace, and I used to go down for a mid-day swim. My current position doesn’t have the flexibility for mid-day swims, so I hit the early morning lap swim at the Meadowbrook pool in my old neighborhood. Since Meadowbrook opens at 5:45 am Monday through Friday, I can get in my 24 or so laps twice a week, shower, and still be in the office by 7:30. This includes spirited locker room discussions of local politics, spouses, children, cats, and travels.
The social aspect of swimming has actually kept me doing the laps. At Medgar Evers, I met a number of retired women who frequented the mid-day water aerobics class. Many of these women had conditions that precluded lap swimming, but they could move to classic Motown tunes in the pool. The early-morning crew at Meadowbrook is mostly a younger, working crowd. Several of my former triathlon teammates are regulars. The highlight of the year is the annual holiday breakfast for the early morning lap swimmers. After swimming, we converge on the Burgermaster at University Village to refill our carb stores and chat. The lifeguards often join us. It’s a chance to get to know our lane-mates better, and celebrate another year of chlorinated water activities and locker room conversations.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/08/29/swimming-as-a-social-activity/
Aug 22
Figgy Goodness!
We managed to score some fresh figs at a reasonable price last week. This is no mean feat. Fresh figs are quite perishable. This is why they’re usually $6 per pint box in Seattle, whereas you can rarely find them in the Northeast or Midwest.
Other than devouring them at one sitting, what can you do with fresh figs? Desserts are one obvious answer. This is a fig-almond cake from the New York Times I made a couple of years ago for one of our Friday night gatherings:
Figs and cheese are a good combination. I stuffed some figs with Explorateur cheese (the love child of Brie and cream cheeses) and brought it to our French class on Tuesday night. We’ve also baked cheese-stuffed figs, which amps up the flavor. Figs and prosciutto are classic in Mediterranean cuisine.
By far the favorite thing we do with figs is a pan sauce for chicken, lamb, or pork that we call Figgy Goodness. While the meat is on the grill, sauté some chopped shallots (or onion) in a large skillet until soft. Then add some stemmed and halved figs to the pan. When the figs start getting soft, pour in some port or red wine and add your herb of choice (rosemary is classic, but you can also use thyme) and reduce the sauce until it’s syrupy. If you cooked the meat in the pan, you can make the pan sauce after you’ve finished with the meat so the sauce takes on the flavor of the meaty juices.
Although fig season is short and they’re not cheap, they provide an interesting change from or an addition to plums, peaches and berries this time of year.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/08/22/figgy-goodness/
Aug 16
More Words to Live by
Life is too short to eat bland food. I didn’t come to this conclusion early in life. My upbringing was strictly meat and potatoes. It was only when I moved to Dallas and got exposed to Mexican and spicy Asian cuisines that my palate was piqued by peppers. Luckily, Julian is also fond of spicy food. Our refrigerator door has a collection of hot sauces, also known as the Arsenal of Democracy:
Practice safe eating, always use condiments.
This is only part of the Arsenal, but you get the idea. None of these is a pure capsaicin bomb, but the fire sauce on the lower shelf is pretty close.
We prefer our chiles with some flavor balancing the heat. The larger padron peppers featured in the last post accumulated some capsaicin, the active heat molecule in chiles. We’ll occasionally cook with hahañeros, but that’s as hot as we get.
Research is accumulating that consumption of spicy food has beneficial health effects, as outlined in this article. As with everything, correlation does not necessarily mean causation. Spicy food eaters may have other habits that are more linked to longevity. In the meantime, pass that Tabasco, please.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/08/16/more-words-to-live-by/
Aug 09
Today’s Harvest
Padron peppers off just one plant.
My padron pepper plant is working overtime. This is what I picked off it today. These are destined to be pan-roasted as a tapa tonight.
Padron peppers are a Spanish variety. They are sweet, although random ones will pack a little heat. I bought the plant at the Spanish Table at Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle. We shop there often for wine, paella rice, and the occasional cookbook. For those of you who don’t garden, the store usually carries these peppers during the summer and early fall.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/08/09/todays-harvest/
Aug 08
It’s a Miracle!
I’m not sure what I did right, but this is the formerly green tomato from last week:
In the homestretch…
I’ve already harvested about 10 cherry tomatoes off the other plant. Moving the plants may have helped. It also cooled down a little from last weekend. (According to the Burpee website, tomatoes don’t like really hot temperatures.)
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/08/08/its-a-miracle/
Aug 06
The Votes Are In…
And there was a whole lot of crack-smoking by those ten candidates in Cleveland, based on their answers. My second hypothesis was correct: The average score for each candidate was closer to 4 on my scale. Nobody had a 1 in his column, and only two candidates uttered anything that merited a 2. Only one candidate escaped without a 5 in his column, whereas another one was all 5’s all the time. Next time I think I’ll play Buzzword Bingo.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/08/06/the-votes-are-in/
Aug 05
The Debate Dance Card
Friends, the die is cast for tomorrow night. Thanks to being on the West Coast, I’ll be at work when the also-ran forum is broadcast. However, I’ll be home for the main event. Here’s my dance card:
On the X axis I put the 10 candidates in order of their poll numbers. On the Y axis is a 5-point scale, where 1 = talking sense; 3 = dubious; and 5 = Is this guy smoking crack?!? I’ll rate each utterance by an individual candidate on the scale. Recall from a previous post that I’m theorizing that the candidates at each end of the X axis will say more outrageous things than the crew in the middle. Then again, given recent headlines, they all may be up in the smoking crack category.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/08/05/the-debate-dance-card/
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