Eating Well

The Farmers' Market [link].

(image taken from our local Farmers' Market's fb page)

We're big fans of fresh produce, and the more locally grown, the better. We don't live in a desert and it isn't winter, so it's easy for me to say, "Buy local!" There really are a lot of reasons to support local growers [link]. Consider this blog a call to action for you to buy produce local to you.


One of the most obvious reasons to go to the Farmers' Market, of course, is for the fresh food.


Let me show you the spoils from our morning:


I'm starting off with the wonder of trees- a new (quart!) jug of maple syrup. Oh my. I've been out of maple syrup for a month or three, and had been really looking forward to making my next purchase. Voila! This should last through the summer ice & syrup phase and well into the autumnal pancake phase. We bought some fresh greens, too- you can see them peeking out from behind my cache of tree sugar.



Let us examine the phototrophs [link].


A better look, yes?
Perhaps you're eying the greenery with a hint of curiosity. "I say, are those what I think they are?" Well, how about a better look...




Mmmmmmmmm, garlic scapes [link]. SO delicious. My friend and I ate a bunch of these a few years ago when I was visiting her in Peterborough, Ontario [link]. SO delicious, it's hard to delay the cooking. Did I mention that they're SO delicious?


They are.


Think omelet greens or sauteed in butter. Yes.



And these? These would be fresh fiddleheads [link]. Just look at them. Wonderful.

They aren't quite as large as the ones I am used to, but they are still worth a try. I found a spot with some recipes here [click].




Shamefully hiding behind the greens are the baked goods (well, one teacake's worth), which I NEVER buy at the farmers market, but today something in my head turned off the barriers when I saw the "rhubarb" on the label. A free taste from the vendor didn't help me reestablish the limit.




Also on the counter were the coleus plants, which we picked up because we anticipated filling in the remaining two sections of a strawberry pot that is devoid of strawberry plants. I wanted the dark fuzzy coleus plants, but when you're eight years old with exceptional color vision, the contrast of borders to innards wins over dark fuzzies any day. I'm hoping these leaves become more vivid over time, because they're the sort of sickly pink that reminds me of decaying flesh.



There were a couple of other things we found today that should prove useful in the near-future. I have grand plans for them, anyway, and they'd best not resist me:

A tomato plant. I have nowhere to actually garden with my tiny downtown yard, but people grow tomatoes in containers all the time. If my new plant-friend recovers from what appears to be a momentary fatigue / dehydration / stress of replanting into a pot, we shall have tomatoes. These are supposedly a wonderful variety that is juicy and perfect. I'll report back to you once evidence to support (or reject) that claim is gathered.



One last item:


A basil plant. Life is complete.




So this is when I remind you to think globally, and act locally, or something [link]. Do what you want to do, people. But at least try your local farmers' market the next time you're buying fresh food. And that includes freshly slaughtered meat of all sorts. Just in case you're more the sort who is looking for things like buffalo or chicken or even eggs- all of which have been slaughtered just for you to buy, that day. Fresh meat always makes me think of GWAR [link], even though they use carrageenan. What can I say.


Need help finding a farmers' market near you [link to search tool]?



Enjoy.

thirty-seven

I'm there.



Portrait of Elisabetta Gonzaga, by Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino

Raphael died on his 37th birthday.


Mine (my birthday) was much less dramatic and deadly (AKA: better), although I'm pretty sure I looked about as excited as Ms. Gonzaga for most of the day.


Thirty-seven.

The number [link] is far more interesting than the year [link] (AD), yet (if you follow the links to see it yourself) check out those URLs. What is UP with THAT? You just give the "37" entry to the year, and force the number to be designated parenthetically as a number?

DUH!?
I mean, we KNOW it is a number. You don't have to say "37" is a number. It just IS a number. THAT is the default brain setting. Not the year. Aside from years 1066-2100, most of us will think of numbers just as numbers. Won't we? I mean, sure there are always the tangents and associations racing in and out of any mind that isn't defunct, but first and foremost, 37 is a quantity. Whole numbers just do that to us.

Wikipedia has many mysteries- add another. The YEAR gets the default link. No parenthetical description in its URL designating it as a year. Which, if you ask me, is really missing the boat. When I think, "thirty-seven," I think, firstly, of a quantity less than 40, greater than 30, and prime. Sorta like 31, only better. Maybe.

THEN I think of dozens. It is 3 dozen eggs, plus an extra that was still in the fridge. Of course.

Maybe cookies (common yield on recipes: "about 3 dozen" even when it's never really near 3 dozen).


Next, there are the images of a quarter, a dime, and two pennies. Perhaps 7 nickels and 2 pennies. Always two pennies. Apropos.


THEN I think of something entirely different. Not related to the number 37 at all, because 37 is OUT of obvious. We've moved on. The year 37 AD? Not even a tiny blip at the edge of my radar.

Until today, I suppose. Now I know that this is when Caligula's grandmother died.


"Meemamah? Is that you?"


It kind of sneaks up on you, information like that.



Thirty-seven.


So the coolest thing today (aside from reading about the number) I read about (the NUMBER) 37 was related to UHF broadcasting. Rather, UHF antibroadcasting. Nonbroadcasting? No-dirty-up-the-airwaves-casting? Hmmmm.

Channel 37 [link] = UHF silence.

In favor of radioastronomy [link] .


Yes, please.



Anyway... Raphael?




I win.

Holy Asimov!

I wasn't really expecting my first math post to be something of a tribute, but here it is.


I am going to share with you a very brief piece of section 10: Luke Warm at Forty Below

Luke checked the thermometer on his wrist. "Holy Asimov, I can't believe it! It's forty below!"



The story is about astronauts broadcasting their adventures back to earth, and into classrooms.

Someone in the classroom asks if they mean minus 40 Celsius or minus 40 Fahrenheit. The teacher isn't sure, but another student pipes up that it is minus 40 Celsius.

Surprised, the teacher asks if the student is sure.
The student says she isn't but she knows that she's right.

The tale ends by asking the reader why. Brilliant stuff.


Reading this book fed my hunger for trivia, and effecting a love and sense of puzzles that has never, ever faded.



The book, as excellent as it is, has not just one set of answers. When reading the first answer, you are given further story and questions, to lead you to a second set of answers. Repeat. There is a third set.

Beautiful.







I never forgot what I learned the day I read it.





I have had this book for twenty-seven years.




Thank you, sir, and R.I.P.

not just seeing things

I just saw this amazing image of the ISS and Atlantis together, passing between the Earth and the Sun in a magnificent photo op.


Go look at the photo by Thierry Legault by clicking here:

http://legault.perso.sfr.fr/iss_atlantis_transit2_2010.html

[You do need to see it in an enlarged form to have a chance of understanding what I'm about to suggest, so click it.]

I saw this, and yes it is awe-inducing and really cool...GREAT photo, Thierry. But there's something else I have to say- I was instantly reminded of the ATHF incident in Boston.
Remember that?

Do you see it?

Look harder.



Need help?
http://laughingsquid.com/wp-content/uploads/athf_led.jpg


Right?

Totally.

note

hiatus ending shortly.
getting a grip on the shape of the blog.
planning its SOUL.

since I haven't got one of my own.

it shall include a weekly interactive puzzle option, for those of you looking for one.


stay tuned.