geniuses... and seriously smart people

I had to share this story with you, so you could laugh, shake your head, or both. Apparently, some real savant was testing the wit of his local men in blues. Probably not a good idea to play with their toys... especially right under their noses!

And then there are the Romanian fortune tellers, who as far as I am concerned, are truly visionary. Again, they won the fight to avoid tax payment... and with solid reasons. nice.

no one left behind

Just in case you thought that Whole Foods qualifies as a "local, small farm." It does not, and certainly the Whole Foods chain is not immune to its own FDA recall.

Granted, this is a preemptive recall of sorts--no one has reported getting ill, yet. But, during "routine sampling," the cheese in question was found to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus.

buy local, know your food, support small farms

watch out, furry ones

While the rest of the world blogs about docs stuck in chimneys (seriously?! what a dumb-ass) and fancy new google tools (well, not entirely new), I'd like to turn your attention to this: ANOTHER FREAKIN' CAT FOOD RECALL!!

I don't know why this aggravates me so... oh, yeah, because their livelihood is in our hands--completely. And, wouldn't you know it? Salmonella is the culprit, yet again!

As for the huge egg recall, I'll just say, "I told you so." Yes, I have been touting the benefits of buying from local, small farms for a long time. Yes, it may be a little more expensive, but what price is your health? I speak from experience--I have had Salmonella poisoning before. Once on vacation: bad Chinese, and once more recently: the tomato recall. Granted the vacation bug was so, so much worse than the tomatoes, but, then again, I ate only one of the tainted fruits.

As for the Iams? Again? Iams cat food was recalled previously, and not that long ago--in fact, just a month ago. grrrrr

campaigning

Here's an unusual, but very realistic, way to get some money together.

With breast augmentation the second most popular elective plastic surgery procedure in the world (second only to liposculpture), this is not so far-fetched. In a country like Venezuela that needs a dramatic government overhaul, this sounds like a great idea to me!!

the way of our words

Linguistics is just a cool field all-around.

This site is very interesting, especially to those of us from other countries, or who grew up with accents surrounding our day-to-day. You can browse the sound of the English accent in different cities and countries. I think it would be even more poignant if they had a male and female version of each, but maybe that's just me...

What they do provide is information on each speaker, including: age, years speaking English, how they learned the language (naturally or academically), and whether they ever lived in an English-speaking country. Hell of a project, really.

must... post

I wasn't planning to, as it is quite hard with only one functional upper extremity (more on that later). But, on a whim, I visited a site I hadn't in a while, and felt compelled.

You see, we had had a party a few weeks ago. I always make several types of sangria, but this time felt inspired to try something new. After a little research, as well as trips to three (yes, 3!!) liquor stores to find the magical ingredient, I made my own Pimm's Cup. Now it can be yours. Necessity being the mother of invention, you will find mine to be different from the original.


you need:
equal parts Pimm's No.1, fizzy lemonade, ginger ale (original, with ginger pieces floating inside)*
mint leaves--about 20
small cucumber--sliced
lemon--sliced
1/2 pint blueberries (I inadvertently had used the last of the strawberries for the sangria)

you do:
mix in a large pitcher
serve over ice

*of course, you could use one or the other, or even ginger beer, but I really thought that this was especially refreshing, and not too ginger-overpowering

this easily scales up or down :)

Enjoy!!

corn--quintessential summer (kind of)

So, yes, corn IS the quintessential summer veggie, but the recipe I am about to throw at you is not, AT ALL, quintessentially summery... in fact, it is, quite frankly, late autumn-wintery. That being said, we do not have the luxury of an outdoor grill. And, well, oven-cooking is slightly less heat-inducing than stove-top cooking. So, there you have it...

"Oven-Roasted Corn"... or maybe "Oven-Braised Corn" would be a better title

you need:

6 ears of corn; peeled of leaves and silk, washed and split in half (dry lightly)
4-6 garlic cloves--minced
1/4C olive oil
1/4C vegetable broth*
couple of pinches of salt and pepper
few sprinkles of marjoram
(any other herbs/ spices to your liking)

you do:

-preheat oven to 350F
-place ears of corn in large enough baking dish that they are not overlapping, but cozy
-sprinkle corn with salt, pepper, marjoram, and any other herbs or spices you wish to use
-sprinkle with garlic
-mix olive oil and vegetable broth and pour over corn
-cover tightly with aluminum foil and place in oven for 30 minutes
-turn corn (add a little more broth or water if dish is dry)**
-cover again with foil, and back in the oven for another 30 minutes
-turn the oven up to 400F and take off foil (again, add broth or water as needed)**
-allow to bake an additional 15-20 minutes

enjoy!

*of course, home-made broth beats out any store-bought. in a pinch, I find Trader Joe's (!-yes, Trader Joe's) to work well
**remember that steam will be hot when you take off the foil--do this carefully, and away from your face!!