In the Headlights

A-Maze-ing

Since 2000, Warner Farms in Sunderland MA. has featured an official Mike's Maze. More than just an artistic phenomenon, the farm features fun for kids including pony rides and launching rotten tomatoes with a trebuchet.

Warner farm was started by Eleaser Warner in 1720.  They produce a variety of crops, including corn, eggplant, strawberries, peas, winter squash, peppers, tomatoes and corn.

The cornfield is the site of the corn maze (duh.)  The first maze covered four acres.  Current ones cover 6-8 acres, and you will note that they become more detailed and complex with each year. 

There they are starting with the amazing portrait of the great Julia child, and going back through to the portrait of the 2000 Minuteman quarter.

[Images of Julia Child, Albert Einstein, John Kerry and George Bush, Tutankhamen, Babe Ruth, Mona Lisa and The Minuteman taken from Mike's Maze at Warner Farms.]

Being Insulted by the Best--Zing!

When you've been insulted by the likes of Winston Churchill, Mark Twain, George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde, not only are you likely to be left dazed, confused and bleeding, but there is every chance that the humiliation of your defeat will go down in history, to be revived in places like this. 

L.C. sent us these famous bon mots:

"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire."  Winston Churchill

"A modest little person, with much to be modest about."  Winston Churchill

"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." Clarence Darrow

"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary."  William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway.)

"Poor Faulkner.  Does he really think big emotions come from big words?"  Ernest Hemingway (about William Faulkner.)

"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book;  I'll waste no time reading it."  Moses Hadas

"He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know."  Abraham Lincoln

"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening.  But this wasn't it."  Groucho Marx

"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it."  Mark Twain

"He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends."  Oscar Wilde

"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play, bring a friend...if you have one."  George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill

"Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second...if there is one."  Churchill, in response.

"I feel so miserable without you, it's almost like having you here."  Stephen Bishop

"He is a self-made man and worships his creator."  John Bright

"I've just learned about his illness.  Let's hope it's nothing trivial."  Irving S. Cobb

"He is not only dull himself, he is the cause of dullness in others."  Samuel Johnson

"He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up."  Paul Keating

"He had delusions of adequacy."  Walter Kerr

"There's nothing wrong with you that reincarnation won't cure."  Jack E. Leonard

"He has the attention span of a lightning bolt."  Robert Redford

"They never open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge." Thomas Brackett Reed

"He inherited some good instincts from his Quaker forebears, but by diligent hard work, he overcame them."  James Reston (about Richard M. Nixon.)

"In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily."  Charles, Count Talleyrand

"He loves nature, in spite of what it did to him."  Forrest Tucker

"Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?"  Mark Twain

"His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork."  Mae West

"Some cause happiness whereever they go; others, whenever they go.  Oscar Wilde

"He uses statistics as others use lamp-posts...for support rather than illumination."  Andrew Lang

"He has Van Gogh's ear for music."  Billy Wilder

[Illustration via Helen Roulston's Home Page]

Coffee Review: Vanilla Biscotti

Yesterday, while I was minding my own business, doing this and doing that, the postman left a package at my door.  Imagine my suprise when I noticed that it was addressed to my blog name.  I was a bit alarmed, as I rarely mix my lives, so to see my blog name and home address together was strange.

When I opened it, I realized that I had done it to myself. 

These were the Folgers Gourmet Selections coffee samples I had agreed to try and then review.  In the box were three 12-ounce packages of ground coffee:  Vanilla Biscotti, Morning Cafe (light roast), and Lively Colombian (medium roast).  All three were 100% Arabica coffee.

This morning, I tried the Vanilla Biscotti, described as having a "smooth, vanilla flavor with a creamy finish."

Mind you, I don't go for girlie coffees.  If you do, this is one for you.  My default coffee is made with two scoops of French Market coffee (chickory and regular mixed) and two scoops of Colombian.  It makes a pretty strong coffee.  For the taste test, I used four scoops of the Vanilla Biscotti.  I did not add any milk or sugar, as I normally drink my coffee plain.

The result was a light coffee, with vanilla overtones, and I imagine I can taste a bit of cinnamon in there as well.  It has a nice aftertaste.  Not too chemical.  I imagine that if one added cream and sugar, one would have a pretty nice dessert.

I will finish the bag.  Or maybe save it for when I have guests.  I think it is fine for those who like flavored coffees.  That is the antithesis of my taste, as a rule, though I'll drink a cup now and then.

I'll let you know how the Morning Cafe and Lively Colombian turn out.

["Vanilla Bean" by Renee Bolmeijer via AllPosters]

It's a Girl!

Lun Lun the Panda gave birth at the Atlanta Zoo on September 6, and immediately turned into Supermom.  The cub began nursing right away,  started to move around, and began to grow hair noticably within a few days.

Lun Lun did not leave her baby's side for five days, when she finally left it for three minutes to drink some water.  The next day, she ate some sugarcane.  The webcam has been on the pair the whole time.  The cub, though tiny, apparently makes its wishes known in a loud voice, and Lun Lun responds by licking it, covering it, nursing it, generally nurturing the baby.

Here's the link to some journal updates with photos from birth onward.

It took three weeks for the staff to get a good enough look at the cub to know she's a girl.  Unnamed as yet.  The zoo is trying to determine a process to decide how to name her.  I think Yeungling would be a great name for a panda.

Go here to watch the Panda Cam.  I just watched Lun Lun roll over holding her cub, then hug it and lick it.  Very cool.

[Thanks to Sandy for the link]

The Aging Sperm

I was listening to the Diane Rehm Show on NPR tuesday.  The topic was fascinating:  the effect of the father's age on reproductive complications.

While many studies have shown the effects of aging on a woman's eggs, and complications like spontaneous abortions and certain genetic anomalies, until the last few years no one looked closely on the effects of the father's age.  All they knew was there was no decrease in sperm numbers, morphology or motility with aging.

Now it seems that paternal age over forty is associated with more infertility, an increase in spontaneous abortion (miscarriage), as well as a number of identifiable point mutations (which cause diseases like Elephant Man's Disease, Marfan Syndrome or retinoblastoma.  The aging ovum is more associated with gene aneuploidy, too many or too few choromosomes, leading to problems like Down Syndrome or Klinefelter's Syndrome or Turner's Syndrome, as well as infertility and spontaneous abortion. 

The aging sperm has more chromosomal breakage than does the younger.  In addition, aging sperm are associated with more schizophrenia (though this multifactorial disease is hard to study) and autism (as well as the related Asperger's Syndrome).  They also segue into some of the reasons why there is more autism diagnosed than ever before.  Reasons for apparently increasing numbers include increased recognition and diagnosis, as well as changes in the criteria for diagnosis, as well as a possible increase in incidence.  They also explain why vaccines, which are often blamed for autism, probably have nothing to do with it.

The bottom line:  Fathers over 40 years of age have a 94% chance of having a completely normal child.  This is either encouraging or discouraging depending on how one looks at it.  But these things need to be taken into consideration as couples plan to have children at that age, couples in which the man or woman or both are over forty,

All in all, a fascinating interview on an evolving topic.

[Illustration via Riddle Ware Funnies]

Winter's Tail

Winter is a baby dolphin.  She got her tail tangled in a buoy line.  When she was found, she had multiple injuries.  The line was wrapped so tightly around her tail that the blood flow had been interrupted.  The tail eventually withered and fell off.

This innocent sea mammal would have lost her life but for four months of continuous care at Clearwater Marine Aquarium.  At this point, she is doing fine and has bonded with another female dolphin.  She swims by moving her body back and forth, rather that her tail up and down, in usual bottlenose fashion.

At this point, the folks at CMA are planning to fit her with a prosthetic tail.  Even though she is able to swim very well, it is not normal anatomic dolphin swimming, and the veterinarians fear that she will hurt her back if she continues to swim this way.  They believe that learning to swim in a normal fashion will help prevent this young dolphin from debilitating back problems.

[Story via NPR]

New Dining Room

I got my new dining room furniture last week.

I'm so happy.

I'll be even happier when they send me the remaining four chairs.

Meanwhile, I really only take up one.  Have dined at it for the last three evenings, reading the paper with a cat happily shedding on the chair next to me.

Life is good.

Tammy and Doogie, Redux

A couple of days ago, I did a post about Tammy Grimes' rescue of doggie Doogie.  While I abhor animal cruelty, I hedged about where you draw the line.

Gloria, who had called my attention to the plight of the pet, took polite umbrage with my wishy-washiness on the subject (my words, not hers).

She forwarded me a letter she had written, which eloquently makes her point.

In my profession I attend to adults who often have treated themselves

poorly, fallen ill, and subsequently have decided to seek intervention

in hopes of righting their situation or improving their outcome.

Children and animals are frequently less fortunate in this regard—they

cannot make or effect these choices and they depend upon the kindness,

compassion, and good sense of others to safeguard their physical and

emotional welfare and to intercede in their behalf when they are

endangered.

Had the man from whom Tammy Grimes rescued the dog treated his wife or

child in the manner in which he treated Doogie, the police would

certainly have responded. They would likely have arrested him,

provided medical care to the victim, and sheltered the abused in a

safe-house. Had the animal services equivalent of the police responded

at all to the multiple calls concerning the dog, one might have

anticipated a similar course of action—and, had any of this occurred,

Ms. Grimes would neither have been called nor felt the need to

intercede. Her action is called 'advocacy' and it is our

responsibility as a society to provide it for those who cannot protect

themselves; we do this either through a systems-approach [the fact

that there was no response to repeated calls suggests a broken or

overtaxed system] or we do it though personal action, as did Ms.

Grimes. As to the claim regarding this man's 'property rights'—it is a

smokescreen to draw away our attention from an act of cruelty and

neglect. I applaud both Ms. Grimes and the people who called for her

assistance—perhaps had they been around in 1964, Kitty Genovese would

not have been slaughtered while a crowd watched and did nothing.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

—Edmund Burke

*     *     *     *

For those of you who may not recall, the chilling Kitty Genovese incremental slaughter in Kew Gardens, Queens, occurred as her assailant returned several times to kill and attempt to rape her.  The incident was witnessed by anywhere from a dozen to 38 people.

Thanks for the rebuttal, Glo.

[Image from Dogs Deserve Better]

One-Pot Meal

I've decided it's time to work my way through all the stuff in my freezer.  When I cook, it's usually in big batches, and I usually freeze some.  Often, I am certain I will be able to identify it through the container and don't even label it.  I have a quantity  of plastic containers containing reddish-brown food that I can't identify beyond that.  Might be spaghetti sauce, or chili, or maybe spezzatino, or possibly baked beans.  So this will be an adventure of sorts.

I also have packages of double-wrapped meat, bout at a "buy one get one free" sale which should be used up.

Last night, time was up for a package of cubed pork steaks, which I had intended for weinerschnizel.  Instead, I decided to bake them with rice.

I love to make rice pilaf.  It is delicious, and stands alone, with no sauce or butter required.  You saute the hard kernels in some oil with onion, then bake it in chicken broth, and it comes out moist and delicious.

This time, I decided to play with it a bit.  To the rice, I added some dilatini pasta (you could certainly use some other small, tubular pasta, or, for that matter, any kind you have around.), some pignoli, and some shoepeg corn, and baked it together with my sauteed pork steaks.

Pork or chicken, browned and added to this dish adds a browned meat flavor to the rice, while ensuring that the meat is fork tender and golden brown. 

Ingredients:

Normal:

2 cups white or brown rice
4 cups of chicken broth (I use two 14-oz. cans of broth and add a little water)
1 large onion or two small ones
4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or pork chops

Last Night's Variation

1 1/2 cups white rice
1/2 lb. dilatini
2 small onions
1 lb. frozen white shoepeg corn (my favorite)
1/4 cup pine nuts
4 cups chicken broth
5 pork steaks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, and brown salted-and-peppered meat.  You don't have to cook it through, it will finish cooking in the oven.

Remove the meat, and saute the chopped onion in the oil and brownings.  When the onion is translucent, add the dry rice to the pan and cook until covered with oil and a light tan color.  It will first become an opaque white, then gradually tan.  Stir throughout so it doesn't burn.

(In this case, I added rice, pine nuts and dilatini, and sauteed them dry in the same fashion.)

Add chicken broth, stir and return to a simmer.  I return to a simmer to cut the time it will spend in the oven.

(I added the broth and the frozen corn and brought to a simmer.)

Submerge meat in the broth.

Place in the oven and bake 45 minutes to an hour. During the baking, the rice will absorb the water and rise around the meat, which will become tender and brown in the oven.

This will give you a crusty rice top with tender cooked rice underneath.  If you prefer the rice soft throughout, cook it with a lid on it.  Or as I sometimes do, start cooking it with a lid on, and remove it halfway through.

In this case, the corn all floated to the top, so it looks a little different from the plain rice dish.  Tasted delicious, though.

This rice is so easy and good, made with or without the meat that I rarely ever make plain white rice anymore, unless I am serving it with a sauced dish, like chicken curry or steak with chateaubriand sauce or beef stroganoff.

I cut into the chop with a fork to show how tender it is.

I know it when I see it

Last night on Monday Night Football, the New Orleans Saints played the Atlanta Falcons.  The Goo Goo Dolls, U2 and Green Day entertained and former President Bush performed the coin toss.

The site is the Superdome which is 27 stories high and covers 52 acres, and cost $143 million in federal, state and private funds to refurbish. 

Excuse me.  Does anyone but me think this is obscene?  In an affluent country where we can't feed all our people or protect the citizens, in a city where some are still without adequate shelter, the thing in ravaged New Orleans that gets the money is a football stadium.  $143 million.

Maybe it will bring attention and tourists to the area, but the money the stadium itself generates will go to the owners and players.  There is no better known city or tourist Mecca than New Orleans at its best.  I can't speak for private dollars, but the public money should have gone to rebuild and improve the city.  That will bring more tourist dollars and life back to the city that ten stadiums.

Is it the symbol of New Orleans' rebirth?  Why not have the real thing instead of a symbol?

$143 million.  Even in today's dollars, that's real money.