In the Headlights

Red, Yellow, or Green

Curries.  What makes them red, or green or yellow?

Curry can be found in most Asian countries, but it originated in India.  It was brought to Europe in the 18th century by British Colonialists.

Curries are usually spiced stews with meat or vegetables, served with rice.

I've made curry using mild or hot curry paste, which I like much more than curry powder.

Recently, I was eating Thai food and ordered red curry, which I like very much.  But the question arose of what the difference is among yellow, red and green Thai curries.

Thai curries tend to use local ingredients like Kafir lime leaves, lemongrass, chilli peppers and coconut milk, making them more aromatic than their Indian counterparts.

Green curry is made from grinding together shallots, turmeric, green chilies (hence the color), garlic, shrimp paste and galangal.

Red curry is hotter, containing red chilies.

Thai yellow curry is similar to Indian curry, and gets its bright yellow color from turmeric.

Turmeric is a relative of the ginger plant.  It adds the bright yellow color to foods like curries or ballpark hotdog mustard.  It is also available in capsule, powder and tincture form as a medicinal supplement.

[Image of prawns with red curry sauce via Searchwarp.com]

Botox

When Diane Rehm gets treated for her spasmodic dysphonia, she gets botox injections, as do many people with other dystonic (muscle spasm) disorders.

Botox was first developed as an orphan drug to treat spasmodic disorders, before it found a multi-billion-dollar niche relaxing those muscles that create wrinkles.

Botox is made from anaerobic bacterium clostridium botulinum.  That is the bacterium that causes botulism.  Botulism is a disease caused by improperly preserved or canned food (in which the bacterium is not killed).  Symptoms include increasing muscle paralysis (gee, that's what makes the wrinkles go away) which can lead to respiratory arrest.

Though it has been a very safe treatment, and I would not hesitate to be treated for a medical condition, I would hesitate to have Botox injected for cosmetic reasons.  Though I must say those lines that are developing between my nose and my mouth are starting to irritate me.

It's your decision.

[Portrait of clostridium via Les Microbes Dangereux Pour L'Alimentation]

Why We Say That

Caught red-handed-  back when poaching the king's deer, or rustling your neighbor's cattle were crimes, it was hard to prove guilt without catching the thief with the dead animal...and blood on his hands.  Not that lack of proof was necessarily going to keep you from getting hanged.

Clean as a Whistle-  another cheery explanation.  Clean as a whistle means something is exceptionally clean and smooth...the cleanest decapitations took place when the sword blade moved so fast it whistled.  It might have been the Guillotine.  I'd think it would apply there as well.  (I had hoped it had something to do with the squeaky noise your mirror or window makes when you Windex it.  Apparently not.)

Pull your own weight-  meaning to do your own share comes from rowing, where crew members have to pull hard on the oars in order to propel their own weight over the water. 

[Via Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Extraordinary Book of Facts and Bizarre Information]

[Image via Sonoma State University]

Natural Highs

LC sent us this list of natural highs.  Some of them are great.  The list is 45 lines long, so I will include the best ones.  Since it's my blog, I will feel free to embelish as I see fit.  If you have favorite natural highs of your own, please share them.

 

1)   Falling in love.
2)   Laughing so hard your face hurts (and your sides ache, and tears course down your cheeks).
3)   A hot shower when you're cold and wet.
4)   No lines at the super market (or driver's license place).
5)   Getting mail from someone special.
6)   Hearing a favorite song on the radio.
7)   Lying in bed listening to the rain outside, and not having to get up and go out.
8)   Hot towels fresh out of the dryer. 
9)   A chocolate milkshake (or malted.  Mmmm).
10) A really stimulating conversation.
11) Finding money in your coat pocket form last winter.
12) Laughing at an inside joke.
13) Accidentally overhearing somebody say something nice about you.
14) Waking up, looking at the clock and realizing you still have a few hours to sleep.
15) The first kiss (the first kiss from a new partner counts, too).
16) Playing with a puppy or a kitten.
17) Sweet dreams (Oh, yeah).
18) Hot chocolate with marshmallows.
19) A road trip with a friend (with really good music, playing loud).
20) Eye contact and a smile shared with a cute stranger.
21) Holding hands.
22) Giving someone a present that you know they'll love.

A few I'd like to add to the list:

23) Going to the movies and having the whole theater to yourself.  (I have, and the movie was great, too.)
24) A warm bed to climb into at night.
25) Getting together with someone you really like but haven't seen for a long time.
26) Writing what I think is a really good blog post...even if I'm the only one who thinks so.

Heck, even reading a list like that give me a natural high...

[Image via Anthony's Kite Gallery]

I'm Buff...Sort Of

I wash my hands a lot, not to mention doing dishes and housework.  So the luxury of a manicure is not for me.  Or rather, the luxury of the manicure is for me, but nail polish is not.

When I get a manicure now, I get my nails buffed.  It  involves well, buffing the nails with increasingly finer surfaces.  Like sanding, where you start with coarse grit, and gradually use finer and finer sandpaper until you get a really smooth surface.

You start by evening off the ridges with the first two coats.  The nail  is doesn't pick up any shine until the third surface, which brings the nail surface to a high gloss.  It looks great.  To maintain the look, I buff with the second and third surfaces about every three days.  A lot less work than nail polish for a look that is just as attractive.

Design Nail Flash Shiner 3-way Buffer Block (the kind I use) is available from Head2Toe Beauty for $1.49 each plush S&H.  It's the buffer in the illustration.

Working: It's for the Dogs

We usually think of dogs as pets, but thousands of dogs work for their living.  It wasn't until recent times that pets became non-contributing family members.

Nova's Dogs and More Dogs reminds us of the valuable contributions dogs make to human society.  Dog occupations include:

Hunting dogs

Land mine dogs-Trained to walk in straight lines as the sniff out mines in fields, saving thousands of human lives every year.

Rescue dogs Saving humans from all kinds of catastrophes, including those lost and snowbound after avalanches or just plain bad judgment.

Sled dogs-Once the main form of transportation in Alaska, these dogs now mostly compete in sled pull endurance contests like the Iditarod.

Truffle dog- Sniffing out fungi that can resell for $600 a pound, these dogs certainly pay their way.

Assistance dogs-  Bring quality of life to people with physical or sensory imnpairments.

Herding dogs-  Work with humans to control herds of much larger animals.

Drug dogs-  Dogs smell so much better than humans (that pretty much goes for all animals, no?). I mean, their noses work so much better, not that they are more (or less) fragrant than we...  These dogs use their olfactory gifts to locate illegal narcotics (how they know they're illegal, I can't fathom) for many government agencies.

Termite dogs- Dogs use the olfactory skills mentioned above to detect the odor of methane given off by microorganisms in termites' digestive tracts.

[Illustration of bored herd dog from Herding with the White Shepherd by Judy Huston]

The Source of the Source of all Evil

Where do the names for money come from?  Often from weight, but not always. Here are some sources for the names of money:

Pound (England):  Named for its weight in Sterlings, a unit of currency in medieval England.  The first pound coin was issued in 1642.  If you have one of those, you can retire.

Lira (Italy):  From the Latin word, libra, or "pound".  (See a theme here?)

Drachma (Greece): means "handful".

Rupee (India):  Comes from the Sanskrit rupa, which means "beauty" or "shape".

Peso (Mexico):  Means "weight".  It was introduced by Spain in 1497, the adopted by Mexico and other Latin American countries in the late 19th Century.

Peseta (Spain):  "Little peso".

Franc (French):  First issued in 1360 as a gold coin.  It gets its name from its initial Latin inscription, Rex Francorum, or "King of the Francs".

Escudo (Portugal):  Means "shield" (like escutcheon) referring to the coat of arms on the original coin.

Yen (Japan):  Borrowed from the Chinese yuan, which means "round".

[Via Uncle John's Absolutely Absorbing Bathroom Reader]

Dollar:  Originated from Joachimsthaler, a coin minted in Joachimsthal, in Bohemia.

[Image via coin-rarities.co.uk]

Always Carry a Compass

My husband would used to get annoyed with me because it took me a long time to figure out north, south, east and west when we were somewhere new.  He somehow always knew.  I wish I'd known this trick when he said stuff like "turn east at the intersection, go about two miles, then go north about a mile..."  I was toast every time.  And it did annoy him. 

Point the hour hand of an analog watch at the sun. The time on the watch needs to be correct, without adjusting for Daylight Savings Time.   The angle bisecting the hour hand and "12" is due south.  This applies only to the northern hemisphere.  Here's how you do it in the southern hemisphere.

If you can't see the sun, hold up an object and look for the shadow.  It is, obviously, directly opposite the sun. 

You divide by 2 (bisect the angle) because the earth rotates every 24 hours, but the watch dial makes a complete turn around the face every 12 hours.

Makes it easy to find your way.

[Via Onebag.com]

Did You Know?

111,111,111   
X 111,111,111

12345678987654321

Pretty cool, I think.  It works, too.

[Via Uncle John's Bathroom Reader and Extraordinary Book of Facts and Bizarre Information]

Sacher Torte

Sacher-Torte is a dense chocolate cake with a moist apricot filling, covered with chocolate ganache and served with a dollop of whipped cream.  And, of course, a hot cup of coffee.

While the recipe is a well guarded secret of the Hotel Sacher in Vienna, Austria, many have tried their hand at it, in fact, anyone who can make a dense chocolate cake, warm and sieve some apricot preserves and make a ganache can have a try at it.  The cake was created in 1832 when Prince Metternich dined there with important guests.  He requested his chef create a dessert of high quality and "be sure not to bring shame on me tonight."  The chef fell ill that night (a case of nerves, perhaps) and his apprentice, Franz Sacher created the famous dessert.

  The Hotel Sacher is 130 years old, and was the site where John Lennon and Yoko Ono held their press conference from their bed.

The hotel is across the street from the famed Vienna State Opera. It is known for its old-world luxurious appointments, fine Austrian dining and art collection.  It also boasts a fine bar with an extensive wine collection.

So much royalty stays there that the windows are made from bulletproof glass.

If you crave the original Sacher-Torte, you can order one on-line from the hotel.  Prices range according to size, from 18.50 to 36 Euros.  It helps if you speak German. Or go here to order in English and dollars.

[Via The Hindu Business Line]