things that keep me up at night
Have you ever noticed that when you put a plant on a windowsill, it turns to look out at the sun. So you turn it back around so the pretty part is towards you. The next day or two, your plant starts to ignore your wishes and turns around again.
phototropism – Growth or movement of a sessile organism toward or away from a source of light. (dictionary.com)
Well, it doesn’t help when they use words you don’t know in the definition. So–
sessile – Permanently attached or fixed; not free-moving
One way to make food exciting and even exotic is to use herbs. Buying herbs at the supermarket is often expensive. Growing your own is fun and much cheaper too. Even if you live in an apartment, you can put pots of herbs in the window. Although my backyard is fairly dark, I have oregano, mint, chives, sage and thyme growing. Ryan and Jonathan’s garden is out in the full sun and they have an amazing array of giant herbs. Jon makes excellent pesto with his basil. It’s good in Thai dishes as well. You can use Italian parsley with almost anything. A buttery sage sauce is a northern Italian delight. Mint for couscous. And I could go on and on. Really, there is nothing fresher and more satisfying than herbs you grow yourself.
TODAY’S WORRY
Tonight John and I were discussing a movement that promotes “eating locally.†In other words, buying produce that was grown near where you live. The advocates of this think that the amount of fuel that it takes to bring fruits and vegetables from around the world to our markets is a waste.
With that in mind, I thought back to my childhood and what I ate (or probably didn’t eat since I was a finicky eater.) Mushrooms came in cans. For a special occasion my mother might buy B & B whole buttered mushrooms. Green beans, also canned. Root vegetables, though, were a staple. My dad used to have a big garden in our backyard in New Jersey; you know, the Garden State. The vegetables from our garden supplemented the ones from the grocery store and the farm market. Wow, those Jersey tomatoes. My dad would come home at lunch and tend to those plants like they were his children. They are still the best tomatoes I have ever eaten.
So should one buy locally and go with the seasons? For the best taste, yes, I think so. For economic reasons? I don’t know. I like supporting my local farmers. Using all that fuel to ship asparagus here so I can eat it in January does seem wasteful. But John brought up that the free market (theoretically) should fix that problem. If it costs a lot to ship it to the U.S, the price of the produce will be out of range for American shoppers, the demand will go down, and then foreign producers will either have to cut their margins or stop shipping to the U.S. So this problem should regulate itself.
Vegan – A vegetarian who eats plant products only
No eggs, cheese or milk products. No honey. No leather or fur.
I know people follow this strict vegetarianism, but it must be tough.
“Call Any Vegetable” is a song by Frank Zappa from the album Mothermania, recorded April, 1969.
Eat vegetables, they’re good for you!
TODAY’S HAPPINESS
Can it be possible that 25 years have passed since Sarah was born? I cannot imagine having a better daughter than she is. She is smart and witty, strong and sensitive. She is intolerant of intolerance. She is my friend. And I could go on and on, because I am, after all, her mother. Love and happy birthday, sweetie.
1857: Fannie M. Farmer (cookbook author)
1882: Emmy Noether (German Jewish mathematician)
1897: Margaret Farrar (Crossword puzzle editor)
1900: Erich Fromm 1900 (Social philosopher and psychoanalyst)
1908: Joan Crawford (actress)
1910: Akira Kurosawa (film director)
1912: Wernher Von Braun (rocket scientist)
1929: Roger Bannister (runner)
1953: Chaka Khan (singer)
No one ever got fat because they ate cake on their birthday. It’s eating it the other 364 days that gets you in trouble.
TODAY’S WORRY
There’s been a firestorm of media and political attention on Terri Schiavo, the woman who has been in a vegetative state for the last 15 years. Her husband feels that it was Schiavo’s desire not to be kept alive by extra-ordinary means. Her parents feel differently and are fighting to keep her alive. This prompted us to sit down with our children and let them know our wishes. I think it is important to have these discussions even if they are uncomfortable. We have also indicated what should be done in the living will portion of our will. It is crucial that your wishes be written down and that the people who would have to make the decisions about your life know where that piece of paper is. I would not want my children or husband to have to make an uninformed decision and live with the burden of it.
In the hope of planting some vocabulary in young minds, there has been a CD created showcasing vocabulary that might be on the new SAT. Isn’t it amazing how you can grope for the meaning of a word, but even if you don’t think you can remember a song, as you sing it, the next line comes into your head.
One of the songs starts, “Ephemeral day” and then repeats the idea in the next line with “short-lived day.” If only they could have put math to music!
ephemeral – Lasting for a markedly brief time. (dictionary.com)