Blind Snake

A friend just posted that her boyfriend found a worm-sized blind snake today. I went quickly to the 'tubes' to investigate these 'blind snakes', and look!

Look at this teeny little guy! There are many species of them, some breathtakingly small and perfect. I like animals that look like they're made of plastic. For this reason I've always had a passion for amphibians - mini frogs and salamanders in particular (caecilians are weird). They inspire such a feeling of awe at the seeming impossibility of life. How do these little guys work?

Wegman's Weimaraners

I love that William Wegman has made an entire career out of photographing weimaraners. To me, this is a testament to doing what moves you.

Asafowhata?

I've recently become increasingly obsessed with the flavor and smell of asafoetida (or devil's dung) - a cooking powder derived from a species of Ferula (the same plant that Prometheus used to smuggle fire to humanity).

I have a jar of delicious mango pickle that I often offer to dinner guests with the warning that it's a very acquired taste. The main point of oddity is the asafoetida, which is quite strong in the pickles. It's incredibly hard to describe. Acrid? Sour? Pungent? These are all correct but, of course, don't capture the essence of the thing. I recommend heading right down to your local Indian food store for a smell.

One last note - asafoetida may have some of the same medicinal properties as its now extinct cousin Silphium, which the Greeks and Romans used so extensively that it was said to be 'worth it's weight in denari'. Chief among Silphium's medicinal uses? Contraceptive.

Strange Little Beer Owl

Since moving to the west coast, Sig and I haven't been able to brew beer. (All our equipment is in a basement in Hoboken.) Last week, though, we caved and decided to buy new stuff - our dreams of somehow shipping or driving a bunch of 5 gallon buckets/enormous pots cross country were, we decided, impractical.

We went to a local beer store called O'Sheas where a very helpful, and very manic salesman put a kit together for us. Meanwhile we perused their beer selection. I was immediately drawn to a bottle with a strange, little owl on it, and a mountain, and the words 'Hitachino Nest Beer'. (It's the Celebration Ale.)

I love this owl. It's just totally awesome looking. And the taste list for the Celebration Ale is - coriander, orange peel, nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla. Lovely sweetness. Further updates when I actually taste it. Meanwhile, here is our star:

Kitten Personalities

Where do they come from? Why does Catsius Clay want to lay down on any paper you're reading? Why does he love to eat tomatoes (especially large, soft heirlooms)? Or to put his head under the faucet?

Why is Caterine the Great obsessed with my shawl from India? From whence her passion for pastries? (So far cherry scone is her favorite.)

Why does Chairman Meow want to chew off any exposed strings, ropes, or bunches of hair he can (including bathing suit strings, shoe laces, carpet fringe, my post-shower hair, and the kitten's whiskers)? Why is it that every morning around 10 he wanders the house yowling like he's going to die?

Why does Margaret Catcher like to get in the tub with me?

Synchronicity

Each person has a window of time during which events seem simultaneous. This window, incidentally, is not the same for all senses. Click-fusion, or experience of simultaneity in audible clicks, will happen for any two stimuli less than .005 seconds apart (for normal people.) Two flashes of light, on the other hand, will appear simultaneous as far as .03 seconds apart. These windows grow larger with age.

More bizarre still is that our brain will alter our experience of simultaneity to match a visual cue with it's accompanying sound only up to a certain distance, and then, suddenly, the two will seem out of sync.

And, here is the real kicker, the brain unconsciously compensates for imposed time lags on simultaneity between the senses until they are perceptually invisible. In studies where subjects move a computer mouse, but the clicker on the screen moves only after a delay, subjects report that after a short period they stop experiencing a delay between their movement and that of the clicker. When the mouse and clicker are synced up again, these subjects, for a brief while, will have the bizarre experience of seeing the clicker move before their hand does. Obviously it isn't, but they feel as if it is.

Heirloom Seeds

I just bought a ludicrously large cache of seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, a company recently profiled in the NY Times for their seed bank and selection of fantastic and strange heirlooms. (Also, it's run by a ridiculously cute young couple.)

Sig and I were thinking of getting some arugula, and maybe a nice kale or two. But the names of the plants and their descriptions were so fantastic that we couldn't stop. We bought Giant of Naples cauliflowers and Black from Tula tomatoes, Crane Melons and Emerald Gems, Alabama Red Okra and Crystal Apple Cucumber (white and the shape of a large egg).

Here is a sample description for the Cherokee Purple Tomato -

80 days. An old Cherokee Indian heirloom, pre-1890 variety; beautiful deep dusky purple-pink color, superb sweet flavor, and very large sized fruit. Try this one for real old-time tomato flavor. My favorite dark tomato!

They should arrive in 4-7 days. We can. not. wait.