The last month’s rains– virtualy every afternoon and evening– have brought out a bumper crop, of several species. Here are our friends and fellow mycophiles Simon and Della Armijo with a few. They each have half of a “cauliflower”, Sparassis crispa. It is also eaten in Tibet and Nepal. This species is especially good for …
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AR, PC 2– Reaction?
Restaurants in Chicago decide to serve foie gras in defiance of the ban. ““This ban is embarrassing Chicago,” said Grant DePorter of Harry Caray’s Restaurant, which dreamed up an appetizer of pan-seared foie gras and scallops ($14.95) and a Vesuvio-style entree pairing foie gras and tenderloin ($33.95) just to buck the new ordinance. “We really …
AR, PC (sigh)
Margory Cohen sends a note about an old film (a good one, based on a novel by Charles Willeford and starring the late Warren Oates and Harry Dean Stanton) being banned from an Edinburgh film festival for CRUELTY TO ANIMALS. “EDINBURGH, Scotland – The Edinburgh International Film Festival canceled the screening of a movie about …
What I am reading– Steve
What I am actually in the middle of: The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin. A novel, a historical mystery set in the early 19th Century in Istanbul, by a writer who knows the territory, with a hero who is an able and brave court eunuch! Unique and with a believable air– the guy knows Turkey, …
I will eat anything, but…
…there may be limits. Reid sent this high “eeuuuwww factor” story from the L. A. Times. It begins: “Health officials Thursday again warned consumers against eating raw or undercooked freshwater crabs as two Orange County restaurants were found to have served raw or live crabs and two more diners came down with a rare lung …
Kipling’s Religion
For “Kiplingites” (see, to use a term of Kipling’s, “Janeites”): John Derbyshire speculates, giving two intriguing, epigrammatic, but ultimately baffling quotes.I always thought he was a Mason. Derb: “He described himself in 1908 (i.e. at age 42) as “A God-fearing Christian atheist.” And, in Kipling’s own words: “All sensible men are of the same religion, …
Newcomers
This “Op- Ed” sounds like it could have been written by some of our more recent newcomers in Magdalena: “I’ve tried being proactive. But none of the locals I’ve talked to about bringing in a co-op health-food grocery store have seemed excited at all. Nor have I gotten any of them to take part in …
What Matt’s Reading
(Occasional Series Alert!) No doubt Steve will give Reid a run for his money on the list of books he’s currently reading. As usual, I’m reading just the one. This week it’s Annie Dillard’s wonderful memoir An American Childhood. Herein Dillard charts the start of an arc, the life of a lucky girl from Pittsburgh …
“Eppur, si muove…”
Many more enjoyable posts to come soon– this one infuriates me. Derb tipped me to the fact that Pope Benedict has apparently fired the Vatican astronomer for casting aspersions on what we here refer to as “intelligent” design. From The Daily Mail: “Benedict favours intelligent design, which says God directs the process of evolution, over …
Meat in Almaty
Our friend and dog-in-law Vladimir Beregovoy in Virginia had some intelligent things to say about feeding dogs, and also sent a photo his son Serge took while picking up a relative of our pups from our friends in Almaty. “I believe in adaptation and body wisdom of a dog dealing with natural foods. I would …