Garlic, and what I love about you.

I love garlic. Its taste and smell. The way it looks carmellized and soft after roasting. My mouth waters at the thought.

There's tons of garlic lore out there. Good food... heart and immune health food, aphrodesiac, insect and vampire repellent. Bad food... some people are offended by the odor (wierdos.)

In 13th century France, ailee (a soupy sauce made of garlic, almonds and breadcrumbs ponded together with chicken broth) was benificial health aide. Chicken soup, almonds and garlic together - that's my kind of super food.

Hardneck/softneck: hardneck (rocambole) have a hard central stem and more robust flavor vs. softnecks which obviously have a shy flavor and thin grassy stems.

Buying garlic: only purchase firm, plump cloves. When garlic ages, it shrivels and sprouts green shoots. Common pink skinned = spanish garlic, thinner skin and (imho) is more forgiving in cooking and less bitter flavor in general. Elephant garlic = mild flavor, big bulbs. Green garlic = never even seen it. I hear it is very rare and delicate in flavor.

I could go on and on - this could easily be a garlic blog, there is so much to say about garlic. Check out this site for even more info: http://www.hoodrivergarlic.com/variety.htm = garlic of the month club. + Great garlic information resouce.

Moon Illusion

See a Huge Moon Illusion Wednesday

Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
SPACE.comTue Jun 17, 11:15 AM ET

As the full moon rises this Wednesday evening, June 18, many people will be tricked into thinking it's unusually large

The moon illusion, as it's known, is a trick in our minds that makes the moon seem bigger when it's near the horizon. The effect is most pronounced at full moon. Many people swear it's real, suggesting that perhaps Earth's atmosphere magnifies the moon.

But it really is all in our minds. The moon is not bigger at the horizon than when overhead.

The illusion will be particularly noticeable at this "solstice moon," coming just two days before summer starts in the Northern Hemisphere. The reason, according to NASA, lies in lunar mechanics: The sun and full moon are like kids on a see-saw; when one is high, the other is low. This week's high solstice sun gives us a low, horizon-hugging moon and a strong, long-lasting version of the illusion.

If it's any consolation, space station astronauts report the same effect.

Here's how it works: Your mind believes things on the horizon are farther away than things overhead, because you are used to seeing clouds just a few miles above, but the clouds on the horizon can indeed be hundreds of miles away. So if we think something (such as the moon) is farther away, and it's not, then it seems larger.

If you remain doubtful, test the idea yourself. Go out at moonrise with a small object, perhaps a pencil eraser. Hold it at arm's length as the moon rises and compare the sizes of the moon and the eraser, then repeat the experiment an hour or two later when the moon is high in the sky. A rolled up tube of paper works well, too.

Moonrise times vary by location. On Wednesday, it will come up at these local times at these locations, according to NASA: New York City, 8:58 p.m.; Miami, 8:35 p.m.; Seattle, 9:51 p.m.

The moon rises about 50 minutes earlier Tuesday night, when the effect will also be noticeable because the moon will be nearly full. Oh, and that raises another fallacy: There's no such thing as a full moon.

Additional moonrise times for your location are available from the U.S. Naval Observatory Web site.

Key to All Optical Illusions Discovered Top 10 Cool Moon Facts Moon Image Gallery Original Story: See a Huge Moon Illusion Wednesday

Everyone knows it takes quite a lot of chocolate to maintain a magnificent bosom like hers.



This is a great (fast, easy, tasty) recipe. I shared it with a friend today and thought I might share it with all y'all too. I do shave down the sugar a bit b/c I think semi-sweet morsels are perfectly sweet just the way they are.

http://crackinggoodegg.blogspot.com/http://crackinggoodegg.blogspot.com/2008/02/choco-hoto-pots.html
This is a great food blog with many other delicious recipes.

Choco Hoto Pots
(adapted from Nigella's Feast TV show)

Melt 175gm of dark chocolate with 125gm of unsalted butter in a double boiler. Leave to cool.

Whisk together 2 eggs and 3/4 cup caster sugar. Mix in 3 tbspn of plain flour.

Fold egg, sugar and flour mix into the chocolate butter mix.

Spoon the mix into small buttered ramekins (less than a cup in size) or little teacups. Only fill to about 2/3 full. You should have enough for 4.

Place ramekins onto a baking tray. Bake in a 200C oven for 20 minutes. The pots will be piping hots so leave to cool down a bit. Expect the tops to sink down. Serve warm.

This Girl is Amazing!

I like bellydancing. I've taken bellydancing. This girl has stunning control. Watch in awe and wonder.

In Dallas - June 14 - Lisa Loeb

Telephone Book

World's First Telephone Book Surfaces
Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

May 29, 2008 -- The only known edition of the world's first telephone book has just surfaced in Connecticut.

It will be auctioned along with a collection of noteworthy books and documents covering technology, science, math and philosophy over six centuries.

The 20-page directory was issued in November of 1878, just two years after Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. The phone book contained information useful to 391 subscribers within the New Haven, Conn., area who were obviously still learning their way around the new communication device.

"Should you wish to speak to another subscriber you should commence the conversation by saying, 'Hulloa!'" it instructs.

Tom Lecky, who is head of books and manuscripts at Christie's auction house, which is handling the sale, told Discovery News, "The directions start off by amusingly saying, 'Never take the telephone off the hook unless you wish to use it...When you are done talking say, 'That is all,' and the person spoken to should say, 'O.K.'"

The book goes on to tell readers they should leave the "lower lip and jaw free." They were also warned never to "use the wire more than three minutes at a time, or more than twice an hour" without first "obtaining permission from the main office."

Lecky said Bell was granted a patent for the telephone in 1876. He then demonstrated it to visitors of the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition that same year. In early 1878, he installed the first telephone exchange in New Haven.

No phone numbers were printed in the Connecticut city's milestone book -- just the names of subscribers. It did, however, list businesses in a separate section at the end, making it the world's first yellow pages too. The businesses included local newspapers, grocers, physicians and manufacturers.

For decades, the phone book was in the hands of private collector Richard Green, a physician and amateur astronomer whose library will be auctioned by Christie's New York on June 17.

The phone book is not the most valuable work in the collection. Appraisers gave that honor to a first edition of Nicolaus Copernicus' De revolutionibus, a book believed by many to be the most important scientific publication of the 16th century.

"Copernicus' work displaced man from the center of the universe," Lecky said. "By placing the sun at the center of the universe, and not the earth, Copernicus' heliocentric model was revolutionary in shifting the human perception of itself."

Jeremy Norman, a California appraiser and noted expert on scientific works, believes that "Richard Green's copy of the original edition of Copernicus, in its original binding of limp vellum, with the largest margins of any copy recorded, may be the finest copy remaining in private hands."

Norman told Discovery News that it is one of the most desired books for collectors of science publications.

Green's library also includes a richly illustrated 1660 Dutch atlas, Galileo's Dialogo, a first edition of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, as well as important works by Sigmund Freud, Benjamin Franklin, Sir Isaac Newton and Karl Marx.

The collection additionally features 130 of Albert Einstein's reference copies of his own works, complete with scribbled additions and corrections, illustrating how Einstein frequently changed and perfected his calculations concerning special and general relativity, unified theory and quantum theory.

While Einstein kept his own writings, it does not appear that Bell kept a copy of the first phone book. In fact, Sharon Morrow, a heritage preservation officer at the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site of Canada, said no telephone or phone book was found at Bell's Nova Scotia residence, where he and his wife were buried, and many of his ancestors still reside today.

"There is a legend, however, that the area had one telephone in the town of Baddeck," Morrow told Discovery News. "When Bell tried to use the phone, it was broken. He supposedly fixed it by removing the back and taking out a dead fly that had disrupted the system."

The public may view the first phone book, along with the rest of Green's collection, at Christie's Rockefeller Galleries in New York from June 13 to 16.

Jim Bianco

I adore Jim Bianco. His lyrics are thoughtful, his charisma and appeal are irresistible . He plays at The Belmont Hotel in Oak Cliff, TX on June 12th and at Bend Studio in Dallas, Texas on June 13.

http://www.myspace.com/jimbianco

Jim Bianco - Sorry

Net Neutrality

Save the Internet | Rock the Vote

DVT gangsta

My mama might have a blood clot in her leg and has to go in for testing tomorrow. ACK! She took a big tumble in the backyard last week and it may have come from that. Crazy. So I'm doing what I do when posed with some scary thing, research! If anyone has any interesting links/sites/stories let me have 'em. Thanks!

Manos: Hands of Fate

I bought a dvd of this production for my Dad for a holiday. (This clip is not from the dvd.) Its a fabulous stage play of Manos: Hands of Fate. Anyone remember that horrible film MST3000 made fun of? Well, this is a great, easy to understand version with a fantastically wonderful portrayal of Torgo.

You can buy a copy of the dvd: http://www.lastritesproductions.org/dvd.html

Shiftless Lay-Abouts

Some mornings I want to stay in bed all day. Some days I am afforded that luxury and Zee loves it when its one of those days.

Roller Disco Anyone?

I'm planning a roller disco skatin party. Everybody get your skates out!

Its My Bday!

Opening

My opening was a blast!


Jer and Mychele.


Photographer, Dave Hudson.


me and James

Texan I Am, Born and Bred.

You Are 92% Texas

Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit. This ain't your first rodeo!

How Texas Are You?

I'm not 100% b/c I believe Austinites are Texans and there are more than 5 spices.

Sugarbush Revisited

I'm having a show at The Mitchell Building 3800 Commerce, Deep Ellum, TX on 03-May in the evening... more details to come. Everyone's invited!

Eduardo Valdivieso

http://www.introzo.com/

While doing cool website research, I found an artist that I can't get enough of. When I get a new place with an open floor plan, I see this piece in my space. Go enjoy and buy his stuff.

Gotta Love a Fart Joke

Farting Preacher 5

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Don't that Bobby Tilton just talk like an angel? I remember seeing this guy as a kid. Makes me wonder whatever happen to Bob Larson. My dad used to listen to him for musical suggestions - whatever Bob was denouncing, usually sounded pretty good. Ah, bonding with Daddy in the car after school. What sweet memories.

France pics Uploaded

Bonjour les amis! I want to tell you every story that goes with these pics. So, if anything peaks your interest, just ask me for the full story.

A link to see the photos full size:
http://picasaweb.google.com/dogs4paws/

Paris slideshow:



Down south slideshow:

Grody to the Max

I'm not a vegetarian, but I find the USDA, the FDA, the industrial processing of food-destined animals, and the quality of life of those animals to be questionable and embarrassing unethical at the very least. A simple suggestion for beef growers: don't feed cows to cows - its an abomination. If you want to calfs to grow up big and strong, invest in good nutrition, which obviously doesn't include force feeding cow blood to said calfs... then no more mad cow disease. A simple suggestion for beef processors: when dressing out a cow, don't put meat that you want to sell in the cows poo - then no more E-coli. Strange how something so common sensical is such a novel idea.

I ate a Jack in the Box not long ago and within hours was uncontrollable projectile vomiting... could it have been linked to this recall? Don't know, but if the tainted bulk product is part of a sale dating back to Feb 2006, how many people have been affected? It must unfathomable. So, when all of our food stuffs are genetically modified, inorganically grown, processed or otherwise controlled by agencies that have seemingly bent over and grabbed their ankles for the lobbists of corporate entities that only focus on their bottom line, what happens? Thank you republicans... this kind of crap was never a problem before Reagan deconstructed and deregulated.

Capitalism is bad.

I gott go.