New Food

Sometimes vacation means eating food you have never had before, or maybe have not had in a long time.

Vacation also meant watching shows some of us had never seen before, like The Office and The Great British Bake Off.

Change of Scenery

We stayed in a cabin in the mountains for a long weekend before Thanksgiving. While it did not have all the comforts of home, it was good to be in a different place doing different things without having to be with other people.

Highlights include

cycling in the snow,

beautiful views of the mountains,

and exploring the trail

at the end of our street.

New-to-me Hobby

I can't say speedcubing is a new hobby because almost forty years ago there was a Rubik's cube contest at our neighborhood block party. My mom can solve it but I never learned.

At some point we ended up with this book, but I never read it.

I had been in a touch with a friend whose teenager is a speed cuber, which reminded me that I wanted to watch the documentary, Why We Cube | A Speedcubing Documentary.

We have at least two traditional cubes, which I used when I decided that
I was finally ready to put some time into the process of learning to solve it.

I followed along with this video and was amazed that it worked!

The traditional cube is slow and a bit difficult to manipulate. As a gift I received a speed cube, which is amazingly easy to spin. I don't think I will ever do it in under one minute, but my goal is to get under three.

Next up is reading Rubik's new book.

Local Bookstore

Were you thinking of buying the new Obama book?
It is on sale locally, just stop by, call, or order online.

It is not something I would usually get but I really want to vote with my dollars and support bookstores.

Huntley is half a mile away so I count that as local.

It has odd bike racks

and a beautiful avocado tree.

Local Food

The local botanic garden hosted their second tasting event with foods prepared with plants native to the area. If I had been more on top of things I would have remembered to write about the ice cream flavors we tried during their first tasting event. 

• Coyote Mint Chip: breezy coyote mint against the backdrop of chocolate chip ice cream 
• Coastal Sage Yum: vanilla has never been more daring with this addition of Cleveland sage
• Cactus Cream: this desert dessert celebrates the hot-pink fruits of prickly pear with melon-like notes

I am glad we participated even though I still prefer lemon sorbet or butter pecan with caramel.

For this event I picked up a box at the botanic garden

and in the evening we tuned into the webinar.

Our first tasting was a seasoning we put on popcorn, but I completely forgot that this would be a great blog opportunity until I finished the popcorn! It was made from Atriplex, also known as saltbush. It was salty and I would consider using it if it were widely available.

Sage pesto with mesquite flour bread

Tepary bean and oreganillo bruschetta
not shown - desert seed crackers

As we sampled the goodies we listened to the caterer talk about developing recipes and preparing the food. We heard from a member of the Chia Cafe Collective, "a grassroots organization dedicated to honoring the Indigenous people of Southern California and their connections to nature and native plants," according to their cookbook. The botanic garden staff were also part of the discussion and gave information to those who wanted to grow the plants themselves.

I am glad we are able to support the garden, it was nice to have something different to do, and it was good to taste something I would not have made myself. For now I will continue to buy my food from the store and farmers market.

 Taste Wild II: Savor the Fall

Taste Wild II participants will be able to pick up a box of delicious savory food items prepared with native plants. Then, join us virtually and taste along as we enjoy these foods and learn about the culinary uses, cultural legacies and health benefits of the remarkable plants used in each recipe.

California Botanic Garden is partnering with As You Like It, one of our fabulous caterers at the Garden, and Abe Sanchez of the Chia Café Collective(CCC). CCC is a group of local tribal members and collaborators that honors indigenous people and their vast traditional knowledge of the nutritional and medicinal bounty of native plants. 

Our Taste Wild II box includes:  Desert Seed Crackers, Sage Pesto, Saltbush (Atriplex) seasoning condiment (with a package of gourmet microwave popcorn to sample it on), and a mesquite flour baguette with tepary bean and oreganillo bruschetta. Each box will also include recipes, tasting notes and instructions for joining us at a private virtual tasting event via Zoom on Saturday, November 14 from 6 pm - 7 pm. 

The virtual event will include a keynote address from Abe Sanchez of CCC. Our Caterer, As You Like It, will share some of their experiences in crafting these delectable foods. We will then delight in each item, introducing the recipe and ingredients. Abe will share insights about the nutritional aspects, flavors and cultural relevance of the included plants. California Botanic Garden staff will share the ecological importance of each species and how you can include these plants in your home garden so that you can prepare these delicacies yourself from sustainably harvested ingredients!

Some days are like that

It started with teeth marks in the banana.

Next up was the heat going off,
as signaled by the blank thermostat.

Then came the replacement window
and the purchase of practice golf balls.

The dishwasher was kind enough to wait until the next day.

The good news is that with a lot of time and effort D. was able to fix both the furnace and dishwasher!

Wordplay

It used to be that the daily NY Times had only the crossword puzzle and KenKen, a number puzzle. During the pandemic they have added what they call Two Not Touch, originally known as Star Battle, and brain teaser. On Tuesdays and Thursday the brain teaser is a cryptogram, of which I am a long-time fan.

I was able to solve this puzzle even though proper nouns were not marked. I had never heard of a supervocalic, so I poked around the web a little. So much fun!

Sequoia is the shortest example of a supervocalic. Other examples are cauliflower and malnourished. The person who coined the word has four categories

• Untainted Words: solidly-written dictionary-sanctioned entries, which have been the focus of many previous Word Ways investigations 
• Multiword Phrases: hyphenated and otherwise 'tainted' items 
• Popular Items: generally-known supervocalic people, places and things 
• Fun Coinages: sometime cute, sometimes contrived items not covered by other categories 

Some of my favorites are 

• Jay Leno Quits
• Dueling banjos
• Fountain pens 
• Organic butter
• Musical comedy

Of course there is a Facebook group dedicated to supervocalics, but I am going to be happy finding some on my own or any that you would like to share.

Nope

 I was fascinated to see this picture

and to learn that a group of Harvestmen,
aka daddy longlegs, is called a nope.

If you would rather see videos are there plenty, including this one

 

I have seen only a couple nopes around here.

October leftovers

 Almost all my pictures from October were taken at work. 

But I have a few others.

I was so proud to catch and release a house centipede
(instead of catching and leaving it for someone else to release).

I am still collecting sidewalk and curb stamps. I like this one
because I also have one from 2000 that is Grigolla & Sons.

I went to a voting center to turn in my ballot.
They gave me a sticker, which I proudly wore AND
I still have the sticker that came with my ballot so I
can wear that on election day. My lucky day!