1. Fancy BLTs. Not on purpose though. I really just wanted a BLT. I hadn't had one in forever. So I fried up the bacon. Got out the rest of the stuff to make the perfect sandwich. Only to discover we were out of mayonnaise. And I didn't feel like making any. Only to discover we were also out of fresh tomatoes. And I don't have any growing in my 'yard'.
But I did have some fresh sheep cheese and some tomates confites. So, the rustic spelt country bread was spread with the cheese, topped with the bacon, topped with the chopped tomatoes, topped with frisée. Voilà. Fancy, and yet very good, blt.
2. Well, people not things. Computer geeks (meant here as a term of endearment, for heaven's sake take no offense). I like them a lot.
A pain-in-the-ass thing about living outside the US is tv. We get the new season of a series a year after it comes out in the US. And most of the time it's dubbed. Which makes it quite unwatchable. All the homepages of US television channels (the big ones, of course) that show all kinds of stuff for free on-line won't allow overseas access. And of course, dvd's are zoned. Zone 1 is North America, Zone 2 Europe, etc. And of course, dvd players are programmed to only accept dvd's marked for the zone in which they are sold. Gangsters, all of them. So anyway. Out there, in the world, are really nice computer geeks who spend time figuring out the codes and protocols to get around all that. You can get dezoing codes for just about any equipment out there. So now I can watch dvd's from any zone on both of our dvd players. And I just finished watching all the latest episodes of Grey's Anatomy Season 3 (very good) and Prison Break Season 2 (sometimes good and sometimes disappointing) for free on-line without illegally downloading anything. Geek on.
Showing posts with label evil plotting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label evil plotting. Show all posts
Friday, May 11, 2007
Friday, February 23, 2007
Secret plans and clever tricks
I've been conducting experiments. Mostly of the linguistic variety but occasionally other varieties as well.
When I moved to France and was shocked and dismayed to discover the nearly national (the east of France being excluded) dislike of cinnamon, I couldn't help but wonder, was it nature or nurture? If Generation A doesn't like it, having never been exposed to it, they probably aren't going to introduce it to their offspring, Generation B. And so on.
I don't know any French people who like cinnamon. None. I'm sure there are a few out there, but they're rare. At least in my neck of the bois. You will be hard pressed to find any baked goods here with cinnamon in them, including ginger bread. Not that I'm complaining about the baked goods. They're excellent.
But I do like cinnamon. I like it in my gingerbread. I like it on in my apple tart. I like it in my carrot cake. I like it in my coffee cake. I like it in my fruit crisps.
Sometimes I make things with cinnamon when we have people over. They almost never like it. These are open-minded people. Could it be genetic? Have the French been short-changed at the cinnamon-liking-gene market?
My children, being half-French and raised in this cinnamon-disliking nation, have been excellent participants in my evil culinary plotting.
They love cinnamon.
You can all take a deep breath now, the suspense is over. It's been proven, it's nurture, not nature, that determines one's propensity to like cinnamon.
Peanut butter too.
When I moved to France and was shocked and dismayed to discover the nearly national (the east of France being excluded) dislike of cinnamon, I couldn't help but wonder, was it nature or nurture? If Generation A doesn't like it, having never been exposed to it, they probably aren't going to introduce it to their offspring, Generation B. And so on.
I don't know any French people who like cinnamon. None. I'm sure there are a few out there, but they're rare. At least in my neck of the bois. You will be hard pressed to find any baked goods here with cinnamon in them, including ginger bread. Not that I'm complaining about the baked goods. They're excellent.
But I do like cinnamon. I like it in my gingerbread. I like it on in my apple tart. I like it in my carrot cake. I like it in my coffee cake. I like it in my fruit crisps.
Sometimes I make things with cinnamon when we have people over. They almost never like it. These are open-minded people. Could it be genetic? Have the French been short-changed at the cinnamon-liking-gene market?
My children, being half-French and raised in this cinnamon-disliking nation, have been excellent participants in my evil culinary plotting.
They love cinnamon.
You can all take a deep breath now, the suspense is over. It's been proven, it's nurture, not nature, that determines one's propensity to like cinnamon.
Peanut butter too.
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