Great day

Speaking of the slopes

This is U.S. 6 near Arapahoe Basin. Photo by R.J. Sangosti, borrowed from the Denver Post website. I'll be skiing there tomorrow, after getting up at the crack of dawn. So it's an early bedtime for me tonight. Please do not tell me to break a leg. Thank you.

Monkey love

For my cow-orker Valentines.

(Boy, this cellphone pic really makes this look unappetizing. Sorry.)

Le sous chef

This is my cousins' cousin – kind of a cousin-in-law, I guess. He's my mother's sister's husband's brother's son. He's also the sous chef, i.e. the No. 2 in charge, at a hotel in Breckenridge. That's where I shot What is it? No. 6, when he gave us a tour of the kitchens. Lots of really big pots, racks of ladles and sieves, plenty of knives, and a fridge the size of my living room. They do a lot of banquets.

When he's not locked up in the subterranean maze of food-prep areas, he's on the slopes.

Not a bad life, really.

Dinner at John Holly's Asian Bistro

John Holly's is on Downing, a few blocks south of Evans. Upscale Asian, meaning there's a sushi bar, pad Thai and kung pao. It's an attractive space (if a little noisy), and the service is speedy (well, the rice could have arrived more promptly, but I think our waitress was new) and attentive. The prices are reasonable.

I didn't take photos, which requires a certain amount of indulgence from one's tablemates that I didn't feel comfortable asking for. Plus, you know, it was pretty much your standard Chinese food. (I had the kung pao chicken and it was good by my standards.)

But then this dessert of strawberry mochi showed up. This is a double order, and it probably costs them them very little for what they charge, but what a lovely presentation! So out came the camera.

(Alecto, you commented the other day about seeing someone snapping pics of their food; it's true, most folks these days don't bat an eye. There was a little bit of bafflement here, but one companion kindly explained to the other, "Kitt has a blog," and we left it at that. "Kitt has Tourette's" might have worked just as well.)

So anyway, thumbs up for John Holly's. And for the leftovers! I got three more dinners out of them.

My bed buddy

No, it's not what you're thinking.

And no, it's not that, either!

When I entered the term in Google Images, I was a little worried about what might come up, but there it was, first thing. (The rest of the page was G-rated, too. I can't vouch for later images. Feel free to go explore on your own.)

I wanted to share with you this simple item that can make your life a little more comfortable. It's simply a cloth bag filled with wheat that you heat in the microwave for a couple of minutes and which then stays warm for a half-hour or more. Maybe you've seen them, or used one to ease a sore neck. They cost about $10 at Walgreen's.

Well, I get cold easily. Especially my hands and feet. Bed Buddy to the rescue! I have one at work (where the thermostat is often set at Glacial) and put it around my neck or use it as a wrist rest. At home, I heat one up before I go to bed and throw it under the covers. Once I climb in, it has warmed the sheets a little, and I wrap it around my feet. Cozy!

And this may make you laugh: I took my old tiny microwave (there's a nice new one that came with the kitchen) and put it in the bedroom closet, so I can heat my buddy without running downstairs. It's like living in a fancy mansion with a phone in the bathroom! (Remember when that seemed like the height of decadent luxury?)

Laugh if you will, but my toes are toasty. If you have cold feet, too, give it a try!

Cowboy advertising

One more Stock Show relic:
I find this fascinating. (Click on the photo to see it larger.)

No choking: crispy sauteed baby artichokes

These were not the finest specimens, but they were the only ones I've seen in quite a while. We don't get them in Denver, and the last few times I've looked for them in California, they were nowhere to be found conveniently. (Trader Joe's used to sell them packaged, but no more.) I found these at Berkeley Bowl and snatched them up, warts and all.
The warts get removed, anyway. I was reminded of that old riddle: What do you eat that you have more of when you're done? Which really applies to big artichokes. With the baby ones, I slice off the top and most of the stem, remove the tough outer leaves and use a vegetable peeler on the stem.

Then I cut them in half and sauté them in butter over low to medium heat until they are just this side of burnt. I usually have to add more butter halfway through. With truly baby artichokes (as opposed to these teenagers), you may not need to cook them as long.
But I like the browned, crispy flavor and texture paired with that special artichoke taste.
If you have regular access to them (lucky!), you could steam them or boil them and put them in salads and such. But they are so rare for me that I just cook 'em up and eat them all by themselves. Just like that.

A fair day

A week ago I was at the Alameda Antique Fair, which is held the first Sunday of every month at the old Navy base, right across the bay from San Francisco (see it there in the background?). We were lucky; it had rained quite a bit the day before and clouds were threatening, so the place was not crowded with sellers or shoppers, and there was no entrance fee (usually $5 after 9 a.m.; more for early birds). The sun would come out for a bit and warm things up, but you could see more weather was coming in.

	One thing that really caught my eye: Chinese combination locks! (Combo included.) Very cool. But pricey. I was tempted, though.

The Zippos were also neat. The dolls less so.

I loved the colors of the siphons. If you were opening an old-fashioned soda shop, they'd make a nice decoration.

One seller had crates of old tin ceiling tiles. You could make a neat wall display out of them in the right space.
The mirrors made from them were neat, too.
Lots and lots of jewelry was on display. This was the last case of it we saw, and hit the jackpot on poodle pins. I should have taken a photo of all the ones the seller pulled out for me, but I was too busy looking them over. Just as we finished our transaction, it started raining in earnest, as you can see from the case.
We dashed back to the car, with a quick stop along the way to shoot this lovely relic in the parking lot.

Here's my souvenir, for $12.

Also, Amaryllis

Bookstore poodle

No, Sophie, you no can has books. We has enough at home.

Fragrant flower: blossoming tea

A lovely little packet arrived on Thursday – Lunar New Year's Day, appropriately – from Diane and Todd at White on Rice Couple. They had offered to send out Chinese tea balls for their readers to try. I'd seen them before but never tried one, so I signed up for the orange osmanthus flower tea.
The tea ball is a wee ugly duckling, about the size of the ball of your thumb. I offered it a little inspiration with a flowered saucer.
Without a clear glass teacup, I opted for the elegance of a snifter. Add hot water and voilà! a beautiful bloom is born.

The flower opens very quickly, then infuses the water with a delicate perfume and flavor. It seems almost a shame to drink it! But never fear; you can use it more than once, and treat your eyes as well as your palate. Truly a lovely cup of tea. Thanks, Diane and Todd!

New word: Caltrop

	So. I was kicking myself for not taking a photo of or writing down the name of those weird horny bat things I saw at the Berkeley Bowl. I googled around for a while, led astray by their being displayed with the citrus fruit. Well, they are indeed a fruit, but are called a nut, and that's how I found them eventually.
They are the fruit of a water plant called Trapa bicornis, being the two-horned variety of Trapa natans, otherwise known as water caltrop. They are also called bull nut, buffalo nut or devil nut. They are sometimes called water chestnuts (so Manisha wasn't really wrong in the previous comments), but are no relation to the true water chestnut (Eleocharis dulcis), which looks like this:(I ate many of these while traveling by bus in southern China. They are much sweeter fresh than canned, and are kind of fiddly to peel, so they made a good diversion for whiling away the hours on the road.) Here's what the fruit of Trapa natans looks like. The two-horned variety is called batnut or devilnut for obvious reasons. The four-pronged variety goes by caltrop nut:
Searching for the word "caltrop," I found that it's a kind of weapon that's been used throughout history. It's a sharply pronged device that is structured so that no matter how it lands, there is always a prong sticking up straight.
Here are two caltrops I found online. The one on the left is a modern version that can be used to puncture car tires (being hollow, with that hole at the juncture, means even a self-sealing tire can't prevent the air from escaping). The one on the right was dug up at the Jamestown settlement (read about it in "New Discoveries at Jamestown" at The Gutenberg Project).
Which brings me to my next discovery, that the much-dreaded burr I've known as the goatshead burr, devil's head burr or tire-puncture burr is also known as a caltrop burr. Native to Africa and Asia, this wicked plant is now spreading in the U.S., possibly imported originally in sheep's wool. It is the bane of bicyclists for obvious reasons, and also of dog owners. Sophie has gotten them in her feet many times; I know to check her pads for them as soon as she starts limping.
(Once we visited a new off-leash dog park the city had opened next to the pound, which besides being a horrid location with all the pathetic strays in pens looking on, turned out to be a small, bare, dirt lot surrounded by chainlink and filled with caltrop vines. The dogs took one lap around and came back limping on all four feet, their pads packed with vicious burrs. We never went back.)
	But back to the water caltrop. In Chinese it is called ling jiao and is considered good luck because of its bat shape (bats are lucky). Also, the character ling is pronounced the same (with a rising tone) as the character for intelligence. Lucky brain food!

The caltrop must be cooked to destroy the toxins it contains in its raw state. You can roast it, boil it or steam it, and reportedly it tastes very much like actual chestnuts. Naturally there are many Chinese dishes that feature it, and also a traditional Italian risotto. If you google "caltrop recipe" you will find many ways to use it. (And now I'm wishing I'd bought some to try!)

If you can read German, here is a super-comprehensive page on the caltrop both as weapon and plant. If you can't read German, you can still get the gist by looking at the photos.

So now you know more than you ever thought you would about this crazy nut, caltrop!

Oh, and Happy Chinese New Year!

May your days ahead be full of cleverness. And cheese.

Shivers of anticipation

Looking back at my blog post from a year ago, I see that the first part of February was much the same as it is now: cold and snowy. What I wanted to find out was when my first crocus appeared. February 26th!

I don't know what bulbs there are in this new yard. Late tulips for sure, but I'm hoping for some early blooms, too. Come on, Spring!