What is this?  A “toy,” you say?  Never heard of it….

Okay, all you veggie-lovin’, tune-carryin’, beat-mixin’ marvels out there.  I LOVED your entries.  L-O-V-E-D loved them.  So much fun, so much talent on display!  Thanks to everyone for sharing.  I have to say, I really want some mp3s of the musical number and the rap.  I’m a-thinkin’ we just may have to request those from DJ Kimmus and Kirbysmom if they win, don’t you think?

Anywho, wonder of wonders, today is the day voting begins to choose the first and second place winners in our New Year Cookbook Contest!  If you haven’t been following them, we’ve got lyric poetry, raps, musical numbers, haiku, limericks, and more.  If you have been following them, which ones did you enjoy most?  What resonated with you, what made you laugh, which one were you still thinking about a day after you read it?  I’m pasting them all after the jump to refresh your memories, along with the link to the poll where you can cast your vote.

Please, vote for no more than two choices. However,  you are permitted to recruit your friends and family to stop on by to vote for your poem, or just give them a nudge to have them check out and enjoy the entire list.  The more, the merrier! Voting ends this Wednesday, January 7, at 11:59 pm Pacific time.

Read more

Hippo and I have been hanging out in the living room this evening, me reading a philosophy text on the fundamentals of logic, and Hippo snoozing nearby.  Every now and then, one of us will jump in surprise as another Baja fairy duster seed pod bursts on the bookshelf and sends seeds skittering across the floor.  It’s true—I have a seed habit.  I have been gathering native seed pods of late in hopes of going guerrilla gardening in the winter rainy season.  In particular, I have picked up a fair few Baja fairy duster pods for the project, which happen to be exploding seed pods.  For those of you unfamiliar with the wide variety of plant fruit formation and seed distribution, I’m not pulling your leg.  Exploding seed pods do exist, and they include pomegranates, Baja fairy dusters, and okra.  Leave them on the plant long enough, and they’ll pop.  Put them on your bookshelf in the dry warmth, and eventually, they’ll pop there as well. Based on the number of seeds that have popped tonight, we seem to have hit some major milestone in the drying process. It’s been exciting, to say the least.

Read more

I promise to get back to writing about food and food politics soon, but I wanted to take a brief break to share some pictures of Wisconsin.  The dry, golden chill of late autumn has its own beauty.  Even though everything is bare, when the Unicyclist and I went for a long walk yesterday, we saw that the naked limbs and fallen leaves make it easier to see all the fruit these plants have borne.

Read more