I’m going to make a bold statement:  dates are an under-appreciated food.  There.  I said it.  And I’m going to stand by that statement.

I’ve just finished the latest Great Courses offering from my favorite online professor, Stephen Ressler.  The course is entitled Understanding The Marvels Of Medieval Technology and was intended as a sort of sequel to Ressler’s course Understanding Greek And Roman Technology.

When I was a teen just starting to learn to cook, I bought one of those recipe compilations books that show up regionally at craft fairs and bake sales. The only thing I remember about the book is that it was spiral bound and had the word “pioneer” somewhere in the title.  I wish I still had the book, but alas, I lost it in the “moving void.”  You know…when you pack everything you own into boxes, move all the boxes to your new house, and unpack the boxes, only to discover that somehow, things are missing.  The missing things?  They vanished into the “moving void.”  It’s probably also where stray sock end up when they vanish between the washer and the dryer.

Read Part 1 first.

I inherited my love of maps from my father.  He spent some time in Army intelligence as a young man, where his job was to translate aerial photography into topographical maps.  He has quite a treasure trove of old paper maps, and some of my fondest memories of my childhood are the times when dad pulled out his stash, spread the maps out on our dining room table, and we studied them together.

Out where I live in the country, it’s not uncommon for people to leave their houses unlocked.  And while I locked my car religiously when I lived in the city, I can’t remember the last time I locked my car while it was parked at my house.  Except for a certain time of the year.  During the heat of summer, when summer squashes are at their peak, leaving one’s car unlocked risks the neighbors smuggling a big bag of squash into it.  There’s just so much squash!  No one can manage it all, so some of us have been known to sneakily pawn it off on our neighbors.

Although recent information about his bullying ways has reduced his profile somewhat, there is no denying that Joss Whedon is a genius.  Writer, director, composer…he can do a lot! 

It’s now the third quarter of the year and I just finished my third book nook of the year.  I have to say, this book nook budget plan is working out well!  This time, it was a Leonardo da Vinci themed book nook and it was fabulous.  I even almost made it through without any major errors.  So close…

In the summer, when my appetite wanes, I’m always on the lookout for recipes that are a full meal, but aren’t heated, and aren’t heavy.  My Greek Chicken Wrap recipe meets all three criteria and really hits the spot.

Murderbot.  What a name!  Set in a corner of the universe mostly known as the Corporation Rim, Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries series has as its anti-hero protagonist a human/mechanical construct which was intended for security work, but due to a programming glitch, ended up killing 50+ civilians in an incident which it only partially remembers.

When I moved into my house a million years ago, I discovered that the window coverings consisted of standard blinds, and really chintzy valances at the top. I mean, very thin, cheap fabric, strung along the most basic curtain rods money could buy.  Now, I don’t particularly dislike blinds.  At least, I didn’t at the start.  They work well, letting in light or blocking it out, as the case might be. 

Let’s talk about money. Cash. Filthy lucre.

There is no question that we live in a disposable world.  Goods are so cheaply made that we hardly ever try to fix something…we simply dispose of it and buy new.  This is true across many industries (electronics being a particularly egregious example) but my focus today is on clothing.  No one seems to mend their clothing anymore.  Why would anyone do that?  It takes time and effort and the mended garment is often visibly mended, which can be unappealing.

I haven’t posted a recipe for awhile, so I thought this might be a good time to publish another quick and easy dinner recipe.  I call this one Quick Korean Beef, which I have adapted from some recipes I found on the interwebs.  I have another version of this that uses cubed beef and cooks in the crockpot, but it’s more work, tastes about the same, and takes a lot longer.  This dish takes about 20 minutes to make from start to finish, assuming you have rice already made up.

Three years!  I can’t believe I’ve been putting out a new article every Friday for three years.  For those “friends” of mine who criticized me for “not being able to commit”…as a celebration of my three-year commitment, I present a list of things I like, in no particular order.

I’ve been having fun recently sewing garments for myself.  Although my mother and grandmother did teach me this skill when I was a teenager, I’m afraid it didn’t stick.  So I’ve been basically re-learning many of the skills.  YouTube is a serious advantage in some ways…you can learn almost anything off YouTube these days.  Wish it had been around when I was trying to learn to knit…At any rate, being able to watch a short tutorial on almost any skill has been a boon to my (re)burgeoning sewing abilities.

Dean Devlin is an interesting guy.

Definition:  A pillbox hat is a small hat with a flat crown, straight and upright sides, and no brim.  It is named after the small cylindrical or hexagonal cases that were used for storing or carrying a small number of pills. 

While working on a recent sewing project, I had occasion to use the six old-school pattern weights that I (ahem) “liberated” from my mother’s sewing cabinet when I moved out many years ago.  These weights are cylindrical and weigh 60 grams each.  Their shape gives them a distressing tendency to topple over and then roll away.  This, as my mother and I like to say, is “sub-optimal.”

In my ongoing quest to make clothing for myself that actually fit my body (like the linen dress I made recently), I bought a pattern called Magic Pants from designer Ann Tilley, along with the optional notions kit.