Thing of Purpose

DAY OF WIND TWO • I thought my reading of the weather forecast was probably too optimistic, or at least too early to call. The day started cool, cloudy, and windy; however, it was still a fair bicycle riding day. It was also the first day since the spring that I rode the whole ride in an upper top-layer, albeit unzipped in the sunshine and if I was in a tailwind. The pomegranate fruits split this week, which must be another seasonal indicator for those more in touch with such things than I am. After harvesting the fruit, the seeds inside (called arils) have to be harvested. The specific gravity difference between the arils and the membrane surrounding them is your secret ally: the membrane floats in water and the arils sink. There are instructions on the Simply Recipes website. The manufactured extracts and juices of the pomegranate have no magical properties, as  research summaries  show, but it is a valuable fresh  wholefood in the armory of a healthy p...

A super-abundance of produce • I went to Ali's Organics to collect the produce shares for this week and I was amazed by the pumpkin display. Some of them are destined to be  jack-o'-lanterns —although they are edible, as Ali told me, "You wouldn't want to!" I am a turnip-lantern man and the removed flesh of those are edible. I am not a big fan of pumpkin pie and I wonder why this vegetable (it's a cultivar of the squash plant) is so strongly associated with the baked goods department. Check out the last link: hidden among all the sugary comestibles there are curry and chili recipes and even one for lasagna! Both  pumpkin leaf  kimchi and  pumpkin spice kimchi from Korean cuisine both seem like more interesting alternatives to dumping shovelfuls of refined sugar onto the mashed flesh and baking the resulting mucilage into a pastry flan.