Sculpin

Some kind anonymous soul left a big box of kale on our doorstep yesterday. Thank you, mysterious kale-giver!

Update: the Mystery Gardener was Paul Beard. Thanks, Paul!

One of the nice things about ordering groceries from SPUD is that they tend to be liberal with the dry ice that they pack with the items that need to be kept cold. And I am easily entertained.

Next time the Dry Ice Fairy comes to my door, I’m going to try floating bubbles on top of the CO2.

Today Josh and I went to Wallingford to hear his aunt read from her new book, Red Studio, after which we had some dinner and picked up some cupcakes at Trophy.

Lured by cupcakes (mmm), I’d been wanting to try to get up to Wallingford for a while, but we’d never found a route that looked comfortable. I think we’ve come pretty close today to finding our way up that hill.

No way would I have managed that even four months ago. I was feeling all hardcore when we got back, right up until chatting with our neighbor who’d just come back from riding around around Mercer Island. Yeah, well.

Today I found out that I’ve got cataracts. They’re of the posterior subcapsular variety. Just a bit of cloudiness, but there it is. So that’s why I hate the sun. It did seem, more and more, that I was cringing and hissing at glare that other people didn’t even see.

<RJL20> You mean, I _didn’t_ marry a vampire? Nuts.
<cameron>That thing where I cringe from crosses? Purely coincidental.

Yep, I am unusually young for this. Not much to do about it except stay healthy and get myself a good pair of sunglasses. Maybe take another look at my salt intake and my birth control methods. Lutein and zeaxanthin might possibly help slow it down; I should probably be eating more dark leafy greens anyway.

Weird.

For one tiny, wobbly, inelegant moment I actually managed to lift off the floor and hold Bakasana today. Unless you count front and modified side planks (and I don’t) this is my first arm balance ever. Whee!

Update: and then I tried demonstrating it for Josh. I lifted up pretty well and held it a little longer, and then I nearly fell over onto my nose, yelling, “AAAAACK!” in a most unyogini-ish way. Heh. Okay, then, here’s my hypothesis: it’s called “Crow Pose” because of all the squawking. (”Everybody falls when learning this pose,” huh? Good to know.)

This is especially for Cissa, who bakes a fair bit of bread if I recall correctly, but maybe some others of you have some ideas as well.

I’ve been going through an awful lot of the hominy bread from Tall Grass Bakery, and I’d like to learn to make something like it at home. It’s basically a not-too-chewy round of white bread with a large admixture of coarsely ground yellow corn. (Which is not quite what I think of as hominy, but there it is.)

Before I just launch ahead and try dumping coarse cornmeal into a standard artisanal white bread recipe, has anyone out there tried something like this? Any tips? I’m particularly wondering if the sharp edges of the cornmeal are going to slice through the gluten strands, and if extra gluten would help.