Posts from May 2011

I was reading about blue cheese on a website when I found this gem:

All the penicillin from Blue Cheese and other shits you french FAGGOTS eat wont cure your AIDS, retard.

I also found what I think to be the sickest food ever.

Casu marzu (also called casu modde, casu cundhídu, or in Italian formaggio marcio) is a cheese found in Sardinia, Italy, notable for being riddled with live insect larvae. Casu marzu means "rotten cheese" in Sardinian and is known colloquially as maggot cheese.

Derived from Pecorino Sardo, casu marzu goes beyond typical fermentation to a stage most would consider decomposition, brought about by the digestive action of the larvae of the cheese fly Piophila casei. These larvae are deliberately introduced to the cheese, promoting an advanced level of fermentation and breaking down of the cheese's fats. The texture of the cheese becomes very soft, with some liquid (called lagrima, from the Sardinian for "tears") seeping out. The larvae themselves appear as translucent white worms, about 8 mm (1/3 inch) long. When disturbed, the larvae can jump for distances up to 15 cm (6 inches), prompting recommendations of eye protection for those eating the cheese. Some people clear the larvae from the cheese before consuming; others do not.

A very heavy ice cream maker fell on e:matthews toe last week. Today we needed to release the pressure and set up a home surgical theater. It was super fun, Victorian style.

Sterile table drapped in cotton, alcohol, peroxide, washclothes, razor blade, daylight lamp, paper clip, lighter, neosporin, gause, and gloves.

We first tried to heat up they paperclip and burn a hole through the nail to release the blood via nail without breaking the skin. Once we sizzled through the nail we realized the blood under the nail had coagulated and very little blood was released.

After that we resorted to plan B which was a small nick of the blood blister near the base - followed by careful draining of the oldish brown blood trapped inside into gause.

It was successful. Luckily so because plan C was the rusty saw, a torniquete, some whiskey and a stick to bite down on... and I was out of whiskey.

We had a nice fire in the yard tonight to burn some of the pear tree scraps. It was so nice and warm in addition to bug free.

We are building a food garden although it's a little late because of the weather. @matthew and @terry went to home depot last week but were too shy to ask to get the wood cut so I went to ask today. The Guy cutting the wood had a real hard time with measurements. e.g. "Can you cut this 12 foot board in half?" "Sure, you want two 8 foot sections then?" etc.

Cassie Gruber and I totally started this in the early 2000s with our Bluetooth clothing.

I think today night end up being the perfect weather. I wish I didn't have to work.

Ironically my mother had to work all day at the Hallmark store so we had dinner instead of brunch.

We had seafood on the grill and ate in the yard. It was delicious and sunny. My mom had lobster and we all had shrimp with dinosaur BBQ spice rub. Then we had brat wurst and italian sausage with string beans, artichokes, salad, corn on the cob, olives. Followed by strawberries and whip cream with chocolate.

Even Basra sat around the table like a dog.

This pro-fracking advertisement is everywhere. Every time I turn on Hulu, every time I read any news site. Exxon is really trying to promote fracking as some sort of simple, environmentally friendly action to solve our energy needs.

"A lot of the the time, things are right underneath our feet and all we need to do is change the way we are thinking about them. A couple decades ago we didn't even realize just how much natural gas was trapped in rocks thousands of feet below us. Technology has made it possible to safely unlock this clean and green natural gas. These deposits can provide us with fuel for a hundred years, providing energy security and economic growth all across this country. It just takes someone having the idea, and that is where the discovery comes from."

Its amazing how much work it takes to keep the garden in order. Our property is big but its not huge. I can't imagine having any more gardens without having to hire a gardener or being retired.

@terry hacked out the pussy willow tree to make way for vegetables gardens. Everything is so late this year because of the cold. I left Basra our last night and he was so sluggish today.

We really trimmed back a lot of the pear tree. I think I want to. teeing it even more. The idea was to get it as far away from the ground as possible as it got that horrible fungal infection from leaves to near the ground last year.

There was no hope for the hair disaster the other day. I ended up having to buzz it on the lowest setting.