The Affair of the Brussels Sprouts

Danjo really loves Brussels Sprouts. I don't, and since I do most of the cooking, he mostly does without. Every once in a while though, some happy coincidence occurs, wherein I find brussels sprouts sold like this at Trader Joe's:

And I also find an interesting recipe in Cooking Light's Christmas edition, and decide I want to try it. So when the cool stalk of brussels sprouts became available, I bought it. Aside from a bit of confusion about pancetta vs. prosciutto, the preparation of this dish was kind of fun. The brussels sprouts are kind of cute, as long as you aren't thinking of eating them. Boiling them made them turn bright green, and dunking them in ice water afterward made them stay that way. They are photogenic, don't you think, in spite of their inedibility?

The dunking in ice water was followed by slicing in half lengthwise and baking in the oven, and a few other steps. If you want the recipe, I'll loan you the magazine.

The dish was a moderate success. Danjo pronounced them cooked to perfect doneness, but was not entirely satisfied with the Cooking "Light" recipe, and added much butter. They looked good enough to try and I did try a bite, followed by fudge to get the taste out of my mouth. I'll stick to the cooking and photographing part, and leave the eating to those who can appreciate them.

Enjoying the changes of autumn (here, it is autumn, this year). These two images were taken a month apart, of the same plant (well, not the same same plant, but you know what I mean). It amazes me that this plant is beautiful both times and yet looks completely different.

Before:

After:

This handful of leaves all fell from the same tree. All there at the same time, and yet look completely different, and beautiful.

I posted some photos I took today

(of the tree these leaves fell from, and they didn't fall far from it).

The photos that I just mentioned, that I posted--

I posted them

HERE

Young Adventurer trying a new sport

While we were waiting for the other Adventurer's cross country meet to start, Young Adventurer tried out the long jump.

Adventurer Two had to run through the sand of the long jump area as part of the cross country course, and didn't like it so much.

Aliens

Here's the article

and here's the excerpt:

But there are San Diego proponents of extraterrestrial life who think that NASA may be way behind the curve on the subject of alien life forms.

“I have been contacted by advanced people from other planets, I’ve been taken out of my body, and I have been taken aboard starships myself," says Daniel Smith. "I’ve interacted with [aliens.] Basically, they’re just like you and me, the ones I met.”

Smith, 64, lives near Mesa College and works as a certified personal physical fitness trainer. He is also a published author. His book Roots of the Earth Man was published in 1981. “It’s a true story about a former lifetime I lived 156,000 years ago on this planet when everyone was aboriginal and a starship or space ship crash landed and I happened to be the one who witnessed it and went to investigate,” he says.

Smith was not surprised to learn of the research team’s findings and he says that their intentions are good. “However, there are certain people in NASA who do know the truth, just like in our government," he says. "There are people who know the truth about extra-terrestrials and have actually had contact with them and they don’t want the rest of us to know.” Smith respects that there may be some resistance to his ideas, but says it’s preferable to keep an open mind.

Best of all, he says not to worry: “At this time, from what I’ve researched, there are no hostile extra-terrestrials on our planet.”

no HOSTILE extra-terrestrials, eh? That's because The Doctor is doing his job. Look for the blue box, friends.

Important stuff about cars!

Having completed my photography final project, I can move on to something else. Something informative and useful.

(the alternator looks relatively new on this vehicle. It is on the "already" list.

The starter, however, falls under the "not yet" category, if I'm not mistaken,

which I very well could be.

I've been mistaken more often than usual of late.)

Note how the alternator and starter look relatively similar but are located in different places in the vehicle. Observe that it's better to have to replace the alternator, if the ground around you is not both clean and comfortable, as reaching the starter will involve lying on the ground. This I recall from the campground on the edge of Nebraska in 1992, and it is confirmed by this project.

Note to Honda Minivan owners: After some investigation, it has been determined that the Odyssey starts and continues running with a magic key and possibly pixie dust. A "careful" search under the hood (and yes, I can open the hood of my van all by myself) revealed neither alternator or starter anywhere to be found. If I could find them, they would be magic anyway.

Thanks to Danjo for pointing out where the alternator is on the vette (which is cool), and "affirming" that my Odyssey is not cool but magic.