POTD: Jamaican Graffiti
![[Print This Post]](http://www.rantlust.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-print/images/print.gif "[Print This Post]")
This is cool. I can now enter queries in Malayalam from my iGoogle page using their on screen keyboard “gadget.” The results are displayed in Malayalam. You don’t need a separate localized keyboard for this. Other Indian languages such as Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, etc., are also supported. If nothing else, I hope this will prevent me from forgetting my own native script.
There has always been the perception that Americans generally work many more hours than their European counterparts (the Italians have their siestas and the French have their August vacations). While most of this is because Americans are loathe to take actual time off work (vacation balances often max out and managers have to force their employees to take some time off lest these expire). But some recent analysis done by a team of economists and sociologists are finding that Americans are working less hours than their ancestors did in the sixties. This analysis is based on conducting what’s known as a time-diary survey in which the respondents have to answer questions on how much time they spend on various activities such as core market work (time at your desk), total market work (adding the commute), core non-market work (housework), obtaining goods and services, and childcare. The results are recounted in an article inThe Boston Globe.
I found the following not so surprising:
A depressing finding is what we do with our alleged extra time: mostly, watch TV. Hobbies are flat while reading and socializing are both down.
Some of you might know this already but for the rest of our readers who are planning a visit to the San Fracisco Bay Area or are living here and didn’t know about this, 
be advised that the Bay Bridge will be closed from 8pm Friday, Aug 31 till 5am Tuesday, Sep 4 (the entire Labor day weekend). Try not to drive into the city on these days as traffic will most likely be hellish on the other routes into and out of the city. Use public transit (BART will be running overtime) instead or go elsewhere. The bridge is closed because they are doing some more retrofitting so that we don’t repeat the Loma Prieta mishap during the next big one.
I have to hand it to Caltrans for making every effort to publicise this; I saw signs announcing the closure up near the Oregon border where I was this past weekend.
When I read about the deep fried Pepsi, I could not believe my eyes. I have heard of deep fried snickers, oreos, reese’s peanut butter cups, cakes and what not. How does one deep fry pepsi?
Here is a snippet from the NY Times article,
“Jeremy Orme, who runs Fried Creations, the home of the Combo Plate, introduced a new item at this year’s fair: deep-fried Pepsi. He rolls out his Pepsi-based dough, dips it in a batter made with Pepsi and deep-fries it for 90 seconds. His oil, made of soybeans, is trans-fat free as required, and on the front of his booth he has posted a local newspaper’s account about the fair’s trans-fat ban”
Notice that it is deep fried for sure, but it is trans fat free. So, no guilt involved, even if you have to get yourself an all new wardrobe after the fair.
While on the topic of deep fried everything, I read that French fries are not really French. It is supposedly a Belgian marvel and the French stands for the type of the cut, which means to cut in thin, long strips. I guess a lot of time was wasted after 9/11 renaming French fries and French toast(which is also not French) to Freedom fries and Freedom Toast.
Wednesdays are my farm box day. I open the mystery box from my farmer(Community Supported Agriculture CSA) and I hope to get what I love. I see Swiss chard, blue potatoes, basil, plums, onions, corn, cucumber, summer squash and so many tomatoes- heirloom, red, orange, green , yellow cherry tomatoes and green striped ones. I am not all that fond of tomatoes. For sure, I do not like them raw. So, eating a salad is out of the question. I have to look for quite a few recipes to cook the tomatoes as it would be a sin to waste them.
These tomatoes are ripened in the plants and harvested 24 hours before it gets delivered to me, they are so juicy and flavorful when I cook them. I got to know tomatoes should not be refrigerated as chilling stops the ripening and kills the flavor of the tomatoes . That leaves a short and finite time before I need to cook them. I did try my favorite ones like the tomato pickle, tomato rice and the egg curry with plenty of tomatoes. I also had to find new ones to use up all the tomatoes and have been figuring out how to can the tomatoes so I can use them during winter. The New York Times had an interesting article with recipes So Many Tomatoes to Stuff in a Week, this will surely come in handy now.
Although the tomatoes have been overwhelming, I am very happy with the farm box without which I would never had the courage to try Swiss chard, fava beans, leeks, arugula or rutabaga(what a name!). I do not like all the vegetables I get, but I do try them and have liked many of them. It has been an interesting experience so far.
A couple of white wood-hole ladders outside a house in the Acoma Pueblo which is a 12th century “Sky City” built by Native Americans in New Mexico. There are still people living full time on the 367 ft sandstone mesa. I found this a mystical and spiritual place despite the clatter of hordes of fellow tourists.
Comments(1)