FeedMe

Cherry Season

The cherries are everywhere. These are from my tree, which was especially bountiful this year:

 

It's a mad race between me and the squirrels and the big fat robin. I left a lot in the tree, hoping I may get a few as they ripen. 

Mr. Lizard

Click to see much larger

The dog's interest in a corner of the yard alerted us to Mr. Lizard in a flowerpot. About 8 inches long, he's the biggest we have seen here.

Hours later, he was still there and it occurred to Kathy that he was stuck. Yup, he couldn't climb the glazed ceramic walls. So we watched him slowly die.

No, kidding (and on Earth Day. I'm bad. Oh, wait that was yesterday. Tasteless joke, now ok.). So she released him.

But the slightly sad news is that in the leaves was another lizard who had met the same fate but quite some time earlier.

Foods I Won't Eat

I like to say there are only five things I won't eat. They are: lima beans, okra, blood sausage, and I forgot the other two. But truthfully, I'll eat any of these. Just not my first choice. The point being, I will eat just about anything.

Or so I thought, until I saw this lovely list of the ten strangest foods. Don't follow the link if you have a weak stomach.

And for what it's worth, I would eat any of these, except 5, 3, and 2. So I guess the new line for me is that there are only five things I won't eat: lima beans, okra, blood sausage, 5, 3 , and 2.

And lime Jell-O.

Don't Mess with Bacon

One of my godsons, Daniel, knows how I am about bacon and let me know about an article, in Popular Science, in which bacon cuts metal. Bacon. Metal. Fire. That boy is growing up with some proper values.

Low Salt Law

The Accidental Hedonist's Food Journal reports that "the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has recently begun a campaign to encourage processed food companies to reduce the amount of sodium in their goods by more than 40 percent over the next decade." Not clear to me whether they are aiming to legislate, as they did for trans fats in restaurants. I hope not. Spending public funds to promote lower salt is fine with me, but making it the law is another matter. Here's the comment I posted.

Difficult question, but not new: Freedom vs. public good. I don't think the public benefit here is sufficient to tell people what they can buy and sell. But that said, I would enjoy seeing lower salt use because people are so used to overly salty foods that they can't taste it. Reducing all the salt use would make foods taste better for all. As it is, most reduced sodium products (e.g. chicken broth) are saltier than I like.

But that's just me and while I would like to see it happen, legislating it seems wrong to me. 

What do you think?

Steve Jobs: A Lesson for Strong Leaders

I posted a comment on this, but thought it merits a separate article, where others might wish to comment.

On a personal note, we all of course wish Steve Jobs the best and hope his health improves. But this is about the professional issue of how a prominent leader affects the organization's health. Jobs' leave of absence places the future of the company in question. The real question is, how could their management not have prepared for this?

Having a strong, well-known CEO is a double-edged sword. The company benefits from his fame and his "reality distortion field," which makes the company and its products into celebrities. But he is mortal and Apple has never made visible any structure to take his place. When Bill Gates stepped aside, he did so wisely and the company's direction (such as it is) was never in question. Apple (and Jobs's ego) has never allowed that. Oracle and Larry Ellison is another example. Starbucks and Dell are recent examples of companies that faltered so badly when their well-known leaders took lesser roles, that in both cases the CEOs took it back a couple of years later.

The company I work for was led by a force of nature not unlike Jobs, but he clearly and publicly had a couple of very able lieutenants. When he retired suddenly for medical reasons, they were ready. They stepped in and the company continued its course. His succession plan was an act of maturity, wisdom, and humilty that are apparently lacking at Apple and Oracle.

I expect Apple's stock will be clobbered until such time as investors see evidence that the company can weather his absence and they see if product and marketing strategy will remain as focused without Jobs at the helm.

Investors and the company management should have been considering this all along.

Duck! Coming Attractions!

I probably see 100 recipes a month I want to try. It's funny how some stick in my mind and won't go away. When I saw Mark Bittman's "ducketta" -- a stuffed duck breast version of Italian porchetta, I just knew it would stick. I don't use duck nearly as often as I would like.

Watch this space! Tomorrow is ducketta night. As it happens, I stumbled on an old episode of Alton Brown's "Good Eats" in which he prepares duck, so I will be combining the techniques. Brown brines his duck and browns it in cast iron in a hot oven. I'll be adding those to Bittman's recipe. (I always try to do my browning in the oven when working with fatty products, because stovetop browning requires grueling cleanup.)

I also like Brown's idea of using all the rendered duck fat ("gold," he called it) to braise some greens. Or I might use it to oven roast some potatoes.

Then, on Sunday, foodie friend Butch (I would link to his blog but sheesh, last time the guy wrote anything there, Webvan was still around) is coming over and we will make some home brew beer and prepare some other not-yet-identified delectable-from-scratch.

Meanwhile, we have a new puppy. That has nothing to do with food, except that his name is Sage, but heck, who doesn't love puppies?

Ra Pa Pa Pum

I have a tradition of declaring Ra Pa Pa Pum day.

It's defined as the first day each year I hear that song -- you know the one. Last year, it was at Starbuck's in November. This year, I was thinking it wouldn't happen but tonight, we were watching 30 Rock and there was a commercial for some new movie. I didn't even notice the song right away, but Kathy pointed it out!

This year, Ra Pa Pa Pum day is Dec 21.

Me on TV

A few days ago, I posted that a TV crew saw me on the street, recognized the untapped talent, and made me star of their show. Or something like that.

I found the clip online and added it to the original post. Go there, click play, and move forward  to 2:50 and there I am!

Me on TV

If you're in the San Francisco area, tune in to Best of the Bay on KRON TV, channel 4, on Saturday at 5:30 and you just might see Mr. FeedMe!

I was in Lafayette yesterday with my brother, his wife, and my mother, visiting from New York. We say a TV crew outside the Yankee Pier, recording what turned out to be the opening segment for an episode of Best of the Bay. Host Janelle Marie did the "Let's go inside" bit (though ironically, they weren't going inside — those segments were recorded on another occasion — and laughed about the lobster door handle, which she called the lob-knob. (I want one.)

We talked a while and she asked if we wanted to help introduce the next segment on pubs. I am not a TV guy but what the heck? Suddenly there I was introducing Alameda's best pub.

See it here. My segment is at 2:50: