Kovac Valentine Family Blog

BookMooch

2009-01-15T08:43:00.000-08:00

I found a really good site, called BookMooch. Its a free book exchange - you sign up, list books you want to give away. Every time you list a book you get 0.1 'point' in your account. If someone requests your book, you send it to them (you pay the postage), and then you get an additional 1 point. You can browse the inventory and use your points to request books from other members. You can create 'wishlists' of books you want if there are none listed, and then you get an email when they become available. Its not quite as good as going to the library, but better than using a middleman, even Amazon used books, which I also like - and WAY better than buying new at full-price! This is a great way to build your reading habit, get books you want for less, and re-use and re-cycle.

Definitely check this out, and list some of the books I want, will ya'?!!

Carrot Clarinet

2008-11-18T09:16:00.000-08:00

This is totally awesome!

Shift Happens

2008-11-03T07:13:00.000-08:00

Interesting presentation - I'm noodling about writing a book along these lines:

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T12:40:00.001-07:00

OK, I stole this photo of Brynn from Claire's Facebook page. The Sheean-Valentines sure know how to celebrate Halloween - go here for Claire's fabulous carved 'Obama pumpkin'.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

"Monty Python Could Have Written This"...

2008-10-31T11:17:00.001-07:00

The Vet who Did Not Vet

2008-10-31T07:21:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Bill Hurlbut for putting this on his Facebook Wall:

Don't forget to vote on Tuesday!

A Wish Come True for Matt Franceschini

2008-10-30T06:07:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, one of Don's activities for the last few years has been tutoring kids from Ridgefield High School who - for one reason or another - are unable to attend classes. A lot of these kids have medical conditions of one sort or another, and they struggle with trying to keep up in school and get well at the same time.

None has been more inspiring to us, perhaps, than Matt Franceschini, who has Hodgkins lymphoma and has been battling the disease through radiation and chemotherapy for many months. Nevertheless, Matt is a dedicated student, he works hard and has been doing biology and geometry with Don last year and this year chemistry and algebra.

Recently, Matt was given a chance to realize a childhood wish - to see his favorite football team, the Tennessee Titans play - by the Make a Wish Foundation. Here's a nice article on the team website about Matt's visit. We're so glad to know this inspiring young man!!

Googly Eyes Halloween Treats

2008-10-29T11:52:00.000-07:00

Remember the flying spaghetti monster? Well, I ran across this post on the Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories blog (their tag line is "Making the world a better place, one evil mad scientist at a time") that shows how to make an 'edible' FSM, including 'one hundred percent edible googly eyes'. Just in time for Halloween treats, although the substitution of Ramen noodles for more traditional Rice Krispies is, I'm guessing, questionable. Unless you have a lot of Pastafarians in your neighborhood. You gotta admit, its pretty cute!

Why How Matters

2008-10-27T12:40:00.001-07:00

Here's another recent article by Thomas Friedman, whose wisdom I am beginning to revere. Tom says:

"I have a friend who regularly reminds me that if you jump off the top of an 80-story building, for 79 stories you can actually think you’re flying. It’s the sudden stop at the end that always gets you.
When I think of the financial-services boom, bubble and bust that America has just gone through, I often think about that image. We thought we were flying. Well, we just met the sudden stop at the end. The laws of gravity, it turns out, still apply. You cannot tell tens of thousands of people that they can have the American dream — a home, for no money down and nothing to pay for two years — without that eventually catching up to you. The Puritan ethic of hard work and saving still matters. I just hate the idea that such an ethic is more alive today in China than in America."

The article goes on to talk about the ethics of business and closes with:

"Charles Mackay wrote a classic history of financial crises called “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds,” first published in London in 1841. “Money ... has often been a cause of the delusion of multitudes. Sober nations have all at once become desperate gamblers, and risked almost their existence upon the turn of a piece of paper. To trace the history of the most prominent of these delusions is the object of the present pages. Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.”
And so it must be with us. We need to get back to collaborating the old-fashioned way. That is, people making decisions based on business judgment, experience, prudence, clarity of communications and thinking about how — not just how much. "

I have now had several colleagues in the financial sector - titans of industry all, masters of the universe, and, yes, wealthy beyond belief - who have said to me, "Carol, this was just all about greed." One said, "Carol, I'm an Ayn-Rand style capitalist, totally in favor of free markets, but this was just too much. How much is enough?" Now the conservatives are bashing Barack Obama, for suggesting that wealth in this country is not equitably distributed. And maybe we should do a little more for those who have a little less. How bad could that be? I have to respect those who made their piles - and then gave them away. OK, they kept a lot for themselves, but they knew the answer to 'how much is enough' - Gates, Buffett and Carnegie before them. Maybe our legacy is not that we died with the most toys, but that we died with the most schools and libraries and institutions of good works for all that bear our names. OK, sorry for getting preachy.

What's in a name? - or at least, the letters of a name!

2008-10-27T11:36:00.001-07:00

Here's a wacky article I found in - of all places! - the New York Times. Seems there is a theory around that people like the letters of their own names (and especially their initials) better than any other letters, and this influences all kinds of things - who they work for, where they live, who they marry and how they vote! Here's part of the article:

"Johnsons are more likely to wed Johnsons, women named Virginia are more likely to live in (and move to) Virginia, and people whose surname is Lane tend to have addresses that include the word “lane,” not “street.” During the 2000 presidential campaign, people whose surnames began with B were more likely to contribute to George Bush, while those whose surnames began with G were more likely to contribute to Al Gore."

Let's see....C..A..K - worked for I...B..M, voting for B....O, married to D...H...V, lives in R...C -well, we finally got one! Must be true!

Who is Sarah Palin?

2008-10-22T06:27:00.000-07:00

An old Texas farmer is talking to his new neighbor who just moved out from the city. They get to talking about politics and the younger man asks the farmer what he thinks about Sarah Palin.

"Well", he drawls, "I think she's pretty much like a post turtle".

"What's a post turtle?" the younger man asks, "I've never heard of that."

"Well," says the farmer, "every once in a while, I'm drivin' down the road in my pickup and I see a big ole turtle sittin' up on a fencepost. Now that turtle doesn't belong up there, he has no idea how to get down. And I always wonder, what the hell kind of jackass put him up there in the first place."

Hard Times Come Again No More

2008-09-30T09:31:00.001-07:00

Thinking about the events that led up to the great depression of the 1930's - reading the Herbert Hoover entry on Wikipedia - this from YouTube:

FSP (Fake Sarah Palin) on SNL: Part Deux

2008-09-29T06:58:00.000-07:00

This is really scary. Here's Tina Fey, doing a re-prise of her Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live, this time being interviewed by 'Katie Couric'. I laughed like crazy watching the full SNL clip - then when I actually saw this on CNN was appalled!

Who Won the Debate?

2008-09-27T10:19:00.000-07:00

I watched the debate last night, as I'm sure many of you did. And of course, I'm pretty biased because I know who I'm voting for already and for me its a clear choice. But I also think this is going to be a pretty close election, and so I was really interested in how the debate might change the prospects for what happens in November. Listening to what Don calls the 'pre-game' show and the 'post-game' wrapup, one wishes this political thing was as clear cut as a baseball game - in the end, there's a score and no question about who won. Its not like, 'well, no one expected the Indians to win against Boston, and they got a LOT of hits and Boston made a couple errors too, so even though Boston scored more runs, we think the Indians REALLY won the game.' Imagine how confusing that would make the pennant races!

Anyway, in thinking about it, the only real metric of success for the debate that makes sense is how it affected the way people plan to vote in November. And in particular, people, unlike myself, who have not already made up their mind. So with that in mind, I went looking for how the 'undecideds' responded. And on that basis, it seems like Obama was a clear 'winner' in the debate. Here's a CBS News poll taken of undecideds before and after the debate, which says that 46% of those polled had a better opinion of Obama after the debate as compared with the 32% who had a better opinion of McCain. Interestingly, only 8% of watchers had a worse opinion of Obama, but 21% had a worse opinion of McCain after watching the debate. Check the link for lots more interesting stats.

CNN did a poll, too, but didn't select out the undecideds from the Reps and the Dems. Their poll says 51% felt Obama did a better job in the debate, compared to only 38% who favored McCain. But since the audience was more blue (41%) than red (27%), with about 30% undeclared, one would expect a skew toward Obama. The CNN pollsters are also quick to point out that a perceived 'win' in the debate does not always translate to a win at the polls. Finally, a feature that I really like at CNN is the 'political ticker' blog on their website that has 'fact checker' posts. How many times last night did one candidate or the other accuse their opponent of not telling the truth? A lot. Go here for the real background, if you're interested in what is true and not just the soundbite.

Now I'm really looking forward to the VP debate on Thursday. Although Palin has been so bad lately, I'm starting to cringe just listening to her. I actually feel a little bad for her, so clearly out of her league, even with Katie Couric who isn't exactly known for hardball journalism. Go here for a video clip if you really want the full 'cringe' factor, but the transcript is bad enough:

COURIC: You've cited Alaska's proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?
PALIN: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and on our other side, the land-- boundary that we have with-- Canada. It-- it's funny that a comment like that was-- kind of made to-- cari-- I don't know, you know? Reporters--
COURIC: Mock?
PALIN: Yeah, mocked, I guess that's the word, yeah.
COURIC: Explain to me why that enhances your foreign policy credentials.
PALIN: Well, it certainly does because our-- our next door neighbors are foreign countries. They're in the state that I am the executive of. And there in Russia--
COURIC: Have you ever been involved with any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?
PALIN: We have trade missions back and forth. We-- we do-- it's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where-- where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is-- from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to-- to our state.

Palin On Foreign Policy

2008-09-26T12:09:00.001-07:00

Omigod! It just get's scarier and scarier...

Our Prairie Home Companion Weighs In

2008-09-21T13:02:00.001-07:00

I'm getting a lot of stuff from friends on the election and especially on what McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as a running mate means to them. What really strikes me is the hypocrisy of the Republican party. They claim to be for less government intervention, but that goes out the window when it comes to gay marriage or a woman's right to choose. They claim to be for free markets, and that's great as long as their friends are making money - but let the rich Wall Street stockbroker/campaing contributors start losing money and jobs, and the Republicans are right in there bailing out the Fannies and Freddies and the AIGs. God forbid they should have regulated the mess a little earlier! They claim to be the party of fical conservatism, but they took a balanced budget with almost no deficit over from the Democrats (who inherited a mess from the last Republican administration!) and screwed it up once again.

Here's a great article by Thomas ('The World is Flat') Friedman called "Making America Stupid", that talks about the need for innovation and how 'drill, baby, drill' is one of the most anti-American slogans you could possibly mouth.

And in case you think Friedman is just another of those New York, East Coast leftie liberals - well, here's a voice from the middle. Here's what Garrison Keillor has to say:

Forget the past - it's only history
by Garrison Keillor
Published:
September 10,
2008

So the Republicans have decided to
run against themselves. The bums have tiptoed out the back door and circled
around to the front and started yelling, "Throw the bums out!" They've been
running Washington like a well-oiled machine to the point of inviting lobbyists
into the back rooms to write the legislation, and now they are
anti-establishment reformers dedicated to delivering us from themselves. And
Rudolph Giuliani of New York City is an advocate for small-town
America. Bravo.

They are coming out for Small Efficient Government the very week that the feds are taking over Fannie and Freddie, those old cash cows, and in the course of a weekend 20 or 50 or (pick a number) billion go floating out the Treasury door. Hello? Do you see us out here? We are not fruit flies, we are voters, we can read and write, we
didn't just fall off the coal truck.
It is a bold move on the Republicans' part - forget about the past, it's only history, so write a new narrative and be who you want to be - and if they succeed, I think I might declare myself a 24-year-old virgin named Lance and see what that might lead to. Paste a new face on my Facebook page, maybe become the Dauphin Louie the
Thirty-Second, the rightful heir to the Throne of France, put on silk tights and
pantaloons and a plumed hat and go on the sawdust circuit and sell souvenir
hankies imprinted with the royal fleur-de-lis. They will cure neuralgia and gout
and restore marital vigor.
McCain has decided to run as a former POW and a maverick, a maverick's maverick, rather than Bush's best friend, and that's understandable, but how can he not address the $3 trillion that got burned up in Iraq so far? It's real money, it could've paid for a lot of windmills, a high-speed rail line in Ohio, some serious R&D. The Chinese, who have avoided foreign wars for 50 years, are taking enormous leaps forward, investing in their economy, and we are falling behind. We're wasting our chances. The Republican culture of corruption in Washington hasn't helped.
And a former mayor of a town of 7,000 who hired a lobbyist to get $26 million in
federal earmarks is now running against the old-boy network in Washington who
gave her that money to build the teen rec center and other good things so she
could keep taxes low in Wasilla. Stunning. And if you question her qualifications to be the leader of the free world, you are an elitist. This is a beautiful maneuver. I wish I had thought of it back in school when I was forced to subject myself to a final exam in higher algebra. I could have told Miss Mortenson, "I am a Christian and when you gave me a D, you only showed your contempt for the Lord and for the godly hard-working people from whom I have sprung, you elitist battleaxe you."
In school, you couldn't get away with that garbage because the taxpayers know that if we don't uphold scholastic standards, we will wind up driving on badly designed bridges and go in for a tonsillectomy and come out missing our left lung, so we flunk the losers lest they gain power and hurt us, but in politics we bring forth phonies and love them to death.
I must say, it was fun having the Republicans in St. Paul and to see it all up close and firsthand. Security was, as one might expect, thin-lipped and gimlet-eyed, but once you got through it, you found the folks you went to high school with - farm kids, jocks, the townies who ran the student council, the cheerleaders, some of the bullies - and they are as cohesive now as they were back then, dedicated to school spirit, intolerant of outsiders, able to jump up and down and holler for something they don't
actually believe.
But oh Lord, what they brought forth this year. When you check the actuarial tables on a 72-year-old guy who's had three bouts with cancer, you guess you may be looking at the first woman president, a hustling evangelical with ethics issues and a chip on her shoulder who, not counting Canada, has set foot outside the country once - a trip to Germany, Iraq and Kuwait in 2007 to visit Alaskans in the armed service. And who listed a refueling stop in Ireland as a fourth country visited. She's like the Current Occupant but with big hair. If you want inexperience, there were better choices.

Palin-Clinton on SNL

2008-09-16T11:46:00.001-07:00

Well, its been a long time since I posted - lots happening on the VMF blog, though - check that out.

Loved this clip of Tina Fey doing a wicked Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live. (Double click on the black area, it will start!) It borders on the edge of when funny becomes scary:

Valentine Men

2008-06-17T14:03:00.001-07:00

Some pix from our Memorial Day with Dave, Claire and the kids.

Three generations of Valentine men!

The art of the grill is handed down from father to son - Michael looks very annoyed with me for taking his picture!

Evan did not fall down the stairs, and a nice holiday was enjoyed by all. (Why did I not take any pictures of Claire and Brynn this time???)

Africa 2008: Part II

2008-06-04T06:52:00.000-07:00

Our second week in Kenya, Don and I spent visiting two areas of the country. The first was in the region north and a little west of Mt Kenya, between Samburu and Nanyuki. Mt Kenya at 5199 m, is the second highest mountain in Africa, after Mt Kilimanjaro which is in Tanzania. Our camp was in a private game reserve, which had been created from former ranch lands on the northern slopes - 45,000 acres of beautiful rolling savannah at the base of the mountains. Landing in Lewa was an adventure - our 10-seater Cessna with one pilot only had to make two passes at the dirt track that served as runway, not clear why, but evenutally we did land successfully and were on our way to the camp. Originally created as a rhino conservancy, now Lewa Downs is home to a wide variety of wildlife, including both black and white rhino, cheetah, all the Big Five, and about 20% of the world's population of the endangered Grevy's zebra.

Our home for 3 nights was the Lewa Safari Camp, a tented camp with quite lux accomodations (including a full bath in the tent), fabulous food (the current proprietor, Richard Buthe, is a CIA-trained chef), and very friendly people. A very comfortable form of camping, as you can see from the picture of our very own tent!!

Here's an excerpt from my travel journal of one of our days there:

"We rise just as light is coming, the morning is chill. A pot of fresh coffee delivered to our tent is impetus to climb out of our cozy bed and pour a steaming cup to knock the sleep from our brains. Clothes laid out the night before are hastily donned and we leave just as the light is coming, the birds are really beginning to sing. We are in the truck by 6:30.

Just as we are out of the gate we spot two white rhino in the grasslands near the camp, a mother and young one. The morning is fresh and beautiful. Today we go hunting for kudu, Johnson says. This will take us out of the grasslands and into more hilly and wooded bursh terrain. The kudu - largest of antelopes - is very shy and can be difficult to see in this area, although they are common in SA. Our drive is long through the plains and many animals graze in the cool morning - zebras, impala, Grant gazelles, and occasionally oryx with long, straight stilletto-like horns. Johnson stops the truck to scan the distance with binoculars.

"What's up?"

"I see something", he says.

"Where?"

"A long way, over there by that tree. There is something."

I scan the landscape, carefully moving my eyes from tree to tree and see nothing.

"Where?"

"Look to the top of the hill, now just down a bit, three trees in a row. He is to the left of the third tree."

I see an angular shape where he has directed, hardly remarkable in this landscape full of trees and bushes and rocks that with a bit of imagination can turn to animals in one's mind.

"What is it?", I ask.

"Cheetah", he says, turning in his seat to flash that big grin of his. "The three cheetah brothers, and right on the road."

What an eye! He has learned this trade in college, but most of what he knows he learned 'because he is a Maasai', according to him.

We bump along, across the river and up the hill and sure enough, there are the three cheetah brothers, sitting in the road in the shade of an acacia tree, scanning a herd of zebra in the far distance. Their bellies are full, almost dragging, which means we are unlikely to see the cheetah hunt unless we are extraordinarily lucky and a big ostrich wanders right across their path. They will take an opportunity, but it will be 2 or 3 days before they hunt again from hunger."

Enough from the journal. The star of any safari trip is the animals, and one can go on and on about them. Highlights at Lewa were: many opportunities to see rhino, getting to bottle-feed the baby black rhino, seeing cheetah for the first time, seeing a large cobra in full attack mode (thankfully, we were in the truck at the time!), learning to tell a Grevy from a Burchell zebra. Having seen the 'Big Five' in South Africa last year, we could be a lot more relaxed about just looking at what was there, and appreciating the smaller things - the many birds, plant life, and the landscapes. Lewa will definitely go on my list of 'best places' that I have been!

Out of Africa: Kenya 2008

2008-05-23T05:06:00.000-07:00

Don and I are just back from two weeks in Africa. Our first week was for the Africa Harvest Board meeting. I've been working with this NGO for about 5 years now, whose mission is to bring appropriate agricultural technologies to small farmers in Africa to enhance crop yields, food security and economic well-being, often for the 'poorest of the poor'. Although we generally think of 'farmer' in the US as a man, in Africa many farmers are women, often single mothers supporting large extended families, which are additionally swelled by the numbers of 'AIDS orphans'. To see how these people live, and how hard they work to make even a meager living for their families is a profound wake-up call for us in the richest country in the world. We who think nothing of tossing things away when they get a little too shabby, who build houses on the scale of the palace of Versailles, whose children sleep in beds and go to school and can anticipate a better future, who have so much food that our critical health problems are caused not by scarcity but abundance. For me, personally, participation in this organization forces me to re-examine my outlook and causes me to think about what, really after all, is the best use of my labor and talents.

In any case, board meetings in conference rooms are not so interesting. But we always end the African board meeting with a field visit to meet some of the farmers who are engaged in our programs. This year was a visit to a small village called Githembe, near the city of Thika and about an hours drive from central Nairobi. These farmers are part of Africa Harvest's tissue culture banana program - growing bananas from strong, disease-free planting stock that improves yields and gives them not only enough to feed their families, but some extra to sell. Together with an NGO called Technoserve, we also have created a market structure for them to sell their extra fruit. Although one doesn't always think first of markets as the barrier in solving rural poverty and hunger, in fact lack of an accessible market is a big problem. These people cart hundreds of pounds of bananas for miles in a push wheelbarrow over dirt tracks that are nearly impassable in the rainy season - and that's if there's a market to get to! Picture above left is the actual market - the whole thing! - an open structure with a corrugated tin 'roof', a scale and a guy from Technoserve who shows up once a week to buy bananas.

For our visit, the whole village turned out, plus many people from the surrounding area who are part of the program. Singing and dancing is a way to welcome visitors to the community, and everyone is expected to join in. Even Don was enticed by the village women to dance, and he felt his dancing style - keeping his feet firmly planted but waving his arms wildly and moving his body stiffly if at all - fit right in. Click the arrow above to get a sense of the welcome.

All the children were curious to see the visitors - at first shy and fearful of having their picture taken, but once shown the image on the digital camera screen, enthusiastic to pose again and again! Many speeches, mostly in Swahili, but recognizable in form - welcome to the visitors, introductions of dignitaries, kudos and thanks to the organization, exhortations to the crowd to continue participation. Some of the more energetic speakers got audience participation almost like a revival meeting, with each sentence greeted with an enthusiastic 'uh-huh' like sound from the crowd, and the nods and smiles around the audience communicated their support better than any translator could.

After Nairobi, we spent an additional week travelling in Kenya. Two different camps in very different areas gave us a view of the natural beauty of the country. More in my next two posts about that!

March Madness

2008-03-29T08:54:00.000-07:00

OK, its not really madness, I just like the way that sounds! Travel has been moderate this year so far, lots of domestic trips but none of the long-haul international stuff I was doing a year ago. This has given us a few more occasions to visit with the grandkids and their harried parents. Brynn is growing into a 3-year old of great presence and charm, although she can throw a fit with the best of them. Her favorite TV program is a very odd show called 'Futurama', and here's a funny video of her begging, "Daddy, get me a Futurama!" - poor kid, this one is likely to be brought out to the amusement of all but Brynn when she brings her first serious boyfriend home.

Evan is growing up nicely - he is such a perfect looking baby, I think he ought to be a baby model and support us all. Walking is only a little way off, but to date its just highly proficient crawling and standing. Go here to my Flickr account for more pix of the kids.

Bread and Knitting

2008-03-02T06:27:00.001-08:00

Maybe its the doldrums of winter, but lately the domestic goddess within me has been taking over the non-work hours. Spent a week at the farm, learning to cross-country ski with Paul and his family, now I'm back in CT knitting and baking bread, when I'm not on conference calls.

I haven't posted here any knitting projects lately, but there have been many - finished a sweater in January, several pairs of socks, and I've taken to knitting what are called 'smoke rings' (or sometimes 'wimples'). Basically its a tube that goes over your head. wider at the bottom to sit nicely on your shoulders under a jacket or sweater, and either worn as a cowl neck in lieu of a scarf or - voila! - up over your head if its chilly. I've been using the pattern to test out lace patterns, which is my new knitting fancy. Here's a picture of the latest version I've knit for Claire. My other new knitting discovery is a great website called Ravelry - its a social network, think of it as Facebook for knitters! I highly recommend it to all you knitters out there - you can post your own projects, keep track of them as you knit them, and also view other people's projects, so you can get lots of ideas about patterns and yarn and hints from others. Great site - if you do go there, look me up, I am cakovac, and you can see what I'm working on (who knows, it might be for you!!)

Also, it was my mother's birthday on Feb 20 - she would have been 96. Don't know if it was that reminder of her, but I started baking bread this week and I can't seem to stop! She had this great recipe for a lovely braided loaf that had eggs and milk in it and the top was brushed with egg wash and sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds. I remember it as a royal pain to make, but there are several modern improvements that I'm working on, and also learning more about bread-making - so here's her recipe if you want to try.

Scald a cup of milk - that means heat it until it just about boils and there's a little skin on the top, then turn the heat off. This part is a real pain, because now you have to wait for the milk to cool. To help cool it off, add a half stick (4T) margarine (if the margarine is frozen, even better!), also 1T salt and 2T sugar - swirl it in the bowl to dissolve the solids. Although it seems old-fashioned, its best to do the scalding step - why, you ask? For those seeking the answer to this question and even more bread enlightenment, I highly recommend Shirley Corriher's book, "Cookwise: The Secrets of Cooking Revealed". Here you will find that there is apparently a protease enzyme found in milk that degrades the gluten proteins in the flour - which are what give yeast breads their nice chewy, stretchy texture - and likely keep the bread from rising as nicely. Scalding destroys this enzyme - 'denatures' it, for you biochemists - and you get nice chewy, well-risen bread. So we keep the scalding step.

Put the milk and melting butter mixture into the mixing bowl of your Kitchen Aid mixer and let it sit until it is room temperature. While you are waiting, get a little bowl and put in 1/4 cup of slightly warm water, dissolve 1/4 t of sugar in it, then sprinkle on top an envelope of dry yeast (not instant rising, regular yeast). This will soften the yeast and also 'proof' it - it will start going to work on the little bit of sugar in the water and be nice and bubbly when you add it to the bread. If you have bad yeast, it won't bubble and you should start over with good yeast - or you'll be making flatbread!

While you're waiting you can also sift about 4 cups of flour. Flour is probably the most important ingredient in making bread. Mom's recipe called for Sapphire flour - but that is sometimes hard to find, depending on where you live in the country. Interestingly, Cleveland women in the 40's had a particular preference for this flour, according to notes at the Cleveland Memory Project, which might explain why Mom's recipe specifies this flour. The Sapphire flour was first produced in 1916, by the newly-formed Montana Flour Mills company - since then the company was acquired repeatedly and now is part of ConAgra. Sapphire flour is made from a hard northern red wheat, which means it has high content of the two proteins (glutenin and gliadin) needed to form the stretchy substance called gluten that gives a yeast bread its chewy (not crumbly) texture. According to Ms. Corriher, these are the best flours to use for yeast bread (but NOT for pastry or pie crust!) and if you can't find Sapphire, you can substitute Robin Hood, Hecker's or King Arthur (unbleached, all purpose) or any flour marked 'bread flour'. The most common all-purpose flours (Pillsbury, Gold Medal) do not have enough proteins for really fine bread.

OK, by now your milk should be cool and your yeast bubbling. Add the yeast mixture and one egg to the bowl, whisk the egg with a fork until it is mixed in well. Now by hand with a wooden spoon or a stiff rubber (I use silicone) scraper, mix in flour 1/2 cup at a time, stirring between additions to break up lumps and make a smooth batter. By the time you've added 2 and 1/2 cups, the mixture should be sticky and starting to follow the spoon around the bowl in a ball every time you add more flour. Now scrape it all into the middle, clean off your stirring device, and put it on the mixer with the dough hook attachment. Add the last half cup of flour little by little, mixing on the lowest speed (or one higher for a bit) until the dough is balling up nicely, but still a little sticky. Add more flour if necessary, but not more than another 1/3 cup - making the total flour no more than 3 and 1/3 cups. This is a judgement call, and varies with temperature and humidity, so you don't always use the same amount. I always resisted using a machine, but I found when I mixed by hand I almost always used too much flour to avoid sticking to my hands and then I had a bread that was dry. The mixer doesn't care about sticking, and kneads a slightly sticky dough just fine. Once you've got the dough where you want it, put the mixer on medium speed and let it knead the dough for you for 3-5 minutes. That's another benefit of the mixer - it kneads as long as you tell it, and doesn't stop when its arms get tired!

Turn the dough out onto a well-floured board, rinse out the mixing bowl and dry it thoroughly. Add 1T of oil (I use olive oil) to the bowl, coat the sides and bottom, coax your dough into a nice ball, tucking the sides under until you have a nice smooth top, plop it into the bowl top-down, flip it over and you have a nice smooth dough ball with the top lightly coated with oil. Cover with plastic wrap or a clean damp towel and place in a warm (not hot), draft-free spot for about 1 and 1/2 hour, until it about doubles in size.

Use cooking spray to lightly grease a loaf pan. Punch down the dough by putting your fist right in the middle of it, then collect the dough and dump it out on a lightly floured board. Collect it all into a ball again, using just enough flour to lightly coat the dough and keep it from sticking. With a sharp knife, divide it into three equal pieces. Roll each piece between your hands to get a 12-inch rope of dough, pinch the three pieces together at one end, then quickly braid the three strands and pinch the other end together. Tucking the ends under, quickly transfer your braid into the greased loaf pan. With a pastry brush, brush a little egg wash (I use EggBeater, which I always have in the fridge) and then sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds (sunflower seeds work, too, although they are not traditional!). Cover the loaf pan loosely with plastic wrap or towel, and let rise a second time for about 30 minutes, or until it's again about double in bulk.

Even after she was pretty blind from macular degeneration, Mom could still bake up a storm. Once when I was there she baked the above recipe and used the dough to bake rolls, which she served fresh and hot at dinner. When she proudly brought them to the table, we dug into the basket, finding to our surprise a variation on her traditional recipe - green sugar sprinkles on top! Given that it was not St. Patrick's day, someone commented on her originality - she looked at him with some irritation, as if he were a profound idiot and said, "Those aren't sugar sprinkles, they're poppy seeds!" Oops! Even though we used to tease her about becoming Mr. Magoo, she could bake a better pie crust blind and in her 90's than I ever will!

On with our bread. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. When oven is hot and dough is risen, place the pan on a rack in the middle of the oven and bake for about 1 hour. Check it when its about 50 minutes and if its too brown, turn heat down to 325 degrees for the last 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven, let cool for 5 minutes, then turn loaf out onto a rack and let it cool (no, really - completely cool!) before slicing.

And here's the loaf I finished while writing this post - Don and I will have it for dinner tonight with a pot of homemade soup. Try this bread toasted for breakfast with some real butter and a bit of good jam of your favorite flavor - enjoy!

Freecycle Network

2008-01-17T13:46:00.000-08:00

People, listen up! While in a frenzied post-holiday clean-up I discovered something really terrific and I MUST share! My house is so filled with STUFF that either I thought I needed or someone else thought I needed or I thought someone else in our family needed - I sell it on eBay, pack it up and give it away, but there is some stuff that you just look at and say, 'who would ever want that'. Examples, you say? Try this:

- boxes of cords and transformers and adapters to electronic equipment that has long since been discarded
- old electronic stuff that no longer works
- boxes of glass jars and old kitchen stuff, miscellaneous plates, cups, glasses
-my string collection
- lots of those plastic things that plants come in from the plant nursery (you throw those away?!! shame on you!)
- etc, etc - you get the picture!

SO - in my frenzied attempt to get control of all this random stuff that has control of much of the square footage in our house, I discovered a network of people who need stuff and give stuff away. Its called Freecycle - it uses Yahoo groups so you join a group in your area, and then you post what you want to give away and people in the group who want stuff or need stuff email you and ask if they can come over and pick it up! The objective is to encourage re-use of as much stuff as possible, and get stuff you no longer want/need to the people who need/want it. Its sort of an on-line version of the 'end of the road' pile - my brother's idea, you put a lot of crap at the end of the driveway and put up a big sign that says FREE, and by the end of the day most of it is GONE. Amazing!

Using Freecycle is nicer, because you don't have to haul it out to the end of the driveway and you don't have to clean up whatever is left that got rained on. I've already had one big boxfull of stuff leave the house to grateful new owners, and I'm working on more. Strongly encourage you all to check this out, especially if you are a string-saver like me! (I just need to avoid the temptation to take someone elses stuff - hmmm, maybe the person in New Milford giving away the yarn collection they inherited from their grandma is worth a look!) Anyway, check it out if you need something or have something to give. In addition to posting things you want to give away, you can post for things you need, but its gotta be free - no trading, no selling. Namaste, peace out!

Thanksgiving 2007

2007-11-28T15:10:00.000-08:00

I love Thanksgiving - lots of good food and friends and family and no presents to buy! Mike was home from college; Dave, Claire and the grandbabies made the drive up from NJ. Last year our (Dave's and my) plans for a deep-fried turkey were foiled by weather, so we tried again. Don of course is the cynic - he rounded up all the working fire extinguishers he could find and was ready for disaster. I admit, it was dramatic when the 12-lb bird was lowered into the 5 gallons of blisteringly hot oil - a great deal of bubbling and hissing (and not just from Don, from the kettle, too!) Go here for more outdoor culinary action shots. The bird came out just a bit dry, I thought, but lots of nice crispy skin and the dark meat was just fine. Took less than an hour to cook a 12-lb turkey! We also had lobster bisque, roasted root vegetables, Michael's favorite pickled shrimps and stuffed mushrooms as appetizers, a so-so cornbread stuffing, and a salad with pears and gorgonzola. Pumpkin and blueberry pies for dessert. Marlborough sauvignon blanc with the appetizers and a nice Acacia pinot noir with the turkey.

Isn't Brynn looking gorgeous in her pretty dress? We had a conversation about what she will be when she grows up - I was trying to convince her to be a doctor, we still need one of those in the family. But she has already made up her mind what she wants to be, and medicine is not in the cards - she's determined to be a princess. Anytime we want her to do something, we tell her its just what a princess would do. 'Try the squash - you know, squash is a princess's favorite food!' Oh, the perfidy of grown-ups!

Here's Uncle Mike goofing with Evan. Picture taken just before he dropped him on his head. No harm done, though - he is a sturdy little one, and very even-tempered. I LOVE the little cupid bow mouth!

Nice relaxing Thanksgiving, but now we have to figure out what to do with the used oil. I think Don should take it to Pace for his chemistry class and run a lab on how to make biodiesel. He's not convinced!

Congratulations to Captain O'Donnell!

2007-11-16T05:11:00.000-08:00

I was flying back home from San Francisco this week on the ungodly early United flight from SFO to JFK. I was pretty groggy getting on the plane, but not so groggy that I didn't notice the balloons and decorations festooning the 757. Before we took off, the purser informed us that this was Captain Lynn O'Donnell's last flight with United Airlines - she was retiring after 16 years with United and more than 30 years flying commercial airplanes. I got to thinking this must be quite some lady - what a pioneer in breaking the gender barrier in what must have been an incredibly testosterone-drenched environment! It was a gorgeous day to fly, clear sailing across the country. I often listen to the air traffic control channel - don't ask my why, but I find the calm voices soothing and every once in awhile you hear something funny or interesting, although its always professional, never personal. This time, we heard, "Is that Captain O'Donnell? Congratulations, Lynn, have a great retirement! Want me to send you around again so you get a little more time up there? Let's get together for coffee...."

Here's a nice story from the Morris County Daily Record, about Morristown airport where Lynn keeps her own antique plane, that talks a bit about her history of flying, including her first transatlantic crossing in a 4-seater, single engine Piper Cherokee!

Thanks, Captain O'Donnell, for a wonderful flight - wishing you many more!

Back in CT

2007-10-27T08:03:00.000-07:00

Back in CT after three solid weeks on the road -

Left here in early October, heading for Denver and Aspen for a Sciona board meeting and then the Aspen Institute Health Forum. Aspen was just gorgeous, crisp and cool weather and all the trees turned their brilliant yellow, against clear blue skies. The forum was also very interesting - they get so many fantastic people to participate, and there are many chances to meet and talk during the conference. Who knows if we solved any of the massive problems of healthcare, but it does make you feel if we put this kind of powerful intellect and talent behind it, we could make a difference! Brian Klepper, who is a health care analyst and was a forum 'fellow' this year, described it thus in his blog:

"... the true pleasure of the Health Forum was listening to and talking with this collection of extraordinary scientists, physicians, philanthropists, economists, business leaders, venture capitalists and policy experts, who have come together for no other purpose than to share and to learn. There are 28 and 78 year olds, people at the end and beginning of their careers, but no sense of caste or clannishness. You walk into every meeting aware that everyone has something interesting to say, that they are informed, thoughtful, deliberate and focused on translating idea to action. There is a tacit understanding that, in their rage to know and do, they are most passionate about achieving something larger than themselves."

Denver on to Laguna Niguel, California, for the annual Biotech CEO Meeting, which Burrill & Company co-hosts with Kleiner Perkins, followed by a week in San Francisco in the office, then a day meeting in Atlanta, the Case Western Reserve trustees meeting in Cleveland. Somewhere in all this, I made time to watch the Indians defeat sworn enemy the Yankees, and then heartbreakingly snatch defeat from the jaws of victory (see here).

Now I'm home. Awaiting me on my return was a new United 1K flyer card - I think I earned it, don't you?

Omigosh! Liz and Azeem's Wedding!

2007-09-30T13:27:00.001-07:00

Omigosh - thought I had posted about Liz and Azeem's wedding, but just looked at the blog and realized I put the post on the VMF blog - so in case you didn't see it, go here for a few more pix and stuff.

Grandparenting and miscellaneous other things

2007-09-30T12:46:00.000-07:00

Spent the weekend babysitting the grandkids so Dave and Claire could have a night out together. I'm pretty biased, but Brynn and Evan are the cutest two kids and really a joy to hang out with. Brynnie is an- let's call her 'authoritative' (because it sounds so much better than 'bossy') - two-year old, but she wields her power with great charm. She has a wonderful way of amusing herself by telling little stories or making up her own songs. I enjoy when she provides firm discipline to her doll - "Stop crying. No. Time out for you, dolly." She's tough stuff, this one! Evan in contrast is gentle, quiet and contemplative. You can hardly tell when he's upset - he cries a bit but is easily calmed and although he often has a very serious look about him, when he smiles he lights up the world. As Claire says, he looks like what you think a perfect baby should look like.

In other news, I finished Liz's socks and even though I haven't sent them yet I am posting a picture of them here. The yarn is a handpainted fingering-weight superwash wool I bought on Etsy - hand dyed by Sonja McAllister (aka thankewe). Its called 'Appledoorn', named after a tulip with similar coloring. Highly recommend her yarn, it is just beautiful and I have already gotten another colorway called 'Dragonfly' which is blue, grey and lime green and I think it shall make another very excellent pair of socks! The pattern on Liz's socks is a rather complicated lattice with lots of openwork, which I took from a website that shall remain nameless here, because it was such a MESS that I had to start these socks three times before I figured out the mistakes in this woman's pattern. No reference for you!! If anyone wants the pattern as I did it, leave a comment and I'll send it to you. Trust me, you'll be better off than trying to follow the original.

Just got around to uploading the pictures we took at Liz and Azeem's wedding - you can view them here on my Flickr page (or search tags on Flickr for 'liz azeem wedding').

Mike went off to school at the end of August - he's taking information science, psychology (good combination), economics and statistics. It could be handy to have a psychologist in the family!

September, was in Japan right after Labor Day and then spent two weeks in SF. Found a great new restaurant, Kokkari on Jackson Street, which is upscale Greek food in a lovely and comfortable setting. Their website says: "On entering Kokkari, guests experience the old-world charm of a rustic Mediterranean country inn on the shores of the Aegean." The lamb riblet appetizer is to die for. Highly recommend it, but make sure you get reservations ahead of time!

October I'll be on the road for three weeks, including our CEO meeting in Laguna Niguel and a short stop in Cleveland at the end of the month for the Case board of trustees meeting.

Calendula

2007-07-08T11:22:00.000-07:00

It's July and my garden is going great guns. Deer fencing has been mostly effective this season and so far we have had only a couple minor break-ins. I was out weeding before it got too hot and I stopped to work on my chairs - but before I quit, I noticed how pretty the calendula were looking.

Calendula is also called 'pot marigold' and I much prefer them to regular marigolds. They are attractive, and easy to grow (mine come up year after year from spent flower heads gone to seed, I missed during fall clean-up), bloom all summer and require little except regular water and occasional deadheading. While I've never used them medicinally, calendula flowers contain high amounts of flavonoids, potent antioxidants that are good for hair and skin and promote wound healing. Their yellow and orange pigments also were used in the 1700's and 1800's as food coloring to color cheese and butter. If you are partial to flowers in your salad, calendula petals add pretty color, along with violets, chive flowers and nasturtium flowers.

One more week here, then its off to Ohio!

Laura's Socks

2007-06-30T11:45:00.000-07:00

Shown are my tools for the road - a blackberry, my number ones and a pair of socks in progress. These were schlepped to South Africa and then to India are they're finally done now, a pair of socks knit with Trekking Pro Natura which is wool with 25% bamboo fiber added. Very green, very sustainable - who else but for Laura?! The pattern is Diamond Lace Socks - thanks to Michelle at Miknits for making it available to us! This picture doesn't do the sock justice - has a great picot top with just a bit of ribbing inside to hold it up. Here's another shot, close up of the openwork pattern, which is really nice. Colors look a little garish in the picture, but trust me, they are much calmer in real life - I'll definitely make this pattern again, and will use the Trekking yarn as well.

New Friends

2007-06-09T08:44:00.000-07:00

Was back in Mumbai two weeks ago - my first trip where I really had to manage by myself, as Tania had to stay in the States for reasons I won't go into. Stayed at the elegant and old Taj Hotel near the Gateway - a stately and historic hotel with impeccable service and friendliness. Had a few hours to kill the day I had to catch my plane (leaving for the US, one typically departs around midnight or 1am, so you get the entire day to work and the evening and then go off to the airport), so I asked the concierge to recommend a short walking route near the hotel. Following his directions, I ventured out into the streets of Mumbai.

It is good to walk in this city. In the first place, driving around, while interesting, gets frustrating after awhile because you are stuck in traffic so much of the time. So you whip out your blackberry and do some email and when you finally arrive you realize you missed anything there was to see on the way anyway! Walking forces you to be more mindful of your surroundings - and in Mumbai, you'd best be especially mindful when you cross the street, as the traffic is insane and - if you are American - coming at you from a direction you do not expect!

Anyway, I am walking along, finding some shops and market areas of interest. I especially love the food market areas - mostly there are local people there, not too many foreigners looking for bargain souvenirs.

And then I suddenly feel the tug on my sleeve, and the insistent voice: "Please, ma'am. Please, ma'am." I look down and there is a young boy - I shake my head and continue walking. Then: "Please, ma'am. I don't want money." This is surprising, as normally that is exactly what he would want and in my experience if you give money you are suddenly surrounded by 100 children, all saying "Please, ma'am" and this becomes an immediately impossible and awkward situation. So I usually feel very guilty saying no, and when I get home I write a big check to some aid organization. That's how I deal with it - its always been more comfortable to be generous at a distance.

But this kid hooked me with his 'I don't want money' routine - and instinctively I turned and asked him: 'well, what do you want, then?'. So we got into a conversation - he is 10 years old, his name is Ganesh. He doesn't go to school, because he can't afford it. He asks my name and where I'm from. I tell him the Indian government will pay for him to go to school and he should be going. He does not want my money, but wants me to buy milk for his little sister who is 3 months old. We negotiate a deal: I get to take his picture a couple of times and he gets me to buy the milk. Here's the picture - after his 'photo shoot', I offer him money for the milk and he says, 'no - come with me to the store, its right over here'. So we go to the store together and I buy a can of powdered formula for a baby for about $5 US and then I tell him I'll give him the change if he promises to try to attend school. He agrees. As we part company, he offers me his hand to shake and thanks me and wishes me well.

I said later to Don that if there's some powdered milk scam going down on the streets of Mumbai, I don't want to know about it. I want to believe he'll find his way out of poverty and grow up to be a successful Indian entrepreneur - he has all the makings of it already, with a charming and persuasive personality and pretty decent negotiation skills. Maybe he'll remember the lady from New York who told him to go to school and maybe he won't. I know more likely he will never escape from his circumstances, so perhaps the best I can wish him is happiness and peace in his life. Meeting him was a great gift for me - a reminder that the smallest and weakest of us is still a human being, and while we may not feel comfortable dealing with the masses of children who are in need and in poverty, when you get down to it, each one of them has a name and a story and needs not only our money, but our friendship and respect. And will give that back if offered the opportunity.

Africa - Part Two: Mala Mala Game Reserve

2007-05-25T13:42:00.000-07:00

The Africa Harvest board meeting was inspirational, and Cape Town is a beautiful city. Wine country was lovely, and learning about South African history and apartheid was instructive. But the absolute best part of the trip was our 4-day visit to a game reserve near the Kruger National Park. Mala Mala is a private reserve that borders the national park, with no fence between them so the animals can roam freely. One gets there by either a 2-hour trip by road down a bumpy dirt road or you can fly into the private airstrip, which does get one commercial regional turboprop flight per day. Every day we'd get taken out in open land rovers, with a ranger and a guide, and go after sighting wild beasts. On our arrival, which was late Sunday afternoon due to a flight delay, we were whisked off to join our 'group', which consisted of Ranger Anthony, Tracker Calvin, and the Spencers a nice couple from Albany, NY. As night fell, and the stars took over the sky, we bounced along the dirt tracks and through the bush looking for (and finding!) leopards. Amazing! That night at dinner, we were told that sometimes lions come right into the camp and so it is prudent to allow your ranger to walk you back to your room after dinner, which is outside around a large bonfire. (What the ranger does if there actually IS a lion is left to the readers' imagination!) Michael Rattray, the owner of Mala Mala, suggested leaving the sliding door of our room open (making sure the screen door is firmly shut, though), as you can hear the night sounds of animals. And sure enough, I was awakened at 4am by the sound of lions roaring.

After breakfast the next morning, we went out to look for lions. Anthony and Calvin find tracks, and hop out of the vehicle to commune in siSwati, which is a Bantu language spoken in Swaziland. The most I can manage is 'Sawubona', which means 'hello' (literally, 'I see you') in Zulu. After an hour of driving around, hopping in and out of the truck, poking the ground with sticks, Calvin walking ahead on the track minding the dirt, Anthony following after him with the rifle ('just in case'), I decide these guys are mostly for show, and I figure we will not be seeing any lions that morning. They at last return to the truck and I say, "did we lose him?" Anthony is disappointed in my lack of faith: 'oh, no, he's just over there lying in the grass'. And Calvin, with a big grin, says, "Lion. Big one." Here he is, our first lion - he came so close to the truck I could have reached out and patted his mane. Although he likely would have taken my hand off! He turned up again later in the week, with his 'brother' and two beautiful lionesses.

The animals in general - at least the predators if not the prey - pay little attention to the trucks, and seem to regard them as harmless. Anthony believes they do not really grasp that we are potential prey, as long as we are sitting quietly in the truck, and not standing up and waving our arms about. During our time there we went out morning and evening every day and saw lions 3 times, leopards 3 times, a herd of 400 cape buffalo, hippos twice, many elephants, zebra, giraffe, kudu and impala. We only saw rhinos (white rhinos) once, and that was thanks to Don's sharp eyes! Here are Don's rhinos - a mother and her 'baby'!! He was a little freaked out when she pointed her big horn directly at us.

In the world of game viewing safaris, it is popular to talk about 'The Big Five'. These, ostensibly, are the five most dangerous animals to hunt and they are (in no particular order): lion, leopard, cape buffalo, rhino and elephant. Leopards are generally hard to see, but Mala Mala is arguably the best place in the world for leopard viewing, and we were very fortunate. So if you are keeping score, you will want to tell people you saw The Big Five. Michael Rattray likes to add two more to the list: wild dogs and cheetah - because they are both harder to find and to view.

The most elusive animals we saw were the wild dogs, which are beautiful animals and very interesting to watch as they are quick as lightning and following them in the rover is really like a chase through the bush. They are endangered animals, and there are less than 5000 of them left in the wild. We watched a pack - 11 of them, 0.2% of the worlds total population - hunt impala, but they didn't catch one while we were there. Here's a picture of them on the alert.

We saw leopards - mother and son - with a kill and a pair of hyenas try to take it away from them. We tracked 4 lions as they hunted impala after dark one night.

The only one we missed was the cheetah - guess we'll have to go back someday! Here's one of the leopards we saw at night. An incredibly gorgeous animal!

All in all, an awesome adventure, and one I will remember all my life. Made even better by the beautiful surroundings of our camp, the delightful company of our hosts and fellow guests and the knowledge and skill of our ranger and tracker. A highly recommended vacation!

Out of Africa

2007-05-20T06:40:00.000-07:00

Apologies to those who've been trying to get in touch with us - Don and I have just returned from a 2-week trip to South Africa. The first week was our annual Africa Harvest board meeting, held in Johannesburg. As always, this was a fantastic meeting with lots of new ideas about how to move the organization forward and I can't begin to say how personally satisfying it is to work on something that you feel is making a difference in such important ways!

Last years meeting took me to Africa for the first time, and I spent only one extra day seeing just a bit of what Kenya has to offer. When I left I promised myself that next time I'd plan to spend more time - so this year, Don came out to join me and we took an extra week after the board meeting to spend vacationing. We first flew to Cape Town, which is a very lovely city and which preserves some of the earliest colonial history of South Africa. The city hugs the center of a beautiful, sweeping bay just to the north of the Cape of Good Hope. This picture actually shows the Atlantic coastline, and a ridge of mountains called 'The 12 Apostles'. Rising above the bay is a dramatic, broad high mesa called Table Mountain. We took a cable car to the top which affords stunning views of the city and the Cape itself. Here's a picture of Don on the top of Table Mountain.

Next day we went off to wine country. South Africa is most known for its red wines, mainly Cabernet and Shiraz, but we also found unique wines being made from more typically Rhone-type grapes, such as Mourvedre, Grenache and Viognier. Our first visit was to Franschoek, 'the Healdsburg of South Africa', as Don called it. Beautiful little town, nestled in among vineyards turning yellow in the fall with craggy peaks rising above. They've been making wine in these valleys since the 1600's. We didn't spend a lot of time tasting, but did visit a very special winery, Solms-Delta, which in addition to great wine also has an excellent small archaeological museum which shows the history of the area going all the way back to Stone Age hunter-gatherer tribes. Solms-Delta has a unique structure, with three farms one of which is held in trust for the benefit of the local people who were 'historically disadvantaged' by the colonization by whites. We limited ourselves to one bottle - the 2004 Hiervandaan, a blend of Shiraz, Mourvedre, Grenache, Carignan and Viognier.

Returned to Cape Town via Stellenbosch, where we stopped for lunch at Speir Wine Farm, bought a couple more bottles and then back to the city. Next morning, on to Mpumalanga for an adventure in 'the bush'!

Unto us a Grandson is Given!

2007-05-03T19:46:00.000-07:00

Please join us in welcoming Evan Connor Valentine to the human race. Born May 3, 2007. 8 pounds, no ounces. 20 inches, and a head of light blond hair. The wise look of a baby old beyond his years!

Don and I spent the day with Brynn while Dave and Claire went off to the hospital in what was a remarkably well-orchestrated birth. The baby's name was about the only suspense. Brynn was an absolute angel and although initial reaction to Baby Evan was tentative, she is already getting into this idea of being the big sister.

Dave is becoming a pro daddy - doesn't he look completely at ease with his new son? (Okay, maybe not, maybe there's just a hint of trepidation in his face here?)

Michael was still hoping he'd be named 'Vincent'. He felt a New Jersey kid named Vinnie Valentine just sounded right, somehow. He watches too many Quentin Tarantino movies. I guess he'll just have to name his son that someday! Anyway, what a happy day!

Congratulations, Dave, Claire and Brynn!!!

April's Knitting Projects

2007-04-30T17:19:00.000-07:00

Someday I might have to start a blog just for knitting, but not today! I finished a couple projects in April. First, I've been working on a perfect gift for Steve - biotech entrepreneur extraordinaire, always elegant in pin-stripes and always, always a pink shirt or tie or pocket square (or all three!). So what to knit for the man who has everything? Yes, at last I got the opportunity to knit the DNA scarf that Michael Hehenberger turned me on to years ago. Yup, I've been meaning to get around to that one! So perfect - I knit it for Steve in pink silk/alpaca DK weight yarn from Valley Yarns. What a beautiful feel to that yarn, so soft but shows off the cables quite nicely, I think. Here it is - after I finished it I thought of two other people who deserve this scarf as well! I love how the double helix has bars across in garter stitch that represent the base pairs. Thanks to June Oshiro for the great pattern!

Next, another pair of socks, these for Hayden to say thanks for all his help. I found the self-striping superwash wool yarn for this in my favorite yarn store in Chardon (the ONLY yarn store in Chardon), Knitting on the Square. Decided the pattern would come out best if I just knit stockinette stitch, so nothing fancy - but I liked the contrasting blue heel, which came out very soft and cushiony.

And last, but not least - and also not finished, is the baby blanket I'm making for my almost-born new grandson. When I'm knitting for someone it helps me to think of them while I'm knitting - I feel it puts a lot of good karma into the garment for the recipient. But how to think about this unborn, as yet un-named young man? Michael suggested they name him Vincent, as he thinks it would be humorous to have a nephew named 'Vinnie Valentine'. Especially since he'll be from New Jersey. Anyway, young Vinnie is getting a slate blue blanket of Lion CottonEase, with a nice pattern that is sort of open-work leaves. I'm liking the pattern a lot, so much that I just decided the heck with other stitches, we'll make it mostly these leaves - here's the work in progress. Don't you love the nice undulating pattern - its very textural. Anyway, if Vinnie doesn't show up on his own before then, we are expecting him this Thursday, early afternoon. David and Claire are incredibly organized!

Inherit the Wind

2007-04-14T06:58:00.000-07:00

A new production of "Inherit the Wind" opened on Broadway this week and Don and I went last night. The timing is perfect for this play - as our country increasingly is involved in a debate between rational science and fundamentalism, and this debate makes its way into our state legislatures and our schools (where it surely does not belong!), it is good to be reminded that this is a fight we had (and won) some 80 years ago. As the Clarence Darrow figure says to the defendant right after he is convicted by the jury, "You don't think this is over, do you?" I guess not.

Anyway, as a lover of theater, it was great to be at a play. The cast was led by the redoubtable Christopher Plummer as Henry Drummond (for the defense) and Brian Dennehy as the fundamentalist Matthew Brady (for the prosecution). Plummer was outstanding, in total command of the stage and of his role. Dennehy, who I think is a wonderful actor, unfortunately missed it, with a performance that lacked the fire and passion of the fundamentalist and failed to be the dramatic foil to Plummer that the role really demands for a crackling performance. The staging was well-done, with audience members seated as if in the courtroom ( a nice touch I thought, although I declined the option when I bought our tickets, thinking it might be hot under the lights) and a wonderful gospel quartet. The jewel-box of a theater (the Lyceum) gave an intimacy to the production that served to draw one in to the debate. Other performances I admired were the cynical reporter (pseudo-H.L. Mencken) played by Denis O'Hare and the fundamentalist minister played by Byron Jennings. Actually, it would be interesting to see these two in the main roles, considering the skill with which they played their 'seconds'.

The Times review was fairly critical. But I definitely say its a play worth seeing for both the performances as well as the topical content. And to see Christopher Plummer one more time in his element!

April Update

2007-04-13T07:16:00.000-07:00

Some collections of random musings, taken together might justify a post:

For news and more pix of Easter at Villa Mir Farm, go to the VMF Blog. We had a great time, with 2 feet of snow (!!) and lots of friends and family to help shovel. Here, Jack eats strawberry-rhubarb pie - I have to try eating pie with my eyes closed, wonder if it tastes better that way? That white stuff out the window is not over-exposure, by the way!

I am not the worlds most tech-obsessed person, who has time for it!! But there are a couple of sites that I've started to use fairly often which help me get/stay organized (or at least as organized as I ever get!).

First one is a social networking site I want to recommend to all of you - its called HiveLive, and its a very cool, easy-to-use place you can store stuff and collaborate with friends and family in a private way. Once you sign up (its free) and log in, you can create as many 'hives' as you want. A hive can be a place to keep notes, a daily diary, a personal space or a collaborative space for anyone you choose. Or, if you want to get frisky, you can make a public hive for the whole community on HiveLive (like Facebook). Its a bit like blogging, but maybe more like a digital file cabinet that's easy to access. I've been using it a fair amount to keep all the random notes and stuff I collect on travels. I have hives for: recipes, book reviews and recommendations, favorite quotations, restaurants. I can share them with other members, so if you do sign up, please let me know and I will add you to my group hives. If you have trouble signing up, either email me or post a comment here and I will assist.

Second one is a cute little free thing called the Pocket Mod. Its a customizable planner, which you create on their website, print on a single sheet of paper, then it folds into a little booklet that easily fits in your pocket, purse, whatever. With a clever, origami-like folding scheme, you get 8 pages which can have a daily, weekly or monthly calendar, note space, tables or graphs, all kinds of stuff. I make one every week, then carry it around for a week to jot down a note or so, keep track of travel expenses, see my schedule at a glance. I guess if you're really into a Blackberry, that's better, but I have a Blackberry and I still use this little thing. There is just nothing like a piece of paper sometimes! (For my green, sustainable friends, you can print it out on paper that's used on one side, and when it folds all the unwanted stuff is hidden - thus a good way for 'double-recycling' all that extra paper we wind up with!)

OK, let me know if you like these - and feel free to make some recommendations of your own!

China

2007-03-30T10:01:00.000-07:00

Well I'm back after a week in China - Shanghai, Tianjin and Beijing. Was supposed to go to Haikou, which is on an island and I'm told its very nice, like Hawaii there - but plans changed and I was in the rather colder north instead. Every time I go to China it seems faster-paced, with ever growing opportunities. Shanghai, of course, is known for the incredibly fast growth of the Pudong area, with its high speed mag lev train, its impressive skyscrapers, and the Zhangjiang high-tech park, which is where our Shanghai office is located. Here's our intrepid China team in the office: Jimmy, Jonathan and Pu.

I was less familiar with Tianjin, which promises to be the next great economic development zone a la Pudong. Tianjin is the third largest city in China, behind Shanghai and Beijing (fourth if you count Hong Kong) - and practically no one's heard of it in the West! Its about 2 hours drive southeast from Beijing, near the coast. The Chinese government is putting massive amounts of money into Tianjin to develop infrastructure for manufacturing, ports, air travel, and corporate parks and incubators. They are very interested in healthcare and growing their biopharmaceutical industry as well.

While in Tianjin, we met with Dr. Liu Xiaocheng, president of the TEDA International Cardiovascular Hospital, the largest in Asia with more than 600 beds and 16 operating rooms, performing 10,000 surgeries a year. The interesting thing about this hospital is that, under Dr. Liu's guidance, it serves both the very very rich and the very very poor - and both get the same quality of medical care. He has set up the hospital to offer 6 classes of service, which deliver different levels of amenities to patients - but the same, high quality of medical care to all. In this way, the wealthy patients subsidize those who can't pay. At the highest level, one can get an incredible suite of rooms, including a conference room, office, private indoor garden, private gym, full kitchen - for $3200 USD per day. But for only about $6.70 per day, one can get a bed in a shared room (2 patients to a room) and the same quality of care as the $3200 patient. Dr. Liu has a special program to treat orphan children with heart problems, which he is very proud of. He says: "Its just like an airplane. In the front of the plane they have the first class. In the middle, business class. And at the end, economy class. But they're all going to the same destination. It's the market!" Very cool. I'm sending them a check for the orphans, but they couldn't figure out how to take a US contribution while I was there.

Tianjin itself is a nice-looking city. It was an old colonial city, and its active commercial and manufacturing environment included many European concessions in the 1800's. Here's a nice link with old pictures. It featured prominently in the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. The architecture of the old part of the city is a charming mix of Chinese and European, the streets are lined with old trees and old-fashioned streetlamps. I was sorry I could not spend more time in this part of the city. I was told that Herbert Hoover spent 20 years in Tianjin as an engineer before returning to the US to become president. (My Chinese hosts were a bit dismayed when I told them that Hoover did not have the best reputation of all our presidents, having been tagged with responsibility for the Great Depression. Oh well!)

Back in Beijing last Friday, where I stayed just one night before flying home. Long enough to have a delightful dinner at a pretty good Yunnan restaurant with my friend Zhang Quen (R) and my new Burrill colleague Wang Pu (L). I like most Yunnan food, but this place had not one but TWO kinds of worms (deep fried bamboo root worms and fried fireroot worms) on the menu - gives a whole new meaning to the word 'grub'!! (Click here for an interesting newsletter on edible insects (yup, they have recipes), and here for the website of the Research Institute of Resource Insects - I kid you not, in Kunming, Yunnan province, they do research on edible insects!) Anyway, we passed on the worms, but did enjoy a bottle of Great Wall cabernet which was not California, but passable. Here are my charming dinner companions - to friendship, with no worms!

Family Week

2007-03-11T10:57:00.000-07:00

Only a few of my friends have blogs of their own, and one that I really enjoy is the Hurlblum blog, of friends Nancy Blum and Bill Hurlbut. Bill recently posted this about a special holiday they call 'Family Week'. In this hurried time when we always mean to spend more time with our friends and loved ones, but frequently put that time off, I think its great to actually 'formalize' it around a special day for the family. Here's Bill's post:

"Since 2001 we have made our own tradition around the anniversary of the day we added Lucy to our family.Family Week, as we call it, starts with Gotcha Day, February 23, the day we actually received Lucy from the Gao Yu Child Welfare Center. This is rather low-key celebration doesn't involve parties or other big events, it is simply a time to reflect on our family and what it means to us to have each other.In the evenings during Family Week, we watch videos, starting with the Gotcha Day tape and including whatever others come to hand. We talk about how we felt, what else happened that we didn't catch on film, and we answer questions from the kids. We usually watch some parts of Liam's early years and catch a few random favorites from among the many concerts, parties, vacations, and other events that have enriched our lives together.There are no pictures of this event we can share. No picture could capture the closeness, the togetherness, the satisfied happiness of Family Week. We invite you to declare such a week for yourselves. Even if you don't have children, you do have a family that is worth celebrating."

Ohio and India

2007-03-04T05:55:00.000-08:00

Well, I am home in Connecticut again, after three weeks on the road. First week in San Francisco, next week in Ohio for the Case Western Reserve U. board of trustees meeting, and the last week in Mumbai.

Ohio was cold and snowy. I stayed in the old house, which is now emptied of many furnishings and people since Paul and Laura moved into their house in December. It was a bit lonely and empty, but a good chance to do some measurements and plan renovations, which I now hope to start in the late summer. The new house is cozy and warm and it was great to see Paul and Laura and the kids, even though I spent most of the week working.

From Ohio, on to Mumbai - one snowstorm in Chicago, one missed connection in London, one unplanned 11-hour layover at Heathrow, a re-scheduling of cars and hotels in Mumbai, and a 10-hour flight via India's Jet Airways later, and we have gone from 9 degrees F and snowing to 32 degrees C, sticky and humid.

My experience on Jet Airways, by the way, though unplanned, was superb. Flat bed-seats, great service, extremely courteous staff - I compare them very favorably to larger, more well-known carriers to India. I would fly Jet over British Airways to India any day based on this one flight!

Mumbai - and India in general - is bursting with energy. All the nervous talk you read in the press about overheating the economy is dismissed with a wave of the hand by the Indian bankers and businesspeople you meet. Sure, there will be ups and downs - the Bombay Stock Exchange (or SENSEX) dropped about 500 points last week due to the jitters around the world about China - but most Indians feel their time has come and are creating new business opportunities everywhere. It is an exciting time to be working in India!

One of the biggest barriers India will face is the need for new infrastructure to support this explosive growth. While things like Internet access, telecoms and air travel (domestic and international) are pretty good, more basic stuff like electricity, roads and traffic are a nightmare. I calculate I spent about half my working hours in India this week in meetings and the other half sitting in traffic. Mumbai is bad, Hyderabad is about the same, and Bangalore takes chaos and gridlock to a whole new level. The view shown in this picture was pretty typical of Mumbai traffice, except for the fact there are no motorbikes or motorized rickshaws in the picture. These latter are miniscule three-wheeled vehicles powered by a 2-cycle engine, designed to seat the driver in front and two passengers with no room to spare in the rear. While ordinary cars are often (but not always) found in lanes of traffic, these (along with the motorbikes) seem to be designed to fill every interstitial space in the traffic matrix, which then operates according to a mysterious set of rules that I have yet to decipher.

One conundrum that caught my attention was the signs that are often found on the back of brilliantly decorated trucks, which say something like: 'Blow horn please' or 'horn OK please'. Most people seem to think this invitation to make noise relates to the truck driver's inability to see what is around him as there are no mirrors. But since basically every vehicle seems to be wildly and randomly honking anyway, it does not seem as though it would be very instructive to the driver for yet one more vehicle to add to the cacophony.

Power failures are also common in India. During the week I was there, there were two major power outages affecting millions of people in Mumbai and Western Maharashtra province. Signs like the one in the picture, warning people not to climb out of stalled elevators, are thus common. Fortunately, the power outage did not affect my trip nor was I stuck in an elevator between floors, although after seeing this I was more inclined to use the stairs than before!

Anyway, I am home again (finally!) in CT and it is good to be here. Michael is also home for a week for spring break, although he will be spending it mostly with his friends on a skiing holiday in Vermont. Nice to see him, even for a brief while and we will see if we can get a 'guest blog' out of him while he's home!

A reasonable amount of trouble

2007-02-18T10:51:00.000-08:00

An odd confluence of events happened to me in SF this week - coincidence? I think not.

First, I am walking up the hill to my apartment in SF, and in the block between Stockton and Powell - the steep block that causes me to pause from time to time to catch a breath - I see a sign in an apartment window that says "Spade and Archer". Hmmmm. In the next block there is a street - Monroe, actually, but its been re-named Dashiell Hammett Place, and evidently is the street on which Hammett lived in a little studio apartment in 1926. Interesting.

I get back to my place, and there's a stack of newspapers at the front entry - and the words "Maltese Falcon" catch my eye. It appears that someone has broken into John's Grill, a local restaurant that was a haunt of Hammett's back in the 20's. And what was stolen? - vintage copies of some Sam Spade books and a statue of the Falcon that was on display. (Link) The plot thickens - the game is afoot (no, wait, that's somebody else!)

So then I felt like I just had to go to John's for dinner - and did a little boning up on my history in preparation. During the time he wrote the Maltese Falcon and most of his other well-known works, Hammett lived not on the street now named after him, but at 891 Post Street which is at the corner of Post and Hyde. It is this apartment that is also the model for Sam Spade's apartment.

John's Grill is at 63 Ellis Street, between Stockton and Powell. Its one of those traditional restaurants with wood panelling, leaded windows, a great old-fashioned bar. Their menu is a step back into the past - not a single concession to the modern California food that pervades the rest of the city. Here you find steaks, grilled seafood, salads with bay shrimp, avocado and blue cheese, crusty sourdough bread. No tall food, no flavored foams, they don't tell you how the beef was fed or what method was used to catch the salmon. The 'Sam Spade' special is one that Spade actually orders in the Maltese Falcon: ""Sam Spade went to John's Grill, asked the waiter to hurry his order of chops, baked potato, sliced tomatoes and was smoking a cigarette with his coffee when... ". I had a steak and a baked potato, with a salad - and a martini, homage to tough guys. Though it was crowded and busy, the service was friendly and efficient, food was good and about as over-priced as you expect in a restaurant like this. I've been to Tadich Grill as well, which is comparable - I like John's better.

Other locations that are in the book which can be visited are the top of the Stockton tunnel (where Bush crosses over Stockton Street), which is where the beginning scenes of the book and movie take place. And around the corner is Burritt Street - a short little alley which is where Miles Archer gets his.

Anyway, schweetheart - gotta get back to work. Maybe next time I'm in SF I'll hook up with Don Herron, who leads a city tour based on Hammett's life here and writing. Meanwhile, I'm bidding on a copy of a Hammet anthology on eBay, and plan to re-read all those great novels. And I hope they get the guy who stole the black bird, 'the stuff that dreams are made of'.

Knitting

2007-02-11T11:55:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been doing a lot of knitting. Awhile ago I noticed a woman crocheting in an airport and I struck up a conversation - told her I was a knitter, but too bad you can't take knitting needles on airplanes. Oh, she told me, yes you can - its right in the TSA rules, knitting needles and crochet needles are allowed as long as they are plastic or metal. So now I am a peripatetic knitter, and always have at least one project in my bag when I travel. Its especially great for long-hauls, and also nice because its something you can do besides read while you're taxi-ing, taking off or landing, not just flying or waiting in the airport. You do have to be careful, however. On one trip last year to Australia I flew from New York to Los Angeles, LA to Sydney, Sydney to Melbourne - and it was going out of Melbourne for Wellington that the airport security guys told me 'you can't fly with knitting needles'! I said 'how do you think I got here?' Anyway, long story short, he was a complete hard-ass and my 'little old lady who knits' act did not go over well, and so I wound up pulling the sock off the needles and mailing the whole thing home. Now I travel with stitch holders and an envelope just in case.

Projects need to be small - who wants to lug an entire sweater on a trip, especially one you can't wear yet! So I've taken up sock knitting. Socks are fun to knit, small, and the new sock yarns are fabulous. And short, double-pointed needles are great if you have the misfortune of sitting in a center seat. I've just finished a pair that will be a gift for KB, in a very pretty burgundy superwash wool - they are called "Eagles' Flight" and thank you to Megan Humphrey for the free pattern on the PT Yarn website. Another sock 'artist' on the web is 'Cookie' over at Knitty, a great blog with really innovative patterns. Check out her latest sock here.

So - if you play your cards right and be nice to me, you just might get a pair of lacy, hand-knit cashmere socks in your favorite color, that have been around the world!

Groundhog Day

2007-02-04T11:25:00.000-08:00

Last week was, of course, a major weather holiday around the country - Groundhog Day. Nowhere could the prognostication of this rodent be more important than in the snow capital of Northeast Ohio, Chardon. In trying to find out whether the groundhog did see his shadow in Chardon or not, I ran across this useful site to bookmark for future reference - Groundhog Central captures news from groundhogs (and even some other animals, including Furby the Wonder Chicken and a llama named Mr. Prozac) around the country. And it has some pretty cute pictures of groundhogs as well!

Winter is finally here

2007-02-04T10:28:00.000-08:00

Well, its been an incredibly mild winter here in Connecticut so far - absolutely no snow to speak of until this week, when we finally got a couple of fluffy inches. Its really pretty out, and cold too, but when the wind isn't blowing and the sun is out it's very energizing.

I've noticed something interesting about the rhododendrons when it gets cold - you can tell how cold it is by looking at their leaves. When it gets really cold, they curl up tightly into little cylinders - you can see what I mean in the second picture in this post. Today it was about 15 degrees F, and you can see how they are curling. When its even colder they curl up almost all the way. I am thinking of doing the experiment to measure the diameter of the curl versus temperature, to see if this is at all predictive. Hmmm. Like I don't have enough to do.

Even though it hasn't been that cold and snowy, we are getting a lot of use out of our fireplaces and especially the Vermont Castings woodstove I had put into our bedroom when we remodeled a few years ago. For a long time, it just sat there and was a convenient place to pile laundry, but this year we've started using it and it is soooo nice to sit there and knit in front of the cozy warm stove or especially to fall asleep with flickering firelight and then the glow of embers. I got the smallest model they make, and still if I have the doors closed and operate it as a woodstove (and not a fireplace), I can get the bedroom up to 80 degrees in the dead of winter.

Anyway, it's kind of nice to have winter this week -

New pix of Brynn and Parents

2007-02-04T10:17:00.000-08:00

Isn't my grand daughter growing up nicely? It is hard to capture her on camera, as she is always in motion. Its like doing nature photography, you have to just take a lot of pictures and hope you get one great one.

I love Brynn's energy and determined spirit. I would not say she is a fussy or demanding baby at all, but she certainly knows what she wants and is not shy about going after it. And you'd best not get in her way!

Dave and Claire's big news is that Brynn is expecting a little brother this coming May. Only three months to go! Then Brynn gets to be the big sister. Wonder how she's gonna like that!

Dining in San Francisco

2007-01-20T12:54:00.000-08:00

Don and I have been spending a lot of time in San Francisco in the last several months because of my new job. We're enjoying being back in the area, and especially the wonderful food scene. Food is a serious subject in San Francisco, whether its an upscale restaurant, a little neighborhood place, a market, or in someone's home. What Alice Waters started at Chez Panisse more than 30 years ago - fresh, locally-grown ingredients - is now a mantra; waiters announce with pride that their dishes are made only with ingredients coming from within a 50-mile radius of the city! I have never been one for 'tricky' food - too artfully arranged, tall stacks of things that were never meant to be verticalized, flavored foam, - all a bit too trendy for me. I appreciate a well-arranged plate, good colors, simple presentation - but it is the perfect combination of flavors and textures, accompanied by a well-paired wine that makes a meal. And great company, of course, which turns even this simplest picnic into a memorable occasion.

Some of the places we've enjoyed in the past couple of months:

Myth is one of the most popular places in the city these days. I've been there twice, both for Burrill events, and have enjoyed the salad with pears, blue cheese and caramelized cashews as well as the grilled steak. Fellow diners seemed to be enjoying the braised short ribs which are served with a horseradish potato puree which looks good!

One of my favorite places is Azie, where we had dinner with Reg Kelly and his wife. Its a pretty restaurant and we got a booth which was really enjoyable and quiet enough to have a decent conversation - something which isn't always the case even in the best SF restaurants. The food is Asian-California fusion, and they encourage 'family style' service where everybody shares. We enjoyed a trio of fish tartares served with taro chips, and spicy prawns seared and served on an iron skillet for starters. For dinner we liked grilled sea scallops served with black coconut rice and 'seven flavor beef', which was seasoned with hoisin, lemongrass and basil and served on a bed of spinach. And a lovely dish of Chinese longbeans with sesame and black bean sauce, which is a particular favorite of mine.

Kelly and Steve took us to Nopa (stands for 'North of the Panhandle'), another very popular spot. We started with a wonderful flatbread with caramelized onions, bacon, radicchio and gruyere cheese. For dinner, Don uncharacteristically ordered vegetarian - which was a very interesting and delicious Moroccan vegetable tagine with almonds, lemon yogurt and couscous. Kelly's black cod was served over a bed of small green lentils that she raved about. Steve told me he went back several weeks later just to have the hamburger, which looked excellent. Its a little bit crowded and noisy, but the food is delicious and they also have a counter like the one I posted about at One Market, where you can watch the chefs at work.

And that reminds me of Boulevard, where we also sat at the counter while we enjoyed the beautiful art nouveau decor of the restaurant and relaxed in front of the wood-fired oven while the chefs were in perpetual motion in front of us putting our dinner together. I started with the sage and garlic roasted quail served with a bisque of butternut squash; Don chose the ahi tuna tartare. For dinner I had pan-roasted butterfish, a lovely firm-fleshed white fish that was served with half an artichoke stuffed with rock shrimp and lobster. Don had braised lamb - two kinds, a rib chop and cheeks - served with winter vegetables, fingerling potatoes and olives.

All this is making me hungry! I'm back in CT, wondering what I can whip up for dinner that could even come close to how good all the above meals were - and the answer is..... nothing!

Malaysia

2006-12-30T14:18:00.000-08:00

Well, it has been a while since I updated this. Let me start back a ways. After Thanksgiving I was home in CT for a week, then back on the road again. This time, to Malaysia, to participate in a panel of experts that advises the PM of Malaysia on biotechnology. To be politic, I don't want to say much about the meeting, but I will say the PM - Dato Seri Abdullah Badawi - is in my opinion an amazing leader. He is a devout Muslim, but steers a careful course of moderation for his country, which is developed and modern for that part of the world. He seems sincerely interested in biotech and ways to develop the resources of his country. This is not easy in the current climate and even with the diversity of the Malaysian population - Malay, Chinese and Indian are the three major nationalities - the voice of more radical Islamists is strong.

Malaysia is a very beautiful country, and I've only seen a tiny bit of it. We were in Kuala Lumpur ('KL' to experienced southeast Asian travelers!) and just outside in the suburb of Putrajaya, where the government is predominantly located. It was a bit of a shock in early December to wake up to temperatures already in the 90's and humid to boot! I stayed in a beautiful hotel in Putrajaya the first few nights; the picture above shows the lovely grounds and swimming pool. There were flowers in bloom everywhere, orchids and other exotic flowers. Most days it rained in the late afternoon, but that didn't seem to help the heat much and it certainly didn't reduce the humidity! A major product of Malaysian agriculture is palm oil - which comes from the nuts of the oil palm, Elaeis guineensis. I visited the Palm Oil Board of Malaysia and got a detailed explanation of how oil palm is grown, harvested and the oil extracted. Palm oil evidently got a bad rap a few years ago in the US food industry, mostly from the corn oil production industry who claimed the high percentage of saturated fat in palm oil contributed to high cholesterol and heart disease. Several recent studies have suggested that palm oil is actually good for you - has a fair amount of linoleic acid (an essential omega-6 fatty acid) as well as other things that lower cholesterol. Raw palm oil has the highest concentration of carotenoids of any natural source - 15 times as much as carrots, and is also a good source of vitamins A and E. Malaysia is the number one country producing palm oil - these days in addition to food products, they are using it to make biodiesel which is actually price competitive with petroleum-based diesel in Europe, I'm told.

The next few days I spent in downtown KL. Stayed at the Mandarin Oriental hotel, and the picture at left was the view from my window. These are the Petronas Towers, the tallest 'twin towers' in the world, and the world's third largest building (behind the Sears Tower and some building in Taipei). Kuala Lumpur is an incredibly modern, bustling city, with all the amenities for doing business. I attended a biotech conference held in a huge conference center right across from the hotel. It will be interesting to see if Malaysia can home-grow a biotech industry, as they did with electronics and telecom.

December 9, back on an airplane: KL to Hong Kong to SF, where I will meet Don.

Thanksgiving

2006-11-25T08:33:00.000-08:00

Dave and Claire came up to CT for Thanksgiving, with my amazingly cute little grand-daughter, Brynn. It is hard to believe she is 18 months old already. She is a lively baby, who certainly knows her own mind, but except for the occasional tantrum is delightful to be around.

Our Thanksgiving menu plans were foiled by bad weather - Dave had agreed to attempt to deep-fry a turkey, which we've been hearing about from friends and colleagues and have been meaning to try. Unfortunately, it was grey and cold and raining and we decided that it would be a bad idea to heat up 5 gallons of oil to the smoking point in our garage and then lower all 20 pounds (David does nothing half way!) of a moisture-laden turkey into the vat. Supposedly this is one of the major causes of home fires on Thanksgiving! Anyway, we had a nice - if rather more conventional - Thanksgiving at home with family.

Mike's home for the weekend from Pittsburgh, although you'd hardly know it we've seen so little of him! He's allowing us to take him for sushi this evening, though, a major concession from the important time spent with friends!

India

2006-11-24T06:11:00.000-08:00

I was in India until right before Thanksgiving. We're raising a fund that will be 'India centric' - it will invest in both Indian life science companies as well as Western companies with India as a key component of their business model. We were in Mumbai, at a conference and then meeting with various key influencers in the Indian life science community. Mumbai, formerly Bombay, is a pretty interesting city. It was created from 7 islands that were joined together in the mid-1800's to make one large island with the Arabian Sea as its western boundary and rivers and streams to the east and north. The ocean beaches are quite pretty and Mumbai was a major seaport during the time of the Raj.

Today, Mumbai is a typical hectic (kinder word than chaotic!) Indian city. Its 18 million people clog the arteries of a highway infrastructure that is incapable to handle that kind of traffic. Getting from the middle of the city to the end of the peninsula takes an hour or more if you go by car. There is a train line, but you wouldn't want to take it. Its cars are wall-to-wall people, standing packed as close as they can get; it is not uncommon that people hanging from the sides of cars fall to the tracks and are killed and injured. Just another day in Mumbai!

As in every Indian city, poverty is in your face. Women with tiny babies in their arms rap at your car window at stop lights, begging for change. If you were to offer any, your car would instantly be surrounded by by people spotting a mark, and you would be immobilized, annoying fellow passengers, your driver and other drivers. I resolve my white liberal guilt by writing checks to aid agencies when I get home, but it doesn't erase the pictures of the little babies and children from my mind.

Doing business here promises to be interesting. It is an absolute hive of industry and entrepreneurialism. Of course, everyone knows about the rise of the Indian IT industry, but life sciences is just in its infancy. Probably the most developed opportunities so far in life sciences are those which essentially entail a process outsourcing of clinical trials. Here in the US it is hard to recruit enough patients with the right profiles for a given trial. But in India the sheer size of the population, and also the need for healthcare, make it easier to fill studies quickly, thereby shortening the cycle time of a very long and costly process. Business people are energetic and smart - but lack access to capital and the venture model is not well-established. So we will have our challenges!

For reasons I won't go into, I stayed over the weekend so I could do business on Monday. Sunday was a down day, so my colleague Tania Fernandez and her sister Sonia, took me around the city and we did a little shopping. That's the two of them standing in front of the Gateway - Tania in orange and Sonia in blue. My favorite store was Fabindia, which sells fabrics, apparel and home linens for bed/bath and table. Other than silk scarves and wraps for gifts, I indulged myself in a pretty salwar kameez - a long tunic-like affair with slits on the side and baggy pants under, and worn with a beautiful long scarf called a dupatta.

We had tea at the beautiful Taj Hotel (in the picture below) and stopped at the Gateway of India (above), a monument built to commemorate the 1911 visit of King George V and Queen Mary of England.

Home in time for Thanksgiving. I am giving thanks for getting to sleep in my own bed and to Delta Airlines, for opening the only Mumbai-to-JFK direct flight, which takes (only!) 16 hours. Way better than the alternatives, which take more like 20 when you add in transit time in Frankfurt, Paris or Heathrow.

One Market

2006-11-24T04:15:00.000-08:00

Spending lots of time in San Francisco these days - Don came out with me in early October, then I was back in early November before heading off to India. Courtesy of B&C I now have a studio on Nob Hill I can call home when I'm in town. SF is a great restaurant town, but its hard to enjoy when you're on your own - I hate eating out alone. I've found a good place, however, that makes it downright enjoyable. At One Market (the name and the address of this restaurant), you can ask to sit at "the counter" in the back. It is open to the kitchen, and you can sit there and watch the chefs at work while you enjoy your meal. Of course they are incredibly busy, and amazing really - doing 6 things at once, with almost no down time. Here are some shots I took from my seat last time - you can see my wine glass in the foreground! Only caveat - make sure you wear layered clothing, because those stoves put out a lot of heat, and as you can see, you are right next to them.

Don and I went the first time - and, reservationless, we were told we could either wait 90 minutes for a table or sit at the counter, which is how we discovered it. Seems there are almost always seats back there. I ordered a pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon, seared and then finished in the oven and served over a bed of sauteed dandelion greens with salsify. Don had braised beef cheeks, which are the actual jaw muscles of the animal - the waiter told us they were particularly tender because of all the exercise they get from chewing! When there's a bit of down time, the chefs are happy to talk with you about the dishes and explain techniques.

The second time I went by myself, and had a lovely seared ahi tuna with a grapefruit vinaigrette. Menus here. Went great with a New Zealand Marlborough sauvignon blanc, my new favorite. As I sat there, I thought about how much my mom would have enjoyed the experience, and remembered watching her cook in the restaurant we owned. And I didn't feel quite so alone in a strange city after that!

Moving On

2006-11-03T05:54:00.000-08:00

2006-10-30T19:23:00.000-08:00

Well, I did it! After 23 years - mostly wonderful ones! - I finally have left IBM for new ventures. I never thought when I went to IBM in 1983 that I would stay for as long as I did. Frankly, at that time it was a way to work on things I was interested in and stay in the Bay Area. Little did I know that I'd move to Connecticut in a couple years, and call that home for a score more, and marry Don and raise a son and during all that time, I worked for IBM.

I won't go into the whys and wherefores of leaving, that's for just the two of us over a glass of decent Chardonnay. Let me just say that it was time to start something new in the (hopefully!) middle of my life, to let some fresh air into my mind and try a new path. And it feels good, my friends - it feels very, very good!

I am not retiring. In fact, I've joined a venture capital company in San Francisco that invests in biotech, lifesciences, and health/wellness companies. The photo above is not a postcard - I swear it's not. And its not from Flikr either. It's the actual view from our conference room (my own office has a less grand view but still faces northward out of the Embarcadero Center looking at the bay. Not bad compared to the Somers Building 3 loading dock!) I started the beginning of October, and every day is a learning experience.

No, we're not moving to San Francisco, at least not just yet. I've agreed to work part of the time in the CA office, part of the time from my home in CT and - what else is new - most of my time on the road. We're starting business development in India and China, have a fund starting up in Malaysia. Middle East looks promising too. During my last few years at IBM I got really interested in emerging economies - this gives me a chance to participate in creating some new businesses in these interesting places. Don's planning to come out to California fairly frequently, so we won't be apart quite as much as it might sound - we both love it there, and SF is a wonderful city.

Otherwise, things are pretty much normal. DV teaching in the city twice a week this fall. Michael doing ok at Pitt - going through the usual first semester freshman adjustment. Walking up the hills he says he's lost 10 pounds - quite the opposite from what one usually expects when the kid goes off to college! Grand-daughter Brynn is growing up nicely - I'm ashamed that I don't have any new pictures to show off, but you can find many on her dad's website listed in the links here. New farm things going on, but you'll have to check the Villa Mir site for that news.

Back to School

2006-09-03T08:16:00.000-07:00

Well, summer's over and with it comes that inevitable moment - Michael leaving for school! Don and I took him to Pitt last weekend, car loaded up with the accoutrements of college. He's living in a dorm way up on the hill above campus, so its quite a walk to get down to classes and back up for meals etc. Should be good exercise! The campus was nice - after attending Freshman Convocation, Don and I walked around campus by ourselves. I wanted to show him the Cathedral of Learning, then we wandered into nearby Heinz Chapel, which is an incredible little jewel with gorgeous stained-glass windows and woodcarving. Amazing that ketchup-money (would that make it 'fake blood money'?) could be put to such a grand use!!

Cleaning up I ran across an old photo which I took of Michael leaving on the school bus for his first day of kindergarten. I put it side by side here with his Pitt farewell wave to remind us all how time passes swiftly! I did not expect to get all teary-eyed at departure, but it was harder than I thought. It struck me that it is not the separation - after all, we've been separated before: summer camp, business travel, whatnot - but rather the finality of closing one chapter of life and opening a new one. Its the irreversibility that gets you as a parent, the 'arrow of time'.

Since his departure the house has been quiet. We miss him - and not just because he's the only one who can get our network up and running when there are glitches!! Reports from school are: classes are boring, he's signing up for a lot of clubs, and making new friends. So far, so good!!

Dog Days

2006-08-14T14:58:00.000-07:00

Yeah, its been a month since I posted -

I spent three weeks at the farm in Ohio, during the really hot part of the summer while Don was toiling away in lower Manhattan. Got there for this year's Farm n' Fun, which was the rainiest ever - it just poured all day long, but finally around dusk it quit and we did have some good music and fireworks and of course the bonfire! About 150 people showed up despite the weather and toughed it out. Sunday dawned bright and clear, and it was just gorgeous the rest of the week. The kids and I swam every day and we ate fresh tomatoes from the garden and Sage's corn. Picked a lot of blueberries, too, from our little patch - here's a picture of nephew Jack with a big bucket of our harvest! Spent a few working days, too, at CWRU as well as a talk in Chicago at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry and some meetings in Columbus.

The second week I was there, Lake County got the largest amount of rain in recorded history - about 10 inches in 2 days. It truly was an impressive storm and I was glad to be up high. We suffered little damage but friends along the Grand River in Mentor and Painesville have 4 feet of water in their homes. Once again, after the storm, we got beautiful weather - albeit very hot.

Returned home via Pittsburgh, where I met up with Mike who flew out for his college orientation at Pitt. I think we both feel much better prepared for that moment when we drop him off in two weeks for his first semester of college. I really liked the Pitt campus - dominated by this rather grandiose building called The Cathedral of Learning. (That's Michael standing in front of the lampost). Pitt is in an urban setting (one of Mike's requirements), but next to Schenley Park which is a large open space, with nice gardens and a great conservatory. Food is pretty much geared to student tastes - simple but lots for your money. A Pittsburgh specialty served in one local eatery is the 'Primanti Brothers sandwich'. Created for truckers who want to eat a full meal while driving, it has a large Italian bread, stuffed with meat of your choice, cheese, and then layered with french fries and cole slaw right in the sandwich. Onions are optional. If it were not for the fact that his dorm is up a very steep hill from the rest of campus, I'd say Mike might gain 30 pounds in his first semester if he's not careful! Anyway, we are now buying books and laptops and clothes and microwaves and minifridges to outfit our boy for school - hopefully after all that he'll get an education, too!

Returning home, my garden cried out for weeding after three weeks of neglect. The groundhog is back - I've seen him scurrying about - but he refuses to be caught. No more racoons, but I did manage to catch our cat Tina, who looked pretty sheepish about the whole thing. In this case, curiousity only trapped the cat, didn't kill her. Anyway, garden now looks pretty good, though a never-ending task! Pics later if I get around to it.

Mike's Senior Prom

2006-07-13T11:31:00.000-07:00

This is old news, but just got some pix of Mike at his senior prom - here's a cute one of him and date, Loren, mugging for the camera!
She's looking pretty gorgeous, he's doing his best 'Bond, James Bond' suave thing. My baby's growing up!!!

eBay is Amazing!

2006-07-13T05:55:00.000-07:00

So in a continuation of the raccoon story, I did actually check out what a search of 'raccoon' on eBay gets you. Just for fun. A 'Davy Crockett' style hat will run you about 20 bucks, should you be so inclined. As you might expect, many items can be found in 'collectibles' but that doesn't solve my problem in the least - what to do with all the raccoons I've been catching in my trap. The most interesting opportunity is in 'raccoon penis bones'. Believe it or not, there is a thriving eBay market in such - see, for example, this link. I thought it must be a joke - in fact, I was unaware that penis'es HAD bones!! But a little more googling and I discovered many web sources that describe these little trinkets - and so this appears to be a for-real opportunity to utilize my overstock of raccoons. Not that I would really do it. Don suggests that posting copies of these websites near the trap might discourage raccoons from entering. If only they could read! OK, i'm in a weird mood - must stop now, before this gets completely out of control!

I love summer

2006-07-08T08:58:00.000-07:00

I really love summer - even when its hot and steamy, I still love it. Garden is starting to look good - knock on wood, since we are ALWAYS under attack by the critters. For now the racoon fear thing seems to have put the woodchuck off his feed and there's been no sign of him for almost a week. I quit with the racoon trapping, for now, but will start up again at the first sign of groundhog.

The daylilies are coming out now - here's a couple of pretty ones that I especially like. First one is a miniature called 'Little Wine Cup' - I bought it a couple of years ago at Bloomingfields Farm in nearby Sherman, CT. It is not quite as pink as in the picture, more a deep winey red color. (Note our calico cat, Tina, stalking something interesting in the background!) Bloomingfields is a great place - you can order on the web, but Don and I took a drive up to visit them one Sunday. They have 11 acres and one large field of daylilies supplies their business. They sell only on the web, and I can vouch for the quality of their plants. Their varieties are many, and just gorgeous in mid-summer! Makes me think this could be another great crop for Villa Mir!

One of my other favorites that is in bloom now - and very nice this season, too - is this lush lemony yellow one. Gigantic flowers with slightly ruffled edges - very pretty in a cool green corner of the garden! Don't know the variety of this one - I bought it years ago at a nursery and unprotected it was eaten almost to nothing by the deer year after year. Finally in the last few years I got serious about protecting it and it is rewarding me with beauty! A fair exchange!

I'm off to France on business this afternoon, which will curtail the gardening for the weekend. Next week I'm back, then off to Ohio!

Mike's a Graduate!

2006-07-04T13:29:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe its been since January that I posted here and its already July 4th!! Much news:

First, Mike's a graduate of Ridgefield High School. Ceremonies were two weeks ago, at the tail end of a week of miserable rain, humidity and gray weather. This did not mar our pleasure at the event, however. We celebrated afterwards with dinner at the Cobb's Mill Inn in Weston with our friends, Matt and Janine Sneed. Matt celebrated his first year as a high school teacher - he is now a full-fledged member of the Ridgefield English department!

Our grand-daughter Brynn - or Brynnikins, as she is fondly called by her doting parents - turned 1 year old in May. There was little fanfare for the event, but every day brings a new capability and adventure for her. She is a charming young person, who knows her own mind and has a delightful sense of humor and fun. The picture shows her with her great-grandmother, Ruth (Don's mom). Ruth also celebrated a birthday recently - at the other end of the century from Brynn, she turned 94 in June.

Meanwhile, Don and I continue to do our things. He's been enjoying a brief respite from teaching, but begins the summer semester at Pace University in mid-July. I have been travelling quite a bit for work lately, but am looking forward to some time at the farm in late July. I made my first trip to Africa in May, as part of my board membership for Africa Harvest. We are a non-profit that is bringing advanced agricultural biotech methods to Africa to improve yields and nutrition and reduce poverty. More on this, perhaps, later.

The garden is looking very good this year. I finally got up a fence that - mostly - keeps the deer out. But wouldn't you know it, just when I get that problem solved, along comes a woodchuck who thinks living under my gazebo is just dandy. He likes to eat the tender buds of plants, and many of my green things in the vegetable garden. Fencing is pretty ineffective with these critters, they dig under everything and so finally, in a fit of irritation, and against Don's advice, I bought a Hav-a-hart trap, which I promptly assembled, baited and placed in a good spot to catch the little feller. Next morning, Don delightedly announced the "There's no woodchuck, but I think you got a racoon!" Sure enough, we had one angry racoon to break in our new trap.

A helpful tip, should you ever want to try this yourself: setting the trap is a lot easier than

releasing the pissed-off critter once you've got him. God knows what I'd do if I accidently caught a skunk! Anyway, after much snarling (racoon, not me), I finally got him out and he promptly ran off into the woods. Good. Set trap again next night - you guessed it, ANOTHER racoon. Don and I have speculated whether it was the same one or different. In the 5 nights I have set the trap for the woodchuck, I have caught 4 racoons. I wonder if there's a market for racoons on eBay? Finally took a picture of this morning's catch - cute, eh? Not so cute when he's snarling at you and attempting to rip your fingers off, trust me! Anyway, there's been no sign of the woodchuck, I am hoping that racoons have fear-scent that is making my little yard less desirable for rodents these days. Until I lose some more daylilies, I think I'm retiring the Hav-a-hart! I am getting a little tired of the racoon catch-and-release program!

Nice work if you can get it...

2006-02-23T11:27:00.000-08:00

This week my travels took me to Nice, in the south of France. Too bad its winter there and it didn't look nearly as nice (no pun intended!) as the picture at left! I arrived Sunday morning, and we had a massive thunderstorm on Sunday afternoon and evening. By Monday it was clear again and in the mid-50's.

Actually went for an IBM meeting at our lab in a suburb of Nice, called La Gaude. When you leave the Mediterranean and go north, you begin to climb up hills and then mountains. Our La Gaude lab is high on a hill overlooking the sea to the south, and looking north the mountains. What a gorgeous location! If I worked there I'd never get anything done! (Plus, they have bottles of wine in the cafeteria for lunch - the life!) Enjoyed a couple of good meals there, particularly at one restaurant, La Grand Balcon which I would recommend if you happen to be in Nice.

Back on Wednesday night to New York. Last week, helped Liz pack her apartment as she has now officially moved to England to be with Azeem and start her post-doc at Kings College, London. I think being in London will be will a nice experience, and good to have someone to visit in London, but we will miss having her close to us in New York. (But we won't miss a lot of her stuff, which is now in storage at our house!!)

Mike still hasn't heard from 3 of the 4 schools he applied to - but its getting to be that time, and we are starting to nail-bite. I was at NYU's Courant Institute last week to give a talk, and that would be a cool place to go to school! We are still kind of hoping for U. of Washington in Seattle to come through, though. More later, stay tuned!

Snow in the Big Apple

2006-02-13T11:52:00.000-08:00

Our latest news is a record snowfall in New York and our tristate area. The forecasters - great pundits that they are! - had been predicting '6 to 12'. Don and I had orchestra tickets for Saturday night, and debated whether to drive down or take the train. We decided to drive, and fortunately for us the storm didn't really start until about 7 pm, and didn't pick up steam until after midnight. So we had dinner with Elizabeth at a pretty good Spanish/Mediterranean/Tapas place on the upper westside, then went off to hear Lorin Maazel conduct Mozart's last three symphonies (39, 40, 41). The music was good - 39th was workman-like, but they picked up steam with the 40th and the Jupiter.

By the time we got out of Lincoln Center the wind had picked up and it was snowing fairly hard. Its times like these I'm glad I bought the gas-guzzling SUV - the roads were bad, but we slowly navigated our way north and got home by midnight. Which was good, because that's when the storm really started to pick up. We had snow falling at up to 5 inches per hour for awhile - by morning there was over 2 feet, and it was still coming down! Reminded me of a good old Chardon, Ohio winter storm! That's what I get for making fun of the groundhog. After three hours of shoveling and very sore muscles, we could get cars out of the driveway. I gotta get a snowblower!

Here are some pictures of the front of our house and the back deck the day after - its a beautiful, sunny day!

New Years Resolutions

2006-01-22T03:31:00.000-08:00

Well, one of my New Years resolutions was to blog more regularly - and you can see how badly that is going! But another was to get more of a life - a social and cultural life that is, in addition to the insane work schedule and the myriad of niggling chores and duties that pile up while I'm away. So for a Christmas present, Don and I got ourselves NY Philharmonic tickets, and last night was the first of our three-concert series. Kurt Masur conducting, with a program that included Beethoven's 3rd symphony, a couple of pieces by Liszt and closed with a god-awful early work (the Scythian Suite) by Prokofiev. Here's what the NY Times had to say about it. (You might have to register for this, but its free so do it!) The pianist on the Liszt pieces - Canadian Louis Lortie - was outstanding! Technically impeccable as one expects at this level of playing, but also nimble and clever in his interpretations - the Times calls it 'insouciance', what a great word!! Anyway, highly recommend listening to this guy.

College News

2005-12-30T14:32:00.000-08:00

Mike got some good news today - he was accepted at University of Pittsburgh! Pitt is one of four schools he applied to - the others are: Carnegie Mellon, NYU, and University of Washington (in Seattle). We await news on the others, but it is a relief to know he's into one!!

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-26T14:05:00.000-08:00

Christmas this year was a breeze! As I get older, all the trappings seem to matter less and the people more - why does it take such a long time to learn this? Mike, Don and I were together on Christmas eve in Connecticut, and opened our stockings together the next morning. Then it was off to New Jersey to stop in on Don's mom for a bit. Ruth, at 93 and a half, is doing quite well - every once in awhile she'll go off on some tangent that makes you wonder, but mostly she's fairly alert and aware. Her hearing is dreadful, and that contributes a lot to confusion over whether she's understanding what you say, or just not hearing you. Nothing seems to help, and although there are multiple hearing aids, she never seems to be wearing them, so mostly we just shout in her ear.

Then we got back in the sleigh (ok, its a Toyota!) and off to David and Claire's house. Claire's entire extended family is visiting from Australia - brothers Paul and David, significant other Louise, sister Bron, significant other Matt, Denise and Mick. Including the baby, we were 13, and it was a good time! Claire and Dave did a masterful job with Denise's help putting on quite a spread, and it was a treat to not have to cook this year! Forgot to bring the camera, so no pix this time!

Dr. Liz

2005-12-17T10:07:00.000-08:00

The big news of this past week is that Elizabeth successfully defended her thesis and is now DOCTOR LIZ!!! A cadre of family members - David, Joan, Don, Azeem, myself - attended her seminar, which was on NMR characterization of proteins that are glutamate receptors, looking at how ligands that bind affect the shape and function of the receptor. (I maybe sort of got that right!! Oh, hell - here is a paper on it and you can figure it out for yourselves! ) Anyway, we are very very proud of Elizabeth, and glad that her six long years have come to such a wonderful conclusion. The photo above is from a poster advertising her seminar - it shows our Elizabeth, being touched by the noodly appendage of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, wrapped in the British flag (a symbol of her next adventure, which will be a post-doc at Kings College, London.) Congratulations, Liz!

China Part III: Ancient Past

2005-12-04T14:03:00.000-08:00

OK, I'm back for a week now, and this is my last post about China:

We had one morning free during the week we were in Sichuan, and chose to use this to check out an archaeological site called San Xing Dui that is about an hour outside of Chengdu by car. This is a fascinating site, documenting a neolithic civilization called the Shu that lived along the Duck River about 3000 years ago. The museum houses incredible artifacts of jade, pottery and bronze. The bronze castings were amazing, particularly one that is of a life-sized tree with birds nesting in the branches. Also many wonderful and charming miniature bronze or pottery pieces depicting animals like birds, tigers, toads. The imagery reminded me oddly of Mayan decoration – but of course there can’t be any other than a coincidental resemblance! There were many bronzes of people’s heads – and these are considered interesting because the features are not those of Han Chinese, but rather ‘foreigners’, although no one seems to know where these foreigners came from. Zhang Quen, our friend from Beijing who accompanied us, has a theory that they were from outer space – and indeed they look like they could have been, with bulging eyes and sharp pointy noses! I am thinking we should get some DNA from the bones and get our National Genographic project to map where these folks came from.

Like the Maya, this civilization disappeared abruptly and for reasons unknown, in about 800BC.

Back from China now - we've had a couple of snow storms here in CT - yesterday about 10 inches, but I was in Atlanta, so the boys had to shovel alone. I'll post some pix of the snow for any Californians who want to experience it vicariously!!

China Part II: Food

2005-12-04T13:02:00.000-08:00

Anybody who knows me knows that I love to experience culture through the cuisine of a country. And in China there is ample opportunity for this, with 6 major regional cuisines and many more from smaller districts and the minority populations. This trip was great for food – I had the opportunity to eat Beijing, Shanghai, Sichuan and Yunnan food. As in most cuisines, the best dishes are based on what grows well locally and ingredients that are fresh and seasonal.

Beijing, which is in the north near wheat-producing regions, is known for its dumplings, which is a simple street food that I quite enjoy. But being the site of political power in China for the last 800 years, Beijing is more well-known for an ‘haute cuisine’ that includes many dishes favored by the imperial courts and there are many restaurants that specialize in food and ambience befitting an emperor. In the old section of Beijing there are narrow alleys called 'hutong's, along which are crowded traditional buildings composed of large rectangular pavilions built around a central courtyard, with stone floors and tile roofs. A number of these have been turned into restaurants and we enjoyed a delicious meal at one called Ge Ge Fu – Ge Ge means ‘princess’. Too many dishes to list, but I especially enjoyed a beef dish with candied walnuts.

In Sichuan, we had our most adventurous meal – a hot pot restaurant where the food is brought out to your table raw and you cook it by dipping it into either of two large vats of boiling sauce. Hard to describe the sauces – one was fish-based, the other brown, loaded with tiny chili peppers and otherwise of unidentifiable origins. But you can think of them as ‘hot’ and ‘hotter’ in terms of the chili pepper component! Once the sauces are bubbling dangerously in front of you, trays of things are brought out – green pea shoots, a kind of mustard cabbage green, mushrooms, ham and smoked beef being the most innocent from a Western palate. But then comes the chicken kidneys, slippery looking ribbons of duck intestines, miniature catfish gazing mournfully up from their tray as if to say, ‘don’t throw me into that boiling hot liquid!’. I was told there is an expression in China about the Sichuanese – that they ‘eat anything with legs except a table and chairs and everything with wings except airplanes.’ Although I wimped out on the duck intestines, the food was very good and accompanied by traditional music and dancing, including a sort of circus routine called ‘face change’ where a dancer whirls and stomps while manipulating a set of masks almost by magic changing his face with the steps of the dance.

Shanghai food is as elegant as the city. We didn’t really have a lot of time to go out, as I had
conference calls the night we arrived, so we ate at the hotel restaurant, which was quite good, despite being the Marriott. I highly recommend this hotel, which is most elegant and affords wonderful views of the Shanghai skyline – which looks like something out of the Jetsons – and the Huanpu river.

I confess that my favorite Shanghai food is one of the most simple and least elegant – the dumplings that are called ‘shao long bao’, or ‘soup dumplings’. I first had these in New York, where I assumed they were dumplings served in broth. But actually the soup is inside the dumpling, along with a lump of tasty meat or seafood – and the experience of popping one of these juicy little things in your mouth is not to be missed! Here's a place in NY you can get them, in case you can't get to Shanghai - Grace took me there once and I know its good!

Our last meal of the trip was back in Beijing at a restaurant called S'Silk Road that specializes in Yunnan cuisine. Yunnan is the province south of Sichuan, which is on the border of China with Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam. It is quite rural and agricultural, with gorgeous scenery. I think I enjoyed this food the most of any on our trip – delicious vegetable dishes including delicately sautéed greens, crisp cool cucumbers with hot peppers, and a sweet little pumpkin with pork filling. Meat dishes – pork and beef, dry-fried and braised - were spicy, with wonderful flavors and sauces. An interesting dish of bean curd skin (or was it a mushroom?) called ‘frog skin’, because that’s what it looks like. A gigantic vat of fish soup was brought to the table with delicate bites of white fish, mushrooms and scallions, and some unidentifiable berry that is said to be good for your eyes. Very tasty!

Confucious said: "Everyone eats and drinks; yet only few appreciate the taste of food." Hard to imagine with the food I got to try last week!

China Part I: The World is Flat

2005-12-04T12:20:00.000-08:00

OK, long time no write. Try to do better :-)

Coming home from a week business trip in China that was so packed with experiences it feels like a month! Most of my trips in the past have been to Beijing, but this time I really had some opportunities to see more of the country, with visits to Chengdu and Shanghai. We saw a lot of customers, business partners, and did IBM internal reviews and also had a little time for sightseeing and shopping.

China has changed enormously in the past 5 years – of course anyone who reads these days knows that. But I find it interesting to note how the impressions I’ve formed from reading about a place compare with the actual experience of being there – and in the case of China, I think you have to go there to really understand what is happening. First of all, the world really is flat – the flow of culture, brands, goods, and services is amazing and sometimes disconcerting. Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan province, which I’ve always thought of as the ‘wild west’ of China. But downtown is bustling and urban, with stores like Hugo Boss and Louis Vuitton. The largest hospital in the world is in Chengdu – Huaxi hospital has 3600 beds now and will have 4200 by end of 2007. My niece and nephew who are opposed to the commercialization of rural America, especially the ‘stinky WalMart’ will be sad to know that Sam’s Club is quite popular in Beijing. And I’m told there’s a Starbucks in the Forbidden City now (Xing ba ke – Xing being the word for ‘star’ and ba ke being phonetic for ‘bucks’!). Of course it is only to be expected that ‘ke kou ke le’ (Coca Cola) is the most popular drink! (No diet yet, though!) (Click here for Pinyin pronunciation guide.)

The Chinese are incredibly brand-conscious and participating in Western-style business with a vengeance. It is hard to imagine how people so financially savvy, commerce-oriented, and appreciative of the finer things in life could have lived under communism for as long as they did. People in China are enjoying having money and the freedom to spend it on things they never dreamed they might own like automobiles and washing machines. Mercedes and BMW have ‘joint ventures’ that are producing cars in China which will still be expensive, but more affordable than the imported models. We visited a company that does pharmaceutical development and is building a business brokering Chinese manufacturing capability for pharmaceuticals to Western biotech and global pharma companies. They have just opened the largest animal facility in China for pre-clinical testing and have access to a network of 20,000 Chinese manufacturers, who are laser-focused on getting certified by the US FDA.

Shanghai is like a young New York – the hustle and bustle the same, elegant shops and a sense of style and design that is everywhere. A Chinese fashion industry is emerging, and I expect that we will increasingly see shops on Fifth Avenue that come not from European design houses, but the new design houses of Shanghai. I guess the good news is that branding can go in both directions! Certainly that’s good news for China – it’s not just about low cost manufacturing anymore, it’s increasingly going to be about value-added brands and innovation which somehow we’ve thought of as characteristic of American or European or (more recently) Japanese business. But look out – here comes China!

Damn Yankees

2005-09-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

Living where I live, it's dangerous to come right out and say you hate the Yankees - but I really hate the Yankees! And even worse than the Yankees themselves is Yankee fans, who think they know everything about all of baseball. And I'm surrounded by them!! So I particularly enjoyed this Newsday online article about how the Indians (and maybe the Athletics) could beat the Yankees out of a wildcard playoff spot. How sweet would that be!! At the present time, the Indians are just a half game ahead of the Yanks for the wildcard spot - but at least they're in striking distance.

Quoting from the article:
"What's most humiliating, you could argue, is that the Yankees - baseball's ultimate bullies - are fighting for their lives against a couple of pip-squeaks. If they fail to make the playoffs this season, it will be either the Indians ($41.5 million payroll) or the Athletics ($55.4 million) who knock out their sorry, $208-million behinds. And if you had to choose poisons for George Steinbrenner, there's little doubt that an Indians' triumph would irk him the most."

The only Yankee I admire is Joe Torre, and here's what he's got to say about it:
"The Indians, they're right there and they stay there," Joe Torre told reporters in St. Petersburgh, Fla., yesterday. "... And they don't know they're not supposed to be there, right? It doesn't really matter. This time of year, it's how good you think you are."

Right on, Joe! Go Tribe!

12 Angry Men

2005-09-07T10:47:00.000-07:00

Well, today I had to go in for jury duty, which has never happened to me before. Usually I just get dismissed the night before. Don has been on this thing about Ecuadorean volleyball games in Danbury, so we were thinking I might get one of those. But no, lucky me, wouldn't it be the day they are starting a murder trial, for the 2003 killing of a woman in our town of Ridgefield, which is not exactly a place that you expect people to get murdered with any regularity.

There were about 24 of us called - about 2/3 of us women, I noted with interest. They told us there were two trials scheduled for the day - one civil and one criminal. I guess everyone feels pretty ambivalent about jury duty - on the one hand, it's your civic duty, and it could be kind of interesting, I guess. But the idea that you have to disrupt your life for what could be an awfully long time is also unsettling. I sat there feeling kind of guilty that I was hoping to get out of it, while knowing that if I were the defendant, I'd want some smart people on my jury (assuming, of course, I didn't do it!). Anyway, we sat there all morning after hearing from a judge and watching a short video of instructions, and I did email. At 10:30 the clerk told us the civil suit had been settled, but that we'd all have to go into the courtroom in just a bit for the criminal case. Time dragged on. And at 1:00, just when you get to go to lunch, the clerk told us the defendant had taken a plea bargain ('copped a plea', if you watch too much TV!!). Don't know what he got, but we're looking at a case where the man didn't want to pay child support so he hit his ex-wife with a baseball bat, then strangled her to death. You know, I love police procedurals and mystery novels, but this one was a little too close for comfort. Anyway, I carried out my obligation, and I feel good about it - no moral ambivalence about jury duty for 3 more years!

Homeland Security

2005-09-06T08:05:00.000-07:00

Homeland Security

I was on the train last Thursday – Amtrak to Philadelphia – and in Penn Station, we heard the following announcement in a heavy NY accent:

‘Ladies and gentlemen, this is the New York City Police. Although we have no knowledge of an immediate threat in New York, based on the recent attacks in London on transportation systems, we ask you to be particularly mindful during your trip today. Do not leave bags unattended and if you see an unattended bag do not touch it - report it to a train official. And if you see a suspicious person, a person with an unseasonably heavy coat, with large bulges and wires coming out of the pockets – report that person to the train official. Thanks and have a nice day!”

I love NY!

Connecticut Harvest

2005-08-18T11:41:00.000-07:00

Early on in this blog, I got some complaints from some of you who shall remain nameless that I was spending too much time on the garden. Now I think I'm not spending enough time on it!! Summer has been hot this year, sometimes oppressively so. Deer are hungry and we have been under attack from all sides! Our neighbor feeds the little cuties, and that makes matters even worse. They eat her grain then come over to our yard for dessert.

Someday I'm going to make a list of all the plants that deer simply won't eat - and when I do, you will find many herbs on that list. So we usually get a good crop of herbs, and since some of them have nice flowers, well, that's nice too. I harvested the basket in the picture today - there is tarragon, basil, fennel seeds, calendula, yarrow and nasturtium flowers. It's time to make flavored vinegars which I will use all winter. Here are some combinations that are my favorites: mint/dill/garlic in cider vinegar (my mom always made this); tarragon/lemon peel in white wine or rice vinegar; fennel seed/clove/orange peel in red wine vinegar. Just pop the herbs into a big enough bottle and cover with vinegar, store in a cool place for a few weeks, and its ready to use. You can use as-is or re-bottle some with just a sprig of the herb/fruit in the new bottle to give to friends. Its fun to play around with them.

Calendula and nasturtium are nice flowers to put into salads. Yarrow is an interesting plant. I've always loved the smell of it, which reminds me of bay leaves. It has a reputation as a medicinal herb for stanching bleeding and healing wounds. It is said that Achilles used it to stop his soldiers' wounds from bleeding - hence its genus, Achillea. I also read somewhere that the Chinese used the very straight stems from yarrow plants to make sticks to cast the I Ching.

Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream....

2005-08-18T04:41:00.000-07:00

Last night there were hastily-organized demonstrations across the country in support of Cindy Sheehan, the woman who lost her son in Iraq and has parked herself outside the entrance to the Bush ranch in Texas, demanding an explanation. I saw on the web there was one planned right in our very own (heavily Republican) town of Ridgefield, CT, right on Main Street in front of the town hall. Naturally I went! The scene was eerily familiar - the crowd a lot older than the last time we all had to do this in the 60's and 70's. Noticeably lacking in young people! But there were about 100 people there, more than I would have expected given the nature of our community. We stood with our candles and signs where passing motorists could see us - "honk if you want to end the war"! My informal poll of the observers suggested that of those who made responses, around 70% were supportive - more than I had expected. Oh yeah, every once in awhile someone would drive by and yell at us out the window of his car- one guy even stopped in the middle of the intersection to berate the crowd telling us that we were being especially unpatriotic, since the Revolutionary war was fought right here, in this very street! In an earlier time, we might have pulled him from the car and rolled it, but cooler heads prevailed and he drove off in a huff.

Anyway, it was beautiful evening - a lovely clear sunset, caring people, candles in the dusk. The way life should be. Stop the War.

Meanwhile, Back in Connecticut...

2005-08-12T09:08:00.000-07:00

Mike got his first car. It's a Toyota Corolla, and believe it or not, we bought it on eBay! Seller turned out to be a local guy ten minutes from our house, right in the next town of Pound Ridge, NY. Car has about 50,000 miles, and seems to be in good shape. So look out, folks, Mike's on the road!!

2005-08-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

We also had a chance to visit Uncle Teddy and Aunt Mary Vukcevic in Euclid. It was great to see them again. Both are looking well and are getting along despite the usual ailments of age. It was nice to catch up on their family and also to see the generations together.

Another Great Week at the Farm

2005-08-12T06:12:00.000-07:00

Just got back from another great week at the farm. It was really relaxing, and great to spend time with Paul and Laura and - of course! - niece Helen and nephew Jack. We picked blueberries and swam nearly every day - pool felt great, because it was so hot all week. The kids and I took the horse trail for a long hike one day - here's a picture of the intrepid hikers on the trail, braving heat and bugs and poison ivy!

Jack is very into building things - his favorite cartoon is a show called 'Bob the Builder'. So we got a birdhouse kit which he and Paul built. Good idea for Jack to learn early about using tools! After much debate, it was decided to paint the birdhouse 'John Deere' colors - green and yellow! I imagine it will be home to many happy feathered generations!

Harriet Knirsch

2005-08-02T14:32:00.000-07:00

I want to take a minute to pay tribute to a wonderful and gracious lady and the mother of my friend Karen Knirsch, who passed away last week after a long illness. I met Harriet Knirsch when Karen and I were students at Oberlin together. What a treat it was for a kid from the small town of Chardon, Ohio to visit the BIG APPLE!! Harriet and Benno lived just across the Hudson from that magical city, in the town of West New York, New Jersey - an easy bus ride into New York. So many times I was welcomed into their home as Karen's friend - Harriet was as gentle as Benno could be gruff. She often surprised us with tickets to hear music and see the ballet, knowing Karen's musical talent and preferences. In a family of effusive, boundless energy, Harriet always seemed the quiet center. I will always remember her kindness and grace. My deepest sympathies to Karen, sister Susan and brother-in-law Dave.

2005-07-06T16:35:00.000-07:00

Here's another great picture of Brynn - doesn't she look smart?!! She's working something out in that little head of hers.

2005-07-06T16:32:00.000-07:00

We spent July 4th at Dave and Claire's, enjoying barbeque and seeing how Brynn has grown in just the few weeks since we saw her last! I think this is a beautiful picture of Claire and Brynn. She is quite an energetic baby, lots of wiggling and great facial expressions!

2005-07-06T16:28:00.000-07:00

I really love clematis. They are so little work, pretty reliable plants, and with just a little care are covered with flowers for a long blooming period. This particular clematis I first saw in our friend Louise's garden. She had lots of varieties, but this one is a deep plummy purple, more royal, rich plum than Jackmanii. The variety is called 'Niobe' and its one of my favorites. And when it comes into bloom, I always think of Louise!

2005-06-18T11:19:00.000-07:00

Every gardener needs a faithful companion to keep them company. Especially one that doesn't talk too much. This is our cat, Spunky, resting up after a hard afternoon in the garden. He and his sister amuse themselves by lying in wait just at the foot of the bird feeder. The birds have figured out they can't really get up there, so its mostly all for show. Anyway, a nice nap after a hard afternoon rolling in the catmint sounds pretty good!

2005-06-18T11:15:00.000-07:00

I have lots of iris this year - division last year really re-vitalized all of my plants! Several of my iris have come from the world-famous Presby Iris Garden in Montclair, NJ (courtesy of my mother-in-law, Ruth). Their website is http://presbyiris.tripod.com/ , and if you ever get the chance you should visit, but make sure you go in May or early June. This iris I got from a nursery, and I have no idea of its name. But here's the thing: It is this incredible, wonderful grape color - and it smells just like Concord grapes! Is that too cool, or what!

2005-06-18T11:12:00.000-07:00

The peonies were beautiful this year - until the rain knocked them down! I got these beauties from my friend Rodney a long time ago. Although all the books tell you that peonies don't like to be divided, Rod divides his every couple of years in August and then gives away bare-root sections with a couple of nice 'eyes'. He gave me three, including this nice white one, a pale pink multiple and a brilliant magenta with yellow centers - and they've all done beautifully! Peonies are heavy feeders and like a LOT of good organic fertilizer. Also, they are very sensitive to how deep they are planted. If you have peonies that are not blooming well, re-plant them in August so that the 'eyes' are no more than an inch under the soil. Less is ok, but deeper than an inch and they just won't bloom like these babies!

2005-06-12T09:25:00.000-07:00

Brynn Maree Valentine

My grand-daughter, Brynn Maree Valentine

2005-06-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

In May my grand-daughter, Brynn Maree Valentine was born. She was not overly eager to enter the world, finding her situation with Claire quite comfortable, thank you very much! But after several days of goofing around, she joined us all, at 9 lb, 9 oz, with a full head of fine dark hair! Could there be a more beautiful baby? For more, see her daddy's website at www.davidvalentine.com .

2005-06-12T09:12:00.000-07:00

In May, these doublefile viburnums make a pretty backdrop behind the gazebo.

2005-06-12T09:08:00.000-07:00

Wander down this garden path - what's around the bend?

2005-06-12T09:05:00.000-07:00

I love tulips! These are Apricot Beauty, Menton, Greenland - plus ferns and hostas, and also mixed with white Thalia narcissus.

2005-06-12T09:04:00.000-07:00

Two years ago, I decided that I just didn't have enough to do, so I rousted the boys to help me start a woodland garden. We've got about 2 and a half acres, most of it fairly heavily wooded. So first I got some serious hired help with chainsaws to take out all the small trees and understory junk, and then remove limbs from the big trees to a height of about 20 feet. This is called 'limbing up' and it creates a nice, open feeling in your woodland, emphasizes nice large trunks and draws the eye upward to the majestic canopy. Then the hard work of creating beds. That's the most difficult, because you can't dig it very deep (too many tree roots from the established trees) and if you add soil on top of the tree roots, its not good for the trees. Its amazing how sensitive trees are to just the right location for their roots. I've found you can dig a few inches, then add another 6 inches of soil on top, and create decent beds that will accomodate shallow-rooted perennials like hostas, dicentras, lily of the valley, astilbes. Shrubs like azaleas and rhododendrons are great, and so is mountain laurel and andromeda. Anyway, I'm working on it and its looking pretty good this year, but it's still going to take awhile.

The most amazing woodland garden I've ever seen is the garden created by Ruth and Jim Levitan on their small property in Stamford, CT. This garden is featured in many books, but there aren't very good links to it on the web - but here's one: http://web.mit.edu/giving/spectrum/spring98/levitan.html. Another great garden that has a lot of good woodland and incredibly creative ways of combining plants in non-traditional ways is The Garden of Ideas, in my own hometown of Ridgefield, CT. Check out some info on this one at: http://www.gardenofideas.com/hist.htm.

Garden in the spring

2005-06-12T08:30:00.000-07:00

Those who know me know I am an avid gardener. I don't have a boat, I don't have a second home, I don't play golf. Instead, I garden. So welcome to my garden....

I call my garden an 'American cottage garden'. The cottage garden is an English tradition - a nation of gardeners if there ever was one! But not the formal, neatly trimmed and highly organized garden of the upper class - no, a cottage garden is one that a poor dirt farmer put in in front of his little stone cottage with the thatched roof. For a great read on cottage gardening, try "The Cottage Garden" by Christopher Lloyd and Richard Bird. They say it better than I can: "The essence of a cottage garden...is a bountiful yet regulated informality. It has evolved through common sense, combines need with enjoyment and is entirely unpretentious."

If my garden has a structure, it is one that encourages the visitor to wander, and then to stop and enjoy. So it has mulched paths that go off in all directions - you can pick - and then you enter a space that is like a 'room' in the garden, and usually there is a chair or bench or good place to sit for a minute. It's a bit more rambling than your typical English cottage garden - I am, after all, an American! - and you can go from sun to shade and from the vegetable garden into the perennials into the woodland garden (which is new and still under construction.)

How can you talk about a garden without pictures? Here are some spots you might like...

The beginning

2004-12-04T14:30:00.000-08:00

So this is just a test, to get started on a log. Not sure what we'll do with it, but let's see where it takes us.