Novelties VII

Eating: Lately, my favorite Japanese restaurant has offered a warm mushroom salad atop greens that is to-die-for, as they say. Here are two slightly different variations on the theme - Martha's and Food and Wine's - take your pick.

Drinking:
The Ragazzo brough home a Belgian wheat beer flavored with coriander, orangeskin, and liquorice - Blanche de Namur. Great on a hot weekend afternoon, we found, with some hearty rye and a strong cheese.


Watching: To be honest, I haven't been watching much of anything.

Listening: I've been listening to Brad Mehldau's new album Highway Rider. That's dated - can one still say album? It uses many of the solo voices of traditional jazz, like piano and sax, but some pieces have a Pat Metheny like drive (but not his very pop sound) and also has some pieces reminiscent of Samuel Barber.




Surfing & Learning:

Ed Young of Not Exactly Rocket Science (an excellent science blog) has a great piece in New Scientist; think of it as a consumer's guide to critically reading genetics claims in the press. The habit of pitting nature and nurture against each other as mutually exclusive categories is as ubiquitous as the mind/body duality, and it is just as misguided. He also warns us that genes with catchy names are usually misleading. Check out his other concise, clearly written advisements via the link.


So, what's new with you?