I have a confession to make: I am obsessed with stuffing foods into other foods. My favorite tool for creative cooking has become my flavor injector (more on that some other time). This sandwich was an easy and fun little lunch. The filling is spinach, scallion, cucumber skin, and black pepper. After making that part, I took a roll and proceeded to gut it with a grapefruit spoon.

Tasty, and convenient to eat in the car, which was my next stop. Where a normal sandwich might come apart, the Pipe Bomb stays together. I was trying to keep it vegetarian, but I can see the addition of grilled chicken being a great idea.

One of the things I like to do in the kitchen is test new food ideas. Though it had never occurred to me before to describe my forays in detail, the internet has created an environment where the rule of the land is “The world revolves around you.” That’s me! So here’s a classic soup cobbled together one night. The essential elements are the despair and loneliness felt after returning home to your one-bedroom apartment after a 14 hour day at school and finding nobody there but yourself.

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If Apple has it’s way, programming for the iPod, iPhone, and iPad (iKnow, right? It’s getting pppretty old.) will only be possible using objective-c. This is not necessarily a bad thing for compatibility and stability, but it closes off a lot of developers. Fine, so you focus exclusively on App Store applications. Except the App Store is as closed to outside devices, as Apple’s devices are closed to everything outside the Store. Again, not necessarily bad for the consumer who desires a walled-garden, or so-called “curated computing” model. Android too, as an embedded platform, is pretty much Java or bust (though much easier to bring in native code with Android and Java NDK) For me, this is the opposite of what I want in a computer, and even more it’s what I hate as a programmer.

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Without a doubt, one of the most beautiful pieces of art I’ve ever seen was at the MFA Boston when I visited in 2008. I was thinking about it this afternoon, and I decided to try my luck at tracking it down. Well, impressively enough, it didn’t take very long. The MFA website includes a great search system. Initially I went through some old exhibitions thinking it was impermanent. Then I saw the advanced search and after a few unsuccessful results pages I found what I was looking for. I love a museum with an online and full-bodied catalog!

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Probably the largest continuous hiking trail in the local area, Fort Braden is part of the Lake Talquin management area and is comprised of three loops. The west loop is 3.2 miles, the center is 2.6, and the east is 3.2. For the mathematically disinclined, this sums to an even 9 miles. The trailhead starts you at the convergence point of the center and western loops, but to get to the east one you will have to hike. The normal couple-of-dollars-per-car-with-manual-paybox rules apply. There is an equally expansive equestrian trail at this site, and there are points where the the two trails intersect (briefly, but watch out for those droppings).

January 18th, 2010

As usual it can be both easy and hard to get here. Drive west on Pensacola until it turns into Blountstown, and wait for Coe Landing on the right. After that there will be some sparse signage and a turn-in to the parking area. More than likely, you’ll see trucks with horse transports attached. You’re in the right place—just pay your fee and drive in.

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