Tag Archives: education

Recipe for the Best Shower

I love showering, but I very rarely take a long shower. The water waste is just too much for this New Mexican’s heart. Yes, even though I live in the Pacific Northwest now (and I don’t know if I will ever be dry again). Clean, fresh, temperature-controlled water on demand is a hell of a luxury on its own. I can enjoy it in under five minutes and feel delighted.

But I won’t deny, there’s something glorious about a long, hot shower. So, on rare occasion, I take one. And today? Today I finally figured out what might be the best shower ever. Better than that? It’s repeatable. A must for any good scientifically-trained person trying to find “the best.”

Ingredients

Music from Tegan and Sara
Music from Enslaved

Almost blisteringly hot water

An appropriate plastic glass.… Continue reading →

Juneteenth – 151 Years.

Last year, I marked Juneteenth for the first time on MetaCookbook. I have no intention of letting the day slip by ever again. As a twitter friend said, it’s as American a holiday as exists.

But, as with last year, I mostly want to encourage everyone to read something more about it. This year a greatly educational read for me was What is Juneteenth?. A bit more history, and some good comments on what other days would be reasonable to celebrate the end of legalized slavery in this country. And why 19 June remains appealing.… Continue reading →

Juneteenth

Note: Starting tomorrow, our nephew is visiting for the next 10 days, so this blog will be silent for his visit.

Today is Juneteenth. The celebration of the end of America’s era of slavery, as on 19 June 1865, slaves in Texas, the last remaining enslaved people, were publicly declared legally free. This year is the 150th anniversary of this momentous and fabulous event.

If you grew up in a way or place where the existence of this holiday is news to you, as I did, please go read about it. The Wikipedia article linked above is interesting and informational, and the holiday is important. Especially in light of what has and has not changed in 150 years.

Black lives matter.… Continue reading →

Mezcaloteca and Mezcal Education.

I recently had the opportunity to learn a bit more about mezcal. It’s a spirit I adore, possibly more than beer, but I don’t know much about it. It’s more difficult than beer for me to partake in, in part because the cost of buying a bottle of mezcal and hating it is so much higher than buying and hating a bottle of beer.

Thus when a “rare” mezcal tasting showed up on my twitter feed, I was all over it. It was so worth it. I already want to go again. In large part because it wasn’t just tasting. I also learned a damn sight more in that two hour session about mezcal than I had in quite some time of just vaguely reading or tasting.… Continue reading →

Beer and My Favorite Museum

Wow. It’s been almost a year since my first beer event at the Field Museum. I didn’t realize. I’ve gone to write about about it a few times and always found myself at a loss. This is not the fault of the beer, which was tasty, or the museum, that put on an awesome event. This was about me being at my favorite museum, the reasons why it’s my favorite museum, my old life, and my new life. So, I set it aside for awhile. Someday, I may even write it.

Going for another beer event last November was much more interesting, because it was all very centered on my “new” life. I was invited by Matt Tanka of Lakeshore Beverage (then River North Beer) to the “media preview” of the museum’s new bistro-style restaurant.… Continue reading →