How Good Is Your Meetability?

Meetability is my word for the combination of all your attractive qualities multiplied by how well you project them.

There are two kinds of Meetability:

Passive Meetability is the vibe you show the universe as an everyday matter, when you're not consciously trying to meet people.

Active Meetability is the style in which you actively engage folks, the interactive qualities you communicate to others.

The point of me pointing out Meetability is that you might be the most beautiful, gracious, thoughtful, sweet, loyal and good-humoured person in the world...but it all means zero if you can't find a way to get that message to others. And although I haven't given this acres of thought, I have an inkling that simple self-awareness of your Meetability level at any point will make a difference.

An example: When you're in that coffee line in the morning, take a small inward look. Are you dressed attractively? Groomed the way you like? Standing upright? Smiling? Thinking positively about the day ahead?

Picture yourself from the aspect of the people ahead and behind you in line. Would YOU like to talk to you? That's your Passive Meetability.

Now, if you decide to say "Good morning" to the person ahead of you in line, your Active Meetability will come to the fore. People naturally react well to eye-contact, calmness, and the ability to engage without distraction. When you say "Good morning", mean it, and then listen for the response. Meetability is about not just going through the motions.

Note: Don't think we have to apply some kind of universal standard here. If your idea of good grooming and sartorial splendor is post-work-out funk and an orangutan suit, that's cool. Meetability is whatever you decide is putting your best forward. You'll attract what you will. Artifice doesn't work in the long run.




Bottoms Up, Detached Self-Analyzers.

Twice Baked Sw Potatoes

This month's theme for the Creative Cooking crew is Meat & Potatoes!

When thinking about this classic culinary combination, I couldn't help but think...  dessert ;)  I used a non-traditional meat (bacon) and sweet potatoes to come up with a dish that toes the line between savory and sweet (no surprise there).

While I made these sweet potatoes with only a hint of sweetness to serve as a side dish (or snack), these could easily pass as dessert with a little extra maple syrup in the filling and a dollop of coconut whipped cream on top!

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes
Serves 4 as a side

2 small sweet potatoes
1 1/2T creme fraiche
1t + 1T maple syrup, divided
dash of cayenne pepper (I imagine a little chipotle in adobo would also be nice)
2T rolled oats
2T whole wheat pastry flour (or white whole wheat)
3 slices cooked bacon, chopped
1T flax seed
3T chopped, pitted medjool dates
2T cold butter, cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 350deg.

Using a fork, pierce each sweet potato 5-6 times in different places.  Rub with a little olive oil, and then place on a foil-lined baking sheet.  Bake 45-50min, until the sweet potatoes are fork-tender.  Set aside on a cutting board ~10min, until cool enough to handle.

Cut each sweet potato in half lengthwise and gently scoop out the flesh, leaving ~1/8" layer of sweet potato.  Arrange sweet potato skins into a gratin dish or other oven-save serving dish.  Add the flesh to a bowl, along with creme fraiche.  Mash well, then season to taste with salt, freshly ground pepper, a dash of cayenne and maple syrup (I used a little less than 1t).  Evenly divide sweet potato mixture between sweet potato skins.

To prepare the bacon streusel topping, add oats, flour, bacon, flaxseed and dates to a small bowl.  Mix well with a fork, making sure to break up any dates stuck together.  Add maple syrup and butter, then rub mixture together with your fingers to evenly distribute.  Top sweet potatoes with the bacon streusel and bake 15-20min, until warmed through and fragrant.

What is your favorite way to enjoy meat and potatoes?  Check out Lazaro Cooks for the roundup on Wednesday for more creative ideas!

How Do I Find Women?

Christie Hartman wrote this thoughtful piece called Why Bars Suck for Meeting Women.

Did you read it? Good.

In my opinion, Dr Christie is right. But I can't help feeling that there's more to it.

Here's where we agree:

~ bars are about alcohol, and alcohol can be bad wrt dating judgement etc

~ bars can be noisy and bad for chatting

~ bars are not full of women looking for a man

But:

~ bars are about alcohol, which does loosen people up

~ bars can be quiet enough to talk in comfort

~ bars do serve women who are looking for a man

I think the big point Dr C is making is that men in a bar are motivated differently from the women. Fair enough. Men might be there to pick up chicks, but they're also there for other reasons, such as getting a buzz on, being with buddies, or checking out other people.

Wait a second...these reasons...finding a buzz, being with girlfriends, or checking out other people: Couldn't they be female motivations too?

That is my only point of slight disagreement with the post. Bars attract people because they are designed around sociability, with the lubricant to make it work. It will forever be so, and men will always be on the lookout for women there, because we're always on the lookout for women, whether that's a good idea or not.

Importantly: It's not necessarily about finding women, it's about the activity of being in the place where we think the probability is better. To use a simile, they call it "fishing", not "catching". Each has its own reward.

Outside of work, finding venues where you might just bump into someone new and delicious isn't that easy. Yes, we should all be more clever about this. Single, available women are everywhere - the supermarket, the gym, the coffee shop and on the train in the morning. But for an individual man to approach a woman in any of those settings requires a goodly amount of chutzpah.

Which isn't to say that we shouldn't - in fact, I advocate for men to widen their scope of interests and venues in which they approach and attempt to connect with women. Because I think online dating is bad for us, my alternative is for men to look up from their phones and notice the woman ahead of them in the coffee line. Talk to her and say hello. That's how we learn to be in the real world again.



Bottoms Up, One-Step-at-a-Timers.

Planning a Dinner Party and Serving Winter Squash

A lot of work goes into hosting a dinner party. No one likes wasted effort, so it behooves the cook in the house to find out what the guests like to eat and what foods to avoid. 

With pescetarians, vegetarians, vegans, shellfish averse and gluten-free friends all potentially coming to the same meal, putting together a menu can be a bit of a puzzle. Besides staying clear of food allergies and aversions, as with any menu, the dishes need to have a flow and there needs to be pairings and contrasts. All soft food would be unpleasant. Serving only crispy food presents the same problem. But a mix of flavors and textures enlivens the palate as the conversation twists and turns through different conversational topics.

Warming up a meal with winter squash
Writing about food when rain is hitting the windows and the wind pushes through the trees makes me hungry for hot, savory and filling comfort food. A salad anytime would be nice but what drives away the chill is a good bowl of soup, a nice braise or roasted vegetables.

Not being a squash-person, the great abundance of winter squash in the farmers markets hasn't much mattered to me. When we host a dinner party, included in the invitation are two questions: "What do you love to eat?" and "What do you prefer not to eat?"

Which is a long way of getting around to winter squash.

At a recent dinner party, one of our guests indicated a love of squash so I was encouraged to experiment with a vegetable rarely visited in our kitchen. In today's farmers market there were beautiful looking displays of acorn and butternut squash.

Versatile squash
Squash can be boiled, steamed, sautéed, roasted, stewed, pureed, braised and grilled. Because the seeds and pulp inside are not edible (although the seeds can be separated from the pulp, washed clean, tossed with olive oil and soy sauce and roasted for a snack), squash needs to be cut open. After that, the squash can be peeled or not, sliced, diced or left half or in quarters. 

Squash soup is certainly a good use of the vegetable, but I was more interested in retaining the texture of the flesh. Aiming for softness with a bit of char, I settled on a double method of cooking. Seasoned with olive oil, sea salt and pepper, the slices were first grilled and then finished in the oven to soften the flesh.

After cooking, the slices could be presented on a serving dish or, as I ultimately decided, peeled and large-diced, which made them an ideal side dish to accompany the rest of the meal, which consisted of brown sugar pork ribs, baked chicken breasts topped with parsley, roasted vegetable salad, Caesar salad, grilled romaine lettuce with Parmesan cheese shavings, Brazilian style grilled slices of picanha (beef top sirloin), roasted salmon with kimchi and brown sugar, chicken wing and leek tagine with preserved lemons.

For an easy-to-make side dish or tossed with pasta, roasted winter squash is a great way to go. In 30 minutes you can make pasta, the squash and a tossed salad for a healthy, delicious meal.

Grilled-Roasted Winter Squash

You can buy a large squash or, as I prefer, two smaller squash. They're easier to handle and are sometimes sweeter.

Serves 4

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

2 pounds winter squash, washed and pat dried

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 teaspoon sea salt and black pepper to taste

Directions

Using a sharp chefs knife on a wooden cutting board, cut off the ends of the squash and then cut the squash in half, lengthwise. Using a spoon, scoop out the pulp and seeds, washing the seeds and reserving them for a later use, if desired.

Preheat the grill and oven to 350 F. Slice the the squash into 1/2" thick, lengthwise slices. Pour the olive oil onto a medium sized baking tray and season with salt and pepper. Coat the squash slices with the seasoned olive oil.

To get char marks on the squash slices, place them on a hot grill for 30-40 seconds on each side. Use metal tongs to turn them and put them pack on the baking tray.

Put the squash into the oven 10 minutes on each side and bake until al dente. Don't make them too soft. Remove and, using a pairing knife, remove the peel.

Serve warm.

Variations

In addition to sea salt and black pepper, season the olive oil with finely chopped fresh garlic (2 cloves, peeled).

In addition to the other seasonings, add finely chopped fresh rosemary (1 tablespoon) to the squash slices.

For heat, add 1/8 teaspoon cayenne to the seasoned olive oil.

How Do I End A First Date?

Make no mistake, first dates have but one aim, which is to ensure a second date.

Our natural instinct is to complicate the first date by imbuing it with too much stuff: There's no way to convey just what a beautiful/worthy/honest/sexy fox with exemplary hygiene you are in a few minutes. So don't even try. Do. Not Try.

Instead:

1. Smile.

2. Listen.

3. Ask follow-up questions as if you are listening.

4. Be gracious.

5. Talk honestly - and briefly - about yourself without filtering.

That's more than good enough. Remember, you have both probably decided upon second-date worthiness within the first five minutes, so all we're attempting at this point is to not mess up.

Now for the parting. Recognize that whatever socialization your dating partner has undergone in their life will determine how they behave. Folks from smoochy and huggy families will tend towards more physicality;more stand-offishly trained individuals might not.

Frankly, if you can't see immediately which way to move, I'd ask. Make a joke of it. Say something like...

You know, I wonder if it's okay with you if I say good-bye with a hug?

...or whatever works for you and the vibe.

Believe me, men, communicating something like that will be deemed cute, gentlemanly and self-deprecating, all qualities that will stand you in good stead where it matters most - in the eyes of her girlfriends.




Bottoms Up, Hug-Monsters.

Fregola Salad

I have never had preserved lemons before, but somehow I had this overwhelming urge to make them with some meyer lemons.  And then they sat in my fridge.  For a year before I finally decided to even taste them!

What I discovered is that it tasted...  like a meyer lemon.  Ha.  I guess I expected it to taste a little more pickled, but it was quite mellow.  Maybe it's just my batch?  Either way, I'm looking forward to using the rest of them :)

Fregola w/Butternut Squash & Preserved Lemon
adapted from Dave Lebovitz
Serves 2 as a side

1c diced butternut squash
1/4 onion, peeled and minced
1/2c fregola
1/2 preserved meyer lemon
1T golden raisins
1T dried tart cherries
1/8t ground cinnamon
1/4c chopped flat-leaf parsley
2T chopped pistachios (or pine nuts), toasted (optional)

Preheat oven to 400deg.

Toss butternut squash with a drizzle of olive oil and spread in a single layer on the baking sheet.  Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and a few grinds of black pepper.  Bake for ~20min, until tender.

While the butternut squash is roasting, bring a pot of salted water to a boil over high heat.  Add fregola and stir.  Cook until tender, but still firm to the bite, ~10-12min.  Drain and place in a medium bowl.

Heat a small pan over medium low heat.  Add onions and cook until transluscent, 3-5min.  Transfer to bowl with fregola.

When the butternut squash is done cooking, add 1/2c roasted butternut squash to bowl with fregola and onions.  (If there's any extra, go ahead and eat it!)

Remove flesh from the preserved lemon and rinse with water.  Mince the lemon rind and dried cherries, then add them both to the bowl.  Add raisins, cinnamon and parsley, then mix well to combine.  Taste and adjust seasoning.  Top with nuts, if desired.


Have you ever tried preserved lemons??

Online Dating Will Win

Online dating will win, to the cost of the rest of us.

When Ray Kroc bought the McDonald brothers' hamburger stands in the 1950s, he saw the future. He saw the  way to commoditize a fragmented business to tap an underserved market. It's a formula that works time and again, most recently in Silicon Valley.

Don Valentine, one of the most successful venture capitalists in the Valley funds only businesses with the following:

A unique product.

A competitive advantage ie: barriers to entry.

A monster market.


I know I'm bouncing back and forth between burgers and bytes, but they're the same example from different eras. In the fifties and sixties, the concept of fast food fulfilled all of Don Valentine's requirements. After World War II, folks in the US were discovering their appetites. Televisions, refrigerators, air-conditioning, cars - all these things filled the tracts of new suburban America.

Then came the appetites for food. Once your house is full of humming machines and you have a car for all occasions, it's time to look outside. When you no longer have to brown-bag it to work, businesses that provide lunch win.

McDonalds won because it catered to the taste of the country at the right price. What kept it at the top was the ability to precisely replicate the formula; the food, the stores and the service. But lots of other folks noticed the fast-food trend and followed. Once you find a successful concept, subtle changes to individual elements will create something new and different enough to separate yourself from the rest. Add a growing and wealthy population, and riches are yours.This idea still works today: think Chipotle.

So the road to changing a society is well understood; examine the desires of a population and cater to that. If you find a way to reach a giant audience cheaply and then replicate the concept you will win. That's where the confluence of:

Widespread high-speed internet,

Cheap computing and...

Horniness

...have found us, here at the rise of internet dating. In terms of monster markets, there is none bigger.

It's all pretty easy, at least in retrospect. You want to find a special someone - or just a someone - find yourself a dating website. Contact, communicate, meet, and yada yada, whatever you both want. And from the business point of view, there's almost nothing to it. Some servers, a software front end, a back end, and a credit-card processing facility. (Or ads, like Plenty Of Fish.) You don't even need to add content because your users do so. In a way, it's the smartest business model ever - there's infinite supply for a huge demand that finds you.

It must have been like this with the first one hundred McDonalds. Suddenly, the dollars can't be counted fast enough.

But there is a downside. A fast food nation is an obese nation. Unless you exercise a lot, all that fried food will eventually take its toll, because our bodies aren't designed for those processed meals. Notwithstanding, fast food is and will remain hugely popular.

It's the same with internet dating. It's easy, accessible and provides almost instant gratification. Sometimes it might even work to find the love of someone's life. In the long term though, this is not the way we were designed to find people. Just as fast food adds to our waistlines, so internet dating will subtract from our social skills and, in the end, society.


To me, that's not a win.




Bottoms Up, Big Macs.

Abrupt climate change and your delegation of responsibility

Douglas Spence -
Software Engineer and
concerned citizen

by Douglas Spence

Everyone reading this most likely knows that the ice in the Arctic is melting – much faster and sooner than expected or predicted a few short years ago. Many of you may know that within only years it will all be gone during summer and that the physics of the earth system dictates that this is a truly fundamental and far reaching change for a number of reasons grounded in basic physics – albedo and latent heat to name two in particular.

Some of you may also be aware of the poorly understood but potentially even more catastrophic threat posed to the earth system by methane clathrates – and a few of you may be aware of the significant and growing list of positive feedbacks that are now underway and moving closer to dramatic and abrupt step changes. We know – whether you think it will take five years or fifty years – that our interdependent and logistically complex civilization is on track to face unprecedented challenges that history teaches us have an excellent chance of destroying it. We also know that the foundations for civilization will be destroyed in the foreseeable future – the stable benign climate that nourished us for the last ten thousand years will be gone for the rest of human history if truly dramatic actions are not taken immediately.

While I have some appreciation for how fundamental and serious this situation is – this is not a point I intend to dwell upon. I would like instead to talk about psychology – particularly yours.

While I am sure some people who read this may be already doing extraordinary things to try to address the situation – it seems a fair assumption to me that most will not be. Too many people are satisfied to wring their hands about the hopelessness of the situation and to become absorbed by the idea of their personal powerlessness. They look to the leaders of the political and corporate worlds to protect their own interests while perhaps failing to understand that these people look after their own interests first and foremost. The person best able to look after your interests is usually – you.

Too many people want to believe that a token sacrifice is enough to be able to say they did their bit to save themselves and the children of the world from hell on earth. Unfortunately using energy efficient light bulbs, recycling and offsetting carbon dioxide for flights and things is not enough to fundamentally change the situation. It is a good start and should be lauded as such – but even if everyone did these things – we are still damned – and therefore must appreciate that a greater effort is required.

What I want to do is to talk about personal responsibility. The actions of the collective masses of society including corporations and politicians start with individuals. If you cannot act proportionately to the problem to look after yourself and your family if you have one – how can you expect other people to do so?

My basic point therefore is that most people, even well informed people, are not acting to address the problem proportionately to the severity of the problem.

My second observation is that many people immediately destroy their own chances of greater action by various excuses that they use to destroy their effectiveness before they even tried. There is no surer route to failure than to never try in the first place!

If someone suggests to you that you communicate your concerns regularly to politicians and corporations by using telephones, letters and internet forums – do you start to do this or do you say that your voice is too little and that it would be a waste of time? Imagine for a moment the difference between everyone assuming it is a waste of time and countless millions of people deluging those with the power in our society with their demands?

If someone suggests you go on protests and demonstrations to highlight the issue and face arrest – do you say that you can’t take that risk, implicitly saying that you do not think the cause merits it? It is easy for the authorities to arrest a few hundred people – but again – they cannot arrest millions.

Do you tell people that the mess cannot be fixed and that geoengineering is bound to fail because we already made so many mistakes as a species? Do you justify ignoring the problem as you are happy to conclude it is hopeless and insoluble? If so, do you accept the idea that you are actively condemning yourself and your family and other people around you with whom you could cooperate to realize a better chance of a future – if only you stopped being defeatist from the outset?

I am saying that now is an excellent time to take stock and to realize that the keys to defeat and therefore victory lie first and foremost in your own mind.

I am not giving a prescription for any specific action – merely to point out that almost everyone reading these words can act more on these issues.

Here are a few notable examples of people I would say are acting in ways many people would conclude to be impossible and dismiss even the thought of attempting:

The author of this blog (http://jasonexplorer.com/about/ ) travelled all around the world using only muscle power taking over 13 years and travelling over 46,000 miles. He started as a virtually unemployed window cleaner and made it an awe inspiring platform from which to talk about sustainability.

Then there is the author of this blog (http://climate-change-action-plan.blogspot.com/ ) and many other blogs working tirelessly and without personal reward to educate and inform people. He makes sure not only to explain how serious the problem is but also to inform people of the solutions that we may still have a tiny amount of time left to implement to provide a collective hope for the billions of people living today.

Finally there is the author of this blog (http://deusjuvat.wordpress.com/about/ ), who is working on a plan that tries to face the consequences of civilization failing and promoting an aspiration to ensure that even in the very worst outcomes there remain some hopes for a future for our species. This starting from a position as a minimum wage worker.

I believe that the difference between an ordinary person and an extraordinary person is quite simple. In most cases it is quite simply the difference between being prepared to act and preferring to conform to the mold defined by social expectations where authority and responsibility are meekly delegated to other people.

We face an extraordinary challenge and we need extraordinary people to face it.

Please consider seriously – what can you do?

Never underestimate what one person can do.

Friday Fluffer - True Love

In an antidote to the brutal, here's a very sweet article about true love.

Sometimes, in the glare of relationship horror, it's nice to know what we're aiming for.

From the Houston Chronicle.

Safe (and recommended) for work.





Bottoms Up, Harmonizers.

Tamari Almonds

Happy Thursday!

A little nod to Valentine's day, I just had to share this heart-shaped pomegranate seed I found :)  And now back to today's snack...

Have you ever tried tamari almonds?  Hopefully I'm not the only one who got hooked on them after one handful?  They're awfully easy to eat, but not easy on the wallet.  I finally got around to making them at home and whaddya know, they're even better!  (I know, I should not be surprised)

When researching some recipes, I came across a few that used a low and slow method for roasting nuts.  A little research brought me to this page and learned that roasting nuts at high temperatures can cause the breakdown of fats found in nuts.  I loved the way these came out so much that I haven't tried to roast at a higher temperature, but if you don't want the oven all day (or night), feel free to roast at 350deg.

Tamari Almonds
adapted slightly from Gluten Free Mommy

1lb almonds
1/2c + 2T tamari

Combine almonds and tamari in a bowl and stir to combine.  Let almonds marinate for 30min, stirring occasionally.

Strain almonds (I reserve the tamari for another batch of almonds) and spread into a single layer on a baking sheet.  You can use a Silpat if you like, but I've done it without as well.  Place baking sheet in the oven and turn oven on to 170deg.  Slow roast almonds for 5-7hours (or overnight if you like).  Let cool, then store in a tightly sealed container.

Have you ever tried tamari almonds before??

What Is the Best Food Type For A Date?

Yes, it's calculating, but planning our first few dates will reward us.

If the aim is to create positive energy around yourself, we need to think about what will engender the best and the worst feeling towards us in, say, the first ten dates, and avoid the downside traps. Eating is a natural date focus, so let's start there.

What turns people off? Some answers are obvious: BO, nose-picking, lack of eye contact, talking over the talker, snaggly fingernails. These are general no-nos, but each kind of date has specific dangers. Where food is involved, turn-offs include inappropriate or awkward utensil usage, sloppy plate technique, chewing/talking with mouth full, burping, having food lodge between teeth etc. You can add to this list.

Now I'm not saying that any of these things will kill a budding relationship, only that, on average, they're best avoided. What we're doing here is eliminating the possibility of small errors by careful choice of venue.

Some specific examples:

Sushi:

A popular date choice, because it implies sophistication and worldliness. WARNING: Unless you're a certified chopsticks professional, be careful. All the good work done in choosing the restaurant and knowing that in Japan one always pours drinks for the other person and never for oneself can be undone with the loss of a fatty tuna down your shirt.

French: 

Another interesting foodie-type choice, if that's your bent. Your date will be impressed, but not if you eat all seventeen courses. You might have to let your belt out a notch (unattractive). Another problem is that you'll look like a prat if you attempt to bluff the waiter, especially if they're French. Haughtiness and cutting customers down to size is a specialty of the Frogs. Ruining your date here is best avoided.

Mongolian BBQ:

Ummm, yeah. No. Never take a woman to anything with "Mongolian" in the name. Until  you've been married twenty years. Even then, think verrrrrrrrry carefully.

Tapas:

Tapas has a number of advantages for a date. One is that the many plates keep up the interest factor. Second is that the timing is flexible - you needn't stay longer than you want. A third is the bite-size portions are neat and unspillable. Fourth, the drinks will cater to almost any taste. All-in-all, a Tapas place is a good date choice.

Pastry/Coffee:

Ostensibly an easy choice, there are problems with the coffee-shop date. Should you eat your muffin with a fork, or with your fingers? Do you scoop the crumbs? What to do when the only seats available are right next to the 'homeless' bum who spends all day sitting with one small black coffee cruising porn on the free wi-fi and eavesdropping on conversations between new daters? Ugh. 

High-End Steakhouse:

This is a low-risk (if pricey) option. Downside possibilities are meat caught between teeth, choosing an inappropriate wine (and having the wait staff snicker) and running out of money. But the more formal atmosphere can be a nice change, creating ladies and gentlemen of us. Sitting up straight and looking one another in the eye can lead to good things. 

Breakfast:

I like breakfast dates. You and your date choose exactly what you need, so the food isn't an issue. There's coffee involved, which is always a bonus. And everyone feels happier after breaking one's night-time fast. Usually there will be a neat end to the date, or not, depending on the day of the week. That works.

You get the picture. These examples show my own biases, but with a little forethought, you'll be able to figure out your own.

Planning - the key to a better first ten dates.



Edit: Oh, puhlease. Never.




Bottoms Up, Date Architects.

When Do I Talk About My Ex?

When do we fess up about our history?

I wish I knew. It shouldn't be the first thing you talk about on your first date, that's for sure. Alternatively, you could never talk about your exes, which might be a leeettle bit secretive.

My opinion is that this is an entirely individual matter. Some people will want to know about your exes in short order, and others won't. I, for example, won't want to know until ten years after we're married -  I truly don't care.

But let's think about normal people. It seems to me that if you are looking for some information about past dating habits, it's about figuring out where you fit in. Am I of a type, or does she date eclectically? Am I likely to be better or worse - richer, poorer, bigger, smaller? - than the most recent guy/s? Will I measure up?

That last question is the most critical. That's the information we're really after.

Will she see me in a good light and think well of me? What are the comps?

On the other hand, if I don't know about her past interests, there is no comparison to make...

Take me at face value, or don't take me at all.

When people get close, it's natural to want to know about loves left and loves lost. The trick is to be sensitive to the other person's fears and insecurities. Being vague and a little uninterested in talking about exes is a great way to defuse things. Just be aware that even if you don't care about your past, your date might.

In the end, folks want validation that they're okay. I think these are reasonable guidelines:

1. No talk of exes until he/she asks. 


That's it.




Bottoms Up, Sweet Sensitive Ones.

Arctic Sea ice Volume and Greenland Melt Update

Arctic Sea Ice Volume

The image below, from the ArctischePinguin site, shows the current volume of Arctic sea ice, updated with PIOMAS data from the Polar Science Center of the University of Washington.

As the above image shows, a minimum volume of 3000 cubic km is expected to be reached in September 2013 (red dotted line), with a margin of error that allows for the sea ice to disappear altogether in a few months time.

The image below updates the exponential trends for each month.

Greenland Melt

Meanwhile, the National Snow and Ice and Data Center (NSIDC) has started a page with daily updates of the extent of the Greenland melt. The image below pictures the Greenland melt in 2012 on the left, and the situation up to February 6, 2013 on the right.

Roasted Vegetable Salad

Even in February, the farmers markets in Southern California have plenty of summer greens. Plump bunches of romaine, red leaf lettuce, arugula and Italian parsley are stacked high on the farmers' tables.

To create a healthy, refreshing dish, all you have to do is rinse the greens in clean water, flick dry and toss with a simple dressing.

But this is winter and another group of vegetables come into their own when the sun's rays have weakened, the days are shorter, and the temperatures lower.

Black kale, turnips, beets and celery root are now in their prime and require only a little more effort to create a delicious salad.

Using an oven's heat to bring the best out of vegetables turns starch into sugar and coaxes crispness out of leafy greens.

For Zester Daily I wrote an easy-to-make recipe for a roasted vegetable salad that is delicious when the chill is in the air. A salad with a bit of warmth is a perfect accompaniment for roasted meats and seafood or a hearty braise: A Winter Pick-Me-Up: Roasted Vegetable Salad.

Green Horchata

You know the song Kermit used to sing,  "It's not easy being green"?  :)  Fortunately, I find it quite easy to be green- there is often spinach, kale, basil in my kitchen to name a few.

As part of the It's Easy Being Green Contest, MarxFoods sent me samples of some unique green foods- bamboo rice, dill pollen, green eston lentils, mint herb crystals and green cardamom pods.  My task was to use two of these ingredients in a recipe.

I decided to make a twist on horchata using the bamboo rice and cardamom pods.  Instead of the traditional almonds, I played on the green theme and used pistachios.  I threw in a handful of spinach when I blended it up to keep the drink true to its roots and it worked like a charm!

Pistachio Cardamom Horchata

Yield ~3c

If you're not sure if you love cardamom, feel free to use only 1 or 2 pods and add a cinnamon stick.  You could also switch things up a bit and use brown sugar instead of the sugar!  I added spinach for to enhance the green color and you cannot taste it one bit (promise!!), but feel free to leave it out.

3oz bamboo rice

3oz shelled pistachios (raw or toasted will work, unsalted)

4 cardamom pods, split and seeds coarsely crushed

1 1/4c hot tap water

1/3c evaporated cane juice
handful of spinach, optional

1c almond milk

1t pure vanilla extract

In a large glass jar, combine rice, pistachios and cardamom seeds.  Pour in hot tap water.  Set jar aside and let cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate overnight.

Transfer the contents of the jar (rice/pistachios) to a blender.  Add sugar and spinach, and blend on high speed for a few minutes until as smooth as possible.  Pour through a fine mesh sieve into a jar or other container.  Add milk and vanilla, mix well.  Taste and adjust with sugar or milk to achieve your desired consistency (I added about 1/2c more almond milk).  Refrigerate a few hours.  Serve ice cold.

This is definitely one to remember come St. Patty's Day :)

Disclaimer:  The bamboo rice and cardamom pods used in the creation of this recipe were free samples provided by Marx Foods.

The Green-Eyed Monster

Most monsters have at least one redeeming quality. King Kong had a weakness for dames. Vampires are hipster fashionistas. Even those funster Zombies forever enjoy cinematic popularity despite their BO. But the Green-Eyed Monster is unmitigated awful.

The fact that Hollywood and Burbank haven't found a way to popularize the Jealousy Beast tells us how bad it is. Every story arc needs a slice of hope; but this....this thing has none.

Aside:

I hadn't heard jealousy referred to as "the green-eyed monster" until I dated one. I was chatting to a female colleague/friend at a party when this ex dragged me away and demanded an explanation. After she cooled it, that's the terminology she used to self-describe. This episode struck me as completely weird, and was a crystal-clear harbinger which I ignored. To my cost.

End Aside. 

Jealousy - at least the romantic kind - is tied up with self-esteem, trust, security, honesty, sexuality and faithfulness in one giant ganglia of hot blood and mean tricks. The dictionary keyword here is 'resentment', a telling description if ever.


We like to think we can intellectualize any human behaviour...at least I do. But jealousy is one of the few emotions for which there is no logical back-door. It's visceral, animal, and therefore almost uncontrollable. And it speaks entirely to the emoter, not the emoter's target.



Bottoms Up, Reactors.

Overview of IASI methane levels

Dr. Leonid Yurganov kindly shared an overview of his analysis of IASI methane levels over the years.

The overview shows a marked difference between methane levels in the Arctic and methane levels at lower altitudes, i.e. between 40 and 50 degrees North. Furthermore, the overview shows a steady increase in methane levels over the years, both at high latitudes and at lower latitudes. Over the Arctic, mean levels of well over 1900 ppb are now common.

The overview gives the mean values for methane levels. Peaks can be much higher. Levels of up to 2241 ppb were registered above the Arctic at 742 mb on January 23, 2013 (see earlier post). Moreover, high levels are registered over a wide area, particularly over the Barents Sea and the Norwegian Sea, which are currently free of sea ice (see earlier post), indicating worrying releases of methane from the seabed in that area.

How much extra methane is released to account for this rise in methane levels? Dr. Yurganov explains: “this may be a relatively slow process, 7 ppb per month for the area between Norway and Svalbard means only 0.3 Tg per month. But in a longer time scale (at least several years) and inclusion of the autumn Kara/Laptev emissions it might be very important both for the methane cycle and for the climate. Further discussion promises to be fruitful”.

Dr. Yurganov plans to update his overview on completion of further analysis of existing data of IASI methane levels for earlier periods, and complemented with further periods in future as the data come along.

Meanwhile, we'll keep a close eye on methane levels in the Arctic, particularly given the prospect that large areas of the Arctic Ocean (Kara Sea, Laptev Sea and East Siberian Sea) will soon become free of sea ice. Further people analyzing methane levels are invited to also comment on the situation in the Arctic.

Pillow Talk

If you drew blood after sex and examined it under a microscope, I'm sure we'd find it was full of rainbows, starbursts, heavenly choirs and popping champagne. Researchers should investigate this immediately.

The breathless effects of the sex last a while; awesome. It's a Zone apart from everything. In The Zone comes the pillow talk, which is not to say that PT requires The Zone, only that it's better.

I like the pillow talk. I like it because it's about as intimate as talking can get, meaning that we're both more vulnerable and free of everyday thinking than usual. In a way, it's the opposite of arguing, where one or both sides operate from a bunker of hurt or manipulation. When you're in bed, both in the moment, there are no agendas or power-plays. It's a time for innocence. It's a time to meet.

However. Nobody will ever warn you about the dangers of pillow talk. Because of the mental nudity involved, one might spill stuff, stuff that should probably otherwise stay hidden. Little secrets, small indiscretions, gossip; all the bullshit daily human mud that we normally filter - in the interests of harmony - can slip out.

So beware. Sex is wonderful. Pillow talk is beautiful. Being positive keeps it that way. Best not to drag the outside world in to share the moment. 






Bottoms Up, Happy Horizontal Chatters.

Dramatic increase in methane in the Arctic in January 2013

Below a combination of images produced by Dr. Leonid Yurganov, showing methane levels January 1-10, 2013 (below left), January 11-20, 2013 (below center) and January 21-31, 2013 (below right).

Click on image to enlarge

Above image shows dramatic increases of methane levels above the Arctic Ocean in the course of January 2013 in a large area north of Norway.

Why are these high levels of methane showing up there? To further examine this, let's have a look at where the highest sea ice concentrations are. The image below shows sea ice concentrations for January 2013, from the National Snow and Ice data Center (NSIDC).

Overlaying methane measurements with sea ice concentrations shows that the highest levels of methane coincide with areas in the Arctic Ocean without sea ice. This is shown on the animation below, which is a 1.84 MB file that may take some time to fully load.

Strong correlation between Methane and Ocean/Land/Sea ice

Where methane levels above the Arctic Ocean are relatively low, there still may be very high levels of methane underneath the sea ice that are still broken down by bacteria, as discussed in the post Further feedbacks of sea ice decline in the Arctic. As that post concludes, much of this methane is likely to enter the atmosphere without getting broken down by bacteria as the sea ice retreats further. Sea ice is declining at exponential pace. The big danger is that a huge rise of temperatures in the Arctic will destabilize huge amounts of methane currently held in the seabed. Comprehensive and effective action is needed now to avoid catastrophe.

Dr. Malcolm Light kindly provided the following comments on the image at the top of this post:

The first image clearly shows that the westerly Svalbard branch of the Gulf stream must be destabilizing methane hydrates between Norway and Svalbard. The effects of the eastern Yermack branch of the Gulf stream which enters the Barents Sea is clearly seen in the third figure and methane hydrates in the whole Barents Sea region are clearly being destabilized by the heat it is bringing in. All this extra heating of the Gulf Stream causing increased evaporation is the reason for the giant flooding that has been seen in Europe and the water clouds are preventing the ocean from losing its heat efficiently so the Yermack and Svalbard branches can still destabilize the methane hydrates even in the dead of winter.

Little correlation between Methane
and Depth of the Arctic Ocean

As said, there appears to be a strong relationship between the location of the high levels of methane and the contours of land and sea ice, as illustrated by the above animation. There appears to be little relationship between methane levels and depth of the sea, as illustrated by the animation on the right. For a larger-scale version of the bathymetry map by Martin Jakobsson, see the earlier post on Arctic temperature anomalies.

The animation further below shows selected NOAA images at different altitudes on January 23, 2013. The lowest altitude is ~111 meters (~364 feet) above sea level. At this altitude, high methane levels (up to ~2000 ppb) show up over the Arctic Ocean, against a global mean of 1793 ppb. Much of the land remains colored grey at this altitude, since no values are registered where the land is higher than this altitude.

At all higher altitudes up to ~8 km (~26250 ft) peak values in the Arctic remain visible that are higher than 2000 ppb, up to a staggering 2241 ppb, while global mean methane levels range from 1768 to 1795 ppb.

At even higher altitudes, centrifugal forces move the methane toward locations over the equator. At an altitude of ~16 km (~52000 ft), levels of up to 1880 are recorded over the equator, against mean global levels of ~1700 ppb. All this compares with pre-industrial methane levels of ~715 ppb.

Proportionally, distribution of the methane on that day remains roughly the same geographically, i.e. relatively high methane levels consistently show up in the same spots in the Arctic. Comparison with other days furthermore shows that values for each location often do not change much from day to day. This indicates that methane tends to rise up in the air and will remain in the same location unless there are winds strong enough to spread the methane geographically.

Methane on January 23, 2013 - this is a 2.42 MB animation that may take some time to fully load 

Below a combination of images showing methane levels over five years (2009 on the left, to 2013 on the right), each time for the same period (January 21-31) - images by Dr. Leonid Yurganov.

Click on image to enlarge