triticale - the wheat / rye guy

Black Walnut Baklava

My wee wifey is seriously into competitive cooking and baking. We have had health issues pop up the last three years in the time approaching the Wisconsin State Fair, but before that we consistantly brought home ribbons and occasional bonus prizes. She took the blue ribbon for honey baklava with the first batch she ever made, and the recipe is posted below, much as she provided it to her blue ribbon recipe mailing list. It is a lot of work to prepare, but the result is something far beyond what you would get from a bakery. The good news is that the preparation time is far less than the two solid days it takes to make the mini peaches with which she took the blue ribbon for sandwich cookies our first year in Wisconsin. These are the cookies about which she says "You know those things that look like they take a lot of work but really don't? This isn't one of them."

Research Question

My wee wifey was watching the video of one of her favorite movies, Ladies Who Do, the other night. It is about a group of cleaning ladies who outwit a dastardly greedy developer who is plotting to have their homes condemned so he can put up luxury residences. I happened by during the scene when, to prove what a bigshot he was, they showed him getting a call on a telephone in his limousine.

This is something I've tried researching, without success. Could someone point me toward information regarding the cost of mobile radio telephones in the pre-cellular days? I remember the call going thru a "land operator" and being half-duplex (push to talk) but I have no idea how the cost compares with mobile telephony today.

A Keeper

My recent post about the failure to rationally evaluate health risk statistics inspired Brian B. to comment by rephrasing Pastor Niemoller's classic enumeration. He has reposted it on his own blog, and I am bringing it here to the main page because it does tell us where the battle line needs to be drawn.

First they came for Logic, and I did not speak out, for I did not think logically.

Then they came for Thesis and Synthesis, and I did not speak out, for I did not think synthetically.

Then they came for Reason, and I did not speak out, for I did not think reasonably.

Finally they came for me, and I could no longer think for myself.

Not Just Empty Promises

When Kerry was in Milwaukee recently, he announced at the rally that he would go to Leon's for frozen custard and Speed Queen for barbecue, but never did. Instead he went to Pieces of Eight, an upscale seafood place on the lakefront. That fact makes this news so much cooler.

To Feast With

This week's Friday Feast wasn't up yet when I first logged on this morning, and Beth is launching a Carnival of Recipes, so here is the barbecue sauce I tossed together a couple of weeks ago.

1 large jar pineapple preserves (actually too chunky; next time I'll try jam)

2 cans tamarind nectar

1/4 cup honey

1 tbsp dehydrated garlic

1 tbsp cilantro flakes

2 tbsp sriracha chili sauce

Simmer overnite in the crockpot on high.

Use

Note that if brushed heavily onto the skin of a split Cornish hen (or anything else) before grilling, the sugars will cause it to char. Brushing it on the top side of burgers every time I flipped them worked quite well, and Emrack and the others of his generation slathered it on everything I grilled except for the corn, with popular local and national brand sauces being ignored.