WTF: What the fruit?

I don't shy from exotic food - in fact it is one reason I love traveling. A blog post on BoingBoing.net reminded me that one of the fruits I grew accustomed to in my 5 + years living in S.E. Asia freaks people out. Maybe 1/2 the people in Taiwan like Durian though many have never tasted it. If you try it, you'll love it or hate it.

It assaults the senses. The stench is legendary. It looks like a medieval weapon until you crack it open, and then it looks like some alien in its larva stage. People generally describe the texture as creamy and rich - but it's... the experience of eating Durian defies polite analogy. BoingBoing shares

19th century British naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace described the taste of durian as "a rich custard highly flavoured with almonds, but there are occasional wafts of flavour that call to mind cream cheese, onion sauce, sherry wine and other incongruous dishes."

One of the comments describes the experience in more visceral terms, in an expression common in S.E. Asia, "It's like sitting on the toilet whilst eating your favorite ice cream." You've got to read the comments. They are inventive and have the ring of truth. Even smelling it alone is unforgettable.

Which is funny. Long before I heard that expression I shared with my Taiwanese friends the theory that no-one falls in love with Durian the first time they eat it, but the smell comes through so clearly when it passes through you - and since, to quote Fat Bstrd from Austin Powers, "everyone likes their own brand" after you've eaten and passed it, when you smell Durian it will remind you of your own earthy odors - in the most positive way possible, and Durian appeal to you in a way it couldn't the first time you tried it.

Which explains why many people never try it. It's a questionable taste to develop since the fruit has more calories than ice cream and may be more unhealthy. Most hotels ban the fruit. I have a buddy who ignored the message in Singapore and left a Durian in his room while he went back out shopping. In Asia they do a very sensible thing and cut power to your room when you're out (if the room key isn't proximal to the room no power). Equatorial climate being as hot as Kansas in August, and heat having a liberating effect on the fragrance .... the whole hotel reeked when he got back - which made him amazingly unpopular.

Beef tendon soup

Common in Chinese cooking, and a frequent ingredient in Vietnamese Pho soups, Beef Tendon is surprisingly tasty and a texture not found in western food. My son refers to it as "beef gummy," and it's one of my "go to" recipes: Beef Tendon Noodle Soup.

Our pediatrician said other ethnic families he serves have asked him about feeding it to children - but he had no idea the nutritional content - other than "It's loaded with collagen - it's probably good for you." If anyone knows a nutritionist help me out. Most staples of authentic Asian diets are healthy - but I want hard data. Several sites sell pill supplements and make some strong claims about the benefits of collagen, but I don't find sources credible - tho they may be correct. Some in Asia will tell you eating collagen is the reason Asians keep their youthful complexion so long, but ...

I start with large beef soup bones cut into pieces - and the bones don't need any flesh. Asian markets have good soup bones - unless anyone knows a butcher in the KC area who'll cut up bones for stock (if so share in the comments). Hint: throw in some previously boiled eggs - peeled - and let them stew. By the time you serve the eggs will take on a nice rich color and flavor throughout.
Bones cook in the crock pot (slow cooker) over night with the spice packet shown, and a small handful of star anise. That's important. Add also some garlic, a couple red peppers, some whole black pepper corns, some orange peel (fresh or dry. I generally dry and keep orange peel).

FYI: Chinese food and "medicine" are more closely related than westerners generally understand. The revolutionary AIDs drugs that made life so much better for Magic Johnson and others was developed by a Taiwanese researcher and derived largely from star anise. Wish I could remember where I learned that [Citation Needed].

Cook the broth 12 + hours, and then throw in the raw thawed tendon 3 hours or so before you want to eat. Hint: I struggle cutting raw tendon and I like knives. Cook the tendon first and it's easy to cut. Throw in green onions, a little brown sugar and a dash of white pepper if you have it. It's a rich relatively clear and light, though savory broth with a clean body.

30 minutes before serving I add 3 -5 tomatoes cut in wedges. Serve over noodles - the fresh frozen kind you find in Asian markets is the best. I like the Korean Oriental Market on Metcalf in Overland Park for the bones and the tendon and most all produce. Ho's Market in Lenexa for the spice packet and the noodles.

Soup photo by W. Hsu. Anise image from flickr

Wild Fruit

Wild plums are in season, and while I like the idea of wild fruit (they tend to be loaded with anti-oxidants) I haven't decided what to do with these.

Most that we picked were under-ripe, because the ripe fruit falls pretty quick - or otherwise gets eaten by wildlife.
Mom made a wicked wild plum wine - but I imagine some sort of compote. At any rate, we enjoyed to picking.

Linguistic integrity? Royal order of linguistic prejudice?

People often assume to know my position on English Only laws and proposals - but my take is nuanced and complicated. Linguistic integrity is an interesting idea - but it hasn't been tried yet.

WHY do Asian menus refer to squid by an Italian word? The picture comes from a Japanese restaurant - examples like it can be found in most Chinese menus. Is the assumption that Americans developed a taste for squid only because they don't know what it really is? Chinese menus should call it Yo Ewe, (乌贼 or "oil fish," which reminds you of the high cholesterol). I'd like to know what it's called in Japanese (FYI: Octopus is called "taco" in Japan). And do people who support English only legislation eat Mexican food? If so what do they call tortillas? Or tacos? Are there "English" words for these?

I suspect a royal order of linguistic prejudice. In America monolingual speakers code-switch according to a hierarchy of non-English languages: French and German come first, followed by other languages spoken by white WASPish countries, then Japanese, other Asian languages - the least popular language to gather words from is Chinese. This explains why there are so few cognates and why Americans use the word "Kangi" in the least appropriate circumstances.

"Kan gi" (or Kanji) - is Japanese language way to say "Chinese characters," as in (Kan = Chinese) + (gi = characters) - but American hipsters will refer to Chinese characters as "kangi," even when discussing texts in and/or from China! Boing boing - one of my favorite blogs - is a great place to find this. See comments - here - where if you scroll to comment #57 you can see where I have broached this issue , or here (scroll thu comments) where moderators and commentators alike use a Japanese phrase to say the word Chinese when talking about China. It amounts to China bashing.

audience and voice: this blog

Just checked google analytics to see how much traffic this blog gets and from where. Interestingly, the summer has seen an increase in traffic, and though we've always gotten a strong following from Alaska - China has come on lately and been well represented in the audience. For that I say, "谢谢."

The increase in traffic has come despite the fact that I'm not teaching this summer - so the blog has no captive audience. There has been a shift in my educational philosophy regarding my posts this summer - summed up in the idea that, "the personal is pedagogical." I'll write more about that later.

Day trips: the Nelson

Recognize the Day lilies at the right? They c0mprise less than 10 % of the space of one of my favorite paintings by arguably the greatest painter of the 20th century. The portrait (?) is a contemporary interpretation of a classic Greek myth in an unmistakeably midwestern rural scene - and it predates Percy Jackson the Lighting Thief by 70 years. For the complete painting and the answer scroll to the end of this post.

I mention how much space because I'm concerned about fair use, and because the pictures and images I use are generally links to other sites - I cover my assets. What images or quotes I use also

• don't infringe on the market
• re-imagine, interpret or review the work
• are for educational purpose

All of which make them fair use, but sometimes copyright law is written by the corporation who has the best lawyers and wishes to pursue litigation. I know it was legal to take the image of the shuttlecock below - but is it fair use for me to post the image?

BTW: the lilies are from my Persephone by Thomas Hart Benton - a native Kansas Citian. If anyone remembers the TV show Good Times with Jimmy Walker- the style should seem familiar. I'd like to find a student interested in art criticism and analyzing paintings - the day lilies mean something - in addition to being a familiar sight around rural farmsteads.

Taste test: Lilies

I've eaten lilies in soups, but only recently learned those same lilies grew almost wild. The same lilies you find around old farms and homesteads are tasty - and a surprising number of sites offer recipes, advice and information.
Some say the taste like asparagras when stir-fried, but we found the taste lighter. BTW they cook FAST.
I've found older (possibly spent) or post bloom flowers in soups in Asia - so using the tender buds didn't replicate anything I'd eaten - but it worked.

Critiquing layout and design: Message fail?

This billboard faces the east-bound lane of I-70 just outside of Topeka, KS. My wife and I used to look forward to the last image on this board - it said, "Superpower your baby" and had a badly photoshopped greased/ cowlicked baby head on a superman body. The text sent a positive message re: breastfeeding and reading to your baby - both activities I support. The graphics just cracked us up. But the first few times we saw this board no one spoke.

Note this picture has been enlarged, enhanced and sharpened. Traveling at 70 mph, the fine print disappears. Try standing back from your screen to get the effect. I read a harsh message for working mothers.

I try to live by a philosophy of , "Don't attribute to malice what can otherwise be explained by incompetence," and I want to trust the KS Department of Health (who sponsored the message) has it's heart in the right place, but the look at the picture. Why a baby blue background? To blend with the sky and make it invisible (not effective from a marketing perspective), or to call to mind male babies? Why? And white lettering on a pale blue background?

"Being a mother doesn't stop from 9-5" has to sting any mother. Isn't working outside the home for a new mother an incredibly touchy subject - that should be approached carefully with sensitivity and tact? Not until stopping by the side of the road as close as I could get to take this picture did I even see the fine print about, "ask your employer for breastfeeding options." THAT should be the privileged text - that should pop - but it's nearly invisible. And why would someone look twice if the initial image slapped them with guilt trip?

I've only discussed this with one other person, but feedback would be appreciated - is this an epic fail, something worse, merely lame, or am I reading too much into this? I grew up in an art studio and used to have these sort of discussions. Is it effective for it's intended audience? I'd also appreciate anyone analyzing the photo/graphic.

food: Korean

One of the best parts of any trip through Springfield MO is a stop Golden Korean Restaurant (map). Korean meals come with the traditional 5-6 small dishes that make the experience fun. The soft tofu soup (with a raw egg thrown in to cook at your table - hurry if you like the yolk soft) rocks.



The best Korean food food I've found tho is in Overland Park. Rainbow Korean has the best ChapJae (a chewy clear noodle dish with meat and veg) and Bulgogi I've had (very tender and flavorful. This reviewer agrees tho he seems hung up on the decor). The KimBab (Korean Sushi roll - but don't call it sushi in a Korean Restaurant please) isn't bad either - but if an awesome fresh "sushi" experience interests you - hit the Asian supermarket across the street on the weekend. They make it right in front of you and you get 2 big rolls (sliced for convenience) for only 5$.

For some reason I can't find directions thru the interwebs so pardon my lame map. If you fail to great the waitress in Korean - or if one or more of your party is visibly non-Asian - you may have to ask for chop sticks and KimChi which come with some meals (if they think you'd like them, but maybe because stereotypical non-Asians balk at the smell of KimChi...), but otherwise the service is pleasant.

The also have a Korean version of Kung Pao Chicken - there should be a picture on the wall - it is amazing. I can't remember what they call it. (Kiangpang chicken?) It's a Korean take on a Chinese dish - as opposed to the American take usually found in Chinese restaurants.

In America, there are no small eggs.

We do something illogical with in American culture regarding our language used to describe sizes. An Ivy League educated linguist I worked for in Taiwan used to ponder about this, and ask me, "Why, in America, don't you have small eggs? Some recipes call for one or two small eggs, but the grocery stores only carry medium, large, extra large and jumbo. What happened to the small eggs?"

She wasn't a native English speaker - but she was a citizen and she lived in the states about 20 years, raised a couple native English speakers, and held advanced degrees (including a PhD) in English language and linguistics. This issue seriously intrigued her and has been on my mind for well over a decade.

The issue may be fairly recent. My grandparents (both born before the 1920's here in the US) insisted on buying small minnows for crappie fishing because even larger fish may prefer a small bait. I remember buying small minnows. I defy you to go into any bait store today and find small minnows.

I just ordered a small chicken noodle soup for my toddler at a chain restaurant. The clerk was so concerned, "Oh my. I'm sorry. We only have medium and large." His concern touched me, but isn't medium half-way between to extremes - small and large. How is it logically possible to have only two sizes and one of them is medium?

The descriptive linguist in me speculates that these words have become homonyms of themselves - in effect a sort of headless noun. Medium is a proper name for a choice - not a description of a size. So I said, "Oh, you mean "Medium" with a capital 'M', I meant small with a lower-case 's'"... which caused him to just stop talking and give me the soup - which btw came in a cup not much bigger than a thimble.

Or is it a popular/cultural fetish that equates large with good and small with inferior? This isn't always so. Small vegetables often have a better texture and flavor - and fine restaurants prefer them. btw - I grew up eating baseball bat sized zuccini - but they should be picked at 6-8 inches or smaller. I worked on a commercial vegetable farm that supplied some of the finest cafe's on the plaza and had the chance to talk with some chefs.

If anyone has insight - or similar experiences - or an opinion re: my linguistic theory, please weigh in.

And yes, I know Pinker uses "headless nouns" almost exclusively to discuss idiosyncratic pluralization - but that doesn't mean the phenomena is restricted to that context. If you have an equally viable explanation share. A comedian could have fun with this coming at it from a cultural perspective.

Some truth about college

by Jorge Cham of PHDcomic.com click to see detail

Real graphic for comparison contrast

While we're on the subject of sugar

From Laughing Squid

Spotting bias in texts (cherry picking part 2)

Sugar is good food (!?)The good folks at Boing Boing shared this after finding it at an individuals blog dedicated to vintage ads.

See also: Fox News Advocates Shutting Down Libraries