Thanks to another coincidental confluence of events I’m known for, it looks like I’ll get to meet Alton Brown at a private undisclosed location in a couple hours. More later… UPDATE: The location was a small classroom in the Fine Arts building at UGA. Mr. Brown is a graduate of the program, and stopped by to talk about his experiences in the TV world. There were less than two dozen people there, and the event lasted about two hours. He talked less about food and more about the production process and how he got from a film student to where he is today. The talk was great, the opportunity to have him sign my copy of his book was unexpected, and opening the door for a possible huge event for Boánn’s Banks was exhilarating.

You might not have known it from my lack of updating, but we survived Thanksgiving quite nicely. Despite all the cooking, I found the whole weekend very relaxing. Read a nice thick book from cover to cover (Larry Niven’s Lucifer’s Hammer. Very good, well deserving of the classic status it’s reached.), saw Star Wars Episode II on an IMAX screen (I’d missed it up until now and thought I’d have to see it on a TV, so this made me very happy. The dialogue, not so happy.), and even mostly finished building one of the two greenhouses. The first winter storm has hit today. I may well be iced in come morning.

Today’s Menu

• Cheese Tray
  • Georgia Chevre
  • North Carolina Raw Milk Farmer’s Cheese
  • American Smoked Mozzerella
  • French Raw Milk Blue
  • Basque Raw Sheep’s Milk Cheese
• Missouri Spumanti mixed with Cranberry Juice
• Roast Cornish Game Hens with Wild Rice and Mushroom Stuffing
• Roasted Local Sweet Potatoes
• Pureed Creamy Parsnips (from our farm)
• Broccoli and Pesto (from our farm)
• Mashed Heirloom Turnips (from our farm)
• Braised Winter Greens (from our farm)
• Freshly Churned Eggnog Ice Cream
• Poached Pear and Almond Tart

The seating area is now full. We are accepting reservations for next year.

I’ve just blown the afternoon reliving my college days – or, more specifically, my college nights -- by reading an on-line account of the exploits of New Mexico Tech’s Stealth Force Beta. Led by General Sasquatch (who was also known during his student career as publisher of the student newspaper and student body president), Stealth Force Beta got themselves into every nook and cranny possible on campus and performed daring feats of “constructive vandalism” before graduation dispersed the team. The members of this team were all a year or two ahead of me, but given the small and isolated nature of the school, I knew all of them very well. Thanks to their code of secrecy, I didn’t even know the undercover nature of the group existed, and could only speculate that they were involved in the vandalism incidents. Interestingly enough, my more immediate circle of friends were similar enough to this bunch that we were doing many of the exact same things, often at the same time. Because of that, I got a special joy reading these – I’d been through similar trials or had solved the same problems differently. The General has always been a great story teller. Even those many of you that have never heard of Tech other than through my ramblings should enjoy what he’s got here. And maybe in a year or two, when the statute of limitations expires for me, I can add to the Tech lore with stories about the Eaton Hall Social Club, the Office Supply Store, the Midnight Mining Society* , using well-practiced clandestine entry techniques to win Killer and Laser Tag games, and other bits of fun. One thing that surprised me was the group’s concern about being spotted by Campus Police. Once, while caught in a potentially compromising position during one of my activities, I assumed an attitude of “I’m only doing what I’m supposed to be doing”. The patrolling officer came over to me, shined the light on me, and said, “Oh! It’s you.” And he went on his way. Techies who were there at the same time as me may enjoy the brief cameo by “Bouncy Ball Jack”. He annoyed the entire student body, and I fondly remember the time I accidentally kicked his bouncing ball a few hundred yards down the longest sidewalk on campus. I wouldn’t have ever done it on purpose and couldn’t have recreated it if I tried, but the event coupled with his reaction to it made it priceless. * Actually, the cover of that bit of fun got blown wide open when the entire local Search and Rescue team got called out, featuring Schlake in a full anti-radiation suit, just because we’d asked for a rope ladder. After laying low for a bit, we resumed, only to be halted again when the area we used became the target zone for heavy artillery testing.

Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arriv ß! So what, says Mike Steinberger in this week’s Slate wine column. If you’ve ever bought a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau, read this.

During elementary school, there are lots of girls (as many girls as boys) who are interested in math, science and computers. We are dedicated to sustaining their natural interests during the critical years, when so many of them drift away. Former Astronaut Sally Ride has founded Imaginary Lines to provide support for all the girls who are, or might become, interested in science, math, and technology.

The three laws of thermodynamics expressed as a poker game:

• You can’t win
• You can’t break even
• You can’t get out of the game

Here’s an essay that uses that analogy to quickly dismiss the tired creationist argument that evolution can’t happen because “it violates the second law of thermodynamics.”

The Leonid meteor shower happens this time of year every year as the earth passes through a trail of dust left by the comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. As the comet travels through space, it sheds dust behind it, and as this dust hits the earth’s atmosphere, it heats up and glows, becoming a “falling star”. This trail of dust is fairly thin, except for a tiny region along the exact path of the comet. Every 33 years or so, for several years in a row, the Earth passes through that narrow region and a brief but intense meteor storm occurs. Tonight, the earth will pass through two of these regions. The first can be seen from much of Europe and northern Africa, but the second, occuring between 5:30 and 5:45 EST, can be seen from all of North America. Under ideal viewing conditions, one may see several hundred meteors during those 15 minutes. The moon is full (but well away from the constellation Leo, where the meteors will seem to originate), so the dimmer ones will be washed out. Still, it out to be a spectacular show for those up to watch. Due to an unusual series of events during the next two cycles, storms of this intensity aren’t expected to return until 2131. For more information and viewing instructions, read this excellent Sky and Telescope article.

Earlier this Fall, I noticed a new brand of milk started to appear at all of the area supermarkets, including the Super Walmarts. It came only in one quart glass bottles, had a variety of flavors, and came exclusively from Jersey cows. I finally bought some last week, and now I’m hooked. Promised Land Dairy, out of Texas, makes the absolute best flavored milk I have ever had. I’ve tried the Chocolate, Strawberry, Vanilla, and Dulce de Leche, and each one was fantastic. Today I saw plain and skim too, so I think I’ll have to switch from my regular store-brand skim to this stuff, even if it’s nearly twice the price. It’s worth it, without a doubt.

Yesterday, the mailman brought me the extended DVD release of The Fellowship of the Ring. Of course, this was something I’d been eagerly awaiting for 11 months now. I did have one problem – the lack of a DVD player. So, after work I trudged to Sam’s Club to pick up a cheapo player, and managed to find one that not only was cheap, but also replaces my CD player (which was good, because there wasn’t any room in my TV cabinet for another box, what with all the space the satellite receiver and the free TiVo were taking up). After an hour or more of rewiring, the setup was complete and I got to listen to Peter Jackson talk over the movie. Hooray! But then this morning, I realized I didn’t really need the DVD anyway. Not when there’s The Fellowship of the Peeps online.