Past Blogs

Regional cooking thrives below the Mason Dixon line. Any visit down South is a series of feasts…even for a non-red meat eater like me who passes on the barbecued ribs.

The goodness starts at breakfast. Biscuits and their soulmate grits are standard morning fare on southern menus. A large, buttermilk biscuit will keep me fortified to lunch; add cheese grits to that and I could stay fueled to dinner. I must admit I always reveal my Yankee upbringing by asking for my biscuit with butter, not gravy. Be advised that this is pure heresy in the South.

If you need a sugar shot in the AM, a waffle smothered in pecans and syrup may be in order. Sweet potato pancakes with pecan maple syrup are another delicious option.

My husband and I usually skip lunch in favor of tea time. A southern tea with a variety of savory and sweet treats is a wonderful way to spend a late afternoon. On the top tier of the tray is a variety of tiny sandwiches. The most quintessentially southern of these are the pimiento cheese ones. The filling is a combination of grated cheddar cheese, mayonnaise and pimientos.

The lower tiers display the southern art of dessert baking to the maximum. One of my favorites is hummingbird cake which is a dense spice cake with crushed pineapple, mashed bananas and pecans. By now you may have noticed a recurring tenet in southern cooking: anything can be enhanced with the addition of pecans.

Dinner in a traditional southern restaurant is no problem for vegetarians. The entrees are all meat, fish and seafood. But the southerners love their “sides” and it is perfectly acceptable to make a meal out of sides which are also called “vegetables”. I have never known a northerner who called macaroni and cheese a vegetable, but I think it is a brilliant idea.

Here is a typical list of “vegetables”:

• Peas and snaps
• Mashed potatoes
• Baked sweet potatoes
• Fried okra
• Squash casserole
• Brown rice
• Collard greens
• Broccoli casserole
• Honey glazed carrots
• Black eyed peas
• Macaroni and cheese
• Cheese grits
• Creamed corn
• Cole slaw
• Applesauce
• Fried green tomatoes

What’s not to love about southern fare……..except the calorie count?

Put aside thoughts of 3D printers being used to turn out Starwars figures or little tchotchkes. The Dutch, leaders in innovative design, are using a 3D printer to build a house. And not just any old house, but a 21st century version of the 400 year old houses that line Amsterdam’s canals.

Project architects DUS began the three year endeavor in 2014 and describe it as “research by doing.” The 3D Print Canal House combines a building site, research center and exhibit space which is open to the public.

Architect Hans Vermeulen states, “The goal is to create a cost effective building technique for building sustainable and comfortable houses.”

The 3D Print Canal House is the first to be printed on the spot with a large, portable 3D printer. The  printing is being done with plastic made from vegetable oil rather than petroleum. Digital design files are fed into the 20 foot tall printer called the KamerMaker (room builder). The interior and exterior walls are then printed layer by layer from floor to ceiling with spaces left for pipes and wiring. The process is not lengthy, and when all the individual rooms are completed, they will be assembled to create a 13 room house on one of the city’s canals. Completion date is 2018, and the canal house will be a public building and research center.

Many significant and exciting outcomes can result from this innovative construction technology. My first thought was that housing for refugees could be made rapidly. Shelters for the homeless, temporary housing after natural disasters and homes for communities with housing shortages could become feasible.

On a personal note, one of my husband and my biggest frustrations when we designed our  own home would be eliminated. We had many wonderful ideas, but were quickly brought back to reality by an architect friend.

“You can only design something with right angles,” he said, “your budget is too small for anything with curves.”

3D printers easily can make curves and free form shapes. An automated 3D construction method called “contour crafting” developed at the University of Southern California can print a 2,500 square foot house in 24 hours at a savings of 60% compared to traditional construction.

Despite roadblocks such as building codes, high land costs and Luddite thinking, I’m hopeful that digital printed construction is a concept that has arrived.

Inky the octopus made a brilliant nighttime escape from his aquarium a few months ago. Leaving his tank-mate Blotchy behind, he oozed through a small crack at the top of his tank, navigated 8 feet across the floor, stuffed his soccer ball sized body through a drain hole and careened down a 164 foot long drain pipe into the Pacific Ocean.

The manager of the New Zealand aquarium that was Inky’s former home said, “Didn’t even leave a message.”

The news of Inky’s escape spread around the world but came as no surprise to admirers of Cephalopoda. That class of animals are characterized by their Houdini-like skills.

Many years ago I did research on octopuses while writing a program on ocean creatures for elementary school children. I became an immediate octopus groupie.

These amazing invertebrates have complex brains and excellent eyesight. Combined with refined defense mechanisms, octopuses have a full arsenal to enable them to escape predators.

Their first line of defense is to jet away from danger by expelling water from their mantles. Gone is that lazy looking creature we see floating around in captivity.

Most everyone knows that an octopus can release a cloud of black ink to confuse a predator. What is less known is that the ink has substances that dull the attackers sense of smell making the octopus harder to track.

Octopus are also superb camouflage experts. In 0.3 seconds they can change color and create patterns to blend into any background. They can also alter their body shape to mimic venomous or dangerous ocean species such as sea snakes.

When not out hunting prey and protecting themselves from being somebody’s dinner, octopus retreat to their dens. A den can be a shell or a crevice in a rock. More creative dens come from people’s litter….cans, bottles, pieces from shipwrecks.

Multiple marine biologists have performed experiments in attempts to measure octopus IQ’s. I chose one of these experiments to simulate for my young students. I put a plastic crab in a glass jar and screw on the lid. We pretend the jar is placed in an aquarium tank. My octopus puppet swims over and finds the jar with its favorite dinner inside. Its  arms start checking out the jar, and then the octopus unscrews the lid and pulls out the crab. How can any kid not like an animal with a super bag of tricks as well as three hearts and blue blood?

Check out this delightful video from the Montery Bay Aquarium entitled, “Why We’re Suckers for the Giant Pacific Octopus”.

Cherry blossoms follow Mother Nature’s whims. If she tosses out an endless winter of blizzards and freezing nights, the blossoms are delayed. Conversely, a mild winter and early thaws result in early flowers.

People have a penchant for organizing, planning ahead and ignoring the Earth Mother’s powers. This can result in Cherry Blossom Festivals being held when no cherry blossoms make an appearance.

For the last 20 years, my husband and I have tried to view Wisconsin’s famous Door County cherry orchards when they are in peak bloom. For 20 years we have failed at this quest. The blossoms either have not arrived or have come and gone. A live web cam site tracking the progress of the buds would be most helpful.

Fortunately, life can hand out good surprises. Two weeks ago we left our home state during a blinding blizzard for a long planned trip to Washington, D.C. Arriving in the nation’s Capitol, we discovered that it was Cherry Blossom Festival, and, even more miraculously, all the trees around the Tidal Basin were in full, exquisite bloom. For three days we luxuriated in seas of flowers. When warm breezes blew, we felt like tiny figures in a snow globe.

The famous Washington Yoshino cherry trees began as a gift from Japan of 3,000 trees in 1912. We reciprocated with dogwoods and the exchange continues to this day. The trees do not produce edible cherries (unless you’re a bird) so no Cherry Pie Festival is held in D.C.

Back in Wisconsin, we are approximately five weeks and several snowstorms away from our blossoms. We will try again to see them. We are not optimistic. But there is a consolation prize. Our trees produce pie cherries and cherry pie is a certainty in fall.

World renowned architect, Zaha Hadid, died last week of a sudden heart attack at the age of 65. Her soaring architecture is best described in these words of architect Peter Cook…”If Paul Klee took a line for a walk, then Zaha took the surfaces that were driven by that line for a dance.”

Dame Hadid was born and raised in Iraq, educated in England and opened her practice there in 1979. She employed Parametricism, an innovative method of using algorithms to dictate shapes of digital models that then become architectural forms. This technique allowed her to experiment with the sculptural capabilities of concrete. Her concrete structures appear to be on the brink of flight.

Her constant goal was to go forward. When accepting England’s prestigious architecture award, the Stirling Prize, she stated, “I have always believed in progress and in creativity’s role in progress. That’s why I remain critical of any traditionalism.”

Zaha Hadid is also renowned for her progress in another arena. She fought with tenacity, courage and intellect to break down the sexist barriers to women in the field of architecture. In a male dominated profession,  she walked through many doors which said, “Men Only”. Zaha Hadid won the Pritzker Prize in 2004, the only woman in the 37 year history of the prize to be recognized.

The body of her work is her greatest legacy. Here is an exhilarating, concise survey produced by Dezeen Daily.