Four Years

Four years ago, J and I chose each other and tied the knot! Our anniversary was earlier this month, but the celebration is being drawn out. In part due to a shipping mishap. In part because J is so swamped with school.

The traditional gifts for the 4th anniversary are fruit and flowers, so I decided to give J miracle fruit. Looking like elongated cranberries, these berries coat your tongue with a substance that changes the way things taste for about half an hour. You get a bunch of berries when you order them, so we organized a quick tasting party with a few friends.

We had a full table of food to taste (and J raided the fridge for other flavors at one point) and berries enough for at least 2 per person. To taste:
Lemons
Limes
Onion
Salt & vinegar potato chips
Tabasco
Balsamic vinegar
Bread & butter pickles
Dill pickles
Sour cream
Goat cheese
Blue cheese
Strawberries
Kiwi
Grapes
Cranberries
Raspberries
Pineapple
Watermelon
Guinness
Tequila
(phew!)

The experience was fascinating! Reactions varied across the group. Some things now had no taste (grapes, unanimous), some had subtler flavors. Lemon & lime burnt our lips and the inside of our mouths, but were sweet on our tongues. Strawberries, pineapple, and raspberries had a wave of flavor that was a subtle sweet with more depth than normal.

We had a really good time experimenting and I'm seriously considering exploring miracle fruit as an alternative sweetener (you can find this in the crunchy section of Wegmans).

Anniversary 2, books, now in LA

So, the Saturday of anniversary weekend we also ate at Bamba Bistro. Marvelous food, thoughtfully prepared - elegantly presented and the perfect portion size. Great service. My favorite part, though, were the architectural elements of the interior. You enter to a dim hallway with a grand stair in gorgeous wood that you can smell. The main dining room has lovely vaulted ceilings. Very very cool.

Finishing a bunch of books lately - here's the latest:
Book #21 - My So Called Digital Life, a project coordinated by Bob Pletka. I hope to publish a post on 1000Words with my detailed impressions.

Book #22 - Blink: The power of thinking without thinking by Malcolm Gladwell. I found this fascinating. The case studies are great, though the war games case made me quite angry. Although Gladwell does discount much of the traditional aspects of my job - standard survey research - I'm not upset. Because I see the issues and it strengthens my determination to discover techniques to get around these issues.

Book #23 - Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Powerful. Makes me want to read Brave New World again. Scary in some of things that are very eerily spot on. Scary to someone who loves books.....

Book #24 - Stardust by Neil Gaiman. I loved the movie. I loved the book. There were elements of each I would have liked to have seen explored in the other (Captain Shakespeare's quirks, the little hairy fellow), but much of it tracked and it was very fun and refreshing to read. Love the concept of a village guarding a gap between our world and Faerie. Wouldn't mind visiting the Market myself....

Have to go finish work things and get to sleep. LA awaits!