Encyclopedia Erwin and the Case of the Strange Fruit

What the heck is this thing??

As a lover of all foods strange and fascinating, I couldn’t resist this one.  This is called a “Buddha’s hand“, an uncommonly used citrus fruit (at least here in the US). I’ve mostly seen them used in decorations, although apparently they can be candied or eaten raw. I’ve actually tried a Buddha’s hand, and while it WAS an experience … I think I’ll stick with oranges :).

While grocery shopping today, I picked up one of the two produce items I buy organic: apples.

Whew! Eatin' clean ain't cheap.

The other item I buy organic is lettuce. Why these two? When I’m triaging produce items due to cost, I look at two categories:

(1) how often I eat them, and
(2) how dirty they are.

By how dirty they are, I mean: how much pesticide would I be eating with each bite? Produce items with a thick skin, like bananas or oranges, don’t need to be organic because the skin will be removed anyway. Items that are part of the dirty dozen usually have thin skins (= high pesticide). Those on the list that I eat a lot, I buy organic.

As a side note: I love red bell peppers, but I rarely buy them organic because they are so gosh darned expensive compared to regular peppers. I figure I don’t eat them enough to matter. We all need our priorities, right?

For lunch, Peter and I checked out this new Indian restaurant in Glastonbury. The restaurant served a buffet, and I tried many different items:

Please don't ask me what these are, because I couldn't tell ya.

Not too shabby, typical Indian restaurant fare. I’d probably go back there again for dinner, as the lunch buffet didn’t have saag paneer :(.

The dessert was honey dough balls (I think they’re called Gulab Jamun?):

Doughy, dense, and delicious, with an exotic flavor I couldn’t place. Maybe cardamom or some other Indian spice? One of these makes a great end to a meal.

Have you ever though about what happens to the water inside a glass when you rotate it? (Upright, of course, or you’ll make a mess!) You would think that the water would rotate, too, but no no! Due to inertia, the water in the middle of the glass stays still. Try it some time at dinner. If you have ice cubes in your glass, you’ll see that they don’t move much (they will move a little, due to friction). Pretty cool, huh?

I’m outies like a belly button.