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Reader Appreciation Week: Day Three
- Q. What's with the new tagline, "May Contain Peanuts?" - Adam, California
Some folks have very bad allergic reactions to peanuts. There is some proposed legislation for labeling and some manufacturers have already started doing so. However, as someone who reads a lot of food labels, I've seen too many cases of the disclaimer may contain peanuts on foods that I would have never expected -- especially because peanuts are not listed on the ingredients label. (I know this seems bizarre, but consider that Safeway recalled chocolate ice cream because some of it had peanuts in it. Peanuts.)
I would infer that either 1) companies are aggressively using this labeling as a means of limiting liability -- for the symptoms of peanut allergy can be quite bad -- or 2) food quality control is far worse than you'd expect. Change "peanuts" to "roach droppings" for more of an impact.
So, I'm poking fun at corporate 'merica's useless efforts.
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Q. Can you tell me where I can find a good [vegan] pizza recipe and dessert recipe? - Jen
Jen and I exchanged some emails, and she said cheese is okay in moderate amounts, which is not truly vegan but makes this a lot easier. I have some upcoming experiments (2 month timeframe) where I want to do a cheeseless pizza.
In the meantime, here's a Pizza recipe and photos. The pizza's a bit cheese happy.
For the dessert, I'm going to be experimenting with a fig cake, substituting flax meal for the eggs. I'll post that when I've had a chance to tinker with it. There's a fig bread I buy at PCC that's delightful and would be even simpler.
- Q. What's the coolest thing about the King County Library System? -- Laura, WA
I couldn't function without their web catalog and holds. Find a book, put it in the queue, pick up whatever's come in on Thursday. Easy and convenient.
- Q. If money/time were no object, what is your travel fantasy? - Rose, CA
Q. What is your lotto fantasy? - Vicky, WA
Travel is part of my lotto fantasy. I find it useful to break out the lottery fantasy into short-term and long term.
Short Term - Like everyone else, I'd get the spending binge out of my system. I'd buy new bed sheets. I'd put a new roof on the house and hire someone else to deal with the friggin carpenter ants for a change. I'd take the minivan in for an oil change. I'd like to spend more time in New Zealand,
seeing the other 80% that I didn't last time and Australia, seeing the other 99.5%, perhaps even dropping in on Steve and Rachael.
I'd love to solve the "retirement problem" and have the extended families move out here. (Lack of proximity to family is a big concern.)
Long Term - I'd become the perpetual student. I know, big stretch.
There are too many different things I'd love to understand more. A brief list:
- Foreign languages - I'm chagrined that I'm not fluent in anything other than English. Sure, I can sorta read Spanish, but I can follow only 10% of Univision and I speak at a "mi lápiz es amarillo" level. Spanish would be first, then French and Japanese. From there, I don't know.
- Learn a musical instrument. Big, big goal. I play the guitar like I speak Spanish, which is to say, I know "Stairway to Heaven." Guitar would be the first one I'd work on. Then I might try a wind instrument like the flute or sax.
- Chemistry - It's ironic I went into college thinking I wanted to be a chemistry major. I was good at it, too, but interest was squashed by the horrible undergraduate courses. I'm not so much interested in being a lab chemist as I am in understanding the interactions of food additives and basics of molecular biology.
- Cooking school - it would be fun to go through the training to be as
adept at chopping vegetables. The job itself sounds quite brutal, and I couldn't make the same thing 6,000 times in a row without getting punchy and varying the
recipe. ("Hey, let's put Pop Rocks in the cookie dough!")
- Woodworking, Metalworking - the "shop" class I had in high school was kind
of fun, but mostly a survey.
- Teaching certificate - I've been homeschooling in math. Although my daughter enjoys it, I'd like to feel more competent at the job.
If it were a really big lottery, I'd meddle in local politics.
- Q. What is your favorite color? - Chris, Tampa, FL
It depends on the context. Clothing: I have a lot of blue jeans and olive green non-T-shirts. When I'm biking, it's black shorts and a purple jersey. Cars -- I love the burnt orange color of the 2002(?) Mazda Miatas. In the house, I like the peach color I put in the living room. My favorite tree in the back yard is a dark red cherry tree.
Fair: 59° F, wind 170°@ 8 mph, visibility 10 mi, 77% humidity
Got a comment? Is something broken? Email me at 
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I appreciate and read every email, but I'm so deluged, that I can no longer respond personally. Please don't be offended.
deformity-laggardly
