I Voted for Myself

I voted for myself yesterday. 

It felt great. 

I remember reading research that it takes five asks before women consider running for office. 

Count this as your first ask. 

Learn more at She Should Run. 

My Dog Wants You to Check Out this Book!

 His favorite chapter is the one about dogs. What's your favorite chapter?

Get a copy of Animal Allies: 15 Amazing Women in Wildlife Research today! 

It's Book Festival Time!

I'll be at very first ever 

Greater Pittsburgh Festival of Books 

on May 14, 2022! 

Will you be there?

The Double Rainbow

 We drove four hours for the soccer tournament but the thunderstorm followed us. It rolled in from the west and lightning sparked across the darkened sky. 

We sat in the car trying to keep our hopes up. 

As we waited for a decision, there was a commotion in the parking lot. The rain was gone but everyone was out of their vehicles exclaiming and taking photos. 

It was a full double. 

We were in awe. 

Later, they canceled the game. 

I made Carrageen Pudding

I'm working on a story set in Ireland, and I wanted to include a really unusual Irish dessert. I settled on Carrageen pudding, because my story is set near the sea. My mother-in-law used to eat this when she was young. She didn't love it. 

But I decided to give a it a try. 

First, I ordered the seaweed from Ireland. It smelled like tea when I opened the bag. 

I gathered the ingredients. 

This is the part where I steeped the seaweed in the half and half, sugar, and vanilla. It was too hard to take a photo of the next part, but I basically pressed the jelly from the seaweed through a sieve back into the milk mixture. The jelly helps the milk set so it becomes more of a panacotta. I think I could have gotten out more jelly when I try again. 

There's also a step where you whip an egg white into a foam and fold it in. I could do better folding next time, too. 
 

I let it set overnight and whipped up a quick coulis, but I added strawberries to offset too much raspberry flavor. I'm not a big raspberry fan. 

Honestly, the plain pudding was just that: plain. It needs the fruit to give it any kind of flavor. It has a smooth pudding texture but other than that it was forgettable. There is no seaweed odor or taste at all. Apparently the jelly from the seaweed is fairly healthy. It is, from what I've read, very different from the highly processed carrageenan. 

Overall, not a thrilling dessert and not a terrible dessert. I think there's room for some modifications. But if it's as healthy as they say, it might be worth another go. 

Do you believe in coincidences?

 Yesterday I solved the Birdle in three guesses. I’m putting the answer here because it can’t ruin your Birdle today! 

Birdle is a game for guessing the four letter bird banding code of North American bird species. 

When I realized  that yesterday’s code was fox sparrow, I knew that despite the rain I would try and find them. People have been seeing two fox sparrows in brush on a nearby trail. 

I was patient. I was calm. And I saw them both yesterday!! 

Coincidence? Or just good birding? 

The old bookstore in New York City

 

We went to this old bookstore in New York City and it was overwhelming. They had several floors of books, some were even kept in a temperature and humidity controlled room. I am on the lookout for a very old book by Mabel Osgood, but they didn't have it here. Still, I enjoyed browsing the aisles and even got to climb a ladder to reach a book from the top shelf. 

I think about how these old books got here and who owned them. Some had inscriptions, "To so-and-so, from Mother." Was it the book that person always wanted? 

Have they all been read, or just passed from person to person? Is it the kind of book you flip through? Is there one book that everyone who owned it thinks, "One day, when I have the time, I'll read this book" but it's never happened?