I eat Noxious Weeds and Briny Eggs

Comfort Food in Abilene

I started getting sick of just lettuce, tomatoes, green beans, bell peppers and celery quite a while back. I know there's more variety in the average American grocery store than that when it comes to vegetables, but somehow, to me, it just doesn't come close to the variety of green leafy vegetables in the tropics, that I've come to miss so much.

So, whenever our Filipino Food Store here in Abilene has some "kangkung" or "ong choy" or ( as david calls it, in some comprehensible English sounding word ) "water spinach" , I almost break out in song right there in the store.

Apparently, though, it's quite the pesky plant here in the States...

It is most commonly grown in East and Southeast Asia. Because it flourishes naturally in waterways and does not require much if any care, it is used extensively in Malay and Chinese cuisine, especially in rural or kampung (village) areas. It is not to be mistaken with watercress, which often grows in similar situations.

It has also been introduced to United States of America where its high growth rate caused it to become an environmental problem, especially in Florida and Texas. It has been officially designated by the USDA as a "noxious weed." Despite this ominous label, the plant is not in any way harmful when consumed ("noxious" is a legal term denoting harmful, in this case, to native plants). In fact, the plant is similar to spinach in its nutritional benefits.

source: Wikipedia.com

Well, David liked it though, when I cooked it for dinner some time back.

Also, I found something I had not had in a while - other than when my brother sends me Moon Cakes ( we'll save the mooncake talk for another day ) from Virginia, ( thanks, sweetie! )

Salted Duck Eggs!

It was weird to see them individually shrink wrapped in a styrofoam box, though. Oh well, I'll take what I can get!

What I've been up to

Fiddling with Blog Templates and HTML, that's what.

Tammi is a dear friend, a sweet sweet lady, and fellow blogger whom I've known for a while now, and it all started with helping ( hey, i'm a complete amateur ) her retrieve her blogger comments after she installed her Haloscan comment system and the blogger comments "disappeared", which then turned into a blog overhaul ( lol, HER words ), which I enjoyed so much, nerd geek that I am :)

Old Blogger Template




Yay, the New Template

Just go over and say hello to her, she'll be absolutely THRILLED!

BTW have you upgraded to firefox 2 yet?!

Mini Fall Vacation

David and I escaped ....

to the Mountains earlier this week for a short vacation, and I added New Mexico to the list of American states I'd been to/passed through, making a grand total of 25.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park and Carlsbad Caverns

November 1st 2006: Guadalupe Mountains National Park

Devil's Hall Trail 4.2 miles round trip

McKittrick Canyon Trail 4.8 miles round-trip to Pratt Lodge

November 2nd 2006: Carlsbad Canyon, New Mexico

Elevation Above Sea Level - 4408
Cavern Floor - 3652

More Pictures in future posts..

An Extra Hour of Sleep...

Before Church Today

I had just about gotten used to it getting darker, earlier and earlier in the day.

And now, with Daylight Saving Time, and the days getting shorter, and nights longer, the sun will rise even later, and the sun will set earlier and earlier.

So...What's the big deal?

It was all very simple when I lived just 1 degree above the equator - the length of day varied only VERY slightly from 12 hours all year round, i.e. on any given day, the number of hours of daylight would equal the number of hours of night time, just about.

i.e. No Daylight Saving Time, almost no difference in the time the sun rises or sets all year round, no remembering to "spring forward" or "fall back".

Click HERE for a cool interactive thingy on the length of day and night in a year around the world.

Daylight saving time (DST), also known as summer time, is a widely used system of adjusting the official local time forward, usually by one hour from its official standard time, for the spring, summer, and early autumn periods. DST is most commonly used in temperate regions, due to the considerable variation in the amount of daylight versus darkness across the seasons in those regions.

Letti : Oh, we have to remember to change the clocks tonight
David : Yeah, the clocks gotta fall back

Letti : Which means? ( I still can't remember if we lose an hour or gain an hour )

David :Arent the words"falling back" pretty obvious?

*10 second pause*

Letti : So does falling back mean an hour earlier or an hour later?
David : *rolls eyes*
Letti : Hey, I come from a country that has just ONE time zone and NO worrying about springings and fallings of any shape, size or form.
David : .......
Letti : Grrr.

Incidentally, Arizona (except some Indian Reservations), Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa have chosen not to observe Daylight Saving Time.

This choice does make sense for the areas closer to the equator because the days are more consistent in length throughout the year. ( Indiana joined the rest of the US in observing DST this year )

Beginning in 2007, for the US, DST will start the second Sunday of March and end on the first Sunday of November.

Selamat Hari Raya

To all my Muslim friends

Selamat Hari Raya and Happy Eid Mubarak