a highly-developed sense of taste and smell

From Mark and Heather's World

I used to think I was the unlucky one, not having the sophisticated palate or finely-honed sense of smell that my wife has. When she eats something she can discern subtle tastes. Sometimes I don't even know what she's referring to. "Cardamom? Isn't that the kind of sweater Mr. Rogers used to wear?" She can taste something and tell you several of the ingredients... "That thyme really pops. And the basil rounds it out nicely, especially with just a hint of saffron. Don't you agree?" "Huh? Ohhhh, yeah.... absolutely. I can really taste it." All the while I'm thinking, "Tastes like chicken."

"Do you SMELL that?!?!?!," she'll say. I inconspicuously sniff my armpits to see if she's talking about me. "Oh my gosh!" I respond. "How could I not??" Then I glance around to see if perhaps a garbage truck lost control and crashed into a sewage pipe. When I don't see anything, I remain silent, waiting.... "That perfume was AWFUL." "I comPLETELY agree. How can she put on that crap?.... Oh, right. I meant him, not her. Did I say her?"

Yeah, I was pretty jealous. She's so LUCKY. However....

I've changed my mind.

You see, there are a lot of BAD smells out there. In fact, I think there are probably more bad smells than good - and I'm not even counting the ones I produce (some of which I'm very proud). If you think about how many smells there are in the world, it seems as if a person with a strong sense of smell would be incapacitated a lot of the time. Why, if it were me I wouldn't be able to take out the trash, bathe my dog, check to see if the milk is spoiled, or sleep in the same bed as me. Come to think of it, the old tried-and-true method of checking to see if a pair of underwear is dirty wouldn't work, either. Or maybe that's just a guy thing.

It must be very difficult to go through life being able to smell slight nuances in rotting fruit, for example. "No bad smells" was actually a strong factor in her consideration of professions.

Yeah, it must be nice to be able to truly smell and taste things, and thus be able to really appreciate the flavors, but I guess I'm pretty happy being semi-anosmic.

gingerbread crackhouse

It's Christmastime, and you know what THAT means? Right! It's time to make the Gingerbread Crackhouse!!

It started a few years ago when my nieces came to visit us one Christmas. You remember them? The juvenile delinquents who used magnetic poetry to create truly... ummm.... "gritty" pieces of Frigidair Free Association? This Amana Art included such pieces of refrigerator rhyming as "The sordid drooling man with the enormous sausage," and "screaming with madness smear waxy purple blood on my raw ass." Yes, THOSE nieces.

So it shouldn't come as a surprise to you that the Gingerbread Crackhouse has been hugely anticipated by all three of them. (okay, and by us, too) In the weeks before we arrived in Texas, the ideas and plans had been blossoming. It was as if each of the Twelve Days of Christmas brought another idea about gingerbread man dismemberment, which food coloring might work best to give an appearance of blood, or the best way to create track marks on a cookie.

The ultimate results are quite impressive. Perhaps they'll let my nieces out of custody in time for next Christmas!

Note the dead body dumped in the dumpster.

From Mark and Heather's World

The actual crackhouse, complete with someone climbing onto the roof, prostitute outside the front door, and misspelling of the warning: "Tresspasors wills bee shoot."

From Mark and Heather's World

Pimp, with stylish cane (candy cane, that is)

From Mark and Heather's World

Things get a little out of hand....

From Mark and Heather's World

Prostitute with a black eye. The item in her left hand appears to be a small screwdriver, but in reality it's her heroin needle.

From Mark and Heather's World

Pimp Mobile

From Mark and Heather's World

Book Club: The Exception

This month we read The Exception by Christian Jungersen, a Danish author. It's a psychological/political thriller about four women who work the the Danish Center for Information on Genocide. Two of the women receive death threats by email, and they begin to suspect their co-workers. It's an interesting study of human capacity for both good and evil, with some interesting comparisons of office politics to full-scale genocides. I found it to be a compelling book, but not necessarily great literature. It made for a good discussion.

Mark on a Bike, AKA Heather's World

As you probably already know, Mark left yesterday for his bicycle trip from San Diego to Jacksonville. He's blogging about that trip at markonabike08.blogspot.com.

So, for a while, it's Heather's World, which is probably not going to be very newsworthy. I'm just busy getting settled in to my new job as a faculty physician at the University of Iowa and the Iowa City VA.

Simone's Plain and Simple

We've found a lot of great places to eat in Iowa City. However, Simone's Plain and Simple is quite different from the rest. To get there, you need to drive deep into Iowa farm country, which is not very far from where we live.

From Simone's

Simone Delaty is a French woman who has been living in the United States for many years. She is a retired professor who now spends much of her time during the warmer months cooking for others at her home, a ten-acre farm with spectacular views of the Iowa countryside. About once a month, she hosts a Table d'Hôte, where people can come and enjoy a delicious, family-style meal. Her table has been the subject of several magazine, TV, and radio articles, and is featured on the cover of the book A Cooks Journey: Slow Food in the Heartland by Kurt Friese.

From Simone's

Simone's home is comfortable and unassuming. It seems very French. We had a great time socializing and eating with several other groups of people. The menu of our evening is below. I'm sure this won't be our last visit to Simone's.

Effluves d’Automne’

Canapés et autres Amuse-gueules - Assorted Hors d’oeuvres.

‘Consommé aux tomates et à l’oseille’ - an exquisite icy cold Tomato and Sorrel Soup.

‘Coq au vin’’ - Galen’s Free Range Chicken baked in a wine sauce. Served with Grilled Potatoes and Braised Lettuce.

From Simone's

‘Salade de fenouil’ – Shaved Fennel Apple Salad with Fennel Purée and Mustard Seed Vinaigrette.

From Simone's

‘Plateau de fromages’ – an assortment of Cheeses.

‘Crème brûlée aux feuilles de pêcher’ – Peach Leaf Crème brûlée.

From Simone's

street sign

We saw a funny street name today. I wonder if Superman lives in the neighborhood?

Frisbee Golf

Rich is visiting this weekend and we wanted to find some fun, active things to do with him... so, we went Frisbee golfing today. We've played before - you just search around in your closet until you find an old Frisbee, dust it off, and walk outside. Then you pick an object within eyesight and state that it's going to be the first hole... a fire hydrant, a tree, whatever. Eighteen holes later you're done.

Things are different here. There are two, count'em TWO, professional Frisbee golf courses here. The "holes" look like this:

Each course winds it's way through the trees, around water traps, over hills and valleys, around clumps of trees. The course was really pretty.

Before starting, we drove over to Wal-Mart to buy a couple of Frisbees. We were SHOCKED when we saw the display. There are more than fifty kinds: drivers, putters, mid-range faders, experimental driver faders, an all-around disc. And they all looked different than a normal Frisbee. They were heavier and flatter. Of course, they cost more than a regular Frisbee. We were planning on buying a couple of cheap Frisbees and ended up spending $70.00 on discs.

That's okay, we're planning on being here for a long time and when you come to visit us you can play too!