Just Good Food: Sandwiches

Intersections 

I seldom go a day without eating, taking a photograph, or posting my PaD. It should not be a surprise that there may be an intersection, or overlap, of these activities; nor that this may seep into my blogging. So, it looks like that I will probably devote much of this month to what I am calling good food; starting with sandwiches. 

When it comes to a sandwich I am pretty much a structure purist: A sandwich must consistent of two pieces of bread/baked product, with fillings in between. Thus a wrap or a burrito is not a sandwich. An exception may be made for a sub or hoagie (not necessarily two separate pieces), but not for a hotdog. My definition would allow for a hamburger to be a sandwich, but I think that it needs to be called something different so as not to be confused with a ham sandwich.

My favorite sandwich is a BLT. Oddly, I don't have a decent photo of one. I guess that I scarf them down too quickly. 

All writing and images ©Cliff Hutson unless expressly noted. Do not use without permission.

A Blast from the Past

 Today's blog is brought to you by the letter "B":

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Photographic Dictionary




It is still fun to see my work used by other people.

A Record of My Living

 June 26 - Through the Years:

I write this blog for my own  amusement. Which is fine as sometimes it seems that I am the only one who reads it. Even so, some weeks it is difficult to come up with a topic that would be of interest even to me. This was going to be one of those. Then I recalled something I wrote not too far back - "My photography is a record of my living, for anyone who really sees."

So, I decided to see what the record was for the date of June 26, relying on the years I was working on Photo a Day (PaD) projects. 

2005

Toy Loan: photo by Cliff Hutson

My wife and I had a house full of pets in 2005. One afternoon, Buster (a Samoyed), for reasons known only to himself, walked over and dropped his bear so Pumpkin could nap with it. The cat, having already appreciated the Orvis dog bed, did not do anything to show his appreciation for the loan of the toy.

2006

World Cup: photo by Cliff Hutson

It seems that I was watching as much of the FIFA 2006 World Cup as I could.

2009

Korean Omelet: photo by Cliff Hutson

There was a sandwich place called "The Tummy Stuffer" within walking distance of where I was headquartered in 2009. The posted menu featured 26 sandwiches (counting burritos). However, there was also a secret menu and one afternoon the owner said I could try this omelet. It was delicious. 

2010

Pepper Tree Litter: photo by Cliff Hutson

The year 2010 was my first full year of retirement and several days a week my terrier-mix Holly and I would take walks along the Thomson Creek Trail. I usually had a camera with me and would photograph anything that caught my eye. This day it what had fallen to the ground underneath a California pepper tree (Schinus molle). 

A Diet to Stay Healthy and Happy?

What should we eat?

Healthy Salad: photo by Cliff Hutson

Many experts suggest that a Mediterranean-style diet made up of fruits, vegetables, extra-virgin olive oil, yogurt and cheese, nuts, whole grains, seafood and lean red meat, and the elimination of fried and processed foods is best for us. That diet provides the nutrition our brain needs and supports good bacteria in the gut.

Other Suggestions:

Some nutrients are particularly helpful. Here are some examples, and which foods supply them.

Vitamin B6: An ingredient needed to produce serotonin, the main neurotransmitter that regulates mood and sleep. Too little serotonin is associated with depression. We need Vitamin B6 every day from our diet.

Sources: Pistachios. Garlic. Salmon and tuna. Chicken. Spinach. Cabbage. Bananas. Sweet potatoes. Avocados. Whole grains.

DHA: The main omega-3 fat in the brain. It promotes production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a hormone that protects neurons and promotes the birth of new brain cells.

Sources: Wild salmon. Oysters. Anchovies. Mackerel. Mussels.

Prebiotics: Foods that the good microbes in our gut need to stay alive.

Sources: Onions. Asparagus. Artichokes. Garlic. Bananas. Oats.

Probiotics: Live bacteria and yeasts that replenish the good bacteria in our microbiome.

Sources: Yogurt. Sauerkraut. Kefir. Kimchi or other fermented vegetables, such as turnips, cucumbers or carrots.

However, at bottom, the most important thing we can do is to focus on the overall quality of what we eat, rather than single nutrients or foods. Try to include more nutrient-dense foods such as vegetables, fruits, legumes and lean proteins. Limit foods that offer lots of calories but little nutritional value.

Looking Backwards

From the Heath: photo by Cliff Hutson

The end of the year is an excellent time for most of us to take stock of the things we have done over the past twelve months. One can look back and ask some hard questions. Did you grow and learn important truths about life, and who you are? Did you take meaningful steps toward accomplishing your hopes and dreams?

One of my aspirations for 2018 was to post to this blog every other Wednesday, and, with this entry, have achieved it.

'Why do such a thing?', the astute reader may very well ask. It could be said that this blog is, in a sense, my gift to you the reader. It is a gift of my talent and my dedication. But, the truth is that i do it to amuse myself, and to keep my mind occupied.

I began this endeavor in 2007. The early years were quite spotty. And, during 2010 - 2014 most of my writing was devoted to "Rambles with Holly"; probably the stronger of these efforts.  As I write this, I see that the page views for the all time history of "Pictures and Words" are only 25,732. Not a heck of a lot, and there is only one follower. Still, it has been fun.

Many musings of this sort include a "top list" of some sort. I am going to do five. This might make an interesting Venn diagram as there is a strong correlation between what I feel was some of my best writing garnered some of the most views.

The Top 5 of 2018:

“Eating Well”

“Long Haul Dining”

“a·nal·o·gy”

“Reading Log 2017 (Plus Robots)”

“Southern Greens”

They are all about food or books. I wonder what that says about me?

Food Photography: photo by Cliff Hutson

Drawing a Blank

This Page

Blank Pages: photo by Cliff Hutson

One of the things that I have long found to be mildly annoying is coming upon a page in a publication that bears the imprint, "This page intentionally left blank." Because, of course it isn't. 

Aunt Dagmar

Then again, I have always taken to heart Aunt Dagmar's admonition, "If you don't have something to say, there is no need to open your mouth and prove it."

Tonight finds me up against my self-imposed deadline for publishing this blog and I am  pretty much clueless as to any vaguely interesting (even to just me) topic. So, I should stop right here with my own version of a page intentionally left blank.

Shakespeare 

"The rest is silence."  -  The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act V

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I've Got Nothing

Blank Mind, Blank Pages

Blank Pages: photo by Cliff Hutson

Sometimes, I like to think of myself as a photographer who writes, and at the beginning of the year made a commitment to dial back on the photography and concentrate more on the writing. This commitment was to be made concrete by writing 52 posts for this blog, one every Wednesday in 2016.

This was supposed to be intellectually challenging, good for my mental health, and perhaps, make me a better writer. I knew I had the time, as with few exceptions, can set my own schedule. What I did not anticipate was that there would come a week where I really could not hit upon a topic that I found compelling enough to foist on my readers. 

Writer’s Block

Could this be writer’s block? My brief research in this topic pointed out that one coping strategy is to write something even if it makes no sense. It does not say that output should be published as I am doing. But, I need to keep my streak going.

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Fun with Words

Wordle

Sometimes Wordle works for me. Sometimes it don't. This example was generated from a very small sampling of my Plant of the Month articles.

Wordle is a tool for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. It should also work from a RSS feed, but that was not cutting it for me tonight. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. And, it proves out that when one writes about the native plants of California, the name of the state will be very eminent.

You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to your own desktop to use as you wish.

The Books I Read in 2014

The idea for a monthly photographic record of what books I read was inspired by the work of David Allen, a columnist for my local paper. But, it did not hit me until I was well into February and by then January was lost in the fog of time.  Therefore, this starts with the books I use all year long either on my rambles or as a resource for the "Plant of the Month" article I write for the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden publication Oak Notes.

I also decided, taking a page from Kenton Nelson, not to describe each book. The reader of this blog can decide what to think about me or my choices. 

Reference

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

B is for . . .

Today's blog is brought to you by the letter "B":

Photographic Dictionary

Resolutions

I am sure that many of us take a moment or two on New Year's Day to reflect upon the past year and to ponder what's to come in this one. And, of course, it is also a time of resolutions.

My resolution record for 2013 was not so great, abysmal even. I had only a 41.07% completion rate. While .411 would be incredible for a MLB player, it is not so good in real life where one really needs to accomplish some goals to keep moving ahead. Hopefully, 2014 will be better.



It got off to a good start. I got up, exercised, took the dog for her first walk of the year, came home, and cooked a healthy brunch. But, it is always easy at the beginning. The trick is to keep slogging away as the days drag past.

Many others had similar plans about walking, hiking, and biking. The parking lot for the trailhead was  full and the overflow lot was half full. I will bet that by the end of February we won't see that again.

Anyway, here is to new beginnings, and regular updates to this blog.

Walking the Dog

Walking the Dog
Originally uploaded by The Marmot

Even the most casual of observers can see that I do not update this blog on a regular basis. So, working on the theory that not posting to two blogs is as easy as not posting to one I have started "Rambles With Holly" at http://rambleswithholly.blogspot.com/

The “ramble” is a classic form of nature writing marked by a “perfect balance” between the natural history and the presence of the author. John Burroughs and Annie Dillard as being good examples of this craft.

Please check it out if you have some time.

The Cute Cat Theory of Digital Activism

From ETech to Where 2.0: Disaster Tech and Activist Mapping - O'Reilly Radar

Part of my interest in the internet and blogging is they way that they can be used to reach people for a variety of reasons. I blog, mostly, for the fun of it, but I fascinated by the concept of public journalism.

A story from the Center for Social Media had this to say about public media: “Over at the O’Reilly Radar site, Where 2.0 conference chair Brady Forest reports on an interesting principle that Ethan Zuckerman of Global Voices is proposing, called the “cute cat theory of activism.” Basically, the more people who use a platform to post content about their charming pets, the less likely it is to be shut down. So if you like public media, start snapping those LOLcats shots!”

The basic theory is that ‘every time you force a government to block a web 2.0 site - cutting off people’s access to cute cats - you spend political capital’. The job of online advocates is to raise that cost of censorship as high as possible.

If I am about anything, I am about cute cats. So if any body needs to borrow some photos, you can find them here and here.

A Challenge

Gentle Reader (if indeed there is one of you):

Blogging is a challenge for me. Part of it is I seldom know if anyone is actually reading it. Pearls Before Swine is one of my favorite comics. Sometime back Rat suggested to Goat that more people would read Goat's blog if he posted it on the refrigerator door instead of the internet.

That is probably the case with me as well. I have no one but myself to blame. My content is really nothing to write home about and, in any event, it has no focus. I chalk this to the fact that I have not found my voice, if I have one. So far I have just written what ever comes in to my head as I see some Monday, Wednesday, or Friday start to slip away without a posting.

Today is one of those days. It was a day off from work, but I tried to get around to some of the chores I have been putting off or waiting to around to it. Well one of those literally blew up in my face. So after I scheduled an electrician to come and set things tomorrow, I ended up running errands with Susan, my wife. So tonight I am rather zonked.

Ergo, I am faced with a dilemma post something that lacks any depth or substance, or not post anything - forgoing my three times a week schedule. Obviously, I went with the first option. I made this choice as I know that regular posting is one of the things that attract readership. If I broke my sting today it will be easier to do it in the future. I want to better with this blog than I did on my first and second attempts.

Thus, in a small way, I have faced this challenge for today. Now, I offer you a different one: