Various and sundry happy things: math, Korean food, apples, ice cream, pickles, et cetera

[vom_marlowe]

I never got to learn much math, because I went to a wretched highschool and never took math in college.  I find it interesting and relaxing so I sometimes pick up teach yourself math books.  I worked through Headfirst Algebra (interesting, but not great), for instance.  When telophase posted about the Teaching Company's big sale on classes, I looked at some of the most popular ones and found a really neat looking class called The Secrets of Mental Math.  All about learning how to do math in your head!  I'm super excited.  I've downloaded the first couple of videos and gotten myself all psyched up.  I can do it!  (Or maybe not, but I aim to try.)

I also splurged and got myself a course on the great pharoahs of Egypt, who I've always always wanted to learn about.  That one I got the DVD for.  Wheeee!

This weekend Autumn came in and slammed down her fist.  It was hot (103) on Friday and on Saturday, we'd climbed up past 95 and then the storm arrived, right on time, and the temp careened down twenty degrees like Nature had switched a dial.  Loud thunder, huge lightening, crashing buckets of rain.  Dramatic.  Evening temperatures stopped being 76 and started being 59.  *love*

I went out with B to a new to us Korean place.  It's called Sobahn.  She got the galbi and I had kimchee stew.  Their rice was OK, but not great.  The rice at Choga is better.  More fragrant, better texture.  The kimchee stew was good but not as spicy as I expected; I mean, it was kind of spicy, but it wasn't really spicy, which I thought was odd.  B's galbi was tasty, but she said Choga's is better.  We both liked some of the banchan, but weren't wowed by it.  Their zucchini was nice, but I make that at home, and I found their radish and cabbage kimchee kind of bland.  The tofu had too much fish sauce for my allergies, but B liked it.  Neither of us ate much of the other ones and the portions were really tiny.  I mean, maybe two bites total. On the other hand, they had actual decor, fancy plates, metal chopsticks, and so on.  Their service was incredibly slow, but pleasant.  I think Sobahn is a place to take my brother or other visiting relatives; Choga is a bit more hole-in-the wall, but their food is so homey and delicious and their staff is so sweet, I love it to bits and I think B and I will flee back there toot sweet, as they say.  

And now for the apples.  I have been researching apples so that I can order some for my back yard.  It's very complicated, but I love it.  So far I've decided to focus on heirloom varieties.  My climate is more Southern than it is Northern, so those are the apples I'm concentrating on.  I've decided to get a Cox variety, probably St Cecilia for the longevity, and definitely an Arkansas Black.  

Has anyone had any other fine old apples they'd like to recommend?  Especially of the Southern character, like Staymans or Wolf River?

Also also, I have not updated any further ice cream adventures because I have become briefly obsessed with the banana and then got distracted when mom made homemade gingerbread in honor of fall. 

But I did make a crock of dill pickles for the first time, as well as three jars of mixed bean and pepper pickles.  I'm quite excited about the dills.  They smell exquisite.  I used a pickling spice of my own devising and used oak leaves, as suggested, to keep crunch.  They've begun to bubble and show action.  We have fermentation!  I always feel so connected when I put up food.  My family has been doing this for many generations and I feel like my feet are more and more grounded into the dirt as I walk about. 

The jarred frig pickles are a disappointment so far.  I don't think the recipe is good (not dangerous, but not accurate either) despite being written by a canning book author.  I won't link until I'm done deciding, pro or con.  *frowns*  I had high hopes for the flavor, too.  Grrr.  Still, it's cooking science and I do love that.  

So, how about y'all?  Any good produce your way?  New books?  Favorite apples?

Comments

[yhlee]

I hope the mental math is fun for you! There are all sorts of cool, neat tricks that are not hard to pick up, and that reinject a sense of fun into the whole deal. :-) I'm not good at mental math myself (I am sometimes better at PROVING the tricks work than USING them) but I wish I'd had classes that emphasized it more.

[vom_marlowe]

I didn't get taught that adding and multiplying went together until I was an adult, teaching myself accounting (which I found really soothing and satisfying, actually). My schools were big into the rote memorization approach, and that's just so boooooring. Important I'm sure, but jeez was it dull. I can't wait to get started with this class. I've finally finished downloading a couple episodes. I promise to Report Back how they go. I'm hoping it will include new and fun ways of thinking about how the numbers dance together.

[yhlee]

I didn't get taught that adding and multiplying went together

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I don't...I don't even have words. :-( This supports my deep feeling that it is way more important to get the foundations right (elementary school math) than it is to get trig right; it's much easier to recover from damage done late than damage done at the foundational level, IMO.

But have fun with the episodes! They sound very cool.

[vom_marlowe]

Once I had the multiplying/adding and subtracting/dividing thing figured out, everything made so much more sense. I don't know why my schools were so backwards and bad, but they sure were. I figured out more about math doing cooking (doubling or halving recipes) than I did in class, which is just sad.

But now I get to play and learn new stuff.

[yhlee]

One of my math classes in grade school had us pick a recipe, then change the proportions to make enough for the entire class, and then we had a feast. This made me realize that fractions were actually good for something. (I had up to that point had zero involvement with the kitchen.) Fun times. :-)