That’s true, it’s just that they use savory as a descriptor, when I found the end result to be more dessert than main.

They’ve got a version that uses onions and much less sugar, so maybe I’ll try a mix of onions and cabbage to get that caramelization. Or just apply the sugar as a glaze on the bottom before the bake, so that it’s a layer of sweetness, and not sweet throughout.

Hey no aesthetic shaming my food! #notyourplatingstandards

Greg Alder’s Yard Posts is a guy who posts every Friday about growing food in southern California. His climate is pretty similar to mine and his advice was a huge help when I was figuring out the timing for growing a garden. He’s also super knowledgeable when it comes to growing avocados, if that’s your thing.

I’m a geologist, but not the fun kind that gets to look at actual rocks.

I do environmental and some geotechnical work, which pretty much boils down to “Is the dirt poisoned?” and “How hard do I have to squish the dirt to make the future building not fall down?” There’s few things to get excited about, but it’s steady work and pays the bills.

I’ve come to learn your brain is really good at subconscious processing of things that don’t quite make it to conscious awareness. Some part of your brain saw the cop and the deer and was trying to alert the rest of you.

I had that happen once when I was out hiking alone doing geology research. I reached this area of the woods and was suddenly overwhelmed by this feeling of TIME TO LEAVE. I tried arguing with myself that there was still enough daylight to check out an outcrop I could see in the distance, but the feeling got so powerful, I finally gave in and called it quits for the day.

I realized while walking out, that with all the little noises of the quail and other animals I’d been hearing all day, that spot in the woods had been silent. The next time I visited the area (and not alone this time), I found a cave right behind where I’d been standing, with fresh mountain lion tracks. Who knows, some part of me might have seen a mountain lion in that cave and was doing everything it could to tell me to get the fuck away!

My fiance and I eat out about once a week, and we often choose local places where we know we’ll get 4 meals off of a $15 platter of food. It’s certainly not as cheap as cooking at home, but sometimes you want a giant pile of orange chicken, and not the bother of prep/cleanup.

It’s pretty depressing, but the fact that soil and groundwater are almost certainly contaminated anywhere that humans have touched. I’ve seen all kinds of places from gas stations, to dry cleaners, to mines, to fire stations, to military bases, to schools, to hydroelectric plants, the list could go on, and every last one of them had poison in the ground.

I have a top loaded Samsung washer, and just replaced its four spring rods, which really helped with the shaking and bouncing issues.