Plants I'm Growing: Pluot "Dapple Dandy"

Prodded by a suddenly warm day, many buds on the "Dapple Dandy" pluot burst today. Last year, the flowers were hit by virtually constant rain during flowering. The result was almost no fruit following a bumper crop the preceding year. I don't know if the rain was really to blame or if the heavy fruiting of the year before was more the cause. In any case, I'm hoping that this year we'll be able to harvest something. The fruit is excellent when fully ripe--usually in mid-August.

"Dapple Dandy" bloomed on February 5 in 2009, for a fairly short year of 355 days.

Plants I'm Growing: Ribes Aurem (Golden Flowering Currant) 2010

The first flowers opened today on the large golden flowering currant bush by the beehive. Only a few buds have opened--prompted by a sudden wave of warmth; it was in the upper 60s here today. Soon the plant will be a mass of yellow. The bees love these flowers.

This plant bloomed on February 2 in 2009. So, a year according to Ribes aureum was 378 days--one of the longer years the plants in my garden have so far calculated.

Tidbits: The Truth About Socialized Health Care

No comment necessary. This says it all.

The Apparent Trap

Wines I'm Drinking: More Cheap Merlot from Grocery Outlet

I tasted two more cheap Merlots from Grocery Outlet last night, the 2005 Alamos Merlot from Mendoza in Argentina, and the 2007 Tilia Merlot, also from Mendoza. I recently tasted the 2005 and 2007 Merlots from Chile's Cousiño-Macul. To see the earlier reviews, use the search box above.

The 2007 Tilia Merlot was a deep blackish purple. The nose was rather closed, particularly at first, but it eventually offered hints of oak, something vaguely floral, and citrus scents; there was something that reminded me of the orange-vanilla popsicles I remember from my boyhood--always purchased outside, from a truck, in a hot summer street. On the palate, the wine was tart, light-bodied, and fairly short. It didn't have a lot of grip. There was very little tannin to speak of, just a slightly bitter finish suggestive of citrus rind--blood oranges perhaps. Nothing objectionable, but nothing special either. Fairly priced at $2.99 a bottle (Grocery Outlet offers an additional 10% discount for case purchases, including mixed cases), but this is not one I'd buy again. Probably best with fatty, meaty foods such as spare ribs or barbecue that do well with fairly acidic wines. This normally retails for $8-10 a bottle.

The 2005 Alamos Merlot was a more interesting wine. It was a deep plummy red tinged with brown--showing its age a little bit. It had an earthy, slightly oaky nose, but remained fairly closed. It was considerably more inviting on the palate, offering clean fruit sweetness, light tannins, and good acidity. The flavors were sufficiently concentrated to linger. Despite a somewhat austere, woody finish and light body, the wine came across as fresh and flavorful. Words like "neat" and "compact" kept coming to mind. With a little time, the palate opened out to reveal hints of cherries, plums, and something chocolatey, and ultimately the finish softened a bit too, becoming sweeter and less harsh. Not great wine, and I preferred the 2005 Cousiño-Macul Merlot reviewed elsewhere in these pages, but solid and a very good value at $2.99 a bottle. Sufficiently interesting to warrant having a few bottles around the house for informal occasions. This normally retails for $10-12 a bottle.

Birds I'm Watching: Bodega Bay

Did a little birding today. At the Bodega farm pond (about a mile east of the town of Bodega) I saw mostly canvasbacks (about 12) along with buffleheads, mallards, Canada geese, and turkey vultures overhead.

At Smith Bros. Rd., behind the Inn there, saw about 35 snowy egrets on the mud flats along with two great egrets. There were about 200 marbled godwits and about 30 willets. On the water there were buffleheads, a few greater scaup, Western grebes, about 300 brants, ruddy ducks, a few double-crested cormorants, Western gulls, a pied-billed grebe or two, one horned grebe, and a couple of female mergansers that looked like common mergansers but may have been red-breasted--they were quite far out.

At Porto Bodega, saw 12 coots, a couple of common mergansers, ring-billed gulls, common loons, a great blue heron, a ruddy turnstone, black turnstones, Western grebes, and both horned and eared grebes (these all fairly close in). Further out, saw surf scoters, a common goldeneye, more horned grebes, buffleheads, brants, and a red-breasted merganser drake.

At the north end of Bodega harbor, saw greater scaup, Western grebes, buffleheads, ruddy ducks, brants, horned grebes, eared grebes, and common loons.

At Campbell Cove, saw sanderlings, common loons, Western gulls, scrub jays, and a black phoebe. So, nothing startling, but there were certainly many, many brants, more loons than I'm used to seeing (probably saw about 12 different birds during the day), and many more grebes than usual. In at least two locations (Porto Bodega and the north end of the Harbor) there were groups of 10-30 birds, mostly eared grebes, with a few horned grebes thrown in--an excellent opportunity to compare the two in their confusing (to me, anyway) winter plumage.

The ruddy turnstone (pictured above) sat quite contently nearby on the pier at Porto Bodega. One of the loons also let me get close. Something is odd about the markings on his head. I wonder if this bird is the one I saw in about the same area during the summer struggling to get disentangled from a loop of fishing line?

Books I'm Reading: Black: The History of a Color

I've just finished reading Black: The History of a Color, by Michel Pastoureau (Princeton University Press, 2009), an English translation of a book published in French in 2008. I've had some experience reading French art criticism. It's sometimes been more mystifying than enlightening. Bad translation may have had something to do with it. I suspect, however, that a misguided, egotistical desire to appear erudite on the part of authors is mostly the root cause of problems I've had with French art historical writing in the past. Happily, this book appears to have been translated well--it reads quite naturally as English with one or two very minor exceptions--and it has something worthwhile to say in a style that is informative rather than aimed mostly at enhancing the reputation of the writer among his academic peers.

The book looks at the use and meanings of the color black throughout history from the perspective of religious art, heraldry, later secular art, and textiles and fashion--mostly in the Western world--, beginning with use of black at sites such as Lascaux, and then moving on to its use in ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt, in the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and in the modern era. Frequently the discussion dwells on whether black was considered a color at all and what its connotations were in different periods of history. The author pays particular attention to questions of whether black had negative associations in different historical contexts. There is much valuable information about the history of dyeing in different periods and the fashionability of the color black among the nobility and upper classes (and later the wealthy merchant class) of Europe.

Sections on the influence of Newton's Principia Mathematica, which effectively divorced both black and white from the class of colors, were useful, and I was pleased to see this author discuss the effect printing must have had on the human consciousness of color (at least in the West) as black and white illustrations became relatively widely available to the public and replaced the costly and scarce hand-colored illustrations that were the norm in earlier periods. It has always struck me that after the diffusion of moveable-type printing processes and before full-color printing, television, and the Internet, most people experienced art not immediately viewable in their vicinity in the form of black and white engravings, etchings, or woodcuts--which had to have had an impact on perceptions. I've long wondered whether Van Gogh's use of sharp, short, repeated strokes in his drawings (and to a lesser extent in the paintings) might not have been influenced by his exposure to engraved reproductions. This book does not address or answer that particular question, but it at least acknowledges that black and white reproductions and illustrations became pervasive and probably profoundly changed the way people thought about color, even if unconsciously.

Nicely printed and attractively illustrated throughout. While I wouldn't call this an easy read, it's likely to appeal to anyone with more than a casual interest in the history of art--the history of colors, in particular. Recommended.

I should also say that I love the painting on the cover. At first I took it to be a Georges de La Tour for the obvious reason--its excellent handling of a night scene lit dramatically by fire or candlelight--, but it turns out to be a painting by Etienne La Tour, son of Georges, a painter I was unaware of. You learn something new every day, as they say. It is The Discovery of the Body of Saint Alexis in the National Gallery of Ireland. It strikes me as wonderful, however, less for the lighting effect than for the expression on the torch bearer's face--its combination of no-nonsense determination and the slightly awestruck. Beautiful.

Having said that, it was chosen, no doubt, for the black clothing of Saint Alexis and its deep black background. Doing a little Internet browsing, I see that many sites attribute this painting to Georges de La Tour. I'll have to look into this and see who is right. The book reviewed here attributes it to Etienne de La Tour. I've sent an enquiry to the gallery. They should know.

Two other things about the painting puzzle me. Is that a young man or a young woman holding the torch? Have I just revealed my deep ignorance of stories about St. Alexis? Most certainly. And what is she doing with that piece of kelp? Hmmm....further research appears to be in order.

[Update: I got a reply from the National Gallery of Ireland. Apparently the painting was originally attributed to Georges de La Tour when it entered the collection in 1968. That attribution was disputed. Subsequently (by the early 1980s) it was attributed to Etienne La Tour but is now described as being "of the school of Georges de La Tour"--in other words, it is not considered to be by either. It is an attractive canvas nevertheless.]

[Further update: I got another reply. The gallery has corrected its earlier comment and said that it appears the official attribution at the moment is, in fact, Etienne La Tour. I'll let you know if that changes.]

Wines I'm Drinking: 2007 Cousiño-Macul Maipo Valley Merlot

I recently reviewed the 2005 Maipo Valley (Chile) Merlot from Cousiño-Macul in these pages, having picked up half a dozen bottles at our local Grocery Outlet. It was such a good value that I went back to buy a case yesterday but was disappointed to find the 2005 gone. I must have bought all there was. The store now has only the 2007. I bought a case anyway, assuming that it was unlikely to be overpriced at $2.99 a bottle, even if it was less interesting than the 2005.

I was right on both counts: It is a less interesting wine, but it's still a bargain.

The 2007 was noticeably thinner and less tinged with orange. It looked like the younger wine that it is. It had some of the herbaceousness of the 2005, but nothing like the pronounced sage scent of its older sibling. The nose was more floral, suggestive of pencil shavings, and altogether more distant. On the palate, the wine was light in body with delicate fruit sweetness and very light tannins. The general impression it gave was one of smoothness but it had no especially endearing characteristics. The mid-palate was a trifle weak, but the wine had fairly good length, with distant, lingering, slightly woody tannins on the finish. With time some cocoa hints developed. No rough edges. This wine is perfectly acceptable for everyday drinking, but it lacks the distinctive characteristics and depth of the 2005. Its somewhat austere, rather European flavor profile may not appeal to wine drinkers used to the up-front fruitiness of California wines. Still, this is a good value at $2.99 and I don't regret buying a case of it. If, however, your Grocery Outlet has the 2005, snap it up.

Music I'm Writing: String Quartet No. 5

It's been about a year now since I started writing music in earnest. I've decided I like composing; unlike most other art forms, you don't have to clean up after yourself.

Today I finished my fifth string quartet. If you care to hear it, you can download it from the link below (good until February 20). The file is about 26MB. Note that it's a dumbed down MP3 file and that the music is being played mechanically by a computer and synthesizer. I wonder what it would sound like performed by living musicians? Better, I hope. This is a first revision. There are likely to be more as I tweak it, but it's enough to get an idea of the sort of thing I'm doing.

Colin Talcroft String Quartet No. 5

Rain: Light Rain (February 10, 2010)

It's actually sunny today, although cold again--we had a light frost overnight and frost is expected again tonight; I haven't checked to see if the buds on the Aloe arborescens are intact--but we have had another 0.2 inches of rain since I last reported. That brings our 2009-2010 season precipitation total to 19.15 inches. More rain is predicted for this week. I guess it's better than all the snow that's fallen in places like washington D.C. Then again, when it snows that much, it's kind of fun. Sometimes I miss the snow.

[Update: Since writing the above, we have had another 0.35 inches of rain. That brings our total to 19.50 inches as of the afternoon of February 14. That is right in line with the average, but some local stations are reporting a couple inches more than us. In any case, the reservoirs are full again and we've already had as much rain as we had in the entire season last year, so we're way ahead.]

Wines I'm Drinking: 2005 Cousiño-Macul Maipo Valley Merlot

Grocery Outlet is an interesting place to buy wine. The selection is a bit bizarre--ranging all over the place and including wines that show up nowhere else (around here anyway)--and always changing. Odds and ends. That all makes sense. Grocery Outlet generally picks up leftover lots and older vintages (often a good thing) at deep discounts from wineries and distributors that need to clear storage space for newer products.

The prices can be ridiculous (ridiculously low, that is). I stopped in this morning returning from teaching a printmaking class at my son's school. Grocery Outlet (in Santa Rosa, at 1116 College Avenue, occupying the site of a former Safeway) just happens to be on my way.

My usual strategy is to buy a mix of cheap wines on speculation, try them all quickly, and then go back to stock up on the good values before they disappear. Today I bought 12 bottles, of which six were the 2005 Cousiño-Macul Maipo Valley Merlot (I was pretty confident this would be worth the price). I had intended to buy ten bottles, but the cashier pointed out there was a 10% discount on cases, even mixed cases. I was flabbergasted (I hadn't been aware of the case discount), so I went back for two more bottles. I couldn't help laughing. Not even Trader Joe's gives a 10% case discount on its inexpensive wines, arguing its prices are already heavily discounted, and rightly so--but, I wasn't going to complain.

The wine was a moderately deep garnet red--suggestive of its age. It had a distinctive nose--herbs and leather. After some thought, I was finally able to pin the herbaceous scent down to garden sage. A bit unusual, but the pungency was not at all unpleasant. Tasting the wine, I was immediately impressed. It was surprisingly elegant, with restrained flavors, but a very good balance of delicate, fine-grained tannins; lingering, fruity sweetness (just enough); and delicate acidity. Showing signs of maturity at five years, but still vibrant and fresh. Moderate to good length. With a little time and some air, the bouquet began to gain complexity. The wine became suggestive of black cherries, licorice, and earth. Not great wine, but excellent everyday wine--or better.

So, how much did I pay for it? $2.99 a bottle. Excuse me. It was $2.69 a bottle with the case discount. Needless to say, I'm going back for more. This is likely to become the house wine for the time being (until it's all consumed). Recommended. The 2005 Cousiño-Macul Merlot normally retails for $8.99-$12.99 a bottle--probably about $25 on a restaurant menu.

Food I'm Eating: The Great Yogurt Taste-off: Part III (The Yogurts--Continued)

I tasted four more vanilla yogurts today. If you want to know what prompted all this yogurt tasting, see the Introduction.

Voskos Greek Nonfat Vanilla Yogurt

($1.29 for a 5.3 oz. container, or $0.24 an ounce, 0% milkfat, 17 grams sugars, 45mg sodium)

Pale in color with a slightly runny appearance, but quite thick and creamy when stirred up. Nothing to stir up from the bottom. Vanilla specs throughout. Good vanilla scent, but also a sour yogurt scent. Good texture. Not tart but has a noticeable yogurt tang. Comes across as neither sweet nor sour. Moderate vanilla flavor. A compromise between the sweet and sour schools of yogurt making. Sweetened with cane sugar. Comparatively expensive, but among the better yogurts in the tasting, in my view.

Trader Joe's Organic Lowfat Vanilla Yogurt

($0.99 for a 6 oz. container, or $0.17 an ounce, 1.5% milkfat, 22 grams sugars, 75mg sodium)

Pale in color, but rich with vanilla specs. Not especially runny or thick--somewhere in the middle. Rather distant vanilla scent. Hints of yogurt sourness, but not very heavily scented, which doesn't prepare you for the rather full and decadent flavor. Sweet, creamy, rich. Strong vanilla flavor. This is on the sweet side, which usually isn't my preference, but I liked it. At 22 grams of sugar (cane sugar) this had less sugar than some of the yogurts I tasted (as much as 33 grams) but for some reason it tasted sweeter than some of the others. It may have something to do with the sodium levels, which, unfortunately, I didn't pay attention to in the first batch I compared. Sodium has ranged from 45mg to 110mg in the yogurts I have checked, putting this one in the middle of that range. While The Trader Joe's Organic Low-fat Vanilla lacks any discernible yogurt tartness, it was the tastiest of the sweeter examples. At $0.99 for a 6 oz. container, it is also in the middle of the range price-wise (the range of prices has been $0.40 to $2.39 for a 5-6 oz. container).  

Clover Organic Vanilla Bean Lowfat Yogurt

($1.18 for a 6 oz. container, or $0.18 an ounce, 1.5% milkfat, 16 grams sugars, 110mg sodium)

Solid rather than liquid. Pale, with no flecks of vanilla. Scents of both vanilla and yogurt. Thick, slightly cheesy graininess, but nice creamy texture when well stirred. Much less sweet than the others in this group, but not a lot of yogurt tang either and comparatively little vanilla flavor. Somehow this is tasty but doesn't have any especially notable characteristics. Good solid yogurt, but not a standout. Sweetened with cane sugar. 

Weight Watcher's Nonfat Vanilla Yogurt

($0.89 for a 6 oz. container, or $0.15 an ounce, 0% milkfat, 12 grams sugars, 110mg sodium)

This is the only yogurt I left unfinished. It had an odd and persistent saccharine-like aftertaste, although there are no artificial sweeteners in this. It is sweetened with crystalline fructose and inulin. Inulins, I see, are a group of polysaccharides that occur naturally in many plants. The inulin may have been the source of the taste. Otherwise, the WW yogurt was very pale and slightly gelatinous with nothing to stir up from the bottom. There was a pronounced vanilla scent. It was medium-thick when stirred. Very strongly flavored--giving a strong impression of sweetness, despite only 12 grams of sugar, but I suspect the inulin isn't included in that number. Any yogurt flavors there may have been were effectively masked by the sweetness.

[The Great Yogurt Taste-off Part IV (More yogurts)]

Places I'm visiting: Carson Falls, Fairfax (Marin County)

I took a walk today to Carson Falls in the hills above Fairfax, California, in Marin County. My father lived in Fairfax for fifteen years and I visited him there often but had no idea this place existed. From the top of the ridges there are grand vistas that take in much of San Francisco Bay, looking out toward San Quentin and the San Rafael-Richmond Bridge. The light was beautiful. It was nice just to be outside without getting rained on for a change. Access is by foot from a parking area off of Bolinas Rd.

Oh, if you're wondering about the falls, I had a very long lens on my camera (for birding). I wasn't able to photograph anything as close as the falls were, so I concentrated on the distant hills instead. As for birds, there were almost none--only a few Turkey Vultures, Crows, Ravens, California Towhees, Bushtits, and Scrub-jays.

Plants I'm growing: First blooms--Rhododendron "Noyo Dream," Higanzakura Flowering Cherry

Our first rhododendron began to bloom today, the bright red one called "Noyo Dream," planted under the bird feeder (it fades to pink). Last year this plant bloomed on February 25--so the flowers opening today seems very early indeed. A year as calculated by this plant was thus only 347 days--the first real deviation from around 365 days of any of the plants I've been tracking. Perhaps it has bloomed early because of all the rain we've had this--or maybe it bloomed late last year, retarded by the drought.

The Japanese Higanzakura (a flowering cherry) appears to have started to bloom on the 5th. That, too is considerably earlier than last year. The plant bloomed in 2009 on February 20; a year according to this plant was therefore 350 days. Both photos are of the plants last year. None of the blossoms are so fully open yet.

Miscellaneous: Interesting San Francisco Houses--Webster and Filbert

Two San Francisco architectural gems. The one with the red domes is about the oddest Queen Anne-style Victorian I've ever encountered. Corner of Webster and Filbert--an old friend; I've always liked this one especially. The section to the right of the picture appears to be a later addition. On the side of the building not pictured there is another tower with castle-like crenellations. Today the building is painted an unfortunate shade of lavender (hard to see in the picture), although that may suit its present use as a temple of some sort.

[Update: in early 2017, the temple was completely repainted and the exterior considerably renovated. It's even more attractive now. See a photo here.]

Found Art: San Francisco Drain Pipe

Another fine example of found art. I saw this stained and paint-spattered copper drainage pipe today at the Fort Mason Center, in San Francisco.

Art I'm Looking At: San Francisco Print Fair 2010

Went to the San Francisco Print Fair today at Fort Mason, an annual event at around this time of year--although often at the end of January (continuing tomorrow, Sunday, February 7, 2010; free admission). It always attracts very high caliber dealers. They come from all over the country--from places like New York, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Seattle, and, of course, the San Francisco Bay Area, including Santa Rosa (represented by our local fine art print dealers, The Annex Galleries, right here on College Avenue). Inevitably I fell in love with something I couldn't have, something beyond my means--at the moment at least; a mixed-technique piece (etching, aquatint, engraving) by Oakland artist David Kelso, with wonderfully subtle use of layered aquatint and etching. I enjoyed seeing the show nevertheless. I picked up a small contemporary woodcut by American artist Lockwood Dennis. Happily, the show did not coincide with the ZAP zinfandel tasting this year. There was actually a place to park--and no half-drunken wine tasters to deal with (not that I have anything against wine tasters, of course. it's just that there are always too many of them when ZAP and the print fair fall on the same day).

For you lovers of things on paper, the San Francisco Antiquarian Book, Print, and Paper Fair is also going on through Sunday, February 7.

Art I'm Looking At: Found Art on the Playground (February 5, 2010)

More found art from the playground of my son's school. Beautiful.

Plants I'm Growing: Daffodils

First blooms today on the yellow daffodils in the garden. Actually, just a single flower has opened. These bloomed on February 6th in 2009, so a year according to the daffodils was 364 days. It's remarkable how close to a calendar year each of the botanical years I've recorded so far has been. Who needs calendars?

Rain: Nearly an Inch Since Last Reporting (February 5, 2010)

Just to report that we have had 0.95 inches of rain since I last noted rainfall, bringing the total at my location to 18.95 inches for the 2009-2010 season. That's above the official average for February 5 in Santa Rosa (18.42 inches), but lower than the 21.59 inches that at least one local station has reported.

[Update as of February 7: We had another 0.65 inches over the weekend. Our total now stands at 19.6 inches.]

Food I'm Eating: The Great Yogurt Taste-off Part II (The Yogurts)

I tasted six vanilla yogurts today to kick off my yogurt comparison project. If you want to know what prompted this, see my previous post on the topic of yogurt--the Introduction.

There were a couple problems from the outset. First, I noticed on careful examination that some of the yogurts I've purchased so far are in fact nonfat yogurts--which underscores the difficulty in choosing yogurts from among the many confusing options. I've decided to include these because the difference in fat content is generally small and, well, the stuff has to be eaten. Second, I had no idea how to do a taste comparison. Do you judge yogurt like wine--using color, aroma, and flavor? I was pretty sure swirling the yogurt containers would be pointless, but decided that, yes, essentially yogurt tasting is like wine tasting. I looked at color, scent, flavor, and texture. Each review also gives information about sugar and milkfat content and price.

Lucerne (Safeway Brand) Low-fat Vanilla Yogurt
($0.40 for a 6 oz. container, or $0.07 an ounce, 1% milkfat, 33 grams sugars)

Very pale whitish color--rather like goat's milk cheese, but semi-transparent. Has a somewhat gelatinous look. Smells like yogurt--a slightly sour scent--and distantly of vanilla. Stirred, it began to look a little creamier. There was nothing to stir up from the bottom. Tastes very sweet with only a moderate vanilla character. Not at all unpleasant, but has no really outstanding characteristics. I did, however, prefer this to what turned out to be the Yoplait yogurt, and it is considerably less expensive. Sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup and sugar. Certainly the best value of any of the yogurts I sampled. This isn't my style, but, if you like it, there doesn't appear to be anything cheaper, and many more expensive yogurts were not necessarily better, in my view.

Siggi's Icelandic Style Non-Fat Vanilla Skyr
($2.49 for a 6 oz. container, or $0.42 an ounce, 0% fat, 10 grams sugars)

A different beast altogether. Skyr is Icelandic for "thick yogurt," according to the label, and that's appropriate. Thick and creamy-looking and heavily flecked with bits of real vanilla bean. Slightly creamy color. Thick enough that you can turn the container upside down and the yogurt doesn't budge. It sticks to the spoon, making it somewhat difficult to stir. Nothing to stir up from the bottom. Maintains a rustic, cheesy texture. Not much of a scent, but it has a very distinctive flavor. A real yogurt tang. Not sour like unsweetened plain yogurt, but does not taste sweet either. Thick, sticky texture. Not a lot of vanilla flavor, but distinctive and interesting. Feels authentic. I found myself liking it better and better the more I ate. Probably unappealing if you're used to heavily sweetened yogurts, but delicious if you like real yogurt flavor. Sweetened with agave nectar. Real vanilla beans. On the downside, it's expensive--six times the price of the Lucerne product.

Yoplait Low-fat French Vanilla Yogurt
($0.69 for a 6 oz. container, or about $0.12 an ounce, 1% milkfat, 27 grams sugars)

Noticeably yellowish color (artificially colored with annatto and turmeric extracts; simulated egg yolk to make it French vanilla?). Slightly gelatinous look. Creamier, but still fairly thin after stirring. Nothing to stir up from the bottom. Has a strong scent that suggests caramel more than vanilla. The gelatinous texture was a bit unpleasant, but I recognize that there are many styles of yogurt and this may appeal to some people. Very sweet to the taste. Although this has less sugar in it than the Lucerne yogurt, it tastes sweeter for some reason. Flavor a bit suggestive of caramel or something toasty, but not exactly vanilla. Has no real yogurt flavor. Tastes mostly like corn syrup. Sweetened with corn syrup and sugar. I liked this least of the first three.

Wallaby Organic Low-fat Creamy Australian-style yogurt
($0.75 for a 6 oz. container, or $0.13 an ounce, 1.5% milkfat, 20g sugars)

Plain white with a quite liquid look to it, but not at all gelatinous like some brands (see above). Creamier when stirred. Nothing to stir up from the bottom. Clean vanilla and yogurt scents with good yogurt flavor. In other words it has tang not overwhelmed by sugar, but it is noticeably sweet. Medium body. Creamy texture, but not especially thick. Not exciting, but good middle-of-the-road yogurt. Wallaby is a brand I often have bought in the past. Moderately priced. Sugar from sugar cane.

Brown Cow Low-fat Vanilla Bean Yogurt 
($0.99 for a 6 oz. container, or $0.17 an ounce, 1% milkfat, 25g sugars)

Firm rather than liquid, but not dry or stiff as in some cases. Smells of cream rather than sour like yogurt. Vanilla on the bottom. Stirring reveals vanilla bean flecks. Very nice creamy texture to this one. Full vanilla flavor, but yogurt tang masked by sugar. Quite sweet. Tastes a little like bananas, although there is no banana in it. Sugar from sugar cane. Excellent for its creamy texture, but doesn't really taste like yogurt because of the excessive sweetness. Overall, though, not bad.   

Stonyfield "Oikos" Organic Greek Vanilla Yogurt

($1.00 for a 5.3 oz. container, or $0.19 an ounce, 0% milkfat, 20g sugars)

Very creamy-looking. Thick and creamy when stirred, not at all dry or cheesy in texture like some Greek-style yogurts (or the Icelandic-style yogurt reviewed above). Nothing to stir up from the bottom. Very nice yogurt tang. Moderate vanilla flavor. Has a distinct cheesy aftertaste balanced by attractive sour yogurt flavors. Tastes like real food. Remarkably rich and creamy despite the 0% fat content. Sweetened with sugar, but not so much that the yogurt flavors are overwhelmed. Excellent balance. Delicious. My favorite so far. 

Continued (see below)--You can eat only so much yogurt at a time.

[The Great Yogurt Taste-off Part I--Introduction]
[The Great Yogurt Taste-off Part III--The Yogurts, Continued
[The Great Yogurt Taste-off Part IV--More Yogurts]

Food I'm Eating: The Great Yogurt Taste-off Part I (Introduction)

About two weeks ago, I put an oyster knife through the fleshy part of the middle finger of my left hand. This was not idle self-destructive behavior. I was trying to open an oyster. The knife slipped and went in deep. I felt the tip of the blade hit the bone, in fact. Needless to say, it was very painful. Although the wound bled a lot, it was comparatively small. I washed it, bound it with a heavy band-aid, and hoped for the best.

In a civilized country, I would have gone to the doctor without hesitation. Here, however, my health insurance co-pay is so high (Kaiser Permanente), that I determined to avoid a visit, if possible. This is exactly the kind of thinking that US health care providers encourage and benefit from. I pay Kaiser lots of money every month and then do my best to never use their services. Two days after the incident, my hand was inflamed and clearly infected--it seems oyster shells harbor nasties better dealt with in the stomach than in a deep puncture wound. I went to see the doctor. One-hundred and twenty-five dollars later, I had a ten-day supply of Augmentin (amoxycillin and clavulanate potassium). The main side-effect of this broad-spectrum antibiotic is lower digestive tract havoc--also known as diarrhea. I won't go into the details.

This is where yogurt comes in. I finished the prescription yesterday, and, having spent the past ten days waging total war on the bacteria in my digestive system, I decided yogurt would help to get the good bacteria going again after the bombing was over. I stopped in at Whole Foods to pick something up, but, as usual when I look for yogurt, I found myself searching the shelves for something simple and getting nowhere fast. There's much too much to choose from. There is yogurt made from cow's milk, from goat's milk, and from soy milk. There's Swiss-style yogurt, Icelandic-style yogurt, Australian-style yogurt, Greek-style yogurt, and yogurt in Eastern European styles. There's whole milk yogurt, lowfat yogurt, nonfat yogurt, and cream-top yogurt. There's plain yogurt and yogurt with all manner of sugary gloop under it, on top of it, or mixed up into it. I should have gone to Safeway--although the situation is only marginally better at the less trendy stores.

How do you choose? I choose wine with confidence, because over the years I've done so many blind tastings and written so many reviews that few wines are a mystery to me. I eat a fair amount of yogurt, but I tend to stick to one or two brands. Suddenly, it dawned on me: I should blind taste all the yogurts in the world and decide what's best, and then scratch the yogurt problem off my list. Well, tasting all the yogurts in the world was slightly impractical, so I decided to taste 10-15 lowfat vanilla yogurts blind, and you, dear reader, will get to read about it. I chose vanilla because most yogurt is flavored, most brands make vanilla, and vanilla is a fairly neutral flavor that should allow the underlying yogurt flavors to show through. I chose lowfat as a compromise between the nonfat and whole milk varieties, but I ended up tasting lowfat and nonfat yogurts (see notes in the following section).

Tomorrow, I begin. Stay tuned. (For the record, I have no financial interest or any other connection with any of the companies producing or selling yogurt mentioned in this series of reviews.)

[The Great Yogurt Taste-off Part II--The Yogurts]
[The Great Yogurt Taste-off Part III--The Yogurts, Continued]
[Part IV--More Yogurts]

Miscellaneous: Super Bowl XLIV (2010)

I plan to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday. It'll be the first football game I've seen all year. I'm not sure who is playing who. I really don't care. My football allegiances, such as they are, appear to be firmly rooted in the world of 1960s football; the first team names that come to my mind are always the Jets, the Eagles, and the Green Bay Packers. They were the big teams when I was a very small boy--and that was about the last time I paid serious attention to football. There was a brief period in the late 70s (in high school) that I followed the Oakland Raiders. Ken Stabler, Cliff Branch, and Fred Biletnikoff were something to watch, but then I spent all those years in Japan and lost track altogether. I'm still surprised now and then by team names I've never heard of and franchises in cities that don't sound quite right. I do know that the Bengals almost made it this year. Would that have been a first? I remember when the Bengals were a brand new team. My Boy Scout troop trooped off to an exhibition game (in 1970, maybe?). Who is playing in the Super Bowl matters less to me than how well they play--and the more passing the better. Short-yardage pile-ups followed by long huddles, punctuated by vulgar advertising is not my idea of sports entertainment. I'm hoping for two teams with aggressive passing games. I'm looking forward to a lot of passing followed by long huddles, followed by vulgar advertising.

Pass the chips.

Miscellaneous: What Ever Happened to the Expression "There are?"

I shouldn't let grammar errors bother me, but my mother was a school teacher, one of my grandmothers was a school teacher--in fact, a teacher of English and English literature--and one of my grandfathers was a teacher (of art history). Let's just say it's in my blood.

We all make mistakes. God knows, I make mistakes. I try to correct them when I can, but some mistakes-- for one reason or another--can't be corrected.

But back to grammar errors. One common mistake that baffles me is the use of "there is" or "there's" to mean "there are" or its informal spoken contraction "there're." If people can count, they ought to be able to get this one right. Many who should know better say things like "There's three on the table" or "There's so many reasons to go." I hear this with increasing frequency. It's almost beginning to sound normal. When did saying things like "There're three on the table" go AWOL? And why?

Plants I'm Growing: Manzanitas and Japanese Plums

Blooming in the garden now are Japanese plums and manzanitas (Arctostaphylos sp.). The top two photos are different varieties of flowering Japanese plum, Prunus mume, usually among the first flowers to bloom in the new year. They smell soooo good.

The next photo shows flowers on Acrctostaphylos pajaroensis, a comparatively rare variety that it has taken me several attempts to get established. It's hard to see from this close-up photo, but the plant is striking for its deep (for a manzanita) pink flowers that are set off against blue-green foliage. New leafy growth appears in an orangey-red hue that is particularly pretty.

The bottom photo shows Arctostaphylos densiflora "Sentinel." As its Latin name suggests, it becomes densely covered in blossoms at this time of year. It's one of the primary early nectar sources for the bees.

Books I'm Reading: Strange Maps

I've just finished reading Strange Maps (Viking Studio, 2009), by Frank Jacobs--one of the most pleasurable reads I've had in some time. Strange Maps is subtitled An Atlas of Cartographic Curiosities, and that it is--a collection of odd maps (map broadly defined) collected from the many that have been featured on the Strange Maps Blog. It is a choice selection of some of the most interesting and whimsical cartographical creations you're likely to find.

I picked this book up off the counter at Borders just before Christmas, where someone had left it, squashing candy bars or something in front of one of the registers. As I walked by, finally headed for one of the cashiers (after the longest wait in a bookstore I've ever experienced--about 40 minutes) something made me grab it and add it to my stack. My gain. Too bad for the person that abandoned it at the last minute. (If you're out there and have had second thoughts, go back and get a copy.)

The maps are arranged in broad categories such as Cartographic Misconceptions (maps that simply got it wrong); Zoomorphic Maps (as the name implies); Political Parody; and Strange Borders (why are the outlines of so many countries seemingly illogical?), among many others. One section is devoted to unusual maps of Manhattan, one to maps used as propaganda, one to maps as thought experiments (mapping the world of alternative realities--for example, a map of Europe based on the assumption that the Nazis won WWII), another to maps based on the familiar London Underground route map, yet another to maps of places in outer space. If you're not already salivating, this book is probably not up your alley.

Some of my favorites:

• Drawn from Memory: United Shapes of America

A collection of children's drawings of the outline of the United States. They range from fairly accurate to remarkably amorphous. As the commentary points out, a few features seem to lodge themselves fairly easily in the mind--notably the Florida peninsula. Others are almost uniformly mangled--for example, the Great Lakes region. Alaska and Hawai'i get short shrift almost without fail. I found this one amusing as it reminded me of sitting around with friends from the UK in Tokyo, drinking wine, trying to draw maps of each other's countries from memory on the backs of napkins. On the whole, my English friends were better at drawing the US than the kids asked to draw the US for this map were. Of course, my friends are adults. Sadly, I'd venture to guess that my (admittedly, mostly highly educated) English friends can draw a map of the United States better than the average adult US citizen. Lest I seem condescending, I plan to post a map here of the UK that I've drawn from memory--when I get around to it. A sad sight it's likely to be, and you can laugh all you like.

(I have a feeling this blog entry will be way too long when it's finally finished.)

• Scott's Great Snake; or the Anaconda Plan
• The Jesusland Map
• A New Simplified Map of London
• Oklahoma's Stillborn Twin: The State of Sequoyah
• The Circle and the Wedge: Delaware's Curious Border
• May the Sauce be with You: Battle Lines of the Barbecue Wars
• Bubbleland--Not Far from Monkey's Eyebrow: The Kentucky Bend
• Your Antipodes Most Likely Have fins
• From Spuyten Duyvil to Battery Park: A Wordmap of Manhattan

• Itineraries Into Eternity and Back

I think this last may be my favorite of them all. It is a "route map" in the style of the London Underground map we all know and love to paths from birth to death (or rebirth or eternal damnation) as conceived by the world's major religions. Hilarious. I especially like the footnote about the "closed" route from birth directly to Limbo for unbaptized babies, shut down in 2006 by papal decree. The map shows the main routes through the religious life for Muslims, Jews, Christians (Catholics), Buddhists, Hindus, and believers in Shamanism. I don't see any path indicated for us atheists.   

• Turn the Other Cheek: The French Kissing Map
• Super Interesting: The World from a Brazilian Perspective
• One Small Stroll for Man: The First Moonwalk. 

Having picked out favorites, I should say the maps are interesting almost without exception. In an ideal world, I'd be able to describe each of these, but the world is not ideal, as we all know.

Highly recommended. I recommend both the Strange Maps Blog and the book, Strange Maps: An Atlas of Cartographic Curiosities that collects some of the most interesting maps from the site.

Miscellaneous: Oh, The Irony

Miss Virginia, one Caressa Cameron, became Miss America 2010 today. Didn't you know? I didn't know until I happened across a news story on the subject. The AP press release I read included this wonderfully written and edited one-sentence paragraph:

Cameron is broadcast journalism student at Virginia Commonwealth University, and wants to become an anchor.

Well, I is appalled. I hope the new Miss America does not emulate the writing style of the journalist reporting on her victory. This tidbit reminds me of an English-language essay written by one of my host sisters when I was an exchange student in Japan. She let me read it. Her ambition, according to the essay, was to "become a technical skill." I wonder which is harder--becoming a technical skill or becoming an anchor? My host sister, I should point out, was a teenager, not a journalist, and not a native speaker of English.

Birds I'm Watching: Ellis Creek Water Treatment Ponds

Finally got a good look at a Sora and was even able to get two or three decent photos. These birds so rarely come out of hiding that it's very hard to see them, much less photograph them. Most birders identify them by ear. This appears (from its coloring) to be a youngish bird. Adult birds usually have more black around the bill and on the throat, I believe.

Nothing much else of special interest today, but getting a photo of a Sora made going out worthwhile.

 For more information about bird watching in Sonoma County, see my Website Sonoma County Bird Watching Spots.

Art I'm Looking At: Art is Where You Find It

A fun blog entry came to my attention recently that started me thinking. I was moved to post a comment. Never one to waste a good paragraph, and because, coincidentally, the ideas there were very much in tune with my post of a couple days ago about street art (see below), I append the comment here.

The only definition of "art" I have ever heard that seems complete--that is, that seems to work no matter where you apply it--is that art is "the making special of something." That may seem so vague as to be of only modest usefulness, but it's actually quite powerful. It can help to explain why we are moved by so many things--from a wet flower petal made transparent by rain or the slightly misaligned folds of an envelope to people spontaneously dancing in the street, a framed drawing, sound ringing in the air, or a lone voice crackling over a dramatically lit stage. All that is required is that our attention be called to something special, different, something worth noticing. It need not be intended as art--I would argue that much art is serendipity enshrined. All that is required is that someone has noticed it and pointed it out.

I love to look at the worn paint and re-painting of lines and symbols on the playground at my son's school. Not many people stand around looking at the patches of pigment or photographing them the way I do, but there they are. Art. I remember once in college sitting in the Fine Arts Library (appropriately enough), studying, watching raptly the girl sitting at the table next to me as she one-handedly braided her own hair without ever looking up from her book. Performance Art. Taxi drivers in New York City, stopped, doors open, half out of their cars (noses virtually touching), lunging at each other, gesturing, shouting. This is drama of the best kind. Gallery art, too, is art--often sublime--but we probably miss more art on our way to work every day than is in all the galleries of the world. Art is truly all around us. All that is required is to notice it and then to play a giddy game of show-and-tell. That game, too, is Art.

I made the photo posted here in Tokyo, in 2005. Just a wall, but worthy of a frame.

Tidbits: J. D. Salinger--RIP

I note here the passing of J. D. Salinger today. Makes me want to go back and re-read all the short stories. It's been a while, but they're right here on my bookshelf.

Rain: Yet More Rain (January 26, 2011)

Since last reporting (January 22), another 1.8 inches of rain has accumulated at our location. That brings the 2009-2010 total in my part of Santa Rosa to 17.8 inches, which is 1.6 inches above the level considered normal for January 26th (16.2 inches). Some local stations are reporting as much as 19.78 inches. It's a good thing, but I'm beginning to get a little tired of it. Could we have some sun now?

[Update: It's now January 30th (can you believe it's almost February?). Since last posting about rain (I know, I know, but rain is a big deal around here. We either get too little or too much) we've had an additional 0.2 inches, bringing the total to 18.0 inches, which is almost one inch above normal for this date (17.09 inches). However, some local stations are reporting considerably more than we have had--as much as 20.1 inches.