Blathering Continues

Semi blathering continues.

Did you know your ancestors, the Foster Andover MA witches, have their own page on Wikipedia? Was I the last person to know that? I became curious after my friend told me about the witch books I mentioned in an earlier blog, so I googled them. Isn't that what we modern American's do? Google everything. Semi knowledge at our fingertips. Maybe the whole wide world googles, do they? Marc, you are a world traveler do they google, or it's equivalent, the world over?

Here was my train of thought: Food Rule #2, Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food, Catherine giving me the information about witches, Anne Foster came to mind, google, question Marc, and here we are semi blogging.

It's pleasing in a strange sort of way to see the ladies there. Ten generations later I can still semi claim them, as though they might account for some of my oddness, or strangeness. They must have suffered a great deal and today I'm semi feeling their pain. But enough of that, if you want to know more google them. Jean and Cathy are coming to visit and I've started semi dusting.

Jean, when Ian and I went to the Farmer's Market last Sunday we bought some Edison Bakery bread. They were there. The bread was six dollars for a huge loaf, and I have been reading Food Rules, so I thought what the hell. The bread is fantastic, we are definitely going back for more. They had the little chocolate brioche thingys we had but I didn't buy anymore of those.

One loaf was sourdough and the other was multi grain, both semi satisfy a food rule, lucky me. Mr Pollan's rule #33 suggests you eat foods that been predigested by bacteria or fungi, foods that have been transformed by live microorganisms, such as yogurt, sauerkraut, soy sauce, kimchi, and sourdough. Lucky me. And rule #37, eat whole grains. Lucky me.

Rule #16 is buy your snacks at the local Farmer's Market, you'll find yourself snacking on fresh or dried fruits and nuts -- real food -- rather than chips and sweets. Oops, maybe bread doesn't exactly qualify for rule #16.

I liked rule #24, "A Chinese proverb offering a good summary of traditional wisdom regarding the relative healthfulness of different kinds of food, though it inexplicably leaves out the very healthful and entirely legless fish."

"Eating what stands on one leg (mushrooms and plant foods) is better than eating what stands on two legs (fowl), which is better than eating what stands of four legs (cows, pigs, and other mammals)."

Let's go back to the witches for a moment: I have always teased Stephanie about Roger and Connor's witch ancestry. Unbeknownest to Roger when he posted the photograph of The Gilbert's, his great-grandmother is actually the ancestry line. She is about as far from a witchy looking person as Mickey Mouse, but there she is the link between Andover witches and you disguised as a grand-mother, a farmer's wife, a person who knew real food.

As I semi continue my quest for more healthful eating habits I'm semi thinking of you. Except for Jean and Cathy, they are consuming my mind these days.

Did anybody ever think about how Grandmother and Grandfather Gilbert met?

Does anyone translate the comments from our international fans?

Life isn't always real butter.