Who wants edible gold messages floating in their coffee? Certainly not the millions of Starbucks commuters who never see what they’re drinking out of that spill-proof cover. But perhaps a trendy restaurant would consider adding the Tsukioka Company’s pure gold words into customers’ after dinner drinks.
At Shorewood High School, just north of Seattle, Bev Anderson runs a Culinary Arts program which can boast of alumni in several of the area’s fine dining establishments. Besides teaching her students the basics of cooking, Anderson brings in local chefs and local produce, and brings the kids out to local restaurants. She also connects her students with jobs, giving them the opportunity to discover what life is like in the kitchen. Two students are currently interning at Seattle’s legendary Canlis.
More proof that laughter is good for you: “Breastfed babies with eczema experienced milder symptoms if their mothers laughed hours before feeding them.” I would’ve watched a lot more TV while I was nursing if I had known that!
Wow, the Redwood Symphony, where many of my Silicon Valley musician friends play or played, was briefly mentioned in The New Yorker! “Who would have guessed that the Redwood Symphony, a volunteer orchestra in the Silicon Valley area, has played all of Mahler’s symphonies?” Yup, that’s them all right.
Officials at Milan’s Linate airport captured 57 hares and 4 rabbits in a daytime raid meant to reduce the bunny population. The event happens twice a year, usually at night, but the large numbers of hares this time necessitated a more productive daylight capture, though the airport did need to be closed for a few hours. (Bugs Bunny fans note the filename in the URL.)
Their numbers may be dwindling but the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose lead upbeat lives. An observer who seeks to join their ranks observed: “the sisters… were the freest women she knew. They weren’t preoccupied with makeup or clothes, with how they measured up against other women.” The women pursue their eclectic hobbies, one plays the electric guitar and has both a myspace page and a blog, another does yo-yo tricks. There are seven women preparing to take their final vows at the convent. And the sisters trust that “if sisters disappear, God must be making way for a different kind of religious life for women, something reconfigured and updated for modern times.”
A Pepsi flavor we’ll never see in the U.S.: Pepsi Ice Cucumber. It’s a limited edition on sale in Japan. Pale green cucumber cola… will Coca-Cola even bother considering a competing flavor?
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s kitten climbed into his digital Clavinova piano and destroyed the score for his new musical Phantom in Manhattan. Brad summarizes the news in the best musical lolcat ever.
I still love my 1997 Subaru Legacy Wagon and it will probably last a few more years and miles, but I’ve started thinking about a new car. The question many Subaru owners ready for a replacement have nowadays is “when will Subaru have a hybrid?” A concept vehicle was displayed in Detroit early last year. After Toyota, of the Prius, bought GM’s 8.7% stake in Subaru parent company Fuji Heavy Industries, speculation pointed towards a hybrid 2008 Legacy using Toyota’s technologies. But Subaru has recently stated that they decided to first put their resources into a diesel engine, with those models expected to roll out next year. Subaru owners ready for an upgrade will have to decide whether they want to stick with that mid-20s mpg for another long Subaru lifetime.
Back in March I mentioned that a play about the Iraq war at my ol’ hometown high school had been canceled because of its controversial content. After N.Y. Times coverage of the situation got out, the New York theater community came calling. The play, “Voices in Conflict,” has performed to packed houses at two prestigious Off-Broadway venues and a final show on Friday at the Public Theater is sold out. The student performers have juggled finals, college applications, A.C.T.s, and now graduation events to make it into New York for rehearsals and the shows.