Look up historical foods galore in this searchable index of menus. The collection resides in the Rare Book Room at the Los Angeles Public Library. There are doorknob hangtags from not very long ago and banquet menus from very long ago. I found menus going back to the 1850s.

The acoustical canopy hanging over the stage of San Francisco’s Davies Symphony hall is made of 59 6-foot squares of Plexiglas. They replaced 19 “giant contact lenses” (oval reflecting dishes) ten years ago and are still noteworthy enough to warrant an Chronicle article (albeit during a slow news week). The computer-controlled panels are often fined-tuned for each piece, like the mixing board for an amplified rock band, creating the correct blend and reflection for the various orchestra instruments. Here’s a 1992 Chronicle review of the acoustically flashy opening performance at the newly renovated Davies Hall.

Another mushy personal account
In college I developed a theory, or maybe it was just a wish, that I was going to meet my husband in either a bookstore or a library. As it turned out, like many Silicon Valley workaholics, I met my spouse at the office. But there was still a bookstore connection. He was hired into the position because of a chance encounter with our VP of Engineering at Stacey’s Bookstore in Cupertino. So my little prophecy came true peripherally. I soon discovered that my husband goes to Stacey’s so often that if anyone he knows ever goes there they are likely to meet. But, nevertheless, the happenstance still makes me feel that fate likes to smile every so often upon the introverted bookworms of the world. Unfortunately, Stacey’s in Cupertino is meeting with a less happy fate. Although we were assured when Stacey’s in Palo Alto closed that their Cupertino store had ample foot traffic to keep it afloat in the precarious whitewater near the Noble Borders of the Amazon, it is facing doom. My husband came home today with a stack of technical books and the unhappy news of Stacey’s impending closure. We’re too far away to regularly patronize their remaining San Francisco flagship store. For those still looking for love in the literature aisle, may I recommend the library or a used bookstore? Or perhaps Books Inc., Kepler’s, or a plane ticket to Portland.

Updates will be sporadic for the next week or so. I wish you all happiness in 2003.

I think I drove around my first roundabout in Massachusetts. It was a handy way to deal with a tricky intersection. The NY Times reports that Bend, Oregon has put in ten in the past two years, with plans for eight more. Their aim is to slow people down. The roundabouts reduce traffic speed, but keep it moving, and should reduce accidents and congestion. Drivers can make their way through stretches of town without hitting any lights. It’s slower for emergency vehicles to navigate too, unfortunately. My only concern with roundabouts is being able to give people good directions. I suppose in a town where people are accustomed to them, it’s not a problem. But it’s not as straightforward as “take a left at the light.”

For all you Gilmore Girls fans (I know there’s at least two of you out there): The Hartford Courant ran an article titled “The Search For Stars Hollow” wherein the features of the quaint and quirky Connecticut town are compared to various real sites. Remember, you can only drive one way around the town green.

Plenty of rocks still in the ground
I think of stone walls as being everywhere in New England, immovable fixtures of the landscape, more numerous than white churches with steeples. It was sad to read an article about how they are disappearing from the landscape. Every geology student and Connecticut gardener knows that when the glaciers receded from the area, they left behind rocks. Lots and lots of rocks. What do you do when you want to farm and your hoe keeps hitting big rocks? You pile ’em up into a stone wall by your field, no mortar necessary. Now these walls are being purchased and moved elsewhere (you read that right, somewhere where they didn’t have glaciers or they’re too lazy to dig up their own rocks), destroyed in landscaping and road projects, and even stolen (again, presumably by people who can’t manage to dig up their own rocks). Some towns are creating regulations to protect their stone walls. It’s rather sad to think that one day I could be visiting “the last remaining stone wall dating from colonial times” with a bronze plaque and a barbed wire fence to protect it from people who can’t manage to dig up their own stinkin’ rocks.

At least I don’t have to save quarters anymore
The biggest “nice to have” feature that I gave up when we bought our house was “washer/dryer not in the garage.” Doing laundry is bad enough without having to condemn yourself to the inhospitable garage. The dishwasher is in the kitchen, why isn’t the washing machine closer to your clothes? Is it because it makes noise? It’s too big? The New York Times reports on Whirlpool’s laundry room concept which has grown into something they call the “Family Studio.” Kitchens have evolved into luxurious rooms with trendy appliances; bathrooms have grown into spas; now Whirlpool wants the laundry room to become the next coveted remodeling arena. They’ve developed new appliances to handle delicates, dry cleaning, a fancy ironing station, and of course they’ve redesigned the old workhorse washer and dryer. The “Family Studio” can also contain a play area for the kids, arts and crafts, the home office. Me, I just wanted a little room inside the house with the washer, dryer, and maybe a little airspace to hang things. The result of me giving up the “nice to have” feature was that my husband does most of the laundry. At least it’s quiet having it out in the garage.

The Meyer Lemons in the backyard are definitely yellow and many are well on the road to their final yellow-orange color, so I’m looking into interesting lemon ideas. I’ll surely do the usual lemon bars, lemon meringue pie, and, of course, lemonade. Beyond that, Sunset Magazine has these recipes: interesting dessert ideas, Italian lemon aperitif, and lemon vinegar which makes lemon pickles which makes lemon relish. I definitely want to try preserving lemons Moroccan style (here’s another technique w/o the spices) and then try out some Moroccan recipes. There’s also an Indian lemon pickle that uses sugar instead of all salt. And as they get really sweet when spring arrives, I can always eat them straight off the tree. They’re sweeter then than our oranges are at the moment! I do hope the oranges turn sweet so I can save some money not buying Odwalla.

Prompted by something Ned brought up at a gathering this evening, I looked up Yahoo’s researched response to “Where was the Reuben sandwich invented and first served?” Knowing that the origins are disputed between Reuben’s Deli in Manhattan and Omaha, Nebraska, I was amused to see that the poser of the question was from Omaha. My guess is that the real answer lies in adaption and evolution, like many yummy food ideas that spread from place to place, improving as they travel from one mind to another.