bierkergaard

I plowed through one page of Brothers Karamazov . These Russian Winter Novels stop another invader in his tracks. I may resume it after I finish off Walden by Thoreau. I adopted my iPhone Kindle app to read it, a book that most people read when younger.  Usually, as I have noted before, I read classic novels this way. No hurry, no speed reading, take time to smell the word roses. Walden is of course somewhat non-fiction although it has novel-like qualities. Thoreau is liberal in his chronology, parsing and copying and pasting events into a pond of consciousness.  His reflections are quite narcissistic yet also insightful.   There is much to commend in the book of course. His insistence on simplicity, the joy of nature, working to live not living to work (or not work in his case), and just sheer good writing.  I suppose I knew this before from my infrequent sips of the prose but one thing impressed upon me is that Thoreau out-Puritans the most joyless Calvinist stereotype in regards t

One of my go-to foods from childhood is peanut butter. I am saddened that many children these days have a deadly allergic reaction to this humble and oily legume. I cannot imagine childhood without peanut butter. If George Washington Carver were alive today, he would no doubt be sued to bankruptcy like an opiod manufacturer. The Humble Peanut: Death In A Shell. Yesterday, I opened a new jar of my Costco Brand Creamy Peanut Butter. Two ingredients: Peanuts and Sea Salt. That is it. I wish I could get a Crunchy version of it but it is not available at the local store. People usually are strongly in the Creamy or Crunchy camp. I am pro-Crunchy and only eat the Creamy because it is difficult to find the non-hydrogenated option, as I think  most consumers prefer the Creamy version.  About twenty years ago, I started buying non-hydrogenated peanut butter when I read that hydrogenated fat is bad for the body. It makes sense. The same quality that makes it shelf-stable makes it hard for the bo