The Best Ever Salmon

I thought the other day about grilling a piece of fresh, wild caught salmon. That brought me back to the signature event in salmon cooking.
Years ago an old friend, then a part-time salmon fisher in Sitka, brought a big King Salmon with him from Alaska. In a styro cooler. A big-ass cooler. This was a beautiful fresh fish.
Sal and I were living at Rainbow Farm and the house and gardens had not yet been much renovated. The barbecue was a squarish construction of piled bricks on an old concrete pad left over from the DC generator from the ‘20s. It had a grill found somewhere for a cooking surface. It was fine for steaks and chickens, but way too small for the fish, so Bob and I enlarged it with more bricks, making it longer. We put the fish on a piece of heavy duty foil, fueled the fire with wood and some charcoal and cooked it, in the open sometimes, sometimes tented with foil.
After several beers and more or less continuous checking it was just done.
We struggled it off the grill and into the house, where many people feasted on the perfectly cooked flesh. Never was there a better fish.
I never grill a piece of salmon without thinking of that King. And the friends we shared it with. If there were ever “good old days” that was surely one of them.

Image: The guy doesn't look much like Bob, but the fish is the right size. http://fishwithjd.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Bodega-Bay-king-Salmon.jpg

Please, Smell the Roses.

“Life is too short to miss the sunsets, love and good wine.”
I just sent that thought out to a friend, and immediately got to wonder if all of us, me included, have spent too much time with noses to grindstones when young and energetic to stop to enjoy the world. In my case the answer is probably no. I balanced my academic career with lots of side jaunts into nature, relaxing evenings with my love and great times with my students.
These days we have to look pretty hard to find time or motivation to get around all the bad news and cut loose for a few days, or a lifetime. Still, cut loose we must, or suffer the inevitable spiral of downward expectations and maybe even depression. Yes, the world looks bad and getting worse. But there are pockets of really good things going around all of us. Even from the unspeakable events of 9/11 there are heroic and awesome stories of lives changed forever, and some for the better.
Last night Tallahassee Community College dedicated a new health education center to educate the next few generations of health professionals like nurses and first responders. A very positive and forward-looking event. The Center for Biological Diversity spends it’s days and resources trying to fight off the destruction of species and habitat so animal and plant diversity will go forward into the next generations. An uphill struggle, but one that should be undertaken.
But at the bottom of all this is a simple observation: if you don’t take the time to see the sunset, and love, and enjoy life, then there is no point what-so-ever in all the rest. So go forth and plan, save the world and all in it, but please, don’t forget to smell the roses.
(These thoughts are dedicated to Miss T. Thanks for caring)
Image:http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l1lv3igDQC1qbb5axo1_500.jpg

Neanderthals: To Screw or Not to Screw?

Ever since anthropologists accepted the Neanderthal as functionally human the controversy continues. By “functionally human” I mean genetically compatible and similar enough in body form and “look” that anyone would conclude that they are human. This specifically leaves out the qualities sometimes associated as human such as religion and art. The question is this: if modern-type humans and Neanderthals mated would they produce reproductively capable offspring? The answer across the range of research is “yes”.
So, did we or didn’t we? Cellular DNA says “yes” in a study and mitochondrial DNA says “no” in a study. I think human nature can answer this question much easier than biochemistry, and here is a scenario to ponder: A band of human hunters attacks a band of Neanderthals, kills the males and older females and takes a few younger females for slaves. The hunters are pumped up and horney. The females are different from the girls back home, but not as ugly as aunt Dolly. Do they screw them or not?
There is an entire branch of psychiatric study involving Zoophilia, the practice of having sex with animals of all kinds. Farm animals, dogs, cats, fish, deer etc. You get the point. If it has an orifice, somebody will use it for sex. There are men and women walking around in Wal-Mart that make the reconstructed Neanderthals pretty by comparison. Uglyphilia is prevalent in the human realm.
Back to the hunters: they have a young female Neanderthal who is better looking than aunt Dolly and the ratty dog they own. What do YOU think these hunters would do? I vote for Neanderphilia. Besides, I know a few people who so obviously carry Neanderthal traits that I don’t need DNA evidence. I bet you know a few too.
Image: http://www.amren.com/ar/2011/02/04b-NatGeo-neanderthal-woman.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoophilia