An Update and An Apology

It's obviously been a long time since my last post, so there is a lot to say. We seem to be going at about one post a month. Wow.

My rhubarb has died. Possibly this was due to all the rain we have had. Maybe it would have died anyway, we may never know. I might try again next year, I will see how I feel. However for the time being, project rhubarb has utterly failed. For a contrast, my peonies seem to be doing alright. One of them had a flower which was quickly destroyed by heavy rain. It now has another flower.

I had a wisdom tooth out. It hurt for a bit, but now it's okay.

Er, it's been raining a lot. And my house leaks. That's not cool.

I have had two attempts at a mushroom risotto. The first recipe was created by the founding member of the Essex school for spasticated cooks: Jamie Oliver. The second recipe I tried is the property of the Walt Disney Company, and very nice it was too.

Mushroom Risotto with extra mushrooms. For people who really like mushrooms. Oh, and JO suggested putting some freshly chopped herbs on top, cos that's trendy. Or it would be if you could chop them into small pieces.

Inspired by Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall's book, I had a go at a minestrone soup. As he suggested I put beetroot in it, and (unsurprisingly) everything went purple. I never thought it could be so difficult to tell a carrot from a potato. It was definitely a first attempt ministrone, and quite different to the red water with tiny vegetables you get in tins. I would like to have another go sometime, I think I could change some things and do a better job.

Some of the things I put in my soup: peas, chopped tomatoes, carrots, celery, beetroot, onion, macaroni, courgette, red chard. It also had potatoes and garlic. (And you know like water and salt and shit like that.)

Also in the last month my age has changed from a prime power to a different prime power. That doesn't happen very much after the age of 9. You get 16-17, 31-32 and not many people will make it to the next one.

Never had Irish coffee in a wine glass before. I thought it was a bit weird, but I was wrong.

And now the apology. In an earlier post, I told the world some of my opinions about information. At least I thought I did. I have since re-read a book I first read about 10-15 years ago, and discovered that those ideas had been implanted in my brain by the book, and were nowhere near as original as I thought. The simile between us living in the information age but not knowing what information really is, and iron age men being good at manipulating iron without appreciating its chemical structure was from the book. As is the separation between actual information and whatever physical means is used to store it.

There was one way to think about information in the book that I had forgotten, and so didn't write in my post thinking I had made it up myself. I can now repeat it safe in the knowledge that the author of Goodbye Descartes got it from Alice in Wonderland.

Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin; but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in my life!

The grin is not part of the Cheshire cat. When you move the cat the grin remains. Similarly, information is not a part of a book, or a CD or whatever.