Maggie's Farm

I mean the body of the scallop, not just the adductor muscle which we all love.  With clams and oysters, we eat the whole succulent body and toss away the adductor muscles (which are small, anyway).

Scallops have big muscles because they swim around. I've seen them swimming in shallow water at low tide. It's sort of crazy to see a bivalve swimming.

(You know how to remember Adduction vs Abductor muscles? Abduction means to take away.)

In Asia, they eat the whole body of a scallop. Not here, or rarely. Gourmets do love the scallop roe, though. It's called "coral," for its color.

We have Bay Scallops (expensive, small, with sweet and tender muscle) and Sea Scallops (large, chewy, with those big muscles).

We are making scallop/bacon hors d'oevres for Thanksgiving, so scallops are on my mind. 

Photo is an opened Bay Scallop. Lots of gills but not a plump body like a clam.

Do you have any favorite scallop recipes?  In my view, Bay Scallops only need 45 seconds tossed in butter on a hot skillet. A sauce with Bay Scallops is obscene. Recipes come into view with the big Sea Scallops. Broiled with bacon wrap is great. So is making a ceviche with them. That is dynamite. The trick with all scallops is that it is better to undercook than overcook them. 

"So a man who feels he is a woman is biologically-determined, but when a woman feels like a woman, it is socially-constructed."

Good fun. 

Two good ones from his excellent interview we posted last week:

"Intellectuals are more likely than others to spout off about things they know little about." 

Sowell, a Harvard, Chicago, and Stanford guy, blames it on the arrogance of diplomas 

"At the heart of the social vision among contemporary intellectuals is the idea that there are "problems" and "solutions." 

Sowell says rightly that there are only trade-offs 

Time is the ultimate scarce resource and thus quintessentially a topic for economics, which studies scarcity. 

How do we waste ours? Getting and spending? Obsessing about ephemeral politics?

I love this guy. Oldie but goldie: The brilliant Thomas Sowell on the Vulgar Pride of Intellectuals.

Do problems have solutions? No. There are just trade-offs. 

You can read about it here

I'd like to do a Maggie's Scientific Survey of the cost of unskilled labor where y'all live. I mean jobs like lugging and hauling and lifting indoors and outdoors, barn and garage clean-up, and jobs like paper-filing, house-cleaning, and junk-removal. 

Around here, these jobs cost 20-30/hour. They will ask for pay in cash. Apparently high school kids no longer are willing to do this work. It's too hard for their delicate selves. I would like to think that in Ohio or Missouri American youth would jump at a couple of hours' work for gas money.

A guy who tried the academic track in life came out deeply disillusioned.

Milos on W. 55th St in midtown is recognized as one of the finest Mediterranean seafood restaurants in the world.

I had the pleasure of their prix-fixe lunch ($35) last week.  We will be back, definitely.  I would equal it to the Jean Georges lunches.  Of course you need a reservation.

Give it a try, and skip the dessert. Few of us need it. 

He is smarter than most

A good talk, and a good Q&A, to listen to while straightening out your home in prep for holiday festivities. No, he does not embarass any lefties. He is never harsh, just factual. 

Education is like exercise. You can do it the hard way or the easy way, but the results are not the same. 

A Remarkably Hard College Course Proves Remarkably Popular

What percent of students are true scholars, driven to education by pure curiosity?

 Proof that Some College Students Still Want to be Challenged

"There was never a majority of freedom-loving honorable Americans. People who believe in individual freedom and natural rights are a minority and always have been."

Bowl of lentils. Bread and circuses. Lots of people want freebies and "services" more than freedom. I will admit that freedom is scary, not for the faint of heart. I still think of freedom from government as an American virtue. Old-fashioned, maybe. Do people now expect government to make reality right? That will never happen, because the structure of reality is extremely difficult. Reality seems to expect us to adapt to it, rather than the other way around.

The bumper sticker on many Ford 150s: "Reality Sucks." 

Classic Offenbach. Both Offenbach and Isabel are easy to love.

A lengthy interview with many good moments. Listen while cleaning a closet or something. It will save you the trouble of reading their book. Peterson does the interview but he properly keeps himself out of it and lets them talk.

Hvorostofsky (RIP) and Netrebko

Friends would like us to join them for the Milford Trek next year, but I am not inclined to travel that far for a good hike.  

The Milford Track (Trek).