Pumpkin Why?

Yes, the gluttony is over. Ssssssss...
My Thanksgiving went well -- at least much better than last year. Last year I was hobbling around from a serious bike injury to my leg. On top of that, there was enough personal life-drama for an OC episode (which I've heard is a popular television drama-O-rama...). This year there was no bike injury (save for the remaining scar...I mean "shark bite") and no drama. I cooked a couple delicious (I must say!) pumpkin pies and managed to sculpt some fresh whipped cream -- none of that Cool Whip B.S.! Ahh, pumpkin pie. The pumpkin pie, while a Thanksgiving cliche, is indeed a most delectable dessert. But why has the pumpkin been relegated to such infrequent and selected use? I suppose the fruit itself matures only under that harvest moon, limiting multi-seasonal use. And they look grotesque. I've seen some pumpkins that would make genital warts looks appetizing (sorry...). Sure there are the seeds, which are good but often caked in salt, and I've begun to see a couple pumpkin beers around that are actally to be pretty good (try the Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale). But come on! The pumpkin can make a killer pie...and that's it?! There's got to be other uses that rival the magic of the pie version. Pumpkin soup? -- actually I've had this and it wasn't good. Pumpkin bread? That sounds good. Caramelized pumpkin? Whoa, that sounds REALLY good. Pumpkin cake? Carrots are great in cake...I could think of these all night. I am beginning to wonder if a simple Google search would yield plenty of tasty recipes, some of which may even include a caramelized pumpkin. If so, American society needs to be informed. The pie needs to be evolved. I'll do my part for next year; I encourage you to join me. Mashed pumpkin and gravy, here we come!

KO

The pursuit of sleep; or rather, my lack of pursuit. I wish I didn't have to sleep. There are so many other things I would rather be doing, like writing blogs on sleep. I find it so interesting that human beings and most other animals need sleep. How could so many species evolve, yet maintain the need to be unconscious for 1/3 of their lives? I'm shocked that the animal that wasn't tired one night didn't eat all the animals that were tired, thereby dominating the evolutionary race. Now, I must confess my ignorance of the biology behind sleep and its evolution link. I'm sure good explanations exist. Maybe it isn't too dissimilar from the NRA's platform of "an armed society is a safe society:" as long as all animals are "armed" with the need for sleep, no animal can dominate. But think about how silly sleeping humans would appear to visiting aliens. There we are, just sprawled out with our mouth open making gurgling sounds, twitching our arms about like some sort of flagellum. And WE are the ones searching for intelligent life? I doubt science will eradicate the need for sleep in our lifetime, but trust me, they're working on it! If there are any group of people abhorring the need for sleep, it's scientists and medical doctors. In fact, there is a known positive correlation between the class ranking of a medical student and amphetamine abuse. Regardless, being unconscious seems to be so important that the intricacies of "why" will likely take decades to decipher. For example, rats that are deprived of sleep die after about two weeks. But die from what? Red eye? I haven't read the scientific papers with these details (assuming there are details), but evidently death is more likely to occur from not having sleep, than from being eaten by intergalactic hungry aliens.