Positions in Bed

A few days back we received an email from a friend with pictures showing various positions in bed. We knew Meg would be especially keen to see these photos -- though they aren't anything she could not see, and probably already has seen, on the internet.

So we decided to produce a video slide show of the pictures and post it here on the EFB as our first ever educational video. Parental guidance suggested.

The Breakfast Club

Used to be that Sunday morning breakfast at our home would be sailing friends who were in town and staying with us (wherever in the world we were living); these days it is more likely Meg's pals following an overnight. The gentleman, Mikkel Bank (DEN, son of German AC team skipper Jesper Bank), had gone home Saturday night (see previous post) but returned mid-morning Sunday in time for a little brekkie with the ladies. Obviously he knows which side his bread is buttered on.

Kids' Kitchen Klatch

23:45 Saturday in the kitchen here at home in VLC, the multi-culti klatch of kids has just come back from the junior nightclub "Guru" after yet again another evening of dancing there. Countries represented 'round the table: AUS, CAN, DEN, FIN, NZL, SWE, USA.

Meg's French Connection (UK)

Summer has returned to VLC, at least for a few days. Today I was back to shorts and flip flops for the first time since late November, and most of the afternoon Meg and her friends were outside in the yard playing badminton, soccer and basketball.

I did get Meg to stand still long enough to model the French Connection UK t-shirt I brought back for her from London last weekend which, hurray, she likes -- even though it does not have the brand's FCUK initials displayed in big letters across the chest or back as often that company's clothing does.

No way, Meg, not while you are living under OUR roof!

Yikes, they grow up too fast. And, speaking of connections, the Wilson-Ehman heritage becomes more evident with each passing month. Who does she look more like these days, Leslie's sister Jonalee or my sister Cristine?

At Least It Was Not Tit for Tat

Today sister Ruth in Michigan wrote saying, "Hey, check it out! My way of celebrating the New Year! Happy New Year yo All!!!!!"

Attached to the email was this pic....


Photo courtesy of Ruth's daughter Rebecca Stevens (Blackberry phone-cam).

In reply to a follow-up email from your Ed., Ruth confirmed, "Oh, it's very real. I drew the original myself, colored it in with the pencils Mom gave me a few years ago. You're welcome to blog it. Dad hasn't seen it yet but I'll probably just 'get a little too warm' [in the PYC office where she holds down the fort] and slip off my sweater here soon so he can see it."

Now, Meg, don't get any ideas.

Not sure where the photo was taken. However, one suspects it may been taken at a family birthday deener at the Outback Steak House over the weekend, because this afternoon we also received this email from Grandma Jan:

Big family b'day party for Rachel last Sat. at the Outback. Fun affair. Martin and Sue and their crew, Ruth and Alan and theirs, Scope and me. Rebecca is engaged as you probably know as is Dave (M&S's foster son). No wedding dates set yet.

Snow today! Not a lot but enough to make the world pretty. I will go out to see if it needs shoveling. Maybe a broom will work.

Well, mom, good luck shoveling or brooming, or both. Another beaut day here in Spain, albeit a little cool -- only in the 60's F. ;)

A Fruit, Except When It's a Vegetable?

This has been an ongoing topic of discussion in Casa Ehman over the holidays. Talk about hedging your bets, this from AskOxford.com (you gotta love the Brits)....


The confusion about 'fruit' and 'vegetable' arises because of the differences in usage between scientists and cooks. Scientifically speaking, a tomato is definitely a fruit. True fruits are developed from the ovary in the base of the flower, and contain the seeds of the plant (though cultivated forms may be seedless). Blueberries, raspberries, and oranges are true fruits, and so are many kinds of nut. Some plants have a soft part which supports the seeds and is also called a 'fruit', though it is not developed from the ovary: the strawberry is an example. As far as cooking is concerned, some things which are strictly fruits may be called 'vegetables' because they are used in savoury rather than sweet cooking. The tomato, though technically a fruit, is often used as a vegetable, and a bean pod is also technically a fruit. The term 'vegetable' is more generally used of other edible parts of plants, such as cabbage leaves, celery stalks, and potato tubers, which are not strictly the fruit of the plant from which they come. Occasionally the term 'fruit' may be used to refer to a part of a plant which is not a fruit, but which is used in sweet cooking: rhubarb, for example. So a tomato is the fruit of the tomato plant, but can be used as a vegetable in cooking.


Wikipedia, clearly with more of an American bent, takes a legalistic view....

Botanically speaking, a tomato is the ovary, together with its seeds, of a flowering plant, that is a fruit or, more precisely, a berry. However, from a culinary perspective, the tomato is not as sweet as those foodstuffs usually called fruits and it is typically served as part of a main course of a meal, as are other vegetables, rather than at dessert. As noted above, the term "vegetable" has no botanical meaning and is purely a culinary term.

This argument has led to actual legal implications in the United States, Australia and China. In 1887, U.S. tariff laws that imposed a duty on vegetables but not on fruits caused the tomato's status to become a matter of legal importance. The U.S. Supreme Court settled this controversy in 1893, declaring that the tomato is a vegetable, using the popular definition which classifies vegetable by use, that they are generally served with dinner and not dessert. The case is known as Nix v. Hedden (149 U.S. 304). Strictly speaking, the holding of the case applies only to the interpretation of the Tariff Act of March 3, 1883, and not much else. The court does not purport to reclassify tomato for botanical or for any other purpose other than paying a tax under a tariff act. However, the USDA also considers the tomato a vegetable.

In accordance with the botanical classification, the tomato has been proposed as the state fruit of New Jersey. Arkansas takes both sides by declaring the "South Arkansas Vine Ripe Pink Tomato" to be both the state fruit and the state vegetable in the same law, citing both its botanical and culinary classifications. In 2006, the Ohio House of Representatives passed a law that would have declared the tomato to be the official state fruit, but the bill died when the Ohio Senate failed to act on it.

But due to the scientific definition of a fruit and a vegetable, the tomato still remains a fruit when not dealing with tariffs. Nor is it the only culinary vegetable that is a botanical fruit: eggplants, cucumbers, and squashes of all kinds (including zucchini and pumpkins) share the same ambiguity.

Okay, that would seem to sum it up pretty well -- so the tomato is born as a fruit on the vine, but cooks turn in into a vegetable. Meg wishes they could do the same with chocolate!



Fruit on the vine, and...



...vegetable on the table. Is that a yummy- and healthy-looking tomato salad or what?!

Long-time Friends

Speaking of hardly aging, when I as in Ann Arbor to give the Cup talk in early December, we caught up with Frank and Judy Wilhelme for a late dinner at Gratzi and then some after-dinner drinks and pool across Main Street at Andy Gulvezan's Monkey Bar (formerly the Full Moon -- don't ask.).

Judy is still a senior librarian at the U of M, and Frank the very successful development director for the Business School. Back in the late 60's (!), Frank was Leslie's and my high school history teacher. Aside from losing the Fu Manchu mustache of the era, he's still the same Mr Wilhelme who stirred things up so nicely in Dexter with the advent of his controversial Symposium Club, and he's still lacing 'em up and playing once or twice a week with many of our, by now, older hockey-playing buddies.

Tom Sr., Judy and Frank Wilhelme on a cold winter's Friday evening, just "shootin' some pool" at the Monkey Bar which, rumours to the contrary, they do not often frequent.

Hardly Aging

This submission from Grandpa Tom, who is not even close to age 80, yet....


Two old guys, one 80 and one 87, were sitting on their usual park bench one morning. The 87 year old had just finished his morning jog and wasn't even short of breath. The 80 year old was amazed at his friend's stamina and asked him what he did to have so much energy. The 87 year old said "Well, I eat rye bread every day. It keeps your energy level high and you'll have great stamina with the ladies. So, on the way home, the 80 year old stops at the bakery.

As he was looking around, the sweet older lady behind the counter asked if he needed any help. He asked, "Do you have any rye bread?"

She said, "Yes, there's a whole shelf of it. Would you like some?"

"Yes, please, three loaves."

"My goodness, three loaves... by the time you get to the third loaf, it'll be hard."

"In that case," he said, "I'll take two dozen!"