Darwin Day Planning

Every year the Phactor hosts a little birthday party for Charles Darwin, but this year Feb. 12th falls on a Sunday.  Since my Mondays and Tuesdays are just impossible, and Wednesdays are for catching up things ignored the previous two days, the celebration will have to be on Thursday Feb. 16th.  Charles probably won't mind.  All the majors and anyone else who happens by can get some birthday cake and have a look at Darwin's publications, at least the 10 books from my library.  Last year a local supermarket employee in the bakery didn't want to decorate a Darwin cake, an unusual source for censorship it seemed.  While not necessarily more open-minded, the store manager wasn't about to turn away business, and a regular customer, over a birthday cake.  Maybe this year the celebration will get picketed by a campus religious group to  really help draw attention and get more visitors than ever.  The Phactor will offer them all cake, but they may have to be careful because of biological transubstantiation!  Yes, if it works for them, then it can work for us.  Eating Darwin cake will enhance your scientific thinking, especially the big frosting flowers.

Backyard celebration - F1 Birthday

The gardens are getting prettied up a bit because tonight the F1 is having friends over to celebrate her birthday. Other than general readiness, the Phactor's job is to fry a turkey. Now this may sound weird to some of you, but it is hard to describe turkey this good. You think greasy; it isn't. You think dry; it's wonderfully moist. You think dull; but fried turkey is injected with a Cajun spiced marinade. Now of course this all requires some special equipment, some preparation, a bit of know how, and practical experience. Getting 20 lbs of wet turkey into 2.5 gallons of 350F oil is a delicate process requiring some real care. Fried turkey has become the family gathering dinner of preference. A big cooker also does crabs, sweet corn, big batches of just about anything, but this was a bit of a surprise when the F1 asked me to cook one for her friends. Maybe it's because they're beginning to grow up.