I had things to write about today and all that’s surfacing now is the potato. I made mashed potatoes last night and got more ambitious than of late. I went for garlic even though I have no garlic powder or garlic press, the ways I have previously added garlic. Instead, I decided to go full bore, I diced and sauteed fresh cloves. Then to kick it into high gear I did the sauteing in the cast iron griddle I had made bacon in and not cleaned. They were sauteed in a combination of bacon fat and olive oil. Then i emptied the griddle into half & half and butter before I popped it in the microwave. I even added just a pinch of salt. Those mashed potatoes came alive.
Do you know what this is? I just discovered it recently.
It’s a garlic peeler. You put the clove in it, press down, and roll it on the counter. The clove comes out peeled. How have I gone my entire live without knowing of this simple and effective labor saving device. When I was often sauteing garlic I googles how to peel it, and this did not show up. I should be using fresh garlic in my cooking ever day. I love simple devices that make life easier. It reminds me of when I discovered staple removers.
Now onto something important, Wordle. As so many people post about it you get insight into the diverse ways people think. I discovered that some people think the person running the game is playing defense, trying to make the puzzles hard by using unusual letter combinations. I too have noticed a run of words with fewer than expected vowels, but I attribute that to chance. The game’s inventor wrote the code in an afternoon. The easiest way to do it is to use an already extant list of frequently-used words and have the game pick one at random. Anything else would require a lot of extra work to no gain. When I used to play hangman with new people my first word was always “lynch” as they would waste their first five guesses on vowels. I’d also use phlegm as it has but one vowel and that weird gm combination. I could do that as I was playing one game at a time and not planning a daily game. I’d prefer to play if the words had the usual letter distribution and I play under that assumption. The same thing happens in computer dealt bridge tournaments. Some people are convinced that they are deliberately making problem hands even though that defeats the entire point of computer dealt hand which are more random than ones from shuffling physical cards. It would also require a large staff to spend time creating problem hands with the knowledge that if it were discovered it would be a huge scandal and heads would roll. To believe that requires a conspiratorial worldview. People want a person to blame, not random chance.
I had a phone interview for a middle school teaching job yesterday. If felt like it went well. I know what I like about the way I handled myself is that I’m giving honest answers that I feel strongly about. My enthusiasm shows through. It helps that I’ve spent a lifetime thinking about how to teach and exploring the way other people’s minds work. My observations about Wordle and bridge help me as a teacher. There are many students that hold that mindset, that the teach is deliberately making things difficult and trying to trick them. I do the exact opposite when I teach. I always try to make the numbers come out nice, so they don’t get bogged down on calculations.
It’s after noon now so last night’s Gord’s Gold is now available on Mixcloud. You can listen right here, and you should. As is true every week it was the best show ever.
Wise Madness 