Honey Rainbow Carrots

Bugs Bunny might like his carrots raw, but I'll take mine as you see them in the picture below.  Gourmet Chef Elaine bought multi-colored carrots and coated them in a blend of honey, olive oil, cumin, salt, and pepper.  30 to 40 minutes in a 425-degree, preheated oven is all it takes.  The simplistic recipe is at the link below.  Colorful and delicious!

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/239779/honey-roasted-carrots-with-cumin

Tequila Sunset

The Tequila Sunset you see below was my choice for an afternoon sipper at Cantina Del Mar in Panama City Beach, Florida.  Like its cousin, the Sunrise, it features tequila and grenadine but replaces the orange juice with peach schnapps and pineapple juice.  Its presentation is enhanced with a pineapple wedge and a skewered maraschino cherry.  Will be making a few of these as the summer temperatures arrive at home.

https://cantinadelmarpcb.com

Porcupine Grass

At the northwest corner of our backyard, we used to have Viburnum bushes, but they were half-dead, and we decided to rip them out and replace them with a variety of Purcupine grasses seen below, specifically Miscanthus sinensis 'Strictus'.  It's similar to Zebra grass, but its stronger blades keep it upright in windier conditions.  It's a variegated variety, which is prettier in our opinion, and these should grow 7-9' tall, spread out, and eventually make a nice visual barrier that will provide additional privacy.  You can expect additional blogs, maybe yearly, as they grow up.

More information on caring for Porcupine grass can be found at the link below.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/foliage/maiden-grass/growing-porcupine-maiden-grass.htm

Yellow Battery

At the top left of the image below, you see a battery level of 83% and a yellow background.  That background happened on Gourmet Chef Elaine's iPhone 16e a couple of months ago, and I had no clue of its meaning.  A quick search found that a yellow background means the iPhone is in low-power mode, and that can reduce or eliminate functions that eat up the battery.  For example, the Auto-Lock delay is reduced to 30 seconds, 5G is disabled on some models, and background refresh processes like email fetch and others.  We have no idea how that turned on, but I suspect an overzealous button-pushing finger.

Read more, including how to turn it off, at the link below.

https://www.howtogeek.com/846726/why-is-my-iphone-battery-yellow

Tipped House

We were strolling down Gulf Drive from the Treasure Island Condominiums in Panama City Beach toward Schooners restaurant and found the house in the image below.  Its tilted fate is due to a tornado that ripped through the area over a year ago on January 9, 2024.  The locals told us it's still in place because insurance companies are arguing over who covers what if its demolition causes damages to the house it's leaning on.  Not only that, but the same house, years before this incident, had another issue that caused it to lean against the house on the opposite side. 

At the ridiculously long Google Maps Street View link below, you can see what the house looked like in August 2023.  You can also click on "See more dates" to get a few other views.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Schooners/@30.1406788,-85.7535722,3a,75y,229.11h,87.7t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1soYtLIHFfPMZzTp8IymX1Ew!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D2.303273399880922%26panoid%3DoYtLIHFfPMZzTp8IymX1Ew%26yaw%3D229.11314069825033!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x8893863247a05acf:0xfe3dec11a232f3cd!8m2!3d30.1411659!4d-85.7544332!16s%2Fg%2F11b778pjpz?hl=en&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDUxNS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Soft Shell Crab

My first candidate for dinner of the year is the fried soft shell crabs you see below from Uncle Ernie's in Panama City, Florida.  Two very large crabs, lightly breaded and served with remoulade sauce, were absolutely delicious.  We returned a couple of days later for lunch, and I had the soft shell crab sandwich, which was also very good.  You can look at their complete menu at the link below, which will surely make you drool.

 

https://uncleerniesbayfrontgrill.com

The Rosary

I'm not entirely sure if the drink you see below, called "The Rosary," is named as a twist on the rosemary garnish, or if you'll be saying prayers because it's so good.  It's Woodford Rye bourbon with a rosemary simple syrup, Angostura and orange bitters, garnished with rosemary and served in a smoked rosemary glass over a large cube of ice.  I had a couple at Uncle Ernie's.  More on that tomorrow.

https://uncleerniesbayfrontgrill.com

Digital Driver's License

Ohio drivers can add their state-issued Driver's License or ID card to their iPhone digital wallet.  Those of us on Android can only hope we'll get the same treatment soon.  This allows you to keep your physical driver's license and not hand it over as you're used to doing.  The major place where this may be handy is at select TSA airport security checkpoints, currently numbering more than 250 airports across 15 states, and includes my most often used airports, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) and John Glenn Columbus International Airport (CMH).  When available on my Pixel 7, I will load this just to maintain my image as a geek.

More information, including how to use your Apple Watch, is at the link below.

https://bmv.ohio.gov/dl-mobile-id.aspx

Can I Lick It

Somebody took the Periodic Table of Elements and created the "Can I Lick It?" version below.  It makes sense that all the elements that are present in the air (e.g., nitrogen, oxygen, argon, neon) are safe, but it is a surprise that yttrium (Y) and cerium (Ce) are OK.   I would stay away from licking lithium (Li), osmium (Os), and any of the other yellow elements, even if it's listed as "not a good idea".  Interestingly, fluorine (F) is a "really shouldn't" when fluoride, the negatively charged ion of fluorine, is used in toothpaste and drinking water.  Overall, there are a lot more "OKs" than I expected.  

https://imgur.com/gallery/can-i-lick-b605IbZ

White Foam

Part of the benefit of writing this blog is that I'm always looking for the next topic, which in turn makes me curious and questioning about everyday things I see.  So after sixty-nine-plus years on planet Earth, my brain finally got around to asking this simple question: Why is beer foam white?

Whether it's a light, yellow lager like in the image below, or my favorite, a black Guinness stout, the foamy head is white.  And when the head slowly settles, it turns back into the beer's color.  

In truth, beer foam isn’t exactly white, but because it's so much lighter than the beer below it, it appears to the eye much more white than it is.  That effect is called “White’s Illusion”, named after Michael and Tony White, not the foam's color.  More on that in a future blog.  Beer foam appears lighter because its structure is almost impenetrable to light, and the reflected light is scattered in all directions, making it appear white.  The same effect as the top of a cresting wave will be white as light is scattered by millions of tiny water droplets.

https://www.brewingwithbriess.com/blog/what-is-the-color-of-foam