“8 + 5 is… 12… no, 13! Aaargh!”
I love how this happens at the most inopportune times; it’s as though my mind has a little hiccup if it senses it is “under attack”.
Oh, it doesn’t take much to rattle it. Just put me on the spot and ask me to introduce you to a group of people, all of whom I’ve known for years. My brain will just “blip” and check out. Not that any of these situations are even remotely threatening. Awesome.
I do know that it started in my early “Math Terror” years at school. I skipped Grade 2 because I could read. No one asked me if I could do the times tables… or divide. No one asked if I was emotionally ready to be with a group of peers a full year, sometimes 2 years older than I (January baby:). But I could read “Tip and Mitten” like nobody’s business, so matriculation was the order of the day. How I loved “Tip”… best first book ever read, quickly followed by “Hop on Pop”.
I vividly (and painfully) recall standing next to my desk and having to recite the times tables from memory and failing miserably… in front of the entire class. I recall slipping out my scribbler with the chart and cheating on tests.
I thought I had to be perfect. Somewhere in those 3 years compressed into 2 I had missed out on some basic math… and, more importantly, some confidence.
It’s not a big deal, it’s only inconvenient and occasionally embarrassing when it pops back up. It’s the real reason I can’t stand to have attention drawn to me in a crowd. More importantly, it motivated me to become a teacher myself.
I’m happy to celebrate that my mind has other funny little quirks that I love…you could ask me to spell anything and I can rattle it off without skipping a beat. Ask me to write you a story, a poem, finish a sentence… no problem. And I am no longer shy.
I do have one other strange little habit, though. A new word will pop into my head and refuse to leave until I do something with it. I obsess until I discover what it means and then it “insists” on being either written down or spoken.
Let’s just say that any attempt to engage my son in conversation using these new words has been less than stellar. He just looks at me like I’ve finally, truly lost my mind then says, suspiciously, “OK, mom, I know you’re just trying to get me to learn a new word.”
And I do love to write… and cook…
Today’s Word Impulse came from CBC Radio 2 (I think):
Sepulchritude
I gather that, apart from being a “powerful and epic attack in Problem Sleuth” (what the #*&& is that??) it is also a word that can be broken into Sepulchre (death) and Pulchritude (astonishing beauty). So I think it communicates that something can be so incredibly beautiful that it can actually kill you (not too good); better that it be “a deadly display of physical attractiveness.”
And, naturally, I was wandering through the Fresh Fruits and Vegetables aisle of the grocery store (what can I say, it’s a mundane life that I lead?) when the word struck. There I was, just minding my own business, trying to select the perfect ingredients for my Acorn Squash recipe…
Ultimately, the ingredients were finally selected, those little acorn squashes were baked and I’m happy to say it was “Sepulchritudinous” (even made the word a little longer for ya’) and every mouthful felt like I’d died and gone to heaven!
Sepulchritudinous Acorn Squash
- 2 acorn squash
- 3 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
- 1 apple, diced
- 1/4 cup dates, diced
- 6-8 dried apricots, diced
- 1/4 cup dried pomegranate
- flavored Craisins (or dried cranberries)
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 2 tbsp honey
- zest from one orange
- juice from one orange
- 1/2 tsp Asian chile sauce
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 cup quinoa
- 1 cups water
- 1/2 cup feta cheese, drained
- Preheat the oven to 350° F.
- Cut the Acorn Squash down the center, from top to bottom. Scrape out seeds and remove pulp. (They should look a bit like hearts?) Place 2 halves open-side down in a microwave safe container. Fill with water to about 1 to 1-1/2 inches. Microwave on high for 15 minutes (or more depending on your microwave). Remove, add a bit more water and repeat for the remaining 2 halves. Set cooked squash open side up in an oven-proof baking pan.
- In a small saucepan, mix quinoa and water together. Bring to a boil, reduce and cover. Cook until quinoa has softened and “pops”, about 8 minutes. Keep an eye on it as it can boil dry quite quickly.
- Meanwhile, add butter to a skillet over medium high heat. Add the ginger and when it starts to heat up add the diced apple. Cook until apple pieces have softened. Add all remaining ingredients, except the feta cheese. Stir then cover with a lid so that the ingredients steam and reduce for about 4 minutes. All liquid should have evaporated or thickened by then.
- Stir the quinoa into the fruit mixture.
- Spoon the filling into the acorn halves. Sprinkle small bits of feta over top.
- Bake for about 10-15 minutes, until the filling is hot and feta is lightly browned.
Adapted from Hugh Carpenter’s recipe in Hot Vegetables.
WOW! What a name, I can’t pronounce 🙂 I loved it dear Smidgen, seems, it should be tasted! Thank you, with my love, nia
Haha, I don’t think I would either, it helped I’d heard it on the radio…
Call it whatever you like. I look at it and say “YUM!”
Well said:) Yum sums up a lot of the cooking I see on everyone’s blogs:) Particularly yours!
Maths and I were never the best of friends either! I too love learning new words and kinda get ratty if I have gone a week without doing a crossword puzzle.
Double thumbs up on your Se-pulchritudinous acorn squash!
Have a super weekend.
🙂 Mandy
Thanks Mandy, I hope you have a wonderful weekend as well…
I saw your title in my reader and had to click immediately over to find out what it meant! Great word and great squash! (And math is not my friend either!)
Hmmm, seems to be a pattern here. Perhaps creative people have focused their talent somewhere other than math:)
This looks supercalifragilicisoutousedelisous. That is the biggest word I know and misspelled. I suck at math too, darn. Anyway, love that shot of the filling. YUM.
Hey, I was thinking of adding that word to my blog. I think everyone thought that word was just the best! Thanks so much!
My brain does the very same hiccup as yours! And the feeling is SO like standing in front of the class, red-faced, dry-mouthed, trying to recall what you know you should know, and not long ago you DID! Love your writing and I want your squash!
You are soooo right! And we remember 5 minutes later after the conversation has long since passed us by:) Thanks!!
What a fantabulicious word, “sepulchritude”! La Femme Fatale indeed. And the dish is oh-so-dishy that it truly deserves the moniker. I can smell and taste it with my eyes!
Seems it’s not terribly uncommon for super-creative persons to struggle with the seeming rigidity of basic mathematics. My personal suspicion is that part of the reason that gifted *musicians* often do well with math is that they intuit the higher forms of it earlier and more quickly and so pass through the structural strictures more readily. I can’t prove it, but it makes a math wuss like me feel better to believe it anyway! So wonderful that you chose to teach in order to help others overcome such things!
[Written to you from my personal sepulchre. Cheers!]
I knew I could count on you to make a connection:) Love the “La Femme Fatale”, that’s exactly right! I do think gifted musicians do well, the math question was posed by my music theory teacher… I think he must find me hopeless:) But I will not surrender!!
My only-ever music theory teacher is my conductor husband and he lets me get away with spouting totally ignorant bilge because he’s such a silly sucker for me. So I promise I’ll NEVER offer you MT advice and info! But I’m proud of you for not surrendering, and I’ll ALWAYS be happy to cheer you on!!!
What a lovely pair you must make… music+art=love:)
You gotta love a good new word. And I love how it then seems to crop up in many places and I just apparently hadn’t noticed it before! Though, I must admit, I can’t see “Sepulchritudinous” showing up too often! It’s a great word – thanks for sharing! And for the recipe, too – I am generaly not a fan of squash…but that sounds like something I might actually enjoy…and try! Hmm…the question is, am I brave enough?!!!
I had never heard it before which is why it stuck in my mind:) I’m sure you would love the filling if not the squash!
I have now bought all of the ingredients…and I’ll let you know how it goes!
Ok, I made it! Had to change a few things as I couldn’t find pomegranate or asian chile sauce, and I didn’t realize I was out of white wine. So I used water, dried currants and skipped the chile sauce entirely. I LOVED it!!! It covers up the flavor of the squash!!!! Thanks for the recipe, and I myself will eat it and feel good about myself as I do so. 🙂
Have a great Sunday!!
That’s a sad story about your schooling but here’s something sadder – I did all my grades, even repeated a grade so can’t claim any loss of education yet I still failed math! It’s just one of those ugly subjects. But your squash meal looks very delicious.
Oh my, I think you must have had less than stellar teachers then:) You are so talented in so many other ways… I love your blog!
Word lover that I am, I don’t believe I’ve ever thought of combining words and cooking the way you do.
As for the 8 + 5 of your first sentence, you probably (judging from what you say about your arithmetical challenges) didn’t realize that 5 and 8 are consecutive Fibonacci numbers. And what, you may ask, are Fibonacci numbers? You can get an idea at:
http://www.maths.surrey.ac.uk/hosted-sites/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibnat.html
Any math lover will tell you that the Fibonacci numbers are fun-damental.
Why, thanks for the awesome Fibonacciest of links:) My music theory instructor was the one who posed the dreaded math question when discussing white and black keys in an octave. AND… he is a Fibonacci fan as well. In fact he introduced me to that concept at my first lesson and now I understand why! So.. thanks!
Good for your music theory teacher! I wonder if he ever stopped to think that music is a tribute to the Muses, and that a museum is a place dedicated to them too? Amusing, isn’t it?
🙂 I’ll bet he has, but I hadn’t! Amusing and wonderful!
I have never seen stuffed acorn squash look so incredible. Il ove the pomegranate along with all the lovely dried fruit – so unique! I’m having a ‘why didn’t I think of that?’ moment.
That said – LOL@ your Rudebarb, and we saw the ghosts in the povitica! Almost made me feel better about not getting the coily swirls 😉
Yes, that was a Rudebarb day, hope you’re feeling better, Lisa:)
I love language in general, and have a fascination with words myself – as English is not my first language, I will refrain from trying to pronounce your cool word, but will have to find a way to see if my beloved husband knows its meaning.
I wonder if there’s a site where you can type a word and hear how it’s pronounced correctly?
by the way, awesome recipe, sepulchrr….. and allt 😉
Various online dictionaries let you click to hear the pronunciation of a word, including:
http://www.macmillandictionary.com
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary
http://www.yourdictionary.com
http://www.wordsmyth.net
http://dictionary.reference.com/
AWESOME! Thanks so much!
Hahaha, my word expert (Steve above) has found a few site for you/us:) I pronunciation websites are a great idea!
Amazing what we can learn from food blogging…. 😉
This look super tasty – even is I don’t have a hope in hell in pronouncing it. Maybe I will just call is ‘acorn stuffed yummyness’.
Hahaha, too funny!
Maths and I are not friends and haven’t been since I was about 11 years old. It all went down hill after that. Give me a lovely big word though any day.
Now sepulchritudinous definitely takes the word for the day.
Well, at least I’m not alone in this:P Thanks!