It’s just as I suspected. I speak machine.

While most people get frustrated talking to interactive voice response systems on the phone, I’ve never had any problems making myself understood to them. Perhaps my voice is naturally perfectly calibrated to the necessary sound patterns? Who knows. But it comes as no surprise to me that dictating into my new speech recognition software feels just as normal as, if not even more comfortable than talking to a person. I absolutely love it! Finally I can give my poor abused hands a break.

The software is called MacSpeech Dictate and it’s built on top of a licensed Dragon Naturally Speaking core. So far I’ve dictated an email, chat session, notes, and this here blog post. It does get stuck on homonyms every now and then. And I have yet to train it to recognize names. It’s my favorite thing of the moment! Next month I’m going to be doing a lot of writing so this will come in very handy. Wahaha. Get it, computer? It’s called a pun. Exclamation point.

Once a month the IT department makes dinner together. We pick someone’s house and the theme then we plan our menu. Last month we did seafood. Other previous themes included fall harvest, Mexican, grilling, breakfast foods, and Southern cuisine. This month we wanted to try something different. Brian suggested just eating out at the Roadhouse. Then Elph had the idea of going straight to the source. Cornman Farms, located 5 miles west of the city, is where Chef Alex Young and Mark Baerwolf grow the vegetables that they serve in the restaurant. This afternoon we drove over to meet Mark and learn more about where our food comes from.

Mark launched right into a hands-on tour of the farm. We tasted two kinds of spinach by plucking leaves straight from where they sprouted up from the ground. At the same time Mark was telling us about how he recently chased away rabbits that enjoyed chewing on these very same plants. It was an intense experience, chewing this simple leaf in isolation, away from the busy atmosphere of dinnertime, without even a layer of dressing to mask its flavor. Then there were four kinds of carrots, each with their own distinct flavor, that we tried after pulling them from the earth and rinsing them off. It was fun digging up a treasure trove of potatoes from under six inches of dirt. We snacked on turnips, radishes, leeks, three kinds of celery. At the same time we were filling up a crate with all these root vegetables.

On the other side of the field were rows of peppers, shining bursts of red in the glare of the sun. The farm also had a hoophouse to grow tomatoes and a greenhouse where they dried racks of chilies and oversized sunflowers. Nearby was storage for squashes of different shapes and sizes.

Growing vegetables seemed to me a complex science having to deal with innumerable variables that are impossible to control. The produce we get in the supermarkets are grown, one could almost say manufactured, in large facilities with controlled environments, fortified with various chemicals, picked before they are ready, and shipped across the country in a manner that guarantees a product that wholly consistent yet lacking in flavor.

Cornman Farms uses organic practices and takes it even further by employing their own creative and natural farming methods. Mark talked about ideal soil temperatures, natural and noninvasive ways to protect the crops, which plants work best next to other plants, how many frosts are best before harvest, and other bits of farming expertise.

Afterwards we trekked back to the city to make our dinner reservations. Mark arranged for the kitchen at the Roadhouse to prepare our vegetables with our meal. Our bucket of potatoes transformed into the best french fries I have ever had. Then out came out a dish of our roasted root vegetables, only lightly dressed with olive oil salt and pepper. Each bite with so flavorful, we looked at each other across the table amazed that we had picked these only three hours before.

I will admit that before today I never gave much thought into where my food came from. This experience made me appreciate how much better food can be when care is taken from the time it’s planted to the moment it comes out on a plate.

Playing with tilt-shift Photoshopping.

Mini Edinburgh (where the wee folk live)

Mini Cemetary at Stirling (for minor lords)

Mini Sheep (for cotton balls)

Highlights of the Scotland Trip:

1. The Castles
The Scottish castles are not the romantic castles of Germany, for sure. Though they’re mostly in ruins, they have their own sense of timelessness. It helps that the castle grounds are set against the backdrop of countryside that itself hasn’t changed for centuries.

Castle Blackness
Shaped like a ship, the castle was fondly called the ship that the English could never sink.

Edzell Castle
Edzell is rather off the beaten track for a grand tour of Scotland. K lived in the area some years ago, but at that time, the castle was under major renovation and closed to the public. It stood outside the town at the end of a dirt road. Its best feature was the beautiful walled garden.

Linlithgow Castle
The birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots. Huge floorplan. I’d love to have lived here even as the steward. The challenge of managing that big of a place makes me twitchy.

Urquhart Castle
The 270 degree view of the loch is beautiful!

Dunnottar Castle
The land bridge to the castle eroded over the centuries, so tourists must walk hundreds of steps down and up to reach it.

Glamis Castle
The furnishings in the rooms were beautiful. I’ve decided to revive the tradition of extra large portraits as wall art at home. No photography allowed inside, though I did purchase a couple of postcards!

2. Mary King’s Close, Edinburgh
This tour was wickedly fun. The guide takes you through the underground close, telling stories of real residents back in the 16th-17th century and during the plague.

3. Highland Cows
Furry cows are so cute!

4. The Countryside
Cows, sheep and hay everywhere!

Next time, skip:

1. Dinner at The Dungeon Restaurant, Dalhousie Castle
Dinner was a warm potato and truffle salad as a starter, monkfish with a Dijon Bearnaise sauce for the entree, and tonka bean creme brulee for dessert. The food was at the same quality as you’d find in a nice restaurant. The service, on the other hand, was too casual for the hefty price tag. For £45 a person, one would expect that at the very least the plates be cleared with minimal fuss. Disappointing.

2. The “Scottish Breakfast”
Breakfast consists of a bowl of cereal, fried egg, Ayrshire bacon, sausages, beans, black pudding, potato pancake, mushroom, tomatoes, toast, and (optional) haggis. Every single morning.

3. Early morning and late night meals.
Nothing is open before 10am and after 8pm, even in the major cities. In Glasgow, we did find a tiny open-till-midnight shop with great crepes. Yum.

4. Scary sightings
Beware! But I did find Nessie!

“… is that you’re no longer able to sustain any kind of ambiguity.”
- Josh R., over brunch, looking up whatever happened to his favorite brand of lime-flavored rum