Books

I just read Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky, and I loved it. He tells the story of how cod was one of the main reasons why the "discovery" of Newfoundland by Westerners was such a big deal, because there was such great cod fishing there. And cod was a great fish because it's easy to catch and easy to preserve in salt (the fish has little fat, which is what causes things to rot). It was quite a good read, full of fun trivia and more information (and recipes) about cod then you ever knew existed.

Speaking of fishing, Beth and I went up to Minnesota and met my parents there to do a little fishing in the great north woods. It was Beth's first time fishing and she caught three fish - I caught none. But we had a good time with my mom and dad and we got suntans to boot.

And now I've started reading Kurlansky's longer but very similar book, Salt: A World History. I never knew salt was so important - I guess you easily forget that in this era of refrigeration.