List #1 - L Foods

L is for List

I like making lists and there's really no more appropriate week for listing than L-weeks so here's list number one: L foods.

I listed them and loosely clumped them into groups. I'm sure it's lacking.

L-Foods

lamb

liver

liverwurst

lobster

loins

limburger

lemons

limes

lingonberries

logan berries

lychee

leeks

legumes

lettuce

lima beans

lavender

lemongrass

lentils

linguine

lasagna

lard

laffy taffy

licorice

lollipops

L weeks (weeks 21-22)

L is for Late.

 

I'd like to say I'm posting the start of L-weeks a day Late because Late starts with L but really I'm just Lazy. (Also starts with L)!

 

L is a confusing letter because in some fonts (sans serif) a lower case l (l) looks like a capital I (I).  This happens with hand-writing too.  People don't really think about it because when they are reading or writing they use the context of the word and sentence to figure out whether it is an L or an I.  You know it's ugly with an L not an I, mostly because capital Is don't appear in the middle of words.  And this process happens so quickly, because your brain is accustomed to doing it, that it is not a conscious process, until you come to a word or phrasing you don't recognize.  But for the most part, when you're reading an e-mail you know that your friend went to the concert last night (I didn't) and not the letter L, unless you're friends with the letter L, then it could be both.  Either way, l is/are a poorly designed letter(s) whether it is representing a vowel or a consonant.  I'm not sure who to blame because I don't know which came first the lowercase l or the capital I.  Forget chicken-egg, this is what we need to be researching.  I'm tempted to blame the L because it comes later in the alphabet and I is more important, being a vowel and all.  So lowercase ls really need to step it up and figure out a new Look.  Although, the designers of the capital I had to know that people would devolve into lazier creatures and ditch the hat and shoes on the I, so maybe I needs to change.  Maybe, just maybe, we should consider getting rid of the lowercase l altogether.  How difficult is it to write a capital L anyway?  Better yet, let's return to cursive.  We never had this problem in cursive.  Oh wait, we kind of did.  Damnit, L really wants to look like an I.  But why?  It gets used a lot.  Hell, it's found in the six letters they award you in the final round of Wheel of Fortune, that means it has to be pretty popular, right?  Top six maybe.  I almost never gets used, sometimes Y gets picked first before I.  I bet I is pissed that L keeps trying to steal its style.  I should change its lowercase version so that it looks like a capital L and fuck everything up.  L better hope I doesn't get 1 in on this shit or we're all doomed.  So get over it, L, stop trying to live in Is very straight and unembellished shadow.   

 

So here they are for clarification's sake:

Capital L: L

Lowercase L: l

Capital I: I

Lowercase I: i  soon to be L in 2011.  Look for Lt.  I wLll.

 

L isn't a word (unless you're speaking Spanish) but it is a magazine: Elle.

It's an above-ground (L-evated) railway system in Chicago as well: L/El/EL. 

And it's also a Roman numeral for 50: L.

which is just another reason it should leave I alone, it's already worth 49 more Romans.  Maybe L just wants to be #I. 

 

 

Klever Kleaver

K is for Knives.

I went to culinary school so I'm supposed to be inexplicable into knives, but I'm not really. I like them a lot, some more than others. I like using them, some more than others. I like that they exist because I couldn't cut much without them in the kitchen but I don't go crazy over them. It may have something to do with the fact that these days, since I finished school, I spend more time writing about knives than I do actually using them, or even sharpening them. Embarrassingly, I don't even take very good care of the ones I have, and some of them aren't that bad. Granted, some of them are awful. Thanks dad for the 5.99 set of six knives from Big!Lots. I bet it was a real bargain. Happy birthday to me. But if I had these Mia Schmallernbach knives I would baby them like the only child of rich European royalty who is positioned to become the next king.

They're called 'Meeting' and I'm wondering how I can schedule one. The set of four takes up as much space as one thanks to the ingenious design. Thin, sleek, solid, each knife looks like it came from the same piece of metal and they are all housed in the same streamlined 'block'. They're almost completely flat and probably ultra light but they still have the recognizable shape of paring, caring, chef's and fillet knives. The designers even used math to craft them (proportions determined by the Fibonacci sequence). They're probably more arty than practical, but I don't care. I want these nesting knives more than I've wanted any other knives before probably because I always tend to want the most expensive thing in a class of already pricey items, like cutlery or shoes or furniture. My kitchen will be equipped with these one day and hopefully by then they'll have design some matching nesting flatware.

Via Geekologie and a bunch of other nerdy/geeky/designy sites.

K-weeks (Weeks 19-20)

K is for KICK-IT!

 

It's the kick-off for K-weeks, a day late won't kill anyone.  Afterall, yesterday was a holiday that celebrated people who got killed, so Monday did its part.  If it doesn't kill you it's supposed to make you stronger, but neither is proving to be the case with this blogging endeavor.  Is there a third option I should know about?  Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger...or gives you cancer, oops, sorry, liver.  That's okay though because I never go to the doctor so I'll never know, and if I never know I'll never die.  Read it again, it's logic. 

 

Since knowing is half the battle, give or take 50% depending on the nature of the battle: Jeopardy - 100%, Surprises - 0%, here are some things you should know about the letter K.

 

1. We don't need it, we've got C.  Or the other way around, depending which you favor.  But since C comes first alphabetically, we can say, thanks to K and kick it to the curb...not the kurb or kerb, because we're keeping C.....ceeping.  Crap.  Okay, K,  you can stay.

2. The capital and lowercase versions are eerily similar.  

Capital: K

Lowercase: k.  

The smaller version just looks like its arms are retreating from a rejected hug initiation.  Hugs?! [K].  No?  Okay...[k].   

3.  It's not a word, unless you consider 'kay a word, which it's not really, it's move of an abbreviation of a word that isn't even a word either (OK?) but it got turned into a word because people started using it so often in speech and text, but initially and essentially it's just two letters, but K is a name (Kay), though it may also be short for something and thus not a real name.  OK, K!  Not a word.  Not a name. 

4. It can represent a degree on a thermodynamic temperature scale (Kelvin) or a strikeout in baseball, even though there are plenty of other letters in the word 'strikeout' to use like, I don't know, the first one?!  Supposedly, S was taken so some genius journalist decided 'k' was a suitable pinch-letter since 'struck' ends with a 'k' and that's a term so often used in baseball...'hey man, you totally just got struck'd out there.  Better luck next time ::ass slap::'  I think struck is only used when a player gets hit by a ball but I wouldn't know, I'm not a baseball player or even a baseball fan.  So K is kind of all over the place.  It's a lost letter, just trying to find it's way.  It had a tough time in the '20s when it got together with a couple other Ks who shared some bad blood and some bad ideas, mostly fashion-wise.  It's tough to bounce back from orchestrating lynchings, it just kinda hangs on to your reputation, especially when you do it again 30 years later.  Come on, K, get a...klu.    

 

OK, K, Kick-it, just try not to Kill anyone.