age ain't nothing but a number.

Yes, it's true. Welcome to Oldville. Yesterday, when I was still 39, I asked my trusty roommate Mara if she liked my new T-shirt, and she said something to the effect of, "It's fine, if you don't mind being a 40-year-old man with skulls on his T-shirt..."

And this coming from someone with a pretty "healthy" skeleton fixation herself. I do see her point, but it's not like I've adopted some new hideously impractical style of dress. I think it's pretty consistent with the VDuck dress code in many ways (black, one or more skulls on it, etc.), and therefore? Not indicative of any kind of Turning 40 Crisis.

Further, I would posit that that particular crisis began January 6, 2005 or thereabouts, and this whole finally actually being 40 thing brings a nice sense of closure to that (appropriately enough) black, black, black period in VDuck history.

You know, I think that my trusty roommate may have been "having me on", as they say, because she's also the person who told me age ain't nothing but a number, just like Aaliyah (also black) said.

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On the food tip, yo: parsnips taste good. Like a spicy apple/carrot/potato. This is a picture of two parsnips and a cell phone, parsnips on the left. We will be eating more parsnips 'round here, mark my aged words.






















And, here are some more cherrypicked vegetarian recipes from a mainstream cooking site, these are from the Food Network, the highlights being the Mario Batali and Gale Gand recipes...

Sweet Potato Pancakes with Spiced Pecans and Peach Butter
Gnocchi in the Style of Sorrento: Gnocchi all Sorrentina
Bleu Cheese Crostini With Sancerre Syrup And Peppery Lettuce
Steamed Asian Greens with Honey Soy Sesame Dressing
Sicilian-Style Cauliflower with Whole Wheat Pasta
Winter Squash Soup
Traditional New Mexico Red Chile Cheese "Stacked" Enchiladas
Cauliflower with Brown Butter
Cherries in Port over Ricotta
Pasta with Black Olive Sauce: Stringozzi Alle Olive
Spaghetti from Aquila: Spaghetti all'Aquilana
Roasted Root Vegetable Medley
Wide Noodles with Poppyseeds: Lasagne coi Semi
Sponge Cake with Pear Marmalade: Ciambella Pugliese
Smoked Gouda Cheese Grits with Black Bean Salsa
Chickpeas with Rocket and Sherry
Baked Carrots with Cumin, Thyme, Butter and Chardonnay
Buttermilk Sherbet with Spicy Peanut Brittle
Fennel with Bread Crumbs
Roulade of Potatoes and Escarole: Involtino di Patate e Escarole
Mallorredus with Fennel Seeds and Fresh Tomatoes
Drowned Cabbage: Verza Affogata
Sweet and Sour Pumpkin: Zucca Gialla in Agrodolce
Plum Preserves Mezza Luna

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