Food on Fridays: Say Something Clever

January 26, 2012 By 9 Comments

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For the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—though we love to try new dishes, your post doesn’t have to be a recipe. We’re pretty relaxed over here, and stories and photos are as welcome as menus and recipes. When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button to paste at the top of your post. It ties us together visually. Then fill in the boxes of this linky tool to join the fun!

Food on Fridays with Ann

Not long ago, some friends and I had brunch at Bloomington’s Scholars Inn. We sat on an enclosed porch surrounded by windows, basking in the richness of friendship, conversation, and food.

I ordered “Eggs Michelle”: smoked salmon, asparagus, and a poached egg arranged on a toasted English muffin and covered with Béarnaise sauce.

Big wooden letters tacked above the windows spelled out, “Quickly, bring me a beaker of wine, so that I may wet my mind and say something clever. Aristophanes c. 450 – 385.”

From where I was sitting, the main words I could see were “say something clever.”

We relaxed as shafts of morning light warmed our sweaters and hair, and the few times I glanced at those words, I thought how freeing it is to sit with friends so trusted, so close, so safe, that any urge to be clever flows not from a need to amuse or entertain, but from the ease and delight of simply hearing each other laugh.

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Photo credit: Photos by Ann Kroeker. All rights reserved.

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    • Filed Under: Food on Fridays Tagged With: , , ,

    Food on Fridays: We Are Real (and so is the food)

    July 22, 2010 By 16 Comments

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    Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—though we love to try new dishes, your post doesn’t have to be a recipe. If you want to tell us about the first person who taught you to cook, that’s great. Posts like that are as welcome as menus and recipes. [Read more...]

    Filed Under: blog, blogging, change, creativity, family, Food, Food on Fridays, high calling blogs, home, writers, writing Tagged With: ,

    Improve the Mind; Find a Friend

    August 12, 2008 By 3 Comments

    Science Daily summarized a University of Michigan study thusly:

    Spending just 10 minutes talking to another person can help improve your memory and your performance on tests.

    And to think that the time you’ve invested in reading and playing Sudoku could have been replaced by a few minutes with friends!

    I wonder, though, does it matter what you talk about?

    Do you have to be discussing Don Quixote, for example, to supply adequate intellectual stimulation? Or is it equally effective to discuss the latest sale at Target or the fly that landed on the window screen?

    The article doesn’t elaborate, so I don’t know.

    Nevertheless, here are a few excerpts that stood out to me:

    • Socializing was just as effective as more traditional kinds of mental exercise in boosting memory and intellectual performance.
    • The higher the level of participants’ social interaction…the better their cognitive functioning. This relationship was reliable for all age groups, from the youngest through the oldest. (Not sure what “the higher the level” means at a practical level — maybe this is the Don Quixote factor?)
    • Short-term social interaction lasting for just 10 minutes boosted participants’ intellectual performance as much as engaging in so-called ‘intellectual’ activities for the same amount of time. (This seems to negate the Don Quixote possibility — who can develop a significant discussion in ten minutes?)
    • The findings suggest that visiting with a friend or neighbor may be just as helpful in staying sharp as doing a daily crossword puzzle.
    • The findings also suggest that social isolation may have a negative effect on intellectual abilities as well as emotional well-being.

    Apparently this means that those of us concerned with improving our intellectual abilities and fighting off Alzheimer’s can — or should – set down our Sudoku puzzles for a few minutes and find ourselves a friend.

    Anyone free to chat, say, 3:30 this afternoon?

    I’ll serve tea and blueberry muffins.

    Filed Under: lifelong learning, mind, self-discovery, simplicity Tagged With: , , ,