Footnotes to a Conversation, October 9, 2023

Locked Room Mysteries

J.R. Ellis has written a series of mysteries set in Yorkshire. What sets the books apart from other mysteries is the intriguing plots – a musician murdered in front of a concert audience, potholers and unexplored caverns, locked room mysteries. They’re light and enjoyable. Perfect for an evening of escapism or if you’re planning a trip to Yorkshire. I’ve read 3 in the last few weeks and have already put #4 on reserve. [J. R. Ellis]

Nerds Who Loved Words

From the very beginning in the mid-19^th century, the Oxford English Dictionary was a crowdsourced project with contributions by hundreds of individuals from all 5 continents. In researching and writing about The Dictionary People, Sarah Ogilvie uncovered three murderers, one cannibal, and several institutionalized lunatics, but most of them are harmless academics. In 2006, Ogilvie met one of them – Chris Collier, “who over the course of 35 years sent the dictionary 100,000 quotations from a Brisbane tabloid, all carefully cut and pasted in what he called his office, which was a park behind a pub; he posted them to Oxford wrapped in cereal packets with a residue of crumbled cornflakes and tufts of dog hair.” [The Guardian]

Philologos / Logophile / Word Lover

Speaking of words, I’m enjoying following Susie Dent on X (formerly Twitter). She posts a word a day. Here are some I’m sure you’ll find useful:

forswunk (13th century): exhausted from too much work. foreswunk: exhausted before you even begin

ipsedixitist (19th century): one who firmly asserts that something is true because another person said so, with no other evidence to back it up

bumfuzzled & dumfoozled (19th century): perplexed, befuddled, and in need of a lie-down

Cucina Povera

With less than 3 weeks remaining before I leave for 5 months in the UK and France, I’m on a mission to empty my freezer. I also chose not to go out shopping over the past few days, which left me studying the contents of my cupboards and freezers to see what I could create. I’m a firm believer that restricted options lead to greater creativity, and I was very pleased with the two dishes I made over the weekend. Three carrots and one apple plus some frozen leftover coconut milk and Kowloon curry powder made a very pleasant, fruity soup (apple was large, carrots were small). I then made a 5-ingredient stew with lentils, a can of tomatoes, a package of dried Shiitake mushrooms, chipotle chili powder, and mushroom spice.

I’m always on the lookout for good mushroom spice mixes as they add such depth and “meatiness” to vegetarian cooking. I’m enjoying Rain Coast Wild Mushroom Spice, a flavoured salt that is blended on Gabriola Island.

Authentic

Jack Montgomery says he’s no longer interested in writing or reading travel articles. He says the writers go on the same media trips and end up publishing the same information or being obliged to recommend the company that sponsored the trip. He prefers to publish articles on his blog as for him the reward “is in sharing information that isn’t widely known by the target audience.” [Jack Montgomery]

Footnotes to a Conversation is a weekly Monday feature covering an assortment of topics that I’ve come across in the preceding week – books, art, travel, food, and whatever else strikes my fancy. I also post occasional articles on other dates, including frequent book reviews and travel tales.

If you share my love of nature, check out EcoFriendly West, an online publication encouraging environmental initiatives in Western Canada, and Nature Companion, a free nature app for Canada’s four western provinces.