Overwhelming pie recipe, GoT dating tips, blooming chilies!, ver(r)uca(s), and hug machines

Since my blog is apparently on a pie kick... LZ and i were at the farmers' market this weekend, of course, and she was considering making a pie to take to her ultimate (frisbee) team's end-of-season party. (Team name? Hot Pie.) The question was, is apple bourbon pecan pie a.) actually a thing, and b.) too much? i was inclined toward too much, mostly because she wanted a top crust to write 'Hot Pie' into, but she looked around on the internet and came across this rather overwhelming recipe for Maple Apple Bourbon Pie with a Bacon Crust (and, optionally, a cheese crusting, recommended serving with pecan or walnut ice cream). We agreed there was a lot of fairly intense flavors happening in that pie, and a single slice might be calorically an entire meal by itself. Amazing.

Speaking of Hot Pie, dating advice from Game of Thrones. #9, yeah.

My Thai chilies are blooming have tiny chilies on them! Technically, they're either bird's eye chilies  or siling labuyo cultivars. My jalapenos are actually flowering (last year it was December before they got going), and my bell peppers seem to be considering it. Fantastic. In their honor, i took a look at the Wikipedia List of Capsicum cultivars. It's neat that not only the scoville units are listed, but also any notes regarding location, lineage, and how various chilies are named.

Jack and i were wandering around Target last night (the reasons why aren't really too important). i tried on a pair of shoes that had the style name of Veruca. This lead off a discussion that Veruca was a terrible thing to call a shoe (a verruca is another name for planar warts, caused by one of the pampilloma viruses), but it's also the name of a snotty children's book character, a band named after that character, and a character from Buffy The Vampire Slayer. The latter Jack regarded as pretty attractive, so maaaybe there could be worse names for a pair of high heels, but i think the warts thing discounts it.

In our wanderings, we also came across a book regarding how/what dogs see/perceive. i mentioned that there is a famous animal scientist who is known for this (particularly with cattle). It's Dr. Temple Grandin. She's a hero, and a person with autism who's been among the first to openly discuss what it's like to live as such; she's well known for her autism rights activities. What i didn't know, reading her wikipedia page, was that she also invented something called a hug box; " a deep-pressure device designed to calm hyper-sensitive persons".  This is really cool; she needed it/knew that it would help, and built one for herself. Just phenomenal.

Finally, this article entitled, "Dressing Your Baby In A Watermelon Is Actually A Thing".