The web ate my bookmark

Only a couple days ago, M³ were discussing how we both foolishly persist in believing we'll remember things that we don't. Particularly things we find on the Internet. I tend to be very sparing in my bookmarks because I figure if I found it once, I'll be able to find it again. (Stop tittering, y'all.) A couple days ago, I got a reminder how not true this is when I spent well near half an hour trying to hunt down a picture of the piglet squid that I believe I originally saw in moominmolly's journal. Then this afternoon I did it again, spending almost as much time relocating a fantastic index of Great Plains plants and their historical common names that I stumbled across last week while reading up on native foodstuffs of the Osage. You'd think all I'd have to do would be check the History, yet someone I managed to keep overlooking the link.

One of the surprising facts I unearthed recently while doing research on native flowering trees is that it was once popular to eat redbud blossoms. There's no citation, but Wikipedia tells me "Native Americans consumed redbud flowers raw or boiled, and ate roasted seeds." Elsewhere I read "Redbud flowers are edible, with a slightly nutty flavor. They can be added to pancakes or fritters or used as an attractive garnish on salads. Or you can use them to make a unique pickle relish!" I remembered seeing an old common name for the redbud that referenced this, but I couldn't remember exactly what it was; turns out it's "salad tree", a name listed as being "obsolete by 1923". With this in mind, I nibbled on a blossom coming back from lunch. Nice texture. It would be good in a salad or relish.

Of course, I'm particularly chuffed to find that that site hosted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln lists not only English common names but French and Amerind ones as well. And there are some interesting parallels. For instance, among the synonyms for Cercis canadensis L. is žongšabethe hi (i.e. žąąsape hu), which is glossed as "dark-wood tree" (and probably comes ultimately from La Flesche, although the proximate source is an article in Plains Anthropologist). This has a parallel in bois noir, which appears in the journal of an 18th-century French botanist. Coincidence? Well, there's also the case of Maclura pomifera (a.k.a. Osage orange) which is bois d'arc in French up to the present day and mįcešta hu "bow tree" in Osage. And Cornus florida (flowering dogwood) which is bois de fleche in a French source from 1828 and mǫǫsa hu or "arrow shaft tree" in modern Osage.

The Villa d'Este, by way of Kentucky and Scandinavia

We'll be spending Derby Day at the Merchandise Mart looking at art we can't afford, so chances of wrapping our fingers around the traditional season-opening julep are slim. I tried to compensate by fixing one tonight, but it's just not the same when you can't take your time. So for my second, I decided to put the bourbon to some novel use and came across this:

Tivoli

• 1½ oz bourbon
• ½ oz sweet vermouth
• ½ oz aquavit
• dash Campari

monshu called this a "more interesting Old Fashioned", which inspired me to garnish it with a cherry. The Campari gives it a little bite as well as a pleasant colour. I imagine I'll be drinking more of these before the summer is out. (Though probably not more than one at a single sitting!)