Greetings and Salutations,

Those of you who have conversed with me at any length have realized by now that I am a foodie. What is a "foodie" you ask? A foodie is a person that enjoys food. Not only the eating of it, but the prepping, the cultivation, the nuances in different styles of preparation, just about every aspect you can think of when it comes to food. As a foodie, you start to notice things. Taste is one of them. Usually the stuff at your local green market just plain tastes better than what you find at your local supermarket. The tomatoes are firm and juicy, not mealy and bland. The peaches dribble thick juice and syrup when you bite into them. The lettuce and celery don't taste like…well…water. That is to say, completely devoid of taste. The other thing you notice is smell. When you walk around your local green market, you can smell the produce. Even winter vegetables have a noticeable fragrance. That's why you sometimes see people at the market holding produce under their noses. Smell is a very good indicator of what it will taste like.

<p>A "green market" for those of you that don't know is a local farmer's market or other co-op. Even a vegetable stand can count as a green market so long as the produce is fresh and local. As much as I enjoy Whole Foods for some of my organic produce, they don't count as a green market, because all their stuff is not local. If you're in the U.S. and would like to find out more about green markets, check out localharvest.org. They list co-ops and farmer's markets throughout the U.S. If you are outside of the U.S. and would like to know more, drop me a line and I'll see what I can dig up for you in your area.

<p>The other thing you notice as a foodie is that some restaurants and chefs are just a little full of themselves, coming up with creative and completely asinine names for some of their dishes. Just the other day, a friend of mine ordered a Neapolitan of baked wheat cakes, mesculin greens, pressed beef, tomato carpaccio, plated cheese and a tomato and mustard aioli all served with a side of twice blanched potato cutlets. That, ladies and gentlemen is a cheeseburger with fries. It wasn't presented as such on the menu, but there existed other items that made me wonder why they didn't do so. Plated beef with a mushroom and stock aioli served with razor beans? Salisbury steak with julienned green beans. Shrimp ceviche towel dried with a pepper and tomatillo salsa? Shrimp cocktail with cocktail sauce. Afterwards, another friend of mine who was bored called me up. We ended up going shopping so that she could get last minute gifts for her parents, and then went grocery shopping so that I could make dinner. Love her, but she can't cook to save her life. Not yet anyway. I made a risotto primavera with pan seared ahi and a mango salsa. Damn good if I say so myself. She offered to hire me as her personal chef, unfortunately college students don’t make a whole lot of money and therefore she couldn't pay me enough. Good effort on her, though.

<p>Now, you're probably wondering, "Why is this bastard writing to us about food?" and Spears and Bloodfyre are sitting there thinking, "I hate you Oberst, now I'm hungry." Simple, I've taken to looking at the DB from different angles lately. One of my more recent endeavors has been to look at every member as if I were shopping at my local green market. Even the unsightly tomato has to have some redeeming quality, right? Sure, it might not work in the long run, but it gives me another in into how people work and think around here. And sure, there are some bad apples who are just going to be bad. Maybe they were passed over too often and just went bad? Who knows, the important thing is to try and figure out what makes people tick and what makes people do or say what they do. Achieve this, and you can second guess their reactions with remarkable clarity.

<p>There are a couple competitions running. Tomorrow is the last day for the treasure hunt and rhetoric competitions. Saitou's "SAWed Off Whopper" competition just started recently for the Clan. There is also a James Bond spoof comp. You can check out the info for all of these competitions on the comp page http://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/dbjedi/competitions.asp.

<p>My hat goes off to APP Macindus, PRT Devor Wamel, APP Akilis Erinyes, PRT Rodas on their recent passing grads in the SA. Kudos to JH Sephiroth Storm for reppin' Tar at the ICTE, as well as Kal, Kazarelth and Rodas on their Crescents.

<p>And for you Journeymen out there looking for help and/or mentoring, drop me a line and I'll see what I can do for you. <p> Cheers, Maxamillian von Oberst-Tarentae, Proconsul </p></p></p></p></p></p></p>