Fruits V Vegetables

All my life I have always wondered about the difference between Fruits and Vegetables. Really this started after learning that a tomato was a fruit. Later I then believed a tomato was a berry and then i believed that a strawberry wasn't a berry at all. Then i was thinking that a fruit just had seeds and could be grown off of the ground. I mean strawberries grow kind of on the ground but can be grown in a hanging basket. So then I was thinking that all squashes (cucumber, zucchini, pumpkins, acorn squash, butternut squash, etc) were fruits as well. I mean they have seeds and they can grow off the ground (trust me i've had a pumpkin that grew in the air). Plus aren't squashes and melons the same plant?!? I mean they have very similar botanical structures. K enough babbling. Now for the Wiki-Dag.

Bontanically, Fruits are "the matured ovary of a flower, containing the seed." K that's a lot of stuff. Vegetable usually refer to "edible roots, tubers, stems, leaves, fruits, bulbs, flower clusters, and other softer plant parts." Basically vegetables are anything edible that isn't the fruit of the plant. However, according to culinary terms, vegetables are used in salads or are cooked. Thus tomatoes were considered vegetables instead of the berry classification. Also California passed a law saying that tomatoes were vegetables to impose tariffs on Mexican importation of tomatoes. Squashes are cooked- fruits usually aren't cooked. So they are often considered vegetables among the ignorant :D. Furthermore, if anyone has eaten stuffed zucchini flowers- those are considered vegetables. Here's a list of fruits:

True Berry: Blackcurrant, Redcurrant, Gooseberry, Tomato, Eggplant, Guava, Lucuma, Chili pepper, Pomegranate, Avocado, Kiwifruit, Grape,
Pepo: Pumpkin, Gourd, Cucumber, Melon
Hesperidium: Orange, Lemon, Lime, Grapefruit
False berry (Epigynous): Banana, Cranberry, Blueberry
Aggregate fruit: Blackberry, Raspberry, Boysenberry, Hedge apple
Multiple fruit: Pineapple, Fig, Mulberry
Other accessory fruit: Apple, Peach, Cherry, Green bean, Sunflower seed, Strawberry


* Interesting note- all the fruits that have "berry" in their name are not true berries.

Here's a list of vegetables---

leaves (lettuce)
stalks (celery)
roots (carrot)
tubers (potato)
bulbs (onion)
and flowers (broccoli)

Interesting eh?

A Weekend with Yacob

I thoroughly enjoyed this past weekend, which I spent nearly the whole time with my brother Jacob. He’s 14, taller than me, and is becoming progressively cooler in my eyes. This weekend, I took Jake and 3 of his friend to their first concert. It started at 5:30 at the U, and we got tickets for free via our cousins. The bands included Augustana, HelloGoodBye, and Shiny Toy Guns- it was way fun. Highlights- During HelloGoodBye, I looked at friend to help me hoist Jake up to crowd surf. As we did, he was like “no, no!” He was super panicky. He was holding some free cds he got, and as he traveled towards the stage people tried and failed to grab his cds. Ha ha he had an awesome time. Here's a pic c/o my cousin's facebook- in the right there is someone crowd surfing. Later when he came back to the crowd, a circle started forming around him, which resulted in a GIANT MOSH! It took him a few seconds to get what was going on- then bolted out of there. I let Jake and his friends mosh for a bit- but then it started getting pretty bad, and I grounded them from going in the main crowd. On Saturday, we had the awesome time at the MS walk! He and I raised a total of $700 together; it was awesome. We decided to run the whole 5k and ended up getting 5th and 6th! Funny thing is that on the last ¼ mile I told Jake to just run and get first. He then was stopped at a stop light and I caught up. Then he went ahead again- well he didn’t know where to go and tried to go through an entrance by Dick’s in the Gateway. Well the cop told him where to go. I on the other hand was already told by cop where to go. As I turned at the correct entrance, I heard Jacob scream “Jarom!!!!” he was running as fast as he could to catch me. I laughed and sprinted to the end- but Jake still managed to keep up. Here's video of us running. In it Jacob is imitating the night before ha! Thanks for the fun weekend Yake!

WikiDag: Aubrey Beardsley

I am stealing this idea from my sister. Often times i have so many ideas to blog that i end up not blogging at all. Sadly enough, there was a hiatus of blogness. However, I have come to conclusion that i need to blog! Stealing from my lovely sister, I have come to conclusion that structured blogging may be best. She has themes/labels for specific days. I may end up doing that in the future, but for now I will start with a label called "Wiki-Dag" which comes from Wikipedia and "dag" which in Danish means day. I use to never use Wikipedia but have found it a good way for quick look ups.


My recent Wikidag was on Aubrey Beardsley, who was an artist. I have only seen two of his works, which are in pen and ink. He uses a two tone technique, which I love. Here are the two works I have been exposed to. On the left is a women with crazy flares coming out of her body. On the right is his rendition of Salome. He was friends with Oscar Wilde, who had written a play of Salome; she is the mother of the girl who danced for Herod. Salome requested John the Baptist's head! Crazy story eh?

As I searched for Aubrey Beardsley (who is a guy... who has a girl's name), I found some interesting facts or are they? So Oscar Wilde was wildly gay. He and Beardsley were friends (sure they're "friends"). Beardsley drew the art for the Yellow Journal, which was read by Dorian Grey. Well, i kept reading and found something interesting. "..the details of his sexuality remain in question. He was generally regarded as asexual—which is hardly surprising, considering his chronic illness and his devotion to his work. " (interesting, I didn't know anyone could be considered asexual) "Speculation about his sexuality include rumors of an incestuous relationship with his elder sister, Mabel, who may have become pregnant by her brother and miscarried." Oh my gosh! can you believe that... ahhh gross incest! with a baby!

Keep reading for new facts from WikiDag!

The Unwritten Rules of Blogging until now

Dear Reader,

As many know, I am trying to beef up my entourage of readers and commenters. This blog is designated to you, who has not much blogging experience. This by no means makes me an expert, but there are some unwritten rules which perpetuate the world of blog.

Rule 1: IF YOU READ, YOU COMMENT!

My sister and I agree on this rule. It is nice to have comments regardless from whom it is given. We write to be read, and commenting allows us to know we are heard. Now you ask what do i comment?

Rule 2: A SMALL COMMENT IS WORTH MORE THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE

A comment takes less than 3 minutes to do. We are not asking for a novel, but a small thought about the latest blog or possibly a comment about something related.

Rule 3: CONSISTENCY PLEASE

A consistent commenter allows the blogger to create a better relationship with the commenter, and the commenter also learns a different side of the blogger. I must admit that I think my sister and I have gotten closer through blogging.

Rule 4: IT DOESNT MATTER IF YOU DONT HAVE A BLOG- JUST LEAVE A COMMENT

Blogging is semigeeky- so i don't blame anyone who doesn't want to dive into the world of blogs. However, it is fun to express your ideas and thoughts. Just leave a comment and say who you are :D



There's just a couple unwritten rules-

I love Comments!!


PS> I will be blogging more consistently and will probably steal an idea from my sister and have consistently themed blog posts.