I am so high right now

Statistically speaking, that is.

It has taken me two full years of living here to realize that the pasta makers of the world aren't full of, er, it, but rather that the decreased air pressure at one mile above sea level permits water to boil at a lower temperature, providing a perfectly reasonable explanation for why I consistently have to add up to 50% more cooking time than the box claims.

I mean, I always knew about altitude and boiling and stuff, but I never thought it applied to me. Well, turns out it does. It is apparently also to blame for the fact that I've had to add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of extra flour to every pizza dough recipe I've ever tried, just to keep it from gluing my fingers together. And here I thought it was the idiot recipe-makers of the world. (Or the Italian ones anyway.)

We may never know if altitude is to blame for the problems Dad had when trying my favorite muffin recipe, but it's possible. Actually, I kind of doubt it - I got the recipe off the Internet and the changes I made didn't have to do with altitude stuff. Plus, according to my pizza experience, I should have needed MORE flour than he did, but when he used my measurements he was unnaturally dense. His muffins, I mean. His muffins were dense.

Here, why don't you try it and let me know? Just mix:

2 C shredded zuchchini and/or carrots
1/2 C oil
2 eggs
1/2 tsp lemon peel (or, you know, not)
1/2 tsp fresh grated nutmeg (or not)
2 tsp cinnamon
1 C raisins
2 C sugar (or just one)

Then sift in:
3 C flour (substitute some whole wheat if you want)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Put in muffin tins and bake 15-20 min @ 350. Makes 24.

So let me know. They should taste great no matter how it goes.

So, speaking of statistics.

You live in the tropics and people ask you if it's hot. (Go ahead, people. Ask if it's hot.) Actually, if you live up a mountain (a mile up, to be exact) it's pretty much the perfect climate. Y'all in North Carolina and that have, what, like 90-degree summers? And snow in the winter? I always told people it was about 60 to 80 degrees here, day and night, all year round. But I never knew for sure. What if I was talking out of my...ear?

Well, rest easy my friends because now the truth is known. I asked Dad to bring me a thermometer when he came, and did he ever. At the press of a button, I can now confidently report that over the past month, we have had indoor temperatures ranging from 63.3 to 83.7 (it's currently 8:30 at night and 71.6) - so I wasn't too far off. Outdoors, though, impressed me. Outdoor temperatures ranged from 49.6 to 77.4 (north facing, out of the wind).

The indoor/outdoor difference is, of course solar. My house is fiber-cement board on the outside, sheetrock on the inside, with dead air in between. Lots of windows let the sun all day. Actually, I bet it's been quite a bit higher than 83.7, but the thermometer is downstairs and it's cooler there.

So. I think that's all I have to say about that.