想搬家到和讯博客去了。和讯的朋友，谢谢你了。辛苦了。

刚刚上网看到这张图片，实在佩服解;..放',,军叔叔们。瞧这"中文音标"注的，太牛了，连弱读发音都注出来了~!照着中文注音给别人读了读，"嘿，还真对得起咱这张脸"，别人还都听懂了......

前些天整理东西的时候，发现了这张很怀旧照片。刚好身边有扫描仪，就保存下来了。

拍这张照片的时候，我4岁，上幼儿园中班。

那时家里有个小院，很矮的围墙配上爸爸用竹片做成的院门。印象最深的是院子里的葡萄架。

爸爸的这辆永久自行车现在还能服役，永久毕竟是永久。

爸爸的休闲西装配上回力鞋，那时很帅气，即便是现在看来其实也很很时尚。爸爸当年也是个大帅哥啊！

而我当时，坐在他的永久上面，像是春暖阳光下一只活波可爱的小熊。童年就是那么的自在，美好。

<--请点击此图，观看详细图示

[Jerry导读:] 刚刚在博客中国上看到了一则新闻，说是对于女大学生找工作来说，最重要的一点是长相和身高。不知道这种说法是不是有些片面，但是从目前电视上铺天盖地的"增高品"广告来看，中国人对于身高的态度，的确是不得不让人有所思考。你对于自己的身高满意吗？有没有想过试试这一类增高品呢？五花八门的种类，足以让你挑花了眼：增高鞋、增高袜、增高片、增高液、增高帖甚至还有增高床、增高帽，真是林子大了什么鸟都有~~！这些方法真的都像广告中吹嘘的那样神奇吗？恐怕不见得！然而，有一种最近很流行的方法，媒体也报道过很多的，那就是通过手术~~！这是一个看起来比较残忍的手术！接受手术的人应该要有些胆量的。为了增加甚高，不惜把自己的小腿骨锯开，用钢架把两段骨头分开一定的距离，并固定住。骨骼经过一段时间会自动生长愈合。这样人的身高也就增加了~！(点击上面右图看此手术详细的图示)。这种手术已经被证明是比较成功，技术比较成熟了。然而，隐藏在这背后的，是一种什么样的社会价值观呢？值得我们深入地思索！这篇报道来自2005年3月31日LA Times《洛杉矶时报》，报道的就是这些年来在中国出现的这一股增高的热潮。In a newly competitive society, being short can mean being passed over.真得如此吗？     ----Jerry Yue

[Jerry导读:] 相信自己的眼睛吗？图画上的是艺术品吗？不是，那是美食，的确是美食。如此精致的食物，怎让人舍得下口，作为观赏，倒是更为合适。这些美食来自美丽的意大利西西里岛。中国,可以称得上是一个美食的天堂了，那么这里，就是第二个美食的天堂了。嗯，能荣登这个宝座，一定有它的秘诀。这个秘诀就是：想象力~！我们可能很少会把这个词和食物联系到一起。然而当食物变成一种艺术，它们之间的关联，也就得以正名了。西西里岛的厨师们颠覆了他们奶奶那辈人的烹调方式，对以酸甜融合的传统食物进行了重新创造，这个过程，和想象力以及当地的食物原料完美的融合了~！除此之外，这个饮食胜地的风景也是非常迷人的~~是这辈子绝对不容错过一个人间天堂。在品味美食的同时，也随Jerry一同尽情游览美丽的西西里岛，体味那个曾经的美丽传说！        ----By Jerry Yue

ICILY is fast becoming the next culinary destination as its imaginative chefs deconstruct generations of grandmother's cooking, reinvent the island's tradition of sweet and sour combinations and serve local ingredients in lighter and more creative ways.

"Our passion for food and palate are different than it was in the 10th century," said Corrado Assenza, the chef and an owner of Caffè Sicilia in the gorgeous hilly Byzantine town of Noto. Mr. Assenza, the fourth generation to run the cafe, is among the most creative practitioners of the new Sicilian cooking, glazing capers with honey, turning bergamot into marmalade.

"We need to have new traditions to be in touch with our land, new kinds of combinations of ingredients, new fragrances," he said. "One side of our tradition is that the best recipes are made with the best ingredients. The other side applies to thinking with the modern brain what the food means today."

So the eggplant Parmesan of my childhood has become an eggplant flan with Parmesan fondue and velvet tomato sauce at Il Mulinazzo, a restaurant with two Michelin stars in Villafrati, just outside Palermo. The elegant French quenelle has been reinvented as fish gnocchi at the Sheraton hotel in Catania. Chocolate sauce, traditionally served with rabbit, is now gracing pork at Il Duomo in Ragusa, and basil has been given new life as a filling for chocolates and a flavoring for sorbetto at Caffè Sicilia.

This tipping point in Sicilian history, culinary and otherwise, is described in Nino Graziano's cookbook, "My Sicilian Cooking" (Bibliotheca Culinaria, 2003). Mr. Graziano, one of the foremost practitioners of the new Sicilian cooking, is the owner of Il Mulinazzo.

"After the dark years in which the island was associated only with the Mafia, people have begun to associate it with something positive," Mr. Graziano wrote. "Rather than ask who was killed where, tourists are now more likely to inquire about a particular grape variety, the late ripening peaches or a rare cheese. We have extraordinary ingredients at our disposal, transformed by artisans and not by agribusiness."

And some of the island's young chefs, having traveled the world, now realize how blessed they are at home. They are harvesting wild ingredients like fennel and saffron, there for the taking in the hills and fields.

"A few years ago you couldn't pay people to harvest the almonds," said Faith Willinger, the Italian food expert, writer and cookbook author, who lives in Florence. "Now Sicilians realize theirs are the best. Like the oregano, the capers, the grapes - everything is so vibrant. The vegetables are amazing because they are grown on volcanic soil."

These new chefs are also bridging the gap between peasant cooking and that of the monzù, the French-trained chefs the aristocracy employed in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Monzù is Sicilian for monsieur.

There are at least a half a dozen places like Il Mulinazzo where the food reflects this innovative cuisine. When I visited Sicily at the beginning of the year, we made it to only four, whetting my appetite to someday go back and try the rest.

I found chefs who are putting together foie gras with pine nuts and basil sauce, and raw chopped tuna with olive oil flavored with green oranges.

The menu at Il Mulinazzo has many French touches: Mr. Graziano worked for several years in France. But the dishes highlighted on the menu are taken from the Sicilian tradition, like purée of fava beans enriched with scampi, ricotta and extra virgin olive oil. The earthiness of the beans and the sweet creaminess of the ricotta play off the ocean flavors of the scampi.

On New Year's Eve the tasting menu at Il Mulinazzo took its cue from the plainest of peasant ingredients, artichokes and potatoes. But the potatoes were coarsely mashed, the influence of Norman rule, Mr. Graziano said. And the luxurious Beluga caviar topping was an international addition.

In the beginning, Mr. Graziano said, it was difficult to convince people to abandon the old ways, long and slow cooking in vast quantities of olive oil, seasonings applied with a heavy hand. But as time passed, the message got through. On New Year's Eve at Il Mulinazzo everyone in the handsome, festive dining room, with the exception of our table of four, was Italian.

At Il Timo, the restaurant in the Sheraton hotel in Catania, Saverio Piazza, the executive chef and food and beverage director, has created what he calls fish gnocchi, borrowing from haute cuisine and recalling a quenelle or mousse of fish paste poached in a broth. His featherlike gnocchi are made with butter, flour, butter and sea bass. They are served in a sauce of scampi, tomatoes and garlic.

Mr. Piazza says outside influences, including Japan, have increased the popularity of raw fish in Sicily, where restaurants in coastal towns serve it just hours old. "The traditional way was fried tuna with onion sauce with vinegar, a type of sweet and sour," he said. "The first raw fish to be served were the neo nato, newly born anchovies or sardines. Little by little we got to swordfish carpaccio. Now there is prosciutto of tuna."

Mr. Piazza loves to play with uncommon combinations of spices and vegetables, often using them as a base for simply grilled or sautéed fish. He infuses eggplant with cinnamon and serves it with sea bass; red mullet rests on a bed of zucchini sautéed with cardamom. "I close myself in the office, and I imagine the taste," he said.

One of these sessions produced eggplant marmalade made with sugar and bay leaf and served in a tart shell topped with a lemon twist.

Ciccio Sultano, whose Ristorante Duomo has a Michelin star, was one of the first local chefs to be noticed abroad for his reinvention of Sicilian dishes and for returning lost ingredients to contemporary cooking.

Always playful, he serves shrimp and squid fried in a delicate batter of semolina. It comes to the table wrapped in a paper cone, like French fries.

"I like people to be entertained, to have fun," Mr. Sultano said. "My work is to rediscover and identify the lost flavors of traditional cuisine and to renew them, inserting them into a modern and innovative context, while at the same time remaining true to the historical significance of the territory."

His dish of octopus, pork and citron seems unlikely until you taste it. The octopus is boiled and ground "like a salami," he said. The pork is prepared like headcheese, but with orange and lemon, giving both the seafood and the meat similar textures. The accompanying salad of citron, onions and parsley contrasts with and lightens the richness of the octopus and pork.

But the most daring experimenter with the strong sweet and savory elements in Sicilian cooking is Mr. Assenza of Caffè Sicilia.

As we sat in his wonderful old cafe, housed in a 1749 building, he plied us with example after example of his startling honeys and jams, cakes and preserves. "Using a combination of ingredients," he said, "you pass from low use of sugar to high use at the end of a meal."

For example he marinates raw fish in honey suffused with extra virgin olive oil and orange, lemon and saffron, and then serves it with lemon granita. And he pairs oysters with almond granita and what Mr. Assenza calls chili pepper candy, hot peppers glazed with honey.

The combinations are fascinating and endless, and at times they seem improbable. But one bite changes all that, astounding and delighting the palate.

One of Mr. Assenza's gems is a basil marzipan filling for chocolate. The brilliant creations of his mad genius - dozens of marvelous little boxes filled with jars containing honey-glazed capers; honey combined with wild fennel, saffron, white pepper or bergamot - line the shelves behind the glass counters of the cafe.

"This is my link with the Sicilian tradition of sweet and acid," he said. "We have the best ingredients and we honor Sicily by amplifying the quality of the ingredients."

Brian Wingfield contributed reporting for this article.

[报刊文章背景]  地中海的心脏：西西里岛

"如果不去西西里，就像没有到过意大利：因为在西西里你才能找到意大利的美丽之源"这是格斯在1787年4月13日到达巴勒莫时写下的句子，这是他为寻找西方文化的根源第一次来到意大利。的确如此，这个地中海上最大的岛屿，也是意大利面积最大的省份，的确是一块巧妙的土地，这里 迷人的自然风景与人文风景非常的和谐地融合为一体，自然有从古至今曾经居住在这里的人们为证：这里曾经居住过希腊人、古罗马人、拜占庭人、阿拉伯人、诺曼人、施瓦本人、西班牙人等，他们的文化已然印证在这里了。

从地图上看，西西里岛（Sicily）是意大利那只伸向地中海的皮靴上的足球。它位于地中海的中心，辽阔而富饶，气候温暖风景秀丽，盛产柑橘、柠檬和油橄榄。无论是东海岸，还是西海岸，到处是果实累累的橘林、柠檬园和大片大片的橄榄树林。由于其发展农林业的良好自然环境，历史上被称为"金盆地"。

  富饶的土地历来都免不了遭受列强的践踏。西西里岛最初的统治者是西西里人和色堪人。公元前8世纪，希腊人建立了重要的殖民地，保存至今的庙宇和剧场遗址成为岛上最著名的景点。罗马把这里当做帝国的第一个省份。阿拉伯人带来丰富物产：柑橘、柠檬、甜瓜。开心果，以及新型麦种。诺尔曼人的影响可以从城堡、大教堂和蓝眼睛后代身上体现出来。而长达数世纪的时间里，西班牙和奥地利贵族正是从建在巴勒莫的宫殿出发开始岛上探险的。本世纪初，黑手党成为这一系列征服者、统治者名单上的最后一个。

    西西里岛范围广大，但有三处是最好的移动据点，一是首府帕勒摩，往近郊的Monreale或Segesto遗迹都很方便；二是卡塔尼亚(Catania)，有南意米兰之称，意大利作曲家贝里尼出身此地，且北有陶尔迷(Taormina)小山城，南有萨拉库撒(Siracusa)；三是阿格利真托(Agrigento)，神殿之谷绝对值得一访，有诸神的居所的美称。

帕勒摩(Palermo)是西西里岛的第一大城，也是个地形险要的天然良港，歌德来此时曾称赞帕勒摩是"世界上最优美的海岬"。 随着统治者改朝换代，帕勒摩历经多种不同宗教、文化的洗礼，因此市区建筑呈现截然不同的风貌。曾有一位地理学家这样形容帕勒摩："凡见过这个城市的人，都会忍不住回头多看一眼。"这里的古迹建筑虽然没有金碧辉煌的傲人外观宦凼呛沃址绺瘢己凸奥痰亍⑹薪止愠∪诤弦惶澹亢敛痪跬回！Ｒ蛭急４嬗姓涔蟮闹惺兰臀幕挪矶嗳税雅晾漳汪淅浯湎嗵岵⒙郏慌晾漳Φ比辉恫患耙獯罄胁课囊崭葱酥剪淅浯涞奈按螅词歉黾罨⒊渎旃榈鞯某鞘小?/p>

    帕勒摩市区很大，主要的景点都集中在火车站往西北方向的区域，两条最主要的大街向北延伸，东是罗马街(Via Roma)、西是马克达街(Via Maqueda)；而从四角区向西的艾玛纽大道(Corso Vittorio Emanuele)，则通往大教堂及王宫这两个最重要的景点。

    阿格利真托(Agrigento)是"诸神的居所"，希腊抒情诗人品达尔（Pindaros）曾称赞阿格利真托是人间最美的城市！ 城市的规模早在公元前581年就已建立。公元五世纪起先后被迦太基人、罗马人占领，后来又历经拜占庭、阿拉伯王国统治，但后来阿格利真托的重要性被西西里岛东岸的城市所取代，昔日繁华忙碌不再，只留下许多神庙的遗迹。这些神庙是今日阿格利真托最重要的观光资源。

阿格利真托可游览的景点很集中，最重要的神殿之谷(Valle dei Templi)距离市中心及火车站约三公里，而餐厅、购物区则都在火车站广场旁斜坡上不远。两个区域之间可以步行，也可以搭乘巴士，车程只要十分钟。 阿格利真托往南七公里有个很受当地人欢迎的圣雷欧海滩(San Leone)，可以游泳及进行水上活动，

屡次从火山浩劫中重建的卡他尼亚(Catania)，是西西里岛重要的工商大城，经济繁荣，有南义米兰之称。意大利作曲家贝里尼出身此地，更增添它的旅游价值。卡他尼亚的火车站在市区的东南角，沿威玛努二世街(Via Vittorio Emanuele II)西行，便是市区最重要的大教堂广场(Piazza del Duomo)。从教堂广场向北延伸好几公里长的艾特街(Via Etnea)，是市区最主要的街道，所以餐厅、商店都集结于此。

    小镇陶尔迷(Taormina)也是西西里岛的一个重要景点。这里一面是悬崖，一面临大海，城市建筑在层层山石之上，形成它那上接青天，下临大海，岿然耸立的气势。夜晚，远远望去，它的点点灯火和天上的繁星完全连成一片，使人分不清哪是天上，哪是人间。陶尔迷那一向以火山和海滨浴场著名，这里气候常年如春，风光旖旎，山城不仅有古希腊、罗马的古迹，而且有现代化的旅游设施。全城15000人口，全部依靠旅游业为生。一个小小的城镇就有100家旅馆，上万张床位。为旅游者服务的餐馆，咖啡店、各种商店......更是布满了大街小巷，生意非常兴隆。走在街上，时常可以见到这样的景象：市民聚集在金色阳光下沐浴的广场上；青少年嘻笑着从街这头儿溜到那头儿，然后像回游的鱼群一样又从那头溜到这头。60岁以上的老人们三五成群围坐在一起，穿着仔细熨烫过的材衫，戴着羊毛绒帽子。

    在陶尔迷可以吃到口味不错的海鲜料理，而且有一些餐厅提供旅客套餐，对于观光客而言是比较划算的。 通常，套餐包含一道意大利面、一道主菜(海鲜、牛肉或是鸡肉)，还有口感不错的面包，至于饮料就要另外点了，不收Table费及服务费，大多数的餐厅都接受信用卡。

　　与中国人相同，西西里人十分重视"根"的概念。他们的根深植于对家乡满怀的激情与热爱中：阴郁的暴雨云里时隐时现着易变的群山；盛开的柠檬和橘树林香气袭人；如茵草坡上，撒满片片雪绒般细小的野花。人们顽强地保持着历经变革沿袭下来的宗教传统，而一切西西里人传统的核心便是家庭观念。年轻人远走他乡，并不疏离家庭。他们认为，家庭成员应该亲密无间，哪怕不住在一起。单枪匹马行事的风格在西西里人看来是奇怪而不可思议的。

    复活节前的"圣周"仪式是西西里岛隆重的节日。老老少少全加人到和戏剧演出的热潮中，纪念耶酥的死亡和复活。仪式从圣星期五下午5点开始，空气凉爽，树影婆娑。扛着棺木的男子沿那条窄窄的石径缓缓走近，葬礼的哀歌从随行乐中沉沉升起。抬棺者们眼中满含泪水。"耶酥的死对我们来说是重大的时刻，抬起棺木，我们就找到了表达痛苦的方式"。夜色渐重，气温也有些寒冷。戴着帽子的男人们点燃火炬——五颜六色的用电池充电的灯笼。队伍上山后返回城里，一声鼓响，仪式结束。瞬时间，高悬在阳台四周的霓虹灯串瞬间将广场照得通明。

西西里岛盛产葡萄，葡萄园处处可见，但大多数葡萄酒却名不见经传。60年代末，卢齐奥的父亲朱贪佩伯爵着手改进葡萄品种和发酵技术来酿造"好酒"。现在，在卢齐奥和他31岁的儿子带领下，庄园每年出产240万瓶各类葡萄酒，其中1/3出口。1991年，他的"加登内"酒被评为"意大利最佳白葡萄酒"。

　　来西

    木偶用提线操纵，动作自然、流畅，表演者皆具有高超的技术。木偶是西西里岛的旅游纪念品，在商店和摊头都可以买到。它们制作得都很精美，造型各式各样。其中尤以顶盔贯甲的古代武士最多。他们头盔上缀着各种颜色的羽毛或绒缨，手里拿着宝剑、盾牌，在商店和摊头上长长地排成几排，五彩缤纷，闪闪发光，确实相当好看。如果去西西里岛，千万别忘记带一个小木偶回来啊。

[Jerry导读:] 春天已经来到了，您是否打算过，在一个阳光明媚的周末，和家人、朋友或是同学一同去寻找春天的足迹，感受春天的气息呢？春天给我们的身边带来了无限的生机与活力。春暖花开，万物复苏，的确是一个感受大自然的好时机。Jerry早就按耐不住这种心情了~~！早想着背上相机，带上美眉，一同去记录下美好的时光。嘿嘿，每年春天都会这样，但都会有不同的心情和收获。今天Jerry这里的天气很棒，于是，索性也就给大家找到了这一篇来自LA Times洛杉矶时报Travel版05/03/27的文章。作者了纪录他游览Carlsbad花地的感受，以第一人称的手法，娓娓道来，读起来令人很轻松(Carlsbad是位于美国加州的一座城市)。与大自然充分的接触，释放的不仅仅是我们的身体，更重要的是我们的灵魂。在过程中，我们的忧虑会被渐渐洗刷，我们的灵感会逐渐闪现。正如作者在文章中说的那样:"I tell people I'm going to get planting ideas, but the real motivation is cultivation of my inner garden.--我告诉别人我将要去获得播种的思想，然而，我真正的动机，是要去耕种我心灵的花园。"很富有哲理的一句话哦~~！每个人的心中都有一座花园，那是需要我们不断耕种、浇水、施肥的地方。它的美丽，就是我们心灵的美丽。So,不要错过每一次让心灵接受洗礼的机会，就像作者的Carlsbad之行，"The Flower Field help me find spring. And they make me smile."正是这种简单的轻松与愉悦，最能都让我们释放心灵中一切的束缚，热烈接受大自然的拥抱，为自己心灵的花园送上一份最纯净的氧气......                      ---Jerry Yue

By Rosemary McClure, Times Staff Writer

This is a tale of two gardens. One is mine; the other is Ed Frazee's. The only thing they have in common is dirt.

Every year about this time I look at my garden, with its scruffy winter grass and droopy year-old impatiens, and flee down the coast to see Frazee's garden, a.k.a. the Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch. I tell people I'm going to get planting ideas, but the real motivation is cultivation of my inner garden.

The Flower Fields help me find spring. And they make me smile.

Frazee's garden, more than 60 years in the making, is a commercial bulb-growing ranch in northern San Diego County. It is open to the public for eight weeks each year when the flowers are in bloom. Vibrant bands of color — yellow, pink, orange, magenta, purple and white — march across 50 rolling acres. Carlsbad has grown up around the ranch, sandwiching the Flower Fields among a shopping mall, an amusement park and acres of California-tan homes and businesses, but suburbia seems distant when you stroll through the rows of brilliant flowers.

More than 150,000 people make the spring pilgrimage to admire the legacy of the master planter, who died last year at 87.

He was 16 when he quit school to cultivate flowers; his choice was the ranunculus, a member of the buttercup family. As the ranch grew, first along U.S. 101 and later near Interstate 5, it attracted the attention of travelers during the bloom cycle. Spring became synonymous with Frazee's flower garden.

But the winter of 2004-05 caused high anxiety. "We were nervous this year because of the heavy rainfall and erosion," said Lynne Seward of guest services. "But once it was time, it was like flipping a switch."

My niece Gaylean and her preschoolers Brooke and Ethan joined me on this trip. I didn't tell the sprites we were going to see flowers. I told them we were going to nearby Legoland. I probably could have avoided this rash promise, because the offer drew only blank looks.

"Is Legoland a big store?" asked 4 1/2 -year-old Ethan, hopefully. Of course, there would be toy purchases, along with long lines for food and half-hour waits for rides. But it could have been worse; several of the rides for older kids had 90-minute waits.

The 128-acre theme park, with its 5,000 Lego models, is aimed at the 2-to-12 set. Ethan enjoyed the activities and rides, but Brooke, 2 1/2 , didn't fare as well. Most of the attractions intimidated her. But the park is well-organized, tidy and nicely landscaped, so her mom wasn't disappointed.

Both Brooke and Ethan were delighted with our hotel, the Grand Pacific Palisades Resort, which faces the Flower Fields and is across the street from Legoland. The kids liked its tot lot, a kiddie water park and the fact that it had plenty of room to play. The adults liked the price: Our nicely furnished two-bedroom, two-bath condo cost $179 per night, included a kitchen and could sleep up to seven people.

We found lots to do in the area. We parked along Carlsbad Boulevard, which parallels the coastline, to run down the steps to the beach and play. Ethan built a fort with driftwood; Brooke dug in the sand. We all chased seagulls, trying to interest them in a bag of bread. It was the first time I'd ever seen a seagull refuse food. Perhaps we were too enthusiastic.

*

Button pushers

In the tiny Village of Carlsbad, we found a local favorite, Fidel's Norte. The 29-year-old Mexican restaurant is one of four owned by the Montañez family of Solana Beach. It has both expected and unusual entrees — I tried savory calabacitas (zucchini casserole) — and features fast, friendly service.

Our explorations also took us to the Museum of Making Music, adjacent to Legoland, which invites visitors to "spend an hour traveling down musical memory lane." The exhibition focuses on a century of innovations that shaped American popular music. There were more than 500 instruments to look at and many buttons to push. I pressed one to watch Eric Clapton play an acoustic guitar and another to hear a Moog synthesizer.

The buttons were addictive. Before long, I had the Beach Boys singing "Help Me, Rhonda," the Drifters crooning "Saturday Night at the Movies" and the Byrds rhapsodizing "Turn! Turn! Turn!" I was rocking, but Gaylean was nervous. A docent trailed her and the kids around the museum, probably worried about the damage little hands could inflict on a 100-year-old player piano.

There were no such concerns at the Flower Fields ranch. Kids are part of the equation, with a playground and child-friendly displays. The ranch is now owned by the Paul Ecke family and has added more visitor attractions near the main entrance: There are artist-designed landscapes, a greenhouse of new poinsettia varietals and the Walk-of-Fame Rose Garden that features 170 All-America Rose Selection winners.

In the distance, visitors see the hillside ranunculus fields. Although the day was gloomy when we visited, gray skies couldn't tame the color. If anything, the bright blocks of flowers seemed more vibrant than they might have in full sun.

We could see some people walking the dusty path to the blooming fields. We decided to catch a ride on a farm wagon pulled by a vintage tractor.

"This is a 1948 John Deere," our driver-guide said when asked about the mottled-green vehicle. "It may not look like much right now because we just got it, but wait a few months and it will be a beautiful sight to behold."

The tractor popped and wheezed, and I wondered aloud if it didn't need a little work right now.

The tractors and wagons belong to the Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum in nearby Vista and are driven by volunteers, who charge $3 per passenger to raise funds for their museum.

Our Johnny Popper popped and bounced along the path to a distant field. The ranunculus are planted in blocks with their bloom times staggered. Because we visited early in the season, only distant blocks were in bloom. As the season progresses, flowers closer to the entrance bloom.

We left the wagon and meandered along a pathway, passing thousands of flowers, their blooms nodding slightly in a gentle breeze. Some of the plants were as tall as Brooke.

I could have stayed all day. But after three hours of tractors, wagons and flowers, the kids were famished. So I asked for a recommendation.

"Tip Top Meats," was the answer.

"Uh, we want to sit down and eat," I said.

"Yes, Tip Top Meats. It's great and tourists don't go there. Only locals."

We drove a couple of blocks and spotted a sign that read: Tip Top Meats European Delicatessen. The parking lot was nearly full. Inside we found a market and deli, and a German-style restaurant with a variety of fare — both American and European — for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You could order pancakes, a sausage plate or a hamburger. Sandwiches were about $5, and dinner entrees just a bit more.

We found a table and congratulated ourselves on our luck at getting such a great recommendation. As Brooke and Ethan wolfed down their sausage and eggs, I asked what they'd liked best about the journey.

It would have been nice to hear that they'd come to appreciate the Flower Fields as I do. But I braced for the answer to be Legoland.

"The hotel!" said Ethan. "Can we go back and play on the slides?"

I sighed. Maybe it was time to go home and plant some new impatiens.

USC scientists are studying the sugar proteins in saliva to determine who is most at risk for tooth decay.

[Jerry导读:] 这样的事实的却让一些人很无奈：有些人这辈子注定会蛀牙。就算他们经常使用漱口水，不吃甜食，并且坚持刷牙，坚持用牙线洗牙，还是逃脱不了蛀牙的厄运。他们只能埋怨自己的基因了~~！这种情况是遗传造成的。然而，有时候，家族中有蛀牙的人，并不意味着后代的人也会会有较高的罹患蛀牙的几率。不过，有条好消息，可能会使担心蛀牙的人变得更加轻松。通过对唾液中糖蛋白的测试，就可以判断出某人是否有得蛀牙的危险.这个测试不仅可以推测出会有多少蛀牙，甚至还可以测出那些牙齿最容易被蛀。通过这种测试，可以在牙洞形成之前，做一些预防的措施，以减轻或避免蛀牙的情况。当然了，这样的测试，对于儿童来说，是最有用处的。对于像我们这样的成年人，牙齿的损坏已经基本上无可救药了，作了测试时也没什么太大的用处了。等我们有的孩子，一定要给他们做个这样的测试，这样他们老的时候，可以不会像我们将来老了时候，说话都漏风~~嘿嘿~！这篇报道选自LA Times《洛杉矶时报》2005年3月28日Health版。这项研究发明是由美国南加州大学的科学家们完成的~~希望这个测试不会太贵啊~~哈哈~~！！        -----Jerry Yue