ABigSlice Your Daily Bread

Odd Ogg, Odd Ogg, Half Turtle, Half Frog

OK boomers... which one of you out there had an Odd Ogg? I still remember the excitement I felt when I got this toy for Christmas. The object of play is very simple. Ogg sits on the floor at some distance from the player. Then you simply roll four brightly colored balls at Ogg, one at a time. When your aim is good and you hit him dead center between his outstretched arms, he comes towards you. But when your aim is off, he sticks out his tongue and rolls further away from you. I ask you, what's not to love about this toy?

I have tried and tried to find someone who remembers Odd Ogg. I spent way too much time trying to describe him to friends ony to have them roll their eyes and stare at each other as if I was on an acid trip! Then about ten years ago I was in an antiques store in Highlands, North Carolina and there he was. Perched up on a shelf, beckoning me with his hard, plastic embrace. I answered and bought him on the spot.

He is not mint condition or anything. He no longer works, but once again I have an Odd Ogg in my room! I have read accounts of people (specifically? a writer from USAToday) who speaks of being terrified of Odd Ogg. Wimp! I say. If you share my love of Odd Ogg or have stories of your own, I would love for you to share them! Anyone have an Ogg that still runs? And... anyone else have a blue eyed Ogg, I've seen a lot of pink eyed ones.

Pinot Envy, Mapping the Pinot Noir Genome

A national wine magazine once posed a question to wine drinkers. What is your favorite type of wine? The number one answer was Pinot Noir. Then a second question was posed. What type of wine most often disappoints you? The number one answer was again Pinot Noir. Surprised? You shouldn't be. The Pinot Noir grape is finicky at best. It is extremely difficult to vinify and is very prone to disease and mutations. It takes a true artist to handle the testy Pinot Noir.

In an effort to better understand the grape a team of researchers from France and Italy undertook the quest to map its genome. Their results? This grape, used to make some of France's most elegant reds and Blanc de Noir Champagnes, contains about 30,000 genes in its DNA. Here's the revelation. That's about 5,000 more than humans! Suffering from pinot envy? They also determined that the grape has an unusually high number of genes dedicated to the creation of flavor (100 in Pinot Noir as compared to about 50 for other plants). This certainly helps to explain why wine made from this grape has such a wide variety of smells and flavors.

Practically speaking, researchers think that Pinot Noir could eventually be biologically manipulated to produce specific and unique flavors, but they admit that this is many years away. For wine drinkers, this just supports what they have always known; when well made, there are few things, even humans, that can touch the class of a great Burgundy.