Sow There!

At first it was funny when people would walk by gesturing like some sort of hip-hop singer and saying, “You go, girl!” But after a while, it became difficult to come up with new, snappy comebacks. After a while, I had to consciously smile and not go into my patented Billy Idol sneer.
The other repetitive jokes included, “Can guys drink it?”, “Does this contain estrogen?” and “Will it make my voice go high?”
Go Girl is the first energy drink targeted specifically at women. I never thought about this before, but it’s true — most of the energy drinks seem to be targeted at men.
Think about the names energy drinks are given: Red Bull, Full Throttle, Dark Dog, Red Dragon, Shark and Amp.
There’s also a sub-category of hip-hop energy drink names, such as Pimp Juice and Raw Dawg.
If Go Girl is a success, I’m sure there will be more energy drinks targeted to women. Maybe they’ll come up with names such as Crazed or Spaz.

Blah, blah, blog
I’ve had a blog up for the past two weeks on norcalblogs.com/sowthere. It’s been fun writing errant thoughts and sending them out into the universe, but also somewhat disconcerting because you never know if anyone actually reads it. One of our computer geeks said I’ll get a count of visitors sometime next month. Judging from the comments I’ve received (four), it is read by my friends and some gal named Trixi.
I guess that’s a start.
But I need a little more validation than this. I already know my friends think I’m great.
To liven things up, I’m offering a contest.
I have on my desk a copy of “Wild Lilies, Irises and Grasses — Gardening with California Monocots” by Nora Harlow and Kristin Jakob. http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/10044.html.
I’m inviting people to visit my blog this week and submit a funky, funny name for an energy drink. The best submission wins the book, printed in Hong Kong for the University of California Press.
Kudos to people who actually look at my blog entries. I think the one about the really bad hair on “Rock Star, Supernova” is pretty funny.
To enter the contest and submit your prize-winning energy drink name, go to www.norcalblog.com/sowthere.

Amazing amaranth
Last week the column featured elephant head amaranth, a plant in Shelley’s yard with blooms that look like a middle finger. We nicknamed it the “flip-off plant.”
Shelley’s neighbor saw the article and had the good sense to ask to dig up the plant to put in her own yard. Good thing, because Shelley can be really feisty and likely would have told her neighbor a thing or two if she had taken the plant under cover of darkness.
The elephant head amaranth is related to the regular amaranth, which turns out to be a pretty darn cool plant. Amaranth is a grain that is a super-high source of energy and can be eaten by people who are wheat-intolerant.
I found a cool Web site: www.mexconnect.com that had a glowing review of this “food of the Gods.”
Author Karen Hursh Graber states that the food contains between 75 percent and 87 percent of the total human nutritional requirements. That kind of makes you want to rush out and get some, doesn’t it?
Who needs genetically modified golden rice? Let’s just start growing masses of amaranth.
Back when Mexico was conquered, apparently the Europeans hated amaranth and linked it to pagan practices, Karen wrote.
Apparently amaranth was something of the ancient Playdough and spiritual leaders used a paste of amaranth mixed with honey to form the image of different gods.
Maybe this was the origins of those Christmas tree ornaments made with dough.
After the Aztec sculptures were admired for a while, they were divvied up for dinner.
They found all other types of ritualistic uses for it, such as celebrating the birth of a son by making amaranth weapons and shields.
Karen’s Web site includes some cool-looking recipes to be made with amaranth.
I called Scott Richman at Chico Natural Foods, who said the store carries the grain for $1.69 a pound. It doesn’t sell that well in bulk, which seems like such a shame given its healthful properties. You’d think the government, trying to fight obesity and malnutrition, would require all Taco Bell chips to be made from amaranth.
Scott said people with aversions to wheat usually go for quinoa instead (pronounced kin-wah).
I always thought that was pronounced kwin-oh-a.
Who knew?
Scott said when cooked with water, amaranth becomes creamy, similar to polenta. It has a unique flavor that is stronger than you’d normally expect from a grain.
Some companies use it to make cookies and breakfast cereals, Scott said.
“Isn’t it interesting,” Shelley said, “how a plant that looks like it’s holding up its middle finger can actually lead to teaching you something?”

Bulb time
A co-worker named Liza e-mailed recently and said her husband dug up the daffodils in their yard. She was wondering if she should replant them right away or if she needed to give them a “chill.”
Daffodils are among the easiest of bulbs to grow in this area. They come back every year. Bulbs that need chilling include tulips, which don’t do well the second year after they are planted. They’ll come up but they look sort of haggard, as if they have been through some long trek across the countryside in a covered wagon.
I’d recommend Liza’s husband put the daffodils in the ground right away; otherwise they run the risk of being forgotten and rotting in some sad heap under a pile of fallen leaves.

Sow There! loves cereals that go snap, crackle, pop. For feedback, send to P.O. Box 9, Chico CA 95927 or hhacking@chicoer.com.