Poppyseeds can be a nightmare for anyone subject to random drug tests. This much I knew, having researched the topic for my poppyseed cake recipe. I never imagined, though, that food could be more than just a little soporific. ABC Radio in Australia hauled Fuschia Dunlop before a microphone to enliven a discussion about the latest news about Chinese cooking. She reminisced:

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The year just past -- especially the second half of it -- was not my finest hour. I was trying to do two (or was it three?) jobs at once, not to mention my "personal" work, and not doing any of it well. I got into all sorts of bad habits and spent far too much time lamenting my inability to move things forward when the truth of the matter, it now seems, was that I was trying to move too many things. Dissipation was my middle name.

No more.

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Sometimes it feels as if I am the only person in the known world not listening to the mould-breaking podcast Serial. I'm not. In fact only about 1.5 million people downloaded the show each week, but that still broke all records for a podcast. One reason I didn't subscribe is that I'm listening to so much else already that unheard episodes would just pile on the guilt, and one of those other shows I listen to gave me a peculiar, vicarious thrill this morning. Enough of a thrill to rouse me from my blogging torpor.

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This is counter-intuititive; wearing a helmet makes biking more dangerous -- at least in Bath and Salisbury. Dr Ian Walker, a pychologist at the University of Bath, discovered that cars, trucks and buses gave him much less room when he wore a helmet that when he didn’t. Walker reckons that this may...

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Amy Trubek, my guest on the latest Eat This Podcast, studies cheese and maple syrup, separately. This post suggests she bring them together.

When we spoke, Professor Trubek threw away a remark that first stopped me in my tracks and then sent me scurrying to the internet. Artificial maple flavour, she said, is made from fenugreek. Huh? I know fenugreek only as a somewhat pungent spice that I sometimes put in Indian food. To me, it smells of curries, not maple syrup.

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