6 Nov 2023

Recipe: Seaweed chips with sesame oil and sea salt

by | posted in: Adventure | 0

Taku Kondo is a San Francisco sushi chef-turned expert forager from Northern California who runs the popular YouTube channel Outdoor Chef Life. (See our interview with him here.) This is Kondo’s recipe for seaweed chips (or seasoning) that you can make yourself using seaweed harvested right from the ocean.

First, a couple of caveats. People who try this recipe “should definitely know what they’re eating,” Kondo says. “A couple easy-to-identify seaweeds would be sea lettuce and laver (nori). In California, there are two types of seaweed that are illegal to take: eel grass and sea palm. Although all seaweed is technically edible, they’re not all good to eat.”

Also, you must have a fishing license to harvest seaweed legally. “The current seaweed limit is 10 pounds wet weight,” Kondo says, “You must avoid harvesting in Marine Protected Areas. All information is available on the California Department of Fish and Wildlife website.”

If you want to learn more about identifying edible seaweeds, a good book to start with is Pacific Seaweeds from Harbour Publishing. Kondo’s own book about foraging and fishing, “The Coastal Harvest” from DK Penguin Random House, should be out in spring of 2025.

Seaweed Chips

This works with any kind of edible seaweed.

Step 1: Thoroughly rinse and clean the seaweed in fresh water.

Step 2: Spread them around on a sheet tray and bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes or until crispy.

Step 3: Toss in 1-2 tablespoons of sesame oil and a generous pinch of sea salt.

Enjoy delicious, healthy seaweed chips.

Or:

Crush seaweed chips into a bowl and add sesame seeds. Enjoy it as furikake (rice seasoning) over rice or eggs.

6 Nov 2023

Twins add two to 40-man roster; more prospect additions coming

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The Twins made a pair of roster moves on Monday, adding catcher Jair Camargo and infielder Yunior Severino to the 40-man roster to protect them from minor-league free agency and the upcoming Rule 5 Draft.

Camargo, 24, spent all of last season in Triple-A where he hit .259 with a .323 on-base percentage and .503 slugging percentage. The backstop had 21 home runs in 90 games for the St. Paul Saints but stayed in Triple-A all season because Ryan Jeffers and Christian Vázquez remained healthy and the Twins did not need to use more than two catchers.

Severino, also 24, split time between Double-A and Triple-A last season, hitting .272 with an .898 OPS in 120 games. The infielder hit 35 home runs between the two levels, marking a jump from the 19 he hit in 2022.

The Twins are expected to make more additions to the 40-man roster in the coming days with the deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 Draft coming on Nov. 14. The Rule 5 Draft will take place on Dec. 6 at the Winter Meetings in Nashville.

Among those additions?

Prospects Emmanuel Rodriguez and Austin Martin, the organization’s No. 3 and 20 prospects, respectively, per MLB Pipeline, are expected to be added to the roster.

Rodriguez, a 20-year-old outfielder, joined the Twins as one of the top prospects added during the 2019 international signing period. He spent last season at Class-A Advanced Cedar Rapids, hitting .240 with a .863 OPS and 16 home runs in 99 games. That came on the heels of a 2022 season that was cut short by a meniscus injury in which he posted a 1.044 OPS.

Martin, the No. 5 overall pick in the 2020 draft, is certainly closer to the majors and could potentially help the Twins next season. The second baseman/outfielder, whom the Twins acquired as part of the José Berríos trade in 2021, hit .263 with a .791 OPS in 59 games last season at Triple-A St. Paul. The beginning of his season was delayed by an elbow injury.

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6 Nov 2023

Wild’s Jared Spurgeon could play on New York road trip

by | posted in: News | 0

Jared Spurgeon was a full participant in an hour-long practice Monday morning at TRIA Rink and traveled with the team for a three-game road trip through New York.

The veteran defenseman went through some contact drills for the first time since suffering an upper body injury in a preseason game. He has been skating for more than a week, and has practiced with the team since last Wednesday.

Asked if Spurgeon could play his first game of the season on the trip, head coach Dean Evason said, “There’s a possibility, for sure. Where? When? Who knows?”

Spurgeon hasn’t played in a game since being checked into the boards in a 3-2 shootout win over the Blackhawks on Oct. 5 in Chicago.

“He’s progressing quite nicely into full practice,” Evason added.

Rookie defenseman Brock Faber said it will be nice to have Spurgeon on the trip.

“Whether he plays or not, it makes a big difference,” he said. “Guys feel his presence, so it’s great to have him. Obviously, we miss him back there, but once he’s healthy he’ll get back.

“But when he’s there, you feel his presence — just his sense of humor, his looseness, but also his leadership.”

Johansson ready

Marcus Johansson, withheld from Sunday’s outdoor scrimmage for precautionary reasons, was a full participant in Monday’s practice and expected to be available Tuesday against the Islanders.

The Wild also recalled veteran center Nic Petan, 28, from Iowa for the trip. He has 12 points in 10 games in Des Moines. Minnesota plates Tuesday, the back-to-backs against the Rangers and Buffalo on Thursday and Friday before returning for a Sunday game against Dallas as the X.

“We have a long road trip coming up here, and have a long way to go, obviously, so we got an extra defenseman and extra forward,” Evason said.

The Wild have seven blue liners on the roster. Rookie Brandon Hunt played in place of veteran Jon Merrill in Saturday’s victory over the Rangers, his first full NHL game, and seems likely to play on Tuesday.

Briefly

Marc-Andre Fleury will start Tuesday against the Islanders. He replaced Filip Gustavsson in the first period of Saturday’s 5-4 shootout win over the Rangers, stopping 13 of 14 shots in regulation and overtime, and 3 of 4 in the shootout.

6 Nov 2023

Attacks on US troops in Middle East spike amid military buildup

by | posted in: Politics | 0

Attacks on American troops dramatically ramped up over the weekend, the Pentagon said Monday, as the U.S. military sent ships and a submarine into the region.

U.S. troops stationed in Iraq and Syria have been attacked by rockets and drones 38 times since Oct. 17, Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said Monday, an increase from 31 on Friday afternoon. Forty-six service members in total have now reported injuries from the attacks, which he called “harassing,” he said.

Ryder did not specify the source of the attacks, but the Pentagon has recently blamed similar events on Iran-backed proxies.

Sunday was a particularly violent day, with five rocket and one-way drone attacks near Al-Asad Airbase, Iraq, and in two locations in Syria, according to a Defense Department official, who was granted anonymity to give details on a sensitive topic.

The U.S. military was able to thwart most of the attacks, the official said, adding that the majority of missiles and drones failed to reach their targets.

The increase in attacks came as Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the region, including an unannounced trip to Iraq on Sunday. During the stop, Blinken received a briefing on threats to American troops in the region, and called the attacks “unacceptable.”

Blinken also met with leaders in Israel, Jordan and Turkey, and stopped in the West Bank, in a whirlwind trip aimed at cooling tensions in the region.

Also this weekend, the Pentagon blitzed the air waves with announcements of new force movements. The Navy posted photos and videos of the USS Gerald R. Ford and USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike groups exercising together with two Italian frigates in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. On Saturday, U.S. Central Command posted photosof the Eisenhower group arriving in the Middle East, and announced the deployment of a bomber task force over the region as well.

Then Sunday, the Defense Department took the rare step of announcing it had deployed an Ohio-class guided-missile submarine to the region.

The movements are designed to “further support our deterrence efforts in the region,” Ryder said Monday.

All of the 46 service members who sustained injuries were hurt during attacks that occurred prior to the U.S. retaliatory airstrikes on Oct. 26, said Ryder, noting that many of the troops reported injuries in the days and weeks after the initial attacks. The injuries were sustained primarily in attacks on Al Asad in Iraq and the Al Tanf garrison in Syria on Oct. 17 and 18; one additional service member was wounded in an incident in Erbil, Iraq, on Oct. 26.

“Reporting data is highly dependent on self-reporting when injuries are not visually evident to medical personnel providing care directly following an incident,” Ryder said of the fluctuating numbers.

Twenty-four service members were diagnosed with traumatic brain injury, Ryder said. Two of those were initially returned to duty, but have now been transported to Germany to receive further treatment “out of an abundance of caution,” he said. They are in stable condition, he added.

The additional injuries included headaches, perforated eardrums, tinnitus, rolled ankles and more, he said.