Evidence-based medicine

There are many common critiques of our current reliance on--and, practice-wise, deep trust in--evidence-based medicine. This article summarizes five of them and presents a quite reasonable assessment of how EBM should be used in clinical practice. Keep all that in mind... but oh, by the way, this article is just so cool. A relatively cheap, straightforward study examining a common test we've used on a common condition since time immemorial? I love it.

This has comforted me; better homemakers than I take really bad photos of food, which is my new excuse for this tentacled monstrosity.

Fresh octopus!

Post-braise, pre-strip of all the nasty outer parts I don't want to eat.

Finished dish.

This is a delicious, delicious octopus over orzo and vegetables. I paired it with caramels for dessert for no reason other than the fact that I'd made Andy a dense chocolate cake (ahem) with an amazing caramel glaze* the other day and had to get rid of the rest of the heavy cream.

Totally didn't measure anything other than the exorbitant amount of octopus I purchased. Instead, here's a list of ingredients, along with some instructions:

white wine
your choice of vinegar
juice of two small lemons, plus the rind of one half lemon
onions
carrots
plum tomatoes
bay leaves
parsley
garlic
juniper
peppercorns
kosher salt
sugar

I combined everything but the sugar, tomatoes, and most of the salt in a huge pot and filled it with just enough water to cover the octopus, then simmered him** for about an hour, until nearly tender. I stripped a lot of the mucoid outer skin with my hands--how much you want to work on this depends on how much the texture bothers you--and broke down the octopus as I reduced the boiling liquid and added some extra vinegar and salt, as well as sugar. Then I let the octopus slices soak in the briny liquid for about another hour to chemically tenderize it. Just before it was done, I made orzo browned in butter with plum tomatoes, kale, and garlic, and served the octopus over that. Top with plenty of parsley and cracked black pepper, and maybe a squeeze of lemon; it needs the parsley freshness for sure.

*Seriously, I could have eschewed the cake and just eaten the glaze. It cooled to a sort of thick, praline-y texture that was just ridiculous.
**Every once in awhile I'm bothered by eating octopi, as they're supposed to be quite intelligent.