B.A.R.F.

Among the many reasons you should be grateful for your dear old parents is that we didn't let Dylan participate in naming either of his siblings. I've been reading Give and Take (2013) by Adam Grant[1] ($2 at the Book Sale). He has a few pages in there about some really interesting research on the surprising effects your name can have on, among other things, your occupation and even your longevity.[2]

 

For example, if your first name is Dennis, you're almost twice as likely to become a dentist (Dennis the Dentist!) than someone with a similarly common name like Jerry or Walter. Another study showed that people with the surname Doctor are more likely to become doctors (Dr. Doctor!) than lawyers, while people with the last name Lawyer are more likely to become lawyers. This phenomenon even extends to medical subspecialties, with Raymonds being more likely to become radiologists (Raymond the Radiologist!) than dermatologists.

What's more interesting is that even just your initials can have a seemingly big effect. For example, one study showed that men with "positive" initials—such as A.C.E., J.O.Y., or V.I.P.—live about 4½ years longer on average, while men with "negative" initials—like B.U.M., D.I.E., or P.I.G.—die about 2.8 years younger (the effect is smaller in women). For some reason, the effect was much larger in professional baseball players, among whom players with "positive" initials like A.C.E. lived a mean of 13 years longer than players with neutral initials or "negative" initials like D.E.D.

This is where Dylan comes in. When he was six years old and found out that Mom and I were naming his little brother Bradley Andrew, Dylan lobbied hard for adding Ryan as an additional middle name after those two, so that Brad's initials would have been B.A.R.F. Just think of how many years that could've taken off Brad's life! Dylan's creativity does raise some interesting possibilities that Mom and I maybe should've explored more carefully though. For example, we might've gone with Dylan Oscar Orlando Ferrer, or Cassandra Ursala Felicia Ferrer. Talk about a missed opportunity.

 

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[1] Take the quiz to see if you're a giver, a taker, or a matcher. Know which one I am?

[2] He also talks about "Googlegangers," who are people with the same name who've formed online groups to get to know each other. Remember my other self, Paul Ferrer the underwear mogul? I'm now destroying him in search results, both on Google and DuckDuckGo (top five on the latter for now!). There is some odd-looking Paul Ferrer with 4.8 million followers on TikTok who's kicking my ass though. Maybe I should start a Googleganger group with the Columbian underwear guy and the TikTok star and see who else we can pull in.

 

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As usual, I've been trying various recipes in my everlasting quest for something new and exciting to bring you. Alas, most of the new things I've tried lately Brad has classified as just "alright," which is his code for "I'm happy to eat this food you made me, but it's not your finest." Of those, I thought my best was maybe a no-peel carrot soup with tahini and lemon, which I'm happy to provide a recipe for, but Brad just gave me an "alright" even if Mom was, as always, more enthusiastic.

Brad did, however, give the go-ahead for posting this recipe, since he (a) loves him some walnuts, and (b) thought a basil-less pesto recipe would be a good idea. And yes, I am aware that this makes pesto #8, of which one is, in fact, a basil-less white pesto. But this one has the added benefit of working as an appetizer on crostini (which is actually what the original recipe suggested and is where you'll find it on the UaKS "Recipes" page), though Brad and I also tried it out, and very much liked it, on pasta.

 

Crostini (or Pasta) with Walnut Pesto

Adapted from Deb Perelman via Smitten Kitchen (Dec. 29, 2009)

Time: 

For the pesto
100 grams (1 cup) walnut halves and/or pieces
20 grams (~2 tablespoons) sun-dried tomatoes, either dry or oil-packed
15 grams (~¼ cup) grated Parmesan cheese
½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
¼ teaspoon sherry vinegar
1 small garlic clove, peeled and crushed or chopped (nuke for 10 seconds first if you're not a huge fan of raw garlic)
3 sprigs of thyme, leaves stripped, or ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
75 grams (~⅓ cup) extra-virgin olive oil

For serving
1 pound of cooked pasta, or
1 loaf of country bread or a baguette, thinly sliced and toasted to make crostini

    1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and heat to 300 degrees. Place the walnuts on a small baking tray and toast until golden brown and fragrant, about 8 to 10 minutes; watch carefully. Set aside to cool.
    2. While the walnuts are cooling, gather the rest of your ingredients. When the nuts are cool, place in a mini or regular food processor, together with the sun-dried tomatoes, Parmesan, salt, vinegar, garlic, and thyme. Pulse until coarsely ground; you’re not looking to make walnut butter here (see the photo above).
    3. Transfer to a serving bowl. Stir in the oil. Taste for salt and acid.
    4. Serve the pesto spooned onto the crostini or over pasta. If you’re using the pesto as a pasta sauce, you’ll need to thin it out with at least ¼ to ½ cup of the pasta cooking water, and serve with additional grated Parmesan.