I had seen it before, those fuzzy, furry leaves and stalks, with the pretty, star-pointed purple flowers, but up until that moment that I saw them sitting in a basket at the market stalls, I admit I had never taken notice of it as a food. It grow along cracks in stone walls and along the roadside near my home in Settignano, which is blooming with spring goodness right now: robinia (black locust) trees, wild garlic (three-cornered leek) and even elderflowers are already bursting. I asked the vendor just to double check, "Is this borage?" "Si," Came the answer, "Borragine." He confirmed. "I've had it in ravioli," I started to say, "Brava!" He said, as if we were about to start a guessing game on what could be done with it. Actually, there's a lot that can be done with it. If you can use it as a ravioli filling with ricotta, then you can imagine it taking the place of spinach in gnudi, too, but also soups or frittata or stirred through polenta. I learned that the flowers are just as delicious, if not more interesting, for their delicate cucumber-like flavour people told me of their use in salads or cocktails like Pimms, and someone even mentioned she freezes them in ice cubes, what a pretty idea for those first warm nights when you can dine al fresco, homemade cocktail in hand. Then there's risotto and of course the fritters, much like these ones. Or you can simply deep fry the clusters of buds that haven't yet burst open like these deep-fried robinia flowers. borage and ricotta crepes The problem, I was thinking, as I took home my bag of borage, is that I can't decide what to make. There's simply too much choice. I consulted two of my favourite books that also happen to be cookbooks. Patience Gray's Honey from a Weed and Luigi Ballerini's A Feast of Weeds. Both had wonderful ideas for borage (and indeed many other edible, foraged plants). Question: Why did he buy them? Options: A. because the vendor said they're good B. not enough information C. because they work D. because it's in recipe === The correct answer is
A

LOS ANGELES/WASHINGTON As U.S. political candidates make their final appeals, voters in 35 states will decide policy issues Tuesday that include legalizing recreational use of marijuana and restricting access to guns and ammunition, voting yes or no on nearly 160 state ballot initiatives. California's Proposition 64, which is leading in the polls, could create a multibillion-dollar marijuana industry by legalizing the recreational use the drug for adults in the state. Similar measures are on the ballot in Arizona, Nevada, Maine and Massachusetts. Marijuana could be legalized for medical use in Florida and three other states. Medical marijuana is already permitted in half the 50 U.S. states, and recreational use is allowed in Alaska, Colorado, Washington state, Oregon and the District of Columbia. Marijuana is banned under federal law, but U.S. officials have taken a hands-off approach on the issue. Voters in Maine and Nevada are considering measures that would expand background checks for gun purchases, which is already required for buying guns from dealers, by extending the provision to private sales. Californians will consider measures requiring background checks for buyers of ammunition and banning high-capacity ammunition magazines. Washington state has a measure that would allow the courts to bar the sale of guns to individuals deemed an extreme risk to themselves or others. Californians are considering whether to eliminate the death penalty with Proposition 62, or to maintain capital punishment and make the process more efficient with Proposition 66, which supporters say makes it more fair to victims of violent crimes. Twenty states and the District of Columbia have abolished or overturned capital punishment on the grounds that it is unequally applied to minority populations and that innocent people are sometimes convicted. South Dakotans will decide whether to make statewide offices nonpartisan and create a citizens commission to redraw voting districts after each 10-year national census, removing... Question: Why did the District of Columbia abolish capitol punishment? Options: A. not enough information B. Because it was an extreme risk to others C. Because it was taking a handsoff approach D. Because it was unequally applied to minority populations === The correct answer is
D

As a nurse, what is the most difficult news you have ever had to break to a patient? Sadly in my job (Ob/gyn nurse) there is one thing I have to report fairly often, that a pregnancy is not going to happen. Sometimes the mom's are bleeding and they kind of know that this is going to happen, but sometimes, they are not bleeding and it is a gut punch without any warning. This can be an ultrasound that shows no heartbeat or a lab test that is declining. Nothing is worse than the look on a woman's face when she is looking forward to her first glimpse of her baby only to be told that the baby is not alive. It doesn't get any easier, no matter how many times you do it. My own daughter called me one day to announce she was pregnant and two days later, we found out she was miscarrying and I bawled all day. I never even knew this baby, but now, 15 years later, just writing this now is making my eyes water. I have to do a lot of this over the phone and that makes it even harder because I am not able to offer comfort and I don't know where they are or what they are doing when they get this news. If they call me for their lab results, they might be driving, they might be walking around the mall, they will have to call their significant other and break the news, such difficult conversations to have over the phone. I have been very, very lucky that the few times I have seen advanced pregnancies that underwent a fetal demise were handled by the physicians that I have worked with. I can't imagine being almost ready to deliver and having all your hopes and dreams crushed. Obstetricians sometimes have the very best job, bringing new lives into the world and seeing the new families bonding, but sometimes they also have the very worst job. Question: What does the nurse probably like the most about her job? Options: A. Going to the hospital B. not enough information C. Putting on her uniform D. Seeing healthy newborn babies with their families === The correct answer is
D