Cicada Rhythm
Posted on Jun 1st, 2008
by 
kcidybom
kcidybom
cicada
Thundering herds of cicadas came out this week. Millions. Well yeah, right, they don't thunder, but they do make a sound like a flying saucer landing on the White House lawn. Or maybe on the Rose Garden. Klaatu barada nikto anybody? I tried this line on a few of them but they didn't listen.
I watched them all week. It's amazing how many don't make it through the molting. Some fall prey to predator wasps who lay their eggs in the body of this bug-eyed bug. (Well, of course, what else?) The wasp eggs hatch and the pupae (larvae?) eat the cicada from the inside out. Terrible way to go. Some cicadas emerge malformed, with stunted wings or too few legs. Others fly with reckless abandon and crash into things; trees, buildings, the mouths of hungry hawks, my head. Seventeen years or so underground and you understand why they're a little goofy. I watched one crawl over the ground and forlornly poke his head into each hole he encountered, holes like the one from whence he had emerged only hours before. Kind of like some people, this thing. I say 'he' because he had noise-makers on his side, and with this species it's the males who make the noise. Many more made it though, to drink water and mate, to lay eggs on the trunks of trees, to repeat the rhythm. They aren't dumb, as bugs go. After all, they selected (kind of) life cycles based on prime numbers. Every species of cicada begins its reproductive journey a prime number of years after its last cycle. The predators never have figured this out and only stumble upon the juicy cicada opportunistically.
I don't normally eat bugs, at least knowingly, but a woodsy friend swears that stir-fried cicada are a great treat. I've decided to take him up on his cookery offer. I wonder what side dishes he'll prepare. Oh, and what wine is the correct accompaniment to cicada?
I've been very very busy lately. I miss all you Gais. Back to 'normal' in a few more weeks I hope.
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culture
July 2008 
Albert - you have been missed!!! Has it been 17 years? It feels like it and wow … sounds like you've been doing a lot of NEW stuff.
I grew up around the lovely “17 Year Locusts” back in Illinois. Though, it seems as if every time I go back to Chicago in the summer - I hear their song … similar to a loud buzzing … (not unlike having chronic Tinnitus) and I googled “Locust in Illinois” and got this which explains that it has been happening more than every 17 years!!! and yes they are edible.
I would suggest a dry white wine to accompany his fine feast of Stir Fried Cicada.
I will be back to normal in a few weeks too … but then I hope to be traveling! So nice to see you here this evening!!! :)
Thanks Peri - I've missed being here too. Not only am I finishing up this years wilderness training, but I'm also starting Orton training (classroom stuff) and gotten the job of putting in a fiber optic network on campus. Of course I have to do all this while simultaneously maintaining my work with the boys. Whew!
I'll let you know how the cicadas turn out.
Where you traveling to?
wow!! nice to read you again. ;-)
let me us know how the cicadas taste.
-d
I agree about the white wine, maybe a pino grigio, but I think cicadas would go better with beer.
Just make sure you don't get too busy to go to that jamaican restaurant with us next weekend!
Thanks Dawn. I'm told they resemble Almonds. I'll let you know…;-)
My Sunday is set aside for One Love Jeannie. I'm thinking the jerk chicken plate with coconut water.
Cicada as a food-source? Hum? I bet people say, “It tastes just like chicken.” If you are going to go “down that road,” may I suggest beginning your meal with a “Cicada cocktail.” I found several variations. I think the one with the Jack Daniels has the most potential.
So good to see you here again, Albert. Miss you and your writing so much.
Cicada cocktail recipes:
http://www.idrink.com/v.html?id=38005
http://www.cocktailtimes.com/original/cicada.shtml
Well Albert, when you get back to normal write a blog about the different state you were in. Do an ab or para normal blog. Miss you..maze.
TY otter - Wow! Jack Daniels is the only substance that routinely makes me see double. You know how those little verification words appear when you sign up for stuff on the Internet? The things that prevent spam servers from doing it? Well, that's kind of how everything looks to me when I hang out with Jack. Which is why I do it, I guess…;-)
Hey maze - It's been totally crazy, but then I love totally crazy so I'm fine with it. I'll do my best on the ab/para thing too. I can't stay gone too long - I've already got hundreds of 'Gaia' notifications I want to attend to. Buried under a mountain of cyber paper…;-)
Since you've been gone, all that's left of these dreams I hold… sigh. Anyway, cicadas rock! Unless one gets into your clothes or goes up your pants leg. Ever had that happen? Believe me, you don't want it to. And you're really brave to EAT them. Geez! You gotta tell us what they taste like! But I love the way they sing! Sweet, soft summer nights…
Hey martha - yeah cicada's do rock. And I can now officially verify that they really do taste like almonds. At least when they're cooked.
Wow I had never heard they taste like almonds! Whoa! Just never thought of stir frying them…probably wont either but its good to know in case I ever get lost in the woods and need to fend for myself!
I love the sound of them…but then not so many they are deafening. You must have more around than we do in Nebraska! :-)
Miss you Albert…and love ya bunches!
Hey Julia,
I'll eat anything at least once - at least if I know that it's not deadly poison. I'm surprised by what I like, or maybe it's that I'm dismayed that I don't dislike very many foods.
Back atcha….Albert