Wordless Wednesday - Hanging in there

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come again. Enjoy more Wordless Wednesdays at
Wordless Wednesday!

You are what you eat

I saw this today on British blog Very Good Taste and thought it would be fun to try. It goes like this:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment Very Good Taste so he can see how far his game has gone.
(VGT suggests we all check Wikipedia if we aren't sure what something is, because he tried to create an international array of foods-- I looked up many of them, and discovered I'd had foods I didn't know the name of!)

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred, with my highlights:
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

I am not a very adventurous eater, and I notice that my choices lean a little toward the sweet side. Still, there are several things on the list that I have tried (even if only a taste), and many that I am willing to try (bellinis, epoisses, truffles, bagna cauda, lassi, curried goat) . . . while others, not so much. I don't know how to cross things out (yet), but I would most likely turn down a chance to eat any of the offal dishes, and will pass on insects, thank you. After a few bellinis I might taste the swamp critters, or maybe not.

How did you do? I imagine all these food began as someone's local cuisine. A fun reminder that there is such a lot of world out there!

Wordless Wednesday

Lillian's Back Yard

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come again. Enjoy more Wordless Wednesdays at Wordless Wednesdays!

Poolside - from far away

I love Sanibel more than most anywhere, and hearing about the latest disturbance, the mean spirited Fay, just makes me want to be there more. Imagine what the shelling will be like next week! When I can't go to the Gulf, I try to bring a little of the Gulf to me.
It is usually a little more blue, but I love the whole range of blues and greens.
Ingredients:
.75 oz Captain Morgans
.75 oz Malibu rum
1 oz blue curacao
2 oz orange juice
2 oz pineapple juice
splash of sprite

Here's to you, Sanibel! Hang in there!

And how 'green' is this indulgence? Adult beverages can be an environmental choice. Every culture has enjoyed fruit, grain or sugarcane based alcohol, made from (here's the catch) local crops and wild yeast. So unless you live in the tropics (and I, for one, do not), the recipe for this drink includes a hearty serving of petroleum.

Wordless Wednesday

My workplace.


Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come again. Enjoy more Wordless Wednesdays at Wordless Wednesday!

What a Gail needs

I joined the Tink bandwagon and tried the Google Game -- it's a simple enough game, just google your first name followed by the word "needs", and then list the first 10 results. When I googled "gail needs," I got these answers. Really.

1. Gail needs to ask for her drinks the same time she is asking how late the bar is open then she might be served more promptly. (gail obviously has a lot to learn from google.)

2. Gail needs some cheer me up free dating. (you have no idea.)

3. Gail needs some easy instructions to speed up my computer. (I am definitely not as proficient on my mac as on my pc at work, but I didn't think I was that bad.)

4. Gail needs a knife. (no comment.)

5. Gail needs to separate its gas trading business from gas transmission activity. (Hmmmmm.)

6. Gail needs time. (yes, please.)

7. Gail needs to step away. (I have been a little edgy lately.)

8. Gail needs a copy editor. (gail is getting annoyed with google.)

9. Gail needs to secure LPG supplies. (Is gail going camping or into survival mode?)

10. Gail needs some much needed rest. (Amen.)

Wowee Zowee! Good news/bad news

Look at the lovely award I just got from Snowbird! It is such a nice surprise, a spiffy reminder of our blogging friendship. I've been tracking Snowbird for years on the Best of Sanibel Captiva message board, set up to help us get information after Hurricane Charlie. And I've followed her on the Periwinkle Park message board, before she started her blogs, Sand Between My Toes and Branches and Roots.

But here's the rub: There are rules. According to Snowbird,
1. You have to tag 5 people.

2. 4 of the 5 have to be dedicated followers to your blog.
3. One has to be someone new or recently new to your blog and must live in another part of the world.
4. You must link back to whomever gave you the award.

Those are the rules. Here is the problem.
1. I don't think there are 5 people who visit my blog.
2. And the only dedicated followers (as it were) have already received this award
3. So there are definitely some opportunities here, for people of dedication and for people who live in another part of the award.
4. And I will have to hold onto my 5 golden BFF awards until I find 5 someones to tag!

How humiliating.

Fast Failure

It is a very good thing that I didn't sign up for the Spending Fast because, if I had, I'd be on my way to Sunday confession. This afternoon, my sister and I went to our new local outdoors-with-dogs-fountains-and-a-fireplace mall because I decided to return a gift she had given me. (My sister is the Ultimate Shopper. She is always giving me something.) Good so far. No money going out, money returning to my sister. Practically nobel right?

But we were hungry, so of course we had to eat at PFChangs, where of course I had to have the blue adult beverage they call the Pool. Now that I think of it, maybe that's what caused my resolve to slip downhill afterward.

Walking by the Gap, I saw the cutest dress in the window, and they had it in Size 2! You might guess from my shadow that I am not exactly a Size 2 . . . but fortunately my granddaughter is! My sister said that I had to get the coordinating sweater (because it MADE the outfit), but I refused to buy the shoes . . . I definitely drew the line there, if only because I am not sure what size she's in now (and I can always go back!)

After that, I remembered that I was out of foundation so we ran into Sephora, where I always spend too much for too little. By days end, between the fruits, veggies, dress , makeup, dinner and drinks ... oh yes, and the peppermint ice cream I picked up on the way home ... I don't even want to think how much I spent. But I loved my corn and peaches lunch, the peppermint ice cream is soooo good, and I think that baby girl will look adorable in the dress. I'm afraid I'm not feeling too regretful about any of it.

Plenty

There was a honey booth at the little Park farmers market today, the first time I've seen one there, and to my surprise the owner was from the nearby suburb where my sister lives. He says he keeps bees in Roseville and Warren, the last places I would have looked for a beekeeper. Who knew? He had wildflower, thistle, buckwheat honey, and palmetto honey from his winters in Florida. Unfortunately, by the time I found him, I'd spent most of the money in my pockets on Michigan corn, tomatoes and peaches, so I could only buy one small jar. (spending confession: I only needed one jar, but I wanted to buy more for other people.) So I am making a Saturday lunch of corn and peaches, and planning on tomatoes and pasta for tomorrow. I love everything I eat this time of year. I love weekends.

I'd never seen the honey guy at the market before, but I hope he will be back next week. I do like to have a variety of honeys and I am always happy to buy local stuff. And I am intrigued by beekeeping. It is so important, and such a fragile little system. If only I weren't so bug phobic I would consider having a hive -- or at least a hive fantasy . . . I wonder if I could get over that at this late date?