..... sweeping generalizations stemming from my experiences and imagination .....
Warning: contains much that is apocryphal - or at least wildly inaccurate.
“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”
I went to the Fancy Food Show yesterday. I go every year and have a lot of fun. I'm one of "those" people who fill up on samples and free stuff to take home. This year was no exception. I came home with 500ml boxes of coconut water (yum), a big bag of salt water taffy, and various little samples of chocolates and salt.
Some of my favorite areas to visit at Fancy Food Show are the cheese aisles. I can't get enough runny, stinky cheese. I also like the olives and the BBQ truck.
One company who I've seen a the food show on more than one occasion is Pelican Bay.
I wonder if they sell a lot of products in Northern California. When they decided to name their business after the city in Florida where they're from, did they think they would ever grow large enough to sell their products to those of us who associate the name Pelican Bay with quite a different enterprise? If Pelican Bay State Prison had a gift shop, would it be appropriate to sell Pelican Bay Honey Dew Mint Melonade Mix or Delicious Alligator Swamp Cake?
My friend Cliff once said "I base my diet on that of the Sasquatch. I eat what's available."
Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a vegetarian. However, if you know me you also know that I love vegetables, I probably eat more vegetables, pulses and beans, grains, etc. than I do meat, and I'm not afraid to try new food. There are some foods in which I would rather go the vegetarian / vegan route for (for example I prefer hot chocolate made from soy milk rather than regular milk) but if I'm craving a steak (not that often, mind you) I'm gonna have a big honkin' steak. If I want a cheeseburger, I'm not gonna settle for Burger King. I'm going to Bills or Tower Burger.
There's a gal in my office who has decided to go vegetarian. She seems to be doing a pretty good job of staying away from eating things with faces. I couldn't do it. I wouldn't want to do it. But that's just me.
At lunch today she was asking another coworker and me about alternative meat products, other than Tofurky. We told her about Veat, Seiten, Quorn, etc. I always liked Veat. I liked the way it cooked up, and how when torn up it would break like chicken nuggets. It made for good "meat-on-a-stick" dishes for bar-b-ques. Then I told her the about the grossest and most yucky fake meat product, ever: Field Roast.
I told her the following story.
A long time ago I worked for Whole Foods Market. Overall it was an OK place to work, and my story has nothing to do with WFM itself, except for the fact it used to be home to some strange customers. I suppose it is still home to strange customers except now all the customers have money but back when I worked there, gosh, a decade ago, there was still a good amount of "fringe" who would frequent the aisles. So I was working at the Food Hole in the Prepared Foods department (trying to fancy up the deli by calling it Prepared Foods). We had just gotten in a bunch of some new product called Field Roast and were supposed to promote it. Oh my gosh, it was so gross. It tasted like shoe, like shoe that had been walking around Haight St (but upper and lower) all day long, shoe and Bob's Big Boy Season Salt. I hated Field Roast. We had these nasty-ass Field Roast Quesadillas we had to sell. Some woman came up to me and asked me for something in the deli case (sorry, prepared foods case) that was substantial and vegetarian. I gave her a Field Roast Quesadilla. She thanked me and walked away. About 5 minutes later she came marching back to me. I was helping another customer at the time. She pushed the other customer aside, ripped open the Field Roast Quesadilla I had just sold her and then threw it in my face while screaming "I told you I didn't want meat." I was so shocked all I could do was point at the Field Roast shelf talker (grocery-speak for 'sign') and said "I didn't. It's made out of beans." She got a horrified and embarassed look on her face, turned around and ran away. I never saw her again.
I'm going to the Fancy Food Show next week. Maybe I'll try Field Roast again. They are always there with little pieces of their "meat" on toothpicks. Maybe my tastes have changed and I'll like it now. I doubt it, but the company is still around, their products are still sold at WFM and other places. Someone must like them. I'll try it and get back to you.
I slept really horribly last night. I feel like I didn't fall asleep until at least 3am. I probably fell asleep earlier, but I tossed and turned all night. I woke up feeling particularly sleepy and unwilling to leave my pillow and blankie. I had to go to work today so alas, I got my fat ass out of bed and went about my normal routine, a little more slowly than usual, but still, my normal routine.
When I walked out of the bathroom and into the living room, the very first coherent thought to swirl around my head and make its way out of my mouth was
"Pauly, you are not allowed to love my new purse."
Pauly is The Girl's cat. Pauly is a big white cat who is a little stupid. He's very sweet and loves to cuddle, but his walnut sized brain isn't quite fully charged.
The Cat loves sweat, and things that contain sweat. If I wear a pair of shoes all day long on a hot day, then take them off as soon as I get home, the cat will be all over them and the next thing I know, he'll either be biting it a little while kneading it with his paws, or his head will be shoved deep down in the shoe. He does the same thing to The Girl's and The Boy's stuffed animals. When that happens we say "Kids, Pauly is loving your (Hello Kitty, stinky shoe, cow pillow, shirt you wore yesterday) again. Make him stop."
This morning Pauly was trying entice my new purse into his poly amorous lifestyle. I was going to have none of it. Pauly is not allowed to love my new purse.
So one day I was playing around on the computer and thought I'd look around a bit to see whatever became of Queen Bee TV.
Queen Bee (Here real name was Rebecca) was the host of a public access TV show I used to watch every Monday at 9:30pm, without fail.
Hubby worked a bijillion hours a week and I often found myself searching for interesting stuff on TV after The Girl went to bed (The Boy wasn't around yet). Queen Bee wore a bee costume and bee antennae. She had long blond hair and red lipstick. In the first episode I saw of hers, Queen Bee was eating mayonnaise from a jar and talking about apical dominance. Subsequent shows included Ms. Queen Bee explaining the thoughts and feelings of her unused cooking implements (pots, pans, spoons, etc.), how to make Blair Witch Project themed Christmas presents and the most disturbing, bathtub theater where she would make puppets out of paper bags and act out little plays using her bathtub as the stage and the shower curtain as the theater curtain. I truly loved her show. Then there was some bru-ha-ha at the local public access station and a lot of the shows I watched on that channel dwindled away. Along with Queen Bee TV there was Bevornia, voted Best Public Access TV Show Including Vikings, and a whole host of others I would watch here and there.
While searching for her, and only finding the picture I have posted above, I found this site. A big selection of super-cute bags from Portland.
Queen Bee Creations, the company is called. I super love most of the bags on this site.
This year for Christmas my mom asked me what I wanted. I sent her a link to my favorite bag on the site. In turn she sent me a gift certificate.
With the gift certificate from my mom, plus some other Christmas money I was given, I was able to purchase this bag. Made of recycled wool. I got the small size version of this bag and I'm glad I did because it's super big. I betcha I could fit 2 bottles of wine in it, along with my regular purse items. I can certainly fit my netbook inside, which will come in handy when I go back to school the end of this month.
I also got this hip pack.
It's only about 6 inches wide and 4 inches tall. Hubby hates it. He says it's the equivalent of wearing mom jeans. I think he's wrong. I think it'll come in handy when I go to the Fancy Food Show in 2 weeks. I hate carrying around a big purse at the food show.
So, Thanks Mom. I love my new bag(s). And Queen Bee, I miss you.
One of my gifts for Christmas this year was a box of Spicy Spices from Penzy's.
Last night we decided to have a little taste test with the spices, or at least some of them.
See, the gift box came with 8 different spices, but we only used three on the chicken; Vindaloo, Hot Curry Powder and 4/S. We didn't use Northwest Fire, Galena BBQ Rub or Hot Chili Powder because when I put them away after I got them they were put on a different shelf than the others. I totally forgot about them. We also didn't use Chipotle because I don't like smokey flavored things, or the crushed red pepper. We use crushed red pepper in cooking all the time. We know what it tastes like. I added the crushed red pepper jar into the regular mix of condiments and spices. It'll get used soon enough.
We took some chicken drumsticks, gave each of them identifying slashes in their skin so we would know which is which. We also reserved a few drumsticks, cooking them with only salt, pepper and thyme, because I knew the kiddies would eat those if they hated the others.
Chicken, pre-roasting
The verdict - The Girl thought the Vindaloo and the Curry were too spicy and made me eat them. She LOVED the 4/S flavor, giving it the very high compliment of "if I had school tomorrow I would ask for it to be in my lunch." Hubby loved the 4/S as well. He didn't like the consistency of the Curry or Vindaloo spices, but the flavor was good. I attribute that to Chef's Error (mine) of adding too much spice. Perhaps it would have been yummier if cooked a different way, say put in some flour and deep fried? I liked the Curry spice the best. A little squeeze of lime on the chicken made it even yummier. The Boy, not having a good nap yesterday licked a few pieces of the Salt, Pepper and Thyme chicken, decided he didn't like it and had plain kiefer and cutie tangerines for dinner. Right after he finished he told me he wanted a cuddle and a song. I excused myself from the spicy chicken taste test, wrapped The Boy up in a blankie, and sang him his favorite Tom Waits' song, Little Trip to Heaven.
The next thing I knew, The Boy was asleep.
The Girl and Hubby put away dinner, I put The Boy to bed then followed suit shortly thereafter.
Welcome now my friends to the show that never ends
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Nice Pictures - Where'd you steal them from?
Some of the pictures in my blog were taken by a photographer called Julie Michele. Some of the pictures were either taken by me or someone I know. Some of the pictures were ripped right from the internet, mostly from google image searches from photographers to whom I may or may not give credit.
