Feral Fowl and Pool Fun

This morning we had a substitute Water Aerobics teacher - the wonderful Sandra is in Maui on vacation and we sure miss her. The woman was very cute and fun, but didn't really hold everyone's attention, so the conversations wandered even more than usual. Jerry said I should explain on my blog that Not-Lucille (Beverly, that is) reminded her family of Lucille Ball when she was younger, which made it even funnier that the teacher kept calling her the wrong name. Then Carol (I think) said she bet I only told stories on my blog that made me look good. So, of course, Barbara (who you might remember is my "girl-crush") says, "I'll bet you never wrote about the time I nearly ran off the road laughing at you mistaking a horse for a donkey". Which, of course, I had admitted here. (If it's grey, I thought it was a Donkey. Evidently Donkeys are a little more complex.) She went on to tell everyone how I also thought these sheep were young buffalo. (So, you can see why I like her so well. Plus, all the time she is making fun of me, she is giving me this cat type look that just cracks me up.) (She has mesmerizing eyes!) OK, my point, and I do have one, is that everyone kept coming up with more outrageous stories, most of them involving animals in the wild until the woman with the angelic face who has been married for more than 30 years to a Marine (bundle of surprises every time she opens her mouth) tells me that there are feral Emus running around the country side around Tulsa. Huh? And she knows this because she (up until 2 years ago) worked on a cattle ranch and the wild Emus would come out of nowhere and scare the cows. The reason there are all these feral Emus is that the best snake oil salesman in America sold all these rancher on the idea of raising Emus just like cattle - except it is way more difficult to ranch an emu than a cow. Who Knew? So these ranchers just abandoned the Emus, but the Emus turned out not to actually need Purina Emu Chow, and lived fine on all the native food freely available in the wild. And found each other and multiplied. Good (Emu) Times!

Food And Romance

On Friday, John took me to The Chalkboard, a charming place to eat. The appetizer was terrific, Olive Tapenade Topped Hummus with Roasted Garlic. The Salad was very good, with unusual proportions of Dried Cherries, Dried Apricot, and Candied Nuts - could have been a dessert, but since we shared it, it was nice. The main dishes were the reason we won't go back. John's Sea Bass smelled a little too fishy, but was OK - just OK. My Beef Wellington was awful. If you've never made it, you might not know that it's one of the easiest fancy entrees you can make. Almost impossible to wreck, unless you burn it. And the whole bottom of it was. Oh well, there are other places in Tulsa to try. And it was a sweet place for a romantic evening.

In a romantic vein, since John knew he was away on business for Valentine's Day, we spent a little more time together the weekend before, even going to Target together. Since our Target has a Starbucks, John got me a Chai Tea Latte. Anyone who knows me, knows that I don't like the taste of coffee, (je n'aime pas le café), so I have never actually had a Latte of any kind. Who knew they made them with Tea? But I am so hooked now - that warm, frothy creaminess and sweetness from all the spices. Oooh!

Pelulo = Beryl

Went to Dole Pineapple Plantation, but since you've all seen pineapples courtesy of Hawaii Five-O, either the vintage version or the current one, I'll show you the bracelet I got with my name in Hawaiian carved in it.

Black Eyed Peas

There's a lot in life that I prefer to take from my memory and ignore the lure of expanding my knowledge of a particular subject on the Internet. Of course, the Internet can't be trusted for pure fact, which explains my reluctance on most subject, but on Superstitions, you must wonder why I hesitate. The fact is that I love my superstitions, as few of them as I have, that is. My favorite one is that eating Black Eyed Peas on New Year's Day is lucky. Just ask my children, who have had to humor me by eating at least one of them. I usually used the bone from the Christmas Ham and made Hopping John, which could be smothered in Salsa. Yum. Living on the West Coast, I had a hard time even finding Black Eyes Peas. I usually bought them dried since that's my preferred form. (Tests have shown that the glycemic index on dried beans after soaking and cooking, is lower than on canned ones. Plus I can control the amount of salt that way, since the salt from the ham has to be compensated for.) So what am I doing with canned Black Eyes Peas? It turns out that in Tulsa, eating Black Eyed Peas on New Year's Day is what everybody does. The stores were out by the time John went out to get them yesterday. Having spent all year seeing them at the stores in at least 3 forms - dried, canned, and frozen, it never occurred to me to buy them ahead of time. Heck, I even saw fresh ones at one point. Oh, and the rest of the stuff in the picture (Tito's is the most fabulous Vodka - made in Texas) is for John's superstition - a Bloody Mary for New Year's Morning breakfast is also lucky. Who Knew?

See's Candy For The Well Bred

It appears to be unhealthy for me to live in a state without See's Candy stores. I used to stop in and get a few pieces about once every two months when out shopping. And of course, I told you about John's Marzipan, so that would be two or three more times when See's was actually the intended destination. This Christmas, I have been back four times! I would get home and remember one of my favorites and have to go back and get it. Or I would tell my family about the wonderful seasonal one, like Cranberry Orange, White Mint Truffle, or Mincemeat and they would realize that I had eaten them all, and (except for the Mincemeat, which only I like), I had to return and purchase some more of the seasonal favorites for them. But basically, I have eaten 12 pieces per day for four days, instead of 3 pieces every two months. And this is unhealthy. So it turns out that for health reasons, I will have to retire back to the West Coast, when John quits working.

And speaking of John, that is a picture of his Christmas box of Marzipan. Still untouched on December 26th. What discipline! He is amazing. He is also the reason there are no empty candy cups in the box. According to my well mannered and well bred husband, when removing a piece of candy from the box, the paper is to be taken too. Who knew? (He also had those 5th grade dance lessons where he learned to Cha Cha like a pro! Cool!)

My Mother's Christmas Divinity Can't Be Made When It Rains - Who Knew?

Every Christmas, my mother would whip up a batch or two of Christmas Candy - Divinity was always made, colored with the juice from a jar of Maraschino Cherries. It was put out on Christmas Eve and we would dance around the table which had her lace tablecloth with a length of red cloth underneath, until permission was granted to begin the feasting. For the decades I lived in Seattle, I tried valiantly to reproduce this treat for my family, only to be rewarded with a sugar and egg white soup, instead of that fluffy cross between a marshmallow and a meringue, with just the right amount of chewiness, that my mother made. What I didn't know was that the constant drizzle that was making me so unhappy living in Seattle, was also responsible for my Divinity not turning out right. Who knew? Although, I must admit, Seattle could really do a good Christmas, with the world class Nutcracker Ballet, wonderful shop window displays, plays and concerts, and beautiful lighting displays. For those few weeks, it made up for the grey.