Playing Nice

Today's cute photo - Sadie and Cassis sharing a quiet moment.

Flat screen convert

We did it, we drank the Kool-Aid, followed the pack, joined the 21st century, whatever you want to call it - we bought a flat screen HDTV small enough to fit in the media center. In our fantasy world it looks something like this photo.
In the real world we don't sit staring at a blank screen so let me tell you this thing ROCKS. The sound is awesome, I can read the titles from across the room and the colors are so dynamic I sat and watched two movies back-to-back before I could get my open jaw to close. So this is what the digital revolution is all about.

Global warming?

Proof, if any were needed, that 2007-20008 has been a weird weather year on Long Island. This hibiscus, usually treated as an annual here, was in a pot last year but still blooming in November. I couldn't bear to just throw it out so I planted it on a southwest wall and ignored it. It did nothing except throw up some green leaves that got shredded in the various hailstorms we suffered in early August. This morning though something pretty caught my eye, three gorgeous pink tinged flowers on an otherwise scrappy plant.
I guess what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

The PalinDrome

You know how I feel about crazy blondes and reality TV. Now I bring to you a new obsession: crazy brunette parodies. Starting with this one. Go ahead, click it. It's safe. Which is more than I can say about some of the policies of the folksy old geezer's choice for VP. Enjoy.
via Very Short List

Mmm - 100 Things Food Meme

Here’s a way of easing back into the working week after the Labor Day holiday that I found on Wouter's Blog
"Below is a list of 100 things that I think every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. The list includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food - but a good omnivore should really try it all. Don’t worry if you haven’t, mind you; neither have I, though I’ll be sure to work on it. Don’t worry if you don’t recognise everything in the hundred, either; Wikipedia has the answers.

The rules:
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 here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.
I added Bold and Crossed to indicate stuff I’ve tried but have no intention of eating ever again, unless I’m starving".

1. Venison - I miss truly wild game.
2. Nettle tea - nettles sting, that's the lesson I learned from my childhood
3. Huevos rancheros - brunch
4. Steak tartare - a favourite appetiser.
5. Crocodile - in Austin, Texas
6. Black pudding - my childhood and boudin noir from the markets in Belgium and France.
7. Cheese fondue - Austrian skiing trips
8. Carp - unfortunately, yes
9. Borscht - good winter soup, served with sour cream.
10. Baba ghanoush - meze staple. There used to be a bunch of good Turkish restaurants in Euston, London.
11. Calamari - NY staple but the best was a la plancha on a beach in Spain
12. Pho - a favourite soup, easy, filling and cheap to make or buy. First ate it in Vancouver and got addicted.
13. PB&J sandwich - as a child. Now I eat PB & Marmite. Because I have sophisticated tastes.
14. Aloo gobi - comfort food
15. Hot dog from a street cart - once.
16. Epoisses - in France.
17. Black truffle - oh yes, in many places.
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes - prunes, pums, damsons, peach.....
19. Steamed pork buns Chinese deliciousness
20. Pistachio ice cream - not my favourite flavour
21. Heirloom tomatoes - late Summer treat
22. Fresh wild berries - Pick 'em and eat 'em or eat them while you're picking them...
23. Foie gras - favourite winter appetiser and holy grail of upcoming trip to Montreal..
24. Rice and beans - Moros y Christianos, as Wouter says: lekker, heel lekker (very delicious).
25. Brawn, or head cheese- along with spam, my childhood is calling and I'm not listening
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper - have licked fingers after touching them. Often. And stuck finger in eye. You'd think I''d learn, but sadly, no.
27. Dulce de leche - mmmm
28. Oysters - favourite summer appetiser.
29. Baklava - too sweet for me
30. Bagna cauda - South of France, Holiday food.
31. Wasabi peas - I like wasabi, and peas but together, not so much
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl - Boston baby.
33. Salted lassi - mmm, to cool palate after #43
34. Sauerkraut -
35. Root beer float - as a kid
36. Cognac with a fat cigar - cognac yes, cigar no.
37. Clotted cream tea - Of course.
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat - Brussels, in the Matonge.
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal - in Nottingham, England, in Birmingham, England, in London, England. Haven't found it in New York
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more - see #68.
46. Fugu - much as I love fish, in this case I choose cake.
47. Chicken tikka masala - National dish of England
48. Eel - Belgian staple
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut - when the craze was on
50. Sea urchin -Vancouver at great Japanese restaurant
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer - love all Indian food,Indian cheese -yum
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal - in Brussels when they first opened.Haven't repeated the experience.
56. Spaetzle - in Germany and Austria and the US. Haven't found a good version in America yet.
57. Dirty gin martini - I'm a classic martini girl, though - three olives, no juice
58. Beer above 8% ABV - Duval, Chimay, Orval, etc etc
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores - yes but wouldn't go there again
62. Sweetbreads - Belgian, French staple
63. Kaolin - no but I put it over an abscess once to "cook" it so it burst.
64. Currywurst - staple in The Netherlands
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs - oui, bien sur
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake - Funfair food
68. Haggis - in Scotland, eeuw, yuk even with a whisky chaser
69. Fried plantain love plantain, hate bananas
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette - mmmm
71. Gazpacho - favourite soup.
72. Caviar and blini - Mmmm, salty
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost - Norwegian cheese, in Brussels. It's an off-putting brown colour but doesn't taste too bad.
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie - eeuw, looks nasty
78. Snail - my favourite appetiser as a child.
79. Lapsang souchong - in the tea drawer in our kitchen
80. Bellini - at our local pizza place, it was their cocktail of the day
81. Tom yum - one of my favorite soups.
82. Eggs Benedict - Standard brunch fare in NY
83. Pocky chocolate covered pretzel sticks - did not know that they were called pocky. Sweet and salty. Yum
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant. - Jean Georges in Manhattan. How may stars does The Modern have?
85. Kobe beef and Kobe Beef sliders. I hate the term sliders.
86. Hare - Belgium, Luxembourg and France. I miss game.
87. Goulash - winter comfort food
88. Flowers - prettiness on a plate
89. Horse - in Luxembourg and France
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam as a child. Battered and fried. Eeuw, yuk.
92. Soft shell crab. One of my reasons to stay in the USA
93. Rose harissa - any Harissa improves almost any soup, stew, tangine, or couscous dish
94. Catfish - so often that I'm fed up of farmed "Cajun style" catfish on every menu
95. Mole poblano - mmmm
96. Bagel and lox - I live in New York, it's obligatory and really good.
97. Lobster Thermidor - Definitely NOT my favorite lobster recipe
98. Polenta - The Guy's favourite carb
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake in Austin, Texas

Hmmm, I think I've eaten waaaay too much! What about you?

Labor Day 2008

So this is where summer has been hiding.

Sadie the Stoic

We're having a quiet Labor Day weekend. Poor Sadie had another cyst removed on Friday, this time from her ear. Not that you can tell from this photo but she is back to her normal bounding self. She should also be wearing a cone (not a cone of silence, nor the cone of uncertainty but a regular old dog cone) but she looked so pathetic we just took it off. Polly would have scratched at the stitches until her ear fell off, but not Sadie the stoic. She knows that it would be foolish to touch the stitches, that it would hurt, so she will just suck it up as she always does. Brave puppy.

Fingerprint Design

Cutting edge technology takes designer Dan Yeffet's fingerprint and turns it into the Detail.MGX lamp. Originally offered in a limited edition of 30 large spheres, it's now available as a more affordable series of three mini pendant lamps. The lamps are produced using Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), a 3-D printing technique that is becoming more widely seen in lighting, furniture and textile design. Detail.MGX will be one of the products on view at 100% Design in London next month.

Soko

OK, I tried to resist but this song is now firmly in my head. So I'm passing it on to you. Enjoy!

Mama Mia! It's Our Turn Now *(edited and improved)

Just as I predicted when the movie first appeared, special screenings of Mama Mia! the Sing-Along Edition will be held in theaters across the US this weekend. Like the Sound of Music, Mama Mia! just begs for dress up too. Check the official website for listings and have a very musical Labor Day weekend.
*edited to include the following
You don't know what to wear to the Sing-Along? May I suggest the following clip for inspiration. Bonus - it's Waterloo sung in French with an introduction in Swedish!