Just for John: Blueberry Cheesecake Pie

I thought for sure that John would show up, fork in hand, on Saturday night when we cut into this ridiculously luscious pie. It's a graham cracker/pecan crust (made with a whole stick of butter!), topped with a layer of cream cheese whipped with sweetened condensed milk and lemon juice, topped with a layer of cooked blueberries. It was good last night, but even better for breakfast today.





See John, it was with authority when I wrote that Spork is only 99.99% evil. I am pure evil! ;-)

Brussels sprouts redemption

Once again, the Brussels sprouts have failed to produce sprouts. Well, one plant did, but it developed such an aphid infestation that I decided it made more sense to chuck the plants than to keep trying to eliminate the aphids. This particularly valiant Brassica specimen must have felt guilty over its lack of productivity because when I pulled it up, it presented me with a potato.

A hallmark moment

Anyone who has ever been the recipient of a card from me knows that I don't do mushy. Cards should have some bite to them, in my opinion. I even search for mean get well cards. Laughter is the best medicine, after all.

Today was our 14th anniversary (St. Patrick's Day wedding in Vegas - yes, we are that fun!) and Spork presented me with what may be my favorite card ever.

A blast from the past. Literally.

In searching for a cd version of my dad's favorite album ever, the Guckenheimer Sour Kraut Band's Sour Kraut in Hi-Fi, I stumbled upon an mp3 of one of the songs and had some immediate psychedelic flashbacks to my youth. I fear it may explain some things about my sense of humor and, unfortunately, some of my musical tastes (or lack thereof).

If you're brave enough, give it a listen. It's best listened to when you're about 2 good German beers into the evening. Try to stay tuned at least until the singing starts, so you can get the full effect.

Stars and Stripes Forever mp3

Shockingly, this gem hasn't been released on cd.

Omnivore Meme

This is a a fun meme-you know the routine post this list and bold what you've eaten. Some blogger somewhere decided that these are the 100 things every omnivore should eat before they die. I'm copying Lorie (again) who copied webfrau who thanked jww for this.

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 - I bought some once, but couldn't make myself taste it!
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper - unfortunately!
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 - I skipped the cigar part
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 - but I don't see the point
61. S'mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs' legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis - no, but I would try it
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost - ick, ick, ick! I think I'd rather try the roadkill
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. Har
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

Looks like I'm at 59%. Hopefully I'm being graded on a curve.

A fun way to waste a few minutes

In case you need to know what the Billboard #1 song was on the day you were born, now you can find out at The #1 Song on This Date in History website.

Sadly, mine "Everything Is Beautiful" by Ray Stevens. If it had to be a Ray Stevens song, I wish it could have been "The Mississippi Squirrel Revival" or maybe "Erik the Awful".

My worst test score ever

Hmmm, I guess it's a good thing I didn't live in the 1930s because apparently I would have been a pretty crummy spouse.

18 As a 1930s wife, I am Very Poor (Failure) Take the test!

Go Bill and Star!

Have you been watching Greatest American Dog on CBS? We don't watch a lot of reality shows, but we're making an exception for this one because two of the contestants, Bill and Star, are local. When Daisy was in obedience school*, Bill and Star came out and gave a demo of all the things it was possible to teach a dog. Star seems a little out of her element on the show so far, but when we saw her in person she was fabulous. So go watch some tv and cheer Star on!



*Despite what Spork says, Daisy did graduate from obedience school. She even took home 2 major awards.

Today is National Gingersnap Day

Who knew? Apparently I've gone my entire life without celebrating a whole slew of national food holidays. Why, in June alone I missed:

• National Candy Month
• June 3 Donut Day (1st weekend in June)
• June 7 National Chocolate Ice Cream Day
• June 14 National Strawberry Shortcake Day
• June 16 National Fudge Day

I wonder if any of them are considered work or school holidays? July 11, National Blueberry Muffin Day, should definitely be a day off, primarily because July 10 is National Pina Colada Day. I'm really miffed that no one told me February 22 is National Margarita Day. I would have celebrated the hell out of that one. I'll probably abstain from August 28, National Cherry Turnovers Day, because of a personal aversion to cherry filling, but I'm so there on November 12, National Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day! I'm especially looking forward to December 30, National Bicarbonate of Soda Day. I'm sure the parties will be effervescent.

This spud's no dud. It's the Sultan of Starch, the Uber tuber!

Spork went out and dug about half the potatoes the other day and at the time he raved about The One Gigantic Potato. He raves (and rants) a lot and I did see some good sized potatoes on top of the pile, so I just said something like, "Mmmm, really? The world's biggest red potato? How nice." And then I left the taters in the oven to dry the skins out a little bit.

Today I finally remembered to put the potatoes up and lo and behold I found the behemoth of Spork's latest rave.

Here it is next to a tennis ball:


And next to a regular potato:


Oh wait, maybe that's not a regular sized potato:


Okay fine, for truth-in-advertising purposes, the tennis ball is really one of Daisy's little baby tennis balls. And as an aside, isn'tDaisyjustthecutestthingever??? (you have to read that in a gushy mental voice)


But still, it's a big honkin' potato. I'd say it weighs at least a pound and I'm not sure, but I think I heard a faint growl when I put it in the fridge...

Girl meets grill

For some reason I am highly amused by oddball metal creations, so I was very happy today when I came across some funky grills at the local hardware store.



Orange longhorn cow grill


You can sort of see a pink pig grill in the background

I had a few moments of believing that my food would taste so much better if only I had a grill like this. I held that thought until I lifted the lid and saw the $1599.99 price tag. Ah well, I guess I'll have to find some other way to make my food tasty. Perhaps marinades...

I knew it

Oh sure, the cats will deny it, but do pie charts lie?


more cat pictures

By popular request, I present Lizard McGuire

Lizard McGuire is a fence post lizard that lives in the rock pile by my irises. She (for some reason, I get a "she" vibe off of her) moved in last spring when she was about 1" long. As long as she's sitting on top of this rock - her sun rock - she's pretty brave, but if you come across her on the ground, she is so outta there.




My sister, Mary, is trying to hook Lizard McGuire up with her lizard, Nubby. Nubby lost his tail in a tragic accident. There may be legal action in the near future.

I'm not as bad as I've been told

People keep referring to me as The Devil, but I think this proves otherwise:

You Are 26% Evil

A bit of evil lurks in your heart, but you hide it well. In some ways, you are the most dangerous kind of evil.

It's a dirty job...

So sometime last summer, the show Dirty Jobs came to our town and filmed an episode about installing a roadside billboard. Since it's one of my favorite shows on tv (and because Mike Rowe is so hot), I feel I should have been notified beforehand. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, but we did drive by the billboard this week and I talked Spork into stopping long enough to get a picture of the place Mike Rowe had once been.

Sigh.

Notice of Pending Legal Action

Attention Spork :

Re: The malicious destruction of personal property of and attempted bodily harm of Ellie May.

Be advised the preponderance of the evidence available* clearly demonstrates the willful and malicious activities of Spork, who while driving his goat truck, Sally, on the morning of January 15, 2008, did hereby back into Ellie May's flower pot and uproot her pansies. Furthermore, Spork planted a deadly I.P.D. (Improvised Poisonous Device) to be detonated when Ellie May uprighted her pansies, as Spork knew she would do forthwith.

This infringing action constitutes a deliberate form of harassment and ill-will by Spork and Ellie May seeks restitution for her pain and suffering and emotional distress.

Sincerely,

Anita Sumonay

Attorney at Law

* See photographic evidence below

Bird feeding, Stuga style

So last year at Thanksgiving I asked my brother-in-law, Jimmy, if he could build a birdfeeder pole that would keep the raccoons off of the feeders. He says to draw him a picture. I draw (pathetically) a vertical pole with a 5-pound coffee can around it and an X on the top to hold 4 bird feeders. As the night went on (and the tasty beverages flowed), the plans got grander and it ended with, "Wouldn't it be great if it looked like a palm tree? hahahahaha!" Well, yesterday this oilfield pipe and car panel sculpture showed up! I now have the coolest birdfeeder pole EVER!