Dragon

Loved how to wrap a cat! I think I'm going to have to post that one on my facebook when I get home tonight.

Baldur, we have a store like that here too, though it's called Super Store (or properly The Real Canadian Super Store) it's known in our hoursehold as Stupid Store. It too requires you to buy bags or bring your own and has many ethnic foods we've never heard of, though I can't say as I've ever seen Chicken Paws there- somehow it wouldn't surprise me. We don't have food stamps up here so we don't have a specific week that's bad to go, rather any Sat or Sun it is a place to be avoided. I wouldn't go at all because I hate the place but dammit everything is just so cheap there, not to mention if you gas up at their gas bar (which I do) they give you a coupon for 4.5 cents a liter and you can't scoff at that.
The new thing that's coming into stores here is the self check out. I'm of mixed feeling on this because it can be very convenient but on the other hand it can be really irritating if you have a bunch of produce and you have to look up each item. I still haven't decided if I like them yet.

Dragon

Dragon has just received some very exciting news! My work will be sending me to Vegas next year for the annual Western Veterinary Conference. Who could turn down a free trip to Vegas. True I will have to go to several classes while I'm there but I'm actually stoked about that side of things too. Woohoo, my boss is awesome!

Baldur

We are seeing self check-outs here too. Baldur avoids them, and ATMs too actually.... mainly because they eliminate jobs.

Baldur

Tonight I'm making Eggplant Parmigiani with a tomato sauce that's rather heavy on the garlic.
Robert will be having spaghetti with his, I'll be having a huge salad.

AuntieB

Your Auntie B is missing the Gnocchi Florentine she had this weekend.
Armand is an amazing chef. His villa just outside Rome aint too bad either.

AuntieB

Armand made the most delicate gnocchi with fresh ricotta and potatoes. He served them on a bed of spinach wilted with olive oil and garlic.
Over everything he ladeled a fantastic sauce enhanced with Asiago, Mozzarella, Romano and Gorgonzola cheese.
Then everything was baked until golden and bubbly.
I was expecting some very serious 'adult' wine but he knew my mood and we hade bellinis made with Asti Spumante instead.

AuntieB

We also had the most wonderful salad of baby spinach dressed with walnut oil and just a bit of white balsamic vinegar.
Over this he lavished toasted walnut halves, slivers of delicately ripened pears and shavings of a very sharp Parmesan cheese.
Then there were the homemade breadsticks, I mustn't forget them.

AuntieB

He thought I might like to stretch my legs a bit before dessert.
Just a short walk down the road was a docked barge festooned with hundreds of tiny lanterns.
A quintet of gypsy musicians played in the style of Django Reinhardt. We danced on the very crowded barge until well after midnight.
We returned to the villa to find the dinner dishes mysteriously cleared and dessert waiting.
There was a board with goat cheese, fresh figs, more wonderfully ripe pears and very small curiously black grapes.
There was a lovely tiramisu in a footed crystal bowl. The filmy window dressing was fluttering in the cool evening breeze and we stayed there enjoying each other's company until the earliest songs of the monks of the distant monastery intruded just before dawn.

Baldur

Happy Birthday to Vince Wilfork, Curtis Stone, Sean 'Diddy' Combs, Miles Long, Jeff Probst, Kathy Griffin, Robert Mapplethorpe, Laura Bush, Delbert McClinton, Loretta Swit, Martin Balsam, Art Carney, Walter Cronkite, Gig Young, Will Rogers and King Edward V of England.

Qsilv

Thank you for the heads up on pre-cooking the bulgar (and yes, I'm likely to play with quinoa etc) ...kinda wondering if I could get away with NOT pre-cooking the grains. Pleasantly crunchy? or.. tooth-breakingly so?

Q despises self-checkout. Period. But ATM's are wonderful for the weird-hour prone (yeah, that would be me).

;>

Dragon

Dragon loves ATM's and is especially fond of the drive through variety though it seems the one at my bank is often out of order (or out of money) quite often on payday. I can't say as I've noticed a particular drop in the number of tellers at the bank since ATM's came into real popularity but then I was always of the opinion that there were way too few of them to start with and they always take their lunch break at the same time as everyone else in the world is taking theirs and trying to get their banking done. Seriously, if you go into a restaraunt at lunch time they don't tell you "I'm sorry there's going to be a long wait because the chef's are all on their lunch break."

As for the self checkouts in store, I'm sure they do take jobs, hadn't thought of that in a while, but that is another good reason to hate them.

Baldur

Heavens, here is a dramatic entry for today.....
This morning shortly after breakfast a frantic phone call arrived from my mother and I had to dash off.
It seems my elderly father had what appeared to be a heart attack while they were both out shopping. A woman who was certified to perforn CPR happened to be there at his side immediately and began her ministrations as the medics were dispatched.
When they arrived they found my father's heart had stopped but they were able to restart it with a jolt from a defribullator. In essence he had died, they credit the woman who performed CPR for saving his life. She kept oxygen flowing to his brain.
Once in the hospital they started to undertake a hypo(or perhaps hyper)thermal regimen to minimize brain damage. They have lowered his body temperature several degrees and will keep him there chilled and in a drug induced coma for 24 hours.
This has been a dreadful experience for my mother and at this moment there is no telling what the ultimate outcome will be. He may not return to the living, or he may be technically alive but not able to return to any semblance of independence.
My siblings and I returned to the hospital this evening, after convincing my mother that it would be too disturbing for her to view our father in this condition. Nonetheless we shall bring her back in the morning.
It was quite a horrendous day.
One of the big challenges here is that my mother does not drive, I hate to imagine the turnout if this attack had occured just a few moments earlier while they were driving on the highway.
My sisters and I will be doing a lot of chauffering and hand- holding over the next few weeks.
Radio Baldur will continue broadcasting whenever feasible.

sheftali52

Will keep you and your family in my thoughts, Baldur, and hope for positive outcome.

lynnspotter

Baldur, our best wishes and prayers are with you & family!

Happy Birthday to Kevin Jonas, Javy Lopez, Judy Reyes, Tatum O'Neal, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Adams, Peter Noone, Sam Shepard, Art Garfunkel, Elke Sommer, Ike Turner, Vivien Leigh, Roy Rogers(99!), Strom Thurmond, Ike Turner(Mr Tina Turner), Joel McCrea.

Baldur

Happy Birthday to the traitorous Johnny Damon, Tatum O'Neal, Armin Shimerman, Peter Noone, Gram Parsons, Sam Shepard, Chef Tell, Art Garfunkel, Elke Sommer, Ike Turner, Myron Floren, Vivien Leigh, Roy Rogers, Natalie Schafer and Will Durant.

Baldur

Thank you lynn,
We are working from different lists, I'd not seen all of those

lynnspotter

Yes, couldn't find where you got yours~I like how yours includes the famous in history.

polenta

oh, Baldur. Sorry for hearing what happened to your father. We wish him a positive outcome and I agree it was what we call in Spanish a DESGRACIA CON SUERTE, that is a "lucky misfortune". I mean that your dad was not driving when it happened.

Dragon

Baldur, what a shocking day it must have been for you. We'll be thinking of you during this hard time. I hope you get good news about your father, but if not I hope your family can take comfort from each other.

five

Baldur, my prayers are with you and your family.