Zombie Delight

October 28, 2009February 5, 2012 / still a dreamer / 4 Comments

The Epicurean Z

You ask what makes my culinary bell ring?
I’ll tell you, dear friends, it’s only one thing.

Fingers!

With garlic and butter in a delicate sauté,
Or toss with linguine and a sauce de Mornay.

Cut thin and layered for a scalloped delight,
Or simmer in red sauce … it’s Italian tonight!

Chopped and toasted gives salads a crunch,
Or slice thin on rye for a delectable lunch.

Breaded and deep-fried, tartar sauce on the side,
With brainslaw, you’ll think you went to heaven and died!

Thumbs work best in a rich brown stew,
Or slather with honey on the barbecue.

Now when baking, you’ll want to remove all the nails,
Smooth texture’s a must or the recipe fails.

Chop and add raisins, for a great autumn pie,
Puree as ganache for a torte layers high.

Arrange young fingers with a tart lemon mousse,
Or serve them with custard for a fab Charlotte Russe.

(Well, where did you think they got the idea of ladyfingers from?)

Studded in ice cream with a fudge sauce that’s hot,
Can fingers be more flexible? I really think not!

They’re suited for dinners, or occasions quite grand,
But if in a rush, eat `em right off the hand!

Ready to cook? To scramble or bake?
Pick up Zombie Gourmet – turn to page forty-eight.

The Orangutan and Hound – A Short Love Story

October 2, 2009October 7, 2009 / still a dreamer / 2 Comments

SuryiaRoscoe I see a lot – I mean a lot – of cute, (and not-so-cute), animal stuff because it is a large part of my professional and personal life. And yes, I have seen my fair share of cute inter-species animal stories, videos, etc. This one, new to me, was particularly heartwarming.

This made my day – hope it will do it for you, too! Check out Suryia and Roscoe.

(My apologies – photo credit was not provided on this photo.)

Play the Cheese or Font Game

September 18, 2009 / still a dreamer / 3 Comments

FONT-ina Here’s a fun little diversion for those of you who are mightily drawn to cheese and/or fonts. Play the Cheese or Font Game – it’s quite the challenge!

You are given the name of a cheese or font, and you have to decide which one it is. Sound easy? Guess again! The game seems to have an endless amount of selections, (can you say addictive?), you will be told after each choice if you were correct or not, and what percentage of players got it right.

So give the Cheese or Font Game a go, and let the cheese begin! (Gotta go – getting some crackers.)

Full-Frontal Snogging – Humor on the YA Bookshelf

September 14, 2009September 20, 2009 / still a dreamer

Snogging-LRennison Here’s the full title – Angus, thongs and full-frontal snogging – confessions of Georgia Nicolson by Louise Rennison. (Yeah – a tad too long for a post title!) My last trip to my local library had my very wonderful librarian, Jennifer, suggest a book to me in addition to my list of MG and YA titles. So far her suggestions have been great, and this book is no exception. I am writing this very short post to recommend this book to you if you read/enjoy YA. Written in diary format, Georgia, who is British, writes about her life and its typical teenage issues, which are not nearly so racy as the title would suggest. But funny. Very funny.

The author has a great sense of humor and a witty, sarcastic style – I had not expected that I would be laughing out loud by page 7! And it’s only gotten funnier. So if, in all your readings, you could use a change of pace and a little laughter, do pick up snogging – couldn’t we all use a laugh?

p.s. Hmmm – something else I did not expect – it’s 5 days since I started this book, and as cute and funny as it is, it’s not holding my attention halfway through. There’s nothing getting me terribly curious about what’s going to happen, and sadly, I’m not now convinced I’m going to care all that much. I’m thinking this is one of those YA books that really may have much more appeal to its intended age group. So I’ve put snogging aside, and have picked up Newbery winner, A Single Shard, by Linda Sue Park, which sounds much more engaging.

Freshness Expert

July 23, 2009July 27, 2009 / still a dreamer

FreshnessExpertw One of the things that is so endearing about our pets is how they come up with these little quirky behaviors on their own.

One of my cats is the official, self-appointed Freshness Expert (and yes, that is with a capital F and E.) Just ask her.

Whenever I open a new bag of their food and am about to pour it into their little storage tin, Mewsette appears in a flash from anywhere. It’s her job to check the food, sample a few pieces, and assure the rest of us that it’s safe for consumption and, indeed, as fresh as the package dating promises. That done, she leaves the room and returns to whatever she was doing before.

FreshnessExpert2w “My work is done here!” she affirms.

Recently, she discovered that I had something 3-dimensional in my glass of water, although adding ice is hardly something I just started 2 weeks ago. She insisted on getting her little muzzle in there, (so yes, that was the end of that glass of ice water for me), and couldn’t get enough. Now when I give her fresh water after dinner, I add an ice cube to her bowl. Unlike the other two, who’d be playing ice cube hockey all over the kitchen floor in minutes, Mewsette does not want to play with it. She delicately laps the water keeping her tongue on the ice cube as much as possible. Ahhhhhhhh – refreshing!

So she has now expanded her credits to both Freshness Expert AND Ice Cube Connoisseur.