Truffle Mutt

New Puppy

What a cutie.

Her name is Jade and she's at least part of the reason I've been absent of late.  I've been spending more time on her food lately than mine, which hardly seems fair.  But then again, she's just so darn cute. 

What's in an Egg

Conversations in our household, at least the ones centered around food, are often not safe for outside viewing.  I figured that it would be safe to post about it though since no one here will see it anyway.   

As a bit of a forward it's worth mentioning that when it comes to food Jason and I are about as near to polar opposites as we could possibly be.  He's a meat and cheese kind of guy, with strict guidelines, even within those boundaries.  When we are invited to dinner it's not uncommon for people to call with the menu and ask if Jason will eat it.  Little does he know that when I'm the one answering these questions I always say he's fine with it, in hopes that the increased exposure to food will toughen him up.  In a painfully slow amount of time this approach appears to be working,  the other day he actually bought a new kind of cheddar cheese.  Well, I said painfully slow, didn't I.         

Me:  "What do you want for breakfast?"
J:  "Tacos"  (This or pizza, is always the answer to this question - seriously - always)
Me:  "It's breakfast.  How about I make huevos rancheros?"
J:  "What are those?"
Me:  "What you don't know can't hurt you."

Half and hour later when he's out of the shower. 

J:  "How are the tacos going?"
Me:  "They're going great."

As we sit down at the table.

J:  "What's in this?"  (This is the question he asks every time we aren't eating tacos or pizza - again, completely serious)
Me:  "It's a tortilla with beans and sausage, eggs, then melted cheese and salsa.  It'll be good."
J:  ***Fork goes to mouth - grimace***
Me:  "What's the problem? 
J:  "The eggs.  I can't eat them."
Me:  "Why not?  They're just eggs."
J:  "Yeah, but I don't like eggs like this."
Me:  "You eat omelette's all the time dear and they're the same eggs."
J:  "These are different."
Me:  "I'm the one that makes the omelette's and I can assure with a fair amount of certainty that these are the exact same kind of eggs."
J:  "They're a different color."
Me:  "So, what you're actually saying is that if I put the eggs in the bottom of a pan and wrapped them around the exact same stuff, called it an omelet and put salsa on top then it'd be okay?"
J:  "Maybe."
Me:  "Stop talking before the urge to kill you becomes too strong."

I ate the eggs and they were fine.

Grrr...

Oh look a Tiger lily! 

These exotic looking bright orange flowers remind me a lot of being a kid.  They used to be all around my parents place when we were growing up.  You'd find them dotting the open fields or brightening the forest floor, but sadly not anymore.  My younger brother and I, ever the explorers, were a serious threat to the population.  Any time we saw one we would excitedly pluck it from the ground to take to Mom, and I know there were times when we would go on walks just to hunt for them.  Poor little things never stood a chance.

But it's been a long time since I've picked a tiger lily at home.  A long time.  And yet still the tiger lily has not recovered from being so seriosuly over harvested.   

We found this flower along with several other lilies, flourishing in a field about half an hour from Mom and Dad's house, where we were camping.  I felt like taking it with me and transplanting it, in hope's of reviving the population.   Then I gazed around at all the spotted faces looking up at me and I got a little scared.  I'd killed a lot of these little tigers in my day and that's got to get you some bad tiger lily karma.  So, I just nervously smiled at them and walked away.  I only looked back once. 

Belated Tale

Enough procrastination already.  Our trip to San Francisco was over a month ago and I need to post about now before it's completely faded from my short term memory.  In short, the trip was spectacular.  The places we visited were fantastic and the weather was unexpectedly sunny and warm, or at least, it appeared that way from inside all the resturaunts.    :o)

The trip was a piggyback on Jason's cousins wedding in Carmel at the end of April.  The itinerary had us flying into San Francisco, proceeding to Carmel for the wedding and then, on no real schedule, wandering back to San Francisco to eat, drink and see the sights. 

The trip started in Carmel, and wow, I love Carmel.  I fell in love with the picturesque rocky coastline and the din of crashing waves.  It was utterly serene.  I would live there in a second, but of course my bank account isn't able to afford me that luxury.   

The eating began as soon as we got there, but the real gastronomic highlight in Carmel was the rehersal dinner at Flaherty's Oyster Bar.  Where we were served enormous amounts of seafood, starting with giant appetizer platters, loaded with superb selections of shrimp scampi, calamari, roasted garlic, baked brie and fresh sourdough.  Then once we'd polished those off (and several bottles of wine) we moved on to dinner, which was no disappiontment either.  I had an excellent breaded halibut fillet with a delicate wild mushroom cream sauce.  Generally I think that everyone had a good time, which was probably due, at least in part, to the free flowing wine.  Yeah it was a fun evening.    

On the food front the morning of the wedding was much less exciting, as I somehow ended up at the Denny's in Monterey with all the groomsman.  I'm not sure how I got myself into that one, but once I'd had my first bite of a crispy, greasy "Moons over my Hamy" I managed to forget everything else.  It might not have been the foody highlight of my trip, but a "Moons over my hamy" sandwich is a fast food treasure and is always welcome.

A Moment Of Silence

The beauty of the crisp white snow, happy family gatherings and wonderful food, the picture of a perfect Christmas and New Year.  Except it wasn't perfect, was it?  For so many people it was very much the opposite.  It will most certainly be a New Years to be remembered, but not for the usual joyful reasons.  It will instead be symbolized by feelings of profound sadness, loss and devastation.  Words can't sufficiently explain it and the aid we give, although immensely important, hardly seems to be enough.  The degree of suffering caused by this crisis is so vast that it is difficult to even comprehend.  I take this moment to pray for the people across the world that were affected by the Tsunami that hit Asia last weekend.  May the aid provided by the global community help you to rebuild your homes and cities, and may God provide you the strength needed to heal your lives and families.

Please be generous and give all you can to those far less fortunate.  Let us make an attempt to brighten the shadow that has been cast on the beginning of 2005 with a previously unheard-of demonstration of global humanitarianism.