Odds and Ends 

I don't have any one thing in particular today, more of a scattered approach, I suppose. First, I changed the comments again to allow any posting, no moderation, so we'll see how that goes. Comments are appreciated: that way I at least know there's somebody out there. 

First thing up is last night's dinner. I told my wife I'd cook, which I do periodically, and I chose to make eggplant parmesan. It seems I can never remember exactly how I make it between sessions, so there's always a slight variation, but it's always quite edible. Last night I had three eggplants, and I only cut up two of them. It was enough for the 9x12 pan, but in retrospect, I should have used the other one as well. Hindsight is always a great thing, right? The fact that both my wife and I had a second helping leads me to believe it worked out just fine, but I do think a bit more eggplant would have been better. I can always alter that in the future. 

Item #2 on today's menu is also food related, however, this is a recommendation
for avoidance. I like SPAM. Not the kind you get in email, the kind you get in a can at the store. I have always liked it, and have never had a flavor I didn't like, until now. The other day I was at the store and saw Korean BBQ spam, and I thought, why not? I got a can, and brought it home, and a couple days ago I decided to try it in a sandwich. I made my sandwich, then decided to try a small sample of the meat only. My first thought was, really? I ate my sandwich, and I decided that I wasn't going to ever make another one. My wife, who also likes the various flavors of SPAM, tried it, and her opinion was, chuck it. And that, friends, was the end of that can of SPAM. That particular variation will not be coming home with us in the future. 

Item #3 is also food related...kinda. Friday my wife and I walked around the downtown area a bit, looking at small shops, and we came to the new candy store. Inside I found a curious item, and decided immediately it was something I just had to try. I mean hey, I lived through the Korean BBQ SPAM, so how much worse could it be? So, I grabbed a small container of pickle cotton candy, and it came home with us. After dinner I broke it out for a sampling. It was definitely cotton candy, and it was definite pickle tasting. Now, this isn't something I'd probably make a habit of keeping on my shelf, but it wasn't bad, and me being me, I may go back and get some just to gross other people out when they come over. I'm going to have to give pickle cotton candy two thumbs up, if nothing more than for the entertainment potential it contains. 

My closing item, #4 by my calculations, is animal related. We have two cats, a mom and her daughter. They look almost identical, but they are vastly different in personality. We started letting the mom out a month or so ago, and once outside she's an entirely different cat. Outside she's lovey dovey, while inside she's a straight stuck up snob. But, there's something outside related where she absolutely shines, and that's her hunting ability. In our front pasture we've had a big problem with voles. It seemed like every day a new mound would pop up. BUT, the instant we let Sophia out, the mounds disappeared. Hmmm.  A quick correlation said our cat was taking care of the issue. This was  confirmed after I was working outside, and watched her in action. As I was working, I looked into our front pasture, and she was crouched in the grass, staring at the ground. She inched forward, then made a big pounce, and came up with a vole! Good kitty! A couple days after that, I walked the dog out in the front and saw a fresh mound. Sophia, who likes to walk with us, was there, and I told her she was starting to slack a bit. The next day there was a vole body laying at the bottom of the steps, and no new mounds in the pasture. At this point, that cat can be as weird as she likes inside the house, because outside she's a rock star.