Enjoyment.

I love tea.

Not Earth shatterning, I realize, but I find that it's one of those things you like, or dislike.  Most of the folks at the sub, they love coffee.  I don't care for it.  (Oddly, though, I like to eat coffee beans. Whole coffee beans.  Had to stop, as I found out that's basically mainlining caffeine for me...) 

My Mom loves avacados.  Not my thing in the slightest.

 Dad and Husband detest Dr. Pepper, and I very much enjoy it. 

My Auntie loves, just ADORES bananas.  Yuck.  On the other hand, she finds mushrooms utterly revolting.  Which is why I don't invite her to a Chinese restaurant I like, where one of the items is... Buttered mushrooms, which I could eat way too much of...

Several of the deputies really like Monster Energy Drink, or Mountain Dew.  I keep wondering if it's for the taste, or for the outrageous caffeine jolt.  Either way, not for me.

I had a family member that loved his steak well done.  I actually asked if I could try a taste. 

Have you ever eaten a charcoal briquette?  Yeah, pretty much.  But, I am guilty the other way.  I like mine rare.

I keep wondering if there is any food/drink that everyone could agree on. 

Water?  Oh, wait, nope.  My boss only likes filtered water, the stuff from the tap just makes him cringe.

Hmm.

Well, as one of my dear friends used to say, "That's why there's Chocolate and Vanilla."

Then, there is the occasional Tutti-Frutti type, too...

Heh...

The mystery vegetable. Or root. Or whatever... Food, anyway.

I had a friend ask me to grow some Kohlrabi for her this year.  Oddly, Doc usually asks, didn't.  But anyway, I grew a large-ish patch for her.  I also ended up with some other items I stuck in, so hopefully it will be a nibble fest for the family. 

I had to look up that, I guess it's classified as a vegetable.  I saved about 2 or three of the little ones, so I can try them myself.  They have a pretty pronounced smell, sort of broccoli like.  I gather that you can use the leaves for eating, too. 

I might have to try and slice some up, and eat it raw, then cook another one, to see what they are like. 

I have some yellow, and green zucchini, and apples.  And some bought carrots, so that is the unmistakable time to make Zucchini bread.  Mom gave me her recipe, and I love it that way.

 I have had a foodie insult me- that type of quick bread just isn't something you would love, it's just plebeian food.  Of course, this was the same dork that wanted my knitting needles that I using on a sock, because she'd forgotten a chop stick or some other tool when making Danish Pancake Balls (Aebleskiver).  I didn't give her my needles, and she was less than charming the few times I went to her classes.

 I have decided that food is one of those things that is so personal, you can't really recommend it to people, without a provision, that it's what YOU like.  I have waxed poetic about a place that sells ribs, only to be told that barbecue is not as good as rub. (?? I like both!!) I have told people how much I enjoyed an Italian restaurant, and the bread has oil for the sop.  They hmmmed, then asked for butter.  I enjoy 13 bean soup, and my personal creation, Lazy Gardener's Soup, my husband... tolerates it, if he has to. Dad doesn't like some of the sodas I do.

I even remember giving a recipe to a friend some time ago, and she came back furious, it made her sick!  I couldn't fathom why it would, and asked her to tell me what she did.  Well, she said she didn't have any oranges, so she substituted cherries, and she didn't have peanut butter, so she used bananas, and put in an egg, because it didn't look thick enough... (sigh, and she blames ME??)

 And I could go on.  But the point is, I think I will just say, I have had it, you should try it...

And not take the blame if they don't like it!

Midnight in the garden of...

Potatoes.

So remember recently when I said the bugs and slugs had decimated my potato starts?  Well, maybe not so much.

Husband and I had both seen this black kitty, and it would just sneak over for a snack, and then leave.  I decided it was Midnight.  (Was going to name it Toothless, but it has yellow, not green, eyes.  Yes, I am weird. And a nerd. And picky, too.)

I was watering the garden, and looked up, to see Midnight staring at me.  Which stunned me slightly, as I was using a water hose.  Most cats do not like them.  He didn't seem to mind, but just kept quietly watching me. (Yeah, he.  I can tell, because he keeps letting everyone know with a nose know that he was there, by relieving himself on the canister we feed cat food from... And the wall by the door.  YEEESH, even.)

So, I try talking softly, and not moving to him.  I do sit down.  He opens his eyes, just a bit, then relaxes again.  I watch, as he stretches out, and rolls.

On my potato bed.  The ones that are the biggest.  That were trying to come back some.  He then pushed at a potato start with his nose, and pushed it around, like a kid playing toy cars.  Yay.

I watched, and between the flopping on of, wiggling around on, and pushing to and fro, the potatoes were looking heavily bedraggled. Then Buzz showed up, just as I'd gotten within 6 or so feet of Midnight.

Turns out, Buzz doesn't care for Midnight.  Oddly, Midnight is a little spooky guy with her.  She growled, and he decided that it was time to leave.  I had to distract her, or she looked like she was going to do the cat version of punching his lights out.  Her place, her rules, HE GOES!

Huh. Okay.

So, the bugs and slugs aren't helping, but they might just be a side effect of being mangled by a cat.

I have planted carrots on two of the bales now.  I have them covered with bird netting.

Cat netting?

We shall see what transpires in the near future...

E is for Eats.

Food seems to be a "thing" in our family.  I was thinking about it recently.

Grandpa E would cook the major meals most times, I remember him making roast duck, potatoes, things like that for Thanksgiving or Christmas.  He also taught me to like really "non-kid" food, pig's feet, capers, real oddball stuff...

Grandma E would always amaze me, we would show up at the house, and it just seemed like mere seconds, fried chicken, potato salad, or fry bread would show.   I know in my head that that wasn't possible, but it always seemed to be that way.  I remember one breakfast, we made toast.  She had this six bread slot toaster, and did we make toast!  There were several family members that came over, and Grandma toasted, I buttered, Mom was setting the table, getting jams, jellies, honey, all that out.  When we finished, there must have been at least a 2 foot high stack of toast.  I think it was gone in about 15 minutes or so.  Not counting the two that I snuck out during the buttering process...

My mom has always struck me as the MacGyver of dinner making.  I sometimes think if she had half a lemon, a taco shell, and three peanuts, we would have something wonderful by chow time.  I know that more than once, I forgot to tell her about a snack day at school, (something I found out is no longer allowed at that same school because of allergies...), and she was still able to come up with frosted graham crackers, apple and orange slices, juices, all sorts of neat things.  Even if she did seem to be a tad twitchy, and check the papers I brought home a little more closely.

One of the funniest memories, Mom made gingerbread cookies to match each student in the class, green eyes and red hair, or what have you, would have a cookie frosted to look the same.  Several hours later, they were ready to go.  To this day, Mom just sounds so disgusted when she says, "10 minutes!  Every last crumb, GONE, in ten minutes!" (I am surprised she wasn't impressed that I didn't filch mine beforehand...)

I think about one of the get-togethers I had with some of the younger members of Husband's family.  We "had" to go to a certain restaurant, and the kids would "ONLY" eat x thing.

How sad for them...

But, hey, more for me!   (Anyone up for toast?)