While awake...

Tonight's grilled salmon dinner inspired my dear husband to muse further about food, and thus he birthed a meme.
How sure are you about your love for your favorite cuisine, huh?

"If you could eat only one nation's cuisine for the rest of your life, which one would you choose?
Name your top five choices."

Here are mine:

1. Italy
2. America (Californian 'health freak cuisine')
3. Japan
4. Mexico
5. Greece

Honorable mentioning (but sadly too low in fresh vegetables): Finland

Just because I had to agonize I'm asking you to do the same...

While awake...

Completely stranded in the desert that is our apartment I decided to go on one last expedition to the cupboard in hope of "something good." Now I studied French instead of German but thank God for Katzen Pfotchen! Poor fools here on the other side of the globe have little if any understanding of the delicacies they choose to spit at. I could share a few anecdotes and recommendations but it would be like throwing pearls before swine.

A very reluctant P.S. just because I am way too nice.
Salzige Heringe
...and that's it! No more!

When I hold up my left thumb I see a small pine needle sticking out of it. I pick it out and an inch long needle emerges. There is a small red dot where it emerged. And something else. There is more. With a pincer grip I secure the small thing that is still sticking out and pull. More comes out. This time I hold it up closer to inspect it. Huh, it seemed like it just moved a bit. Squirmed. Could it really be a worm? A parastite? I let go of whatever just squirmed and reach back at my thumb. I am going to pull out whatever it is. I am a bit afraid of how much of it there is, and I don't like the idea of having a living creature roaming around inside my hand, my body! It comes out, now larger, little by little with some resistance. It's holding itself against my tugging but out it comes. It hurts a bit like a small cut but deeper. Some of it snaps off and I am now holding up a foot long parasite. It's a 1/3 inch thick, black and red patterned snake. How the hell could it fit inside my thumb? How I hate parasites!

I am on duty. At least I think I am. For some reason I am standing at the bottom of the hill near my parents' house. My mother is in the process of raising a flag. I look up at the flagpole and see a whole collection of flags of various nationalities all hanging on the same rope. She is still trying to get the right flag up, and I know she will succeed. Finally I walk up to her and touch some of the lowest hanging flags. They are hanging throughout the length of the entire flagpole. I hold up a very small triangular flag. It's white and it has something embroidered on it. It's the name and date of someone's summer house. I see several flags of similar kind.

Now I am in the hallway outside my 1st grade classroom. A little boy in a winter overall runs up to me. I bend down and kiss him on his cheek. It's my brother. I am so glad and proud of him. People nearby are waiting for me but I don't care.

I love those bizarre ones...

While awake...

Instapundit alerted me to something called a CARnival of Recipes. Am too tired to click. Wait, that is a lie. CARnival interested me to the point of actually going through the process of coding in a link for it. But then, just like a child that has spent a full hour building a fort in the middle of the livingroom borrowing blankets and pillows from the whole house, just like that child all of a sudden loses any interest in actually playing inside that heap of disorganized yet colorful fabric, I just leave it here while I absentmindedly stagger toward my next window...

The world's most wonderful dog will soon have to head to the "blissful hunting grounds" as my mother would say. She is devastated. Euthanasia was offered already but they want to try a few more days with some diuretics.

While awake...

Well, well, well! Thanks to Monsieur Jacques Chirac I no longer need to feel any pressure when it comes to my culinary skills since I apparently come from the bottom dwellers of bottom dwellers. Quite a relief I must say. Whatever I do right from now on can either be counted as an accident or slow improvement. So shall we begin with that potato salad?

Dockweiler potato salad

- 10 boiled potatoes
- 6 hard boiled eggs (separate yolks and save for the dressing)
- 2 green apples
- 4-5 celery stalks
- handfull baby carrots
- half large yellow onion
- 1-1.5 cup canola mayo
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- pepper and salt

What next?

- Dice potatoes, apples, and egg whites.
- Chop celery and carrots, and onion even more finely.
- Mix 1.5 cup of canola mayo with the 6 egg yolks. Add mustard. Add pepper and salt to taste.
- Fold dressing into salad mixture.
- Refrigerate until chilled.
- Eat.

Reflections from someone who isn't American but who still respects and admires the history, the people, and the foundation for this country.

These are the things I have come to love about the United States of America:

• The freedom of entrepreneurship. 'The Land of Opportunity'. I grew up in one of the most safe and peaceful countries in the whole world, and yet I have found an amazing wealth of opportunities on the complete opposite side of the globe.
• Pride in freedom. Willingness to defend this freedom no matter what.
• Encouragement and tireless pursuit of knowledge.
• Weather. Give me anything in proportions and I will like it.
• Variety in culture, people and opinions.
• The geographical magnificense.

As far as celebrations go and all the cooking people seem to do these days:
I made potato salad last Tuesday so I am cool...