A2K time zones: What's the time where you are & what are you up to?

Getting ready for a pleasant meal at home. I can hear the happy noises in the kitchen and will soon be summoned to pop the Champaigne bottles.

I hope you'll have a splendid 2012, George - Happy New Year to you - and all of A2k

7:08 pm here in New Mexico.

Considering making a ricotta veggie torte (or should it be with raisins and other dried fruit) - they're getting easier each time I make one.

Just talked with Diane, much of it about happy dogs.

Recently had a tuna salad open faced sandwich w/nanami togarashi sprinkled on top - that's a japanese condiment that I've cherished for years and don't see in my local stores here. I don't think it was mere pennies when I bought it either. I think I'll try making my own: it involves ground chile pepper, orange peel, ground black sesame seeds, ground white sesame seed, japanese pepper (black?), ginger, and sea weed. I have all the rest if that's just black pepper, and I doubt any seaweed is at hand for miles around. Probably available at whole foodlet. I have a lot of different chile peppers in this kitchen, will pick a middle of the road one.

It'll probably come out tasting way different, since I don't know the proportions, but hey, I might like it anyway, and at this point it's essentially free. I'll keep the little nanami togarashi bottle with the handy cap with a hole in it to let the stuff through.

Over here certain less reputable Chinese restaurants pass off deep fried savoy cabbage as seaweed. I don't know if this is of much help.

Amusing though. I'm from the land of the real thing, though I've never worked up connoisseurship. No way I'm getting into deep frying at all, much less savoy cabbage. But I shouldn't carp, it might be tasty.

Aha, there is a recipe on Chow.com.
http://www.chow.com/recipes/10602-shichimi-togarashi-and-nanami-togarashi

black cannabis seeds?

ok, you're going to think I'm nuts, but don't forget to check out the dollar store for nori

ours occasionally has the most bizarre, random, food items

I don't think you're nuts - I've gotten the odd interesting jar of something or other at the dollar store, or equivalent. (My favorite bowls that are still kicking are from a similar place, said to be italian but I highly doubt it).

dried seaweed is available in some chinese grocery stors in eastern ontario - and it is not expensive at all .

amazon also has it available , but i imagine shipping costs might be high ?

http://www.amazon.com/Pacific-Rim-Gourmet-Wakame-Seaweed/dp/B0000CNU28

Thanks, hamburger. I'm sure it's available here (or I expect so) at Tal-in, an international grocery that is about ten miles across town. Out of my present purview. I think I can live without some nori in my faux togarashi.

Funny, a good friend is named Nori, which is short for a longer name.

Could be Noriko.

In his case, Norifume.

Hey, Tak, happy new year to you and your lovely wife.

To you too! I hope all is well in your neck of the woods. It seems employment is picking up a bit around here; it's a matter of sustained uptick for our economy to really be on the mends.

I don't think Abq has been as decimated as some other places, but I'm not all that sanguine for bunches of reasons. LA's baddies have come here, and apparently so have some mexico cartel baddies. And I heard about corruption when I first moved here and it's apparently climbing.

Plus the city was arranged by idiots. Well, not to be too harsh - people decades behind on planning and engineering. That too smells of corruption.

I fell asleep and woke up a few minutes ago.
Happy New Year!

Hey, John, very much the same to you.

To you too, John. We still have 2 hours and 15 minutes before the New Year arrives on the west coast.

The new year is creeping west. Happy New Year to our brethren from the pan handle in FL to WI and ND to TX.

2012 comes to the 7 states in the Mountain time zone. Flyover states. Happy new year to NM, AZ and Salmon, Idaho.

So I just opened up a new calendar, courtesy of a customer who works for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
The photo for January is of a very intelligent looking Hooded Merganser. It is one of those birds that has to run across the surface of the water before it can get airborne.
The sun will rise this morning at 7:29 and set at 5:06. By the end of the month it will be 7:19 and 5:36.
Deer will start shedding antlers mid-month.

Happy New Year to you in the Western Time Zone. Tak, Cyclo, Georgeob, Irishk et al.