@Lola,
I can't imagine Lola. I am so sorry. I love his name. Thoughts are with you.
@spendius,
Quote:What about some compassion for the lobster on ff's platter?
Don't they drop them alive into boiling water in order to bring out the full flavour?
shhhhhh! You can't think about that and enjoy the lobster. I do find that heinous. Especially if I empathize. Luckily, I have and on off switch when it comes to crustaceans.
@Frank Apisa,
Everybody who is interested knows what MYOEP means.
What does YDAOOTBAIEE! mean?
Why don't you try your hand at the acronym game? There's some class acts on there.
@Lola,
Basil, ohhhhhhh. I'm sorry, Lola.
@Lola,
Oh, Lola, I am so sorry to hear about your cat. If you don't want to be bothered chatting right now, we understand. Dealing with loss is hard.
@Lola,
(((hugs))) So sorry for your loss dear Lola.
@Lola,
Lola, this is the reason I wouldn't have pets for such a long time. Buddy, my dog is currently 17 years old. She has arthritsis 3 times worse than me and to boot, she is half blind, three quarters deaf and lives in constant constipation. Sometimes I wish I went home and.........never mind. My sorrows are with you dear one!
Lola, I'm so sorry to hear about Basil. Knowing you, I'm sure he had a good, love-filled life. Take time to grieve.
(((((Lola)))))
@Diane,
I had a cat named Basil once. She was a scamp and a Coon Cat. Very purry . Whenever I was laying on the couch shed come up and join you around your head and shed go into this loud purr that could rattle dishes.
Lola, you will begin to have some happy memories of Basil as you go on.
NOW, may I have my coffee and a canolli. I had a canolli over at TSar's tea room. Now I gotta pee
Good grief, two Yubari melons just sold for the equivalent of $15,000 in Japan!
For a cantaloupe cultivar!
Quote:Pair of Yubari melons fetch Y1.6 mil
May. 25, 2013
TOKYO — A pair of cantaloupe melons sold at auction in Japan on Friday for 1.6 million yen, one of the highest prices ever paid for the coveted orange-fleshed fruit.
A local fruit wholesaler snapped up the 3.7-kilogram Yubari melons at the high-end fruit and vegetable sale, which took place on the first day of the season for the prestigious melons.
It was the third-highest price ever paid for the luxury melon brand and cost the equivalent of splashing out on a small car.
In a country where a single apple can cost more than 500 yen and a presentation pack of 20 cherries sells for over 10,000 yen, Japanese shoppers are used to paying high prices for their fruit.
But the eye-watering figures paid at the Sapporo Central Wholesale Market reflect buyers’ desire for prestige.
Yubari melons are considered a status symbol in Japan like a fine wine, with many buyers presenting them as a gift to friends and colleagues.
A pair sold at auction for a record 2.5 million yen in 2008, partially due to a degree of sympathy for the town of Yubari that produces the melons and which went bust in 2007.
The best-quality Yubari melons are perfect spheres with a smooth, evenly patterned rind. A T-shaped stalk is left on the fruit, which is usually sold in an ornate box.
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/pair-of-yubari-melons-fetch-y1-6-mil
More about Yubari melons....
http://www.cooksinfo.com/yubari-melons
Wassau, have any Yubari melons, I'd like to taste one. (Wassau shakes his head 'No' and laughs).
All right, then I'll just have some plain old cantaloupe, a toasted sesame seed bagel with vegetable cream cheese, and a very large mug of coffee, please.
Wassau, how did you know?
smoked whitefish on French bread
mmmmm just what I needed after 6 hours in dance workshops
Casting Michael Douglas as Liberace, in a new HBO movie, was an interesting choice. I'm looking forward to watching his performance, and Matt Damon's as well.
http://tv.nytimes.com/2013/05/25/arts/television/behind-the-candelabra-starring-michael-douglas-on-hbo.html
Michael Douglas, liberally costumed and onstage, as Liberace in “Behind the Candelabra."
Quote:Even if Behind the Candelabra never fulfills the mirrored-piano promise of its early scenes, it’s more than worth seeing for the superb performances of Douglas and Damon, who vault over the taboo about typically macho straight actors playing flamboyantly gay characters like it ain’t no thing. Douglas, in particular, turns what could have been a mincing stereotype into a beautifully subtle portrait of a lonely, gifted, narcissistic artist; it’s the most I’ve ever seen Douglas transform himself physically and vocally for a role, yet he never overplays it. The casting of hetero leading men like Douglas and Damon in what’s sure to be one of the flaming-est mainstream movies of 2013 isn’t just a stunt on Soderbergh’s part; it’s a statement. When Jason Bourne and Gordon Gekko can visit a gay-porn emporium together in matching ermine coats, we know our society must be making strides toward progress.
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/movies/2013/05/behind_the_candelabra_steven_soderbergh_s_liberace_movie_starring_michael.html
I have two new addictions, one stupidly reminiscent of teen snacks of my youth, and one that I think is worthwhile if I don't go there too often. The stupid one is salted sunflower seeds, cheap at Walgreen's (sim to Duane Reade). First of all, the seeds within are too tiny. Second of all, I don't benefit in any way by substituting this salty fare for, say, an orange, especially a cara cara orange.
The good bit is that I made my first gelato of the season, almost too easy to both describe and make - sicilian gelato, which involved half and half, sugar, some vanilla, and some corn starch (typical, I gather, of sicilian gelato). I threw in chopped almonds and chopped chocolate bar at the end. Ohgod, now I've done it. But that's not that unhealthy and beats store stuff. In my opinion.
I'll give a link if anyone wants the easy recipe. You don't even have to have an ice cream maker.
@ossobuco,
there is a really good gelato maker in Rehoboth Del. Its a place called the "Gelati-Gal'. She makes her own concoctions of stuff like lavender, pumpkin seed, gingered lemon, blood orange, maple sugar and several dozen others. She is just opening for the season this weekend an shes worth a trip to the beach just for the gelato
@farmerman,
Sounds wonderful.
Of course my bit is a sterile effort in contrast to really great gelato. But it beats paying big bucks for mediocre stuff from the market. We had one gelato place here, only one that I heard of, and it was plain old terrible when Diane and I tried it.
Rome has some more well regarded places since I was last there. Sigh. Pushing 15 years now.
