Well, this is strange

We have a Burger King on base, and awhile back one of my coworkers was going to grab lunch. So we pulled up the menu online to play with their little interactive "have it your way" fun thingy. And we discovered a strange thing. Coworker originally said she'd get a grilled chicken salad, because obviously that's the healthy choice. Choosing the fat-free dressing, this is what the nutritional value of the salad is projected to be: We decided to compare that to her number one menu choice at BK: The stacker. Two meat patties, two slices of cheese, two slices of bacon. Yum. (Well, yum until she adds mustard, because mustard is one of the fastest ways to ruin a hamburger.) Anyway, naturally, she would get the meal - fries and a drink. And that's when things got surprising: The Stacker meal (she did remove the stacker sauce in favor of the mustard) had the same amount of Calories and fat as the salad - but it also had far less sodium, and a little less sugar and cholesterol. The meaning she took from this: A bacon double cheeseburger is obviously God's way of telling you that you've had enough salad in your life lately.

Discovered:

A restaurant in town that has "Crab Cake BLTs", which are made of crab cake, melted cheddar, lettuce, fried green tomato, smoked bacon on grilled Texas toast. If they replaced the Creole Remoulade with a Thai sweet chili sauce, I would probably kill myself eating these sandwiches.

Taking "There Were Never Such Devoted Sisters" To A Whole New Level

I seem to have a psychic connection with one of my older sisters. It's kinda freaky sometimes, but - luckily - I happen to like her an awful lot, so occasionally sharing a brain isn't a strain. The examples of this are almost endless, but take tonight for instance. I've been puttering in my kitchen for about 45 minutes, making Chicken Tikka Masala. I made it for the first time when I was at her place last week, and I wanted to work on the recipe so I can post it online. Then, about 10 minutes ago, I check Facebook and see my sister has put up:

I really wish there were someone here to cook me Chicken Tikka Masala.

Have I mentioned we're over 400 miles apart? That I never mentioned what I was going to cook? So, I cook and she craves. Now I have to experiment with this. Maybe tomorrow I'll make a big pot of red sauce and some homemade garlic herb bread. If that doesn't get her attention, nothing will.

The Google. It has failed me.

I made plans to go to lunch with a coworker today. We decided on a local Thai place that has good sushi (you’d be incredibly un-surprised to hear that’s kinda hard to find in Montgomery). I hadn’t been there in a couple of years, so I pulled up their menu online, and saw an ingredient in their “Beauty and the Beast” rolls that I hadn’t heard of before: “topigo”.

Now, I’ll admit that I’m not a huge sushi connoisseur – I like it, I eat it, but I wouldn’t be able to rate it beyond “good”. But when a Google search turned up nothing other than repeated attempts to get me to change my search (no, Google, I did NOT meant Toigo. Or top igo. Whatever THEY are.), I decided that I must try it. If an ingredient is so exotic, so mysterious that not even Teh Google can identify it, well…give me a fork and a double serving.

The sushi was, as usual, good. Conversation and company even better. I got the “Beauty and the Beast” rolls, since I was intrigued: Tuna, avocado, alfalfa sprouts and cream cheese topped with the mystery item. And, just to be whimsical, I threw in a cup of Wanton Soup - it's so much better than what I usually get from Chinese restaurants, because it’s not a bowl of broth with a huge noodle in it. They use actual vegetables.

The alfalfa sprouts were probably the most dangerous thing I ate: Turns out they’ve been linked to salmonella lately. The topigo? Was actually “toBigo”. Minor typo in their online menu. And it’s Fish Eggs.

Food That....Excuse Me, WHAT?

There's a Captain D's at my exit on the interstate, and a couple of miles before you get off, you're treated to a billboard for it. There's a plate of something fish-like, and a huge slogan: "Food That Loves You Back". Now, I'm not adverse to Captain D's. About twice a year, I get an insane urge for their fish and chips. I don't know what's in their oil, I don't know what kind of fish they use, and I have no idea as to the overall cholesterol content of my chosen meal. And I really don't think I want to. Maybe it's just me, but the idea of "Food That Loves Me Back" makes me very nervous. How, exactly, does it accomplish this? Can it send me greeting cards? Does Halmark make something for this occasion? Am I required to send a Thank You Gift? How, exactly, does food love me back? Do I even really want to know? These are the thoughts that permeate my dreams... I really don't want my meal to remind me of it's presence once it's past my taste buds. As far as my commitment to any one meal, that's kind of my limit. After that point, it's a "better seen and not heard from" situation. I'm great with Food That Loves To Be Eaten. I'm great with Food That Loves, period. Who doesn't want to be loved? But if my dinner is promising to come back from the great beyond that is my digestive track and in any way tell me at 2 AM "Hey, Thanks for eating me!"...well... My love of their Fish N Chips may have been cured.

To make you all hungry

I'm working on a couple of new posts for that cooking blog of mine, one of which is the latest recipe in our Julia Child cookbook review. My sister, ever the impatient one, asked - nay demanded! - pictures. Because I am the model of perfection in younger siblings, I am obliging. She may be sorry she asked. The dish: Roast Chicken Steeped with Port Wine, Cream and Mushrooms (from "Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1") served with Mushroom and Thyme Risotto Step One: Roast a chicken. Here's the bird, in all of it's shrink-wrapped glory: Here's the bird, halfway through roasting, in the oven, mostly dead: Here's the roasted bird, assuredly dead and thoroughly cooked, on my new pretty platter: Step Two: Start the risotto. Here's the rice in one of the first baths of chicken broth: Here's the chicken broth of which I am especially proud, since I just made a fresh batch this week: And now, because I am thrifty, I chopped up the mushroom stems and slowly...ohhh..sooo...sllloowwly...sauteed them in a little buttery thyme and white wine: Here's the rice towards the second half of the process, with a shot of the merrily simmering broth. Ahh, you two really are the perfect couple! Step Three: Time to pour the first glass of wine and start putting it all together. First of all, it's time to start those port-y mushrooms for the bird! Ok, I missed the shot of the port-y mushrooms doing their thing in the half-and-half. So now we're on to the Pièce de résistance - flaming the hacked-apart bird in cognac: Oh god, you see way too much of my dirty counters there. In case you're scared, that's The Professor's hairy arm doing the flaming honors. Flaming honors? He's gonna love that one. Then we add the porty-creamy-mushrooms to the pan: And then - thank Julia - we dine on one porty, creamy, mushroomy, slighly-cognacy roasted chicken! In all modesty, this is one of the best roast birds I have ever put together. The mushrooms were awesome, the chicken was tender...maybe Julia knew what she was doing?

It's what the in-crowd does

I had a couple thousand dollars worth of car work done this week. So what did I do to make myself feel better? I went shopping on Amazon. I blame it ALL on my sister, since she found it and sent me the link. It was on sale for $25 with free shipping. She knew I wouldn't be able to resist. I love being blameless in my shopping habits! So, instead of buying Christmas presents this week, I bought myself.... I am too cool for words. I mean, all the popular people can their own food. If there were meters for determining how hip you are, a canning set would spike you up to the top. I'm sure Angelina cans in her spare time. And then sends the food to Africa. Which makes her only SLIGHTLY cooler than I am. Which is why she has Brad and I don't. Not that I want Brad. I'm holding out for George. Or Pierce. Until then, I should go find something to feed The Professor. I don't want to lose him just yet.

Ode to The Produce Stand Man

Note: I lied. There is no ode anywhere in this post. I just like the way the title sounded, and I'm not really a poet. But if you happen to write one, please let me know.

Back in May, I noticed a new structure in the local mud-pit beside my favorite cheap gas station (descriptively named the "Alabama Pit Stop"). The gas station itself is a piece of wonder - it's built from wood that looks like it might have originally been planks of the Mayflower, the owner speaks English in a perfumed haze that drugs you enough to make you think you understand it, and his car is always parked RIGHT IN FRONT of the door, blocking the best spots. But he's got the cheapest gas. And more shiny knick-knacks than you want to look at, except that you can't help it because they're all piled up with the energy pills by the register. And for a while, he had a gambling operation going on inside. He had one of those machines that you drop coins into and hope they land just right on the shelf that goes back and forth so that money will fall off of it. I live in such a hotbed of excitement that I saw lines form for this machine at least twice. And the lines only had about 2 people in them. But still - that's half the population of this side of town. The machine disappeared about 8 months ago, and a new rack of Zippo lighters appeared.

Anyway, back in May, some elderly farmer-type rolled a produce stand into a corner of the parking-lot/mud-slide and opened for business. He had watermelons, tomatoes and apples in May. Which I didn't question, because they tasted awesome - and they were only a 1/2 mile from my house. At the time, the nearest farmer's market was about 40 minutes away. The best friend thought it a little odd, but I assured myself - and her - that he must have a greenhouse somewhere, because now! I had fresh produce on my way home from work! And I started to make plans. Apple pies! Tomato sauce! Watermelon pickles! There was just one problem...

Produce Stand Man was hardly ever open. I get home from work anywhere between 4 and 7 PM, and I only saw him at his stand about once every week. On Saturdays, he was there all day. Well, he was inside the stand. He was usually asleep. The very first time I visited was on a Saturday, around 2 PM. He was asleep. I stood and looked over everything for a minute, but all I really wanted was a basket of tomatoes. I cleared my throat, but the sound of his fan must have covered that. I didn't REALLY want to wake him. He's a farmer, so he must be up before dawn every day, busting his butt to get me the fresh stuff, right? After looking at The Professor waiting in the car a couple of times, I slipped the $2 for the basket of tomatoes underneath his arm so it wouldn't blow away and then hopped back in the car.

I happened to look out of our back window as we started to pull out of the parking lot. When I closed the car door, his internal alarm system must have translated the sound into a get-away car alarm, because he hopped out of the back of his stand, waving his arms around and yelling. And I immediately felt guilty for making this man think he was getting robbed. How do you say "look in the puddle of drool" under your chin before you jump to conclusions" nicely?

I showed him the money, he apologized for thinking a "lovely young thing" like me could be a criminal, and I went on my way. I would go back to visit every couple of weeks. Sometimes he was asleep. Sometimes the entire stand was full of produce with no farmer around to take the money, so I had to decide between not getting any, and trying to find somewhere to put the money for what I had taken without it getting blown across the road. Occasionally, he was actually in the stand AND awake. Sometimes he gave me a free bell pepper, or a couple of free tomatoes, or an apple.

And then all of a sudden, as I was driving home last week, I saw that his ENTIRE produce stand was gone. He took all those lovely vegetables away with him. I felt cheated. I mean, couldn't he at least have put up a "closing soon" sign so that I would now that our time together was almost over? Couldn't he have let me down easy? I'd have appreciated some semblance of an excuse. I bet he found a better mud-pit/parking-lot to deal from, and now he's selling to some other red-head. Typical man to get swayed be every redhead that crosses his path.

Or maybe he decided that being a senile narcoleptic wasn't conducive to making money from a fresh produce stand?

I Drink My Memories; Please Add More Caffeine

Today is one of those days when it seems that no amount of caffeine will ever be enough; that my body is expending more energy just sitting in my chair in an intelligent and insightful (yet carefully thoughtful) manner than can be taken internally through my coffee cup; that if I forget myself and blink one time too many, my body will collapse in a pile of lifeless non-energy on the floor, gasping for the last drop of liquid in my travel mug. With my carafe empty, I turned to my Diet Mt Dew a little earlier in the day then usual, and when that was gone, I went for broke and bought a can of Diet Dr. Pepper. It would mean that I’d only have water after lunch, but if I got lucky the 10,268,121,894 milligrams of caffeine I had put in my body would start working at the same time, giving me the buzz and attention span that usually only comes from drugs that aren’t legally sold. Or so I was hoping. Because if OD’ing on caffeine can’t be done, then my life is totally not worth it anymore.

Due to my love affair with Diet Mt Dew that replaced my love of Coke Zero, which came shortly after my long-term relationship with Coke Classic, I’ve never really made room for Dr Pepper in my Caffeine Catalog. And when I did occasionally make room in my program and schedule the Dr, I was buying the cheapo, Wal-Mart, brewed-in-China-so-I’m-going-to-Hell-for-drinking-it brand. Not the REAL thing. (Or was Coke the real thing? I think I’m too young to have to know the answer to that question.)

So today I cracked open my Diet Dr Pepper while I was reading some article about some Field Artillery Battalion (I also have a catalog of articles that could put you to sleep; let me know if you ever have insomnia). I’ll admit, at that moment the thinking part of my brain was screaming for something, anything, please god find me something else to focus on instead of the basics of combat training. And as soon as I took the first sip of Diet Dr Pepper, I was fishing.

When I was about … um… 7? 8? (In other words, too young to have gained any sanity), I thought it was just groovy to get up BEFORE dawn to go fishing with my dad. I’m pretty sure that the only reason this ever seemed like fun was that I knew if I went, then my brother had to stay home. Lord knows I never caught a fish. While I could sit and read for hours on end, fishing required more dedication to one thing than any 8 year old has naturally. I was worse at fishing then I was at computer programming. Which is saying a lot, because I got through at least the first 10 pages of chapter one int that BASIC workbook, but fishing took skill. Skill that I did not have an ounce of. Somehow, my dad managed to not strangle the babbling little girl that threw her line over every tree limb hanging over Lay Lake. I’m sure he burned off a few years of Purgatory keeping his thoughts to himself, and for all I know, that’s the entire reason he took me fishing. It sure wasn’t because I was catching any fish.

We ate lunch on the lake. Sandwiches – exactly the same as the ones I took to school every day – were magically transformed into an entirely new food experience. Because when I went fishing with my dad, we had Dr Pepper for lunch. In our house, soda was not an every-day-of-the-week drink. Soda was for special occasions and the nights my mom fixed pizza (she actually told us that soda went better with pizza then milk – and I have never in my life had milk with pizza to this day).

Luckily, I have gained a little wisdom. I now know that dawn marks the time one should start thinking about getting a little sleep, rather than the time one’s alarm should be going off. I now know that fishing is not, and never will be, something I can do to provide food for my family, and I’ve made my peace with that. And I think the reason that I so rarely drink Dr. Pepper is because I want it to be something that brings back the memories of fishing with my dad every once in a while. Because that is something I don’t think I’ll ever put either one of us through again.

Unless he brings the beer.

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Chocolates I Have or Want Some days, I just need chocolate more than others. I won't go into the reasons why, other than to say if I could, I would get rid of the reason because I'm never going to have children. Today, the craving for chocolate has overtaken me. So, today's Thursday Thirteen is all about chocolate. The first 6 are varieties that are currently on my desk, thanks to the basket of candy I keep handy (I don't really eat that much - but I get a lot of visitors at my desk, because everyone knows I have a candy basket). The next seven are what I wish were on my desk. Nestle Crunch Heart: part of my hubby's Valentine's Day gift, I've eaten the other two. This is the last one, and I'm saving it. I'm not sure what for. Reese's Peanut Butter Cup: No, I will never put this in my mouth. But I actually have a couple in my candy basket because they were in a mixed bag that I bought. This is the one piece of chocolate on my desk that I will not fight over today. Dove Smooth Milk Chocolate with Caramel: Oh my gosh. I need a private moment when I eat one of these. Hershey's Nugget of Special Dark Mildly Sweet Chocolate with Chocolate Mint Truffle Filling: this is hidden in my cabinet. I have one left. It is for emergency purposes only. I bought a bag of these on sale after Christmas and put them in my basket. As soon as I tasted one, I pulled them all out of the basket and hid them in my desk. These are not given away. Hershey's Kisses: Several are left over from my Valentine's Day bag. I'm not a big Kiss fan. But it'll do in a pinch. Thin Mint Cookies: these are the real deal, Girl Scout cookies. Oh My God, I live for February when I get my box of Girl Scout cookies. I hate peanut butter, so the Tagalongs are just Thin Mints that got messed up. Thin Mints are god's gift to coffee. And me. Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Therapy™ - Chocolate ice cream with chocolate cookies and swirls of chocolate pudding. I would need more than one private moment if I had a bowlful of this right now. I would need an entire evening. I am craving this so badly right now... (but I think it might only be available in their ice cream shops, because it's not listed in their flavor locator on their website. Yes, I went and looked after I thought about it for...oh, about 2 seconds.) Chocolate Cheesecake: I don't ever need a reason to crave cheesecake. The craving is just a part of life. Chocolate Milk: In a fit of weakness, I bought one for breakfast yesterday morning. Now it's all I can think about drinking. Pan au Chocolate: This is what I ate for breakfast every morning in France. I want to go back to France NOW. Twix Bar: crunchy, creamy and wonderful all in the same bite. Lindt Truffle, any variety will do (except for the white chocolate). Oreo Tallcake from Ruby Tuesday's: Well, they used to be called Oreo Tallcakes, now I think they're just Chocolate Tallcakes - which probably means the sandwich cookie is no longer Oreos. Who cares when there's that much chocolaty goodness in one bowl? Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. Gina 2. Raggedy 3. Chickadee 4. Amy (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted! View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Chayote Squash

A few weeks ago, I posted a list of 13 things I want to learn to cook. Well, I tried one of them - and found a new vegetable to love. My husband is not nearly as excited about the addition of another "fruity type thing" to our menu. But since I do the cooking... :) Chayote Squash isn't a beautiful thing to look at...but man, is it tasty. I cut it in half and got rid of the pit in the middle (although you can eat it, and many recipes don't mention getting rid of it) and then sliced it nice and thin. I sliced up a white onion and sauteed them together with some olive oil, garlic, black pepper and oregano for about 10 minutes. I don't have a picture of the finished item...but it was incredibly yummy. And even my carnivorous husband admitted it "Wasn't at all disgusting." Does he know how to compliment my cooking, or what?

By now, I hope you've checked your peanut butter to see if it's safe to eat. If you haven't, then read this and do it.

What I didn't realize is how many problems this company has had with food safety in the past 4 1/2 to 5 years. This is all shamelessly pulled from Kate at Accidental Hedonist; you might want to check it out, as she's got far more interesting commentary than I do.

• July, 2002 - ConAgra Foods Inc. recalled 19 million pounds of ground beef and beef products nationwide after at least 16 people became ill with E. coli bacteria-related diseases from eating meat packaged at the company's Colorado plant.
• December, 2002 - ConAgra voluntarily recalls approximately 36,000 pounds of fully-cooked, frozen chicken products that may be contaminated with plastic.
• June, 2003- ConAgra Poultry is recalling 129,000 pounds of chicken due to fears that a number of products may contain glass.
• December, 2005- Almost 3,000,000 pounds of 2.6-ounce packages of Armour Lunch Makers Cracker Crunchers made with ham, bologna, turkey, and chicken are recalled when it is discovered they may be contaminated with listeria. Conagra owns these brands.
• February, 2007 - That's right, just this past Tuesday ConAgra recalled more than 400,000 pounds of pasta and meatball meals that may have been underprocessed.
• February, 2007 - Conagra recalls peanut butter that contains salmonella.

I wonder how many of their products I have in my house right now? If a politician made this many career mistakes, he'd never get off the front pages of the newspaper, and people would never stop talking about him. But a food company? oh well...there's more interesting stuff to worry about. Besides the PB, I only remember hearing about maybe one of the above things. Granted - in 2002 I was still in college and probably didn't buy a whole bunch of ground beef. Or worry about much more than my job and which person would be hosting Friday's party. But still...this is NOT a good track record.

Coffee Irony?

There's a report floating around out there from Consumer Reports; they did a taste test of Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Burger King and McDonald's coffees.

McDonald's won.

The funny part? The McDonalds restaurants in the northwest recently started serving Seattle's Best as their coffee.

Seattle's Best is owned by Starbucks.

Why, Dear God, Why?

Why would you let someone befoul the coffee pot this way? I know you saw her heading towards the coffeepot. I'm sure you knew her intentions. I mean, if I had seen her with a green canister of coffee in her hand, I would have known. And I would have stopped her. But there was no one there to see, no one there to say "Wait! Please don't torture us all this way!" No one there to save my sanity.

So now, instead of sitting at my computer while enjoying that first cup of coffee and reading the days headlines, I'm sitting at the computer watching the clock move closer to 8 o'clock - the magical time when the shop down the hall with overpriced coffee opens its doors for business - and praying that I can last just Two. More. Minutes.

I mean, really. Decaf? In a library? I think someone let the devil loose in the library last night.

Food for Thought

This morning as I sipped my 2nd 3^rd 4^th cup of coffee, I realized I needed to come up with something witty for my loyal readers. Problem is, the library hasn’t been funny lately (our students are – gasp! – only coming in to study), I haven’t seen my step-son in a couple of weeks (he’s always good for something sweet, yet humorous) and in the interest of my blood pressure, I’ve been trying to cut back on the political rants. So I was in a bit of a quandary. Until I found this:

How to poach Salmon in the Dishwasher

How in the world could I pass this up? The author promises that once you’re sure you’ve got the packets done correctly, you can even wash dishes while you cook!

I think I see salmon on our menu very shortly. I’ll have to change the sauce, a bit – we like sweet a little more than spicy. And I’ll have to come up with some way to get Hubby out of the house while I’m cooking. He will not be as excited about this recipe as I am. But he loves Salmon, and I think I feel a craving coming on…

Candy Fun

I was looking for candy statistics and facts for someone (don't ask), and I came across this info. I had to share, cause I just love fun facts! Throw in the Candy Calculator, and you're ready for a good time.

• Amount the average American spends on Candy - $84
• Amount of candy consumed annually by the average American = 23.9 pounds
• Amount of chocolate candy annually consumed by the average American - 11.6 pounds
• Percentage of the world's almonds that end up in chocolate - 40%
• Percentage of candy sales that are impulse buys - 55%
• Rank of Holidays listed by Candy Sales : 1. Halloween 2. Easter 3. Christmas 4. Valentine's Day
• Typical color distribution in the M&M's : Blue 10%, Green 10%, Red 20%, yellow 20%, brown 30%
• Largest Per capita candy consumption in the world: Denmark
• Largest per capita chocolate consumption in the world: Switzerland

Coffee

I love coffee. I think we all know that by now. And today, one of my favorite food blogs, Accidental Hedonist, has a little on the history of coffee. So, for all you caffeine junkies out there:

Quite fun fact: Not only is coffee the world's most traded foodcommodity. It's also the world's second most traded commodity period(with petroleum being the first).

One of the many discovery stories of the bean goes as follows: Theancient people of Ethiopia were a collection of nomadic tribes, ratherthan one centralized government or even a series of a city states. Theywould take their flock of animals from place to place, looking for thebest place for their domesticated animals to feed. A goatherder tookhis flock into a new area, and found that his goats were a bit morefrisky than normal. Upon inspection, he found them eatingbrownish-purple berries. Tasting the berries himself, he discoveredthat he could watch his flock without becoming sleepy. He introducedthe berries to the local imam who verified the ability to keep oneselfawake with the berries. The imam, in turn, gave the berries to hisflock (so to speak) in order to keep them awake during his sermons. Thebean, through time, became an ingrained part of several religiousceremonies.

What the bean wasn't used for was in drinks. Instead it was eaten rawor in a paste format, probably mixed with the leaves of the coffeeplant. It's a fair bet that this was not only used in religiousceremonies, but also taken before battles.

Now the goatherder story is nice and family friendly, but it's probablytaking a fair amount of liberties with the truth. It's also just aslikely (if not, more so) that people who were familiar with theeuphoric effects of khatwere looking for a new buzz, so to speak. Khat is a plant in which a'high' is obtained by chewing on the leaves of the plant. It is notoutside the realm of possibility that a single khat addict foundthemselves eating the leaves of many dozens of plant products to see ifany of them had an affect similar to khat. When they discovered thecoffee plant, they noted the affects of the coffee leaves and beansupon their system, and things progressed from there into the hands ofthe local imam.

Be Careful Opening Those Vegetables!

You never know what you'll find in a can of beans these days....

Limoncello

Limoncello
Originally uploaded by lildebbie_77.

When my in-laws came a couple of weeks ago, they brought with them my father-in-laws latest concoction: limoncello. It seems to be the Italian equivelant of bootleg liquor (meaning that it is far more genteel - and drinkable - than moonshine. Probably illegal, but still more genteel).

So here's how Papa Bob told me he makes this liquor:

Take 10 lemons and zest them - don't get ANY white! (he was very adamant)
Put your lemon zest in the bottom of a large container with a pound or two of sugar.
Pour 1 liter pure grain alcohol over this.
Add 1 liter purified water.

close (do not seal completely) and put in the fridge. Shake it every day for a couple of weeks. Strain it, and you now have...limoncello.

I was a little nervous about drinking it. It's basically 100 proof! I could smell the sugar and the alcohol as soon as he opened the bottle. One sip convinced me that while not lethal, this drink is not for the faint of heart. Hubby liked it. Papa Bob loves it. My mother-in-law likes to pour a little bit over sliced bananas and strawberries. I've decided the best way to drink it is to mix it with vodka and make a martini out of it.

It makes a very strong martini. In fact, I don't believe I'd like to deal with the hangover that would surely come if I tried to drink more than one. But the taste is quite good. If you've ever had a lemon drop (the shot that you did in college, not the candy you get in your Easter Basket), just imagine that with a lot more punch.

Vizzini Winery

Vizzini Winery
Originally uploaded by lildebbie_77.

Here are some pictures from the weekend with my in-laws - which I am happy to say went almost completely painlessly. This one was taken outside of our local winery, which I wrote about earlier in the month. Looking at the pictures it looks like all we did was eat and drink. And that's pretty much close to the truth.
Half the pictures are pretty blurry - I was using a non-flash feature on the camera, and it makes things blurry if you're not careful enough to stand still. One day I'll get this picture taking thing down.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lildebbie77/sets/72057594057178227/