Chips, Ahoy!

Foreigners eat the darndest things. These are what I encountered at the food mart near my hotel in New Zealand.

Mmm, Lemon Moroccan Chicken.

Roast Lamb & Mint! I love that they remembered the mint, and not just 'cause I have that "mint" tag.

These ones did not actually have the Full On Flavour of Burgers (or Penguins).

Thank you, New Zealand, for your fun tasties.

Red Hot Chili Friendship!

Cookery!

So, on Saturday, I had plans with my friend Brian. We decided we were going to make dinner, and I took this photo of the ingredients I had on hand and sent it to him via Technology.

As you can see, these ingredients include Eggplant, Garlic, Onions, Green Tomatoes, and Chilis (HOT Chilis!). Brian put those items into his smart phone and out popped this recipe from a Turkish website:

I like Turkish things, and I certainly liked that all the ingredients from this recipe were things I had on hand.

Anyway, later that day he arrived, and we got to work.

Brian washed the tomatoes

Then chopped them up.

Then he chopped the chilis. Three of them, all different colors (green, yellow, and orange). The chilis were VERY HOT. Much hotter than we had expected. HOT.

In unrelated news, a friend of mine discovered very recently that if you cut chilis, and use your hands to pick out the seeds, then go to the men's room, you will have a 100% chance - even if you wash your hands first - that your man parts will be on FIRE, lasting about 40 minutes. I'm just saying.
Anyway, here's Brian again and all the things he chopped. Green Tomatoes, Eggplant, Chilis. And then he visited the men's room.
Meanwhile, I put the onions and the garlic in the pot. I don't mind telling you I had the WEEPIES from all the onions. People tell you to do stupid things like put a match (unlit! unlit!) in your mouth, or whatever, but it doesn't help. Tears.

Anyway, I very carefully - using the knife not hands! - put the chilis in the mix.

Mmmm! Safety first.
Brian added the seasonings - SALT and PEPPER.

Here it is, cooking up. So in there we have all the aforementioned ingredients, and then a few minutes later we added three spoonfuls of rice. The juice that the vegetables gave up is what puffed up the rice. Science!
Then, about an hour later, it's ready to eat! Lesson Learned: stir it every now and then, or else the bottom of your pan will get blackened. Oh well, that's why God made Brillo Pads.
We served it up with some of that Greek Yogurt and a dusting of mint.
And then we ate it.
Mmmm.
The outcome was pretty good. Next time we wouldn't use all the chilis, because this ended up so spicy there were some more tears. But still, it was tasty, and all the friendship was good too.

Just, you know, next time use gloves.

Charleston Club! Now With Animated Violence Mild!

Phew! Now that I got the kitties and divas out of the way for the week, we can talk Charleston.

As always, I had a wicked mint time. The trip started with a three hour delay in Newark, but I had a new book with me which I enjoyed, and I passed the time by posting pictures of my surroundings on David's Facewall - mostly of boring things, like the ice cream I treated myself to while we were waiting to board.

But THEN I got to Charleston! And David picked me up from the airport and we had BEERS and went to his house. And who was there to welcome me? This little fella!


Old chums of David's will not be surprised to know he has lizards in his house.

One night we went to a bar with all of David's new chums, and among other things we taught his foreigner friend that the phrase "double-fisting" in the context of drinking was not in fact the frightful thing she thought it was.

Also, I got to play a video game where you shoot up deers. It was rated "Animated Violence Mild," which is just how I like my Animated Violence.

Some of the things we did were more outdoors, less indoors - but no less fun. Like how, in Charleston when you cross the street, you get to play Carry The Flag so the cars don't run you down.


On my last day we went to the beach - Scientist Style. This means getting there at 4pm after the most dangerous sunbeam rays have gone home for the day. That was mint too!


Charleston rocked. And I haven't even told you about the ALLIGATORS yet!

Shamrock O'Shake

Woohoo! They're here!

Well, maybe they're here. They're awfully hard to find.

This website serves as a Shamrock Shake Finder - users can send in updates after Shake spottings - as of today, there have been no reported sightings in NYC.

In my research for today's post, I enjoyed this tidbit here from Wikipedia:

Minty Mudbath Shake
In May/June 2007, McDonalds introduced the "Minty Mudbath" shake to go along with the movie Shrek the Third. It takes the original Shamrock Shake formula and mixes it with chocolate. On June 23rd, 2007, the product was discontinued by corporate headquarters after several Internet sites revealed that "Minty Mudbath" was the 'underground' reference for a fetishistic act.

I don't know what a Minty Mudbath is, and I fear it will haunt me if I ever learn. Thank God that's nothing Uncle O'Grimacey (surely related to Cookie O'Puss) would talk about in those ads from our youth.


Mmmmm...shamrock.

Charleston: Local Fauna

Whilst we were at a rooftop bar enjoying our minty drinks, David pointed out some of the local peculiarities.

Having come of age in a Massachusetts suburb in the 1980's, I am quite familiar with the notion of Preppies. However, except for the times I run screaming from the room when American Psycho comes on the TV, I hadn't seen such sights in years.

We noticed this one with much interest. He had the boat shoes with no socks, the colorful belt with some sort of aquatic beast on it, the pleated khakis, the button down striped Ralph Lauren(TM) shirt, and the Oakley sunglasses with the tie thingy at the back.

Charleston sure has some sights!

I also enjoyed this Historical Monument, which I tried to photograph in my most Leni Riefenstahl-ian way.
And while there were some houses dating back to the Civil War, this was the sight from the past that most impressed me. This really is the Land That Time Forgot!

Condition: Mint

I am having a wicked mint time here in the Charleston with David.

For starters, yesterday we had outdoor drinks at a roof bar. I had a mint julep!

Then, we were lucky enough to go the Hairy Teeter Grocery Store, and we got mint chip ice cream!

Charleston is mint!