Feasting on Friday ... Frog and Toe Jams

DH and I are finally back home again after nearly two months ..

SO good to be back in our own beds and normal routine....

now if we can only get re-adjusted to our home time-zone.

 

We spent Mother's Day weekend with my mother-in-law ~

found these at a small roadside stand while driving to

my in-law's home. 

 

Just had to get them both for DMIL and DFIL!

Love the names!!

 

 

Gotta love the quirky names! 

And there were several people who walked into the place,

read the jar titles and said "Eww!!"

 

"Toe jam" in the US is a slang term for

the gunk that accumulates between the toes.

Definitely not the first thing you think of at a produce stand!!

 

In this case .. "Toe Jam" means "Tangerine, Orange, Elderberry"

~ "Frog Jam" is "Fig, raspberry, orange and ginger".

 

Do you have a quirky food specialty in your area?

Please share!!

Hope to hear from you soon ~

Holly

 

 



"Mighty Mo" from the Arizona Memorial

DH and DS on the Arizona Memorial with the

"Mighty Mo" (USS Missouri)

behind them ~

 

DS arranged for us to go on the Arizona Memorial trip

that goes all around Ford Island

to see other memorials (such as the USS Utah grounding)

before stopping at the Arizona Memorial.

 

It was a really fun day ~

we had a great time !

 

 What treasured memory have you created recently?

Please share -

 

Holly

 

 



Say what?

 DH and I saw these at the Deutsches Technical Museum in Munich recently ... 

just have to wonder who would use "Dummy" guides for these ... 

Holly

Have you ever put Christmas trees outside your windows?

I've seen lots of trees that are placed so that they can easily be seen through the windows ... but I don't recall ever seeing trees hung outside a window.   DH and I saw this recently in a nearby town ... the owner was still hanging and decorating them while we were shopping in the street below.

The branches on the side closest to the window are trimmed off and used elsewhere.

So much fun to see how other people do things ... not just Christmas, but all through the year ...  

People are people ... and we can all learn from one another.    Holly

 

Pelicans are pink??

DH and I recently visited the zoo in Cologne, Germany (we often visit zoos in our travels ... makes a nice break, we can wander around looking at how other cities put together displays, see some really cool animal shows or see animals we might not otherwise see) .... 

I have seen pelicans lots of times while I was in the military ... 

but I don't think I have ever seen a pink pelican ... love the feather crest he has going down the back of his head ...

What is your favorite animal to see ... anywhere, zoo, in the wild ... your choice.  

Holly

Moving is just not much fun ...

It has been an incredibly busy month .... but DH, DKitty and I have managed to get through most of the fuss and flurry.

All our furniture (at least all that we kept) is off and on its way to Germany, the apartment has been cleaned and turned back over to Carmela and Giovanni, DH has reported to his new job (and spent much of his "free time" looking for a new place for us to live) ... DKitty  and I will join him soon ... I have a few more days of work left before the two of us will be on our way.

Amazing how much stuff we packed up and shipped out .... gave away or sold quite a bit ... but there was still a lot.  And I am sure that when we unpack all the boxes ... we will wonder just what prompted us to keep some of the things we did.

Am making the last of the farewells, picking up a few last items to mail/take to Germany ... have shed lots of tears ... I really enjoy living in Sicily and in many ways do not want to leave ...I've made friends here and have created a home here.  Tearing up the roots has been surprisingly painful considering that DH and I both spent time in the military and did multiple moves.

Gave Carmela and Giovanni our keys, gave most of my plants to Carmela ... she loves plants and poking in the dirt ... time to head off for a new adventure.... ... now, if I can only convince the cat ...

I'll miss our kitchen and being able to look out over the plains of Catania
to the ocean and our wonderful huge terrace.

Yes ... I really did need all of these keys to get into our apartment ...

Off and on our way to a new adventure ....  Holly

 

As seen at Berlin (Tegal) airport

Just thought this was nifty to see inside the terminal ...

KFC Russian-style

Hey!  It's KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) ... in Moscow, Russia. 

 "It's chicken tonight!"

DH and I spent most of June visiting Berlin and then taking a river cruise up the Volga from Moscow to St. Petersburg. 

DS even managed to get leave approved to join us for the entire trip.

We had a GREAT time!

Brotwort seller in Berlin

Visited Berlin (Germany) last month with DH, DS and a co-worker (who lived 11 years there .. our own personal tour guide!)  Saw this guy at a couple of the tourist spots we visited.  Carries all that he needs to sell wonderful German sausages to passers-by. 

 Yum!!

Ho Ho Ho in Nuremburg

Santa and Rudolph DH and I saw while visiting this year's

Nuremburg Christmas Market.

He gave candy to the kids whether or not he was given money.

DH and I stopped by to see him everyday we were in town.

Ho Ho Ho ... Merry Christmas everyone.

Buon Natale, Auguri and Happy New Year!

Terracotta chicken

Terracotta chicken from 2010 Budapest Christkindl Market .... the artisan said it's for storing onions.  Each chicken was a slightly different shape, had different designs and a unique facial expression.   DH got it for me while on our Viking River Cruise on the Danube.  Viking offered "fire sale" prices ... would have spent almost as much staying home.

FOUND A CHICKEN IN A TUX

Chicken pitchers are often given for housewarming gifts - to ensure safety from trepass and other dangers.  A friend in Spain had several,  one in a tuxedo.  I liked the tuxedo'd one so much, I have been looking for one for myself since DH and I moved back to Sicily.  Had a blue pitcher from our previous time in Sicily ... but the tuxedo'd chicken just had a lot of charm.   Finally found one a few days ago while DH and I were up in Naples to attend an International Bazaar at the Joint Services Base.  Hooray!  Both of mine are about 8" tall .. but you can get them from just a few inches tall to over a foot-tall. 

 The legend behind the pitcher - is it true or merely legend?  No one knows - but why tempt fate?

There were two wealthy families in the Republic of Florence in the early Renaissance period who were rivals for power. The Medici family held the power, but the Pazzi family wanted to grab it by killing the Medicis.


The Medicis, who had amassed their wealth by making peasants work their large land holdings, occasionally threw festivals for the peasants. Giuliano Medici especially liked the parties. So the Pazzis had someone suggest to Giuliano that he hold a festival in a village where one had never been held before.


The Pazzis then plotted to kill Giuliano and his guards at the end of the festival because they would be vulnerable from having drunk copious amounts of wine.

The Pazzis hired assassins, who probably would have succeeded except they had to sneak across a chicken yard to get to Giuliano. The chickens cackled in such a frenzy that it woke Giuliano and his guards, who caught and killed the assassins.

Giuliano was so excited that the chickens had warned him that he threw another festival the next night. He ordered artisans to create ceramic copies of chickens to be used as wine pitchers. Then he gave them to the peasants for good luck.

GO AHEAD, DRINK AND DRIVE ....

Seems to me, that residents of many countries other than the U.S. are quite comfortable leaving a drink that may have been barely touched on the table .... the drink is a relatively minor part of the main activity which is spending time with friends and acquaintances. 

Many Americans, on the other hand, will finish the drink off when they leave, even if they are going to another place and can get another drink there ... the mentality being "don't want to let it go to waste" or "I spent good money on that".

This pattern of thinking is part of the reason behind signs like this ....

http://www.burbia.com/node/4354

FAST TRIP TO CALIFORNIA

Flew back to California for a very busy week the end of September --- spent 4 days with a group of friends up in Petaluma-- we ran all over the place, did a Napa Valley wine train, day trips to San Francisco, Folsem and more ... then did a quick dash down to San Diego to meet up with Chris and take care of some issues with our proprty manager ... took advantage of Disney's free admission for active and retired military, drop by the Maritime Museum, saw just a few friends ...but didn't have the time to lots of others I really REALLY wanted to see (rats!) ...will have to go back soon and try again...

FLIGHT WHERE????

While waiting in Gatwick (London) airport for my flight back to Sicily -- saw this on the flight departure board .... where is the 5:25pm flight going to???

BRITISH MUSEUM - LATE MAY TRIP

Mesopotanian gate statue ... meant to be seen either head-on or from the side ... not at an angle - you see 5 legs when looked at from an angle













Last four pictures ... an Elgin marbles taken from the Acropolis- one of the Nike Victories .... Don resting - the British Museum is HUGE! .... and finally, some Estrucan pots similiar to one my adopted father's family was given when Dad was an infant (he was born in Turkey in the early 1900's - the doctor who delivered him was given the pot by a farmer who dug it up in a field) .... Mom had me look for a place to donate it a few years before she died ... the new J. Paul Getty was interested but since there was no official documention bringing it into the country, they would only accept it as a donation ... Mom's birth-daughter insisted on Mom getting money for it .... don't know what ever happened to it. Mom told her chaplain and I at a meeting not long before she died that her birth-daughter had managed to sell it, no idea who it was sold to ... the proceeds most likely paid off Mom's medical bills and other expenses after she died ...