h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My mom and I try things quite frequently when cooking. Certainly there are plenty of "old stand-by" dishes we love but we're not afraid to try something new..

For dinner last night I tried a new Moroccan spice rub I found at World Market. I marinated the chicken breasts I grilled in those spices, and garlic-infused oil. My mom liked the spices so much we went shopping today and she bought some.

We both seldom like "spice blends" and prefer to mix our own, but this stuff was phenomenal. Of course she also took home the idea of how I handle garlic and use the oil. I'll generally crush several heads of garlic, put them in a jar and fill it with oil then stick them in the fridgie. It's imperative you keep them properly refrigerated, garlic is a favorite snack of botulin.

Then when I want garlic in my cooking I don't have to mess anything, just put a spoonful of it in my cooking. Also the oil I keep it in becomes totally infused with garlic and is perfect for when you want garlic flavor, but not necessarily pieces of the stuff - like for frying up an omelette or marinating something you're going to grill.

Damn, but it sounds like you've made a serious but fun kitchen world for yourself. So many days I wish I could find the time ...

If you've a few pennies of postage to spare, and check that hotmail account that MSN is attached to, ... I could provide a mailing address, with assurance that I'd reimburse the costs. Anyone else's ideas and blends are always something interesting to experiment with.

if I can get my mom's curry blend I'll send you some... it's a very interesting blend.. when I was young one of our neighbors was from Burma and she showed my mom how to make it.. it's been a family favorite ever since..

Then if you are game, I will drop a snail-mail address to that line ... You can find it at your leisure. Because the pair of us love to experiment, sample, try ... Nearly anaything. If you start with quality ingredients, and are not stupid, it is nearly impossible to make a bad meal. Neither of us have done so yet, after 19 years of co-habiting.

Of course, I'd be pleased to return a favour, if there is currency or ingredients on this side of as border you might use?

not to worry.. but I'm not sure that email is even valid anymore, I know they shut down the email box when you haven't checked it in so many days (or in the case of that address months, years, ever...)

I'll let you know when I get the spice mix from my mom and get your address then. I can't think of anything I'd need from there unless you're willing to accept shipment of our chimp in charge along with those spices..

Ah-no, ... I don't think our are willing to accept a house-mate.

I got the email! Wow!!! I'll keep it and let you know when I get the spices from my mom.. I will also send you some of this Moroccan stuff I bought, it's called "ras el hanout" and is made under a brand called "al fez"

Imagine that. Some folks, they terminate right on the 60 or 90 days of idle, others they seem to "forget" for as much as a year or so. You must simply be 'charmed'.

I never got the one you said you sent that first time though... that's why I assumed it was just dead, or maybe it was reactivated when I went to check that time.. who knows..

It may all fall into that category that us techy-folks call "FM". The second word being , the first one very flexible as to how strongly it is voiced ...

*giggles*

So how's your week-end getting on? We're being all domestic, so we'll have a tidy home to return to ...

I'm probably going to my mom's for dinner.. and just hanging out with them for the day.. nothing special, just me, my mom and a bottle of wine or several..

I'm only here for a second or six, but you have me curious. You call yourself an NYC Lady, and yet your Mom is handily close? Did she move, or have you simply returned to earlier roots?

Either way, do enjoy a sip or five, and the company.

Thank you.

While I was living in NYC my mom moved here, which is much closer than where she was living. I would fly down every few weeks to visit her on a weekend. To the point that when airline tickets went on a special pricing I'd buy two or three instead of just one.

After 9/11 my mom was quite upset at my being in NYC. Nothing there was as important to me as my mom is so I quit my job and moved down here to be near her. She's only lived in Charlotte a couple years more than I have.

It's funny. When my brother and sister were alive it seemed it didn't matter where we all moved off to in our lives, we'd end up back together. When my mom moved to Tulsa, where she was living just before here, my siblings and I all eventually moved there from school. We were a very close-knit family, and we'd all frequent my mom's home as well as spend most holidays together.

Hoovering (as the Brits say) is done, and I have another moment ...

I am pleased and envious for you. My little clan of 8 would all fight to the death for each other. Elsewise, if we communicate once a year, that's fine. There have been stretches up to 9 years that I haven't seen one sibling or another. I'm in eastern Ontario now, about 5 hours drive from the parents. A kid sister is an hour plus from them, as is a brother in another direction. Another brother is in transit, after retiring. His lady is a church trouble-shooter type of minister, and doesn't yet know where she will go ... He will accompany. An eldest brother has been in British Columbia for well over 15 years, the eldest sister is now about 3 hours away from him.

As you can see, except for blood ties, our family is not that close. Sad in it's own way, eh?

When my brother and sister were alive we often fought.. it's part of being siblings I think.. we were all about a year apart so we were terrible teens together and frankly I'm surprised we all survived it - my brother once tossed me off a balcony into a pool because he thought it would be funny. Even then we'd stand for each other regardless and we did love each other a great deal.

Even though my sister and I seldom (if ever) agreed, when she was sick (which was often) she'd call me in the middle of the night and I'd go and sleep in hospital with her.

We grew in an over-sized 4-bedroom home that my Dad devised and built. Two boys to a room, the pair of girls shared, and then the parents. So in some of those accomodations, spats happened. Otherwise, we each kinda went our own ways, did our own things. Perhaps a cold and distant family, but that's what I knew ...

When we were younger we did that mostly as well, all having our own friends. But as we got older and all went away to school, etc. etc. we missed each other.

It's possible that that was the way of it for the others. I left 'home', and in a few months found myself away and in my country's uniform. Not really looking back there for 3 or 4 years. I just lived with what I met day to day, where-ever I happened to be. "Home is where you hang your hat" ...