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

Then just go up the hill to the left about 100m and take the bus to the train station

no it was my recurring nightmare - packing and running for some kind of transport.

back to food: just waiting for our to arrive.

I am surrounded by fab Mexican restaurants, and we're a short drive or bus ride from dozens of Indian places. We *may* meet a couple of friends for Indian food tomorrow evening (or else Ethiopian) if I don't decide I don't want to go out again after grocery shopping and getting the car fixed.

What kind of pizza? I like spinach, garlic, mushroom, and sliced tomatoes. Or Mexican pizza- corn meal crust with beans, black olives, lettuce, tomato, and onion (K gets shredded cheese on his side).

Not even sure what I'm making yet Depends on whether the parmesan has gone off.

And I know that nightmare. Your suitcase is always too small, too. That and the one with the gerbils or kittens that keep multiplying haunt me fairly often.

I have nightmares about public transport, too, only in mine I'm trapped in a stopped train in the underground tunnel and have to pee REALLY BADLY.

With me it's just packing. I have spent most of my life packing: moving house, going to school, going home from school, in the army, out of the army, holidays...

And it is one thing* guaranteed to make me so unbearable that nobody can be with me in the house when I do it.

The nightmare is that I have packed and my case/bag is full. Then I open a drawer to check, and it is full of stuff that I really have to pack. And someone, usually my dad (as it was so often in RL) is hustling me to finish because we're late
*breathes into paper bag*

I'm having spinach/mushroom/garlic. #1 is having spinach/olives. #2 is having pineapple.

They both got a 1 on their tests today (#1 for maths, #2 for dictation) so it's a treat. We're also having coke but they don't know that yet.



*among very many things

and congrats to the Gruesomes! I only got a 2 on my presentation today, so no pizza for me. (Though you made me want some )


And that's about exactly what my "packing" dreams are like. It's gotten worse since I can no longer use a backpack!

If I had packing dreams, that would be what mine would be like. And thanks to K and the grocery shopping, I can't pack *anything* without the Tetris theme running through my head.

Congrats to the Gruesomes from me, too. Well done!!

I learned to pack at the hands of a meister(in) - and I know that when she unpacks the Gruesomes' bags when they get to hers each year, she tuts and shakes her head!

As for the Gruesomes, I'm very pleased. #1 had a problem with her grades all through primary school - she's at the hauptschule now which is the worst type of school, but she's top of the class and it is doing her a lot of good. #2 is about to go up to secondary school - and this will keep her final report grades up.

The pizza was fab.

I had fun at the Korean grocery today. K met me there- I can get off the train a stop early and be a couple minutes walk away.

Got canned kimchi, two packets of deep fried tofu (thanks, Anold!), green onions, daikon, 5 lbs of brown rice, dried wakame and kelp, dried shiitake, sambal oelek, some frozen veggie dumplings, and gorgeous black ceramic bowl for me to heat soup in for lunches at work. Oh, and a can of Sapporo beer for tomorrow, since it's supposed to be a warm one.

Tomorrow's trip to Whole Foods should involve just Quorn, canned tomatoes, fresh veggies, perhaps a chunk of melon for me, and some cheese for K.

Your welcome, Just as a matter of interest How much Shiitaki did you buy and pay for them ?

About 6 months ago we had a 2 kilo bag of dried Shiitaki given to us(it's a big bag )

Hi all!*waves* I noticed your mention(P/C) of Mexican restaurants in post#103...I had noticed-but just passed by-a Mexican food vendor at that downtown Farmers' Mkt- http://www.marvelconcept.com/_city_wp . But I will definitely Have to try it now, possibly for a fresh breakfast burrito, etc. (A local paper did a story this past Wed., looks rather promising-our carnivorous ways aside.)

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/bistro/story.html?id=9b6fe126-76f7-4576-b30b-f651cf546dc2

Oh & I Must get back to Mexico Lindo(operated by a wonderful Mexican couple-the husband's other job is to promote lamb, so a fair bit of meat there too. But then we are in a ranching & farming area.) The site must've been set up by their teenage daughter, check the blogspot addy for the menu, etc.

http://partnerpage.google.com/mexicolindocuisine.com

However(the other side of that ranching & farming coin), there are places like the nearby Cafe Mosaics-an all vegetarian restaurant- http://www.edmontondining.com/page.php?PageID=245&RecordID=43 ...nice place, I Have eaten there. Although I've yet to try Max's Light Cuisine- http://www.vueweekly.com/article.php?id=1006 . There're also veggie options to be found on some menus, such as those of the Blue Chair Cafe- http://www.bluechair.ca & Wild Tangerine- http://www.wildtangerine.com/old%20site/index.html ...oh & the funky little place my brother the works at http://www.eatatbacon.com .

>>
But why do some omniverous people find it so strange that some of us do like them?

The writer Auberon Waugh (son of Evelyn) was a complete reactionary bigot. But he surprised me by saying something about vegetarianism along the lines that what other people choose to eat and the reasons why are none of anyone else's damned business.

I pretty much agree with that. Unless I'm remarking on how good something looks (or ribbing K a bit about some of the weird concoctions he comes up with ) I don't comment on what other people eat. Especially not during a meal!

My usual answer, when asked why I don't eat meat (in a non-accusatory way) is "I don't care to". 'Nuff said, I think.

When people used to say "why don't you eat meat?" I had several different replies, depending on who asked, what my mood was and who was around.

Often I'd just say "why _do_ you eat meat?" with a wide-eyed look.

Sometimes I'd say "oh I hate to eat our non-speaking little brothers"

Or I'd go into intensive farming and slaughterhouse methods.

I was in the butcher today buying tomorrow's dinner and looking at it all reminded me why I went veggie in the first place. I might have to revert. But I'm going to eat my fill of my favourite steak first. (Steak Rossini, if anyone wants to know)

The strangest thing I've heard was something along the lines of:

"You're a vegetarian? *Hitler* was a vegetarian! You Nazi!"

Anold- the bag of shiitake is 5 oz (141g) and cost $3.99 (¥418.65). They had bigger bags, but I wonder how quickly I'd use them. Since the fresh ones are usually $11.99 (¥1,258) for a pound (about half a kilo), it'd probably be much cheaper to buy dried and soak them instead of using fresh.

But- is there a big difference in flavor/texture/whatever between reconstituted dried shiitake and fresh? If so, dried would be fine for soups, stock, etc, but maybe I should stick to fresh for sukiyaki and stir-fry?

If I'm pressed, when asked why I don't eat what I don't eat, I'll go into farming and slaughter methods. But only when I feel that either the person asking sincerely wants to know, or if I feel I'm being asked to defend myself (in which case all bets are off ).

I don't ask meat eaters to defend their choices so I don't know why I should be expected to.

Truth be told, I'm usually more appalled at unhealthy eating habits than the actual food- it's not like I was raised in a veggie household and am shocked when someone eats meat. Though I do have a hard time looking at raw stuff, and the smells of certain things (bacon in particular) make me a bit queasy.

>>"You're a vegetarian? *Hitler* was a vegetarian! You Nazi!"<<

Perhaps my answer would be "oh my god, you're Austrian, Hitler was Austrian. You Nazi!"

Mind you I don't meet many Austrians. And those that I have were the owners of a gorgeous Bio-Veggie guesthouse in Kärnten. Totally