Veggie week report

We made it! Veggie week was a success, we ended it Monday with a nandu
fajitas (Explained somewhere in this blog).
Looks like we plan on making veggie week something we will do once a
month. Not only was it good for us, we save money too, which is always
good!

To our fallen comrades

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

— John McCrae

Book Corner - Finished Reading: Thunder Point

Thunder Point by Jack Higgins
356 pages
Copyright 1993

Not to bad of a book, kind of like a spy novel. Sometimes I thought
that the characters wouldn't do the things they ended up doing, but in
the end, did. Worth reading? Probably not.

The authors better known book is "The Eagle Has Landed"

The not so hot peppers

Chris bought some peppers at the market that looked like jabaneros, when
we got home she cut a sliver and we tastted it expecting steam to blow
out of ears but it wasn't hot, just mildly so. We ventured into larger
slices and realized they weren't hot at all. Into the fridge they went,
destined for a salad or some other meal.

So, I made a salad and chopped one of the peppers up and put it in my
salad and guess what? Yes, it was HOT! Maybe not jabanero hot, but it
wasn't a mild hot either!

Vegetarian week

As Chris and I were shopping, she mentioned how she was tired of beef.
Just off a whim I said, let's go vegetarian for week, she said ok. And
thus began our vegetarian journey, from Monday to Sunday.

Now mind you, we are eating vegetarian meals, not doing the vegan thing.

Chris has made some wonderful vegetarian meals, eggplant parmigiana,
vegetarian fajitas, veggie pizza and more.

When I realized that peanut butter and banana sandwiches were vegetarian
I knew this would be easy for me!

Where have I been?

Yikes! Shame on me, I haven't posted in quite some time. And now I
have writers block!
So whats been going on?

Shopping: Chris brought me to the local grocery store the other day so
I can endure the fruits and vegetable sale that they have every
Wednesday. It was a mad house. The store really stocks up and marks
the price down on most of the produce, with food prices going up, it's a
good deal. It was pretty much a madhouse!

Work: Same ol', same ol'

Cats: Still the same.

More to come

Bicycle race

There was a bicycle rtace here in Montevideo over the past couple of days. The street in front of my apartment was closed for the race, the local police kindly told us that by way of their radio loudspeaker this morning, LOL. I was able to pick out a few words and came to the conclusion of what they were saying.
One thing I did find out about taking action photos with a consumer model digital photo, it doesn't work well.
I take one photo, and zoom, the racers are gone! All the while the camera is writing the picture to the flash card.
Here is one of the photos I took.
Here is the link to the photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/docreport/MontevideoBicycleRace20080511
 

Book Corner - Finished Reading

Seven Days To Petrograd by Tom Hyman
Published 1988, paperback 355 pages.

So a few pages into this book I was wondering if I would ever finish
reading it. It's set back in 1917 and is a thriller capped with
history. An American assassin is on a sealed train from Zürich to
Petrograd with Lenin on board and he has to kill him while the train is
in Germany. So we all know what happens.
All in all I enjoyed this book, very suspenseful!

Feliz dia de la madre

Happy Mothers Day to the Mom's out there!

Getting ready for winter

Our Uruguayan gato (Cat), Tawny is growing her winter fur, she looks
like a real fur ball now. Our other cats on the other hand will just
have to brave it!
They've played in the snow which is one thing that Tawny has yet to sink
her paws into!

Getting cold

The other day as I walked to work I came to the conclusion that it's
getting cold here! Let me rephrase that, it is cold here! I don't
recall a in between time either, it just kind of went from warm to cold!

Fortunately the heat is on in the apartment, we don't have control of
the heat, the apartment management does. It's kind of all or none has
the heat.
I'm not sure if I had mentioned it but our floors are heated and our
heat source. It's nice, but hard to maintain a comfortable temperature
so sometimes we have to open windows.

Walk about on the rambla

After I post that it was cold here, it turns out we had a nice warm day. Chris and I went for a walk along the rambla. The rambla was closed for a bicycle race so no traffic.
Here is the link to the Picasa album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/docreport/Montevideo_20080510

Tags: Montevideo, rambla, ferria, market, photos

Que Tal?

Who of you who have had at least Spanish 101 have ever heard of "que
tal"? I skipped the funny mark that goes over the 'e" and everything.
I know I had never heard of it, but it's a informal way of saying
"What's up".

Don't ask me why I felt this was worth mentioning.

You can read this thread about it here:

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=2179

Chinese knock offs

Uruguay is country of Chinese knock offs. Why? I'm not sure, other
than the fact they cost less. It never fails to surprise me what they,
the Chinese, will make that looks like American products, but aren't the
same.

Today a coworker commented on my good ol' reliable Stanley thermos, he
asked me if it was a "real" one, I told him yes. He told me that most
Uruguayans have the Chinese knock off versions that break when you drop
them. I found that funny as my uncle had a Stanley thermos that a road
grader rolled over and it still managed to keep hot coffee in it!

As long as the fake Chinese medicines stay off the shelves here I'll be
happy!

Tags: chinese knock offs, trade, thermos, stanley thermos

Sunday breakfast

Yummmmm! German apple pancakes! My lovely bride spent two hours
slaving in the kitchen to make this wonderful treat! It was worth every
minute.
For your eyes to feast on : )

But, if you want the recipe, okay, here it is : )

http://meemoskitchen.blogspot.com/2008/04/original-pancake-house-german-pancake.html

Tags:breakfast, pancakes

My walk to work on the windy day

I meant to mention the other day that I said it was very windy I had a
fun walk to work, I was sandblasted! In fact the next day I realized I
had sand in the pockets of my jacket :-D

Happy Primero de Mayo

May 1st, in our part of the world, Primero de mayo or International
Labour Day, actually worldwide it's Labor Day. So, if we were in the
United States what would be going on right now? Sales come to mind?
Crowds at the mall and newspapers full of advertisements? Here,
everything is closed.

Usually there is a decent amount of traffic passing by our apartment in
the morning, not this morning, the city looks like a ghost town!

This means there's going to be a party across the street at the golf
course club house, and the party will probably continue till the wee
morning hours again!