shaking up my blog roll

It seemed like a good idea at the time...But now that I am seeing it I just don't know!

I really like having my blogroll all in one place and with all the most recent postings at the top...Now, I fear I'll miss something by having to scroll up and down.  Add to that the archives and other stuff is now so far down....

Oh, what to do, what to do!!!!

by any other name...

What's in a name?  that which we call a rose 

By any other name would smell as sweet;

Manure An interesting fact

                                                                                    In the 16th and 17th centuries, everything had to be transported by ship and as it was also before the invention of commercial fertilizers,  large shipments of manure were quite common.                                                                                                                                                     

It was shipped dry, because in dry form it weighed a lot less than when wet, but once water (at sea) hit it, not only did it become heavier, but the process of fermentation began again, of which a by product is methane gas of course.

As the stuff was stored below decks in bundles you can see what could (and did) happen.  Methane began to build up below decks and the first time someone came below at night with a lantern, BOOOOM!      

Several ships were destroyed in this manner before it was determined just what was happening.                                                                                                                   


After that, the bundles of manure were always stamped with the instruction ' Stow high in transit ' on them, which meant for the sailors to stow it high enough off the lower decks so that any water that came into the hold would not touch this volatile cargo and start the production of methane.                                                       


Thus evolved the term ' S.H.I.T ', (Stow High In Transit) which has come down through the centuries and is in use to this very day.                                                                                                                                                                                                       
You probably did not know the true history of  this word. 

Neither did I      

It's one of those things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmmmm!  

Could this be true?   

Any of you linguists out there know if this is an accurate      assessment of the origins of the word???                                                           

Veg Friendly blog

I am a child of the 60/70's.  Hippie days, long hair, barefoot, jeans, make love not war, respect mother earth, peace, love, be one with your universe.....

As a young couple of the era Tom and I tried to be close to nature, and as self sustainable and with minimal negative impact on the earths resources as possible.

When we moved to Colorado in 1976, we gave up smoking (well we gave up smoking cigarettes), it was quite a bit later that I gave up on pot.  We gardened, we canned, preserved, or froze all our own food.  I made all our breads, tortillas, pitas, etc.  We raised and butchered our own chickens and rabbits.  Got eggs from our chickens.  Got goats milk from a friends farm if we did the milking, I made our cheese from the goats milk.  Grew and dried our own herbs.  I even sold herbal vinegars and oils at farmers markets.  I made Tom's shirts and my wrap around shirts and halter tops.

At some point the raising and butchering was more than my conscience could deal with and I went vegetarian.  Which then moved me to being able to cater in both vegetarian and vegan fare.  The Vegan was by far the most sought after,  I was one of very few that could cater in Vegan in Colorado Springs, at that time!.

As time went on, and as we bagan to travel it became somewhat troublesome to find things I could eat, I also happen to be lactose intolerant.   I always found it humorous when I would tell  servers that I didn't eat meat or dairy and they'd say, No worries, we have chicken.  Or they tell me that something I ordered was a bad choice because it either had eggs or mayonaise, because we all know that those things are dairy????

Anyway,  the more we travelled, the more often I compromised,  a bit of pork in a sauce,  pork fat in the beans, or ham or bacon in the beans,  pick the meat off the nachos, etc.  Once home I'd revert to my old ways.  But it happened more and more as we travelled more and more.  Then there were the office environment jobs  -  Slowly I just found myself compromising more and more.  Then it got to be where I ate animal but with great infrequency, then I was eating fish and seafood with some regularity, then when I wanted to lose weight it was chicken and veggies, to many carbs in beans...

So now I am a meat eater, a carnivore.  I don't like it - don't get me wrong, I enjoy meat sometimes, in fact sometimes I crave it.  It's my head, and my body that don't like it.  I can't get my head around and feel comfortable with the animals commitment to my ability to both eat it and wear it!  And I know my body reacts differently after I have had meat; tired, sluggish...


Nancy over in Mazatlan recently wrote a lovely post about her being a vegetarian, and offered up a number of her personal  resources.

So I was thinking about starting a Blog for Veg friendly recipes and resources - a bunch of us could have access, be partners on it!  It would be great for us here in Mexico where some of the resources and conveniences we were accustomed to are not available.  It would be recipes with stuff local, stuff available.

What do you think?   Anyone interested!? 

 You don't have to be vegetarian to enjoy a veg meal. 

 I frequently prepare vegetarian meals for my meat eating friends, so far no complaints, well at least after the meal - there have been a few comments prior.

World Vegetarian Day

October 1 is World Vegetarian Day

Click here to go to their 'official' site

Cablemas

Tom and I have Cablemas for our internet service,  we use them for TV as well. 

We started with Cablemas in 2006 in our rental apartment for the internet service.  They required no contract, and no set up fees.

Apparently that has changed, although my source of this info is somewhat suspect.

Also, I've been pondering getting a landline phone for local calling;  At present we have 2 cell phones. While the fees to call  other cels (oh, cellphones here are cel) and residential phones from the cellphone is reasonable, to call a numero particular (aka a Business line) is really expensive.  The last time I called Cablemas because our TV was pixelating I was on the phone 6 minutes and it was 80 pesos,  80 pesos - that's like 6USD!

I don't want Telmex - nothing against Carlos, I mean I use his Telcel service for my cellphones.  It's just that Telmex charges high installation fees, and their rates are a bit high. Not to mention what I hear about their customer service.

One thing really frustrating for me here is the lack of documention and pricing.  To get the 'Rules' for a service is a pipe dream. Forget it.  Want to know what is included in your plan?  Ask a Service Rep,  ask a different Service Rep and get different stuff. 
Like trying to get info on how much  calls cost on the cel - every kiosk, agent, rep tells me something different.   AARRRGGGGGHHHHH!


A Guide from Cablemas that shows what channels we should be getting at our service level.  Well first off, it is a photocopy of a sheet, a very bad photocopy that is barely legible.  Then they cross off the stuff that is either not in your plan or no longer offered.  And then your channel lineup changes with no notification.  Ah, don't get me started!  Tom is super pissed because AmericanNetwork (AN) just went away.  That was the channel he watched the most.

Pricing, ask one person and they have plan X for Y per month, ask some one else and plan X costs Z.

For instance, the other day on the phone with a sales rep in DF
I could get a Cablemas plan like this:

>40 channels TV, 3mbps internet, telephone with unlimited local calls and either 6mths of calls to USA or CA OR 3mths of free cel calls.  Which tells me the unlimited local calls are only to residential and business lines.  All for just 525pesos per month.
Now by calling DF I could pay the 525 on the 1st, 2nd, 4th month, and half that on the 3rd and 6th month, then 525 thereafter.    The package was the same, however the payment plan was not offered when I went to the local Cablemas office.

Add to that - I bought a second TV, Tom and I frequently have different viewing preferences, AND I like to have the TV when I am in the kitchen,  Now to add the 2nd cable was 120pesos installation from both sources - DF and local Rep.  However, the digital box rental was a completely different story.  With the DF rep 55pesos per month x 4mths, then 30 every month.  With the local office rep 160 per month x 2mths then 60 per month - I mean really, Come On!

could I get anything with the plans and pricing,  No!  Take notes!  heck even on the web page, the packages are listed, but no pricing.

For a Cablemas phone - the offer states unlimited local calls, which means residential lines, and business lines, but apparently not cels, although it isn't stated.  I did find out that local cel calls would cost 1.3 pesos per minute, and National LD would cost 1peso per minute????  They couldn't tell me about the cost for National 1-800 numbers????

OK, guess I'm about done!  Still haven't made a decision though,  get a phone line, don't get a phone line.  Cancel TV service, keep TV service.

CFE - Programa Luz Sustentable

CFE, or Comision Federal Electrico, or simply Comision, how ever you choose to call it is having a promotion to help save energy and earth resources.  

I don't know if this is countrywide, but I do know it is happening here in Merida.

You take up to 4 of your old incandescent bulbs, your CFE bill, and your official id.  Turn in your 4 bulbs, and get 4 energy saving spirals. 

Now that's a promotion I can take a shine to!

You can make these exchanges at Chedraui, Coppel, or Soriana.

Here is the CFE link, and they have TV spots.

Pozole on dia de la Independencia

Back in 2008 I did a restaurant review of Las Cazuelas de Atocpan.

It was then, and still is a fabulous restaurant. They are only open in the evenings, typically opening between 7:30 and 8pm.

 

 

They have a fabulous variety of foods, although my favorite is the jalisco style pozole.

 

 

Every year, on 15 September they open for a Special lunch service. And every year we have gone, well for the last 3 years. With this year being #4. And we always get the pozole, and we always go with friends Lida y Diana.

I have made pozole before, jalisco(ala gringa) style.

 

 

You may be wondering what that means -

well jalisco style pozole is typically made with a pigs head.

 

 

click here to go to Mexico Cooks blog on making Tradional Jalisco Pozole.

 

 

Which explains why in all the small markets there are/well were pigs heads. guacala.

 

 

Not for me! I just use pork shoulder.

 

 

What I really love about dona Glorias pozole is it is not covered with a layer of rendered fat, AND you can get your bowl meciza (this is most likely spelled wrong), which means meat only, no fat.

 

 

Here is our pozole table!

condiments

OMG, Yummy!

always fun!

One thing different at dona Glorias for dia de la Independencia,- Normally restaurant service is in the front, open air, facing the street.  But on 15 September the front is set up for the take out service and  they open this air conditioned back room for eat in service. 

 

 

 

One other bit of info - they have several rooms full of ceramics for sale; some sculpture type stuff, the barro table ware like they serve on, beautiful blue and white ceramic ware, odd colorful chatchki things.  Some really cool stuff!

 

 

There are a number of very tradional foods for dia de la Indepencia, Pozole being one, Chiles en Nogada being another, and anything mole.

Oh but I do love this annual tradition, lunch at dona glorias with Lida y Diana!

 

 

for a map click here

I need help to identify a Palm tree!

OKAY Gardening buddies - I need some help. 

The palm pictured below was gifted to me a bit over a year ago, maybe 2, I can't remember anything anymore.

The Gifters don't know what type of palm it is, and I am not having much luck with identifying it by myself.

It had been planted in a container and was a bit stunted when it came, although in good condition.  Since it has been in the ground now for a while it has grown so quickly that it absolutely amazes me. When  it was first planted it wasn't even as high as the roof line, now it is towering through the opening.

It looks so like a Royal Palm in the frond structure, but that bulb base is throwing me. 

It doesn't really look  like a Bottle Palm, it is too smooth for a Cuban Palm...

Can anyone help?

palm base

pinnate palm structure 

branch detail

UGH, pictures taken with ipad????

MEXICO: The Royal Tour

I just saw this advertised on Facebook -

 I want to get it out because it is due to air really soon.

Click on the logo

Now I just have to figure out how to see it here!  

Apparently it's not currently on a Mexico release schedule!  hmmmmmmmmmmmm

Restaurant Review - a la Vibora de la Mar, Merida

Tom and I had the opportunity recently to go to a restaurant that is reported to have the best pulpo in town.  Now you may remember from a previous that I tried to prepare a fresh pulpo, well actually it was 2 rather good sized pulpo.  And they were terrible.  I vowed  in that post to always eat my pulpo out.  And this restaurant proves my point.  a la Vibora de la Mar is out of the way, at least for us.  But oh so worth the trip.   The address on our receipt says calle 34 #351 x 31 y 33, colonia Emiliano Zapato Norte.  

UPDATE - The actual physical address is Calle 32 número 55 local 14 entre 57 y 55 San Antonio Cucul, Plaza Cascadas

For you locals, this restaurant is located out past where the former Planet Bowl, now Diamonds Casino is located.  Just a bit further on in the back of the strip mall where the Cark's Jr is located.  This is a shot of the facade, but you don't see it until you are in the very tight parking lot.

The interior is nothing special.  Quite uninspired actually.  There is a large bar area, which has beer and lots of liquors for mixed drinks, unfortunately the wine selection is quite limited.  When I inquired about white wine it took 3 -4 people and quite a bit of discussion to come up with 2 bottles.  We chose a chardonay which was actually quite acceptable and a good foil to the spicyness of the food we ordered.  Unfortunately I neglected to take note of the bottle info.

Once you are seated, and have made your drink request they bring a glass of fabulous hot (temperature) and slightly spicy, rich seafood broth, a basket of chips, some sliced rather than chopped pico de gallo and habanero salsa. I must say the broth was absolutely fabulous.

This is  a seafood restaurant, so there were shrimp, crab, and fish dishes as well as what I was interested in - pulpo.

My friend Suk had recommended to me that I needed to come to la Vibora as the pulpo is amazing.  Actually Tom and I had tried one time to find this place, but Suk's directions were so bad we were in a completely different part of town.  Unfortunately, well for me anyway,  Suk is in Korea visiting with her mom.  I would have loved to share this moment with her.

We shared our lunch this day with Suk's husband Walter, and with friend Javier.  (Suk, this photo is for you so you see that Walter is getting out)

The first thing we ordered was the Pulpo Especial, which is a lovely whole octopus/pulpo cooked so tender and delicate in a fabulous guajillo chili sauce, and served over fluffy white rice.  This we shared among the 4 of us.  And to be honest it, along with the broth, chips, wine, and beer was plenty.  However, we each succumbed and ordered a taco.  Javier and Walter ordered shrimp with chipotle, I ordered fried pulpo, and Tom ordered Pulpo Negro.  All were excellent.  Well except the corn tortillas which my taco came on.  Machine made, and no good at all. The other tacos, for some reason came on flour tortillas.  I just ate the pulpo and left the tortilla.

The menu is interesting in the variety of ways they present the seafood; tacos, chalupas,  tostadas, ceviches, cocktails, pastas, empanadas, papadzules, main dishes, chilpachole which is a hearty rich seafood stew...

This is a photo of the pulpo especial, this plate had 2 smaller sized octopus.  When Suk was here her plate had one larger octopus and it was cooked so that it looked a bit like a yogi sitting on a mat.  The heads was straight up and each tentacle wrapped closely around the center, each in line so that it almost appeared petal-like.

This presentation might not have been as pretty, but it was really excellent.

If you are a seafood lover, and if you like pulpo I highly recommend you come to  la Vibora. 

As I understood it this is a lunch place, no dinner service, but don't hold me to that.

provecho!

just about the 2 cutest puppies

Gratuitous Puppy Pic!   Just cuz I know my mom likes to see them!

Ceniza and Tech

Moving to Merida

I've been reading a lot of blogs lately by people dreaming of, in transition to, or recently moved to Merida.

I have very few of them in my BlogRoll.  I have a long BlogRoll and need to purge those that haven't/don't seem to blog anymore.  

Therefore I think it may be time to restructure my BlogRoll into Topic BlogRolls.

graphic from mashable.com

What do you think of these?

Merida Old Timers
Moving to Merida
Other Parts of Mexico
Mexico links and News resources
Misc Other Stuff and Other parts of the world

4th Annual Latin American Bloggers Conference is Coming

Mark your calendars for 5 November 2011. 

We will have a 1 day Blogger Conference here in Merida, Yucatan, MEXICO

Click here to go to the Blogger Conference blog

ahhhhhhhhh, the tropics

So Sunday, being Sunday found us putzing around the house in our jammies, doing odd projects, reading, watching TV, cruisin the computer up until it was time to meet up with some friends for a lebanese restaurant lunch.  We did clean up and get out of the jammies prior to heading out!  In case you wondered!

We were totally stoked as this was a new place to us, and we had heard was fabulous, AND that it is better than our current favorite lebanese food place where we think the food is awesome.

So off we go, with route mapped out on our fab ipad2 in hand.  Made the incursion into foreign soil with little or no fuss or bother; probably almost as good as having a GPS. The new place is in area where we were a bit unfamiliar, although we've been to  places in the vicinity before. 

Lunch was indeed awesome, and some things were better than at our other place, and some things at our other place are better.  But this place also has bellydancers on Sunday afternoons at 3. Ummmm, definite bonus!

OK, so the new place is Habibis (habibi by the way, means darling, or dearest, or some endearment similar).  Our previous favorite is/was/is the Lebanese Club.  I haven't formed any opinion yet other than they are both fabulous.

Sundays are buffet days at both places, and both have fabulous range of choices and options.  And I did enjoy the belly dancers.

So, after this fabulous lunch we stopped by the super on our way home, picked up a few things we needed and some extra fruit to snack on.  We were planning a quiet evening at home, movie, snacks, maybe even a bit of a/c.

We're putting things away, and I noticed ants in Tatie, the cat's bowl, no big deal.  so I get a bigger bowl, put water in it and set his food down.  Rinse the old food and ants down the drain and decide to take the compost out.  Have my tour around the yard and return to wash up the dishes.  Then I notice ants filing past on the window ledge in front of me.  I start to follow,,,,the line thickens, they are all in and around my shopping bags that hang in the pantry, no big deal, toss the bags onto the patio, decide to wait for the ants to deisperse then shake the bags out.  Then I notice ants moving down the side of a cabinet, then up onto a high shelf where I have teapots displayed, then down behind the refri, then then, then,  So after about 2 hours we have 3 rooms destroyed, every tea pot, basket, and box had a colony, colonies starting in several paintings and pictures, under coat hooks, in a towel bar bracket, in the bag that holds the bags, dog food bucket, cat bowl, books, magazines, lordy lordy lordy,

I pull out the Orange oil stuff, Tom goes for the Home Defense.   We are killing machines!

Right now the place looks as if a bomb has been dropped,  we are in a holding pattern, waiting for movement........are there more?  can we restore order?

Ah the Tropics!  And the Tropics during the rainy season &%#*@%#^&*(#@!

Restaurant Review - el taco arabe - guilos

Merida has a multitude of restaurants,  the variety of specific cuisines are a bit limited, but there are LOTS of restaurants. 

Some very shishi and high end, some quite basic.  You can find good AND bad in both categories.

el taco arabe gets 5stars from us for what it is - A damn good taco, fine guacamole, good service, and icey cold beer.

We have a few favorite taco places; one of them is El Taco Arabe - Guilos. 

Calle 35 #400 x 41 y 20 Fracc. Las Brisas

This is what the facade looks like!

Lots of seating outside, and more inside. 

The walls inside are scribed with greetings and reviews from many visitors.

Here's the menu!

The beer is icy cold, the prices are good, the service, especially if you get Gabriel, is fabulous!  Their guacamole is awesome,  the grilled onions are fabulous.  What makes these tacos so special is that they use a flour tortilla instead of corn, the tortillas are light, thick, uber yummy, and the crema de ajo,  OMG, OMG, OMG!!!!   What more could you ask for!

Why friends to share a meal with - of course!

Foreign vehicles in Mexico

Once again, the rumors surounding the importation of Foreign vehicles are swirling.  A new decree, that affects vehicles coming in SINCE June of 2011, NOT before June 2011 is what has caused this recent hoopla!

Friend Steve wrote an excellent post on these new regs which you can read here,  he covers the topic fairly well!

His previous post on the 'old' rules, under which I, and MY car fall is here!

If you choose to read Steve's posts, continue on through the Comments and Answres,  very interesting info and scenarios!

Anyway,  just to be sure: We went with our friend Maggie C. to the customs office at the airport on Tuesday. We asked Maggie to go along so there would not be any misunderstandings, (she is Mexican and has no questions about her comprehension, unlike me, well about my comprehension, not hers!) in regards to the new decree that was passed mid June this year and how it would affect us and our Taurus.

The customs office at the airport doesn't handle vehicle issues and we were directed to the office in Progreso.
(That answered my question as to why people didn't just go to the airport and not all the way to Progreso!)
Anyway, the individual there at the airport customs office gave us the main customs office number in DF so that we could call and speak to them directly about this issue.

Maggie contacted them Wednesday and just reported that anyone that has a foreign plated vehicle legally in the country, brought in prior to mid June this year, will continue on as in the past and as long as the visa documents are in order then the car permit is in order. We do not need to make any notifications.

I'm still not 100% confident - but am willing to go with the flow! 

I sort of feel like I need to submit the letter to Aduana in DF, but they say no on the phone!

Pulpo 101

I LOVE PULPO!        

 Pulpo is what the yucatecos call octopus.  I don't know if that's what they call it in the rest of Mexico, but here in the yucatan it is pulpo.  And it is a BIG business here, well along the coast, not directly here in Merida.  Most of the pulpo caught here is exported, but some of it makes its way to Merida.

We have a fellow from Hunucma, who has family who are pescadores/fishermen around Celestun.  Lucio comes to Merida on the bus, wih a cooler full of seafood 6 days a week.  He stops by our house every so often, or calls.  We frequently buy seafood from him;  Fish fillets, shrimp, lobstertails, jaiba/crab, and just recently octopus.  His stuff is always fresh, caught within the last day or two, and always a good price.

He recently came with several kilos of pulpo.  I love pulpo but have never made it myself.  So I decided to buy a 1kilo bag.   We like Lucio very much, we know his family, attended his youngest sons baptismo, and we like to support him.

So, with pulpo in hand my first stop, well after the fridge, was the internet.  Gads, what had I gotten myself into....

first thing was to clean the buggers, blech,  soak, rinse, soak, rinse, separate head from body, peel the skin from the head, rinse, rinse, rinse...remove beak, pull all the goop out of the head without breaking the ink sac, soak, rinse, soak, rinse,

ummm, pretty

I ended up with 3 head sacs, and two bodies.  These bodies were more than a foot long.

Once I/we had  the pulpo all cleaned I made a marinade  and we soaked the pulpo for about 4 hours, then we grilled it.

I don't have any photos of the grilled pulpo, it was quite pretty, and so very difficult to chew. 

We tried several things and finally gave up.   -  I think I will be eating my pulpo out! 

I'm sure there are easy ways to tenderize it - we've heard several - soak in milk, pressure cook for 45 minutes, hold the tentacles and smack the thick part against the counter many times....

It was a grand adventure, but not productive.  I will have to do more research, like maybe talk to someone who does actually prepare pulpo....

but for now,  I will enjoy my pulpo prepared by someone else!

butterfly garden

Recently Jonna and I were discussing gardening stuff and she was lamenting caterpillars and the damage they were doing in her garden.  I on the other hand have planted my garden to attract birds and butterflies.

Probably since I have a quite large garden I don't notice the sacrifice to foliage caused by the feeding caterpillars whilst they make their way to becoming beautiful butterflies.

Butterfly season is now waning, but while it was is full bloom my garden would shimmer and undulate and erupt into a frenzy as I or the dogs would take our many daily constitutionals.

I tried many times to take photos, but there was just too much activity - it was phantasmagorical out there!

This stone wall would sometimes have 30 butterflies resting on it.  Sometimes you couldn't even see them they were so well camoflaged.

there were Sulphurs, Whites, orange one, blue ones, Skippers, Fritilaries, so many....

American Labor Day in Mexico!

Living here in Mexico we frequently forget about the USofA holidays.  And that today is Labor Day would have passed us by with nary a thought were it not for the fact that our friend Doug is in town for a short visit;   Although he must still work - virtually - while here.

However, as today is Labor Day, he has the day off - so what better way to pass a few hours than in a bar having a few beers with friends!

And what better place to have those beers than walking distance from your house at your neighborhood bar!

is located at the corner of calles 69 y 72 in Centro.

La Ruina is called a 'Bar Familiar' which means it is of suitable atmosphere for the women and children.  Whereas the seedier and more recklass "Cantinas" are male dominated bastions of ???

Well I don't know what they are bastions of,  but as I was told shortly after moving here "Nice" women don't go in to Cantinas.

Well, we sure as heck go into a Bar!

Happy Labor Day People!

cooking club goes mobile!

Tom and I, and 2 other couples have a Cooking Club.

We rotate monthly through each others homes. The host couple picks the menu; we sometimes decide together the whole menu or a theme is chosen then we each decide, with coordination what we will make. We bring all our ingredients, and any specific cooking utensils we need to the host house and we prepare the meal together.

It's great fun, And the food is also fabulous.

The host couple also typically invites a guest (couple, singles, whatever) whose responsibility it is to bring dessert.

August was Tom's and my turn to host. It also happened to be the first of 3 upcoming Spay n Neuter clinics being coordinated through santuario evolucion, Planned Pethood veterinary clinic, and with assistance from the Municipal Government.

Now Tom and I have worked these clinics in the past and we were going to work this one when the idea came up for our 'Club' to prepare the food for the volunteers.

What a FABULOUS idea, Thank you Mimi!

I posed the question to the 'Club' and everyone immediately agreed.

The dates of the first clinic got switched and the first clinic actually happened the 3rd and 4th of September, not in August, but ni modos (whatever).

We decided what we would each do and Saturday morning about 9:30 we convened in my kitchen and set to work preparing portable food for 30 - 35.

We were cutting, peeling, chopping, boiling, baking, and sweating OMG, with this seasonal humidity we were all puddles, even with every fan we can move directed at us.

We had decide on 3 items, vegetarian of course, it is an ANIMAL clinic after all.

The McQ's made brownies, lots of brownies, The Brancy's made a gorgeous colorful veggie pasta salad, and we (Tom and I) made a white bean veggie casserole a gratin.

And I CAN NOT believe I didn't take a single picture of us during the 3 1/2 - 4 hours we were in the kitchen cooking.

We got a last minute call asking us to pick up plates so off the guys went.

And then Tom made some wooden board trays for us to carry the huge aluminum trays of food on since they were flexible and especially the veggie bean casseroles were heavy and hot.

It was a good time, but then we always have fun with this crowd. We got the food delivered just about 1:15, made sure the vets got their plates first served and then skeedaddeled out of there. Too many people, too much confusion.

Here are 2 of the 4 trays of food

and here are a few of the selfless, tireless, and caring volunteers prepping plates for the vets who grab bites while betwixt and between performing surgeries.

We then treated ourselves to lunch at one of our favorite places - Flipper's (formerly Tommy's).

where in addition to the fabulous food, icey cold beers,

and excellent service, we also were serenaded by live music

AND the always affable don Juan treated us to dessert!