what i've learned in the u.s. - food and wine edition

ok i have been silent on this blog for a few weeks so time to fill it with some insights ;)
my unscientific, clearly biased take on wintering in the south and the food and beverages needed to sustain me...

guinness - you CAN get a decent guinness. and holy...happy hour is exactly what it says - a pint of the beautiful brew for 2.25! and taxes of only 6%...sweet and sweeter

meal specials - if you see an advertised special on prime rib dinner, and you go there to dine, and you are under 50, you WILL be the youngest one in the restaurant...make that under 60.

wine - the grocery stores DO sell decent wine. a recent special had 2 bottles of little penguin for 10$. if we had the mail-in coupon (seriously...a coupon for wine!) we could have bought 6 bottles of the stuff for 3$ each!

doritos - too salty, and the flavours are sub-par...not interested in eating them here.

chips - ditto. so salty, and more expensive - no kettle chips in honey dijon, or ketchup chips...c'mon!

mini rice cakes - sadly, another ditto - 2 boring, underflavoured choices and more $

cheese - cheese is cheap. so between the cheese and the oversalted snacks you've got some serious water retention contention.

deli - oh...after the cheap cheese, the inexpensive proscuitto continues the decadent deal - wine, cheese and proscuitto for a fraction of the price i am accustomed to? can make me want to pack it in and snowbird with my elders every year.

fried chicken - i FINALLY understand its appeal. the delicate crunch, the amber coloured coating. guess i shouldn't see food.inc

ice cream - you shouldn't. i shouldn't. i swear i meant to reach for the apple as my midnight snack. it just turned into a scoop of chocolate chip and cookie dough ice cream...two powerhouse flavours in one sea of frozen milk and sugar...deeeeeelish!

cherries - under 3$ a lb in winter. enough said

and for c...a dozen flavours of goldfish on sale last week for 1$ a bag! 1$ - such a nice price had to say it twice.

blogging for haiti

what can bloggers do to help haiti?
good article with ideas

also, my blog for work...
donating airline miles for haiti

i know this shows up as a note in fb, so click on the blog if you can't click the link

frisking baby

so we all flew out for our winter stay in fl on new years day

and honestly
the strangest thing was
having my 3 month old experience a pat down
and i don't know
it made me not want to fly anymore
i think of sars and the plane i was on being "quarantined" in madrid
i think of having to stay seated for the last bit of flights into washington reagan
getting puked on by someone else's child while flying out to a funeral - strangely symbolic i suppose

i used to really enjoy flying
i even learned to fly a cessna 150
sunburnt in the winter
cool air
endless horizon

but it just isn't like that anymore
and i guess it just hit me how much i miss it
the way it was
and never will be again