The Bears Will Not Quit

I had to try it.  Gummi Vodka Bears.
Apparently the "new thing" in bars, replacing Jell-O shots.
I used the Big Bear size, which are about 3x the size of regular gummi bears.  I saw some recipes that used gummi worms and gummi sharks, so anything gummi is supposed to work.  And the only thing I read not to use was Swedish Fish, which are more wax based I guess and they just melt together.

How do they taste you ask?  Well, depends on the color, some of them taste very medicine-ish to me, especially the red, but I've always been sensitive to the taste of food colorings so I'm probably not a good judge on that.  Some just tasted like cheap popsicles, with a blast of vodka.  The texture is still chewy, slightly slimy but not too much and just a little bit squishy.  On the whole, pretty good, and just a fun treat, plus they're pretty, see above.

The "recipe" if you want to try it is to:

1. Put the gummis in a bowl, I'd recommend glass or ceramic
2. Mostly cover with vodka
3. Cover with plastic wrap 
4. Refrigerate for 2 days or until the vodka gets absorbed completely.  
5. Don't eat too many at once.  
6. Hide from teenagers if at all possible (I told him I was keeping track of how many were left!).

A Temporary Circle of Cats

A Circle of Cats had assembled on my worktable.
They are gone now.
Mostly due to being made of licorice.

This is what happens when I take phone calls in the middle of working, I fiddle with what is around me and make a little tableau, which got photographed this time.

Olives and Books

For some reason my dear husband remarked on Saturday, that he'd really like to make some olives, that he'd seen the how-to's in the paper. So I checked it out and we ordered a ten pound box of black sevillano olives from Great Olives aka Penna Farms . On the condition that he would do the processing and so forth. Since I failed so badly with the great apple influx of '07, I didn't want to be responsible for letting even more food spoil unnecessarily !They arrived yesterday. In a box. So I called him up and said "your olives are here." And lo and behold, he came home and sliced into each and everyone on either side and plopped them in two pots of water. They have to soak for 10 days, with the water changed every single day. We'll see how that goes....

They are really big and juicy looking. Son Alex couldn't resist, even though he was warned, and just had to try one, which he promptly ran and spit out in the sink. bitter, oh so bitter!
And I scored at Goodwill yesterday! (Did you know there is an online Goodwill auction site?)

Check out these books, one of which I already owned in paperback, and is now up on PaperBackSwap, guess which one?

Yes, you are right, the Sherri Tepper book,Raising the Stones. It is one of my very favorites by one of my favorite authors so I'm thrilled to get to replace it in hardback.

Also, one of the best post-apocalyptic genre novels around (at least that I've ever read),A Gift upon the Shore

In the background is a brand new rug that they were selling, there was a giant stack of them in greens and blues. Lime green came home with me, $6 seemed like a good price. Spike had to check it out and give it a good going over. Since it is placed in front of the french doors where the sun comes in, I have a feeling this will become a regular cat lolling spot.And finally, I spotted a brand new (at least to me), candy bar. One of my faves of all time is 3 Musketeers, and here was a mint/dark chocolate version. Sounds perfect for me, as I love mint and dark chocolate. eh. It was different. I liked the texture. But cheap dark chocolate really takes away from the experience. Guess I am now a chooclate snob in addition to being a coffee snob. Me and my finely refined palate...