It´s sanni-licious

Tonight our little home will turn into a Spanish Bodega. We plan to have a Spanish night enjoying tapas. Spanish tapas is at the very heart of Sapnish lifestyle and culture. Everywhere you go in Spain you will find lively and noisy bars serving small plates of superb flavours and local delicacies.

In its most basic form tapas is simply a small snack or appetizer taken with a drink or two at lunchtime or in the early evening before the main meal. Today it´s also popular to combine various sorts of tapas instead of main meal for dinner. It is essentially a style of eating rather than a form of cooking. Tapas means sociability, friends and family. The Spanish in general won’t drink without eating something as well.

Now, throughout the world, Spanish tapas has become a popular and healthy addition to the many food styles and cuisines available to us today.

Everyone is joining in and realising how pleasurable eating in this way can be. And why not? When you begin to see the sheer range of flavours available you will, I’m sure, want to find out more about ‘the small plate with the BIG flavour’.

Wherever you live, Spanish tapas will give you a tasty little mouthful of the real Spain without having to jump on an aeroplane to enjoy it! You can bring a little Spanish sunshine right into your own home - right now!

Feel free to cyber-join our Spanish night. We invite you to come with us on a journey of tapas discovery, limited only by how long you can sit here reading before your mouth starts salivating and you simply have to get up and try something out!

We´ll have…

… Chorizo - Chorizo is undoubtedly one of the most famous of cured pork sausages, available spicy, garlicky, mild, hot, smokey and red.

… Jamón Serrano - There are not many hams more highly-regarded in the gourmet world than dry-cured serrano ham. Ours is bone-in (14 lb)

… Manchego - Whilst there are many different types of cheeses produced in Spain, Manchego cheese is the most well-known and widely-available. We´ll serve an Artisan semi-aged Manchego tonight.

… Olives - the oldest and original tapas.

… Fresh bread and olive oil - One of the simplest (and one of my favourite) ways to enjoy a good, strong-flavoured extra-virgin olive oil is to simply pour it onto a plate, sprinkle some salt on it and then mop it up with some fresh, crusty bread.
Or you could use toast rubbed with a cut clove of garlic and/or tomato.
Either way, the taste is sensational!

… Albóndigas - tasty meatballs in spicy tomato sauce. This is a dish which originated with the Moors so you will usually find some exotic spices in most recipes, especially those from the Andalucian region where the Moors had the most influence.

… Empanadas de Cerdo - Pork pie. Empanadas are basically pies. You can make a whole one in a pie dish and cut it into segments, or make them into little pasties or parcels. We prefer the little individual ones, it seems to fit in with the idea of tapas better.

… Tortilla de Patatas - Spanish Omelette. I guess this has to be the best-known tapas. Some say it should be soft and others say it should be set hard; some say it should have onion and others say it should not; some serve it with mayonnaise and others serve it with tomato sauce.
This delicious tapa can be served warm or cold. If my pregnancy hormones don´t play tricks on me ours will be served lukewarm, with Aioli, containing onions.

… Champiñones al ajillo - garlic mushrooms. There are not many tapas recipes more Spanish than this. Gorgeous mushrooms infused with the exotic flavours of spices, olive oil, garlic and Spanish Sherry.

… Patatas Bravas - Crispy potatoes in a spicy tomato sauce. Patatas bravas is a simple and traditional tapas recipe. The potatoes are crisp on the outside but still firm on the inside and the sauce tastes rich, glossy and spicy.

… Crema Catalana - A popular Catalan cold custard dessert with a crispy caramel coating

We´ll serve a Spanish red wine - the Finca Allende 2003 Rioja Alta, an expressive and harmonious Rioja and Hierbas, a typical herbal liquer, for the non-pregnant people.

Now enjoy the tapas - if you´re interested in any recipe don´t hestitate to let me know =)

And now…
… our moment of Homer J.:

Homer: Are you saying you’re never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Ham?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Pork chops?
Lisa: Dad, those all come from the same animal.
Homer: Heh heh heh. Ooh, yeah, right, Lisa. A wonderful, magical animal.

{{{enter the Lifecruiser Halloween Party if you dare}}}

TRICK or TREAT?

And now…
… our moment of Homer J.:

Evil Spirit: Get out.
Marge: What on earth was that?
Homer: Probably just the house settling.

Halloween / How do you celebrate Halloween?

I ♥ Halloween.

Vampires attracted me as long as I can remember. When I was a little one (much too little to be allowed to watch anything else but Sesamestreet) I watched a Dracula movie, lurking into the living room, while my parents thought I was sleeping already. Christopher Lee played Dracula and LilSanni nearly peed her pants.

When I grew up I found my love for good scary and horror movies. One of our favorite Halloween amusements is watching scary movies. Although Halloween is not celebrated so much in our part of the world we love to decorate our home as spooky as possible. A more or less scary Jack O´Lantern sits right next to us, keeping track of us eating his innards… delicious pumpkin soup.

Last year we´ve had about 15 visits of little ghosts, witches and vampires looking for treats. An enormous number for Germany - unbelievable, but true. it makes me happy to see Halloween is getting bigger and bigger around here. So we´ll have tons of treats this year and we won´t mind to eat the leftovers, if there´ll be any.

I guess there won´t be much left. We´ll be here, the little wizard Luis will attend, as well as Jersey aka “The Hound of Baskerville” and some invited friends, plus the trick-or-treaters. Oh, let me count… okay, I´m sorry folks… off to prepare some more treats =)

[Little wizard Luis,Halloween 2006]

Please stop by the Heads Or Tails HQ for more participants and visit our Cyber Cruisers to see how they are celebrating Halloween.

[This picture of my good old friend Leslie and me was taken on our Halloween party in 2004]

How do you celebrate Halloween?

Love & PEACE ♥

And now…
… our moment of Homer J.:

(With his mouth full of food, Homer stands up for his family.)
Homer: Listen, you big, stupid space creature, nobody, but nobody, eats the Simpsons!

[Warning: Viewers might find the picture displayed in the link disturbing. I didn´t post the picture/video directly because I didn´t want to ruin “boobies” for the guys or make the girls need a barf-bag or two…]

It happened to someone who knows someone you know… You’re next. Never talk to strangers, never answer the phone, never flash your lights, never leave the car, always boil your undies in hot water and always believe, what you’re told…

Infestation of Larvae in Human Breast

Fwd: Wash before Wearing! It is horrible. Guys tell your wife, sisters, girlfriends, and girl cousins wash bra before wearing.

ALL PLEASE WASH ALL BRAS, UNDERWEAR WHEN YOU BUY BEFORE WEARING THEM. WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT PARASITE IS IN OUR CLOTHES WHEN WE BUY THEM. FORWARD TO EVERYBODY YOU KNOW. LET ME FORE WARN YOU THIS IS SO SQUIMISH, I FEEL LIKE SOMETHING IS CRAWLING ALL OVER ME EVEN AS I SEND THIS TO YOU. BE AWARE. IT IS SO GROTESQUE. PLEASE WASH YOUR UNDERWEAR BEFORE WEARING. PREFERABLY IN BOILING HOT WATER.

This is not for the weak; I have never seen anything like this. Read the article first before looking at the picture and film. This looks horrible. Oh my God!!!!!!! Ladies this could happen to you and Guys this could happen to your wife, girlfriend, partner so please BEWARE,and also warn others. It has been reported that this is happening in Zimbabwe as well, please make sure you iron your undergarments before you wear them and make sure that your clothes are ironed when they are dry and not damp.

The picture is horrible but I felt that I should share with you. After anthropologist Susan McKinley came back home from an expedition in South America, she noticed a very strange rash on her left breast. Nobody knew what it was and she quickly dismissed it believing that the holes would leave in time.
Upon her return she decided to see a doctor after she started developing intense pains. The doctor, not knowing the exact severity of the disease, gave her antibiotics and special creams. As time lapsed the pain did not subside and her left breast became more inflamed and started to bleed.
She decided to bandage her sores however as Susan’s pain grew more intense she decided to seek help from a more certified doctor.
Dr. Lynch could not diagnose the infection and told Susan to seek the aid of one of his colleagues who specialized in dermatology whom was sadly on vacation. She waited for two weeks and finally was able to react the dermatologist. Sadly, a life changing event was about to unfold during her appointment. To Miss McKinley’s surprise, after she removed the bandages, they found larva growing and squirming within the pores and sores of her breast. Sometimes these wicked creatures would all together simultaneously move around into different crevices. What she didn’t know was that the holes were in fact, deeper than she had originally thought for these larvae were feeding off the fat, tissue, and even milk canals of her bosom.

link to attached picture [Warning: the picture is so gross it made me puke]

Of course, this email is a HOAX… but it´s all about Urban Legends at Lifecruiser´s Halloween Cyber Cruise today… and this is an old Urban Legend (one of my favorite SPAM mails - yes, i know I´m insane), circulating via email for ages. The Netlore Archive says the emailed image and video purport to document the medical case of a female anthropologist who failed to seek treatment for a rash and wound up with an infestation of larvae in her breast

Description: Email flier
Circulating since: 2003 (image)/2005 (video)
Status: Partly trueI´ve recieved this mail in different variations many times before. It always tells the story of a woman whose breast was infected by larvae and urges all women to wash and iron their underwear. Oh my everloving god… washing (boiling in hot water) and ironing undies. Some people should learn to change them first…

However, the attached photo made me puke and still gives me the heebies whenever I see it - although I know it was photoshopped (a picture of a female breast and lotus seed pot I assume) .

For the light-hearted those who are interested in a German Urban Legend besides the tales of ax-murderers hiding on the backseat of your car… or Little Mikey of LIFE cereal fame, who died from the exploding effects of Pop Rocks candy mixing with soda pop… I´d love to add

The Legend of Lorely

On a scenic view the Loreley is a remarkable high rock, made of schist. The roch lies impressively at a very narrow part of the rhinevalley at St. Goar, Rhineland-Pfalz, at the Taunus mountains.
The rock is 132 meter high and located at the upper middle Rhine. The Rhine is at this place 25 meters deep and 113 meter wide. It is the narrowest and deepest part of the whole river. Today the ships on the Rhine still help themselves with light signals to warn the oncoming traffic.
It is really worth is going up on the rock, since you have an amazing view through the Rhine valley and as far as the Hunsrueck Mountains.

Contrary to the expectations you will find it very vividly up there; many concerts of known music groups and theater and operetta take place regulary at the amphitheater.

The Loreley already got known in the Middle Age. Of course because of the big rock, but mainly because here you have one of the most dangerous parts of the Rhine for shipping. In those times there was a bank of sand, that disturbed the flow of the water. On the left the water fell over transverse lieing rock pieces, and on the right the water flew calmly. After the bank of sand the masses of water rejoined, but both at a different speed.

Big swirls were built, which broke many ships. Because of that reason Saint Goar settled down on that place. He wanted to save the lives of the shipwrecked.

After a legend, a mermaid called Loreley, was sitting on the Rock. She attracted many seamen with her beautiful singing. The seamen were whatching Loreley, while she was combing her golden hair.

Nobody paid attention to the dangerous rock in the water. So many boats were distroyed and the swirl (which was actually up to 27 meters deep), grabbed them.

German Poets made this place so famous. The two most important ones that formed this legend were Clemens Brentano and Heinrich Heine.

Have a great weekend, peeps -
xoXOxo

And now…
… our moment of Homer J.:

(Homer throws an orange into a vortex and it disappears.)
Homer: Hey, pretty slick!
(A crumpled wad of paper flies back out of the vortex and Lisa reads it.)
Lisa: “Quit throwing your garbage into our dimension.”