Food For Thought

I was just noticing a few names of restaurants where the name is conflicting with what they serve, and then names of bands where they are named after food. Two odd categories of odd names. If any of you out there in the World Wide Web, know a little background on why these categories are named these names, fill me in by leaving a comment.
Here it goes: first there are restaurants where thier names don't reflect thier food...

1) Red Squirrel ~ why would I eat somewhere with squirrel in the name? People say they have great sandwiches, but I will just have to pass.

2) Red Robin ~ I have eaten there and they don't serve the robin bird on the menu, they serve great burgers and chicken, not robins though, so why be named after 'Robin'?

3) Red Fox ~ Notice a theme here, so far these are all a RED animal, why is this? The Fox part leads me to think they hunt down there menu and serve it in their restaurant. ??? I don't think we are aloud to eat Fox? I haven't eaten there either; I believe it is a sandwich place.

4) Quiznoes ~ OK name, but AUFULL advertising. About a year ago they ran a commercial with SINGING RATS, singing there Quiznoes jingle. It was disturbing, and now they have a talking computerized baby on the current commercials. How do rats for advertising suppose to strike my interest to eat there? I will stick to the Subway sandwich instead. Have never eaten there before and definitely turned away from the singing rats to want to eat there now. If I found myself eating one of their meals, those singing rats would pop into mind and spoil my appetite. GROSS!

5) Elephant Bar ~ great apple-tinis and delicious potato skins!

6) Claim Jumper ~ for the longest time I thought it was called Clam Jumpers (clams don’t jump?)
_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
Now the Music industry naming their bands after FOOD!
1) Smashing Pumpkins 8) Ice Cube

2) Meatloaf 9) Limp Bizkit (Biscuit)

3) Korn (corn) 10) The Lemonheads (I love that candy!)

4) Phish (fish) 11) Red Hot Chili Peppers

5) Ambrosia 12) the Raspberries

7) Black eyed peas 13) The Cranberries
6) Cake 14) Garbage (all the food that’s thrown out after getting spoiled) :D

The list goes on with food named music bands, many I either don’t know of, or just drew a blank on…add them to my comments and we can get a whole grocery store shopping list of music! Some of these names are silly, and yet great music. Maybe the oddly named restaurants are the same way; I just need to go beyond the name “Red Squirrel” and try their food. Who knows they may actually have great food, but from lack of a better name I have not eaten there?

2006!

This blog is all over the place on topic.

I tried changing my BLOG background, but the choices are slim pickins. The only one I really like is this brown background with scroll paper, with its pretty script font for the headings. The other backgrounds are so commonly used by other BLOGGERS, or they are plain solid colored backgrounds. Too bad I can not post my own background!? So I guess posting my cute pet bunny in the previous post will have to do in BLOG creativity, in adding newness to a new year.

So far this year (all 16 days of it) has been good. It started out with a hang over from a fun time out New Years Eve, with some friends of ours. We went to the Hauf Brau House in KY, and drank German Beer, in a huge beer mug. NOTE TO SELF when I have a hang over, don't use the hairdryer! =D
Photo: William, Apri, Andrew, Martiel

This year is filled with new hopes and goals to accomplish: a gym to attend, Church to grasp, more experiments with cooking, maybe some more snow, a search for a new home, finish school (finally), and what ever else comes my way I will take on and enjoy as well!

Happy 2006, and Happy Martin Luther King Day! He was a great man to start a vision that we shall definitely continue on the idea that we are all equal and no less, and should not be labeled, be proud to be American and be free for who we are. Live your dream and treat others as you would want to be treated. Treat them with kindness, respect, manners, friendliness, helpfulness, equality. Enjoy your surroundings, and love thy neighbor. Don't be haten. And avoid the Bengal’s phrase, "Who Dey?" instead go up and introduce your self, take the 1st step in making introduction. And remember, "You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your friend's noses!"

My Lucky Rabbit!

adopt your own virtual pet!

I need 6 pennies & 7 more nickels!

I am 6 pennies and 7 nickels short of two more rolled coins. We had an overflowing coin dish collecting pocket change, and change found at the bottom of my purse. Then there is also the change given at a drive thru and we just throw it in the ashtray of the car. I am sure you all have a similar dish or jar of spare change, so go gather up all your change from under your sofa cushions and in the dish and out side in the ashtray of your car, and start rolling. I am sure you will be amazed as I was when I decided to take ten minutes out of my day to sort through it and roll the coins up! (The bank will give you the paper rolls for free; get some the next time you are at the bank)



I ended up with $53.50 just sitting there in the “spare change” pile! If I had 6 pennies and 7 nickels more, then I could complete two more rolls. I will then have $56. We could use a little more moola, who doesn’t?

With the 56 dollars, we can go out to dinner twice, or go to the movies 3 or 4 times, go skiing and rent our skies with the $56, or even order 15 Carmel Lattes from Starbucks! Of course the $56 should go towards paying bills…but what fun is that?

From A - Z My Favorite Things!

A-Z favorite things:

1.) A: Andrew (there is a no brainer!)
2.) B: Butterfly
3.) C: Camera (digital)
4.) D: Dragonfly
5.) E: Eclipse (it's a rare moment)
6.) F: Family
7.) G: Giggles
8.) H: Hot Dogs at a ball game
9.) I: Iridescent things
10.) J: Jamocka flavored ice cream
11.) K: Kayaking
12.) L: Licorice (the red kind in the giant tub, or at the movies)
13.) M: Mazda
14.) N: Nachos
15.) O: Old fashion car shows
16.) P: Purple People Bridge (it is a good ½ mile walk and fun to say)
17.) Q: Queen Marry-has been closed for a while, but was fun to go to.
18.) R: Roses, but not red roses
19.) S: Snow
20.) T: Turkey
21.) U: uniqueness
22.) V: Violin music by candle light
23.) W: Wishing on a penny or a shooting star
24.) X: X-Mas! (Creative huh? Thought I couldn’t think of an “x”)
25.) Y: Yellow Sunflowers
26.) Z: Zany times with friends

Need a Holiday Cookie Recipe?

I got this recipe from a fellow Blogger, and want to pass it along to you. Merry Christmas!

Recipe for Jack Daniels Christmas Cookies

1 cup of water

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup of sugar

1 tsp salt

1 cup of brown sugar

1 cup lemon juice

4 large eggs

1 cup nuts

2 cups of dried fruit

1 bottle Jack Daniels Whiskey

Sample the whiskey (very important) to check quality. Take a large bowl; check the whiskey again, to be sure it is of the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink.

Turn on the electric mixer...Beat one cup of butter in alarge fluffy bowl. Add one teaspoon of sugar...Beat again. At this pointit's best to make sure the whiskey is still OK; try another cup ...justin case. Turn off the mixerer thingy. Break 2 leggs and add to the bowland chuck in the cup of dried fruit, Pick the frigging fruit offfloor... Mix on the turner.

If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers just pry it loose with adrewscriver. Sample the whiskey to check for tonsisticity.Next, sift two cups of salt, or something. Who giveshz a sheet. Check the Jack Daniels. Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts. Addone table. Add a spoon of sugar, or somefink. Whatever you can find.Greash the oven.

Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over.Don't forget to beat off the turner. Finally, throw the bowl through thewindow, finish the Jack Daniels and make sure to put the stove in thedishwasher.

CHERRY MISTMAS !!

Seasons change

I took some photos of the seasonal progression. Here is the same pond in three different times...



First is the summer with frogs all around.

Then the frozen pond after it snowed four inches.








Now the pond is thawing out in the last photo. The snow is now melting away and there is a perfect circle where the pond has the fountain part, the snow on one side is completely gone as the sun shines down on it to reveal the grass.

Hide and Seek...

I am sitting on my sofa and looking out my window across the pond and there is a guy (20 something) hiding around the corner, which from my view point is in plane sight, and peeking around to see when the other person comes out of the apt. I notice him holding something...what is that? Then conclude that the door he keeps looking at doesn't have a door mat, and what is in his hands is a door mat. What is he doing? He is snickering to himself hidden behind the corner of where the front door is, waiting there about a minute till the door opens, is the other person going to come out and notice the mat is gone? Is the guy, hiding, going to jump out and surprise the other person with a welcome mat? NO>>>It is a Woman, walking out of the apt. turns to lock the door and starts to leave. The guy hops out from around the corner and catches up with the girl, drops the mat by the door and walks off with her to go some where. The girl is not fazed by any of this, and he didn't startle her? Peculiar in deed and to much time on my end to be amused by any of this and even more silly to blog my watching of this cute little form of cat and mouse. It was so entertaining to watch this guy hide around the corner and peek around waiting for the girl to come out of the apt.

Good Times, Good Friends

This was the day after Thanks Giving (2005) catching up on old times at my moms house. I loved spending the afternoon reminissing of our childhood. The photo is of Beth, Me, & Genoa. The three of us were all in Blue Birds together back in 1st grade through 3rd grade; in this photo we are all now 27, & married.

Another best friend of mine is Emily, who was there with us, whom I have also known for 23 years. It is so special to have good friends like them years later, a golden moment I will continue to hold on to, making new memories like this day at my moms.

Beth had moved away in grade school, and we lost touch. A couple of years ago Genoa and I were at Ross shopping and ran into Beth, out of the blue. It was great seeing her for that brief moment in Ross. Then earlier this year I looked her up again and we all meet up at my moms while we were all in town visiting family for Thanks Giving. So Emily, Genoa, Rodrigo, Andrew, Beth, Mom, Dad, and I were sitting around the table having some Thanks Giving leftovers for lunch. My mom made some turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce, and dished up the rest of the Waldorf salad. We sipped Chardonnay, as we gossiped and giggled. We brought up names of old school kids we had not heard of in a while, and lost touch on. You know the typical, "What ever happened to so-n-so?" One of us would answer and the other add to it with what they knew about so-n-so. Some S0-n-sos were married and had 3 kids, while other so-n-sos were still living at their parents house, surfing.

I had fun with us all there at my parent’s home in good old MB. I hope to look back on this day all together again, 20 years from now also. Of course my Parents will be in their late 70's but we can still meet up there, at their house the day after Thanks Giving.

I survived my first 4 inches of snow!

My work was let out at 3:30 today instead of 5pm to get home while the snow was just starting, rather than 2 hours later. So I drove with caution, and got home in an hour and have front wheel drive. Andrew, on the other hand, takes the bus to work from downtown and stood up in the bus like a sardine the whole way for THREE hours! Then to drive home from the Park N Ride, he said it was so hard to do, having a sports car, it is not really snow steady, with rear wheel drive. He drove in 2nd gear the whole way and was fish tailing at 15 mph. He was so happy to finally get home. He got on the bus at 6pm and got home about 9:40! Wild! A 3 hr ride on the bus; at least it is free to ride through his work, and the bus driver does all of the driving.


I have been at home, like a nerd that I am, running around with my ruler in hand sticking it in the snow, and each time getting 4 inches. I had a fun time here, taking photos, while Andrew was a sardine on the bus.

The pond here is frozen over accept where the fountain part is. I took a photo of the pond, the 4 inch snow, and my car blanketed by snow, for you to see. I say "you" in a general term mostly addressing this to Californians back home, who have not been in snow much. And to YOU, local Ohio natives, can enjoy my "rookie snow humor" also as I blog about it and post photos.

It is official snow season!

December 6th it is officially snow season; according my calculations...Let's see, I have used the ice scraper for three mornings so far, had ice cycles on my car, have seen the snow fall but only to melt away as it landed on surfaces... Then today I was driving in a light snow where it actually lingers behind a bit, leaving about a centimeter of snow dusted lightly on the ground and the pond by the apartment entrance is snowed over. The pond looks frozen, but it was sort of hard to see it tonight coming home in the darkness. I will check it out again tomorrow to take a photo to post later.

I am excited being that this is my first winter. To the Ohio locals living through many years of winter and snow seasons, it is a drag it seems. No body seems as excited as I am. People tell me to just wait about a month later in January and I will be complaining about “when will the snow go away?”, or BRRR! It is SOOO COLD! Some say I will be running back to California.

I say welcome to winter; it can't be as bad as the humid summers? I like hot chocolate with mini marshmallows, wearing sweaters, making snow angels, and sitting by a fire next to my hubby. Winter is a beautiful time of year I have only experienced here and there over the 27 years I have been around. It is not a common season for me, so I don't mind (yet) scraping my windshields in the morning, if I equal it out with the beauty snow brings. Happy Winter everyone. Last year, on Christmas day I was on the beach looking at tide pools and picking up shells. I even found an Abalone shell. This year, I will be out side making a snow man, the moment there is enough snow on the ground to play in.

Our First Winter Here in Ohio or Anywhere Actually

It "Flurried" earlier this week! I didn't know of the term Flurry until last Wednesday. Andrew was driving home from work and he called to say it was sort of snowing. It was a fluffy – light snow condition...like sprinkling for rain.

Before this, the only Flurry I knew of was a guy in Jr. High named Josh Flury, so his last name is a snow condition. Then there is also the McDonalds McFlurry dessert. Come to think of it, McFlurries are probably based on a Snow Flurry?

Anyways, yesterday morning, I go to my car and it is the first morning with my windshield frosted over! Solid sheet of ice, crystallized on my window! I did not get one of those Ice Scrapers yet so I was unprepared. I was defrosting the windows, and using the edge of a CD case to scrape off the ice. Tough stuff! It took a while to get it all cleared off and my legs were getting chilled wearing slacks, a thin material, and standing out there for 20 minutes.

Oh and a comic relief out of this frustration I was having… I grab the water bottle I had left in my car overnight to splash it on the windshield, and nothing came out! The water was frozen inside the bottle. LOL it was hilarious. Last month if I had left a water bottle in the car it would be warm water about room temp, usually to warm to drink the next day and defiantly not frozen water!

This whole start of my morning caught me by surprise and I just started laughing, and thought instantly of a three stooge’s moment, only it was just me entertaining my self trying to get the ice off my windshield with a CD case, and never dealing with winter before it was funny.

So today I went to Lowe’s Hardware store and bought two ice scrapers one for each car. It looks pretty handy, one end has a brush, and the other end has a two sided scraper on it. They were only $3.97 for an ice scraper.

Now I stand tall, ready to scrape what ever ice or snow that comes my way, with my scraper in hand. Bring it on snow man!

Take the White Trash Quiz!

I took a questionnaire asking an odd assortment of questions, to answer yes or no to; I scored 14% !? How about you? Just how white trash are you? LOL take the W.T. quiz and comment back on this one, telling me your results!

http://www.fuali.com/test.aspx?id=35205d9c-5462-4324-926d-bc2d7ca95e98

My result:
You, my friend, have class. You are so not white trash. You are more than likely Democrat, and your place is neat, and there is a good chance you may never drink wine from a box.

Is It Soda or Pop?

Depending on the state I am in and referring to what the "locals" call a carbonated soft drink is either Soda and/or Pop. I think it’s funny. I grew up calling it Soda (in California); here in Ohio (or the majority of the mid-west) it is called Pop. The funny thing I hear is my best friend, Genoa, has always called her dad "Pop" but then she calls her drink a Soda, living out in California. So for her, it’s no big deal. But if people in Ohio were to call their dad-Pop, they would be calling him a soda!? I find this to be an interesting play on words. I will stick to calling my Dad - "dad" and my drink “Soda”. It just comes natural for me to say soda, even if everyone else here says pop. Also, what about the words Carbonated SOFT drink? It isn't really soft...it is kind of ruff, tickling my tongue with the carbonated part of a soda. So let's call it a "carbonated ruff drink" or a "carbonated tickle drink." :)

Trees VS. Humans

I have noticed some contrasts to Humans verses Trees. As we go through the seasons, we are quite the opposite as people verses trees. Follow me here, and keep up…

SUMMER ~ Humans bare all, down to their bikini, to stay cool during the hot, humid summer. Trees are in the rich color of greens and full of leaves. The trees look so warm and are all covered up in leaves during the hot, summer. (Take it off trees, it’s too hot!)

AUTUMN ~ Humans are starting to cover up with warmer clothing, wearing long sleeve, and show less skin. The Trees’ leaves are changing their outfits also. The trees went from the full, green to unique form. They are changing to warm colors of Yellows, Orange, and Fire Red.

FALL ~ Humans are now in sweaters, coats, hats, and are covered head to toe to stay warm. Trees – now some are more modest than other trees, and keep their leaves on but most trees show all. They shed their leaves and become naked, exposing their branches!!! Gasp! Quite opposite from the Humans all covered up to stay warm; Trees are naked, out in the cold.

Tree photos taken by Martiel Hay
("human photos" are from http://www.victoriassecret.com/)

Trick or Treat!

It is 7:55, and I have had only one Princess, and one Power Ranger knock on our door. I have a big bowl of candy and no Trick-or-Treaters! Please come to my place and trick or treat, I am on the 3rd floor and I think this is why no one is coming here? I bought 4 bags of yummy candy, (they were on sale 2 for $4) so I spent $8 just to have no one Trick-or-Treat here! I carved some mini pumkins which look so cute by my door.

Breath Taking Fall Beauty Ohio 2005

Photos by: Martiel Hay, my first Fall Season here in Ohio, so beautiful! From Lipstick Red to Pumpkin Orange.

I can cook really I can!

I took a photo of my stove, to help explain my blond moment if you want to call it that...
This stove is modern, electric, with all of the knobs in the back and a digital timer to set on it. The oven dial is also used to switch to the Broiler part.
Tonight for dinner I made some ribs from Montgomery INN, The Rib King. The directions say to place the ribs in the broiler for 4 minutes and flip over for another 3 minutes. OK simple, I can do this.

I placed the ribs in the broiler drawer at the bottom of this stove as I would with older stoves. Four minutes pass, the electric timer on the stove is beeping, and the broiler is cold, then notice the oven part is all warm. ???Apparently this modern stove is a broiler/oven in the middle part and what I thought was the broiler is JUST a drawer. On my moms stove her drawer is actually a broiler, and the stove we had in Burbank was a broiler...So why would I think differently with this one? So I put the ribs on the oven rack to start over with 4 more minutes to cook, then flipped them over for 3 minutes till done.

We just moved in over the summer and I have not used the broiler part to this stove yet until tonight, so cut me some slack, for those who are laughing at my blond moment.

The ribs came out great, the meat was perfect, falling right off the bone. YUMMY!

What's Your Middle Name?

Interesting tid bit of information. I have meet a couple of people over the years who use their middle name as their first name, and some people would never guess it was their middle name unless they mentioned it or you checked their ID. I could think of a few off the top of my head that I know of.
An old friend of mine named Courtney Maren, goes by Maren
My friends boyfriend named ? Kenneth, goes by Ken
My supervisor is named Van Brian, goes by Brian
We have a friend named ? Aaron, goes by Aaron
My Hubby is named Andrew Stephen, use to go by Steve

Then a gal who is pregnant is thinking of a middle name to use as the first name and the baby is not born yet. (?) Why not have the middle name be the first name? I don't understand?

Then there is my brother who has 2 middle names, both family names to keep in the name, and he could have used either one as his first name if he wanted to. Instead of Robert we could call him Luis! I wont tell you his other middle name, because I want to use the name for a Boys name, if I ever have a boy some day. It is a cool name and unique at the same time, so I don't want to advertise it and have it become popular. You will have to ask Robert what his other middle name is. :P

Another old tradition is referring to people by their last name. My brother has gone by the nic-name of Hesse, referring to him by last name. My Grandma had a best friend named Tomi, but this was actually her last name short for Thompson. Her first name was actually Ramona. I just know her as Tomi. To get even more complex, her last name currently was Brown, so in my address book I have entered her in as Tomi Brown, BUT! those are two last names! If we all used our first, middle, and last names in the proper order, it would be less complicated. My Grandma's friend would be Ramona Brown...I would not even know who that is? A whole different person! She has been Tomi for so long!
Back when I was dating Andrew, he went by Steve (his middle name) and my friends meet him as Steve. A couple years later we were getting married and the invitation comes in the mail to my friend Janets house, and she read the name Andrew on it. She called to congratulate me and then asked, "What ever happened to the other guy you were dating?...Steve was so nice." I cracked up once I realized the confusion and told her, "Oh no, he is the one I am getting married to, Steve was just his middle name that he used as a "first name" and now he goes by Andrew his original first name! She then told me, "Good because I liked Steve, I mean Andrew, and you two will be happy together." That is about as complicated as it gets!

I will stick to my first name, Martiel, to keep simple. Well not too simple, most people have a hard time catching my name right being a unique name. It is pronounced Mar-T-L (Martiel).

winter waredrobe

Two Californians living in Ohio, the West coast meets the Midwest. There are seasons here, with the fresh, crisp, cool, air in October. No more flip-flops or short sleeved shirts to wear because it is getting cold. I go to the closet and I am looking at my shoes, they are all open toe, or exposed heal, one pair of white sneakers, I need shoes that are warm and covering my whole foot! I don't like my sneakers anymore, because the shoelaces don't stay tied together. Let's see what I have in long sleeve? Oh three tees and two sweatshirts, one that says Wavelengths on it, a surf sweater. It screams California. I need winter clothes and Andrew needs a jacket warmer than his Adidas Windbreaker, and some more slacks. I hear an excuse to go shopping! Fun times, I love shopping...

…I hate shopping! I don't know what size I am any more? Come to think of it I have always been in an awkward size my whole life. As a kid I was smaller in size with not equaling up to quite the right size in clothes, it seemed I was always between a sizes. Say # size was too big but the next size down was too small and I would look for something in-between. Or in High School I was the average size for so long where my size 5 clothes were the first to go out of stock and I couldn't buy the cute top, with my size sold out. This happened to me again today, with trying on these cute plum colored cords. I wanted to get these but one size that fits well in the hips but is too short in length and the next size up is looser but is in the right pants length. UGH!

I am still not a set size, and I am 27, it is not like I am that scrawny little kid I use to be, who use to be awkward in sizes. Apparently I still am. :) Maybe I can set my self at a set size and not be in-between any more? Heck I will even settle for the cute size 5 again and deal with items being sold out; at least they will fit right when I do buy them. I didn't end up buying the cute, plum colored, cords, but I did find a cute, cozy, blue sweater and some long sleeve shirts. Andrew found two winter jackets, both on sale. Thank You Kohl’s Store for the great sales, aside from the cute cords not coming in my size!