Questions bipolar version #10

Moosewood cookbook, 1st edition. Have had mine for decades. It’s vegetarian but mmm the recipes are so good you won’t care.

Would you rather cook, or order in? Why?

Cook (there aren't many good take aways round here)

favourite food from abroad? (Chinese, Italian etc)

Fanny Farmer's Boston Cooking School cook book, because it was the first one I ever owned. My mother gave it to me on my 23rd birthday and wrote a little note to me on a beginning page. It's the only sample of her writing that I own. It truly helped me get started with cooking and baking, and develop a passion for it. I don't often use cook books nowadays, though. I've either memorized how to make a lot of things or confess to using online recipes for inspiration.

What is a skill that you've developed and honed throughout your life?

Whoops! In the last post I answered an earlier question. In response to this one, if I must choose, I guess I'll say French, but I really love to make and eat most types. Italian is very popular where I grew up in New Jersey. I also have a special place in my heart for Chinese, because I lived in Taiwan in the past, and also traveled to China P.R.C. Chinese food is also good in New Jersey. I miss it as it's not good in Czech Republic. Vietnamese food is more available and it's usually people of Vietnamese background running "Chinese", "Japanese", "Thai", and other "Asian" restaurants, usually offering a hodgepodge of all of the above in the same restaurants. We did find much better Chinese restaurants in Austria, where there is a Chinese population. Luckily CZ does have some good Indian cuisine operated by people from India.

I realize people can make good food from other countries, but there is a certain authenticity that is lacking a lot. And yes, sometimes people (like from China or Italy), "localize" their food for local tastes. Anyway, I have sadly not found a decent Chinese restaurant in CZ, and it's not from lack of searching. I also like Vietnamese food, but not nearly as much as other cuisines. Plus, it tends to be laden with garlic. My husband is allergic to it.

If you could spend 6 months in any other country in the world, where would that be?

It’s probably boring but the UK. I want to travel to all the Neolithic and Bronze Age places and a side trip across the channel to see the caves in France. I could easily spend a lot longer than 6 months there exploring those and the shops and museums that show case these things. It’s a plus that they speak English as the accent would be challenging enough with my hearing. Can I bring an ASL interpreter with me?

Great question. What country would you want to spend 6 months in?

New Zealand. Mountains.

What do the trees look like outside where you are right now?

Most have lost most of their leaves. An 18 inch acer we bought recently still has most of its leaves.

Favourite exotic fruit?

Typical late fall. Some bare, some with colors still, an evergreen, and a couple of insanely hardy trees that are still green.

Were you ever bullied by people who perceived you as something you were not?

No. I don’t know why not though. I’m profoundly deaf and as a child wore a body aid over my clothes and in the 60’s when girls were supposed to have long hair I had a boys cut. But no one ever bullied me. Later in middle school a girl tried but I didn’t let her.

What’s the first thing you’d do if you won the lottery?

Pay off the new property we're buying. It's possible we would also decide to return to the US in the future. Or go somewhere else.

What is your favorite dish/food served at a holiday dinner?

My grandma's pumpkin pie filling. I'm not a big pie crust lover so my mom bakes the leftover filling which is a custard for me. It's a special treat.

Do you go to a holiday parade in your community?

No- not enough parking makes me anxious as well as crowds and not being near a bathroom

What are you thankful for this year?

Getting a car loan. It was necessary.

All the extra help I've gotten from ACT, and my hospitalization that put out some major flames.

If you went camping, what's one thing you'd likely forget?

The tent, no seriously 😳 I would over pack minor probably unnecessary things and overlook something big and major like the tent, or tent stakes.

Sorry for forgetting the question last time! 😟

What’s one job you’d never do?

Truck driver. I don't like driving a car, but a truck would be super frightening.

If you could be relieved of one thing right now, what would it be?

The fear (frankly, terror) of veterinarian costs I don't have any money for.



Q: What are three things you see from your bedroom window?

Trees, cars, bushes

Three favourite things in spring?

California poppies blooming all over the place.

The pleasant warmth to the air so I can open wide my windows.

The scent of lilac oil I rub on things in my apartment.



Q: Same. Three favorite things in spring?

Spring skiing/pond skimming, cold rainy days (well, when that was a thing), and seeing life come back, well, to life.

How much water have you had to drink today?