We ripped this meme off a blogger named Haruechan at the blog Haruechan’s Journal. She states that she took it from diek09. But, it was probably stolen there as well. So, of course, that will be as far as we go. Tracing back our theft’s thieves might take some time. Link back to us at Sunday Stealing!

Sunday Stealing: The Question Meme

01) Are you currently in a serious relationship? yes…I am married

02) What was your dream growing up? I was going to be an anthropologist and travel the world

03) What talent do you wish you had? I wish I could sing

04) If I bought you a drink what would it be? A cherry coke zero. I do not drink alcohol and shirley temples have to much sugar

05) Favorite vegetable? lettuce

06) What was the last book you read? A book my daughter got at the library. 13 Reasons Why

07) What zodiac sign are you? Pices

08) Any Tattoos and/or Piercings? Explain where. I only have my ears pierced and I do not have any tatoos.

09) Worst Habit? Not letting things go

10) If you saw me walking down the street would you offer me a ride? That would depend on if I knew you are not.

11) What is your favorite sport? figure skating

12) Do you have a Pessimistic or Optimistic attitude? I used to have a pessimistic attitude, now I have an optimistic attitude

13) What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me? I would probably talk to you and etc. to pass the time.

14) Worst thing to ever happen to you? Not saying here

15) Tell me one weird fact about you. my nose is off center

16) Do you have any pets? yes a little tiny shitzu mix

17) What if I showed up at your house unexpectedly? You better hope it is not raining because I am not letting you in.

18) What was your first impression of me? I am not sure if I could form an opinion about you. I would be too freaked out that you had shown up un-announced

19) Do you think clowns are cute or scary? cute

20) If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be? I would put my nose in the center of my face.

21) Would you be my crime partner or my conscience? conscience

22) What color eyes do you have? hazel

23) Ever been arrested? no

24) Bottle or can soda? bottle

25) If you won $10,000 today, what would you do with it? pay bills

26) What’s your favorite place to hang out at? home

27) Do you believe in ghosts? I do not think so

28) Favorite thing to do in your spare time? writing

29) Do you swear a lot? no, in fact I hardly ever swear

30) Biggest pet peeve? people who interrupt me

31) In one word, how would you describe yourself? smart

32) Do you believe/appreciate romance? I guess, I am not sure

33) Favorite and least favorite food? favorite food: Chicken Least favorite: liver

34) Do you believe in God? yes I do

35) Will you join us this week for Wednesday Wickedness? (Bud has on a mission to make this Wednesday’s most popular meme. Please play this week so I can stop promoting it.) I will try

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we’ve committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do “random questions,” so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don’t have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today’s meme!

Saturday 9: Changes

1. Tell us about one thing that you’d change about yourself if you could.

ummmm I would change ummmm my nose, I would like a nose that was in the center of my face.

2. Mattel decides to make a Barbie-like (or Ken-like) doll of you — what would be the most important accessory or accessories they would absolutely have to package you with in order to portray your lifestyle?

Ken should have a pot belly and fart a lot

3. Hey, do you like surprises? If yes, what kinds?

I like surprises, good ones of course, but I have a hard time waiting for them. Just ask my mom, there was an incident at Christmas one year…..

4. What was the last snail mail that you received that was significant?

I cannot even remember.

5. If you could pick out a brand new nickname for yourself, what would you choose and why?

Princess Bananahammock — because I like the way it rolls off my tongue

6. John Edward’s mistress was on Oprah this past Thursday. She stated that no third person can break up a marriage, so it had to be broken before the two started doing the nasty. Do you buy that?

I would say that there were probably problems since he did stray.

7. Do you think it is okay to keep secrets from your s/o?

Some yes. I do not always tell my hubby what my counselor and I discuss, he does not always tell me conversations he has with some people.

8. Have you ever played Truth or Dare? If yes, what’s the weirdest dare that you did?

Yes, but I do not remember the last time I played it and do not remember what the dares were.

9. What, in hindsight, the stupidest thing that you have ever done?

so many stupid things to choose from, so little time…..

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone’s responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, “Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!” Enjoy your weekend!

My Thursday Thirteen for this week is thirteen weird but edible recipes.

1. Chicken Noodle Pistachio Pound Cake

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Note: Must use a mixer or an electric drill with a wide blade attachment.

5 cups of Bisquick
1 box of Jello Instant Pistachio Pudding
1 tsp cinnamon
1 can of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup
1/2 Cup of Brown Sugar
1 package of thawed Green Giant frozen spinach
1 package of yeast

Icing: Strain the broth from the chicken noodle soup into a container and
mix in the Jello Instant Pistachio Pudding. Stir until creamy. Chill for
45 minutes.

Pound Cake: Combine the spinach, yeast, brown sugar, and Bisquick with the
mixer set on “Low” in a large bowl. Gently spoon the noodles and chicken
into the batter. Be careful not to break the noodles! Pour the mixture
into a bread pan and sprinkle cinnamon on top. Cover the pan with a damp
towel and let the batter rise approximately 20 minutes. Place the pan into
the preheated oven and bake until golden brownish-green.

Pour the icing over the cake as it cools. Serve with small cups of tomato
juice. Enough for 2 large men or 14 petite women.

2. Chocolate Gravy and Biscuits (my husband grew up eating his mom’s chocolate gravy and biscuits)

Biscuits: 1 or 2 cans of “whop” biscuits (these are the ones that come in the little tube at the store and you have to “whop” them on the counter to open the tube.) Bake as directed.

Chocolate Gravy
3 tablespoons of flour
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
4 tablespoons of granulated sugar
2 cups of milk
2 tablespoons of butter
1 teasoon of vanilla

Mix dry ingredients in shallow pan on stovetop until they’re completely combined. Add milk and stir. Cook on medium to medium high heat until it bubbles and thickens. Add butter and vanilla. Stir. Chunk up biscuits and pour chocolate gravy over the top. Enjoy!

3. Irish Meadows

Two slices of dense, crusty plain bread. Butter them. Cover one slice with thinly sliced Mars Bar (slightly warmed is better). Add chopped chunks of sweet & tart green apple. Cover with second slice of bread.

4. Cricket Cookies

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 12-ounce chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup dry-roasted crickets

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. In small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In large bowl, combine butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla; beat until creamy. Beat in eggs. Gradually add flour mixture and insects, mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded measuring teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

5. Fried Hornworms

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil
16 tomato hornworms
4 medium green tomatoes, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
Salt and pepper to taste
White cornmeal

Directions:

In a large skillet or wok, heat the oil. Then lightly fry the hornworms, about 4 minutes, taking care not to rupture the cuticles of each insect under high heat. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Season tomato rounds with salt and pepper, then coat with cornmeal on both sides. In a large skillet, fry tomatoes until lightly browned on both sides. Top each round with 2 fried tomato hornworms. Garnish the paired hornworms with a single basil leaf.

6. Grasshopper Gumbo

Ingredients (6 servings):
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoon minced fresh herbs — parsley, mint, thyme and/or tarragon.
12 frozen grasshoppers, katydids, locusts, or other suitably sized Orthoptera, thawed
1 red pepper, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
1 small yellow onion, cut into 8 wedges

Directions: Mix all ingredients for the marinade in a nonreactive baking dish. Add the Orthoptera, cover, and marinate overnight. When ready to cook, remove the insects from the marinade. Pat them dry, for ease of handling. Assemble each kabob, alternately skewering the insects, tomatoes, and onion wedges to create a visually interesting lineup. Cook the kabobs two or three inches above the fire, turning them every two or three minutes and basting them with additional olive oil as required. The exact cooking time will vary, depending on the kind of grill and types of insects used; however, the kabobs should cook for no longer than 8 or 9 minutes.

7. Spam Shake

1 can of Spam
1 tin of anchovies
2 12oz cans of beer
4 oz tomato juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup chopped up parsley
1/4 cup chopped scallions
dash of Tabasco
salt (if you’d need it), pepper to taste
put it in blender and blend until smooth
serve chilled with celery stick

8. Dishwasher Lasagna

Ingredients:
* ½ jar of your favourite pasta sauce
* 3 fresh lasagna pasta sheets (or ‘oven-ready’ lasagna sheets)
* ½ 16.8 oz container of Ricotta cheese
* ½ package of mixed grated cheese
* 1 cup freshly chopped spinach
* Spices
* Extra thick aluminum foil

Cut three large pieces of aluminum foil and lie them flat. Begin to layer lasagna ingredients starting with a lasagna noodle, then a thick layer of pasta sauce, followed by thick layer of the ricotta cheese and chopped spinach. Top it with the grated cheese and spices to taste. Repeat layers and top with final lasagna sheet. I liked the idea of cutting the final lasagna sheet into strips and creating a criss cross pattern on top. Wrap the lasagna tightly and carefully with all three sheets of aluminum foil. Place on bottom rack in your dishwasher and select the regular cycle. I used the ‘heated dry’ and ‘sanitize’ options as suggested to get the most heat I could. Once the cycle is complete, pull the lasagna out and enjoy!

9. GROUND PORK PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

1/2 lb Ground pork
1 c Lard
1 c Sugar
1 c Brown sugar
2 Eggs — well beaten
3 c Flour
2 ts Soda
1/2 ts Cinnamon
1/2 c Peanut butter
1/2 c Nuts
1/2 c Orange rind — shredded

Brown then drain ground pork; drain. Cream lard, white sugar, brown sugar and eggs. Add flour, soda, cinnamon. Blend in peanut butter, orange rind, and nuts. Stir in ground pork. Shape into small balls on greased cookie sheet. Press down with fork dipped in sugar. Bake at 350 for 10 min. Refrigerate. Yields 5 dozen.

10. Crocodile Schnitzels

250 gm Crocodile Fillets sliced thinly
1/2 cup Minced Walnuts
1 cup Breadcrumbs
1 cup Flour
1 cup Milk
1 Egg

Dust with flour. Dip in egg wash (one egg beaten with 1 cup milk). Blend walnuts and breadcrumbs and coat crocodile with this mixture. Fry in preheated mixture of oil and butter. Serve with Tropical Fruit Sauce.

TROPICAL FRUlT SAUCE

1 large Mango diced
1 Pawpaw — diced
3 tbsps Brown Sugar
3 tbsps Butter
3 tbsps chopped Walnuts
15 ml Rum, Brandy or Whiskey (optional)
1 cup Water

Melt butter in pan and saute walnuts. Add sugar and stir for 2 minutes. Add mango and pawpaw and mash. Add water and stir occasionally until mixture boils. Stir in spirits, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

11. Asparagus Cake

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
1 small crushed pineapple, with juice
2 Tbsp grated orange zest
1 1/2 cups chopped nuts
2 cups grated asparagus (fresh or frozen)
Powdered sugar icing with orange zest

Sift dry ingredients together and add remaining ingredients.Mix all together well. Bake in a greased and floured tube pan at 350 degrees for 1 hour. This makes a large moist cake. Use regular powdered sugar icing with orange juice and zest.

12. Opossum and Sweet Potatoes

1 opossum, about 2 1/2 lb., skinned and cleaned
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
Flour
1/2 C water
4 medium-sized sweet potatoes
2 T. sugar

Preheat oven to 350 F. Wipe opossum with a damp cloth and trim and discard excess fat. Mix salt with pepper and rub thoroughly into opossum, inside and out. Sprinkle inside and out with flour. Put opossum on its back in a roasting pan with a tight-fitting lid. Pour in water, cover, and roast in oven for about 50 minutes. Cut sweet potatoes in half lengthwise and surround opossum [note: I am laughing hysterically as I type this] with them. If water has evaporated, add enough to cover bottom of pan. Cover and return to oven for about 25 minutes more. Remove cover and sprinkle sweet potatoes with about 1/4 teaspoon salt and the sugar. Continue roasting until meat and potatoes become crisp on the surface. Makes 3 to 4 servings.

13. French Fried Skunk

2 Skunks, skinned and cleaned
1 T Salt
Water to cover
2 c Bear fat or lard
2 Egg yolks, beaten
3 c Milk or cream
1 1/2 c Flour
1/2 ts Salt
2 tb Baking powder

Clean and wash the skunks, making sure that the scent glands are removed. Cut up into small serving pieces. Put a soup kettle on the stove and add the meat. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat and boil until the meat is tender, about 40 minues. Remove all the scum that rises to the surface. Make a batter by mixing together the egg yolks, milk, flour, salt and baking ppowder. Mix real good [I didn’t write this, folks] until the batter is about like cake batter. Heat the bear fat or lard in a deep fryer to about 360 degrees. Dip the pieces of skunk in the batter and then fry them in the deep fryer until golden brown. Drain well and serve.

The Queen’s Meme #35 ~ The Gratitude Meme

Sometimes silly.
Sometimes serious.
Always fun!
Step out of the box.
Be creative.
Use your imagination.
No one’s answers are quite like yours!

Sometimes life hands you pomegranates. You get wiser. Sometimes life hands you that icky lemonade. You get stickier. Sometimes life hands you a boatload of people who either enhance your journey in lovely ways or rock the boat off course just for the hell of it. You get an oar and row in your own direction. It happens to all of us. Either way, there’s gratitude to be found if you’re willing to look. Sometimes the conflicts are indeed blessings in disguise – you just don’t know it yet. Sometimes the storm IS the thing you will one day bless while you wait for calmer seas.
Maybe not today, but someday.
So find some patience and hang on.
We all have something to be grateful for one way or another.
I found a few things this week. I hope you did too.

The Gratitude Meme

1. What are you most grateful for when you first wake up in the morning?

My internet connection. That way I can get started on my writing day.

2. What are you most grateful for when you go to bed at night?

pajamas

3. Who is the person who has had the most influence on your life?

I just did a post about this…not a person, a character in book. Sara Crewe in A Little Princess by Frances Hodges Burnett

4. Is there someone you’d like to thank for something special they did for you but haven’t yet? Take the time to do it in this meme.

My dad. I have not thanked him for being accepting and supportive over this last year.

5. Who was your favorite or least favorite teacher?

Least Favorite: The teacher who paddled me for taking too long in the bathroom when I lived in Mississippi.

If you could talk to them now, what would you say?

I did not deserve to be paddled for that. A note home to my mom telling her I was talking in the bathroom would have been more fair. Also, You gave me nightmares for years. Meanie!!

6. Do you say grace at mealtime?

sometimes

7. Name one thing you take for granted everyday.

There is nothing I take for granted anymore. This last year has taught me that things are only temporary and people might not always be here.

8. Have you ever looked back at your life and realized that something you thought was a bad thing was actually a blessing in disguise?

Yes. My depression is one example. If I had not tried to commit suicide and had not started therapy, I would not have had the “do-over” with my mom that I have had. We have a better relationship now than we ever have.

9. What are the top five things you are most grateful for in your life?

1) My family
2) That I am alive
3) The new way I look at things
4) The new opportunities I have had
5) The phone call I got from my mother yesterday

The key to success is to keep growing in all areas of life — mental, emotional, spiritual, as well as physical.

Julius Erving

This quote is a reminder to me, to always keep moving and growing so that I can continue to get better and lead a productive life.

Today is the second edition of the Quote Of The Day Meme.

It is a very simple meme. All you have to do is create a post on your site with your quote for the day. Although it is not required, you can take the time to tell us why the quote you picked is significant to you. I would like it if you did, I love quotes and I enjoy finding out why people like particular ones.

Please link back to this site. There is a button with the code for you to grab to make it easy.

After you have created your post with your quote for the day, please come back here and place the link to your post in the Mr. Linky box, and also leave a comment.