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89% of the CEO
David T. Seaton
I worked at Fluor full-time for more than 3 years
Pros – The company they sent me to as an outside contractor was terriffic. Extremely nice people to work with especially the AVP Site & Facility and Purchasing Manager.
Cons – The supervisor I worked with unfortunately lied and I found out about it and I was fired for it because I went over his head to find out the truth.
Advice to Senior Management – The supervisor should have told me the truth in the first place that I was not getting a raise that year and would have been accepted without question.
No, I would not recommend this company to a friend
I worked at Fluor full-time for more than 3 years
Pros – Close to home/ people in facilities o.k. to work with.
Cons – Hurry up and wait No
Advice to Senior Management – Make up your minds before bidding on new contract.
No, I would not recommend this company to a friend
2 people found this helpful
I worked at Fluor full-time for more than 5 years
Pros – Great benefits, some of the best in the business. Earn a lot of time off, but don't even think of acutally taking any of it. I got paid out months of vacation when I left which was heavily taxed.
Cons – Gold one day and gone the next. Treated as company property. What others have said about Fluor being a "good ole boy" network with a dictorial management style is so on the money. I'm an educated, experienced, credentialed woman and always got the "leftover" projects that the men did not want. Fluor is the only large EPC that I know that will hire Director level people without at least a Bachelor's degree. I can only echo the "Project Engineer" titled review from 10/4/2013. Its all about who you know and who you suck up to at Fluor -- not real work. And if you're a woman -- you will never advance unless you are attractive and dress to impress -- not businesswise, menwise.
No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company
1 person found this helpful
I worked at Fluor full-time for more than 3 years
Pros – Large projects with unlimited budgets but tight schedules.
Cons – People are not very bright. Field management and office management seem to understand management but not leadership. Old school management practices. My way or the highway. Lots of uneducated (non-degreed) people in management positions. Comapny has little appreciation for the well educated and top performers. Good ole boy system. Do not expect much from Fluor - except to be laid off.
Advice to Senior Management – Cluor could have an even larger share of the world market if it placed educated (and experienced) persons in management positions.
No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company
I worked at Fluor full-time for less than a year
Pros – Salary and vacation time is great. They have their structure or employee flow system set up to be consistent and easy to follow.
Cons – 12 hours a day 7 days a week is grinding. Country Engineering Department and Fire Division Managers are not a true managers nor leaders but Fluor Corporate left overs. These departments needs to be revamped with real caring managers.
Advice to Senior Management – Lean out the Fluor Corporate Management structure and place experienced employees in these positions.
No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company
1 person found this helpful
I have been working at Fluor full-time for more than 3 years
Pros – Big company with strong reputation.
Cons – Way too many poorly educated people in charge, even on the office engineering side. Company still manages under the old-school mentality of my way or the highway. No room for extremely well educated and experienced people to seriously advance into intellectually stimulating positions.
Advice to Senior Management – Company could be much stronger if they retained and used persons with stronger educational levels (MS and PhD level) in senior positions. Many persons there simply are under-qualified for their positions, and it shows at all levels! Education does not equal experience AND experience does not equal education.
No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company
I worked at Fluor as a contractor for more than a year
Pros – There is nothing nice I can tell about his company. Upper management ( except for very few individuals ), all crooks and liars. They will push you under the bus in a second just to protect someone else they like and even after you clean your name they act stupid like they had nothing to do with it. If you want names and fact I do have them dear CEO, maybe is time to do some clean up in the very top but you know that already since you're buddy buddy with them and little people don't matter.
Cons – This company treats Other Country Nationals like garbage. Salary for these people is significantly lower considering the fact that standard in their country is no cheaper but slightly higher than US ( not counting workers from India, Nepal and Philippines of course ).
Promotion is not awarded according to performance but based on who you know and how well you are connected with upper management. That is major problem with this company, no respect and racism on every level whether they admit or not, it's all in their actions.
Advice to Senior Management – Start showing respect to your workers, all of them. Why do you pay people from different countries different while they have the same job title? Why all those classifications and degradations ?
They work and live in same conditions... under the same rules except for foreign nationals that are haunted like animals after hours in LSA by military and being fired over cell phone assigned and approved by Force Protection cell and Fluor Security . Don't hire on these people if you're going to put them thru humiliation and treat them like criminals . Guess all your talks about freedom and equal opportunity don't cross the borders of US and all this looks like modern slavery. Shame on you.
No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company
2 people found this helpful
I worked at Fluor
Pros – Fair pay in comparison to competitors
Tuition Reimbursement program
Benefits package is OK
Human Resources Department is easy to communicate with.
Cons – Career Development is non-existent for Exempt Salaried Employees.
Annual Performance Assessments are conducted with minimal management effort.
Retirees won't learn new technologies and treat the younger workforce bad.
Retirees work very inefficiently and cause work flow to be slow.
Very expensive company (overhead) which causes FLUOR to be too expensive so they don't win bids.
Most work is overseas now.
Pay increases are very minimal.
Promote from the "Good-ol-Boy" crew methodology. If you have a relative or close friend higher up they will promote that person instead of the more qualified individual.
Management seems very unorganized.
Advice to Senior Management – Pay attention to the younger workforce as most of the experience is getting ready to retire. Promote better Career Development with younger workforce. Don't let the good talent get lost in the masses. There are plenty of other great companies to work for that understand the "Baby-Boomers" are retiring.
I have been working at Fluor
Pros – Great company if you are looking at following and learning about procedures and guidelines. Knowledge based community is great but out of date. more upto date knowledge can be found on the web though. They potray themselves as the best but in the best of times they had the least work.
Cons – Progression based on who you know and not on performance appraisal. Promos mainly based on ratings behind your back. If you entertained the seniors or directors outside work you would for sure get a good rating and hence a promotion. Therefore ethics and integrity is not respected.
Management not willing to new ideas in executing work in order to be competative. Management at office level are too comfortable in their positions such that they are not willing to new ideas or changes.
Flour is so big that investment in technology is probably behind by about 12 years reducing efficiency.
Advice to Senior Management – 1) Either use Performance appraisal as a tool for rating or get ride of it if based on biased internal rating system.
2) Bring in some fresh young blood in management who would be bold enough to make changes in ways projects are executed?
3) Training of employees at their own time needs to be paid ethically.
4) Reduce or simplify procedures in order to execute jobs more efficiently and under budget.
5) Equip offices with latest technology in order to lower the cost of projects e.g smart board technology, tablets, wifi, lap tops .....etc ( compare with Bechtel)
No, I would not recommend this company to a friend
2 people found this helpful
I have been working at Fluor
Pros – People are great
Downtown Vancouver office is great
Benefits are good
Cons – Office does not give the impression it cares about employees or their career development
Salaries are not determined fairly and are on the low end of the scale
Not properly recognizing employees that are contributing
Advice to Senior Management – Not always lowballing on salary or other things, such as office equipment, training, etc. - overall, it is beneficial to invest money in employees.
No, I would not recommend this company to a friend
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Celebrate gay pride with festive photos from coast to coast
They're here, they're queer—and they always know how to throw a super-fun parade!
Out-and-proud lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders took the streets to celebrate their sexuality all over America. Check out our gallery of the festivities in celebration of gay pride.

subset: commoncrawl


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The title says it all really! This guest house is central and well priced. The rooms are arranged around a central courtyard and, although you're in the centre of Chiang Mai, there's very little noise. The staff were keen to help and would book things for you like motorbike hire at prices that (unlike at many hotels) were not inflated.... More
- Also Known As:
- Saithong Guest House Hotel Chiang Mai
- Saithong Guest House Hotel
- Reservation Options:
- TripAdvisor is proud to partner with Agoda, Booking.com and Priceline so you can book your Saithong Guest House reservations with confidence. We help millions of travellers each month to find the perfect hotel for both holiday and business trips, always with the best discounts and special offers.


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Back to Search Results | New Search | Revise Search | Next Boat |
Princecraft Springbok DL BT Please contact the dealer to check availability of this boat model.
Print This Ad | Save This Ad | Email a Friend
Princecraft Website
| |||||
Beam | 5 ft 8 in | Max Draft | 1 ft 5 in | ||
Dry Weight | 375 lb | Max Seating Capacity | 5 | ||
Hull Material | Aluminum | Hull Shape | Modified Vee |
| |||
This boat model may or may not be in-stock. Please contact your local, authorized dealer for more information. No description |
| |||
HULL & DECK FEATURES •5052-H36 marine grade aluminum alloy •NMMA & Transport Canada certified •High gloss exterior High Solids urethane paint and decal package •Semi-V hull with square chine •Aluminum clad transom •Full-width self draining splashwell •Twin plating at the chine •Heavy-duty tubular seat to gunnel braces •Bow eye and stern handles •Center side storage compartment(s) •Stern storage compartment SEATS •Split center seat covered with marine grade carpet •Parallel seats at stern covered with marine grade carpet •Bow bench seat covered with marine grade carpet OTHER FEATURES •1 battery holder •Removable pressure-treated wood floor covered with marine grade vinyl |
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This boat model may or may not be in-stock. Please contact your local, authorized dealer for more information. |
Listing ID: 13941904 |


text: Downtown Calico Rock Developments Ozarks Region View Website Calculate Trip Get Directions Overview:Historic downtown with an old-fashioned soda fountain, solar street lights, quaint shops and seasonal Farmers Market. Twenty-three buildings and structures comprise East Calico Historic District, a ghost town; East Calico Historic District walking tour map available. Address: Downtown Calico Rock Developments Calico Rock, AR 72543 Website: Calicorock.us Connect: Save to foursquare Miscellaneous On or Near: White River (Bull Shoals Lake to Newport)


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Home > Products > Join our Movement > Get Your Organization Involved > Campaign Resources: All Organizations > ROANS
« Return to Get Your Organization Involved
Computer consultancy focused on operational and efficiency.
Every year, we ask partners to renew their commitment: Join the 2013–2014 Change the World, Start with ENERGY STAR Campaign now!
Greenhouse Gas Emissions (lbs.) | 0 |
Dollars | $0 |
kWh | 0 |
BTUs | 0 |
This organization is a member of Climate Savers Computing Initiative that is also participating in the pledge. See Climate Savers Computing Initiative's progress too!


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Contact Us | Employment | News
Washington students come from all regions of the state and represent a wide range of family income levels. Students in Washington's higher education system reflect the backgrounds and educational needs of a diverse society and economy.
The demographic mix of students on today's college campuses is influenced by changes in Washington's broader population and by efforts to expand college access to a new generation of students whose families may not have experience higher education in the past.
Institutional Enrollments
Tables showing recent student enrollments at Washington's public higher education institutions.


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Raman Chari prepares a display of convertible Ultrabooks at the Intel booth prior to the opening of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in this January 8, 2013 file photo. When customers trundle into Intel retail stores in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago this Christmas, they won't find any set-top television boxes or TV programming services for sale. Instead, they'll be greeted with ultrathin laptops and new tablets that Intel hopes will help boost its massive but flagging computer chip business. REUTERS/Steve Marcus/Files (UNITED STATES - Tags: BUSINESS SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY)
Content engaging our readers now, with additional prominence accorded if the story is rapidly gaining attention. Our WSJ algorithm comprises 30% page views, 20% Facebook, 20% Twitter, 20% email shares and 10% comments.
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Red Bluff man arrested for DUI after brother injured Oct182011 A Red Bluff man was arrested on suspicion of DUI Sunday morning after his brother received major injuries from a fall out of the truck he was driving on Hogsback Road... The Daily News Read More »
Man sentenced in DUI crash that killed model Oct182011 A Costa Mesa man was sentenced Friday to 20 years and four months to life in prison for killing a woman in a drunken-driving crash on Valentine's Day 2010, his second DUI... The Orange County Register Read More »
DWI suspect arrested for woman's death Oct132011 Bernalillo County sheriff's deputies say the driver who hit and killed a pedestrian in southwest Albuquerque Tuesday night was drunk... KRQE Read More »
Driver charged with DWI-1 Oct132011 Louisiana State Police arrested a Monroe man Wednesday and charged him with DWI-1 and improper lane usage. Sean A. Montgomery, 27, 141 Leisure Dr., was reportedly observed... The News Star Read More »
Keg ID law aims to cut underage drinking Oct112011 Beginning Nov. 1, you can no longer throw a keg party under the cloak of anonymity. To curtail boisterous or illegal drinking parties, a new state law takes effect... Lansing State Journal Read More »
Noise leads to underage drinking citation Oct112011 Alyssa Beisel, 18, of Horsham, and Carol Modesto, 18, of McLean, Va., were cited Friday for underage drinking after police were called to the 200 block of Cottage Avenue for... PhillyBurbs.com Read More »
Homecoming queen cited for possession of alcohol Oct112011 Elyria High School's homecoming queen was cited after police were called about a loud party with underage drinking at her Harwood Street home Sunday, according to Elyria... The Morning Journal Read More »
Woman Hits Tree in Harrison, Charged With DWI Oct062011 New Rochelle's Irene Khechinashvili, 22, was arrested early Sunday morning by Harrison police and charged with driving while intoxicated after driving her car into a tree,... The Daily Harrison Read More »
Teenage motorist facing DWI, other charges in New Milford Oct062011 An 18-year-old New Milford man was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated after police observed him swerving while driving and travelling on the wrong side of... NorthJersey.com Read More »
Man pleads guilty in fatal DUI crash in GFalls Oct062011 A 30-year-old man accused of driving drunk and causing a crash that killed a Wisconsin man has pleaded guilty to criminal endangerment and vehicular homicide while under the... Chicago Tribune Read More »


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USC frat house reborn: A modern makeover for Phi Sigma Kappa
With help by architect Ana Henton and her team at Mass Architecture and Design, an Animal House has been remade modern for a new generation. Goodbye stripper pole, hello salad bar.
Image 6 of 23
( Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times )
Inside the remodeled frat house, larger windows let in more natural light and cedar ceiling paneling lends a modern touch. Because durability was a primary concern, the design team replaced worn carpeting with a concrete floor, and upstairs, space-saving loft beds are framed in metal.
Comments are filtered for language and registration is required. The Times makes no guarantee of comments' factual accuracy. Readers may report inappropriate comments by clicking the Report Abuse link next to a comment. Here are the full legal terms you agree to by using this comment form.


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Teen Video Challenge
Creating the Story Part 2 & Rehearsal
Join a group of 13-18 year olds and create a video promoting the 2014 summer library program. The contest is part of a multi-state Collaborative Summer Library Program (CLSP) Teen Video Challenge. Required entry and parent permission forms will be available at the session. Program Room. Register on our website by clicking on Teen Central Events, at the Children's Desk or by calling 608-758-6585.
© Hedberg Public Library. All rights reserved. |


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Join Us Next Year in New Orleans! March 6-9, 2014
The HEWA 2013 Steering Committee is promoting the following definition of health equity to emphasize the justice we are striving to achieve:
The resolution of systematic disparities in health between social groups who have different levels of underlying social advantage and disadvantage positions in a social hierarchy (P. Braveman & S. Gruskin, 2003)
The Health Equity Week of Action (HEWA) is an annual week-long event that focuses on raising awareness about the health disparities that exist across racial, ethnic, cultural, and social groups. HEWA utilizes a variety of interactive and innovative events to inform and inspire the actions needed to eradicate such health inequities.
It is time to get excited and get involved in the Health Equity Week of Action (HEWA) because this year we are in for a FOOD FIGHT. This year's theme for HEWA is focused on the food inequities and disparities we face in this country. We will focus on the current state of affairs and the consequences associated with this issue by covering the topics of health disparities, food deserts, food policy, hunger, obesity, and acculturation and health. In addition, we seek to inspire and motivate people into positive action by presenting possible solutions to this problem.
We look forward to providing a week of interactive, informative, and entertaining events with webinars, discussion materials, and project ideas. The events occur January 21-29, 2013 so you have the option to participate in all of the events or pick those best suited to your interests and schedule.
We have very exciting, interesting, and educational offerings for you on several issues surrounding food justice. We are extremely proud of the speakers that have agreed to be a part of this event. I strongly suggest that your chapter organizes a viewing party for your ASMA chapter and school so more people can take advantage of this great opportunity. Please use the posted PowerPoint presentations, project ideas, and educational materials posted on the site.
Monday, January 21: MLK Day – Call to Action Volunteer Opportunities
Tuesday, January 22 (12:30 pm EST): Health Disparities: A Matter of Justice Speaker: Dr. David Satcher, MD, PhD, Former U.S. Surgeon General Health Disparities in the U.S. Webinar Recording Health Disparities Facts Health Disparities Brochure Health Disparities Discussion
Wednesday, January 23 (7:00 pm EST): Food Deserts Speaker: Robert Gottlieb, Professor, Occidental College Topic: Food Justice Food Deserts Webinar Recording
Thursday, January 24: Food Policy Farm Bill PowerPoint Presentation Farm Bill Legislative Action Information on Farm Bill Sign the Farm Bill Petition
Friday, January 25: Obesity, Culture and Health Literacy Health Disparities in Immigrants: Obesity and Health Literacy Facts on Immigrant Health
Monday, January 28 (7:00 pm EST): Hunger in America Speaker: Frank Tamberello, Hunger Action LA Topic: Hunger in the U.S. HEWA Hunger in America Webinar Recording Hunger in America Brochure
Tuesday, January 29 (9:00 pm EST): Solutions Speakers: Medical Students for Food Justice Topics: Memphis Mobile Market, Apple Grocery, Blooming Butterflies Garden HEWA Solution Webinar Recording Solutions: Feeding the Cause PowerPoint Presentation
Contact Us If you have any questions, comments, or ideas, please feel free to contact the Health Equity Coordinator at firstname.lastname@example.com.
We want to know how your AMSA chapter celebrated HEWA. Please send your photos, videos, reflections, articles, or advertising to email@example.com and showcase how your chapter is helping to achieve the mission of health equity.
We would like to give a special "thank you" to the HEWA 2013 Steering Committee for their work and diligence in organizing this event. We would also like to thank the REACH Committee Chair for her assistance.
HEWA Steering Committee 2013
REACH Committee Chair
In addition, we greatly appreciate the speakers that so graciously volunteered their time to provide us with their knowledge and insight.
HEWA dates not convenient for your chapter? You can still participate by rescheduling the dates to better accommodate your schedule. Please feel free to use the AMSA project ideas and educational materials. You can also reach out for any additional support.


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Peninsula Point Beach Cottage! 1 House from the Beach! in Newport Beach
- bedrooms 3
- baths 1
- sleeps 6
- pool no
- hot tub no
- pets allowed no
- type House
- community
rates (USD)
/ week
vacation rental description
Relax at this beautiful 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom oceanside single family home! Located in the quiet neighborhood of Peninsula Point, this home is just 1 house fromt the sand! It features flat screen TV's, spacious front patio and back patio, updated furniture, outdoor shower, new bedding and gorgeous sunset views.
The living room has a comfortable sofa, coffee table, armchair and a flat screen TV. There is a dining room table that seats 4 and another table for 4 in the kitchen. The kitchen has nice tile countertops, dishwasher, stainless steel sink, microwave and plenty of cabinet and counter space for storing and preparing food. The front patio has a table that seats 4, an umbrella and a BBQ, great for cooking for family and friends! The back patio has a table, chairs, outdoor shower and a BBQ.
The master suite has a queen bed, dresser and a TV. The second bedroom has a full bed and the third has 2 single twins. There is 1 full bathroom between the master and second bedroom.
There is a private washer and dryer and 1 parking spot in the garage with extra storage for bikes, surfboards and other beach gear.
property availability
Last modified on 12-8-2013 at 7:48 AM.
email owner view full calendar
Burr White Realty 855-817-7910
house rental amenities
Living Room: Couch, Coffee Table, TV
Business: Near Grocery Store, Nearby ATM, Nearby FedEx, Nearby Post Office, Restaurants, Shopping, Near Balboa Pier
Entertainment: Cable Television, DVD Player, TV, Free Wi-Fi
Kitchen: Coffee Maker, Cookware, Dishwasher, Microwave, Oven, Refrigerator, Stove, Toaster, Utensils
Outdoor: Beach Walking, Biking, Boogie Boarding, Lower Outdoor Patio with BBQ, Back Patio, Rollerblading, Sight-Seeing, Surfing, Swimming
Other: Washer & Dryer in Garage, Linens & Towels Included, 1 Parking Spot in Garage
activities and attractions in Newport Beach Los Angeles Area
Attractions: Rollerblading, Biking, Surfing, Swimming, Boogie Boarding, Sun Bathing
Nearby Convenience: Shopping, Restaurants, Bike Rental, Move Theatre, Library, Balboa Pier
1 House From Ocean!
vacation rental rates
Summer High Season: 6/23 - 8/18
Summer Shoulder Season: 5/26 - 6/22 and 8/19 - 9/8
Off Season: 2/1 - 5/25 and 9/9 - 12/31
7 Night Minimum in High Summer Season
Holiday weeks are Thanksgiving week and Christmas week, refer to Summer High Season pricing.
10% tax
$269/departure cleaning (includes sheets for beds & towels for showering)
Must Be 25+ to Rent Property
Available Year Round
Burr White Realty 855-817-7910
accepted payment methods
Prior to paying a reservation deposit, always verify payment instructions by calling the phone number displayed on this listing page. By contacting the owner directly and paying by an approved method - credit card, paypal, check or bank transfer - your reservation payment will be protected up to $1,000.
Learn more in our Security Center


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Adopted by Board of Trustees _ Effective August 30, 1988
These regulations established the policy under which students shall be classified as resident or nonresident for enrollment in courses at Ball State University. A nonresident student shall pay a nonresident fee in addition to fees paid by resident students.
These regulations shall become effective August 30, 1988, and shall govern all determinations of student resident status made on or after that date. However, no student properly classified as a resident student before August 30, 1988, shall be adversely affected by these regulations as long as the circumstances under which he/she was ruled a resident student remain substantially unchanged. A student properly classified as a nonresident student under prior regulations may have his/her resident status redetermined under these rules upon submission of a proper application. However, any such redetermination will not have any retroactive effect with respect to a refund of fees or other charges.
Residence" as a term, or any of its variations (e.g., "resided"), as used in the content of these Regulations, means the place where an individual has his/her permanent home, at which he/she remains when not called elsewhere for labor, studies or other special or temporary purposes, and to which he/she returns in seasons of repose. It is the place a person has voluntarily fixed as a permanent habitation for himself/herself with an intent to remain in such place for an indefinite period. A person at any one time has but one residence and a residence cannot be lost until another is gained. Additionally,
The foreign citizenship of a person shall not be a factor in determining resident student status if such person has legal capacity to remain permanently in the United States, providing such person meets all other requirements to change from nonresident to resident student.
A person classified as a nonresident student may show that he/she is exempt from paying the nonresident fee by clear and convincing evidence that he/she has been a resident (Section I above) of Indiana for the twelve (12) months prior to the first scheduled day of classes of the term in which his/her fee status is to be changed. Such a student will be allowed to present his/her evidence only after the expiration of twelve (12) months from the Resident Qualifying Date, i.e., the date upon which the student commenced the twelve (12) month period for residence. The following factors will be considered relevant in evaluating a requested change in a student's nonresident status and in evaluating whether his/her physical presence in Indiana is for the predominant purpose of attending a college, university, or other institution of higher education. The existence of one or more of these factors will not require a finding of resident student status, nor shall the nonexistence of one or more require a finding of nonresident student status. The fact that a person pays taxes and votes in the state does not in itself establish residence.
All factors will be considered in combination and ordinarily resident student status will not result from the doing of acts which are required or routinely done by sojourners in the state or which are merely auxiliary to the fulfillment of educational purposes.
Ball State University
Office of Controller
Attn: Residency Appeals Board
Muncie, IN 47306


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"Beware the man who doesn't ask you any questions about yourself on your first date."
Related authors
Other Merrill Markoe Quotes
Beware the old man in young guy's clothes. If he's over 35 and comes to pick you up looking as though he's headed for a skateboarding competition while you are dressed to go to a nice restaurant, this is not a good sign.
Merrill Markoe
60% of people like this quote
Beware the cute, hot guy who kind of reminds you of the parent you don't get along with: your cold, distant father who left when you were a kid or your hot-tempered mother whom you could never please.
Merrill Markoe
55% of people like this quote
Conversely, beware the man who does nothing but ask you questions about yourself and offers no information about himself. Not only is he keeping you at bay, he is probably not listening to your answers.
Merrill Markoe
54% of people like this quote
A wacky, trendy outfit on a guy over 40 indicates he's got big issues.
Merrill Markoe
53% of people like this quote


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GiGi Brazilian Bikini Wax Microwave Kit
Join the Conversation
Latasha HendersonWhat Is The Out ComeI would like to know what a brazilian bikini wax looks like. I would like pics if possible. ThanksReply to this postJan 19, 2010Link to this post
LeeJan 19, 2010Link to this post
SallyIngrown HairsDoes Gigi leave ingrown hairs and if and waxing product does how do u get rid of them?Reply to this postJan 19, 2010Link to this post
KelIngrown HairsTo prevent ingrown hairs after waxing: Wait a couple of days after waxing the area to allow your skin to heal and calm down. Then in the shower use a gentle exfoliator(such as a loofah or sponge)where you waxed. Exfoliating will help slough off the dead skin cells that can build up and clog your hair follicles--thus producing ingrown hairs. If you already have one, continue to carefully cleanse the bump and let it heal. If its painful, you can try icing it to decrease inflammation or even crush an aspirin with some water to make a paste and apply to the bump.Feb 25, 2010Link to this post
MtHow OftenI am going to Fla. for spring back, if i get a professional waxing at a salon how often should I wax at home to acheive best reults from now until the end of the summer ??I want to have it done profeesionally first.Reply to this postJan 19, 2010Link to this post
SofieSo You Don't Use A Strip?im so confused ive read the directions about 5 times and i know that no strips are included.....so you dont use any strips or cloth at all? how does that work? i mean the wax hardens a little and you pull of the wax with your hands? (VERY confused)Reply to this postJan 19, 2010Link to this post
-*rbdSo You Don't Use A Strip?Yeah, since this is hard wax you do not need a strip to use it. Warm the wax up, place it on with the applicator (tongue depressor), wait until the wax is less sticky, use some of the oil included in the wax kit peel back some of the hard wax, and pull the rest of it off. The hard wax will not break in that process or be to weak. I hope I explained it so you could understand it. If not just search online for "how to use a hard wax". Good luck! :)Feb 25, 2010Link to this post
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Merry Christmas!
Get FREE eBooks this month during our 12 days of Christmas!
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Language exchange, Help you learn Chinese, Free!
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A really basic hotel with everything you would expect for the price. Friendly staff and a very good breakfast. Near the city centre so quite busy. Nothing to specifically remember. Would certainly stay here again if in the area.
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- Ac Hotels Algeciras
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DePauw wins all four matches at SCAC Divisional
September 28, 2003
BOX SCORES: Centre | Sewanee | Oglethorpe | Rose-Hulman
The Tigers improved to 11-6 overall and 4-0 in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play with four wins at the first SCAC Eastern Divisional.
Complete results are available here. For complete information on SCAC volleyball, please visit the conference's official site.


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February 21, 2011
Jacey Zembal TheWolfpacker.com
HIGH POINT - Click here to watch NC State verbal commit Tyler Lewis in action against High Point Wesleyan. ...More... To continue reading this article you must be a member. Sign Up Now for a FREE Trial
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Quran, Hadith and Knowledge
Summarised extracts from a full article, see resources below, where end notes, references and bibliography are given.
by: Foundation for Science Technology and Civilisation. firstname.lastname@example.com
"Read: In the name of your Lord Who creates - creates man from a clot. Read: And your Lord is the Most Bounteous, Who teaches by the use of the pen, teaches man that which he knew not." Quran 96:105
First and foremost, the Quran, repeatedly calls on the believers to seek knowledge, whilst at the same time it makes a number of observations on phenomena that stimulate intellectual effort such as creation, and the planets. Some verses among many work in this sense:
"Say [unto them, O Muhammad]: Are those who know equal to those who know not? But only men of understanding will pay heed" (39: 9)
"In time, we shall show them our signs [ayatina] in the utmost horizons [of the universe] and within their inner selves until it will be manifest unto them that it is the Truth. Doth not thy Lord suffice, since He is Witness over all things." (41:53)
"And He has subjected to you, as from Him, all that is in the heavens and on earth: behold, in that are signs indeed for those who reflect." (45: 13)
The Quran repeatedly uses the expressions: `Why do they not reflect? Why do they not ponder?' It constantly encourages the use of intellect and invites people to think, investigate and analyse. Muhammad Iqbal argues that by repeatedly reminding mankind to reflect and ponder, the Quran aims to `awaken in man the consciousness of that of which nature is regarded as a symbol.'(endnote 13) And in the words of Al-Faruqi `God created the world and implanted in it His immutable patterns that make it a cosmos. He designed it in a way calling for wonder: perfect, orderly, malleable, its parts causally and theologically bound to one another... He invited man to study and investigate nature, to make the necessary deduction, and thus recognise, worship, and serve Him'.
The Quran calls upon `this widest possible scholarship, confident that men will find Islam's claims for God and His providence, for nature, for man and history, confirmed. It made a point of faith to discern the patterns of God in nature, an act of piety to articulate those patterns correctly and adequately; and an act of charity to teach them to others.'(endnote 14)
There are scores of hadiths (sayings of the Prophet) in which the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) enjoins Muslims to seek knowledge. Here are a couple.
"Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave."
"Seeking Knowledge is a duty upon every Muslim male and female.'
by: FSTC Limited, Sun 01 September, 2002


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Now two days removed from my love letter to college football, and I'm really starting to regret what I wrote.
News broke last night that Dave Clawson, head coach at Bowling Green, has taken the job at Wake Forest. The Orange and Brown gets immediately cast aside for the, what, black and gold? And a wheelbarrow full of cash. The kids that got him there? The kids who led a surprising upset of the 14th ranked Northern Illinois Huskies? Left in the dust. "Have fun at the Pizza Bowl! I'm off to North Carolina!"
Can someone tell me if the hardware shop is even finished printing "Bowling Green Falcons" on the MAC Trophy yet?
Texting a friend of mine who's in the sports management business, he says "When a school calls, they want you immediately. Particularly for recruiting."
I don't buy that for a second. There is no bit of recruiting that can be done between December 9th and December 26th that's going to make a lick of difference. If a school can't wait for you to honor your committment to your current team, then perhaps they're not a school you want to coach for. If they don't care about your loyalty for your kids, then how can you expect them to be loyal to you?
Or maybe Coach Clawson isn't loyal. Maybe he's like so many others who pass through the MAC. Like the city councilman who wants to be mayor, it's just a stepping stone. Willing to toss people aside at a moment's notice for a shot at more.
I don't blame these guys for taking bigger jobs. I honestly don't. But at least do your kids the service of leading them into their bowl. There are plenty of other teams that didn't get that luxury.


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Entries: Round 25
Posted 26 April 2005 - 06:43 PM
"Send me some preserved cheese, that when I like I may have a feast." No disrespect to The Man or anything, but: you can do better. Post your entries here.
Margaret McArthur
"Take it easy, but take it."
Studs Terkel
A sensational tennis blog from freakyfrites
Posted 18 May 2005 - 05:55 PM
Epicurus wrote:
"Send me some preserved cheese, that when I like I may have a feast." No disrespect to The Man or anything, but: you can do better. Post your entries here.
Purple Haze (from Cypress Grove Farm)
Sung to the tune Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix
Purple haze on my plate
Thank God, American cheese just don't seem the same
Smelling yummy, what I just ate
'Scuse me while spread some more
Purple haze with fennel pollen & lavender
Serve it up with cornichons & toasts
Actin' funny, but I don't know why
'Scuse me while I kiss this cheese
Purple haze all around
Don't know if got more in the fridge
Am I happy or just dizzy
Whatever it is that cheese put a spell on me
(well it doesn't neccessarily rhyme, but it works for me (its really great cheese!!!!)
A.L.B. Grimod de la Reyniere
'Almanach des gourmands'
Posted 01 June 2005 - 08:13 AM
liederkranz on my counter
birds die in flight
Water Boils Roughly
Cold Eggs Coagulating
Egg Salad On Rye
Gregg Robinson
Posted 01 June 2005 - 04:10 PM
What is this?! he bellowed towards me, stretching his neck out to the full extent of its four inch length. I wanted exactly, precisely, one ounce of cheese!
I turned from the open door of the refrigerator and saw him in the full display of his rage. His short, pudgy hand arched out with venom. His mouth, jaw, eyes, and infamous eyebrows all worked in unison now, each displaying a quality of dance-like movement all full of anger, distress, and extreme disappointment.
My diet " (as he intoned the holy word, his eyes closed with religious rapture) "requires one ounce of cheese. At this time of day. Each day. Not more, not less! And I must tell you the last time that I broke this rule, the disaster that was Black Monday occurred. What do you think of that?
I saw him wince briefly as he pounded his hand onto the hard wooden butcher-block table with a rubbery smack before continuing his narrative.
It must be one ounce of cheese. It must be a sharp Cheddar. It must hail from Wisconsin or New York State. Ideally, it will come from Liverhat, Wisconsin or Slapsings Folly, New York, These geographic locations are the ultimate prime
meridians for perfect cheese. Never listen to those who say that Fofum Valley in Minnesota or Wompummfat, Oregon has the equal grace in cheesemaking. It is not so!
I raised the five pound block of cheddar from its swaddling of three thicknesses of cellophane wrap, benignly assessing its major charms: a superb orange greasiness; a stench half of skunk and half of wet basement (or maybe more like a dead skunk laying in a wet basement); and a grating finish of aftertaste that stuck your tongue to the roof of your mouth like a bloodsucker to a bare leg in a weed-filled northern lake.
It was my second day on the job as Sous-Chef in the Executive Dining Rooms, and so far I had learned a great deal: Do not arrive for work early, least you be greeted by twelve VIP wanna-bes who suddenly required personalized breakfast cooked for them (ASAP, natch); do not smile at people, for they would then arrive at the kitchen door with winsome doglike little smiles, simpering about how good those cookies were theyd had last week were there any more just laying around?; and finally, never, ever get caught in a conversation with E.G. Peskyfirther, for to do so was to risk your job at the drop of a hat if not at the very least the loss of your sanity. At 6:40 A.M., it seemed to me to be too early for an angry rampage about a dairy products perfect weight, but again, this was E.G. and he had his ways.
I swung the mountain of cheese out of the chill of its refrigerated home and smacked it down onto the chopping block, just missing E.G.s perfectly manicured little round pink fingers that were gripping the grain of the wood just a mere three inches away. E.G. had nothing to fear from me, though, but for a growing willingness to enter into an argument over a bunch of nonsense.
I didnt get any instructions from the Chef about your cheese requirements, Squire. . .uh, I mean Sir I simpered with a tight little smile in his direction as I pulled an eight inch Chinese cleaver from the drawer.
She knows what I need! Where is she? Why were you not told?! he barked and whinnied with all three of his chins quivering.
I began to cut a piece of cheese. Now, Mr. Peskyfirther, I will get you a new piece of cheese, but dont expect it to be cookie-cutter perfect, for I do not have the exact dimensions you require nor do we have a working scale in the kitchen. I will just follow the directions for cheese-paring, I mean cutting, that were printed in this months issue of Tootin Foodies magazine. The article was quite extensive, an entire twelve pages. Surely you read it? I asked, as the knife moved towards the cheese. I looked over at him and grinned with an overbearing solicitous manner. Personally I thought the man needed professional help. His thirty-six million dollars a year in annual compensation (not counting bonuses or profit shares) would seem to argue against this, though. Maybe there was something to this cheese thing.
Hie! he snorted at me, and started to shout out his orders as a small drop of snot started dripping from his nose from the strength of his exclamation. It must be one exact ounce! It must be the shape I always get it in, and dont think you can fool me, young lady!
Well have you all set in just a snap, Master. . .uh, I mean Mr. Peskyfirther. . .for I have one idea in mind here. . .to do my job as best I can. . .to make you happy. . .and to get this cheese back into the refrigerator so that I no longer have to smell it I smoothly replied. I will cut you an ounce of cheese, an amazing and perfect ounce of cheese. Do not doubt me now, for neither I nor the cheese will disappoint you.
His bright red face was glazed with sweat now, he stared with beady eyes as my knife moved.
Now I said I would cut an exact ounce of cheese. I admit that I almost began to giggle as I unwrapped the foil that surrounded the quarter pound of butter, four ounces it said on the package, that I held in my hand. . .but it was a giggle of impending madness. There is no scale here I continued, while hacking at the huge block of greasy orange congealed milkfat that he called cheese, and the Chef said to just guess, if something needed weighing. Could be that I can do better than that. . .lets just see. . .
Placing a chunk of cheese onto the butter wrapper, I sliced it into a chunk along the printed line that said one oz. then took the knife and slid the cheese towards him across the worktable.
Here is your cheese. One exact ounce cut by volume. Please check the reference on your diet. Was it really one ounce of cheese by weight that they required?
His face and eyebrows did not know what to do now. They gnashed and wriggled and shook and started, but no victory sign was attempted with the eyebrows, for he could not decide. What was this that had happened?
Open thine eyes and thou shalt be satisfied with bread! I snapped at him as I swung the refrigerator door closed on the foul beastie of curds called New York Cheddar.
A huge gasping laugh broke from his gaping face as he tottered sideways then grabbed the chunk of cheese and ran for safety away from the kitchen down towards the elegant corner office on the trading floor. Cheese weighed by volume! Ha, ha! Black Monday will never cross my mind again!
Yeah I muttered under my breath as I pulled out the production sheets to begin lunch. An ounce of prevention sure would have been worth a pound of cure in this case. Wouldnt it have been better if your diet had required Reblochon? Then I could have at least respected you.
Edited by Carrot Top, 01 June 2005 - 05:25 PM.
Posted 03 June 2005 - 07:18 PM
The cat climbed up my leg with her claws just barely scraping through my jeans. She lunged up towards my hands. They held a fat square of Velveeta cheese Id just cut from a loaf that was shaped like nothing so much as a 24 K gold boullion cube straight from the Federal Reserve Bank. To this cat, it was as precious as any gold would be to man. She was pregnant, hugely so and she had not eaten in a very long time.
I didnt know that, when I walked into the room with the cheese. It was my first day in the apartment and I hadnt even known there was a cat in the place. The cheese fell from my hands, and I shrieked with mild terror and surprise. The cat grabbed the odd-shaped bit of Velveeta and almost swallowed it whole. She ran towards my legs again, desperate to find more of the manna that had appeared; the manna that would save her and her soon-to-be-born kittens lives.
We stared at each other in a sort of mesmerized shock. She began to mew and demand. Naturally I murmured okay, okay. She ran to the eyedropper-sized kitchen just ahead of me and started to climb my leg yet once again as I began to cut the cheese. It hurt. Quickly, I placed the cheese on a paper bag, for there were no plates to be seen, and practically dropped it on the floor. She inhaled it. An old cracked turquoise plastic bowl in the cupboard was filled with some cool water and she fell upon it, slurping in a little cat-dainty way as if she were a gourmand stranded on a desert isle for many years, and it a fine vintage bottle of wine found in a corner of some far flung cave.
I ate a bit of the cheese myself, along with several pieces of Wonder Bread that I had just bought at Key Food. This was all that I could afford to buy with the money that Id panhandled in the place with the infamous name of Needle Park (though I didnt know that then), all three dollars and forty cents of it. I was fourteen years old. It was my first day in New York as a runaway.
Why would anyone choose to buy Velveeta cheese and Wonder Bread if they only had money for several small food items to buy? I dont know, really. It was not the usual thing that I would have chosen to eat before leaving home, but in the time that had passed since then, and in comparison to some of the other fare Id eaten, it seemed just right. It actually seemed a luxury. It was soft. One could imagine it warm. It was rich and giving. It was wrapped in lovely shiny silver paper that had a sensual feel of heft and assurance inside the bold yellow cardboard box. It seemed so American, so self-assured, so right, so very settled. Those were the promises that Velveeta held for me that day at Key Food in the narrow scuffed aisles. The Wonder Bread, too, was the cheeses friendly partner in its own right, with its wrapper of bright ballooning shapes, printed boldly with the solid promise that it would Build Strong Bodies Twelve Ways. Out in the big world acting as I thought a grownup should, but still yet a child, I longed for that stolid sense of promised security and health; goodwill and sunshine; the American Way.
We shared the bread and cheese, the cat and I and over the next several months became friends and allies against the noisy late night tirades of the other tenant in the apartment, Warren the heroin addict. Warren had been the other surprise, besides the starving cat. Id not been told about either of these inhabitants of the place when an acquaintance had said I could stay there and apartment-sit for her. My friend the tabby cat continued to share the food Id bring home for several weeks, and the kittens were born healthy, four of them, quietly in a corner of the closet in due course.
One day soon after that, the cats owner whisked into town and carried them all away. I moved out of the apartment as quickly as I could afterwards. It was not the same without the cat, the bread, and the cheese. Though all these things were on the far side of elegance a cardboard box of processed cheese spread, a sponge of a wad of tasteless bread, a rangy-looking old cat, none of that mattered the tiniest whit. There was great comfort to be found then and there always will be in a cat, some bread and some cheese.
Edited by Carrot Top, 03 June 2005 - 07:24 PM.
Posted 13 June 2005 - 09:12 AM
Reprinted with permission
August 2005:
The market for cheese has dropped rapidly in the past two months, and is still falling, raising fears among cheese producers that their businesses will no longer be viable. I just cant cut the cheese anymore stated one artisan cheese maker in an interview with the Chronicle. It all started with the Literary Smackdown Contest on that important food and wine website. So very few people bothered to respond to the challenge to write about the subject of cheese that the national media took notice and quickly posted their own stories about the Fall of Cheese how it was no longer in with the Foodie Incrowd.
Sales have been dropping ever since. Ive had to let fourteen of my goats go, I cant use their milk, they are now the neighbors bratty childrens pets what is the world coming to?! Other cheese producers are in agreement with these thoughts expressed, and the cheese world is in a tizzy.
January 2009:
As bio-engineered foodstuffs increase in popularity in the world-wide market, fine cheese continues to fall in sales. Since the discovery of how to grow filet of beef and chicken breasts in the laboratory from one existing cell into thousands of pounds of yield, live animal breeding has decreased. The factors influencing the consumer preference for bio-engineered foods are a) Money lower price of product; b) Health better disease and sanitation controls of product; c) Cultural less inhumane treatment of livestock. The majority of the general public have now come to the point where the slaughter of an animal for food is a crime against nature in their personal value systems; and d) Real Estate farmland freed from farming has been the source of the latest real-estate boom, making millionaires of everyday folk.
May 2015:
Fine Artisan cheese has disappeared almost entirely from the world-wide marketplace. American cheese slices and Cheeze-Wiz are still to be found almost everywhere, and fast food emporiums are the major buyers of these products, incorporating them into almost every one of the recipe items they offer, including desserts and beverages. The Hot Pepper and Cheese smoothie is the new hit of the season at Americas largest fast-food restaurant chain. It is said that artisan cheeses can still be found on-line by joining the latest fashionable clubs, which claim to offer their converts the ancient knowledge that will allow one to prophesize the future through reading cracks and pockmarks in the various cheese varieties they still create. This ancient art is called Tyromancy and has existed since Classical Civilizations flourished on the earth, but had dropped into a neglected phase in the years since.
March 2038:
In this year of a frozen winter, a disaster of unimagined proportions has occurred. A new and unknown virus has found its way into the worlds food sources, all of which are currently bio-engineered and created in laboratories. Meat, chicken, fish, vegetables and fruits have all been infected. Malnutrition is approaching the top levels ever known. People are killing each other for their neighbors pet cats, dogs, and birds in an effort to find something to eat. The zoos are being emptied as they were long ago in wartime, in the long-ago time when people had few scruples over sacrificing an animal for food, but now, picket lines and protesters are attacking each other with weapons over whether or not the animals should be eaten. Scientists are working day and night to try to contain and destroy the virus which has attacked the food source, and are being kept alive themselves to do this task with numerous cans of Cheeze-Wiz.
April 2038:
The virus has still not been contained but there is hope on the horizon. The art of cheese making has not been completely lost to civilization as was previously thought. A sect of Orthodox Jews has come forth from the veiled privacy of their culture to offer the world a chance to learn this lost art. They have been saving the knowledge of how to make artisan cheese in the ways that Christian Monks saved knowledge during the previous Dark Ages. It was vitally important to their culture to do so, as it would have been impossible for them to follow their religious edicts without the daily act of keeping dairy and meat separate. If dairy did not exist (as it has not, in the recent past number of years) they would not be able to act in the manner which they believed was right. The loss of sacred ritual in day to day life was not to be lost to them, so they quietly raised cattle and maintained the art of cheese-making for their own use, and have now come forth to offer this knowledge to the world. Teams of scientists from every part of the earth are racing to these small farms to learn the ways of producing cheese, so that the world will no longer suffer. A cultural renaissance is underway, and all because of cheese!
June 2040:
Black Market cheese continues to demand a high price as artisan cheese-makers continue to develop new products. Most of the populace is happily re-growing their lives on the generic Swiss Cheese that is being manufactured by the ton while the virus that decimated the worlds food source is still being contained. It is said that Black Market chickens are available in some areas of West Virginia. What is next? The ancient food called The Hamburger made from a freshly slaughtered steer? Time will tell
Edited by Carrot Top, 13 June 2005 - 09:16 AM.
Posted 13 June 2005 - 11:44 AM
Posted 18 June 2005 - 05:48 PM
History has shown us many examples of the ways in which cheese has been a strategic part of society and culture. How often have we looked back in time with awe at the way Hannibal was able to lead an army of elephants into Ancient Rome over mountainous terrain, wondering at the marvelous fact that we now have finally realized that the elephants were moving solely to escape the aromatic breaths of the soldiers behind them, breaths that were perfumed with the odiferous combination of aged goat cheeses, raw garlic, and garum. The legendary beauty of Cleopatra can also be traced to the power of cheese, as we have recently discovered the secret recipe that she used for her daily facials camels milk cream cheese whipped by hand with lemon and olive oil, applied and allowed to work its magic for at least the time that it would take for one or two slave dances every evening. The magic of Leonardo da Vinci was touched by cheese also, as scholarly investigation has found that each of his personal paint recipes included a tiny grating of Parmesan cheese to add texture and a certain golden hue to the colors and of course many important pianists around the world will admit to the fact that a quick rub down of the piano keys with a fresh slice of mozzarella di bufalo does wonders where fast fingering is required in the score.
There are so many more ways in which cheese can enhance our daily existence on earth besides the usual, commonplace one of placing it in our mouths, moving it around between our teeth and tongue, moaning a bit in pleasure (or, in the case of some goat cheeses, choking in bitter shock) and swallowing it for caloric sustenance. According to the type of cheese, one can accomplish so many daily acts of life with so much more pleasure within the simple acts and an even greater sense of accomplishment.
Each type of cheese has its own abilities and offerings. Some of these are listed below for those who would wish to further their education in fromagerie scholararie to experience a more fruitful and pleasant way of life.
Brie: A large round of Brie is a better bed pillow than one can imagine, unless you have already tried it. The velvety texture of the rind is smoother and softer than brushed silk, and has the additional benefit of reducing lines and wrinkles on the face by constant application of vitamins and phosphates which are inherent in the cheese. Ones head is cradled gently, almost hugged by the soft diaphanous cheese, and the nights dreams are accompanied by the gentle scent of warmed Brie (with walnuts or olives, depending on your personal food philosophy) which is not a bad thing at all, at all.
Cheddar: Aged cheddar has been proven to be an excellent material out of which to make childrens toys. The younger the child, the better, for when they have finished playing with the toy and are bored, they can simply eat it with no complaints. Some of the toys which cheddar is good for are: small building blocks; dolls (use raisins for the eyes and celery for the arms and legs); and any sort of building system such as Lego or Erector sets. Cheddar can also be used to replace computer keys which children have broken off.
Swiss: What can not be made of a slice of Swiss cheese?! Lay it out and dry it a bit, then use a hole-punch along the edges. It can then be sewn into any fashion one can desire, from leggings to hats. The clothing never needs laundering, simply a wipe with a damp cloth or an occasional rub-down with a bit of mayonnaise for a pleasing shine.
St. Andre: St. Andre is the best massage cream one can imagine. Skin is left glowing and fragrant, particularly after the bite and tongue marks go away from the removal process.
These are only a few of the ideas that cheese offers us today. Many more can be found by simply opening up the box, breathing in deeply of the cow-and-vinegar smell, and allowing your imagination to flow. Remember what Brillat-Savarin said: A meal without cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye. Carry that thought through your day, and enjoy!
Posted 29 June 2005 - 08:09 PM
Walking into the house that was set in the working class section of Bridgeport, Connecticut it might seem as if you were entering a maze. An amusement park perhaps, the back part where the tricky things were kept that were used to amuse the crowds, the things that were made of bits of strong cloth and even stronger bits of metal, the clutter of odd shaped paraphernalia that just made one feel as if the Wizard of Oz must be around somewhere, if not a midget or a dwarf or the Snake Lady some sort of person that would induce amazed wonder.
Follow through to the end of this somewhat claustrophobic hall and you would enter directly into the kitchen. And there she was. She did not induce any sort of wonder in the way she looked. Standing about four feet eight inches tall, Josephine had grey hair pulled back, always pulled back but for when she would retire at night. Then the hair would cascade down her back in a total surprise of rebellion, the image reminding one that the old were once young and that the young will become old as sure as any thing can be on this earth. Her hair that was daily rolled into its bun suited her, though, for she was a direct no-nonsense woman that had lived well and with full health into her seventies.
The kitchen was where Jo existed. You could find her other places once in a while in the garden outside in the lot that was set to the side of this house that had raised a family of six children, four boys and two girls all somehow surviving and growing in three bedrooms. You might find her once a year or so at church. But the rest of the time, all the time, you would find her in her kitchen. There, this tiny, uneducated, unpretensious woman was Queen.
Jo cooked every day of her life. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Seven days a week, no respite. Nobody else would dream of approaching the kitchen to cook, not only because she was Queen but because nobody wished to go even one meal without tasting the food she and she alone could make. Her daughters had been taught to cook, and her sons a bit too but never was the savor the same. It was not the ingredients, for they were the same. It was not the methods, for the methods she used were nothing if not basic. It was not the equipment nor the weather nor the mood of the person nor anything, anything at all that could be found to answer the question Why? It was just Josephine. Josephine was not an artist with the food, no. Not unless you believe that what an artist does is to somehow transport love into their works. For that is what Josephine did, and that was the taste that filled the mouths of those who were lucky enough to partake of it. Jos food was love, made real enough to eat.
Hey, hey! her small high-pitched Italian-accented voice would warm one as they entered the kitchen, her kitchen, her kingdom. Whatre you doing? Sit down, sit down, here, eat! And you would not have a choice. It did not matter if you were hungry or not, for the food would appear before you on the table that was cluttered with a zillion things as she bustled busily in the six foot space between sink and stove and refrigerator. You would have to perch on the kitchen chair and then enter into the world of busy conversation, half in Italian and half shouted in laughing English and bowls and plates and pots of food, food that said love, food that would send you into a place of deep contentment and childlike passivity.
What did she cook? Nothing new .nothing too expensive or finessed, that is for sure. This food was prepared on a shoestring, but that shoestring could tie the world together, and do it beautifully. There were roasts seasoned with garlic and fresh herbs, endless platters of strange bitter vegetables of all shades of green, some from the garden, some from the market and some picked at the side of the road. There were small glasses of strong homemade wine with larger glasses of tepid water served in a cacophony of different designs of glassware to wash it down. There was polenta and rice and pasta, always with some sort of ururu or ragu, the tomato sauce that filled the house with the aromas that only a long-simmering, meat-and-herb seasoned tomato sauce can give, the aromas that hint of bright sunshine and laughter, the ease, simplicity and suppleness of the Latin way of life.
But there was one thing that Jo used in her cooking in almost every dish. One magic ingredient beyond and besides the love that proved inimitable. Cheese. Cheese of all sorts and varieties was pinched or shaken or grated onto almost everything. Never was it slathered or piled or used to add the cloying overpowering richness that could deceive one into believing the dish was good, simply based on the pure cheese-y richness of it. It was always a counterpoint, an accent. It was the feather in her cap.
Homemade ricotta was whipped into a soft puff then poured over macaroni with a ragu sauce, the creamy cool whiteness of the cheese seeming like a gathering of angels hovering over and protecting, aiding and abetting the spicy sauce and heavy pasta lowering below it waiting for its touch. Grana padano fell like golden tears into the rich chicken broths that were filled with whatever happened to appear that day bitter greens, double-yolked eggs, fresh peas, rice it melted just enough to allow that the tears that it was were now gone, that all was right with the world, all in this bowl of golden soup. Slices of grainy Provolone were layered into potato gratins, the earthiness of the potatoes somehow being made to seem more real, more solid, more powerful, with the addition of the cheese.
The book has not been written yet of Josephines recipes. Would it be possible? Would the recipes, even so closely written and carefully detailed, even filled with memories, would these recipes ever be able to do what they claimed to bring Jos love into reality again, in the form of a bite taken of a fine dish of food?
It is not possible to know the answer to that question. But there is one thing that any cook who wishes to dish up a plate of love to eat
can be sure of. Add a bit of cheese to your recipe, gracefully and carefully, as if it were a kiss on the top of a childs nose. The love will be tasted.
Posted 29 June 2005 - 08:15 PM
I have been a distracted and absent Dark Lady. I apologize. Smack 'em down fast: the panel of judges will deliberate on Saturday.
Margaret McArthur
"Take it easy, but take it."
Studs Terkel
A sensational tennis blog from freakyfrites
Posted 02 July 2005 - 05:33 AM
Jos food was love, made real enough to eat.
Homemade ricotta was whipped into a soft puff then poured over macaroni with a ragu sauce, the creamy cool whiteness of the cheese seeming like a gathering of angels hovering over and protecting, aiding and abetting the spicy sauce and heavy pasta lowering below it waiting for its touch. Grana padano fell like golden tears into the rich chicken broths that were filled with whatever happened to appear that day bitter greens, double-yolked eggs, fresh peas, rice it melted just enough to allow that the tears that it was were now gone, that all was right with the world, all in this bowl of golden soup.
Lovely. Just wonderful. As is the entire story of Josephine. I had skipped the thread for some time, having seen the same name as last poster several times, thinking it was the same piece, but came back today for a re-reading of the entire thread, and encountered the several pieces, of which this is the definite winner.
And I suspect that, despite your verbs, it was in the garden that she EXISTED. It was in the kitchen that she LIVED.
And the flavour you imagine will come streaming from the spout.
Fairy Tea
My Blog--Thanksgiving and Goodwill
Posted 04 July 2005 - 05:35 PM
In the Name of Love
Over the years, Michael had developed the habit of disappearing for a day or two here and there. It was not that he really disappeared, for he did keep in touch with his family and his place of work. . .but it was a fact that nobody really knew where he went. His boss and co-workers thought he was at home. His wife and children thought he was away on business. This had gone on for many years before the first hint of his secret life leaked out. It was discovered by his secretary, one day when his wife called work to get the phone number of the hotel where he was staying, for she had misplaced it. The secretary was stunned into silence by the request, but in a record-quick recovery time of one and a half seconds, she collected herself. She realized what was really going on, for some of her own weekends and evenings were spent with a certain married man in a nearby hotel, while her own husband believed her to be working. In an instant, she calmly spoke, following the code of those who dissemble, the code that says, Bend truth for others as well as for oneself for one never knows when a backup falsehood will be needed in return.
Oh! Didnt you get his e-mail? It must have gotten lost in cyberspace. The hotel was booked up when he arrived, and he had to go find another one. Its quite busy there right now. . . convention time, you know. Im sure he will let us know as soon as he locates another room! Janice smilingly said to his wife. And as soon as she hung up the phone, she hit the keys on the computer quickly, sending him an e-mail telling him that his wife was trying to get in touch with him. She hoped that he would check his e-mail. And that was all that was ever said of it between them.
Time went on, years passed. Life was the usual routine with Michael and his family. He continued his disappearances, and nobody knew the better, for his secretary was uninterested and his wife had been lulled into the usual calm of accepting his word as good. She had received an e-mail from him shortly after that phone call several years ago, an e-mail that told her he had moved to a new hotel for the duration of the trip, and he gave her the phone number where he could be reached. The children grew, the family prospered in a quiet way, albeit sometimes in a lonely way for Emelie, his wife, for his business trips became more frequent and the house was often empty but for her and the children. It became so that the children did not even ask after their father anymore, for he was more of a figurehead than a real, live person to them.
It was on a hot sunny Sunday afternoon that the phone call came, the phone call that tore this mundane, normal world apart into tiny shreds for them all. Emilie picked it up and heard the womans voice asking for Michael. He is not here right now. May I take a message?
Emilie asked politely.Yes, thank you the voice replied over the line. This is Hodges Real Estate. I wondered if he had found an apartment yet. If not, I have something to show him and his friend.
Emilies heart stopped for a brief second. The world did actually spin when this sort of surprise was sprung on one, she said to herself. But no, it could not be. It must be a mistake. Wrong phone number, mistaken identity. Uh. . .you wanted to leave a message for Michael Upsyring? Michael J. Upsyring? she breathed out into the receiver, hoping that the whole thing was a mistake.
Yes, I hope it is okay. He did not want to leave a phone number but I was just so sure that this apartment is right for those two that I searched the internet to find it from the rental application he filled out with our company. He and Miss Dabnurt were just here last week. May I leave a message? asked the caller with hope, the neverending hope for a rental fee in her pocket that could pay off her credit card bills.
Miss Dabnurt? Oh. Yes. Okay. Yes, please leave your number. I will see that he gets the message Emilie blurted out with her best attempt at control of her emotions. She jotted down the number and hung up.
Now what? she thought as she paced the room trying to sort out what was happening, what on earth could be happening here. Her heart was pounding out of her chest as she reached again for the telephone to dial Michaels cellphone number.
Hello! Michael responded in his usual overbearingly charming way after picking up on the third ring. Michael. . .uh. . .listen. Listen carefully Emilie choked out into the receiver. The cat is out of the bag. I know what is going on. I want to hear it from your ears, though. I know about your apartment hunting. And who you are doing it with. What is going on?
There was a dead silence on the other end of the phone. Emilie spoke again, trying not to cry, for to burst into tears would allow his power over her, and that was something she had no wish to do now, at this moment, and perhaps never again. Michael! Tell me! I have never done anything to hurt you. I have always been by your side. But I need to know what is going on!
Michael spoke slowly but his voice was strained. What do you mean? What are you talking about? Nothing is going on! Youre crazy! What makes you think something is going on?
Tell me the truth. Or I will find it out myself, said Emilie. Yet he continued in his protestations. Then he became aggressively verbal and loud, asking Emilie, Who told you this? And with that, she knew. She knew it was true.
Now it was her turn to flatten the air with leaden, heavy, endless silence. The moments seemed like endless hours, like eternity, like she had floated into space somehow, a space where it was dark, cold, heartless, and empty of anything at all. Her voice left her body of its own accord to answer him.
Ill tell you who told me. . .if you tell me the truth. And that is the only way you will find out. Now tell me, she droned in deadened tones. Im going to kill myself! Michael spoke suddenly in a panicked tone. Im just going to kill myself! Okay she replied in the voice that spoke on its own, the voice that was low and flat and so unlike her usual tones. But why dont you tell me about it first.
And so he did.
Arent you going to make me something to eat? Michael asked boldly in a semblance of his usual charm, his winning smile now making his face look like it belonged to a crocodile. Get real, Michael. Make it yourself. Emile replied as she passed him on the stairs on his return home. But Emilie! You always cook for me! You are the best cook in the world! And I just complimented you on your new hairstyle! What is wrong with you? Michael asked beseechingly in his always-slightly-demanding way. Emilie could not believe her ears. He had admitted to the fact that he was sharing an apartment with another woman. . and here he was asking for dinner to be cooked for him upon his arrival home? Simply because he complimented her hair? Really, the man was living in another world.
Michael. Tell me that you will get rid of the apartment. Tonight. You should not be there, and neither should she. It is wrong. Then, there might be a chance I would cook you something, but really. Your attitude is outrageous! she said levelly. Otherwise, we will be looking at a divorce.
He stopped walking and turned around. Please. No. I dont want a divorce. Please. We have something together. But I can not get rid of the apartment or her. I just cant. Please. Listen. There must be something wrong with me, for Ive done this before. Three years ago, when we lived in North Carolina. I did the same thing, but then I did leave the woman. I left her without telling her I was leaving or where I was going. I just disappeared after having the same sort of relationship with her for two years. There is something wrong with me, I tell you! I need help! Emilie felt she was going to be sick. Turning away from him, she walked to the bedroom that she would never again share with him, and there she drowned in tears, in gulps of desperate air, being shocked by a battering of comets of shock and pain and disbelief. Her world, her whole world of the past ten years, had been a lie.
Months passed and still Michael could not bring himself to rid himself of the apartment and the woman. When he visited Emilie and the children, he slept in the basement den. . . and those visits became fewer and further apart. The children rarely asked about their father anymore, and when he appeared with a big crocodile smile and armloads of gifts from the toy store to gain their appreciation, they tore open the gifts and were made happy for the fifteen minutes it took to toss them around a bit. Then they walked away from him back to Emilie. He saw the slight look of disdain in their eyes. For his money did not hug them. It did not tuck them in at night or watch over them. It did not make them good things to eat nor did it fuss over them in all the moments of the day. His money and his gifts had no eyes to look into, no face to look up at in respect. It was cold, and it was selfish. And so they grew away from him.
The divorce eventually was finalized and life went on. It was six months later that Emilie picked up the phone again to hear another shocking message. This time, it was the state police. Michael had been in an automobile accident. Michael and the woman. They were both declared dead upon arrival to the hospital.
Sorry, guys, but we have to do this. Emile quietly said to the children as she unlocked the apartment door in the faraway city where their father had lived his secret life. Weve got to go through Daddys stuff and sort it out. There is nobody else to do it, and he was your father. The door opened, and they all stood back, eyes blinking in disbelief. The apartment was filled with refrigerators, of all sorts. There were big stainless steel ones and smaller old white ones. There were clear pass-through boxes and it seemed that one wall had two walk-in boxes built into it. Emilie backed out of the door. Uh. . .gee. . .maybe we should not do this right now. Not right now, anyway. Lets go get something to eat instead, huh? for she could not imagine this sight. What was in all those refrigerators? It was just too too weird. She would call the police for help. They could investigate while she took the children back to the hotel.
The world was just as amazed as Emilie to find out what was in those refrigerators. It was cheese. Cheese of every sort imaginable, cheese from all over the world, cheese catalogued to perfection and in loving detail. Each whole cheese had two round holes in it where two round paring tools had been used to remove two small bites. One for him and one for her. All in the name of love.
And when the will was probated and the sale of this fabulous collection completed at auction by Sothebys, Michaels children and probably even their children were made wealthy by the sale. And why, how, did all this happen? It was all in the name of love. Cheesy love.
Edited by Carrot Top, 04 July 2005 - 08:20 PM.
Posted 05 July 2005 - 12:06 PM
Were hurling through outer space at a rate of 23,000 miles an hour. Im in the cockpit of the ship we call the white Cadillac, due to the nasty smell that lingers from a decade of missions conducted by that pointy nosed tannin calquing Earth freak. It sucks to imagine the late great Capitain Fodorum, lecturing us with his lisping condescending earth wise extra stellar fungal knowledge. Muenster is one of the most glorious of semi-soft cheeses in odour and texture when allowed to affine properly I remember his shrill pompous whining, his enormous nostrils staring at me as if inviting me to search them like craters in an asteroid for fosselin life as I contemplated the jock strap ammoniac accosting my senses in every nook and cranny of this vessel, knowing that one day it would be mine. But that is the past now. The ship is indeed mine as of three days ago.
I managed to negotiate this post, yes, but the question is, how am I going to get rid of the organisms that allowed me to get it in the first place? These pesky fungal entities are murder to eliminate from a retro disto oxygen mix reconditioning system like the one weve got. The built in bugs have long fallen out of whack due to his vile habits, I am talking the odor is not going to be eradicated unless we radiate the ship at Neo New Laos Century Station and introduce some new bugs. I dont think I have the budget to do it. I know this is the reason I even got this ship to begin with, I should be thankful.
Since were on the way, Im thinking we can make a stop at Epoisse Enorme, the one place that will definitely have a huge contingent of fungal scrape dealers on hand to at least let us recuperate some of the losses that were going to incur with the radiation thats going to be required. As much as I hate those seething smelly Earth freaks, they do pay a fortune to fill their petri dishes with rare specimens, and this ship is the paragon of nasty, many of them originating from the grand Terra him or herself. Problem is in order to get the big cash, I have to prove I can fess up the real goods. Therefore we are going to have to corrupt the big Fos cheese cave which apparently was bequeathed to some disease loving inter stellar association. God. Was really hoping that we could just eject it at Present Boomerorbital Depository. I know the stuff is valuable but for the life of me I cant understand why in outer galaxys name we have to endure such vile nastiness, and why the hell they want it.
The reason why I have been appointed Captain of this ship is because I am a positive thinker. And for this reason, we are going to stop off at Epoisse and let those stinking hippies scrape just about anywhere they want. And they can have a cheese party too, plus Ill thow in as much of that rotted fruit extract the big F kept blocking the holds as they are willing to take. It will be excellent to get rid of it all.
Posted 06 July 2005 - 08:35 PM
No, I absolutely refuse! Susannah quietly responded, trying to keep her temper under wraps. When I started this company, it was about being the best at what we did. . . it was about creating something beautiful. . .something that could command respect, something that would be pure and wonderful! What you are suggesting is sheer paltry kowtowing to profit. I wont agree to it. It can not be done!
The seven board members kept their eyes on the fine polished table, some doodling on yellow pads mindlessly, others twisting slightly back and forth in the soft black leather chairs on hidden wheels, making them look somewhat like a group of four-year-olds, made to sit at lunch a bit too long by some strict kindergarten teacher when really they just wanted badly to go out and play.
Listen, Susannah, this is it. Jeff, sitting at the end of the table with his tousled brown hair and small rectangular glasses, wearing a Ben & Jerrys T-shirt, spoke. This is the end of the company unless we make this change now, today. We should be glad that Reuben came up with the idea, really! Because otherwise it is the end. No more cheese. No more company. No more jobs for everyone weve hired over the years. The budget is kaput, the profits are flat, and there is nowhere to turn. Susannahs Kaese, as a company, is done.
And you want me to agree to rename the company Susannahs Sexy Shmears? You want the product to be re-developed into these two lines of Grrrrrr Gorilla Grappling Cheese for men and "Shhhh Shivers Sassy Cheese for women?! It not only wont work, but it is against everything we ever aimed for! Susannah stood up and threw her pencil on the table, barely missing the tofu dip that was placed there, surrounded by pita chips and mini-veggies. You guys are a bunch of idiots. I refuse to agree! And with that, she stormed out of the room, her long grey-blond hair swinging angrily.
Jeff cleared his throat and wiped a spot of dip off his chin. Sorry, everyone. His voice was tremulous as he looked around at the others, who were all, like him, in casual attire, and who now were also chomping on veggies and tofu. But it is time to vote, as you well know. Susannah will have to live with it. I am sure that she will see that we are right.
The launching of the new gender-specific cheese products was a publicists dream. These products appealed to such a wide market. . .it was difficult to find anyone that did not want a piece of what they offered in a bite of cheese. What marvelous properties they could confer! An aura of sexual confidence. . .a claim to be an independent thinker. . .and the aspect of being knowledgeable about fine food.
Susannah finally had to admit that the company was doing better than ever before, and that their audience seemed well pleased. She had taken to traveling around the country doing cheese parties (for groups
that could afford the very high booking fee) and the Ben & Jerrys t-shirt had been replaced with Prada from head to toe. And why not? She told herself. This was what she had wanted to do from the very beginning. . .make people happy!
One thing bothered her, though, but she tried not to think of it very much. The recipe for the new cheeses had never been known
to anyone except certain key people in the factory who were bound by law not to speak of it by Jeff. He claimed to have developed it based on his scientific research into pherenomes and did not want his secret recipes to be reproduced by anyone else. She put her worries out of her mind, though, as she slipped into the newest pair of shoes shed just picked up on Madison Avenue.
Just how the truth about the recipes leaked out nobody ever really knew. Everyone involved had a different story, and none could be confirmed or denied completely. But it had leaked out, and it spelled doom for the company. Why? Because it turned out that there was absolutely no difference between the Grrrr Gorilla cheese and the Sassy Shivers cheese but for a bit of hot red pepper and some cilantro in the first and a hint of mint and fenugreek in the second. There was nothing at all in either of the cheeses that had to do with pherenomes. It was all a marketing hoax. After the Wall Street Journal reported the story on its first page, with a drawing of Jeff and Susannah looking unconcerned, sales fell drastically and class-action lawsuits were considered by at least fifteen different groups.
As Susannah entered the same room with the same group of men sitting around the table today, they did not look happy, again. The same men, now dressed in close-fitting clothes from Milan, now doodled with their Tiffany pens on their leather-bound notebooks. But the feelings were the same, the attitude was the same, and it seemed again that Susannah would be the same, for she was angry.
You bunch of flibbertigibbets! You dawdling apes! What on earth made you think you could pull this off?! This time she did not speak calmly but she shrieked, as is appropriate when clothed head to toe in Prada. This time, it will be my way. This time, you will see truth win out and our company will be saved! The men nodded unhappily, for nobody else had any ideas, besides to file for bankruptcy, of course. We will call our cheese Earth Cheese she continued. It will speak to all the good things of the earth. People will think of great pastures of golden grain, of mountains capped with clear white ice, of streams glittering with dancing fish, and all this will lead to thoughts of happy cows and to cheese that will yield health and good nature to whomever eats it. And so it was done. The companys future was secured with Susannahs idea of Earth Cheese, just as it had almost been broken before with what at the time was the tremendously popular Grrrrr Gorilla cheese and Sassy Shivers cheese. The world had been united in its hunger for this new cheese and in its adoration for the idea of it and for its taste.
What was the taste? That recipe was never revealed either, but strangely enough, nobody has ever been able to tell the difference between it and the usual yellow American cheese slices.
Go figure.
Posted 12 July 2005 - 02:28 PM
From Your Personal Cheesey Astrologer
Moira is here, cheese-lovers! Listen up and then bite right in!
Watch out for the Moon as it enters the path of Aries this week. There could be enough fire to toast your Kasseri! (I do so hope you all took the opportunity that presented itself last week for Bacchanal picnics, so encouraged by Virgo standing still for a brief moment in the sky!)
Here are your recommendations for the week to come. Remember, follow the stars when it comes to your cheese. It could change your life in drastic and unimaginable ways!
Aries the Ram: Aries, now dont get too excited, but Cabrales is waiting for you. Your equally strong and demanding characters will meld into quite a match! Be sure to remember to wipe the crumbs from your mouth as you finish eating the entire pound youll be buying, for your companions do so enjoy hearing you define and clarify all things in the world for them endlessly!
Taurus the Bull: Taurus, if you can rouse yourself from the dreams of the nice-looking girl or guy that is across the room, take your dreamy eyes right to the cheese store and place them on that traditional 40 pound cylinder of Cheddar. This sturdy, solidly yellow, conventionally pleasurable cheese will calm you down momentarily from the seemingly endless lust for love that fills you. . .and the nice huge 40 pound size of the entire cheese will satisfy your urge for stability and freedom from worry.
Gemini the Twins: Ah, twisted little Gemini! How confused can you get with all the options out there?! Stand still for just a moment and stare into the sky. Cant you see it? Cant you just see what the stars are telling you? With your vivid imagination, I am just so sure that you can, sweetie. Quark, quark! they are crying. Yes, you do hear them, dont you? So do go straight to the store and grab a container of Quark and chow down. Little bites, please, now. The gentle softness of intelligence that Quark holds does so much to make your own intelligence glow!
Cancer the Crab: This week you can prove to all your sensitivity and probity, Cancer. And at the same time show them all how very different you are from them all, all those poseurs. Gaperon is your recommendation for this weeks taste. Just hold your breath as you bite into the garlic imbued savor, and remember what is was like, on the bottom of the sea whence you came from in ancient times.
Leo the Lion: Stop brushing your hair for a moment, please. No, turn this way and take that eye off the mirror, Leo, for I have the perfect, I mean perfect, just as you like it, cheese for you. Cornish Yarg. You do like the way it sounds, dont you! Yarg. Yarg. Ah, who else would be so quietly brave as to dive into a bit of nettle-covered Yarg but you, Leo! Show your friends truly what a leader you are!
Virgo the Virgin: Celestial rumor has it that you are not easily pleased, dear Virgo. Whatever is presented to you must not be too sharp, too soft, too hard, too wet, too dry, too crunchy nor too out-of-date. A cheese with a style is the cheese for you, and we will attempt to assure that it will not offend. For you sure can go on forever, complaining about things. Taleggio. Beautiful (and rich! Rich! A bonus for you!) Taleggio will surely calm your nerves and settle things down for a moment or two. Do try it!
Libra the Scales: Please stop smiling for a moment, Libra. I havent even said anything yet and there you are with that silly grin on your face that you think will charm me. And try to sit up rather than lazing on the couch in that lazy way. Are you ready? Explorateur, darling.
Need I say more? Venus Rules.
Scorpio the Scorpion: Your intellectual demands require a special sort of cheese, Scorpio. One that is as different and individual in its own way as you are. Sexy Sapsago is the one. If you can find someone, anyone, to share this cheese with you, you have found a true friend and perhaps a love. Try not to be too critical of them if they faint upon the first bite. Nothing but a Scorpios intensity could melt this cheese.
Sagittarius the Archer: Happy Sagittarius, here is the cheese that will make you stop talking for a minute! Reblochon. Find a friend or two or twenty, call them all up and share it! The party has begun, and you are the star, for sensual Reblochon is by your side!
Capricorn the Goat: Contemptuous you may be of all earthy things, Capricorn, as you work conscientiously toward the higher things of life.
It is good to remember that even the sturdy goat needs to be nurtured on its steady path up the mountain. I advise Vacherin Mont dOr. Full of a quiet beauty that will beckon you closer, the herby taste will remind you of your original home on the hills between the high fir trees. Keep a stiff upper lip, Capricorn, and do give it a try!
Aquarius the Water Bearer: Who cares if it sounds weird, right Aquarius? Who cares if nobody else wants to try it? You know what you want, and you dont give a damn if it sounds like a water cooler bubbling in distress. Gubeen is the cheese for you. Gubeen. Say it loud and say it proud! Damn right, both you and your cheese are full of character!
Pisces the Fish: Pisces. Pisces, I am calling you! PISCES! Stop dreaming and listen for a minute here. You will be hungry soon. You will be hungry for something sweet, something salty, something pleasant and something everything. Try to find your way out of the house and get over to the cheese shop. Write down this word before you go, so you will not forget: Gjetost. It can only make you that much sweeter than you already are. Try it.
That is it for this weeks tastes. Remember, when your cheese fits your stars, the stars shine round you. Enjoy! Enjoy!
Posted 22 July 2005 - 05:43 PM
Hope you don't mind my trying to rid myself of them. . .here's another cheesey story.
Despatch from the Front
It wasnt all that long ago that this began, but nevertheless I have a sure sense that the end is near. Its my impassioned hope that this quickly told story will reach your ears, so that someone will know the truth, and remember me, should the worst really happen.
The first thing that hit my consciousness was how very dark it was. Impenetrable darkness surrounded me, a darkness that was like nothing I had ever experienced. As my mind tried to grasp what was happening, suddenly I felt that there were others like me near, everywhere in the solid midnight blackness. Yet I could hear nothing. It was just a feeling of being with others that were the same as me, all of us floating in a vague and quiet fearful unknowing.
In a quick movement, the pressure began to move us all forward, slowly, from behind us. It began to build. It pushed against the darkness like a wind from the north, tossing us forward, tumbling us together in a gathering force of confusion and panic. All was still quiet, though. There was no way of understanding at all what this was that had reached into the inky reality to throw us haphazardly and fearfully towards an unknown destiny.
In the next moment, it seemed like a huge hand had reached to squeeze the air and life from me. For a split second there was a compression of everything I knew, and then an explosion.
Where I had landed I did not know. It was bright, brighter than any sun one could imagine. It was chill as ice. There was still no hint, no clue of what was going on. I could not see. . .the world was a blank to me but for these impressions. Still, it felt as if I was not alone. . .but that there were many others like me very close. A tossing around began again. We were being transported somewhere. With a final sense of dizziness, we were then thrown down a tunnel into a grey cave with corners hard as metal.
Something entered the cave, moving among us with a sure intent. It felt like a chemical weapon of some sort. I gasped, and felt myself changing, altering, becoming something completely different than myself. I fought, but to no avail. A firm, solid angry pressure then came down upon me, and now I feel the end is near. Remember me with this tale, please. . .and let others know. I was milk. Now, I fear. . that I will be cheese.