And we're off!

To the States . . . to see family, be Oma and Opa in person, enjoy some sun and sand, and maybe even drink a bona fide margarita or two!

Tot ziens :)

PS  Happy Mother's Day to all you magnificent mothers out there!

Babelutten

Boy, have we been missing out!  

This may be the best candy I've ever eaten.  It's called babelutten and it's a bit like taffy and caramel only a lot better.  

These particular candies are made at a confiserie (French for confectionery) in Brugge, Belgium.  Started by August Verheecke, it has been in business since just after WWI.    

The original babelutte candy began in Belgium with Mother Babelute (aka Rosalie Desmedt).  She began making the candy in 1850 when she and her husband , a carpenter, moved to the Belgian coastal town of Heist.  

The recipe was passed down from Rosalie's mother - made from unrefined sugar, butter and glucose and cooked over an open fire.

More than 150 years later, the treats are a Belgian tradition on the coast and symbolize a holiday at the seaside.

According to their website, babelutte is the "Frenchification" of the word babblers which means the same thing in English - someone who talks too much.  

And naturally, like every single label in all of Belgium, it's in Dutch and French . . .

echte = real in Dutch

véritable = real in French

I am anxious to make another trip to Heist, Belgium on the North Sea and try one of Mother Babelutte's.  It can't possibly be better than these.

I got a few extra to share :)

Sushirama

Last weekend we went out for sushi.  It was a lot of fun, but I always have a hard time finding something on the menu because I don't want to eat raw fish.  Of course that's the whole point of sushi, but not for me.

So I go with the veggie just to be safe.  It was really good despite each piece being nearly too big to fit in my mouth.

Sushi is Japanese and usually consists of vinegared rice and raw meat or seafood.  Important note when looking at a sushi menu - raw meat served by itself is sashimi.  You've probably heard of a California Roll even if you don't know a thing about sushi.  It's not actually Japanese, it's American, of course!

We decided we could do just as well or better than the restaurant and I think we did.

The sticky rice is very sticky, but a little water on the fingers helps a lot.  We filled them with cucumber, carrot, green onion and either smoked salmon or fried shrimp.

Those sheets are called nori and are actually a type of algae!

They definitely ended up nearly too big for my mouth again, but they were really good too. That looks like a lot (and it was), but we ate every one!

Make your own sushi - I recommend it.

Square One, Full Circle

I got my year off to a good start with a near-constant hair trial.  Perhaps better labeled as trial and error.

Amazingly, it only took 15 tries to come full circle.  That comes to one product every 7.3 days and I'm back at square one.

I do not recommend this.

Mercifully, I still have a head full of hair.

Jim wondered if I'd learned anything.  I hope so, but sometimes I'm a slow learner.  Case in point - see above.

Glareglasses

Forecast: Sunny

No, not all day long and not every day, but enough for me to trade in my glareglasses for my sunshades.

I know, they're one and the same, but usually when I pull out my Ray Ban's, it's strictly to block the glare.

Lately they're bonafide sunshades.  Long time coming.