...happy new year and stuff...

...happy new year kids!!...do you ever wonder what happens to all those party hats and banners and noisemakers after new years eve?...well, in my little corner of the world, we recycle all that, including confetti! we painstakingly cut all the letters off banners and tiaras, rearrange them, and use them for any other occasion we can spell out with the letters...it's waste not, want not, here in my little corner of the world...

...i had a lovely dinner last night...raclette...it's a cheese lovers dream come true!! you eat cheese, cheese, cheese, and more cheese...i count my blessings every minute of every of everyday, that i am not lactose intolerant! i ate my way across europe, don't remember much about the people, but oh, i can remember the cheese...and the liquor...

...i had some lovely meals in france...nothing like a plateful of rare horsemeat (cooked rare, not from rare horses) covered with hot mustard with a side of pomme frites! i think they only eat the slow horses, hence the slow food movement...and fruit de mer...seafood lovers paradise...now this enjoyable platter is choc-a-bloc with all kinds of cooked and raw seafood...many places claim to serve this authentic dish, but very few places really are authentic...unfortunately, it is usually not clear until some of the slug like creatures start walking across the table that you know the establishment has messed up with the cooked and the raw stuff...

...greece is another lovely place to eat your way across...mind you they quite often carry in their new supply of lamb, hang it up in the middle of the restaurant over a sheet of plastic, and casually carry on with their business...not usually too bad, but in the places where they leave the head and tails on, i found seafood was a lot more appetizing...something about those beady eyes staring at me as i chewed through my souvlaki and dolmades set my appetite back a few notches...have a happy new year, and make this the year that you eat your way around the world, even if it's only through cook books...remember, all real living is eating...bon appetit!!