Pringles Are Not Potato Chips!

Faux Food and taxes

I knew it all along! In the UK Pringles have been officially classified as not made of potatoes! I am a potato lover from way back...when I was little I'd opt for a boiled potato over cake......weird little kid, but true to my beloved potato. I don't just like potatoes, I truly love them. I've been suspicious of Pringles ever since they came out, because they did not seem to be real potato chips at all. Didn't taste like them and there was nothing about them that was like a real potato chip. And it took the commission looking into this SEVEN years to figure this out. That is job security for sure...well, seven years worth.

The reason this whole thing came up was in England they have a 17.5% called a Value Added Tax, VAT. (I can't make this stuff up!) Procter and Gamble, the maker of Pringles, went to court to say that their product wasn't real potatoes so they shouldn't fall under this tax. The High Court Judge agreed that because of their uniform color, and that they are all the same shape, which is not found in nature and they have only 42% potato in them is what helped them decide that Pringles are not the same as regular potato crisps, even though it says so on the tube. That's just wrong to have a tube of chips. Anyway, they are not subject to that horrific tax. They actually said Pringles are more like a cake or a biscuit because they are manufactured from dough. My reference is BBC news and the blog Inky Circus. I can't think of better sources to check after hubby blindsided me with this bit of information this morning before I'd even had coffee.

17.5% tax on chips is a lot, in my opinion. Even Ebay users are being hit by this VAT tax. I looked around on the net...actually from the BBC news site to try and figure out why they have such an onerous tax on potato chips. I'd go crazy, since I bought some the other day at Kroger for $1.77....we were seeing who could save more money that day. Right now our chips are not taxed. Hubby looked on a receipt from the grocery store to make sure. From what I can figure out from the synopsis on several sites it is a sneaky way to keep from raising taxes. I guess some other tax. I'm sure our government will be on this like wildfire to tax our chips. One site said the VAT was being introduced in India and they were not pleased with it at all.

Thank goodness the VAT is in the UK and not here. When we were in Arkansas last fall we finally asked what the tax rate was, and the people who live there told us they have no idea it is so complicated. That is when I gave up on living there or voting for anyone who lives there.

Other Weirdness Today

This morning I saw women run a foot race in high heels. Kelly Rippa didn't win, but did run in the race that was actually a fund raiser for The March of Dimes. They partnered with Dr. Scholl's and the first prize was $25,000 and a gigantic statue of a high heel shoe painted gold. They said it was for women only, but there were men running in high heels, too. I'm just amazed every morning when I wake up and turn on the news.

Somewhere in translation

Our new little lime squeezer with a good soul (and no it did not come in that box)

I love shopping in ethnic markets and in Texas they are usually Mexican. On some things you can get a really good deal and sometimes that market is the only place you will find some things. I love new gadgets for the kitchen, and that is usually why I can't find a lot of my gadgets. That's ok...hubby loves those As Seen On TV things. So, while we were at a local market the other day my daughter and I found lime squeezers and we both went a little nuts for a minute, and then high fived each other. She had been wanting one, too. They are handy as heck to squeeze lime juice for say limeades or maybe margaritas. Who knows the uses are many and the tool is easy to use. I had tried to get the writing on the box so it could be seen, but it was not to be. After we got home hubby got my best Spanish dictionary so we could try to decode it. There is not one word of English on the box and I shall treasure it for that. On the side that is white it says:

Exprimidor Para Limones (Lime/Lemon Squeezer) Ha..we are on a roll so far!

Exprimidor con alma de Acero (Squeezer with a soul/heart of steel) How wonderful is that!

A very loyal lime squeezer for sure! The literal translation of alma is (n.) soul, spirit; heart; lifeblood. What a fine squeezer...I'm amazed we were able to purchase this amazing tool for only $2.59 with that much going on with it.

Another thing that is just as cute as can be is that everywhere there is an O they have replaced it with a little picture of a lime. That is so sweet.

However, when I turned the package again it says:

Fabricado de Polipropileno con refuerzo de acero. Made of polypropolene and reinforced with steel. Ah well, it still has a heart of steel to me. I love it for what it is.

Hecho en Mexico esta bien conmigo.

Taking care of vegetarians or how to attain sainthood

Whew....I'm already worn out with cooking. One of our friend's and her husband were in a car accident a couple of days ago. They are out of the hospital now so I cooked some things for them. She is a vegetarian and he isn't, and the people at their church just don't understand about that.

They brought over some chicken and vegetables from Boston Market and she ate the vegetables and he picked at the chicken, she told me. She sounded hungry while I was listening to her so I started cooking last night with some carrot cupcakes with extra crushed pineapple and raisins. There are some eggs in that mix (like 4), but hopefully she won't care. But that was the only slip and it is only a slip if she is total vegan...like doesn't eat eggs or milk.

I made vegetarian stock for the black bean soup. I wasn't that impressed with vegan black bean soup, but maybe it is better with some chips in it and some tomatoes on top. Actually, I'd would have put some pico de gallo on it, too. I thought it called for a lot of cumin...1 tbls. That is a LOT, in my opinion. However, she called to say how much she liked it. I hope she really does likes it, because it is a good dish and nutritious, too...the beans and corn make a complete protein and that is really hard to get on a vegan diet. I tried it ages ago while I was taking a nutrition class in college, and I didn't last too long. Too much calculating and figuring what together makes a complete protein....like you get from a steak. I went back.

Here is the link for the stock if you ever need any, it is pretty good.
http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Making-Vegetable-Stock/Detail.aspx

Made some penne with fire roasted peppers and olives for my friend, too. Man, I love that stuff. I make it for us from time to time, so that wasn't a whole new ballgame. And I have fresh basil in my little herb garden. yay! I even put some grated pecorino cheese with black truffles for the penne in a separate little baggie...just in case she doesn't do dairy.

Another friend called to give my husband some information for his newsletter for one of the groups to which we belong. When I told her the story about the other couple she told me she had cataract surgery last Friday. She got two cupcakes.

We got the rest of the cupcakes, because we lost a dear friend last Sunday after six weeks in intensive care after a car accident. The funeral was Friday, so I comforted us, too. He will be missed.

And, there is enough stuff for us to have black bean soup tonight, and for my in laws, too. We are rich in black bean soup right now. Hubby has gone to take the soup and some cupcakes over to his parents and I just got out of the shower and am going to turn the a/c down and hop on the sofa and watch some tv. I've done my saint thing for the day and it is now time to rest and read or watch tv. I think everyone is taken care of, or at least has something to eat.

Independence Day

The Fourth of July...and some thoughts about it that were brought to mind by my friend Quill Dancer today with some questions she posed about our country and about how "green" we are. It was good, because it certainly jazzed me into writing a Fourth of July page today. Here are my thoughts about the Fourth of July.

I'm so glad our founding fathers put their very lives on the line to write The Declaration of Independence for us. They put their lives on hold to make a government for us. This past spring there was a miniseries on HBO called "John Adams" and it was very enlightening about the sacrifices and problems they experienced, not to mention the pettiness between the prinicpals involved. I expect it to get many awards. Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney were very fine in their acting and portrayals.

Voting is a right and privilege that my grandmother marched to get for me. She was a Suffragette and there was a movie about that, too. It was called "Iron Jawed Angels". It was 1920 before women had the right to vote, and that was after black men had already attained the right.

Wickipedia has this to say about womens' suffrage (the right to vote):
"Early victories were won in the territories of Wyoming (1869)[15] and Utah (1870), although Utah women were disenfranchised by provisions of the federal Edmunds-Tucker Act enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1887. The push to grant Utah women's suffrage was at least partially fueled by the belief that, given the right to vote, Utah women would dispose of polygamy. It was only after Utah women exercised their suffrage rights in favor of polygamy that the U.S. Congress disenfranchised Utah women.[16]"

Thank you, grandmother for helping obtain the right to vote for me and I promise you I will not disenfranchise myself by not voting. I'll try not to blow what it took 72 years for women to get.

Another thing is the displaying the flag. After 9/11 everyone had a flag displayed...mostly improperly. If you don't know exactly how to display the symbol of our land then please go to the Betsy Ross website to learn how and bookmark it for future reference about flag ettiquette.

And if anyone questions the loyalty of our men and women in Iraq, Afghanistan, or Kosovo remember they have no choice in where they are deployed. They are sent wherever they must go. And they do it without complaint. However, when the suicide rate in the armed services deployed in Iraq is higher than it has been in the past 23 years, that is something to make the angels weep. I hope these "conflicts" are over soon and the next President is able to get our men and women out of harm's way. And I hope the idiots who protest a soldier's funeral with ugly sayings...well, I hope they burn in hell.

And that is my freedom of speech for today.

That ain't all folks....we had hot dogs and potato chips for dinner and watched "I Am Legend" while the cupcakes I made for some friends who were in a wreck the other day cooled. Amazingly the fireworks show came on tv just as I finished icing the last cupcake and put them away. The fireworks and the cupcakes were fantastic!!

In the morning I'm going to make some penne with roasted peppers and garlic and some black bean and corn soup for her. She is vegan and it seems no one in their church really understands that. She told me on the phone today that she is eating the vegetables they are bringing with the meat dishes that her husband and son are eating. Bless her heart...she is going to get some vegan vittles tomorrow as soon as I can get to the main dishes done. I'm making the vegetable stock now. It was sort of a head banger thing...like why would I go buy stock? I know how to make great stock and I had all the vegetables for it.

Poppin'

You know how much I enjoy watching So You Think You Can Dance...probably because I can't dance a lick. Anyway, in the auditions there was a guy named Robert Muraine who is a Popper. It is an unusual style of dance that just blew everyone away. I enjoyed it so much and it has been the most watched on You Tube. I can'tget it to load to Blogger, but here is the url so you can get a look at what it is all about...and watch until the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZOOTl_zue0

He is a phenomenon and he has competition...some guy named Phillip Chbeeb. He was passed onto Las Vegas, but chose to opt out of going. He felt that he wanted to be true to his style of dance and not try to learn the others. Tonight they had him, Robert, back on SYTYCD and there is going to be a competition with Phillip Chbeeb the other popper....well, maybe on the finale

Now you all know I'm a closet "hip hop" lover. Peace out everyone.

a very serene time was had by all plus some sadness, too

This was supposed to post last night...so I don't know how that thing to set it to post later than you write it goes. Anyway, I'm reposting this, because there were some issues with the pictures not wanting to transload and Melli was on vacation when it was posted....also, I was dog tired last night. And, Quilly, your comment did not get lost during the posting hassles. This blogging thing is very fun until there is a problem.

A couple of weeks ago we went to visit our daughter...life was very rough at her palace.

We were so miserable that we couldn't stay long at all....it was truly a paradise...and thoughts of Kubla Khan came to mind and hubby got sunburned

Today-we have just returned from a funeral of a long time friend. He and my husband used to work together at one aerospace place or the other. He and his wife were in a terrible car accident six weeks ago, and he finally succumbed to his injuries last Sunday. She was injured badly, too, but not to the extent he was. It really makes one stop to think how we spend time together without really cherishing the time we do have with each other. This visit at our daughter's home with my husband was a lovely get away and we will be able to go other places together again...unlike the widow we just left. God bless her in the coming days without him....and Godspeed, Jim, on your trip to heaven.

Home and Garden

Updates from the homefront

Here are the pictures of the upstairs bedroom that was remodeled a while back and had never gotten blinds and little curtains to make it a little more sleep friendly. I actually had to turn on a light to get this picture. It is the perfect room for company. Far enough away that we don't bother each other and it has a bath of its own. The not so good part is that we have to have an extra window unit for this room so that people don't die of heat exhaustion up there.

See how dark it is! The upside of this is that it is cooler than before, too. I got some very cool kitch at the Garden Ridge while I was there. You know it was calling to me and all. It needed to come home and live in this room that in some weird way is becoming inspired by Diego Rivera. Maybe, it is that game/tv show "Where In the World is Carmen Diego", which would be pretty weird, since I don't know what it is, but this room is taking on a peasant/Mexico feel. Check out the blue vase with the lillies on it. Diego Rivera inspired, I'm telling you.

The curtains and blinds really make it a LOT darker up there. I stopped by Garden Ridge the other day and they had panel curtains for $4.99. I couldn't believe it and they were the perfect color and all. I had gotten mini-blinds at Home Depot for $4.99 each, so it was a good deal and cost about $30 for the window treatment. Here is what they really look like with the flash so you can actually see the silly things. The curtains are a light gold color and go really well with the bedspread and all.

And here is the tiny little curtain for the tiny little window in the bathroom. Melli, these pics are for you, girl. I was standing in the tub taking this picture...that is how small it is. The dimensions were 22" by 23 ".

Updates from the garden

This is that same old pot of flowers we have been dragging around since Easter and it just keeps on growing and getting fuller and more and more beautiful everyday. The bargain bin was a very lucky find the day I picked up a lot of these flowers. The oxalis left over from St. Patrick's Day had been cast aside and is still blooming everyday. The petunias are blooming again and so are the pale pink geraniums. Coleus is in there, too...and some stock. And I just love the thing.

The garden walk to the driveway has begonias on either side and has a hedghog sitting on the bricks beside the flowerbed. Next year I'm going to load both sides up with white begonias and it will be so pretty.

This is the brick walk that goes from the patio to the driveway and is guarded by Spikey Norman, from Monty Python, he is calling Dimsdale out.

He is very small and it is difficult to see much detail because of the light. You never know when the Spikey Norman will appear looking for Dimsdale. Over mountain or building or up from under the roads. The Monty Python Flying Circus was one of my favorite shows.


More Updates from the Garden

Planning has begun for the xeriscape garden.

Bought some new plants for a new project...hubby is underwhelmed with it all....and I guess there will be some digging for me to do on this one. The large gangly one is a red spanish dagger, or something like that. It is too dark to go out to look and that is good enough. It gets a red spike that comes up out of it. The silver grey one with the purple flowers is Texas sage...like you hear about in the movies and books. I like it because, well, it is a hardy plant and is pretty, but it also is a rain indicator. It blooms about two days before rain, but it can be fooled. I just know we all get excited when the sage is blooming. The one in front of that is rosemary. I've got some in the herb garden, but think it will do very well in the rock garden. We will see. The one to the far left is a tri-color sedum and it is a succulent, so it will be fine out there. It, too, is a pretty cactus type plant. There aren't any with real spines, so no prickly pears at all.

Here is a closer up picture of the sage.

You can see the purple blooms better and the silver grey foliage looks so pretty with them.

We still have a grey santolina out there and I'm looking for a green one to fill in.

OH! That reminds me, if you are a clematis fan/freak my cousin found a great place to get really good ones online. She has ordered from her and thinks she is very good and has very good products that come wrapped sensibly and promptly. No goofing around for The Silver Star Vinery lady. Great deals!! And what a cool name! Must be a relative with Star for a last name and all.

And here is himself resting up after a long morning of working getting the summer vegetable garden sorted out, and he has been thinking of me digging all those holes to plant the new xeriscape garden.