Travels in the South

Okay my friends.  Take a good look at that picture.  Look familiar?  These delectable weird shaped things are called Moondrop Grapes.  What?  Really?  Yes really.  They are look like moon beams.  When mom started talking about them to me and dad, we just laughed at her.  But she kept saying they were real and we *were* going to try them.  Me and dad just looked at each other like mom had finally slipped over that fine edge of sanity – snorts with piggy laughter.

Nana came down Saturday and her and mom/dad went off for a bit.  When they came back, mom was beaming with moonbeams because she found the moondrop grapes.  Say that several times huh?  She made all of us eat one together.  And you know what?  They are awesome!  They are a bit sweeter than a normal grape but yummy.  You want to eat more than one and we all did.  Dad said their shape reminded him of our boiled peanut shells here in the south that are also that long.

Have you tried these before?  You gotta find some if you haven’t.  They are a seasonal item.  Mom got these at our local Kroger where they were on sale.  Bon appetite!

 

 

Bashful is OFF

   This past weekend, mom/dad took Bashful for a visit to our local Kroger where he got his flu shot and a general look over.  We had to make sure he was prepared for the winter, for the flu and for his next adventure.  He took it very well and not one time did he cry during the shot.  Special thanks to April our pharmacist who assisted with Bashful.  She even held his hand while she did it.

Afterwards, April checked him out to make sure he was okay, spoke with him for a few minutes and answered any of his questions he had.  I think Bashful even told April where his next destination was – but don’t worry April is not telling.

Will it be somewhere warm?  Cold?  Tropical?  Sandy?  Who knows where that little tyke of mine will land.  But I can tell you this.  Hopefully, he will be there in time to celebrate the holidays with his host family.  That I’m keeping my hooves crossed to make sure.  So host family if you are reading this, you might want to make some extra food.  Bashful LOVES to eat.  I wonder where he gets that from?  Snorts!

 

 

 

Shopping Around the World

This month we received a suggestion from our friends Reilly and Denny with Cowspotdog. This month we are pricing FIVE items from two different stores for price comparisons in your area.  Now, we are going to make this kind of easy.  FIVE items of your choice in making a meal.  Of course, you can use more than FIVE items to make your meal but you have to price comparison shop FIVE items from TWO different stores.

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We here at the Hotel Thompson have been trying to eat better these days and with it being so darn hot, we have been eating a lot of salads.  With that in mind, we took this month’s shopping adventure with the makings of one of our favorite week day meals.

1 – Head of lettuce.  It’s funny how the price of a head of lettuce fluctuates so much.  We went to Kroger where it was 0.99 a head.  Publix had it for $1.19 a head.

2 – Seedless Grapes.  We got a small bag of red seedless grapes, 1/2 pound, at Kroger on sale for $1.19 a pound.  At Publix, they had the same for $2.39 a pound.

3 – Shaved Ham.  Don’t tell Bacon okay.  We got the store brand low sodium ham shaved at the deli at Kroger for $4.99 a pound.  Publix brand for the same was $6.99 a pound.

4 – Cheese.  We buy the block of cheese from Kraft and cut and shred what we need.  A block on sale this week at Kroger was $2.50.  Publix also had it for $2.50.

5 – Strawberries.  In the summer time, it’s a fight for fresh strawberries.  We love them and they are one of Bacon’s favorites.  I like to slice them up and put them in salads.  We bought a package from Kroger for $2.50.  The same package at Publix was $4.99 this week.

Things also in this salad were chopped pecans and tossed with Catalina Dressing.  The all time perfect summer salad in this Georgia heat!

Hope everyone had fun this month – I know we did!

 

Mission Accomplished

Do you remember last week when I had a BOLO (be on the look out) and an APB (all points bulletin) out for Twinkies Chocodiles?  You can read about it here if you don’t remember.  I told you that my mom if not anything is very pig-headed (snorts) when it comes to things that she wants.  Now you know where I get my stubbornness from – I don’t fall too far from the tree.  This weekend, she was determined to find these little treasures somewhere within a fifty mile radius of the Hotel Thompson.

Insert Mission Impossible music now.  Nana called my mom on Friday at her worky place.  Mommy told her of these delectable little treasures and gave Nana a mission of looking for them at store she was going to that day.  Nana  went to the store and even got the store manager involved to no avail.  Bummer.

Then mom/dad went grocery shopping at another chain store Saturday morning.  Again, nothing.  Bummer.  Now, it was getting to mommy.  She is not a quitter – especially with chocolate on the table.  Mom called Nana and they were going to meet up for lunch on Sunday to come up with another plan.

Sunday, mom/dad took Nana out to lunch.  Lunch was great but the thing still dancing in mom and Nana’s heads were these chocolate Twinkies – oh yummy!  So after dinner, a trip was planned to Wally World.  It was like humans gone wild when they entered the doors of old Wally World.  Fist bumps commenced and then it was ready, set and GO off they went in their separate ways to find the elusive Chocodile who some called Bigfoot – often talked about but never seen.

That’s when mom saw it out of the corner of her eye.  A blue stand filled with what you might ask – Chocodiles – THUD.  I think mom actually dropped to her knees in front of the display and thanked the heavens above.  She then called daddy who then called Nana and they all met in front of the alter of chocolate covered Twinkies.  You would have thought they had never seen chocolate before.

I can’t tell you how many boxes mom and Nana bought.  I *can* tell you that they freeze well – snorts.  And I can tell you that mom had one last night.  As she was moaning in satisfaction, I picked up a few choice words from her like the following, “Spongy cake goodness with a white cream in the middle surrounded by a chocolate heaven”.  Okay, after that I kind of left the room quietly so mom could have a moment.  I’m guessing that they are mom approved.

 

 

Smart Buggy!

Mom/dad went to the local grocery mart this past weekend.  They came home with the neatest picture.  They said when they were at the store, they found a mini-me version of mom’s Smart car.  This is so unique!  In some ways, it looks bigger than mom’s car – snorts

I could ride in the front of this so called shopping car, beep the horn and have so much fun.  No one in the store would *ever* think it was me in the front driving.  Do you think?  If they did, we would just tell them it was bring your pig to the store day – snorts.  Have you seen these cool buggies at your grocery store yet?  Daddy was hoping that he could fit in the front but mom said no.  Looks like fun though, right?  What do you think, smaller or bigger than mom’s car?

Smart Buggy –

Mom’s Smart car –