I’m an Official Southern Pig – Snort

In some parts of the south, they tell you that your not officially a southern until you’ve had the basics.  The basics could be many things but some of them are collard greens, grits, sweet tea, fried chicken, sweet potato pie, macaroni and cheese and boiled peanuts.  I’ve had several of these things.  It makes sense.  My mom was born and raised in the south.  You know just between you and me they call people like my momma GRITS – Girls Raised in the South.  Snort

Well, let me tell you about one of these things that I absolutely LOVE…boiled peanuts.  Oh goodness – they are simply delicious.  And no, I didn’t have them in a RC Cola and no I didn’t have them on ice cream which is common here.  I had them straight up out of the shell.  mmm.  Boiling them just brings out a different flavor.  First of all, they’re soft so there is no crunch.  You boiled them in seasoned water right over an open flame.  Mom knows a guy that knows a guy that fixes them – LOL.  You break open a shell and juice goes everywhere.  Then you see the tasty little morsel.  You pop it in your mouth and it’s still hot from the flame – SHUT THE FRONT DOOR – the taste explodes in your  mouth.  It’s a little salty, sometimes it can be a little spicy according to the seasoning, and they are God’s tasty little morsels.

If you haven’t tried any yet, what are you waiting for?  Try them now and let me know what you think.  Dad never ate any until mom introduced him.  Now he can’t stay out of them.  They are that good!

 

Travels in the South

Do you know what that is in the picture?  It’s the snack of the south… boiled peanuts.  Mom grew up with boiled peanuts straight out of the hot pot.  Dad not so much.  But since they’ve been married, mom has gotten dad hooked on these deletable salty morsels of yum.  And yeah, I love them too.  You can find them all over the south here at roadside stands and corner markets.  They usually give you a scoop right out of the boiling water into these double bags.  Double bags because you need one bag to put your shells into.  Have you had these before?  A lot of people will even put peanuts in their soda.  It’s a southern thing.  Trust me – don’t knock it until you try it says mom.  Snorts with piggy laughter!

 

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!

 

 

Jokes with Anipals

 

Be Grateful

What if today, we decide to do this.

We can be grateful for everything.  Just for one day today.  Keep a smile on our face and a pep in our step.  Have an off limit kind of stress free day.

Are you game?  I know we are going to try here at the Hotel Thompson.  I’m even going to try to be grateful for those two purr things here.

Good luck and let me know how it works for you.  We can do this!

 

Dad is on Crack

  Here is the proof – dad is on crack.

He’s been on it for over two weeks now and he is fully addicted.  He says the power is so strong that he lives and breathes this crack.  Poor dad.  He needs to go into rehab to get off of it.  I don’t really blame mom.  I mean hey, she did cook it up but it’s not like she forced dad to get hooked.  I guess in a way you can say mom is the pusher though.  Why else would she keep this junk in the house where daddy can find it and overdose in it.  I would like to say I feel sorry for daddy but he’s not sharing the good stuff he said.  So I don’t know how addictive it is or not.

And trust me, mom put the works in this stuff.  Pretzel sticks, peanuts, peanut butter M&M’s, raisins and butterscotch drops.  That was a full bucket.  But every time daddy goes into the kitchen, he comes out with a paw full.  Poor daddy – shakes piggy head – what a user!.

 

Shopping Around the World

My friend Fozzie and I have scheduled a group posting today of Shopping Around the World.   We thought it would be interesting to see the differences between different countries all over.Here are our prices for the following from our area – Georgia USA.

 Items to price this month:

• Spring/Summer is quickly approaching my friends on this side of the world.  On the other side of the world, Autumn/Winter is quickly approaching.  That is if Mother Nature starts playing well with others 🙂  It was suggested to post what you pay during this time of year for the month for your heating and/or air conditioning.  What temperature do you set your thermostat on?  Discuss.  Okay we keep it pretty cool here at the Hotel Thompson.  Mom likes to hang meat sometimes so daddy has to keep her in check.  Our monthly bill is a ‘flat rate’ bill.  We pay the same thing every month for 12 months.  Sometimes we use more watts than other months but it makes up the difference over the year.  We pay right at $205.00 a month in electrical – heating/air conditioning.  Our house is totally electric – no gas at all here… unless you count the gas that comes from this oinker – snorts and rolls with piggy laughter.
• Meat.  Fajita beef.  We buy a pound package for $4.99 at the market.  It’s already cut in small slices.  All you have to do is brown.
• Vegetable.  Head of cabbage.  When we are lucky, we can get this as cheap as $0.29 a pound.  This week though we paid $0.49 a pound.  An entire head cost us around $1.26 – awesome deal.  Have you ever eaten the core of a cabbage?  Mom highly recommends it.  It has a bit of a spicy flavor and is awesome!
• Random Item.   A can of peanuts.  We buy the store brand for only $2.99 a can.
• Homemade Dish.  See Below 🙂 This entire meal costs less than $5.00 for two people – and you have leftovers the next day for lunch!

  A ‘go to’ dish here at the Hotel Thompson is our version of a Chinese dish.  This is easy and takes less than 15 minutes to prepare.  It’s a huge hit!  We take the fajita beef and brown it in a skillet with a little bit of olive oil.  While that is browning, we use two boxes of the Lo Mein noodles that you can buy in the store for $0.99 each.  They come with the seasoning packs.  You open the packs, fill them with water and microwave them according to the package.  While the fajita beef is almost brown, add some chopped up cabbage and cook together.  When the Lo Mein noodles are done, pour them into your mixture of fajita beef and cabbage, add the seasoning mix packets, stir together and cover.  When the noodles have come together and the cabbage is soft but yet still has a crunch to it, top with peanuts and sesame seeds for taste.  There you go – instant meal that will please and is so delicious.  Remember to put a little back for lunch the next day.  Warms up wonderful!

I hope you had fun my friends with this month’s edition of Shopping Around the World.  Hope to see you shopping soon!

 

My Afternoon Snack

Here in the south we have traditions. You know like sweet tea, sweet potato pie, anything fried and football. While watching television, you need supplies. Drinks and snacks are always handy. One of our favorites here are something that I love so very much. If I’m lucky, mom and dad will help me out. Sometimes these hooves are not made for things like shelling boiled nuts. Have you ever had these? Mom and dad found a guy who runs a stand and boils these delectable little morsels. They sell them to you in a bag that keeps them hot. So very tasty. I thought I would share this picture. You’re welcome.

 

Shopping Around the World

My friend Fozzie and I have scheduled a group posting today of Shopping Around the World.   We thought it would be interesting to see the differences between different countries all over.Here are our prices for the following from our area – Georgia USA:

 

• Price of cable services for one month – what do you get for that price?  Right now we pay right around $40.00 a month for cable services.  This includes channels such as local, SyFy, Food Network, multiple Cartoon channels – yay me! – Investigative Discovery, Encore movie channels.  In all, I think there is 250 channels.  And we have On Demand where we can go back and watch shows.  I ❤ this!  
• A 12 ounce box (360 grams) of Cornflakes.  $3.29 – why are cereal prices so high? 
• A 15 ounce package (432 grams) of Oreos or other cream filled cookies.  $3.99 but sometimes we can get them on sale for 2 packages for $5.00
• A 7 ounce bag (225 grams) of Lay’s potato chips.  Lay’s are expensive 😦  And trust me, I do ❤ me some Lays. 7 ounce bags run around $2.00 or more a bag.  
• 1 pound of real butter.  $4.00 :0  
• A 6 ounce can of peanuts.  Mom buys the Kroger brand for $2.19 a can

Thanks so much to my friends Reilly and Denny for suggesting these items this month.

If you have some items that you want to get on the list, email me at baconthompson@gmail.com

Hope you had fun!!

 

 

Shopping Around the World – Don’t Forget :)

Me and my pal Fozzie started Shopping Around the World in April.  We asked for all of you to post prices on certain items in your part of town. We are going to do it again this month tomorrow on Wednesday, June 25, 2014.

Do a posting on your blog linked back to mine.  That way we can keep track of all of the different prices.

It should be interesting to see the differences between different countries all over.  Mark your calendar so you can do a posting with us.

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These are the suggestions of our friends Reilly and Denny. – thanks guys! Show your prices for the following:

• Price of cable services for one month – what do you get for that price?
• A 12 ounce box (360 grams) of Cornflakes
• A 15 ounce package (432 grams) of Oreos or other cream filled cookies.
• A 7 ounce bag (225 grams) of Lay’s potato chips.
• 1 pound of real butter.
• A 6 ounce can of peanuts.

Come join the fun of Shopping Around the World – mark your calendars for tomorrow –

Wednesday, June 25, 2014!

If you have suggestions for the July issue, please send them to me at baconthompson@gmail.com