Absolutely Anything Else

Yes, just call me ,"Little  Miss Sunshine" until it hits the fan that is!
My Rose colored glasses are now a shade of violet or perhaps it's red...
We went for  a nice walk in the rain but by the time we left the shop the darn sun was out and I didn't bring my sunshades with me.
Life in the big city...

SimonTrew wrote:

klsallee wrote:

If the wardrobe can shift one in space in and time, how about into alternate realities? Maybe where there are dragons. Or talking animals. Or witches. Maybe work one of those topics into the title.

Just a thought.....

I think you should do your own reality check there

One error with that comment: It assumes I care about reality. 

fluffy2560 wrote:

Mr Trump blamed it on

Of course he does.

Because that is all he is capable of. It is his one and only consistent self marketing, self promotion, self defense and self sales strategy learned from Roy Cohen.

And it always reminds me of an old quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin:

Any fool can condemn, criticize and complain, and most fools do.

Regarding the summer rains:

I for one like the summer thunderheads around here, booming and rattling. Here is one near me now:



Okay, to be frank, they mostly go around us because of the lake effect. But I still like them.

Yesterday, for example, it was pouring with a heavy rain at the house in the late afternoon, yet it was sunny. The thunderhead was just over us, and the low sun was shining through under it. That was nice.

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

Mr Trump blamed it on

Of course he does.

Because that is all he is capable of. It is his one and only consistent self marketing, self promotion, self defense and self sales strategy learned from Roy Cohen.

And it always reminds me of an old quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin:

Any fool can condemn, criticize and complain, and most fools do.

I don't know if The Donald is a loon or he's a genius.  He seems to be a master at manipulating his blue collar electoral base while the urban liberals hold him in contempt. 

I was looking at a report about what the DPRK wants from the summit in Singapore and one of them was for DPRK to be treated as an equal on the world stage. 

Makes me wonder if Kim Majong can actually get his own ego into a negotiating room when The Donald's ego is in there as well. 

Maybe they should have hired a football stadium.

fluffy2560 wrote:

I don't know if The Donald is a loon or he's a genius.  He seems to be a master at manipulating his blue collar electoral base while the urban liberals hold him in contempt.

"Genius" might be pushing it a bit, but I don't think he is as dumb as he looks. The missus puts him firmly in the loony camp, but I am not so sure myself. A manipulative con-man, possibly, but stupid... I don't think so.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Makes me wonder if Kim Majong can actually get his own ego into a negotiating room when The Donald's ego is in there as well. 

Maybe they should have hired a football stadium.

What did Kenny Everett's character say, Round 'em up, put 'em in a field... and...

SimonTrew wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

I don't know if The Donald is a loon or he's a genius.  He seems to be a master at manipulating his blue collar electoral base while the urban liberals hold him in contempt.

"Genius" might be pushing it a bit, but I don't think he is as dumb as he looks. The missus puts him firmly in the loony camp, but I am not so sure myself. A manipulative con-man, possibly, but stupid... I don't think so.

Yes, con-man or flm-flam man in for the long con.   Some screws loose for sure - possibly even a sociopath. Probably not dumb but seems to be rather impulsive.  Maybe not smart enough to be head of a crime gang or Smersh.

Life amongst sociopath con-artists nicely played in the movie The Grifters.   

Might be some parallels with The Donald in there.

Since I have not been home in 2 years , I am holding back any remarks on current affairs over there.
Just don't be touching any more of the nations SS and I'll keep my mouth shut... for now.
A few really down to earth congressmen are watching our backs but sadly there isn't enough "honest politicians" out there, anywhere.
My Vegas friend just went down after a shift of dealing cards. She took herself to the hospital and needed surgery, rehab and was out of work for 3 months.
Her casino HR rep. came into her hospital room to fire her for missing work!
After over 12 years at that one job. She had been paying extra every month for a bit of extra health coverage, some mixed up paperwork and they refused her medical claim although they had cashed in her monthly checks for extra coverage.
Well she was in a mess, not enough income coming in with her SS ( she is a senior citizen and was working and collecting SS) she went to some political rally in Vegas and met her Wash D.C. rep and told him what happened with her job and the refusal of her old job to honor her extra medical coverage, she was drowning in bills from months in hospital.
Well , next thing, all her bills stopped, she was given a few thousand bucks and although  it was crummy for them to fire her for missing work, they didn't have to give her back her job. She didn't want it back since they treated her so badly anyways.
I was really surprised  that her congressmen actually did such a thing for her as to have people work on it as he told her he would do.
Guess there are a few "good guys" out there still.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....
I was really surprised  that her congressmen actually did such a thing for her as to have people work on it as he told her he would do.
Guess there are a few "good guys" out there still.

Maybe he helped but surely it shouldn't have come to that anyway.  The insurance company need their asses sued off.  They took her money then stabbed her in the wallet/purse.  Do a no-win/no-fee case and screw them for being incompetent. 

My brother went to his MP (Member of Parliament) to complain about how a particular government policy was treating him and the MP told him he wasn't going to help him as he was in favour of the policy.  So thanks for coming, now clear off out my office.  Nice vote winner.   But after that, where to next?  Nowhere to go other than to the courts and ££££/$$$$/€€€€€ or stand for office and get the bloke kicked out (almost impossible). 

Subsequently, we've come to know that MP as a throughly nasty piece of work and the bastard is still in the Parliament 20+ years later.

fluffy2560 wrote:

My brother went to his MP (Member of Parliament) to complain about how a particular government policy was treating him and the MP told him he wasn't going to help (...)  But after that, where to next?  Nowhere to go other than to the courts (...)

The Press.

SimonTrew wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

My brother went to his MP (Member of Parliament) to complain about how a particular government policy was treating him and the MP told him he wasn't going to help (...)  But after that, where to next?  Nowhere to go other than to the courts (...)

The Press.

No enough of a story for them.  No scandal. 

And not news either - the bloke had regularly been compared to a piece of anatomy. 

But apparently everyone already knew that, apart from my bro and the rest of us.  How foolish and naive we were.

This was some years ago.  Sticking the boot in via social media would be a lot easier these days.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Yes, con-man or flm-flam man in for the long con.

There is a lot written about him. And a lot of opinion. Mine has solidified around a rather simple set of conclusions based on his personal history and general world history and mass psychology. I find mass psychology is more important, IMHO, than his personal psychology. And here it is:

He has a machine gun mouth, and is an excrement* thrower.

That is, he makes a lot of noise (Twitter** et al.). Despite he is actually often only shooting blanks. But that noise gets a lot of attention. And whatever excrement he throws that sticks, he throws more of, while ignoring what did not stick despite the fact he threw it (which requires pretty much zero personal morality or ethics to pull off, IMHO).

And that all works well into other people's psychology. That is, people may say he speaks what they think, but in realty, those people often only themselves gravitate to whatever comment he made that resonate (ie. "stuck") to them while ignoring all the rest (willful ignorance, et al.).

Ergo, not a genius, just someone who discovered a simple system that works when repeated.

And, sadly, "mud slinging", ergo mostly "hating", invokes an almost effort free emotional response that resonates very well, and more strongly, with many more people than rational, critical thinking approaches. Rational, critical thinking, after all and especially with political issues, requires more effort, time, patiences, and often more education.

Which is why, during many "revolutions" throughout history, the intellectuals are the first to be executed (physically or politically), because they are a threat to those in power. That is, those that want to capitalize on the emotional leverage they have on the populous want to eliminate those that may say, "Um. Wait. What?" because they are a threat.

*I often use a more colorful word, but this is a family friendly site, so I made the appropriate modification.
**Twitter: a name that itself invokes trivial chatter.

klsallee wrote:

....., he throws more of, while ignoring what did not stick despite the fact he threw it (which requires pretty much zero personal morality or ethics to pull off, IMHO).

And that all works well into other people's psychology. That is, people may say he speaks what they think, but in realty, those people often only themselves gravitate to whatever comment he made that resonate (ie. "stuck") to them while ignoring all the rest (willful ignorance, et al.).

Ergo, not a genius, just someone who discovered a simple system that works when repeated.

And, sadly, "mud slinging", ergo mostly "hating", invokes an almost effort free emotional response that resonates very well, and more strongly, with many more people than rational, critical thinking approaches. Rational, critical thinking, after all and especially with political issues, requires more effort, time, patiences, and often more education.....

That's a very nice comprehensive diagnosis.  Some critical elements there of sociopathy there. 

The way he operates is one thing - I mean how it comes out.  But if we boil down the inherent Trumpist core drivers, would we find a psychiatrist's diagnosis of sociopath?

How does that compare to the drivers more planned or scheming approach - (psychopathic ?) tendencies of Putin or the apparent random ego-driven Kim Majong?

fluffy2560 wrote:

klsallee wrote:

(which requires pretty much zero personal morality or ethics to pull off, IMHO).

That's a very nice comprehensive diagnosis.  Some critical elements there of sociopathy there.

IMHO, and not trying to play psychologist because I won't, but if pressed, I would classified it more as malignant narcissist.

But, again, I find that rather irrelevant. It is the mass psychological reaction, and "the times" we live in, of which Donald (Putin, Erdoğan, Five Star, et al.), are mostly just a symptom (i.e. including a lot of western political arrogance after the wall fell), that I find more interesting and probably more important.

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

klsallee wrote:

(which requires pretty much zero personal morality or ethics to pull off, IMHO).

That's a very nice comprehensive diagnosis.  Some critical elements there of sociopathy there.

IMHO, and not trying to play psychologist because I won't, but if pressed, I would classified it more as malignant narcissist.

But, again, I find that rather irrelevant. It is the mass psychological reaction, and "the times" we live in, of which Donald (Putin, Erdoğan, Five Star, et al.), are mostly just a symptom (i.e. including a lot of western political arrogance after the wall fell), that I find more interesting and probably more important.

Interesting but is it really irrelevant? 

I read that Malignant Narcissist (MN) entry.  It seems MNs have an element of sadism in them which surprised me. I don't think I can see that very visibly in any of those people as I think it's about power and the drivers of the individuals noted.

I am not sure how one could reconcile a mania for holding on to power with absorbing some obscure nefarious pleasure from the manipulation of the population.  Perhaps it's as simple as "getting one over" on Joe Public or anyone and absorbing that wave.

I'm also kind of wondering  where's the MN pleasure is in Trump/Majong meeting?   Maybe it's just motivations can vary, even legitimately.   

BTW, couple of things coming up - Turkish election and election of right wing party in Austria providing yet another ally for the Visegrad countries' views.  It's continuing a slide to the right.

I've known  enough covert narcs in my lifetime to know it is sometimes best to be a loner.
I often get confused if a person is a real empath or a covert narc,
At this late time I have little energy or time to know the difference.
I'm speaking of your average every day smuck , must be gassley to know narcs on a level that holds a bit of real power.
Enough said, let me put my head in the sand...

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

I've known  enough covert narcs in my lifetime to know it is sometimes best to be a loner.
I often get confused if a person is a real empath or a covert narc,
At this late time I have little energy or time to know the difference.
I'm speaking of your average every day smuck , must be gassley to know narcs on a level that holds a bit of real power.
Enough said, let me put my head in the sand...

I've never heard of covert narcissists but it's a term worth knowing.

The Donald plays Majong at the coven of (hardly) covert narcissists annual convention.

fluffy2560 wrote:

It seems MNs have an element of sadism in them which surprised me. I don't think I can see that very visibly in any of those people

As I said, I am not going to play psychologist.  But you may find this an interesting opinion from another about the person we are discussing and his statement "I Want to Hate …"

And, on one level, The Apprentice was basically a show about humiliating people. And enjoying humiliation of others is potentially sadistic.

fluffy2560 wrote:

I'm also kind of wondering  where's the MN pleasure is in Trump/Majong meeting?

Again, not playing psychologist but, as one example, by association with other individuals of power. A leader of a nuclear state has power. And one that maybe was able to order the assignation of his relatives. Also a show of power. From the link I provided:

Malignant narcissists, in contrast to psychopaths, are also said to be capable of developing "some identification with other powerful idealized figures as part of a cohesive 'gang'..."

You may know that one of Donald's most personal, worse slurs he can make of another person is to call them "weak".

Interesting that he suggested just today to bring Russia (i.e. Putin) back into the G7 "gang".

Some people love to hate and some people hate to love.
Is the glass half empty or half full?
Same difference really in the end.
I sort of freaked out about Bourdain's so called "Suicide" don't buy it for some reason.
What's with everyone hanging themselves with a door knob?
How is that even possible to do, wouldn't your body go into autodrive and you'd stand up?
had a great aunt that did herself in by self hanging but she used the old fashioned way of kicking the chair out from under her feet.
Sorry, sort of a dark topic.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Some people love to hate and some people hate to love.

Love takes work. Often a lot of work.

Hating is easy. An emotion that takes almost no effort at all (but one can, of course, put a lot of effort into acting out hate). Sad.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Some people love to hate and some people hate to love.
Is the glass half empty or half full?
Same difference really in the end.
I sort of freaked out about Bourdain's so called "Suicide" don't buy it for some reason.
What's with everyone hanging themselves with a door knob?
How is that even possible to do, wouldn't your body go into autodrive and you'd stand up?
had a great aunt that did herself in by self hanging but she used the old fashioned way of kicking the chair out from under her feet.
Sorry, sort of a dark topic.

It's very dark but it's a reality, especially in Hungary.  Distant relative took the easy way out in the garage with a bit of rope here.  Not popular and therefore not missed by those 3 steps away.

I think it's pretty easy.  Just stick a ligature around the door knob and lean forward until you pass out and gravity will do the rest of the work.   Makes you wonder why the apparently successful decide to do that - two "celebrity" suicides in a week - the fashion designer and a chef.  I had never heard of either of them so to be really frank, while I feel a passing sorrow for their family, I couldn't really care less. 

Might sound macabre but in Thailand, it's possible to buy a "kit" for these purposes.  I believe it's a plastic bag, tape, bit of pipe and a gas cylinder.  Apparently  it's well known amongst the long term expat community for people stuck there without medical insurance, no relatives and suffering from some terminal disease.  The other one there is taking a header off a high rise.

klsallee wrote:

.....

You may know that one of Donald's most personal, worse slurs he can make of another person is to call them "weak".

Interesting that he suggested just today to bring Russia (i.e. Putin) back into the G7 "gang".

Made me think either he's in the pocket of Putin or he's playing some Machiavellian game of divide and conquer.  But what's the end game? 

He seems to have forgotten that Russia tried to kill two people in the UK with nerve agents, invaded Crimea, Syria, Iran nuclear ambitions.   

I cannot see the Europeans bending to his will in the longer term.  From this side of the water it looks like we're stuck with a bonkers abusive great uncle or something. 

One can only hope there's enough cohesiveness amongst the other members to bring Trump to the table with some conciliation.  He's apparently not attending the climate round tables.  I think he's forgotten we're all standing on the same planet breathing the same air.

BTW, calling someone weak and expecting that to be taken personally might in fact be a badge of honour. I mean, weak in his mind could mean humanist, amenable or whatever.  Anyone disagreeing would be "weak".

Oh my, I have opened up a can or worms...So to speak.
I know they have a suicide  forest in Japan. Sad stuff.
Suicide touches allot of families.
Sort of lead to a falling out with one of my Vegas friends last visit 2 years back.
I admit this person was never in my "inner circle" but a friend of a friend in school. One year our jr. and in a lower class then the rest of us.
Long story, she has gotten very full of herself plus had allot of medical things happen that turned her dark, She is in a wheelchair now but otherwise, her life is easy and nice, her husband is devoted to her etc.
She was bugging the heck out of me to go on a suicide march with hundreds of others in Vegas.
No way, sorry, not my thing to do, how depressing.
She was bugging me to march for or against suicide, hard to know what her actual view was, pro or con.
She mentioned my old best buddy who did herself in at age 33 and said I should march for her.
What? my old friend couldn't even stand being around this women in school... Of course I sucked it up and never hurt her by telling her what a joke the whole thing was because Holly hated her and would just walk away whenever she joined our little group of girls in school.
Ok, I'm the bad guy here, I didn't wish to spend my day picking up negative energy by sad sorry people who lost a loved one, I'm just a horrible person...
You may enjoy Anthony 's food show, he was super funny and entertaining, traveling around the wold showing local culture and food.
Not boring at all to watch.

fluffy2560 wrote:

BTW, calling someone weak and expecting that to be taken personally might in fact be a badge of honour. I mean, weak in his mind could mean humanist, amenable or whatever.

I agree.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Oh my, I have opened up a can or worms...So to speak.
I know they have a suicide  forest in Japan. Sad stuff.
Suicide touches allot of families.
...
You may enjoy Anthony 's food show, he was super funny and entertaining, traveling around the wold showing local culture and food.
Not boring at all to watch.

I saw that forest on YouTube - it was part of that controversy with the YouTube "star" who came across a body there and put it up on the net as "entertainment".  What a waster, reveling in a persons unfortunate circumstances. 

Sounds like the chef fella was one I missed.  Never mind, cannot watch everything and by the end of next week, it won't even be news anymore.

I don't really watch TV or even CNN as I tend to do nearly everything online*.  CNN has some really stupid segments on it like some programme on "luxury yacht racing" or worldwide sports that are mostly irrelevant.  Hardly a mass audience attraction.

*Just shows how things are changing. There's a sci-fi series available on YouTube now - called Impulse.   Interesting YouTube (aka Google) is now involved in TV show production.  The market is really changing.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Ok, I'm the bad guy here

... snip...
You may enjoy Anthony 's food show.

I will take that "bad guy" mantle from your shoulders. 

Anthony who? Don't care. Killed himself? Oh well.

I really don't care all that much about foodies. Or so called "celebrity chefs". Too much of these shows are about thinking with the stomach, and I prefer thinking with my brain (and yes, I looked him up -- and despite his "well roundedness" I stand by my comment). When it comes to food, beans and rice is good enough for me, most of the time.

Okay, I admit my hypocrisy, as I sometimes like to watch "food wishes" by Chef John, but mostly because he is funny and he does actually have some good suggestions at preparing some of the garden vegetables that I grow.

Ah, but what about my love of wine, you may be saying? Sure. But do be aware that is based actually, and really, mostly on growing things and making things, not just about "consuming" things, like a glutton. Which "food shows" are mostly really about, IMHO.

Yeah, a lot of negative energy there. Sorry. My bad. Mea culpa. Just tired of every time I go out to eat there are people around me taking picture of their plates of food. And, as an experiment, I even put a few of these "food" posts at my blog -- got the most hits and likes of any of my other posts. Seriously..... this food thing is beyond ridiculous.

So true, everyone I know posts photos of their food .
I never do that but I always joke with my husband that we have allot of nice "colors" today with our meal, we should take a photo...
Just silly.
My friend in Germany is posting a ton of food photos but I can't blame her, her mom is doing some home cooking and she is out allot with her bro and mom visiting family.
It's been a long time since she was home so she gets a pass with the food photos.
She posted one photo of a long fish stick in a hot dog bun... I had to say Yuck on that one.
Having cold cherry soup today, now that might make a colorful photo shoot...
My bro hardly ever posts photos but today he has a few up from a trip to Santa Barbara, Huge bloody Mary drink and jumbo shrimp cocktail...I hate him now!! looks way too good.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....
She posted one photo of a long fish stick in a hot dog bun... I had to say Yuck on that one.
Having cold cherry soup today, now that might make a colorful photo shoot...
My bro hardly ever posts photos but today he has a few up from a trip to Santa Barbara, Huge bloody Mary drink and jumbo shrimp cocktail...I hate him now!! looks way too good.

Shrimp cocktail - excellent.  Haven't had one of those for years.  Hmmmm now I have an idea for dinner.....seafood paella.

I've never understood the idea of cold soup.  Is it a soup? Or is it some kind of dessert?  Surely soups should be hot and savoury, not cold and sweet.   I always thought it'd come out as a kind of jellied goo. 

Fish finger sandwiches are pretty good. I used to have them when I was a kid.  Basically it's a fish burger.  Very nice as "BLT" style - except it's a FLT obviously.

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

BTW, calling someone weak and expecting that to be taken personally might in fact be a badge of honour. I mean, weak in his mind could mean humanist, amenable or whatever.

I agree.

Haha, it came to pass.

DT apparently called Justin Trudeau weak after the G7 meeting.   

Unlike Roseanne, just everyone loves Justin.

What was really interesting about Anthony Bourdain's show was not so much his  food, he often ate odd st. foods. It was his sense of humor, very sardonic.
Oh well, can't cry about him, I do feel horrible though about those poor people in Guatemala.  Never knew what hit them, hope not at least.
Like my mom used to say,can't cry over everything , just pray, have positive thoughts and move on. Not in our hands to do anything about it.
Don't cause harm on purpose and live your own life.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....
She posted one photo of a long fish stick in a hot dog bun... I had to say Yuck on that one.
Having cold cherry soup today, now that might make a colorful photo shoot...
My bro hardly ever posts photos but today he has a few up from a trip to Santa Barbara, Huge bloody Mary drink and jumbo shrimp cocktail...I hate him now!! looks way too good.

Shrimp cocktail - excellent.  Haven't had one of those for years.  Hmmmm now I have an idea for dinner.....seafood paella.

I've never understood the idea of cold soup.  Is it a soup? Or is it some kind of dessert?  Surely soups should be hot and savoury, not cold and sweet.   I always thought it'd come out as a kind of jellied goo. 

Fish finger sandwiches are pretty good. I used to have them when I was a kid.  Basically it's a fish burger.  Very nice as "BLT" style - except it's a FLT obviously.

I know, dying for a shrimp cocktail, been a long time since I've even seen shrimp.
Fish sandwiches are good once in awhile. Been ages since I've had one of those either.
We almost always cook fresh at home and hardly ever snack outside the house.
A gyro or slice of pizza every so often maybe.
Seems as we are aging we aren't as hungry as we used to be when under the stress of work.
In the casino's they can set you up for bad eating patterns.
Every 40 min to one hour you get a short 20 min break all day long. Sometimes you would go back to a game and the boss would say, oh go take another 20 and come back.
Sometimes it was slow and they had more dealers on call then games open so we had breaks all day long until they let some people go home early.
20 mins every hour is just enough time to cram something down your throat, not enough time to eat a full meal but half a sandwich one a break, a piece of fruit on another break etc.
Often eating a large amount of food just didn't feel
right while standing at a table.
Would get home from work at odd times and just eat another sandwhich or nothing.
Cold soups are refreshing once in awhile in the heat.
We usually have a ot soup daily so cold is nice, so easy to just serve it without any cooking.
Yes, it is like desert and a meal at the same time.

fluffy2560 wrote:

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

BTW, calling someone weak and expecting that to be taken personally might in fact be a badge of honour. I mean, weak in his mind could mean humanist, amenable or whatever.

I agree.

Haha, it came to pass.

DT apparently called Justin Trudeau weak after the G7 meeting.

I could claim I can predict the future. 

But that would be silly.

Anyone can predict what a one trick pony will do. 

klsallee wrote:

.....
I could claim I can predict the future. 

But that would be silly.

Anyone can predict what a one trick pony will do. 

Yes, it's true enough.  It was just a matter of timing.  Came faster than I thought it would.  Used sparingly it could be more effective.  But used continuously, it's just more meh.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....
She posted one photo of a long fish stick in a hot dog bun... I had to say Yuck on that one.
Having cold cherry soup today, now that might make a colorful photo shoot...
My bro hardly ever posts photos but today he has a few up from a trip to Santa Barbara, Huge bloody Mary drink and jumbo shrimp cocktail...I hate him now!! looks way too good.

Shrimp cocktail - excellent.  Haven't had one of those for years.  Hmmmm now I have an idea for dinner.....seafood paella.

I've never understood the idea of cold soup.  Is it a soup? Or is it some kind of dessert?  Surely soups should be hot and savoury, not cold and sweet.   I always thought it'd come out as a kind of jellied goo. 

Fish finger sandwiches are pretty good. I used to have them when I was a kid.  Basically it's a fish burger.  Very nice as "BLT" style - except it's a FLT obviously.

I know, dying for a shrimp cocktail, been a long time since I've even seen shrimp.
Fish sandwiches are good once in awhile. Been ages since I've had one of those either.
.....
Cold soups are refreshing once in awhile in the heat.
We usually have a ot soup daily so cold is nice, so easy to just serve it without any cooking.
Yes, it is like desert and a meal at the same time.

Ah yes, but where to get shrimp that's any good?  It'll be frozen and less desirable. And usually the small ones which aren't as good.  I don't like them with the heads on. It must be possible but where?  Aldi?   Quite nice salmon there for a salmon based carbonara in a creamy sauce. 

Thinking about it, fish is a bit difficult here:  in the UK, we like kippers (aka smoked herring) and I'm rather partial to smoked mackerel.  Smoked mackerel is nice with salad for lunch.  Healthy too.   Anchovies are very difficult to find - very nice on seafood pizza.  Quite tart.  Only anchovies I've seen are in oil in jars in Aldi and extremely salty.  I did get about 10 tins a couple of years ago in the supermarket in Portugal - now all gone.

I mentioned seafood paella and I was overruled by a Fluffyette in favour of Gyulasleves.  Kids like routine. Case of an oldie but a goldie.

fluffy2560 wrote:

BTW, couple of things coming up - Turkish election and election of right wing party in Austria providing yet another ally for the Visegrad countries' views.  It's continuing a slide to the right.

When I look at how the Left behave, it seems sometimes that they are pushing people that way... or as Ronnie Scott put it, "Our bouncers were outside throwing them in".

(Can't find the exact quote.)

fluffy2560 wrote:

Thinking about it, fish is a bit difficult here:  in the UK, we like kippers (aka smoked herring) and I'm rather partial to smoked mackerel.

Or more generally, people from the British Isles tend to eat sea fish more than freshwater fish. Nothing to carp about.

klsallee wrote:

I could claim I can predict the future. 

Well it is hardly useful to predict the past.

"I can call spirits from the vasty deep."

"Why, so can I, or so can any man;
  But will they come when you do call for them?"

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

My bro hardly ever posts photos but today he has a few up from a trip to Santa Barbara, Huge bloody Mary drink and jumbo shrimp cocktail...I hate him now!! looks way too good.

Hmm, I miss a proper Texan Marguerita. I think the ones they do in the Iguana restaurant/cantina near Parliament are very good. That restaurant is not too bad price-wise considering where it is and the food is reasonable although not amazingly tex-mex.