Sunday, February 8, 2009

Effluvia and Chazerai

Definitions:

"Effluvia": A byproduct or residue; waste.
"Chazerai": Disgusting stuff, trash (that's the formal Yiddish definition; the truth is, it now means "oddments, junk food, clutter -- you know, CHAZERAI!)

In this case, and this application, I mean simply the thinkings and ramblings of the last few days....for example:

This is one of the things we Wisconsinites live for. The rest of you can have your caviar, your Kobe beef, your puffer fish......we have DEEP-FRIED CHEESE CURDS! (OK, you can put that fact right out of your minds.....we DO know they're globules of congealed milk, rolled in buttery breadcrumbs and dropped into boiling fat - and we do know the little clicking sound as we eat them are our arteries slamming shut. We do know that -- see Chazerai , above.)


Cue theme music: "These Are a Few of My Favorite Things"....you see here one definition of my Happy Place. Directly before me, my Current Read (in this case, "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle", which I am reading slowly and savoring); above that my very own portion of Deep-Fried Cheese Curds (made even tastier by the fact that they were only $1 for the bag); and Mr Dearling across from me, with his very own bag of them!

I watched a marathon of "Dog, the Bounty Hunter". OK, so it's another dark secret - I'm almost amazed they ever catch anyone - you'd think someone in town would notice two or three huge black SUVs filled with stout blond people dripping beads and feathers (and some skinny ones with mohawks and long earrings - and his WIFE) in town and tip off every fugitive in a five-state area. But I really lost it when I read the disclaimer, which went something like this: "Actual hunters going after actual fugitives... DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME! Aw nuts, and I was just going to get myself a few neck chains and try it....

Mental image: me (4'11", remember) wearing my necklaces - a Thor's hammer, a fleur-de-lys, a little ceramic lamb pendant...driving my Subaru Outback and wearing a sunbonnet and shades. Nope, I won't be "trying that at home".

Bath and Body Works is discontinuing their "Purely Silk" and "Ultimate Silk" hand lotions. These are the only hand lotions I've ever found that I can use and then immediately knit on account of, they really are NOT greasy or sticky. See where I said "discontinued"? There issued from my lips (quietly, I hope) a stream of language that would make Jack Sparrow blush.....but a phone call from my usual shop to a distant-but-still-local shop revealed that THEY had "tons"! So I went over the next day and bought twelve (count 'em, 12 ) bottles of the stuff, all in "Sensual Amber", my smell du jour. I figure that'll last me, maybe until I croak. (Nevermind that I do have about half-a-dozen bottles of the stuff in other scents.) Hmmmm....I'll have handy prizes if I do another contest sometime soon! I love the stuff - but I always enjoy things more if I can share 'em. PS - being as they ARE being discontinued, they're marked way down. Whew!

And last - effectively catching myself up - is this:

See? NINE little preemie caps. I'm using all the same pattern - CO 42, do a few rows seed stitch and then knit up to the top (decreasing where I should). I think they're darling; I'll see where to send them for Ravelry, I think - but I'm on a roll and I'm going to send off as many as I can to the hospital where my Lovely Daughter was born (weighing 3 lbs. 2 oz. at birth and 2 lbs. 11 oz. the next morning). I still have another Calorimetry on the needles, and I've finished my Homespun cowl too, but I am enjoying these wee caps - and I found some Caron yarn made out of recycled plastic bottles, which is machine wash-and-dry-able. It's called "Caron ECO". It's green. Well -- no, one skein is actually "Wheat". The other one is "Spring Moss", which makes it both green and green . Oy.

Nothing like a warm sunbath...

11 comments:

Kitty Mommy said...

I am going to forever cherish the mental image of "Dale-Harriet, the Bounty Hunter"!!!

Have you had the Stoughton FFA Alum cheese curds? Right up there with their real whipped cream cream puffs. If you haven't I'll try to let you know when they will have their stand at an "event" sometimes.

Anonymous said...

Your Culver's has cheese curds?!? Our closest one is in Forest Lake, MN, and I don't remember ever seeing them on the menu. Must check. Although since it is in MN, perhaps curds are not de rigeur the way they would be in WI.

Dale-Harriet does the Stephanie Plum thing? Hilarious! You must get yourself a Lula to help.

Anonymous said...

Kmkat....Mom's more like Grandma Mazur, I expect, but the thought of her with her own Lula had me laughing at my desk :)

gayle said...

Oh, my word! Deep. Fried. Cheese. Curds. I may weep. There's nothing like that up here.
I'll have to try making my own. Once in a while the local grocery (for which, read "the only grocery") has cheese curds in stock. I shall pounce next time I see them and try this at home.
Deep frying. Not bounty hunting.

Anonymous said...

Mmm, agreed about the cheese curds. They're heaven, unhealthy as they may be. In my very biased opinion, as I basically grew up on the things, the best of the lot are the cheese curds at the Wisconsin Valley Fair up in Wausau. ... Lordy, now I want some.

Now you've got me pondering weaving with mossy green yarn, too. Ooh.

Alwen said...

We do have a Culver's, but I'm almost, almost sure they don't offer cheese curds. Must check the next time we get up there!

ChangingCourseAgain said...

I love the cheese curds here in Seattle and will make it my mission to a) find somewhere that actually deep-frys them, or b)try a home fry test and hope I don't burn the house down.
PS..I think Dog the BH would be much better if they ALL wore ceramic lamb pendants. Or better yet, Lamb the Bounty Hunter...the spin-off.

Anonymous said...

Dale-Harriet, I too love Stephanie Plum and Sensual Amber! I snagged a couple bottles of the body lotion in the "old" packaging.

Anonymous said...

Two things: I'm coming to WI soon and sure hope to try that deep fried curd, wowza. Also, should we be worried Dale-Harriet? Where are you and what kind of trouble are you causing?

Cindy G said...

Dale Harriet, I about fell off my chair envisioning you on a stake out with Dawg. I love the image so much I'm almost ready to stand you to a ticket to Hawaii. Love (1000).

Ryan said...

Note to Self: If you are ever with Dale-Harriet, do not suggest buying one bag of deep-fried cheese curds and sharing. This will be worse for your health than the deep-fried cheese curds.