PixlBit

I like the theme of your blog.  I may do one in a similar vein, if you don't mind.

Europe, eh?  Too cool.  I've never been, and judging by how xenophobic the wife is, I doubt I'll ever go.

I stole the idea from Gabe, one of the two originators of BaD, so help yourself.

I needed a year off after high school, and it was my step-dad who suggested that I take the time and do something I wanted before I got bogged down by adult life. We'd lived in Norway for a few years, my step-dad is German and we'd visited his family in Germany a few times while we lived in Norway, and I'd always wanted to see more and travel by train. So I got a new passport, a two month Eurail Youth Pass, a one year IYHA (International Youth Hostel Association) membership, a copy of Let's Go! Europe and a copy of Rick Steve's Europe Through the Back Door, a really good back pack, and really cheap airline tickets and off I went.

Dude...my inner fat-kid is asking me to ask you: "Tell me about the food you ate."

What? The food I ate when I was traveling? Not very exciting, I usually went to the grocery store and bought whatever I could afford because it was cheaper than eating out and this way I could stay longer. I ate a lot of bread, cheese, muesli, milk, canned soup, and digestive biscuits. The few times I ate out, I went to a Greek restaurant in Paris and had moussaka, I ate at a little restaurant in Chartre that was in the home of an elderly couple and got the most amazing three course meal for cheap (40 Francs, no idea what that translate to in dollars, but it was dirt cheap) - crudites (I tried 'em and didn't like 'em), roast beef with gravy and mushrooms and fried potatoes on the side, and brie, fruit, and crackers for dessert. Their dog slept under our table while we ate, and there was a bird in a cage behind us that whistled and chirped the whole time. The couple who owned the place didn't speak any English, and we didn't speak any French, but we managed to understand each other.

Sounds like it'd be an interesting memoir. Call it, The European Perigrinations of Rangergirl. I love archaic words.

I kept a trip journal for most of the trip, which was how I knew what we'd eaten lo these 27 years later.

digestive biscuit?  I've never heard of these.  

You said 'What?'  but hey - you've read The Weekender.  I'm interested in what you people are eating.

I DO work in the food biz, after all. 

Digestive biscuits are British. Kind of like a round wholemeal graham cracker. They go good with anything - peanut butter, cheese, chocolate, by themselves, they're just really, really good. There are a couple of different brands, but McVitie's are my favorite.

As for tonight, I made a wicked good pot of chili using a kit from Carroll Shelby's. It's Texas style, but I tossed in a chopped onion, a couple of chopped green peppers, a can of kidney beans, a can of diced tomatoes, and a can of corn. i forget to grab a box of corn braed mix at the grocery store, that would have made it perfect.

That does sound like good chili.  Im craving a bowl now, with some crusty bread and a can of Sprite.  I had some turkey chorizo sausage today, myself.  It was delicious.  Gonna take a couple links to work tomorrow and heat them on the flat for a couple of my preferred coworkers.  See if I can get them to try it with some penne and garlic Alfredo sauce.

My friend Shawn makes a pasta dish with anduille sausage and peas in a garlic alfredo sauce that is to die for.

Sausage=Darth's all time favorite food.

McVitie's Digestives FTW!

See now everyone wants to do a random facts blog. LOL

I think my first word was Beer. :) I really don't know but since I'm English that sounds about right.

Dear God I love baked mac n' cheese with the crumbly breading. That is the #1 thing I hope to have if I get off this low-carb diet.

Your first word reminds me of the turtle kid, for obvious reasons.

Dark Horse publishes the graphic novels of Avatar The Last Airbender I'm collecting. I like them.

Did you spend any time in Barcelona? My older brother loved his time there. I really want to get out of the country.

I think I've had Thai food, but not Indian. I need to try it again though.

Never heard of Charles de Lint. There a book I should start with?

My favorite movie genre is probably Oscar bait. My least favorite might also be chick flicks, unless you count Chasing Amy as one, which I honestly don't.

Never made it to Spain. After barely remembering France, I decided to slow down and just relax. I ended up spending four days in France, five weeks in the UK, six weeks in Ireland, three weeks in Norway, and a couple of days in Luxembourg. Which is a pretty awesome little country, by the way.

You've never had Indian food?! I'm so sorry! Naan bread is the best, especially when dipped in tamarind sauce or mango chutney. And then there's biryani, which is rice flavored with saffron and other spices, with vegetables and usually either chicken or lamb. And pakora, which are little vegetable fritters. Now I'm drooling, dammit!

I'd recommend Jack the Giant Killer and Drink Down the Moon. The two books go together. Moonheart is also excellent, as is Greenmantle, and any of his short story compilations are really good, too.

I too may steal this blog idea at some point. Charles De Lint looks like something I might have to check up on. I quite like Low Fantasy, and I haven't read much Urban Fantasy.

Be my guest. I stole it from Gabe ;)

Charles de Lint uses a lot of mythology in his writing, which may be what drew me to it in the first place, and I quite liked the combination of celtic mythology in an urban setting. He's branched out into other cultures, but they're almost all set in modern urban areas. His early books were usually set in Ottawa, Canada, which is where he lives, and his newer books are set in a fictional anywhere town called Newford.

ug that rush hour argument sounds hellish.  

I really need to get into Doc Savage. With my interests, it doesn't make sense that I've never read any of those.  

I'd like to travel europe, but i would have been better doing it when i was younger.  y nerves can't handle stuff like that anymore....

Matt, it was actually pretty funny. The two of us were standing there facing each other and yelling and it was like Moses parting the Red Sea the way people were avoiding us. And I'm sure people were delightfully scandalized.

Yeah, Matt, get on that that, would you :P

Travelling in Europe is a lot cheaper when you're under the age of 26, too. Granted this was a long time ago, but I was paying about $4 a night to stay in some youth hostels.

I don't think I had any interesting first words, but one of my brother Jeff's first words was "Donkey Kong."

Cary, why doesn't that surprise me?

I come in here and there's all this stuff about food. Now I'm hungry again and I just ate lunch.

There's always room for a chocolate-covered McVitie's digestive!

There are some in the cupboard at home I think.

I've got no clue as to what my first word was, never even thought to ask my parents and I'm not sure if they remember. Only thing I can remember is that for the longest time I would pronounce Milk as either 'muck' or 'malk', even after being corrected many, many times.

I only know what mine was because my mom made a big deal about it.