Happy Belated Birthday to Nonny Nu! by guest bloggers Cl. Panic, A-Dog, and Little Miss

We found you a cake that goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on.  Just like your birthday celebrations....(how many birthday bbqs did you have?)

Love Cl Panic & A Dog & Little Miss

Belated Happy Birthday to A-Dog!

Dear A-Dog,

I hope you had a wonderful birthday last week.  Below is a birthday cake with tap shoes.  I hope you will grace us with a dance soon!

nn

Self-Portrait and Magnets

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

This morning, I rode the rails with Cl. Panic and dribbled tea all over my sweater because my beautiful Jane Austen inspired travel mug sprang a leak.  But all is well because someone at work gave me an enzyme stain remover wipe.  It works ok, but not as good as a Tide Pen.

Anywho, the moral of this story is:  I got a new magnet!!

Whenever I or one of my friends or sisters go on vacation, we bring back refrigerator magnets to share with the people who we left at home.  My very first refrigerator magnet was one from Seattle, but I will tell you how I got that later in this post.  Check out my office minifridge and my magnet collection (you can see a reflection of me taking the photo)!

I can't remember the order in which I received the magnets, but I know that the first one I got was from Green Thumbs McGillicutty.  It was from one day trip she took from San Jose to Seattle just to make the miles to keep her in some sort of airline "best customers" club or something like that.

I also have ones from San Antonio (from when I went to my niece's wedding), another one from Green Thumbs when she went to Philadelphia for a deposition, and another from myself when I went to visit MonkeyPig in Georgia (the little fish pictured was from Cl. Panic for our unfortunate but thankfully temporary stay at Drones 'R Us).

This one is from MonkeyPig when the sisters went to Georgia for a surprise visit.  And, this one is also from MonkeyPig from a few years ago when we had a sisters reunion in Washington, DC.  We ate at the Supreme Court's cafeteria and I saved my ticket stub!  The two Tinkerbell magnets holding the stub are from L. Woods when she visited Disneyworld in Florida.

Now, this one is an international magnet from Heidelberg, Germany, where L. Woods visited on business a year ago.  Note the giant gummy bears attached.

And, then, there is my most recently acquired one from Cl. Panic and A-Dog from when they flew to the Pacific Northwest recently.  It is from the actual Tillamook cheese factory and is 24K gold plated brass.  The magnetic bunnies are from Cl. Panic.  They got very hungry and attacked the cheese (they are not partial to giant gummies).

Finally, this one is not a magnet, but is nonetheless a sentiment from a dear friend who had gone afar and kept me in mind.  It is a keychain of a polar bear dressed in a UK t-shirt from when Mr. Nonny Nu went to London recently.  The bear has the Harrods' "H" stamp on the bottom of its foot.

So many little treasures!  I think my most prized items in my office might be my magnets and keychain.

Farming

Spring is over and summer has officially begun with the solstice. The Panic-Dogs have been busily preparing for their new hybrid creation (a baby) but before their little one arrives, the land must be tilled and the seeds planted. Soon, there will be a harvest that will bring sugar snap peas and tomatoes to the Nu Warren doorsteps. See here (every flower promises a pea pod).

Unfortunately, aphids have struck the sleepy peaceful beds of the pea pods but Farmer Panic has taken care of them. Hopefully, the pods that were slated for my stomach have not been damaged.


Additionally, strawberries, red, luscious strawberries, were also available for consumption. Just not my consumption. I dropped Cl. Panic off one day and he showed me the strawberry patch that had one red berry and several ripening berries. Did he offer me a berry? Nope. Well, I hope you enjoyed your red strawberries knowing that millions of people are starving out there with no strawberries to eat.

June Birthdays

Hello, everyone! Just wanted to take this time to say a very special "Happy Birthday!" to my bestest kitty, Sushi Cat. You are the most special soul and I miss you so much. I know that you are up there having fun and making sure there is a comfy cloud for Momma and Daddy when we see you again. I love you very much. Here is a pepperoni pizza for you from Momma, kitty. Don't eat too much because you know you can't handle the spice so well.

Now, for my dear friend, Siddharta's girl. This has been a year of changes and progress. I am so happy that you are pursuing and finding your faith. I hope that you will find peace and happiness because you deserve it. For you, a zen cake...

Last, but not least, I had one of the best birthday celebrations ever. Not only was I taken to lunch, my awesome friends Green Thumbs McGillicutty, Mr. McGillicutty, Cl. Panic, A-Dog, and L. Woods threw an impromptu birthday celebration for me that night at the McGillicutty ranch. Even Mr. Nonny Nu was there! The McGillicuttys cooked delicious burgers on the grill, accompanied by a light orzo salad and homemade, slow cooked Boston baked beans. L. Woods provided yummy drinks to cool everyone down. And the meal ended with the Panic-Dogs' guava cake topped with Green Thumb's scrumptious homemade strawberry ice cream and TWO KINDS OF WHIPPED CREAM provided by L. Woods! These people know me so well.

But the things that touched me the most was the fact that these very busy people who routinely stay late to work had taken the day off early in order to make this impromptu party happen for me, that these people who highly value their precious and relatively scarce time with their families would give up that time to include me, and that a certain person who rarely ventured from the house got himself dressed and ready to go by the time I got home to participate in this celebration. That was the best gift of all and I will always cherish the memories in my heart.

Now, you all know how I normally like to keep my face off of the blog but I will break that rule and show you pics of me and the cake so that you can see my happiness and contentment. That fireball in the foreground is the cake with 36 candles on it.

Happy Belated Birthdays!!

I have been so remiss these past couple of months.  Please, everyone, accept my apologies for missing three birthdays.  THREE!!!  Oy...

First, happy birthday to Willy Wonka!!  I know that any cake I find will not be up to snuff taste-wise when compared to the delicious fabulosity that you've created in the past.  Here's to another 50 years of baking and cooking for the common good!

Second, happy birthday to A-dog!!  For you, I have chosen a king cake.  Why?  Well, there's a Chinese saying that goes like this: 物似主人形 (object resembles owner's form).  I hope you like it and CONGRATULATIONS!!

And, last but not least, is my dearest L. Woods!  Happy birthday!  I know that you're super busy right now and that all you'd like to do is to have just a few hours of good sleep.  So, here is a Xanax and whiskey cake for you!  Sweet dreams!

Tomato Bountycl. panic, lycopene wrangler and guest blogger

High tomato season is upon us at the Panic household. Just this weekend, a bounty of Iraqi and Turkish tomatoes graduated from the school of ripe. (And I remember when they were just seedlings, mere overage from GTMcG's exotic tomato sprouting endeavors).

The ones with the stripes are called Turkish Striped Monastery, and supposedly there

are some "Pinks" hidden in that bowl. The plants that sprouted these fine specimens now stand over six feet tall! We are happy to report that the Iraqi Al Kufa plants have also borne fruit, though they did end up requiring cages in spite of GTMcG's emphatic pleading to let them roam free.

The days of the seedlings are now the distant past. Ms. Panic is now faced with a bowl full of red tomatoes and vines still covered with more green juveniles. Greek salads and bruschetta await!

(We have been hit with some blossom end rot this season; not sure if the water softener is to blame. Next year, we'll supplement with calcium just in case.)

Lobster Safari (and Wedding)

This weekend, I went on a lobster safari. The lobster's natural habitat is on the East Coast, and one of the best known lobster preserves is located in and around the town of Boston. Green Thumbs and L. Woods accompanied me on this quest, but L. Woods arrived a day early to scope out the place.

GTM and I flew from San Jose to Boston, careful to sit in non-adjacent seats so as not to tip off the lobsters. Lobsters are very sensitive creatures and often detect trouble with their long antennae. This was my first lobster safari but I did my homework in advance, mostly in the form of daydreaming about the moment when I would meet my first lobster face to face, antennae to ears, mano y mano.

The morning of the safari, GTM and I woke up at the crack of dawn (9-ish) and prepared ourselves physically to confront the feisty lobster. I ran on the treadmill, and GTM read a book about a girl who kicked the hornet's nest (presumably in case we encounter any hornets on the way to the lobster lair). L. Woods felt that the best way to prepare for the safari was to go back to sleep for another hour.

During that hour, GTM and I warmed up and each purchased a lobster roll next door at the James Hook Lobster Aquarium. Here's what it looked like:

Look at the chunks of lobster in that baby!

Then, it was time to go on the actual hunt. We took a 30 minute ferry to The Lobster Island, attended Cl. Panic's and A-dog's beautiful wedding ceremony, and were led to a table of lobster torture instruments. When our table was called, I shot up like a rocket and stealthily slithered over to the lobster lair. Upon reaching the lair, I pointed at an unsuspecting lobster and exclaimed, "I'll take that one!" He didn't know what hit him!

I slung the slain lobster over my shoulder and dragged it back to our table. There, I eschewed the instruction sheet and relied purely on my predatory instincts to take apart the beast, limb by limb.

Afterward, we all enjoyed a wonderfully timed sunset.

The Nus wish Cl. Panic and A-dog much happiness and contentment in their life together!