These are a Few of my Favorite Things...

These are a Few of my Favorite Things...

Not in the mood for anything serious this week. Feeling a bit overwhelmed, here, in the bunker. Heavy forces in the air. So, looking for a little escapism...

Found these at Museum Hack, and thought they fit the bill.

Enjoy!

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1/ What’s your favorite flower or plant?

Hard to pick just one. I love them all... but there is one I admire respect more than others.

Marigolds.

They have the longest life span of any flower planted in the garden. You can plant them in spring and have flowers all the way until that first killing frost. Their colors are bright and happy. The scent is exotic and like life itself; an earthy musk mixed with a tint of bitterness. They are naturally immune to the Japanese Beetle and rabbits. And when a flower has run it's life course, you simply nip it off and place it in a paper bag to dry. It's seeds are stored there and you will have even more the next year... so it's a renewable life source, an endless supply. 

For those reasons, this is my all-time favorite flower. 

2/ What’s your favorite scent?

Again, hard to pick just one. My ex has a natural soap company and only uses essential oils, so I have been exposed to a lot of different basic scents.

Cucumber comes to mind. 

It has a subtle citrus-like briskness that reminds me of early dawn. It's such a clean scent.

I think that's why I like gin, too. 

The smell of fresh coffee makes me light up. As does the smell of bread toasting.

But if I had to pick one scent that I would like to experience time and again, I would choose a man's natural musk. Yes, piggy, piggy. But give me a fresh armpit and I am in heaven. Or, in the case of certain men... that musk they create between their legs. (Eek, I know. But get over it.)

Sadly, most dudes do not have any appreciation for my appreciation, for finding someone who 'gets it' is a rare event. Most guys don't - even the ones into man smells. Some take it too far... I don't want you to stink like you haven't bathed or taken care of your stuff... I want the fresh musk that is earned from a run in the sun or a work out. Musk, yes... 

Raunch? 

Hell to the no!

3/ What is your favorite animal (not dog or cat)?

I think Australia wins hands down for having the most interesting animals. 

I love me a wombat or a quokka. Bilbies, platypus, sugar gliders, quolls, echidnas, peramelemorphias, Tasmanian devils. Fascinating.

I love capybara. And manatees.

But... I am going to go with the sloth. 

I adore their faces. I agree with their attitude and admire their pace and work ethic. How they have managed to survive? You got me. For that alone, I think they're amazing.

Also... one of the very few cases where long finger nails really enhance a look.

4/ What is your favorite magical or mythological animal?

An ethical, selfless, intelligent, intellectual, empathetic Republican.

Let me know if you ever see one.

5/ What’s your favorite tradition or holiday?

Is there a holiday not built on a lie or tainted by some type of deceit/deception or self-interest?

Christmas - Nativity /  Santa / Greed

Thanksgiving - A cover-up for genocide / Gluttony 

Easter - I mean, come on. Come on.... oh, and the bunny... and more gluttony.

Even our national holidays are tainted. Fourth of July? Our independence came at a price - one we forced Native Americans to pay. Labor Day? The consolation prize for our willingness to make other people rich. Oh, and let's not forget who really built this country. (Hint - it wasn't white people!) Memorial day? Glorification of war... the senseless slaughter of young people too poor  and powerless to get out of serving.

April Fool's? Mean. St. Patrick's Day? Excuse to drink to excess. New Years? The start of a whole bunch of promises we will break and another excuse to drink to excess (which is one of the promises we will be breaking in the near future).

Why isn't there a holiday of atonement? Or a celebration of kindness? Or a day of volunteerism. 

Well, there are... but they're not Christmas. They're not Thanksgiving. And in this country, they never will be.

So, I have to go with the only holiday that makes any sense...

Halloween. 

Oh, religions have tried to co-opt it or do away with it... but it survives. And maybe it's tied to some cultish crap... maybe. But who cares? 

It's mostly about dressing up and scary things. Two things I like a lot. 

I also love that it pisses off a lot of pious assholes. 

Yeah... we should have a lot more holidays that accomplish that!

6/ What is your favorite meal to cook and why?

Back when I ate meat, I loved making a Thanksgiving day spread. The turkey, mashed potatoes, scalloped corn, stuffing, Brussels sprouts, cranberries, pies... what's not to love? 

One year I made it a challenge. I had to buy everything at a Dollar Store. Except the turkey. NEVER eat turkey you bought at a Dollar Store. Because, whatever it is... it ain't turkey.

Now? 

I love crock pot dishes and homemade soups. I cheat. Sauces in a jar. Frozen peas. That sort of thing. But I love that you can cut up a bunch of veggies and put them in this magical ceramic pot and four to six hours later have something that is amazingly delicious. Go easy on the salt. Better yet, skip it entirely.

And no anxiety.  No anxiety. That's the best cooking.

7/ What is your favorite breakfast food?

I love hot breakfast food. I sometimes eat it for dinner. 

Eggs, hasbrowns, toast... oh, my, gawd. And the cool thing is, you can eat them separately or stack them in a sandwich. 

I make my eggs in the microwave. Yeah, I know... a lot of people are freaked out about microwaves, but... meh. It is a lot nicer than frying them. A ceramic bowl, a little olive oil to coat the inside of the bowl, add egg, place in microwave and cover - very important to cover, or it will rain egg whites like confetti all over the insides of your microwave. Season before you cook. Cook one minute per egg. They slide out of the bowl. Perfect shape and consistency for an egg sandwich.

I love making pancakes, too. On my electric griddle. Easy. Even the clean up. And, if you can use them as bread for your egg sandwich. Just toast them first.

I love all-fruit smoothies. Hate syrups. Why muck up stuff with something that's false and synthetic? Fruit has tons of flavor. Tart and sweet. Freeze bananas. Run them under water to peel. Add fresh or frozen strawberries and some 100% orange juice. Get a Ninja blender. Best thing ever. It comes out like a strawberry milkshake, without the cloying sweetness or weird dairy coating/taste. 

Not a fan of dairy. In fact, I avoid it.

But, know what? If I have to choose one? Oatmeal. Plain. I add raisins. And/or walnuts. Love it. It's gruel fuel. When I am old, I plan to eat it for every meal. 

And easy to make, too. 

That's the beauty of breakfast.  Easy to make, easy to clean-up.

8/ What’s your favorite sandwich and why?

Back when I used to eat meat, I loved a good tuna salad. I still love egg salad. So easy to make. But I never order egg salad at a restaurant. They always use too much mayo or they use salad dressing which is an abomination. A tiny dab will do. Egg salad should be the consistency of a paste, not bits of egg white swimming in a sea of mayo. Also the bread has to be toasted. 

These days, my favorite sandwich is a vegan dream. Smoked Tofurky. sliced deli thin, with a plant-based smoked gouda by 365 that is to die for, on toasted 12 Grain bread. Sometimes I put spicy mustard on it. 

And I eat it over the kitchen sink, like a grown ass man. 

Why over the sink? Because sandwiches, like most relationships, tend to fall apart and this way, rather than end up on the front of my shirt, the bits land in the sink where they can be easily disposed of. 

I think sandwiches are the perfect food. Clean up is so easy. Put everything away and wipe down surfaces. At most there is a knife to clean. 

I wish relationships were as easy.

9/ What is your favorite dessert?

I don't like sugar. I don't like sweets. 

When I was a kid? Couldn't get enough. Lived on white sugar. But some time in the late 'haties' my love affair with sugar ended. 

I dislike frosting. Such a nasty thing to do to cake. I will still eat dark chocolate cake. 

At the end of a meal? 

Give me a small piece of dark chocolate. I adore it. With a cup of rich, dark coffee? Perfect. 

10/ What was your favorite game to play as a child?

Posiedon Adventure and The Towering Inferno.

It would be years before I saw the actual movies, but I was fascinated by disaster films. I would order the book versions through Scholastic Books at school. The movie posters of the films served as the covers and that, along with the text, photos and stories I would read in Newsweek and Time Magazine at school, was enough to fuel my fantasies. 

I spent a lot of time alone as a kid. Mostly in our basement. We lived in an old Victorian and the basement... well, it still had a coal shute and a huge old octopus-like furnace with a windowed door that you could open to see the flames, so that should give you an idea of what it was like. 

But it was perfect for acting out disaster films. 

In retrospect, I realize had anybody watched me what they would have seen is a little kid staggering around, clinging to and bouncing off walls and toppling chairs, hiding behind doors and digging his way through imaginary rubble. But in my imagination, as Maureen McGovern sang the theme songs in my head, I was right there in the movie. 

I also acted out: Alfred Hitchcock's Life Boat (with Tallulah Bankhead), Willard, Ben, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, and Ten Little Indians.  

I was obsessed with people in peril. 

Yeah. I was a strange little kid.

11/ What is your favorite musical instrument and why?

I like the oboe because it comes closest to replicating the human voice.

I love the piano because it is such a multifaceted instrument. Every genre of music sounds amazing on it because it's melodic and rhythmic at the same time.

But my favorite instrument is the human voice. There is nothing like it. Each, a fingerprint of the soul. 

And such variety. Think about it. Tom Waits, Seal, Streisand, Randy Newman, Toni Braxton, Art Garfunkel, Donna Summer, Pavarotti, Smokey Robinson, Amy Winehouse... they are all singers, but each remarkably unique and distinct. And their instruments change and grow and age. I adore listening to an individual's phrasing, their breath control, their intonation, their ability to bring their speaking voice into play... Singing lays bare the depth of an individual's being. It reveals their true selves. And I personally believe that everyone has a voice... it may not soar like Sam Smith's, or even be in key... but we're all in tune to ourselves and that is what singing is all about - sharing our true selves.

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Oh, this was fun. Look for more questions regarding your favorite things in the future. For now? You know what to do. Leave your answers in the comments section or post them on your blog and leave a link. 

Dessert - Dawin

Stir Fry - Migos