The bird, the bird is the word

It’s that time.  Season, as those in the restaurant world might say.  The birds are back.  Not these birds, fortunately, rather the South Florida Birds.  The white-haired, Estee Lauder-perfume-smelling birds.  The birds that forget to use their blinker and tend to always ride in the left lane.  Yes.  Those birds.  They’re not all bad birds, of course. 

JP propsed the question, “Would you pledge to never visit New York, if that meant one person (i.e., snowbird) couldn’t come to Florida in the winter?“  Since I’ve already been to New York, and the only person I know who lives there doesn’t live there anymore (NYGirl4EVA moved to Jersey! Ha!), I think my answer might be … yes?

In any event, the birds are also a sign of good things — holiday cheer, colorful lights, fattening foodstuffs, Publix commercials that make me cry.  The usual suspects.  With Thanksgiving over, it’s just a hop-skip away until Christmas … then NYE … then JP’s birthday ….  The pah-tay never stops, huh?

Tuesday schmoozeday

Where to start?

Well, I just (literally, just, like two minutes ago) stumbled on the blog Eating The Road and found this chart hysterical.  I guess I like eating gravel.

My hood is popping up with new businesses, too.  That’s gotta be a good sign, at least for Lake Worth.  First, a new tattoo shop on Dixie and Dartmouth.  Sol Ink, I think.  Or, 561 Ink?  Graffiti is awesome, but sometimes hard to read.  A new food joint on Dixie and Gregory looks about ready to open its doors as well – Darbster?  I’ve been watching the construction progress every morning on my way to work.  Should be interesting.

Thanksgiving is around the corner.  Yaaaay!!  Can’t get enough mashed potatoes.  And sweet potatoes!  My heart breaks for people who don’t eat carbs — they’re so glorious.  I’m still in the air about what I’m going to make this year.  Last year I made a stab at apple pie; this year, I’m thinking maybe something along the savory line ….

Please, get it write

English major or not, you should be offended by bad grammar.  I know, I know, everyone is not an Akeelah or a Grammar Girl.  And, please, I love a good typo, slang word or old fashioned Americanism (bizarro, shitload, douche bag) as much as the next person.  I drove by a restaurant advertising a “$5 Cuban Sandwish” the other day.  But, come on, a little good grammar goes a loooong way! 

We live in a world of texts and 140-character thoughts, so it’s not out-of-this-world that we would want to think of ways to speed things up and shorten them.  To be honest, I barely copy edit myself when I write this bloggity-blog.  (I should.  But, I don’t (always).)

In any event, I hope my nephews grow up knowing that tomorrow isn’t 2mrw (or whatever they’re using these days!); you has two other letters beside U; and there are more ways than to express emotion.

Here are a few grammatical pet peeves of mine, what are yours?

1. your/you’re.  Is it yours?  I hope you’re happy with the answer.

2. their/they’re/there.  They’re over there with their children. 

3. toward(s)/backward(s).  No s.  It’s not technically wrong, and I’m sure there are people who fight for the s, but not me.  Not here.  Of course, if you move to the UK or AU, by all means…take that s and run with it.  

4. redundancy.  I know I’m redundant in writing in several, if not all, of my posts.  However, I’m a fan of brevity in writing.  There shouldn’t be two twins (unless there are 4 babies total!  And, if that’s the case, run!).  You don’t need to make advance reservations.

There are many more, but I don’t want to get into a lesson here.  Teacher, I am not.  I’ll leave that to the certified. 

But, if you want to laugh at the grammar misfortunes of others, click here.

These Reefs are made for walking

So, this weekend I thought it would be a grand idea for us to walk to downtown Lake Worth.  I figured it was about 1-1 1/2 miles, so not a far walk.  Besides, why not be environmentally friendly, get some exercise, see the town by foot.  It’s one thing to drive through a neighborhood, and it’s another to walk it.  You get to see all the cracks that aren’t filled in with fire hydrants and landscaping.  It’s nice.  One should know which lots reek of urine (human?  animal?), which have boarded up houses and which ones are voting for who.  Yes, JP and I got to figure all this out on our…30+-minute walk.  I was a bit wrong in my destination distance estimate, I admit.  But, it gave way to uber thirstiness by the time we reached Lake Avenue!  Anywho, at least we got to burn some calories before we consumed them!  

Topic switch!  On the way home tonight, I grabbed some fennel at the local market.  I’ve always wanted to try this at home, so score.  The raw fennel smelled like black licorice straight up; too bad I’m not a fan of black licorice.  In any event, I had faith that the grilling process would change that.  And it did.  Just a little s&p and some olive oil plus a little grill heat…tasty goodness.  The result was a little celery, but much more mellow, and with better texture