Anyone want to have lunch with me?

Oooh, me. Except a)I already had lunch and b)we're geographically challenged.

I clicked the links. I'm sorry I did. Some people? Deeply stupid.

Catching up on the veg discussion, I love raw tomatoes, and can eat them with no problem at all. My dad's mother apparently had some sort of allergic reaction to them, because she would wander off and mutter unintelligibly for a few hours after she ate them. He said, with some gravity, so I assume he was reporting accurately. Cooked tomatoes and tomato sauce, though rich in antioxidants and other good things, tear my digestive system up. Hence the white pizza without tomato sauce but with thin-sliced tomatoes. I love onions and green peppers and cucumbers, but they are all determined to kill me in as painful and stinky a way as possible, so we no longer have truck with one another.

I like Brussels sprouts, in small and infrequent amounts, doused in garlic butter. Cooked cabbage is an abomination, but I'll eat it raw or slawed, and DH has a recipe for sauerkraut incorporating cumin, carrot shreds and kielbasa that I will happily eat. And I love to gnaw on raw cabbage hearts. Mmm, peppery. I'm with Fred, though, on the yucky overcooked veg.

One thing I have an aversion to similar to Nilly's for tomatoes is cooked squash, and it's not the taste, it's the texture. Squash, zucchini, eggplant...ew, ew, ew! The taste is pretty good, though, and it it's mixed thoroughly with other ingredients to the point that I can't distinguish the texture, I'll eat it cooked. Otherwise, it's small tender yellow crooknecks and zucchini raw in my salads.

As for field greens, kale is wonderful barely cooked and served with a mustard-vinegar dressing, and spinach is food of the gods no matter how it's served. Cooked lightly, yum. Chopped on white pizza, yum, small tender leaves raw with raspberry vinaigrette, yum! Even cooked more thoroughly and tossed with shredded cheddar, a dollop of cottage cheese and/or sour cream and toasted breadcrumbs, yum! I'll even eat canned or frozen spinach. There's no way it can be fixed I won't like.

And while I have cooked and served far more than my share of fried okra, I can take it or leave it. Stewed okra is just somebody's idea of revenge, but adding okra to gumbo or other stews lends its not unpleasant mild flavor and a subtle thickening effect, and I think that is its best use. I will state here, though, that having to cultivate tomato and okra plants and harvest the fruit is a dangerous business, best attacked with a hazmat suit and gloves. I may just be allergic to the plant sap, but it stings, burns, and itches, and I'd rather deal with a rabid dog, actually. With a gun from a distance. No such approach with garden veg.

My cat comes to his name. It only took him two years to learn to come to his name. He started out with a handicap, though, he was feral. So first he had to learn the concept of a name, and then that he had one, and that it was attached to him. He also comes to a cat-level finger-waggle. But he has no referrence for "Kittykittykitty!" because he never goes outside, and our house isn't big enough for him to get lost enough that we'd call him that way. His favorite sound, that he never fails to come to? The ripping-off of the Netflix envelope flap. We ball it up tightly and throw it for him to chase, bring back and chase again, repeatedly. Until finally he gets tired of chasing and dribbling it, clutches it to his chest with his front paws and proceeds to use feather-plucking technique to shred it. Woe betide the human who opens the Netflix and throws the flap in the trash. He knows, The Flap is Rightfully His!

Anyone want to have lunch with me? I've been sitting alone in the office all morning, and really need to have a conversation that doesn't include the word "Neighborhood"

I'll meet you in Loogootee.

Frank, I will stick my fingers in my ears, say "lalalalalalalala" some more, and pretend that we're having an actual conversation.

Msbelle, I remember the day I watched the printer while it printed hundreds of envelopes. I've tried not to, but I do. IT had to be refilled every 7 or so.

Rick, tempting, but I think I'll need to eat before I'd get there. Maybe next week?

My favorite is the rescued chicken.

His favorite sound, that he never fails to come to? The ripping-off of the Netflix envelope flap.

Sophie's favorite sound is the wrapper on small pieces of candy (which is odd, because we don't have such in the house very often -- perhaps this is a carry-over from her old owners.) Crumpled foil from Hershey's Kisses is the bestest toy ever in Sophie-world.

Coris favorite sound is water running from the kitchen tap, because if she hangs around long enough someone will probably give her water in a glass. If permitted, she will perch on the kitchen counter when we're making dinner just to await this moment.

I want to have lunch with LyraJane.

Lunch, in general, would be good.

Where does LyraJane hang out?

edited:

Crumpled foil from Hershey's Kisses is the bestest toy ever...

OK, cats can be cute, the vindictive bastards.

I'm in Virginia, so I think it's a different timezone. Sorry.

AHHHH! envelopes are the WORST on a mass mailing. I think I have convinced my org to use a mailhouse for the next mailing where we need printed envelopes.

I did 1100 myself in October and I was almost driven to murder.

BevDOG - your cat sounds adorable. also I think I will finally get your book in the mail today.

My favorite is the rescued chicken.

Mine is JATO.