SMOKED SALMON NICOISE SALAD + RIDDLE + QUICK QUESTION + FASCINATING FACTS
Wednesday greetings!
It’s “hump day” as it’s been dubbed. Half-way through the work week.
Hold tight – Friday and the weekend are on their way!
Presenting Wednesday Reader. Whole bunch of fun packed in today!
Beginning with:
LESLIE ELMAN
Did you know what the “pearls” are in a cup of BOBA — or Bubble Tea are?
I didn’t! Pretty cool, for sure. I’m gonna seek a cuppa BOBA next time I see a shop offering it to really give it a tasty-taste!
QUICK QUESTION
Weirdest thing by my bed is a can of wasp spray. And it’s not for wasps.
In the unlikely event that an intruder enters my home — I’m armed and ready! Pretty sure I got the idea from a movie I saw a long time ago. Makes sense to me. You?
SIGNS IN THE KITCHEN
Are a crack up!
SMOKED SALMON NICOISE SALAD RECIPE
Is kisses to the sky delish! I actually prefer the canned tuna over smoked salmon. Both fish great options for this salad + a glass of cold Rose wine.
TRACY BECKERMAN’S
Column never disappoints with her great slice-of-life writing style!
FASCINATING STUFF
Wow! PEARLS! From other mollusks. Super interesting.
THANKS ALL FOR SLIDING BY TODAY
And spending a piece of your Wednesday with us + engaging + sharing.
We are grateful!
OH! WAIT!
5 for Friday’s episode is a you don’t wanna miss it!
Stephanie’s Chic on the Cheap column has DIY glass mushroom art pieces + Tiffany style lamp turned upside down to make into a planter + fresh delish Caprese Stuffed Avacodos! So. Much. Cool!
AND Jerry Clower’s back with another story that’s sure to make ya LOL
Happy Wednesday!
Catch ya Friday.
Same time
Same place
POP QUIZ
- IN EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY, FROG-HEADED HEQET WAS THE GODDESS OF WHAT?
a) Fertility and childbirth
b) Fire
c) Music
d) Night - WHICH OF THESE WAS A SEGMENT OF “SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK” ?
a) “One is the Loneliest Number”
b) “Two of Hearts”
c) “Five, Six, Pick-Up Sticks”
d) “Naughty Number Nine” - THE “PEARLS” IN A CUP OF BOBA — OR BUBBLE — TEA ARE MADE FROM WHICH OF THESE THINGS?
a) Potato
b) Rice
c) Sugar cane
d) Tapioca
QUICK QUESTION
WHAT’S THE WEIRDEST THING
YOU KEEP BY YOUR BED?
POP QUIZ ANSWERS
- In Egyptian mythology, frog-headed Heqet was the goddess of fertility and childbirth.
- “Naughty Number Nine” was segment of “Schoolhouse Rock.”
- The “pearls” in a cup of boba — or bubble — tea are made from tapioca, a starch that comes from the cassava plant.
~ TRIVIA BITS
COPYRIGHT 2024 LESLIE ELMAN
DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM
SIGNS IN A KITCHEN
- So this isn’t Home Sweet Home … adjust.
- Ring Bell for maid service. If no answer, do it yourself.
- I clean house every other day. Today is the other day.
- If you write in the dust, please don’t date it.
- My house was clean last week. Too bad you missed it!
- I came, I saw, I decided to order take out.
- If you don’t like my standards of cooking — lower your standards.
- Although you’ll find our house a mess, Come in, Sit down, Converse.
~ From a CCC Spirit Lifter
IF YOU LAUGH A LOT,
WHEN YOU GET OLDER
YOUR WRINKLES WILL BE
IN ALL THE RIGHT PLACES.
INSTANT KARMA
WELCOME EVERY MORNING
WITH A SMILE
RIDDLE ME THIS
I AM NOT ALIVE, BUT I GROW;
I DON’T HAVE LUNGS, BUT I NEED AIR
TO BREATHE; I DON’T HAVE A MOUTH,
BUT WATER KILLS ME.
WHAT AM I?
SMOKED SALMON NICOISE SALAD
This recipe is a twist on the original Tuna Nicoise salad – Smoked Salmon in place of Canned Tuna in oil. By all means – do the Canned Tuna in oil if that’s your preference. (We’re talking a 12 0z can of tuna, drained and fluffed with a fork.)
Serve salad with a chunk of fresh crusty bread and a glass of Rose. Voila!
Serves 4
HERE’S HOW WE MAKE IT:
- 1 pound small red or gold potatoes, unpeeled and halved (think 1″ – 2″ in diameter)
- salt and pepper
- 8 ounces of fresh green beans, trimmed
- 2/3 cup sour cream
- 2 TBSP lemon juice
- 1 TBSP fresh dill, chopped
- 10 cups mesclun or spring mix lettuces
- 4 hard boiled eggs, quartered
- 8 ounces sliced smoked salmon
- 1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, halved
- 1 cup fresh diced tomatoes
- Bring 2 quarts water to boil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add potatoes and 1 1/2 TBSP salt; return to boil and cook 10 minutes. Add green beans and continue to cook until both vegetables are tender, about 4 minutes longer. Drain.
- Whisk sour cream, lemon juice, 2 TBSP water, dill, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper in small bowl.
- Toss mesclun or spring mix in large bowl with 1/4 cup of sour cream mixture in a large bowl – until leaves have been *kissed* with dressing.
- Divide dressed mesclun or spring mix evenly between 4 salad bowls.
- Add potatoes, green beans, quartered hard boiled eggs, salmon or tuna, olives and tomatoes on top of greens.
- Drizzle salad with remaining dressing.
- Serve.
RIDDLE ANSWER
FIRE
LOST IN SUBURBIA
SPEAK SOFTLY AND CARRY A BIG LAUGH
BY TRACY BECKERMAN
My husband listened quietly to his work associates on a Zoom call, and then suddenly, he burst out laughing.
“HAHAHAHA!!” he bellowed across our living room. I looked over at the windows to make sure they hadn’t been shattered by the sonic boom of his laughter.
“What’s so funny?” I asked when he got off the fall.
“Oh, nothing,” he said. I gave him the side eye. My husband and I had been working from home together intermittently since the pandemic, and yes, we were still married … barely. There was definitely a strain on our relationship, and it was all the togetherness that was to blame. It was the laughter. Well, his laughter … when he’s on a Zoom call.
When he’s alone with me, he has a normal laugh. But when he’s on a Zoom call, his laugh gets thunderously loud, like he’s trying to make sure the people on the call who live a thousand miles away can hear him guffaw, even if they have their sound turned off. Imagine if a jackhammer and a foghorn had a child. That would be his Zoom laugh.
The problem isn’t merely that it’s loud. It’s also really sudden. It can be emitted so abruptly that it not only scares me, it scares the dog. When I hear it, I jump out of my chair. When the dog hears it, he tucks his tail between his legs and runs into another room, convinced that an elephant stampede is about to come through our living room. It’s somewhat disconcerting to know that if in fact an elephant stampede was to come through our living room, the dog would not stay to protect me. Apparently when it comes to loud laughter or elephant stampedes, it’s every man, woman and dog for themselves.
My husband used to be a loud phone laugher, but that would happen infrequently since he wasn’t so much of a phone guy. But now that he was spending nearly eight hours a day on video calls, the issue had escalated. There was an average of a dozen loud laughs a day, and I thought it was just a matter of time before the neighbors reported us for violating the local noise ordinance and we would have a noise control officer show up at our door and cite us for breaking the sound barrier. When he arrived, he might also wonder if the cause of the noise was an elephant stampede going through our living room, and then he would cite us for not having a variance to house large, wild, African animals as well.
Wanting to save myself and the dog, and also not wanting to worry about going to jail, although it would probably be quieter there, I thought it was time to take some action.
“Honey,” I said, sitting him down. “I need to talk to you about your laugh.”
“What about my laugh?” he said.
“When you are on a Zoom call, you laugh really, really loudly, and it scares the dog.”
“It scares the dog?”
“Yes. Do you think you can tone it down a bit?”
“You want me to laugh softer?” he said, scowling.
“Yes. Just on Zoom calls,” I said.
He thought for a minute.
“OK,” he said finally. “I can do that. But now let’s talk about your snoring.”
~ Tracy Becdkerman is the author of the Amazon Bestseller,
“Barking at the Moon: A Story of Life, Love, and Kibble
COPYRIGHT 2024 CREATORS.COM
Fascinating Stuff
- When she wasn’t drawing Peter Rabbit and her other beloved storybook characters, Beatrix Potter was drawing fungi and beetles. Her lifelong devotion to nature studies (she was a great fan of mushrooms) is one reason that her illustrations, while inevitably charming, are also quite accurate. It’s said that when her publisher balked at the colors in the drawing of a frog, Potter brought a real frog to his office to prove her depiction was correct.
- Europaweg Skywalk (also called the Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge) spans 1,621 feet across the Grabengufer ravine in the Pennine Alps of Switzerland. Situated at 7,218 feet above sea level, at its highest point, the pedestrian bridge is 282 feet above ground — about the same height as a 28-story building. Should you decide to traverse it, as many hikers have done since it opened in July 2017, you’ll be walking in single file, and because the bridge is just 25.6 inches wide, you’ll have to turn sideways to make way for oncoming pedestrians.
- Oysters aren’t the only mollusks that produce pearls. Clams and mussels make them, too. The queen conch produces natural pearls in shades of pink and yellow. Abalone produces turquoise, green, rose and cream pearls. Cracking open an oyster to eat and finding a pearl within is a happy fantasy, but it’s unlikely to happen. Pearl oysters are not the same as the oysters we eat.
- If a competitive bridge player racks up enough “masterpoints” by winning at sanctioned tournaments, he or she can attain the ranking of Life Master from the American Contract Bridge League. It’s a goal that has been achieved by quite a few men and women — and by one comic strip dog. In 1997, the ACBL named Snoopy an honorary Life Master. He played a lot of bridge in the funny pages, and his creator, Charles M. Schulz, played a lot of bridge in real life.
- A vug is a cavity that forms naturally inside a rock as the result of geological activity such as gasses being trapped when lava cools. Crystals will grow inside that space — quartz, beryl, topaz and agate among them — creating spectacular formations within the rock. Gemologists and amateur rockhounds are always on the lookout for vuggy rock.
~TRIVIA BITS
COPYRIGHT 2024 LESLIE ELMAN
DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM
Signs from the Kitchen…Funny!
Hi Stacy –
hahahahaha! Yep! Great kitchen signs of fun.
Thanks for your time + reading + sharing thoughts!
WHAT’S THE WEIRDEST THING YOU KEEP BY YOUR BED? I love Daymaker’s response of “Wasp Spray!” I have a high powered can in my garage that I purchased for spraying a wasp nest high in the eve of our home. Another tip might be placing at the front door as well. I finally broke the habit of answering the “door bell” by opening the door. I have a peep hole for recognition of friends, however, I’ve learned to call through the door by asking, “What’s your purpose, please?” They answer back, then I respond, “No thank you.” I’ve actually had on two occasions a man and then a woman who were obviously up to no good. The woman likely wanted drug money and was insisting I open the door now! My neighbors said she had stopped at their door as well. Get the picture?
We live in a different world today. Let’s adjust quickly. Thanks Daymaker.
Good idea, Marty –
Another can by the front door!
We do, indeed, live in a different world today and adjusting to keeping ourselves safe by thinking ahead for potential whatever is key.
Thanks for your comment!
Well, I totally flunked the Pop Quiz. But I did learn a lot from Fascinating Facts – including a new word. Vug. Can’t wait to use it, perhaps playing scrabble. Or working a crossword puzzle. Hmmm. Now that I’ve come across it, will it suddenly appear everywhere. Stay tuned. . .
Hi Carol –
I, too, failed the Pop Quiz. But now I (we) know.
Like you, Fascinating Facts – including the word Vug. Yep, pretty sure it’ll start popping up everywhere — whether we use it or something in our reading of articles.
You do Crossword Puzzles?
That was Peter’s favorite thing to “chill out” with. Whether on Set or waiting in the car for me to return from grocery shopping or, or, or. Ha
Our guys on shows loved it! A couple pictures I have is where when a scene was being shot and everyone was to be QUIET. Most all crew were on the cell phones flipping quietly through sort of thing — but Peter was sitting on an apple box doing a crossword puzzle he had torn out from morning newspaper.
Good memory.
Vug is definitely a remember-er word!
Thanks, Carol for sharing and caring. We so appreciate ya!