Diversions

If it wasn't right in front of my nose, I would never have dreamed it was a possibility -- Kimchi-flavored noodle soup! Put out by Nong Shim America, Rancho Cucamonga, it bears a purple seal saying "Endorsed by Professional Chefs 2003-2008."

Kimchi is an Asian side dish, composed of cabbage pickled in a brine with a sweet-sour-hot taste. It is as controversial as limburger cheese to many -- it has its admirers and its abhorrers. But to find it used as a flavoring for instant noodle soup ... stretches my imagination considerably.

Pat bought a case of it at Cosco as Bob likes it, but when Richie pointed out that each bowl is 43% salt, she had to re-think her purchase. In a move Marie Antoinette might have envied, she decided to donate them to the Salvation Army! If the recipients blow up like the Michelin Man, so what? It's food, isn't it?

Friday I got a haircut -- a really short hair cut. Think Mia Farrow around the time she married Frank Sinatra (who, incidentally wound up in later years, wearing a rug, cut very similar to what I now sport.)

I do have alternatives -- I can stay inside the house for the next two weeks; I can pretend I didn't know the person was addressing me, and gently say, "Oh, I'm sorry! I'm used to being addressed as Sister Perpetua.." I could toss it off with an airy, "Yeah, chemo's a bitch, ain't it?" or "My husband cut it -- isn't SHE good?"

Or I could do what I am doing -- brazening it out. It's not like it will never grow back in! Patience...which is doing nothing to soothe Richie's rage. He really hates it. In fact, he cut me dead at the gym this morning (Too late, pal! They know.)

Regarding Der Weinerschnitzel, I was informed by a Gentle Reader that "They make a better burger than McDonald's, too."