I love buying my husband cigars. It's a Father's Day or birthday or anniversary thing for most but I love buying them all year round. Just knowing I'm buying him something that he truly enjoys as a hobby is pretty rewarding. I imagine it's not unlike when he and the kids buy me something for the kitchen. Although they love to counter those gifts with "well... it's not exactly a selfless gift
Growing up, my dad smoked cigars so I was exposed to the smell of them pretty early. I think that's probably one of the reasons the smoke doesn't offend me. It's a comforting smell that reminds of me home. Some of the best talks I ever had with my dad were when we sat outside while he smoked his cigars. Those things can burn for hours if you care to let them.
I never minded. One of these days I'll get my dad and husband together again and they can smoke them together out on the deck under our trees. It's just a matter of a few thousand miles standing in the way.
Hubby's been busy nuking the house and then resurrecting each room into a new vision. It's a man thing.
After almost moving clear across the country again when his company closed shop in the state we found ourselves half-packed but staying put. One of our favorite rooms since the move-that-wasn't has become the new living room where we hang out with the kids and watch a variety of nature shows and movies. Tonight, while watching the wall mounted Samsung with L we saw the creature above in a story that was actually pretty fascinating:
t's not made of gold, but a yellow lobster pulled from Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay is very rare.
Lobsterman Denny Ingram says he found the lobster in one of his pots the bay's East Passage last week. It is golden on the top and bright yellow on both sides.
Experts say the genetic feature is very rare, occurring in about 1 in 30 million lobsters.
It's also apparently good luck for this lobster, who will not be heading to anyone's dinner table.
Ingram says he plans to keep the yellow lobster on display at the fishermen's co-op at the State Pier in Newport.
1 in 30 million! I had a hard time explaining those odds to L. She's only 7 after all, and I can't exactly say things like "you're more likely to get hit by lightning" to a little girl without ensuring I'll be soothing away nightmares for years to come. So I left it at "we'll probably never see another one in our lifetimes." L loves all things nature/creature so it was yet another great learning segue for her when we turned to the PC and researched the king of shellfish.
Eddie Murphy gave us the Golden Child. Denny Ingram has shared with us The Golden Lobster. I love hearing that this one will be kept on display so more people can take a peek at the delightful creature and maybe go home and look it up themselves.
Photo courtesy: Mr Breakfast
Cocoa Krispies, Hershey's Cocoa Syrup, Cocoa Puffs, hot cocoa... not to mention the legions of other delectable delights that baking cocoa is an integral part of... may soon all be much too expensive for the average family to buy. In a move that made foodies-who-notice-these-things' hearts pitter-patter someone went and bought all the cocoa in Europe in one grand purchase:
The purchase was enough to move the entire global cocoa market, sending the price to the highest level since 1977, and triggering rumours and intrigue in the City.
It is unclear which person, or group of traders, was behind the deal, but it was the largest single cocoa trade for 14 years.
When the story first broke, noone knew who the buyer was. Who in the world would need that much cocoa? Certainly not fox-hunting, tea-sipping, spirited jockeys wearing breeches. It has since come to light that the buyer was a London Hedge Fund but that hasn't reassured those of us who are rather partial to the occasional candybar, or scoop of rocky road ice cream.
More on the Soros-ian move:
The cocoa beans, which are sitting in warehouses either in The Netherlands, Hamburg, or closer to home in London, Liverpool or Humberside is equivalent to the entire supply of the commodity in Europe, and would fill more than five Titanics. They are worth £658 million.
Analysts said it was very unlikely that a chocolate company, such as Nestle or Kraft, or even their suppliers, would buy such a huge order in one go and that is was probable that one or a number of speculators, possibly hedge funds, had attempted to corner the market. By doing this, they would have control of the entire supply in Europe, forcing the price yet higher.
Soros-ian all right. I can only hope that speculation that cocoa growers are becoming fewer will turn around, however artificially, on the news that cocoa is now garnering more per the pound. By the way, how's that BP stock doing these days?
Cartoon courtesy: Dave Granlund
This week I found myself reading an article on the latest hydra head to be lopped off south of the border. Seriously, has anything since the hydra ever been so impossible to defeat since the industry that is the drug trade?
Hundreds of millions of American dollars flow south of the border just from the illegal drugs the cartels manufacture for our consumption. It's probably Mexico's top money-maker, with 2nd on the list being the flow of illegal wages to family members back home. The drug war. Such a nostalgic phrase, but such a hot industry. Now, I wouldn't call it the best franchise to own, after all your competitors in the drug manufacturing industry aren't the kind to leave it at simple trash talk. No, rival drug cartels have much more creative tactics for taking on those who get in their way:
15 bodies were found strewn across a highway in the northeastern border state of Tamaulipas. Fighting between the Zetas and their onetime bosses in the Gulf cartel has turned that state into a battleground.
The 13 men and two women all wore white T-shirts with the letter Z painted on them.
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