Burkina Faso is located in west Africa and might as well be a world away from our last stop on our Tastily Touring journey. Burkina Fasa, formerly the Republic of Upper Volta, is a landlocked country surrounded by Mali, Niger, Benin,Togo, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. Usually we don’t mention the capitals of each country we visit, but the name of Burkina’s capital is Ouagadougou, which we love to try to spell without looking at the correct spelling. Burkina Faso is about 105,000 square miles, approximately the size of Colorado. This west African nation is tropical with warm, dry winters and hot, wet summers. Of the approximately 15,800, 000 people who reside in Burkina 40% are Mossi and the other 60% is a mix of Gurunsi, Senufo, Lobi, Bobo, Mande and Fulani. The official language is French, however over 90% of the population speaks a native Africa language belonging to the... Read the Rest →
Tart fruits can bite when you first eat them, but after eating the fruit for a bit the sweetness begins to come through. This can be said for our next Strawberry Shortcake character: Raspberry Tart and her pet monkey named Rhubarb. When Raspberry Tart was introduced as a new character she was a tad bit mean. But, eventually, her sweetness came through. Life is truly delicious this time of year as we enjoy the summer season, berry season. One of the things we love best about summer is all the fresh berries. We cannot eat enough of them. Initially we wanted to make this tart with the lovely black raspberries found at the local farmers market, but we were impatient, having eaten the black raspberries on the walk home. Unadorned, these raspberries were as nature intended…tart enough to make us wince a little and sweet enough to make us want... Read the Rest →
Have you ever gotten up and realized it was just too beautiful a day to waste doing your everyday routine? As a cool breeze gently made its way into my windows I woke up to song birds and the smell of magnolias. I thought I might still be dreaming, but I wasn’t. I heard my children get up for school, teenagers now, who don’t need my help. I lingered in bed, the sheets that perfect temperature, not too hot, not too cold. I’ve come to call that feeling PST (perfect sheet temperature). I did not want to leave my bed, but when opened my eyes I knew I had to get up and enjoy this wonderful June day. With my boys off to school and my husband and I off from work. (Truly, we did not call in “sick”!) it was meant to be that we did something special with... Read the Rest →
Six weeks ago, Camille and I were both faced with a health scare, like two sisters, we are so connected that we are the epitome of two peas in a pod. After that scare I had with the tummy issue I have flashbacks in my head like a 60’s video reel playing memories of the worst kind: camera down my throat and the choking feeling when I would eat something because my esophagus was dealing with too much acid. I had a slight fever so I just didn’t know what caused that choking feeling every time I ate. Did I swallow something bad or was it the way I was eating? What is the bad bento that I had the day before, or was it that I was just eating way too fast. It seemed like a perfect epitome for psychedelic hallucinations. If only it were a hallucination. The problem... Read the Rest →
Father’s Day is just around the corner. It is time to start shopping and do we have some fantastic finds to share with you! Grilling Gifts When do the men, who typically can only be found in the kitchen when dinner is finished cooking, have an uncontrollable desire to cook? When it involves a great deal of fire and smoke, of course! What man is not the master of his own grill? Show him you appreciate his grilling skills with the following gifts: Aprons Your grill master will need an apron so try one of these fun aprons on for size: From Sweet Bohemian Life a fun apron that is 100% cotton with the following on the apron “My House My Rules” and a picture of a “retro guy”. The apron is adjustable around the neck and has a double pocket in the front. For a simple statement that gets... Read the Rest →
I work part-time at a lovely jewelry store that has been in business for many decades. Aside from the beautiful jewelry we carry a large selection of china and crystal. We also carry sterling silver serving pieces, accessories and beverage cups that bring to mind days gone by. One day, when I first began to work at the jewelry store, I was performing a necessary task in a store with many open shelves: dusting. I never worked in a jewelry store and so I was unused to the pricing of the fine merchandise. I was dusting the shelves where the sterling silver cups sat. I lifted up a julep cup. I looked at the price tag. To say I was shocked is an understatement. Well, I thought, no wonder only the extremely wealthy have silver cups and serving pieces. I had forgotten about the Julep cup until I was looking... Read the Rest →
We aren’t baseball aficionados, but you don’t have to be to appreciate the subject of our Place in Time Post: “The Sultan of Swat”, otherwise known as “The Bambino” or “The Babe”, played his last game of baseball on May 30, 1935 and officially retired on June 2, 1935 after an amazing 22 season career. He played in 10 World Series and hit 714 home runs; a record that remained unbroken until 1974 when “Hammerin’ Hank” Aaron hit his 715th home run on April 8th. The Babe hit 60 home runs in one season (1927) of 154 games. It wasn’t until 1961 that Roger Maris broke that record. (This record has always been controversial with fans as Maris played 162 games to The Babe’s 154.)The Sultan of Swat’s career batting percentage of .690 is still the highest in the history of the Major Leagues. In 1936, the Baseball Hall of... Read the Rest →
Bulgaria, a Southeastern European country bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south and the Black Sea to the east, is our next stop as we “tour” the world. Bulgaria is one of 7 countries whose borders lie completely within the region known as the Balkan Peninsula. The Bulgars, a central Asian Turkic tribe and the local Slavic inhabitants merged to form the first Bulgarian state in the 7th century. Bulgaria has been a historical crossroads situated between Europe and Asia. Many civilizations have flowed through the region which was marked by fierce fighting as well as rich cultural history due to the many people who came and went. In the 7th century Bulgaria emerged as a state to only have to struggle against the Byzantine Empire and then by the 14th century succumb to the rule of the Ottoman... Read the Rest →
It is my pleasure to introduce you to our newest series: Life is Delicious. On the original Strawberry Shortcake poster you will find those words. And, it is so true, isn’t it?! When I was writing the Star Wars post I was looking up other happenings in 1977. I stumbled upon the Strawberry Shortcake character that was designed in 1977 by Muriel Fahrion, a greeting card illustrator at American Greetings. Strawberry Shortcake and her cat, Custard, were originally seen on greeting cards, but the adorable character became a huge hit. She could soon be found on lunch boxes, posters and sticker albums. It was in the 1980’s, though, that Strawberry Shortcake and friends became the big trend with young girls. Eventually Strawberry Shortcake TV specials, video games, and movies were made that included many of the thirty two characters Fahrion created. Each subsequent character had a fruit or dessert themed... Read the Rest →
It was 1977 and I was 9 years old when my sister took me to the theater and I saw the most amazing special effects movie of my life. I never cared for sci-fi movies as a child because, oddly enough, I found them unrealistic. (Funny, though, I did like the Jetsons, the cartoon about a futuristic family.) I grew up watching the classics from the 1940’s and 1950’s. And, after seeing every action/sci-fi movie ever made (you do that when you have two boys) I still prefer the classics. But, I will always have a fondness for Star Wars. George Lucas’ science fiction extravaganza opened up my eyes to a level of imagination I never considered and the story seemed completely plausible to my 9 year old logic. A whole generation of Star Wars fans was born on May 25, 1977 when the blockbuster movie opened for the first... Read the Rest →
Everyone has heard the saying: “When fate hands you a lemon, make lemonade.” -Dale Carnegie My son heard another quote that appealed to his capitalistic tendencies: “When life gives you lemonade, corner the market and hike up the prices.” I’m unsure who to credit with this quote, but it certainly spells out Dale Carnegie’s message in a little more detail. Don’t just make lemonade…don’t just survive life’s lemons, take advantage of them… get something more than lemonade. There are some folks out there that who could corner the market with all the lemons life has handed them. They would be billionaires. Life is funny, though. Yes, we get lemons from time to time that seem to come falling from the sky with no reason whatsoever. But, sometimes we have to step back and ask “Did I really have a hand in what is happening? How could my decisions caused this... Read the Rest →
The notion of spring cleaning is pretty simple, it’s more like packing up all the winter things into boxes and preparing for spring! There are some people who are so organized they can practically reorganize their home and their wardrobe for a change in season on a whim. I, of course, count myself as one of those people. Okay, don’t get me wrong, I am not so OCD that every guest who enters my home has to be totally disinfected. I can say I am organized when it comes to my home and things. But… and I mean I do have my limitations, next time, we need to hire someone to do some major physical work around the house. It’s not worth bending over for hours on hours in a given week (or day) to get things spic and span for the summer months to come, and have blood rushing... Read the Rest →
