SWINE FLU Epidemic - I Know the Origin

This whole swine flu thing is absolutely CRAZY. People are freaking out and I'm not sure why. From what I understand, if you get the flu, you have normal flu symptoms, hopefully get to take Tamiflu, and recover after a week. No one wants to be sick, but I don't think it is any deadlier than the chicken pox, and it definitely has not killed as many people and the plain old broken down flu.

I don't know how many people live in texas, my guess is 100's of 1000's. 17 people have been confirmed with the swine flu. I'm sorry for a family that has suffered a loss, but just because you get the swine flu doesn't mean you are going to die, or even get close.

Statistics I read said that so far this year, 19,000 people have died from the regular flu. We don't really freak out about that.

School districts have closed down for days. I hurt for those parents. In most cases, the parents have to work and if they don't work, they don't get paid. The officials have asked day cares to close and families not to go out in public. That is not going to happen, and if it does, the businesses will suffer as well as the parents.

In the economic times that we have right now, Economic Crisis + Swine Flu Freak Out = Total Disaster.

People are thinking that this epidemic has come from Mexico. I have news for them. I know the origin. It started in the Possum Kingdom area. Beware, and stay away from this guy. He is bound to be the carrier.

Birthday Treats

My birthday is coming up soon. While I don't like to recognize my birthdays anymore, I love the treats that come with having a birthday. Long ago, I would fill out the info sheets at restaurants and as it gets close to my birthday, I start getting all kinds of thing by mail and email.

Yesterday, I received a free prime rib dinner from the Keg. Today by email, I received a free Sunday brunch buffet from Blue Mesa.

As I was reading the paper this weekend, I came across this website. Free Birthday Treats. Looks like some fun stuff I need to sign up for.

Keep the treats coming!

We Are Famous

So, I am sitting here reading the paper, cover to cover as I always do. First I start with the Ft. Worth-Star Telegram and then move to the Dallas Morning News. I was reading the weekend food/entertainment section in the Dallas paper and saw a review of Rathbun's Blue Plate Kitchen. We were there aproximately 6 weeks ago.

As I am reading the review, I look at the picture. When I looked a little closer, I realized the picture is US. Not a great picture at all, but it was just funny. I had no idea that anyone was taking any pictures that night and definitely didn't know they took one of us.

Pops saw the article earlier and didn't notice the picture.

Beware when you are in public, you never know who is watching you.

Happy Birthday

My precious little Karsyn is 3 today. She has definitely added some energy to the family. She has also added so much sweetness. I love it when out of the blue she grabs you and says, "I love you". We love you too, KK.

It's A Lolly Day

I think the pictures speak for themselves. And . . . it is only 10:30 a.m.

Abacus

We tried a new restaurant Saturday night. As many times as we have driven down McKinney Avenue, I had never seen Abacus before. It is on a section just north and just south of some of our regulars. A friend of ours works at Abacus and knows how much we love to try new restaurants. He let the marketing people know, and they hooked us up big time. Thanks!

First of all, the bread basket was so good. I was full after the bread! There we about 5 uniquely different breads. Some sweet, some cheesy, some spicy and some tangy. Delicious. I could live on bread and water (really Dr. Pepper), so it was nice to go to a restaurant with good bread. A lot of the nicer restaurants don't serve it anymore.

Abacus has a very unique menu. I decided I was going to go all out and try items that I usually wouldn't try. They have a full page sushi menu and that is where I started. I had the "Favorite Roll". I am hooked. It was delicious. It was tempura shrimp with cream cheese, avocado and snow crab. It has two different sauces on top that were sweet and spicy. I would go back and get just that. That is saying a lot for a girl that is "just not that into sushi".

Pops had the "Curly Spinach Salad with Crispy Serrano Ham and Cabrales Cheese Fritters with Warm Bacon Dressing". He said it was probably the best salad he had ever had. The contrast effect was great with the sweet dressing, tangy fritters and salty ham.

Pops had the rib eye and I had the "Port braised Kobe Short Rib". It was very tender and had a sweet glaze on top. Definitely on the top of my list of best short ribs. For dessert we had the "Blackberry Pop Tart" served warm with ice cream. Lets just say lots of flaky crust. I loved it.

Great meal and believe it or not, my favorite thing was the "Favorite Roll". Will definitely go back.