I used to be cute.

MeeMaw keeps photo albums for all her children and grandchildren. 

I like to flip through my childhood.... Reminisce about terrible hair of the past, traumatic memories of  being tickled until I peed my pants (in front of the whole fam), waking up at 3 or 4 am to look at Santa Claus gifts, my room decorated top to bottom in CLOWNS, etc. 

Here are three (I had to photo the photos... bad idear, I know) I wanted to share. 

I couldn't find the photo of me eating dirt from a flower pot, but found one of me eating a balloon string?

My first Renaissance Fair in Houston. 

Buried (By my older brothers) at the Sand Hills. 

(NOT from my album, but from last weekend) Sitting on a Jackalope at the Art Bazaar in Austin. you should go- lotsa awesome stuff there!

Fun at Meeee-Maws!

You sooo want one. 

As we do every year, my mom's fam had Christmas with my MeeMaw in Lubbock. My cousinlings received an awesome "Girl Gourmet Cupcake Maker" for Christmas.  Similar to an Easy Bake Oven that I was never lucky enough to have. 

Hailey and Madison did most of the "baking" (microwaving mystery powder + water in a magical plastic container for 30 seconds)

One Strawberry red velvet something-or-other, a chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon spice. Oh my my. They were quite beautiful. 

It wasn't until the fourth cupcake that Madison got the icing down, creating the star cupcake. It was a trickly little machine, but really quite smart. I wouldn't mind having a giant contraption of a similar nature- push a lever down and the cupcakes spin and are perfectly iced every time. 

I stuck my finger in a couple of the icings- very floury/powdery tasting. Similar to what nesquick, flour, and water would taste like. 

The boys wrestled the entire time, inspired by their Christmas gift tickets to WWE, and basically just came in and ate the gal's handy work. 

Fun was had. Interesting products were made (and enjoyed very much by the kiddos). 

I give this gizmo two and a half thumbs way up, even if I couldn't bring myself to eat more than a single bite of one of the cupcakes. 

E.G.G.s

A week ago or so, my Pal Noah and I had an egg day. He had made chipotle eggs for our Thanksgiving celebration, and we were disappointed to only get to eat one of these yummy thangs. So we devoted a night to making some more for us to have all to ourselves.

We also made a stop at the giant asian grocery store, the MT Supermarket. If you've never been, I'd highly recommend taking a field trip there. One can easily spend several hours there. 

Sweet, spicy, crunchy anchovy friends.

We picked up some dumplings and buns to eat, and I got my favorite snacks- crispy sesame anchovy snacks.  I also got some corn flavored gummies, dried shredded squid, and mung bean cakes. All very tasty indeed. 

Our star egg.

Once at my abode the egg feast began. We each ate 4 eggs, or 8 deviled chipotle eggs. These following our dumpling and bun meal. I was about ready to puke.. but we were determined little egg eaters!! I think I got my egg fill for the rest of this year. I even avoided them at the Country Club lunch. 

"Century egg, preserved egg, hundred-year egg, thousand-year egg."

I also found preserved duck eggs at the supermarket. After dissecting Balut last year, I've always wanted to try these guys. And I must say, it was one of the worst things I have ever put into my little mouth hole.... ever. 

The smell alone was that of sulfur and ammonia. I'm not sure why somebody would smell this strangely beautiful black egg and think, "It would be a great idea to EAT this."

No and No. 

But I did. 

I first scooped out some of soft yolk with my finger. The texture was really disturbing to me- and it tasted like a really pungent egg. Mixed with sulfur. I then took a bite of the rubbery, gelatinous outer part mixed with a bit of the yolk. Noah made  comment about blood, which quickly forced me to spit it all out and search for a strong liquid to drink and get the taste out of my mouth. 

I'm curious to try regular duck eggs, because I'm wondering if the flavor of these preserved guys are anything like fresh duck eggs. It's possible I wouldn't care for them, or that I am not used to such a strong and rich egg flavor. 

Maaaaybe it would be more edible mixed with ginger or soy sauce or Lord knows what, but I have to say... 100 year duck eggs- most definitely NOT for Jennifer. 

I have 5 left if you'd like to try one.