This year, however, I am happy to give the dinner a pass. The menu, always somewhat exotic in nature, this year featured an array of insects and other arthropods.
These are fried tarantulas and the red powder is paprika.
Need some extra cuteness for your hot chocolate this winter season? How about a cat paw? Or even better, a whole cat? The Yawahada Marshmallow Shop creates adorable cat-themed marshmallows modeled after a cat named Hirokichi. (Depending on your vantage point, these can either be taken as uber-cute or a cruel image of a cat drowning.)
The marshmallows come with a vanilla coating and chocolate ears and paws to create its likeness. The cat-shaped sweets, which can be ordered online, go great even with tea or coffee, says the shop owners. With New York getting it’s very own cat café, we see a bright future for the marshmallows.
The groundhog (Marmota monax), also known as a woodchuck, whistle-pig, or land-beaver in some areas, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots.Other marmots, such as the yellow-bellied and hoary marmots, live in rocky and mountainous areas, but the groundhog is a lowland creature. It is widely distributed in North America and common in the northeastern and central United States and Canada. Groundhogs are found as far north as Alaska, with their habitat extending southeast to Georgia. – Wikipedia
When I was a kid, wolves were the beasts that haunted my nightmares. Recurring nightmares about tricky wolves; wolves that wore blue overalls. I think Looney Tunes has a lot to answer for.
When I got older I realized that the critter above could be the real nightmare. Then I read about this guy.
The giant short-faced bear kind of blows any other bears right out of the water. This gigantic bear stood about 6.5 feet while on all four legs and was about 11-12 feet tall when standing upright on its hind legs. Evidence of members of this bear family are found in both North and South America. It was truly an impressive creature. Fossil evidence indicates that humans did not move into this bear’s environment until after its extinction. It also seems to have been the alpha predator because of the lack of fossil evidence for other large carnivores such as lions and scimitar cats in areas where short-faced bear traces are found.
I love bears, albeit with the greatest respect. I would not want to meet this one.
I figured that kind of lifestyle would garner me an invitation to the Explorers Club where I could hobnob with people such as Sylvia Earle, Sir Edmund Hillary, and Robert Ballard.
These are fried tarantulas and the red powder is paprika.
Gunsmoke and Knitting 