I am connected!!

Still learning how to navigate my new macbook keyboard...but I have (what I think is) free internet service from my house!

Now I'll be connected to everything I want in the world (well, the www.!) When I have some time I'll post more, but for now, Just a note to mark my entry into connected-ness!

Shelly

Did you know...?

Pickles are fermented! Well, some pickles. I recently was brave enough to try kimchi and realized that it's just like saurkraut! Nothing scary. I honestly don't know what I thought...fish heads? That's actually possible, I know some recipes call for fish sauce.

About 15 years ago I was determined to make hot and sour soup at home. I dont' like mushrooms and I hate fishy things, but the soup was so good, and I wanted to make it, so I bought 3 different types of mushrooms and a fish sauce that I found in the strip district. I got everything ready and made the soup...all but the fish sauce! I just couldn't bring myself to put the fish sauce in...it was a jar of whole fish just ground up with eyeballs and scales and everything! I just couldn't!! I looked up all kinds of recipes and called a friend. "Fish sauce is clear!" she yelled! THANK GOD! I breathed a sigh of relief. The soup never did turn out right...and the jar of fish parts has been with me ever since.

Anyway, back to fermentation, I learned that just as saurkraut is just fermented cabbage and salt, kimchi is just fermented veggies and salt, and pickles...like the ones you find on deli counters in NYC, the big, fat, tangy, juicy ones...are fermented cucumbers and salt! Isn't that awesome! My eyes have been open to a whole new world! I'm gonna ferment stuff!

My first blog post

Hello blog-o-sphere! I'm excited and pretty intimidated to be here! I'm not sure what I'll write about...I live in Pittsburgh PA, sell jewelry, garden, raise chickens, and, apparently, I'm shiny and odd!

The shiny and odd thing came about one day when someone said I reminded them of Phoebee from Friends, and the others around agreed. I asked my husband "Do you think so? What does that mean?" he thought for a minute and said "Yea, that sounds right. You're shiny....and kind of odd." He assures me that's a good thing. Well, that's what I've got!

I joined a gym a couple years ago...a YMCA in a rough part of town...mostly black folks, so I really stand out. When I first started going to Hip Hop aerobics and the Abs Blast classes, I did the workout and kept to myself. Kept comments to a minimum...trying to keep a low profile. I thought I was being really cool! One day in Abs class, about a year into my membership, I was paired with another woman who was really kooky! Someone made a comment "oh, not those two together!" and I realized...They're on to me! OH NO!!!! But until that day no one let on that they KNEW! hmmmm...

I had a conversation with a friend while walking on a lovely boardwalk in Southern Florida this spring. I was lamenting not having heard from a friend for awhile and it was probably because I gave some tough love advice and maybe she didn't want to hear it. My friend said "Did you ever think that when people are around you, they expect you to be honest? People hang out with you because they know you'll say what you think! That's what people appreciate about you!" I'd never thought of it that way! It's so liberating! Not that I'm going to call up all my friends and tell them what I think about every aspect of their lives, but I'll feel more confident about the advice I give from now on.

Hey, it's Shiny + Odd and it's ME!