The Kitty Shoes go to Seattle!
We're back from Seattle, a few days before all of this hullaballoo is causing massive chaos at the airports. It's a good thing, too; I raised enough red flags in security this time. Apparently, when your carry-on contains a metal lunchbox which has an iPod, a camera, and a cell phone with all their assorted chargers in it, it looks a bit odd on the x-ray. Not strip search weird, but weird enough to require you to stand there for a few extra moments while they rescan your bag and stare at the screen.
It's also a good thing that we came back before the clampdown, because I also had a case of fish from Pike Place Fish Market. Now that it's almost been completely consumed, I can honestly say it was worth the hassle of carrying it cross country.
The salmon was good, but I also would have done it just for the halibut.
(Read that last sentence aloud if you missed the pun.)
Seattle is always a grand adventure. We spent some time drinking by the water with our friends Steve and Cupcake. We had originally been really looking forward to mass consumption of beer and oysters, but apparently the recent heat wave had left the oyster beds with a bacteria infection. No oysters anywhere on the West Coast. It was disappointing, but the seafood was still good.
And we went on some grand adventures.
We made some new friends.
And spent some more time drinking by the water.
This is the little white minnow. She was my first rental car. There will always be a soft spot in my heart for her. (You never forget your first, do you?)
And most of all we ate. A lot of awesome seafood. This is a crab pot, where they literally dump a mound of crab, shrimp, clams, mussells and assorted veggies in from of you, give you a mallet and a fork, and let you go at it.
Eating with a hammer is awesome. Crab pots are this amazing combination of barbaric tendencies and gourmet dining.
He's a shrimp.I love seafood. I love Seattle for (in addition to many other reasons - like the record stores where I spent A LOT of money) its proximity to fresh seafood.
Crab is good. Crabs have been in the news lately. I always like it when animals that are good to eat are in the news, as well as when new animals that might be good to eat are in the news.
First off, Norway is being invaded by giant king crabs. The solution to helping stem this tide? You know it. Catch more of them and eat them.
Also, in England, this guy caught a crab with three claws. Everybody knows that the claw meat is the best part. He unfortunately gave it to an aquarium rather than eat it. It's a shame really.
Just a bit of silliness I thought I'd mention. It's easier than dwelling on the craziness that's going on in the airports right now. Or the sheer stupidity.
Stuff like this is all over the news:
Passengers at the Palm Beach International, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International and Miami International airports were being told to arrive at least two hours early for their flights and throw away or pour out all liquids before trying to board their planes -- even liquids they bought in the airport. Link
A foiled terrorist plot in the United Kingdom late Wednesday meant Elaine Carlisle, 59, had to pour out her 2-year-old granddaughter Megan's sippy cup of juice Thursday morning before the family could board their American Airlines plane in Dayton, Ohio. Link
You see apparently, these terrorists had liquid explosives that were stable when alone, but became extremely volatile when mixed... so why are they having people pour out these liquids in the airports? Wouldn't that just create the potentially volatile mixture earlier than later?
It just seems a little knee-jerk, and I don't know what's going to happen. It's already hard enough to stay hydrated on a long flight, now you can't take a drink on the plane. Will there be a permanent ban on carryons in the near future? Will people not being allowed to carry iPods or Walkmans on the plane lead to better inflight entertainment options? Or more cases of air rage? Perhaps they'll just start administering sedatives to all passengers so that there is no risk of one flipping out.
Or will things just slowly get back to normal?
Will things ever be normal?
We'll see.
2 comments:
Thanks again for the Salmon dinner. It was excellent.
Hope you enjoyed the rest of your freshly imported seafood.
Have fun at Tom Waits, and let us know how that was...
How do you know that's a boy shrimp? How could they tell Claudette is a girl?
Mmmm. Crab.
Mr Z flies to Scotland next week. He's less freaked out than I am. He also thinks airport venders will sue the gov't for loss of revenue due to their knee-jerk ban of all things liquid.
I remember years ago having to sip from an opened bottle of coke while going through security. I don't know why that measure isn't considered good enough now.
"Fly Naked" is being replaced with "Fly Naked and Dehydrated." Flying naked would have been more fun with refreshments.
Pffft.
Welcome back!
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