On the Go...

Things have been a little hectic at The Farm recently. As a little side note, The Farm is KMZU, my home away from home. You can also refer it as KMZU World Headquarters. Think big = be big so having world headquarters is a great place to start. Now if they could just build that airport, that would put us one step closer. Something to think about.
Back to what I mentioned, about things being a little hectic. A couple weeks ago I had a road trip to Grapevine, Texas for Commodity Classic. That's the annual convention for the American Soybean Association, the National Corn Growers Association and the National Association of Wheat Growers. This year the National Sorghum Producers Association also joined the mix. I'm always amazed to see so many people with similar interests gathered together for an event like The Classic. I compare the feeling to the National FFA Convention during my high school years. Unlike the FFA convention, there's no sea of blue FFA jackets. Instead you spend your time scanning more than 4,000 name tags trying to learn where people are from. Some of those tags are nicely pinned to the coat. The tricky part is reading the tags that are on a lanyard dangling from someone's neck. Either way the writing is much smaller than the ol FFA Jacket, but you get used to it.
Something else that's a little different between the two events: no chaperon! You can stay out as late as you want! Not that I do would do that of course, but I could if I wanted to.
I failed to grab any pictures from the convention but I did grab a shot of the Golden Arch landmark when I was driving south. As a kid many a holiday hours were spent on the road to Texas to visit my mom's brother and family in Arlington or traveling further south to San Antonyah (as grandma would say) to see my grandparents. Needless to say, Christmas in Texas is a lot warmer than Missouri, so I always enjoyed the trip but dreaded the drive. One thing I remember most is I always wanted to stop here. It was the largest Golden Arches I'd ever seen and it was built over the Interstate. It was on the way but mom would never stop. On this trip, I was behind the wheel and operating on my own schedule… I still didn't stop. I suppose my priorities have changed and I wanted to get where I was going. Hindsight however, stopping would have been a good idea. Turns out the toll road dudes only take cash… Turns out they can be a little grumpy too…

Will They Melt in Your Mouth or in Your Hands?

So I've been trying to think of something interesting over the last few weeks. There have been a few things, including a trip to the Commodity Classic conference in Texas. However, when something comes to mind, I forget to blog until I'm away from the computer (a vicious cycle of "what was I going to do?") Yesterday I was sorting pictures on the cell phone and I came across a shot that made me smile and think of a story.
First, a little background: when I travel and have time to pick up gifts, I put a lot of energy in to one shopping point. I always try to find something from that area. Art is my favorite find, but not always available or affordable. When that fails then it needs to be something that will represent the region. An example: in Mexico I found a colorful clay tortilla warmer which I liked so much I got one for myself too.
Now, the photo I came across is of the gift I picked up in France for my nephew Caleb last year. France is well known for olive production. In fact we visited an olive farm where I purchased a couple bottles of olive oil for the family. Caleb likes olives but I didn't think he'd like his own bottle of olive oil. Finally, during the last day in France I came across a colorful candy store full of goodies. While scanning the aisles I found this package of chocolate covered olives! First thought…ewwwww disgusting. That however was quickly followed by an evil little chuckle and the second thought of, absolutely perfect!! Chocolate and olives!! He loves both of those, maybe not necessarily together but I couldn't resist! I couldn't do better and the look on his face would be priceless!!
Now fast forward to Christmas. There were several nice gifts in the mix, but it was this little package of chocolate covered olives that I was looking forward to the most. When he opened the gift the response was, gee… thanks Aunt Janet…. What is it? The label was in French so I explained what was inside the pretty green little package. Despite the concern, he was game to give it a try… With a little hesitation he opened it up pulled out one of the colorful olives and took a bite… as he slowly chewed the unusual treat, there was no ewww. In fact he gave me a curious look and said it tasted like almonds.
That's odd. He tossed me a green one and I took a bite.
After thousands of miles and months of waiting for the fun reaction, my ornery surprise was in fact chocolate covered almonds made to look like olives!
Guess I should have learned to read a little French while I was there. I wonder what the chocolate covered bacon really was?