Terry Odell's Blog, page 19

WCW – Pearled Couscous with Feta and Chickpeas

Pearled Couscous with Feta and Chickpeas

This recipe is a minor modification of one from the New York Times. I had all the ingredients on hand, so I gave it a try, and it was yummy.

Ingredients:
1pint grape tomatoes, halved
¼ c sliced scallions
2 T extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1T balsamic vinegar, plus more for serving
2 garlic cloves, finely grated or minced
1½ t kosher salt, plus more as needed
½ t black pepper, plus more for serving
3 sprigs oregano, rosemary or sage
2 c ve...

New Zealand Trip – Recap 1

I’ll start recaps of my New Zealand Trip. In case you missed the “fun” travel to New Zealand, it’s here.

And, my overall impressions of New Zealand are here.

Once we actually settled into our hotel and got a few hours sleep, we shifted into vacation mode, which isn’t quite the same as travel mode. At least if you’re flying.

 

After some discussion, the Hubster and I decided we’d go to the Auckland Zoo, seeing as we’re both animal people, and it wasn’t too far away.

What we didn’t know was that t...

Friday Fotos – A Peek at New Zealand

I’ve got well over a thousand images to look through and process. I’ll get them into a gallery eventually but here are some to get you a first look.

 

 

 

 

 

Have a nice weekend, to those who celebrate

How can he solve crimes if he’s not allowed to investigate?
Gordon Hepler, Mapleton’s Chief of Police, has his hands full. A murder, followed by several assaults. Are they related to the expansion of the community center? Or could it be the upcoming election? Gordon and mayor wannabe Nels...

Random Thoughts About Our NZ Trip

Random Thoughts About Our NZ Trip

We covered a LOT of territory on our trip. Both the North and South Islands, and almost from top to bottom of each. Lots of hotels, lots of scenery, lots of stops in little towns. My thoughts, in no particular order:

 

Left side of the road driving. Careful crossing streets!Long traffic lights in the cities, where every lane seemed to have its own signal, and then another one for pedestrians.Having to be showered and dressed before breakfast.Sharing a bathro...

It Wasn’t Easy—But We’re Home

We’re home, but it wasn’t easy. Once again, we encountered what seems to be the norm for airline travel these days. In order to avoid possibly missing a connection on the way home, we opted to overnight in Auckland after our tour ended in Christchurch. We had no issues with the commuter flight between islands. We had only minimal issues getting to our hotel: signage at the Auckland airport directing people to the rideshare pickup points were misleading. More like dead wrong, but our Uber driver...

Wasn’t Easy, But We Got Here

A “bonus” post due to circumstances beyond our control.

Our New Zealand trip is happening, but not without trials and tribs. Our drive to the airport was slowed by rain, snow, and slush, but we got there. Of course, there were weather issues, and the deicing process set us back about 45 minutes. Our pilot, bless him, got us to LAX only 4 minutes late. Pedal to the metal for the win!

We raced to our connecting gate only to find delays due to mechanical issues. One hour got pushed to two, then fou...

Heading Down Under

I will be heading Down Under for a while. New Zealand, to be exact. The time difference (plus the international date line) and limited internet access while I’m on the move means there won’t be a lot going on at Terry’s Place.

We’re taking this trip with a company called Vacations by Rail, one we used before for a trip around Colorado. When I looked at the itinerary, I saw winery tours and a chocolate factory were included. I was in.

Things around here are busy with trip preparations. We’ve done...

Customer “Service”?

Image by kirill_makes_pics from Pixabay

Lately, I’ve been dealing with Customer “Service” people, and my track record isn’t anything these companies should be proud of.

First, you get the chat bot, who wants you to answer a bunch of questions, most of which have nothing to do with the reason you’re asking for help. If you’re lucky, you hit the “do you want to talk to a real person” option fairly quickly.

But the real people who work the chat boxes are often the low people on the totem pole.

I re...

Friday Fotos – Signs

Signs can be interesting and a lot of fun. Here are some pictures of signs I’ve taken while traveling.

Have a nice weekend for those who celebrate

How can he solve crimes if he’s not allowed to investigate?
Gordon Hepler, Mapleton’s Chief of Police, has his hands full. A murder, followed by several assaults. Are they related to the expansion of the community center? Or could it be the upcoming election? Gordon and mayor wannabe Nelson Manning have never seen eye to eye. Gordon’s frustrat...

Action Scenes

Image by Dean Moriarty from Pixabay

One thing I know is that prolonged action scenes, be they gunfights, fistfights, or car chases, have me thinking one thing … “the scriptwriters ran out of dialogue, so they’re filling in much needed minutes of screen time with bells and whistles.” Worse for me is when they come at the beginning of a movie and the viewer has no idea who’s who, or what the stakes are.

Who’s the good guy? Do I care yet? Probably not. Opening books with battle scenes isn’t a good ...