Cheesecake and Parrot Security Screening

In the middle of two LNs. Took half a cheesecake to share last night. I tried the recipe from the Kraft - Whats Cooking magazine that arrived. And yes I did use light cream cheese. It's yummy and easy as far as cheesecakes go:


http://www.kraftcanada.com/en/recipes/toblerone-topped-caramel-cheesecake-114427.aspx

I'm also anticipating that I'll be able to make lots of cheesecake with the Merry Christmas to me present I'm picking up on Saturday. I got a call from Canadian Tire that the rain check for the KitchenAid Professional Stand Mixer is in.

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/8/KitchenBath.jsp?locale=en


I have coveted this for some time and when it went on sale last week sent the shore captain in search of it while he was shopping for a compressor . He came home instead with the rain check. I'm amazed as I've NEVER had a rain check promise fulfilled at Canadian Tire in my life. So, should the LNs and our families be good to us a friend and I will head up on Saturday when we arise and pick up some goodies (hopefully) out of this weeks flyer.

This is of course one of the busiest times of the year as our area readies for lobstering. Here's a link to a local blog with a couple of videos for those who haven't witnessed the frantic:

http://discovershelburnecounty.blogspot.com/2010/11/dumping-day.html

The western daughter called with greetings of the lobster season and shared that Calgary was out of the deep freeze as it had been in the - 40s last week brrr and was the second coldest place on the planet after Antarctica and that was only by 5 degrees warmer! So 3 c and sunny was positively balmy to her.

In these hectic times a little levity is required. The parrot security screening story is one which I can't take credit for but was related to me by the shore captain's secretary who had not been having a really rough week with family illness (her father with a high risk history out west having major surgery so she and her son had visited for 10 days) and death (mother-in-law passing away at the local nursing home the day after she returned) and was quite giddy when she told it.

Apparently her son had purchased a parrot while in Calgary. Enough said. He was flying Air Canada (they do not allow parrots to fly with them so remember this should it happen to you) and she was flying West Jet (who do, so remember that as well) and brought the parrot to Nova Scotia for her only son. It did appear to me that she was not a big fan of parrots to begin with and less so after the following experience. He purchased a carrier - not clear if it was a parrot carrier or simply generic - but at any rate this carrier had to scanned through (as we and all our stuff has to be) at the airport security. As she stood in the security line she was told that the parrot had to be taken out of the carrier and the container scanned. One of the security personnel apparently had worked in a pet store previously and advised she should ask for a separate room to take the parrot out in . The secretary did and said (disgustedly and you'd have to understand what an absolute clean freak she is to really appreciate this part) "it was probably the room they use for strip searches, ick" and it seemed this was the worst part for her. It did make sense when you visualize the parrot up very high in the ceiling of the terminal if not. The parrot apparently didn't appreciate the security screening any more than humans do and protested loudly, got caught in the female security person's hair and more. Back in the carrier, on to the plane and home to Halifax. The secretary said that they called as the son (and parrot) headed home to Fredericton and the response was "the bird threw up" so he must have had motion sickness. She spent the drive home worrying about if he was concentrating on driving, had put the vehicle off as he was distracted etc. Arriving home she waited for a phone call or message and finally checked email finding a message that said 'the bird and I are beat, night' so could finally relax. I was hysterical as I listened to her tale, sounded like something I'd get caught up in.

Okay, enough yarning.....off to pick up my partner in crime for the night. Hasta