Friday's Feast - The first

This is the first time I have contributed to Friday's Feast. It sounded fun, so I thought I would give it a go.

Appetizer
What is your usual bedtime? Do you like that, or would you rather it be different?

I am a night owl. I confessed in a recent posting to not being a good sleeper. I tend to go to bed around midnight to 1am, sometimes later. It would probably assist my state of mind to retire to the bedroom a bit earlier than that, but I get no respite from the kids all day, and feel, once they go to bed, that this is my time; time I don't want to be spending asleep.

I get up at 7am with the kids - they are my alarm clocks.

Soup
When it comes to advice, do you give more or receive more?

Oh Man!
I tend to give it more. I am a trained social worker, who aspired to being a counsellor - what does that tell you? On top of that, I am an isolated Mother and an amateur numerologist; talk about an advice giving FREAK.

A friend of mine often concludes her advice to me with "I know you want do it, you've never been good at taking advice." I honestly don't think I am that pig headed. I do listen to advice, and I weigh the advice I am given. Sometimes I take advice, but I also know my own limitations. I don't really ask for advice that often, which sounds really arrogant, I know. I really DON'T have it all together that often.

Salad
Describe a memorable meal you've had.

I love salmon. If salmon is on the menu, I am ALMOST guaranteed to order it.
Once when Ashley and I were in Hobart, a city in Tasmania, Australia, we went to this lovely, kind of trendy restaurant. It was very new and had apparently been getting rave reviews, or so the manager at our lodgings told us, so we thought we would check it out.

I was delighted that salmon was on the menu, but somewhat at odds with description of the accompanying sauce - "squid ink". I ordered the salmon, all the same - how bad could it be, right? Well I don't mind telling you that it was bloody awful. The sauce truly was as black as ink - imagine nice black teeth and lips from the eating, mmm MMM! It tasted quite like accidentally sucking the ink from your pen, except with a strong fishiness about it.

The worst part, and perhaps the most ridiculous part about the whole squid ink saga, was that I really wanted to like it, and I didn't want to appear ignorant, in questioning the sanity of including squid ink in a meal. Mostly, I didn't want that, the most detestable of sauces, to spoil my salmon experience. So I questioned and dismissed my revolted senses, telling myself that it was "just different", "unusual"; anything before the truth. The truth did come. It came in the form of "Ok, I admit it. Squid ink is HORRIBLE and I shudder at the thought of another bite". Take this disgusting creation away dear waiter, and hand me a napkin so I can scrub this nasty taste off my tongue - QUIIIIIICK!

The experience was certainly one for the "upon reflection" humour file.... I do not recommend it.

Main Course
Name a work of fiction that affected the way you think about something.

The Celestine Prophesy. It made me hopeful that this experience we call life, actually might have a purpose; that there might be a reason for everything and everyone. That things, experiences, sensations should not be taken for granted and over looked.

This book prompted a spiritual awakening for me, and for a time I could not read enough about "the spiritual", and so I have been shaped from the knowledge gained from that book's initial prompting, and I have a stronger faith in the universe, as a result.

Dessert
What is your favorite type of fruit juice?

Cranberry. Cranberry juice is really expensive in Australia, but not so here in Canada, where the humble cranberry thrives.

I am also quite partial to pink grapefruit juice.