I've been tagged!

Jody over at Where's My Damn Answer tagged me to list 6 random things about myself. So, here ya go!

1. I hate plain raw tomatoes. I hate them with every ounce of my soul. I hate when people tell me I can pick them off things. Yeah, you can pick them off but there is still residual tomato left. Here comes the weird part, I love salsa, pico de gallo, any kind of tomato based sauce, I will eat them in Nasi Goreng, but I will not eat plain raw. Seriously, just nasty.

2. Cheeseburgers are my most favorite food on the face of the planet. When I travel internationally I have to try the local cheeseburger. I'm not talking about McDonalds or fast food but a real cheeseburger at a real restaurant. The best cheeseburger outside of the U.S is at Poppies in Bali, Indonesia. It almost like a meatloaf patty. Jody and I had a couple of these with many Bintang! The worst cheeseburger outside of the U.S. was in Paris, France at some hamburger joint. It was horrible. You would think the French could cook anything, um, NO! The cucumbers on top were all wilty and I remember thinking "Why, couldn't they just make a pickle?"

3. I prefer to drive other peoples cars. It doesn't matter if they are nicer than my car or not. I get a thrill out it.

4. When I was a baby I didn't start to walk until I was 2 1/2. My parents took me to the doctor because they thought something was wrong with me. The doctor asked if they carried me every where. They said yes. The doctor told them to stop carrying me and I would start to walk. I started walking within 4 days of the appointment.

5. My dad died 3 weeks before my 4th birthday. Not that him dying is weird it is what happened afterward. When I was 4 years old I was almost kidnapped. My mom had taken my sister to her Girl's Scout meeting and I was staying with a babysitter. A man came to the door and said he was there to pick up the baby for Mrs. Marks. She thought this was really odd and told him no. He pushed his way into the house and tried to grab me. A neighbor heard what was going on and called the police. The suspect said he had read my dad's obituary and figured since he worked for Shell Oil we were rich. He figured he could get a lot of money for ransom. The other weird thing that happened to me after my dad died is that NO ONE can sing Happy Birthday to me. NO ONE! Every since my 4th birthday (yes, my mom still had my birthday. She was trying to keep things as normal as possible) it will bring me to tears. I guess when my family tried to sing at my 4th bday I kept yelling "we have to wait for daddy!!". Jody and Sean have always known this. Jody has stopped people from singing to me more times than I can count (wait, I'm not that old!). Thanks Maggs!

6. I collect perfume from a company called Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. I am addicted to their perfume. It is the most amazing perfume ever! It is pure perfume oil. No alcohol or additives. Every time they have a new update I must buy a few bottles or imps. I have been collecting from them for about 4 1/2 years. My two favorite blends are called Selkie - The chill waters of the Orkney coast, tea-leaved willow, honey-touched Grass-of-Parnassus, sea aster, and Scottish Primrose. I have 4 bottles of it. I am hoarding it because it is longer offered by the company can only be found on auction sites. Anactoria - Golden amber, white honey, red currant, daemonorops, kush, and Arabian musk. It is heavenly! Check out their website. You will spend hours looking at all the descriptions.

This has rules, too:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag a few people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Dale of mole, Elra of Elra's Cooking, Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies, Anne-Marie of A Mama's Rant

"Fatherhood is pretending the present you love most is soap-on-a-rope." - Bill Cosby

Having lost my father when I was 3 Father's day was always a miserable day. Sure, I had my Grandpa and Uncle but it just wasn't what all the other kids had. After having Agnes I love Father's Day. I love watching her make a card for him and picking out the books for his present. The book tradition started with Sean's first Father's Day. I picked out a few books about children and their dads. Books like Hop on Pop and Daddy's Girl. For the past couple of years Agnes has been able to pick them out herself. It is such a fun time book shopping with her. Agnes has the best dad ever. Sean is an amazing father who loves his little girl more than anything in the entire world.

For a daddy that great he deserves a great food today. So, I got up a 6 a.m. made some of my blueberry muffins (which are the best muffins ever) and a big pot of Guatemalan coffee. For dinner I am making him orange-ginger marinated beef tenderloin and veggie kebabs with saffron rice and a spring mix salad w/a homemade raspberry vinaigrette.


Here is the muffin recipe. It is so amazing. My mom gave me this recipe. She got it from my dad's mom.

INGREDIENTS:
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup and 2 tablespoons white sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 2 egg
1/2 cup milk + a splash or two if batter seems way too thick
Splash or two of vanilla
1-1/2 - 2 cups fresh blueberries
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature but not super soft.
2-1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners. Be sure to grease the top of the pan between the muffin cups or the muffins will stick. Do this even if you use muffin liners.
2. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg, splash of vanilla and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
3. To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Super easy. Super tasty! Enjoy!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads who read this. I hope you were pampered and were able to take a long nap today. You deserve it!b