Wow- fantastic tale, Cathy, and so wonderfully, descriptively told! Dang, I practically had to wipe the guava drips and black bean remnants from my chin as I read your post! I just woke up a wee bit ago and was hungry before- but now I'm hankering in the most awful manner! Yum!

(new avatar is one of my all-time fav photos... me sandwiched between the babes of some dear friends- they are Malakai, Kylen and Kalli-May...)

RE: It's what those coarse, slimy, red-fleshed things you got would taste like if they weren't poor relations.

But, then again, anyone from a place where they consider spruce grouse edible just has to need ejumacating


Brook- it's the funniest thang... the first couple sentences of your post appear blurry and in a swirling red-fog on my end. (and I could swear I heard audio from 'The Wizard of Oz' that said: "do not peer behind the green curtain!"......... I tried everything, got real close-up, hunted a pair of bi-focals, squinted and even tried reading them thru a pickle-jar... but nothing worked! Gee- I hope it was nothing important! (BWAH- hee, hee, hee, hee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

The lodge you describe sounds incredible! Among my many likes are those things rustic & woodsy in manner and traveling to and soaking-up vibes at a place like you describe appeals to me perhaps more than even lazy beach-napping!

And the food- sounds like the ambrosia once known only to fat Gods wearing laurel-leaf wreaths who reclined back on naked haunches and got fed & fanned by endentured staffs who were born into the world for no purpose other than to please and serve said masters!

Then of course your story also appealed to that evil side of me with a displeasure toward folks from PETA... I get the simplest joys from imagining the horrified blood-drained looks on their faces as they witness remarks like your account of everything on your supper plate having had a pulse & a purpose only moments before the feast! What they fail to realize is there's no finer purpose than being supper! Ahhh, such privilege! It's so good to be us!

>toward folks from PETA... <

I have no kick with folks from PETA. Doesn't that stand for:

People Enjoying Tasty Animals

Kevin,

I love the Avatar, so beautiful in every way!

>I'm jealous of your trip to Sweden- have always wanted to go... guess I just got a thang for the north-country <

Most of that trip was spent in Swedish Lapland, actually. We were guests of the Swedish government, there to explore the sport hunting and fishing possibilities. The Sami (what the Laps call themselves) were belately discovering the tourism/sporting potential of their region.

It never really panned out, for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the inflated sense of what people would be willing to pay. When you've got a ptarmigon hunt pegged at the equivilent of $10,000, you ain't gonna get a whole lot of takers.

But from my point of view it was a successful trip. Friend Wife and I had a ball; got several stories out of it; and learned a whole lot about different cultures.

Highlight of the trip, for me, was the morning one of our hosts took us home to meet his mother, who went back to the days the Sami were nomadic. She spoke only Lap and Swedish. Barbara speaks only English. But for two hours they sat huddled in a corner, having a great conversation.

If you ever do get to go, beware! The Swedes seem to believe that Americans are all starving to death. All they did for three weeks was throw food at us. Great food. Wonderful tastes, and textures, and combinations. But how much can you eat?