why is the asparagus bleeding?

just a few weeks ago i told you the story of joe, the 96 year old man who got sick after eating his birthday cake which had a rat baked right into it.   i will try to limit the number of disturbing posts like that, but i will need a little help from the food industry . . . .

today, the ny post reported the story of robin.  robin ordered a salad for lunch from guy & gallard on west 40th street.  in her own words, here’s what she got in her salad:

“It was the craziest thing,” she said. “After a few bites, I look down at my fork, and think, ‘Oh, is that a piece of asparagus?’And then I saw that it had eyes, and an arm.”

the post reported,

Sandusky repackaged the head with the salad and sent it back to the deli, which promptly gave her a refund.

it’s good to know she got her money back.

i’ve spent the day wondering if she simply saw the lizard, or actually stabbed it with her fork.

“Remain calm, serene, always in command of yourself. You will then find out how easy it is to get along.”
~ Paramahansa Yogananda

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warning! this is truly disturbing . . . .

 

this is joe:

and this is his story as reported by the ny post:

Joseph Vallenti celebrated his 96th birthday with a big slice of his favorite apple strudel cake, but there was one filling he didn’t count on — a rat.

“Something isn’t right,” family members recall the Commack man saying after tucking into the store-baked “Signature Series” cake from King Kullen supermarket.

Vallenti fell ill with stomach pains and diarrhea. So Neil Gold, who is dating Vallenti’s niece and lives with the victim, investigated the remaining cake — and allegedly found a five-inch-long rat’s tail still attached to the rodent’s hindquarters.

“I saw . . . something sticking out,” Gold said Friday after bringing the allegedly infested strudel to the law offices of his friend, attorney Ed Yule.
“I flipped it over and saw the whole tail bleeding into the cake.”

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i am truly at a loss for words. 

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“Some days there won’t be a song in your heart. Sing anyway.”
 ~ Emory Austin

 

subtle differences

in the several months i’ve spent in suburbia, i’ve noticed some remarkable differences from life in nyc.  here are just a few:

1. in suburbia, they have hillbillies selling furniture door to door out of an 18 wheeler, similar to the one pictured below.  they ring your doorbell and claim they’ve driven all the way up from tennessee, or some place like that, to deliver a shipment of furniture to a store.  if you haven’t shut the door in their face (which most of the suburbanites would find just to rude to do – another subtle difference) they continue on with a story about arriving at the store only to be told the store did not have the money to pay for the shipment.  then they invite you to take a look at the contents in the truck.   no thank you.

2. when i took ivan to the vet, i saw an suv with a  horse trailer pulling out of the parking lot.  i never noticed that in the city.

3. baby deer pop out into the middle of the street all the time, every single day. and people are afraid to drive in the city??

4. in the city i could count on a friendly greeting and some small talk from at least 7 people on my 6:00 am walk with ivan.  in suburbia, so far i’ve seen bunnies big & small, cardinals, blue jays, deer, chip monks, squirrels & no people.

5. even the mice are different.  the mouse currently living in my kitchen only comes out at night – never to be seen.  the only evidence is mouse poop all over the kitchen counter.  i see it every single morning when i go in for my coffee. city mice know to poop on the floor.  they are also bold enough to walk around right out in the open – even walk right over your feet  (see rodents).

6. quarters.  in nj people treat quarters like they’re made of copper & nickel, which they are.  in ny, people treat quarters like gold.  in the city, all people who make under $150,000, need quarters for laundry and parking.  lots of quarters,  and we collect them whenever possible.  we pay with dollar bills when we have exact change, just to get quarters back.   it’s a bit disappointing when store clerks give back dimes and nickels  instead of quarters.

7. one could live in just about any neighborhood of the city and be within 2 or 3 blocks of organic cottage cheese.  in the suburbs it’s a 10 mile drive to a store that carries just 1 brand and it’s not even the kind you want.  there is no place that sells frozen yogurt. no pinkberry, not even a tasti-delite facsimile. no frozen yogurt – that’s it – none. you can’t get that here.

8.  there not a vegetarian restaurant within a 4 zip code radius.  (think –  white plains to the seaport)

9.  there is no delivery.  no one delivers anything. ever.

10. in the suburbs when you ask about finding a good restaurant, people often direct you to a strip mall.  i will not dine in a strip mall.

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“I like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they have to live than other things do.”
–  Willa Sibert Cather

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house guest

an ounce can feel like a pound when it unexpectedly lands on your big toe in the form of a mouse dive bombing out of the bathroom cabinet. 

eyes closed, i was washing my face when the incident occurred. i screamed. ivan came running into the bathroom and the mouse froze.  he just sat in the corner and stared at us – he wasn’t even trying to hide.  my bathroom is so small I have to have the door open to dry myself off after a shower, and here i am in the bathroom with a 70 pound dog and a one ounce mouse!  he’s been hanging around for over a month now and he’s getting very comfortable. he thinks he lives here.  just the other day i as i sat in the livingroom preparing to meditate he came out to play. i watched him play right out in the open for 15 minutes or so. he has no fear. he walks around like he owns the place and looks me square in the eye. several times i have seen him walk right by ivan – within 3 inches of his face! ivan just turns to me with a look like “did you just see that?”  lucky for this one inch long baby mouse, he’s the cutest thing i ever saw.  his looks have spared him his life. if i could only potty train him, i would let him stay.

i watch him climb up the electric cord that runs from behind the television to the outside through the window. i keep the window and door open all day, therefore he is free to come and go as he pleases – but i have seen him come right in through the back door when it was closed. he is so small he can fit through the crack between the bottom of the door and the saddle. i’ve tried shoo-ing him out using the swiffer, yelling at him and chasing him with the vacuum. i’ve even threatened him with glue traps – but he must sense that i’m not really going to kill him.  i can’t keep him out.

i found some organic repellent online several days ago and i hope it will arrive in today’s mail. it apparently has a woodsy scent that alerts mice to fox – their natural enemy.  i hope it works. if he attacks me again, or invites any friends over, i’m going for the glue traps.

The lust for comfort, that stealthy thing that enters the house a guest and then becomes a host, and then a master”
 – Khalil Gibran