The Bulls are Coming and other Goodies

I have posted many times before about the bull fights on this island, as seen here, here, and here.  So you might wonder how exactly they get 4 bulls to some location in order for these events to occur.  It starts out early in the day when locals gather in Cabrito, towards the center of the island, where the bull farms are located.  People watch as the bulls are selected, and rfom what I understand, they help in the selection process, maybe like a kind of American Idol or So You Think You Can Dance, but with bulls, who knows.  Once they are selected, the bulls are placed in crates, similar to horse transport, but for safety, these are a little more tightly packed.

Then the bulls and lots of locals head off to the fight location.  A few weeks ago, my village had a week long festival, and to end this, there was a closing bull fight.  The procession drove right by my house.  So on a bull fight day in your neighboorhood, you can expect to hear lots of horn honking, and see a scene similar to these photos below.  

The cars are all dressed with the flower of the island, hydrangeas, or here they are called hotensias.

The last in line is the truck carying the bulls, which are in those crates.

Well, there you have it.  This is how bulls are transported to the bull fights.

Next, I got this cookie in the mail.  Sorry it is blurry, but is it s gluten free cookie.  I have not taste tested this yet, but I do plan on writing on this soon, so stay tuned.

Even better goodies right here.  These are the 3 bottles of French wine we picked up in Paris.  No clue if the are any good, but who can complain, because these are French wines bought in France.  The key to buying good wine cheap on vacation is hitting up a grocery store, not a wine store.  if you are not sure what to buy, check out the more expensive wine stores first.  Try some samples if possible and get an idea what you like.  Maybe buy a bottle there because you have spent time in their shop and if they provided good service, I know some of us may feel inclined to make a purchase.  But after that, do some wine shopping in the grocery store, where many locals will buy their wine too.

Speaking of goodies, you know there are tons of goodies in a box that is bursting at the seems.  Look how well my mom packed this box for me. 

Look at all the fun stuff inside.  I got lots of tuna and seafood packages.  I love to take these when I travel because they are compact and it means I get some protein and carb when I am hungry at an airport or on a long car ride.  These two are my favorite because they are the lowest in calories of any I have found.  And like I said, they are compact, so I can fit it easily in my carry-on or even my purse.  They were on sale, so my mom bought me a bunch.

The main reason for this package was to send me Zoku tools for my super cool zoku instant popsicle maker.  Yes, a total novelty prduct, but the novelty has not worn off yet.  Since my sister was kind enough to splurge on this gift for me for my birthday, my mom was kind enough to splurge on the extras.  Yes, I am fully aware there are other ways to make popsicles, and cheaper too, but I do that also, and last summer made tons of fruit pops, so this year, my sister thought this was a fun new idea for me to experiment with.  I personally like, but I also really love my very durable popsicle molds from last summer.

This is the tool kit, which I have not played with yet because I am waiting for Ryan to get home and experiment with me.  The tools aid in measuring and making fun designs, including double layer pops.  Like a creamsicle, or any other pop with a flavor on the outside and another flavor on the inside.

Here are some popsicle mixes.

This is really what interested me in the maker in the first place.  I was looking at the reipe book in Williams Sonoma, and the Zoku was next to this.  My sister was with, and thus put into place a series of events that led to my receiving this as a birthday present.  There are some seriously amazing recipes in here and I can't wait to start playing.

Lastly, my mom got me the storage case, which will be great because I have been going through plastic wrap like crazy trying to keep these in the fridge.

That was it for my recent goodies, although I do count these mushrooms as a goody.  Does it make me weird if I put mustard on my mushrooms?  I love mustrad and could put it on everything.  It is great, except for the pesky sodium content, but compared to ketchup, there is no sugar or calories.  I like to add some here and there, and the other day I was eating mushrooms and thought, what the heck, I might as well put some mustard on here.

Don't forget to CLICK HERE to enter my giveaway of Azorean and Portuguese goodies.  This ends tonight at midnight EST(ok technically tomorrow morning). 

If you are curious about what I wrote about last year on this day, click here.  It's actually a really funny story about an incident that occurred at my home when my neighbor's chicken got loose and met up with my dog.

QUESTIONS:  have you gotten any goodies recently?  What is your favorite condiment?  Do you have any weird/funny food habits?