Now I've seen it all!

Don't these look like cute little juice boxes?  You know, those juice boxes marketed towards kids?

That is why I found these so disturbing!

Yep, that is wine in a sippy juice box.  I am not kidding you, these were at the local grocery store.  While they were in the wine aisle, and not in another beverage aisle, I will say that the first picture was taken at the end display of the same aisle.  This would NEVER happen in the US, which is of course why this is Europe. 

I suppose there is limited error for an accident, but I know kids that go into the cabinet and will get themselves a juice.  I can see this accident now!  This is why I have now seen it all...individual boxed wine.  Check out the whole display?

On the way home from the grocery store the other weekend, we found ourselves in a traffic jam resulting from the marching band on parade in our street.

Let's just say that was an interesting experience.

Here I go again catching up on some random pictures.  I have been eating this for lunch recently.  This is a 1/2 whole wheat pita, LC cheese spread inside, surimi crab and some mixed veggies.

See, I told you there were veggies inside.

Oh, here is another new and fun find from the local grocery store.  These are some fun bubble gums.  If you think the BocAzul sounds like something that will stain your mouth blue, you are correct.  It was quite fun, but I forgot about the blue mouth and chewed some just before going out.  Oops!

This is also one of our new food finds.  This is caju com piripiri AKA cashews with chili powder.  They are really good and we have been back for more.

These are some nice sized cashews, from Brazil.

Last up I have Dona Amelias.  Monday we went to Angra to look at a few things and stopped into O Forno, my favorite bakery.  We couldn't resist getting these, which are the traditional sweet of the island. This is what the island is known for.  They were first made in the early 1900s when the queen (Amelia) came with the king to visit the island.  They have remained a tradition ever since.  They are almost like a honey cake or date cake minus the dates, and I am not 100% sure what is in them, but it tastes really good.

QUESTIONS:  Have you ever seen juice box wine?  What is the craziest thing you have ever seen in the grocery store?  What is your favorite nut?

Cereal Invasion

When I picked up these two packages at the post office it was just like winning the lottery.  Thanks so much to my mom for forwarding those blog giveaway wins.

First score of the day was the PB, from Lucky Taste Buds.  I did win 4 jars, but since they went to my mom's first I offered them a jar.  The took on of the chunky jars and said it was very good.  My sister even got to try some.

The second box was filled with the remaining cereals I won from Julie Golean.  So glad all the boxes finally made it.  I had been holding off on buying cereal since I knew they would be here soon.  Now I am fully stocked with yummy cereal treats.

So here are some close ups of all the awesome flavors.  Sorry for the blurriness.  I swear I did get a new camera and I AM using it, but these are the final shots off my old camera.

I have only tried this straberry and yougurt cereal so far and it is AWESOME!  Detailed pics to come.

Another jackpot I hit in the food world was finding this locally made, very fresh yogurt.  This is from the food festival we went to last weekend.

All I can say is...YUM, this is what yogurt should taste like.

The other night Ryan and I went to Modelo for some cleaning products for our new cleaning lady (apparently many Americans here hire someone to clean their home and it is cheap, and the next door neighbor's sister used to clean our home and kept offering, so we took her up on it).  Anywho, while at Modelo Ryan was shopping and I was browing the holiday selection of alcohol and candy.  I thought their displays of candy were crazy so I took some shots.  This is a table with some interesting gift boxes of wines and liquors.

Here are some of the chocolates and candies out for the holidays.

I love going to Modelo and looking around at all teh different food products.  Then we came home and continues with the menorah lighting and the gift giving.  Here are some accessories Ryan bought me for my new camera.  All the essentials.  I am glad he bought me some screen protectors since the screen gets smudged so easily.

Since I keep making bread, he also bought me this handy dandy bread slicer.  Now I can have straight and even slices of bread.

And a holiday just isn;t a holiday if you don't treat yourself to something nice too.  I bought this for myself a few weeks ago and it arrived, but I just need to transfer everything from my current wallet and purse over into this new Vera Bradley wallet and purse.  I am totally a Coach girl, but this Vera was too cute to pass up.

I can't believe it is almost Friday.  I am subbing a half day tomorrow as they have some teachers leaving early since it is the last day before winter break.  I know the kids will be crazy, but it should be fun.

QUESTION: What's your favorite cereal?  Do you ever eat cereal dry as a snack?

Happy Thanksgiving and a giveaway!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

I hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving with your families, no matter what way you celebrate this occassion. I hope everyone has a great meal with great people. Don't forget to eat your veggies, not just turkey and stuffing!!! As for us, we will be going to one of Ryan's coworkers houses for Thanksgiving and everyone will be bringing some food, like pot luck style. I think we are doing deviled eggs and/or sweet potato casserole. Either way I will get pics up after the holiday.
One thing I am thankful for is not just my family, but my new family too...my husband and his family. I am thankful for the opportunities I have had and the good life I have with my friends, my job and where I live. I am thankful that everyone I know is healthy or that they are recovering. I am very thankful that I wake up everyday to a beautiful view and I can see the ocean. I am thankful to be experiencing the Azores right now, and so I want to share some of that experience with you.

TASTE OF THE AZORES GIVEAWAY

I know so many of you do giveaways with things you have been sent from companies and such, but I don't have the chance. I do want to do a giveaway, so I have been gathering up some local goodies, mostly foods, but I hope to have some other souvenirs in there too. Check out the goodies below. These are all either local to the Azores or from Portugal, with maybe an item or 2 from Europe in general.

Included:
Mini jams/jellies from the island of Sao Miguel
Fanta lemon zero
Kinder Bueno bar
Light pineapple coconut juice
Box of cereal
Raspberry dark chocolate bar
Green tea
AND MORE!!!

Check out some products close up...

HOW TO ENTER: Complete each for 1 entry (4 entries max)

1) Leave a comment on this post telling me you want to enter and where you would pick to live if you could choose anywhere in the world.

2) Link back on your blog and then leave me a comment letting me know.

3) Tweet about this contest and then leave me a comment letting me know.

4) Add me to your blogroll and then leave a comment letting me know. If you already have, let me know that too.

It's that easy. CONTEST ENDS SUNDAY NOVEMBER 29TH

Ketchup

That's right, hehe, catch-up time!

Friday I made corn bread to bring to our Thanksgiving dinner. Yep, I made it right out of the mix. Can't get any easier than that. But I did have a little some extra to make it special (keep reading!)...

That's right, I added some no salt added canned corn.

Nice and lumpy with the corn inside...
Came out perfectly, but it was very thin. It tasted good and there was none left at the end of the night.

So, how do you cure the flu. Well, apparently when you feel it come on, reach for the liquor cabinet!!!

So we did a shot of Patron and it seems to have warded off the flu for now.

Sunday morning Ryan and I made some pumpkin pancakes using the mix from TJ's.

The digital griddle rocks!

A little dark, but still very good.

Monday I stopped by Modelo, the large grocery store in town and they were having a celebration I think for the store borthday or something. Well, this is a cake. That's right... A CAKE...can you believe how big this cake is, not to mention they had 3 this size and were passing it out to customers. I passed since it was only 10 am. This cake had an underwater/ocean theme.

Sorry this is blurry but the security guy was looking at me funny, probably because I stopped to take pictures. This had like fruity cakes all around it too.

Good thing I told our neighbor I liked the oranges because over the weekend they left more for us sitting here. They passed them through the metal gate/fence that divides our driveways and left them on this ledge. Oh, and it turns out they are not oranges, they are tangerines. So much for the communication barrier, but Ryan did discover this yesterday.

And last, but not least, these seem to have just bloomed everywhere. I thought they were so cool I had to take a few pictures. These were taken on base, but I have spotted some in other locations.

QUESTION: Anything you need to "ketchup" on?

Oh, and I have a surprise coming up on my Thanksgiving day post so make sure you stop by for more details.