In search of the cougher

Yesterday I spent several hours at Ghiardelli Square and the Hyde/Powell turnaround waiting for some woman to cough. Sounds ridiculous, yes?

I joined about 75 other people waiting for Ricola's Thanks a Million cougher. The draw? The chance to win money. I heard about it on the radio and have been listening for the radio clues as well as signing up for the email clues. Yesterday was my chance with the mystery cougher slated to be in San Francisco.

I spent a couple of hours at the Hyde/Powell turnaround offering Ricola cough drops to anybody who coughed. I received plenty of weird looks and very few people will accept cough drops from a stranger. I flushed out another coughing stalker by coughing. Really, I didn't mean to cough on purpose. Good thing I had plenty of cough drops on hand. Then after disecting clues some more, I walked up to Ghiardelli because the more that seemed to make sense.

It made even more sense when I realized that there were Ricola representatives passing out promotional items and there were about 75 people standing around in silence looking desperately for anyone to cough. I got offered cough drops from about 25 people just walking through. Yep, at that point I was trying to flush out the tourist from the coughing stalkers.

I wish that I had a video camera or had remembered to take the camera because the scene was hilarious. No one was relaxed and nonchalant about this. Everyone had a eagle-eyed look on their face, waiting and poised to pounce. A little creepy in retrospect.

No, I didn't win. The cougher coughed right in front of a Hard Rock employee. From what I understood, she hadn't planned to cough yet but got a little choked on the candy bar she was eating. Ah, but it's all good. I'll be listening for clues and checking my email so I'll know when and where to go look for the next cougher.

Times they are a changin'

I just saw a news article where the publishers of Goodnight Moon have edited a photograph of the illustrator Clement Hurd for the new edition so that he no longer is shown with a cigarette in his hand.
*sigh*
I've read Goodnight Moon countless times and I've never noticed the cigarette in his hand. I know that kids are more perceptive than adults, but I'm not sure how many would notice the cigarette in his hand. I'm also not sure that children would find the picture of him smoking as inspiration to take up the habit. Are we so paranoid that the slightest thing could set our children off onto a road of destruction and mayhem? I'm sure they wouldn't approve of my parent's anti-smoking campaign. Oh well. I'm off to seek out an unadulterated copy of Goodnight Moon for my collection.

Great Bread Recipe

I love making bread by hand. There is something fulfilling about the smell of a hand kneaded loaf of bread baking in the oven. I do own a bread machine, but sometimes the results are lacking and often inconsistent. If anyone out there is a bread machine baking guru and would like to give me tips and tricks, feel free. I use mine at least once a week, but when I want really good bread, I knead.

And I have found one of the best bread recipes that I have tried in a long time. It's quite simple and the quality is consistent every time. I did experiment with a loaf in the bread machine. Let's just say, that it takes less time to knead by hand and let rise.

( Simple White Bread )

See, I'm not that evil.

Thanks paintd_buttrfly for giving me a good giggle today.
And curefreak, You should be happy that I'm not in as close competition for evilness as you and your demented mind are.



How evil are you?