Friday, June 20, 2008

Buried Treasure!

Today's Wonder of the World is...Buried Treasure!

Not so much this kind

Though I do love those little aquarium treasure chests! When I was in college I had two goldfish, Goldie and Hawn, just so I could have a reason to buy one of those cute things.

I'm thinking of more personal treasures.
You know the saying, One man's trash is another man's treasure.

Or dog's.

I would have shown you a picture of Tanner digging up a bone, but I'm always too mad when he brings a bone in the house, all covered with mud. (Remember why we have our garden on a tabletop? No? Look HERE. It's because Tanner loves to dig. And dig. And dig.) I'm never in the mood to take his picture when he's digging. I'm in the mood to throttle him.

Have you read this yet?

It's one of my favorites. The main character, Lily Owens, buries a bag of her mother's things. They are a treasure to her, and she doesn't want to ever have them taken away.

Here's another underground treasure.

One day I hope to see some baby turtles leaving their eggs behind, crawling out of the sand. I'd consider that a treasure.

Beaches are great for treasure hunting. And not just for pirates.
When I was little I always wanted a metal detector.

Not this kind.

That's airport security, by the way, making sure my baby isn't a terrorist. I'm the headless person in the black skirt--I was in my French mode then, wearing a skirt. And I loved that pair of shoes. Boo hoo. Tanner chewed up one of the straps.

Back to metal detectors.
I wanted this kind.

Cute boots, shirtless man.

There's no telling what treasures you might find buried under the sand.


Or halfway under the sand.

Yes my friends, that is a monkey.
Don't you LOVE flickr? Where else could I find a picture of a monkey up to his waist in sand? With a girl helper and a group of people behind her that don't even care. That are so used to seeing people bury a monkey halfway in sand that they don't even turn around and smile for the camera!

To find a treasure you might need a map.


If you don't have a map, why not use a pig?

A polka dot pig, even! This one hunts truffles. Truffles are definitely a treasure.
Do you know about truffles? They look like this.

They're a fungi that grows along with the roots of trees. At least that's what Wikipedia says. You can find them between the soil layer and the leaf litter, that is, if you have a truffle pig to help you.
Truffle pigs sniff them out because truffles contain a chemical similar to a male pig pheromone. No wonder they show such enthusiasm.
If you're not careful, the pig will snarf down the truffle before you can snatch it out of the dirt! Why? Because she's such a pig of course!

Before I moved to France I didn't know about the fungus kind of truffle.
I had heard of truffles, and I knew they were treasures...


But treasures for the sweet tooth.


This is what I was picturing. They're called truffles, or les truffes, in French, because they look so much like the real thing.

The first time a neighbor brought us some, Ben tossed one in his mouth the second she was out the door. Then he started coughing and spit it out! He didn't expect it to be coated with bitter chocolate.
Woo hoo! More for me! I thought, because they are amazingly good.
Would you like a recipe? Go HERE, and enjoy! You won't believe how easy they are--only 3 ingredients, plus whatever coating you choose.

And enjoy this well done video about a truffle pig and it's owner, Gaston.
Don't let the mama pig at the beginning offend you--she looks slightly...uh...I'll let you decide for yourself!

Here's wishing you treasure, either buried or not!
I'll be back on Saturday for a tag post.

CORRECTION: Todd and the big kids just returned from a week away, so I'm abandoning my computer for the weekend. Look for the tag post on Monday.
See you then!

Have a Wonder-full Friday!
Love, Becky

PS. Thanks for the photos, flickr. And a special thanks to IanL (truffle pic) and chez pim (spotted pig pic)

14 comments:

Maureen Fitzgerald said...

Great pictures. I am also a truffles fan and usually have them all to myself as well.

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

The Wheat Family said...

You know I never thought I'd like truffles since they are covered in the bitter chocolate,but they are pretty good.

Barb said...

Congrats on your award!

I love the idea of buried treasure!
Any treasure actually. When the boys were younger I did little treasure hunts for them in the yard.

Chocolate truffles- yum!
Truffles- yum but out of the budget-hehe!

What a fun video.

Have a great weekend.

hugs to you.

Rosemary said...

Love your post as always Becky.
I love truffles!!
I haven' read that book yet, I may have to get it.
If you liked it, I know it will be good.
Have a great weekend,
Rosemary

savvycityfarmer said...

I think I will be sticking to the Godiva kind of truffles...dark chocolate, please.

I was lost in your buried treasure.

Stop by and take a peek at our son's wedding...

bless you

Unknown said...

Love your pictures, and I am going to go look for your book!!

Suzie said...

I am so surprised you have never seen a monkey being buried in the sand. Its a daily occurance around my house...no..its not...I need to get out more

katylinvw said...

mmmm ... that's one of my favorite kinds of treasure ... though i'd never turn down the sparkly kind either :) i'm excited to try the truffle recipe!

May Vanderbilt said...

I just had this very conversation with my parents. They were visiting me in SF and I ordered "truffle parmesan fries" and they kept saying, I don't want chocolate on my fries!

Needless to say the mushroom truffle blew their minds and they kept ordering more and more.

I love how you have a picture of the only fat person in France...

Rebecca Ramsey said...

Hey Wisconsin mommy. Welcome to my place!

Sherri, I think the bitter next to the sweet makes it better.

Hey Barb! Treasure hunts in the yard-what a good mommy!

Rosemary, The Secret Life of Bees is one of my absolute favorites.

Cityfarmer, those wedding pictures are great! What a joyous wedding and party! Congratulations!

Hey Lynne! I hope you like it.

Suzie, I want to go to your house. There used to be a doc here that had a monkey in his office to entertain the kids--I know I heard about it years ago. I've been trying to track down who it was and everybody acts like I'm nuts! Did he go to your house?

Hey Katy Lin, when I was little I used to be sure that if I dug the right place at the beach I'd find Blackbeard's treasure. It kept me busy!

May, the photo was in the USA, not France.
And I used to be confused about truffles myself so I can identify. Chocolate on fries? That might not be so bad--if sprinkled with sugar. Mmm. Now I want Nutella. (Not on fries thank you.)

Anonymous said...

As usual catching-up on your fun blogs ...
Ahh the WIND - I love it, in fact we love it so much we sleep with the ceiling fan on every night - its addictive. The wind in Denver and Boulder gets pretty strong sometimes, and well you know its kinda' dry out there. When I lived there for a year I saw in the news that in Boulder some residents had as much as 1-ft. of dirt drifts up against their homes. For me in Denver, it was always hard to tinker with my car engine when I didn't have a garage - the dust blowing around is not warmly welcome into the innerds of an engine. But I do love the ocean breeze especially when accompanied by the occaisional sound of seagulls. Love the ability to generate electricity using the modern-day turbines.
MASCOTS - I was lucky to start with the CHHS Tigers, TTU Golden Eagles, and NCSU Wolfpack. I wonder how the Oregon St. and U. of Oregon students like theirs, the Mighty Ducks and Benny Beaver!
TREASURES - the 1st real treasure I found was a desk that was dumped at a demolished homesite in NY known as "French Farms". I found about 50 foreign coins and 10 bills. I'll never know why somebody would dump that - the desk was in OK shape, too. 2nd treasure was when we inherited my French grandfather's car, and it was cleaned out, but in our drive down from NJ to NC, I found a hidden place in the glovebox where I found a heavy, solid gold tie pin, with a Japanese word on the front - probably something about one of his patents accepted in Japan. Other treasures - everytime you find a sharks tooth at the beach, and unexpected finds when exploring new geography. Buying old postcards of places I've been to. "these are a few of my favorite things"---treasures!

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

The monkey looks a little confused.

paris parfait said...

Very charming post, Becky. Am not a truffles fan, though. More for you. :)

Unknown said...

I had truffles for the first time this christmas for some special dish, they were delish...thank you pigs!!!

That Secret Life of Bees is one of my faves too...I still haven't finished it yet, but I did finish tatting a bookmark for it, what does that tell you of how I treasure my priorities...oops...tatting over reading, I'm not sure if that is good or bad.