Spotted: Broad-winged Katydid

My husband came home from work this afternoon with a hitchhiker on the windshield: a Broad-winged Katydid (Microcentrum rhombifolium) like the one in the photo. I've always wanted to see a Katydid so this was a treat. According to my Audubon field guide for Florida, we should not have this kind of Katydid in South Florida so I guess we're really lucky.

This Will Really Stop Them in Their Tracks

For those who really don't mind stares and snotty comments: the "Birth Control is for Sissies" maternity t-shirt. I had heard rumors of this shirt so I went searching the web. The website includes other attention-getting pregnancy shirts, including this one charging $5 to touch the baby belly.

Malt-O-Meal

Usually my family experiments with produce but this weekend, as we were getting oatmeal and cream of wheat on the cereal aisle, my husband spotted Malt-O-Meal. I had never had it and neither had he so we grabbed a box. This morning I fixed a pot for breakfast. I'm used to cream of wheat (always a favorite in my house growing up) so Malt-O-Meal didn't seem so strange...until I poured it. There were little brown and black flakes in what appeared to be normal cream of wheat. On the Malt-O-Meal website, I found out that the flakes are malted barley. After cooking the Malt-O-Meal, I poured it into our bowls and added a pat of butter and a tablespoon of sugar to each as I do to cream of wheat. The Malt-O-Meal had a nutty flavor, due to the malted barley, and was quite good. I'm happy to say our Malt-O-Meal experiment ended well; everyone enjoyed it and we'll be eating more again soon.