Stop Following Me!

We’ve all searched for stuff on-line, right? Doesn’t it freak you out that when you search for, let’s say, a pair of shoes and then every time you log into your email account, or onto facebook, or maybe a dating site (I don’t know, I’m just saying), that those shoes are following you around…like “these boots were made for walkin” to all the places you e-visit. Turns out, those shoes really aren’t following you (imagine your surprise) the retailer is using an advertising technique called “ad re-targeting.” An article I found on American Express Open Forum explains that… “The idea is simple. When you visit a retailer’s or other advertiser’s website, it drops a cookie on your browser and the next time it sees you pop up on another site it loads an ad from that retailer. You’ve already expressed interest in that advertiser by visiting their site, so they retarget you whenever they can.” Well, I don’t know about you, but I will certainly sleep better knowing that some creepy pair of shoes (no matter how adorable) is not really following me around. Effective and perhaps brilliant marketing, but a bit stalkerish!

Not about cooking or knitting, I know, I just thought it was interesting.

We had dinner at the Architect’s house and she made Polenta with a Wild Mushroom Sauce….I had seconds – yikes!

Finely chop a small onion and sauté in 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Once the onions are soft and translucent, add 1 ½ lb mixed wild mushrooms…. portabella, cremini and shitake. After the mushrooms have released their juices, about 8-10 minutes, add one can of whole tomatoes with juice, parsley, garlic and thyme to taste. Add a bit of chicken broth if the sauce is too thick. In another pot heat 6 ½ cups chicken broth. Slowly add 2 ½ cups polenta meal. Stir with wire whisk until combined and the polenta pulls from sides of the pot, about 25 minutes. Serve by creating a well in the middle of the polenta and scoop mushrooms on top, sprinkle with parsley garnish. We also had a beautiful green salad with walnuts, goat cheese and the most delicious Honeycrisp apples. Lemon squares for dessert and, of course, red wine.

The foodie of the crew is knitting a beautiful vest….I can’t wait to see it when it’s done. I will post an update on my project next week.

Promise. Maybe.




Follow image from Digital Journal found on Google Images.