friday chookooloonks life list update: number 80, taste 50 types of rum; number 64, grow a flower from a seed

Excuse the poor quality photo, but there was no available natural light, and the shot had to be taken. The reason is about to be apparent.

So Wednesday night, after dinner, the waitress brought over the dessert menu. Now, I don't have a sweet tooth, so I knew I wasn't going to have anything; however, as I scanned the menu, the following caught my eye:

Milkshake 'No Minors'

Vanilla Gelato, Treaty Oak Texas Rum, Frangelico

Huh.

I called the waitress back.

"Hi," I said. "I don't eat sweets, so I won't have dessert; but I was just looking at this item ... am I reading this right? Texas rum?"

She smiled. "Yup. Distilled right here in Texas from local sugar cane."

"Oh, you're kidding." I stared at it, and thought of my life list. I really had no choice. "Texas rum, huh? Yeah. I need to try that. Would you mind bringing me a shot?"

So she did.

It's a white rum -- and as I rule, I'm not a big fan of white rum -- but I took a sip. It was tasty: it didn't taste much like rums I've tasted before, and it was quite sweet, like a brandy, but it was good.

My friend Katherine would disagree, however. I gave her a taste, and even though she insists she liked it, the truth is she just about coughed up her spleen.

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My friend Rachel recently asked how my seedlings were doing, so I thought I'd provide some photographic evidence: