The Paleo Diet: Rich in Irony & Vitamins

I know I've mentioned before how this particular diet makes me laugh, but now there is a shiny magazine available at a subscription rate of $30 a year (6 issues) devoted to "The Paleo/Primal Lifestyle and Ancestral Health."  In it, there are lots of ads for things like fish oil supplements and snack packs of paleo trail mix that cost $3.50 for each 2.3 oz. pack.

It's good to avoid processed foods. I get that.  But there is something hilarious about the idea that it costs a lot of money to emulate the lifestyle of our paleolithic ancestors, particularly when it's because the dieter wants the same convenience his Cheetos eating neighbor enjoys -- and that the neighbor will probably live longer than the average person in the paleolithic despite his Cheetos eating ways.

A Very Important Question

I've wondered about this for a long time.  Whenever someone wants me to try something like rattlesnake, or alligator, or another varmint not usually seen on the menu of a restaurant with even one Michelin star, they always say the same thing: "It tastes just like chicken."

Really?  Then why not eat chicken?  Consider the benefits: it's less dangerous to catch, you're not going to get hurt waiting around the interstate for someone to hit one with a moving vehicle, and you don't have to talk anyone into eating it using suspect chicken similies.  Everybody wins, even the snake.

Well, the chicken doesn't win, but there is always sorrow in this imperfect world.

Burrito Baby at the Great Pyramid of Giza

Burrito Baby at the Temple of Artemis

Burrito Baby at the Lighhouse of Alexandria

Burrito Baby at the Statue of Zeus at Olympia

Oh wait.  That's the Statue of Zeus at the Olympics.

Burrito Baby at the Mausoleum a Halicarnassus

Burrito Baby at the Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Burrito Baby At The 7 Wonders Of The Ancient World

Burrito Baby at the Colossus of Rhodes

Burrito Baby

Get The Sensation

Everything you love about York Peppermint Patties AND everything you love about ice cream treats, all in one yummy package.

Art Appreciation: After Dinner

Inspired by a piece of Spencer Finch artwork currently on display at the RISD Museum.

Big News!

There is exciting news at the Old Maid HQ these days.  One of my cartoons got picked up by the online food magazine Pork and Gin for an article about boiling your first lobster. (You can check out the article here.)

If anyone's looking for me, I'm out shopping for berets and looking for a place in Newport that sells Gauloises.

Want

Image: tinybutmightyfoods.com

It's no secret among my longtime readers that I love popcorn.  It's also no secret that I have been known to burn microwave popcorn by leaving the room and doing something else while it's popping, which is a violation of the directions on the package.  The minor point we can take away from this is that there are no secrets when you are a blogger; the major point is that I love popcorn and I eat a lot of it.

So you can imagine my excitement when I learned about Tiny But Mighty, an heirloom variety that is native to the prehistoric Americas and was all but forgotten by the 1970s as the food industry bred corn for drought resistance and giant popped kernels (and lost a lot of flavor and genetic diversity in the process).  The Tiny But Mighty plants are different from our current corn varieties.  They only grow to about 3 feet high,  the ears are only 3-4 inches long, and apparently the kernels have big flavor packed inside them.

This is a paleo diet I am eager to try.



Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Did you know that an overcooked single-serving bag of microwave popcorn can generate enough smoke to make you cough?  Apparently, the part in the directions where they tell you to stand in the kitchen and listen for the popping to stop isn't just a suggestion.  They really mean it.

Meatless Mondays, Old Camp Songs, and a Recipe

Lots of people are going meatless on Mondays.  Gentle Readers, it's a thing.  Not only is it trendy, it's good for your health and the health of the planet.  Pasta with pesto is an easy and delicious way to get a meatless dinner on the table.  In the time it takes you to heat the water and boil the pasta, you can make the pesto and throw a salad together.  It's also great as a sandwich spread.

I came up with this pesto variation the way I create a lot of my recipes: with what was on hand.  It got rave reviews because the arugula gives it a nice peppery bite, but feel free to tweak it based on what's in your fridge.

By the way... do kids sing the "Comet, it makes your teeth turn green" song anymore?  I don't even know.

Basil Pesto Variation
makes 2 cups

2 cloves garlic, peeled and with the root end removed
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 cup packed fresh basil leaves
1 cup packed baby arugula leaves
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grated asiago cheese
salt and pepper to taste

1. Place garlic and pine nuts in food processor and process until finely chopped.  Add basil and arugula leaves and process.  Add asiago cheese and process until everything is combined and finely chopped.  With the motor running, add olive oil in a stream to create a paste.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Crabby (But with Recipes!)

We don't indulge in political rants here at Foodtoons, preferring instead to uplift, nourish, and entertain.  But lately I feel as though if I hear one more politician say one more stupid and completely illogical thing, my head will explode.

Gentle Readers, it's very difficult to draw pictures of happy dancing food when you're worring about your head exploding at any moment.  But I figured if I'm feeling crabby, the least I could do is give you some links to delicious-looking crab recipes.

First up,  a recipe for Crab Mac & Cheese from Closet Cooking.  I found this blog awhile back and his recipes are amazing.  I'm guessing this dude has a very active social life.

Emeril Lagasse will always have a spot in my heart because he's French and Portuguese (as am I, with a couple other things thrown in), he's from Fall River, MA (as is part of my family) and he "drahps his ahs" like a good New Englander should.  His recipe for Crabmeat Crusted Diver Scallops with a warm Chorizo Potato Salad sounds fancy but looks dead easy to make.

For my friends who live far from an ocean and for whom crabmeat is a major investment, here is a recipe from Emily over at Tomato Kumato for Spaghetti with Crab that uses canned crabmeat.  Make it and pretend you're at a seaside resort.

I haven't forgotten to help keep the Deadliest Catch guys in business.  I'll admit that out of a lot of options, I chose Robert Irvine's Alaskan King Crab Tempura recipe because Chef Irvine is seriously sexy.

And finally, these Crab Cakes with Lemon Aioli look delicious and easy.  Lolly's Sweet and Savory Treats is a blog I hadn't seen before but I am definitely following despite the fact that I now have "Lolly, lolly, lolly, get your adverbs here" stuck in my head.

Easter Sundae

Nothing says Happy Easter like a little ice cream, hot fudge, walnuts, and whipped cream, amirite?

Discovery: Oat Groats (with recipe!)

Where I live, there are is a choice between precisely two grocery store chains: Shaws and Stop & Shop.  Price wars?  We've nevah heard of 'em.  I've been annoyed lately because steel cut oats are $4.99 for a 24 oz. can.  I'd always thought cooked cereals were more economical than ready-to-eat varieties because you pay more for convenience, chemicals, and sugar; however, my research indicates that Quaker Steel Cut Oats are the same price as General Mills Cocoa Puffs, more expensive than Quaker Granola, and way more expensive that Post Grape Nuts, Kelloggs Mini Wheats, and Quaker Cap'n Crunch.

I was, therefore, motivated to try something new when I was in the health food store and saw oat groats in the bulk aisle for $1.79 a pound.  Oat groats are the grain after it's been de-hulled and stabilized with heat, but before it's cut or rolled into oatmeal.  I was told they could be cooked like  oatmeal, so I bought some and gave it a whirl.  Gentle Readers, oat groats make delicious oatmeal.  It comes out a bit creamier than steel cut oatmeal and it's a little less chewy.  Plus, you have control over the sugar content.  You can't say that about Cap'n Crunch.

I posted a recipe for crockpot oatmeal before, but here is a variation without apples.  It's good for when you are putting it together at bedtime and you realize you don't have apples.  It's also good if you're like me and fruit every morning can be hard on your blood sugar.

Crockpot Oatmeal (Variation 2)

1 1/3 cups steel cut oatmeal or oat groats

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

2-3 tbsp. brown sugar (or to taste)

pinch of salt

2 cups water

2 cups milk

1 1/2 tbsp. butter

Your choice of toppings

1. Coat the inside of 3-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Place oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in slow cooker.

2. Bring milk, water, and butter to a boil in a saucepan over medium high heat. (Watch this like a hawk. When you see bubbles forming along the edges, yank it off the burner.)

3. Pour milk mixture into slow cooker. Stir everything together. Cover and cook on LOW 7 hours or until oats are tender. (A couple of extra hours does not hurt it at all.)

4. Ladle oatmeal into bowls.  It can be topped with walnuts, raisins, craisins, pecans... whatever you like.

Tears of (Onion) Joy -- with Recipe!

It's almost Vidalia onion season, and that makes me think of... well, a lot of things, actually, but mostly about onion soup.  In Rhode Island in April, Gentle Readers, it is still chilly enough to enjoy a big bowl of hot soup for dinner
.
There's no cheating on the caramelization process using brown sugar in this recipe. It takes time -- from half an hour to an hour -- but it's worth it.  The onions don't require constant attention, but you should stir occasionally.  To make things easier, you can caramelize the onions ahead of time and then continue with the soup later in the day.

I always slice the onions by hand even though I know my eyes will burn like crazy and stream with tears.  You can feel free to use a food processor if you'd like to avoid all that.  As for me, I really like the finished product when I slice the onions by hand and somehow, from one time to the next I always remember how delicious the soup was and I forget the pain.

Onion Soup
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. olive oil
5 large onions, thinly sliced
3 Tbsp. flour
8 cups beef stock
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
6-8 thick slices french bread, toasted
2 cups grated Swiss cheese (more or less to taste)

1. Heat butter and oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add sliced onions and reduce heat to medium-low.  Cover (this helps with the burning-eyes aspect and also speeds things up a bit.  Just don't get all out-of-sight-out-of-mind about it) and cook onions, stirring occasionally, until well caramelized, half an hour to an hour.  While you wait, you can toast the bread and grate the cheese.  Maybe make a nice salad.

2. Sprinkle flour over onions; cook, stirring constantly, two minutes.

3. Add stock, salt and pepper.  Crush the thyme between your fingers and add.  Bring soup to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes.  Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

4.  Preheat broiler.  Ladle soup into heatproof bowls.  Place one slice bread on top of soup, sprinkle with grated cheese.  Place bowls on a rimmed baking sheet and slide them under the broiler.  Broil until cheese is bubbling and golden brown.

Sticky Situation

Show of hands: who knew March 28 is Something on a Stick Day?  I sure didn't until I read about it on Yumsugar this morning.  The recipes for things like Greek Salad Bites and Key Lime Popsicles put me in a summer mood even on a chilly, overcast day in Newport, RI.

What's your favorite food on a stick?

Tucson 2012: Local Food Ad

I deeply love bacon, but this is just... disturbing.

Kon Tiki Tucson

When I heard about the Kon Tiki in Tucson, AZ, it immediately went on my list of things I must do on this trip.  Fortunately, my friends here are willing to indulge my taste for kitsch.

The awesome starts outside the front door.  There is even a sign that says "Welcome to paradise."

The Kon Tiki was built in 1963 to look like a Polynesian temple and has never been updated.  The kitsch factor is high.  IN AN AWESOME WAY. 

The menu had things like Monkeys on a Stick which were actually beef kabobs, and there was an impressive selection of "Polynesian" cocktails designed to get you pie-eyed in one sip.  I opted for a virgin pina colada; BFF in the background there had a frozen mudslide.  She grew up during the depression and is therefore made of tougher stuff than I am.



Eating Well: Rice, Cheddar, and Spinach Pie

I find that it's always good to have a couple of recipes in my repertoire for dinners I can make with staples in my kitchen on days when I come home tired and the cupboard looks bare.  Usually these revolve around pasta, so it was nice to find a recipe for Rice, Cheddar, and Spinach Pie in the latest issue of Eating Well magazine (you can find the recipe here).

A made the pie with white rice because it was what I had on hand, but the next time I'll go with the brown rice they suggest or a blend of rices such as Rice Select's Royal Blend.  It was good with white rice, but I think a blend would give it just that little bit of extra pizzaz.

I added 2 teaspoons of dried basil with the spinach because it seemd to me that no herbs whatsoever in the recipe was crazy talk.  I also seasoned with salt and pepper to taste because I have low blood pressure and actually feel better with salt in my diet -- just the opposite of most of America, I guess.  The story of my life.

Good Seasons

Image: Bedbathandbeyond.com

An interesting side effect of having two blogs is that my friends and family are very aware of my likes, dislikes, and what is going on in my life.  They know about my culinary disasters and ask me serious questions about butter.

It still surprised me, though, when my mom arrived at my door one day bearing gifts of salt.  She had read about my fleur de sel wishes and celtic salt dreams, so she decided to get me an early birthday gift -- a Cole & Mason salt mill, light grey celtic sea salt, and fleur de sel. 

Apparently, Cole & Mason is the go-to brand for salt and pepper mills.  I can see why, since the "award winning" mechanism on the thing works great.  The salts are delicious -- salty, but without the sharp bite of regular table salt and kosher salt.  I feel like food cooked with the sea salt or finished with fleur de sel just tastes better.  I'm getting very spoiled.

Too Much of a Good Thing

I made a couple of naive assumptions when I was making mushroom-barley soup last weekend.  Naive assumption #1: that I could cook barley in the soup water as you might do with pasta or rice.  Naive assumption #2: that I should throw in extra barley since I wasn't using any beef.

Apparently, barley will expand indefinitely to absorb all available water.  To shift metaphors, I theorize that if I threw 2 cups of barley into the ocean near my house, in an hour and fifteen minutes the condition of the Atlantic would be such that I could walk to Paris.  And while that's a tempting idea, I'm pretty sure it would disrupt shipping and we know how cranky people on cruise ships get when their trips don't go as planned.

I've been eating barley all week.  Live and learn.

Weekly Soup: French Country

There are lots of recipes out there for different french country soups.  This is by far my favorite of the ones I've tried.  My research indicates that it is traditionally served with a drizzle of pistou in each bowl (recipe follows); I subsituted basil-infused olive oil because I had some on hand and the results were delicious.

There are also lots of pistou recipes out there, and you could certainly use commercial pesto.  For me, the raw garlic is overpowering to a delicately-flavored soup like this.  But if lots of garlic is your thing, feel free to add a clove or two to the pistou or use a commercial one.

French Country Soup
Serves 4

1 Tbsp. vegetable or canola oil
1 Tbsp. butter
3 large leeks, white and light green parts only, cleaned and chopped
1 large floury potato, cubed (I used a Russet)
2 large carrots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 1/2 - 4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat the oil and butter in a stock pot or dutch oven over medium-low heat.  Add leeks and saute, stirring frequently, about two minutes.  Add potato and carrots, and lightly season with salt and pepper.  Cook another 5 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add garlic and cook, stirring, about 1 minute.

2. Add stock, bay leaves, and thyme.  Lightly season with salt and pepper.  Raise heat and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook, covered, about 30 minutes or until the vegetables are very soft.  Add broth if needed to keep vegetables submerged.

3. Remove bay leaf, then carefully puree the soup in batches in a blender (you could use an immersion blender if you have one).  Return the soup to the pan and gently reheat, stirring frequently.  Taste and adjust seasoning.

4. Serve very hot.  Drizzle each bowl with a little pistou.

Pistou

2 cups fresh basil leaves, washed
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Whirl basil and olive oil in a food processor or blender until smooth.  Add salt and pepper to taste, and process until combined.


Hints:
~ You might want to double the soup recipe -- I definitely will the next time I make it.  The soup can be frozen after step 3.
~ This soup has a delicate flavor, so go easy on the salt and pepper.  Remember you can always add, but you can't remove it once it's in the pot.
~ The dark green part of the leeks can be saved for making stock, but they are also delicious cut up in salads.
~ I used homemade vegetable broth that I had on hand; if I make it with commercial broth I will probably use about 2/3 broth and 1/3 water.  I find commercial broths (especially chicken broth) overpowering in this kind of soup.  But that could just be me...

Healing Herbs: Cinnamon

Yes, I am aware that cinnamon is technically a spice.

Here is the USA, we tend to think of cinnamon and sugar together in baked goods such as apple pie -- and while you will never catch me casting aspersions on pie, cinnamon is so much more than that.  Other cultures use it extensively in savory dishes (cinnamon is an ingredient in garam masala and chinese five spice blends), and for good reason.  Cinnamon is antiseptic, antiviral, and antibacterial, so it helps to kill foodborne pathogens.  It's also a digestive, helping the body to assimilate food and relieving nausea. 

Cinnamon does good things for your blood, too.  It lowers harmful cholesterol, stabilizes blood sugar, and aids circulation.  It's warming to the body. 

Some suggested uses:

• Add to oatmeal to enhance oatmeal's cholesterol-lowering benefits
• Sprinkle into hot chocolate when you come in from the cold -- it's a delicious combination and more warming than chocolate alone
• Make cinnamon-ginger honey to add to cereal and beverages
• Experiment with adding cinnamon to savory dishes
• Sprinkle onto cooked rice -- it helps with nausea when you're sick or getting over a bug

Sources:
McBride, Kami: The Herbal Kitchen, Conari Press, 2010
Balch, Phyllis A.: Prescription for Nutritional Healing, Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 2010
McIntyre, Anne: The Complete Herbal Tutor, Octopus Publishing Group, 2010

Cute Food Is Always Better

I don't know about you, but I usually fly the sort of airline that gives you nothing more to eat than a tiny bag containing six peanuts no matter how long the flight is.  Cheap, I mean to say.  So these meals on EVA Air's new Hello Kitty jets didn't just appeal to me because of the incredibly cute Hello Kitty shaped butter pats.  I'm shocked find myself saying it about airline food, but those meals look rather tasty, colorful, and attractively presented.

Look at the cute bento boxes they give to kids!  I wonder if they would give me one of these if I asked really, really nicely.

Unfortunately, traveling in Taiwan is not on my agenda any time soon, and that is where EVA Air  is based.  But you know what would make up for my disappointment about that?

One of these aprons, that's what.

P.S.  I discuss EVA Air's adorable acoutrements that would ease the pain of airline travel over at Third Floor With Water View.

Images: EVA Air via cnngo.com.

Beef Stroganoff - With Recipes!

It's either been cold, rainy, dreary or some combination thereof around the old HQ lately, so when I saw an article about Russian food on YumSugar, I got a craving for Beef Stroganoff.  I used a recipe from Alton Brown's I'm Just Here For The Food (which, by the way, is full of lots of great information).  The Stroganoff was good, but it needed paprika, for one thing.  And maybe some thyme and bay leaves.

But fear not, my friends.  There are lots of recipe options out there.  Robert Irvine has one on FoodNetwork.com that looks well worth trying.  So does Tyler Florence, although his is a bit fancier.

And because you know I love those recipes straight out of the 1950s, check out Paula Deen's recipe that includes cream of mushroom soup, and good old Betty Crocker's which eschews paprika in favor of ketchup. That's right, ketchup.  Would I lie to you?

Rise & Shine!

Did you know it's National Hot Breakfast Month?  Neither did I, until I read about it on YumSugar.  It makes sense, though, since February tends to be a cold and dreary month.

Here at Old Maid HQ, the go-to hot breakfast is steel cut oats cooked overnight in the slow cooker.  A few minutes of prep at bedtime and I wake up to a hot breakfast and a kitchen that smells deliciously of cinnamon.  Leftovers can be refrigerated and reheated in the microwave.  What's not to like?

Click here to go to the recipe I use.

Image: Quakeroats.com

Too Much Of A Good Thing

Chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and semi-sweet morsels. 

It's been cold outside so I got my bake on.  One problem: I don't just have cupcakes, Gentle Readers, I have a situation.

Healing Herbs: Pine

I've been wanting to learn more about healing herbs, and it occurred to me that the best way to learn about something is to write about it.  Way back in 11th grade I had to write a report on basketball and to this day I remember something about peach baskets being involved, so I have proof that the system works.  I will be researching the herbs as I write, so my information is by no means the last word on the subject.  Always contact an experienced herbalist if you have any questions about using herbs.


Did you know you can make tea from the pine trees that are probably in your backyard right now?  Neither did I, until my good friend Jeanne Abbot told me about it.  Jeanne owns Abbotswood, a lovely shop on Brown Street in Wickford, RI, where she sells teas, herbs, antiques, art by local artists, and lots of other pretty and interesting things.  She also knows a heck of a lot about herbs.

I knew that pre-Christian Europeans brought evergreens into their homes in the winter as symbols of eternal life, but what I didn't know is that pine is wonderful for winter health problems such as coughs, colds, sinus congestion, and to improve circulation.  It's also loaded with vitamin C, so it helps to build up the immune system.  On an emotional level, pine can help with the "winter blahs" and keep you feeling grounded when you are working on psychological or spiritual healing.  Jeanne Abbot recommends it for times when you need the courage to move onto the next phase of your life.  One caveat, though: pine is better taken as needed and not all the time as the tannins in it can be tough on the kidneys over the long term in high doses.

I thought pine tea would be rather strong and unpleasant, but I tried it anyway because I am your intrepid blogger.  It is actually a very light, tasty, drinkable herbal tea.

Pine Tea


Ingredients
2 teaspoons pine needles per cup of water
honey (optional)

Rinse pine needles under cold running water.  Bring water to a boil in saucepan.  Add the pine needles and simmer for 20 minutes.  Strain out the needles.  Add honey to taste if desired.

Sources:
The Herb Quarterly, Issue 125 Winter 2010
Hageneder, Fred: The Meaning of Trees, Chronicle Books, 2005
Hopman, Ellen Evert, A Druid's Herbal for the Sacred Earth Year, Destiny Books, 1995

Food Trends: Salt

I've written before about my deep and abiding love of salt.  Some of my Gentle Readers may remember that I had a longtime aversion to caramel until I discovered salted caramel.  Salt doesn't make food taste salty; it makes food taste good.

After years of being vilified, salt has made a comeback.  Salt is trendy, and the trend doesn't look like it's going to end any time soon.  From Himalayan Pink Salt to Maine Sea Salt, a kitchen simply isn't complete anymore without a few fancy salt options.

I have a small jar of fleur de sel with herbes de provence that I got at the Marche Breteil in Paris, but in general, although I have Hawaiian Sea Salt tastes, I have a kosher salt budget.  I keep it, incidentally, next to the stove in a ceramic pot that looks exactly like a sugar bowl.  This is a good thing to keep in mind if you ever come over for tea.

It's GRRRRRREAT!

Somebody get me Battle Creek, Michigan on the line, pronto!

A Delightful Surprise

The Foodie called me on Tuesday to ask if I might be free around teatime to sample the Laduree macarons and Angelina hot chocolate mix that had recently arrived from Paris.

Might I be free?  Why yes.  Yes, I was.

I decided to fancy up the table as much as I could at short notice with an embroidered table runner and napkins.  The Foodie didn't mind waiting to have our treats until pictures were taken.  In fact, he helped to style the photo shoot.  I think the pictures look better than usual, and that's all him.

Even the packaging is elegant and pretty.  I've got to hand it to the French: they know how to make a simple box of cookies just a bit more elegant.  You know there is something special inside.

And there is: eight impossibly perfect and pretty macaron cookies.  My favorite was the pistachio cookie in the upper-left-hand corner.  It had a delicious marshmallow filling that resisted just a little when I bit into it.

The hot chocolate from Angelina perfectly complemented the macarons because it's slightly bitter and has a savory quality.  We made it with lowfat milk and felt very virtuous about that.

It was a lovely treat at the end of the day -- not just the delectable sweets, but spending some time with The Foodie who has been busy with career-minded things of late.  I hadn't seen him in a while, and it was nice to chat and catch up.  But even if we don't get together as often as we'd like, we'll always have Paris.

Culinary Quote: Me

Things I Heart: Black Truffle Oil

I fell in love with truffles in France last year.  I'd never tried them before and I'm not really sure why that is.  I think truffles and I had simply never crossed paths.  Maybe it's an American thing.

The Foodie knows I ate my weight in truffles in Paris (I also ate my weight in ice cream and baguettes.  This explains a lot of things).  Because he is a sweetheart, The Foodie gave me a bottle of infused black truffle oil a few months ago.  I've been keeping it in my refrigerator and doling it out as sparingly as Scrooge McDuck hands out money.  Actually, the flavor is really strong and a little goes a long way.

In general, I like to use truffle oil with foods that already have an earthiness to them like lentils and potatoes; however, my friend the Rock&Roll Singer (not to be confused with the Rock&Roll Drummer -- try to keep up) swears by truffle oil on popcorn.  I think I'll have to give that a try soon.  You never know.

A Little R&R

Now that the weather is finally cold in Little Rhody, I thought we ought to review the necessary items for winter illness first aid (you can read about them in more detail here).  I've been availing myself of these remedies for the past week or so due to non-stop headaches.  I'm not quite sure what is causing them, but I have it narrowed down to allergies, rapid weather changes, dry heat, forgetting to wear my tinfoil hat to keep the aliens from accessing my brain, or a combination of those factors.

Regarding the shameless self-promotion: just because when I'm feeling rotten I don't post much new material, that doesn't mean you shouldn't be reading when you're feeling rotten.  Just sayin'.

Cat-Foiling Beverage Device

The cat likes to drink out of my water glasses. She has plenty of her own water, it's just a little thing she likes to do.  If the glass is full, she sticks her head in and sips delicately. This bothers me a little.  If the glass is too empty or too narrow for her to reach the water by sticking her head in, she dips a paw into the glass and licks the water off it.  This bothers me a lot.

So, for those times when I can't keep an eye on my water glass and repel any little furry invaders (such as when I am sleeping), I have invented the Cat Foiling Beverage Device.

Genius.  I haz it.

Help Wanted: Sandwich Artist

I was excited when I saw the link to an ad for a "Sandwich Artist" on Craigslist.  After all, how many can there be?

Then I saw the ad:

Sandwich Artist (Subway)
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The owners of Subway in Exeter, RI are looking for EXPERIENCED Sandwich Artist who has worked at a Subway previously and left on good terms. Compensation for the position will be based on level of experience. Please respond to this ad and/or apply online if interested.
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Oops.  Different kind of artist.