Wonderful Meal by a Very Good Lake...

Jul 29, 2011 by

Wonderful Meal by a Very Good Lake

Last week I visited friends I have known since high school at their beautiful house on the shores of Lake Champlain in Vermont.  The lake is 125 miles long and goes from New York to Canada.  It’s not one of the Great Lakes, but it is a very good lake indeed. To manage the super-hot temperatures we cooled off in the lake and then made food that went together easily to eat al fresco on their deck overlooking the lake.  The menu was easy, light and delicious. Citronella candles to discourage the mosquitoes, flowers from the abundant garden, and a good bottle of wine were more than enough blessings to count for the night. Our menu: my Summer Tomato Soup, Roasted Green Peppers –made in a counter top toaster oven and dressed with chopped garlic,...

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The Pied Piper Syndrome in Social Media...

Jul 27, 2011 by

The Pied Piper Syndrome in Social Media

Social media experts proclaim something or someone is brilliant or amazing (Cue in Bruno Mars!) and we all chime in to agree enthusiastically.  God forbid you do not agree with the social media gurus.  Spell dead career.  Or, worse, vicious attacks from their acolytes for daring to disagree with the founding fathers and mothers of social media.  Have you ever tried to disagree with their articles?  You have?  In that case, I certainly hope you’re in the witness protection program. Like any other marketing professional – OF COURSE, I read them.  Most of the time, I nod my head in agreement.  But there are just times that I cannot agree with what is being posted.  Those rare moments when I wonder if they wrote their posts while under the influence of too many glazed...

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Retail Therapy Works .. Research Confirms!...

Jul 25, 2011 by

Retail Therapy Works .. Research Confirms!

Shopping as “therapy” is effective at elevating mood, and it doesn’t lead to buyer’s regret. All of the shoppers in a research sample said they had bought themselves a treat during the past week—ranging from a fishing reel to a kitchen magnet—and 62% of the treat purchases were motivated by a desire to repair a bad mood, say A. Selin Atalay of HEC Paris in France and Margaret G. Meloy of Penn State. Asked about their post-purchase feelings, 82% of participants had only positive things to say. There seem to be few, if any, downside consequences of retail therapy, the researchers say. Source: Retail Therapy: A Strategic Effort to Improve Mood I KNEW IT!  Ever wonder why our society feels compelled to spend a fortune in time and research expense to prove what every...

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Bananas With Spatula Bits

Jul 22, 2011 by

Bananas With Spatula Bits

Every year seems to bring new food fads with one replacing the next in popularity.  For example, even as you read this, cupcakes are supposedly being replaced by whoopie pies as the tiny cake of choice in the world of confections. The world of simple home cooking is not exempt from this trend.  Last year, we were all infatuated with kale chips.  The recipe made the rounds of parties and never lasted long enough to land on a plate in my house.  We ate them straight off the baking sheet. This year, banana “ice cream” is generating excitement.  Not only does this recipe not require an ice cream maker, it doesn’t even require cream!  It’s this simple … Ingredients Ripe bananas Vanilla – if you like Peanut butter – if you like Directions 1....

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The Soulful Sound and Story of Art...

Jul 20, 2011 by

The Soulful Sound and Story of Art

From the ancient days of cave painting to the remarkable statues of Michelangelo all the way to our modern museums of art, the concept of art as a story of soul and sound is as old as rain and wind. My experiences with art are so limited, I feel handicapped even writing about it. Not that long ago, I thought of art as… a painting, a poem, a story, a design, a musical, a song; all things that are part of art – but which don’t really convey true artistic creativity, individually. I seldom connected the dots. For instance – a painting is only as good as the person viewing it believes it is good. The story, the soul, the sound of the painting is not the story, soul or sound of the painter....

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Skype-tini Anyone?

Jul 18, 2011 by

Skype-tini Anyone?

About a year ago I made a major change in my life and moved from upstate New York to Maryland.  I hated leaving my country home and friends, but work was limited in Cambridge and most of my free-lance clients were based in the Washington D.C. area.  I started working a 4-day  week for the School Programs at Kennedy Krieger Institute, which gave me some steady income while still working my free-lance gigs for Discovery.  Anyway…., a year goes by and I return to Cambridge to visit with some friends, check on my house (it’s rented right now), and attend my friend Jayne’s art show opening at the Small Gallery. I really love my friend Jayne.  We share a great deal of the same interests and have the same quirky sense of reality.  She...

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If You Can’t Eat It Freeze It!...

Jul 15, 2011 by

If You Can’t Eat It Freeze It!

Here we are in the middle of July already.  Where does the time go?  On a farm, you can measure the passing of summertime in produce.  I hadn’t been to the farm where I get my local produce in a few weeks and finally got there yesterday to volunteer.  I headed out to the north fields to weed and found a considerably different place than the last time I had been there. For one, the weeds had made good progress in their quest to choke the beans.  The farm uses chemical free methods to grow our food, but that means someone has to get in there and pull the weeds out.  I spent the entire morning crawling along the furrows, sorting weeds from beans.  It’s hot, exhausting work; but made lighter by many hands...

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Lemon: An Alternative To Chocolate Desserts!...

Jul 15, 2011 by

Lemon: An Alternative To Chocolate Desserts!

OK, I know it’s a sacrilege to say this… I’m not crazy about chocolate. One of the few things I never crave. Go figure. So, I’m always on the lookout for something quick, easy and non-chocolate. This is a great recipe, goes together in minutes and you can bring it, serve it or just snack on it at home … all by yourself. Just for fun, I’m including  3 different toppings-something for everyone!   Lemon Brownies Ingredients 1 cup softened butter (2 sticks) 4 eggs 2 cups sugar 11/2 cups all purpose flour 1 tsp salt 2 tsp lemon extract 1 tbsp lemon zest Directions Preheat oven to 350 degrees Grease 13X9X2 pan. Beat together butter, sugar and eggs. Gradually add flour and salt. Add juice and zest. Mix til smooth. Pour into prepared pan...

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atsGf A Pithy Book Review

Jul 14, 2011 by

atsGf A Pithy Book Review

atsGf A Pithy Book Review is the idea of Gf Dorothéa Bozicolona-Volpe who suggested we supplement traditional book reviews with ones that are 2 lines and a strong opinion. Hope you enjoy! Dorothéa Bozicolona-Volpe – This book is incredibly insightful and very well researched. The contributors and content that Ms. De Paulo has woven together in such an astute fashion makes this a good read for both men and women. It should be distributed by every single person that has been discriminated against in the workplace, advertisers, financial institutions, amongst married/ coupled-off friends, and society as a whole. Marianne Richmond –  Bella DePaulo’s book is based upon the definition of singlism as a social concept; “negative stereotypes and discrimination faced by singles.” She and her co-authors find this marginalization of and discrimination against single women in all...

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“Singlism” by Bella DePaulo – The plight of the 40% of adults...

Jul 13, 2011 by

“Singlism” by Bella DePaulo – The plight of the 40% of adults

Singism by Bella DePaulo could be the sophisticated Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Like that iconic but sentimental work, Singlism might just call the right attention to the tragic treatment of those not in a legal marriage. The Census Bureau counts them as 40% of the adult population. If you are among them like I have been all my life, you probably have not had an easy time of it. The odds are that, like people of color and those with alternate sexual orientations once did, you sought therapy, tried to comply with whatever and fit in, and self-destructed through shame. In Singlism, DePaulo turns on all the lights about the bias and bad [perhaps illegal] behavior toward singles. We, for example, are refused rentals. Employers expect us to pick up the slack when the married leave...

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Interview with Bella DePaulo, PhD...

Jul 11, 2011 by

Interview with Bella DePaulo, PhD

Recently, I was playing following the link. You know how that goes .. you click on one link it takes you to another site and so on. If you’re lucky you land on some pretty cool sites. It must have been my lucky day because I came across a series of articles by Dr. Bella DePaulo on Psychology Today. The good doc is focusing on Living and Being Single. In addition to her posts she has written several books including Singled Out: How Singles Are Stereotyped, Stigmatized, and Ignored, and Still Live Happily Ever After. As Anne of Green Gables might put it, DePaulo is indeed a kindred spirit. Dr. DePaulo’s work validates the focus of All The Single Girlfriends down to our concept of “single in spirit.”  We thought she’d make a great guest...

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R Is For Roasted Radish

Jul 8, 2011 by

R Is For Roasted Radish

It’s radish season again, here in Colorado.  I know people who like radishes, but to me they taste like rubber bands.  Actually, rubber bands taste a bit better. Before I started buying a farm share every year, I simply avoided the radishes at the grocery store and never gave them a second thought.  These days, however, radishes invade my kitchen in the early summer.  It happens every year.  I open the farm share boxes, delighted with the lettuce and kale, and then think to myself, “What on earth am I going to do with more radishes?”. I tried giving them to the chickens, but they wouldn’t eat them either.  As a last resort before sending them to the compost pile, I thought I’d try making them into something less healthy.  And what do you...

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