Christopher’s Kitchen
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida is known for sunshine, beaches, golf courses, and Christopher’s Kitchen (“CK”) – a restaurant, juice bar, and market offering the highest quality certified organic plant-based food. Christopher Slawson is the culinary genius behind the CK brand and the bold flavors of the soups, sandwiches, burgers, wraps, noodle and grain bowls, pasta dishes, rolls, pizzas, desserts, juices, and more. That an organic plant-based chef has the word “slaw” in his name is a metaphoric coincidence. Read more 
Finding Compassion
Years ago in Sunday School, I was told the story of the beggar on the side of the road and remember thinking how unkind the people ignoring this human being were. He obviously needed help and yet most people walked right by. Fast forward a few thousand years and the dirt roads are now paved but men and women are still on the sidelines asking for help. Most people ignore them because they are afraid, think the person should be working, or that the money will be used to buy drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes. Read more
Cleveland’s West Side Market
On a recent trip to Oberlin, Ohio which is in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by farmland, and about 30 miles southwest of Cleveland, I suggested to my husband and daughter that we visit West Side Market: one of the largest and oldest European-style markets in America. Read more
“This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage”
Only writing kept me from being swept into the dust heap of third grade, and for this reason I not only loved writing, I felt a strong sense of loyalty to it. I may have been shaky about tying my shoes or telling time, but I was sure about my career, and I consider this certainty the greatest gift of my life.
Miyoko’s Kitchen: Vegan “Cheese”
A vegetarian lifestyle has always been a natural fit for me and the only two things that really hold me back from becoming a vegan is butter and cheese. Although infrequent, I do indulge in a Levain Chocolate Chip Cookie or a Salty Oats oatmeal cookie by Kayak Cookies – both of which are made with butter (and eggs). And, then there is cheese. A slice of Comte or Vermont Cheddar on a toasted bagel with lettuce, tomato, and red onion is my dream bagelwich and my go-to snack when I’m on the road and fresh out of energy bars. I can go to any bagel shop and get my fix. “Hold the meat, keep the cheese, and add the veggies” and I’m off and running. Read more
Almond Crack
Almond Crack is one of the most appropriately named chocolates ever tasted: a sinfully addicting flaky butter-toffee (made with toasted organic Kashiwase Farms almonds, Gilt Edge Creamery butter, organic, fair-trade cane sugar and healthy dose of esprit du sel) dipped in 72% cacao Guittard chocolate.
Made by Nosh This, a San Francisco based company that specializes in handmade toffee, caramel, marshmallow, chocolate treats and sauces, Almond Crack is decadent, rich, and truly scrumptious. Did I mention addicting? Read more
Where does your $1 to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Go?
If you’ve participated in any of the thousands of fund-raising activities for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital or shopped at CVS, Target, Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Brooks Brothers, GNC, Claire’s, or Kmart, then you’ve probably been asked at the cash register to make a donation to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. More than likely, you’ve said yes, as evidenced by the $976 million (nearly $1 billion) collected by the ALSAC (American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities) – the fundraising organization for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – for the year ending June 30, 2013. Read more
Better Brittle
Better Brittle is a West African style peanut brittle that resembles the peanut brittle that many baby boomers recall from our childhood only without the rock-hard corn syrup that has been known to crack a tooth now and then. Made with three simple natural ingredients – freshly roasted peanuts from Virginia and North Carolina, fair-trade organic evaporated cane juice, and sea salt, Better Brittle is really better than traditional brittle. Read more
“Here Beneath Low-Flying Planes”
Love the short story for what it is: a handful of glorious pages that take you someplace you never knew you wanted to go. Ann Patchett
Few people appreciate the short story although most are better written and clearly demand less of our time and attention than the novel. For me, short stories have always reminded me of those beautiful wooden Advent calendars with small doors. Beginning December 1st and continuing to December 24th, a numbered door is opened to reveal a small present – a ring, a chocolate, a key chain, perhaps, and sometimes a clever clue that if answered correctly leads to a treasured surprise: a scented soap, a kitchen utensil, a candle or a lovely writing pen. Each morning is filled with anticipation and then sheer happiness that lasts all day. Read more
Sunday Newspaper Inserts Hit a New Low
One of life’s little pleasures is the all-encompassing Sunday newspaper that contains all the news of the week and, of course the Sunday inserts from Target, Walmart, Best Buy, CVS, Walgreen’s, and this week’s special sales brochure from Shoot Straight which not only advertises the Smith & Wesson M&P 15-T, a tactical semi-automatic rifle with a 30-round detachable magazine for $949 but also the Smith & Wesson 15-22 Rife with a 25 round magazine for $399 for those who want to spend less. That the M&P 15-T is “designed specifically for the needs of military and police around the world” according to Impact Guns, is obviously besides the point. Read more
Paddock Post 