The Peanut Shop of Williamsburg
Anybody want a peanut? ~Fezzik
There are thousands of types of peanuts but only four major groups: Runner, Spanish, Valencia, and Virginia. These nuts (actually legumes, but that’s another story) differ in flavor, size, shape, and oil content and are therefore used differently. Most peanut butters are made with either the disease-resistant Runner or the Spanish (higher oil content) peanut while the Valencia is preferred for a southern favorite – boiled peanuts. Virginia peanuts – known for their large size and exquisite flavor – are generally sold in shell or roasted and salted. Read more 
“What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures”
A lot of my process is informed by the notion that two mildly good stories put together sometimes equal one really good story.
What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell was published in 2009, although the 19 non-fiction essays included in the book were originally published in The New Yorker magazine where the author has been a staff writer since 1996.
Divided into three parts with three themes: obsessives, theories (ways of organizing experience), and the predictions we make about people, What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures is one of the most interesting contemporary collections of stories that anyone over the age of 40 can relate to without having to refer to Wikipedia for an explanation of events, characters, products, and businesses. Read more
The Millennials are Leading the Way….
A few years ago – well, 17 to be exact, Tom Brokaw published The Greatest Generation – a book which described the people born in the early part of the 20th century who grew up during the Depression of the 1930’s and went on to fight in World War II because it was “the right thing to do.” From his perspective, this generation was the greatest ever produced because they were raised in deprivation and yet, selflessly contributed to a war effort to stop aggression and genocide. No doubt their perseverance was a testament to their extraordinary character. Read more
Ziploc Bags – Who Changed the Formula?
Get more out of it! ~Ziploc®
There are 5 products I always buy from Costco: Bounty Paper Towels, Vanity Fair Elegant Dinner Napkins, Kleenex Tissues, Charmin Toilet Paper and Ziploc® Plastic Freezer and Storage Bags. The harmony of my home relies on the availability of these products (well, not really but they help) and although I try to reduce our reliance on paper and plastic, I still count these products as essential…up until recently. Over the past few weeks, I’ve thrown away dozens of quart and gallon freezer and storage bags by Ziploc® because the bags split down the side no matter how gentle I am. Read more
Organic Bean Pastas
What is it with guys and protein? If my husband sees or hears “25 mg of protein” his face lights up. And, it seems that whenever I have a discussion with someone about being a vegetarian who doesn’t eat dairy products, the topic of conversation immediately turns to an inquiry of where I get my protein – because people have been brainwashed to think the best source of protein is from animals when in fact, plant-based foods are an excellent source of protein. Read more
The Servus Northerner Series Boot
Whether you wear boots to walk in the rain, work in a garden or to simply protect your feet from the cold and muddy elements, there’s one boot that does it all: the Servus Northerner Series Boot. Never heard of it? Neither did I until a few years ago when I bought a pair in a vet’s office in a small town in central Iowa.
Back then, I needed a pair of durable boots to navigate the fields and muddy roads of a farm and didn’t want a pair of boots that looked like they came from the children’s shoe department at Target. What I found was a boot that turned out to be great looking, comfortable, and durable….. and yet outside of the midwest farming community, many people haven’t heard of them. Read more
“The Lovers Set down Their Spoons”
They weave through the tables – their rain coats billowing out behind them like the kites you and I flew on that terrible day that began our love. Your kite kept wrapping around mine, and at first I thought it was sweet, but eventually mine nosedived into the sand.
In 2014, the Iowa Short Fiction Award was given to Heather A Slomski for The Lovers Who Set Down Their Spoons, a collection of 15 short stories that are thought-provoking, captivating, and haunting. Themes of love, loss and regret are heavily emphasized with symbolism and metaphors used to convey the message in the narratives that vary in length from 2-29 pages. Read more
Pinto Bean Tostadas
A little lemon juice makes everything taste better. ~Virginia Sanborn Burleigh
Whole grain corn tostadas piled high with mashed and spiced pinto beans, chopped sweet tomatoes, chunky avocado pieces seasoned with tangy fresh lemon juice and salt, red onion, and a sprinkling of diced fresh aromatic green cilantro make for an easy and delicious meal. From start to finish, the tostadas take about 15-20 minutes to make. Serve as a lunch or dinner entrée or with extra toppings on the side, with a cup of soup, or with rice.
The recipe below makes 6 tostadas which is enough for 2-3 people but can easily be doubled to feed a larger crowd. Read more
Why Every Individual Counts
On this very special day celebrating our nation’s birthday, I want to write about why every individual counts. There are nearly 320 million of us in this country – that’s a lot of people – enough to have made me think from time to time that what I do or don’t do really doesn’t matter. After all, I’m just one person – does it really matter if I eat a piece of grilled chicken, a slice of bacon, an ice cream cone or not think about the food chain in this country? Yes, it does and here’s why. Read more
The French Mint: Les Anis de Flavigny
Sharing a candy with an aniseed in its heart is a demonstration of love.
More than 400 years ago (1591) in an Abbey in the Burgundy region of eastern France, a group of Benedictine Monks started making a hard candy from the anise seed, which comes from the plant called Pimpinella Asisum – a sprawling green herb plant with an aromatic scent, strong feathery stems, green leaves and tiny white flowers that produce anise fruits or what others called anise seeds. Known for their distinctive flavor, anise seeds proved to be the foundation for one of the world’s oldest hard candies: Anis. Read more
Paddock Post 