Bring Back the Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon, Please!
Station wagons have a reputation for being about the most uncool car in the world among the younger generation but that wasn’t always the case. Those of us who grew up in the 1970’s and 1980’s more than likely drove the family station wagon (affectionately referred to as the “draggin’ wagon”) which for all intents and purposes was a movable party mobile with a V8 engine. Read more 
Frontier Soups
Now is the perfect time to make a big batch of soup but who wants to spend the afternoon searching cookbooks for the right recipe, shopping for the ingredients, chopping vegetables, and figuring out the right spice combination to make a flavorful pot of homemade soup? Frontier Soups offers an easy, healthy and delicious way to enjoy homemade hearty soups, chowders, and chills.
Made of dehydrated vegetables (non-GMO), dried beans, peas, and legumes, herbs and spices, Frontier Soups has no added salt, msg, preservatives, artificial flavors, or colors – just plain wholesome ingredients that can be combined with fresh vegetables, meat, poultry, water, broth, milk, or any non-dairy milk to make the ultimate comfort food on a crisp cool evening. Read more
Battenkill Brittle
Battenkill Brittle is a high energy snack with five major attributes: great taste, wholesome ingredients, high in protein, low in sugar, and low in sodium. Made with three types of organic seeds (sunflower, sesame, and pumpkin), organic brown rice syrup, Vermont maple syrup, and pecan meal, Battenkill Brittle is the perfect snack food – wholesome, crunchy, and full of flavor. Slightly sweet with the subtle taste of maple, the brittle stands out for making seeds and pecans the star of the show. Read more
Spreads and Beyond
If Buzz Lightyear were to quit his day job and promote real fruit spreads instead of space travel his signature statement would change from “To infinity, and beyond” to “Spreads & Beyond” because the company with the catchy phrase name has positioned itself as an innovator and visionary in the jams, preserves, and spreads industry. How you ask? By keeping it real – meaning their spreads are made using fresh fruit with no added sugar, pectin, preservatives, colors, sweeteners or fruit from concentrate – and giving customers what they want: fresh, wholesome fruit preserves, chutney, and spreads.
Spreads & Beyond makes three delicious fruit spreads – Strawberry Preserves, Blueberry Orange Peel Preserves, and Mango Star Anise Chutney – that scream “fruit” in every delicious bite. Read more
“The Days of Abandonment”
Already at eighteen, I had considered myself a talented young woman, with high hopes. At twenty, I was working. At twenty-two I had Mario, and we had left Italy, living first in Canada, then in Spain and Greece. At twenty-eight, I had had Gianni, and during the months of my pregnancy I had written a long story set in Naples, and, the following year, had published it easily. At thirty-one I gave birth to Ilaria. Now at thirty-eight I was reduced to nothing.
Five More Fantastic Granolas
Choosing a granola is becoming a time-consuming project with the selections growing daily. Along with Early Bird Foods, Purely Elizabeth, Bola, Our Daily Eats, and Granola Lab, all of whom make fabulous granola, there are five more fantastic granolas worth trying. Each is made with an eye on nutrition, texture, and taste with no artificial flavors, colors, sweeteners, or preservatives. What they all have in common is deliciousness. Oats, nuts, seeds, fruit…..the combinations are endless. Read more
Who Are the Mass Shooters?
The FBI released a study on mass shootings this week that indicates mass shooters in our country are primarily male and young (no surprise there). The study looked at mass shootings between 2000 – 2013 and found there were 160 mass shootings where “an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.” The study does not include gang or drug related violence or shootings where the shooter’s primary purpose was to commit suicide publicly. Read more
Five Fantastic Granolas
Do you remember the days when the granola selection was limited to Kellogg’s, General Foods, Bear Naked (the new kid on the block years ago), and the bulk containers in the health food aisle? Over the past five years, the granola market has literally exploded with dozens of companies making the “perfect” granola which is, of course, totally subjective.
There are purists who favor a granola with a base of oats, nuts, and honey and there are the adventurous ones who want dried fruits, seeds, and other tasty additions. And, there are those who favor a low sugar (as in less than 6 grams of sugar per serving), low-fat (nearly impossible if nuts are included), gluten-free, nut-free, high protein, high fiber, and more. The good news: there is a granola to suit nearly everyone’s tastes. Read more
“This Is Where I Leave You”
When someone says “literature makes my heart sing,” I sense a kindred soul. Readers fall in love with literature and the passion turns into an addiction that borders on compulsion but every once in a while a diversion beckons in the form of a hilariously funny book that makes me laugh so hard I’m afraid I might embarrass myself. That’s what This Is Where I Leave You did to me (after the first chapter I made sure I wasn’t drinking anything for fear it would come out my nose in a snort of laughter). In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever read a funnier book in my life. If a literary prize were to be given for comical fiction, this book would win hands down. I can’t even think of a runner-up…..well maybe Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple, which was notoriously entertaining but not belly laughing funny like This Is Where I Leave You. Read more
How NPR’s Science Friday Goofed
On NPR‘s Science Friday program (“your trusted source for news and entertaining stories about science”) yesterday, Ira Flatow, the show’s host, aired a segment entitled “The People’s March Against Climate Change.” The two guests on the show were Bill McKibben (author of Eaarth, co-founder of 350.org and distinguished scholar at Middlebury College) and Peter deMenocal (an environmental scientist and professor at Columbia University) who both spoke about the importance of the People’s Climate March to be held this Sunday in New York City to bring a public voice to the climate change discussion. McKibben is one of the organizers of the march and deMenocal was on the show to explain why he, as a scientist has decided to participate in the march. Read more
Paddock Post 