The Pea Shoot
Sprouts – miniature seedlings that grow from a seed – leave me feeling ambivalent as in…I should like them more than I do. In most grocery stores and markets, plastic containers showcasing bright green, yellow, and red sprouts – alfalfa, broccoli, clover, bean, radish – are displayed next to salad greens and fresh bunches of cilantro, parsley, and other herbs. Just seeing fresh seedlings makes me want to buy them. Nutritious and raw, sprouts make sandwiches and salads look appetizing and are supposed to add flavor but more often than not, I’ve always felt like there is something missing in the flavor department, until I tasted pea shoots which was love at first bite.
“Friendly Fire”
..honey, this is life. You learn to live with guilt. You do the best you can. Believe me, you don’t get away with anything in this life. You’re going to pay the price, so you make sure you get your money’s worth.
Friendly Fire, a collection of 11 short stories written by Kathryn Chetkovich was awarded the John Simmons Short Fiction Award from the University of Iowa. Although 16 years have passed since the book was published, this treasury of short stories is as relevant today as when they were first read in 1998. Forthright but with a subtle message and often open-ended, these stories don’t have twists or imply completion primarily because the stories deal with tough issues: envy, irony, dishonesty, loyalty, teenage angst, aging, friendship, marriage, love, lust, and responsibility – highly charged emotions that inspire loose ends and don’t take well to predictability. Read more 
The Sumo Citrus Orange
A Sumo Citrus Orange is quite possibly the sweetest orange you will ever taste. Seedless, full of flavor, and easy to peel, the Sumo Citrus Orange is everything the Clementine seemed to promise but couldn’t deliver.
It all started with a citrus grower in Japan who wanted to combine the best attributes of two types of oranges: the easy to peel Satsuma of Japan and the big, juicy, sweet oranges of California. For years, this hybrid orange was only grown in Japan and Korea but a group of farmers in Central Valley, California – the 450 mile long, 50 mile wide large flat valley – realized this huge agricultural garden is the ideal place to grow one of the world’s best citrus fruits. Read more
The Perfect Long Sleeve Tee
There are certain products that women are always on the hunt for: the perfect pocketbook, the perfect pair of shoes, and the perfect long sleeve tee. I’m still searching for the purse and shoes but I finally found the perfect long-sleeve tee after years of trying nearly every cotton tee on the market including Three Dot, Splendid, Petit Bateau, James Perse, Ralph Lauren, J Crew, Gap, Banana Republic, and more. Made by Hanro of Switzerland, the Fine Line Long Sleeve Shirt with a rounded neckline is a tailored double-rib knit blend of mercerized cotton (94%) and elastane (6%) that gives the shirt a stylish, flattering stretch that never loses its shape. Read more
Dark Chocolate Covered Dried Mangos
One of our favorite places to eat lunch or dinner in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida is Christopher’s Kitchen – a restaurant whose mission is to serve high quality, organic plant-based food. Fresh squeezed raw cold-pressed juices, nut milks, salads, veggie burgers, rustic pizzas, tacos, burritos, bowls, noodles and more are served at this casual, light-filled restaurant.
Christopher’s Kitchen also offers a wide variety of homemade desserts including dark chocolate covered mango, which is decadent and delicious: chewy, dried mango slices covered in rich dark chocolate. At $4 an ounce (or $64 per pound), the dark chocolate covered mangos at Christopher’s Kitchen are expensive so I decided to make this treat myself – a super, easy task that brings the cost down to about $11 a pound using premium dark chocolate and dried mangos). Read more
“The SAT Is Not Fair”
The cover story of the New York Times Magazine (March 9, 2014) was the SAT – the standardized test designed to put high school students on a level playing field when it comes to college admissions in the US. Written by Todd Balf, the article is humorously (but truthfully) titled “The SAT Is Hated By…All Of The Above” meaning the most widely used college admissions test is despised by “stressed-out students, frustrated educators, hamstrung admissions officers, and anxious parents.” Designed as a tool by which all students could be compared, the SAT doesn’t do what it was designed to do and is, in fact unfair because students have unequal access to two systems: education and test-prep. Read more
“Disgrace”
One can punish a dog, it seems to me, for an offence like chewing a slipper. A dog will accept the justice of that: a beating for a chewing. But desire is another story. No animal will accept the justice of being punished for following its instincts.
Such is the limited reasoning ability of David Lurie, a middle-aged (52) White South African man who spends his days as an adjunct professor at Cape Technical University in Cape Town where he teaches introductory communications courses which bore him and leave him with nothing but contempt for the students he regards as ignorant. That a dog has a desire to chew or that some instincts, if acted upon, should be punishable acts doesn’t seem to occur to Lurie, a twice divorced serial womanizer who chalks his desires up to instinct and therefore not something he should be sorry for. Read more
The Sharkk Wallet
When it comes to a wallet, having a place for bills, change, pictures and a few credit cards is not enough. Most retail stores – grocery, pharmacy, pet, chocolate, hardware, gym – and clubs – automobile, warehouse, and train – have membership cards so the dilemma is how to organize all these cards in a way to easily access them when needed. For years, I struggled with how to carry these cards around with me and tried everything from plastic card holders to rubber bands until I discovered the Sharkk: an innovative and durable wallet that keeps cards organized and easily accessible. Read more
Linwoods Health Foods
Linwoods is an Ireland-based company that manufactures a variety of superfood products including four energy rich blends referred to as Linwoods Health Foods. Made primarily of organic flaxseed that are cold-ground to protect the essential fatty acids and nutritional goodness and then blended with a variety of ground seeds, berries, or nuts, Linwoods Blends are high in protein (4-6 grams of protein) and fiber (5-8 grams) and low in sugar (1-2 grams) and sodium (30 mg) per 1/4 cup serving. Each serving has 155-178 calories and 12-15 grams of fat, which is primarily derived from the flaxseed. Read more
Capers and Sun-Ripened Dried Tomatoes
Jeff’s Naturals, a California-based company specializing in jarred Mediterranean products free of preservatives, stabilizers, artificial colors, flavors and sulfites, offers two shelf-stable pantry products – Imported Non-Pareil Capers and Sun-Ripened Dried Tomatoes – that most cooks find very helpful to have on hand because both products can be used in so many recipes. Read more
Paddock Post 