“The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit”
There were really four completely unrelated worlds in which he lived,…there was the crazy, ghost-ridden world of his grandmother and his dead parents. There was the isolated, best-not-remembered world in which he had been a paratrooper. There was the matter-of-fact, opaque-glass-brick partitioned world of places like the United Broadcasting Company and the Schanenhauser Foundation. And there was the entirely separate world populated by Betsy and Janey and Barbara and Pete, the only one of the four worlds worth a damn.
Tom Rath is an unhappy 33-year old married man, father of three trying to figure out what to do with his life. Raised in his grandmother’s once grand estate in Connecticut after his father’s untimely death and having returned from the war a changed man, Tom finds it difficult to live in the present because by his own admission, he is either brooding about the past or worrying about the future. Read more 
Rethinking the Lunch Box and Thermos
Every so often, a product is redesigned in such an innovative way that people reconsider its use. There was the brown paper bag for lunch which led to the iconic lunch box and thermos – all of which were staples in our society for those who wanted to bring lunch from home. When my daughter announced she was going vegan and would be preparing her own lunch to bring to school, she quickly realized the challenges of not only making fresh tasting food but of transporting and storing it so that the food looked and tasted just as good as when she first made it. The preparation was relatively easy; the transporting wasn’t which is how we found Black + Blum – a company that makes innovative and functional soup carriers, salad boxes, and meal holders, bags, and utensils. Read more
GIN GINS
For a chewy, not too sweet and just a tad spicy adult candy, consider Gin Gins – a new type of candy that is natural, stimulating and deliciously different. Touted as “a soothing travel treat” because of ginger’s queasy-quelling properties, Gin Gins are used by many to fight off nausea while flying, boating, or driving on a winding, bumpy road. But, Gin Gins are more than a travel aid; they are a refreshing chewy candy that brings warmth and the good flavor of ginger to your senses. Read more
Rau Om
Years ago when we were living in Spain, my daughter would often order a cheese platter for dessert and devour the 4 or 5 piece selection, much to my surprise as most kids order cake or ice cream for dessert. She just happened to develop a deep love of cheese (especially goat) at a young age and was an adventurous eater. Now that she is a vegan, life has changed as has her diet.
By definition, a vegan is a person who avoids using or consuming animal products so cheese is no longer on the menu. In its place is a product called Tofu Misozuke – an all natural miso-cured tofu that has been aged for two months. Rich, creamy and slightly tangy, Tofu Misozuke is the centuries old Japanese answer to cheese and a cheese-lovin vegan’s choice when a craving for the forbidden fruit beckons. But, Tofu Misozuke is also a delicious alternative to cheese that non-vegans should consider trying. Read more
“Half Broke Horses”
Painting the word “dog” on the side of a pig don’t make a pig a dog.
These words were spoken to Lily Casey Smith, the resourceful, no-nonsense heroine in Half Broke Horses by her husband, Jim Smith after she buys a used hearse and paints the words “School Bus” on the side. That hearse may not have technically been a school bus but for Lily – who could see past its intended purpose and envision piling children in the back – those painted on words let the world know she was a force to be reckoned with. If she wanted a hearse to be a school bus, by God it was going to be a school bus. Read more
Yonanas
This past Christmas, we surprised my daughter with a Yonana machine – an electric kitchen appliance that turns frozen fruit into a soft serve treat called Yonanas. My daughter is a vegan so fruit is a big part of her diet and although the majority of fruit she eats is fresh, more than a portion of our freezer is allocated to frozen fruit for her daily smoothies. Sometimes I open the freezer and think Carmen Miranda is looking back at me only to realize its a frozen fruit fest. There are piles of frozen mangos, blueberries, strawberries, pineapples, cantaloupes, raspberries, blackberries, and most popular of all – bananas. Read more
Sandcastles
Sandcastles are an original take on an old Moroccan cookie recipe that utilizes rye flour and coconut oil instead of flour and butter as the basis for each of the four varieties of cookies: Deep Chocolate Infrared, Maple Dusted Cardamom, Vanilla Black Sesame and Marzipan with Toasted Almonds. Slightly suspect (because what can be better than butter and flour in a shortbread cookie?), I reluctantly purchased these cookies for my vegan daughter who was looking for a great tasting cookie that satisfied her dietary restrictions. Read more
Vegan Chocolate Cake
A good chocolate cake has to have big chocolate flavor and be moist with a tender crumb but to make a really good vegan chocolate cake, a bit of creativity is needed because by definition, a vegan product cannot contain the very ingredients – butter and eggs – that traditionally make a cake taste so good (making a chocolate cake from scratch is relatively easy with butter, eggs, and cocoa). Read more
“Music Through the Floor”
Music Through the Floor is a collection of ten fictional short stories written by Eric Puchner, a writer and professor of literature at Claremont McKenna College in California. Published in 2005, Music Through the Floor was a finalist for the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Fiction Award and The California Book Award – a tremendous accomplishment for an author’s first publication of short stories. Read more
Clarine’s Florentines
Clarine Hardesty is a pastry chef and owner of Clarine’s Florentines, a Berkeley, California-based commercial operation that specializes in the Florentine: a delicious mixture of toasted nuts and candied fruit held together by a honey and sugar mixture that hardens and forms a crunchy candy-like delicate cookie. To complete the treat, Clarine’s Florentines are dipped in bittersweet chocolate. Read more
Paddock Post 