After spending a significant amount of time discussing the benefits of this approach with students and faculty, I got to thinking about how schools focus on summer reading but rarely do much to prevent that “summer slide” in math.  A good friend of mine is the Calculus teacher.  She points out every June that our school runs on block scheduling and a number of students can go almost a year without any formal math instruction.  My own children received summer math packets every so often during their elementary and middle school years.  My daughter paced herself and completed a section of the packet each week; my son waiting until Labor Day weekend then sat down with friends to race through the problems the day before school started.

I’m sure you can guess which of my children was better prepared for their math class in the new school year.

Most students aren’t like my self motivated daughter.  Recently, I learned of the Leap Ahead Summer Math program.   This service provides 32 daily worksheets students can complete at their own pace, online, with instant feedback.  Leap Ahead also offers a program for gifted and talented students in grades 3 – 6, something important to a computer programming teacher like myself.  Early exposure and enrichment in STEM courses is invaluable to students who wish to pursue a technical career in high school and beyond.

The best part? Leap Ahead costs only $24.95 for the first student, provides sibling discounts, and offers a 10 student package for $100.  Students in elementary and middle school benefit from this type of daily assignment which Leap Ahead provides up to 4 times a week for 8 weeks.  Parents should determine at the end of the school year whether their child needs more practice with specific problems, reinforcement of math concepts, or a head start on the next stage of math instruction then tailor the Leap Ahead assignment choices to this program.

Teachers and students look forward to the summer break, but students should approach it in the same way teachers do: an opportunity to review and reinforce known concepts and explore new curriculum for the next school year.  A service like Leap Ahead provides kids with just that type of opportunity!

Compensation was provided via elance.com for this blog post.  Statements and opinions are all my own.

Of course, then I have to figure out how to use 5 avocadoes within 24 hours.  Two usually become that staple of avocado cuisine, guacamole.  I slice at least one and make an avocado sandwich. Never tried that? Just slice avocado, top with sprouts or lettuce, some sliced tomato and red onion, and you’ve got a delicious and nutritious lunch!

That sandwich, according to the California Avocado Association has nearly 20 essential nutrients and can help in lowering cholesterol and promoting heart health.  One of those nutrients is Vitamin E which promotes healthy skin and hair.  For a woman approaching 50, skin care is more than just some moisturizer after a shower.  I recognize that anti-aging products are a billion dollar industry, but as a vegan, I hesitate to use anything developed by a cosmetic company.  Natural remedies are cheaper and guaranteed not to harm animals or the environment.

Therein lies the use for that last avocado.  Avocado.com states that avocadoes reduce the signs of aging, relieve dry skin, and can minimize the appearance of age spots.  Avocado masks for skin and hair are easy to make and guaranteed to improve the look and feel of both. I’ve made a paste out of avocados and canola oil to create a hair mask; many natural recipes suggest olive oil, but since I color my hair, I opted for the generic oil since olive oil can lighten hair.

My favorite, though, is a simple recipe for an avocado face mask.  Mash at least one avocado, then for each avocado you mash, add a spoonful of orange juice and a spoonful of olive oil.  Mix thoroughly, apply to face, leave on for approximately 15 minutes, then wash! Although I can’t guarantee those crows feet will disappear, I promise your skin will feel softer and smoother as a result!

Avocadoes aren’t the only natural ingredient you can use in the battle against wrinkles and other signs of age.  Oatmeal and strawberries are also great alternatives to commercial products.  Visit this site for more information and to explore other options in natural skin care.  As always, I encourage you to try the vegan options first!

Compensation for this post was received via elance.com.  All content and opinions are my own.

How could I possibly say no?

I’d never gone on a road trip with these two but I can’t wait to head up to Rhinebeck in the fall with them! Amusing banter aside, their ability to program their GPS to locate every Taco Bell on our preferred route was hysterical.  The shepherd is addicted to a concoction 9 parts Diet Coke and 1 part Baja Blast, a beverage only sold at Taco Bell.  He drinks at least two of them a day.  Lest you worry about his health (especially since he’s in his 60s), this guy is more robust than just about anyone I know including my students.

Needless to say, a 3 hour drive turned into a 4 hour adventure, but we did make it to the Festival by noon on Saturday.

Five hours of fiber and sheep showing commenced!

Over the next few weeks, I’ll share what I purchased and the projects they become.  First, I’d like to share 2 hanks of a wool/mohair blend I purchased from Pucker Brush Farm in  Shelockta, PA.  This yarn came from wool obtain from the farm’s sheep which was then spun and dyed by the mother of the woman working the booth who also owns the farm.  I made the terrible mistake of assuming I could buy more of their yarn online but, sadly, they don’t have a website just a Facebook page that’s updated occasionally.  If you ever see their booth at a Festival, go visit! Reasonably priced gorgeous wool awaits.

My hotel room had not one but 2 double beds, one for me, one for my yarn.  Below is the Pucker Brush Farm yarn relaxing after a rough afternoon:

Here’s a close up of the yarn my daughter said was so me:

I  decided to knit Sarah Punderson’s Adirondack pattern since this was the perfect weight for it, and I’ve wanted to knit this shawl since I met Sarah last summer.  I’m about half way through the shawl, and it’s lovely! Can’t wait to finish, block and show it off.

Here’s a peak at the other yarn I purchased reclining in that other double bed.  First, Merina and Angora fingering from ABountifulFarm:

Friends of the Shepherd at Blue Flower Flock in Hanover, PA made the yarn on the right, and the softest Merino yarn ever on the left if from Sweitzer’s Fiber Mill in Seven Valleys, PA:

Watch this space to see what they become!

Ginger appeared in other guises as well during my childhood.  I dined on Chinese food for the first time at the age of 13, a dinner out with Dad after he returned from one of his many business trips.  My mother always avoided spicy foods, and my Dad had recently discovered the joys of General Tso’s chicken, pork fried rice, and egg rolls, so he decided he’d take his daughters on a dining adventure!  My love of Chinese food blossomed during my married years to a Jewish man from New York when Christmas comprised a trip to the local Chinese restaurant and a trip to the movie theater.  I introduced my own children to lo mien and fried rice much earlier than my parents did, and during many a power outage, we ordered dinner from the local Chinese restaurant that always has access to a generator.

Years passed and, divorced and newly vegan, I decided to attempt home made Chinese food as part of a buffet for my daughter’s 18th birthday party (I’m nothing if not daring).  I spent an entire week testing recipes and ingredients.  Along with peanut and sesame oil, I learned that a real secret in Asian cooking is ginger, those weird looking roots I avoided for decades in the food store.  A little bit of ginger goes a long way to provide a cool yet spicy flavor to many a dish, Asian and otherwise.

More recently, I’ve been experimenting with sparkling water.  A recipe for Mediterranean Bean Salad in People magazine (of all places) by Mario Batali sent me down this road.  Being the thrifty cook that I am, I purchased the large bottle of sparkling water for 98 cents rather than the smaller 4 pack for $2.98.  However, Mr. Batali’s recipe called for all of a 1/2 cup, so I was left with a lot of sparkling water, all dressed up with nowhere to go.

Then I remembered ginger ale!

In my many forays around the internet seeking recipes that profile ginger, I recalled seeing a few for ginger ale that used sparkling water.  I decided to use the rest of my ginger along with a simple syrup made with the sparkling water and sugar to attempt my own ginger ale.  You can make as much as you want from this recipe; the trick is to keep the water to sugar at a 1 to 1 ratio. I used grated ginger because that’s what I had; you can just cut the ginger into pieces if you prefer.

Home made Ginger Ale

1 cup sparkling water

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup ginger

Bring all ingredients to a boil in a sauce pan.  Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.  Strain and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour, then enjoy over ice for a refreshing summer drink.

After you try this basic recipe, get creative! I’ve read versions with cinnamon, a variety of peppers, and a different types of sugars.  Please comment with your own experiences with this recipe especially if you use it for that miracle tummy cure.

Visit this website for more information about the uses of ginger and other natural remedies for digestive issues you may face. Please note that while milk is listed as an option, I always encourage readers to try the vegan options first!

Compensation for this post was provided via eLance. Opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Divergent follows Beatrice, newly christened Tris, through her training and initiation into the Dauntless faction.  Through her eyes, we learn the surface violence of Dauntless masks a darker purpose.  The plot gains momentum when the leader of the Erudite faction (whose members pursue knowledge) challenges the leaders of Abnegation (whose members place the needs of others before self).  Abnegation was given the right to govern the society of these novels because their selfless nature prevents them from pursuing power, or at least that’s what we’re told.  It’s not too much of a leap to realize that by the end of the first book, this utopia will reveal itself to be anything but.

The second book details the war between the factions and elaborates on the function and dysfunction within each group.  A member of Abnegation resorts to corporal punishment to enforce his will on his child.  The members of Amity really are the embodiment of counter culture hippies, right down to the drugs that lace their bread.  The Erudite prove that a little knowledge really can be a bad thing.  Candor, the fifth faction, doesn’t get much attention in either of the two books; they condemn through painful honesty but do little to stop the war raging around them.

As someone who teaches high school students, I couldn’t help but see a parallel between all the testing performed today in this country and the concept of an aptitude test that can determine someone’s future at the age of 16.  Can you say SAT?  However, the power in this story lies in the categorization of the people who inhabit its landscape, and the ensuing the war that breaks out when elements within the factions along with the “factionless” try to destroy the status quo.  Everyone you know can be placed in one of five factions based on personality traits.  My parents, who live Luke 3:11, are true Abnegation whereas I’m 4/5ths Erudite with a smattering of Abnegation most likely caused by parental and Christian guilt.  My daughter and her father’s family are true representatives of Candor, and my son is a poster child for Amity.

When you read these books, you spend at least a few weeks placing everyone you meet into a faction.  This is a dangerous past time.

At the conclusion of Insurgent, we learn that this society is an experiment conducted with one purpose: to end the violence and cruelty inherent in human nature and society.  The citizens of this dystopia were placed in a failing urban and suburban infrastructure to somehow become the cure for all the ills of the world.  This reader truly hopes that the third installment of this trilogy explains why this was done and how anyone could think an approach so close to the three super-states of 1984 would ever work.

This review is part of the Cannonball Read 5 challenge.  Check it out and join a great group of book lovers!

F. Scott Fitzgerald this is not, but if you like your gangsters tough, your gun molls blonde, your chorus girls naive, and your plot lines standard issue, this is a series you’ll love.  I enjoyed it almost as much as The Luxe but the ending seemed forced to me.  Without ruining the fun of reading the series, I will say that the author wrote herself into a romance that couldn’t end happily so she ended it abruptly.  This is a series meant for a young adult audience, but as with the former series, there’s enough bodice ripping and bed hopping to entertain a more jaded adult.  Complete with some gun fights, car chases, a murder, and a submarine, Bright Young Things, Beautiful Days, and The Lucky Ones are more than just throwaway reads on a summer’s day; they’re an enjoyable visit to the era of flappers and bootleggers.

So how do I know all of this? The internet is a great resource, but it’s answers can be like those of the magic 8 ball: vague and confusing. I’m lucky enough to have health insurance that covers a visit to a nutritionist, a professional who can answer all of my questions regarding how to live compassionately yet maintain my health. As a vocational teacher, I’m always interested in the educational requirements and employment outlook for various professions, and I found the infographic below contained the answers:

Courtesy of: HealthSchoolGuide.net

Gobi the Lithuanian exchange student arrives at Perry’s upper middle class suburban home because his parents believe this will be a good experience for their son and daughter. As Gobi’s stay in the US comes to an end, Perry’s Mom and Dad coerce Perry into taking Gobi to the prom, sealing the deal with Dad’s Jaguar.  So far, so John Hughes.  Then, about a half hour into the prom, Michael Mann takes over the direction, and it’s gun shots, car chases, and explosions.

Best vacation book ever.

I don’t want to spoil the fun of this short thriller, so will share only a few highlights.  Each chapter heading is an admissions essay question from an American college or university – of course, the lamest of them all, “Where will you be in 10 years?” comes from my alma mater, Rutgers.  The questions asked in the chapter headings are answered at times directly, at others, creatively, in the chapter that follows.  Waitlisted at Columbia, Perry is clerking at his Dad’s law firm hoping to get a recommendation from one of the partners that will change his status to accepted.  What exactly Perry will be doing with his life in the coming year is a big part of the story.

So is Perry’s virginity.

Gobi, on the other hand, is slightly older and way more experienced.  She’s in New York to kill 5 people, and along the way uses lots of guns, manages a few fist fights, and is a victim of a slight bit of torture.  Perry’s house is also rigged to explode if he doesn’t cooperate with Gobi.  Since this is YA, she doesn’t sleep with Perry, and there’s a happy ending of sorts, but the fun is in the action not the resolution.

Gobi and Perry’s adventures continue in Perry’s Killer Playlist.  Perry’s band Inchworm tours Europe but on their second stop, Gobi reappears.  Each chapter in this sequel has a song title for a heading, and while I didn’t recognize some of them, I did appreciate the inclusion of “Busy Child” by The Crystal Method and “Here I Go Again” by Whitesnake. Of course, Perry’s virginity is still intact, and he wonders how his parents’ generation ever “got busy” based on the lyrics of 80s hair-metal bands.

“Exactly what did you say to a girl after she shook you all night long? And was pouring some sugar on someone as sticky as it sounded?”

Another reason I love this kid:

“RPG,” Erich shouted, his voice barely audible over the aftershock.  I scrambled backwards, and all the geek inside me could think was, they’re attacking us with role-playing games?”

If you’ve got time to kill in an airport or on a plane, or are heading to the beach any time soon, or just can’t wait for this year’s summer blockbuster in theaters, grab Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick and Perry’s Killer Playlist – you’ll thank me … that is, if you don’t want to kill me.

This review is part of the Cannonball Read 5 challenge.  Check it out and join a great group of book lovers!

My family moved to New Jersey in 1976 when my father’s company transferred him to their corporate headquarters in New York City.  The New York of my childhood barely avoided bankruptcy, Times Square looked nothing like an outdoor mall, and homeless people had the legal right to sleep in the Port Authority.  About the only good thing about all of this was that tickets to Broadway shows were affordable and even discounted.  My parents are big theater fans so my mother would take me and my sister into the City to have lunch with my Dad then see a Broadway show just about every month.

In the spring of 1978, we went to see A Chorus Line, one of the most popular shows of the time.  My father took us to lunch and then came with us to the play.  Our seats were center orchestra, and the theater was full … except for the two seats behind us.  As the lights dimmed, a small man with odd hair and another man sat down behind us.  My mother turned around then whispered to my father who whispered to my sister who whispered to me, “I think Andy Warhol just sat down behind us”.  My 15 year old self was mortified, not because a famous, and favorite, artist was sitting all of 2 feet behind me, but because I knew my father would speak to him at the first opportunity.

My Dad is a very unassuming man.  If you’ve ever watched The West Wing, Martin Sheen in that role looks a lot like my Dad.  He’s a conservative Republican and not much into modern art, but he knew who Andy Warhol was.  He was also used to seeing famous people around New York City and had no problem introducing himself to just about anyone.  At intermission, my worst nightmare was realized.

Dad turned, stuck out his hand, and introduced himself to Andy Warhol.

I was mortified.  My sister took a step back and stumbled on the chair behind her.  My mother smiled.  Andy Warhol looked at Dad’s hand then slowly extended his own then said, “Hi, I’m Andy”.  They shook hands.  Dad turned and introduced his family.  Warhol was very polite.  All of us moved into the lobby then went our separate ways.  After Mom, my sister and I spent time in the purgatory that is the line to the ladies’ room at a Broadway show, we returned to our seats.

Warhol never came back.

I doubt it was my father’s introduction that caused his departure, but my sister and I spent the bus ride home alternatively sending Dad dirty looks and whispering our theories as to why Warhol and the other guy never returned to see the rest of the show.  In retrospect, I wish I’d been the one to introduce myself to Andy Warhol and that we’d all had more of a conversation.  I’ve come to realize that my Dad was very polite to an artist he knew his daughters admired and probably spoke to Warhol for our benefit.  I wish at the time I’d appreciated his gesture.

The gift of meeting Andy Warhol is one of the best my Dad ever gave to me.  If only I could go back in time and clue my 15 year old self into how much I should appreciate that moment!

My mom bought her first car in 1970.  She was 30 years old.  Back then, it was rare for a family to own more than one car.  Dads drove the family car to work and moms ran their errands either after dinner or on the weekends.  All the women and children in a neighborhood knew each other because wherever they went had to be within walking or biking distance! However, in the summer of 1970, we became a 2 car household when my mother came home with a beige VW Bug.

Mom learned to drive when she was a teenager but she either learned on an automatic or forgot how to drive a stick because we spent 3 Sundays at the Monroeville Mall driving around the parking lot so Mom could get used to the Bug’s “modified stick”.  The old model Volkswagens were known for the engine placement in the rear and the trunk in the front, but the best part of that car’s design was the rumble seat.

At least it was to a 6 year old and her 4 year old sister.

We were always littler than the other kids so even as a first grader I could fit comfortably in there along with my sister.  It wasn’t really a rumble seat at all, more like a separate storage area behind the back seat.  We’d sit back there and do cat’s cradle, play barbies, sing songs, torment each other until one started crying, all the fun activities young sisters do while their parents blatantly ignore them.  Needless to say, there were no seat belts of any kind in the back so we were a bit bruised at the end of those practice sessions, but we joyfully climbed back in every time we got the chance.

Even before my mother mastered the art of driving the Bug, it became the car of choice when we went to the drive in.  The back seat folded down so before we left the house, Mom would dress us in our jammies and make up a bed for us back there complete with sheets and pillows.   I believe I saw every James Bond movie from Dr. No through Diamonds Are Forever from the back of that car.  I also remember seeing Goldie Hawn in Cactus Flower and begging my mother for a pair of wide bell bottom pants just like the ones Goldie wore.  Didn’t happen though since girls at that time in our part of the world didn’t wear pants let alone bell bottoms!

The Bug came with us to New Jersey in 1976 but met a sudden end in 1978.  My mother thought she was making a quick run to the store so she left in her curlers and house dress.  (Yes, women still used curlers and wore house dresses back in 1978.)  Unfortunately, right as she was turning into our development, a guy ran a red light and plowed into her.  Mom was fine but the Bug was killed.  I remember Mom arriving home in the police car; I’m not sure which upset her more, the loss of her car or the thought of all those people seeing her dressed that way!

Volkswagen stopped mass production of the Beetle in the late 70s and by the late 80s you rarely saw one driving around town.  I got married and had two kids, went from 2 door sports cars to 4 door family sedans, but when the New Beetle design was revealed in 1997, I knew I had to have one.  This didn’t happen until a little over 3 years ago, and my 2002 VW Bug isn’t the newest or the flashiest, nor does it have a rumble seat.  It does, however, carry the memories of my childhood.

Now, if only someone would bring back drive in movie theaters!

Tell a story about something interesting (anything!) that happened to you, but tell it in the form of an instruction manual (Step 1, Step 2, etc.).

Last June, I went to a social media conference in New York.  Of course, I waited too long to book a hotel room that I could afford so decided to try couch surfing.  This list of instructions details my experience.

1.  Google “couch surfing” during fourth period class.  Students will think you are working.

2.  Discuss site results with student doing remote mentorship; he’s been working for 2 hours on the same project and needs a break.  Also, he’s probably not working that hard to begin with.

3.  Visit a few of the websites.  Determine that airbnb.com is the most professional and offers the most options and security.

4.  Spend at least 5 class periods researching places to stay.  Discuss these places with your students.  Be sure to point out that while they should not talk to or stay with strangers, it’s perfectly ok for their 40 something teacher to go off to New York and stay with a person she met on the internet.

5.  Tell your students not to tell their parents about your couch surfing intent.

6.  Contact two possible couch surfing locations in the West Village.

7.  Check your airbnb account from your phone and your computer every 5 minutes.  State adamantly to your students and children that this does not prove you have OCD.

8.  When you receive a response from a woman with a room in a walkup apartment on Commerce Street, stalk her online.  Discover she’s a producer for Bravo’s What Not to Wear. At first, you are thrilled to think you might meet someone who works for Bravo – maybe they can introduce you to Stefan from Top Chef! Then realize that your wardrobe is everything the hosts on What Not to Wear tell you not to wear.

9.  Experience a moment of panic.

10. Correspond with prospective host.  Share your less scary attributes. Realize that she too is sharing only her less scary attributes. Discover that you are nearly the same age and both vegan.

11. Book your stay.

12. Freak out the night before you leave.

13. Download HopStop app recommended by your daughter when you realize you have to take the subway for the first time since 1979.

14. Take train into the city from the wilds of New Jersey.

15. Go to your event.

16. After event, walk back to Penn Station.

17. Go into subway station.

18. Realize you have no idea how to buy a Metro Pass.  Ask large woman in bullet proof booth how to buy Metro Pass.  Obtain Metro Pass.

19. Ask at least 5 people if the train you are waiting for will, in fact, take you to the West Village.

20. Get on subway train. Sit. Stare at the station indicator across the aisle from you without blinking.

21. Get off subway.  Leave subway station.  Take out your phone and figure out how to get to your couch surfing location.

22. Arrive at couch surfing location.  Host will buzz you in.

23. Realize that walking up 5 flights of stairs at your age and weight is not as easy as you thought.

24. Take a breather on floor number 3.

25. Arrive at location. Meet host. Bond immediately.

26. Have dinner on rooftop. Bond some more over vegan wine.

27. Walk around the West Village.

28. Text your students that you are safe (for now).

29. Deal with your son being locked out of the house back in Jersey.

30. Try to sleep on the twin bed. Realize New York City is a lot louder than Jersey.

31. Wake up, shower, go to Purl Soho and buy way more yarn than you should.

32. Go home to Jersey.

33. Tell everyone they should try couch surfing!!

Day 1: Tell a story set at your first job.

I took some liberty with this prompt and “wrote” a poem based on one we all know by Robert Frost:

Stopping by a Perkins on a Snowy Evening

Whose pancakes these are I think I know.
This stack spills off the plate, though.
The customer will not see me stopping here,
A 16 year old waitress filled with woe.

My coworkers must think it queer
To stop with the customer so near
Between the grill and swinging door,
Spilling this food my darkest fear.

The manager gives his head a shake
And asks if he made a mistake
In hiring me.  I start to weep,
If only I could serve cornflakes!

My fear is desperate, dark, and deep
And the pancakes lie in a heap,
I’m now demoted to counter girl,
Happily demoted to counter girl!

Laura Gesin
Freehold, NJ
1979

Rachel’s Vegan Grilled Portobello Burgers

I’d like to share with you a recipe for a vegan portobello mushroom burgers! When I tell you these burgers are just as, if not more, delicious than regular burgers, you may not believe me, but it’s 100% true! A few simple ingredients and some of my favorite flavors give this sandwich a great kick that you won’t get from a frozen restaurant patty.  It’s so simple you’ll kick yourself!

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 package of portabella caps
3-5 cloves of minced garlic (I like all my food with extra garlic!)
2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
hamburger buns
vegan mozarella cheese
lettuce
slice of tomato

Here’s how crazy simple and delicious this recipe is:

Grab a small bowl or mason jar. Add oregano and garlic then pour balsamic vinegar and olive oil on top. Stir or whisk this together in your bowl or shake shake shake in your mason jar!

It’s best to let this sit so all the flavors blend together nicely.

Slice your vegan mozzarella, lettuce, tomato or any other fixins you’d like to top this with.

Heat up a pan or griddle on medium heat with a little bit of olive oil.

Place your portobello caps in the balsamic mixture one by one and flip them over, swishing them around so they absorb all that yumminess. I like to make sure to spoon a bit of the minced garlic and oregano on top so when I cook, the flavors are really infused.

Place the portobello caps on the hot pan or griddle, top side down so the dark “gills” are facing up. Grill for about 2-3 minutes (depending on the size of your caps) then flip.

As soon as you flip, top with vegan mozzarella and cover the pan so the heat circulates and melts the cheese.

Once the cheese starts melting,  put the buns in the pan as well to toast the insides. After another 2-3 minutes, remove your portobello caps and place on the burger buns.

Now, I personally think they have enough flavor as is, but top them however you like; the possibilities are endless!

Ready for the best part? Put that bad boy in your mouth and savor all that delicious goodness you just made with a few simple ingredients!  This is really a “wow” type of recipe. When you make it for family or friends they will beg you for the recipe. I’ve had people eat spoonfuls of the marinade, and although I’m not that extreme, I’m totally not judging them for that either!

I hope you enjoy my recipe and you make it very soon, but be sure to double the ingredients if you’re serving more than 2 people. Usually there is a fight over who get’s the last one! If you’ve enjoyed this recipe, swing by my blog for a new recipe next week!

About the Author:  Rachel is a 20 something gal who just moved to Northern Virginia into her first home with her boyfriend and bunny.  Most days you can find her scouring the aisles at antique and thrift stores searching for great items for her vintage etsy shop. She recently began to make her own pieces such as driftwood jewelry hangers and lamps just in time for spring! Visit her blog at:

My other hypothesis that’s supported by these books is that publishers slap the young adult label on complex fantasy novels because they believe teenagers are more likely to be interested in this type of story.  Well, I have a bit of news for them: myself and many of my friends love this type of story and find it very difficult to find good fantasy writing that satisfy our desire to read this type of book.  If you’ve followed me since the start of my “Year of reading YA”, you’ll know that I’ve avoided many books with the library’s yellow YA sticker because I thought the stories would be to simple for my taste.  It’s only March, and I already know the joke’s on me.

Days of Blood and Starlight is anything but simple.  The two main characters, Akiva, the angel, and Karou, the resurrected chimera, follow separate story lines until the very end of this part of the trilogy.  The seraphim have brutally beaten the chimera in their ongoing war and now hunt down and kill remaining civilians.  Little do they know that the son of the chimera Warlord, Thiago, has escaped to Earth and now resides outside Morocco with a group of resurrected chimera that sound remarkably like the steroid popping action stars of the 1980s but with fangs and wings.  Thiago’s tasked our heroine to resurrect as many chimera into these monster versions of themselves as soon as possible in order to bring vengeance down upon the seraphim.

Amongst all this bloodshed, there is, of course, a lot of yearning between our two lovers.  Talk about a lack of communication!  Akiva doesn’t realize Karou is still alive, Karou thinks Akiva killed everyone she loved, there’s a lot of “I shouldn’t still love him/her but I do” moments which slow the book down a bit in the beginning.  However, once Karou figures out what Thiago is really up to, and Akiva realizes he comes from some supercharged version of the seraphim race, the book picks up speed to slam into the setup for that last book I keep talking about but won’t be released until 2014.

If you love the Game of Thrones series, you should definitely check out this trilogy.  The story is just as complex although these worlds are populated with fewer characters which leads me to believe the writer found a much better editor.  I do hope this author has another fantasy world in her because this series is incredible, and we lovers of fantasy fiction (no matter what the label) need more stories like this one!

I’ll risk a few spoilers to share the plot of each book.  In the third installment, Elizabeth is back, Diana still loves Henry who is now married to Penelope.  Teddy and Henry hatch a scheme to go fishing in Florida which turns into a train full of Manhattan socialites relocating to Palm Beach.  Penelope’s brother Grayson along with a new character, Leland Bouchard, accompany our intrepid young ladies to pre-Disney Florida where they frolic in the ocean in black tights and bathing dresses.  Elizabeth dances with Teddy, her former suiter, and hints at a renewed attraction but is interupted by a recurring stomach ailment that’s not caused by a virus.  Teddy joins the army as a result of what he believes to be Elizabeth’s lack of feeling for him.  Henry’s still spurns his new wife’s advances with the exception of one drunken evening which Diana misinterprets.  Diana spurns Henry, so Henry follows Teddy into the army.  At the same time, Penelope convinces her brother Grayson to flirt with Diana, but unfortunately Grayson falls for Diana but we don’t find that out until we pick up Splendor.

If only Fitzgerald wrote of Gatsby, Tom and Daisy’s set in the same risqué way, teenagers would beg to write essays about The Great Gatsby!

In the final book in this series, Elizabeth is now in a marriage of convenience to Snowden Cairn, a friend of her dead father who showed up in Rumors to assist the Holland family financially and orchestrate the death of Elizabeth’s first husband, Will.  It’s never a big secret that Snowden is not who he says he is, but he seems more like a character out of Downton Abbey, way to subtle for our outrageous heroines.  Henry’s father finagles a safe post for him in Cuba where Diana discovers him in a bar where she’s working as a bartender.  (Seriously, in 1900 this girl is working as a bartender in Cuba and supporting herself by selling gossip to a columnist in New York.  We’re definitely competing with Downton in the disbelief olympics at this point.)  Henry’s superior catches Diana in bed with Henry and sends the pair back to New York where Henry’s father drops dead when Henry says he’s leaving his wife for Diana.

Not everyone ends up with the lovers they pursue, and I know, when you read this review, it’s sounds ridiculous, but trust me, this seriously is a lot of fun to read! While Rumors and Envy are the best of the series, I recommend them all.   If you’re traveling to a warmer climate over spring break, preferably with a beach, I’d definitely either pack all 4 paperbacks in your carry on or load your Kindle with the Luxe series!

That said, The Luxe series (of which I’ve now read the first two) is delicious, trashy, melodramatic fun.  The Holland sisters are the toast of the Manhattan society populated by Vanderbilts and Astors yet they are decidedly poorer than they once were after their father’s sudden death prior to the start of these books.  Elizabeth, the elder, must marry for money yet she’s in love with a man below stairs.  Diana, conveniently enough, falls in love with Elizabeth’s wealthy fiance, Henry.  Into this soapy mix we add Penelope, nouveau riche mean girl currently sleeping with Henry, and Caroline, or Lina as she’s known at the start of the books, a ladies maid who attempts to enter society in a less than savory manner.  Top this off with a prologue device used on all four novels, a chapter that hints at tragedy to come (in the first book, Elizabeth’s death, in the second, Henry’s marriage), and you’ve got Sex in the City circa 1899.

Who knew teenagers had access to such decadent brain candy?

I’m enjoying these books now probably as much as I would’ve in high school back when we found this type of story in the books of Rosemary Rogers and Judith Krantz.  Honestly, I keep thinking of the latter’s Scruples as I read this, the plot of which escapes me but I retain memory of just how much FUN it was to read about scandal, gossip, mean girls, good girls, and some decent references to foreplay!  Needless to say, this being the world of young adult, it’s no 50 Shades, but these Victorian ladies and gentlemen bed hop as much as Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda.

So if you find yourself drowing in a sea of grading like I did over the past two weeks or just need some very entertaining, trashy light reading, give The Luxe series a try.  I’ve started the third in the series, so watch this space for another review!

The last time I recall eating disco fries was at the Blue Swan Diner in Ocean, NJ, during my post divorce mid thirties.  After all, french fries covered in brown beef gravy and cheese aren’t exactly a staple in the vegan diet.  However, in the months following that east coast apocalypse known as Hurricane Sandy, I was laid low by a number of nasty viruses and craved the kind of comfort food that sits best in an upset stomach.

Hence, the return of disco fries.  My version is simple:

1. Throw some frozen fries in hot vegetable oil.  If you’re thinking, “I’ll go the healthy route and bake my fries” stop reading right now.  You’ve missed the point of disco fries entirely.
2. At the same time, make this gravy using Gravy Master.
3. When your fries and gravy are done, place fries in a bowl and sprinkle with Daiya cheese.  Traditional disco fries use mozzarella cheese, but I happened to have pepper jack in my fridge when I tried this the first time and loved that little bit of spice!  Microwave for 30 seconds or until cheese is soft but not melted.
4. Drizzle fries with gravy and chow down!

So there you have it, a vegan version of disco fries.  They may not be any healthier, but they are kind to animals and an upset stomach.

If you enjoy this recipe, please consider purchasing my cookbook.  Proceeds ensure that I can continue blogging and podcasting vegan goodness!

Of course, when I went for the photo to prove it actually happened, my camera was dead. However, a very nice student with an iPhone 5 took these photos of my hat made in the Olive Medley colorway:

Yes, this was just before my 11:30 a.m. New Media class – can you tell?

This is the story of Karou, a girl with hair that grows bright blue right out of her head and who wears a necklace of beads that grant small wishes.  She lives in Prague, the city of tragedy, melancholy, and dark European mythology, attends an art high school about as far removed from the high schools of Fame and Glee as possible, and has an older, manipulative, good looking blonde ex-boyfriend.

Oh, and she was raised by a guy named Brimstone who has a ram’s head, collects teeth, human and animal, and who resides with an basilisk named Issa that’s much nicer than the one in Harry Potter.

Not long after we meet Karou, Akira arrives on the scene.  He and is band of seraphim are traveling the world burning hand prints into doors that, coincidentally, lead into the other world of Brimstone and his ilk.  While on an errand to collect teeth in Marrakesh, Akira spies Karou in a marketplace, there’s a lot of fiery wings and flaming hamsas, and a love story is born.  Throw in the fact that Karou’s an orphan who suspects she belongs “somewhere else” and the destruction of those portals to Brimstone’s world, and you have a fantastical mystery to temper the love story.

I loved this book.  The plot description sounds a bit trite, but if you like Game of Thrones, you’ll like this book as well.  No incest or Peter Dinklage, but there’s is a war on between the seraphim and the chimera complete with generals, warlords, sorcerers, and soldiers that started hundreds of years ago.  This author also had a much better editor than G.R.R.M. because this story races along with nary a side visit to dull locales that do nothing to move the narrative forward.

Any more of the plot in this review, and it’ll ruin the fun.  Suffice to say this is a must read for anyone who loves fantasy, is YA curious, or just loves an inventive action adventure with a bit of a love story thrown in!

This is harder than you might think.  Recommending a book that’s appropriate for students 14 through 18 as well as their teachers and our principal that won’t offend parents but rather encourage them to join in the reading project seemed like an impossible task. (The discussion on Facebook that I mentioned in this post was a precursor to active consideration of what book to chose.)  I had a hard time believing that the adults in the community would buy into reading a book meant for a much younger audience, and, let’s face it, there’s Twilight, a book that would kill anyone’s interest in YA.  I thought we’d be forced to resort to a “classic”, a book that, if it contained anything that could be considered offensive or inappropriate, could be defended because, well, it’s a classic!

However, this whole initiative started because we wanted to get away from the summer reading model of assigning a book everyone’s been forced to read practically since Gutenberg but no one who loves books really cares about or ever says they enjoyed then giving the kids a test on it based primarily on Spark Notes.  (Don’t judge – you know you’ve either been a victim or perpetrator in this same scenario!)  As a member of our Instructional Council, I was the who put forth either the brilliant or foolhardy suggestion that we try the One Book, One Community approach my son’s high school tried in his senior year.  (Ask me in September which this suggestion turns out to be.)

One Book, One Community

The concept of One Book, One Community began in Seattle in the late 1990s through the “If All of Seattle Read the Same Book” program as a way to promote a sense of community through reading.  The project spread to other towns, cities, counties, schools, and universities.  In fact, Allegheny County in Pennsylvania (my birthplace) has been doing this since 2003.  During the Summer of 2011, the high school my son attended chose The Translator by Daoud Hari, a book I’d read on a plan ride to Haiti a few years before.  Not only was my son assigned one book – one book! – to read over the summer, the school gave him a copy on the last day of school.  While Joe doesn’t read all the time, he does like to read but prefers books like American Psycho on his summer bookshelf.  However, the school made it practically impossible for him not to complete his summer reading assignment.

So when we were brainstorming new approaches to summer reading, I suggested this one.

The Book Thief

There’s still a lot off resistance to the idea of One Book, One Community among students and teachers, but I’m trying to win participants over one person at a time.  After finishing The Book Thief for the second time last week, I sent the following to an English teacher at my school who wasn’t sure she was behind my suggestion:

If ever there was a book for a one book, one community initiative, it’s The Book Thief.

The power of words made the United States of America and Nazi Germany. One was built on a sheet of paper, the other on a book.

Our students are capable of teaching themselves what with all of the information now available at their fingertips. What they can’t teach themselves is how to keep the words that inspire and toss the words that destroy. It’s our job to teach them the promise of that piece of paper, the curse of that book, and how to recognize both.

Narrated by Death, The Book Thief is the story of a girl in Nazi Germany born to communists who steals a book and then another, her foster father who teaches her to read each night when she awakens from a nightmare, a Jewish refugee hidden in her basement who writes books for her on whitewashed pages of Mein Kampf, a broken woman who has a library in her home and never reads but encourages the girl to choose book after book, and a cast of characters who demonstrate the power of words.  This book may be categorized as Young Adult, but I think the language, the events, and the message can be as meaningful for a person at middle age as it is for a 14 year old.

Words are powerful no matter who you are, how old you are, where you live, or your level of education. The Declaration of Independence and Mein Kampf were both written by individuals in order to free a people.  The Book Thief exemplifies the care that must be taken when we choose which set of words will truly set us free.

This review is part of the Cannonball Read 5 challenge.  Check it out and join a great group of book lovers!

As I mentioned in my last post, an English teacher in my District known online as @thereadingzone recommended Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein to me during a Facebook discussion of the merits of Young Adult fiction last December.  I reserved it at the library more out of duty than interest; after all, she took the time to discuss the genre and this book with me, so the least I could do was give the book a try.

I was hooked by page 4.

Code Name Verity is the story of a friendship between 2 women during World War II: upper class Scot and debutante Julie and working class Maddie.  The two halves of the book tell the tale of how they meet, become friends, join the war effort, and are shot down over France during a rather unusual mission.  Julie is captured by the Germans and Maddie dies in the crash.  The first half of the book is Julie’s confession written on paper that varies from sheet music to unused recipe cards.  She gives her captors what they want in return for her clothing and slightly better treatment.  At the close of her section, it appears that the story of Julie and Maddie is over.

Until you turn the page.

As much as I want to, I can’t reveal any more of the plot without ruining the enjoyment of discovering just what happened to these young women yourself.  Categorized as Young Adult fiction, the writing is anything but, with a complex plot line complete with twists I never saw coming along with a varied vocabulary – I had no idea “verity” also means “truth”.  This is a love story, but not a romantic one.  Rather, it’s the story of how 2 very different young women who would never meet let alone become friends during peace time come to love each other as they face the challenge and sacrifice of war time.  The supporting cast is also sympathetic.  There are no stereotypical Germans, British, or Americans characters, and even the most sinister of interrogators is also a father struggling with duty and conscience.

This exceptional book was written by an American living in Scotland who is also a pilot herself.  It’s very apparent from the bibliography that she did extensive research regarding the roles of British (and Scottish) women during the Second World War.  So many books and movies deal with the horrors of that time, but Code Name Verity has one thing I’ve yet to come across in those stories: the strength and friendship of women during wartime.

No matter how old or young you are, reserve a copy of Code Name Verity at the library today.  I hope that you, like me, include this book on your best reads of 2013 list!

This review is part of the Cannonball Read 5 challenge.  Check it out and join a great group of book lovers!

The books I recall truly enjoying from that era are Sybil (I read it in paperback when I was 11),  Jaws (which I read when I was 10), Sophie’s Choice (thank goodness I read that before I had a daughter and a son), Carrie (which started my love affair with all things Stephen King that continues to this day), and The Thorn Birds because everyone read that book and watched the mini-series (and every female at the time had a serious thing for Richard Chamberlain).  Obviously, my parents weren’t censoring what I read; I generally picked up whatever they’d recently finished before it went back to the library.  I also read a lot of fantasy and science fiction at that time and believe that Ursula LeGuin’s Earthsea trilogy and Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series were located in the Young Adult section at the library, which I assume is due to the age of the protagonists but they are really books for all ages.

Which leads me to modern YA.  At end of 2012, my Twitter feed was full of English teachers and avid readers sharing their favorite book of the past year.  I got so fed up with tweets about how wonderful John Green’s The Fault in our Stars is by people (almost and in some cases more than) twice the age of the protagonists, I just wanted to scream, “Read a grown up book already!”  My top 5 reads of the year were definitely not aimed at younger readers, and I swear, I tried to read that Stars book and attempted the audiobook, but just found it way too much the love child of Nicholas Sparks and Danielle Steele with a drop of Terms of Endearment.

If somebody’s going to die, I want their to be explosions or ghosts or financial ruin involved … or just an entire book about food in America.  Teenagers finding love with a vampire or in a cancer ward just doesn’t do it for me.  I tend to roll my eyes so much I’m looking out the back of my head by the time I give up on the book!

After yet another tweet about how awesome Stars is, I decided to post the following on a friend and fellow teacher’s Facebook:

Talk about a lively Facebook discussion! Other teachers joined in, and about an hour after my post, another English teacher responded by suggesting a YA book that wasn’t all about young love: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein.

I thought I’d be a good sport and see if my library had a copy.  They did, but I had to request it; apparently, it’s popular at least in my library system.  About a week later, I got a call that it was available to be picked up along with Notorious Nineteen.  If you’ve read previous blog posts, you know which one I read first.  However, the following Monday I started Code Name Verity.

Wonder what happened? Watch this space for my #CBR5 review of Code Name Verity!

I’d just finished the Frostlight scarf for Sarah in the Bernat Natural Alpaca and had some dark gray and cream skeins of that same yarn put aside for myself.  Mittens! I checked suggested patterns on Ravelry for that yarn and found the Fluffy Cuff Mittens from Stitch ‘N Bitch: The Knitter’s Handbook done in just that yarn in just those colors!  Even better, I owned a copy of that book.

I was going to make these mittens mine – and I did!

Here’s a closeup – don’t they look great against the brick?

Cast on my own Frostlight in the same gray to match the mittens a few days ago.  Now I think I should make a pair of these mitts for Sarah to match her scarf!

Then again, I really should finish Joe’s Exeter hat!

The Stephanie’s car blows up by page 4 which is par for the course: more cars blow up, petty criminals avoid attempts by Stephanie and her former ho sidekick, Lula, to capture them and get them to reschedule court appointments, Stephanie sleeps with Trenton cop Joe Morelli yet remains strongly attracted to former bounty hunter and hot Latino security company owner Ranger, there are a few dinners at chez Plum with sassy Grandma Mazur in attendance, and she occasionally feeds her hamster, Rex.  In this entry to the Plum cannon, a guy who embezzled 5 million dollars from a New Jersey retirement home has gone missing from a hospital where he recently had his appendix removed.  That story line takes a back seat to threats received by  Ranger that include a code only members of his former Special Forces unit would know.  These threats lead to Stephanie wearing the hot pink bridesmaid’s dress from hell and spending more time with Ranger than a woman in love with a Trenton cop should do.

If you haven’t read any of the earlier books in the series, I suggest you start with One for the Money and go from there.  I watched the movie version of that book on Netflix the same weekend I read Notorious Nineteen and was pleasantly reminded that Stephanie met Lula when she was still hooking and Morelli when he was on the lam for allegedly shooting an unarmed man.  Evanovich said she liked Katherine Heigl’s portrayal of Stephanie.  I admit I’m not fond of this actress, but she wasn’t bad.  However, the supporting actors – Debbie Reynolds as Grandma Mazur, Sherri Shepherd as Lula, and character actor Patrick Fischler as Vinnie the bail bondsman with, shall we say, odd sexual proclivities – make the movie enjoyable for fans of the series, forgettable for those unfamiliar with these quirky residents of Trenton, New Jersey.

The same is true for Notorious Nineteen; if you’re a fan, get the book from the library, if you haven’t met this cast of characters, get yourself a copy of One for the Money (the book) when you have a few free hours and enjoy!

I chose Bernat’s Natural Alpaca for a few reasons: it’s primarily acrylic so will stand up to the tough treatment it’ll receive from a college student, contrary to some online reviews, it’s soft and warm, it comes in a dark denim blue called Indigo that my daughter loved when I sent her a pic as I was deciding which color to buy in Michael’s, and it was on sale.  I’m currently making mittens for myself in grey and cream out of this yarn because, while love mittens, I tend to be very tough on the fabric.  I think this yarn will hold up to almost daily wear in the cold weather we’re currently having here in Jersey!

If you haven’t tried Frostlight, this is the perfect time of year to do so!  This is what the final scarf looked like (although it looks a little bluer in this picture than in real life):

Here’s Sarah modeling the scarf in our kitchen because we waited until it was dark outside to take a picture:

The premise of the older book is somewhat reminiscent of the movie Philadelphia: A 50-ish HIV positive gay American man who lives in Paris parlays his expertise in historical furniture design into a deal for a book he has yet to write and numerous articles for the likes of Vogue about country houses and city apartments of France’s dwindling aristocracy.  In the first pages of the book he meets Julien, and architect and the married man of the title, at a local gym.  Austin invites him to a dinner party along with his group of younger Parisian friends, one thing leads to another, Austin discovers that Julien and his wife are in the process of divorce, Austin gets a job as a professor in Providence, Rhode Island, makes arrangements for Julien to accompany him to the States, while simultaneously Julien discovers he has AIDS.

The author establishes early on that it’s nearly impossible for Austin to have infected Julien, and Julien confides that not only is his brother Robert gay but intimates that he’s had previous relations with men.  Austin meets Julien’s soon to be ex-wife who announces she’s pregnant by another man, and of course all three characters are concerned about the baby being born HIV positive.  In another twist, Austin’s former lover, Peter, has been diagnosed with AIDS prior to the start of the book and now lives in New York.  Peter enters the story at various moments, and Austin repeatedly explains that he feels responsible for Peter’s care and may still have feelings for him.  Needless to say, Peter and Julien are not a good mix although Austin repeatedly invites Peter on vacation along with himself and Julien.

There’s a lot of travel in this book, from Paris to New York, Providence to Florida (with an odd trip to Disney World), Italy and finally Morocco.  Austin has many well connected and financially solvent friends who he and Julien stay with or who arrange for accommodations that no ordinary human could afford or even have access to.  All the travel and locales wore me out after awhile, but I wonder if that might not be the point.  As Julien’s health seriously declines and Austin spends every waking moment caring for Julien, the reader experiences the tedium, stress, and futility of their lives in endless travel and medical emergencies.

While not strictly autobiographical, Edmund White resided in Paris in the 90′s and had experiences similar to those recounted in The Married Man.  Currently, Mr. White teaches creative writing at Princeton.  Both pieces of information serve to explain, at least for me, why I so enjoyed the writing yet I felt the story got lost in the ever changing locations and the introduction of characters for a few pages who fade away as quickly as they appear.  I liked Austin quite a bit but found him too reactive to those around him to truly love him as a character.  I wonder if the author knew Austin, the other characters, and the action of the novel so well but feared his readers would not unless he included every occurrence no matter how small.

What I did find enlightening in The Married Man was the comparison between how the US healthcare system dealt with AIDS patients in the 90′s and the French universal healthcare system’s approach; this serves as a painful comment upon the US healthcare system in general.  The French paid for everything for AIDS patients including taxi rides for patients to and from either their doctor or a hospital.  When Julien is rushed to an American hospital in Providence, he has to check in under Austin’s name because he has no insurance, and even then, Austin must assume some of the cost of his lover’s care.  A stark contrast if ever there was one.

I mentioned the movie Philadelphia at the beginning of this review.  The general experience of gay men diagnosed with HIV and combating AIDS in the early 90s is recounted with even more detail in this book than in that movie.  The Married Man is a stark reminder of that time in recent history, and the only story written in English that I’ve read of that time that takes place primarily outside of the United States.  Is it worth checking out of your local library? Yes, if you promise to read Jack Holmes and His Friend as soon as you’re finished! (Also, go rent Philadelphia if you’ve never seen it. You’ll be very glad you did but keep the box of tissues handy.)

Susan’s website is located at susanstonebelton.com.  A screenshot of Susan’s homepage can be found below:

Below is a screenshot of the homepage of the first edition:

Why Hippies are Pure Evil

by Joe Fadem

We’ve all seen them. Those vile creatures that crawl onto society’s underbelly and latch on like a parasitic insect until all of its energy has been drained: Hippies. They travel in large groups, congregating at music festivals across the country to spread their tye-dye’d brand of Satanic plasma and sell grilled cheese sandwiches laced with meth amphetamine to the unsuspecting youth of America. And while many believe that the hippie’s agenda of “peace” and “love” ended in the 1960’s with the conclusion of the infamous “Woodstock” incident, it has continued to grow underground, and now harnesses millions of the world’s youth under its unrelenting grasp.

Through drug distribution, the underground Hippie mafia has not only tainted society through dangerous ideas such “animal rights”, “non-violent protests” and “coffee houses”, but also with substances extremely dangerous to the human mind.  American Drug bands such as the Grateful Dead and Phish are bombarding the minds of music listeners with monotonous, bland, improvisationl music, and by utilizing lyrics telling the listener that they should be “driving that train, high on cocaine” (Casey Jones, The Grateful Dead)” and encouraging them to “smoke a steamroller of crack and scale Mount Everest” (Phish, Chalkdust Torture), the hippie culture is responsible for the deaths of countless young, oblivious, music listeners.

In today’s world, the Hippie epidemic is spreading like wild fire, and if society does not put an effort to stop it, it is only a matter of time before every last one of us is “puff puffing on this marijuana cigarette” and carrying around signs that say “Octopi have rights too.” It is easier now than ever for an individual to get infected by the Hippie virus, with bands such as Umphrey’s Mcgee and moe. selling their tickets for only $25, which in hippie money is equivalent to only three hemp bracelets and a veggie taco.

Another extremely popular HCT (Hippie Contamination Technique) is to lure unsuspecting, weak-minded people into supporting pointless hippie causes, such as protecting wildlife and becoming a vegetarian. Many desperate women are easily attracted to the rough, raggedy look of a dirty, disgusting hippie, and are engulfed into their deceptive evil. Once they are hooked, it’s only a matter of time before daughters across America are collecting dream catchers and LED hula hoops.

Contrary to popular belief, Hippies are responsible for 90% of disasters in America in the past 60 years. The bombing of Pearl Harbor: Hippies. The assassination of JFK: Hippies. 9/11: Hippies. Hurricane Katrina: Hippies. The public is oblivious to the perpetual cycle of disaster. Each day, more and more drum circles are appearing across America, slowly growing until all of society is collecting cool rocks and aimlessly staring at artwork by Alex Gray. The problem must be put to an end once and for all, and I propose a three-step process to fully eradicate the hippie infestation.

First, we must infiltrate the drug supply. The present day hippie makes an annual profit of approximately $200 from the distribution of marijuana, LSD, Psilocybin mushrooms, and other illegal substances at music festivals. By bribing hundreds of the small-scale distributors with $250 ($50 more than the usual profit) and a String Cheese Incident 97’ tour poster, we can taint the drug supply and tweak it in such a way that the drugs now have an undesirable effect. A trip normally involving your cat’s whiskers turning into popsicle sticks will now include your Jim Morrison poster coming to life and stabbing you with a rake.

Once the dope problem is contained, the music will quickly suffer. Jam band music is unlistenable when not, technically speaking, “tripping major balls”, and it’s impossible for a sober audience member to experience a 30-minute rendition of Contact by Phish without wanting to gouge their eyes out and then snap open a glowstick and pour the contents into their ears. Since the success of these drug-core bands relies solely on the intoxication level of the audience, the tainting of the drug supply will snowball until all jam bands are out of work and Phil Lesh is serving you a double baconator with fries at 3 in the morning.

The third and final step of the Hippie Eradication Process is to contain the spread of the virus and prevent it from reaching our youth ever again. With drugs becoming obsolete and their favorite bands breaking up, hippies will already be a desperate, dying breed looking anywhere for comfort. There is only one way that every last hippie can be gathered and then sealed into Pandora ’s Box never to be open again: the second coming of  Jerry Garcia and the enactment of the Hippie Removal Act. The revival of the hippies’ god will persuade them all to congregate at the location of his arrival, where they will all be sealed for eternity. Money will be spent to ensure that it is turned into a hippie paradise, which for most people is the equivalent to the seventh level of hell. They will be allowed to eat granola and grilled cheeses all day long while Zombie Jerry and the Grateful Undead caress their ears each and every day. Hippies will have no reason to leave, and can live the rest of their lives out in peace, far, far away from us all.

If you’re too young to remember the great Burt Reynolds flick Cannonball Run, you can still have some serious fun with the Cannonball Read!

What’s that, you ask?

The Cannonball Read (CBR) got its start in September 2008 on Pajiba as a battle royale between Prisco and AlabamaPink. The race was on to see who could read 100 books first within a year’s time. Other ‘Jibans wanted in, so they opened the competition to all who were willing to take up the challenge. Sadly, our Warrior Queen left us before she could complete the race, but Prisco and other participants forged on.

To encourage as many participants as possible, we are keeping levels to the Cannonball Read  whole (52), half (26),  and quarter (13) Cannonballs.   For all of those who complete the Whole Cannonball, Dustin Rowles, publisher of Pajiba, will make another donation to Lil A’s college fund.

You can find out more and register for this year here – it’s fun and a good cause!  I read 70 books last year, and full disclosure, a good friend runs the website, so I’m going for the whole cannonball this year!  I’ll be posting my reviews on this blog and in the podcast with a link over on the CBR5 blog.  Look for my first review in the next of days of The Married Man by Edmund White.

So join us cannonballers – you know you want to!

I am holding and am surrounded by yarn.  How appropriate!

What made you weep? Hurricane Sandy.

Image at Ocean Avenue and 13th Street in Belmar, NJ by Kelly Height Harmon.

This blog grew out of the reverb project in December 2010.  In the past two years, I’ve moved away from primarily personal posts, but this month I return to reverb with daily posts based on prompts published here.

DIY Teacup Candles

Candles are a beautiful gift for the holidays, especially when homemade.  This DIY instruction will show you how to make very pretty (and very cheap!) teacup candles from materials found at thrift stores.

You will need:

• Candles
• Teacups
• Two pots and water (two make a double boiler)
• Wooden skewers/pens/chopsticks

Step 1. Gather your materials

I went to a Goodwill store in Boston where I found all of my materials.  This particular store had a whole section devoted to donated candles, so I gathered up many different ones.  I would definitely recommend picking up any tapered ones or ones with long wicks that you could use for your project.  This way you don’t have to make your own wicks, which can be quite a process.  I spent $4 on all of my candles.

Any old teacups will work.  I picked out different styles of teacups but if you found a whole set you could have all matching candles.  None of mine came with saucers, but keep the saucer in mind as it could be a cute addition to the candle! I bought 10 teacups for about $6.

NOTE: You have to melt the wax, so one of your pots will have wax directly in it.  If you don’t want this, consider picking up a cheap pot at the thrift store to use instead.

Step 2. Melt the wax

I pulled the wicks out of my long tapered candles to use for the teacup candles.  You can also pull them out after the wax has melted, but then you would have to let them dry.  Set up your double boiler by putting about 2 inches of water in one pot and nesting a slightly smaller pot inside.  You can search online for a better description if you need it, but you’re essentially setting up the pots like you would to melt chocolate.  My wax melted within 10 minutes.

Step 3. Set up your teacups

While the wax is melting, set up your teacups with their wicks.  Lay a pen or a skewer across the top of your teacup.  Then take the wicks you pulled out of the tapered candles and measure so that the wick just touches the bottom of the teacup.  I would do a rough cut of the wick at that point, and then I would wrap it around the pen to make a candy cane shape and hold it in place.  You could also use tape or ‘trap’ it in between two taped together chopsticks…it doesn’t matter, as long as it’s centered!

Step 4. Pour in the wax

When the wax is melted, pour it slowly into your teacups.  I would definitely suggest putting down some sort of old towel under the pot in case some wax spills. Fill it up leaving a little space before the edge of the teacup.  Also keep the height of your wick in mind…you don’t want it to be too short and drown in the wax! Also, feel free to adjust the wick at this point before the wax hardens.

Step 5. Let the wax harden/trim wicks

I made my candles at night and the next morning they were beautiful and hard!  This also explains the difference in lighting in my pictures.  One thing to keep in mind is that for some reason that I don’t understand, you will almost inevitably end up with a slight depression in the middle of your candle.  They don’t bother me, but if you want the surface of your wax to be smooth you should pour more melted wax in and let it harden again.  At this point you should also trim the wick.  There’s not a real science to it, just don’t trim them way too short or leave them way too long.

Step 6. Enjoy!

You just made beautiful, easy, and cheap, homemade gifts at $1 a piece!  Spread the holiday love and share them with your friends and family!

You can find more thrift store finds and craft projects on Eva’s blog! (Why does this woman not have a podcast??)

Here’s a picture of him jammin’ on the drums with his bandmate Nigel on bass at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ!

Top 5 books I read (but were not necessarily published) in 2012:

1.  Capital by John Lanchester (reviewed in this podcast)

2.  The Broken Ones by Stephen M. Irwin

3. The United States of Arugula by David Kamp (reviewed in this podcast)

4.  11/22/63 by Stephen King

5. Bond Girl by Erin Duffy (reviewed in this podcast)

Bonus best audio: Raylan by Elmore Leonard (If you’re a fan of Justified you HAVE to read this!)

Since I reviewed 3 of the 5 books on this list on my podcast, I’ll give a quick rundown of the other two here.  The Broken Ones is a noir detective novel with ghosts or a ghost story with a noir genre detective.  One day, three years in the past, the north and south poles switched location.  (As a side note, I discovered from our Physics teacher that this is actually happening, but it’s happening slowly so we don’t really notice.)  When the poles switch so quickly, every person on earth gets his or her own ghost, usually someone close to them when they were alive.

Except for the detective – he doesn’t recognize his ghost.  The plot revolves around him solving the murders of young handicapped girls in a manner that answers who that ghost is that showed up on that fateful day.  Another great read from an Australian author.  What’s with Australians and great alternative universe, scary thriller stories?  It should be noted that Angels of Vengeance by John Birmingham would appear on this list, but since it’s the third in a trilogy, you should really read the other two first.  Well worth it! Therefore:

1a. Angels of Vengeance by John Birmingham (reviewed in this podcast)

Now for the second book I’ve yet to review on my list: Imagine if Stephen King wrote a love story and added a little time travel, a few visits to characters from It, and some interesting facts about the killer of our 35th President.  If you did, you’d have 11/22/63.  Very little standard King creepiness appears in this tale, but the story of a man from our time meeting a woman from the late 50s makes the almost 900 pages fly by! (Full Disclosure: I got this out of the library as hurricane reading. I figured 900 pages would be more than enough for any post Sandy power outage.  Good thing I got some back up reads because I finished this one in 4 days – it was so worth burning lots of candles! Also, may not have been that scary for me since the world outside my door was plenty scary at the time.)

Capital will appear on many end of year book lists (including the NYTimes I’m certain), any foodie reading this should definitely check out The United States of Arugula, and if your in the mood for better than average trashy chick lit, check out Bond Girl!  I’m sure every one of these books is available at your local library.

Image courtesy of the Orange County Library via Flickr.

This blog grew out of the reverb project in December 2010.  In the past two years, I’ve moved away from primarily personal posts, but this month I return to reverb with daily posts based on prompts published here.

I know today’s prompt includes the word “most”, and obviously my most important relationships are with my children and my parents.  However, since this prompt fell on the same day as the third Podcaster Hangout with Amanda of the Craftlife podcast, Martine of the iMake podcast, and Jo of the Shinybees podcast, these 3 women are my most important relationships today!

I don’t say that lightly.  In the immediate aftermath of the storm, I was unable to get any cell service other than intermittent text messages.  When I finally could access the internet on the 5th day post apocalypse, I found quite a few tweets and DMs from fellow podcasters and listeners asking if I was ok and even discussing amongst themselves what they knew about where I lived and what had happened in my part of the Shore.  Louise of Caithness Craft remembered correctly that I may be 2 miles from the ocean but my house is above Shark River Inlet and doesn’t flood, even though our substation is at sea level and happened to float away in the storm.

It was nice to be missed!

I had some technical difficulty before the hangout started.  The other ladies were so gracious to wait for me while I got it sorted out, yet another reason they are my most important relationship today!  Here’s the video of the hangout:

The audio version will appear in my podcast feed but, like Martine, I’m opting not to put the video in the feed this time around.

Watch this space for online ordering options for our Hurricane Sandy fundraiser.  Until then, you can use the PDF found in this blog post if you’d like to help!

The vegan chow mein recipe I mentioned throwing in the crockpot before the hangout can be found here.

Here’s a photo of the limoncello in the making:

The recipe for limoncello came from the Everyday with Rachel Ray magazine.  I’m reprinting it here because I don’t believe her recipe is any different from the standard limoncello concoction made by many people here and abroad:

24 large lemons
splash white vinegar
4 cups vodka (you can also use grain alcohol, but I used vodka)
4 cups simple syrup (see bel0w)

1.  Let lemons sit in a tub of water with the vinegar for about 10 minutes to remove any residue.

2. In a large, sealable container, combine 6 1/2 cups of water with the vodka.

3. Remove zest from lemons allowing peels to drop into the vodka and water.  Make sure the peels are completely submerged; they should sink to the bottom.

4. Cover and ignore for 4 weeks.  Color should be a bright yellow.

5.  Strain liquid and discard peels.  Add the simple syrup. NOTE: Rachel Ray says to store in the freezer but mine actually froze, so I store mine in the refrigerator.

Simple Syrup

In a saucepan, bring 4 cups of water to a boil then stir in the same amount of sugar.  Heat until completely dissolved. Remove and let cool.

This blog grew out of the reverb project in December 2010. While the podhangouts are ongoing, the show notes for this episode are based on a #reverb12 prompt published here.

My home.

We like to say that home is more than the stuff inside, but the stuff symbolizes home.  I type this at my downstairs desk in what once was the playroom.  Looking around, I see a poster of Cuba given to me by a student from the class of 2005 and a metal piece of art I bought on the street in Quito, Ecuador.  The kids’ stockings hanging over the fireplace were made by my mom almost 20 years ago.  I bought the poster hanging above my desk at a gallery in San Diego almost 30 years ago.  The license plate to the very first car I owned in California hangs in the next room.  A tea set that belonged to my grandmother sits in the china cabinet in the dining room.

I know losing these things wouldn’t take away the memories.  If something happened to my dumpy house, I’d be happy to have my family safe, but I know the loss of everything familiar would be devastating.  I’m incredibly thankful that I can take my home and all that’s in it with me into the new year.

Back in the day, Belmar was the beach you went to with your family and Manasquan (or Seaside) was the beach you went to when you wanted to party.  Below is a picture I took on Manasquan beach of my friends Patty and Tim during the summer of 1981:

Home is more than a building and the stuff inside; it’s a place full of memories of the people you love and the good times you’ve had.  Let’s just say, I’ve had many a good time on Manasquan beach and look forward to many, many, many good times at the Jersey Shore in the future!

As a bonus, here’s a pic of Tim and I before we headed off to senior prom earlier that year.  Just like every other Jersey kid ever, we went to Seaside Heights for after prom!

1. 9/11 is an historical event to my children. Last March, my daughter invited me to the memorial at Ground Zero as part of a project assigned to her for one of her classes at Lehigh.  Walking around the memorial with her and discussing what we saw and felt as we explored other parts of lower Manhattan, it became very apparent to me that the events of that day weren’t memories for her.  She recalled all the parents meeting the kids at the bus stop, the images of the planes hitting the towers playing over and over on the television, and how upset everyone was for days after the event.  However, everything she knows about the event she learned in later years either in school, from various media sources, or from friends and relatives who shared their experiences with her years later.

To discover that a moment in time that had such an emotional impact upon me made very little impression upon her at the time was an eye opener.  As a result of our visit, I shared the opportunity to spend time at the memorial with students, staff members, family, and friends with the hope that each would attend with people they love, share their stories, and understand the impact of that day on our country, our state, and our favorite city.

(The post I wrote immediately after our visit for the Scintilla Project can be found here.)

2.  Writing and formatting an ebook is harder than you think. Look at the top of the sidebar at the right.  See that vegan cookbook I have for sale? Last March, I decided to gather the recipes I’d posted on the blog along with other’ I’d written and tested into one location, The Market Vegan cookbook.  Martine of the iMake podcast is solely responsible for me inspiring me to make that dream a reality, but I know for a fact I would never have done this if I knew what it would involve.

Martine recommended Sister Diane’s Write, Sell, and Publish Your Crafty eBook which I purchased right after I listened to Martine’s podcast.  While geared to crafters, this book is filled with great information as well as tools to determine how to create, format, and price an ebook.  I love the Adobe Creative Suite but hadn’t used InDesign in years, so first thing I did was (re)learn that program.  Once I figured out how to structure an ebook in InDesign, I asked a former student and fantastic photographer, Caiti,  to take photos of my recipes.  Without her, there would be no ebook!  Creating and formatting the book took almost 2 months, and when it was done, I had to explore shopping cart options that are capable of distributing digital media then configure the shopping cart and place a method to purchase on my website (the widget you see at the right).

Whew!

This entire experience took 3 months primarily because the vast majority of the content was already written.  If I had to write everything as well, I never would’ve finished.  After going through this process, I so appreciate the effort other authors take in bringing an ebook to market.  As luck would have it, I’m now teaching an e-publishing class at my school next spring! That’s a natural progression for a teacher: we learn it, then we teach it!

3.  Doing laundry is complicated.  Laundry appears on the 5 things I learned post apocalypse, but the laundry learning didn’t stop there!  This past Sunday, my dryer blew a fuse.  This dryer is less than 2 years old, and blew the same fuse a little over a year ago.  Repair man shows up, gives me a 15 minute lecture on how to do laundry in the 21st century.  Apparently, you don’t need to use the amount of detergent and fabric softener recommended by retailers, you need to soak your lint screen in vinegar and water at least every 3 months, and the dryer is so concerned for your welfare, it will sacrifice itself rather than set your house on fire.  Last dryer I owned for 16 years never once needed any repair or attention until it died, nor did it set my house on fire.

I miss that dryer.

Newer is not better in the world of laundry, and yes, I’ll be back at the laundromat this weekend because the part had to be ordered!

4. I like my job. I work at the same job I’ve had since January 2003, so you’d think I’d know if I like my job or not by now.  However, after the excitement that was spring 2011, I spent the summer and fall of that year actively looking for a job back in the business world because education is just plain crazy.

Don’t believe me? Ask a teacher.

I always planned to return to a job in a computer department once my kids were out of public school, and with my son’s graduation date fast approaching, it seemed like a good time to explore my options.  The economy being what it was, I didn’t get as many interviews as I would’ve pre-2008, but I got enough to make this aging programmer believe there might still be a place for her in the real world.  As I sat in an interview for what quite a few people including myself thought was my “perfect job”, I started to think about what I would be giving up.  I really like and respect quite a few of my peers, learn from them on a regular basis, and enjoy teaching topics like programming and social media.  I also happened to have a great group of students during the school year 2011-2012.  When the woman who might become my future boss told me I was one of two final candidates, I realized I’d miss those kids.

A lot (which is two words, and somebody has to teach these kids that’s so!).

I took the final interview and a wait and see approach.  Turned out, I didn’t get the job.  I found out the day of the NAHS art show last January while in Foodtown buying another case of water bottles to sell as part of our refreshment fundraiser at the event.  You’d think I’d be disappointed right? All I felt was relief, and when I told my co-advisor I wasn’t leaving, the hug she gave me confirmed that no matter how bad things can sometimes be at this job (and how painfully broke I am these days working this job), it’s a place full of people and activities I enjoy, and one that allows me to continue to learn and grow!

5. Google Hangouts are cool! This past summer, Amanda from the Craftlife podcast reached out to myself and Martine about holding a podcasters hangout on Google.  I’d joined Google+ when it started but hadn’t done much with it.  Amanda willingly took charge, set up the event, ran a test hangout ahead of time, and broadcast it on her YouTube channel.  I learned all about lighting when less than an hour before the first podhangout, I realized the window behind where I planned to sit backlit me so much you could hardly see me!  A few frantic DMs to my friend the film teacher brought provided bare bones instruction in 3 point lighting, and the rest is history!

We held one other in September with Maria from Subway Knits joining us, and this Saturday, December 8th, we’re holding our third online event!  Jo from the Shinybee’s podcast will be joining us as our guest this time around, and we’ll be talking holiday craft, food, and (at least for me), homemade limoncello!  Since the event will be broadcast at 2 p.m. Eastern time where I am, I will have a glass of the bubbly with a bit of limoncello on hand.  Join us over on Amanda’s YouTube Channel, tweet us during the hangout using the hashtag #podhangout, and if you’re unsure what time it will be where you are on the globe, here’s a handy website that will help you figure that out!

Martine chose this photo to represent the December hangout:

While we won’t be dressed quite so modestly, there will be knitting!

This will be my first podcast outing since the hurricane and the epic cold that stole my voice, so I’m looking forward to returning to a very friendly and welcoming community.  As a side note, the Apocalyptic Diner will return in the new year.  While not severely damaged by the storm, it’s taken some time for the diner’s owner and staff (me) to get life settled and back to normal.

This blog grew out of the reverb project in December 2010.  In the past two years, I’ve moved away from primarily personal posts, but this month I return to reverb with daily posts based on prompts published here.

My dream destination of 2012? Rhinebeck, NY, on October 20th.

The weather that day was technicolor perfect; at that point, no one predicted what was in store for the Northeast only 9 days into the future.  Who knew I’d experience my dream destination and an intense hurricane is such a short span of time?

Since I’ve blogged about my visit to Rhinebeck as well as Hurricane Sandy, I’m going to use this #reverb12 post to mention a student fundraising initiative.  Shortly after the hurripocalypse (once I had cell service again), a friend and fellow teacher sent me a message on Facebook about doing a tshirt fundraiser through NAHS for the victims of Sandy.  As co-advisors, this teacher and I work well together – she’s great at art and I’m a fairly good organizer.  While there were lots of fundraising initiatives after Sandy, I hadn’t run across any run by high school art students, so I replied, “Let’s go for it!”.

When school finally reopened on November 12th, we announced a contest: design a t-shirt for Hurricane Sandy relief with a design that included the phrase “CHS Cares”.  We received 9 designs, and I created a Google form where students, family, and friends could vote for the design they wanted to see made into our t-shirt.  On Thursday, November 29th, we announced the winning design created by AP Art Student Andi Leibowitz.  Below is her winning design as it appears on a CHS blue tshirt:

All proceeds go to the following charities:

• Monmouth and Ocean County Food Bank
• Rebuild Recover
• R.A.I.N.E.
• Habitat for Humanity

This week, tshirts are available for $10 by mail order only.  I’m working on an online ordering option, but if you order by Friday and are relatively local, we can make arrangements to get the t-shirt to you, or you can contact me regarding shipping.  Download our order form here and make the Jersey Shore your dream destination next year!

Trust me, the people telling you that really want you to make time for their their organizations and hostess parties.  For me, that got really old, really fast.  When my kids were little, they knew that when Mommy had a cup of coffee and The New Yorker or The New York Times in hand she was not to be disturbed unless there was a lot of blood involved or a near death experience.  I’m sure they took advantage of those moments when Mommy wasn’t fully engaged with her little angels, but perfect parenthood attendance was never a goal of mine.

If you think this is unique to new moms, think again.  When you hit middle age, the me time mantra changes slightly but the goal is the same: 50 is the new 30, middle age is a new beginning, there’s no better time to explore your creativity, and for a minimal charge, a product, organization, or hostess party can help you celebrate the fabulous woman you’ve become!

So, maybe I’ve watched too many seasons of Mad Men, but the phrase “celebrate you” makes me immediately think you’re selling me something.  I’m sure Don Draper used that phrase in at least one of his advertising epiphanies!

You want to know how I’m going to celebrate me? By spending time with my parents and grown children, in my kitchen testing new recipes then feeding the results to family and friends, and on my couch next to the dog knitting a hat for the boy and a scarf for the girl while listening to my favorite podcasters.  If I’m feeling really adventurous, I may organize my own #SNAPChallenge inspired by @CoryBooker (who still hasn’t called me).  With the exception of the ingredients for those new recipes, I’m not buying any products or joining any organizations or attending any parties full of forced gaiety.

I like to keep my personal celebrations simple and focused, just like this woman:

Image courtesy of Stock Exchange.

This blog grew out of the reverb project in December 2010.  In the past two years, I’ve moved away from primarily personal posts, but this month I return to reverb with daily posts based on prompts published here.

So what did those 5 people wish for?

1.  Robert Redford’s character wants charges against him dropped and his name cleared.  (He did bad things for good reasons in his youth because he is Robert Redford.)

2. Dan Ackroyd’s character wants a Winnebago with a big kitchen and a bed large enough for him to stretch out in (and he was still a relatively thin Dan Ackroyd in 1992).

3. River Phoenix wants a girl’s phone number.  (Sadly, Phoenix died the year after this movie was made. My students love him.)

4. Sidney Poitier’s character wants to take his wife on a European vacation that includes Tahiti.  Sidney Poitier trumps James Earl Jones, so Tahiti is included in a European vacation.

5. Whistler, the only character based on real hackers and played by David Strathairn, asks for peace on Earth, good will towards men.  James Earl Jones’ points out that the NSA doesn’t really do that sort of thing, but he’d see what he can do

My versions of their wishes:

1. I would like to unlock my personal Twitter account and not be harassed by a peer or judged on what I tweet based on what I do for a living.

2. I would like to have a house that isn’t falling apart with a kitchen that wasn’t last updated in 1976 along with enough money to pay my property taxes.  My bed is 15 years old but I’m fond of it, so just the house and kitchen please.

3. Cory Booker‘s phone number, or better yet, lunch with Cory Booker, and if that lunch is during his food stamp challenge, all the better!

4.  I would like to go to Vogue Knitting Live in New York in January, stay the entire weekend at the Hilton, and go to Scotland to meet Louise Hunt of the Caithness Craft Podcast.  Scotland may not be as warm as Tahiti, but I think the hearts are very warm there based on Louise’s podcast – and there’s drams!

5.  I’m sure whoever grants wishes has the same rules as the NSA, so peace on Earth, good will towards men is out.  Instead, I wish that all the people in the world could sit down to a vegetarian dinner for just one night surrounded by family and friends with enough food on the table for everyone.

If the above is too much for the wish granter to give, I’ll take the Winnebago with the big kitchen so I can travel around the country in the summer making vegan dinners for the people I meet in my travels!

Image Credit: Winnebago illustration by Richard Neuman

This blog grew out of the reverb project in December 2010.  In the past two years, I’ve moved away from primarily personal posts, but this month I return to reverb with daily posts based on prompts published here.

The house of cards became very shaky this past year.  As a single parent with two nearly adult children who are both in college but far from self supporting, I spent most of 2012 trying to figure out how my stagnant teacher’s salary – no longer augmented by tutoring and freelance gigs that ended naturally but took too long to replace – would pay for everything we need.  Of course, need in this context is very first world.  However, as I taught my New Media students just this past week, in the hierarchy of needs, food, water, shelter, and clothing are the first we all strive to meet.  In 2012, this became a lot more difficult for many people I know, myself included.

Take, for example, our need for cell phones.  I pay almost $200 per month for the three of us to run our iPhones.  The hurripocalypse taught me the value of owning a cell phone (even if our provider is AT&T), so that bill now get’s paid right after the mortgage.  We have an unlimited data plan which is unheard of these days so there’s not a lot I can do about the cost or the carrier.  With 3 cars in the family – a 2004 Olds Alero, a 2002 Beetle, and a 1999 Subaru, ritzy rides all – our car insurance runs almost $400 per month in the great state of New Jersey.  And don’t get me started on the food bill for an 18 year old boy who still lives at home! Yes, I shop at Walmart, I love Walmart.  I know it’s the evil big box store, and I didn’t go in on Thanksgiving or Black Friday, but there’s no way I could feed that kid if I paid the food prices found in our local Foodtown or Shoprite.

The sacrifices we make tend to take precedence over our social conscience, although I’m proof that eating a vegan diet is no more expensive than one that contains meat.  I may not shop at Whole Foods, but I still do my best to eat a healthy, compassionate diet!  … and yes, Walmart does sell organic tofu.

I expect the economics of family and country will improve over the next few years; I’ve been through recessions and bad times of employment before.  Perhaps by 2014, I’ll make it through the next three level’s of Maslow’s hierarchy and arrive at self esteem driving a Prius.

Image credit: Flickr Creative Commons

This blog grew out of the reverb project in December 2010.  In the past two years, I’ve moved away from primarily personal posts, but this month I return to reverb with daily posts based on prompts published here.

I start the last month of 2012 in the eye of the hurricane, halfway through the storm but with a long and dangerous way to go before the storm ends.

This blog grew out of the reverb project in December 2010.  In the past two years, I’ve moved away from primarily personal posts, but this month I return to reverb with daily posts based on prompts published here.

As convenient as shopping online can be this time of year, there are also pitfalls and hazards we all should look out for.  The following information and infographic was provided by CouponAudit.  I’m a huge fan of infographics these days; I even printed this one out and hung it in my classroom for my eCommerce students to review!  Some of this info might be obvious, but better safe than sorry.

A Quick Overview of Holiday Shopping Hacks & Scams

Black Friday and Cyber Monday has the highest contribution of sales for the whole year.  This is also the time when most spammers and hackers attack consumers to steal money and spread out viruses.  This infographic shows the flow of misleading consumers to fake websites they have created.  This fake websites offers great deals that other web merchants will not be able to compete with regards to the costs of the merchandise.  While consumers purchase from these fake sites, they enter their personal information and credit card details.  This infographic advises consumers to have the awareness of how these attackers plan to attack again in the future.  It provides a security advice for the merchants to always update their Software System and erase old software.  They were also advised to use PCI compliant checkout system like Google checkout or Paypal.  Firewall and Anti-virus applications should be installed by consumers before doing any online purchase.

Infographic provided by CouponAudit.

Good Times!

Now that the power is back thanks to a mobile substation (ours washed away in the storm), here are 5 things I learned in the post-Sandy Apocalypse:

1. How to build a fire: This was more of a relearn because I knew how to do this a long time ago but moved to the world of Duraflame logs in the past decades.  It takes forever to get real logs to light.  The husband of a friend suggested cotton balls dipped in petroleum jelly – they make little bombs of fire that function like wicks – and I finally got my first fire going!  (My ex pointed out that this was how they burned down the restaurant in Goodfellas but I can’t confirm until I watch the move again now that I have power!)  I’m very lucky in that family friends run a tree service and, while they are working 48 hour days right now, they had no shortage of wood to supply me with for my daily fires.

2.  An eighth of a tank of gas in a 2002 VW Beetle will fully charge an iPhone 4 times.  This became a big part of my morning routine.  Sitting in the car from roughly 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. then again from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. every day powering my iPhone, listening to the Brian Lehrer Show and All Things Considered on NPR, and knitting.  Upside? Got a LOT of knitting done and kept warm!  Downside? While Mr. Lehrer repeatedly announced that this was NY and NJ Public Radio, there was very little news for those of us at the Shore.  With the exception of Governor Christie’s daily updates, I had no idea what was going on in my town until the Wall police department started updating their website where they too acknowledged that JCP&L’s estimates of when we’d get power were totally bogus.

I also found Mayor Bloomberg’s foray into speaking Spanish yet another sign that the end of the world is nigh.

3.  Doing your laundry at the laundromat is expensive! It’s been 23 years since I set foot in a laundromat.  Back in the day it was a dollar a load and 10 cents for 10 minutes to dry.  Now it’s $3 for the small capacity washers, $4.50 for the large capacity washers, and 25 cents for 6 minutes to dry.  Going to the laundromat didn’t even occur to me until week 2 when clean underwear was pretty much nonexistent around here, and my son mentioned he’d had the same jeans on for 3 days.  Apparently, that was when everyone else in town thought to go to the laundromat.  Of course, I forgot to bring detergent and fabric softener so had to hit the one grocery store selling anything to pick some up so I didn’t have to drive all the way back home.  That was my entire Tuesday afternoon.

A laundromat in Belmar opened and offered 2 loads of laundry for free to Belmar residents which I thought was very generous after I learned what laundry costs to do these days.  That only lasted a day; they were so inundated with people doing laundry they lowered it to one free load and two loads max to manage the crowding.  You don’t realize how lucky you are to have a washer and dryer in your house until you don’t have it for almost 2 weeks!

4.  The cosmos will conspire against you when all you want is a salad. What with the power being out, we had no fresh food in the house, and canned goods get old fast.  Once the ex scored the generator and announced he had internet, the boy and I hopped in the car and headed south to Brick.  When we got down there, all 3 of us were starving, so we set out on a restaurant hunt.  The only restaurant open at that point was, you guessed it, Applebee’s.  They had food, drink, and heat, so we, along with a million other Brick residents, settled in for lunch.  I ordered soup and a salad; I’d been dreaming of salad for a few days and just wanted some lettuce, tomato, onion, and maybe a cucumber as a nice change to beans from a can.

First salad had cheese on it.  Granted, I didn’t tell them not to put cheese on it, but a house salad rarely has cheese.  The server was nice enough to say she’d bring me another salad … and the second one had bacon on it! Finally, after the third try, I got a small, sad salad with 2 tomatoes and some chopped cucumber.  Two days later, when I went to lunch at TGIFriday’s (the chain restaurants bounce back quick!), I ordered a salad before my pasta which, of course, never came!  Finally, that night, my ex went to the nearest pizza joint on his way back from scoring more gas for the generator and, lo and behold, I got a true Jersey house salad!

… and once you get the salad you crave, your power will come back on the next day.

(Note to self: start a vegetable garden in the spring and learn to can what you don’t use in preparation for the next apocalypse.)

5.  Barley wants to be beer.  In my last post, I shared a recipe for barley soup which I’ve made before, always with the option to refrigerate the leftovers.  I enjoyed a bowl during the storm before we lost power and two bowls the next day.  I put a small tupperware container of the last bit of soup in the fridge out of habit and promptly forgot about it.  A week later, when I went to finally clean the fridge out, you guessed it, no soup, but a bubbling mass of yeasty goop that smelled a lot like the frat houses of my youth. 

Dear reader, if you make my Hearty Hurricane Soup and then are hit by an actual hurricane, throw out the leftovers … unless of course you’re out of power so long that you can’t get to the liquor store and your soup becomes beer!

I learned a lot of other things over the course of 12 days: how kind my fellow podcasters are, that Facebook is a lot more useful in the apocalypse for local news than Twitter and NPR, what great friends I have in my school community, that looters will come to any neighborhood with enough houses left empty as owners seek shelter and heat elsewhere, and that my 18 year old son isn’t a boy anymore.  Also, the mail lady was the only source of information for the neighborhood for about 5 days.  You could watch residents coming out of each house on the street as she pulled up to deliver the mail.  She took the time to chat with each one of us, and for that I think we’re all grateful.

She’s so getting a bottle of limoncello this Christmas!

I’ve lived in Monmouth County, NJ since 1976 with the exception of 5 years in Southern California in the ’80s.  My kids were born and raised here, my friends are here, and so are my memories.  Twelve days after the storm hit I finally had a chance to see pictures of Belmar, the beach I’ve gone to since I was 13, a town that lies 2 miles directly east of my house.  I may have suffered without power, but so many in Belmar and other shore communities lost everything.  I have great faith in this part of the world.  This may be our Katrina, but we’ll come back stronger, better, and faster than the victim of that storm!

We are New Jersey.  We are Jersey Strong!

Photo credits:

Girl with sandpail by b0r0da courtesy of Flickr.

Devastation at Shore Acres, Brick, NJ courtesy of Joanna Carides, a resident of Shore Acres.

When I signed up for the Virtual Vegan Potluck, I had no idea the newest “storm of the century” would be barreling towards the Jersey Shore.  I chose to post a main dish recipe and thought it would motivate me to perfect my ziti with mushrooms and kale recipe.  (I’ve been a bit of a slacker when it comes to creating and testing new recipes since school started in September.)

What’s that about the best laid plans of mice and men (and vegan bloggers)? By the end of the week, this is what was everywhere, and I mean everywhere in my part of the world:

That big red finger thing is pointed right at my house.

So, when I went to make my required run to every food store within a 20 mile radius and stock up as if the zombies were walking down Route 35, I decided to pick up the ingredients for my mushroom barley soup.  I figured if I made it before the storm hit, this soup would be easy to heat up on my stovetop once the power went.  Yes, I have a natural gas stove because during the nor’easter of ’92 when I lived 2 blocks from the beach, we had an electric stove and learned how useless that is when the power goes (not to mention the 5 feet of water it was under but that’s another story).  As soon as Irene passed last August, I started cooking my way through the now thawing frozen food to my teenaged son’s delight.

I first made this soup during a surprise snow storm years ago when all we had in the house were barley, beans, frozen corn, carrots and mushrooms (I always have mushrooms in the house).  The broth for that first soup came from the carrot shavings and some onion slices simmered in water – it had a distinctly orange cast but as the saying goes, beggars can’t be choosers, and if you can’t make it through the snow to Shoprite, you eat a carrot broth based soup!

Perfected over the years, this is a great winter staple and reheats quite well.  I’m writing this post Sunday morning as Sandy heads our way and will add an update to this post whenever I get to publish it.  Here’s the recipe & hope I see you on the other side of Frankenstorm!

Vegan Mushroom Barley Soup (aka Hearty Hurricane Soup)

3 Tablespoons EVOO
1 medium onion, diced
2 large carrots, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
8 ounces baby bella mushrooms, sliced (or white if you don’t have these)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon dried thyme
1 Tablespoon salt (I use no salt broth, but if you don’t, you can omit or to taste)
1 teaspoon black pepper
5 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup barley
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup frozen corn
15.5 ounce red kidney beans
4 ounce cain sliced shiitaki mushrooms (you can use dried or fresh, but these are cheaper where I live)
2 Tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

In a stockpot, sauté onions, carrots, celery, and mushrooms until the onions start to soften (about 10 minutes). Add garlic, thyme, salt and pepper, sauté for a minute or two, then add vegetable stock, barley, soy sauce, and fresh parsley. Bring to a boil, then simmer partially covered for approximately 20 minutes. Add frozen corn, kideny beans, shiitaki mushrooms, and parsley and simmer until barley is cooked.

This is delicious with toasted Italian bread topped with olive oil and dried rosemary.

The Virtual Vegan Potluck is a good old fashion blog rolling recipe ride, so check out the blogs before and after me by clicking the buttons below!

BEST DAY EVER!

Right before we arrived, Sarah mentioned that Melanie of the Savvy Girls podcast would be in the book signing area with her CD Knitting all the Day.  We thought we’d stop by and find out when she’d be there but were lucky enough to catch her before it got too busy.  She signed our CDs, and I got a brief interview with her that will appear on the next podcast.

Not a cloud in the sky, temperatures in the 60s, and the second thing Sarah wanted to score was deep fried pickles:

We asked the woman serving these less than healthy bites if they were vegan, and they were! I admit, they weren’t nearly as greasy as the fries I got to settle my stomach – the batter was similar to tempura and the pickles not overly tart.  A great way to fuel up for some fiber purchases!

All 3 of us were more interested in indie spinners and dyers than the more commercial products on sale at the front of the festival, so we walked back to the smaller tents where I found this amazing kid mohair from Lis Barsuglia-Madsen of Scandinavia Weave and Knit:

I plan to make Joelle Hoverson’s Very Pretty Lace Scarf from her book More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts which I bought in the city last March.  Elizabeth purchased a few skeins from Periwinkle Farm that were gorgeous – she bought some of their yarn at Rhinebeck last year.  Sarah got some handy stitch markers that had notations like “k2tog” and “ssk” on the back which I liked but at $20 was too big a hit to my budget.

After our first fiber purchases, we headed over to the Ravelry meetup where I met Ysolda Teague:

… and Stephen West – nicest man EVER!

After that meetup, we wandered around looking at more fiber goodness.  Even though it was October, it was warm and crowded so we went over to the podcaster meetup.  I finally met Maria from Subway Knits at Melanie’s CD signing and met Laura and Leslie from TheKnitGirllls podcast as well as KnitPurlGirl who listens to me – so thrilled – at this meetup. The Ravelry and podcaster meetups showed me that buttons aren’t passé – they’re a lot like the pins my kids used to collect in DisneyWorld.  I collected a few & they are now on my bulletin board in my classroom (yes, that’s Loop Philly next to the pins – my favorite yarn store!):

All this chatting and shopping made us hungry, so we found a tamale stall that Sarah and Elizabeth ate at last year.  They were a bit unorganized and cooking their food off site, but since the wait at their booth was only 20 minutes and it was over an hour everywhere else, we dined there.  Block Factory Tamales, along with quite a few other vendors, offered vegetarian and vegan options.  I got the vegan shiitake pot pie and Elizabeth and Sarah got the shepherd’s pot pie.  We washed it all down with apple cider (it’s October after all).

Fully fueled, we went back to shopping only to realize that that all Sarah purchased were those stitch markers!  She finally bought a skein at Socks that Rock after enabling Elizabeth and I to buy quite a bit of fiber.  I discovered some amazing hand dyed and hand spun bluefaced leicester in a colorway called Beachcomber by Catfeather Farm:

Jamie, the spinner/dyer, doesn’t have a website and was actually just helping out at a friend’s booth.  The friend suggested that she bring along some of her yarn – she told me she really didn’t expect to sell any!  All 3 of us oohed and aahed over the amazingly colorful and soft hanks of yarn.  If I were rich, I would’ve bought every one!  When she told me she never got to see what her yarn became, I asked for her email so I could send along a picture of what this becomes.  On the way home, Sarah got out her trusty iPad and looked up possible patterns but didn’t come up with Laura of the KnitGirlls doldrums cowl pattern.  Of course, I started that Sunday morning and I’ll post updates as this project moves along!

The only downside of the trip was that it was so short! I can’t wait to go back next year and know that Vogue Knitting Live will not be nearly as exciting for me this year after attending New York Sheep and Wool.  If you haven’t been, make your plans, and I’ll see meet you for some fried pickles and lots of fiber!

My mother especially has always valued volunteering, and the two of them seem to give more rather than less as they get older. They organize the adoption of Head Start families each year by church members who provide gifts of necessities along with toys for the kids; they have 144 families they’re working with for Christmas 2012.  This year, they’ve added helping homeless families.

Earlier today, I received the following in an email from my mother:

Tuesday night for the first time I volunteered to be a part of the Family Promise program at the church. I took the training for the program which provides shelter and food for a homeless family for a week. We had 3 families signed up: a family of 6 with 4 children and 2 families of single mothers with little boys 3 and 5 respectively. I got to share a meal and help with the 2 smaller families as the larger family was coming in later in the evening after the middle schooler’s football game.

It was a learning experience for me and enjoyable. The two little boys were so dear. There are toys and books for them there, but I took for each of them a new coloring book, crayons, and a board book each on trucks that they could take with them. Both boys were shy, but the books really drew them out. They talked about what was in the books and were happy to hear the story over and over. The 5 year old boy did a really good job of coloring and he and I put his picture on the refrigerator in the dining area. Another family and Dad and I provided a dinner of brisket, vegetables, and rolls. One of the moms was especially appealing, the parent of the 3 year old. She is trying so hard to get ahead and go back to college, but day care and the lack of an apartment are real challenges in her days.

The purpose of this post isn’t to garner admiration for my parents or their friends and neighbors.  Rather, I’m just going to ask you to take a moment and realize just how lucky you are to have a home, food on the table, and access to the internet so you can read this post.  In these bad economic times, hardship is relative.  As we approach the holiday season, instead of thinking about how few presents you’ll have under your Christmas tree, perhaps you can find a way to give to someone who may not have a home in which to decorate a tree or the means to provide presents for their children.

Thumbnail courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons.

Lindsay explained on her blog that:

This swap gives participants a chance to connect with other bloggers by the exchange of goods. The care package that you create can be filled with homemade or store bought items and can include any items you like such as food, clothes, health living items, etc.

At the end of August, I received an email with info about my “swappees”.  Imagine my surprise when I clicked on the blog link enclosed and found Meggie & Ben’s blog! I started reading their adventures living as vegans in Utah over the summer and was thrilled that I was matched with them for the swap. (They are the cutest vegan couple ever & if they lived closer, I would invite them to join us for dinner when Sarah and her friends are home from school. That would make a great dinner party!)

Meggie emailed me almost immediately, and we wrote a number of emails back and forth learning more about each other.  Turns out, we have a lot in common (even though I’m like 100 years older than they are).  Ben is a front-end web developer – check out his website – and Meggie is an Information Developer who creates content strategies, how to videos, stuff like that.

Yes, I DID immediately invite them to Skype with my Web Design and New Media classes!

Of course, I went into vegan overdrive planning once I realized how awesome a couple they are when BAM! the new school year started.  I didn’t make it over to Delicious Orchards to shop until September 26th and barely made the shipping deadline but they got their package in time! You can read all about what I sent here.

I came home to a box on my front doorstep after a long school day complete with students still struggling with Java coding.  Boy, was I happy to see that box of vegan goodness!  Meggie included a very nice card with descriptions of what they bought and why they chose it.  Below is a picture of what I received along with a slightly edited version of what she wrote and my comments in italics:

Whole Wheat Sesame Sticks – love these to snack on! From our local health food store, Good Earth. Delicious!

Chia Seed Chunks of Energy – Great for snacking, also from Good Earth. Interesting. The texture is a bit odd but I liked them as a morning snack.

Pro Bars – Made in Park City, Utah, only an hour away from where Meggie & Ben live. Took these to Teacher Training from Hell.  They were LIFE SAVERS!!

Rice Chips – Ben’s favorite chips. I love chips almost as much as coffee, and these are way better than the ones in our local grocery store.

“Chicken” Ramen -   I good for long days at school I have a bunch of these in my desk at work. This is where I show my age; ramen = college food to me BUT I did take this to school and will be very happy to have it that one day this winter when I forget my lunch!

Whole Foods Lavendar Lotion – My favorite scent. OMG LOVE THIS. Nothing else needs to be said.

Two packages of “beef” jerkey in Teriyaki and Texas BBQ – Love these. OK, I haven’t had jerky we drove cross country in the ’80s but these are really good.  Gotta score some more for afternoon snacks!

Coffee – Roasted only an hour away from our house. Excellent!!!

Lush Soap – My favorite soap/body care company.  I know this says its named after a cheese – but it’s vegan and smells like “creamy lather meets sexy jasmine and honeysuckle with smokey velvet undertones”. THE BEST GIFT IN THE BOX! I had to fight off my daughter for this one

Almonds & Sea Salt in Dark Chocolate – I know you’re not a dessert person, but this is kind of savory! It’s our favorite treat! The first thing I ate (it was a rough day) and loved.  Discovered that my local health food store also carries this and I’ve already bought 2 more bars.  Meggie is now my chocolate enabler! (I should introduce her to Martine.)

This was a great experience, and I can’t wait for the next vegan swap! Thanks Lindsay for putting this all together.

Introduction

There are currently 2 posts in the Young Entrepreneur Series: Metroseeker and Wear Your Beer (gotta love the latter one).  Look for more entries in the series in the months to come.

Giveaway winners:

Second Podcaster Hangout: Lisa Smith won Sarah Punderson’s Adirondack shawl pattern, and Penny J won a copy of my digital vegan cookbook The Market Vegan.

The winner of Sarah’s bicycle mitts with warmers from the last podcast is Susan who commented on the shownotes.

Patio Seating

Martine from iMake shared recipes for both Raspberry Gin and Vanilla Extract on her blog and podcast – you should so check them out! (In the latter post, she refers to the “lovely Charles” but I think he’s really amazing.)

Shoutout to @stitchmistress of the TV Knitting podcast for turning me on to Wacky Buttons for the Apocalyptic Diner buttons I’ll have at Rhinebeck.

Here’s an updated photo of my Nympheas scarf:

Lunch Counter

I reviewed Domestic Affairs by Bridget Siegel and Restaurant Man by Joe Bastianich.  I also mention the movies Bottle Shock and Ides of March.

Vegan Options

Remember, there’s a giveaway of an 8 ounce bag of toasted Happy Hemp – just leave a comment on this post telling me how you’d like to try to use this in a recipe.  Here’s my recipe for stuffed potatoes using Happy Hemp:

4 nicely rounded Idaho potatoes

1 package onion soup mix (for a vegan version, read the ingredients – some contain milk)

1/2 cup soy or almond milk

2 Tablespoons Earth Balance or other vegan margarine

1/4 cup raw Happy Hemp plus small amount for topping each potato

1 package baby spinach

4 ounces baby bella mushrooms and their stems chopped

Daiya cheddar cheese for topping

Bake the potatoes in the microwave.

While potatoes are baking saute chopped mushrooms in olive oil then put aside.  In the same bowl, add a little water and steam/saute the spinach until limp.  You can also use frozen spinach, but either way, make sure you remove as much moisture as possible before adding to potatoes.

Cut potatoes in half and scoop the cooked insides of the potatoes into a mixing bowl.  Be careful not to rip the skins; you’re going to put the final potato mixture back in the potatoes.  Add soy or almond milk and margerine to potatoes then with an electric mixer mix until smooth.  They should be slightly stiffer than mashed potatoes so adjust liquid accordingly. Add onion mix, stir with a spoon then mix briefly with the beaters to ensure soup mix is completely mixed in.

Add mushrooms and spinach and stir until evenly mixed in then add Happy Hemp.  With a spoon, fill potato skins evenly and place on a baking sheet.  Top with shredded Daiya cheddar cheese.

Place in a 350 degree oven for approximately 15 minutes or until cheese is “melty”.  Remove from oven and serve!  I sprinkled some Happy Hemp on top as well – spreading the hemp love.  These make a great lunch too.  Here’s what mine look like:

If you’re looking for a great primer on vegan cooking that’s especially suited to individuals setting up their first apartment or house, check out Rabbit Food Cookbook by Beth A. Barnett – it’s only $18.10 on the US Amazon website! 

Daily Specials

A description of the Social Media for Small Business workshop I ran last June can be found here.  I am considering a Google Hangout style training session with a maximum of 6 participants in the near future.  If you’re interested, please reach out to me either by email or on Twitter.  I’m happy to help anyone interested in participating set up a G+ account and test their computer for Hangout capabilities.  Keep in mind the outline above was a 4 hour workshop; I will reach out to participants to determine what points in that outline they’d like to discuss.  Who knows, this may become a 2 part Hangout workshop!

If you’re interested in Twitter parties, here’s my post.

Dessert

This month is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and as the daughter of a survivor, I urge you to contribute to the search for a cure.  One of the ways you can do so by purchasing the Calendar of Hope 2013 from the fitterknitter website.  The calendar contains 14 never-before-published knitting patterns, and you can download one of the patterns for FREE.  All proceeds of the sale of these calendars (except of PayPal fees) go to Army of Women.

Please keep in mind the change in Twitter account name; I’m now @thesocialvegan.  If you’ve already followed me, you don’t have to do anything!  This is a great way to reach out to me about anything I talk about on the podcast!  If you’d like to support the podcast (and my trip to Rhinebeck), please consider purchasing a copy of my digital vegan cookbook The Market Vegan.

The Story of Wear Your Beer

Ever since I was a young kid working at my father’s beach supply store, I knew I wanted to one day run my own business. I began working at the store when I was 14, and by the time I was 18, I had worked there for five straight summers and learned a lot about what goes on behind-the-scenes of a small business operation. After graduating high school I entered college as an entrepreneurship major, determined to equip myself with the knowledge and skills necessary to run my own business.

As a kid who had grown up during the internet-age, by the time I was in college I had a good amount of experience with online shopping and online marketplaces. During my second year of college I found myself in need of money and unable to work a real job because of my intense schedule at school. Remembering some products I had seen on eBay that my dad also sold at his store, I got the idea to try my luck as an eBay vendor. Borrowing some inventory from my father’s store, I set up an account and began selling t-shirts online, taking a small cut of the revenue for my part in selling the merchandise online.

For a while, sales were very modest. After about 3 months, I began seeing an increase in the number of daily sales, and decided that there was enough of a demand to justify starting my own website. Both my business partner and I pulled all our savings together and hired a web developer to create our website. Our new business had officially begun!

Initial Expenses

In the beginning money was tight, as I had no outside funding. As an online business, we were very lucky to avoid things like rent and high electricity bills, but still paid a good amount of money to develop a website. Our initial expenses consisted mainly of the cost of goods sold, packaging supplies and postage for sending the merchandise, website hosting, SSL (secure socket layer) certificates, and, of course, the cost of having the website created. In addition to being the initial expenses, these were also the only necessary expenses, making it far more reasonable for two guys in their early 20’s.

Problems

Like any business, we had a fairly rocky start. One of our first problems was finding a reliable hosting and web development team. Because I didn’t have a great knowledge of website development, I found myself receiving quotes for the project that greatly exceeded what I was told to expect. The hosting problem was due to our budget. We began with the cheapest hosting option and found ourselves continuously needing to upgrade as we encountered numerous problems with site crashes and slow loading times.

Another major problem was our shipping process. While I was working out of my apartment, I would leave shipments in the yard in front of my apartment for the USPS man to pick up each day. Whereas most businesses would have a staffed office/warehouse where their products could be picked up, I worked out of my apartment where I lived alone.  Therefore, no one was there each day to wait for the USPS man which opened me up to the risk of having the merchandise stolen each day. Over time we moved into a warehouse, removing the risk of stolen goods and adding more sales and shipping capacity.

Success

While it took a little while for us to make a profit, success came very abruptly when it finally arrived. All of the sudden we went from doing 1-2 orders a day, which was break-even at the time, to 10-15 orders a day. After our first year we began to grow at a rate of about 50%, year over year. Since that time we have moved into a new office, found a larger warehouse to hold our inventory, and expanded the number of websites we run.

For those looking to start their own business on a limited budget, consider starting a business online. Event though you can expect to save on over head, understand that a website is a hefty investment, and is not one to be skimped on as this type of work is a perfect example of the saying “you pay for what you get.” Understand that, without a large marketing/advertising budget, online businesses take a little while to gather steam, especially if your business relies on people finding the website through the use of a search engine. To those entrepreneurs who are reading this, stay focused and positive!

About the Author: Roy Laniado is the founder and owner of WearYourBeer, a website “where folks can find t-shirts, gear and more of their favorite beer, liquor, TV shows, movies and bands. We cater to everyday guys and girls looking to rock awesome t-shirts without paying an arm and a leg and supporting corporate greed.”

What if this isn’t the case for your industry?

A dentist recently approached me about his initial foray into website design and social media management.  He was frustrated because the “experts” in his industry just told him to throw money at the problem by hiring a high end design firm and a social media manager.  While this man earns a good living as a cosmetic surgeon, he’s not a celebrity, and who chooses their dentist based on his tweets?! This got me thinking about how professionals in industries less obviously suited to social media are leveraging various platforms.

At about the same time, I noticed the Twitter account for a lawyer who’s trying to leverage social media to make the public more aware of his practice.  I’m probably as much a fan of lawyers as I am of dentists – I’m sure they’re nice people but their professions are such that I hope I need them rarely if ever.  However, this guy got my attention when he started promoting a Twitter party to celebrate the opening of his new office in Pahrump, Nevada.

You read that right, Pahrump, Nevada, a town west of Las Vegas where, according to Wikipedia, the diner scene in Rain Man where Dustin Hoffman first counts cards was filmed.  (See, that Twitter party raised brand awareness even before it started by prompting internet searches like mine.)

Anyone who knows me, reads this blog, or listens to the podcast knows how much I love Twitter.  I’m pretty up on what’s happening on that platform, but Twitter parties are fairly new to me.  Another podcaster recently hosted one for her 100th episode, and I noticed the tweets going by with the #100sheep hashtag, but I thought it was just another hashtag driven conversation.  I didn’t think this type of “party” could be used as a marketing tool.

Then I checked out GlenLerner’s Twitter party for that new office in Pahrump!

Yes, Glen Lerner’s the lawyer who made the decision to ramp up his social media presence.  Since the end of June he’s added 250 followers on Twitter  and in just this past month, his Klout score jumped from 48 to 54.  Numbers can be misleading and even addicting – remember Faye Dunaway in Network hoping for a 30 share and a 20 rating? – but these stats prove just about every profession can benefit from a social media presence with minimal effort if they have a plan.

Lerner’s Twitter party was a great event that, based on my visit to his Facebook, LinkedIn, and G+ accounts, was seamlessly integrated into his long term social media plan.  Using the hashtag #GetGlen, this event took place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on a Friday in August. We all know just how much work gets done in an office at that time of day during that time of year, right?  The perfect time to entice cube dwellers to check out his Twitter party!  Lerner offered “party goers” the chance to win a $50 Amazon Gift Card (awarded to the “Top Tweeter”) and 2 $25 Amazon Gift Cards (awarded to random participants).  All you had to do was ask or answer a question or just comment on one of the party tweets.

I know what you’re thinking: How did I miss a easy opportunity to win a gift card? And how can a Twitter party work for my business?

Simple! Lerner’s new office wasn’t in the big city, his profession isn’t glamorous (even though those guys on Suits make it look glamorous), and he didn’t throw a lot of money at a marketing campaign. Instead, he spread the word about his small town law office with Twitter (a free platform), and spent all of $75 out of his PR budget for prizes at a virtual event that ran in tandem with the grand opening of the office in the real world.  He was celebrating anyway, so why not take the party online?  With his smart phone in hand, he was able to shake hands with well wishers in Pahrump while chatting with attendees online!

Here’s a quick rundown of how a Twitter party can benefit just about any type of business:

1. Increase brand awareness with relatively little time, effort, and expense.
2. Project a fun corporate image – who doesn’t want to party on a Friday afternoon especially if they’re stuck in the office?
3. Gather feedback about your product or service in a casual, less formal manner that you can refer to later via your hashtag..
4. Gain followers on social media, traffic to your website, and add points to that Klout score!

And just like in the real world, there are Twitter party planners out there to help you. Seriously, there are, but trust me, if Glen Lerner the lawyer can do this, so can you!

There will be another edition this winter along with a recipe or two for the holidays sent just to subscribers, and the final update will be released in Spring 2013.  To celebrate this new version, I’ve dropped the price of the cookbook to $9.99 (purchase using the widget at the top of the sidebar).  Only 5 copies will be sold at this price – just enough to pay for my bus ticket to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival in October!

If you enjoy my blog and podcast, please consider a purchase.  Proceeds allow me not only to keep writing and recording, but also defray costs of trips like NY Sheep & Wool that will be included in a future podcast and blog post!

I had no idea how to evaluate the feasibility of producing and any possible profit I might reap from my ebook, but luckily I already had the technical expertise necessary which was a big advantage.  Writing the cookbook was just as much about creating an additional source of income as it was sharing the ease and benefits of a consuming a vegan diet.  Therefore, I went ahead with the project figuring that worst case, I’d have all of my recipes in one place for my own use as well as a low key marketing tool I could use to interest other people in the vegan lifestyle.

The Market Vegan has yet to appear on any ebook best seller list, but I have sold enough to encourage me to continue adding recipes to the book over the next year.  Today’s guest post comes from David Kendall, another writer with a day job who took the leap into ebook publishing. His straightforward approach to the question, “should I or shouldn’t I?” would’ve saved me a lot of time and angst a few months ago!

Is an ebook worth my time?

If you have written a blog for any length of time, you might be surprised by the amount of content and the number of followers you have accumulated. For many writers, a natural next step at this point is to create an ebook. Certain pros and cons accompany this option, but at the very least, you should consider it.

Of course, an ebook will be much longer than a typical blog post, and therefore will require much more time, work and effort. This can make the prospect of writing a full-length ebook seem overwhelming; however, many bloggers are able to rely extensively on all the posts they have written in the past to create their ebook. An extensive blog that you have been writing for some time can give you a huge head start on writing an ebook.

However, you should also keep in mind that most of the people that follow a blog do so because each post is short and does not require much time to read. This is not to say that your blog’s readers will not be interested in your ebook; it simply means that you should not count on them to all be automatic ebook customers.

The most important thing that you should consider before making the decision to write an ebook is the basic economics involved in the process. Economics teaches that virtually every decision you make in life has a pay off and an opportunity cost.  Use the following formula to help you determine whether writing the ebook is worthwhile:

1. Determine a conservative estimate of the sales your ebook will generate.
2. Determine how much time it will take you to complete it.
3. Determine how much work you could complete on your blog during that time, and what not completing that work will cost you — in advertising and other benefits.

After coming up with realistic inputs, any writer should be able to plug them into this classic economic formula and determine if writing an ebook is worthwhile or not. 

As you can see, choosing whether to write an ebook is not an easy decision. Doing so could rob you of valuable time without providing anything concrete in return. On the other hand, you could find that the process is very satisfying, helps you improve as a writer, attracts even more readers to your blog, and returns a significant financial profit for the time you put into it.

If you do decide to write an ebook, simply ensure in advance that you have the time to do so while still maintaining your day-to-day efforts that pay your bills and continue to build your online audience.

About the Author:  Guest post contributed by David Kendall on behalf of WhoIsHostingThis. David is an online entrepreneur and enjoys freelance writing in his spare time. His articles appear on various entrepreneur blogs.

Thumbnail image courtesy of nuestraherenciaco via Flickr Creative Commons.

The answer is yes, you can!

The two countries I visited the most were Haiti and Ecuador.  While it’s very difficult to obtain a paid teaching position in Haiti simply because the country is so poor – the only options are missionary schools and the school in Port Au Prince run primarily for the children of United Nations employees and missionaries – Ecuador offers numerous opportunities to earn a livable wage while teaching English to students and business people.

I was based in Quito while in Ecuador, the capital and a city much like any mid-sized North American city.  There were many tourists on the streets, thriving retail businesses and office buildings that appeared close to capacity.  In this city as in many others in Latin America, you can either tutor on an individual basis, work for a company teaching English to its employees, or teach at the equivalent of the primary and secondary levels in the US.  There are also opportunities in rural areas; I taught up in the mountains in a small village school.  Be prepared for very little in terms of supplies if you teach in such a school.   This can be very challenging but also quite rewarding.  You’ll discover just how inventive you can be when you have only one crayon per child!

Still not sure teaching abroad is for you?  Below I answer some of the most common questions friends, family, and students often ask me when I tell them about my experience in Ecuador.

Why should you consider teaching abroad?

Language immersion – I was never very good at languages in school but found in every country I’ve visited as either a teacher, student, or vacationer that if I’m surrounded by the language, I begin to pick it up without much effort.  If you decide to teach in Latin America for a semester or a school year, there’s a very good chance you’ll come back fluent in Spanish or Portuguese depending upon what country you visit. I even picked up a few words in Quichua, the language spoken in the mountains around Quito while in Ecuador!

Work experience -  This is especially important if you want to go into education in the US but valuable no matter what your chosen profession in the future.  The ability to adapt to unknown conditions, communicate clearly, and meet the requirements set for you by another culture are all valuable to future employers.  For teachers, this experience will set you apart from all of the other applicants in the shrinking education market here in this country.

Job Opportunities – We all know the current economic climate isn’t good.  However, countries in Latin American have a host of paying jobs for Americans willing to teach English.  Mexico may be your best bet if this is what motivates you; it has the strongest economy in Latin American and benefits from the recent reforms in travel and trade regulations with the United States.  Due to the rise in cross border trade, the ability to speak English makes a Mexican businessman more valuable as an employee so many seek out language tutors,  You may also may find private schools pay higher than public schools in Mexico, the opposite of what you find here in the US.  Finally, Mexico has relaxed its requirements for teachers of English.  As long as you have a TEFL (Teacher of a Foriegn Language) certificate and are a fluent English speaker, you don’t need a post-secondary degree.

Nearly Free Travel – Some employers will pay your travel expenses at least for your initial flight down and your return flight, and some schools, especially those with American students whose parents work abroad, will provide for travel during the holidays and school breaks.  Be prepared, however, to pay your way; that will be your biggest expense.  Food, lodging and travel once in country are much cheaper than we pay here in the States.  For example, I rarely paid more than $2 for a meal while in Ecuador, and even had the unique experience (prior to becoming vegan) of eating chicken feet soup!

Costa Rica, another popular destination for teachers because of its close proximity to the US and relatively cheap airfare, also offers inexpensive dining as well as indigenous roadside treats.  A friend who travels to Costa Rica to surf – it’s known worldwide for it’s superior surf beaches – looks forward to buying pipas or green coconuts from roadside vendors as he travels to and from the beach.  Hacked open with machetes, pipas contain a clear, slightly sweet liquid that, he says, quenches your thirst better than water!

Give Something Back – I traveled as a volunteer.  Even if you travel as a paid teacher, you’re still providing education to individuals who may not have the opportunity to learn English if you didn’t make the decision to teach in their country.  Most teachers choose their profession for the rewards it provides and just hope for a few dollars – and maybe a chance to travel – along the way. You can find some volunteer programs reviews here.

What qualifications do you need to teach in Latin America?

Some schools and countries are stricter than others.  I have a Masters Degree and therefore am qualified to teach just about anywhere.  If you have an education degree, that’s probably all you need, but additional certifications just make you more attractive to potential employers.  Make sure you have at least one of the following:

• Masters Degree
• Bachelors Degree
• TEFL (Teacher of English as a Foreign Language)
• TESOL (Teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages)
• Volunteer experience teaching abroad
• Any business or tourism experience outside the United States
• Journalism experience

Make sure you provide all your documentation to a potential employer before you leave the country.  Also make sure you have any work or residential visas required before you leave the States as they differ from country to country and may not be available once you arrive.

What type of salary can you expect?

While Latin American teachers have some of the lowest salaries in the world, the cost of living in these countries is much less than the US.  Teachers in Brazil, one of the more affluent countries with thriving cultural and urban areas, can make over $700 per month and Chileans, another wealthy South American country, pays their teachers more than $800 each month.  Peru and Honduras are two of the lowest paying countries.  I found Ecuador to be in the midrange based on the few teachers I spoke to there although the teachers in the rural village made much less than their city counterparts.  Just as teachers do here in the US, be prepared to supplement your income with private tutoring especially in countries like Brazil and Chile where the cost of living is high.

Where will I live?

While in Haiti, I stayed in a compound with the family that ran the remote village school since this is a country with few public accommodations.  In Ecuador, I stayed in a high end hostel because I was only in country 2 weeks; if I’d stayed longer, I would’ve sought accommodations with a local family in the village.  Many families rent out rooms for very little and offer the opportunity to practice your language skills and sample local culture and cuisine.  Imagine the difference between staying in your guest room or a hotel in your hometown – who knows better where to go and what to do than local residents?  Again, costs are higher in urban rather than rural areas, but are not nearly the rental rates in the US.

Is there an age limit for people interested in teaching abroad?

NO! I started in my mid-40s and have found that other cultures value maturity over youth when it comes to who teaches their children.  Business people also appear more open to a seasoned professional rather than someone right out of college.  Turn that layoff into an opportunity! Members of other cultures value your experience.  That said, if you’re young, don’t be discouraged!  If you’re female and specialize in teaching younger children, a job abroad is perfect for you!  Many Latin American countries prefer female teachers especially in the younger grades.  Guys do well as coaches and gym and  secondary school teachers.

No matter what your age and experience, there’s an opportunity waiting for you to teach abroad!  If you’d like to learn more, explore job opportunities in Latin America at TeacherKick, a new service matching prospective teachers with a variety of teaching opportunities.

A note about the thumbnail: yes that is me preparing to eat Chicken Feet Soup.  This was prior to my decision to go vegan although I have traveled outside of the country since then.  If you don’t eat meat, be prepared to eat a lot of french fries.  For some reason, every country I’ve visited thinks that’s the appropriate substitute for a non-meat eating American!

I interviewed Sarah at The Coal House coal fired pizza restaurant in Sea Girt, NJ. Best vegan pizza in Monmouth County by far!  I’ve had lunch or dinner there probably once a week over the summer; their free wi-fi was the push this vegan techie needed to become a repeat customer!

Crafty matchmaking was provided by Louise of the CaithnessCraft podcast. She does a lovely piece about teachers in her latest podcast – if you are or know a teacher, you should give it a listen!

Martine from iMake‘s Google+ post prompted me to start knitting Mimi Hill’s Nympheas scarf.

If you’re looking for a great end of summer read, check out Bond Girl by Erin Duffy.  (I got my copy from the library.  You should too!)  I’ll review Rabbit Food Cookbook and Yes, Chef on the October podcast.

For a balanced vegan podcast especially for new vegans or the vegan curious, check out Colleen Patrick Goudreau‘s podcast.  I reviewed her cookbook The Vegan Table on the “Vegan Vampires” episode of this podcast.

The next Podcaster Hangout will occur this Saturday, September 8, 2012 at 11 a.m. east coast time.  You can watch it live on Amanda’s YouTube channel but don’t worry, if you can’t make the live broadcast, I’ll upload the video to this podcast feed that afternoon!

Don’t forget to leave a comment on this post or send me a tweet @themarketvegan to enter to win a copy of Sarah’s Fingerless Mitts with Pockets pattern!

Image Credit: This photo is from the Cinnamon Snail Vegan Lunch Truck’s website.  Follow them on Twitter to find out where in New York or New Jersey they’ll show up today!

So you want to be a coder?

You’ve run across the Thespian masterpiece that is Hackers, and you’ve decided to pursue your destiny as a world class computer programmer. In reality, programming is a lot less dramatic, and far more complex and interesting than Hollywood is ever able to portray.  Far be it for me to disillusion you about your chances of hacking into government databases, so I’ll get you started with some usefulbeginner’s resources to start building your l33t programming skills. Just remember, even Justin Long’s character in Live Free or Die Hard had to start somewhere!

Web Programming Basics: W3Schools is the tutorial site for a lot of the standards the Internet is built on. These are no frills, basic text tutorials with consoles to demonstrate the principles of HTML, CSS, XML, JavaScript and other web standards that will help you get started building your own websites and learn the components of the web that a lot of your web-based applications will be manipulating.

Programming Concepts: Programming isn’t just learning a specific language and syntax, it’s learning toanalyze a problem and develop an algorithm, or set of instructions, to solve the problem. Code Academy and Code School both have free, interactive tutorials that will pose problems, provide code examples in JavaScript and Ruby, and help you work up to writing your own code in the first few minutes. You’ll learn how to use loops, variables, methods and other programming concepts to write your own programs and make it easier to learn new languages, too.

Development Environments: Sure, every computer has at least a basic text editor that you can use to write anything from .html to .java files, but they don’t provide you with any tools for compiling, executing, formatting, debugging or automating code. You’ll quickly learn to appreciate integrated development environments like Netbeans and Eclipse (both free), which do all that and more, including giving you drag-and-drop tools for developing graphical user interfaces.

References: The great thing you’ll learn as you start to program is that somebody has probably done a ton of your work for you. Class libraries and references like the Java API and tutorials, or the Ruby documentation, which all contain ready-made classes and collections that have already solved a lot of problems with time-tested code. Learn how to use these, and you’ll save yourself hours of programming headaches.

Real-time Learning: There’s nothing like having an actual person explain, in detail, how things work and write a program right in front of you. Luckily, there are plenty of YouTube tutorials on programming. If you don’t feel like searching YouTube, watch other people code on Code Player.

That ought to get you started on your path to taking down small governments and join the ranks of the world’s most notorious hackers. If all else fails, you might just decide to dive into a challenging career as a serious programmer. Now, get to coding!

Author bio: Sarah Raymond loves computers, gaming, technology and geek culture. When she isn’t writing at TheTechnologyLounge.com, you might finder her programming flash games or reconstructing Pong in Java.

A New Website Service is Born

Throughout my life I have had the pleasure to live in a number of places from New York to New Mexico; California to Texas. Like many people in my generation, I see moving as fun, exciting, and exhilarating. But it is definitely not an experience without its challenges. When I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2008 I was excited, but when I got there, something just didn’t jive. The Bay is a nice enough place, sure, but it just didn’t jive with who I am. I didn’t know how to articulate the problem, but something just didn’t fit. I felt alien.

In Santa Fe in November 2010, I went out to dinner with an old friend who was living in Chicago. As fate would have it, we were seated next to some friends of his from Chicago. Over the next half hour I discovered these three people who had been living in Chicago for six months knew very little about what it was like to live there.

And that’s not uncommon. When I moved to the Bay Area, I didn’t understand what it was like to actually live there until I lived there for 18 months.

What an absurd notion! It’s only after living somewhere for a year and a half that we finally feel at home?

I quickly found out the reason for this was because the information available about cities was focused on something else. It was focused on tourism. Tourism is where the money is, and how many cities stay afloat. Unfortunately, residents, or prospective residents, end up being neglected. Like many people who end up moving, I spent weeks online looking for information on what it is like to live in the Bay Area. I never did find that information online.

Throughout history technology has been used to make it easier to share information and bring our society closer together. Yet somehow, in 2010, the information needed to help us integrate into a new city was nowhere to be found.

All too often we are bound in the mire of our current ways of gathering and perceiving information, and this is a classic example of being held hostage by our own shortsightedness. Throughout the centuries, human migration, and particularly urbanization, generally happened out of a need for food and for employment. Thanks to grocery stores, we have solved the food problem. Thanks to the internet, more and more people are able to telecommute, and unlike previous generations, the need to live close to work is less important.

MetroSeeker was born from the realisation that I cannot possibly be the only person who gets irritated at spending hours looking for the information I need before moving to a new city.

As a general rule, good companies – successful companies – do not make money because they were built on the concept of making money. They make money because they were built to solve a problem. They were built to serve a greater good.

But having a good idea and having the ability to make a viable business out of it are two different things. Once you get an idea, there are a few tasks you need to undertake before you can jump into your new project with both feet.

Market Research

The first thing I did was market research. I needed to answer the question “Does something like MetroSeeker exist?”

Often times, your idea will be similar to something that’s already out there. When that happens, you need to determine what would be so different about yours. If the answer to this “not much”, then you have an even more challenging question to answer: can the market support you and your competitors?

If you have an idea for a company and nothing like it currently exists, then you’re stuck with the equally challenging question of: why not?

This is an age in which almost everything that can be done, has been done. There is nothing that will waste more of your time than reinventing the wheel. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel; you just need to attach a new wagon to it. What is already being done that you can do better? How is a current service being underutilized?

If you have an idea that nobody else has done, then you need to determine why. Is the market just not there? Perhaps the world isn’t ready for it. Did others try and fail? If so, how did they fail? How can you learn from their mistakes?

What innovation type are you?

There are two primary types of innovations. Evolutionary innovations that improve existing markets, and disruptive innovations that create new markets. You need to determine which type your idea is. By knowing if you’re evolutionary or disruptive you will be able to forecast different challenges that will arise with getting your company up and running.

You might get writer’s cramp.

Get yourself a notebook and write down everything that pops into your head regarding your business and other businesses. Did you see someone do something awesome? Write it down. Did you see someone do something awful? Can you improve on something? Write it down.

In this notebook you should be writing down the steps you would need to take to get a business up and running. A few things to consider:

• Do you need a business license?
• Will you need an office?
• How will you make money? – You don’t need to be rich; you just need to sustain yourself and your company.
• How will you pay your employees?
• Will employees be regular employees or contract workers?
• What form of corporation will you file as? LLC? S-Corp? C-Corp?
• What about your brand? Your brand is an extension of you and your company. What will your brand represent?

Starting a company is not easy, but with preparation and research, it can be done.

About the Author: Ysmay is the founder and CEO of MetroSeeker.com.

Each participant is hosting a few giveaways: I’m giving away a copy of Sarah Punderson’s Adirondack shawl pattern as well as a copy of my digital vegan cookbook.  I interviewed Sarah on the last podcast if you aren’t familiar with this designer.

So watch and/or listen to the podhangout as we discuss how we use tech to do what we do, what we’ve been knitting and what Maria’s been spinning, Keanu Reeves, Mark Wahlberg, and to find out how you can enter to win any or all of our giveaways! (Be patient, if you’re watching it through my website, it may take a moment to load.)

Marci Hansen, Chief Marketing Officer of SheerID provided the following information and infographic that I hope will help students, parents, and professionals more aware of the purchasing power and marketing opportunity available this time of year!

Back-to-School Season is Upon Us

Marketing software to teachers and schools? That’s so two months ago. Every software retailer and reseller knows that August and September are the best time of year to sell software to college students. Ah yes, back-to-school season… How can you tell the season has shifted?

1. You can’t find the laundry detergent at the Big Box store because they moved it all into the seasonal “dorm supplies” aisle.

2. There is no parking within a 5 mile radius of any college campus, but there’s a pile of futons and milk crates stacked in the no parking zones.

3. If you head away from campus, mini-vans and U-Hauls keep swerving into your lane as teary-eyed moms who just dropped off their co-eds burst into tears.

4. Student and academic software sales spike because graphic design students across the country just got their class supply lists.

Hopefully, you already know that you need to offer an academic discount on software to be competitive. If not, better luck next year. If so, I hope you already have a marketing plan in place to advertise your academic software. It turns out 66% of college students don’t even know they qualify for discounts on software. Maybe you’d better read this Infographic on “Selling Software to College Students”.

• To create brand identities on major social media websites including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, YouTube, and Pinterest
• To use social media to send traffic to a brand’s blog or website
• To leverage accounts on each social media site in order to interact with other members and convert them to customers
• Niche social media websites may be more useful for individuals and companies than the major platforms
• The impact social media has on customer service
• Individuals of different backgrounds view social media, and how to tailor social media campaigns to specific demographics
• Privacy and transparency impact the use of social media

This half day workshop gave attendees all the tools they need to create and execute a social media strategy for their business or brand. The syllabus included:

Blogs

1. Elements of a well written blog post
2. How to incorporate underlying goals into content
3. How to engage readers and convert them to customers
4. How to generate traffic to a blog using social media

Social Commerce

1. Understand how purchasing decisions are affected by social media
2. How to conduct sales through social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest

Privacy and Transparency

1. Learn how much information potential customers are willing to provide
2. How to gather information regarding potential customers
3. Appropriate ways to market to customers who have provided contact information beyond the traditional email blast

New Media Marketing

1. How to turn customers into advertising channels

Location-based Social Media

1. Understand how to use a site like FourSquare to attract and retain customers through examples presented in successful LBSM campaigns

Social Media Plan

1. Understand that a company’s social media plan determines what channels to use, what people to engage, and what conversations to join
2. Understand that the process begins by examining what platforms are in use or could be used, what conversations already exist, what’s important to stakeholders, and what resources are available to create the plan.
3. Understand that, ultimately, the social media plan is the playbook for a brand as it launches it’s marketing campaign over the next 6 to 12 months via social media and must provide as much detail as possible to those individuals responsible for following through with the elements of the plan

Below is a screenshot of the integrated ecwid shopping cart entry for one of her products:

Five Ways I Use Google Plus to Promote My Business (guest post)

I used to run a small, work from home business.  I used to sit in my third bedroom, alone, writing articles for no-name business blogs in far flung places.  Now I run a large SEO Copywriting business, writing for some big names and some rising stars.  For me, Google Plus is first, a GREAT SEO tool, probably one of the best on the web, but there is strength too, in its relative quietness.

SEO Musts for Small Business on Google Plus

1.  Indexing

Getting your blog content indexed (added to the Google library) is relatively easy once your site is up and running.  In just a few days, Google will crawl your site and add any new content to its library… just as long as your site is great … just as long as it’s well set up … just as long as your blog entries are no more than three clicks from the home page… just as long as they’re new and fresh.  What about old blog entries that have fallen out of the index, or ones buried deep deep down in your blog or website?  Share them on your Google Plus profile and page and you’ll be indexed straight away!

2.  Anchor Text

Anchor text is your keyword made into a link.  When you post a link to your site on Facebook, you can only post a link, you can’t make the link read your keyword.  What this does is tells Google to list your website in searches for that keyword.  Google Plus is the only social platform that enables Anchor Text linking.  Do it in your profile.

3.  Deep Linking

Deep linking is when you don’t just build SEO friendly links to your home page but also to other pages on your website or to older blog entries.  This keeps all those pages growing in power.  On your Google Plus profile, you’re able to add as many pages as you like and pair them with anchor text. This means that you can have powerful links to multiple pages on your website without paying a cent!

The benefits of getting onto Google Plus NOW while it’s still pretty quiet!

4.   Do Follow

When a website links to yours, it will do so with either a do follow link or a no follow link.  A no follow link is thought to give you no SEO power (although is allegedly still of value for your domain trust score) a do follow link gives you power.  When you get a do follow link from a site as powerful as Google Plus, well, it’s awesome!  Pinterest used to be do follow but changed when it became very popular and no doubt Google Plus will do the same.  It’s a great tool for Google to get people using their site by giving them this big SEO boost if they do, so take advantage of it while it lasts!

5.  Networking

This is the most powerful reason to get your business on Google Plus right now – because all the big businesses are there.  The cream of your industry is there, throwing money at their Google Plus page because they know the benefits and want to take advantage of it now.  The problem is, unlike Facebook, there are not enough people using it regularly to create a real social presence.  So when you comment, they’ll listen.  In fact, they’re dying for you to comment, share, and circle their page. They want you to get involved in their brand.  It’s a closed audience with the leaders in your industry.  You have their attention.  You can ask advice, share ideas, create awesome networking opportunities for yourself and grow your business in a way that has never been possible before.  But not for long – the more people who join, the more competitors who pop up, the less your brand will be lost in the noise.  You must act now to take full advantage of Google Plus.

Google Plus also helps you to establish your author reputation (which is an up and coming SEO tool), to become a consistent content marketer, to build up a Google Plus Local presence and to use hangouts and other awesome features that other platforms just don’t have.  It’s really a great social medium; it’s time to get onboard!

That was my blog until about a year ago.

Since I haven’t read the subsequent books in the Twilight series, I can only wonder whether Bella begins to notice that there’s a world beyond high school and that actions have consequences.  I doubt it (especially based on the recent exploits of the actress who played Bella).  My blog paid just as little attention to the world at large as Bella.

Older posts on this site (the high school years as it were) took inspiration from reverb 2010, a month long reflection through daily blog prompts.  By nature, these posts were personal yet written as part of a larger community so they didn’t live in complete isolation, just the narrow clique of other reverbers. (Maybe there’s a bit of Cher from Clueless in this blog as well.)   I enjoyed the experience so much, I continued writing posts in a similar style on a regular basis. Over time, I added recipes and reflections on education and social media, but the community around my blog remained those I met through reverb.

Then finally my blog got a wake up call last November and learned that it’s not all about me.

It’s about you, the reader.

Last fall, Bella the blog met Jacob the podcast.  In the first book of the Twilight series, Jacob’s a minor character and according to the author wasn’t meant to be much more than a device to move the narrative along.  Much like Jacob, my podcast was originally intended to be a minor player in my online bag of tricks.  I started teaching a class in new media last year, and while I know how to do the technical aspects of a podcast, I’d never actually recorded one myself and released it into the wild.  I introduced the podcast to the blog and in turn found another audience, still small but very open to the podcast’s format and content.

Over the past 10 months I’ve produced 13 episodes and participated in one video episode, the Podcaster Hangout.  During that process, my podcast taught my blog 4 valuable lessons:

1. Math is not the enemy. Bloggers should pay attention to their stats not to see how many hits and page views they’ve received (those numbers are as deceptive as a vampire), but to discover how and why your readers land on your site.  Reviewing my stats, I learned that the vast majority of visitors came for the food and vegan recipes, and by far the most popular segments on the podcast are, you guest it, all about food.  The book reviews run a close second, so when I revamped the podcast in July, food and books became two of the three main segments of the podcast.  I also began to include more blog posts about cooking and dining out this summer as well as a few book reviews and giveaways, and my traffic has doubled in the past two months.

Don’t fear the numbers; they’ll help you build your audience and turn them into fans!

2.  It’s not about me, it’s about you.  Sounds simple, right? So many blogs are just public diaries of their authors’ thoughts and experiences, and there’s certainly an audience for that type of writing, but just as Jacob made Bella consider Edward wasn’t exactly who he said he was, my podcast made me realize that I wanted to reach a larger, broader audience than my personal essays attracted.  By providing information of interest to my audience written by myself and guest bloggers, I’ve changed the focus of the blog from introspection to information.  That’s not to say there’s no room for reflection; after all, the post your reading is a reflection! However, the days of diary entries are over here at VoxpopNJ.

3.  If you build it, they won’t even notice. I have a relatively large Twitter following under my private account which I created in 2008 and have attempted to run multiple accounts in the past.  Unlocking that Twitter account is still not an option, so this summer, I decided to create the @themarketvegan account in order to publicize the cookbook and reach a new audience for the podcast and blog using informative tweets rather than what I’m having for lunch tweets (or snarky tweets about the closing ceremonies of the Olympics or the antics of the Republican Party).

Each day, I make sure I tweet a recipe or informative link once an hour from late morning to early evening.  Interspersed in those tweets are 2 or 3 about following the blog, buying the cookbook, or listening to the podcast, but the majority of tweets attempt to educate followers about the vegan lifestyle and eco-friendly living.  With close to 300 followers in less than 2 months and a nice growth in readership and listeners (see #1), this approach proves that if you build it using great content and show potential visitors the benefit to finding you, they will come.

4. It takes a village to raise a podcaster (and a blogger). The reverb community encouraged and inspired me to start this blog, but after the event ended (and the founder departed), most members of the community went their separate ways.  Yes, I still chat with and read the blogs of a few folks from that time, but it’s nothing like the conversation and support I’ve received from fellow podcasters.

Women like @venusfueri of Subway Knits, @CraftLife, @CaithnessCraft (who’s podcasts got me through the worst moments of Hurricane Irene last summer), @imakeGuernsey (aka “The Enabler” without whom there would be no cookbook), and @aplayfulday not only inspire me to continue podcasting but provide encouragement and assistance when all doesn’t go as planned.  Even @shinybees, a newbie podcaster, provides some much needed encouragement via Twitter and her enlightening use of Afrikaans vocabulary!

Blogs, like podcasts, need support and encouragement.  I’ve yet to discover a blogging community quite as close knit (pun intended!) as the one that’s grown up around my podcasting niche, but I’m still looking.  Maybe I just have to start my own!

So, dear reader, our story ends with Jacob the podcast teaching Bella the blog to pay attention to the world around you, start a conversation, get involved with a community, and don’t be afraid of math – it’s not nearly as scary as that stalkerish vampire!

If you’d like to see the village in action, check out our next Podcaster Hangout on September 8th at 11 a.m. East Coast time on Amanda’s CraftLifeInMotion YouTube Channel.  At the time I write this, the topic will be “When Tech Attacks”, a rather fitting choice based on the content of this blog post!

An overview of Instagram, and why you should be part of the movement!

It was great news when Instagram finally became available on Android (OS) to hipsters and other photo enthusiasts on April 3. The great thing about Instagram is that it allows you to take photos and then apply digital filters after which you are allowed to share your photo on other social sites such as Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr. You can also choose to post the photos directly on Instagram instead of sharing on other social sites.

Intagram is not just any photo sharing social site. It’s much more than that. Most of its appeal lies in the fact that it’s original. Photos posted on Intagram are framed in a square shape, something that was common to the old times Instamatic or Polaroid photos. Instagram allows the use of digital filters which allow a person to use their artistic side to make the pictures look better. Intagram is therefore versatile in more ways than one.

Instagram works on the go. That’s to say that the application allows one to capture a photo using their iPhone or Android device and immediately upload their picture on Instagram for public viewership. Since it works on mobile devices and you have your phone with you most of the time, it means that you can let the rest of the world see what interests you any time of day or night.

Now that you know what you need, you’re probably wondering what you would use it for. Good question!  Apart from adding to your list of social media forums, Intagram gives the user an opportunity to keep in touch with friends and family in a unique way. That said, it can also be used for doing business. It’s up to you!

Instagram for Pleasure
Capture photos of anything pleasure related so to speak. It’s best to add or use filters to show some creativity. This should be done for every picture one wishes to upload. Here are some examples of how Instagram can be used for pleasure or personal use:

1. Travel pictures – show your followers sites and places of places you have been to. Let them see the world through your photos.
2. Baby photos – make them drool over the cutest babies they have ever laid their eyes on.
3. Food Pictures – capture images of different cuisines and apart from making your followers salivate, this is a great way to educate people about what other people at home and abroad.
4. Humorous pictures – anything goes here really. Post pictures of anything that seems awkward and makes you laugh. Chances are that someone else out there will think the pictures are funny too.

Intagram for Business
Instagram can serve as an effective tool in relation to doing and transacting business. Truth be told, it’s never easy to stay fresh and relevant over social media. The good newsis that Instagram is not a complete social media platform; it’s more of an add on to all the other platforms out there. You’re most likely already talking about your business or brand on the well known social media websites, right?

If you answered no to this question, perhaps it’s about time you thought about doing that!

It helps your contacts see the softer more human aspect of you and your business. The well known social media websites have over the years become flooded with images which makes Instagram a creative option for business promotions:

1. Take a photo of your brand, adjust the lighting to make it a bit visible and share it through your preferred social media forum.
2. Tag your picture(s). Always have a descriptive tag associated with the image for instance #development, #architecture or #design. Tagging your photos makes them much easier to find and in effect much more business for you. If you want to direct more traffic to an otherwise serious or geeky website, try sharing photos tagged #photo of the day or #funny.

Social media is all about sharing and if Intagram is to make any difference for your business you need to share your photos. Instagram has a better impact as compared to other social websites since it allows one to post visual updates. Sharing your pictures allows you to meet people with whom you share common interests and therefore giving you an opportunity to grow your business.

Just imagine what you can do if you develop a social media plan that integrates Instagram with Pinterest!

About the Author: Steve Stretton writes for a company that assists businesses in growing their Instagram profile.

Below is a video of the extended scene with the quote that begin’s this episode of the podcast:

Podcasts mentioned in the episode:

Our Hen House

Red Radio

The Vegan Option

The Knitmore Girls

Craftlife

iMake

Subway Knits

Shinybees

CaithnessCraftCollective

TVKnittingPodcast

and follow @VeganAri on Twitter!!!

Below is a picture of the delicious yarn sent to me by Anna (AnythingButSocks) – thanks Anna!!

Patio Seating section:

The Wingspan pattern I mention can be found here.

If you are in the Plano, TX, area definitely check out the Woolie Ewe in person and join their ravelry group! Here’s the yarn I scored – more about the Woolie Ewe in the next podcaster hangout!

Below is a pic of the dishtowel I was suspiciously inspired to start knitting just before I went to visit my family (I know it was you, Grandma G.!):

The pattern is from the Pints & Purls book I reviewed in an earlier podcast.

Below is a pic of the finished Damson – woohoo!

…and here’s the pic of me, Mom, and my sister at my wedding:

(Obviously, Mom is the beauty in the family.)

Lunch Counter section:

I review Knitscene Accessories.  Find more info about Robin Ulrich at robinulrich.blogspot.com.

Vegan Options section:

I review The United States of Arugula by David Kamp.

Daily Specials section:

TheMarketVegan on Google+

Laura Gesin on Quora

Dropbox is a wonderful, free file saving and sharing service.

Dessert section:

I can be found on various social media websites:

@themarketvegan on Twitter

TheMarketVegan on Google+

Laura Gesin on Quora

You can reach me via email at themarketvegan (at) gmail (dot) com.

Please consider purchasing a digital copy of the cookbook to support this podcast.  You’ll also get a subscription to 3 more “enhanced” versions of the cookbook throughout the year! (The link to purchase can be found at the top of the sidebar.)

The photo associated with this post is not me (but could be me in spirit). It’s used courtesy of Kevin Dooley via Flickr.

Pinterest is the coolest, hippest new social networking site that is making waves, and part of the reason it’s so popular is because it only has two things:

Pins and Boards

Boards house pins, and pins are items you wish to share. That’s it! What could be simpler?

By using a plugin you can install into your internet browser, you pin an image or a video to a board with ease. You decide what your boards are about. I have boards about travel, art, urbanism, books, yoga, and many more. I even have a board dedicated to the epic Honey Badger.

Launched in March 2010 Pinterest is still in open beta, but the popularity is growing. Unique visitors to Pinterest increased by 155% from December 2011 to January 2012. It’s not just users who are taking note: Venture Capitalists think Pinterest is onto something too. This last October, Andreessen Horowitz valued Pinterest at $200 million, and gave Pinterest $27 million in funding.

This post will walk you through the basics of Pinterest. Pinterest is the social network to be on right now, so don’t waste anymore time! Let’s get started.

Signing Up and Starting your Profile

At the time of this writing, Pinterest is still invitation only, but odds are you know someone who is using it. Ask your friends on Facebook and Twitter if anybody can invite you. Alternatively, on the Pinterest home page there is a button where you can submit your email address and they will send you an invitation when one is available.

Once you sign up, go ahead and fill out your profile. You can access this from the settings on the upper right hand side of the page. Your profile is different than your Facebook or Twitter profile. Your profile is simply a small box on the left side of your pin boards. Your profile should include a brief bit about you and link to your website.

In the settings it is very important to do 3 things: link to Facebook, link to Twitter, and leave the box alone for “visibility.” If you turn on “Hide your Pinterest profile from search engines,” your profile will not show up in Google, and this will hurt your visibility.

Creating Boards

Once you’ve finished that go ahead and create a couple boards. You can always add, rearrange, and delete boards later, but it’s good to have something to start with. The key is to start a long-term following. People won’t follow you if you don’t give them something to follow. Pinterest will automatically populate a few board titles for you, but you don’t have to stick with them.

Pinning and Repinning

Throughout the course of your day you can pin things to your boards as you see them online. When I’m surfing the ‘net, I pin things that I find of interest wherever I am. (Keep in mind you cannot pin something from Facebook due to Facebook’s policies.) When you pin something it will show up on your followers home page, and anybody and everybody that follows you will see what you just pinned.

Repinning is like retweeting: easy to do and a great way to get publicity. When someone repins one of your pins, it shows up on their board while remaining on your board. Your pin shows up on the homepage of all their followers. Repins show where the original pin came from, which helps boost your visibility. At this stage of Pinterest’s life, it is still difficult to determine what exactly will get repinned. So far the top contenders for highest rate of repins are:

• Words (quotes, words of wisdom, etc)
• Food (recipes, yummy looking food)
• Travel (places to go, places you want to go)
• Tattoos (interesting, funny, beautiful)

Getting and Maintaining Followers

Once you sign up, you can invite your friends from Facebook and Twitter, and it will show you people you’re already friends with who are on Pinterest. To do this, make sure your Pinterest account is linked to your Facebook and your Twitter. Most of the time, your friends will follow your boards once they see you’re on Pinterest as well.

By keeping your Pinterest account linked to Facebook and Twitter you will build awareness among your friends about your pinning activities.

When you pin something, you do not have to share it with Facebook and Twitter if you do not want to. You can simply uncheck the box, but not sharing it with Facebook and Twitter can have a negative impact on your marketing efforts. At this stage, it is important to leverage your existing followers.

Once you get followers, you need to maintain them. You can do this by looking at your boards and seeing what boards have the most followers.

The difference between traditional followers and Pinterest followers is that on Pinterest people can follow all of your boards or just the ones that interest them. This keeps their home feed from becoming cluttered with things that don’t really interest them. As a result it is not at all uncommon for an individual board to have a larger following than the user who created it.

Every now and then I send out a tweet or an announcement on Facebook that I am an obsessive Pinterester, and I share my Pinterest address. It is perfectly o.k. to ask people to follow you. If you have quality content, often they are happy to do it!

Content is King

People are less likely to follow someone who sits there and promotes themselves all day long, so if you’re an artist, musician, or someone otherwise promoting themselves, it’s important you don’t sit there and market yourself all day. If you talk at people, they will tune you out. If you engage people, they will interact. Pinning only things about yourself will make you seem desperate and spammy. It is essential to show your humanity and let people see more of your personality.

This is why on Pinterest content is king. Your content absolutely must be engaging and relevant to the community or your Pinterest marketing efforts will fail.

There are a number of things you can pin other than your own artwork:

• Artwork that inspires you
• Books worth reading
• Colour palates in nature
• Useful organization ideas
• Words of wisdom
• Museum exhibits
• Inspiration
• Architecture marvels

Striking a Balance

As with all social media, you should follow the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule. Your pins should be 80% social and 20% marketing. That is to say 80% of what you post needs to be of use to the community and 20% can be your own self-promotion. Using Pinterest for shameless self-promotion can result in a decrease of followers which is the exact opposite of what you want to happen! (Remember: the goal is to build up long-term followers)

Marketing consultant Cynthia Wenslow recommends 90/10: 90% social and 10% marketing. Whether you follow 90/10 or 80/20 is ultimately up to you, but make sure you don’t head into 70/30 territory lest you wish to be seen as desperate and spammy!

Wrapping It Up

Pinterest is extremely addicting and very popular amongst women. Like some social networking sites that have gone the way of the dinosaur, Pinterest isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Good marketing is remixable and easy to redistribute. When things are easy to redistribute, you can get a significant amount of buzz. Pinterest makes it incredibly easy redistribute content, and with very little effort, Pinterest can be turned into a very beneficial outlet for your marketing efforts.

Happy Pinning!

About the Author: Ysmay is the founder and CEO of MetroSeeker.com. She can be found pinning away at Pinterest.com/ysmay.

This trip, we dined at 3 regional restaurant chains, all of which were very open to providing vegan options. My mother, daughter and I had lunch at La Madeleine, and I returned for another lunch with my mother after the kids headed back to New Jersey.  We like to refer to this fare as “lady food” but it’s a great light lunch option for guys as well.  On the first visit, I had the Vegetarian Hot Sandwich with a side of Tomato Basil Pesto Pasta Salade.  The servers assured me that the only parmesan cheese in the pesto dish was sprinkled on top, so I asked that they omit that along with the provolone in the sandwich.  They remembered not to add the parmesan but my sandwich arrived with provolone.  However, they very quickly remedied their mistake, and my lunch was delicious.   On our second visit, I asked for the Spinach Salade without bacon, and this arrived prepared as expected.  A generous salad, it made for a filling yet light lunch.  If you’re looking for a quick, bistro style lunch in the Dallas area, especially if you’re near one of the many many malls in that part of the world, you can go wrong as a vegan at La Madeleine.

Tuesday evening, I made arrangements to meet up with a fellow podcaster, Amanda from CraftLife, at The Wooley Ewe then head over to Souper Salad for a light dinner.  (As tempted as I am to review The Wooley Ewe and share my adventures in real life with Amanda, any reader interested in our visit to that Dallas knitting hot spot should listen to my next podcast and tune into our next hangout.) What a great idea and a real bargain! All you can eat soup, salad, and dessert, and the online menu conveniently indicates vegan options. I had an exceptionally fresh salad with just about every vegetable option you can imagine along with a bowl of the vegetarian black bean soup (which is vegan).  Souper Salad isn’t fancy, but the majority of the food on offer is healthy, the price is right especially if you’re feeding a large family or group, and they’re very kind to 3 women who want to sit and chat long after they’ve finished their meal.

On Sunday, we dined at Cafe Brazil, a restaurant and coffee shop with 10 locations in the Dallas area.  Both my daughter and I got vegetarian entrees.  I opted for the Grilled Veggie Sandwich without the Feta Cheese (making it vegan for me) which comes with a surprisingly large and varied cup of seasonal fruit.  Sarah chose the Veggie Deluxe Sandwich with cucumbers, spinach, tomatoes, avocados and a pesto cream cheese also with a side of fruit.  I think if I dine there again I will get the Veggie Deluxe without the pesto cream cheese.  The Grilled Veggie Sandwich was good but without the cheese, the grilled vegetables had a tendency to fall out of the sandwich.  Still tasty, but I was quite jealous of the large avocado slices on Sarah’s sandwich.  We also shared a generous side of sweet potato fries, something the 2 of us order whenever we see it on the menu.

Cafe Brazil was by far my favorite dining destination this trip.  The only disappointment at Cafe Brazil for my East Coast daughter was the lack of iced coffee. While the server offered to bring her a glass of ice to make iced coffee with their bottomless hot coffee option, we’re used to iced coffee made extra strong to combat how diluted the beverage gets when ice is added.  This surprised both of us because this restaurant chain chooses locales close to college campuses, and as a college student herself, Sarah knows just how important coffee can be to the demographic!  When the heat hits 3 digits, Cafe Brazil might want to offer a true iced coffee to it’s younger clientele.

La Madeleine, Souper Salad, and my favorite, Cafe Brazil, are excellent choices for vegans dining out in Dallas looking for flavorful options from accommodating restaurant chains.  If any of my readers in the Dallas area have suggestions for my next trip, please leave a comment!

Restaurants are becoming a lot more accommodating for vegetarians and vegans.  There are several chain restaurants in the United Kingdom which have some great vegan options on their menu so you can still go for meals in your non-vegan friend’s favorite restaurants.

Cafe Soya, Birmingham:

Cafe Soya is a vegan’s dream. Everything on the menu is vegan even the ‘chicken skewers’ and ‘duck dishes’ they are made from ‘mock meat’ made from soya and vegetable fiber. The amazing variety of vegan Chinese dishes out there is an eye opener for any diner. Since they make their soya products – milk and tofu – daily they have no need for additives. Health conscious vegans out there, what more could you ask for?

Wagamamas:

Wagamamas makes eating out as a vegan very easy. Their website has a list of dishes that meet vegan dietary requirements as well as dishes that can be adapted for vegans. Items include their freshly pressed juices (a particularly easy way to get a few servings of friuts or vegetables for the day), as well as a variety of tasty dishes from Itame (sticky rice noodles in coconut and lemongrass soup with tofu and vegetables) to Yasai Cha Han (be sure to ask for no egg).  These restaurants are found all over the UK, and it is an easy, safe choice for vegan diners.

Nando’s:

Believe it or not, the popular chicken restaurant, Nando’s, has vegan options on their menu. The Nando’s veggie wraps are suitable for vegans, but you have to make sure to ask for no mayonnaise. They also use separate cooking areas for non-meat food items and have specific utensils for vegetarian food. This was one of the most surprising vegan finds in terms of a big chain restaurant’s menu.

Sushi Bars:

Obviously the sushi containing fish is unsuitable for vegans but there are several other choices that don’t contain animal products. Cucumber or Avocado Maki is vegan-friendly as is Miso Soup or Firecracker rice. There are also many sushi bars that offer marinated tofu which is a great option for vegans.  Sushi is known to be relatively low calorie and is a great way to spice up your vegan dining experience.

Pizza Express:

Pizza Express caters well for vegans; all of their pizza dough, pan oil and tomato sauce is suitable for vegans and so long as you let them know whilst ordering they tend to be very helpful, making sure all the non-vegan toppings are left off. Even whilst ordering online you can select the ‘no cheese’ option .

M&S (Marks & Spencer):

For food on the go, M&S is a pretty safe bet. There are a number of vegan friendly salads available as well as vegetable samosas. Some of the seemingly vegan sandwiches may not be due to spreads that contain milk.  With a bit of precaution and label reading, M&S is a great port of call for an on the go lunch or a quick snack.

Pret a Manger:

Much like M&S, Pret is a go to place for on the go vegans. Although somewhat limited, there are a few vegan options on the menu. These include the chunky hummus salad and the five bean cassoulet soup.  In this chain’s airport branches, the hummus and roaster red peppers as well as the mezze salad are vegan friendly too.

Al Faisals, Birmingham:

Claiming to have served the first balti in Birmingham, Al Faisals is a great place to go for some spicy vegan cuisine. The prices are very good, a vegetarian balti can set you back as little at £5.50.  Al Faisals’ bring your own alcohol policy  means you can bring a bottle of your favorite vegan wine or beer which makes it even less expensive to go out of a great meal with friends. This restaurant also underwent a fancy makeover recently and it looks really lovely. There is even an option of eating outdoors.

About the Author:  Jenny Hart writes on behalf of a healthcare business in the UK. She strongly believes that prevention through healthy diet and exercise can be more important than treatment itself.

Photo courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons / Roland Tanglao

Whether you’ve already begun your summer travels or are sitting in the office daydreaming about them, one of the most fun parts of the trip is always the menu. Thanks to the glories of smartphones, you don’t have to plan ahead too much to be able to find the best vegan fare wherever your vacation takes you. I’ve collected what I consider the top ten apps for traveling vegans, although take note that some are more broadly for vegetarians. They don’t all provide the same information, so no reason to limit yourself to just one!

1. HappyCow - This is the most popular database of vegetarian, vegan, and veggie-friendly restaurants around the world and allows you to search by city or current location using your phone’s GPS.
2. Vegan Xpress – This app can tell you what the vegan options are at common non-Vegan restaurant chains as well as common supermarket items, wine and beer.
3. Veggie Passport – A simple translation of tons of phrases that vegetarians specifically will need when traveling abroad. Includes phrases that won’t be in common travel books, in 34 different languages.
4. Be Nice to Bunnies – Rather than tell you about food products, this app has detailed information about toiletries, cleaners, and many more products that are animal-cruelty-free, including data about animal testing.
5. Berlin Vegan Guide – OK, so this one is only helpful if you’re traveling to Berlin, Germany for vacation, but we’re including it here as an example of an app with everything. This app includes restaurants, groceries, organic produce, toiletries and even which coffee shops stock soy milk.
6. Go Vegan! – On vacation or at home, this is a vegan cookbook with tons of extra tools including an email shopping list, video tips for vegan cooking and recipes for vegan alternatives to things like parmesan cheese.
7. Cruelty Free – Although this is pretty similar to the Be Nice to Bunnies app, it’s layout is simpler and may be easier for some people to navigate on-the-go.
8. iLocate – This is actually a whole set of apps that can help you find things near your location, including a vegan restaurant locator which can help you find directions, maps and contact info.
9. Secretly Vegan – This includes tons of common brands of food you’re likely to find in any supermarket. Search for an ingredient and the app will give you a list of which brands are vegan.
10. Whole Foods Market Recipes – A large recipe database lets you search for only recipes tagged as vegan and you can search by ingredient, which is handy if you’re traveling and need to make do with whatever’s on hand.

Eat well and enjoy your summer travels!

About the Author: Eva Forman is a researcher and blogger for Consumer-Rankings.com, an in-depth comparison and review site where she blogs about gadgets and technical services.

Email me at themarketvegan (at) gmail (dot) com before Saturday, July 28th at 3 p.m. to win either a copy of my vegan cookbook The Market Vegan or a copy of Living Vegan for Dummies, a great resource if your either considering a plant based diet or are just vegan curious!

Martine is giving away two craft books, One Hour Craft, and Fabric Jewelry. Email Martine at info (at) imake (dot) gg   before 8 p.m. next Saturday (Guernsey time) to be entered to win one of her giveaways!

Amanda is giving away a summer copy of Jane Austen Knits Summer 2012 as well as 2 free patterns from ravelry (very generous).  You can email her at treacleandink (at) hotmail (dot) com before next Saturday at 2 p.m. Central time.

I was very neglectful and took no notes whatsoever, so you’ll have to watch the hangout to hear all about what we’re knitting, why we podcast, how we choose our yarn, what we love about social media, why so many podcasters are teachers, why I should invest in a really nifty showball microphone, and lots of other great podcaster chat! (You can also find Amanda’s accurate show notes on the youtube page here.) (Note the video below may take a moment to load if you view this directly from my website – the file is currently hosted on Dropbox.)

UPDATE: Meghan D. & Julie S. were the winners of my giveaways for first podcaster hangout! Look for more giveaways during the September hangout coming the second weekend in September!

You finally did it. You booked your first vacation at Disney world. You have been looking at deals for months for something to come into your price range. You found the resort you wanted at the price you wanted, and you were able to get the free Disney dining plan for booking a hotel on Disney property. The one thing you are worried about it the food selection.

There’s never been a mouse as magical and enchanting as Mickey. Vegans who love Disney but were worried about the fare need fear no more. Walt Disney World offers plenty of tasty and healthy options for guests with very specific dietary needs, even fully vegan menu choices. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by the wide range of choices available at any given restaurant and by the amazing deals on the menus. What’s more, chefs sometimes create masterpiece meals from scratch based on your needs. Take a look at some of these meals and get ready to pack your bags!

Jiko – The Cooking Place is a jewel in the landscape of Disney World’s dine in restaurants. It is located in the Animal Kingdom Lodge, so the food has a distinctly African flair. It also boasts one of the biggest selections of South African wines in North America, many of which are vegan. This is a big deal for wine lovers, as they have the option of pairing wines with great vegan creations. A typical vegan dinner includes an appetizer called Taste of Africa. This is a wonderful sampler of four African styled dips, including a masala and green olive hummus dip with lentil pappadam bread. An entree option is the roasted curry vegetables in a coconut basmati rice, various colorful vegetables and nuts and a gorgeous curry sauce. Hungry yet?

Faithful Disney visitors love two things: good deals and great food. Sometimes, the chef is more important than the actual restaurant, and this is certainly the case with Chef TJ, who was previously at 1900 Park Fare, but is now at the Grand Floridian Cafe. Since both restaurants have a joint kitchen, it’s reasonable to think that he’s got his hand dipped in both. Vegan guests often plan their trips around eating at his restaurants, and there’s are two reasons why:

• Sun-dried tomato hummus, with plantain chips, and vegan spring rolls and sweet sauce are to die for vegan options available at 1900 Park Fare. .
• A salad of a grilled head of Romaine with cubed mangoes, avocados, pistachios and balsamic vinaigrette also available at 1900 Park Fare.
• The Grand Floridian Cafe doesn’t have vegan dishes on its menu, but if you call ahead, Chef TJ and company can create something delectable for you.

The buffet at Tusker House has a stellar reputation as the place to go if you’re looking for an amazing vegan buffet experience. The buffet menu changes often, but some of the mouth-watering dishes you’ll find there include Moroccan-inspired cous cous with vegetables, green beans coated lightly with olive oil, barbecue glazed tofu strips, and broiled, seasoned potatoes. The best part is, the buffet is a great deal: it’s an all-you-can-eat affair, so there are no limitations on how much you can eat in one sitting. That’s definitely a plus!

If you want something a little different, there’s The Wave. You might need to call ahead to plan your menu with the chef and plan on something like the portabella mushroom stack entree complete with zucchini, yellow squash, tomato sauce and eggplant. For a more casual experience, the Columbia Harbor House offers up a vegan chili, which might be featured as a soup of the day, or listed on the menu, depending on the season. It is thick, fragrant and flavorful, with beans and tofu for texture.

Disney is very flexible, so It’s easy to have a wonderful dining experience at Walt Disney World, even if you’re a vegan. Plan a little, communicate with the hotels and restaurants you plan to eat at to give them an opportunity to plan your meals, and you’ll enjoy sumptuous, stress-free dining experience!

About the Author: Margaret Swanson has taken her children, ages 9 and 7, to Disney many times. She resides in Spring Hill, FL.

Photo of Mickey Mouse courtesy of Flickr/Richard Stephenson

This month, I’ve added Eggplant & Italian Bread Lasagna, Vegan Panzanella with Rum Herb Dressing, and one of my summer favorites, Vegan Potato Salad.  It’s like a cookbook subscription for $12.99!

Some of the recipes I’m working on for the next update: Tofu Dill Summer Sandwich Spread, Peach Crostatas, and Vegan Crème Brûlée for the @knitmoregirls!

Body Loves Chocolate, Gluten Not So Much – What’s a Pastry Lover to Do?

Kalena loves chocolate. Work days are spent consuming chocolate delights then hiding the evidence in desk drawers. Vacations are planned around visiting chocolate shops. Coworkers return from trips with chocolate presents in tow. A bad day? Ease it away with a few ounces (or lots more) of truffles. A good day? Celebrate with a dark chocolate that melts sinfully on the tongue. . .

There may be readers of Theft By Chocolate who can’t imagine any real person consuming as much chocolate as lead character, Kalena Boyko. But based on some of the darker periods in my own life, I confess that it’s very much possible to live almost exclusively on sugar. I can also honestly admit that veering from a balanced diet is a big disservice to one’s physical and emotional well-being.

About twenty years ago, I had some health issues that led to body chemistry imbalances, and extreme sugar cravings resulted. At the same time, I developed a severe sensitivity to gluten and to fruits, so sweets such as cakes, pies, and anything made with flour or fruit were problematic. To add insult to injury, my body was not happy with any kind of grain-based flour, even non-gluten based ones like rice flour. What was a pastry-loving, sugar-craving woman to do?

Two decades ago, non-gluten alternative products were almost non-existent, at least not in Canada. And the non-gluten goods that were available often tasted like and had the consistency of sawdust. So the easiest way to satisfy my uncontrollable sugar fixes was through chocolate consumption which, back in the day, meant eating a lot of standard candy bars usually made of ingredients that were not particularly body-friendly.

Over the years, I was able to achieve a healthier body chemistry through the help of probiotics (which I still take daily and swear by), reducing stress in my life by taking up practices like yoga, by being very active, and working with nutritionists and holistic health practitioners. My tolerance to gluten varies depending on my stress levels, so I have also added meditation to my daily routine. Currently, my chocolate cravings have mellowed in comparison to those early years – and I can even eat pastries.

But our culture has come a long way in terms of products available for people with issues such as those I encountered. I’ve been both ecstatic and disheartened by the changes I’ve seen take place in the food industry. The rising awareness about what we put into our bodies has led to increasing diet options. We’re definitely heading in the right direction. But it’s also a sign of the epidemic-like proportions of the population who, like me, are gluten-sensitive and have an intolerance for chemical food additives.

Like my lead character Kalena in Theft By Chocolate, chocolate is still my weapon of choice when sugar cravings are triggered. But now, even the somewhat progressive convenience store located at the base of my building carries a surprising variety of organic chocolate bars. Health food stores carrying gluten-free products can now be found in every neighborhood in Toronto, and the products no longer taste like repurposed wood shavings. Moreover, organic, vegetarian, and raw restaurants and food stands are plentiful around me, coinciding with the movement back to chemical-free and whole foods.

Theft By Chocolate is a reflection of my over-the-top days as a crazed chocolativore, but this book was always intended to be the first of at least two or more instalments. Kalena Boyko’s food consciousness will continue to grow (there are hints of it in Theft with references to organic food choices), and hopefully awareness among my readers will increase as well. But just keep in mind that although chocolate is the primary motif in the novel, the book is still most importantly a sassy museum mystery about a woman of a certain age looking for chocolate, love and an international art thief in all the wrong places.

More about Theft by Chocolate:

Chocolate addict Kalena Boyko wasn’t prepared for this. Heading to work at Canada’s largest museum as an administrator, she hopes for quiet and uninterrupted access to her secret chocolate stash. Instead she’s assigned to manage the high-profile Treasures of the Maya exhibition with her loathed former boss, Richard Pritchard.



With no warning, her life is capsized and propelled into warp speed as she stumbles across an insider plot that could jeopardize the exhibit and the reputation of the museum.



After hearing about a recent botched theft at the museum and an unsolved jewel heist in the past from security guard and amateur sleuth Marco Zeffirelli, Kalena becomes suspicious of Richard and is convinced he’s planning to sabotage the Treasures of the Maya exhibition.



Her suspicions, and the appearance of the mysterious but charming Geoffrey Ogden from the London office, don’t help her concentration. The Treasures of the Maya seems cursed as problem after problem arises, including the disappearance of the world’s oldest piece of chocolate, the signature object in the exhibit.

Theft By Chocolate is inspired by a real-life and never-solved heist at a Canadian museum in the 1980s.

Like the sound of that? Me too! I’m sponsoring a giveaway to one of my lucky readers! There are two ways to win!

1. Copy of Theft By Chocolate as ebook or print copy (winner’s choice). Answer this question in the comments section (be sure to provide your email): What is your favorite indulgence? In five days, a lucky winner from this blog will win a free copy of Theft By Chocolate!
2. $150 Gift Certificate Giveaway: Do you love chocolate as much as Kalena, the heroine in Theft By Chocolate? Here’s your chance to indulge in $150 US worth! The Giveaway Grand Prize is a gift certificate to a delectable chocolate online retailer. Winner chooses from one of three sites: Chocosphere,  Hotel Chocolat (UK), or Dlea.com (Australia).  To be eligible for the Grand Prize, enter the Rafflecopter below. Remember to sign up for Luba’s email announcements (worth five entries). On occasion she’ll send out exclusive announcements for special events, blog posts, giveaways and free swag! On July 31st, the winner will be chosen at random and notified via email.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the Author:  Soon after finishing her graduate studies in history, Luba Lesychyn (le-si-shin) landed on the doorstep of Canada’s largest museum, the Royal Ontario Museum, where she worked for more than twenty years as an educator and consultant. Theft By Chocolate is Luba’s debut novel, though she has been amusing people with her writing since the age of eight. Her love of chocolate precedes this age and she has been in and out of chocolate rehab for most of her adult life. She currently works in the educational sector and teaches yoga in her home town of Toronto. When not writing or looking for her next chocolate fix, Luba can be found in dance classes, trekking to remote waterfalls in the mountain rain forest in Puerto Rico, running through the streets of Paris or doing any other number of calorie-burning activities that help offset the calories consumed in her chocolate intake.

UPDATE: @mswas is the lucky winner of the ebook giveaway! Look for more ebook reviews and giveaways on both the podcast & the blog in August!

During my time spent in Egypt I found Egyptian food to be delicious, healthy and capable of keeping whole table happy like few other places can. Whatever your dietary choice, in Egypt you, like me, can dine out on vegetables alone and be happiest of all!

All-inclusive Egypt holidays can sometimes be a one size fits all affair, but lucky for us, vegetable based dishes can be found in an astonishing variety. As meat is traditionally more expensive, plenty of commonly known Egyptian dishes are based around delicious fresh breads, grains, beans, pastries and cereals.

So what’s on the menu?

North African, Middle Eastern, and Southern Mediterranean dishes have contributed a great deal to the Egyptian staple diet and vice versa. Flavors tend not to be not as spicy as in their Moroccan or Lebanese counterparts, but the basic principles are the same, built around fresh seasonal produce, just as in Greece and Turkey.

When you’re enjoying a meal in Egypt, you’ll find that you start off with a selection of main-meal sized mezze (appetizers) like dips and smaller dishes that are best shared with a few people. You will inevitably come across tasty veggie-friendly treats like hummus, baba ganoush (a delicious creamy aubergine dip), and tahini.

As a main course, there’s a range of great dishes for even the pickiest of eaters (I’ve met a few!)  Make sure you check ingredients first – you should find the following to be safe vegan choices:

Tabouleh: This Middle-Eastern staple salad is exactly the kind of dish you want on a really hot day. It’s made with freshly chopped parsley, tomatoes, cucumber and bulgur wheat, tossed with garlic and lemon juice. Tabouleh can be light or heavy depending on how much bulgur wheat it contains.

Tamaya: The Egyptian equivalent of falafel made from fried chickpeas.  This is a great dish to squish into your aish baladi – Egypt’s answer to the pita bread – with either hummus or baba ganoush.

Ful Medammes / Bosara: This is delicious dish made up of broad or fava means smashed together with some cumin, olive oil and some lemon. Really easy to reproduce, great stuffed into a warm pita and is served for breakfast.  Bosara is often served cold so it’s best on a hot day!

Fatayer: While a fatayer can be whatever you want it to be, it is traditionally a pasty filled with spinach and pine nuts.  (Be careful not to order the version stuffed with cheese!)

Kosheri : One of the least well known of Egypt’s traditional dishes, kosheri is a mixture of pasta, chickpeas, bulgur wheat and lentils with a generous helping of spicy tomato sauce. Often sold in roadside stands, it’s cheap, filling, and just what every traveller needs!

Next time you’re looking for a vegan vacation destination, don’t discount countries like Egypt.  As you can see, there are many excellent local options for travelers who want to enjoy Egypt’s history and culture without sacrificing the commitment to ethical eating!

About the author: Adam Spawton-Rice is associated with EasyJet Holidays and has visited Egypt on a number of occasions over the past few years. His experience has been predominantly positive, and it should be said that Egyptians are among the friendliest people he’s ever had the pleasure of sitting down to eat with.

Photo courtesy of Stonesoup via Flickr (while not a vegan blog, many of the dishes found on this site are easily made vegan).

Join me over on G+ and have a look at the post with the recipe for my newest creation!

I’ve come a long way, baby, but just like bell bottoms and Birkenstocks, what’s old is new again! (Who knows, I may try macrame again this summer.) I’m thrilled to announce that on Saturday, July 21, 2012 at 3 pm (East Coast Time) I’ll participate in a LIVE Podcaster Hangout on Google+.  (We all know time is relative, so check this website to figure out what 3pm my time means to you!)

Yes, that’s right, I said Google+.  After my trip to Blog World in June and with encouragement from the ultimate enabler, Martine from iMake, I’m giving Google+ another go.  Just like the Stones, Google+ refuses to die!  I will be ‘hanging out’ with Martine from iMake along with the organizer of this hangout, Amanda from Craftlife.

I’m no hippie – what the heck is a hangout anyway?

Hangouts are the number one reason I’ve returned to Google+.  Martine made a great video about Google+ hangouts and, just like her Pinterest tutorial, this one’s brief and spot on!   Even if you are not on Google+ you can still get involved by watching us on Amanda’s YouTube channel. If you are on G+, find me as TheMarketVegan – trying to grow the community over there and leave the insanity of Facebook!

What’s going to happen in the hangout? Will there be protest songs?

I doubt there will be protest songs unless Amanda’s written one against the U.S. Olympic Committee’s treatment of Ravelry, but Amanda, Martine, and I will chat about all things craft (and food because I do love to talk about vegan food) for an hour.  We have a few giveaways to run for viewers who participate, and we’ll be answering your questions.  If you’d like to submit a question, then please feel free to email me at themarketvegan (at) gmail (d0t) com (the link is in the sidebar).  Please ensure your email’s subject is ‘Podcaster Hangout’.  As always, you can contact me on twitter as @themarketvegan.  We’re using the #podhangout hashtag to watch for questions before and during the broadcast.  As you know, I’m all about Twitter, so that’s the best way to forward comments to me, but you can also post your questions on the CraftLife Ravelry Group or iMake Ravelry Group podcaster hangout threads.

How do I watch you in real-time?

As mentioned above, the hangout will be broadcast live on Amanda’s You Tube feed.

Will you be eating and/or drinking during the podcast?

I always say “Podcast Responsibly” so we may only share tips about our love of wine (and my fondness for environmentally friendly vegan boxed wines), but I believe I will have a vegan recipe to share!

Feel free to make up a drinking game during the podcast that involves the words “lovely”, “amazing”, or “brilliant”.  Don’t choose “knitting”, “yarn”, or “vegan” or you’ll pass out before the half-way point!

Can I contact you, Amanda and Martine during the hangout?

Of Course!  We will be keeping an eye on Twitter so please send your questions and comments to @themarketvegan (me), @CraftLife (Amanda), or @iMakeGuernsey (Martine) and use the hashtag #podhangout.

If I miss it, can I watch later on?

Dude, we can’t always make it to the festival on time, so all 3 of us will post a video of the hangout on our blogs soon after it has aired.  However, if you can make it to the main stage at 3 pm East Coast time on July 21st, you can enjoy the cool vibes live!

As I’ve traveled around the world to countries which not many people venture to, finding delicious food which I can enjoy has sometimes been very difficult. Although many major metropolitan cities have restaurants and other food outlets that cater to the vegan market, I have often had to trudge around for miles on end in order to try and find something which could whet my appetite. Thankfully, on a recent trip to Washington, D.C. with a close friend, the aforementioned didn’t happen because I found three wonderful places to dine which I’d like to share with you.

Tip #1: To find the best vegan and vegetarian outlets, do your research.

Since I hadn’t been to Washington, D.C. before, I discovered that researching the area on the internet was invaluable, especially as the first location which I came across was Elizabeth’s Gone Raw. Situated at 1341 L Street, I couldn’t stop myself from sampling the organic cocktails. The friend who accompanied me on my trip is also a vegan and we couldn’t help trying more than we could possibly handle (and that counts for the superb biodynamic wine which tasted excellent).

Tip #2: Sample a bakery during the day

My friend and I planned to stay in Washington, D.C. for a couple of days.  The seasonal weather was very hot, and we decided to spend most of our time outside visiting the many attractions which this city has to offer. As the temperatures continued to soar, we thankfully found a delightful bakery which satisfied our empty stomachs with sugary-filled delights. The place in question was the Sticky Fingers Bakery situated at 1370 Park Road NW. Here, we both sampled many offerings which are made without egg and dairy. Other items we tried included soups, sandwiches, nachos and even hot dogs. With extended opening hours, any late night walk through Washington, D.C. is also improved with a stop at this bakery.

Tip #3: Try some international fare.  

Both of us are admirers of Indian food, but it can be very difficult to find a vegan version when I travel. However, this wasn’t a problem at all when we both visited Indian Delight. Found at 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue in the Old Post Office Pavilion, this buffet-style restaurant had everything we could wish for, especially since they did take-away as well. With the temperature on our final night in Washington, D.C. the warmest so far, it’s true not every traveler might wish wishes to eat Indian food during, but we couldn’t stop ourselves.  The scent which wafted out from this restaurant made our mouths salivate, and we were quite satisfied with the meal once we entered the establishment.

Next time you’re in our nation’s capital, why not try one or all of these restaurants?

About the Author: Elizabeth King is an aspiring journalist and travel enthusiast who enjoys traveling around the world. Liz writes for Executive Apartments, a company in Arlington, VA that offers fully furnished corporate apartments for rent for short and extended stay.

On the Needles

I mentioned the KAL from Loop in Philadelphia.  The pattern for the KAL is The Age of Brass and Steam by Orange Flower and the KAL can be found here.  While Loop recommends Rowan Revive, I am using Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport in Robot Overlord:

Don’t listen to The Paris Wife by Paula McClain if you are working on an intricate pattern or one that tests your skills.  However, it’s an excellent audiobook!

The sky scarf at (almost) 6 months and my backyard that is perpetually in need of a mow!

Here’s a close-up complete with the red stripe for June 20th, Joe’s high school graduation!!!

I mentioned the Forest Canopy shawl by Susan Lawrence that I intend to knit with the Malabrigo sock I scored from that Mecca of yarn stores, Purl Soho.  I saw the one @ellies_mummy did on Twitter and fell in love with the patter!

Daily Specials

I highly recommend Airbnb as an alternative to hotels, motels and hostels.  Below are 2 photos of the room in which I stayed:

 You can find the “God Save the Blogger” blog post I mention here.

I think I got a bit dyslexic a this point – the subway app I mention is Hop Spot and it is FREE in the App store.  Well worth a download if you are new to the New York City subway system or subway challenged like me.

Google+ for Business by Chris Brogan got a brief mention – I sent Martine from iMake a copy, and she started reading it the day she got it! I’m sure we’ll discuss the book in our Google Hangout on July 21st at 3 p.m. East Coast time, 2 p.m. Central time for Craftlife listeners, and 8 p.m. for iMake listeners!

I bought a copy of Humanize: How People-Centric Organizations Succeed in a Social World at Blog World with the intention of incorporating some of the chapters into my New Media curriculum. Most likely, I’ll review this in an upcoming podcast episode.

Martine sent me a copy of Making is Connecting: the social meaning of creativity, from DIY and knitting to YouTube and Web 2.0 by David Gauntlett which will also get a review in an upcoming podcast.  (That Martine, such an enabler!)

Vegan Options

Here’s an iPhone pic of the gardens at CHS. The sister-in-law of a current student’s mother builds this wonderful home vegetable gardens so if you’re in the Monmouth County, NJ, area, you’re in for a treat if you come across one! (That window and door behind the closer trellis is my classroom.  Pretty convenient for a vegan, huh?)

Lunch Counter

The books mentioned in this section are:

Capital by John Lanchester

The Emperor’s Children by Claire Messud

Lunch in Paris (a love story with recipes) by Elizabeth Bard

Dessert

If you’d like to participate in our Google+ Hangout, you can email questions you’d like us to answer to themarketvegan (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet them to @themarketvegan, @imakeGuernsey, or @craftlife.  Remember, the first podcaster hangout occurs on July 21st. Visit this blog in the coming days for more specifics on how you can participate!

Travelling away from home… time to Google Vegan eateries!

Guernsey does not have any specialist vegetarian restaurants let alone vegan diners. So with a trip to London comes 3 course vegan treats : )

Traveling and finding vegan snacks can be difficult.  With Marks & Spencer’s super food salads we were able to find a healthy, nutritious and convenient vegan lunch.  There is a wide range of salads that include lots of beans and lentils, vegetables, rice, couscous, nuts and more with tasty seasoning and not a lettuce leaf in sight! (I don’t have anything against lettuce but when looking for a substantial lunch its nice to see salads with more imagination).

Whilst at King’s Cross station, we found a new “natural” fast food place called Leon, offering wheat free, dairy free and vegetarian food. The side dishes are vegan and perfect for eating on the go.  They include Herb Slaw, Saucy beans, superfood salad (though note to state no cheese).  We opted for the lattice style paprika fries with hummus.

For our evening meal we booked a table at Labibela Ethiopian restaurant.  The menu has lots of vegetarian options (no dairy) and are delicious with the traditional injera flat bread.  A great choice as delicious vegetable stews and plenty of lentils for protein.

Couldn’t go to London without visiting a Veggie restaurant.  We decided upon Mildred’s in Soho (serving both vegan and vegetarian dishes).  It is wonderful to have lots of choice and though very filling we could not resist the desserts.  I had the roasted artichoke crostini with lemon aioli, a main course of aubergine and chickpea tagine followed by chocolate and raspberry torte with soya cream.  Hubby had hummus and baba ganoush with flat bread, mushroom and ale pie with peas and chips followed by fruit crumble and soya cream.  All washed down with vegan wine and cider.

Our hotel offered a filling vegetarian cooked breakfast of Portobello mushrooms, aubergine, courgette, grilled tomato – we replaced the free range egg with homemade baked beans.  They had soya milk for our tea and soya margerine for our toast.  They also had a selection of fruits and soya yogurts.

London is definitely one of the easier places to visit as a vegan… certainly not returned home any lighter!

Thanks Gina!  Look for more vegan vacation experiences in our series from roving vegan reporters this summer.

Start small when you decide to do steampunk. Look around the house for things that you already have–clocks, old fashioned skeleton keys, “fiddly bits” of things that you might throw away otherwise that are not recyclable except as parts. These are what make your costume truly steampunk rather than rag-tag Victorian.

A more adventuresome idea, and steampunk is all about adventure and discovery, is to go to your local Goodwill store, especially if you can find out when the half-price days or dollar a pound days are. Look for anything that you can “mod” or modify–disassemble, combine with something else, and make up a story about.

Once you have some goodies, or if you don’t have junk lying around, you can get some interesting parts in the scrap-booking section of your local craft store. If you have a Joann Fabrics, Hancocks,  Hobby Lobby, or Michaels,  you can get an online coupon nearly every week to buy one thing at 30% to 50% off.  Look for keys, gears, locks or other Victorian things–buttons, trims, lace, beads or acrylic gems.  The craft industry has discovered steampunk, so while you are there, take a look at the idea books they carry.

Today’s little project is about what to do with a man’s shirt collar and cuffs for a minimal costuming addition to another outfit, perhaps as simple as vest, a long skirt and boots.

Cut the collar and cuffs from the shirt, keeping the rest of the shirt for later. This lets me do only the fun part of sewing without the need of precision sewing of a collar or button holes.

You might make sleeve protectors from the sleeves, or use the body fabric for some other project. I’m going to use the shirt-tail from the back as the basis of a fascinator.

For this project, I am using the shirt, some bits of lace, some stick-on jewels, die-cut gears, and some key and lock scrapbooking brads  I ordered from Oriental Trading company (a great low-cost source for craft supplies.)

First sew the lace on the edge of the collar. You may need to help your sewing machine along, since the collar will have interfacing to stiffen it. Try a needle for denim.  You could sew the lace on by hand or even glue it with white glue, if you plan to hand-wash, which is what I suggest. I sewed on two layers of lace. Remember think about how the collar will fold and sew the lace on to the top of the collar, so that it will show when the collar is folded down.

Then sew lace onto the raw edge of the cuffs so that the lace is away from your hands. You could add lace to both sides, but this style will not get in your way as much.

Now the fun part–adding the mods. I picked two lock brads and two key brads for my set, and four gears. I cut a small opening in the top of the collar.

I put some glue on the back of the brad, and stuck the brads into the collar, lock on one side and key on the other. I had some small pieces of chain from a piece of jewelry and linked it from each brad to a gear shape, and then glued the gear shape to the collar. I added a golden stick on jewel just for pretty. I put the key with a gear and chain on the other side.

When I worked on the cuffs, I decided to spread out the brads and clip them onto a couple of gears. I glued them all to the cuffs. Sewing by hand would work too.

And voila! I call these little pieces “thrallwear,” which is designed for the modest donor (slave lover) of a vampire to hide the marks where she has been bitten.

To make a  more complete set, I made a fascinator from another piece of lace, the tail of the shirt gathered into a medallion, some feathers, another bit of broken jewelry, and a couple of marabou feathers sewn and glued to a metal headband. It is much easier to sew by hand to put these things together than to try to machine stitch. If you sew instead of gluing, you can adjust the design when you want to wear it, sliding it along the headband.

I used the hemmed part of the shirt tail as the outside of the medallion, gathering the raw edge and zigzagging it together to make a tear-drop shape. I sewed a doubled piece of lace to the headband and used that to anchor the medallion piece. I added three feathers, two up and one down, glued a gear over the quills of the feathers, and then sewed bits of a wire necklace around the gear.

The fun of steam punk is to put together whatever you have. Make up a reason for having the lock and key–a decorative way, perhaps, of equalizing the aetheric pressure when travelling. Or perhaps it could be a secret sign of someone who is in a cabal, already married, or even looking for someone who is brave enough to unlock her damsel’s heart.

Since steampunk is imaginary, you can’t do it wrong, though some period research (1850-1910) may inspire you. Go for more details rather than less, and see what you can assemble.

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When she’s not getting steampunked, Charlotte Henley Babb writes fantasy and science fiction. Read an excerpt of her new novel, Maven Fairy Godmother: Through the Veil  at http://bit.ly/MavenFGM or visit her blog at http://beyourownfairygodmother.com

Brogan began with his answer to the question, “what platform do you use to blog?”  He made light fun of Blogger and Blogspot users – they’re on those platforms because they’ve always been on those platforms – then addressed his choice: WordPress. He uses it (as do I) because “it works, and there’s a large community for development and support”. Other options are OK, but if you are serious about blogging, Brogan’s words confirm that WordPress should be your platform.

He also pointed out that no one asks writers whose work appears in print what “platform” they use. Imagine if Fitzgerald asked Hemingway what he used to write his novels.  When Hemingway responds, “A #2 pencil”, Fitzgerald immediately rushes out to buy a pack of #2 pencils because he believes he will have more success with this “platform” than with, say, his #4 pencils.

Lesson #1: Don’t worry about what you use to blog, just blog.

Brogan spent the rest of his presentation on 4 topics:

1. Finding time to blog
2. Finding topics to blog about
3. Making money from a blog
4. Accepting the fact that a blog takes work

I loved his simple approach to finding time to blog. Brogan suggests “quilting” small amounts of time together to write a post. Twenty minutes while you wait to for your child at school, 10 minutes while you drink your morning coffee.  Excellent advice that I immediately put into practice by typing a draft of this post on my iPhone while waiting for Purl Soho to open and then waiting to ride the shuttle back to the Javits Center!

I also have to take this approach with the podcast.  I need to break down writing and recording into smaller chunks of time so I can get back to my biweekly schedule. I also have to let perfect recording go. After all, the most overused phrase at this conference was “It’s all about the content!”  I used Audioboo for the first time this past weekend and posted a 3 minute update for my podcast listeners.  It takes a lot of time to write and record a 60 minute podcast; it took me less than 30 minutes sitting on my patio with iPhone to record that audio file.

Brogan also pointed out that practice often replaces talent.  Using an analogy to prove his point, Brogan compared the Sex Pistols to Wilco.  The Sex Pistols had no idea how to make commercial music or even play instruments, but they wanted to form a band, so they did.  They played all the time, beat the crap out of each other when they didn’t like the way the music sounded, did whatever they hell they wanted (with some deadly consequences), and didn’t worry about whether other people thought their music “good”.  Wilco, on the other hand (at least according to Brogan), is technically excellent but lack the passion of the Sex Pistols.  They’re polite about their differences and more deliberate in their styling.

Lesson #2: The best bloggers belong to the school of the Sex Pistols.  Make the time to write it, trash it, write some more, and don’t worry if anyone but you likes it.  (Obviously, don’t take the lifestyle thing too literally!)

With regard to topics, Brogan echoed what I hear a lot of bloggers say: it’s not finding topics, it’s finding time to get the topics out of you head and onto your blog. He pointed out that all his posts have a formula which makes it easier to go from topic to blog post.  Start with an image and your response to that picture. It could be a photo you’ve taken or an image from Flickr Creative Commons.  (His riff on the evils of Instagram and the creation of millions of fake album covers made me love Flickr all the more.) Either way, start with an image and build your post from there until you end with either a call to action or a question that inspires comments. Blogging 101, I know, but sometimes you need to revisit the basics.

Lesson #3: The Sex Pistols wrote about being angry working class British teenagers in the 70s, and let’s face it, their songs have a similar sound. If a formula helps you produce good blog posts, by all means use it!

I don’t know if the Sex Pistols made any money, but I know I’ll never quit my day job and support myself blogging.  Brogan confirmed this.  His blog is just one asset within his business model.  The blog isn’t the end, it’s a means to an end.  He cautioned bloggers to avoid pushing their own agenda; just like with Twitter, start with a conversation, involve the reader, and then hope they explore what else you have to offer that may generate income like books, workshops, speaking engagements, etc.  Also, affiliate marketing and Google AdWords have come a long way, baby, but they’re not going to let you retire in style!

Lesson #4: You won’t get rich blogging, but your blog is an excellent way to let people know what else you have to offer that may in turn generate income for you.

Finally, Brogan explained that a blog takes work.  It took him 8 years to reach 100 readers, although that was in the days before RSS.  So if 100 people are interested in what you write or record, be happy! With so much on the internet to choose from, these people decided to spend their limited time with what you’ve produced.  Value the people who support what you do.

Little people matter in the age of social media; don’t focus on the “big guy” or the power players.

When Brogan said that, I immediately thought of @johnbirmingham who I’ve mentioned often on this blog.  He follows 10,000 people on Twitter; they are his 10,00o much like the Spartans’ 300.  I’m one of that 10,000 which to me is an honor.  When JB responds to my tweet or better yet DMs me after I comment on the cover art for the American version of his newest book, Angels of Vengeance, I’m not only beyond thrilled, but I will now buy just about anything this man writes.  The connection that never mentions the sale actually does more to encourage the sale.

Lesson #5: Don’t sweat the numbers.

A few other observations of note made by Brogan:

•  Your side bar should never drive traffic away from your site. This turns your website into an outpost rather than a destination.
• Ask yourself “What magazine is my blog?” This may help you generate topics, find new avenues to attract readers, and determine whether you are too general or too specific in your choice of topics.
• On the flip side, don’t worry about consistency.  Write about what inspires you today.

I also received a copy of Brogan’s new book, Google+ for Business, which I’ll review on the next podcast.  For now, I’ll take these 5 lessons to heart and blog like it’s the end of the world!

Turns out, I eat a lot of excellent, healthy food using easy to obtain ingredients.  Recipes you’ll find inside include:

• Stuffed Mushrooms
• Asparagus Soup
• Compassionate Quiche
• Vegan Pizza
• Rice and Beans with Soy Chorizo
• “Chicken” Enchiladas Suiza
• Peanut Butter Pie with Vegan Whipped Cream
• White Wine Sangria
• and 20 other vegan versions of favorite home recipes!

Caiti Borruso‘s food photography enhances this 30 page digital cookbook.  In PDF format, the file is available immediately after purchase via email and can be viewed on a variety of electronic screens.  Please purchase by clicking the add to bag link at the top right of this webpage then follow the instructions.

I hope everyone enjoys making these recipes as much as I loved compiling this collection.  Summer is a great time to test new cooking styles so head on out to your local farmer’s market and try a vegan recipe today!

I am writing in response to an opinion piece regarding “food limits”.  Most members of this school’s community know that I am vegan; another article in the same edition of newspaper mentions that I’ve lived this dietary lifestyle for 3 years. (In fact, my vegan-versary just passed on May 20th.)  I am one of approximately 1 million Americans who’ve made the choice not to consume or in many cases use anything derived from an animal (Vegetarian Resource Group, 2008).

What we eat is a personal choice.  My daughter came home from a field trip in third grade and announced over her chicken dinner that she couldn’t possibly eat this chicken after holding baby chicks at a local farm.  She is an ethical vegetarian and still prefers not to eat meat.  As her mother, I could easily have forced her to eat that chicken and other meat dinners I prepared at the time, but I respect her choice then and now.

I do not consider my daughter or myself to be a dietary “over achiever” or “’holy roller’ of restrictive dieting” as many may suggest.  As an environmental vegan, I oppose the consumption of animal based foods and consumer products due to the environmental impact involved in their production.  Teachers who lunch with me in the faculty room remark on what I’m eating and, yes, a few tease me about my choices, but you won’t hear me berating anyone for chowing down on a chicken salad sandwich.  Friends outside the school community kindly consider my dietary habits when they invite me to dinner or ask me to join them at a restaurant, but I never insist that we eat at a vegan only establishment or that others dining with me refrain from eating animal products.  Again, it comes down to respect.

A number of people say they avoid movies like Food Inc. because they don’t want to go through life afraid.  They’re right – ignorance promotes fear.  That’s why parents and teachers strive to educate the next generation so they can make informed choices.  People who watch Food Inc. then go to Foodtown and buy a Perdue chicken have made an informed choice.  It may not be my choice, but this isn’t the former Soviet Union.

Americans can choose what they eat whether it’s good for them, the animal it came from, or the environment.  What’s frightening is when they make that choice without weighing the outcomes.

If movies like Food Inc. are too graphic for you, I’d suggest books like Forks Over Knives by Gene Stone or In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan.  The latter author suggests that we “eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”  Neither book pushes weird soy products or frozen entrees.  Their sole purpose is to educate.   With regard to many omnivore’s assumption that vegans suffer a self imposed misery, most of the vegans I know as well as both Pollan and Stone began eating a plant based diet due to health concerns.  I’ve yet to hear a vegan bemoan their choice, and most, if not all, find themselves happier and healthier as a result.

I respect your eating choices and ask that you respect mine.  Don’t make assumptions out of ignorance; don’t make sweeping judgments based on limited experiences … and don’t lump us all in with PETA, the epitome of radical veganism.  Every group contains extreme factions, and perhaps these are the most vocal of the vegan population, but please don’t make such broad based assumptions about any group based on a few brief encounters.

Educate yourself then make the choice that’s right for you.  I made that choice 3 years ago, and I stand by it today.  Why not try living a limited vegan lifestyle such as meatless mondays or vegan before 6? You may find you’re happier and healthier after you do!

1. Comment on the shownotes for this podcast.
2. Follow me on Twitter at lgesin.
3. Join the ravelry group!
4. Like voxpopnj on Facebook.
5. Pin the shownotes for this podcast on Pinterest.
6. Sign up to be notified when my digital cookbook, The Market Vegan, is released.
7. For three chances to win, leave an iTunes review for the podcast! (I call it the Apple store in the podcast – no you don’t have to go to the store, just go to iTunes to leave a review!)

My two recipe testers can be found at the Craftlife podcast and @Ksamsin.

The shopping cart I’m using for the cookbook is ecwid (got that name wrong too but still don’t know what it stands for). So far, I like it, but we’ll see what happens when the cookbook goes live.

Two knitting books I refer to:

1. More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson
2. 99 Yarns and Counting

The baby sweater from Joelle Hoverson’s book modeled by an actual baby:

Here’s the basket from the same book:

The striped bag I’m making for Sarah out of the Koigu yarn:

…and here’s the sky scarf at month number 4 (remember, the wine color indicates birthdays):

If you’re interested in the “couch surfing” website I mentioned, you can find it at airbnb.com – I’ll report back on my experience in the next podcast!  Check out Blogworld if you’re going to be in NYC the second week in June.

The books I discuss:

1. The Company of the Dead by David Kowalski
2. Angels of Vengeance by @JohnBirmingham (follow him, it’s worth it!)
3. Raise the Gipper! by (that) John Barnes

If you’re interested in doing a summer readalong, please leave a comment, and if you have a book in mind, please share the title.  If you have a preference between using ravelry or goodreads for the readalong, let me know that too!

To register for my social media workshop in Asbury Park, NJ on June 23rd, click the link on the sidebar or go here. Early bird pricing ends June 1st!

The winner of a copy of Curse of the Boyfriend Sweater, enough yarn to knit the cowl pattern in the book, as well as a tote bag is… Beth W. (yhime407 on ravelry).

Stay tuned for the next podcast which features a generous giveaway from a musician and knitter who’s supplied a significant amount of music to the podcast.  I plan to record over the next week assuming that cookbook that’s almost complete doesn’t take over my life once again.  I’m also investigating the possibility of running a podcast book club over the summer via goodreads.  If any blog readers or podcast listeners are interested, please leave a comment – feel free to make a book suggestion as well!

Last week got away from me; I wrote not one blog post for Knitting and Crochet Blog Week although I did read quite a few great blog posts by other participants.  Chaperoning various trips and events along with the need to get my vegan e-cookbook completed left little time for daily blog posts.  Trust me, if I’m not cooking, asking Caiti to take pictures of my food, or writing and rewriting recipes, I’m wondering why I thought writing a cookbook would be a simple process.  One good thing came out of my various escapades thought – in order to relax after all this activity, I picked up one of my WIPs and in doing so, made some significant inroads over the past week or so.

I mentioned on the podcast that I thought I’d take a dip in the sweater knitting pond by trying my hand at a baby sweater.  A very good friend and his wife recently had their second child.  Since I don’t have any other babies handy, and this fellow teacher has done a lot for me over the years, I decided to knit the Easy Baby Sweater from More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson.  An apropos book title because, yes, this baby is over a month old, and while I did contribute to the generic staff gift, I wanted to give this newborn something special.

Blue Sky Alpacas has become my absolute favorite yarn brand, so I had no problem selecting their worsted cotton in Bone and ordering 2 skeins from Loop in Philly for this project.  My swatch indicated that it was comparable to the yarn suggested, but it’s a good thing I made the largest size.  The sweater was so not big enough for a 6-9 month baby! I did have a moment of panic and sent David a DM asking just how big this baby was – no way was any human being going to fit into this tiny cardigan – but after he responded “a meaty 12 pounds” I knew she’d fit in this lightweight garment perfect for air conditioning as we head into summer.

Below is a photo of the finished sweater before I wrapped it.  Of course, David didn’t wait to open it until he got home and his wife could share the fun, but she did write a very nice thank you note.  Surprised me as I think I am so digital now I forget about actual handwritten notes!

I also finished Robin Ulrich’s Frostlight scarf.  I made this out of Paton’s wool in the same color I used to make my mother a Monmouth hat for her birthday.  Yes, this is her Mother’s Day gift even though she lives in Texas, and as I write this, it’s 85 degrees out and will be approaching 90 by the end of the week.  My Mom’s a good sport; she says no matter how old the child is, a parent always appreciates a handmade gift.

Finally, I finished the cowl out of Painted Lady mohair from Stitchuary that I purchased at Vogue Knitting Live.  The colors remind me of the desert southwest; now I have to buy a new winter coat to show off the cowl! Or maybe I’ll be inspired by Isabel of the Fluffy Fibers podcast and sew my own.

Never fear, I still have Sarah’s drawstring bag out of the Koigu we bought at Purl Soho to finish along with my year long project, the Sky Scarf, and I just wound KnitPicks yarn for a v-neck tank that I plan to start this week.  The knitting never ends… and once again, if you’re looking for pattern ideas, a great summer read, and a ball of lovely yarn, check out the giveaway still going on through the podcast!

Here are 5 artists I found either inspiring, intriguing, astonishing, or disturbing.  The links to their pages on whitney.org contain video interviews with the artists regarding their work in the show.

1.  LaToya Ruby Frasier: Our tour guide began with Ms. Frasier’s The Homebody self portraits taken an abandon home owned by her deceased step-grandfather.  The four photographs show the artist dressed in her step-grandfather’s robe and pajamas as well as draped in one of his blankets.

Below is one of the photos in the series:

Hanging on the wall adjacent to these four photographs are a series of photos entitled Campaign for Braddock Hospital (Save Our Community Hospital) which documents the experience of community residents when the hospital was shut then demolished in 2010.  Also included in this series are Levi’s ads displayed in Braddock that the artist has altered to reflect the true nature of residents’ experiences.  For example, Levi’s “Everybody’s Work is Important” is altered to read “If Everybody’s Work is equally important then why weren’t local residents and small businesses allowed a share in the profits from the demolition process of the aluminum, bricks, and windows from UPMC Braddock?”

2.  If a work of art contains language or even typography, I’m immediately drawn to it.  I missed John Kelsey’s “poems” on my first pass of the exhibition, but over lunch in the coffee shop downstairs, one of the art teacher mentioned it.  Composed of words taken from spam emails, two poems entitled “Impoetnce” and Depesrsion” struck me as a true reflection of everyday life in the 21st century.  Granted, I have some fine spam filters on my various email accounts, but every so often one of those “male enhancement” emails will sneak through with misspellings and inaccurate assumptions.  The poems read, at first, like another stilted spam email, but if you read them again, they do reflect their subject including the slightly off nature of the spelling.  A list of the recipients of the emails used to create the poems is included with each, and I think demonstrates the reach of this type of communication not only in volume but in the broad demographics of people who find these messages in their email. Make an effort to find this work of art; it’s on a floor with a lot of colorful pieces and the stark serif type of the poems was lost at least to this visitor on my first walk through.

3. Words attracted me to the work of Moyra Davey as well.  The twelve unfolded “letters” of Mary, Marie really drew me in especially when I learned they each letter was creased and worn because the artist mailed them to her mother, sister, and nieces.  The words she chose to include on each piece of post comes from Mary Wollstonecraft’s Letters written when she travelled to Scandanavia at the end of the eighteenth century.  Her daughter, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, was an infant at the time but would grow up to pen Frankenstein.  Both women were strong, vocal advocates for women’s rights; my own conclusion is that the artist mailed these missives to the most important women in her life just as Wolstonecraft mailed hers to the father of her daughter confident in the woman Mary Wolstonecraft Shelley would become.

This may seem an odd analogy to some, but I recently participated in a fabric postcard swap run by @caithnesscraft on ravelry.  Pairs of women in the United States and Europe mailing small pieces of art to one another?  Perhaps there is power in craft!  When I join another postcard swap, I might just incorporate elements of another woman’s letters in a way similar to Davey’s project.  Below is a photo I took of Mary, Marie:

4.  In her last podcast, Martine of iMake talked about her new love of cross stitch.  I learned to cross stitch in middle school, created many a cross stitch sampler into my mid-twenties but abandon it for needlepoint and now knitting.  Quite a few of the students in the knitting support group that meets on Fridays in my classroom were on the trip to the Whitney, and they couldn’t wait to show me Elaine Reichek‘s work.  Five pieces by this artist hung on 3 walls, the largest a tapestry made by taking an image from the internet, scanning it into a computer, then reproducing the image on a wall sized tapestry with a computerized loom.  I thought this was ingenious but my students quickly pointed out that, if the artist did this for a class project, she would be told the work wasn’t original, your grade will suffer, try again!  I get that and agree that I’d much prefer this wall hanging include original artwork but at the same time as a computer geek and crafter I love the use of the computer to create art hanging in a renown museum.

Below is the tapestry entitled Paint Me a Cavernous Waste Shore:

Plagiarism debate aside, I loved her handstitched pieces.  One, There’s No Need is a labyrinth of cross stitch around a quote by Jorge Borges, “There’s no need to build a labyrinth when the entire universe is one.”

My favorite piece of Reichek’s, however, is We Construct a Narrative part of the Ariadne’s Thread series.  Around a stark black stitched image on neutral fiber reads, ““We construct a narrative for ourselves, and that’s the thread that we follow from one day to the next. People who disintegrate as personalities are the ones who lose that thread”, a quote from Paul Auster.

5. By far my favorite artist I discovered at this Biennial is K8 Hardy.  During our official tour, the tour guide brought us to Hardy’s work after Frasier’s photographs.  I loved the predominance of shoes and the retro feel of the photographs but otherwise just thought they were cool.  This is where going to a museum with students is a priceless experience.  The tour guide pointed to one piece and asked the students what they made of the juxtaposition of red stiletto shoes and duct tape:

A student I’ve been impressed with since the day she walked in the door explained that the woman’s feet duct taped into traditional female footwear (stilettos) suggests forced conformity.  The shoes don’t fit and in fact one foot is almost completely out of the shoe and held in place only by the duct tape; the woman doesn’t fit into the role prescribed by society.  The feet are “upside down” which suggests reversing traditional gender roles or the havoc of trying to confirm, and the industrial background jars with the footwear one would normally see on a woman in an office, hotel, or nightclub.  (I pictured Joan from Mad Men in them but then again, she’s fighting gender expectations too!)

While I loved Hardy’s images, I got none of that until that student explained it to me.  Now, I not only love the message inherent in her work, but my daughter and I are planning to attend Hardy’s fashion show at the Whitney on May 20th.  Watch this space for a review!

So there you have them, the 5 artists I discovered at this year’s Whitney Biennial.  If you have a chance to visit, I strongly recommend that you go.  You may not fall in love with any of the art there, but you will certainly have a lot to think, talk, and write about after you go!

In this episode, I announce a giveaway graciously donated by new show and blog supporter, Patricia’s Yarns in Hoboken, NJ, talk about what I have on and off the needles, review Pints and Purls: Portable Projects for the Social Knitter by Karida Collins and Libby Bruce, provide another comparison of 3 books (much less weighty than the 1Q84 literary analysis in Podcast #8), and review a TV show I’ve just discovered.  In response to a request from listener and music contributor to the podcast, Jacob Haller, I recommend some of my favorite Star Trek episodes since you can now stream the series on Neflix.  I’ve added that segment and will include it for at least the next few podcasts.

The Scintilla Project is a great blogging initiative can be found here.

The “Exploring Stripes Bag” by Holly Webb can be found on ravelry here.

My Sky Scarf is 3 months old!

Books I mention:

Soft Target by Stephen Hunter

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Also check out Sons of Anarchy on Netflix if you want to continue the crime theme of these books.

Finally, the Giveaway! Courtesy of Patricia’s Yarn in Hoboken, NJ, this giveaway includes her book Curse of the Boyfriend Sweater, a tote from her store, and enough yarn to make Ellen’s cowl (pattern included in the book).  In order to enter, you may do any or all of the following:

1.  Comment on the blog post for this podcast (1 entry).

2.  Kindly write an iTunes review for this podcast (3 entries).

3.  Follow me on twitter and post a comment here when you do (1 entry).

4.  Pin the blog post for this giveaway on Pinterest using the image Patricia provided then leave the link in a comment on the blog post (2 entries).

5.  Join the ravelry group (1 entry).

6.  Sign up for CaithnessCraft’s bookmark swap and leave a comment on the blog post that you did for another entry.

You may enter in as many ways as you’d like, and I will announce a winner on the blog on May 5^th as well as on the next podcast.  Here’s a look at what you can win:

Music used in the podcast includes:

Blog Like It’s the End of the World by Tom Smith (courtesy of Music Alley)

Kitten Knitting Blues by Jacob Haller (courtesy of Music Alley)

Circumstantial Evidence by Jacob Haller (courtesy of Music Alley)

Drinkin’ 40s on the Subway by the Beer Drinking Fools (courtesy of Music Alley)

John the Revelator by Curtis Stigers and the Forest Rangers from the Sons of Anarchy Soundtrack CD

Why you may ask? Here are 10 things I learned today in traffic court:

1.  Camo pants are the height of fashion in traffic court.  I need to get me to Walmart and buy some of them camo pants so I can avoid going to jail for driving with a revoked license three times and have my sketchy sister-in-law post my bail.  Also, said camo pants must have a pocket big enough to carry my wallet and keys even though I don’t need keys since I don’t drive.  Ok, maybe a house key, but I don’t think this chick lived in a house.

2. If I’m a guy in high school, and I get a speeding ticket as well as a ticket for failing to produce my drivers license, I should dress like Michael Imperioli in the Sopranos.  I will have my tickets dismissed and pay only court costs after entertaining the courtroom with my amusing story about how I didn’t want to be late getting my sister to her dentist appointment so I forgot my wallet in my locker at school yet we stopped home so she could brush her teeth.

3.  I never, ever, EVER, EVER want to get busted for drunk driving in New Jersey.  After hearing a judge read the list of all the bad things that will happen to me if I do, I will never, ever, ever do this.  Not that I’ve ever done this, but there’s no way anybody would do this if they knew what they’re in for.  Driving with a revoked license and wearing camo pants to court isn’t nearly as bad as what will happen to you if you face DUI.

4. If you have a provisional license, you cannot plea down your charge or your points.  The law states they must stand.  So, if you still have your little kid license but qualify for the big kid license, make sure you get the big kid license before showing up in traffic court.

5. Put your hair in pig tails and make sure you dye it 500 colors but leave a little gray.  Not as snappy as the camo pants, but it is eye catching.  Everyone who’s getting bored with all the repetitive DUI cases will perk up when you walk into the courtroom.

6. You have to be really poor to qualify for a public defender.  Not poor like Governor Christie’s made so many of this state’s middle class citizens but really poor like minimum wage or unemployed poor.  I thought everyone got a public defender if they wanted one.  Not so in traffic court.

7. If you aren’t interested in the stage show that is traffic court, bring a lawyer.  All the cases with lawyers go first.  Granted they are the most amusing (and sometimes scary – see #3 DUI), but plan to sit there for at least an hour while the lawyers earn their pay.

8. Judges can be nice people.  The judge in this court was a truly nice guy and did as much as he could to help everyone out who came in front of him.  He was patient, explaining things over and over again, rescheduled court dates for the multiple number of kids with provisional licenses who qualified for real licenses (see #4) so they could plea down their tickets.  Definitely not a scary guy.

9.  Bring bamboo knitting needles.  You will go through a metal detector.  You don’t want everyone staring at you when you set off the metal detector.  Also, the cop checking your bag will pause when he sees your knitting.  Perhaps he is thinking that no one who carries knitting with them to court is a bad person.

10.  Traffic court is old fashioned: traffic court takes only cash and does not take debit or credit cards nor do they take checks.  They do, however, have payment plans.  Last time I was in traffic court was over a decade ago in Neptune, NJ.  Not only did Neptune take cash only, funny thing, they would give you a lesser charge without points if you had enough cash to pay double the fine you were facing but no payment plans.  There were also hookers with purple hair and some dudes from County in orange jump suits in Neptune traffic court.  I much prefer the camo pants, Sopranos suits, and multicolored pig tails found in Hunterdon County’s traffic court.

So, let’s hope you never have to go to traffic court in New Jersey, but if you do, make sure you wear your camo pants, aren’t facing DUI, and bring that big kid license.  Better yet, if you’re feeling a little down, spend an hour or so in traffic court.  You’ll realize you’ve made better life choices than most of the people there and if that doesn’t work, you’ll leave knowing you definitely made better style choices!

Unfortunately, this assignment did not produce the results I expected.  Instead, the teacher (me) learned that you can’t force a blog reader to comment; organic comments are the only type that inspire readers and blog writers alike.  Most student comments were thoughtful yet it was obvious they were writing for the grade not the opportunity to join a conversation.  The most telling aspect of the assignment was that not one student responded with more than the 2 required comments, and none of the comments prompted a true discussion.

At about midway through the marking period, a member of a blogging group I recently joined on LinkedIn started a discussion about the etiquette of commenting.  She conducted an experiment in which she posted comments to over 70 blogs written by group members in order to see how many bloggers reciprocated with comments on her blog.  One can safely assume the these bloggers wanted feedback via comments since they posted links to their blogs in a new posts thread; therefore, the woman conducting the experiment was in no way posting random comments or in any way spamming these blogs.  In fact, her comments on my blog were not only considered but thought provoking.

The first few respondents to this discussion stated that they generally respond in kind and even use plugins to make that a simpler process.  Then I came across a longer response that contained this observation:

“…usually [I] leave a comment back if I can say something genuine.  Otherwise, we are just playing a silly numbers game, not creating community.”

This member went on to say that she enjoys helping other bloggers and may promote or respond to a blog via social media or another outlet.  However, she was adverse to commenting as a tactic to bump a blog in terms of SEO or artificially inflate readership numbers.  As the discussion continued along the lines of the first few comments, I thought I’d join in to support the minority view above:

“Comments are always appreciated by bloggers … I comment when I read a blog that sparks a reaction not just because the blogger commented on one of my blog posts. It may be weeks before I see something I’d like to comment upon but I will return to a blog written by someone who posts a comment as opposed to a random blog I come across & don’t see anything that sparks a response. The “tit for tat” commenting approach seems disingenuous to me and not why I blog or podcast.”

The best part of posting my take on comments was a connection with the person who originally dissented from the prevailing view as well as the moderator of the LinkedIn group.  Downside: the next commenter told me she would’ve responded to my blog but she was tired of people not reciprocating comments and then posted my Alexa ranking. What’s an Alexa ranking you ask? Something that’s meaningless to anyone but bloggers looking to make significant income from their blog and / or attract big advertisers.  I think anyone who’s visiting my blog or listened to my podcast knows I’m not doing this for the money.  In fact, I prefer “supporters” and in no way want advertisers or other monetary compensation to color any reviews or commentary I include on this site.  My only real concern is the reaction from those at my “day job” regarding what I post anywhere online (for more on that topic, see a previous post about why I set my Twitter account to “private”).

Yes, I read most of the blogs posted by members of the group throughout the week, but I don’t comment just to comment.  The blogger concerned with Alexa ranking writes about news and events primarily outside the United States.  I find her blog informative at times but I am in no position to comment on politics in the EU or Keynesian economic policies.  If she writes about the state of the economy in New Jersey during the Christie era, then I promise, I will have a lot to say!

While I wrote this post, one of my WordPress plugins tweeted a link to an older post on this blog.  A relatively new follower read it and commented … on Twitter! Is this any less valid a comment than one left on the post itself? I don’t believe so and, for me, I see comments on Twitter much faster than I do on the blog.  Many of the podcasters I listen to regularly are on Twitter and that’s the way I let them know how much I’ve loved their latest episodes.   (I’m looking at you @aplayfulday, @caithnesscraft, and @venusfieri!)

Is commenting an SEO tactic, a way to demonstrate readership, or is comment reciprocation 21st century online etiquette? Is there a middle ground depending upon the purpose of the blog and the audience it reaches?  Can you still give blog love via your blog roll (see mine at right)? Feel free to respond in a comment, a tweet, a message on LinkedIn, an email or, if you’re really creative, pin your response on Pinterest!

“What happened?”, I asked.

“My shoes were all muddy so I hosed them down,” he said.

“How did that happen?”, I asked.

“We went on an ADVENTURE!”, he said.

Anyone who has a boy, knows a boy, or is a boy understands that boys go on adventures (I have no idea when this ends – perhaps never).  This got me to thinking: what kind of adventures have I, a grown woman, had in my lifetime?

In the spirit of the “Week of 23”, here are 23 adventures I have had in my 48 years:

1. Drove across the United States in a Toyota Celica in a week.
2. Drove across the United States in a Nissan Sentra in 52 hours.
3. Rode an ATV.
4. Rode a motorcycle (many times).
5. Refused to pay and file my income taxes (the IRS doesn’t like this; I now pay and file federal income tax promptly)
6. Went sky diving (kind of).
7. Tried to surf (not as easy as it looks in the movies)
8. Rode the New York City subway in the 1970s.
9. Flew People’s Express in the 1980s.
10. Got married.
11. Gave birth.
12. Gave birth again.
13. Got divorced.
14. Bought a house.
15. Sold a house.
16. Bought another house and now support that house.
17. Learned a programming language and then another.
18. Decided to become a public school teacher in New Jersey.
19. Took a bunch of students to Spain, France and England.
20. Took a bunch of students to Italy (more disaster than adventure; crazy people make terrible chaperones).
21. Went to Haiti 3 times to teach in a mission school and train their teachers.
22. Went to Ecuador to work with the indigenous children in the mountains.
23. Ate chicken feet soup while in Ecuador (before I became vegan).

How can I top the chicken feet soup?  Care to make a suggestion for my next 48 years?

inkytwig

kimperative

uncletypewriter

lolsangria

stories of conflict and love

brandeewine

little yawps

love letters and suicide notes

tales from south jersey

me, my dogs, my life

faithfully geeky

mrs. mediocrity

noel rozny

m a brotherton

cat-e-whompus

a wondering spirit

streetlights imagination

bibliomama

maggie ink

emma lloyd

marie d. tiger (color is action)

shiny things

estherfoxdotcom

I’m sure there are blogs I would love that I missed – please feel free to make suggestions in the comments below!

My twenty-third year started on a sunny beach in San Diego, California and ended with a 52 hour cross country trip to the residence of my future ex-mother-in-law in Hazlet, New Jersey.  How did this happen in the space of 12 short months?

When I turned 23 in January of 1987, I’d recently been transferred to my employer’s Carlsbad office as administrative assistant to that location’s manager.  Excited to have a female boss for the first time, I thought the challenge and experience of working with a boss who understood the particular issues of working women would alleviate some of the pain of the 45 minute commute each way from downtown San Diego into northern San Diego County.

Unfortunately, Working Girl wouldn’t be released until the next year.  Perhaps if that movie were made just a year earlier, I would’ve made a different life choice.  My hair wasn’t as big as Melanie’s and Harrison Ford never showed up at any happy hour I attended, but my new boss was a size 6 Sigourney Weaver.  (She got that way through liposuction, was married but had a “lunchtime guy”,  and all of us minions were sworn to secrecy.) I’ve never walked out on a job before or since that experience, but I remember that sweet moment of decision as I hung up the phone on her screeching about a report she misplaced, powered down my IBM PC (complete with newfangled color monitor), went in to her office and found the report under her dry cleaning, then said, “I quit” as calmly as possible.

I spent the next week on the beach reading Bonfire of the Vanities, purportedly a tale of 80s greed but peel back the layers and you’ll reveal an exploration of how we have no control over our lives no matter how successful we may be.

With that in mind, I figured it was futile to look for another job so started temping.  I immediately got a gig at Wells Fargo not far from our little cottage in North Park working 4 days a week leaving 3 days for beach, sun and fun.  I reported to a bunch of lawyers who didn’t even know my name or care to learn it, or even care that at least half the temps showed up on Monday morning still buzzed from the weekend.

Later that spring, my future ex-husband and I saw Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead in Anaheim, a decade after my first Dead show and years after I stopped counting how many shows I’d attended.  It was a great evening of music, but I remember sitting in the passenger seat on the drive back to San Diego, a cool sea breeze coming through the open windows, wondering if this was going to be the story of my life: Dead shows and dead end jobs.

I’d left Rutgers 6 credits shy of graduating.  Classic overachiever, I planned to graduate with a B.A. in English in 3 years so attended classes year round just as my mother did back in the late 50s.  Mom made it to graduation; her daughter burned out just shy of earning a diploma.  Throwing books, clothes, record albums, stereo, and Honda motorcycle in the back of a UHaul trailer (which is illegal by the way), that future ex-husband and I set off to sunny southern California to avoid coursework and responsibility.

That move also got me 3000 miles away from my family and to this day I still live 1/2 a continent away from my parents.  My one wish today would be to go back to my 23 year old self and explain just how much her parents would come to mean to her in later life.  My mother is now my closest friend and with each new health issue she faces, I become more and more frightened of what life will mean without her.  Perhaps moving so far away wasn’t the best long range plan, 23 year old me.

In July of 1987, my Mom called to tell me that Dad had been transferred to Plano, Texas and they would be moving in March of 1988.  She invited me home for a visit in late August during Dad’s vacation and, after confirming that the future ex-mother-in-law would pay for a plane ticket for the future-ex, accepted the invitation.  The return to my parent’s house in New Jersey was also a return to all the plans and dreams I had when I graduated high school.  Somehow, I’d taken a wrong turn, and as I sat on one of the last People’s Express flights back to LAX with the ex chain smoking next to me, I knew what I had to do.

We would move back to Jersey, and I’d finish my degree.  I might even start graduate school.

The ex was fine with that.  He hadn’t found steady work the entire time we’d been in southern California, and at the time he had a much healthier relationship with his family than I did with mine.  The future ex-mother-in-law agreed to let us live in her house for a few months while we got some money together.  We eventually moved into her second husband’s apartment after they were married in the spring of 1988.  I got my B.A. in English in June of 1988 and started graduate school for the first time in 1989.  Once again, my education was interrupted, this time when I became pregnant with our daughter.  It was her birth that sparked the reconciliation with my parents, so that break in education was well worth it.

Would I change anything from the year I was 23? Probably not, because all those events brought me to where I am today, the mother of two fantastic kids, the daughter of two supportive parents, and a job that allows me to do what I love while providing time for me to see the people I love.  So 23 year old me, it’s unfortunate Working Girl didn’t come out soon enough to save you from that experience, but it did create the life now led by the 48 year old me.

And it’s awesome!

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I’ve had the idea for this blog post in my head at least since last summer when my son and I discussed how much more it meant to him to read American Psycho than Catcher in the Rye.  Recently, after he finished The Stranger, I asked a few students if they read that at the school where I teach.  They don’t, and out of the conversation that ensued, I realized that there are certain books everyone should read in their later teens and early 20s that form not only the literary canon but provide a basic understanding of western culture in the second decade of the 21st century.

When I read the prompt above at approximately 5:40 a.m. this morning, I knew today would be the day I write that post.

23 Books to Read Before You Turn 23

(post 1900)

1. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
   
2. The Stranger by Albert Camus
   
3. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
   
4. Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
5. What Came Before He Shot Her by Elizabeth George
6. Wind-up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami
   
7. On Writing by Stephen King
   
8. The Ground Beneath Her Feet by Salman Rushdie
9. Ulysses by James Joyce
   
10. U.S.A. Trilogy by John Dos Passos
    
11. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
    
12. 1984 by George Orwell
    
13. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man by Marshall McLuhan
14. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
    
15. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
    
16. Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss
    
17. The Stand by Stephen King
    
18. The World According to Garp by John Irving
19. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
    
20. Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
    
21. The Emperor’s Children by Claire Messud
    
22. Necromancer by William Gibson
    
23. The White Plague Frank Herbert
    

Here’s a bonus:

23 Movies To See Before You’re 23

(apologies to @NJ_Film)

1. Fight Club
2. Donnie Darko
3. The Graduate
4. Klute
5. The Visitor
6. American Graffiti
7. Rebel Without a Cause
8. Ferris Buehler
9. The Outsiders
10. Reality Bites
11. Bella
12. Slumdog Millionaire
13. Terminator 2
14. Gran Torino
15. Norma Rae
16. Reign Over Me
17. Almost Famous
18. Better Off Dead
19. Repo Man (“Let’s go get sushi & not pay!” – spent the ’80s saying that)
20. Die Hard, Die Hard with a Vengeance or Live Free or Die Hard
21. Factory Girl
22. Breakfast at Tiffany’s
23. Kinky Boots (my students know this is my favorite movie to show teenagers)

Feel free to comment upon my choices in both lists as well as make your own suggestions; I’m always looking for new ways to corrupt the young.  If you’re unfamiliar with any of the movies, go to imdb ’cause it’s Monday, and I’m too lazy to link each one!

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So when I came across the National Day of Unplugging on one of the many sites I cruise daily – and don’t ask me which one, I don’t remember at this point although I believe it was either Twitter or LinkedIn – I thought it might be a good idea.  I posted the link to Twitter, Facebook and the BBS at school (yes, there’s at least one BBS system still alive and well, and it’s where I teach) and asked if anyone else was willing to

“Shut down your computer. Turn off your cell phone. Stop the constant emailing, texting, Tweeting and Facebooking to take time to notice the world around you. Connect with loved ones. Nurture your health. Get outside. Find silence. Avoid commerce. Give back. Eat Together. “

A number of people on Twitter confessed to taking a digital detox regularly; @kimsamsin reported that she does this a “couple times a month”, and @geekinhard said he’s “never uplugged but I’m often disconnected from one thing (ie: Twittah/FB/email/etc) or another for a period of time”.   As someone who’s a huge fan of the slow food movement, how had I missed this opportunity to slow down daily life?

How could I not accept the challenge?  So I did.

I shut down all but the iMac and iPhone at dusk Friday night and didn’t use them again until Sunday morning with a few exceptions.  The iMac I left on for my son because he wasn’t doing the fast – how on earth could he communicate with his friends and listen to his music without his iPhone and the iMac? (So I’m a bad mommy, sue me.)  My iPhone I left on because, like most people I know, I no longer have a land line, and with a daughter at college and older parents living half a continent away, I didn’t want to be completely off the grid.  Also, since it was Saturday, I did do a bit of commerce at the food store since the boy I mentioned above wouldn’t be so understanding if there were no food in the house when he woke up Saturday at noon (I’m a bad mommy but not that bad a mommy.)

As I went about my day unplugged, I tried to document the changes this forced me to make in my daily routine.  Here’s what I discovered:

I like reading books! This may surprise readers and podcast listeners since I write and talk about books in both, but I’ve found over the last year or so that I listen to more books than I read.  Part of this is my renewed love of craft and dedication to fiber arts (aka knitting) which encourages listening rather than looking, but I also find it easier to follow a book when I’m tired if I listen to it rather than read a printed page.

I’d just finished a library book the night before (after dusk and the digital shutdown) and had a new one queued up called The Fear Index all about, you guessed it, computers gone bad.  The basic premise involves a learning computer program designed to run a hedge fund based on past performance, information posted on the internet, and current stock and bond indices that turns into a 21st century version of HAL.  I loved the book from the first page then recognized it as my favorite nightmare when the program shorts stock on an airline that later in the day is the victim of a terrorist bombing … because the computer read the threat on a jihadi website after the plane was in the air but before the bomb detonated.

A great read on a day of digital detox!  Back before the internet, I used to look forward to a weekend afternoon devoted entirely to reading.  Can’t say I’ve done that in a decade, and after this experience, I’m so going to do it again when I get my hands on a copy of After America.

While that was my major discovery, I did make a number of other changes in my daily routine:

• It took me 10 minutes to figure out how to find out what the weather was going to be that day.  Thank goodness Channel 7′s Saturday morning news goes until 10 a.m. and even then, I had to wait another 10 minutes until the weather girl told me it was going to be 63 and partly cloudy in New York City.  I live south of the city and our weather can differ from the city, but I went with it since I’d already wasted 20 minutes getting this information.  The iPhone wins hands down on this point.
• The stack of bills on my desk wasn’t going to pay itself and without the internet, I wasn’t going to pay them either.  Not one bill in that stack could be paid the old fashioned way (you know, with a check).  Took me 5 minutes to locate my checkbook before I realized the futility of using checks.  This would’ve been a real problem had it not been Saturday, the digital detox over on Sunday, and no money transferred by banks until Monday night anyway.  Also, I had no way of knowing what my bank balance was because I no longer receive printed statements.  The iMac and online BillPay win on this point.
• I started writing this blog post in my head as the day went along, and I thought, “I’ll use my manual typewriter to get all my thoughts down on paper.” Sad to say, I have no clue how to use a manual typewriter anymore even thought I could bang out a paper in record time back in high school and college.  Also, the ribbon was completely dried out.  Computers win again.
• The marking period at school ends this coming Friday, and our grades have to be in the following Wednesday.  Two years ago, the District moved to an online gradebook accessed via the internet.  If you’re my principal reading this, I’m sure you can imagine my grief when I couldn’t enter any grades.  If you’re not, total win for this teacher!!
• I usually hit the library on Saturday or Monday so I thought I’d head over and see if there were any good movies available (since Netflix was out during the detox) and also pick up some items I had on hold.  While there, I wanted to know if the library had a particular movie and where it might be located.  The Monmouth County Library catalog has been online for almost a decade, yet this was the first time I missed the card catalog.  Remember them? I debated asking the reference librarian but since I go there all the time, they know me (and know I’m not a conservative Jew or Amish), I figured I’d use the online system just this once.  Internet wins this round too.
• When I arrived home from my errands, I decided to cook lunch.  Oh, wait, most of my recipes are on the iPad or iMac even though I own almost 100 cookbooks.  I browsed the cookbook shelves in the kitchen, and while I ultimately made Mac Daddy from Veganomicon (my favorite cookbook), I did rediscover two cookbooks I’d forgotten about: Tarte Tatin and On Rue Tatin by Susan Hermann Loomis.  Not vegan, but wonderful cookbooks and stories about cooking in France.  They’re now on my end table awaiting rediscovery.  Slow food wins this round … although when I put my Mac Daddy in the oven, I realized that I no longer own a kitchen timer nor do I know how to use the one on my oven.  Damn you iPhone!
• My favorite podcast is Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me and I often listen after dinner on Saturday evenings.  Technically, the unplugged sabbath was over at sundown, so I found the iPhone and blissfully streamed this NPR show.  I also finished listening to the audiobook Raylan that was uploaded on that iPhone although I got it from the library on CDs so could’ve listened to it on the stereo.  That’s right, I have a stereo in my house complete with turntable, CD player, and tape deck (but that’s another blogpost entirely).

So there you have it, my adventures during a day unplugged.  The best part about the experience was how less fragmented the day felt.  I wasn’t constantly walking by a computer, sitting down, and checking email and social networks, or running errands and whipping out my iPhone at every traffic light or while I waited in various lines.  I admit, I started worrying about what was in my gmail around 4 p.m. and discovered 52 new emails this morning but nothing that couldn’t wait.   I also feel more rested today then I usually do on a Sunday morning, so I think unplugging at least one Saturday a month is in the cards for me.

In the words of Andrew S. Grove, President & CEO of Intel: “Only the paranoid survive.”  I just hope that learning computer program becomes self aware when I’m unplugged.

I saw my bully today, haggard and the worse for wear.  Like the monsters in the closets of our youth, once those in authority recognize the issue and help you face your fear, the bully loses all power to scare.  Now just a memory of an earlier time, my bully serves as a reminder to us all: bullies can enter your life at any point in the most unexpected ways.

I’ve written about bullies in the workplace as well as in the schoolroom, so I’ll let Bullies and Bullies Revisited serve as my response to today’s prompt.