Daily Loaf

During the holiday season people look for all kinds of ways to find unique, memorable, and innovative gifts. Because the modern world seems to be flooded in a sea of consumable products it isn’t often easy to find things that are unusual, earth-friendly, and affordable. At GoGreenItems.com, however, a shopper can get their hands on some excellent finds at fantastic prices.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the assortment of recycled jewelry, hand bags, purses, pouches and clutches they offer. Currently the site has bags made from recycled juice boxes and telephone books, jewelry crafted from sea glass and old LPs (records), and much more.
Read the rest of this entry »

As the hunt for my next fuck-buddy continues, I’ve expanded my search parameters and raised my age limit. At least I tried to.

When I was younger I vowed I wouldn’t date anyone more than eight years older than me, but as I grew up, my lovers and boyfriends got progressively younger. To be honest, I hadn’t even thought about dating older men until the other night. Read the rest of this entry »

Common wisdom would tell you that the big game and the sudsy brew go hand in hand. Sure, up to a point.

But when it comes to holidays and events, Super Bowl is way down the rankings in terms of beer sales, eighth on the list.

Why? Well, most Super Bowl celebrations don’t start until just before kickoff, probably not before 5 or 6 p.m. Holidays are day-long celebrations. Heck, our family Easter tradition is to tap the keg when we start the egg hunt and keep it flowing until we pass out from ham and beer overload. On Christmas, we drink to deal with our in-laws. On Father’s Day, well … that’s just depressing.

Check after the break for the complete list of top beer holidays:

From Kasper on Tap -

According to data from the Nielsen Co., consumers bought a mere 51.7 million cases of beer in the two weeks surrounding last year’s Super Bowl. That trails the 68.1 million cases bought during the top beer holiday, the 4th of July.

Our nation’s top beer holidays are as follows:
1. July 4
2. Labor Day
3. Memorial Day
4. Father’s Day
5. Christmas
6. Thanksgiving
7. Easter
8. Super Bowl

Late afternoon on Xmas Eve saw my friend and I renewing our membership in the +100 mph Alligator Alley club in a pair of German autobahn cruisers; we saw SW Miami in 3.5 hours! My brain’s hunger center had me in race mode. We were impatiently making a pilgrimage for a Trinidadian Xmas: a five day celebration where shopping and presents are irrelevant, and food, drink and laughter are staples. West Indian hospitality is quite unforgettable, however you best not refuse any offerings, lest you become the butt of jokes and earn a nickname not of your choosing. Read the rest of this entry »

Ok y’all, I know that Christmas is over, but there’s still time to eke out a little holiday spirit. After running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to finish our pre- and post-holiday activities, you probably don’t want to spend 4 1/2 hours baking these sugar cookies. But surely you have an extra two minutes to make these cute little Marshmallow Snowmen? Do this with your kids as you pack away the decorations until next year, as a final, tasty, easy hurrah to send off the season. I bet you will get a smile outta someone!

Read on for instructions. Read the rest of this entry »

This week marks the collaboration celebration that is Chrismukkah: a combination of Christmas and Hanukkah for those, like I, with parents of different backgrounds. Chrismukkah is a term I recently heard, from watching an old episode of The O.C. Curiosity struck me and I did a quick google search to see what, if anything, would be picked up. Turns out, after The O.C.’s “The Best Chrismukkah Ever” episode debuted in 2003, Chrismukkah.com was formed. The website was put together by an interfaith couple, who had seen that particular episode and inspired them, and it sells a book about the “Hybrid Holiday”, cookbooks and gifts that combine the two holidays, such as menorahments (ornaments with menorahs on them), Matzoh House (like the gingerbread house, but inedible) and Chrismukkah caps (which look exactly like yamaka’s with Christmas colors).

I’ve celebrated Chrismukkah for eighteen years, but never had a means of defining what it was my family did… Read the rest of this entry »

Anybody else see the speed trap on the Pinellas side of the Howard Frankland heading into Tampa this morning? At 10:15 a.m., at least two cruisers and three motorcycle cops (I was going far too fast to get an accurate count) were pulling over their fellow citizens and issuing them lovely anti-gifts in the form of speeding tickets. Merry fucking Christmas from area law enforcement.

And I know what you’re going to say about how people die far too frequently in Christmas spirits related accidents. I agree. So why not do the speed trap tonight? That way, the cops might actually catch some folks drinking and driving. I guess that’s not priority #1, though. This morning’s trap wasn’t about safety. It was about income generation. To protect and serve, indeed.

After two canceled flights and a previously not-on-the-itinerary stopover in Baltimore, I arrived home last night to a warming breeze and balmy outside temp of 50. (It hit the negative where I was Sunday night.) I love you, St. Pete!

• Things I didn’t need to see before heading to the airport: The plane that skidded off the runway in Denver.
• Budget problems in California? Just have Ah-nold stroke a check.
• The Bush folks respond to the NY Times article dropping the sub-prime mortgage mess in the Prez’s lap.
• Obama to release Blago report today.
• New insomnia drug takes the pesky swallowing out of sleeping pills.
• The VCR’s long goodbye is finally coming to an end.
• That guy from The Sopranos (who was also in A Bronx Tale) is acquitted.
• Coming soon: The iPhone Nano?

Sooooo, I thought I’d get in the Christmas spirit and make Fancy Decorated Sugar Cookies.

With all of my baking adventures, I have never made decorated or worked with cut out cookies. Hmm, wonder why?I saw this post and this post over at Our Best Bites, and I was inspired. She gives a wonderful tutorial on both the cookie making and the glazing. And her cookies are adorable. Check them out.

Enough being nice, as I am still a little bitter. Making the dough was a cinch. Threw everything in my KitchenAid mixer and in 2 minutes it was done and chilling in the fridge. Easy peasy. Holiday cheer and joy flowing!

Then the pain in the assness began. The dough was too hard to roll, so I let it sit out for a bit to warm up. Ditzo me left it out for too long and it got too soft to roll. Back in the fridge. The my daughter proceeds to blow across the floured counter top, making it snow flour in my kitchen. Oh, happy day! Read the rest of this entry »

Remember in 1999 when religious blowhard Jerry Falwell attacked Tinky Winky, the purple teletubby, because his sick little mind thought the children’s character was gay?

Then, in 2005, James Dobson from Focus on the Family accused Spongebob Squarepants of the same offense to “moral values?”

Well, the latest plush toy to inspire the wrath of right-wingers is Mattel’s Little Mommy Real Loving Baby Cuddle and Coo doll.

Read the rest of this entry »

Esquire has a funny piece on The Five Most Terrifying Local TV Christmas Commercials. All five are worth a look, but this one for Norton Furniture is the gem of the bunch.

• If you just talk about something (like, say, selling an open Senate seat), is it still a crime?
• Speaking of the U.S. Legislature: Caroline Kennedy for Senate.
• The Supreme Court smokes the cigarette companies yet again.
• Prepare for (temporary) chaos around TIA.
• Who buys five identical lottery tickets for one drawing? This guy.
• What guy hasn’t dreamed of his own Go-Kouch?
• Madonna’s divorce from Guy Ritchie will cost the singer $75 million. Or is it $76 million? Or could it be $92 million?!!?
  
• The Arena Football League takes its balls and goes home.
• Shameless pander to lovers of animal videos: Pug vs Laser.

Craft Magazine and Make Magazine are tremendous periodicals for the 21st century DIY culture. And in true 21st century style their blogs are as important as their paper publications. Here’s the Craftzine blog, and here’s the Makezine blog.

I tell you this because they’re great zine/blogs and I thought you might be interested in them, but mostly to assuage my conscience since I’m about to totally rip off their image and post -

Read the rest of this entry »

We end the week with the gift that keeps on giving: The George W. Bush victory tour. In this clip from a few days ago, Bush tries to get in line with some soldiers and gets awkwardly shut out. Have a good weekend, everyone.

• Now the car companies want $34 billion!
• Verizon’s service is so bad it gets fined millions by the state.
• Tampa City Council OK’s 25-year Tampa Electric deal without renewable energy or anti-coal provisions.
• If India bombs Pakistan, this might be the target.
• Deeson: Top Hillsborough fire brass get paramedic pay bonus even if they don’t work as paramedics.
• Controversial Ed Helm edged out for Democratic State Committeeman in Pinellas.
• Controversial St. Pete middle school principal suspended with pay during internal investigation.
• Wanna buy a money-losing daily newspaper with a great view?
• Ahhh, it’s the first sighting of a “Grinch” headline in the MSM for the holiday season. Won’t be the last.
• Tampa Tribune releases news that has no news.
• “Hello, this is Barack Obama.” Click.
• November was terrible for retailers. Can December be much better?
• Facebook Connect just might change the world (wide web).
• This Christmas, support a worthwhile cause by helping Stephen Colbert humble Kanye West.
• R.I.P. Knight Rider.

The text on the Tastebook site calls its own product “stunning and unique.” For once, I’ll have to agree with the PR flunkies. With just a little effort, you can create a recipe book of your own family favorites that’s miles ahead of the old-fashioned box of handwritten note cards.

The process is simple: just upload you recipes (with a picture if you have one), tag them into sections, title your masterpiece and pay the $19.95 (plus shipping). The resulting cookbook has the classic Betty Crocker look, with a hard cover, labeled tabs delineating sections and full-color, ringbound pages.

You can also share recipes with the Tastebook community, pull recipes from its database for your cookbook, or order Tastebooks created by other people — some of them recognized chefs like the editors of Epicurious, Cooking Light or Food & Wine.

In these days of throw-away, consumable crap, a personalized cookbook like this is the kind of thing that people will hold onto for generations. If your recipes are any good, that is.

To give a cookbook as a gift is an act of nourishment. You hope that your offering will inspire and ultimately feed the recipient. You hope he/she will think of you while standing in the kitchen, excited and covered in flour.

Perhaps the year’s best cookbook, or at least the most lavish, isn’t nourishing to anything but your brain and fantasy life. A Day at elBulli: An Insight into the Ideas, Methods and Creativity of Ferran Adria (Phaidon Press Inc., $49.95) is less a cookbook than an act of highbrow food porn – and I mean that in a more literal sense than the term “food porn” usually conjures. The meticulous chronicling of “the best restaurant in the world” walks us through every aspect of the cutting-edge eatery in northern Spain, but it quickly becomes apparent that the true experience of elBulli is unattainable. We can look, but we can’t touch, and we certainly can’t taste. Read the rest of this entry »