Good and Cheap Eats

Although this isn't a food blog, we here at the House of Nod do love our eats.

That's why I'm excited about this link my brother shared with me called Good and Cheap: a SNAP Cookbook by Leanne Brown. She compiled this wonderful little booklet as a final project for a master's degree in food studies at New York University.

Although it is aimed at those who might be on public assistance, this humdinger of a collection will work just as well for those of us with large families who need to stretch a dollar. Or just anybody who loves great tasting food.

This is an example of someone taking a thing they love and sharing it with those who most need it. I don't know Leanne, her politics, her religion, or her motivation. But it is certainly a praiseworthy thing and one that deserves to be shared.

Leanne writes:

Cooking skill, not budget is the key to unlocking great

food. Everyone has the right to good cooking, regardless

of income. 

The recipes in this collection are lovingly

designed and paired with tantalizing photos that show

the plethora of exciting and inspiring food that can be

prepared for little.

For too long discussions surrounding people of lower

socioeconomic status have centered around nutrition

and making do. This isn’t a typical budget cookbook,

nor is it a nutritional guide, it’s a collection of recipes

that happen to be inexpensive.

If you want a better life, filled with daily pleasures;

learn to cook. If you want to get control over a small

food budget; learn to cook. If you want a healthy body

and mind for yourself and your family; learn to cook.

The recipes are made with simple and inexpensive ingredients (pennies per serving), but the variety is a thing of beauty and substitutions are encouraged. There are ideas in here that I've just dying to try -- and I think you should too!

It's 126 pages of cheap but nutritious eats for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, dessert, soup, salad, handhelds, drinks, big batch, and sauces and flavors.

Sampling the breakfast: Banana pancakes, cheddar jalapeno scones, Oatmeal (coconut and lime, berry, pumpkin, apple cinnamon, savory, baklava!).

A bit of small bites includes: polenta fries, spicy green beans, poutine, and mexican street corn.

Perhaps for dinner you might try the Creamy Zucchini Fettuccine, Shrimp and Grits, perogies, or Chana Masala?

Wash it down with some Agua Fresca and a refreshing homemade melon sorbet for dessert.

Mmm, that's the stuff. Whatcha waiting for?

Pinball Wizard: Black Knight 2000

This is possibly the most exciting non-family event in a looooong time: The Pinball Arcade released their port of Black Knight 2000 on Valentine's Day this year. I know I'm in love!

I am a pinball nut. Note this is different than actually being good at it. But I love the lights, sounds, and the feel of pinball. I sunk many never-to-be-retrieved quarters into pinball as a starving college student. Black Knight 2000 was my object d'amore.

I have seriously considered buying a full-size no-kidding Black Knight 2000 pinball game for my house. Sadly, with 6 Nodlings to feed, I don't have $3000 extra dollars lying around.  But that's how much I love this game: I considered doing it.

Purists will argue that it's not the greatest table, that it's too reliant on the right flipper, and so on. To them I say: you have no soul. It is the essence of what a pinball table should be: fun, engaging, with just enough challenge so that you want to do it again and again. "Every flipper, bumper, sound effect, and display pixel has been painstakingly emulated in astonishing detail!"

It's got a great theme, very catchy sound track, clever phrases, two playing fields, etc. It's even got a freaking drawbridge for crying out loud!

And now Black Knight 2000 is available in all its glory for a pittance. Or as close as you can get without full haptic (touch) feedback -- but it does have Tilt sensors on the iPad and you can "bump" the table.

I'm in heaven.

http://www.pinballarcade.com/TablePacks/

Black Knight 2000™ (1989): The Black Knight rides again in this brilliant sequel to the Steve Ritchie hit from 1980. Players take on the role of good versus evil as they battle the Black Knight in high velocity gameplay. The game is all about speed and quick reactions, highlighted by features such as an upper and lower level, repeating U-Turn and Skyway Loop shots rewarding accurate shooters and a Drawbridge that lowers to reveal a ramp.

The patented Magna-Save™ feature from the original game is back. This allows players to activate a ball saving magnet preventing balls from draining. Great scores are achieved by collecting Lightning Wheel Awards, scoring Hurry-Up bonuses and playing the three awesome Multi-Ball rounds, including The Kings Ransom Wizard mode. 5,703 units of this table were produced.

A Potpourri of Popery: Fun With Hats

Why is it we love to see our public figures in ridiculous outfits -- politicians, celebrities, and especially Popes?

Perhaps it's the incongruity of it all, because it is "unexpected". The more serious the figure, the more we love the ridiculous.

Here is one thing I like about Pope Francis: he is almost always smiling. He seems to like this Christianity thing. Me too. As St Teresa of Avila said: "God save us from sour-faced saints."

So without further ado: A Potpourri of Popery.

Subscribe to the Blynken Blog here!

Whither the Zither?

I love Old Time Radio. Love it.

As a kid I would lie awake at night listening to the old time radio shows playing on K-XYZ AM nowhere. I'm not old enough to have heard these in their heyday, or even the sons of heyday, but I loved these over the top radio dramas that allowed you to exercise your imagination and get some cheap thrills.

I learned at the ear of radio about conning the marks in The Lives Harry Lime from The Third Man, foiled dastardly plots with Chuck Morgan and Glamour Puss in Stand By For Crime, defended the oppressed with Paladin in Have Gun Will Travel, and rode the dusty trails of justice with the Lone Ranger and Tonto; and I got my fill of Sherlock Holmes and the Green Hornet alike.

Radio can be intimate in a way that television is not, especially in the wee hours of the night. It's just that million dollar voice, the radio dial, and you. Radio lets you feel like you were in on the action even though your body couldn't be there.

I played some of these old time radio recordings for the Nodlings and they just ate it up. Six kids piled up on the couch to "watch" an iPad progress bar slowly marching across the screen as their grandfather's fairy tales crackled in their ears.

It's magic. It's hypnotic. I wish I could find a modern radio drama that was just as captivating. Or perhaps the charm of the old time radio is best left in the myth of yesteryear. In either case, you can stream them for free from archive.org. Yay, free!

I found this old video of Anton Karas playing the theme from The Third Man on the zither. It has a quaint yet upbeat sound that evokes old Vienna. The zither may be the most complicated string instrument I have ever seen: part harp, part bass, and part stringed guitar. Enjoy!

Superpope Anime

If you like the Pope and if you like Manga, then maybe you'll enjoy a Manga SuperPope!

Enjoy this cool anime by David Rutledge over at PhatMass and watch Superpope kick a little demonic booty.

Superfun!

Bad Analogies

 Wow. I was just talking about this subject today.

Score one for the Lutherans who made me snicker.  Enjoy St. Patrick's Bad Analogies of the Trinity. 

h/t The B-Movie Catechism

S.Q.U.A.T. Team: Written by a Kid

This has got to be the most hilarious thing I've seen in a loooooong time: stories written by a kid and animated by professionals. Hi-freakin-larious!

After watching this, you too will want to be on the S.Q.U.A.T Team!  Enjoy Scary Smash!

Blogger MashUp Meets Freaky Friday

So, LarryD has blogger’s block and he’s drinking beer. Isn’t that my job? Or rather, isn’t my job causing that? (Except for the beer part, I would have had one anyway.)

In the meantime, I’m feeling just the slightest bit snarky. And it’s Friday. Could this be a Blogger Freaky Friday?  Have LarryD and I switched places for a day?  What would that look like? ...

Welcome to Acts of the A-Pasta-See, where we pair experimental cooking with made-up religion. Today’s match-up is with Sister Patricia Owens O'Flannary, OP. 

Sister Patricia is busy writing on the social justice of different wheat sources, saying “It doesn’t matter if you don’t know your Semolina from your Durham, it’s the soul of the wheat germ that’s important. Durham has developed a “naked, free-threshing form” over the centuries which I’m sure is terribly important. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. I may devote an entire crystal meditation session to it.”

Meanwhile the Seven Sons of LarryD are whipping up a 7-layer dip in preparation for the un-cancelled 2011-2012 Football season. “Dribble! Dabble! We need more guacamole and less refried beans. Add plenty of cheese, Lumpy and Jumpy; each layer of our True Faith Dip represents one of the 7 sacraments. It’s like heaven on earth.”

... or something like that.

Ok, LarryD, your turn. Which blogger(s) would you Freaky Friday switch with, and what would it look like? Or you could do a “blogger mashup” of two or more peeps on your sidebar.  Go on, it’s just for fun!

Anybody else want to give it whirl? Jump in the combox!

Sopwith Camel

I followed a guy on my way home the other day who had this picture on the back of his car. Made me laugh, made my day. I'm so getting one of these for my "Sopwith Camel".

Fight Of The Century: Keynes vs. Hayek Round Two

All the interest I have in Economic Theory can be found on the back of a cereal box.

However, this clever video pits the two most influential economists of our times against one another in an entertaining movie-boxing-rap-throw-down.

In one corner, John "Top-down" Keynes advocating more government spending and circular money flow. In the other corner, F.A. "Bottom-up" Hayek supporting less government spending and demand-based economy.

Not sure who's the winner, but Econ 101 would have stuck with me better with a video like this.

h/t Thoughts of a Regular Guy

Zebra Barcodes

This just makes me laugh. Or is it too obvious?

A team of computer scientists and biologists have developed a barcode-like scanning system called Stripespotter that automatically identifies individual zebras from a single photograph. [source]

Apparently this works with giraffes and tigers as well. Yes, but the big question is: do they come up as on sale?

Shake It Up

We have all been staring at the same four walls for about 3 weeks now due to illness. On Saturday, I threw everybody outside whether they wanted to go or not. Everybody.

Mrs. Nod confided to me: "I'm mad at you". Join the club, signups are over there. (But then she took a nap and felt much better.) In fact, everybody felt better just to be soaking up some Vitamin D and running and playing. One thing is for certain: nobody in this family will be signing up for a 5-year trip to Mars in a tiny capsule.

Dab made his long awaited debut at Mass this weekend, despite the rain. It always amuses me to see the people that we barely know or don't know at all come out of the woodwork to congratulate us on the baby. Not that I'm complaining about it -- I'm pleasantly flattered.  I guess we're just that visible, even when we're doing nothing and sitting quietly in the back.

I decided to shake things up a little more on Sunday afternoon by declaring that we would be making our own pizza from scratch. My mom used to do this when I was growing up, and it's not that hard especially if you own a pizza stone -- which I do.

Now the Nodlings are that kind of crew that historically turn their noses up at anything but cheese pizza. I don't listen to those mewlings and force them to eat all kinds of crazy dishes that I make up -- and they love.  I won't force Blynken to eat mushrooms unless they're really well mixed into something, because she looks like a cat horking on a furball, but other than that I generally don't make exceptions.

But today was Pizza Day. We made French bread style for lunch as a warm-up, and then we got out the rolling pin and made pizza dough for dinner.

I asked them to pick pizza-like toppings and they could put in on the pie themselves.  Well! This cheese-only crowd put on pepperoni, black olives, green pepper, garlic, minced onions, mushrooms, and oregano.

Nib was hilarious! Every time I'd shift the pie to the left or right to work on the next part, she would jump down, move her step stool to my other side, and clamber back up so that her nose was level with the pizza. "Daddy, I help you?"

For our second pie we made deep dish which included ham, pineapple, green and red bell pepper on half. My half was more exotic: pepperoni, olives, feta cheese, mushroom, diced tomatoes, garlic.

They ate it all up with relish! Um, no, not relish-relish, they just liked it a lot. I had five kids hovering around my elbow as we mixed and rolled pizza dough and clamoring to be allowed to put on the next topping.

Hmmm, I wonder if that would work for other kinds of dinners? Hmmm.

Dr. Suess Does Star Wars

Art, Son of Adam has a great series of cartoons that depict What If Dr. Suess Had Thought of Star Wars?
He really nailed the Suess style and made me chuckle. Suess doing Star Wars? Totally believable -- On Beyond Zebra!

Check out the whole series here.

Literal Signs #3: Ben Hur?

You tell me what this sign is saying ... chariot race ahead?

Literal Signs #2

If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times ...

Literal Sign #1

Signs must be obeyed. You have been warned.

Feeling Hot! Hot! Hot!

I was pleasantly surprised to be nominated in the annual Blogger's Choice Awards for Hottest Daddy Blogger. Imagine that!



So, I took my own impartial survey, and Mrs. Nod agrees that I am the hottest Daddy blogger. (I'm satisfied with the judge's decision.)

So whether you think I'm hot-off-the-presses, hot-under-the-collar, hot-to-trot, or just hotter than 98 degrees, I'd appreciate your vote, just for fun. And it's free!

While you're there, give a shout out (and a vote) to my peeps at Shoved to Them and Acts of the Apostasy!

Angry Birds: Mighty Eagle

My favorite time waster has an exciting new capability: the Mighty Eagle. Once an hour (real time -- they know how addictive this game is) you can call down the Mighty Eagle and wipe those pigs off the map using a can of sardines for bait. Hoo-ah!

My Favorite Thing

I've had the same shirt for about 20 years, and it's safe to say that it's one of my favorites.

It's a rugby with 4" vertical stripes of blue and green. Yes, I know that traditional rugby shirts have horizontal stripes, but that was part of the appeal of my jersey being a little different. It has survived football games, wrestling, bleach, yard work, children yanking on it, improper washing, you name it.

Only now, twenty years later it has started to develop a tiny hole in the sleeve near the cuff.  I'd say that was one tough shirt and that I definitely got my money's worth out of it. The children's clothier Carter's had a slogan "If only they stayed young until their Carter's wore out."  If every piece of clothing lasted like my rugby did, I'd never have to buy new clothes unless I wanted them.

So for my birthday I went ahead and ordered a new rugby to take the place of my old one. This one is the official Unites States rugby team colors: dark blue with two white stripes on the arm and a white side flare and collar. It sports the U.S. flag and the official World Rugby logo. These rugbys from Barbarian via American Rugby Outfitters (no, they're not sponsoring me, but they should) are super heavy weight cotton, reinforced stitching under the arm and the back of the neck. There are no sleeve seams, since the traps are sewn directly into the collar, rubber buttons, and quality stamped all over it.

It's sharp, it's durable, and well fitted. In short, I love it.  You should have something that you love so much.

Non-Newtonian Fluid

This just speaks to my inner geek: non-Newtonian fluid. See Adam Savage "walk on water".
Note to Adam: Jesus didn't use corn starch.