Horse Manure Park

On occasion I have a day alone with the Boy and the Girl and we try to do something fun for breakfast.  Today, pancakes were requested and I delivered... big time. Because we didn't just have " pancakes" .  Oh no! Today was Aquatic Pancake day!  (I excel in improvisation.  Bear with me.) Aquatic pancakes... they are almost too good to eat. The Girl (with a mouthful of Stingray-cake) tries to smile as she shows off my Angelfish-cake. The Boy with a Sea Turtle-cake (which looks remarkably similar to a Starfish-cake) and Octopus-cake (his request). The Boy and the Girl ate themselves to the point of nearly exploding.  Success!  For a while this morning I was thinking I was pretty cool... perhaps the smartest dad on the planet. Then I got this in the mail.  I can take a hint. Somebody in Los Banos, California, seems to think I should tap my potential.   Nothing like falling back to earth with a dull thud. ...... ..... ....

There are literally a dozen things I should be doing today.  Instead, I've accomplished basically nothing.  Spent the day at home letting the Girl and the Boy burn energy outside. My dad would have called me a bum.  As usual, he would have been correct. Actually, I spent a part of the day looking through my mom's old recipes.  In March, my sister-in-law Marilyn (the world's best cook, just in case anyone was wondering) brought a cardboard box full of my mom's cookbooks and recipe cards for me to look through. I already had a large box of recipe cards (all in Mom's handwriting) and this is a wonderful addition to my collection.  I'm trying to decide what to do with all of them and I'm seriously thinking of launching another blog dedicated exclusively to her recipes.  Most likely, this will be my next winter project (always thinking ahead, I am). One of Mom's worn and much-used cookbooks.  This one is from 1967. Mom loved to cook and there a...

Despite my less-than-spectacular physique, I honestly don't eat at fast food chains very often. The reason is simple: no matter how much fast food chains claim that their grub is "healthier than ever before," or "30% lower calories," I refused to be fooled.  It really isn't rocket science: fast food is quick, it is manufactured to taste good, and it isn't good for you .  The end. However, last night was an exception.  The Girl had a Girl Scout meeting at our local Burger King (Girl Scout cookies are for sale!), so we decided to "dine in" the All-American way: stuff ourselves full of calories and cholesterol, wash it down with a diet soda and waddle home. Glancing at the clientele in the establishment, some were well-seasoned in this routine. Clean up needed at 808 W Washington Street in Brainerd, MN Burger King is the fifth largest fast food chain in the U.S., and without researching its annual profit, I am assuming that BK Intern...

I've learned my lesson: never fall in love with a product that Costco carries, because it will be a short-lived affair.  And your heart will be shattered. Over the past few months I've grown addicted to Angie's Kettle Corn.  I freely admit it.  I am pathetic. Believe it or not, I try hard to keep from consuming an inordinate amount of sweets.  That's not an easy thing to do this time of year; however, Angie's satisfied my sweet tooth and was calorie-friendly.  You could have a large two cup serving for less calories than a half cup of ice cream. It was the best of both worlds.  I loved her it. Missing:  If you see her, tell her that I love her. A large HUGE bag only cost around $6 at Costco and it's produced in Mankato... Angie was a hometown girl! Angie was perfect.   Too perfect. A few weeks ago at Costco, I discovered Angie had left me. It actually gave me heart palpitations to discover that her salty sweetness had vanish...

The other day I was watching my son eat his favorite cereal, Lucky Charms.  And I started thinking back to when I was a kid:  Lucky Charms was also one of my favorites as well. Lucky the Leprechaun looks a little different now compared to, say, 1974, but he's still around.  I thought that was pretty cool. And as one thought segued to another, I started thinking about all the cereal "characters" of my childhood. Every sugar-coated, frosted, packed-with-vitamins-and-iron, genuine-aritificial-flavor box of awesomeness had its own little cartoon character which tried to convince me to convince my mom  that the next time she was at the Red Owl in Wadena, she should by THAT particular cereal. And you know what?  She usually did.  So I decided to take a stroll down memory lane and try to think of as many breakfast cereal characters I could from my youth.  I know I've overlooked a few, but here are the ones I can clearly remember. <<>...