Pop! goes the weasel...

The rise of social networking gave birth to flash mobs. The next generation of raves (and the next-next generation of '60s Happenings), flash mobs organize on Facebook or Twitter or through email; all the participants show up at a given place at the given time and do whatever activity was planned. This YouTube video of a crowd of Romans singing a song from "Glee" in a mall is proof that, while usually benign, flash mobs are also usually a little pointless.

However, the New York Times Magazine profiled a group called a "crop mob" that is actually very handy. Run on the same premise as a flash mob, crop mobs mobilize to aid young, small farmers in getting specific tasks done. Forty to 50 20-somethings gather at the chosen farm for a day to box thousands of pounds of produce or prep greenhouses or even to clear rocks and brush from a field. The volunteers focus on building a community, and the only thing it costs the farmer is lunch.

Something akin to the flash mob but is decidedly more bourgeois is the pop up. Be it a store or a restaurant, the new trend in launching a business or testing out its feasibility is to "pop up" in someone else's spot. Practically always unannounced and often changing spots nightly, the pop up appeals to those who aspire to be "in the know." The LA Times published an article on the rules for finding pop ups as well as highlighting some of the more popular ones in New York. Hint: to find 'em, you gotta follow 'em. Score another for social networking...

(Photo courtesy of The New York Times Magazine)

Leave it to the Globe...

Sometimes it can be feast or famine when looking for good news stories. Today happened to be a feast. I even found extra stories I can "put by" for later. The articles on today's post are only tied together by the fact I found them all on the Globe website, and they are all fun and quirky.

I know it's not cool, but I have long been a proponent of the Slanket, aka: the originial Snuggie. I have had my royal blue, fleecy slice of heaven for about four years now, and I've been made fun of for it nearly as long. However, I refuse to part with it. With the weather the way it's been for, well, ever up here in my frozen corner of hel...er, Boston, it's necessary to my survival. It appears the blanket with sleeves is finally gaining some traction. Somerville hosted the Boston-area's first Snuggie Pub Crawl this past Friday. Nearly 100 people, clad in Snuggies and the occasional piece of pirate gear, crawled their way through Union Square bars. You can view photos here.

After a long day in my cube-like office (that occasionally does not have heat - do not even get me started), I slip on the Slanket and watch Netflix. That is my version of TLC. For the turtles on the Cape, however, Dr. Charles Innis, provides his own brand. Increasingly rare Kemp's Ridley turtles migrate between New England and the Caribbean, but some of them get lost and end up tossed on shore by the tide. These turtles often end up at the New England Aquarium's marine care center where they get top-notch, state-0f-the-art care.

Julia Child never had any recipes for turtle (that I know of, thank goodness), and neither does Bubbe, the 83 year-old Jewish grandmother who is becoming an Internet sensation. Two years agao, Bubbe thought the Internet came from the air and had no idea what an email was. Now she is a YouTube star and is knowledgeable about Twitter and Facebook to boot. Her grandson, Avrom Honig, filmed her originally for a demo tape while looking for a job. Bubbe now has over 30 episodes on cooking kosher and a legion of fans who want to adopt her. Honig now has a job. : )

(Photo courtesy of the Boston Globe)

The light in the middle of the winter tunnel...

As I write this, it is thinly flurrying outside my office window. At first I thought I had a bunch of those floaters you get when your eyes are misbehaving, but squinting like Mr. Magoo proved I wasn't at risk of an imminent retinal detachment. Which is good. However, the snow reminded me it is still, in fact, winter, despite the feeling that it's already been winter for quite some time.

So the story I found on the website Voices (while tailored to the state of Connecticut) made me inordinately excited and got me to wondering which of my friends/coworkers has a little girl around the age of eight. It's Girl Scout Cookie time!!!!!!!!! This is actually one of the gastro-highlights of my year. They will never be featured on any hip restaurant menu unless Adrian Ferria deconstructs them into liquid or something, but Tagalongs, Samoas, and Thin Mints rank very high on my all-time favorite foods list.

And (to steal from one of the best comedy sketch shows ever) for something completely different...the economy! I found a couple stories recently which examine the effects of the Great Recession on children, teens and 20s. Experts are pointing to comparisons between this generation of people and the one which came of age during the Great Depression, citing a larger importance of family and frugality. Others featured in the Sun Sentinel's story are talking about how due to technology and the issues of the day, kids really care and have opinions about broader issues, like free speech in China and carbon footprints. They've seen Wall Street escape relatively unscathed from the mess it created, and they know companies no longer retain workers for 30 years. Their attitudes about fundamental things are being shaped, and it will be fascinating to see how they turn out.

Speaking of valuing intangibles, the New York Times did a story on the reappearance of the early bird special. Once the domain of thrifty retirees, dining before 6 p.m. is mounting a comeback. The phenomenon is experiencing its quickest rise in hard-hit Florida. Restaurants all over the Gulf Coast state which offer EBSs are seeing a younger crowd come in and bring coupons with them. While some restaurants are doing a little rebranding of the term - twilight dining, early dining - whatever you call it, the chance to go out and spend time with loved ones without spending a mint is certainly appealing.

(Photo courtesy of the New York Times)

Weird news...

There is actually a sub-category with that same title on MSNBC.com. Probably the most descriptive sub-head on the site, you can count on that page for articles that will have you scratching the ol' noggin. As someone with an extremely active imagination, I particularly love that page since it does actually contain things even I couldn't make up - and they're true!

Today's post is an homage of sorts to MSNBC's Weird News. So we'll start with a monkey who has better dental hygiene than me. Which I guess isn't saying much since, to steal a phrase from my friend Sam, I'm an Anti-Dentite. I have gotten much better lately, but Chonpe, a Japanese macaque, may be one of the first primates to discover the art of flossing. She has three methods of cleaning her teeth and appears to be a particularly inventive little girl since she appears to be devising a method of removing splinters according to MSNBC.

Livescience.com joined the rest of the written world with a top ten list from 2009, science style. The website examined the "year's most obvious discoveries." Chiefly among them are that children are affected by their parent(s') depression, lots of meat eating is bad for you, and, drum roll please......high heels cause foot pain later in life.

And finally, Brett Martin at GQ examined the effect of the "gottahaveitnow" syndrome on food. Martin, an apparently wide traveler, decided to test the true limits of immediate availability when it comes to food. He enlisted friends all over the world to FedEx him the foods he craved. The story is three pages long, but it is totally worth it for the wry retelling of Martin's battles with the USDA and dumbfounded food service proprietors.

(Photo courtesy of MSNBC.msn.com)

Remembering the less fortunate...

It seems that every year at this time, charities and agencies implore people to remember the needy. This year, more and more individuals are joining those ranks through foreclosure, job loss or myriad other reasons. Luckily, people are still stepping into the void to keep helping those less fortunate than themselves - regardless of the economic climate.

CBS 5 in the East Bay highlighted a woman who has become known as the Lemon Lady for her efforts to distribute excess citrus to poor families in the San Francisco Bay Area. Anna Chan used to drive her colicky baby through her neighborhood to help put the little girl to sleep. Anna noticed all the lemons falling off neighbors' trees and going to waste. So, with permission, she began collecting the fruit and giving it to food banks and pantries in two counties. Later she expanded her reach into farmers' markets, accepting donations of unsold produce.

When cities go through a budget deficit, building infrastructure and making improvements falls by the wayside. Whole city blocks can fall into decay - boarded and broken windows, shadowy figures making "business" transactions on the corner, walls tagged with graffiti. But, according to the Philadelphia Daily News, the denizens of Gordon Street in Philadelphia's Fishtown decided enough was enough. On a shoestring budget (and with a lot of chutzpah), a small band of individuals chased out the drug dealers and prostitutes, painted, wired and improved the empty row homes on the block and turned their street into a place they were proud to live. For their efforts they won the 2009 City's Most Beautiful Block. Going down the street now passersby are unable to tell the empty homes from lived-in ones.

The Coloradoan posted a story on its website about the goodwill of Alpine Cabinet Company in Timnath, Colorado. The company has been affected by the downturn in residential building and had to lay off a quarter of its staff and cut hours. But the Chinn family which owns the company is trying to help the remaining 40-odd employees get through the holiday season by making doll houses for needy children. The employees are sewing curtains and quilts and making furniture for the little homes. An employee's wife is providing the dolls. Suppliers donated lumber and the paint which will cover the outside of the homes. When finished, the 50-70 doll houses will be distributed to local groups to then be passed out to area children.

(Photo courtesy of The Coloradoan)

Happy Thanksgiving Week 3...

Happy Thanksgiving Eve, everyone!!! I hope today is your "Friday" for the week, and you can kick back tomorrow with family, friends and football then get up really, really, insanely early on Friday and prop up the economy.

I will be saving my Black Friday shopping for a more normal hour on Sunday, but what I'm thankful for today does not involve money. I'm grateful for my opportunity to volunteer at my local MSPCA. Since last December I have been a volunteer dog-walker, reaching Volunteer All-Access status - level 3 - last month. I am also a foster mom to whatever cat or kitten(s) need a little extra loving. I love learning about the different types of dogs and their temperaments. Teaching them good behaviors has taught me a lot about patience and perseverance, and I love the thrill I get when the dogs finally get the behavior down cold. And my temporary furry family has reminded me of the joy and responsibility in being in charge of another individual.

Today's story is from a blog on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer website. Sam Osborne is the director of the Rainier Valley Food Bank. What he is grateful for this year is the generous hearts of his community. Recently $2000 worth of food was stolen from the food bank - seriously, people?? - but area citizens and businesses have responded with remarkable alacrity. Everyone from Wal-Mart to children with piggy banks have combined to contribute over $25,000 worth of donations. In addition to in-kind gifts, a local food storage business has offered free storage to the food bank for all the new food, and a local alarm system company has installed a new alarm system free of charge.

You don't need to be Michael Phelps to have a world record...

You apparently just need to be able to pull a double-decker bus with your hair...Yeah, I don't know either. But folks around the world tried for their 15 minutes of fame on Nov. 12, the fifth annual Guinness World Records Day.

Children from the Carrs Glen Primary School in Belfast, Northern Ireland went for gold in a category they created - largest gathering of storybook characters. The Belfast Telegraph reported pupils from the school dressed up as everyone from Hansel and Gretel to the Gingerbread Man. The children were joined by an official Guinness judge and enjoyed a story-telling session before receiving their certificates.

Speaking of gingerbread men, this next story is a double dose of record-setting. Eight-foot, one-inch Sultan Koesen of Turkey was on hand at a Norwegian IKEA of all places to unveil the world's largest gingerbread man. The cookie weighed a whopping 1,435 pounds and beat the previous record-holder by about 100 pounds. Shockingly MSNBC filed this story under "weird news."

The London Times posted a little snippet of what could be called weird if you are at all familiar with stereotypes of the British. Known for their collective stiff upper lip, Brits broke tradition when they set the Guinness world record for longest group hug. One hundred and 12 people - a lot of them strangers - hugged for one minute at St. Pancras train station.

(Photo courtesy of MSNBC)

Listmania...

I have no actual proof of this, but I suspect one of the first things out of prior employers' mouths when called for a reference on me is, "She's very organized." At my first job, I completely organized the server on which we kept our shared files. At the second job, I ordered a filing cabinet to control the chaos that was our rainbow of copy paper colors. I'm telling you, Skittles had nothing on us. At my last job, I helped organize the photo folders on our server which is no mean feat, considering we had six to seven years worth of digital photos of 23 varsity sports.

While falling short of OCD, my devotion to lists extends far beyond any normal person, I'm sure. I actually have a little steno pad containing all sorts of lists - songs to download on iTunes, books I want to read, etc. So you can imagine how pleased I was to read a post at Very Good Taste on the Omnivore's 100. Andrew listed 100 foods - from the odd to the ordinary - that any good omnivore should eat at least once in his/her life.

England's Guardian newspaper did something similar, gathering together the 50 best foods in the world and where to eat them. Columnist Killian Fox collaborated with other foodies to track down regional specialties as well as foods commonly hailed as terrific and the best places to consume them. As with the list on Very Good Taste, some of the foods on the Guardian's slate are out-of-the-ordinary (read: I will not be traveling to Cebu to eat Filipino cuisine), but I can totally see myself stopping off at Laduree for macarons or Fosselman's for a milkshake on a future trip.

Prevention Magazine posted a partial inventory of mood-altering foods on its website. If you can get past the unfortunate choice to make the entirety of the text italic (at least on PCs), there's some interesting stuff on there. Chocolate is my self-medication of choice to treat a bad day; however, I could totally see myself happily scarfing down an English muffin with fruit jam plopped on top. Colleen Pierre, RD, also gives hints on how to improve sleeping, avoid Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), and stop stress in its tracks simply by changing your diet.

The following story on the New York Times' Caucus Blog definitely altered my mood for the better. This past Thursday, First Lady Michelle Obama helped launch a new farmer's market near the White House. Despite a steady drizzle, Mrs. Obama led a crowd of area residents and employees in the market area after some opening remarks. Her appearance was part of an ongoing campaign to help Americans make healthier choices when it comes to preparing meals.

Eat good food, drink good coffee...

The title of this blog has become my personal motto over the last few months. I might add "own good bedsheets" to it, but that is probably just me. 

I'm not sure if it is religion-based or philosophical or what, but it seems the prevailing wisdom has been doing without is more admirable and right than allowing yourself to sink into any type of pleasure. To fully appreciate anything more than the essentials is selfish and gluttonous, "they" say. 

To that, I say pbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbt. And stick my tongue out for good measure. Stoicism is all well and good for Spartans, but this is not Sparta. Give me liberty AND 600-count Egyptian cotton sheets! We only go around once (that I know of), and I intend to enjoy the ride. So what if my singleton monthly grocery bills exceed that of an average family of four? My chocolate chip cookies contain Valhrona chocolate feves, and I don't leave a crumb on the plate. I just bought a handmade Persian rug (granted, it was from Building 19), and I enjoy walking across my otherwise bare dining room every morning on the way to the kitchen. 

But I have never had a shred of evidence to back up my epicurean lifestyle to non-believers until now. The Daily Mail had a story on all the benefits of some of the things we've been told are bad for so long. The Mail extols the virtues of anger, swearing, lazing about, and fidgeting, among other things. 

In an article in the Ottawa Citizen, our dear neighbors to the North have published findings that say teetotalers may have more of a risk of depression than moderate drinkers. The study examined the drinking habits of 38,000 people and found that individuals who drank no alcohol over a two-week period were more likely than moderate drinkers to indicated symptoms of depression. So here's to that occasional glass of wine with your gourmet, locavore dinner!

And who could forget the favorite vice of 99 percent of people on the planet: chocolate? It is still somewhat puzzling to me there are people in the world who do not like sugar. I understand it empirically, but it just makes no sense in everyday life. I had to go off chocolate for a few months last year due to health reasons, and I went stir crazy. Dr. Patricia Fitzgerald, on the Huffington Post website, gives seven healthy reasons why chocolate should not only be included in your diet but celebrated!

The business (and benefits) of gardening...

Recently my friend and I were discussing the "joys" of working at a small company. We talked about the positives - getting a half day on the whim of the boss - and the negatives - suffering with slow servers and crappy Internet connections. Malcolm Gladwell points out in his book "The Tipping Point" that companies are best suited to top out at 150 employees. Anything larger becomes unwieldy and impersonal. I agree with this and definitely see more advantages in working for smaller organizations. One of those advantages is the ability to connect with your co-workers.

I'm a person who values relationships with people over those with things, and the Wall Street Journal had a story in the small business section on how vegetable gardens are boosting morale. Someone in the article mentions how the gardens are starting to leech the "water cooler effect" from the indoors, with employees bonding while working in the soil. There is also the added perk of getting fresh veggies.

School gardens do the exact same thing for the students. WHIOTV.com posted a local story about Ruskin PK-8 School in Dayton, Ohio which has started a school-based community garden. The kids raised money to start the garden by reading, and they and their parents and teachers pitch in to plant, weed and harvest the produce. Students there don't just learn about science while getting down and dirty with carrots and radishes, they also learn about the value of eating fresh foods and, since the harvest goes to a local ministry, they learn about the power of giving. 

This past week, Aug. 23-29, was National Organic Gardening week. And two English companies do not believe city-dwellers should be excluded from the fun. Omlet and Bidgiemire Pig Company have each adjusted traditional farming methods to allow urbanites to keep bees and pigs, respectively. Both hobbies are becoming all the rage since folks have been bitten with the desire to know where their food comes from. 

NYT's Green, Inc. blog highlights Omlet's Beehaus, an up-to-date hive which could produce up to 44 pounds of fresh honey each year and help stem the decline of bee populations. According to the Daily Mail, Bidgiemire constructs, for lack of a better term, pig coops for backyard keeping. The company has seen a 40 percent increase in orders in the last year. People in England apparently want to to return to self-sufficiency and see the benefit in home-raised meat. I am personally not sure I could raise pigs without getting attached. Chickens I would have an easier time with since I only want them for the eggs. I actually do want to have chickens, but I'm fairly certain my apartment complex is not zone for livestock...

(Photo courtesy of The Daily Mail)

I'm really too sick to come up with a clever title...

I don't often put "hard" news on this blog, usually because the media bias leans toward bad news. But today's main story on Yahoo! News was that of the return of the two US journalists - Lisa Ling and Euna Lee - who were held in North Korea for over four months. Former President Bill Clinton held historic talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il who then pardoned the two women for "entering the country illegally" and remitted their sentence of 12 years hard labor. 

Today's post is going to be a bit of a hash - I'm still wicked sick. Normally I hate using "wicked," but in this case it is actually very appropriate. As in I feel like I've been cursed by the Wicked Witch...

Examiner.com had a story last week on a decidedly delicious development in the mobile lunch phenomenon. In Charlotte, N.C., Harvest Moon Grille has started offering locally-sourced, high-quality lunch-on-the-go two days a week in the downtown area. All the menu items are based on what farmers have available and fresh. All food sources are listed on that day's menu, and staff is available to answer diners' questions about the food. 

On another food-related note, the Today Show had a story last week on a woman who baked herself out of foreclosure. Being a baker myself, this one caught my eye right away. Angela Logan, deceived by a contractor and denied payment after her agent went bankrupt, nearly lost her New Jersey home until she started selling her family's favorite apple cake. She figured if she sold 100 cakes at $40 apiece she could pay off part of her mortgage and qualify for a government program to help with the rest of it. Word spread, and she received orders for 500 cakes. Logan has made her first payment on time and expects to do the same with the next two, which will qualify her for a renegotiated loan that will save her $1000 a month on her payments. And she has teamed up with a charity to give a portion of her sales to people in need. 

(Photo courtesy of Yahoo! News)

A good reason for narcissism...

So the picture to the left was in an email my parents forwarded me. I have no idea where it came from, but it made me smile. Since it's Monday (and I hate mass chain emails), I thought I'd share it on my blog instead. The subject line of the email was "A good reason for a twirl in front of the mirror."

I happened to log into my computer over the weekend, which is something I rarely do. I spend so much time online at work that I just don't want to be anywhere near my computer at home. But I found, when signing onto Yahoo!, Forbes listed its annual World's Happiest Places. This year, the winner was Denmark. For the past couple years, it was Iceland, but I'm pretty sure the nation going bankrupt had something to do with that country's drop from the top. 

The other mood-lifting story Yahoo! had listed was a list of foods that make you happy. Most food makes me happy, but I'm pretty sure I'm an exception. I'm just as content with Greek yogurt and honey as I am with a perfectly plated meal from L'Espalier. 

When I was in high school we joked our school fight song was "Dueling Banjos." Yes, I am definitely a country girl. The following video I found on Yahoo! via Flickr is a pretty cute update to the Dancing Baby. You'll get the "Deliverance" reference upon clicking on the link...