American Madness

Isn’t it nice when things just fall into place? So, I have this recipe, I can’t take credit for it unfortunately, but it is a great recipe, especially on hot summer days like today. Unfortunately I couldn’t really think of a decent post to go with it besides “This is a great recipe.”

Then today I get an email from New York Magazine (written by Faran Alexis Krentcil*) for these molds.

Anyway, the recipe is for making frozen Rhubarb Yogurt with Raspberry Syrup Pops. Personally, I like to make them in Push-Up Pop form, but these molds will work just as well. The recipe can be found here. They make an excellent treat and are pretty simple to make. Though remember they are frozen pops- think ahead, make them today so you can enjoy them tomorrow. Oh, also, with this recipe I recommend reading it straight through before starting, personally I cut back a bit on the sugar in both the rhubarb and the yogurt, it gives the frozen pop a nice tangy flavor.

*Same writer from the Snoopy Sno-Cone maker incident
P.S.- Faran, I don’t recommend trying to make Frozen Daiquiri’s in spaceship form. Due to rum’s low freezing point you are just going to get slush, no frozen spaceships, well, unless you leave the rum out, but really what is the point then?

First I would like to thank all of our readers and glancers- Yesterday we passed 200 page views in a single day (219 to be exact)! Yeah, go us. Now let’s see if we hit 300 posts or 300 viewers first.

Next up I am going to post a quick follow up to the Google Maps new Street View function, a couple of folks have been wondering (including myself) how they actually go about getting those photos. Apparently it isn’t a man with a camera and a tripod taking a panoramic photo every 15 feet, but rather a van that does that, Engadget has a photo and a brief write up on it.

Next we have another Graffiti piece (don’t ask how you write a follow up to a piece you posted less then an hour ago, sometimes ti just happens) I am just going to post the original article and the follow up, there was a reason I didn’t really get into this one, but basically a school on the Lower East side had to paint over a wall twice due to Graffiti and posted a note to the writer/community about the damage that writing on walls does to the school it was written on. After learning the meaning of the graffiti, they followed their message up with a second note to the community posted on the wall. Definitely shows a social consciousness and works on building a stronger community up around the school. The original note is here and this is the follow-up from Gothamist

And for those of you looking for Kool-Aid Pickle Recipes I am working on locating one, or just giving it a whirl myself. Hopefully it won’t be too long before we have a real Kool-Aid Pickle recipe up here.

Everything these days is going to the designer route- Designer shoes, clothes, makeup, cellphones, even dogs. So, really, it was only a matter of time before the designer cat market really sprung up.

Lifestyle Pets is where to go when you want the most exclusive in pets. They currently sell Ashera cats billed as “the world’s rarest and most exotic breed of domestic cat” they can weigh upwards of 30lbs and, unlike most cats don’t mind being walked on a leash. Lifestyle Pets has come up with a proprietary cross breeding process to produce the cats and watch the genetic markers as they develop to ensure that the cats all have the spots and stripes. Although there is a 9-12 month wait to get your paws* on one of these babies, that will really give you the time to pull together the $22,000 you will need to drop to own one, though for an additional $6,000 they will have one to you in 4-6 months.

Currently Lifestyle Pets is working on “developing a new breed of very small dog.” We’ll keep you posted on that one

*sorry, couldn’t resist

Ok, I came across this site and thought it was kind of neat*

Postcrossing is a project set up by some one who clearly likes to collect postcards from exotic locations without the hassle of actually traveling to them. Over 500,000 postcards have been sent so far, basically once you register you get a random address and ID number, you put the ID number on the postcard and then send it off to your addressee, in the meanwhile you will get a postcard as well. To keep it all good and make sure that everyone is sending and receiving the ID is entered into the database and identifies each postcard.

In a world were online social networking has become such a big deal and you haven’t actually met half the people on your Facebook page, it is kind of nice to get an actual piece of mail from a stranger. Also, it is probably nice to receive something in the mail other then a bill or a catalog, I can only assume as that is all I ever receive.

There is also that whole personalization aspect in that someone has taken the time to buy or print or otherwise create a postcard for you, at the least you can add some new artwork to your cubicle. I think I am going to go and sign up now.

*Yes, I use the word neat

I’ve been meaning to write a post about graffiti. It is one of those perennial hot topics. Give it some time and something will turn up about it (and usually New York City Councilman Peter Vallone will have something to say about it). Well, I actually have had two things pop up, neither one really worthy of a full post on its own, but combined…

Anyway, first up we have a class being taught at Parsons New School called “Geek Graffiti” it adds a high-tech slant to the old art form, turning your typical piece into a neon light show as it projects the tagging onto massive structures, in the end leaving no permanent marking or damage. Of course in typical fashion Peter Vallone had this to say “They want to study what the motivation is behind graffiti writers,” [he] fumed. “It’s vandalism, notoriety and gang communication. That is the motivation behind graffiti. No one needs a course to study it. This fascination with graffiti really needs to end.”

I know it is wishful thinking, but Vallone really needs to re-analyze his stance on graffiti. He needs to move beyond what graffiti was in the early 80s and realize it has a far deeper cultural relevance that goes beyond just notoriety and gang communication — that it has become a form of subservient protest and political expression that reaches beyond just gang culture. Of course it is also vandalism…

Oh and the project that was written about in the New York Post also earned the student an A, as the professor said that anyone who garnered media attention would automatically get one. The article is here.

Moving on-
Los Angeles has started a new initiative in their war on graffiti. In the past it has all been about painting over and covering up graffiti as soon as possible, but now they are using a system to track writers. Taking photos of their work using GPS cameras that track the date and time that the piece that is then loaded into a database allowing the police to have a listing of an artist’s work and file charges accordingly. Using this new system, the police busted two teens caught writing and fined them $22,000. So, if you are writing in LA, watch your back (The article from Reuters is here)

No, I mean it, literally, I was just cooking.

I finally remembered, while making one of my new recipes to take a few pictures while cooking and to write it down.

So tonight I present you with Monkfish Tacos

After the jump you’ll find the recipe as well as more pictures (more…)

So, you may have started to see them popping up around the city, or maybe not, but New York has some new bus shelters out and about. Snazzy new metal and glass bus shelters designed by Cemusa are starting to pop up all around the city as well as Cemusa designed news stands as well.

Apparently the bus shelters and the news stands are made of 95% recyclable materials, but I got to say, their website could really use some work. Also, I gotta ask, why aren’t the ads digital? Besides the bus shelters and news stands they will also be designing public restrooms. There are some nice pictures of what they have proposed here

So I just heard that NYC Taxi drivers have become the target for a string of robberies recently. Unfortunately I realize that posting about it won’t make much of a difference as these crimes are occurring within the cabs and unless you are riding around with strangers, well then most likely there isn’t much you can do.

Okay, well I guess after saying that I am taking it back, 2 things you can do. 1- Be aware of what is going on around you, remember “If You See Something, Say Something,” Especially in the Chelsea area. And 2- Be nicer to Taxi drivers, this kind of is just a general rule, they probably get enough jerks in their cabs anyway, but most likely they are under just a bit more pressure these days knowing that every red light makes them a target. Also it is nice to see the Guardian Angels haven’t disappeared and are once more taking up such a public cause to help folks out

So, some of you may know Aardman Animations.
They are the folks behind Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run, Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer video and various other projects. Aardman Animations probably got their biggest hit from Nick Park’s creations like the Wallace & Gromit series, but also from their Academy Award winning Animated Short - Creature Comforts in 1990.
From the short, ITV1 (that’s a Brit company for all of you trying to locate it in your channel guides) created a full series and based on the success of that series, like all good British shows, America will be bastardizing it come Monday, June 4th.

Creature Comforts will premiere on CBS this Monday, fully Americanized to make it sound as dull as possible CBS has distilled the concept down to this: “excerpts are culled from real-person interviews and placed in the mouths of a wide variety of animated animals to produce humorous, charming and insightful commentaries on everyday life.”

So, yeah I like maps.
Google Maps is one of favorite online map sites and they have just added a neat little feature called “Street View.”

Street View allows you to see panoramic views from the street in most major cities (well, ok, Manhattan is all good, but in say, Queens you only have the major streets… and if you are in Omaha, NE, don’t waste you time either). it’s kind of neat and really allows you to get up close and personal, maybe find that store you are going to in that are of town your don’t know too well. On the other hand Amazon used to have this exact type of mapping and street view type of functionality for their short-lived map program and no one really found any use for that one either. Plus the pictures are, I would guess, about 10 months old.

*The picture does not represent where I really live