Oh dear.
The Sticky Egg has discovered an unfortunate connection to the world of fishing. As in, ‘sticky egg’ is the name of a fishing fly.
I found this during a Google search last night. I was checking to see how easy it is to find my blog when you search the phrase ‘sticky egg’…and this fly came up in the first page of results. (My blog was number two after a prank toy egg…so yes, I’m in good company.)
The name is appropriate, I suppose. The fly is supposed to imitate fish roe, which trout, steel head and salmon apparently eat ‘with gusto.’
I’m not a big fan of fishing. The idea of dragging a living creature through the water with a sharp, metal hook through its mouth seems pretty cruel. I contend that people find it acceptable because fish are ugly.
Think about it. If fish looked like puppies, would we really celebrate the practice?
But back to this fly. I just want to make it clear: The Sticky Egg does not condone nor endorse its use. The name thing is pure coincidence.
No fish will ever be killed in the writing of this blog.
Just a brain cell or two.
Posted in Blogs, Business, Comedy, Family, Food, Foods, Friends, Home, Humor, Internet, Life, Philosophy, Sports, Summer, Travel, Writing
Tagged Travel, Google, comedy, Internet, food, blogs, Humor, Sports, blog, The Sticky Egg, life, Foods, friends, Business, writing, home, summer, family, philosophy, blogging, fishing, fly fishing, fishing flies, sticky egg, sticky egg fly, Google search, fish roe, trout, steel head, salmon, metal hook
If you have a few extra pounds on your person, don’t blame yourself.
Blame Benjamin Moore.
A study published in a recent issue of Contract magazine reveals that people who eat in kitchens and dining areas painted red, orange and yellow feel hungrier. The sunnier hues apparently make food more attractive.
To eat less, we need to surround ourselves with blue light and blue tones…or, at the very least, use blue utensils and dishes to help curb our hunger.
Now they tell me!
My entire house is a tribute to the colors red, yellow and orange. They’re even in my bathroom. I have always loved their energy and fire, but now I guess — deep down – I was really just looking for another excuse to eat.
This revelation has its advantages. Now, if I gain a pound or two, it’s not my fault; it’s the yellow paint in my kitchen. And all those red dishes. Or maybe the orange FLOR tiles in the living room. Heck, I even have a red leather love seat.
I’m the victim here!
Posted in Beauty, Fashion, Food, Foods, Health, Home, Humor, Life, Magazines, Philosophy
Tagged magazines, Health, food, Fashion, Humor, weight loss, Foods, home, diets, beauty, philosophy, dieting, weight, Benjamin Moore, house paint, interior paint, Contract magazine, kitchens, dining rooms, colors, science of color, food and color, red, yellow, orange, blue, red dishes, FLOR, FLOR carpet tiles, leather love seat
We’re celebrating a good friend’s birthday tonight. At an Italian restaurant. In Boston’s North End.
Again.
I don’t want to say that this particular friend is in a rut, but…
Lei è in una carreggiata!
This would probably bother me a lot less if I enjoyed Italian food a little more. I’m one of those rare individuals who’s just not into pasta.
It’s just so filling to me; I can only handle a couple of fork fulls, and I’m done. That’s why I only eat it a few times a year…and I can always count on her birthday being one of ‘em.
Don’t get me wrong — I think it’s great that she knows what she likes. But can’t she shake it up a little — just once — on her big day? Celebrate the passing years by trying something new…or just something different?
Luckily tonight, there is a unique distraction. As I eat Italian food yet again, I will be able to turn my attention away from the dread pasta and toward dessert, ’cause it just so happens to be… National Spumoni Day!!
I can easily get behind ice cream….especially spumoni, with its multiple colors, fruit and candy. Nary a noodle in sight! (We should always get together for her birthday a few days early.)
But my friend doesn’t need to know.
It is her big day, after all.
Posted in Comedy, Family, Food, Foods, Friends, Holiday, Humor, Life, Philosophy, Relationships
Tagged comedy, candy, Boston, Holiday, Relationships, food, Humor, birthday parties, life, birthdays, Foods, friends, ice cream, family, philosophy, Italian food, pasta, spumoni, National Spumoni Day, fruit, Boston's North End, Mexican food, birthday dinners
Retinal scans. They’re all the rage in action films.
- How do you gain access to most high-security labs? Retinal scan.
- What unlocks the CONTROL headquarter doors in “Get Smart?” Retinal scan.
- Why does Tom Cruise steal eyeballs in “Minority Report?” Retinal scan.
Ick.
And now retinal scans are coming to a vending machine near you! (Well…if you live outside the United States, that is.)
Massachusetts-based Next Generation Vending and Food Service has begun testing machines that use retinal scans to identify and charge customers for their vending machine purchases.
Kinda creepy, kinda invasive. Which may be why in the United States, they decided to instead test cash-free machines that link a person’s thumbprint to his or her credit card.
Not sure why that’s less creepy…but it is. Maybe because we shake hands with people all the time, but it’s rare that we rub eyeballs. Or let people scan our heads unless it’s medically necessary.
Buying a PayDay doesn’t seem like a medical necessity. Unless it’s been a really hard day at work.
Posted in Advertising, Business, Celebrities, Entertainment, Food, Foods, Health, Humor, Internet, Life, Movies, Technology
Tagged advertising, Business, cash-free vending machines, celebrities, CONTROL headquarters, entertainment, eyes, food, Foods, Get Smart movie, Health, high-security lab, Humor, Internet, labs, life, Massachusetts, Minority Report movie, Movies, Next Generation Vending and Food Service, PayDay candy bar, retina, retinal scan, technology, thumbprint scans, Tom Cruise, vending machines
Unlike most of my friends, I didn’t have many food rules growing up.
My mother was a tremendous cook who always kept the kitchen fully stocked, and as long as we ate at mealtimes, she didn’t really fuss about snacks. Heck, she liked to snack as much as we did.
She even let us eat Pop-Tarts for breakfast on school days. So I did. Every day. She did put a multivitamin on the kitchen table in an attempt to inject some vitamins and minerals into the meal.
I can get behind that.
So, my mom was the first person I thought of when I heard that Kellogg had opened a Pop-Tarts store in Times Square. I walked by yesterday on the way to an appointment; just seeing the store made me smile.
I plan to go this weekend and try the new Pop-Tarts sushi. Create my own custom box of Pop-Tarts, which will definitely contain Brown Sugar Cinnamon and definitely not contain any frosted Pop-Tarts, thank you very much. And taste test the more than 30 flavors on display. (I know my sister is very jealous right now.)
Of course, they are also rumored to have t-shirts and the like. I mean, it is a store in Times Square.
But I doubt very much if they sell vitamins.
Posted in Advertising, Family, Food, Foods, Health, Humor, Life, Travel
Tagged Travel, New York City, Health, advertising, food, Humor, life, Foods, family, Pop-Tarts, Time Squares, Pop-Tarts store, frosted Pop-Tarts, Pop-Tarts sushi, food rules, breakfast, vitamins, minerals, multivitamin, Kellogg
I was never a Girl Scout…or even a Brownie. And I don’t consider myself much of a cook.
But today, on National S’mores Day, I believe I can offer up an improvement on this campfire favorite.
The traditional recipe sandwiches melted marshmallow and chocolate between two graham crackers…but I’ve never been a big fan of chocolate.
(I know, I know — I don’t cook. I’m not a Girl Scout. I don’t like chocolate. I’m practically a Russian spy.)
Still, I contend that if we replace the chocolate with caramels, you will have a superior taste treat.
I’ll admit — I’m not the first to think of caramel. But most cooks just add it to the original dessert — a bit of overkill.
Me? I’m a outlier, a risk-taker, a vehement non-chocoholic. So I dare you to shake things up.
Lose the chocolate. Add the caramel. And imagine dessert without chocolate for a change.
“Be prepared” to like it.
Posted in Family, Food, Foods, Holiday, Humor, Life, News, Summer, Vacation
Tagged Holiday, food, Humor, news, life, Foods, chocolate, vacation, marshmallows, summer, family, Girl Scouts, Brownie Scouts, National S'mores Day, campfire, graham crackers, caramels, be prepared, Russian spy
When your hometown is called “Fancy Farm,” people tend to remember the name.
Admittedly, it’s unusual….although it does sound a bit like a now defunct amusement park near Middletown, Ohio called “Fantasy Farm.” (When I attended the University of Kentucky, I got that joke a lot.)
But on the first Saturday in August, there’s no confusing Fancy Farm, Kentucky. Ask any local, state or national media outlet, and if they aren’t already there, they can certainly direct you.
The annual Fancy Farm Picnic is big news, and has been for 130 years. Politics, pork barbecue and great people, all gathered at the party of the year. Heck, it even made the Guinness Book of Records in 1978 as the Largest One-Day Barbecue in the World.
I was there.
Of course, I’ve been to a lot of picnics since I was five years old. Playing games and eating barbecue when I was little. Working in the ice cream booth that was my family’s responsibility. We’ve had class reunions around picnic time, and lots of family from out-of-town — the ‘city folk’ — coming to Fancy Farm in August for this one-of-a-kind experience.
It’s small town America at its best. Neighbors coming together, all as volunteers, working to raise money for the community church, proud of the tradition that generations of families have built.
And for the barbecue. And the politics.
That’s the heart of it all.
Posted in Entertainment, Family, Food, Foods, Friends, Home, Humor, Life, News, Politics, Summer, Travel
Tagged Travel, media, Fancy Farm Kentucky, barbecue, food, entertainment, Humor, news, politics, University of Kentucky, life, Foods, friends, home, Fancy Farm, ice cream, summer, family, Fancy Farm Picnic, Fantasy FArm, Middletown Ohio, amusement park, first Saturday in August, picnic, local media, state media, national media, 130th Fancy Farm Picnic, pork barbecue, Guinness Book of Records, class reunion, church fundraiser
A recent issue of “Time Out New York” devoted an entire page to condiments.
“Ode to condiments” was indeed the headline, and the magazine used a combination of high gloss photography and highly glorified language to hail nine of the magazine’s favorite savory sauces from around the city.
Plum sauce, garlic sauce, tahini sauce, even something called crack sauce — a ‘compulsively dippable cream sauce’ — were all served up in irresistible dollops.
Looking at the page made my mouth water.
It also made me think of two good friends, both named Beth. One lives for sauces and dips. She would love this article and would happily visit each and every restaurant featured to try out each one. If given the chose of condiments vs entrees, condiments would win pretty much every time.
My other friend Beth has a well-known fear of condiments. Won’t eat ‘em. Won’t try ‘em. Doesn’t use dressing of her salad, mustard on her hot dog. Doesn’t understand why people use ketchup on fries. If she had been reading “Time Out New York,” she would have made a face at the mere idea of this page’s contents, and quickly turned on.
And yet, they are both named Beth and are both my friends.
Aren’t people interesting and wonderful…just like condiments??
Posted in Books & Mags, Food, Foods, Friends, Humor, Life, Magazine, Philosophy, Photography, Relationships, Travel
Tagged condiments, crack sauce, cream sauce, food, Foods, french fries, friends, garlic sauce, hot dog, Humor, ketchup, life, magazines, mustard, New York City, philosophy, photography, plum sauce, random, Relationships, salad dressing, sauces, tahini sauce, Time Out New York magazine, Travel
I found this during a Google search last night. I was checking to see how easy it is to find my blog when you search the phrase ‘sticky egg’…and this fly came up in the first page of results. (My blog was number two after a prank toy egg…so yes, I’m in good company.)
Come clean
Grab the takeout menu; it’s time to celebrate!
In the study — which was conducted online in 2008 in California’s Los Angeles County — only 61 percent of the homes taking the test would have scored an A or B if put through the actual health inspection. In comparison, 98 percent of all restaurants in Los Angeles County scored an A or B in their inspections.
Think of all the cases of food poisoning that have been blamed on restaurants, when the real culprit was a lot closer to home. Your mother? Trying to kill you. Your wife? Plotting to get your money. Or perhaps you simply have a death wish.
Not convinced? Think your kitchen would score an easy A? Take the online test and see for yourself.
And if your score is a disappointment, the only other decision you have to make is delivery or carryout.
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Posted in Business, Commentary, Cooking, Family, Food, Foods, Health, Home, Humor, Internet, Life, News, Restaurants
Tagged California, Internet, Health, food, Humor, news, life, restaurants, Foods, Business, home, cooking, family, commentary, takeout, carryout, takeout menu, kitchen, kitchen closed, home kitchen, restaurant kitchen, research study, health inspection, Los Angeles County, food poisoning