Hola, Sneakers! Welcome to Episode 503 of the podcast that should by this time just know better.
This week: soft start; ice cream treats; on-brand expansion; dishonest cereals; the Cheerios test; mermaid heaven; pushing the limits; sexy cereals; space junk; adult fantasy; references aren’t jokes; adult cartoons; voyage into the past; childhood debris; dire theatre; narrow escape; space race; basement luxury; sneaky kids; sleep cheats; home improvements; impending church; hard to read; super names; true Rudd; Tile Tales™; Dork Shadows – Medium Cool; love a snadwich; Question of the Week – Sneakers respond; normal man; child stars; the hive mind; natty chipatis; elaborate grilled cheese; and, finally, crazy parade madness.
Question of the Week: What is a healthy meal you love?
Sub-question of the Week: What city or country is not your home, but feels like home?
Thanks for listening.
A small taste of the madness that is the Stromness Shopping Week Fancy Dress Parade!
Er…bit of an unfortunate thumbnail there, folks, but you get the idea. (The sad part are the empty shops behind the parade, which tells you all you need to know about the unfortunate state of retail everywhere in the world.)
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Dave’s reminiscence of Stromness Shopping Week was a delightful surprise. I’ve been to Orkney many times and was aware of shopping week, but somehow haven’t yet witnessed it in person. Weird that it took a Canadian podcast to let me see what I’ve been missing!
The Orkney islands are indeed beautiful and historic, with some of the world’s most important and extensive neolithic sites, including Maes Howe and the standing stone circles at Ring of Brodgar and Ring of Stenness, among others. There’s a major excavation going on at present, so who knows what else they’ll find. Take that, Stonehenge!
Stromness itself is a lovely town with a fantastic modernist art gallery, while the museum in Kirkwall includes artefacts and information about the islands’ links to Canada through the Hudson Bay Company.
I’d have to guess the guy in the bathtub in the parade that Dave mentioned was presenting a no doubt heartfelt and sincere tribute to Jim Morrison of The Doors. Speaking of good taste… I don’t know if you watched any of the other shopping week videos, but there’s one featuring a float with a Brazilian theme which is, um, ‘interesting’, to say the least.
For meals that are both healthy and delicious – if you enjoy Indian food, I strongly recommend Chetna Makan’s YouTube channel ‘Food with Chetna’. The other night, I made spinach masala chickpeas, and here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1OK0YRzfpA
(I strained and kept the liquid from the cooked spinach before making the puree, and just added a little when the chickpeas were cooking, as I prefer a thicker curry. I also used ras el hanout in place of half of the garam masala, which I find can dominate, and I left out the ground cumin – because I’m forgetful.)
Of course, you’d have to be fond of both spinach and chickpeas, so maybe this dish won’t float your boat like it did for the Roberts family. However, there are lots of great recipes on this channel, meaty ones as well as vegetarian and vegan, and all simply presented for home cooks like me to follow easily.
As they say in Stromness: ‘Bon appétit et bon santé!’
A healthy meal we like at our house is a salmon fillet topped with onions, lemon slices and dill and oven-baked in foil. We have it with rice and steamed broccoli or asparagus.
Your discussion of the Little Mermaid reminded me of the ballet of the same name my dance teacher choreographed for us back in the ‘70s. It was to the music of ELO’s concept album Eldorado. I had no idea at the time what an avant-garde pairing it was for a community centre dance recital. I gave the music a re-listen today and the combination still works fairly well. Both the album and the fairy tale tell the story of someone on a journey to escape their reality. I think my recently-separated teacher was working out some issues through the love triangle between the Mermaid, the Prince (played by her new boyfriend) and the human Princess he marries (which she played herself). This was before the Disney movie and she went with the original story’s transcendental ending. I got to play two roles, the Sea Witch and a Daughter of the Air who welcomes the Little Mermaid to eternal life, so it was a happy ending for me too.
I was quite late in getting this in when writing for episode 501, I think you guys had started recording already, so here is my post from episode 501 which wasn’t read a few weeks back:
Question of the Week: What is a repair or household reno that went awry?
Me and DIY do not mix, in fact my wife absolutely forbids me to repair anything outside of my knowhow. Years ago, I was simply trying to hammer a piece of moulding around the base of the bathroom floor and I hammered right into a water pipe. Normally there’s plates to prevent this but I’ve always wondered about that first home I owned, it was full of traps like that. I also tried to re insert the pipe that was the overflow from the air-conditioning back into a hole in the eaves of that house. I had to do it from inside the eaves which resulted in me getting stuck in the attic, pinched into the tight edge over the eaves. It took me forever to try and back out of that area. My first wife lost her diamond from her wedding ring in the washing machine once and my Dad had the brilliant idea to cover the water hose that released the water from the washer with a nylon stocking. We hoped that it would trap the diamond and the water would just flow through the stocking but it resulted in flooding my laundry room and kitchen. And lastly I tried to rewire a place in the garage so I could hang a flourescent lamp. As I was trying to wire the lamp on the floor inside the house, I crossed the wrong wires there was a loud BANG and I burned a hole in the carpet. Along with these types of repairs, I’ve also been relieved of any complex automotive detail as well, except for a Honda I had. Those cars are like LEGOs and the parts pop right on.
Remember the scene in Albert Brooks’ “Defending Your Life” when they’re in the Judgement City Court and they’re just watching a gag reel of Brooks fucking up a bunch of stuff while he was on Earth? I suspect I have a gag reel not unlike that one waiting for me with all this stuff waiting to be shown. So best of luck on your bathroom project David! I await the tales of your success and even though everyone is glad it’s not me, I’m behind you 100%!!
Even though I haven’t had it in awhile, I enjoy baking skinless salmon in the oven marinated with either lemon pepper or something spicy like Tabasco or Tiger Sauce. Then I boil whole grain rice and eat the salmon on top of that with a little sodium free soy sauce. Salmon has really gotten expensive, so I’ve been looking into some more affordable alternatives for now. Susan has been cooking more to save money which is healthier than eating takeout food. Just tonight Susan grilled chicken along with onions and peppers in her massive iron skillet and we made fajitas. It may sound repulsive and bland, but I’ve been know to eat dry oatmeal right out of the ordinary Quaker Oats cylinder box with a spoon. It’s dry and dense but for some reason I love it. The box says it’s good for my heart, so I eat it as an alternative to anything filled with sugar. I also love Cheerios!! I eat them dry from the box and I was waiting last time to see if you’d get around to my favorite flavor, Chocolate & Peanut Butter. Aside from the regular garden variety Cheerios, the Chocolate & Peanut Butter variety has less than 8 grams of sugar if you can believe that, so that’s a healthy option snack for me.
My home is Chicago, it’s where I was born. Even though I’ve grown up in the Dallas area I still consider Chicago my home. I haven’t visited in a while and I’ll probably go home for a short visit once it’s safe to travel again. I have a big family that still resides in Chicago, I miss them terribly and would love to plan a surprise visit soon!
*Cue eerie music and tinted image of a mansion* A darkness has fallen over Collinsport bringing with it danger and indescribable nightmares. With the mysterious departure of an innocent girl, a sense of urgency and horror now permeates throughout the Sneaky Dragon community. Is time is running out for the Dork Shadows segment and will the secrets contained in an almost-deserted mansion not far from Collinwood remain forever entombed in the past?
David, Victoria Winters is also my favorite character on Dark Shadows for similar reasons. She comes across as sweet and kind; and in a television world where Angelique-type characters run rampant, it always refreshing when nice people receive representation. There *are* good people in the world, you just can’t see or hear them for the loud shouting and attention-grabbing of the not-so-nice. Just a pity Alexandra Moltke was bored with the character.
Question of the week: I make a fantastic veggie loaf with rice, mixed vegetables, vegetable broth, diced bell peppers and onions, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, sage, and a beaten egg to bind everything together. To cut calories and reduce the sugar content of the ketchup on top, I mix ketchup up with chunky salsa in a ratio of 1 to 2 (one part ketchup to two parts salsa). I am willing to share the recipe if anyone is curious. I try to limit my meat consumption for health reasons, so I have a wide repertoire of vegetarian recipes that I’ve invented or converted from meat recipes.
Sub-question of the Week: I love visiting the Appalachian Mountains. Whether in Virginia or in Gatlinburg, just being up in the mountains feels like home…. probably because I live high up on the Highland Rim of the Nashville basin. We have lots of hills and trees here so being there is similar to being here except the hills are tiny bit taller.
Have a great week guys!