What-What?! Week of August 18th

Was published again by Yahoo! Voices – EZ Squeezees Reusable Baby Food Pouch Review and Recipe – and I’m a little irritated by the editors choice of how the photographs are displayed.  If they’d posted it to Yahoo! Shine, then the photos would be quite a bit larger and easier to see.  At any rate, it was published.

Cooking: Strawberry Jam

This week, I made a batch of basic strawberry jam, following the directions on the Sure-Jell box.  I grew up on homemade jam, and am now pretty picky about what jams I eat.  I specifically avoid commercially made jams that use corn syrup, because it just doesn’t taste right.

This batch came out fantastically, and part of that was due to the ingredients.  A recipe of jam consists of fruit, sugar and pectin (what makes the jam thicken); because jam has so few ingredients, it is important that each one is high quality.  The strawberries that I used for this jam are of the Chandler variety, grown primarily here in California; they are specifically bred for flavor, rather than sweetness or stability during shipping, as many commercial varieties have been.  The sweetness of the berries doesn’t matter so much in jam, because jam has plenty of sugar, but the intense berry flavor makes for a great jam.

So far, we’ve eaten over half a pint jar!  Glad we have three more.

Jake and the Neverland Pirates Fan Art

Let me preface this by saying that I am no artist.  Sometimes, though, this happens:

That image came about because my two older children consistently call Izzy and Cubby from Jake and the Neverland Pirates “Dizzy” and “Chubby”.  I thought it would be fun to illustrate the characters that way.  I'm pretty pleased with it, considering that I couldn't find my nice Staedler or Sharpie pens, and had to use the world's worst pen.  Check out the full-size version here (I suggest using it as a coloring page -- my kids loved coloring this in!).

News:  Zombie Orpheus’ The Gamers: Hands of Fate

Okay, so this is pretty geeky.  My husband and I are gamers, and I don’t mean that in the mainstream “we play video games” sort of way (though we do that, too) – no, we play pen and paper role playing games, table top war gaming, and have played collectable card games.

This brings me to Zombie Orpheus’ newest film, The Gamers:  Hands of Fate.  A sequel to The Gamers: Dorkness Rising, my husband and I actually contributed to the Kickstarter fund for it (we’re getting miniatures! Yeah!).  Dorkness Rising was the story of how players’ relationships change over the course of a role playing game adventure, and this new film is a continuation of that, with more of an emphasis on collectable card games.  Dorkness Rising was an absolutely brilliant piece of work, and is much quoted by my immediate gamer friends and family.  While I haven’t seen Hands of Fate yet (due to work schedules), I am totally watching it tomorrow.  The film does have adult language in it, so be mindful of that if you have children or are otherwise particular.

Through August 31st, you can watch the film in full here (click "Stream for free").  Enjoy. :D

What-What?! Week of August 4th

This week, I was pretty busy; I made some delicious chocolate chip scones, using my blueberry scones recipe, subbing chocolate chips for the blueberries, and milk for the yogurt.  Also did some shopping for eBay fodder, and Target’s July toy clearance for Christmas and birthdays for my kids.

Publix: The Wal-Mart Slayer via Forbes

This is a great article about Publix’s success – the company has achieved a net margin of 5.6 percent, higher than any of its public competitors.  Publix has done it through an emphasis on first on service, then quality, but not price.  Wal-Mart’s business strategy is low cost, which they, of course, translate into lower prices.  The two companies have recently been engaged in somewhat of a price war; Wal-Mart claiming that Publix is more expensive, and that customers get more value shopping at Wal-Mart.  Publix has been countering with some special promotions, but ultimately, the company is stating that the level of service and quality offers significant value to customers.  I know that I’ve shopped certain stores, despite higher prices, because I wanted to shop somewhere that was easier to navigate, had better produce, friendlier cashiers, and so on.

Beyond that competition, what’s especially interesting about Publix is that it is the largest employee-owned company in America; because of this, it treats its employees very well.   One of the most impressive statistics in the article is that over 21 percent of Publix’s employees have worked there for over ten years.  This is a company that I would feel good to support, for sure.

The Sad Story of Peter Pan

There are certain films that I don’t watch: Labyrinth, Spirited Away, and Peter Pan, among others.  Sometimes I forget why these films bother me, so I wind up watching them anyway; this past week, I watched Disney’s animated Peter Pan with the children.  While the film itself doesn’t bother me (well, except for certain racially-charged scenes, but I do forgive it for its time period), the story of Peter Pan does.  Peter Pan’s origin story, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, is truly sad; upon hearing that his mother wants him to grow up to be a judge like his father, he runs away as an infant.  He goes to live in the Kensington Gardens, where he is befriended by animals, fairies, and other lost children.  After a while, he decides to visit his parents.  Once there, he finds his mother, sleeping in the nursery, crying for him in her sleep.  Seeing that his mother misses him terribly, he decides to go back to the gardens to tell his friends farewell; he spends quite some time doing this.  However, upon going back to his house, he finds his mother with a new baby.  Assuming that he has been gone too long and forgotten by his parents, he leaves permanently.  In the book, Peter is also described as burying and making headstones for children who get lost in the night.  Perhaps I’m just a soft-hearted mommy, but the story just kills me.  (Incidentally, you can read the book for free through the Project Gutenberg).

The Jake and the Neverland Pirates Band
Now, something happier!  After last week, I went looking for more videos of the pirate band from Jake and the Neverland pirates.  I was able to find this video of the band doing a concert in Disneyland, which also features one of my recent favorite songs from the show, “Hoist Up the Jolly Roger”.  The way the band interacts with the kids in the audience is fantastic!  I would really love to take my children to see them in person. :)