As I was looking for ways to use up my 3 pounds of oatmeal, of course, I made a face mask. While I relaxed covered in my oats, I decided to see if there was any research to back up oatmeal’s reputation.
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Cherry Chocolate Granola
Our local community center gives away food donated by local supermarkets and I picked up a 3 pound bag of oats when I was there recently. The bag was faded, battered, and taped, but I was intrigued by the challenge, so when I got home, I searched for ways to use up 3 pounds of oats before they were truly unusable. I used those oats for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even as a facial product! First, I made Cherry Chocolate Granola.
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Maple Bacon Oatmeal
This one is really more of a serving suggestion. You don’t really need a recipe for oatmeal – just follow the directions on your oatmeal container, then add bacon.
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The Best Movies You Never Heard of – Part 1
I’ve always had a taste for obscure and idiosyncratic movies. A long time ago there was a video store in Pasadena that was unlike any I’d ever seen before. Videodeon specialized in films for movie lovers. They had a large art film section, an even larger foreign film section, a healthy collection of little indie films, and a bunch of “drive-in classics.” As might be expected, the store only lasted a few years, but while it was there, we found ourselves exposed to a lot of interesting films, many of which don’t involve CGI monsters blowing things up. Here are a few of our favorite films you may not have seen or may have forgotten about.
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E.S.T. in the Slow Cooker
While both of my sisters are wonderful cooks, I think I just didn’t get that gene. I mean, I’m OK, I can read a recipe (following it is whole ‘nother thing), but mostly I just can’t be bothered. I do like my rice cooker but I admit, I love my slow cooker. I can just throw stuff in there, and at the end of the day, voilà! perfectly cooked food! Easy peasy. Most of my recipes are simple. VERY simple. That often means that they are also relatively inexpensive to make as well. I think they are tasty too. Easy, Simple, Tasty – how can you beat that?
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A Luxurious Afternoon Tea For 15 Cents!
Afternoon Tea at the The Langham Hotel, Pasadena is like stepping through a glorious doorway to another time and continent. Relax in the beautiful surroundings overlooking the gardens while you savor a wonderful array of tea sandwiches, scones with Devonshire cream, tarts, luscious fruit, and delicate French macarons as you sip from the elegant Wedgwood …
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Backroads Bookscouting
I should make it clear from the beginning that the way we do this isn’t the way real bookscouts do it.
The real ones—the ones who do it for a living—play hardball. For them it’s business. They have a set route of places they go to check for books, they’ve got client lists and handheld barcode scanners and a budget. Oh, don’t get me wrong. Professional bookscouts still love books—no one goes into the book business that doesn’t love books, the margins are too low. But it’s a business for the working bookscouts, they have bills to pay. For me and my wife, it’s just a hobby.
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The Future Ain’t What it Used to Be
I recently saw the new Disney film Tomorrowland (my review will be at GeekDad.com on Friday morning), and it got me to thinking about some of the themes that underlie the film. (Don’t worry, no spoilers here; I’m just talking about philosophy and the zeitgeist, not the movie.)
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Avengers: Age of Ultron
Avengers: Age of Ultron is a solid and well-crafted film in which writer/director Joss Whedon displays a deft hand at juggling a huge cast of characters and alternating between quiet character moments and big loud explodey action sequences. Lots of big loud explodey action sequences across three continents.
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A Strange Magic Musical Interlude
Since I’m going to visit Skywalker Ranch next week, the fine folks at Lucasfilm are giving me and the others on the trip some special previews and features before the general public sees them; in fact, the general public won’t see them until we bloggers do our part and share them. So here we go, a little snippet from Strange Magic.
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