April Recipes

Once again I ate a lot of good food this month, but none of these recipes were stand-out exceptional... except one that was a complete deviation from the actual recipe. Cook on!

Burger of the Week #2

This past weekend, a friend and I made a trek up to Rockford Footwear Depot to buy appropriate footwear for our upcoming trip to Spain. While in Rockford we grabbed a bite at one of my favorite places: Rosie's Diner.

I have found memories of this diner, but more specifically of the mini golf course hidden behind it. The 18-hole course is made up of giant diner food. While it hasn't been as meticulously maintained in recent years, it's still a site to see.

The golf course was designed by artist Jerry Berta who at one time owned Rosie's Diner and use one dining car as an art gallery.

The course is still playable, and I HIGHLY recommend.

2 Peas. 1 Pod.

The best thing about April is getting seeds into the ground. It's gardening season—and my seeds have sprung. The first hints of peas and radishes came up this morning.

Using wine corks as a stamp, I've marked their location with these lovely signs. I stole this design from her highness, Martha Stewart.* ( March issue of MS Living) (click to enlarge image)

If you too have baby seedlings popping up in desperate need of labeling, here are some other DIY designs. Vintage Fabric Markers and Twig Plant Markers. (Design*Sponge and Martha Stewart respectively).

Happy Gardening!

*I really feel like if the world didn't already have a Martha I could have filled the void. But as my cards were dealt one generation too late, I'll have to stand back with everyone and pay respect to the queen busy-body.

The Taste of Cute

I had my first Peep today. And I gotta tell you— they're gross.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, they're just so cute, I thought they'd taste... ...cuter.

Here are some facts about the 'cute' snack:

• Peeps were introduced in 1953.
• It takes 6 minutes to make on Peeps chick. Over 5 million Peeps are produced every day.
• Peeps have a shelf life of two years.
• One Peep has 28 calories.
• Peeps are the most popular non-chocolate Easter candy in the United States, beating out even the jelly bean.

Now I'm a fan of marshmallows in general. There's a definite role that they play in foodciety. So I thought I'd see if Peeps could meet the same criteria.

Test 1: S-more

Naturally, microwaved s'mores are never as good as BBQed ones. But this Peep S'more was gooey and the sugar coating transformed well under the heat, mixing with the chocolate. Totally satisfying. Pass.

Test 2: Hot Cocoa

A side-by-side comparison showed that the Peep never really acquired that foamy, creamy consistency we're familiar with from marshmallows. Plus I was hoping for an animated, melting death from the Peep, but it never really happened. Instead it just sort of became a gruesome mess, crumbling till the tail fell off. It was completely unappetizing and tasted like processed sugar rather than chocolate. Fail.

In conclusion, Peeps are cute. But they aren't necessarily food. I will, however, be bringing them to the bonfire this summer—'cause I've got a few more boxes, and I hear they'll be good for another 23 months.

PS. Yes Mom, this was my dinner. And yes, I call it research.

A Bolt for a Rainy Day

After living through last week's blue-skied, 80-degree days, I was under the impression that summer had arrived. It's a pretty brutal twist, to be dropped in a merciless rainy, grey, snow and sleet-filled reality. And it makes it very difficult to stay awake, let alone focused.

Like all good designers, my diet is 10% sugar and 90% caffeine. So I put a lot of stock in what I drink my caffeine from.

Here's some less than ordinary vessels I found on uncommongoods this morning. Whatever your drug of choice, you can drink in style.

1. The Face Mug, for those who like to snack and sip

2. The Tea Tower, for an herbal infused caffeinated buzz

3. The Eco-can, for a buzz on the go

Seriously? Where's the Beef?

April marks a year since I gave up meat.

When I first told people I was doing this, many of the reactions were straight-up laughter, followed by a long pause when they realized I was serious. "But Danny, you love hamburgers", was what I was reminded of most often.

I think there was a lot of doubt that I would actually follow through. To my credit, there's been very few cheats over the last year, and ultimately aside from the first 2-week withdrawal period, it really hasn't been difficult. And while I haven't decided what my meat dietary stance is going to be long-term, for now I'm sticking to sans-meat.

To honor the classic sandwich of which I remain such a fan, I've decided to inaugurate Burger of the Week. And for this premier I will feature a cheesy snack you can keep in your pocket:
The Toddland Cheeseburger Wallet from Urban Outfitters.

You're probably thinking, but, Danny, you can still have burgers- tempeh burgers, veggie burgers, mushroom burgers, black bean burgers. Yes, yes, I've searched high and low, and while I've had some delicious sandwiches, nothing replicates the mouth-watering goodness of a greasy ketchup+mustard flavored, cholesterol infused slab on a sesame seed bun.

And many of you are probably wondering why I'm depriving myself of something I obviously love so much. I didn't give meat up out of concern for my own health and the products I consume (though the more I learn, the happier I am that these "additives" are not in my diet) but rather, the decision was made in response to the meat industries mistreatment of animals. Specifically influenced by this video from Meat.org.

I'm not here to tell you what to eat, or even to get into a political discussion. I'm just sharing my solution to satisfying a craving. It's Burgers for Design, rather than for Lunch.

Chow.

365 Reasons to be Creative

Creator of Skull-A-Day* and inspiration behind the Weekminds project, Noah Scalin, has released a new book— 365: Make Something Every Day and Change Your Life. The book is an inspirational guide for starting your own 365-day project. The idea being that your creativity will be fueled by actually making something every day.

Weekminds may not have been as daily disciplined as 365, but I do know that during the year of facilitating the exercise, I got to work with mediums that I hadn't tried in years, and some that were brand new to me. It was a great opportunity to experiment, and to step away from the computer and make something that, while perhaps silly, was fun and different. You can see my collection of year 1 monkeys here and the resulting Blurb book (and its cover) here!

If you're feeling stuck in a creative rut or bound by your daily barrage, I encourage to try your own creative exercise. It's very liberating to look at things and think about their possibilities differently.

I'd also like to note a similarity, which actually first drew my attention Scalin's new book. Feels slightly reminiscent of.... But I digress, we thieved first!

*Not familiar with Skull-A-Day? You can see it all in just over a minute right here.

What happened to Grand Rapids?

Dare I say, we've gotten cool? Oh wait, no, the moment we say it, we'll no longer be cool. Besides, I'm not sure "cool" is the right word anymore—hip? innovative? liberal??

No, my conservative little friends, I wouldn't go that far, but Grand Rapids is certainly heading in a direction I want to go. You've probably heard me say it before, but, "If Grand Rapids was the way it was 10 years ago, I couldn't live here."

Take tonight for example—it was the annual Art.Downtown. event, where over 200 artists filled the streets + 25 venues to promote discussions around art. The highpoint this year—SiTE:LAB at the old Junior Achievement building. Installations and performance artists took over the 25,000-square-foot abandoned building. It seemed like creativity was contagious and and the crowd was happy to catch it.

This is not the Grand Rapids I remember.

I'm by no means saying that we're perfect or 'done'. Continuing efforts need to be made (Starting with litter patrol and public transportation!) But I applaud Grand Rapids every day for promoting conversation, crawling forward and proving we are not a dying city, but rather a thriving one.

So, hurry—SiTE:LAB closes in 40 minutes!

Simple Things for Creative Minds

It always amazes me how the simplest things seem to impress people the most. It's always the shoes that I just wasn't sure about that receive the most compliments, and the designs that seem the most basic that become the favorites.

Take these apples for example. I made these last summer using the wood from my dorm room loft, old square nails my mother had collected and hidden in her desk, acrylic paint, fabric scraps (that I soaked in wood varnish to stiffen and make look dried) and a piece of wire. Just a bunch of scraps that people just love to compliment.

Now granted, you may not have these items laying around your house. But chances are there is a great idea hidden in your clutter. Perhaps you have an old suitcase with a broken clasp or maybe an old globe that still has the Soviet Union on it. It's time to give these items new life—let them start a conversation.

I highly recommend Design*Sponge's DIY projects for inspiration.

There's a New F-word in Town

2010 was a big year for Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg was named Time's Person of the Year and the critically acclaimed blockbuster, The Social Network, receives 8 Oscar nominations and wins 3—a movie that the founder of the $50 billion company claims to be widely inaccurate.

I think one of my favorite lines in the film is when one student says "Facebook me" to the co-founder of Facebook. These two 20-something, nothing college students created something more than a website, or even a word*—they created an action.

So what do the crafty, opportunistic sort do when they realize online social networking has replaced quilting bees? They act.

Here are some Etsy entrepreneurs cashing in on the website that Americans spend more time on than any other.**

Facebook Icon Pillow

Facebook Anony Avatar Pillow

Like/Dislike Pillow

Like Pendant

Like Coffee Mug

Like Stamp

For those Facebook babies

AND for anyone ready to declare their "like" more permanently, try some ink!

*Both a noun AND a verb!

**http://bit.ly/i3rXTn

Totally Radical Sweetness

Anyone who was in third grade in 1991 knows how important slap bracelets were to your coolness factor.

I'm happy to say I'm officially cooler than I was in 1991.

Thanks to my new slap watch!

A few years back I saw a really cool denim slap bracelet on ebay. Cool, because it had a watch face embedded into it. Of course, those ebay lunatics outbid me in the final minutes of the auction and I was never able to find anything quite that cool again.

But it was only a matter of time before the '90s were back and with it, the slap bracelet. New and improved of course. I found this silicone slap watch on ebay last week, and while not as intrinsically cool as the denim one, it's still.... well a watch that slaps!!

Now for those slappers of the '90s, there are some key differences: this band is silicone and quite a bit thicker. Also, for mini-peeps such as myself, it sits a little large on the wrist. AND be warned, the metal clock face allows for some pretty brutal slapping.

If you're wondering what time it is, just ask me—I'll slap you with it!

Epic Battle of the Chain Fried Tuber

You may recall that a few weeks back I sample the new Wendy's Natural Cut Fry and speculated that it may in fact be better than McDonald's fries—the reigning champ in salted-potatoey-goodness.

The results are in....

My guest judge, who we shall call Kristin, and I both agreed that Wendy's shall be crowned champion of fast-food-fry-frying.

(They even look better.)

While Kristin had some lingering nostalgia pulling for McDonald's, TASTE tipped the scale in favor of Wendy's.

I said it before, and I'm sticking by it, the natural cut fries TASTE like potatoes. Insane I know, but for me, having my food not taste like grease or chemicals is a huge plus.

While we know it's not a healthier option, the word natural gives the allusion of healthy and you FEEL healthier eating it. They also seemed to have responded to public criticism and cut back on the sea salt considerably.

Now in interest of full disclosure, I did pick up McDonald's first, and therefore their fries sat a few minutes longer. This may have slanted the score slightly. (Though I did think to bring a cooler to keep the heat in!) (Additional points to McDs for pushing the drive thru through. Wendy's, please look-up the word "fast" in a dictionary.)

It should also be mentioned that we also tried the Big Mac sans meat. HUGE success. Meat is so not necessary on a Big Mac, and in fact, may weaken it as a sandwich. I have ordered this sandwich twice at McDonald's and neither time was I questioned or looked at funny, which leads me to wonder if maybe other people are doing this as well.

In retrospect, to have completed the evening we should have also done a side-by-side comparison of the Frosty vs. McDonald's shake. But perhaps that is a challenge for the sticky summer months approaching.