Cookie Monster Turned Yam Monster?

I was recently reminiscing about the joys of watching cookie monster chow down excessive cookies as a child, so I was intrigued to see this news story about taking Sesame Street to Nigeria.

Funded by USAID, this new Sesame Street, renamed Sesame Square, will teach Nigerians about subjects ranging from AIDS, malaria nets, gender equality to yams. Their version of the Cookie Monster obesses not over cookies but over yams. He sings, "I can fry the yam. I can toast it. I can boil it. I love yams!" It's no chocolate chip cookie, but that's the beauty cross-cultural adaptation. Yay, for educational television programming everywhere!

Runaway Dinner

The most exciting kinds of the dinners are those that try to escape.


I don't think I've ever screamed so much over dinner before in my life; although to be fair, it was probably more shrieking than screaming. Our task was to cook almost a whole bushel of Maryland Blue crabs which, in case you don't know, is a ridiculous amount of blue crabs. To make matters worse, live crabs are fiesty little critters that don't seem to like being dusted with Old Bay seasoning and shoved in a hot pot. They flap their legs around like crab-maniacs making little clicking noises. "Don't eat me. Don't eat me." We felt it prudent to apologize to each crab before sending it off to it's fate.

At one point, a crab popped off the the lid and jumped out of the steamer onto the stove and then onto the floor. Crazy crab. We had to use tongs to grab him, wash him off, and put him back in. Sorry.

The Sweetest Place on Earth

I'm was feeling Hershey Park Happy during those last days of summer. Hershey Park will always be the best amusement park. Where else can you see life-size candy bars dancing around while riding on roller coasters?


I hadn't been to Hersheypark (over the summer) in 3 years and was delighted to find that they now have 11 roller coasters and a new boardwalk full of water rides right in the park. I knew we were in for a good day when the parking attendent greeted us with, "Have a sweet day." Thanks. We will.

As always, the Chocolate World Ride was a great ending to an amazing day. Here is where you learn how the chocolate is made and leave with free piece of chocolate. Sweet.

Avocado Juice

Imagine avocados turned into juice.

Sounds odd to those of us only know avocado as the main ingredient in guacamole, right? So why would you want to liquify avocados and mix them with sweet stuff?

My skepticism of avocado juice however, was proven wrong when I had a yummy homemade avocado smoothie/milkshake/juice this week (defining it is a little dicey because it is blended like a smoothie, creamy like a milkshake, and healthy like juice). All you do is add an avocado, milk, and sugar to taste into a blender, blend well, and serve. The taste is sweet; the texture is thick; the color is beautiful mint green. The smoothie/milkshake/juice drink is pretty nutritious too. What's not to love?

DC Restaurant Week

Don't forget, fellow Washington DC metro area dwellers, this week is Restaurant Week, where you can get a fancy 3 course meal for a fixed price well below the going rate at over 200 participating restaurants. Last night I had dinner at a restaurant that is way out of my price range as a poor graduate student. Yay for fine dining on a budget.

I know there are many people in the city who can afford to wine and dine at places like this every evening. Dropping a hundred bucks for dinner (or more) is nothing to them. To be honest though, I'm not sure I would feel comfortable with that type of lifestyle even if I had all the money in the world.

Shopping for a Camera

Is it bad that I spent more time shopping for a camera than I did for a car? It dawned on me that I bought my current car in a period of less than 3 weeks and my current camera in a period of over 2 months. Does that make me an irrational consumer? I guess the more pressing the need (ie. transportation) the quicker the decision?

But anyway, Amazon and Best Buy both have a deal going on where if you buy a digital camera right now, they throw in a 4GB SD card for free. I snatched up that deal, (ultimately on Amazon because there was no tax) because they also have the most competitive prices on the market for digital cameras.

I almost made a purchase from Delta Camera online, but googled the place before entering my credit card information and was saved by this blog. Apparently the site is a big scam. I thought the reason their prices were so low was because the camera didn't come with a battery and I could buy that separately elsewhere. Apparently though, the camera doesn't come at all, and the listed address is a Jewish Deli in Brooklyn, so I feel like I dodged a bullet there. That's just a reminder to do your research when buying online. If the price is too good to be true, then it probably is. Always go for the reputable site. ReSellerRatings is a good place to begin your search.

I also used the Internet to read up on reviews of all the cameras I was considering buying. I knew I wanted a Canon Point-and-Shoot. I knew I wanted a 4x optical zoom. I knew I wanted 12 megapixels. So I worked from there and narrowed it down to the Cannon PowerShot A3100 IS and the Canon PowerShot SD1300 IS. They are very similar cameras but one is 30 bucks more expensive than the other. This specs comparison shows nicely how they are basically the same camera in different shells. So what did I base my final decision on in the end? Yeah, I hate to say it, but color. Red won.

I hope to get my camera in the mail today or tomorrow!

Crabbing for Maryland Blue Crabs

Even though I've been living in Maryland for awhile now, I have never gone crabbing before last weekend. And I don't know why not. It is such a fun regional activity!

What you do is this. Drive to the pier. Tie smelly chicken necks to the end of the string. Throw the string into the water. Tie string to the pier. Wait. See string move. Grab string and pull upward slowly. See crab eating chicken. Scoop up with a net, and voila, you have yourself a Maryland blue crab.

It really was that easy. We went at high tide during the month of August which is apparently the best time to crab. Almost immediatly after throwing the chicken necks in the water the crabs starting biting. The "crab police" also came around to check if everyone was meeting regulations, namely all crabs must be bigger than 5.25 inches and not female. We were unsure of said regulations and did not want to get a fine of $150 per illegal crab so we dumped them all overboard in a rush.

We then worked on re-catching the crabs and ended up with a nice bucket full. But, just to be sure we had plenty of crabs to eat, we stopped by the fish market in DC to buy more crabs. That was an experience in and of itself. There are heaping piles of fiesty crabs just waiting for you to pick them out and dump them in the steamer. Eating crabs is an experience too. You have to work for your meal! This YouTube tutorial might be of interest to all you newbies out there like me. It's basically snap, crack, smash, and pull. They ought to make crab-eating googles. It's a hazardous task.

Whats with DC Sports Teams?

I have to say, DC sports teams are weird. What's with their mascots? We have the Nationals which have an ugly bird and presidents with wrinkly faces. The Wizards which are a blue hairy wizard. The Redskins which are a politically incorrect Native American. The Capitals which are another blue bird-like furry thing. And DC United which is another bald eagle wanna-be. Come on! Why do you have to have such sucky mascots? If it weren't for the fact DC is a city full of nerds, i would say that's why DC sports teams never win.


Nevertheless, making fun of bad mascots is all part of the sporting event fun (as I'm getting quite used to with a turtle as my current school's public face). I went to my first Nats baseball game last night and despite the pouring rain that delayed the game 2 hours, wet seats, overpriced concessions, and loss to Florida Marlins, it was a lot of fun. I hate watching baseball on TV because it is soooo boring, but watching a game in person is actually exciting. I have to admit though, rather ashamedly, my favorite part of the game was the president's mascot race. Just when it looked like Abe Lincoln was going to win, he got sacked by a giant cat, and good ole George Washington pulled ahead. Yay first prez. But how come Teddy never wins?