Snickers Salad

From the kitchen of: Eric K. Thompson

  • 3 Snickers Bars, chopped
  • 2 bananas, chopped thick
  • 4 Granny Smith apples, sliced into 1/8’s & diced
  • 1 3 oz box of French Vanilla instant pudding
  • 1 cup milk
  • 8 oz whipped topping

Mix together milk and pudding and refrigerate. Before serving, fold in whipped topping and the rest of the ingredients.
Hint: Best if prepared just before serving because it will get watery due to the apples.

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Johnnie Marzetti

From the kitchen of: Doug Cruzan.

  • 1.5 lbs. hamburger
  • chopped onion
  • 3/4 package Kluski noodles
  • Approx. 1 3/4 cans tomato soup
  • Approx. 1 3/4 cans creme of mushroom soup
  • Velveeta cheese (block slices)
  • salt & pepper to taste

Fry hamburger with onion and drain. Heat oven to 300 degrees. Mix hamburger, tomato and creme of mushroom soup in large bowl. Pour mixture into 9 x 13 baking dish. Top with Velveeta chunk slices. Bake until cheese is completely melted.

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Chai Tea

From the kitchen of: Laurie Pumphrey

For each cup of tea, you will need:

  • 1 green cardamon pod
  • 1 clove
  • 1 pea-size piece fresh ginger
  • half-inch piece cinnamon stick
  • 1-2 whole black peppercorn
  • 1 tsp black tea

Grind all the spices except for fresh ginger and tea in a clean coffee grinder or mortar/pestal. If desperate, pound them up with a hammer. Dried ginger may be substitued for fresh, but be careful not to use too much since it is more concentrated.
Boil everything together, then simmer for 10 minutes. Drain/strain spices and tea leaves out. Sweeten to taste and add cream if you wish.

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Republican Payola of the “So-Called Liberal Media” – widening scandal

A few weeks ago, the news story broke that Armstrong Williams, a conservative African-American print, radio and television pundit, was paid $240,000 to help promote Bush’s No Child Left Behind program to minority audiences, but was instructed to do so without disclosing he had been paid to by the government. So he appeared on numerous programs to promote the initiative, leaving people with the impression that he was expressing an impartial, objective viewpoint about it. That is, of course, a crime, not to mention a major violation of journalism ethics.

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Fake S.W.A.T. Van and Other Weird Stuff I See Driving To Work

I drive north on college from downtown everyday on the way to work on the north side. And every day I pass this cool fake S.W.A.T. van (which appears to be an old delivery van repainted) that’s usually parked on the street near the intersection of 49th Street and College Avenue. And everyday, I think, “That’s cool. I wish I could drive around in a fake S.W.A.T. van.”

Fake S.W.A.T. Van
Fake S.W.A.T. Van

Fake S.W.A.T. van
So the other day I pulled over, hopped out and took a picture of the van. When I got up close to it, I realized that the S.W.A.T. stands for “Siding With A Twist” which is written in small letters on the door. It also has a for sale number on it, but I wasn’t sure whether the “for sale” referred to the siding or the van itself. If it’s the van, then I guess I could drive around in a fake S.W.A.T. van. Which I have no use for whatsoever, but wouldn’t it be cool? If you get criminal charges for something illegal you can always call criminal attorney in Manassas to help you out.

"Siding With A Twist"
“Siding With A Twist”

Close up of door

Tonka Truck Hummer

I’d seen this truck in the summer but didn’t manage to get a picture, so when I saw it today parked in Broad Ripple, I turned my truck around and drove back to get a photo. I plan on getting a radio flyer logo decal to put on my red pick-up, and this was the first other vehicle I’ve seen with a similar idea.

Tonka Hummer
Tonka Hummer

Weird Art Truck

I happened to catch sight of this bizarre do-it-yourself truck in a parking lot. I thought it, too, was very cool. I waited around to try and meet the owner, but they never came out of the store.

Art Truck
Art Truck

I especially like the scrollwork on the sides of the bed, and the squirrel stands on the back windows. That’s some funky stuff, there.

Art Truck detail
Art Truck detail

My friend Lisa from North Carolina has lots of friends who have turned their cars into “Art Cars” and she’s planning to do the same with her old VW van; she’s going to make a giant high-heel shoe.

Art Truck Decor
Art Truck Decor

Bumper-sticker Madness

I happen to see these two cars regularly on the way to work; I’m usually driving (contact the personal injury attorney lakewood ranch for any kind of  driving accident and injury cases) behind them. I love a good bumpersticker, but I don’t think I’d ever apply one directly on the paint of my car, like both these guys did, with new cars, too.

Bumper Sticker Truck
Bumper Sticker Truck

This guy in the truck was really unhappy about the election.

Bumper Beetle
Bumper Beetle

Where this guy is just really into his music.

The Ubiquitous “shoes on a electric wire” photo

Dunno what makes people want to do this, but it seems to be a time-honored tradition.

Shoes on a wire
Shoes on a wire

Guys dressed as Orthodox Jews

I almost forgot the main reason I was writing this article — the Guys dressed as Orthodox Jews. The other day when I was driving south on college, I passed Park Tudor school, north of Broad Ripple. On the east side of the road, standing in the parking lot for the Marott Park, there were two guys dressed as Orthodox Jews, who were playing tambourine and dancing in hoe-down fashion. I’m not kidding, I swear. I was not dreaming, nor was I high, drunk or otherwise intoxicated or hallucinating. It is better hire DUI lawyers and face the case in the court bravely especially when you have done nothing wrong. It was two guys dressed in all black, with long black coats, hair with side curls, black hats… dancing and playing tambourine. I was also not the only one who saw it; everyone in traffic slowed down. You can also check out attorney for defending you against a DWI, from here!

I thought it might be an advertising stunt, protest, or theatrical production, but there were no signs indicating what might be going on. Just two guys, some tambourine, and a car (click here to know where to get a truck accident compensation easily and quickly). And the hair didn’t look like wigs, either, which made me wonder if they were in costume or if they were really Jewish — a notion that I rejected immediately as too outlandish, because I suspect Orthodox jews don’t play tambourines or do hoe-downs.

If the traffic had not been so busy, I would have whipped the car around and driven back to find out what was going on. Instead I called my girlfriend on the cell and described the scene. The only thing I can think of, is they must have lost a bet. Or won one.

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‘Doctor Who’ via wikipedia

Wikipedia article on Dr. Who. I understood very little about the program, other than I caught a few episodes on cable when I was a kid in the 1980s, and had a crush on Sarah Jane Smith. An article like this would have been very helpful when I was young. It has since become one of my favorite programs.

Also: Doctor Who Scarf, for those of you who particularly like the fourth doctor, Tom Baker. That’s the program I was watching as a kid.

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Trivial Pursuit: Book Lover’s Edition

The Book Lover’s Edition is played very similarly to the regular editions of Trivial Pursuit; the goal is to collect pieces of pie representing different categories of questions, and then to land directly on the center of the board to answer a final question in the category chosen for you by your opponents. Unlike other versions, there are only four tokens to move around the board (a coffee mug, a stack of books, a book bag and a typewriter) and therefore at most four players or teams, instead of the usual six can play.

And of course, all the questions are regarding literature in six categories:

Children’s
Authors
Non-Fiction
Classics
Book Bag
Book Club

The first four categories are easy to figure out, but even after playing, I haven’t determined what the significance of Book Bag or Book Club is. The questions from them seem to be across genres and subjects, so I haven’t figured out a common theme, and there’s nothing in the directions that helps distinguish them. I wonder why they didn’t do categories in genres like mystery or sci-fi, which, like the regular game, would give people their specialities.

My strongest category in the regular editions of Trivial Pursuit was always literature, so I thought I’d do well at this version, but it’s quite difficult in regular play. As always, I seem to get easy questions on non-pie spaces and then I whiff on tough questions when a piece of pie is at stake. I thought that I knew a lot about literature, but playing this game makes me realize how much great literature is out there that I haven’t had a chance to read yet. I expected the Children’s category to be easy, but there were some tough questions in it, and I seemed to do my best in the Classics, if only because I had studies about the books on English classes, even if I hadn’t read them. The ambiguity of two of the categories made me want to avoid landing on those spots, and is the only flaw in an otherwise exciting game.

The reason I love Trivial Pursuit is that I enjoy the game even when my girlfriend kicks my butt, because I love asking and answering (or guessing) questions — I feel like I’m learning something new and interesting whether I get it right or not. The fact that this version is about my favorite subject makes it even more enjoyable. I could never quite muster up the same enthusiasm for the sports category.

The fact that only four players or teams can play at a time helps the length of the game, which can drag on in the regular edition with six tokens on the board. Four tokens means that pie is collected faster and the game winds up in just over an hour or so.

And of course I always recommend you add in the “Rachel Allen technique” of play, wherein you disconcert your opponents by singing “Piece of pie! Piece of pie. Pie, pie, pie!” when they’re about to answer a pie question, and then shout “no pie for you!” when they miss it. Of course this works best if everyone is drinking.

I was lucky enough to pick up the game at half the regular price at one of the calendar kiosks in the mall, so the price was great. Otherwise, the regular price would have been a bit out of my desired range for a board game.

Rating:

Four
Great Play
Price: $49.99 regular price

Continue ReadingTrivial Pursuit: Book Lover’s Edition