TheSnackHound

It’s a little bit country…it’s a little bit rock n roll. Okay, not really. It’s a little bit 1970s beachside motel redecorated to look like the 1950s inside, its a little art deco diner.  The Homer Laughlin China Company has announced the latest Fiesta Ware color, which will make its debut at retailers and on the web this summer.

In the last few years, Fiesta is famous for making colors that harken back to some of the originals but are just a teeny tiny shade off (Note: Yellow), or even such a small variation on a recently discontinued color that one ponders why they went in the same direction.  When I first saw the announcement, I wondered how close it would be to Rose. It remains to be seen once I can hold and touch it in a store, but the color appears to have a different undertone – just enough to probably “fight” if you have a cupboard full of Rose but maybe to contrast better with the the earthy tones? On my monitor, the color looks less like a lawn flamingo and a slight shade different and more coral from the 50s pink that starred in the pink and aqua color combo.

As soon as I get my hands on it, I’ll return with a full report.

Spice organization has been rolling around in my head lately, since they mostly have been rolling around in my cabinet. In my kitchen, there is an original built-in with several cabinet drawers covered in decades of white paint. No one took the time to remove the hardware, so it too is mummified with just a small white bump where the screws used to go.  It is just not enough for all of the dishes and food, so someone installed a lovely circa 1980 “photo of wood siding” auxiliary counter/drawer/door bank. Lovely.

Inside the adorable 1920s part of the kitchen, the only way to go is to have little caddys and wire shelves and spice racks with the little rubber feet on them. That is so shabby chic/art deco/midcentury-like with just the right hint of Rubbermaid, but what is not accounted for is the gap in the side of the cupboard. Bombs away.

Oh, and forget a wall spice rack, which would be Concussion 101. My kitchen is devoid of wall space with the dormer ceiling. Then there are the drawers – not deep enough to label all the spices on top, but I can lean them. There is a chrome spice rack I saw recently, which I loved. But yikes a 5 lb shipping weight. That sounds more like a car part to me.

I’ll let you know what I decide. For now, its the survival of the fittest – the spices that are in heavy rotation such that they are stationed next to the stove win. Anything that is in the back of the dark cupboard and are starting to clump are voted off the island. Maybe after all of this, I won’t need a spice rack, but just a small little drink coaster to display “THE ONE.”

When I was much younger, my brother and I were entrusted with washing the dishes together. Little did my parents realize that it was less helping out than it was a form of punishment as we were stuck with each other for half an eternity. The evil dryer could slowly and meticulously buff a pan and then declare, “Rinse it again, I see a BUBBLE!”

“No! There is no bubble.”

“But now its wet again. So you have to redo it.”

“So dry it.”

“It touched the gross dishwater.”

The evil washer could retaliate by taking exactly five business days to wash a plate, going over with every square inch with a brillo bad.

“My hands are all pruney. Where are the gloves. That’s better. But now my hands feel weird. I have to go to the bathroom. I need hand cream. These gloves don’t fit.”

The most unkind cut at all would be washing the stoneware. Not the glazed stoneware mugs, but the pie dish or something to that nature. It made the best pies as it heated so gosh darn evenly. Of course, nowadays the stoneware isn’t such a paper weight and its beautifully glazed, but the dish in question was. It was very 70s. Plenty of browns. And browns. It was porous at least on one side and seemed to soak up water like an over water terracotta pot, which would be good for a plant if you were abandoning it for a vacation but allowed the washer to play mind games with the dryer. In fact, after cleaning/drying lots were cast, the washer could beg for the stoneware to be used.

“It’s still DARK. That mean’s its WET.”

“Then it can sit to dry. But if its dark it mean’s it’s dirty. YOU have to wash it again.” Touche’… maybe the dryer was learning to be equally as treacherous.

Our younger sis and cousins don’t know how good they have it with stoneware produced in such spritely colors and glazed in the nooks and crannies. Oh, yeah, and they most likely have a working dishwasher where they will never know the kind of feuding that occurred with children in their family a half a generation before.  I should just go ahead and buy a stoneware pie pan for my dear bro, though he has probably wiped the incident from his memory in an act of repression. The horror.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of iNetVideo. All opinions are 100% mine.

We all know by now that if you are an “indoor person” you can get fit with Billy Blanks, but Billy Blanks doesn’t stop the video or DVD and tell you how you are actually doing compared to the folks in the studio.  Does he really know you are not sitting on the sofa watching him do all the work? Personally, if I was actually exercising, I’d make sure to send him an email or something to make sure he knew, because the last time I checked, it looks like Billy Blanks could flatten you if he wanted to, and maybe he doesn’t take kindly to sitters.

If there is a way to NOT exercise while having spent a lot of money on gadgets, there must be a way to feed your face too.

Over at , iNetVideo I have found amongst the sea of blu-ray movies and dvds, that Nintendo makes a game where Jamie Oliver helps you cook. Well, he really doesn’t, but its an interactive experience where you get grocery lists and figure out how to do all sorts of stuff.  In fact, they actually had other titles on dvd and various games revolving around cooking and nutrition.  iNetVideo has been around since the late 90s and has offered movies and games at a discount, but with the information overload of all the other movie websites out there, I’ve overlooked it until now.

If you interested, it appears to be a title that is being discontinued, or they just bought a lot of them, because its 70% at $5.99. It really doesn’t matter if they are coming out with a new game system, if a DS is what you have.  I still play the old Atari 2600. I don’t think Jamie Oliver would come over give you a whooping like Billy Blanks could, but he is certainly more skilled at wielding sharp objects, so you best make an effort, kids. Actually, he doesn’t have to do anything because if you choose to eat garbage all the time, you will cause more damage than a one time encounter with a juicer-of-steel could.

I hardly ever watch tv, but when I do, inevitably the invention that will change mankind forever is hawked, like  The Grill Glove (www.GrillGlove.com), and the Lava Mitt ( www.LavaMitt.com). Heck, who needs plates when you can shovel it right in your mouth. You can even eat with your pinky up. I bet someone already has. I know. It was you.