Star Wars -- John Williams Tribute

October Finds

I took a road trip to the Maple River Winery in search of pumpkin wine. As a lover of all things pumpkin, I had to investigate! Though I am not a white wine fan, this I could handle, mostly because of the fact that it isn't technically a white wine since it is made completely from locally grown pumpkins and not from grapes. I also learned that I really like cherry wine and I found another winery in North Dakota that makes a really good one. This winery, the Dakota Hills Winery, also makes a currant wine. The Maple River Winery is coming out with a lilac wine made from hand picked lilac blossoms in November, and I promise I will go back to investigate that as well!

In other news, I found out that they re-released Boo Berry cereal for Halloween! This flashback to my childhood was welcomed with open arms. Where did I find it? For you other 80s fans out there, I found this in enormous quantities at a super Walmart. They also re-released Franken Berry, too. But before you get too excited, here are some differences. It is now purple. I distinctly remember it all being light blue and white before, but the Boo Berry is now purple.

I also found a pumpkin cinnamon roll recipe with cream cheese glaze that I am going to try out as soon as I can find some counter space to work with, and I will report on how those came out with a link to the original recipe!

See you all in the pumpkin patch!

Pumpkin-Walnut Focaccia with Gruyere

Easiest yeast bread you'll ever make, and absolutely divine! If you like pumpkin anything, of course! Check it out... Yum!

Pumpkin Spice

... Is oh, sooo nice! These are the new, limited edition pumpkin spice Hershey Kisses! Found at Target, of course, and involved a mild amount of jumping and squealing with excitement. I was scared but not really, because last Fall, I wouldn't stop complaining about how there aren't any good pumpkin flavored candies on the market, if any, and that Hershey needed to get on the boat. Well, they did! They do taste like pumpkin pie. They are really good. I wonder if it would be better with chocolate? Oh yeah, there is no chocolate involved. I think it would be better with chocolate and to have the pumpkin creme filling, but .. One step at a time. I tried melting some into my chai, and all it did was turn it orange, so, I don't recommend that. I hope they make these again next year. I might stock my freezer to cover my pumpkin cravings throughout the winter months. My next pumpkin project involves pumpkin cream cheese frosting. I'll let you know how it turns out! Let the pumpkin season begin!

Image credit: www.thecandyenthusiast.com

Featured Artist: Leonid Afremov

'Rain Princess' by Leonid Afremov.

Leonid Afremov creates beautiful oil paintings and giclée copies, which he embellishes by hand. He utilizes a painting technique that uses only a paint knife to produce these beautiful creations. Selling his work worldwide, he is internationally renowned for his colorful landscapes and cityscapes. To learn more, visit his website, and to see a more complete collection of his spectacular artwork, see his page on DeviantART.

Ice People

http://www.icepeople.com/index.html

This is a new documentary that is currently making the rounds around indie film festivals around the world. I really hope it does well because, well, Antarctica is the ultimate destination for us geologists. The film features two world-famous professors at NDSU, both of whom I know well, and also features two undergraduate students in the Geology Department at NDSU. One has graduated and is now doing graduate work at Carbondale, and Kelly is still here with us in ND. I'm really excited because it takes place in my favorite destination on the planet, and features the life of a geologist, a field I could not be more passionate about! It's also really neat knowing I know all four of these individuals quite well. As a matter of fact, I'll be attending a party at Adam's house in July! I'd feel really weird being in a film like that. Adam, Andrew, and Kelly were kind enough to share some stories with me, and I guess the film crew constantly tried to follow them into the bathroom! Anyway, I can't wait to see it. I think it is going to be at the Fargo Theatre later this year?

Acai Berry & Products

I was first introduced to the Acai (ah-sEYE) berry in an Old Orchard juice product. This little berry is my personal miracle fruit. Yes, it's full of antioxidants and full of vitamins, and is as much a wonder fruit as pomegranate, blackberries, and blueberries, but for me the acai does something more! When I consume one serving of any product containing acai per day for a week, I lose massive amounts of weight instantly. It's amazing.

So what is the acai berry?

Acai is a fruit native to South America and is harvested in the Brazilian rainforest. It grows on a type of palm tree, opposed to a bush or small shrub or tree like cherries, blueberries, raspberries, etc. It is about the size of a grape and grows on branches with 700-900 fruits per panicle. They contain large seeds that take up about 80% of the fruit. They are black-purple in color, similar to huckleberries, and look like a cross between blueberries and huckleberries. It's flavor has chocolate undertones.


My second encounter with the acai was in Vitamin Water's XXX, which is an acai-pomegranate-blueberry blend. It is very good. My friends and I refer to it as "dirty water" because of the name.


Tropicana's commercial for their new raspberry acai juice made me go on a hunt for more products and I came across this V8 Fruit Fusion juice which also has an acai flavor! I'm not sure what brought this new product to the US, but the berry is a native food source from Belize to Brazil, and has many other uses as well. But you know me, I love exotic flavors. I'll be disappointed when this lovely little berry is pulled from the shelves when everyone is over the fad.

As I was doing some research into the harvesting methods since I feel guilty about anything that comes from the rainforest, I found out that Haagen-Daaz got in on the action too. I really want to try this!

Art Post: "Pet Fish"

I don't know what it is about this digital image by `loish, titled "Pet Fish," but I absolutely love it. The colors are well used and it's a very interesting style. There is something very Piscean about it. I may ask for permission to do an interpretation, NOT a reproduction, because reproductions are done using the same medium and I can't do digital art. Regardless, this is a unique piece of art and it is available for sale on anything from mouse pads and coasters, prints in a range of sizes, and even on canvas for over $200! See the original here.

Dell Inspiron 1525

I'm really excited about these colors, and they have a range of patterns now too. I just recently purchased the pink one, but I would have gotten the green one if it was an emerald green color... Even better, I ended up saving over $600 and got free shipping through being an IBO with Quixtar. I'd link everyone to my business page, but I don't want spam and no one signs up anyway (yes, I'm giving up on it). I'll just enjoy the perks as much as I can through the end of the year.

Green Easter

Green Easter candy! This is fantastic! Green is not only my favorite color, but I love Easter and I love Cadbury. Mix it all together and call it fun! The green Cadbury mini eggs are my favorite because it is one of 2 new colors not available before. The other color is purple. The purple ones are really neat too. I wish there were orange ones. Walmart is selling a bunch of Easter candy as shown above in single colors, including pink, blue, green, yellow, and purple. I think it's fun because a friend of mine has a Birthday on St. Patrick's day and it's really great to be able to get my paws on some all-green candy for an all green day! I hope there is some left for the after Easter sales!

Limited Edition #1

Today in my wanderings, I came across two new products that I wanted to try. I was a little apprehensive, but I soon found that both items were quite good. The first is a new product from Hershey's -- Coconut Creme Kisses. The Coconut Creme Kisses come in a very nice spring package, and I found it with the Easter candy, so I'm not sure if this is a seasonal item? Either way, they are very good. They are chocolate covered (so not white chocolate) with a light coconut creme filling. Though the Cherry Cordial Kisses are still my favorite, these are very high on my list. The wrapper is also really cute, a dark ultramarine blue foil with light blue swirls and a tag with the word "coconut" printed in dark blue.

The second item I tried is the new Cherry Chocolate Diet Dr. Pepper. I REALLY wish they had this in regular Dr. Pepper. I think it would taste a little better, but in terms of diet soda, this is the best diet Dr. Pepper flavor out there in my opinion. The aroma is wonderful, the cherry flavor is strong, and the chocolate flavor, though probably artificial, is still present in a surprising way. I expected it to be a lot worse than it was, and as an added bonus, if you buy the 20 fl. oz. bottled version, there is a $1 off coupon for another bottle of Dr. Pepper! The soda is actually red, not brown, and I think because it is diet, it has a sour after taste, but I think this is the only diet soda I would ever try again. I highly recommend it to those cherry chocolate fans!

Catbury Bunny

This picture made me smile. Adopting pets is a great thing to do. Learn more at Fuzzle!

Harvest Moon

As I was searching for images to use in the lectures I was preparing, I happened across this beautiful image. This is one of the best lunar images I have ever seen, so I had to share it! The original post can be seen here.

Mocafe Precious Divinity Spiced Chai

I am by no means a chai expert or connoisseur, but after doing a quick online search and discovering that people are raving about Mocafe's new spiced chai mix, I had to post this review. On most sites, the 2lb canister retails for about $17.50-$22.00, but you can get it at Sam's Club for about $6.95. I have always been a die-hard Oregon Chai fan, but as this seemed to me a much better deal (more than 2x more for 3/4 the price) I decided I would try it. Bad idea. It doesn't taste like anything and leaves a greasy feeling in your mouth. It claims to be low fat, but the 2nd ingredient is coconut oil, and there are 3 different kinds of sugars (Hawaiian cane, corn syrup, AND sugar!) I tried desperately to doctor it up with my own set of spices, but it didn't work. Their "wonderful" assortment of fats brings the saturated fat total to a whopping 20% dv, and 6% unsaturated fat in just 2 teaspoons of chai mix! Oregon chai has 0% fat. If you make it in skim milk as I do, or in water, that is one thing, but then throw in whole milk like most do, as I am sure, then your fat content goes through the roof! Why settle for a product that is so high in fat and has no flavor? So in my opinion, just suck it up and spend more for less of a higher quality product, I assure you your mind, spirit, and arteries will thank you.