Men Free Blog

It’s my final semester of college, and I’m taking Literature of the Great Depression to finish my English major. I think that my professor often feels badly, though, about assigning texts that are just so darn depressing, so she often opens class with a cheerful question like, “What’s your favorite type of pie?” or “What’s your favorite breakfast?” Recently, she asked us what our favorite thing about Spring is, and I knew instantly that mine is the delicious new food and produce that Spring brings. Clearly, there’s no better way to celebrate these bright new ingredients than with entire festivals dedicated to them! This weekend, we have homages to asparagus, seafood, beer, more seafood, seafood and (my favorite) maple.

St. Michaels Food and Wine Festival (April 24-27) - If you’ve never been to this beautiful town on the Chesapeake Bay, there’s no better time to visit than this weekend. The festival attracted thousands of people last year, and given the line-up of events, I’m sure they’ll be no shortage of foodies looking for cooking demonstrations, mixology classes and alcohol seminars, just to name a few. And of course, don’t forget to eat crabs — many of the events focus on this local gem of a food.

Stockton Asparagus Festival (April 25-27) - I wouldn’t visit the portable toilets there, but don’t miss the Asparagus Festival in Stockton, CA this weekend. In addition to food-related events, you can visit a crafts fair, listen to local music, and attend a home and garden expo. Tickets are only $10 for adults, and the festival boasts “the best deep fried asparagus found anywhere.” That’s something special.

Pompano Beach Seafood Festival (April 25-27) - If St. Michaels is too far to go for crabs this weekend, consider heading to Florida instead! While you’re scarfing your seafood, visit vendors and listen to tribute bands — the festival features tribute singers to Bob Marley, The Doors Daily, Southern Rock and The Ladies of R&B. Admission is $10, but if you’re hardcore you can buy a 3-day pass for only $20.

Astoria Warrenton Crab and Seafood Festival (April 25-27) - But say you live on the West Coast, and St. Michaels and Pompano Beach are both out of reach! No worries, just head to Oregon for your seafood fix. It’s all about the flavors of the Northwest, and for $5-10 (depending on the day) you can get a pretty good sampling of them.

Vermont Maple Festival (April 25-27) - Oh how I wish I could attend! Maple syrup and maple sugar candy both probably rank highly among my favorite foods ever, and both are featured prominently at the festival. And to make matters even worse/better, cotton candy ranks tops my list as well, and the festival is serving MAPLE COTTON CANDY! It’s practically torture for me to write it without being able to taste it. Go for the parade, go for the face painting, or go for the many other awesome events, but be sure to taste the maple cotton candy — for me.

Tap New York Craft Beer and Fine Food Festival (April 25-27) - Leave the kids at home (no one under 21 allowed) and taste fine craft beers at this annual festival in the Catskill Mountains. There will be over 90 beers to try, and breweries compete for “Best Beer” and “Best Brewery” in the state. Once you are full of beer, you can attend other events like cooking demonstrations and collect stamps at the brewery booths to bring home free stuff — woohoo!

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I should have known that it was going to get worse (this is, after all, Hello Kitty Hell where things always get worse no matter how bad they may seem). Thus we move from the Hello Kitty pink Christmas tree to the Hello Kitty Plush Christmas tree:

Of course, my wife loves both and is talking about combining the two together (Pepto Bismol pink with lots of Hello Kitty plush and Hello Kitty ornaments — and people wonder why the holidays is the time when people kill themselves…) which would take the entire Hello Kitty Christmas tree to even new Hello Kitty Hell depths…
Sent in by cutesy (via likerogermoore) who should have to live with a tree like that for the entire year (and definitely get a new user name) for even thinking for a second it was a good idea to send that photo to me…
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Frosty The Snowman - { Tempo 112 bpm } 59, (hold 3)8, 48, 59, 19*, 788**, 1*, 29, 1, 7**, 6, (hold 5)9, 788, 1*, 29, 1, 7**, 6, 58, 19*, (hold 3)**, 58, 6, 59, 4, 3, 2, (hold 5)9, 5, (hold 3)8, 48, 59, 19*, 788**, 1*, 29, …

Get Easter myspace flash comments. You can use these comments and comment codes to comment your friends or post the Easter animated comment in your myspace profile.

Last Sunday was Palm Sunday and the start of Holy Week in Christendom. Holy Saturday, the day before Easter, ends Holy Week and the season of Lent.

In the Philippines, practically the whole nation took the day off on Good Friday and everything was at a standstill. All stores were closed, some as early as Holy Wednesday. On Holy Saturday, stores open and put up displays for Easter –Easter bunnies and Easter egg hunts.

While the commercial world prepares to exploit Easter, the Catholic world (the Philippines is predominantly Catholic) prepares for the ritual “Salubong” –meeting in English. The ritual celebrates the first meeting (after the Crucifixion) of the Risen Christ and His Mother.

Easter Sunday is a great opportunity to make food. We overslept this morning and didn’t have time to go to the laundromat, so I took advantage and made a more complicated breakfast than usual. It’s not brunch, because I don’t see myself skipping lunch today, but it was late enough that it could replace my morning snack. So it’s brack.  My plan was to make apple-cinnamon pancakes. This is something we get at Edesia’s, but I wasn’t in the mood to take a shower, go outside, wait 2 hours for breakfast, and spend a lot of money, so I decided to try it at home. I made oatmeal pancakes (sans banana) and then put baked apples on top. Since it was a special occasion, I actually went a little overboard on mine. I decided to recreate my Almond Joy Oatmeal (oatmeal with some coconut, sliced almonds and a few chocolate chips) in pancake form. It was a little much and didn’t go with the baked apples so well, but I didn’t want to waste food, so I ate it anyway.

Here it is with coffee (it looks teeny but the coconut seemed to make it thicker than usual, so it was pretty hearty):

Note the Easter-appropriate colors.

I feel completely at a loss for what I should do today. The gym is closed. Target is closed. Obviously there’s basketball. And I suppose I could catch up on all the things I’ve been putting off - more cleaning, working on taxes, laundry, writing project for work. Or maybe I’ll take a walk.
 

Greetings readers! The Contrarian and I wish all of you the most blessed of Easter holidays.

On this, the most joyous day for Christians, let us remember all those throughout the world who are less fortunate than we are.

On this day of eternal hope and thanksgiving for such a loving God, I ask that you pause a moment and meditate on these sentiments:

Dear Lord and Most Loving God:

May there be a day soon when all people in all lands find sufficient food, clothing and shelter for the day.

May there be a day soon when all people in all lands receive good educations, good health care, and and meaningful work adequately compensated.

May there be a day soon when all people in all lands have the time and ability to enjoy reasonable leisure time.

May there be a day soon when all people in all lands have the right to speak their minds about their governments without fear of recrimination.

May there be a day soon when all peoples in all lands are respected as human beings regardless of differences in religion, culture and life style.

May there be a day soon when all peoples in all lands are free from fear of war, genocide, and violence of any kind.

We know that this is possible, because You are God. Give us your grace to work for these goals.

Amen.

Enjoy dear (and many of you are quickly becoming dear) friends, and don’t eat too much!

Tomorrow, we shall get back to normal business.

St. Louis’ Central West End neighborhood had its first annual Easter Parade Saturday. The parade and crowd was small but full of enthusiasm despite the gray, chilly morning. Above, a group of school children are dressed duckishly.

Below: Easter Bunny, Fredbird, Ronald McDonald and an itinerant juggling giant hang out in the staging area; the final float turns the corner of Euclid and Maryland.

TOMORROW: flood waters

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Normally all Christian wedding are celebrated in a Church. The friends and family members of the bride and the bridegroom attain the wedding celebration. Just like any other wedding in other religion Christian wedding is also celebrated over a couple of days. As there are pre wedding, wedding and post wedding rituals. An Anglo Indian Christian bride traditionally wears a white gown in western style and the groom wears a suit. The wedding rituals are conducted along with the holy mass. Like in all Indian matrimonial rituals, this community too, has an interesting lecture with an emphasis on the sanctity of marriage given by the priest. Christian wedding rituals and customs are simple and easy to follow.

Among the main pre wedding rituals there are functions like bridal shower, which is an informal hen party hosted by the bride’s female friends. It is mainly a female get together to celebrate the occasion. It is a fun filled function where games are played, they sing and dance the whole night. The friends and relatives shower gifts upon the bride. The bride serves a pink cake with a thimble hidden inside. According to tradition, the girl who gets the slice of cake with the thimble in it will be the next to marry.

Just like the bridal shower, which is an all girl’s party a bachelor’s party is also celebrated by the groom and his male friends. It is called a stag party hosted by the groom on the eve of his wedding or a couple of days earlier. Usually this is a wild party, and the groom is expected to enjoy his last night as a bachelor.

It is customary to raise a toast before the drinking begins in earnest. It is mostly celebrated to have fun and enjoyment with his close fiends.

Welcoming the bride is done on the day of the wedding; when the groom sends a car to pick up the bride and waits for her outside the church. When the bride arrives, the Best Man welcomes her with a kiss on either cheek and hands her a bouquet of flowers. The couple walks down the aisle slowly and gracefully with the wedding procession in tow till they reach where the priest stands for the wedding mass. The priest then welcomes them and offers his best wishes. The wedding mass begins with hymns and selected readings from the Bible. The priest then delivers the homily, with an emphasis on the sanctity of marriage. The next ritual is the blessing and the exchange of the wedding rings. The ceremony comes to an end with the final blessing of the priest. The guests, towards the end, shower their blessings on the newly wedded couple. The last formality is the couple then signs the register and walk down aisle, arm in arm.

In the post wedding rituals like weddings in all Indian community Catholic weddings is followed by a reception for celebration the reception party is a grand affair where the newly-weds enter the venue and are welcomed by all with a shower of confetti. They cut the wedding cake and feed each a bite of the first slice. The Toastmaster proposes a toast in honor of the couple. The reception is mostly celebrated with dance and dinner party. In many function a live band performs and everybody dances to the tune of the band. This is how most Christian weddings are celebrated.