Category — pêle-mêle (This n That)

Browsing at Walgreens, hidden in the Easter candy aisle, I came across Rabbit TV.

According to the packaging, for $9.99 I can purchase this USB stick smaller than a pack of gum and get 5,000 TV channels on my computer. I’ll happily spend $9.99 at Starbucks for a chai tea latte and a feta, spinach and egg wrap, but for 5000 channels wrapped in plastic? No way. So I snapped a photo and decided to go home and Google Rabbit TV.

According to their website, Rabbit TV gives you free access to over 5000 TV and 9000 radio internet stations. But then goes on to say Rabbit TV has an annual fee of $10/year: so not exactly Free (the word Free in large red letters is displayed prominently on the website).  The site also says channels include:

• ESPN
• HGTV
• Disney
• MTV
• Food Network
• Cartoon Network
• SciFi
• Discovery Channel
• National Geographic

Hmm… all those networks have websites where I can already watch full episodes of some of their TV shows, and I’ve been listening to internet radio since the 90s when we lived in Paris and AOL radio offered live radio channels… in English.

So I kept googling for user reviews. In summary, for a $10 USB stick purchase plus $10 annual feed Rabbit TV appears to consolidate already free online TV programs into a single site. Convenient, yes. Worth $20? No.

I’m heading to Starbucks for breakfast…

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I was making my morning smoothie, and when I grabbed a fresh mango from the fruit bowl, it looked sort of yellow: whoops, it’s a papaya, not a mango. I love fresh papaya, but I’ve never bought a papaya… until now. It was shaped like a mango, so I decided to used my mango cutter to cut open the papaya, and was surprised to see so many little black seeds!

I was ready to throw the seeds away, but suddenly I thought of kiwis: we don’t throw kiwi seeds away, we eat them as part of the fruit. So I googled: “can you eat papaya seeds?”

Basically, after reading 5 different sites, I discovered that yes, papaya seeds are edible:

• papaya seeds have a peppery taste, and are often substituted for black pepper
• many cultures used papayas seeds as a natural contraceptive and to kill internal parasites
• papaya seeds are considered a health food, and are a treatment for liver cirrhosis, salmonella and staph infections, and digestive ailments

So, instead of sending them down the disposal, I added about 1/3 of the papaya seeds (the sites caution against using too much) to my smoothie, and blended:

• the color wasn’t appealing: in addition to little black flecks the smoothie took on a grayish tone
• the flavor was too peppery: I had to add a little honey and lime to finish the smoothie

Next time? The seeds go down the disposal, I don’t like a peppery taste to my morning fruit smoothie.

moi tip:

I will be using that mango slicer to cut open my papaya again: most of the seeds did stay in the center, and it halved my papaya very evenly.

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I don’t even understand what it does, but lately I’m obsessed with the Belkin WeMo. I see it on TV, I read about in online, and now its coming up in conversations.

Apparently the Belkin WeMo easily converts your home to a smart house: it let’s me automate and control my electronics from anywhere. ANYWHERE. I have never left the iron on ( in fact, I no longer iron). But, with the Belkin WeMo if I thought I forgot to switch off my iron, I could use the WeMo to shut it off. From the airport. Or a car. Or Europe: anywhere I can get a signal for my iPhone or iPad. You simply plug the Belkin WeMo into an outlet, download the free app to your smart phone, and you’re ready to automate.

So you see why I’ve become obsessed: the possibilities for problem solving are endless. My problem: I can’t think of any ways I’d actually use it.

So I went to the Belkin WeMo website and they understand my dilemna. They came up with a video that gives me lots of practical ideas on how to use the WeMo:

• if Mignette jumps up on the bed, I can use WeMo (and a camera) to tell her to get down. Of course, Mignette can jump on the bed anytime she wants. It’s Mignette’s house.
• I can turn on a light from across the room. Of course, I didn’t buy The Clapper and that would have let me turn on a light from across the room.
• WeMo can interact with social media and send me a text when someone opens my front door. No one ever opens my front door except me or my husband, so still not convinced.
• WeMo can turn my iPhone into a baby monitor. Except there are no babies at my house.

So you understand my dilemna: I’m obsessed with cool gadgets, I’m obsessed with my iPhone, and I’m obsessed with cool gadgets for my iPhone.

I really want a WeMo, I just can’t figure out how it would change my life… can you?

The Belkin WeMo is available at Best Buy, Apple, and Amazon for less than $100.

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This year our Thanksgiving table will have some empty seats, and we will be offering thanks for the time – too short – they were able to spend with us. I’m giving special thanks for all our family and friends who are safe from Hurricane Sandy. Not all have been able to return home yet – but fortunately they all have homes to return to when so many don’t.

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back by popular demand:

During the years we lived in Paris, and long before, The International Herald Tribune reprinted a column by writer and columnist Art Buchwald. He’s no longer with us, but his words will make us smile once again this Thanksgiving.

                    Bon Appétit,  Art

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My son asked me if I wanted to try a juice cleanse: he had a new client and wanted to try out their products. Seemed like a good idea: a long summer of ice cream (thanks TBG!), chocolate chip cookies (thanks Queen Mum!) and Crumbs black and white cookies (thanks…oh, I bought those). It turned cold last week and I put on a pair of last year’s jeans: a 3 day juice cleanse to detox and get in shape before the holidays would be a great jump-start to losing a 5 pounds I’d added and getting rid of my sugar craves. I’ve never tried a juice cleanse: how bad could it be?

ugh

I spent 2 weeks getting psyched to start my juice cleanse on Sunday: then MC said he wouldn’t have the juice for 2 more weeks.  I was psychologically ready for the juice cleanse. TBG was out of town for 10 days. It’s gorgeous weather for long Fall walks. Hmmm… I decided to do my own homemade juice cleanse. 1 day? 3 days? 5 days? Let’s see how it goes…

Day 1

Of course I’d done zero preparation. But we had a freezer full of strawberries and bananas for TBG’s morning smoothies. And frozen grapes for his hot summer day snack. A huge jar of peanut butter. Skim milk. Fage Greek Yogurt. A drawer full of salad fixings. A blender. Ice. Sounded like enough to get started!

• Morning: Tazo Chai Latte concentrate with skim milk (yes, I know it has caffeine. I don’t care.)

• Breakfast: 1 frozen banana, 1 cup frozen strawberries, water. Blend, pour and drink

• Lunch: tall coffee light Frappuccino from Starbucks (I wasn’t home, so it seemed easy: liquid and lo-cal and convenient)

• Dinner: Run to the convenience store and buy V8 low sodium. Drink huge glass – 16oz

• Evening: decaf coffee with skim milk and sugar-free vanilla syrup

Day 2

Need to step it up a little:

• Morning: Tazo Chai Latte with skim milk

• Breakfast: 1 frozen banana, 1 cup frozen strawberries, tablespoon of chunky peanut butter, water

• Lunch: spinach, broccoli slaw, 1/2 green apple, teaspoon of fresh ginger. Ugh: looked and tasted like chunky grass. With a little ginger. But I drank it…

• Dinner: V8 juice – 16oz

• Evening: frozen banana, scoop of chocolate protein powder (that TBG uses in his smoothies), water. Blend, pour, drink. Tasted pretty good!

Day 3

In answer to all my friends’ questions:

No, I am not starving. In fact, after my green juice experiment I am not even hungry.

Yes, I sip water all day but there is so much water in my juices that I’m very liquid.

Yes, I have to stay near a bathroom: lots of liquid.

Yes, I can tell I’ve lost some size: the jeans I wore Sunday I’m wearing again today: definitely looser.

No, I don’t know if I’ve lost weight: I don’t have a scale.

No, I don’t have a headache and I slept fine.

And no, I haven’t decided if I’m going to do 3 or 5 days: we’ll see how I feel Thursday morning.

• Morning: Tazo Chai Latte with skim milk

• Breakfast: 1 frozen banana, 1 cup frozen strawberries, tablespoon of chunky peanut butter, water

• Lunch: 1 cup frozen green grapes, 1/2 green apple, water. Blend, drink (hey, it’s green!)

• Snack: V8 juice – 8oz (the grape juice didn’t hold me over)

• Dinner: V8 juice – 8oz (last of the V8 bottle)

• Evening: frozen banana, scoop of chocolate protein powder (that TBG uses in his smoothies), water

I feel fine! Let’s see what I decide when I wake up in the morning…

Moi tip: I didn’t foresee how much I’d hate washing the blender 4 times every day! But I did do some research online, and fresh homemade juice is definitely preferable to bottled. I’ll continue to make the fruit juices, but for the vegetable juices: I’m buying V8: convenient, inexpensive and it has vegetables. It’s only a few days…

btw: I researched juice recipes online and decided that what I already had in my freezer and fridge made as much sense as the recipes. Again: it’s only a few days. If i was doing it longer, I’d add more protein and veggies.

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This week I’m guest blogging for HaveDeals, where you can find free coupon codes, promotional codes and deals from your favorite stores and brands. HaveDeals is 100% free for everyone. So remember, before you buy anything online, make sure you always HaveDeals! Every week I’ll be blogging money saving tips and deals for HaveDeals, so be sure and visit HaveDeals so you can save money too!

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I love to reward Mignette with treats for good behavior: or to bribe her to do what I want. But as she gets older I have to carefully watch her weight: she loves to eat, and her walks are getting shorter as the years go on.

[Read more →]

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What’s a beertail? Beer and a mixer: the perfect light summer cooler! We developed our love of beer cocktails summering on the French Riviera. Yes, the oh-so-chic French love beer cocktails: especially panaché.

Our 1st visit to St Tropez, sitting under the umbrellas at le café, we ordered what the table next to us was drinking: panaché. When the pale yellow tall cold drinks arrived and we took our first sip, who knew: the French love beer and lemonade mixed! Since that 1st beertail, we’ve enjoyed many more throughout Europe, and now back in the States, we enjoy making this light refreshing low-cal cocktail for long hot summer days. Of course we cheat and use easily found American ingredients: we could buy 1664 bier or bubbling limonade, but it’s summertime and the living must be easy!

Voila! Here are a few French beer cocktail recipes to get you started. Santé!

Panaché (aka Shandy in the UK and Radler in Germany or Champú in Spain) You can even buy bottles of panaché pre-mixed at la marche!

• 1 bottle light beer: your preference
• 12 oz Crystal Light lemonade: keeps the calories low
• Mix, enjoy! Makes 2

Monaco (aka Potsdamer in Germany)

• Panaché with a touch or grenandine ( abt 1/4 tsp per glass)

Tango

• beer and grenadine

Be creative! Throughout Europe, South America and the Caribbean beer is commonly mixed with other non-alcoholic drinks including

• coke (a Diesel or Mazout in Germany),
• cider (Diesel in the UK)
• ginger ale (Shandygaf in Japan)
• orange juice (Brass Monkey: its American!)

Moi tip:

Grenadine used to be made from pomegranate juice (and in fact is based on the French word for pomegranate: grenade). Now grenadine is primarily made from artificial colors and flavors. Personally, I don’t stock it. So for any recipe calling for grenadine I substitute pomegranate juice: there’s always a bottle of Pom in moi fridge. Cheers!

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I stopped with little sis Mary for a quick polish change last week at Arbre, and we both ended up joining Belly: a business loyalty reward card that works for multiple businesses!

Yes, you read that right: Belly doesn’t just work for our Arbe visits, it adds points if I visit NYC Bagel and Deli. Or Elly’s Pancake House. Or over 600 businesses in Chicago alone, with more joining everyday.

Founded and based in Chicago, Belly is growing quickly as businesses sign-up to take advantage of customers’ desire to be rewarded while not being inconvenienced. Targeted mainly at small and medium-sized businesses, Belly offers a customer retention program for small businesses whose customers may not sign up for a loyalty program for their store only: I won’t go to Arbre again, while the manicure was fine it’s not in my neighborhood: we simply had a few hours to fill before an appointment. But I joined up because I do regularly go to other businesses who use Belly. Starbucks I’m at almost daily: I’m happy to let my drink stars accrue toward a free drink. But Dog-a-holics I only visit a couple times a year. I can Belly at Dog-a-holics. Genius!

When we signed up, I used the in-store iPad and entered my email address, and received a plastic card for my wallet or keychain. But then I downloaded the free iPhone app: no more card to carry, I just bring up my barcode and rake in the points. With hundreds of locations already in Chicago, Belly is expanding rapidly, and I can find dozens of new locations in SoFlo, NYC, Texas, Arizona and even Nebraska!

And with all the points I’m raking in, I can get free cupcakes… and a whole bunch of other stuff like haircuts and comic books.

Loyalty cards have gone digital! Who knew?

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If you follow my blog, you know I’m a movie junkie. So wherever I live, whatever the local language, regardless of the price per ticket, on any given weekend I’m in a movie theatre. And from November thru February, sometimes several movies each weekend so I’m prepared for the Academy Awards. But, I don’t typically watch movies on TV at home. I like the whole going-to-the-movies experience: the big screen, a darkened theatre, stadium seats, slightly stale popcorn, and annoying people checking their cell phones, chewing with their mouths open and talking back to the screen.

At home we have a large flatscreen parked across from a comfy couch. Fresh popcorn. Diet Ginger Ale. A cute little white dog sitting on moi lap. And a shelf full of both the latest DVD theatrical releases and oldie-but goodies. I have friends with theatre rooms: darkened, stadium seats, and a well-stocked snack bar. I’d just rather pay $12 and go to the movies.

And I don’t like reruns: Once I’ve seen the movie, I’m done. I make a few exceptions for movies I load on my iPad and love to travel with: Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House, Julie and Julia, Ice Castles. My ambition is not to be able to quote all the good lines (unlike my husband and son who love quoting Ferris Bueller and Top Gun).

But the week of April 4 I’ll be at the movies to see the new release of Titanic in 3D. I’m not a huge fan of 3D, but I loved the Titanic (which I’ve seen only once when we’d just moved to Paris: I thought I’d figured out which movies were presented in VO (version originale) and when the credits began in French I thought I’d screwed up, but a few moments later the movie began, thankfully in English!)

See you when we set sail on the Titanic!

Moi tip:

I’ll be seeing the Titanic for 3D for free! How? I Viggled my way to a free movie ticket just by watching TV!

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Summer and barefoot go together: freedom, casual, easy living. Heading to a wedding on the beach? An afternoon on your yacht? Poolside at the resort? Don’t let your toes go bare with just a little polish: flash your feet with style!

No, I’m not talking ankle bracelets or toe rings: they’re soooo last millenium. I’m in SoFlo and the trendy beachwear are almost sandals…. literally: Almost Sandals.

I’ve seen them on the beach, but hadn’t seen them in stores until I saw Almost Sandals in the window of  The Legacy in downtown Delray Beach.

Perfect for when you want to go almost bare…with style! $19 at The Legacy or online. Personally: I like the shell style!

The Details:

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