Valentine’s Day got a tepid response from most of you, with fifty-four percent of you saying you were just all right with it.   Thirty-six percent think it’s for suckas, and a very enthusiastic eight percent think it’s fantastic.  I personally think it is kind of silly, although I certainly wouldn’t turn down some chocolate if it happened to come my way.

Today I’ve got a question that is admittedly  not your run-of-the-mill poll question, but I was having a debate with a friend of mine, and I NEED TO KNOW.

Last week, I wanted to know if you felt the attack on a child due to the color of his hair and skin should be prosecuted as a hate crime.  Twenty five percent of you felt that it should be, while fifty one percent said that the kids were just being stupd, not necessarily perpetrating a hate crime.  Usually, although it depends on state law, a person has to be in a protected class in order for a crime to be classified as a hate crime, and currently red-haired people aren’t in that category. 

A while ago, Teeny Manolo’s superfantastic class factotum asked a question in the comments of a post I wrote on children choosing vegetarianism.  It was so thought-provoking, I thought I would pass it along.

I’m talking about cereal of course. You know, that unprocessed and then re-processed stuff we put in a bowl with milk. I have been eating cereal for breakfast for years now, but I have to say the Munchkin is so far a holdout.

I’ve been known to go on certain cereal binges, eating only one kind for an extended period of time, and then never wanting to see its face again. The next time that happens, I’ll use this handy-dandy flow chart to figure out my next choice.

Although I have to say I have eaten Grape Nuts before, and I’m not particularly fond of gravel!

via Eating the Road

No doubt picking up on the vegetarian theme from Mr. Henry, the LA Times has an article about what to do when your child chooses to become a vegetarian.

My husband and I are wholeheartedly omnivorous, but I have already had talks with the Munchkin about the meat we are eating and the specific animals from whence our meat comes from.   For instance the other day, he made me list off all the different meat products that can be made from pork.  What can I say, we have fascinating dinner conversations around here.

But, the Munchkin has already asked questions pertaining to how the animals are raised, and where are they raised, and he may have even asked at some point how they are killed to which Glinda just sort of put her fingers in her ears and sang “La, la, la, la…”

No, I didn’t do that.  Really.

What I do need to do is get rid of that copy of  The Jungle I’ve got laying around here somewhere before he gets his hands on it.

I kid, I kid…

Let’s just say, though, that if one day my son chose to become a vegetarian, it wouldn’t surprise me.  I’d like to think that I would support him in that decision, even if I didn’t necessarily agree with the philosophy behind it.

However, unless he decides to expand his current crop of approved vegetables, he will be eating nothing but fruit, carrots, and corn.

In an article published many moons ago in the Atlantic Monthly, writer Hanna Rosin launches into a fascinating and well-researched article about breastfeeding. And how in her opinion, it really isn’t all that great. This is coming, mind you, from a woman who breastfed all three of her children.

I cheered when I read it.

You see, I happen to think that there is a very judgmental group of women, members of the militant wing of the Salvation Army types, if you will, that see breastfeeding as the end-all, be-all of motherhood.

Hogwash.

Am I a bit biased on this topic because I tried and failed to breastfeed my firstborn?  Possibly.  But, I pumped for months until my milk ran out due to an undiagnosed immune disorder.

No one ever said to my face that I wasn’t as good of a mother, but there were certain women who would smugly state how long they breastfed and how fantastic it was, even though I had already admitted I felt badly for not being able to myself.  Heck, there was even an acquaintance I met who still breastfed her three year old, even in public at a restaurant.

That, they were not-so-subtly trying to tell me, was dedication.

Myself?  Apparently lacking in said dedication.

Well, I’m firmly with Hanna Rosin on this one.  The evidence in favor of breastfeeding is not all that it’s cracked up to be, despite what certain groups would like you to think.

So I’m here to say that I support women either way.  If you choose to breastfeed and it makes you happy, then may the winds of fortune be at your back. 

But, if you choose not to breastfeed, I am not going to immediately apply my fingers in an “L” shape on my forehead.

I would like to  suggest that more women do the same.

In my very unbridled opinion, these plates are superfantastic! 

(Neatorama via Boing Boing)

We’re just overrun with occasions for celebration recently! Not only is it National Donut Day in the US, but it’s the 100th anniversary of the arrival of Heinz Ketchup to the great nation of Canuckistan. Presumably shipped via dogsled from more civilized climes, where it had been known (if in off-label form) since around 1801, the condiment quickly took over the pantry, being the perfect compliment to the Great Canadian National Dish of KD and thus required at a minimum of one meal every 36 hours.

We all know how America celebrates its celebratory occasions. How does Canada commemorate this most commemorative of occasions?

With Ketchup Cake:

“We all think of ketchup as the perfect complement to hotdogs, hamburgers and fries, but its unique taste makes it an ideal flavour enhancer for many recipes including desserts,” explains Amy Snider, PHEc. and Culinary Nutritionist., “Heinz Ketchup not only adds great flavour to the cake, but it also creates a wonderfully moist texture.”

With Canadians being the second highest per capita users of ketchup in the world, this gorgeously red dessert is sure to grace the tables of cake and ketchup lovers from coast to coast to coast during this special anniversary year.

ORLY? Any brave readers care to try the recipe (in the post) and report back on deliciousnessosity?

We here in the frozen hinterlands are unfamiliar with many of the holidays celebrated by countries in more tropical climes, such as the holiday the Americans know as National Donut Day. At a guess, and knowning the Americans as I do, I would suspect it involves fireworks, fattening desserts, families bonding over shared sunburns and golden retriever puppies, and Martha Stewart making you feel inadequate somehow.

Who couldn’t get behind that?

To celebrate the esteemed traditional holiday (is it a stat?) of National Donut Day, Dunkin Donuts (is Dunkin a verb or a dude? One wonders about his parents’ education, and if he’s single, for yea, he must be stinking rich) is offering a FREE, that’s right, FREE donut to everyone who purchases a beverage, whether suitable for Dunkin or not.

Cocoa? Yup. Coffee? Yup. Milk? Yup. Diet Coke? Presumably, but WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?

So here’s to the generous Dunkin and his bakers’ dozens of helpers all across the Lower 49 and the one floating in the Pacific and that other one hanging off the left side of Canada.