Tiger Electric Rice Cooker

What: Tiger Brand Electric Rice Cooker
Rating: 10
Non-Quantifiable Rating: "I love rice. Rice is great when you're really hungry and you want two thousand of something."  -- Mitch Hedberg

I'm stingy with 10s. Really stingy.

I was going to throw out an eight or a nine for this bad boy, because it doesn't have tons of bells and whistles.

But then I thought about it -- and for what this rice cooker is supposed to do, it's flawless. I have zero complaints, and I occasionally consider hugging it.

We received this rice cooker as an off-the-registry wedding present from my cousin and his wife, and I don't know how I ever lived without it.

You put in the rice (brown or white), put in the water, flip it to "rice cooking" and it automatically switches to the "warm" setting when it's done, so your rice is toasty whenever you need it.

What really pushes it over the edge to a 10? I discovered that it makes my beloved superfood quinoa *just* as easily (two parts water to one part quinoa, turn it on and you're done).

I've done my research, and Tiger is where it's at when it comes to rice cookers. Worth every penny.

I'm going to go make two thousand of something.

The Grandma Project Update

The Grandma Project was just featured on MyTalk 107.1's Weekly Dish radio show. Thank you so much to Stephanie March (show co-host and Food & Dining Editor at Minneapolis - St. Paul Magazine) for the shout-out.

Click on the link to the left (in the sidebar) to submit your recipes!

Click here to learn more about the project!

Wheeeeeeeee!

Cheap & Easy Crock Pot Black Bean Casserole

What: Cheap & Easy Crock Pot Black Bean Casserole
Rating: 9
Non-Quantifiable Rating: Make the crock pot do the work.

Like rice and beans? Me too.
Like casseroles? Me too.
Like when you're having a busy day and the crock pot offers to cook for you? Me too.

Silly crock pot. I don't even pay it.

This recipe gets a superstar rating because it scores five out of five on my scale: cheap, healthy, easy, versatile and delicious. It's not made with rice -- it's actually quinoa, which is a bona fide super food with crazy nutritional stats including high protein.

Feel free to sub ingredients/spices -- this is a very forgiving recipe.

And wait 'til you see the directions on this perfect winter comfort food.

Cheap & Easy Crock Pot Black Bean Casserole
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
- 3/4 c. uncooked quinoa (you can buy it in bulk at the grocery store)
- 1-1/2 c. vegetable or chicken broth
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can sweet corn, drained and rinsed (or 15 oz. fresh or frozen)
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 tsp. cumin
- 1/4 - 1/2 tsp. cayenne (depending on your spice level preference)
- salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1) Throw everything in the crock pot and stir. Turn it onto high for about 3 hours, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
2) Eat.
- 

Awe and Blah: Household Tips and Tricks for Winter and Headhunting, NFL Style

Awe
What: Suprising tips to make winter more awe-worthy
Why: Winter finally (sort of) showed up in Minnesota, but we're all out of practice since it has been positively balmy since last March.

Lest we become total weaklings, I thought I'd share a few winter-savvy tips:

First up: Prevent windshield frost with vinegar


Mix three parts vinegar and one part water. Pour the solution into a spray bottle and spritz your windshield, side mirrors and windows.

According to The Huffington Post and other online sources, it can provide anti-frost protection for up to a few weeks. Woot!


Next up: Cooking spray to de-ice your snow shovel


I've mostly shifted away from Pam in favor of good ole' olive oil, but it turns out that the canned stuff still has at least ONE cool function.

Have you ever been shoveling a driveway/sidewalk and had the snow, slush and ice gunk up and stick to your shovel? Annoying. Apparently, if you coat both sides of your shovel with Pam or other cooking spray, the gunk will slide right off.


And finally: Uncooked spaghetti to light multiple candles


This one isn't explicitly winter-related, but if you're like me, you tend to cozy up around candles more frequently during the dark, cold months.

There's nothing like the race to light multiple candles with one match. (Will I or won't I scorch my fingers?)

Solution? Use an uncooked spaghetti noodle instead of a match! Whoda thunk? Just imagine what it could do for a birthday cake! The last two handy tips (and the corresponding noodle photo) are from the ingenious folks at my beloved Real Simple.

Blah (After all that you still get a Blah? OMG, you are soooo lucky!)
What: New York Giants players who admit to intentionally going after a player with a history of concussions

Why: I just read this article on CNN's health blog, and it made me want to chop block somebody.


Two players from the Superbowl-bound New York Giants have admitted that they specifically targeted San Francisco 49ers punt returner Kyle Williams during Sunday's NFC championship game.


The problem with that? They apparently did so because they knew that Williams has a history of head injury and concussions. CNN's article quotes one Giant as saying, "We knew [Williams] had four concussions, so that was our biggest thing, to take him out of the game." Another Giant explicitly said that the team went after Williams "because he's had a lot of concussions."


I love football and I loved watching that game, and I know players get paid a lot of money to be roughed up, but this is insane. Specifically targeting someone at the expense of his brain health -- and then bragging about it?


Going after an injured player is certainly common in football. (Try being a quarterback with a bad shoulder.) But, as CNN Health points out, shouldn't the brain be different? You can't sit in an ice bath for your brain. And there are a kazillion high school football players watching you who shouldn't learn that the best way to "take out" the opposition is to target people with histories of head injuries.


Are the players to blame? Sure. But so are the folks in charge who tolerate this stuff.


Giants, since I'm writing this from the safety of my home and not actually in front of you, I feel empowered to call you meanie doodyheads.

Grayson Cellars 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon

What: Grayson Cellars 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon
Rating: 9
Price: $8-12 depending on retailer
Non-Quantifiable Rating: Good enough for 1 p.m. on a Monday...

That's right. 1 p.m. on a Monday.

Judge all you want, but it was over lunch with a colleague celebrating a successful 2011 for Word Couture Consulting. (So as company holiday parties go, this was quite tame. No dancing on desks, Xeroxing body parts or playing "Pin the Tie on the CFO").

Strange date/time for drinking aside, this was a truly fabulous glass of wine. I thought I'd reviewed it previously, but it turns out that was Grayson's pinot noir. The cabernet is even better.

Grayson Cellars has received a fair amount of attention from critics and oenophiles for offering well-crafted wine at bargain prices.

Cheap wine? Yay!
Delicious wine? Yay!
Cheap, delicious wine? Cheers!

The Leann Rimes Tattoo Debacle

image via people.com

What: Singer Leann Rimes has a new tattoo. She should have used a proofreader.

Rating: 0

Non-Quantifiable Rating: Permanent grammar fail.

First Katy Perry spewed poor grammar all over the airways. Then Leann Rimes had it inked on her foot.

Leann's brand new tattoo should read: "The only one who matters." She says it's a quote from her husband. 

Here's your super fun grammar lesson for the day: if you insist on directly quoting a grammatial mistake, you can acknowledge the error by adding "[sic]" after the offending word.

I'd like to recommend that Leann alter her tattoo accordingly:

"The only one that [sic] matters."

You're welcome for the free editing advice, Leann. Next time I'll bill you.

Someone apparently pointed out the error via Twitter. Leann's painfully worded response: 

"No it's not "who" it was what was said from my husbands mouth and there's nothing wrong with "that."

Egad.

Talk about putting your foot in your mouth! HA! HA! HA!

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Film, English version)

Looking for your Awe and Blah? It was on Monday this week. I apologize for messing with your world.

image via imdb.com

What: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Film, English version)

Rating: 8

Non-Quantifiable Rating: One of the few instances where Hollywood didn't Botox a book or a foreign film to death.

I reviewed this book 18 months ago. I gave it a 9. About a year ago, I reviewed the Swedish version of the film. I gave it a 6.

Surprisingly, this version approaches the book in terms of quality.

Is it convoluted? Yep.
Is it painfully -- almost gratuitously -- violent at times? Yes, but then, the book's author was certifiably twisted.

This high rating is as much for production quality as it is for plot. They do mess with the book's plot a bit (grrr) but they make up for it with stunning cinematography, a haunting score (done by the guy from Nine Inch Nails), and impressively compelling, suspenseful direction.

Worth seeing for sure. Bring a pillow to hide behind (I'm talking to you, Mom).

Special Monday Awe and Blah: Golden Globes Fashion

Don't worry, you didn't accidentally sleep through Monday and Tuesday.

I'm mixing things up by throwing out a super special Monday Awe and Blah with awe-worthy and blah-worthy fashion from last night's Golden Globes.

Awe(s)

I'd look like a roll of toilet paper in this, but Claire Danes looks graphically fabulous.

The Help's Viola Davis doesn't need any Help looking stunning in this beautiful dress. (Ha! I made a pun!)

Paula Patton is basically wearing a yellow version of my wedding dress. Gosh, I'm sick of celebrities rummaging through my closet and dying my clothes. It's super annoying.

Again, I could never pull this off, but I give Nicole Kidman tons of credit for an unusual, interesting choice. Also, I haven't seen her smile in years. The Botox must have finally worn off.

So George Clooney is finally settling down. Here's why:

And my favorite look of the night comes from Dame Helen Mirren. Seriously, where do I sign up to look like that in 40 years now.

Blah

And now the mocking begins...because, let's be honest, that's more fun.

Charlize Theron is thirty years too late for her fifth birthday party.

Oh, Julianna Marguiles. I'm trying so hard to resist the Barney the Dinosaur jokes.


So Jessica Biel got engaged to Justin Timberlake over the holidays. Apparently, the wedding dress shopping has already started...in her great-grandmother's closet...

This should teach Lea Michelle to never let an angry cat play with her dress.

Angelina Jolie's dress probably looked fine until someone vomited wine on her shoulder.

all photos via people.com except Helen, via msnbc.com

Cream of Wheat

What: Cream of Wheat (seriously)
Rating: 7
Non-Quantifiable Rating: Like the 1980s in a bowl.

I must be regressing. Between the Ovaltine post and now Cream of Wheat, I'm reliving my epicurean childhood. Must be that new project of mine.

I honestly didn't know they still made Cream of Wheat. Sure enough, I stumbled across it during a recent Target trip, and that guy on the box is still smiling. Nostalgia won over, and I purchased a box.

The new-fangled flavored Cream of Wheat has predictably scary nutritional stats, but the plain original stuff (featured above) is refreshingly simple. Three ingredients, plenty of vitamins and minerals, and each serving has 120 calories, zero grams of fat and four grams of protein. Not too shabby!

Is it bland? Sure, but not as bad as you'd think. And you either like the texture or you don't. I do.

I've been eating it piled high with blueberries, which is satisfying and delicious. It's also extra creamy made with milk (or with a bit of unsweetened vanilla almond milk swirled in at the end after making it with water...mmmm...).

Word to the wise: this stuff is absurdly susceptible to boiling over. To be fair, I've been using my parents' reject microwave in our basement since our kitchen isn't *quite* functional yet, but it's like the stuff waits until my back is turned and then explodes.

I've heard toddlers do that, too.

Bottom line: It's cheap. It's fast. It's nutritious. And speaking of toddlers, you can serve leftovers to your toddler, assuming you have one of those wandering around.

Awe and Blah: Fast, Great, or Cheap and Tracy Anderson's Big Mouth

Awe

via www.pitchdesignunion.com, and they got it from www.tinytank.net

What: The Fast, Great, or Cheap Chart

Why: I stumbled upon this chart on the blog of my graphic designer pal Margot.

It's designed (ha!) for graphic designers (obviously) but I think it's beautifully applicable to a lot of roles in a lot of fields.

I particularly like what you get when you combine fast and cheap:

"Dipped in ugly sauce with haste and carelessness." 

As a freelance writer, I'm especially tickled. After all, you can go ahead and hire the cheapest writer available. I'll still be here when he or she forgets the "L" in "Public" on your press release.

Blah

What: Celebrity trainer Tracy Anderson and the yahoos at Us Magazine who quoted her.

Why: This week's Us Weekly magazine featured diet and training "secrets" from stars and their trainers.

I know. Ick.

The worst? Attention-hungry Tracy Anderson, who trains Jennifer Lopez. Anderson's advice? Dance. That's all well and good, but her logic is disgusting. She says:

"You don't want to make your quads big like you would by running."

Super. Thanks, Tracy.

Thanks for scaring girls and women away from running for fear of getting big thighs. Because big thighs are clearly the most common side effect of starting a running regimen. (I need a sarcasm font.)

Tracy, if you're ever in Minnesota, look me up. I'll race you.