King of the Hill – Episode on Organic Food

I just recently saw this episode, but I heard it premiered a while ago. Nevertheless, I decided to write a little bit about it, and encourage everyone to give it view if you haven’t already. The episode is primarily about organic food, and why it is much tastier than heavily processed food you get at the typical large chain grocery store. The episode is called Raise the Steaks.

Hank gets a bit upset after he purchases some tough meat at the Mega-Lo-Mart. He meets an old friend at the grocery store, and this friend lets him know of a place in town where he can get organic meat. Hank hesitantly visits this “Organic Foods” market, and quickly discovers that the organic meat and produce is of much better quality and taste than Mega-Lo-Mart’s food.

This episode was the reason my parents decided to start buying organic foods. I’ve been telling them for years, but one 30 minute episode of King of the Hill is what did it. Who knew! The episode might get a little silly at times, but I think the message is very clear. Organic food is certainly much tastier than it’s overly processed counterparts. Personally, my body just feels much better if I eat primarily whole foods. Additionally, I do notice I have more energy throughout the day. Thoughts? Ideas? Did you like the episode?

Chocolate of the Week

I had the pleasure of trying Ghirardelli’s Dark & Raspberry chocolate this past weekend, and I have to say I really found it to be quite lovely. I am a big fan of raspberries, but I do not typically like Ghirardelli chocolate. I typically find their products to be a bit bland. However, Dennis was curious about the chocolate bar, and I agreed to give it a try. After all, I do love raspberry flavored anything.

When I tried the chocolate I was very amazed. I don’t know why I was expecting to taste something similar to a medicine flavored cherry cordial, but I was truly proven wrong. The dark chocolate melted in your mouth very quickly, and the raspberry filling’s flavor added that wonderful tangy taste at the end. This is certainly now one of my new favorites.

Once again, we broke off the squares, stuck them in a plastic bag and put them in the freezer. They make a nice cool snack in the evenings. We do live in the desert after all.

New Design of the Week

Early Inspiration – Art Through Chaos Event

I happened to come upon a very happy couple of images taken during an event I participated in while still in school at the University of Advancing Technology. The event was called Art Through Chaos, and was sponsored by UAT and organized by Professor Paul Andrus. The Art Through Chaos piece, which many people at the university participated in, would be entered into a large student and faculty art exhibition the university organized.

On the morning of April 19th, students arriving at the university were greeted by an enormous blank canvas and a multitude of paint and art supplies. They were encouraged to participate by contributing their talents and creativity to the canvas. The idea was to echo Dr. Margaret Wheatley’s theories on systems thinking and management through artwork.

I believe this was one of the more exciting and memorable events I participated in during my time at UAT. Professor Andrus and the university administration planned and executed the event fabulously, and the end result was stunning.

The images were taken by Thomas Dziedzinski who is a fabulous photographer by the way. I actually wrote a little love note to Dennis on this piece, and it managed to stay. Additionally, Thomas took a photo of me participating, printed it out and contributed his photography to the canvas.

It was a very inspirational and fabulous event. I simply wanted to thank Professor Andrus and the university administration for the inspiration and fond memories.

I Spilled Water On My Computer

Last night, Dennis and I were in a rush trying to finish our applications for our appointment next week for our visas. I was wearing my headphones, and didn’t hear him when he asked me about 10 times for a bit of information he needed to complete his application. When I managed to hear him, I jolted out of my seat, set my laptop down and managed to tip over a glass of water I was drinking from. The entire glass didn’t spill, but quite a bit of water did manage to land on the keyboard. I suppose you could say I was a bit upset.

I should mention that Dennis spilled water on his laptop a year ago and the thing just busted. He had to get a new one. I was very upset! My life is on this machine, and I have failed to back up my information like I know I should. Thankfully, my machine is working now, but I have spent the entire day backing everything up. I am just glad I was able to recover everything. JOY!

Mother’s Day Special • April 23rd – May 5th

Red Headed Frog is having a Mother’s Day Special. We have very cute and feminine selections for the eco-friendly mom in your family. Go green for mom today!

And the Real Packing Begins…

As I am sure most of you know I have been packing for a little over 4 months now. However, this past weekend I was bonked over the head with the very eminent realization that the movers are coming in a couple of weeks for certain this time. There is no going back now.

We are putting the house up for sale this next Monday, and everything has to be perfect for the open house. There has to be little to no sign of people living here. We will, more than likely, not get an interested buyer in the couple of weeks we have left in the States; nevertheless, we must be prepared for showings. It will be hard with this housing market, but I am sure we will manage.

Today, we managed to clean up most of our drawers and the back porch. Tomorrow, we start hammering away at the studio. We haven’t even gotten to the studio yet! It’s still a mess in there! Oh well… It has to be done sometime. This is where we started the packing process. It just looks very scary from this side of the room.

What’s New at Red Headed Frog

Favorite Chocolate of the Week

Two nights ago Dennis and I decided to pick up a few things we needed around the house at our local market. As we rapidly browsed through the aisles we came upon a new chocolate creation from Lindt. It is called Lindt Creation 70% Chilli, and it has a 70% dark chocolate shell with a layer of cherry and chilli filling inside.

Dennis and I were very curious since we absolutely love chocolate bars with chilli in them; additionally, Dennis is in love with anything cherry flavored. We were very excited about this chocolate bar.

We took it home, opened the package, and realized we probably needed to put it in the freezer for a bit. We do live in the desert, and even if the car ride was only 5 minutes, the chocolate bar managed to melt a bit too much to evenly break off the sectioned squares.

After we froze it for about 10 minutes, we took it out and each had a piece. The chocolate was absolutely fabulous. The wonderful crisp dark chocolate outer shell wonderfully complemented the creamy cherry filling. We were both left wondering what happened to the chilli, but after about 5 seconds we realized that the subtle flavor surprised our taste buds towards the end of the experience.

This bar was fabulous! It was not too hot and not too sweet. The dark chocolate shell complimented the sweet cherry filling inside, and the cherry complimented the subtle chilli flavor at the end. I would certainly recommend this to everyone. Try freezing it for 10 minutes if you live in warmer climates.

I don’t know why, but it reminded me of a Bubulubu from Mexico. I suppose only those of you who grew up in Mexico or around the border areas know what I am talking about so I am including a picture below. There’s a bit of nostalgia for you.

Moving Across the Pond

Dear Family and Friends,

We would like to inform you all that we have received our work permits last night; and will thus commence our move to England. All we can say is this is really a fantastic opportunity, and we are incredibly excited at the enormous change our lives will be taking.

We have about a month left here in America, but our travels will take us to Redmond (when visiting Seattle we will come down to Phoenix as necessary), Hyperbad, Israel and home to the UK; quite regularly. we hope to see all of you as much as we can in our travels.

We will certainly miss you all while we are gone on assignment, but do keep in touch. We might just have a spare room in the UK for you to stay in!

Cheers,

Dennis and Samantha