“They are asymmetrical and raised,” I told the pediatrician. My wife insisted they were circular and flush. Maybe my description of our toddler’s rash was accurate, or perhaps my wife was right. Perhaps we were each right and wrong. In any event, it didn’t matter. Our contradictory observations stalled the diagnosis of Sam’s rash.

Since the hives didn’t appear to be bothering him all that much, we had a little time. We just didn’t quite know what to do with our extension. Then it dawned on me: Evernote.

Those who know me won’t find this revelation surprising. My brain is duct taped together by Evernote, the “remember everything” app just raised $70 million on a whopping $1 billion valuation. But this was a particularly good use case.

The Evernote taxonomy is comprised of three levels. Users create notes, multiple notes comprise a notebook, multiple notebooks create a stack. I created a note called Sam Hives, which was nestled into a notebook called Sam, which was added to a stack called Family.

Every time he’d break out, we’d catalogue the details – date, time, what he’d eaten, and if he’d done anything unusual (for example, once it happened when we were at a farm). Because Evernote supports multimedia, we’d also add a photo of the image to the note. Next time we showed up at the pediatrician and pulled out the iPhone, boom! Parents of the week, courtesy of a free app.

It turns out, Evernote is pretty much my parenting consigliore. I use it to catalogue gift ideas year-round … heck, there is even a note ambiguously named, “Gifts for When Sam’s Older.” If someone tells me about a great birthday party idea, or fun place to go on a weekend, yup: to Evernote it goes. (Seriously, I can’t risk forgetting that the New England Falconry is an option in a year or two. The Phil Dunphy in me wouldn’t stand for that.)

Before you get the wrong idea, Evernote isn’t just a place were I catalogue all the stuff I want to buy. It’s not an over-engineered shopping list. I also use it to archive memories.

Every Christmas, we give “the grandparents” photo books created in iPhoto (and put one away for Sam) that tell the story of the previous year.  You might think it’s the photos that conjure the sentimentality, but it’s not. It’s the annotation. Throughout the year, we archive in Evernote milestones, discoveries, funny events, and even regular ol’ slice-of-life moments, so that as we sit to write this keepsake, the memories are as fresh as they day we experienced them.

Now as far as who was right about the hives, my wife or I … that’s something I’ll be keeping that between my family and Evernote.

No related posts.

David Potts was 44 years old with a fiancée and a baby. The couple’s trip to Maui would be their last big hurrah before she would undergo the double mastectomy designed to save her life. While visiting one of the island’s better known natural tourist attractions, the geyser-like Nakalele Blowhole, Potts was knocked into the ocean by a freak wave. In an instant, David Potts was gone. His body never to be found.

When it happened, I was only a few miles down the coast from the spot where David Potts lost his life. As the story of a man dying tragically in an instant while enjoying his vacation splashed news sites in Hawaii and around the globe, I became haunted by a terrible thought:

It could have been me.

When I got home, I began looking into vacation tragedies and I have to tell you I was absolutely stunned by what I discovered. For example, did you know that over 170 people have vanished without a trace from cruise ships since 1995? I’m not talking about obvious drunken stumbles off the promenade deck into the ocean’s cold embrace. I mean dozens of unsolved and highly suspicious cases including one where a woman’s beaded purse was found ripped and a ship’s map had been deliberately taped over the lens of the nearest security camera.

Even more alarming are those horrific vacation tragedy incidents involving children whose lives are senselessly stolen, killed due to resort negligence and seemingly-preventable causes, like the 12 year old boy who was sucked into an unprotected twelve inch wide drainage pipe at a major Cancun hotel’s snorkeling lagoon, his body folded in half by the immense suction. Or the 5 year old girl improperly given CPR by poorly trained Atlantis resort lifeguards in an incident suspected of causing her death.

By revealing these all-too-true stories to you, I am not trying to do for vacations what “Jaws” did for beaches. The incidents I discovered, especially those involving children of all ages, ended up becoming the basis for my latest non-fiction book, “Fatal Sunset: Deadly Vacations.” Simply put, “Fatal Sunset” is made up of true cautionary tales. It is filled with lessons for those willing to better understand how to identify, and hopefully avoid, similar tragic circumstances.

Researching and writing this book has helped me understand that recognition of certain circumstances while traveling can often be the difference between life and death. This is exactly why my new motto, thanks to this book, has become, “Dare to be aware” and why I would like to leave you with the top 10 list of Dare to Be Aware travel tips.

• Tip 1: Never assume you have the same rights, protections and access to emergency services in other countries as you do in your own
• Tip 2: Take the time to check out any attractions your children may use before you leave them unsupervised
• Tip 3: Always let someone know where you’re going and how long you’ll be gone. If you’re on a trip, make sure someone in your party knows when you’ll be back and check in with them if those plans change
• Tip 4: Don’t assume that video cameras are there to protect you – They are only there to protect the interests of the property owners who may have a different agenda when it comes to revealing what those cameras have seen
• Tip 5: Just because there isn’t a warning sign, doesn’t mean there isn’t danger – Use your common sense and/or double check your plans with someone who knows the lay of the land
• Tip 6: Do your research – Any reputable company offering trips, excursions, tours will have a digital footprint on the Internet. Use Google to search for reviews before you use them
• Tip 7: Be suspicious of anyone who takes too much interest in you or your family – If someone you really don’t know invites you to join them in an excursion somewhere, don’t be afraid to turn them down. There are worse things than offending someone who you will probably never see again
• Tip 8: If going out of the country, check for government issued travel advisories for your destination. If the state department says someplace is unsafe, take heed
• Tip 9: Being on vacation doesn’t turn you into Superman – Don’t try doing anything that may be more physically involved than something you would do at home
• Tip 10: Always listen and be kind to your flight attendant – He or she has much more experience than you in dealing with onboard emergencies and situations. Their help could save your life!

FATAL SUNSET: Deadly Vacations is available for Kindle, Nook, iBooks, in Paperback and in audiobook form at Audible, Amazon and iTunes.

Related posts:

1. Avoid the Slime
2. Movie Review – Safe House
3. Sucking the Heads, Safe Kids & Sea Bags

“I’m having an orgasm,” came the shout heard around the quad.

It was clear. It was unmistakable. It was unavoidably audible.

And timed perfectly to cause maximum shock value.

My teen-aged daughter and I were on our sixth and final college campus tour. By now, the routine had become familiar. After an admissions counselor dutifully presented the college’s credentials and outlined the admissions requirements, a hyper-enthusiastic student, as well-practiced in the school story as in walking backwards while telling it, gave us a tour of the campus. If “admissions” was a team, the student tour guides would be its cheerleaders.

This one started innocently enough, passing venerable academic buildings, the majestic library, a state-of-the-art athletic facility. There was something so familiar, but that’s because this was my alma mater. Yep, I spent four years on this campus and received my degree from Lehigh University. Indeed, as we passed Maginnes Hall, it brought back vivid memories of HR 41, formally known as Human Sexuality.

It felt good to be back after such a long absence. Now I remember: In spite of the rigorous academics, I had a really good time here. That included a certain amount of debauchery that goes with college. But I’ll be damned if I’m gonna drop serious coin for my daughter to experience that.

On the other hand, being out from under her parents’ wing will be one of the most enriching growth opportunities of her life, not only to learn, but to meet all types of interesting and different people.

As joyful recollections danced in my head, our group of about 20 sixteen-year-olds and 30 parents was directed by our perky guide to the campus residence halls. As a father, particularly of a daughter, I can only hope that she won’t be doing what I did, right here in these same residence halls, when the drinking age was still 18.

Then came the moment.

In what sounded almost like a public address announcement delivered by a male voice from a room nearby, broadcast to the surrounding vicinity: “I’m having an orgasm.”

That wasn’t the kind of “interesting and different people” I had in mind.

To say that our group response was muted is an understatement. Although every single one of us heard it, silence prevailed as if trying to pretend it didn’t happen. Our tour guide’s reaction could best be described as mortified.

Awkward doesn’t do the scene justice; this was a conspiracy of awkwardness. Or, as a teenager might say, “ewwww.” Other than walking in on a couple of students actually having sex, what could be more uncomfortable to a co-ed group of teenagers with their parents in tow, just about to enter the dormitory where they might potentially spend the next four years, than to hear someone loudly proclaim their orgasm?

I should have stayed quiet. But the former standup comedian in me instinctively took over, yelling back to the orgasmic shout-out as I would have to a heckler at a nightclub: “You’re always too soon.” The result was awkward on steroids.

Our tour guide led us inside the “co-ed” dorm, making sure to inform us that the bathrooms were not co-ed. Oh, what a relief.

I couldn’t help but notice that she later failed to point out the health center, where I recall that they dispensed birth control as readily as band-aids.

My kid loved the school.

I decided that our next tour would be women’s colleges.

No related posts.

There are hundreds of ways to make mac and cheese. My mother’s mac and cheese was pretty straightforward – pasta, grated cheddar cheese and hot dogs. Combine and bake until golden brown. So simple, yet so good.

As I expanded my skills in the kitchen I started making a version of mac and cheese that, by pure accident, resembled a dish my wife’s mother used to make when she was growing up. I would make a quick béchamel, add different cheeses to it to transform it into a cheese sauce and then would mix that with an egg, pasta, and diced ham before topping it off with a mixture of bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. Not only was it very rich, but it was very filling and became the perfect indulgence whenever life required some serious comfort food.

Despite crafting a version of mac and cheese that my family and I enjoy I’m always on the lookout for different ways to tweak things, or different elements I can add to make it even better. A few weeks ago, The Chew, a daytime cooking show on ABC, aired an episode dedicated to mac and cheese and I knew that I’d come away with something different to further my quest.

I’m a regular viewer of The Chew, mostly because I have a well documented man crush on Chef Michael Symon – culinarily speaking, of course (see Being Michael Symon for further explanation). It also doesn’t hurt matters that the show also features Mario Batali and one of my favorite former Top Chef contestants, Carla Hall. On this particular episode Chew correspondent Jason Roberts appeared to make a mac and cheese pot pie.

While Jason Roberts version looked delicious, I couldn’t help but think that it would also be good if it were even closer to an actual pot pie. So, as I often do, I set out to make my own version making this more of an entree than a side dish by adding shredded chicken, sauteed carrots and fresh peas into the mix. Additionally, I dropped the ricotta he used in favor of a cheese sauce consisting of gruyere and parmesan reggiano, but, of course, I kept the bacon.

I served up my mac and cheese pot pies with an arugula and spring mix salad with a sherry-walnut vinaigrette to balance things out. It was every bit as delicious and satisfying as I had hoped. And, for me, just different enough from an actual pot pie, which truth be told I’ve never truly been a fan.

Eating this made me think of my grandfather and the pot pies he used to make when I lived with my grandparents during college. Back then I wouldn’t consider eating anything green, which became the running joke in our family. I would carefully remove every last pea from those pot pies and each time there seemed to be more and more of them in there. There was little doubt in my mind that it was completely by design.

If he could see me today he’d probably laugh that I’m willingly eating a pot pie, even the peas. It’s memories like this, and the opportunity to create some now that I have a family of my own, that keeps me doing what I do in the kitchen.

What is your favorite way to make mac and cheese? Does making it bring back any fun family memories?

Mac and Cheese Pot Pie

recipe adapted from The Chew

Software

• 2 chicken breasts, poached and shredded
• 4 slices of bacon, diced fine and rendered
• 1 medium carrot, finely diced
• 3/4 cup peas
• 1 pound elbow macaroni, cooked al dente
• 3 cups milk
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• salt
• freshly ground white pepper
• freshly grated nutmeg
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme, separated from stems
• 8oz gruyere cheese, grated
• 4oz parmesan reggiano, grated; plus 1/4 cup for garnish
• egg wash
• 1 sheet puff pastry

Assemblage

1. Render the bacon in a medium skillet, set aside while reserving half the bacon drippings
2. Sautee the diced carrots in the bacon fat until soft and caramelized
3. In a medium saucepan or saucier, melt the butter and quickly whisk in the flour until completely combined
4. Slowly add the milk, whisking constantly to keep the béchamel sauce smooth
5. Bring the butter, flour and milk mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat while still whisking
6. As the sauce thickens add in the salt, white pepper, nutmeg and fresh thyme leaves (chopped, if so desired)
7. Once the sauce has reached a good consistency (coats the back of a spoon), start whisking in the gruyere and parmesan reggiano
8. Prepare the pasta according to the directions, then toss together with the bacon, shredded chicken, peas and carrots
9. Spoon the mixture into six ramekins, then pour the cheese sauce over the pasta mixture
10. Cut out rounds from the puff pastry large enough to cover the pasta and cheese mixture, apply the egg wash and sprinkle on the reserved parmesan reggiano
11. Bake in the oven at 425 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the puff pastry is golden brown
12. Allow to cool for 10 minutes or so and serve

Related posts:

1. Cooking In Advance
2. My New Signature Dish
3. Thai Style Meatballs

Every week it amazes me how many great videos we come across. People are getting more creative, telling better stories and just down right entertaining us on whole new levels.

It is hard to narrow down the videos some week and when I miss one it is even harder, but I hope you’ll enjoy this weeks mix of movie trailers, music and down right fun.

Have a great weekend!

001. Noah Cover of “Sexy and I Know It” by LMFAO

002. The $100 Startup Book Trailer

003. Assassin’s Creed III – First Extended Gameplay

004. Lacrosse Inside Out

005. Gangster Squad Trailer

006. Inside the New York Times ‘Lively Morgue’

006. Coldplay Covers Beastie Boys

Related posts:

1. Digital Dads Watch for February 24, 2012
2. Digital Dads Watch – April 6,2012
3. Digital Dads Watch – March 16, 2012

This morning I went down to Boston’s Fox 25 to be part of their morning news program. You can watch and share my appearance here.

It is always fun to go in there and serve as an expert on whatever topic they are discussing that morning and I’ve done it a few times now, but never to focus directly on parenting so it was extra fun.

They wanted me to chime in on a couple of recent current events that involved Dads and I was more than happy to give my opinion on the recent happenings with Huggies, Bobby Brown and Ryan O’Neill.

Wonder if we can talk them into make this a regular segment. I think it would work. What do you think?

Thank you to Steve Garfield for the screen shot.

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I love meatballs. Being part Italian I heavily favor the meatballs of my youth, piled on top of a mass of spaghetti and covered in grated cheese. While over the years I’ve taken the ones my mother and grandmother made for me growing up and added my own twist to them, they are essentially the same thing.

More recently I’ve started going beyond what I grew up with and started experimenting with other flavors, imagining what a meatball might be like in different ethnic and regional cuisines. I’ve mixed flavors and proteins, whether it was adding a gyro seasoning mix to lamb for greek style or hot sauce to ground chicken for buffalo wing meatballs, it has certainly been a tasty journey.

Recently I began experimenting with Asian and Thai flavors, as they are always so bright and fresh. In the past I’ve braised country ribs with a number of these elements and it always came out great. However, I began to wonder what would happen if I ground the meat and incorporated the elements into the meat itself rather than incorporating those flavors in a braising liquid.

Excited, I broke down my coconut and mango braised country rib recipe and went to work. I started out the process like every other meatball I’ve ever made by grinding the meat, then chopping and dicing the various elements that would season the meat. After mixing all the elements together I let it get happy in the refrigerator while I contemplated things like how to cook them, what to serve with them and garnishes.

Standard operating procedure for me has been to sear my meatballs in a dutch oven, then build my sauce around the meat. I knew that this would be the best way to go, but the real question was how to best build the sauce around them. I decided to stick with the script and used coconut milk, a touch of orange juice and some diced mango as a braising liquid to finish the meatballs after they had a good sear on them. Then, after they were cooked through, I would take the braising liquid and run it through the blender to make a nice, smooth sauce.

Originally I considered making a sticky rice to serve with them, but I was concerned it might tip the dish into a “too sweet” category and instead chose to run with soba noodles. Plus, I liked the playfulness of the noodles as a substitute for spaghetti. Armed with a finely diced mango, some roughly chopped cilantro and lightly crushed cashews my garnishes were ready to go.

The result was a well balanced dish that packed some bright flavors from the cilantro, lemongrass and ginger, sweetness from the coconut and mango, and, of course, a subtle heat that lingered in just the right amount with the sriracha. If there is one thing I would do different next time, it is that I would run the braising liquid through the blender at about the half way mark, return it to the pan and turn up the heat a little to reduce it a little more to thicken it up a bit.

If you like Thai flavors and are up for a little adventure, then I think you’ll enjoy these Thai style meatballs. I know they have certainly become one of my favorites.

What is your favorite meatball recipe?

Thai style meatballs

Software

• 3# pork
• 1 cup panko
• 1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup scallions, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup red bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1 stalk lemongrass, finely chopped
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
• 2 tablespoons sriracha
• 1 tablespoon chili powder

Assemblage

1. Grind the pork using a fine plate and return to the refrigerate to firm back up
2. Combine the soy sauce, fish sauce, sriracha, chili powder, garlic and ginger to form a slurry
3. After the meat has rested for about 20 minutes, work in the cilantro, scallions, lemongrass, red bell pepper, the slurry, and egg
4. Add the panko slowly and use your hands to combine until the mixture is mostly dry (you may need a little more bread crumbs to make it all come together, just add a little at a time)
5. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate the meatball mixture for at least an hour (overnight would be even better)
6. Form into balls and sear them in a dutch oven, a large frying pan or a cast iron pan
7. Cook on all sides, then add the elements of the braising liquid and cook for 20 to 30 minutes, or until cooked through

Coconut Mango Sauce

Software

• 3 cups coconut milk
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 2 mangoes, roughly diced
• 1 mango, finely diced (for garnish)
• 1 stalk lemongrass, roughly chopped
• 4 sprigs cilantro, roughly chopped (reserved one quarter for garnish)
• 1/4 cup cashews, lightly crushed (or peanuts, if you prefer, for garnish)

Assemblage

1. Add the coconut milk, orange juice, mangoes, cilantro and lemongrass to the seared meatballs
2. When the meatballs are cooked through (20 to 30 minutes), remove them and the lemongrass from the pan, then transfer the liquid and mango to a blender and pulse until smooth (make sure the hot liquid does not go more than 3/4 of the way up your blender carafe. If it does, blend in batches)
3. Pour the finished sauce over the meatballs and noodles, then garnish with finely diced mango, reserved chopped cilantro and cashews

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2. Ding Dong Style Burgers
3. Spicy Thai Tuna Rolls

Last week, I got to share in one of those journeys that changes a man forever.

The ONE Campaign invited me to travel with them to Ghana as the GAVI Alliance was rolling out two new vaccines across the country.

Ghana is the first country to do this with two vaccines at the same time and thousands of children will be vaccinated against pneumonia and rotovirus in the coming months. It is a huge step forward for the country and ONE had a lot to do with keeping awareness and funding for programs like this alive and well.

When people asked what my job for the week was, I told them that it was a mix of photo journalist, citizen reporter and travel writer. I was there to observe, learn and be inspired. My camera never left my hand except for when I had to write something down in my notebook. Plus it is time that the ONE Moms program expand to include dads as well and I’m officially the first ONE Dad.

We got to see many different aspects of Ghana and projects that are helping the country improve healthcare, agriculture, small business and daily life.

Our journey took us to Africa’s third largest hospital to learn how they are helping HIV+ mothers insure the disease is not passed on to their children. We spent a morning at another hospital that not only helps children recover from acute malnutrition, but also teaches the mothers how to cook meals with local ingredients that will provide more nourishment for their families. There was even a stop by two local entrepreneurs who took their dreams owning their own businesses and made it a reality.

On the last day, we headed out into the mountains to see the vaccines being administered in the field.

Traveling with a mix of journalists and aid workers from around the world made for great conversations. In the two villages we visited, we were greeted by the elders and the initially hesitant but soon enthusiastic children. If you ever want to see the biggest smile in the world, take a photo of a child and show it to them for what might be the first time. They go crazy and it instantly warms your heart.

Seeing the moms bringing their babies to the clinics to get their new vaccines was a powerful moment. With so much hardship facing every children in Africa, having two less things to worry about because of the vaccines must be an overwhelming feeling.

Notice that I’ve said “moms” a lot?

That is because while the men of the family are usually the money earners and thus make all of the family decisions. They are not always that active in the welfare of the family, but still make the decisions. It scared me when one speaker was talking about how they must educate fathers why vaccines are so important because if they don’t allow it, the wife would not be allowed to bring the children into a clinic. It is an educational challenge that must be overcome. Getting the information out to all families.

We went to the US Embassy to receive a briefing from a team at US AID. It was amazing to hear how a part of their activities involve getting permission from dads to allow their wives to farm and do other things to help out their financial situations. I wasn’t that familiar with the work that US AID does, but I can tell you that across the globe they are doing very important work that is helping improve lives on multiple levels.

I met lots of parents while in Ghana and every dad I met was a fellow proud father like myself. I wish the trip had allowed for more conversations one on one with them, but we were not there for that so I hope I get to return with a focus there because I think there is a lot of good that could come of it.

I shared thoughts from the field over on my blog and you can view my complete photo collection or I’ve chosen and shared my favorite photos as well.

Ghana is a beautiful country with a lot of opportunity ahead for it. The work that ONE and other organizations like it do is vital to the future of Africa and I sense I’ll be more involved with them in the future. They do great work.

Thank you for having me be part of this!

No related posts.

We’ve been in our new house a few months now, but I’m still feeling the effects of the move. Between packing up at our old house, living out of boxes while we waited on word that the sale was going to close and unearthing everything to regain a functional kitchen we ate out a lot.

Unsurprisingly, I packed on a few extra pounds beyond the many I needed to get rid of in the first place. Over the last month or so we started making smarter decisions in terms of what we eat. I’ve been cooking more seafood lately because we enjoy it and because it is better for us. The only downside to that is some of the fish we enjoy can be rather pricey. As a result, I’ve been working on incorporating things like canned tuna fish into the lunch rotation to provide us better options.

Another thing that I’ve been trying to do to improve my health and overall well being has been getting out for walks. The toughest thing about that is staying motivated or working to find the time to do it. Between shuttling the kids to school, to the park, running errands, or making meals for my family it is pretty easy for me to put off my daily walk because I just have too much to do.

Like last year I am part of Bumble Bee Food’s Bee Squad and through that we have been learning about their BeeWell for Life program. Through this program Bumble Bee is giving people like me an incentive to make the necessary changes in our lives and by doing so enables us to turn our actions into points that can become donations to one of three worthy causes. After signing up for BeeWell for Life you can earn points by logging your mileage walking, running, jogging or biking; recording your calorie intake; or completing other wellness challenges such as adding another serving of vegetables to your dinner.

Each day you can earn three points for each mile you walk, run or bike, four points for entering in your caloric intake and three points for each wellness challenge you complete. If, for instance, you walk 10 miles, enter your daily intake and complete one wellness challenge in a day will accumulate 37 points for the day, which equates to roughly $3.70 that you’ve raised for the charity of your choice. Through the BeeWell for Life program Bumble Bee has already donated $150,000 to the three charities that are part of the program and the participants have the ability to raise $12,500 per month with a maximum of $300,000 committed through 2012.

For me my biggest challenge is getting motivated to exercise, so I’m hoping that by participating in the BeeWell for Life program that I can earn enough points to help increase the donation to my chosen charity. If you’re looking for another way to stay motivated while getting healthy and would like to do some good in the process, then check out the BeeWell for Life site to learn more about the program and sign up.

Disclosure: As part of the Bee Squad I receive product information and samples and Bumble Bee is sponsoring my trip to Type A Parent. I was not compensated in any other way, nor was I offered or promised anything else in exchange or my review of their products, recipes or BeeWell For Life program. All opinions contained herein are my own.

Photo credit: Lee J Haywood

Related posts:

1. Moving Through Life
2. The Matter of Life and Death
3. Dealing as Dad in Divorce PT 2: The Conversation & the Second Hardest Thing You Will Do in Your Life

May 12th is National Train Day and there will be activities held around the country.

As you may know, Amtrak is the current sponsor of my show Passion Hit TV so I’ve got to hear a lot about the events that are coming up in conjunction with this celebration.

Me and the family are going to be attending the events in New York City, but because there are train lovers everywhere there are other major events scheduled in Philadelphia, Chicago,  and Los Angeles. Best part is that anyone can host an event in their town as well and if you look at the complete event list you’ll see that there are celebrations happening around the country.

I love that they are encouraging everyone to share their stories about memories on the train and showcasing them on the website. There is even a contest where if you submit a memory you can win some great train vacations and other goodies. So, if you have a story you’d be silly not to share it for a chance to win something great.

I’m excited to share this day with the kids. We’ll of course be taking the train from Boston to New York for the event and then back home. It’ll make a great memory for us and I can’t wait to see all the other excited train fans.

If you end up going to one of the National Train Day events in your town, be sure to let us know about it so that we can link it up and share with others.

All aboard!

Related posts:

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2. National Geographic Kids Almanac 2010

This week was a big one for the world of online video with the return of Ze Frank. If you are not familiar with him and his history, you should do yourself the favor and spend some time learning about him. He is a true original and we are big fans of his work around here.

Of course, we’ve got lots of other good stuff this week including music, storytelling and the most heart warming story about one boy and his endless imagination.

Enjoy!

001. “This Night” live studio music video footage of Black Lab

002. The Newsmen

003. Make It Count

004. Caine’s Arcade

005. An Invocation for Beginnings

006. The Latter

006. Basecamp – Budnitz Bicycles

Related posts:

1. Digital Dads Watch – April 6,2012
2. Digital Dads Watch for February 24, 2012
3. Digital Dads Watch – March 16, 2012

Last weekend I had the chance to spend time with some of my favorite people in one of my favorite cities.

LG is a major sponsor of the yearly NCAA Final Four and this year brought myself, Brad Powell and Jeff Sass to New Orleans to be their guests for the weekend. I need to give their entire team a huge thank you for showing us such great hospitality and I look forward to where this relationship goes because it felt like the start of something pretty cool.

I hit the airport on Saturday morning. I had a connection in Charlotte and as I waited to board I noticed Jeff check in to the airport. Turns out that we were on the same connecting flight and actually sitting next to each other. This was the first of many surprises that the weekend held.

When LG reached out to us about the weekend I have to admit that I was a bit dissapointed.

They made it clear that we’d be getting exposure to the products, meet the team and be shown a good time, but we would not be going to the actual basketball games. For a fan like me this was a major tease, but I was ok with it since it would mean a weekend with friends and plus I knew very little about LG except that they made my washer and dryer. I was curious to see what else they had going on.

We’d be watching the games on some of their new 3D televisions that not only do native 3D but can upscale any content to be 3D. This sounded cool to me, although I was a bit skeptical.

I checked into the International House Hotel and had just enough time to drop my bags before we were scheduled to meet the LG mobile team. They gave us each an LG Nitro to try for the weekend. As an iPhone guy I was looking forward to trying out Android for the weekend since I hadn’t really kicked the tires all that much on the newest versions.

The LG Nitro is an amazing phone. It has easily the best screen I’ve ever seen on a phone. It is big, bright and amazingly clear. I found out that the technology used in their televisions was put into the phone which is why it is so much better than other phone screens.

The other thing I noticed about the phone was how light it was. I’d learn later that it is also extremely durable and can take quite a beating. The only complaint I had was how fast the battery drained. It was so fast that it made it impractical to use, but thanks to a helpful local LG employee we learned that this only happens if you don’t charge with the provided charger. After the first day and charging it with the LG charger the battery lasted longer than I expected and certainly lasted longer than my iPhone.

The energy in New Orleans was amazing. Every where you looked you’d see the red and blue of the final four teams and being the rabid fans that they are, you had no question who people were rooting for.

We went to a CBS pre-game party at Manning’s (owned by the father of the football superstars) and got to meet more of the team. We also got to snack on fried catfish and sweet duck wings. After all, if you are in New Orleans you know you are going to eat great!

This is when we were surprised to find out that we were going to the games. They handed us tickets and we boarded buses with the rest of the LG team. As if that wasn’t cool enough, we had a police escort to the stadium. It was a trip to fly down the main street directly to the stadium as we passed the 73,000 other fans headed to the game.

I’ve been to plenty of sporting events in my time, but walking into the Superdome for the first time was mind blowing. The colors, sounds and people everywhere hit all the senses. It was then that I realized I had never been inside a dome for a game. It was so loud when people got cheering. I can’t even imagine what it must be like during a Saints game.

The games were a ton of fun. Especially since Sass isn’t that much of a fan and was asking questions about the mascots with questions like, “Which team is the monkey for?” (the Buckeye) or “The woodpeckers?” (the Jayhawk).

Seeing a Final Four was something I never thought I’d actually do in my life and now I can say I’ve seen it. Guess I should put seeing a Superbowl on my bucket list since that is the only bigger sporting event I can imagine seeing.

Besides the games going on, there is also a huge event known as Bracket Town happening whenever there is a final four. We got to spend time there walking around and seeing all the booths that were set up.

Lots of brands including Coke Zero, Allstate and the Cartoon Network had experiences set up. It was a cost affordable family outing and since it was the weekend it was obvious that people were coming out to check it out. My favorite thing was that the purpose was to highlight all the different NCAA sports. Kids could learn about everything from fencing, to hockey to even lacrosse which I was personally psyched to see represented.

LG had a large area set up and what amazed me was that they seemed to be the only sponsor focused on showcasing their products rather than only having an experience. Everyone else spent tons of money and yet seemed to forget to make sure that people walked away not only with a good memory, but also information on their products.

You registered at the booth and were given a card with a personal QR code on it. As you worked your way through the stations you’d scan your card. You could get your photo taken with an LG phone with your choice of mascots. There was a competition set up at their dryers that involved throwing jerseys into the wash. (my aim is bad by the way) You could also learn about the quick heat ovens by tasting some fresh cookies baked in them and of course there were 3D televisions everywhere that you could kick back and watch.

I was happy to see that they worked in a great charity angle as well. LG televisions can connect to Skype by attaching a camera to them and they had a live coach cam set up where fans could sit down and ask questions directly to a college basketball coach. For every question, LG was making a donation. Seeing this live was very cool. I can imagine families connecting via LG televisions across the country. It was quite impressive.

This would be a good place to pause and also thank the city of New Orleans for being a great host. I love the variety of local restaurants and friendly faces we encountered everywhere we went. A special thanks to the crew at Dante’s Kitchen where I had one of the best meals of my life.

We had some free time on Monday to learn more about the entire LG Mobile options and then explore the city. Of course since we had three fifth of the Cast of Dads together, we had to take the opportunity to film this quick video.

Monday night as a massive storm rolled in, we headed to local hotel bar to watch the big game. They had worked with the owner to replace the televisions with LG ones and we’d be watching the game in 3D with the new upscaling I mentioned. The game wasn’t being shot in 3D but we’d be watching it in 3D. I still wasn’t sure about it.

I will admit that for all my hesitations about watching a sporting event in 3D I was blown away. Sure, it isn’t as impressive as something filmed in 3D but it was quite amazing. Better than I ever thought it would be. What I’m really curious to see is how it handles content that I and others produce on the web. I wonder what Passion Hit TV or Dad Labs will look like when upscaled on these tvs.

Did I mention that while watching the game we were treated to an old fashion crawfish boil? If you don’t know, this is one of my favorite things in the world so my night was made. But, it was about to get better as they asked us which was better, watching the game in 3D or live.

I joked that, “the game looks amazing in 3D, but no television is ever going to replace being there in person.”

But, I smiled even more as they replied with, “We agree so here are tickets to the game and there is a car waiting outside to take you.”

We got there just in time for the start of the second half and enjoyed a great half of basketball. I was pulling for Kansas to pull off the upset and while they fought hard, they just couldn’t keep it together and win it.

LG showed us a great time in the Big Easy and I want to personally thank everyone who made it happen and for having me be part of the fun. I’ve got a new interest in the LG product line and I appreciate the members of their team, including the CMO, spending so much one on one time talking with us. Most brands don’t give that level of access and it didn’t go unnoticed. Brad, Jeff and I talked a lot about how great it was of LG to do this.

I’m hoping I can get a television and a Nitro to try out for a longer period of time so that I can fully review them both. The products look amazing, but we all know that you need to really put them through the paces to fully review how they work.

As someone who goes to a lot of events like this, I can easily say that this was one of the best organized that I’ve ever attended. We felt very welcomed and appreciated the entire time. Thank you LG for having us be part of it!

Disclosure : LG covered all my expenses for this weekend get away. They gave us access to products and people. They showed us a great time, but guess what?
All the images, thoughts and words are my own.

Related posts:

1. Digital Dads Week in Sports: NCAA Women Outshine the Men

Going into the holiday weekend we all need some fun videos to finish out the work week.

This week we’ve got everything from a parody of some of the most popular shows on television, a voice of an angel and a couple of beautiful bits of storytelling. Plus, you get to peek behind the scenes of the hottest movie in the country right now.

Enjoy!

001. Ghana vaccine launch trailer

002. Walking Dead Mad Men!

003. Google’s Project Glass

004. NATALIE GELMAN // LONG STEMMED ROSES

005. A Portrait: Olli Salumeria

006. The Newsroom Season 1: “Changed Man” Trailer

006. The Sound of The Hunger Games

Related posts:

1. Digital Dads Watch for April 13, 2012
2. Digital Dads Watch for February 24, 2012
3. Digital Dads Watch / February 3, 2012

Last year the folks at Sam’s Club challenged me to design an Easter dinner menu entirely on the grill with ingredients I could purchase from Sam’s. With the unseasonably warm weather we’ve been having this year, I decided to keep Easter dinner on the grill and the heat out of my kitchen. For the menu I kept with the same general theme and have devised a similar Greek and Mediterranean inspired meal for my family.

While we are really enjoyed the spiced lamb sliders I made last year, I wanted to go in a different direction and searched for an authentic gyro seasoning recipe. After whipping up a big batch of the seasoning mix I added it to a lamb and pork mixture I ground myself from a leg of lamb and some pork shoulder. I covered the seasoned meat with lemon slices and let it get happy in the refrigerator for a few hours before fashioning them like kafta kabobs and skewering them to make it easier to grill.

A kafta kabob, a Lebanese dish traditionally made with beef, is essentially a meatball on a stick. I made these for my son’s first birthday party, which itself was a heavily Mediterranean inspired event, and they were a huge hit. I felt that the shape would be reminiscent of the layers of gyro meat you might normally find nestled into a lightly grilled pita.  To serve I stuck with the standard fare – some chopped grape tomatoes, pickled red onions, crumbled feta cheese and a cooling tzatziki sauce.

To round out the meal I’m sticking with simple grilled asparagus, but instead of potatoes I’m going to be serving up an orzo pasta salad with a pea shoot and pistachio pesto. I love making pestos because they are a simple and versatile way to add a lot of flavor to a dish without a lot of work. I generally avoid basil pestos because they can be quite overwhelming, which is why I prefer to go with other greens like arugula, parsley, cilantro, or something more unique like pea shoots. Pasta salads like this can be tossed together quickly for any occasion and the flavors can be adjusted to best suit your protein.

My test run went well the other night and I’m very excited for Easter dinner this year. If you haven’t already nailed down your Easter dinner plans, or if Greek and Mediterranean cuisine appeals to you, I hope that my menu has provided some inspiration.

Gyro Style Kafta Kabobs

Software

• 3# leg of lamb, diced into 1 inch cubes
• 2# pork shoulder, diced into 1 inch cubes
• 1/4 cup canola or other neutral oil
• 1/3 cup gyro seasoning mix
• 1 lemon, sliced

Assemblage

1. Grind the meat using a fine plate, then toss with the oil and seasoning
2. Layer the lemon slices over the seasoned ground meat, then refrigerate for 30 minutes to several hours
3. Soak wooded skewers in water for at least thirty minutes
4. Form the meat into five to six inch rolls around the soaked skewers and toss on a hot grill
5. Serve on grill warmed pita bread with chopped grape tomatoes, pickled red onions, crumbled feta cheese, and tzatziki sauce

Pea Shoot & Pistachio Pesto

Software

• 1 package pea shoots
• 1/2 cup flat leaf parsley
• 1/2 cup shelled pistachios
• 1/2 cup feta cheese
• 1 clove garlic, smashed
• zest of a lemon
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• olive oil
• salt and pepper, to taste

Assemblage

1. Add all ingredients in a food processor and pulse to combine
2. Slowly drizzle in oil olive while food processor is running until desired consistency is reached

Orzo Pasta Salad

Software

• 1 cup orzo prepared to directions
• 3/4 cup pea shoot and pistachio pesto
• 1 cup diced grape tomatoes
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds
• 1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Assemblage

1. Add orzo pasta and pesto to a large mixing bowl and toss to combine until the pasta is well coated. Use a little more, if necessary or desired
2. Toss in the grape tomatoes, almonds, and feta, then refrigerate until ready to serve

Related posts:

1. Easter Dinner on the Grill
2. Chef Talk: Tom Condron of The Liberty Gastropub, Part I
3. Chef Talk: Tom Condron of The Liberty Gastropub, Part II

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love being a dad and hate when any company marginalizes the role of dads in the parenting equation. The old stereotypes of the bumbling father who doesn’t know what to do with their kids have got to go.

So, a few weeks back when Huggies launched a new campaign that focused on “putting dads to the test” I wasn’t a fan of it.

They had a television commercial (since pulled) that first got people bent out of shape. I personally didn’t mind the commercial, but understood that they blew it on the copy. Instead of saying that they were putting the diapers to the test it implied that the dads were the ones being tested.

What got me was on their Facebook page they were giving money to moms for inspiring ideas and at the same time picking on dads who needed to be put to the test as a parent. It was the same stereotypes that I hate. I left them a note on their wall sharing my thoughts and then figured I was done with it. My kids are no longer in diapers and we were always a Pampers family so I didn’t really care if Huggies wanted to be a short sighted clueless company.

I figured this was the end of the whole thing for me, but boy was I wrong!

I was scheduled to take the stage at the Dad 2.0 Summit when I got an e-mail from Huggies’ agency Edelman asking if I’d be willing to sit down and talk to representatives from the brand about the situation. I was shocked and skeptical of what they were trying to do. I had never seen any response to mine or many of the comments left on their wall, but since it was obvious they were trying I wanted to give them a chance.

We sat down and chatted about the campaign. Kevin from Huggies came right out and said sorry the minute we sat down. He insisted that they never meant to pick on dads and admitted that the choice of wording was a miss step on their part and that they were pulling the ads and tweaking them. They were also going to go back and change the language throughout the campaign to make sure that it was always their products being put to the test and not the fathers.

The conversation was really good and I have to applaud them for stepping up like this. Big kudos to Edelman as well, because I know from my agency days how often you know what is the right thing to do, but clients don’t always listen and in this case they did.

These guys got on planes at the last minute and came to a conference to talk to the audience they offended. They didn’t hide behind an online post or e-mails. They did the harder thing and faced the issue head on. Way to go!

Unlike my mess with Ragu last year that resulted in nothing but them flipping me a middle finger in my opinion, Huggies took action and took action quick.  More companies could learn from this.

One bit of the conversation I had with them has lead to the video below that Digital Dads has the exclusive premiere of.

They mentioned to me that the men in the commercials were actual dads with their kids. I encouraged them to spotlight this and make a point of saying that because it makes everything they say a bit more genuine. So while this won’t be showing on television anytime soon, they are going to be pushing it out on other channels.

Anyone else find the awesome irony in the subject of this video? I nearly fell on the floor laughing when they sent it to me. I wonder what sauce they used *laugh*

In conclusion, what every brand should learn from this is that we all make mistakes and when they happen you need to own them and address them. In today’s social and connected world you can’t go silent and hide from mistakes. Saying sorry is not easy for anyone and when you are a multi-million dollar brand it is harder, but you still have to do it.

Huggies, thank you for stepping up and being responsible and hearing from our community. While I don’t need your products in my life anymore, I have more respect for you than I did before this whole campaign started! Way to go!

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That picture looks awfully appealing, no?

Awful by itself is probably a more apt description. That right there is pink slime, a seemingly unnatural combination of lean beef trimmings that have been separated from the fat and are passed through a centrifuge, then commonly exposed to an ammonia gas to kill bacteria such as e coli. You might have heard of it, as it has been in the news quite a bit over the past week.

If you have a package of ground beef in your refrigerator, then there is about a 70% chance that your meat contains this filler product. Some times called boneless lean beef trimmings or finely textured lean beef, pink slime is an industrial product created by those in the beef industry in the interest of not wasting any bits of meat that travel along the production line. The USDA has declared pink slime to be a safe source of nutrition and does not require companies using it as filler in their ground meat products to specifically label its presence or the quantity thereof because they consider it beef.

ABC News recently published an article titled “Where you can get ‘pink-slime’ free beef” where they sent out inquiries to a number of grocery store chains to determine whether or not their ground beef contained any of this filler product. One of the most disturbing parts of this article was from an interview with Kit Foshee, a former corporate quality assurance manager with Beef Products, Inc., the creator of pink slime, who stated that it “kind of looks like Play-Doh. It’s pink and frozen. It’s not what the typical person would consider meat.”

Foshee went on to say that “pink slime comes from a low grade of beef trimmings unlike what they called real ground beef…The low grade trimmings come from parts of the cow most susceptible to contamination, often close to the hide, which is highly exposed to fecal matter. But, because of BPI’s treatment of the trimmings – simmering them in low heat, separating the fat and tissue using a centrifuge and spraying them with ammonia gas to kill germs – the USDA says it’s safe to eat.”

It was also recently reported that the USDA had purchased millions of dollars of pink slime for use in ground beef that is intended to be sold to schools. And while the USDA has gone on record saying they are leaving it up the individual schools to decide whether they want to purchase beef either with or without the so called lean finely textured beef, it is still unsettling that some schools will serve meat containing up to 25% pink slime to children across the country.

Now I rarely get on my soap box about food matters, mostly because what you eat or don’t eat really should be a personal decision. For my family I do my best to keep processed foods out of my home, I ensure the labels of whatever I do buy show that there is no high fructose corn syrup, and I work hard to do most of my shopping around the perimeter of the store, specifically in the produce, meat and dairy departments. But that is what works for us and I wouldn’t pass judgment on anyone that doesn’t think this way.  However, I can’t bare to stand silent on the matter of the slime.

I don’t care what the USDA says, what BPI’s “pink slime is a myth” website purports to explain away, or what any “expert” might say to defend this practice. Pink slime isn’t food and shouldn’t be consumed, especially when you consider that it’s original use was as an additive to dog food. Anything that has to be cooked at low heat and then sprayed with ammonia (regardless of the fact that it is considered a naturally occurring substance and can be found in some quantities in beef itself) in order for it to be edible shouldn’t be considered a food product.

The ABC News article does a nice job breaking down the response from the various supermarket chains and provides good information for consumers to make a educated choice about where they can purchase pink slime free ground beef. However, if you’ve read any of my columns with any regularity, you know there is only one true way to avoid the slime.

Grind it yourself!

Now you might be saying to yourself that grinding your own meat takes time and possibly an investment in some equipment. Sure, it does. Anything worth doing, or in this case avoiding, takes time and money. To be perfectly clear, I’m not advocating for anyone to go out and spend hundreds of dollars on a professional grade grinder. In fact, some the best grinders for home use that money can buy are less than fifty dollars.

I have been grinding my own meat whether it is beef, pork, chicken or lamb for the better part of five years. It is very rare that I ever purchase pre-ground meat and it is usually poultry from a source that I trust. I own a heavy duty electric grinder with a one horsepower motor that can churn out upwards of four hundred pounds of a meat an hour. It was pricey, but it is fantastic for big jobs like when I make fifty pounds or more of sausage. However, I don’t use that it all that often.

My favorite is actually a simple cast iron manual grinder that can attach to my countertop. It is easy to clean and great for when I have less than ten pounds of meat to grind. When I finish the island I’m building in the kitchen of our new house I have another manual cast iron grinder that I’m going to bolt onto the countertop so I always have a grinder at the ready.

It doesn’t take much to get started and you can really get creative in the meat blends you make. Whether it is a custom burger blend or a meatball mix there are so many possibilities when you are grinding the meat yourself from whole roasts, loins or shoulders. Some time ago I wrote an article about demystifying homemade sausage that gives a little more insight to how I approach grinding meat at home.

So, go get your grind on and avoid the slime. While it will take a little extra effort the higher quality meat you will have and the half inch you’ll add to your biceps will make it all worthwhile.

Photo credit: jamieoliver.com

Related posts:

1. National Hamburger Month
2. Custom Built Burgers
3. Flat Iron Steak Bruschetta

From the backyard experts to the dads that need a little instruction – I’m looking in the mirror here – I have to say the new Black & Decker line of cordless yard tools (www.blackanddecker.com/recharge) are pretty Kick Gas (if you’ll excuse the pun from their advertising).

Black & Decker flew me out to Arizona for a product demo of their new line of cordless yard tools, including a lawnmower, string trimmer, hedge trimmer, and combination blower/vacuum.

I tried each one, and while I can honestly say I wouldn’t need every one in my yard – everyone’s yard is different – I would certainly recommend them all.

Here’s why these tools really work, especially for someone like me who needs simple, easy-to-run machinery:

• Electric means quieter. These aren’t like your average weed whacker or your “wake up the neighborhood” lawnmower. Without the gas engine creating all the noise or exhaust, this is a much cleaner and quieter tool. You can even have a conversation while you work (like “Hey kids, put down my new edger!”).
• Electric means rechargeable. Not only do you save on gas – as well as figuring out how to even get gas (“Do I still have that gas can somewhere?”) – but the batteries themselves have indicators telling you how much juice each one has left. For me, this is a key feature. I’m limited on time as it is, so I want to know how much time until the battery is fully charged (apparently, they take about 15 minutes) or how much time I have left (“Can I finish the yard? According to the battery, I’ve got the power…”). Which leads me to…
• Electric means I don’t have to think. I don’t know how many times I’ve looked at a yard tool wondering, “Do I put gas in this, or oil, or a gas/oil mixture…” and after the smoke starts coming out of my ears, I decide not to do any yard work. If you have a cordless drill or any other similar product, using the B&D line of yard tools will be very easy.

If you’re a lover of green technology, this is a step in the right direction. But as a lover of usability, I like that these tools feature a lot of ways to adjust them, especially being taller and not wanting to end up with a sore back after cleaning up the yard.

Now that I’ve tried out the tools on a baseball field in Arizona, Black & Decker will be sending me a few of these tools to try out on my own yard in Florida. I’m excited to give them a try because these tools look easy to use, and I’m a huge fan of that.

Disclosure – Black and Decker covered my travel expenses to attend this event.
I was given access to the tools to try in exchange for sharing my honest thoughts on them. The above words are my own and even though they took me to a baseball game while in town, these are my honest thoughts. What else would you expect?

Related posts:

1. Black Monday on DDTV
2. Black Lab Interview & The Wonders of Wonderopolis

Some of our team spent the last week living it up in Austin attending both SXSW and the Dad 2.0 Summit.

While we hoped to do a full on assault of videos from those conferences this week, it appears people are still recovering and haven’t posted everything we hoped for, but I expect there to be more in the coming weeks so definitely check back. We do have both the keynote from Bruce Springsteen and the complete Jay Z concert from Austin. Both will get your music juices flowing.

Enjoy!

001. Bruce Springsteen – SXSW – Keynote Address

002. LEGO® Star Wars™ ROAD TRIP TV Commercial

003. Spinning Beach Ball of Death

004. Jay Z Live at SXSW

005. Prime

006. Kony 2012

006. Cuppow

Related posts:

1. Digital Dads Watch for March 2, 2012
2. SXSW, March Madness, Homefront & More
3. Digital Dads Watch – April 6,2012

The Good Men Project offers up some personal stories, advice, and tips useful for both longtime and new fathers. Here are some honest stories discussing everything from sex during and after pregnancy, the stuff they don’t tell you about childbirth, to the stress of moving into a new family home:

Where’s the Sex?
In a conversation inspired by Charlie Capen, Joanna and Julie ponder the problems and promise of sex after parenthood.

Don’t Touch That Pie! A Tale of Unrequited Lust
Sometimes a hero’s beloved doesn’t want to be loved, which makes the hero lament the lack of lovin’.

The Stuff They Don’t Tell You About Childbirth
The beautiful, life-changing experience of childbirth is actually disgusting, and if the father is not prepared, he could be very shocked and surprised with the gory details. Drew Magary enlightens us.

A Mans guide To Childbirth
While supporting the mother of your child during pregnancy and childbirth, Steve Jaeger writes, don’t forget to be patient and just get out of the way.

Aggressive Nesting, Conservative Mounting
Four years after moving into their house, the Osbornes are finally unpacking. That’s when things start to get complicated.

Is there a theme you’d like to see covered from our partnership? If so let us know in the comments.

No related posts.

By no means am I an expert at menu planning or food pairings, but I love giving the various aspects of a great meal a good deal of thought. Last week was my wife’s birthday, and a significant one at that, so it provided me an opportunity to do something special for her and at the same time have a little fun. I thought I’d share the process I went through in preparing the menu and offer up a few tips that might help the next time you are planning for an occasion.

I firmly believe that every culinary battle is won before it is ever cooked, so you have to have a plan. We’ve recently moved and, unlike the half built Death Star, my kitchen is not yet fully armed or operational. Also, my wife and I have been trying to eat better after nearly a month of take out. Knowing my production limitations and keeping in mind the desire to eat healthy I set out to plan a light, yet satisfying meal that I knew she would enjoy.

Know your audience

My wife is exponentially better than I am in terms of eating a colorful plate and I knew going into her birthday dinner that I would need to keep things fresh and bright throughout. Early on I knew that the bulk of my ingredients for three of the four courses I was planning would be heavy on vegetation. Not only would this keep things light through the meal, but it would provide the opportunity to keep things colorful.

The other main thing I had to keep in mind is that we are trying to get more seafood into our diet. As much as we love a good burger or steak we want to reduce our red meat intake and get more fish into the rotation. I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to put this plan in action.

Consider flavors, textures

Almost immediately I knew I wanted to do a soup, a salad, a main entree and a dessert. In doing my research I started with the main entree and worked from the middle of the meal to the beginning keeping the various flavors and textures in mind.

When it comes to celebrity chefs I have two serious man crushes – Chef Michael Symon for all things pork and Chef Eric Ripert for all things seafood. Even though I’ve seen every episode of Avec Eric I have never attempted to recreate any of the dishes he’s made on the show despite them looking quite good and relatively simple. After perusing his recipes, I chose his Scallops in a Curry Lime Brothas the featured dish for the evening, which helped me narrow my choices for the dishes that would precede them.

Since the scallop dish consisted of just scallops, a curry broth and cilantro for garnish it would certainly be light. As a result it lead to me to go a little heavier in terms of a salad dish than I might have if I was serving a denser protein that had a starchier side dish. Ultimately, I chose a beet and citrus salad with a pinenut vinaigrette I found over at Serious Eats. The heartiness of the beets with a nice, bright counter balance from the citrus felt like the right move.

Finally, with the middle two dishes chosen I looked for a soup that would fit with the overall flavors. The curry lime broth for the scallops would have a touch of spice and bright, clean flavors thanks to the cilantro and lemongrass and so I chose to do a gaspacho that I thought would play off those elements as well.

Take a few risks

Risk was my middle name for this meal. I had never made any of the dishes before, so I knew there would be a high degree of satisfaction if I were somehow able to pull it all off. Of all the dishes the scallop entree was the riskiest if only because seafood is the biggest weakness in my culinary game. Working in my favor, however, was the fact that there wasn’t a lot of actual cooking in the preparation. Actually, most of the cooking of the scallops was done by the broth after they had a brief stay in a very hot oven.

Despite never having made Ripert’s dish before I felt very confident as my wife’s birthday approached. So much so that I did the unthinkable – I changed an element of the dish just because I could. Rather than simply garnish the scallops with fresh cilantro leaves, I thought it would be better to make a cilantro cashew pesto to spoon on top of the finished dish. What may in hindsight seem arrogant turned out to be a nice touch that I believe brought a lot of flavor and texture to the dish.

Practice, if necessary

While I didn’t really have the time or the opportunity to practice any of the dishes before the big birthday dinner I have been known to do test runs before major holidays. If you’re thinking of trying something new for a big event or meal, I highly recommend budgeting the time and materials to assemble a test dish well in advance. As an example, after last year’s Thanksgiving Dry Run I scrapped the Cranberry-Hard Cider Reduction not because we didn’t like it, but it just didn’t feel like the right fit as preparations for Thanksgiving approached.

I abhor the “cooking is too hard, let’s dumb it down mentality” because I don’t think that is the case at all. Most kitchen tasks are actually quite simple at their core and that the only time things can become difficult is when you have to coordinate them all.

Have fun

Leading up to my wife’s birthday I’d joke with her by saying “Well, you know what Thursday is”. To which she would respond, “yes, it’s peanut butter lovers day” or “it’s National Pig Day”. Since there was no bacon or other pork products in the first three courses, I decided to get a little playful with dessert. We both really enjoy the contrast of salty and sweet and I struck gold when I found this recipe for bacon almond brittle. The bittersweet flourless chocolate mini cakesI was planning on serving are rather dense and I wanted something with a more savory element to cut through that. As it turned out, the bacon almond brittle was such a hit I could have just served a plate of that.

After all the thought and planning that went into the big birthday dinner menu I’m pleased to report that it came out just as I had played it out in my head. I was very satisfied with the dishes I produced and, most importantly, my wife was amazed with dinner which made all the effort worthwhile.

What tips do you have for planning a menu for a big dinner or event?

Related posts:

1. Thanksgiving Dinner Dry Run
2. Easter Dinner on the Grill
3. The Mango Hometown Tour

My son is the same age now as I was then, and we recently took him to his first drive-in.  We saw this year’s release of Puss ‘n Boots.  Admittedly it’s not as heady as Kubrick’s flick, but that’s OK.  The station wagon of my youth became a Saturn Vue for Paul, but the nest of pillows and blankets was there right along with the large bucket of popcorn.  And better than when I was a kid, the metal brick of a speaker hanging on the glass window was replaced by an FM broadcast we could listen to over the car’s stereo.

My wife and I are both drive-in fans, having frequented them when we were dating dating in Colorado, then into the early years of our marriage.  Until moving here to Las Vegas, the last time we lived anywhere with a drive-in was just outside of Sacramento, California.  (Hooray for the western states, for preserving these amazing icons of our American culture!)  When we found out there was a drive-in here, we knew we had to go, and had to expose our son to the experience.  So off we went last night, and we had a blast!

Paul gobbled popcorn and juice, and late in the movie we made one trip to the bathroom at which point he discovered the playground and had to take a few trips down the slide.  Then back to the car for more movie, intermission, and…sleep.  He fell asleep shortly after the second feature (Real Steel) began and we bundled him up in his backseat nest where he slept for the rest of the show.

I don’t know if he’ll remember this the same way I remember my first drive-in experience.  The movie was certainly a part of it, but what I think made it stick the most was how new and cool the whole experience seemed.  I’m thankful Steph and I had the chance to share this part of our own childhood, and one of the things we remain very fond of as adults, with our son.  Who knows, maybe if we’re lucky, years from now we’ll hear him tell us he’s taking his date to the drive-in, and Steph and I will smile just a little bit bigger than usual.

It’s great to be a dad!

No related posts.

We are very excited to announce that we’ll be working with The Good Men Project to share some of their great content here at Digital Dads. I think something that doesn’t happen enough online is guys sharing links and exposure to others so that is why we are doing this.

Every week, we’ll share some of their popular posts around a given theme as chosen by the team there.

This week we are focusing on the rise and roles of the modern stay at home dad.

Here are a few links discussing everything from being the only guy in a “mom’s group” to tips on how to still enjoy ‘guy stuff” while being a full time parent:

The Lone Dad in Mom World 
The thought of being the only guy in a group full of moms was probably the most unpalatable thing I could think of up to that point in my life.

The Keys To Stay At Home Dad Success
There are a ton of good reasons to be a stay at home parent. Here’s how to do it well.

Traditionally Radical: The Rise of the Stay-At-Home Dad
A stay-at-home dad is no less of a parent than a stay-at-home mom, so what’s the difference?

Are Stay-at-Home Dads Macho?
In the fourth of a five-part series on love and relationships, Tom Matlack and author Laura Munson debate the question: Are stay-at-home dads macho?

We hope you find these posts informative and fun. Have a theme you’d like to see covered? Let us know!

Related posts:

1. Help Bring Noor and Ramsay Home
2. Digital Dads TV is Looking for a New Home
3. Want To Improve Your Youth Coaching 0r Child’s Youth Sports Experience? Leave Your Emotions At Home

Rick Santorum is not only anti-abortion and anti-contraception. Rick Santorum is anti-climax.

He has actually rejected the idea that “you have the right to consensual sex within your home.” No joke, you can Google it.

As someone who zealously regards sex as abhorrent, Santorum would be our first openly anti-sex president.

Once he’s done reversing Roe v. Wade and then doing away with contraception, it only follows that President Santorum’s next logical step towards a sex-free republic would be to criminalize masturbation.

That’s right. No more jerking off, America. No more wanking, diddling or whacking. No more beating the meat, rubbing one out or spanking the monkey. And that goes for you women too. Sales of vibrators and dildos would be illegal. (Guns would still be OK, though, as long as they’re not used to pleasure yourself.)

The again, maybe it’s just as well. After all, look at the trouble that beating off brings to bear. Anthony Wiener would be New York City’s next mayor if it weren’t for his trafficking in those lewd photos and texts he needed to fuel his masturbatory frenzy.

Let’s face it, for years we’ve been taught that masturbation is wrong. Parents used to routinely warn their teenage boys that if they kept masturbating they’d go blind. (To which the frequent response was: “Well, can’t I at least do it until I need glasses?”)

So what will President Santorum’s self-sex abolition mean to all the masturbators out there? (And you know who you are.)

It’s going to be hard. Especially for those who believe an erection is a terrible thing to waste. As Woody Allen once said, “Don’t knock masturbation. It’s sex with someone that I love.”

But, as another famous Republican used to advise, “just say no.” Any time you’re about to choke the chicken or reach for your pocket rocket, ask yourself this: Is yet another explosive orgasm really worth going to jail for? (Maybe Santorum could spend some quality time behind bars himself to see what reportedly goes on there. I bet he’d put a quick end to that!)

The best bet is to avoid any and all temptation. Say goodbye to dirty magazines. Farewell to online porn. Hell, don’t even keep any Vaseline or Victoria’s Secret catalogs in the house.

The truth is that no one ever wants to “get caught” masturbating anyway. But with Santorum’s Law, solo sex will now carry consequences far graver than embarrassment. He’ll probably even penalize repeat offenders with a Megan’s Law for wankers. Wearing a big scarlet “M” would warn your law-abiding neighbors that you’ve tampered with your own genitals.

On the other hand, it’s likely that Santorum’s legislation will be met with stiff resistance. After all, data clearly shows that at least 76% of people admit to masturbating regularly. They’re certainly not going to stand for having their hands tied. Occupy Times Square.

It’s time we put pleasure back in its rightful place: nowhere. Vote Santorum to outlaw masturbation now!

Up next: oral sex.

No related posts.

We are big fans of Vimeo because of the high quality videos that are being uploaded there constantly. So, this week I thought I’d pull exclusively from there for the videos to share with you.

Every one of these caught my attention for one reason or another and I am excited to share them with you.

The usual variety you’ve come to love with everything from the future of cities, to how you can help save Detroit and a spotlight on the recent resurgence in love for typewriters. A little bit of everything.

001. Canon EOS 5D Mark III – “Radball” Demo Video

002. Thinking Cities

003. King of the Mountain

004. “Lemonade: Detroit” Producer Video

005. Typewriter Man

006. The Devil Makes Three – Live @ Newport Folk

006. Coca Cola – 125th Year Exhibition

007. Red Wing Handsewn Collection | Made in Maine

Related posts:

1. Digital Dads Watch – March 16, 2012
2. Digital Dads Watch for February 24, 2012
3. Digital Dads Watch / February 3, 2012

The very idea of ingesting the liver of a calf or chewing voluntarily on a cow’s tongue seems to be sufficient in itself to qualify “liver” and “tongue” as repulsive sounding foods to some. I vehemently disagree with the premise, for I relish not only those parts, but also take delight in eating a platter of grilled chicken hearts and a portion of well sauteed cow’s pancreas.

Here’s the rub, so to speak: Anyone with kids knows that the names alone of certain foods negatively affect how we perceive them regardless of their actual deliciousness. That’s why euphemisms come in handy. Doesn’t the name “sweetbreads” suggest something wonderful and tasty? However, the second it’s explained that you’re dining on a large mammal’s thymus gland, not so much.

Here are 12 other foods that seem like they could be a one-way ticket to uncontrollable vomiting.

Oxtail
Sounds like ass meat. Then again, so does pork butt and rump roast. Great foods all, but how many gourmands do you know who would admit that they like to eat butt.

Blood Sausage
Sausage alone, no problem. We’ll eat it anytime, prepared any way, in almost any dish. But once the sausage name is preceded by blood, then most people would rather give it than eat it.

Mung Beans
Again, beans alone are fine. But mung is a tad too close to dung. And no one wants that in their salad.

Funghi
Speaking of dung, funghi is the all-purpose Italian designation for mushrooms. Who couldn’t go for some sauteed porcini right now? But associating food with fungus is unlikely to engender widespread popularity.

Frog’s Legs
Total. Delicacy. Yet a classic case of the unwillingness to suck the meat off the fragile bones of a slimy swamp creature that jumps from lily pad to lily pad while yelling ribbit.

Snails
Or, as the French call them, escargot. See, doesn’t that seem better tasting already? And they are truly scrumptious, especially drenched in garlic butter. Yet when some people hear snails, they instantly translate it as slugs, or worse yet, worms. In which case, no amount of garlic butter can help.

Tripe
Again, forget what it actually is. It sounds like it refers to penis, as in, “hey, nice tripe.” For the record, it’s not. It’s the rubbery stomach lining of cattle. I’ve had it, and must say that I prefer it to eating penis any day.

Jerky
Most folks do go for the dried beef product. And many also enjoy jerk – or jerked – chicken. It’s just that “jerking” is such a pervasive pastime that its association to something edible seems downright distasteful.

Shark Fin, Turtle and Cock-A-Leekie Soups
Shark fin doesn’t make your mouth water? Turtle, not your cup of soup? But cock-a-leekie really takes the cake as the most disgusting sounding warm liquid to come in a bowl.

Guinea Fowl
Sorry to say, but any dish whose name resembles a nasty epithet you’d hear on Jersey Shore loses its taste appeal.

Head Cheese
Yeah, sure. And while you’re at it…pass the toe jam, smegma breath.

Haggis
Other than being Scotland’s national dish, I’m not entirely sure what it is. But the name haggis just doesn’t seem like something you would eat; it sounds more like a disease that features a mucous-y, hacking cough. (“Poor lad, he’s a got a horrible case of the haggis.”) Wait, let me look it up.

OK, just back from Wikipedia and here’s what Haggis is: “a kind of savoury pudding containing sheep’s heart, liver and lungs, minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally encased in the animal’s stomach and simmered for approximately three hours. ” Holy shit. I’ll take the disease.

What other foods can you think of that sound as if they’re going to taste disgusting?

Photo Credit - Roberto Verzo

Related posts:

1. Comforting foods

This past November my wife and I took Paul to his first air show: Aviation Nation, the huge annual air show hosted by Nellis AFB in Nevada.  It’s also the final performance of the USAF Thunderbirds for the year, and they fly a fantastic show and tribute to the public at their home field.  As a result the the weekend is filled with wonderful static displays of historic and current military aircraft, interesting and exotic civilian aircraft, and an almost continuous stream military and civilian flying demonstrations.

The day was wonderful, the weather was perfect, and my son’s eyes were wide as he took it all in.  We’d been watching a number of flying demonstrations to include a military heritage flight where several generations of military aircraft fly in formation.  Then, as the day drew to a close, the US Air Force Thunderbirds took to the air.

My son and I at the Aviation Nation Air Show 2011

As the performance unfolded, I was anticipating the “sneak attack.”  While the audience focuses on a beautiful formation high and in front of the show, without warning one of the solo jets comes from behind and races past at low-level and near the speed of sound.  Suddenly there’s a jet where there wasn’t one just a second ago: an aircraft moving incredibly fast and somehow in silence.  Then, there’s an explosion of sound so loud you feel it through your body the same time you hear it.  Your hands race to cover your ears and perhaps muffle the shocked scream trying to escape your mouth.  Your entire body shakes as you literally feel the sound move through you.

My son had ear plugs in and I was watching him as this happened.  He jumped, visibly shook and rapidly moved to touch me as he covered his ears.  Then as quick as it came, the jet was gone and we stood in stunned and relative silence.  He looked up at me with uncertainty all over his face, wondering if everything was okay.  I grinned at him and then it happened:  with big eyes, a wild grin appeared on his face and he yelled, “Dad, that was AWESOME!”  A huge, excited hug followed as he leapt into my arms.

The Thunderbirds finished their show, the day’s flying ended in a wonderful, patriotic way, and the show began to wind down.  On the way out we bought Paul a die-cast model of a Thunderbird.  It’s been with or near him since.  Once again my son has allowed me to relive a piece of my own childhood, and see the world fresh once more through his young eyes.

It’s great to be a dad!

Related posts:

1. New York Auto Show

Happy New Year! OK, so I’m nearly two months late, but that is just how things have been going for me lately. Towards the end of last year we finally got our home under contract after trying to sell it for the past two years and began the arduous process of moving. Of course, at the exact same time, our two children decided to have round robin illness tournament that lasted nearly five weeks. Needless to say with a kitchen mostly in boxes and what felt like a years worth of FSA spending gobbled up in the first month of the year I hadn’t done much cooking at all.

We’ve been in our new house for a few weeks now and are nearly unburied from the move. Thankfully we are finally weening ourselves off the take out we’ve been living on through the transition and I got to cook something from scratch for the first time in what seems like forever. On the first Saturday morning since we moved in where we didn’t have to unpack a stack of boxes I decided to put together a quick stratta so we could relax and enjoy breakfast as a family.

I’ve been a big fan of strattas for a while now and like to make them in both sweet and savory configurations. The picture that accompanies this post is actually the one that I made for my family on Christmas morning where I substituted egg nog for the normal milk and cream and added a touch of nutmeg to give it a bit of a holiday spin.

You can serve these in a number of ways, such as slicing it up like french toast and drizzling some maple syrup on it. Or, if you wanted to cut down on the sweetness first thing in the morning, you could scoop it out and squirt some fresh lemon juice on it to bring a little brightness and acidity to the dish. Still, no matter how you serve it up, it will surely be well received.

Maple Berry Breakfast Stratta

Software

• 1 loaf day old bread (challah or brioche work well), cut into cubes
• 1 1/2 pints berries (I used strawberries and blueberries)
• 8 eggs
• 1 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 4 oz mascarpone (or cream cheese)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon cane sugar for garnish
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or bean paste)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Assemblage

1. Bring the mascarpone (or cream cheese) to room temperature and whisk it in a large mixing bowl to aerate
2. Add one egg at a time until all eight are incorporated into the mascarpone
3. Whisk in the cream and milk, then add the maple syrup, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla
4. Fold in the bread cubes, then the berries and pour mixture into a buttered baking dish
5. Lightly sprinkle the remaining sugar on the top of the dish to form a nice crust
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a knife comes out of the center cleanly

Related posts:

1. Let’s Talk Breakfast
2. Experimenting with fennel pollen
3. The sorbets of summer

There are few things you need to know about me before reading this review because I’m completely biased.

I love our military. Any man or woman who puts on a uniform and puts their life on the line to help protect my freedom has my undying respect. It is why I support organizations like Fisher House and more recently the Green Beret Foundation.

I’m also a huge fan of special forces stories, books, games and movies. I grew up reading Tom Clancy novels like they were candy and while I suck at multiplayer games, I love first person shooters that are out these days.

All that being said, I just returned from seeing Act of Valor and this is a movie you should go see.

Hollywood usually screws up balls to the wall action movies like this, but from start to finish this is full of action and awesomeness that you want to see.

Sure, there are huge plot holes from magic intel that they never really address, but I’m ok with that. I’m not there to question a perfect plot because when you go see a movie like this you know what you are in for and it isn’t anything that is going to get nominated for an Oscar.

When I first heard about a movie being made using real Navy Seals I was a little worried because it sounded like a cheap Hollywood gimmick.

But, from the opening shot of the movie it is clear that the creators of this movie have the utmost respect for the military and while it makes for great headlines, these guys did a great job with the film. It is not always an easy movie to watch and while voice overs are usually a sure sign of crap, they are beautifully done in this film and I hope to find the text of it somewhere online so that I can read it as a whole.

For the tech geeks like me out there, you should know that this movie was shot using HDSLR cameras. Read this article if you want to know more about it. Trust me, that it does not distract from the story in any way and in fact I think it adds a certain grittiness to it.

If I have any complaint about the movie it was that there was too many POV first person shooter type of shots. The opening scene almost made me motion sick from the jump cuts and POV shots. Sure, they were playing off the familiar view we have while playing video games, but there was a bit too much for my tastes.

I also want to say that this was the first R movie I have ever let my son see.

I checked the IMDB Parental Guide before making the decision to take him. As a dad let me be point blank with you that if you let your kid play games like Call of Duty, Battlefield 3 or anything like that, then this movie contains nothing they haven’t already seen. Plus, it gave us a lot to talk about after the movie since it has some hard and valuable lessons on what it means to be a responsible man and I’m glad I took him.

It is bloody, violent and full of appropriate cursing. I say appropriate because when people are shooting at you it makes anything appropriate.

This is a guys movie. The audience applauded at the end and rightfully so. You should take a guys night out and hit this movie. Support the men who made this piece of awesome fun cinema.

Thank you again to every single soldier both active duty and retired. I can never thank you enough for all that you have done and will do.

Show some support by seeing this movie. I give it an ass kicking A.

No related posts.

The weekend is almost upon us and that means it is the perfect time to share some of our favorite videos.

We consume a ton of content every week and want to curate the best of it for you to watch, share and enjoy. We try to keep it a mix of the things we all love since we have a feeling you’ll love them as well.

This week we’ve got a video game trailer, music video and several pieces of absolutely awesome storytelling. Take the time to watch them all and let us know which are your favorites!

001. This is My Home

002. Inside Every Good Dog is A Great Dog

003. On The Brink

004. “Something You Don’t Know” music video by Black Lab

005. Jason McCarthy, CEO of GORUCK on Passion Hit TV

006. Borderlands 2 Launch Date Trailer

006. Glowing Man

007. Erik Johansson: Impossible photography

Related posts:

1. Digital Dads Watch / February 3, 2012
2. Digital Dads Watch for March 2, 2012
3. Digital Dads Watch for April 13, 2012

Let’s face it. Buying clothes for kids is not the most fun chore we have on any given day.

I know that the variety of sizes and styles always drove me nuts. I’m very thankful that my kids are old enough to pick out their own clothes now, but when they were younger they seemed to outgrow things faster than I could buy them.

That’s why I’m excited to share with you the announcement of the launch of a new service that ships you a box of personalized clothing choices for your children called Wittlebee.

Started by serial entrepreneur (and soon to be dad of two) Sean Percival who saw a need for this as he became a father.

When asked why he created the service he said, “As a parent and a technology entrepreneur, I appreciate any product or service that makes my life easier and gives me more time to focus on my family. Parents today are already pulled in a million different directions, I saw an opportunity to automate shopping for basics by giving families access to a new way to keep up with their clothing needs. Any parent knows taking your children into a store is a scary task, and trying on clothes for toddlers can be an impossible mission. By updating children’s wardrobes regularly with the clothes they wear the most, we hope to free parents up of the hassle of shopping so they can do want they want most, have fun with their kids.”

I love seeing fellow fathers stepping up and showing the world how important we are in the parenting equation and I think this is a service that parents everywhere are going to enjoy because it is fun and helpful at the same time.

Check them out at Wittlebee.com and if you use them be sure to let us know how they work out.

Related posts:

1. Harley Makes Me Want to Ride
2. Internet Safety For Kids – Be Involved. Not Stupid.
3. Sucking the Heads, Safe Kids & Sea Bags

I’m standing before a mint-condition, piercing red 1965 Bizzarrini P538 race car. I can’t even muster a word, like that awe-struck kid who’s utterly speechless in the presence of his hero ballplayer. The Bizzarrini is a one-of-a-kind Italian sports car that just oozes sex and speed, and it’s so surprisingly low to the ground that even a toddler could climb in. Oh, right. My 3-year-old daughter is with me – and she couldn’t care less about the Bizzarrini that I’m about to lick.

This moment is poignant because it reminds me what it means to teach your kid something (or to try to). It means that something is important to you, whether it’s the significance of a religious holiday, or a story told to you decades ago by your own parents, or a personal life value that you desperately want your child to adopt. Or a shared passion for gorgeous, hand-crafted European race cars that make most dads stop dead in their tracks.

While I certainly feel a bit foolish in the moment, I have to admit I’m still determined to teach my daughter the words Ferrari, Aston Martin, and Lamborghini. I brought us here because I want her to appreciate that these vehicles are absolute marvels of imagination and technology. I want her to feel what I feel, that visceral, heart-thumping excitement in response to these rare machines with their growling V-12 engines and luxurious exotic styling. And that’s why I’m a complete idiot. Because it’s not the right place or time for that.

As I force my daughter to stand there longer with me, I realize that she’s not actually bored with the car itself but with the gallery where we’re viewing it. She begins aggressively swinging the blood-red felt rope that separates us and the car because she wants to get closer, to touch it, to get inside. And I have to say, I couldn’t agree with her more. It suddenly feels pretty ridiculous to be viewing these amazing driving machines as they quietly and meekly sit there, mere shadows of what they really could be on the open road. (I’ll leave the zoo analogy untouched.)

We turn to leave and I realize that the trip has been a bust. My daughter still does not know the word Ferrari and the uniqueness of these cars is still completely lost on her. But her felt-rope-swinging impatience has reminded me of the value of experience, as in feel-it-with-my-own-two-hands experience. Why did I ever think I could inspire her in the equivalent of a car library?

It’s a good reminder of how to craft a successful activity that’s equally enjoyable for parent and child. While I’d clearly shaped this experience to not suck for me and to pass the “single friend beer test” (i.e. good story-telling potential), I’d dropped the ball on framing up the right experience for my 3-year-old, who wasn’t enjoying just looking at the cars from a distance. (At least at an outdoor car show, they’ll rev the thundering 12-cylinder engines and you can get up real close and personal.)

Which leads me to our next adventure. While I may not own a Ferrari, I sure as hell can rent one. Guaranteed my daughter would know the word Ferrari after that.

Related posts:

1. “Weed” and 21 Other Definitions That Don’t Translate From My Dad To My Daughter
2. Getting Creative With My Daughter
3. Digital Dads TV – Cars and Crawfish

If you’re not familiar with Phineas and Ferb, take the time to check it out.  Two brothers, both smart in a gifted way, making the most of their 104 days of Summer vacation by applying their intelligence to any number of adventures.  The show doesn’t pander to kids, nor does it talk down to them.  In fact, the writers seem to strive to smartly entertain kids just above their level, and to do it in a way that it encourages them to strive and grow in what they know and do.  The TV show is witty and somehow talks to kids of all ages.  As a parent I appreciate the writers have also taken care to include things that make the program interesting and funny for adults.  The show encourages kids to think and imagine, be creative, play with others, and often times, to do all this outside.  Also, what most likely goes unnoticed but I’m sure influences young viewers, is the brothers are actually step-brothers.  You wouldn’t necessarily know this up front, but it sets a neat tone for the show.  Related, Phineas and Ferb’s circle of friends is diverse:  male and female, multi-national, multi-racial, and spans a wide variety of interests and personality types.  The show clearly emphasizes things in common and diminishes the things we (adults) sadly allow to get in the way of relationships.

Back to the live show.  We went to see actors playing cartoon characters.  I wasn’t sure how Disney (or anyone) would pull this off, but as long as it worked for my son then as far as I’m concerned, it works.  It worked.  The program began with the cartoon characters on screen, then had them transition to actors in costume by having each character go down a slide.  The cartoon character begins sliding and an actor in costume enters the stage on a real slide.  As an adult, I thought the characters were a bit odd looking, but there was no room for confusion about who each character was.  The program told a story, consistent with the Summer vacation theme of the TV show, and revolved around storytelling through dialog and music.  A week later, we’re all still singing the songs and quoting various parts of the production.

After seeing the show my son told his classmates at school we took him to see “the real Phineas and Ferb.”  He wasn’t distracted by actors in costume and he’s still beaming about the show.  Disney, you’ve done it again.  The Magic Kingdom remains magical; very well done!  If the tour comes near you, take your kids and go.  They’ll enjoy it and so will you.

Details on the live tour are available at: http://disney.go.com/disneylive/phineas-and-ferb-on-tour/

It’s great to be a dad!

Related posts:

1. Digital Dads TV Live from BlogWorld
2. Live from CES
3. Movie Review – Safe House

The fact of the matter is that we are always busy and sometimes there isn’t enough time to make breakfast or dinner when we’ve got a lot going on so we keep a pantry stocked full of various protein and snack bars.

So when Kraft pitched me on trying these new things called MilkBite Bars, I figured why not?

Unlike most other bars on the market, these need to go in your refrigerator because they contain milk. This is a strike against them since this means I can’t throw one in my backpack as I run out to the airport or for my wife to keep in her purse if she gets stuck in meetings and has to skip lunch.

These bars are just hitting the market this week and are found in the dairy isle at your grocery store. I’ve only been able to find them in one location around me so far, but I assume they’ll be rolling out everywhere shortly.

I like that each MilkBite Bar combines real milk with whole grain granola and other ingredients like fruit or roasted nuts, while offering 30% of your daily recommended value of calcium. My kids already drink a lot of milk, so I’m not concerned about their calcium intake, but for others this could be a yummy way to make sure they are getting it.

Kraft sent me a box of the chocolate and strawberry varieties so that we could review them here and the family liked them both. We liked them enough that I bought some more recently and they are already gone. I’ve also seen them in penut butter and oatmeal raisin flavors. I’m not sure if there are more varieties or not.

Coming five to a box, they are not the cheapest snack in the world, but they are a fairly healthy alternative to other things your kids could be snacking on. Thinking more about it they are cheaper than the protein bars I usually buy.

Disclosure: Kraft sent me two free boxes and a mini lunch bag that my daughter has already started using to bring her lunch to school. She loves the color.

No related posts.

I’m a huge Denzel Washington fan.

The man brings that perfect balance of good guy and bad ass to almost every role he has ever played. I can’t think of a single film that he has been in that I didn’t enjoy watching.

I’m also a fan of spy movies and any sort of thriller so when I saw the trailer for Safe House I got very excited.

Quoting from the Internet Movie Database, the plot is as follows:

Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds) is a CIA rookie who is manning a safe house in Cape Town, South Africa, when Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington) the CIA’s most wanted rogue agent is captured and taken to the safe house. During Frost’s interrogation, the safe house is overtaken by mercenaries who want Frost. Weston and Frost escape and must stay out of the gunmen’s sight until they can get to another safe house.

Sounds like an action packed movie right?

Well, it does have lots of action. Really well done car chases and fight scenes seem to be the directors favorite thing since there are plenty of them.

The problem was that just like the title, this movie plays it safe. Instead of taking the audience for a ride, they are spoon fed an obvious plot that from the moment it starts you know what is going to happen next. There is no thriller here.

I’m also still not sure if Ryan Reynolds can act or not. I think that he can, but in this role it seemed like they only wanted him to be running, looking shocked or beating the crap out of something. Besides that he didn’t do a whole lot.

While I had a fun hour and fifty five minute escape watching this movie, I left wanting more.

Skip the expensive tickets and wait till you can rent it.

I give it a C+

Related posts:

1. Movie Review: RESTREPO
2. Sucking the Heads, Safe Kids & Sea Bags
3. Avoid a Vacation Tragedy – Keep Your Family Safe

Are you ready for the Superbowl this weekend?

I know that everyone around here is jazzed about it and you can be sure that the grills will be fired up, the oven full of goodies and the fridge well stocked with frosty beverages. If you are still wondering what to cook, we suggest you watch the first video for a little inspiration.

Sure, we could show you a bunch of commercials that are going to air this weekend, but you’ve got the rest of the Internet for that. We want to show you other videos that have caught our attention. Enjoy!

001. Char-Broil Meat Stadium 2012

002. The GORUCK Challenge

003. A Sarah Burke tribute video.

004. Sugar House Detroit

005. Celebrity Sleepovers

006. KODACHROME 2010

006. Undefeated Documentary Trailer

Related posts:

1. Digital Dads Watch for February 24, 2012
2. Digital Dads Watch for March 2, 2012
3. Digital Dads Watch – April 6,2012

What a pretty trophy.

Welcome to the big game. I’m here in Indianapolis, hanging out on Media Day and trying to find a path through the crowd so I can touch Mel Kiper’s hair. I don’t understand why they let all these fans in. All they are doing is stinking up the joint with their handfuls of nachos and sweat stained Peyton Manning jerseys. There are no Giants or Patriots fans here. I spoke to one of the volunteers, he said that they’ll be flying in several thousand corporate ticket holders, like a ton of people from Doritos, slap some jerseys on them and hope they cheer at the right time. That’s fucked up. There will be no true fans in the building.

I spent a few minutes out in the parking lot with the true fans, guys wearing meatball stained Brady jerseys who drove all the way from the armpits of Boston. They are grilling, drunk at 8am on a Tuesday and they won’t get in the game. A lot of them will go home with citations and injuries. There is a surprising amount of sex going on, considering the weather and how most of the fans are quite overweight. I don’t talk to anyone about how most of the seats are going to be taken up by corporate sponsors, media & all the players baby mamas. There is a whole numbered section reserved just for women that Ochocinco has knocked up. What I do talk to them about is who they think is going to win and why, but honestly they were too drunk and belligerent to get any straight answers beyond “Giants rule!” or “Patriots Rule!” So I went back inside, hoping to sneak into the cheerleaders locker room.

Instead of naked cheerleaders, I spent some time at the brunch buffet with Archie Manning. I asked him if he was proud of his boys. In between bites of a biscuit smothered in turkey gravy, he said that he was proud of both of them, but wished that they hadn’t followed in his footsteps. I asked him why and he told me that he worries they’ll both end up injured for life, and no matter how much money they have it’s not going to matter, they’ll be broken. The game is much rougher now, he said, back in the day you worried about injury but the defense seems out to hurt. He then offered me a slice of ham also smothered in turkey gravy. As I ate the ham, I noticed Merril Hoge out of the corner of my eye.

It took me a couple minutes to get Merril’s attention, as every mirror or reflective surface (including camera lenses) he had to adjust his giant windsor knot. It was like it was stuffed with cotton. Finally I cornered him and was able to ask about his achilles heel this season, Tim Tebow. Merril was quick to point out what a Tebow honk I’ve been this season and I explained it was because I had faith in the guy. He had magic. Merril said that magic is fake and while he might have been wrong on paper, he still feels Tebow will be a bust in the NFL. I decided to drop it and ask who he thought would win the Superbowl. Not Tim Tebow he said, and walked away.

I decided to play the next hour or so fast and loose, so I followed Kelly Clarkson around, counting how many bags of travel size Lays chips she went through. For a fat chick, she smells a lot like an old lady. I guess I should have been surprised by how many linemen she tried to blow, but not surprised that she propositioned them with a mouthful of chips. When her security guy noticed I was trailing her around the stadium he chased me off with a cattle prod. I ended up hiding in Madonna’s dressing room, which was full of dead baby fetuses. Apparently the stem cells were the only thing keeping her alive. Man, that halftime show is gonna suck balls.

New York Giants at New England Patriots

February 5, 2012, 6:29 PM ET
Line: -3.0 55.0 O/U

Flashback: Superbowl XLII – after losing in their last game of the season to the Patriots 38-35 the Giants beat the Patriots in the Superbowl by a final score of 17-14. The Patriots finished the season 18-1 overall, while the Giants became the first NFC Wild-Card team to win a Superbowl. It was a major upset, and plenty of history was made as Eli Manning exceeded expectations and led a last minute, 4th quarter drive highlighted by an amazing “pinned to the helmet” catch by David Tyree. The Patriots, seemingly defeated had 35 seconds to respond, and were stopped cold by the stronger Giants defense.

Offensive/Defensive Breakdown (Giants O v. Patriots D): The Giants are a ground and pound team, with an occasional emphasis on the deep pass. Manning has got the receivers to make this happen and while he hasn’t relied as much on his tight ends as other teams, they are available to pick up outlet passes. The Giants ran, ran, ran against the Niners, who had the best run defense in the league. It paid off, as they didn’t pick up a ton of yards but ground out the game and were able to control the tempo. Manning has shades of Peyton when it comes to making adjustments, just with less wild body language. The Giants should have a smooth day on offense, as the Patriots defense, while stepping their game up and looking good against a limited Ravens offense, are still lagging in many areas, such as run defense. The Patriots defense is going to have no choice but to stack the box with five if they want to stop the run. Of course this will pull one man out of coverage, which Manning can easily exploit. The Giants will win this battle of offense v. defense. The only question is whether the Patriots can score more points.

How to Ruin a Classic: What is more appealing about the Superbowl? The game itself or the commercials? At a whopping $3.5mm for a 30 second spot, the commercials better not disappoint. Of course we’ll have a full slate of Budweiser commercials, Coke Polar Bears, Doritos causing people to act like idiots and probably that white trash Pepsi guy pretending he’s a coach. But we’ll also have a lot of car commercials, most of which will come off as douchey and pretentious. Like the ad from Honda for their CRV. In it, they (along with the vapid participation of Matthew Broderick) destroy a classic and save us the trouble of being pissed off during the game.

Many people enjoyed that ad, many people did not. Really, it doesn’t matter. It’s a fucking commercial. The larger point is this, many ads are being shown before the game. Many people watch the game for the ads (because they are mindless fucking Americans) – meh, who am I kidding? It won’t matter. It’ll still be the highest rated television program of the year, in the world, on every channel. Yearggh Football!! Screw you soccer!

Offensive/Defensive Breakdown (Patriots O v. Giants D): The Patriots have one of the most unpredictable, explosive offenses in the league. Most of it comes down to play calling and Bellichick’s ability to recognize defensive tendencies and make in-game adjustments, something many other coaches fail to do on both sides of the ball. His biggest accomplishment this year was handing TE Gronkowski with precision. When not lined up to block, he could be handling business as a receiver, or as a running back. Using Hernandez on the end around while Gronk was being double teamed was genius. Pulling Gronk back to the traditional TE set to throw off a defense that was looking for him as a wide receiver, also genius. The thing is though, that the Patriots offense is all about timing. The Ravens showed that if you disrupt their timing and get after Brady, you can hold their scoring down. The Giants have probably the best front four in the league and will certainly mess up Brady’s rhythm. Having a good front four who can apply pressure without the blitz is important, because that leaves more in coverage to handle the receivers, in this case, two very proficient tight ends.

Final Analysis: The difference between the Giants and the Ravens is that the Giants can score. Even if the Patriots defense steps up, the Giants offense is much more explosive than the Ravens offense. The Patriots defense won’t stack up in the end. While high scoring, the game against the Ravens showed that the Pats offense can be held down and smothered, which is what the Giants are going to do. I’m looking for the Giants to come out running, and to come out pushing hard on Brady. Bottom line, defense wins championships. And yes, the Patriots have a bottom ranked defense and beat the Ravens, but the Patriots defense did not play like a bottom ranked defense in that game. They played like a top ranked one. It won’t matter. The Patriots have been good this year, but have struggled against teams with a winning record, and beating the lethargic offense of the Ravens and the strange one of the Broncos won’t prepare them to face the Giants again. I’ve got the Giants winning this one, final score 27-24.

Next week: Nothing. The Digital Dads NFL Pre-Game will return in August with the NFC/AFC predictions. There might be a draft day column, but don’t hold your breath.

Related posts:

1. Digital Dads NFL Pre-Game: Championship Weekend
2. Digital Dads NFL Pre-Game: Divisional Round Madness
3. Digital Dads NFL Pre-Game: Superbowl XLV

The pro bowl, who cares?

So of course I have no picks this week, because the Pro Bowl is a waste of time and I don’t think I’ve watched it in about 10 years. Instead, I’m going to repost some text from the middle of the offseason where I ranked the All-Star games among all major sports. I think that Hockey has gone back to the regular format for All-Stars, rather than team captains, but the ranking hasn’t changed. Actually, I have no idea. First though, I’ll run down my pre-season playoff picks and see if I got any right.

Preseason Playoff Picks

NFC

Cowboys (division win)
Packers (division win, Superbowl)
Lions (wild-card)
Bucs (wild-card)
Falcons (division win)
Rams, Cardinals, Seahawks, Niners (division win – couldn’t decide)

AFC

Steelers (division win)
Ravens (wild-card)
Colts (division win – assuming Peyton was playing)
Texans (wild-card)
Patriots (division win, Superbowl)
Chiefs (division win)

So let’s see, I was right about the Lions, Falcons, Packers, Ravens, Steelers, Texans and Patriots making the playoffs. However, only the Patriots have been my most reliable pre-season pick, yet I picked against them last week like an idiot. Whatever.

Ranking the All-Star Shenanigans

Originally posted July 2011 and I was too lazy to change the specific detail pertaining to last years dates, so deal.

#5 The NFL Pro-Bowl

This game went from being a joke, to an absolute joke. Not only do most of the players complain about going, but it’s like watching a game of touch football. Understandably, no one wants to get hurt in the last game of the season, and most of them just want to get their short vacations started. Even though now we’re seeing them experience an extended vacation. The NFL thought they solved this issue by moving the Pro-Bowl from the week after the Superbowl to the week before the Superbowl in Miami. This was a terrible idea, as now the best players in the league (you know, the ones in the Superbowl) can’t even be recognized as all-stars because they can’t play in the game. For those two reasons, the quality of play and the lack of players, this is my worst rated All-Star game. Add on the fact that the television coverage is basically second rate, the Pro-Bowl blows ass.

#4 MLB All-Star Game

Now, don’t get me wrong – I love the build-up to this game. Specifically the homerun derby, especially since they started letting players pick their hitters. This is a fun time and seems like the players truly enjoy hanging out and slamming free homeruns. Plus, a lot of charity is involved in the derby, so that’s a good thing too. It’s also a lot more entertaining to watch than the game the next day. Now, not everyone agrees with me that the MLB All-Star game is one of the worst, and that’s all well and good but I think for me it’s more the coverage that ruins it for me than the game itself. First off, Fox’s coverage of the game is way too much pomp and circumstance. This year, it was even worse when they led in with ridiculous previews for the X-Factor show. No one watching the game gives a shit. Not to mention, is anyone else just plain tired of Joe Buck?

The game itself isn’t too bad. The teams actually appear like they are trying to win the game. They are a little held back, and usually it comes down to who hits the homeruns. The pitchers are certainly holding back, as an injury on the mound is always in their minds. But what makes it real shit is that it “means something.” You can blame Bud Selig for that, in response to an All-Star game that went 11 innings with no winner, Selig decided that it would be a good idea that the winner of the All-Star game determines home field advantage in the World Series. Are you fucking kidding me? No where does home advantage mean more than in the World Series and it was determined by a meaningless game played by the most popular (because it is a popularity contest, that was assured by letting the fans vote) players and not by record as it should, and is throughout the playoffs. This is a ridiculous end result of the game, and is just plain stupid. I hope, whatever National League team (as the NL All-Stars won this year off a Cecil Fielder homerun) send a thank you note to Fielder for that win. Of course, they could also send fuck you notes to the American League pitchers, who spoon fed him that homerun. Weak.

#3 MLS All-Star Game

I’ve actually never watched a MLS All-Star game. I know that they do it a little different, the best of the U.S. teams vs. a world team like Manchester United. That’s a pretty kick-ass game, because in between dives, they actually play a hard game because it’s based on pride. Sadly, I think the American team loses a lot, but that really doesn’t matter much in the scheme of things. I’ll watch it this year, I promise.

#2 NBA All-Star Game

Like the MLB game, the best part of the NBA All-Star break is the pre-game stuff the day before. The dunk contest highlights everything that is wrong with the NBA, as far as the individualism and so on, but it’s a fucking blast to watch. They jump over cars, shoot 3-pointers and have a blast. The game itself is highly competitive for a game that doesn’t mean anything, this is the general mindset in the NBA though, so that makes sense. It’s probably the only NBA game I watch all year besides the playoffs, as it’s a true All-Star game, with a lot of who-dat players based on stats rather than pure popularity, though there is some of that. In the end though, it’s still the NBA and doesn’t have half as much energy as my number one.

#1 NHL All-Star Game

The NHL game wasn’t always my favorite. For a long while it was East vs. West, which was okay but a bit bland to watch. Then it was USA vs. Canada (or was it World, I can’t remember) but this year they blew me away with their handling of the All-Star game. They went all playground rules on us. First they picked team captains, then they staged a mock draft where the captains picked their teams. The coverage of this took itself a bit too seriously, but it was great that there was no telling who was going to be on which team. This added a level of enjoyment to it because you knew that heated rivals could end up on the same team, and they did. I don’t remember what team won, but I know the score was in the double digits on both sides.

Adding another fun dimension to the game was having the goalies miked up during the game. In between blocking shots, they were bullshitting with the announcers, just having a fun time and performing for the fans. Because in the end, that’s what this game highlighted – the fans. Before the game there was tons of fan interaction, the referees didn’t even call offsides until the 3rd period and were just letting the players play, and the fans enjoy a high scoring exhibition game. Which is what all the All-Star games should be, exhibition games for the fans, to see the best players in the league let loose a little bit so we can look at them as people like us, rather than rich superstars.

Related posts:

1. Digital Dads Week In Sports: Ranking the All-Star Shenanigans
2. Digital Dads NFL Pre-Game: Superbowl XLVI
3. Digital Dads NFL Pre-Game: Championship Weekend

We had the car for the last two weeks of the year and I used it for pretty much of all of my driving during that time. We even used it to drive up to my parents house on Christmas day with the kids, dog and everything else so that we could fully give it a test drive.

It is a great minivan for sure. We forgot how much room you actually get in a car of this size. If you have kids and need a lot of room you can’t go wrong with a minivan. We had one for a number of years, but hadn’t driven one in almost 5 so it was nice to see that they’ve been updated.

I can’t compare the Nissan Quest to other minivans out in the market today because I have not driven any others, but besides a few points we liked it.

The Good

• Having so much room feels great whenever you have to load up the kids and hit the road. They don’t it because they are not sitting on top of one another.
• Having a DVD system with wireless headphones is great for long trips. We didn’t hear a peep from them the whole ride and we got to enjoy our music at the same time.
• The automatic sliding doors on both sides are great when you have an armful of groceries.
• I loved that when the back row of seats are down flat you can still get to the storage in the back. We put presents under there while our dog was safely laying on top.
• It was winter so we couldn’t fully enjoy the dual sunroofs, but I love the idea of having this much natural light and fresh air at our fingertips.

The Not So Good

No related posts.

Paula Deen is a hero to millions. With restaurants, books, magazines, TV shows and more, Deen is both an icon and an industry.

So many people really seem to love her, understandably. She is lively, gregarious, charming and fun. And she cooks the kind of Southern fried favorites that people dream of, doing it with joy in her heart.

But hers is also the kind of food that can bring you some trouble over the long term if you eat too much of it too often. As evidenced now by Paula Deen herself. Hey, I like fried chicken as much as the next guy, but I don’t make a steady diet of it.

So when it was announced this week on the Today Show that Paula was diagnosed with Type II diabetes, it was as surprising as an alcoholic waking up with a hangover and tremors.

The real surprise surfaced when she revealed that she was diagnosed three years ago. That’s right, she has known about her condition for three years. Al Roker rightly inquired as to why she waited until now to say anything at all about it.

Because, she said, she had “nothing to bring to the table.”

Except that she did.

For three whole years, she continued to bring to the American table a steady diet of the very same death-defying food that brought her Type II diabetes. Her belated claims of having preached moderation would be laughable if they weren’t so transparent.

What finally brought Paula out of the pantry was her announcement that she is now being paid as a spokesperson for a big drug company that sells diabetes medicine. She had the opportunity to do the right thing without having to be compensated. Instead, whether one views hers as a savvy business maneuver or a distasteful, disingenuous hypocrisy is up for discussion. As is her legacy.

She had the prerogative not to say a word, but how many others have been similarly diagnosed during her three-year silence? She has to live with her coverup.

As of now, the Paula Deen message is that you can eat as much of whatever you want as you’d like without regard or worry because there’s a drug for that.

But she still has the opportunity to do the right thing and turn this into what they call a “teachable moment.”

What do you think?

Related posts:

1. Digital Dads NFL Pre-Game: Wrong, Wrong, Wrong
2. Why Brazil Beat America to Have the First Woman President

Niners vs. Giants. Should be a new classic.

I’m not going to bore you with mindless statistics and blather. The fact is that last week was a tough week to pick and statistics did not lie. 75% of the home teams won, but not the 75% I picked. By the time the Giants v Packers game started, three home teams had won. So I loudly declared to pretty much one person that the Giants were going to win the game. They did, and the Packers, who had a monumental season all for naught, are done. Now we have four teams left and picking the winners is toughest it’s been all season.

That being said, it is only two games so I have to fill up this space with something. So in personal news, I’ll be in Chicago this week (Friday – Sunday) attending a Kenmore event at their bequest. If you are around, or just on Twitter, come hang out downtown Chicago. CC will be there with me as well, killing some deep dish. On with the picks!

AFC Championship: Baltimore at New England
Sunday, 3:00 PM ET
Line: 50.0 O/U -7.5

This game is the proof – does defense win championships? The Patriots have a bottom ranked defense, yet they sure came alive against the Broncos – but the Broncos defense was also terrible, so there’s that. The Patriots have won games with offense all year long, and I don’t expect that strategy to totally turn around in a week. They are going to come into this game firing and looking to rack up the score against the defensive minded Ravens. It’s not going to happen. The Ravens held the Texans, who in effect – held the Ravens. The Ravens offensive line didn’t perform as well as they should have, but really have nothing to worry about with the weak pass rush of the Patriots. Sure, they managed to fluster Tebow a couple times, but that was a fluke. Most of the time he had all day and then some to throw. The Ravens are going to force the Patriots hand on offense, as their defense will be swarming Brady and throwing off his timing. This is what I said the Broncos needed to do, but failed to do. Everything about the Patriots offense is timing, especially with the routes run by the tight ends. On the offensive side of the ball for the Ravens, they’ll have to tighten up their protection a bit and re-establish the running game, which should be easy against the Patriots poor run defense. Bottom line, the Patriots don’t have the defense to stop the Ravens mediocre offense, and they might have a powerful offense, but defense wins championships. Bottom line. On championship weekend the statistics state that 50% of the home teams win. So in this one, I’m taking the Ravens to overcome and get into the Superbowl, against (obviously) the Niners, and I’ll tell you why in the next paragraph.

NFC Championship: New York at San Francisco
Sunday, 6:30 PM ET
Line: 44.0 O/U -2.0

Everyone loves the Giants in this game, because they can’t believe that the Niners are restoring their franchise to glory. Where Singletary coached with negative enforcement, Harbaugh coaches with positive reinforcement, something that was evident in Vernon Davis’ tears and hug after he scored the winning touchdown last week. That was the Saints game to lose, and they made sure to lose, especially on that last drive when their secondary seemed to forget they were still playing a game and gave the Niners the whole field. So now the Niners welcome the hot and cold Giants to town, who turn it on when they need to. And they needed to last week and they damn sure did. They ran the Packers right off their own field, dominating on offense and on defense. They made it look easy. Part of that might have been the Packers offense not playing up to par with all the drops, but the pressure on Rodgers helped as well. Against the Niners, they are going up against probably the best fundamental defense in the league. Rather than go for the flashy Sportscenter play, the Niners just plain cover and tackle well. They bump receivers at the line to throw off timing, they get the pressure on with their front four, rarely running a crazy eight man blitz and almost always win the turnover game. Their defense will stifle Manning and his receivers, so the Giants will have to rely on their own defense. They might have a slight edge over the Niners offense in that case, but Alex Smith is a legit playmaker, but he gets no love for it. Right now, his report with his receivers is the best it’s ever been. I’m taking the Niners to win at home, and for this game to become a new classic. Harbaugh vs. Harbaugh in the Superbowl. You want to know who I’m going to pick to win that game? You’ll have to wait two weeks.

Next week: Pro Bowl Idiocy and where I went wrong with my pre-season picks.

Related posts:

1. Digital Dads NFL Pre-Game: Wild-Card Weekend
2. Digital Dads NFL Pre-Game: Divisional Round Madness
3. Digital Dads NFL Pre-Game: Wild-Card Weekend

At the end of the year, we all see tons of asks for money. It is good for the charities because everyone is in a giving spirit and it is good for the individual because donating gives you a tax write off. It is a win win situation.

But, this also means that January is the hardest month on nonprofits as giving dives to a yearly low as people dig out from holiday shopping debt.

ableBanking is a new kind of bank that has just announced a promotion to give some of your favorite Massachusetts based nonprofits a boost of cash in this new year.

Jump on over to ableGiving.com and nominate your favorite Massachusetts nonprofit. Then encourage your friends and family to nominate that same charity (or their own that they are passionate about). The five most nominated organizations will each get $1,000. Hurry though because you only have until January 31st to get in your nominations.

I had never heard of ableBanking before a couple of weeks ago when I got hired to help spread the word about this promotion. Part of this reason is because it isn’t open yet. Makes sense why I never heard of it.

Founded by three former traditional bank executives, this is an online only bank with only savings accounts. This means you don’t have to leave your current bank and at the same time in addition to getting good rates, the bank will be donating to your chosen charity on a yearly basis.

ableBanking was founded on the belief that customers:

• Don’t need brick and mortar branches to bank anymore.
• Should be earning more for their money and not paying ridiculous fees.
• Would be appalled if they knew how much money their banks spend on advertising and would rather see their bank give those marketing dollars to worthy causes in the community.
• Know the needs of their own communities better than banks – so why not let every customer choose where to donate in the community.

What really got my attention was that they only require $250 to open an account and they instantly donate $25 to the charity of your choice. Then every year they will make another donation on the anniversary of you opening your account to the charity of your choice in the amount of 0.25% of your average balance. That sounds like an amazing perk to me.

I’ve signed up to be notified when they start accepting accounts because I’m curious to check it out. I had the chance to talk to one of the founders on the phone and I’m excited about the possibilities. I just hope the idea works and spreads because it is a great one, but only time will tell if they’ll be able to get enough accounts to keep it going.

If nothing else, please be sure to go to ableGiving and nominate your favorite nonprofit.

I personally nominated Wediko of which I’m a proud member of their Board. If you don’t have anyone to nominate, I’d be very happy if you would nominate them as well.

Disclosure – I’m being compensated for sharing this promotion with my audience. All thoughts and comments are my own. That being said, I really believe in what they are trying to do and hope it works out. If nothing else five local nonprofits are going to get a nice donation to start off the new year.

No related posts.

"Stop Gore and they won’t score"

I guess last week I must have been smoking something heavy, because I went 1-3. The only correct pick I had was the Saints. Now, the teams I wanted to win, won. I wanted Houston to win and I wanted the Broncos to win, I just didn’t pick them. This week should make a little more sense as since 1990 (when the current playoff format started) the home teams in the divisional round are a stout 61-23. That’s .726 winning percentage or about 75%. So based on percentages, only one of this weeks road teams will win. So which one will it be?

Well, the reason that the home team has such an advantage in the divisional round is because all four home teams have been spending the last two weeks resting sore muscles, studying tape and practicing. Take the Patriots v. Broncos. While the Patriots starters have essentially had three weeks off, the Broncos are coming into New England on a short week. Only six days to prepare. Against three weeks? Who will be the more prepared team? Of course, the only positive is there is such a thing as over preparing.

This might be a good time to mention that my Superbowl pick this year was the Packers vs. Patriots. It should also be noted that I had no idea that Tim Tebow was going to be in the playoffs. I had the Broncos dead last in their division and the Chiefs going back to the playoffs. Great call there right? Who knew the Chiefs were going to suck so freaking bad? And who knew that Jesus would come down from the heavens, anoint Tim Tebow the savior of football, kick Merril Hodge in the balls and zip back up to the clouds? Football! Yearggh!

New Orleans at San Francisco
Saturday 4:30 PM ET – Line: +3.0
“Stop Gore and they won’t score,” opined @mbletsch at lunch the other day. There is a little more to the San Francisco offense than Frank Gore, but they need his legs to be chugging against the Saints front line in order to open up the passing game. But the Saints are no fools, rarely using an overload blitz against the run (as many teams seem to foolishly do these days) and shouldn’t have much problem defending the pass. The Niners don’t have a guy like Megatron, who still managed to scorch the Saints defensive backs last week. The Saints tore up the Lions like it was an arena football game, after giving them slight hope in the first half. The Niners will have to contain Sproles and push through to pressure Drew Brees. The Saints run such complex and unique passing routes, that Drew Brees needs as much time as possible to let the play develop. There is tons of misdirection and the key here is pressure, pressure, pressure. If the Niners and their top ranked defense fail to move Brees out of the pocket, they will fail to win this game. It’s that simple. The Lions failed to do this, they failed to properly cover receivers in the secondary and they failed to win. The key to a Saints victory is score fast and keep scoring, something they do well. Something the Niners do well is ground out the clock and games once they have a lead. The Saints have to avoid that from happening. This is my one away team pick though, as I’m sticking with the Saints to go to the NFC Championship game.

Denver at New England
Saturday 8:00 PM ET – Line: -13.5
I’m going to be honest here, I want the Broncos to win. I want them to overcome nearly a two touchdown line to beat the Patriots, in New England and go to the AFC Championship game. But I’ve already played the percentages. I picked the Saints to win, and that’s my one away team. This is a history making year though, so anything is possible. But is a Denver win possible? The Patriots rolled into Denver a few weeks back, and after letting the Broncos get an early lead, simply annihilated them on offense, making the Denver defense look the fool. There were a couple things happening in that game that are different now. First off, John Fox finally started calling in passing plays. Second, Tebow started completing passes on passing plays. Of course, the Patriots are going to be watching tape from the Pittsburgh game and wondering how receivers got that open, and how Tebow got that accurate. But will they be looking for the pass, the run or the Tebow run? You can’t anticipate all three and I think John Fox and crew, with absolutely nothing to lose, will have some serious surprises in store for the Patriots and their bottom ranked defense. Remember, the Steelers had the number one ranked defense, and the Broncos torched them through the air. Maybe because they didn’t see it coming, whatever. It’s not going to matter against the Patriots, they have a terrible defense. This game will be won or lost by the Denver defense. It’s not about containing the run, it’s about guessing if the ball is going to Welker, Hernandez or Gronkowski. Double teaming a tight end is out of the question. So what’s the key? Get. Tom. Brady. Sack his pretty ass. For finesse QB’s like Brady, everything is about timing. Throw off his timing, throw off his game. We’ll see if the Broncos can accomplish this. Either way, as much as I want the Broncos to win, I don’t think they’ll be able to keep up with the score. I expect this game to be a lot closer than 14 points, but still picking the Patriots to win and make a lot of Tebow fans very, very sad. Merril Hodge will be happy though, but fuck Merril Hodge.

Houston at Baltimore
Sunday 1:00 PM ET – Line: -7.0
The worst team in the playoffs was proven to be the Bengals, as they completely rolled over for the Texans, who overpowered them on offense and on defense. The Bengals didn’t seem to be playing in the same league. It was the first match-up of rookie QB’s in a playoff game, and only the 3rd stringer prevailed. This week Yates takes his team into the very hostile Baltimore to go up a defense just as, if not stronger than his teams. Really, Flacco and Yates basically cancel themselves out. While not a rookie, Flacco still makes the same late game errors that rookies tend to make. Plus, the rushing game makes for a great storyline too. And that’s where the win is going to come from. Who can break the line and get the yards, Ray Rice or Arian Foster? I think it’s going to be Rice, based on the continued strength and pull of the Ravens offensive line. I think Foster will get plenty of carries and break off a couple good runs, but Rice is a very explosive player that also receives well in the flat. Since the defenses are so good, it’s going to come down to offense and it’s going to be the running game that seals the deal. This is a great match-up and should be a very exciting game to watch. Big defensive plays and great running. Statistics are statistics though, so I’m taking the Ravens to win.

New York at Green Bay
Sunday 4:30 PM ET – Line: -9.0
There are pundits talking about how the Giants beat the Packers in the playoffs on their way to a Superbowl. Most of those same Giants, especially on the defense, are still on this team. So after making short work of the Falcons (who are barely worth a mention at this point) the Giants roll into the hallowed field in the middle of the small town of Green Bay Wisconsin. I would love to think that the Giants really do stand a chance this year against the explosive offense of the Packers, but I really don’t think they do. At least not for 60 minutes. Look, while the Packers don’t have the best defense, they do have a playmaking defense. That’s enough to keep the game in their favor when they get ahead, or fall slightly behind. The keys to victory lie in the hands of the starting QB’s. Both Manning and Rodgers are kings of the two minute drill, with only Eli slipping up now and again with a late interception (see Seahawks loss.) I’m taking the Packers in this game not just because of statistics but because they will just score more points. Math wins at this point. Packers to win.

Related posts:

1. Digital Dads NFL Pre-Game: Divisional Smackdown
2. Digital Dads NFL Pre-Game: Championship Weekend
3. Digital Dads NFL Pre-Game: Wild-Card Weekend

"Hey Joe, see you next week. Maybe."

It’ll be interesting to see what happens. And consider this stat, the last three teams the Steelers have beaten in the Superbowl were the Cardinals, Seahawks and Rams. This year, they are in and the Niners are in. So are they fated to meet in the big game so the Steelers can sweep the NFC West? Another fun storyline. Only four games to pick this week, so let’s get this done.

Cincinnati at Houston
Saturday 4:30 PM ET – Line: -3.0
Once the Texans secured a playoff spot, they stopped winning. They also lost another QB to injury. So now they are down to Jake Delhomme, who I don’t put a lot of confidence in. Hell, who wants to put anything into a one time starter who is now the 4th string QB? Hopefully Yates will be back in the game, as his injury wasn’t as severe as the Matts. The Bengals are playing smart football right now, but were unable to beat teams with better defenses than them, namely the Ravens and the Steelers. While teams tend to play different (or better) in the playoffs, the Bengals have to really step it up to beat the Texans and their defense, who play with a similar attack as the Ravens. I’m taking the Bengals in this game though, because Andy Dalton has been quite impressive this season. Their offense has really clicked this year, and while they haven’t beaten tough defenses, they have the tools to do so. Based on the QB siutation in Houston, Bengals to win.

Detroit at New Orleans
Saturday 8:00 PM ET – Line: 11.0
My 11 year old pointed out that as dominant as the Saints have been since their Superbowl win, they still got beat in the playoffs last year by the Seahawks, who had won their division at 8-8 and played at the Saints in the dome. So the Lions, who have had a back and forth season now slide down to the dome to play the Saints, who have all the advantages. They set all kinds of offensive records this year, and the Lions, well, they got into the playoffs. That’s a huge win for them. The Saints have the offense, and the defense to get it done with little trouble. The problem is going to be if the defense of the Lions can play without penalty after penalty. I doubt they can, their agressiveness level will be at an all time high. I’m taking the Saints to win this game, just for the same reason I picked them last year. On paper they are the better team but as they showed last year, anything can happen. Saints at home.

Atlanta at NY Giants
Sunday 1:00 PM ET – Line: -3.0
I was reading something, I don’t remember what, that said Matt Ryan is not Drew Brees, not Tom Brady and not Eli Manning. That’s right, he’s not but he’s a damn accurate QB with the best running game in the playoffs. The Falcons will have a few surprises in store for the Giants in the ground game, but they’ll be up against the best part of the Giants, which is the front four. The offense struggles at times, as Cruz is good for the big play when he can get open, but that doesn’t happen as often as it should. The Giants have to attack quickly so the Falcons can’t ground out the clock on the ground. They need to force Ryan to the air as quickly as possible. For the Falcons, they need to hold the run game and push the Giants defense back for as long as possible. Tire them out and dry out the offence on the bench. I’m taking the Falcons to win here, just because of the running game.

Pittsburgh at Denver
Sunday 4:30 PM ET – Line: +9.0
The Broncos backed into the playoffs thanks to the Raiders completely sucking and getting beat by the Chargers. That’s all in the past now. The Broncos, finishing the season at an even 8-8 are hosting a playoff game this weekend, which begs for the argument that the playoffs should be a seeded system based on record for homefield advantage. The Steelers, at an impressive 12-4 have to play an away game for the Wild-Card. That’s bullshit right there. Either way, they roll into Denver and have all the advantages in this game. At one point seeming like a visionary, John Fox has coached Denver into three straight losses, making Tebow look like a terrible QB by abandoning the run too early, but then keeping all the passing short instead of just letting Tebow loose on the field. Teams have kind of figured out the read option, but if Denver brings the run back, then they have their advantage back. It won’t matter though, with James Harrison on the other side of the ball, Tebow is going to be scrambling a lot. I’d love to see Denver win this game, but they won’t. Maybe I shouldn’t put it that way. They might. If they watch some tape, and see the way Cleveland (not a playoff team or anywhere close) ground out the Steelers, they might have a chance. They have to run the ball and they have to let Tebow take chances. Even Elway wants Tebow to throw more. One of the reasons for three straight losses was ultra-conservative play calling. This is the playoffs, you are 8-8 and no one gave you a rats chance in hell of winning, take some fucking chances. Pittsburgh has struggled on the road this year, which gives Denver a chance at taking advantage. We’ll see. Pittsburgh to win.

Related posts:

1. Digital Dads NFL Pre-Game: Wild-Card Weekend
2. Digital Dads NFL Pre-Game: Championship Weekend
3. Digital Dads NFL Pre-Game: Divisional Round Madness

We write about a lot of topics here at Digital Dads, so we were very curious to run the numbers and see which or ouf posts were the most popular based purely on visits.

The variety of these cracks me up, but also highlights the reason for this site. Dads have lots of different interests in the world and we want to talk about them all.

You might have missed some, so enjoy.

Top Posts of 2011

Of course, seeing the variety in the top posts has me wondering what sort of topics would you like to see more of in 2012? Is there any topic we are completely missing that we should be writing about? Let us know!

No related posts.

The final Digital Dads Watch of 2011 has arrived. As always, we’ve got a variety of fun, interesting and entertaining videos that we’ve watched and enjoyed recently. Because it is the last one of the year we’ve got more than usual.

We hope you’ve enjoyed these all year and come back every Friday in 2012 to enjoy more of them.

Happy New Years!!!

001. Polaroid Z340 Instant Digital Camera: A “Blend” of Old and New

002. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Trailer

003. 1000 Days of Drawing

004. How To Be Black Book Trailer

005. Slow Motion Dogs in Cars

006. Downhill Extreme

007. A Monster Calls Book Trailer

008. DJ Earworm Mashup – United State of Pop 2011 (World Go Boom)

009. Hero

010. The Holstee Manifesto

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Watch your back Drew, here comes Brady

This week is all divisional and while some playoff teams have little to gain by winning, and some teams have nothing to lose, some teams are still fighting for a playoff spot. Now, no team WANTS to lose – ever. That’s proven by the 0-13 Colts now at 2-13 and most likely losing dibs on the first round first pick. The AFC West and NFC East are still undecided and up to four teams are in the running for the last wild card in the AFC. It’s a race to the finish in Week 17. Next week we’ll look at the playoffs, and take a look back at my season start predictions to see how wrong, or right, I was.

For this week though, sixteen games between now and the playoffs. There is no crapfest this week, there is no featured game, there is no upset special. Too many games have playoff implications and I totally forgot to make those selections before I wrote this lede. So there’s that. Alright, enough, how about some picks?

Detroit at Green Bay Line: +3.5
Detroit is in. Green Bay is in. Neither of these teams have anything to play for so I guarantee you that they’ll be resting starters. It’ll be like a preseason game. And if I was Green Bay, I wouldn’t play Rodgers at all for risk of injury against a notoriously violent and highly penalized Detroit team. They can’t risk that at all, and I’m not saying they’ll intentionally be gunning for Rodgers, but they will. Either way, the defense won’t be resting much. Packers to win at home on their way to a two week break before the divisional match-ups.

San Francisco at St. Louis Line: +10.5
The Niners have not yet sealed up a first round bye advantage in the playoffs, a win here and a New Orleans loss would do that, I think. I’m not sure who would hold the tiebreaker here. Either way, the Niners don’t even have to put an offense on the field to win against the Rams, they can just play straight defense and the Rams terrible offense should give up the ball enough for the Niners to score. I think that line is a bit generous, but Niners to win on the road.

NY Jets at Miami Line: -1.0
I’m really looking forward to this game. After losing to the Giants, Rex Ryan still had the audacity to pick a verbal fight with Brandon Jacobs, then still predict his team would make the playoffs and win the Superbowl. He’s out of his fucking mind. I’m looking for the Dolphins to put the Jets out of their misery and push them out of playoff contention. This is going to be a good back and forth game, with big plays being made on the defensive side of the ball. Look for Miami to jump the Jets and smack them down. Miami to win at home.

Chicago at Minnesota Line: -0.0
The Bears season has turned into quite a farce, while the Vikings season was one to begin with. Now, with Adrian Peterson out with a torn ACL and MCL, their future is in question. No doubt they’ll be drafting a running back high in the draft. Meanwhile, the Bears have not won since Cutler went down and we can all blame Martz for that. Martz should be fired at the end of the year for his inability to adapt to a new quarterback and inability to switch up the offense. He’s a great coordinator, but he messed up here letting his ego get in the way of running the offense based on the skills of the QB. The Vikings will win this week, just cause of Webb being able to run around like a mad chicken. Vikings at home.

Buffalo at New England Line: -11.5
The Patriots have sealed up everything playoff related besides home field advantage. They don’t need to win, but they need Baltimore to lose in that case. But let’s be honest here. Brady is 190 passing yards behind Drew Brees for the passing record, and while he’ll be hard pressed to surpass him, you know damn well that Bellichick will keep him in the game as long as possible to beat Brees to get the record at the end of the season. The Bills, while looking impressive against Denver, are not that great of a team sadly. They had a lot of potential, so what happened? I have no idea really, besides the new contract for Fitz. So, Patriots to win at home.

Carolina at New Orleans Line: -9.0
Same deal as the Niners game here, with a little twist. The Saints are looking for a first round bye and they need to win to do that. Also, Brees has surpassed Marino for the passing record, and I expect him to play nearly a full game here to put a bit of padding into that record. Plus, Payton is the type of coach that would keep his starters in the game, risking injury to pad that record, since he’d be the coach of record when that record was set. The Panthers have had a positive season. First off, Cam Newton is a superstar, and he set the record for most rushing TD’s by a QB. Second, they didn’t finish last. They will be finishing ahead of the Buccaneers, which is positive. However, Saints to win at home.

Washington at Philadelphia Line: -9.5
Since it’s impossible that both the Giants and Cowboys will lose this week (they play each other) the Eagles won’t be making the playoffs. Thank Odin. However, they did throw a wrench into things last week with their win over the Cowboys. So now they get to finish the season at home against the Redskins, a team that once again failed to find an identity and didn’t amount to anything. The Eagles are going to finish 8-8, but considering the talent on this team, and the money spent that’s like the Yankees finishing dead last behind the Orioles. Eagles fans have got to be disappointed. Is it worth firing Andy Reid over? No. Unless he does it again next year. Eagles at home.

Indianapolis at Jacksonville Line: -3.5
The Colts, with two wins have only this game to lose before getting beat to the number one pick in the draft. Can they do it? Can they lose on the road to the Jaguars? Like I said, no team wants to lose, and Orlofsky certainly doesn’t want to lose, as he’s now won two straight. Last week’s win against the Texans was epic and a great thing to add to his resume if he wants a starting job somewhere next year. I’m sure KC, Arizona and a few others will be looking. So the Jags only bright spot this season has been the running of Maurice Jones-Drew. Gabbart was horrendous to watch, the kid was just not ready. Hopefully he gets a veteran to study under before getting another shot. Anyway, I’m taking the Colts to win, which should make the draft interesting. Will they trade up for Luck? Colts on the road.

Tennessee at Houston Line: +1.5
Houston has a hard road ahead of them, thanks to some less than stellar play since they clinched the playoffs. A couple of losses later, and now they are going in without a bye or home-field advantage. Hopefully Wade Phillips is back this week because some of the defensive decisions the past two weeks were terrible and they’ll need him for the playoffs. They can take a loss here and nothing will change. Except for their record. They made the playoffs for the first time in team history, let’s finish on a high note. Of course, they don’t have any back-ups sitting around in case Yates gets hurt. The Titans season has been forgettable to say the least. Chris Johnson took 2/3 of the season to apparently bathe in his millions of dollars due to the new contract before he decided to start earning it. I think the lack of an offseason really hurt the offensive line of the Titans. However, a Titans win with Denver, Oakland and Jets losing does mean playoffs – so there’s that. Cross your fingers Titans fans, it’s gonna be interesting. Titans to win.

Tampa Bay at Atlanta Line: -12.0
The Bucs are a joke this year, which is sad because as a non-Bucs fan living in Tampa I actually picked them to go to the playoffs. Whatever. The Falcons are pissed cause Brees stayed in the game last week, which sounds like hapless whining to me and should piss off the Football Gods. If you can’t beat the Saints now what makes us think you can beat anyone in the first round of the playoffs? Atlanta is in and really can’t improve their position so they’ll be resting starters. Doesn’t matter, the Bucs have given up for sure. Falcons to win at home.

Baltimore at Cincinnati Line: +3.0
The Ravens and Steelers are tied atop the division right now, winner gets the division and they both are already going to the playoffs. Clearly, this scenario favors the Steelers as they have the Browns, whereas the Ravens have the Bengals, who they’ve already beaten once this year. The Bengals, so close to being dominant were unable to beat the Ravens or the Steelers this year and need a win here to get into the playoffs. Well, a loss might do it – but everyone else would have to lose too. Sadly, I don’t think that the Bengals will be able to beat the Ravens this year. They just aren’t there yet. The defensive pressure is too much for Dalton at this point. He does tend to make good decisions when under pressure, so that helps. But I’m taking the Ravens to win. The AFC Wild-Card is still up for grabs.

Pittsburgh at Cleveland Line: -0.0
I looked twice, that line seemed to be for real. Even though the Steelers absolutely have to win to get the division and not a wild-card spot. Even with a Ravens loss and a Steelers loss, the Ravens hold the tiebreaker over the Steelers since they beat them twice this year. The Browns have had a disappointing season to say the least, always finding a way to lose late in the game rather than a way to win. They blew their chance against the Ravens last week when they were drawn offsides on a 4th and 2 with two minutes left in the game, essentially handing the Ravens the win. Pathetic. I’m not counting them out against the Steelers, I just can’t pick them. Ah hell, Browns to magically win at home, but just cause Ben will probably still be out or at least only take half the snaps.

Kansas City at Denver Line: -3.5
Like I said in the open, the clocks stopped on Tebow Time last week. For some reason Fox abandoned the read option midway through the game and let the Bills defensive backs settle into their own read option, reading where Tebow was being forced to throw the ball. So the Chiefs come into town, and look at that – it’s Kyle Orton, formerly traded from the the Bears to the Broncos then waived earlier this year in favor of Tebow. Will Orton get his revenge on the team that cast him out and cast them out of the playoffs? A Denver loss and Oakland win will do just that. The only chance Denver has is to win. The Chiefs are going to make that tough, but I think the Broncos get a lead early and keep it. Broncos at home.

San Diego at Oakland Line: -3.0
The Chargers, who took a serious beating last week at the hands of the Lions, look to finish their season on a high note by playing spoiler for the Raiders. The Raiders need to win and hope the Broncos lose in order to make the playoffs, which is a tough scenario for a team that had so much promise in the first half of the season. Plagued by injuries and penalties they were unable to overcome but still have a chance. Last week one of the things I guaranteed happens in December didn’t happen, well, neither of them happened, but relevant to this – Rivers lost. Do I think he loses again in the month of December? Nope. Because football is on Sunday, which is the 1st of January. I’m taking the Chargers to win and send the Broncos to the playoffs.

Seattle at Arizona Line: -3.0
The Cardinals season fell short, the Seahawks season fell short. I guess 7-9 wasn’t going to do it this year (as it did last year.) So now both these teams are out and this game is just for shits and giggles. It is the difference between a losing and winning season though, so they’ll be out there, playing hard or whatever. Who cares? I can’t find myself every caring about these teams. Um, Seahawks to win.

Dallas at NY Giants Line: -2.5
This game is awesome. I love that it’s the last game of the season, I love that neither of these half ass teams have made the playoffs yet and it comes down to this. I love that Romo has a hurt hand. I love that Eli can look amazing one week, then throw four interceptions the next. I love that the Eagles dominated both these teams yet will not win the division or get into the playoffs. Two weeks ago (I think) I predicted that the Giants would beat the Cowboys in Dallas (they did) and the Cowboys will win in New York. So, Cowboys to win.

Related posts:

1. Digital Dads NFL Pre-Game: Week 14
2. Digital Dads NFL Pre-Game: Week 16
3. Digital Dads NFL Pre-Game: Week 15

As an example, her family exchanged all of their Christmas presents on Christmas eve, whereas my family exchanged ours on Christmas morning. Before we had kids it really didn’t matter to either of us where or when gifts were exchanged, but we decided to take things from both of our experiences and mix them into one once our son was born.

For the last few years we’ve opened one present on Christmas eve and finished our evening with a little bunte teller (a “colorful plate” of fruit, nuts and candy). This left the whole Santa routine and the rest of the present giving for Christmas morning. It has been a good compromise and gives the kids something they will hopefully reflect on fondly when they are older and have their own families.

This year our son is very much into the Christmas spirit and loves to help out in the kitchen, so it was time to introduce him to some other traditions like making holiday cookies. My wife’s mother makes a whole range of traditional German holiday cookies and since we won’t be seeing them this year my wife set out to make one of our favorites, vanilla kipferl, for the first time.

After she had finished a small test batch she asked me if there were any particular holiday cookies that I grew up with that we should make so we could share them with our kids as well. It had been a very long time, nearly two decades to be more specific, since I’d had my mother’s holiday cookies, but I distinctly remembered a lemon scented sugar cookie that she would make for nearly every holiday.

Not long after that conversation I asked my mom if she still had her recipe, which turned out to be nothing more than a basic sugar cookie dough where she exchanged the vanilla extract for a combination of lemon and orange extract. Also, she would roll the dough out a little thicker than normal so they would stay softer after they had been baked. As luck would have it she was able to find the big bag of cookie cut outs she used to use.

Not having a sugar cookie recipe that I’d used before, I went to one of my favorite baking blogs and found a soft sugar cookie recipe that sounded perfect. We swapped out the extract flavors as my mother had done, but then we went in a slightly different direction.

When my wife was younger she and her sister would paint some of the cookies that her mother would make during the holidays with a mixture of milk and confectionery sugar. In an effort to meld our respective traditions, my wife made up a few small batches of this “paint” in white, green and red. We also happened to have two small jars of colored sugar that we thought would be a fun final touch.

Our son had an absolute blast painting the cookies he helped his Mama make. When they were finished he proudly walked away from the table a sticky green mess.

As fondly as my wife and I remember the Christmas cookies our of youth, I’m pretty sure we will never forget the first time our son made his soon to be famous triple sugar Christmas cookies.

Do you have any Christmas baking traditions that you’ve shared with your children?

Related posts:

1. Gingernog Tres Leches Cake
2. Foodie Holiday Gift Guide
3. Hot Holiday Toys

"Hey buddy. Hey buddy. IHOP after the game? You know it."

Sigh. Last week was terrible, for pretty much everyone I think. Who saw all those upsets coming? I went 7-9, which I suppose is respectable. I mean, the Seahawks made the playoffs last year with the same record. There were so many upsets last week, I mean – the Packers? Who could have seen that coming. Either way, it’s a new week and I really need to make up some ground if I want a cushy new job at CBS Sports or ESPN. Which I’ll never get only going 63% on the year. Well, that’s still better than most analysts.

So the playoff picture is really fucked up this year. I mean, you have your division winners with the AFC West still mathematically up for grabs, and you have a giant battle on both sides for the wild-card with about thirty billion different scenarios. It should be an interesting week of football. Don’t forget, games are on Saturday this week, not Sunday because of your Christian god and Santa and what not. Also, no one gives a shit about the NBA. On with the picks!

Featured Game

New York at NY Jets Line: -3.0
This game, as Rex Ryan seems to think, is going to be war. The Giants looked like shit last week as Eli threw three interceptions and the defense rolled over like bitches to the Redskins. The Giants seemed to defer the division to the Cowboys with relative ease. Same for the Jets, who kept the Eagles hopes alive by playing like absolute shit. So what happened to the New York teams? They both get a home game here, so there should be some fights in the crowd for sure. They both have QB’s on the cusp of greatness, though Eli obviously is the better QB most days. Both of them tend to make horrible decisions under pressure, but only one of them has the two minute drill down pat, and that’s Eli. I think the Jets will go up early, only to lose late. The Giants have to win this game if they want to have a chance at the playoffs, and win next week, and hope the Cowboys lose. Giants to win.

Tailgate City (The Rest)

Houston at Indianapolis Line: +6.0
Wade Phillips needs to ask for a huge raise. These two teams have shown how important one man can be to a whole team, to a season. However, only one has locked up the playoffs for the first time in their existence, and that would be the Texans. A week after sealing the deal and without Wade Phillips coaching the defense, the Texans suffered a huge upset at the hands of the Panthers, just rolling over on the defensive side of the ball. The fans were booing in Texas (they made it to the playoffs – shut the fuck up!) This week, going in to face the one win Colts (on a precarious ledge between winning too many games and losing enough to secure the 1st pick in the draft) they shouldn’t have any issues. The Colts offense doesn’t have the running attack like the Panthers. The Colts need to lose anyway. They don’t want to I’m sure. But they have one win and the Rams and Vikings each have two. So, they need to stay at one to get “Luck”y. Texans to win on the road.

Denver at Buffalo Line: +3.0
Here’s my analysis of the Denver vs New England game. The Denver defense, stout coming into the game, clearly fell apart in the second half. How do you not cover the best receiving tight end in the league with double coverage? They did a good job of rushing Brady in the first half, then gave it up in the second. And when Bellichick declined that penalty to give the Broncos 4th and one, knowing that Fox would take the safe three points, I knew it was going to be over for the Broncos. The Broncos are the number one rushing team in the league and are you telling me they couldn’t push it one fucking yard? The haters came out immediately blaming Tebow, but he did what he could (save for the late game 30 yard sack) considering his offensive line play was terrible, even against a three man rush. The Broncos were outcoached, and that’s on Fox and the defense. Moving on, they are still leading the division and a win in Buffalo will secure that playoff spot for them as division winners. Buffalo is on a six game skid and it keeps getting worse. A snow game last week in which they usually win, they didn’t. They are terrible right now, and I expect that to continue. Time to rebuild – again. Denver to win on the road.

Arizona at Cincinnati Line: -4.5
A lot of teams, especially in the NFC are still in the “hunt” for the playoffs – at least statistically. The Cardinals being a prime example. If they win out, and every one around them loses, they could be hitting a wild-card spot. But a lot of pieces need to fall into place. This team is not to be counted out, as the Browns learned last week. But that was the Browns, who are coached idiotically. Do not punt directly to the hottest punt return man in the league! The Bengals are unfortunately going to be shut out of the playoffs, sucks for them after their hot start. Dalton has matured into quite the starting QB and shouldn’t have much trouble at home picking apart the Cardinals secondary. The question is, can the Bengals secondary cover Fitzgerald? Bengals to win, barely.

Jacksonville at Tennessee Line: -9.5 UPSET SPECIAL!!
Well, if the Titans have achieved anything this year it was handing the Colts their first (and possibly only) win of the season. Good on them. Someone needed to. It was getting depressing. The Titans looked lethargic at best, apparently they forgot at that point they still had a shot at the playoffs, not anymore. The good news is, we won’t have to see Hasselbeck limping around the field as they are sure to give Locker some playing time. The Jags, well, they had a forgettable season even though MJD had a great year. I’d look for him to rack up some yards in this game, as the Titans run defense has totally fallen apart late in the season. I’m taking the Jags to win, just because they have absolutely nothing to lose and seem to be on again/off again and this should be an on week. Jags on the road.

Oakland at Kansas City Line: -1.0
Mathematically, and pending a Denver loss (which hopefully won’t happen) both these teams are still in the running for a playoff spot. While the Raiders are on a clear slide, the Chiefs beat the Packers. They did it with defense and Romeo Crennel should get coach of the year for that shit. Or at least a full time job. Either way, the Chiefs aren’t the best offensive team, but the Raiders aren’t either. In fact, the only thing the Raiders are good at lately are committing penalties. I’m looking for this game to be no different and the outcome to be determined on penalties and turnovers. Flip a coin. I’m taking the Chiefs at home.

Miami at New England Line: -10.5
No surprise that Miami swept the Bills this year, and no surprise that the Patriots beat the Broncos proper right? Even though I picked the Broncos, but it still wasn’t surprising. As well as Miami is playing right now, and as much as I’d love to pick an upset here it’s not going to happen. Brady and team are setting all kinds of records offensively and should continue against the inconsistent Miami defense. I see no reason why this won’t be a high scoring game though, so look for some fun touchdowns and for Miami to stay in the game through at least three quarters. Patriots to win at home.

St. Louis at Pittsburgh Line: -16.0
For some reason, the Rams beating the Saints is still somewhere in our minds and that should give hope to Rams fans, but it doesn’t. They are terrible from front to back and this week should be no different. The pressure from the Steelers defense will be unbearable for the offense. While the Steelers got whipped in San Francisco, that was clearly a superior defensive team. Too bad they won’t meet in the playoffs. Steelers to win easy at home.

Minnesota at Washington Line: -6.5
The Redskins should be happy with themselves. While still having no shot at a division they have no general business being in (cause they suck and there should be a division for teams like this so they can wallow in their suckiness) they sure did muck up the Giants chances last week. Of course, they were assisted by Eli Manning throwing them the ball plenty of times. I think they win again this week against a Vikings team that has struggled to get anything going this year, getting blown out last week against the Saints. They have hope though, as Ponder and Webb make a good one-two combo at QB. Now, if only one of them was good enough to win a game. Redskins to win at home.

Tampa Bay at Carolina Line: -7.5
The Bucs are terrible. There was a report on the radio that the GM calls down plays to Rahim Morris during the game. What kind of undermining bullshit is that? No wonder they can’t get anything done on the field. They are a disappointment to the league and to the city of Tampa. They may as well switch their jerseys back to the old creamsicles and call it a day. Panthers to win in dominant fashion.

Cleveland at Baltimore Line: -13.0
Someone at work said they had a hard time making this pick because of the way the Ravens played last week against the Chargers. I said are you kidding me? Look at the way the Browns have played all season long! They constantly find ways to lose games, most recently kicking to the best punt returner in the league this year. Morons. Colt is out and Seneca is in, and that shouldn’t give Browns fans anything to hope for at this moment. Meanwhile, the Ravens with Ray Lewis back are losing again. I wonder if he’s shoving aside defensive linemen to try and make every play himself, because whatever he’s doing, it ain’t helping. The Ravens need a big win and this one should be big. Ravens at home.

San Diego at Detroit Line: -3.0
There are two things that are certain in December. One, is that it’s the holidays and you’ll be getting tons of holiday cheer and your once a year Christmas blow job. The second, is that Philip Rivers is nearly unstoppable in December. He continued his tear last weak, beating the Ravens in glorious fashion, making Norv Turner actually look good for once. I think that the Chargers roll into Detroit and pull off another big win, really throwing a wrench into the possibility of the Lions making the playoffs. Chargers to win.

Philadelphia at Dallas Line: -3.0
Let’s see, as much as I want the Eagles to be out of the playoff conversation, this division sucks just enough for them to still be in it. Their only shot is if both the Cowboys and the Giants drop their next two, and the Eagles win their next two. The Eagles hold the tiebreaker, at 3-1 in the division currently. They roll in to Dallas this week, then they get Washington at home next week. So can the “dream team” do it or is their nightmare season finally coming to an end in Dallas? Some pundits have said Romo has had a career season, I say he’s overrated and generally shit, yet, he’s currently helming a division leading team and slaughtered a very crappy Bucs team last week. Dallas making the playoffs seemed the most likely scenario but man, the Eagles have finally got their shit together and are looking like the dream team we were promised. The Cowboys defense has really not played up to expectations and they really need to be on this game. I predicted the Cowboys would win the division, and picking the Eagles here would bounce that prediction unless the Eagles were to lose to Washington next week. The Eagles are playing too good right now, Eagles to win on the road and totally muck up the division.

San Francisco at Seattle Line: +1.5
This is the thought in the Seahawks locker room. If Atlanta, Detroit, Arizona & Chicago don’t win any more games, and the Hawks win their last two they could make the playoffs. Here’s reality, they won’t get past the Niners. Not on a good day. While they went to town on the Bears last week, the Niners are not the Bears and are lights out on defense. Did you see how they beat the Steelers? Defensive pressure. The Niners still have something to play for, and that’s a first round bye. It’s between them and the Saints for that. Of course, the Saints haven’t even technically won their division yet. They will. The Niners should dominate in this game and put the Seahawks out of their misery.

Chicago at Green Bay Line: -13.0
It’s amazing that with Cutler out this long that Martz hasn’t made any adjustments in the offensive game plan to make it any easier for Caleb Hanie. That’s why the Bears haven’t won at all since Cutler has been out, the game is too complicated at this point for Hanie and the Bears have thrown away a once promising season. Sad for Bears fans, good for Packers fans as they should hope for an easy win in this one. But wait, the KC defense stepped up and showed other teams how to beat the Packers – get after Rodgers like your life depends on it. Duh. At the same time, it exposed holes in the Green Bay offensive line and they’ve had a week to fix them. I don’t think the KC win will do anything to help other teams against a normally unstoppable Green Bay offense, but it does kind of bring them down to Earth. Green Bay to win at home.

Atlanta at New Orleans Line: -7.0
Atlanta is pretty much in the playoffs, pending disaster. They have no chance at the division (well, they do but the Saints would have to lose two in a row which ain’t gonna happen,) but the Saints want that delicious home field advantage. So the Saints are going to come out firing in this one. If they get a big lead, will they rest Drew Brees and prevent him from breaking Marino’s record? I doubt it. That’s just not the way Sean Peyton coaches this team. This should be a nice back and forth game, another good Monday night match-up worth watching. The Falcons though, while they can suffer a loss and still be in a good position for the playoffs could stand to get another win just to be sure. Of course, for them to get knocked out of the playoffs a lot of other shit around the NFC has to go down, which is possible based on the match-ups this week. I’m sticking with the Saints though, who are actually looking better than the Packers.

Related posts:

1. Digital Dads NFL Pre-Game: Week 14
2. Digital Dads NFL Pre-Game: Week 17
3. Digital Dads NFL Pre-Game: Week 10

When I first got pitched the idea of taking part in an influencer program with Nissan around their Quest, my first reaction was, “why in the world would I want to test a minivan?”

Actually, if I’m going to be completely truthful I had no idea what a Nissan Quest was. I thought it was a mini SUV for some reason, but my wife told me she thought it was their minivan. As usual, she was right.

Whenever I get a pitch like this I always politely reply that I’m “not a car guy” because I’m not. I love trying out new cars, but I can’t talk about the horsepower or anything like that with any level of knowledge because I don’t know or care about those sorts of things.

But, what I do care about is how comfortable a car fits my family (Roxie our dog included), is it safe and how well does it get us to where we are trying to go. I’m also a fan of a killer sound system, navigation and other safety features.

After I told them this, they still wanted me involved. With it being the holiday season, I still wasn’t sure though. Then they mentioned that in return for taking part in a Twitter Chat and sharing my thoughts on the car they’d  make a donation to the charity of my choice. That was an offer I couldn’t refuse!

So, tonight they are holding the #HolidayQuest Twitter Party and you are all invited.

I’ll be there along with the other parents taking part in this program. They will also be randomly selecting from people who participate to win gift cards. Who doesn’t want some free cash during the holidays?

I’ve got the Quest for two weeks and plan on using it instead of our main car to do everything we’d normally do. When it is done I’ll share my thoughts. First impressions are that I love the dual sunroofs, but I’m still not a minivan guy.

Also, if you are curious, the charity I’m donating to is Fisher House which I’m a big supporter of. Think of them as the Ronald McDonald House for the families of wounded soldiers.

Disclosure : http://cmp.ly/1/jfVEST

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Over the last several years I’ve done a classic braciole, made a vat of meatballs and even just tossed a standing rib roast in the oven because it didn’t require much of my attention. Roasts are always a great idea because they can feed a lot of people for a reasonable price and because they make fantastic sandwiches the next day.

With money being a little tight this year I decided that I would look into a pork roast rather than beef to save a little money. Besides, I’ve always wanted to make a porchetta and thought this would be a great time to give it a try.

Classically, a porchetta is a when an entire pig is deboned, broken down and various parts are ground and seasoned before being stuffed back in and getting rolled up. The process of butchering and rolling an entire pig was definitely not in the cards for me, plus I’m not feeding the third regiment.

In doing my research for my latest culinary experiment I came across recipes by both Mario Batali and Michael Symon. Drawing inspiration from both I went to work assembling my own porchetta style pork loin roast. I made a small batch of homemade sausage from some pork shoulder and a paste out of garlic and herbs to give the filling several different flavor dimensions. After rolling up the pork loin I gave it a light brushing of olive oil before wrapping it all in some thinly sliced pancetta and tying it up with butcher’s twine to ensure a solid presentation.

Since there was a lot going on with the porchetta style pork loin roast I kept the accompaniments simple by roasting some potatoes in a cast iron skillet until nice and crispy. Then I sauteed some mini cippolini onions in an agrodolce sauce, which is essentially the Italian version of a gastrique where you combine a sour element (in this case, balsamic vinegar) with something sweet (cane sugar) to produce a syrup like sauce.

From concept to execution this is recipe is definitely a keeper and will be gracing my family’s holiday table this year. The combination of the crunchy saltiness from the pancetta crust, the heat from the homemade sausage filling and the sweet from the cippolini onions was a well balanced bite.

If you’re looking to mix up your holiday roast routine, then, with all apologizes to Geddy Lee, I hope you’ll consider giving my brilliant red porchetta a shot.

Porchetta Style Pork Loin Roast

recipe adapted from Mario Batali and Michael Symon

Software

• 4 to 5 pound pork loin roast trimmed and roll cut (butterflied)
• 2# pork shoulder, ground fine
• 1 tsp fennel pollen
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup onion, finely diced
• 1/4 cup fennel, finely diced
• 1/4 cup leeks, finely sliced
• 6 to 8 cloves, garlic
• 4 to 5 sprigs rosemary
• 3/4 cup parsley
• 6 to 8 leaves sage
• olive oil (just enough to make a wet paste)
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
• 2 to 3 eggs
• 1 to 2 cups day old bread, diced
• 1/2 pound pancetta sliced thinly
• Butchers twine

Assemblage

1. Grind the pork shoulder using a fine plate, season with the fennel pollen, crushed red pepper, salt and ground black pepper, then refrigerate
2. Saute the onion, fennel and leeks in a pan with olive oil, then add the seasoned ground pork shoulder
3. When the pork is fully browned set it aside and allow it to cool
4. Combine the garlic cloves, rosemary, sage leaves, parsley, fennel seeds, a pinch of salt and black pepper in a food processor and pulse until combined
5. Slowly drizzle in enough olive oil to bring the herb mixture together into a moist paste, then set aside
6. Add the eggs and diced bread to the cooked pork mixture and fold in to combine (you may need more, you may need less; once the stuffing comes together and starts sticking together you should be good to go)
7. Line a cutting board with plastic wrap, place the roll cut pork loin on top and lightly score the inside with a knife, then spread the garlic and herb paste liberally on the entire surface
8. Continue by spreading the sausage stuffing mix, leaving about an inch around all edges to avoid loss when you roll it up
9. Using the plastic wrap for leverage, roll the pork loin like a jelly roll and set aside
10. Spread out a layer of parchment paper and stagger slices of pancetta across the entire sheet, making sure it is wide enough to wrap the stuffed pork loin
11. Lay the pork loin at one end of the sheet of pancetta, rub the loin roll very lightly with olive oil to help the pancetta stick and, using the parchment paper for leverage, roll until the pork loin is completely wrapped
12. Using butchers twine tie the pork loin together so that it keeps it shape
13. Place the pork loin in a roasting pan in a 375 degree oven and roast until it reaches an internal temperature of 140 degrees
14. Allow the roast to rest 10 to 15 minutes after you remove it from the oven, then slice and serve
15. Garnish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a squirt of fresh lemon

Cippolini Onions in an Agrodolce Sauce

Software

• 1 package mini cippolini onions
• Olive oil
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon cane sugar

Assemblage

1. Cut both ends off the onions and remove the paper skin layer off of the onions
2. Bring a saucepan of water to boil and poach the onions for four to five minutes
3. Heat a splash of olive oil and the butter in a saute pan
4. Drain the onions, coarsely chop (or leave whole, if desired) and place in the pan with the oil and butter
5. Season onions with salt and pepper and cook for two to three minutes
6. Drizzle the balsamic vinegar in the pan and allow it to cook down slightly, then add the sugar
7. The onions are done when the balsamic becomes syrupy

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1. Chocolate and Chili Peppers
2. Braciole di Pollo
3. Digital Dads in the Kitchen: Moroccan Chicken