1. I love making this recipe –
In England this is called Toad in a Hole though I haven’t exactly been able to figure out the origin of the name. The “in-the-hole” part seems easy/obvious enough to explain. The toad part is what is eluding me. What I have found out so far is that back in days when meat was scarce and expensive, household cooks would stretch out their beef, kidney, pork or other animal-derived victuals by cooking them into a pudding (that is how Yorkshire pudding came to be) or other dish made from less expensive ingredients. Often times this was done my hollowing out the center, most often a loaf of bread, and filling that with the more expensive ingredients.
Nowadays people will generally use a slice of bread, so this Toad-in-the-Bagel-Hole is a slight variation on what you will usually find in the UK. The only explanation I saw regarding the ‘toad’ part is that in the traditional toad-in-a-hole, the egg can sometimes look like the head of a toad popping out of a hole in the ground. Yeah, I don’t buy that one at all!
2. This method of storing sweaters is BRILLIANT! – How to Hang Sweaters So They Don’t Take Up Your Entire Closet.
And here’s another method that is equally clever (I am using both because each one works a little better for different types of sweaters)….
3. This video on why Daylight Saving is a bunch of hooey!
4. PICARD! I was gleeful when I first read that Patrick Stewart was returning as Jean-Luc Picard. I was a huge Star Trek: the Next Generation fan but I was a fan of his even before the show (that voice, he stands out in every roll he plays and since I am a fan of historical films, well, I got to see him in a few – I, Claudius, Excalibur, and one of my favorites, Lady Jane.)
I was NOT disappointed, first episode of Picard gave me goosebumps. Unfortunately in the US you have to subscribe to CBS Access if you want to see it without waiting for it to show up on Amazon Prime (it’s showing on Amazon Prime everywhere else in the world so I assume that after the first season they will move it over to Prime.) I have been resisting getting CBS Access out of principle but man, I cannot resist Patrick Stewart.
5. Last, but definitely not least, THIS ARTICLE about a man who, after being sentenced to 17 years in prison for having shot a former marine, is nearing completion of a Master’s Degree program. The man, Brandon Brown, has been participating in the University of Maine at Augusta prison college program. He received approval to do his thesis on research about his fellow inmates because he has come to realize that education and restorative justice are things he is extremely interested in and is passionate about. It’s a wonderfully hopeful article and I think it is evidence that education could and would help reduce the incarceration numbers in our country.
Thanks to my sister-in-law for originally posting this article! xoxoxo