It’s my personal belief that the best things in the world . . . occur in bed.  That’s why I find THIS so incredibly disturbing . . .

According to researchers at the Long Island College Hospital in New York:

#1.)  The average bed contains 10 MILLION microscopic allergen particles . . . including cat and dog dander, pollen, fungal and mold spores, and DUST MITE DROPPINGS.

#2.)  Disgusting allergen particles . . . like those I’ve already mentioned . . . make up 10% of the average pillow’s weight.

#3.)  An average mattress DOUBLES in weight every TEN YEARS . . . because of all the nasty allergens that accumulate inside it.

So what have we learned here?  Every night when you go to sleep, you’re wallowing in pounds of nasty mold and mite droppings.  And unless you’ve got a few hundred dollars to spend on protective bedding . . . there’s nothing you can do about it.  I don’t know about you but I can’t wait to go to bed tonight!

Five ingredients and dinner in 30 minutes! You can do it and not just once or with the same ingredients. Planning around 1 ingredient and creating recipes or meals that make it relaxing to be in your kitchen. Food nourishes our bodies to give us energy to perform every day, what’s your fuel solution?

For starters-how about chicken (main ingredient) tossed with grape tomatoes, baby spinach, yellow squash and bow tie pasta?

INGREDIENTS:

• 1pc 6-8oz chicken breast (boneless)
• 1/2 cup grape tomatoes cut in half
• 1 1/2 cup fresh baby spinach, rinsed in cold water
• 1/2 cup yellow squash, cut on a bias
• 1 1/2 cups bow tie pasta or your favorite

(serves 2)

PROCEDURE:

1. Boil 4 cups water and add pasta, reduce heat to medium and stir. Cook for 8 minutes, for dry pasta.
2. While the pasta is cooking, Season chicken breast with salt and pepper, heat a fry pan, and add 1tsp. olive oil. When the pan is hot add the chicken and cook for 3 ½ minutes. Turn the breast over and cook an additional for 3 ½ minutes. Remove breast to a cutting board and set aside to cool.
3. In the same pan as the chicken breast, add the grape tomato and yellow squash sauté for 2 minutes.
4. Test to make sure the pasta is cooked and drain most of the liquid in a small colander, reserving ¼ cup of the pasta water. Toss the water into the vegetables and add the spinach. Season with salt and pepper. Cover the pan and reduce the temp to low. Slice the chicken breast in thin strips and add to the vegetable mix. Toss to combine.
5. Then add all or a portion of the pasta to the pan, season and toss to combine. The spinach should be bright green and your vegetables tender. The tomatoes melt through the dish and the colors look great.

Garnish with either a blue, feta or parmesan cheese if you desire. (But that’s six ingredients)

I can’t imagine even the novice kitchen enthusiast having a challenge with this recipe. I have found once you make a recipe 2-3 times you get better at it and begin to explore other options.

You should always have 4-5 recipes that you feel really comfortable composing, if you ever get in a jam. The key is to prep and clean as you go so cooking becomes more of a relaxing but essential part of creating something good to eat.

Or

Try Sautéed pork medallions (main ingredient) with a carrot, pepper, onion and steamed rice blend.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 PORK TENDERLOIN cut into 1oz medallions (6-8 pcs) – plus 1Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil for cooking
• 1/2 cup 1/4 inch chopped carrots (1 med. carrot)
• 1/2 cup 1/4 inch chopped sweet onion (1/2 of onion)
• 1/2 cup white rice-plus 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 cup red or green pepper 1/2 inch (1/2 of pepper)

(serves 2)

PROCEDURE:

1. In a small 2qt. sauce pan on medium heat cook the onion for 2 minutes, add the carrots and stir frequently, cook for 2 additional minutes.
2. Add the rice and cook for 2 minutes to flavor the rice. Stir the ingredients, season with salt and pepper as you desire, after 2 minutes add the water and stir to combine. Loosen all ingredients from the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil and cover. Reduce temperature to a simmer and let cook for 12 minutes. Add the peppers to the rice mix cover and cook for two additional minutes. Turn the heat off and let the mixture finish absorbing the flavors and the rice to steam.
3. Heat a sauté pan, on medium temperature. When the pan is hot add the oil, and then after about 1 minute the pork medallions one by one. You should hear a searing of the meat. Season the top with salt and pepper and let cook for 2 minutes. Turn them over and season the other side as desired. Let cook for 2 1/2 minutes.
4. The water should be absorbed by the rice/vegetable mixture at this point.
5. Place the rice mixture in a bowl tossing to combine or spoon a colorful portion on to the center of your plate. Garnish the medallions (3 pieces) around your confetti rice.

Your pork medallions should be tender and cooked through. If you want to create a sauce, to the pan you cooked your pork in add 1/2 cup white wine, whisk in a 1 Tablespoon mustard and 1/2 Tablespoon butter and let reduce for 1 minute. Spoon the sauce onto the pork medallions.

What’s great about theses two dishes you can have the pasta/chicken for lunch the next day and the rice mix you can make burritos out of for dinner. What we really have is 2 recipes with multiple applications. How would you add to these recipes keeping them quick and easy to prepare?

Tell us about your favorite 5 main ingredients and let’s come up with some new energy solutions for your body.

Here at work, we have the luxury of having a cafeteria in our building.  One of my favorite days is Omelet Bar day.  You get to wait in line and have the cook make you any omelet you want.  What is better than that, right?

Well today when it was my turn, I looked at all my options and noticed that there was corn displayed with everything else.  Corn?  Do people really put corn in Omelets?  I am pretty disturbed when I see spinach, tomatoes and mushrooms get tossed in a pan due to my food racism, but corn?  I like corn but would never want it in with my eggs.  What’s next? Skittles?

Maybe I am just not with the times and corn is the new big thing.  I just cannot picture biting into an omelet and having corn kernels in it.

And yes, I do wait until the very end of the day to go down and get my omelet.  The mere thought of my eggs being cooked in the same pan as mushrooms and everything else makes me nauseous.  When omelet man sees me coming, he grabs a clean pan and makes mine in that.  It is nice to have friends in the café.

The Average Person Curses Once Every 175 Words!

According to a new study by the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, THREE in FOUR Americans say they regularly hear profanity out in public . . . and TWO in THREE think we all curse more than we did 20 years ago.  In general, TWO in every THREE expletives are used to express anger or frustration.

Overall, the average person curses about 80 to 90 times a day . . . out of a total of 15,000 to 16,000 words spoken.  Or look at it this way . . .ONE in every 175 words the average person speaks . . . is profanity.

How many times do you swear in a day?  For me, I try to never swear so I am not noticed around here.  I like to hide in my room and “work” on the computer.  The less they see or hear me the better!  I find that those who swear more at work are more likely to “get the boot” as the only people who can get away with it at work are the bosses.  Maybe that is why I have such a potty mouth outside of work!  I hold it in way to much at work!

Oh, and why do they call them “curse” words???  Who was the genius behind that one?  And, why are people really so up in arms about some of these words?  Didn’t they ever hear that “sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me?”

Today is St. Patrick’s Day, and for a lot of people that means green beer tonight and a wicked hangover tomorrow morning. But here are eight interesting facts you probably didn’t know about St. Patrick’s Day . . .

#1.) ST. PATRICK WASN’T IRISH. He may be the patron saint of Ireland, but he was from a well-to-do family in England. Fifteen hundred years ago, he was kidnapped by raiders, taken to Ireland, and sold as a slave.

He worked there for a few years, escaped, then returned to Ireland years later as a Christian missionary.

#2.) ST. PATRICK’S DAY HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SNAKES. The story about St. Patrick driving all the snakes out of Ireland isn’t real. In reality, Ireland NEVER had snakes.

The snakes in the story symbolize the various pagan religions that began disappearing from Ireland shortly after St. Patrick started the spread of Christianity in the 5th century.

#3.) ST. PATRICK WAS ASSOCIATED WITH THE COLOR BLUE. In fact, the color green used to be considered unlucky in Ireland. In Irish folklore, people who wore green were kidnapped by little fairies known as the “Good People.”

Green became associated with St. Patrick because he used the green three-leafed shamrock to symbolize the holy trinity of Catholicism.

#4.) PEOPLE DIDN’T ALWAYS PARTY. Today, that’s pretty much ALL we do to celebrate. But in Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day is a national holiday, and until as recently as the 1970s, pubs there were closed on March 17th for religious observance.

#5.) THE FIRST ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARADE WASN’T IN IRELAND. In 1762, a small group of Irish immigrants in New York City marched in the very first St. Patrick’s Day parade. And today, over 150,000 people march every year.

Dublin didn’t have its own parade until about 80 years ago.

#6.) “DANNY BOY” WAS WRITTEN BY AN ENGLISH GUY. “Danny Boy” is probably the most famous “Irish” song. There’s only one problem: it was written by an English guy who never set foot in Ireland.

His name was Frederick Weatherly, and he took the lyrics he had for a different song, and set them to an Irish tune called the “Londonderry Air”. That doesn’t stop Irish Americans from belting it out in a drunken stupor every St. Paddy’s Day.

#7.) Over 40 million Americans trace their ancestry back to Ireland. That’s about seven times larger than the population of Ireland itself.

Even President Obama has Irish roots. His grandfather’s great-grandfather left Ireland during the Great Famine of 1845, and moved to Indiana.

#8.) IRELAND IS ONE ISLAND, BUT TWO COUNTRIES. Before the English colonized America, they colonized Ireland. And they screwed it up there too. In 1921, most of Ireland became its own country, with the capital in Dublin.

But six counties in the northeast remained a part of the United Kingdom called Northern Ireland. It was supposed to solve all the troubles between the English and the Irish, but . . . not so much

Let’s be honest . . . most of us were total outcasts in high school. But it was OK because we always figured that after graduation, the LOSERS would go on to become rich and successful . . . while the COOL KIDS would end up overweight, bald and poor.

But according to an economist named Steven Levitt . . . that’s not the case. Recently, Steven conducted a study to find out how a person’s popularity in high school relates to their earnings later in life.

What he found is that for each additional close friend a person has in high school . . . their earnings are 2% HIGHER later in life. (So if you had TEN more close friends than the average person in high school . . . you’ll earn 20% MORE as an adult.)

Steven writes, quote, “While not a huge effect, it does suggest that either the same factors that make you popular in high school help you in a job setting, or that high-school friends can do you favors later in life that will earn you higher wages.”

Or, in the most basic terms, the more popular you are in high school . . . the wealthier you’ll be later in life. How unfair is that??

Do you think this is true? Anyone want to share how they turned out v. how they were in High School?

I’ll go 1^st…..I guess I’m an anomaly as I was somewhere in the middle through school and, well, have done ok for myself with work and well the hair thing has become an issue and I’m not petite hence the Big Daddy name.  Maybe if I lose a few pounds and get a hair piece money will fall from the sky…..hmmmmmm

For those of you that do not know, besides my little cushy job here at MIKE-FM, I have my own little DJ business.  On Saturday, I was asked to DJ a surprise 30th Birthday party for a friend of the family.  Me, being the good guy that I am, said yes and made my way down to this little gathering of 30 people.

Well, after lugging in all of my equipment and setting everything up, I was then let in on a little secret.  There was going to be a MALE STRIPPER showing up in 1o minutes and I was needed to play the music for him!!  Now I’m all for a good time, but being the DJ for a make stripper is not my goal in life!

So this “officer of the law” shows up and gives me his CD to play.  He looked more like a mall cop or target security guard (no offense to those who are..but I think you get the idea) and told me to put it in and crank it up.  I am now feeling trapped and not sure where I can hide during his little show.  The music starts and he gets right into his little routine of whisking the birthday girl into black fuzzy handcuffs and onto a seat and then doing his thing.

All of the ladies are getting giddy with excitement as he shakes and tells them what bad girls they are.  I am trying to bury my head into my blackberry and read about anything I can find to avoid making eye contact with “Paul Blart: Mall Cop”, but something about this makes me look up every now and then to see what the hype is all about (an no, I was not looking at him so settle down).

I was watching moms (some of which were over 50 and some young and just had babies) getting all loud and wild rolling around on the floor with this guy and then slipping him $10 and $20 bills!  Now, I am thinking this guy has a sweet gig.  He gets paid to do whatever he wants for 30 minutes!  Sure, he had to be able to walk on his hands and put women in figure 4 head locks upside down but that is besides the point!  He must have left with over $400 and again, only worked for 30 minutes!

So after it was done, the ladies cooled their jets a bit and were laughing at the whole thing.  Some were saying he looked better with his glasses on, some were pointing out that he has a big white spot on his back due to a tanning bed issue and others were just happy that they had some man candy for a minute or 2.  One lady even asked me where “we” were playing next?  I did crack a smile that she thought I was with this clown…even if I appeared to be his traveling sound guy.

The best part was at the end of the night, I noticed him standing in the middle of the living room still in his g-string holding the families little dog in his arms.  I could not resist but to take a picture with my blackberry.  I am posting it below as I think it is too funny.

Anyway, that was my “awesome” Saturday night.  I guess now I am available to DJ your family gathering, school dance, company party, wedding and now….male stripper events.  Yay.  Lucky me.