Weekly Posts Roundup at Dennys Blogs - 4 Apr 2010

From Denny: Happy Easter to All of You! Hope this is a beautiful day for you on so many levels...

Here are all those posts you haven't had time to read or bookmark from this week. I figure you are just as eclectic and curious about your world as I am about mine, judging by the large amounts of traffic all these blogs have been receiving lately. Thank you for coming by for a visit!

It does help that I've been figuring out these past few months how best to organize and market these posts so you can easily - and quickly - find what is of interest to you. I know I don't like to get bogged down paging through someone's blog when all they had to do was provide some links on the sidebar or in a related post.

Sure it takes more time as a blogger to do so but it's always worth the effort. People appreciate it. As a writer, a blogger or a creative person, you don't just create or write for yourself. You have an audience and it's a good attitude to care about their interests and convenience as well. Taking time for all these technical details does pull time away from writing - sometimes, my poetry suffers when I don't have enough "think and gestate" time and it gets delayed like it did this week as I was changing over 14 blogs into new templates.

But, on balance, creative people might want to keep in mind not to get too self-absorbed with the writing or artwork as you will lose your people skills. Without people skills no one will be that interested in your writing or artwork anyway. Many times I've been at a weekend outdoor art showing of local artists and was about to purchase a painting, fiberwork or pottery only to be completely turned off by the odious attitude of the artist. I walk away every time.

The diva attitude of "you will get nothing and like it" is a sorry way to travel through life. There is so much more available for us if only we keep our hearts open and loving toward others. Sure there are those who test our patience and erode our good attitude - just keep walking through that day until you meet someone of a better attitude who is trying to have good relationships.

That's what the Easter season, even the Easter bunny, really represents. This is a time for renewal inside and out, a time to refresh our tattered attitudes and start again with new hope for our lives. Welcome the sunshine into your life this Spring!




The Social Poets:

Unsexy, Unpopular and Unflattering Political Cartoons - 3 Apr 2010

Legacy of Love poem - Libations Friday 2 Apr 2010

Funny Easter Bunny Cartoons and April Fools Day Fun

Funny April Fools Day - Cheeky Quote Day 31 Apr 2010

Awesome Story of Giving That Healed a Town: A Circle of Hands

Health Care Quips and Tea Party Jabs, Roundup of Late Night Comedy - 29 Mar 2010


Dennys Global Politics:

Environmentalists Furious with Obama, CIA Clandestine Director, Famous White House Butler Dies, No Faith in Pope - New Headlines 3 Apr 2010

GOP Sex Scandals, Republicans in a Mess, Obama Foreign Policy and Popularity Polls, Psychic Faces Beheading - News Headlines 1 Apr 2010

American Oil Drilling, Besieged Pope, Studying Laughter, Birds DNA Give Clues to Our Speech - News Headlines 31 Mar 2010

Iran Scientist Defects to America, Obama Issues Sanctions - News Headlines 30 Mar 2010

Hate Groups On the Rampage, Big Banks Skirting the Law - Headlines 29 Mar 2010



From Beautiful Illustrated Quotations:

8 Easter Quotes and 3 Easter Poems

3 Quotes About Facing Tough Times

Uplifting Soul Quote: What is Your Power in the World?

Do You Treat Your Ideas Like Beautiful Magic?



From The Soul Calendar - science and astronomy:

New Astronomy Photos: Cosmic Rosebud, Winds of Change Black Hole, Orion Nebula

Mysterious 4,000 Year Old European Mummie Found in China

Now Peru Faces Water Wars From Climate Change

Come to Iceland: Experience Living With a Volcano in Your BackYard

Moon Water: Order Up Your Cocktail Today



The Food Blogs:

Play Fun With Your Food: Mini Frittata Crostinis, Mini Wonton Quiches

Forget the Birds: Awesome Recipes 4 Stale Bread

Flourless Passover Chocolate Cake

Awesome Sauces 4 Louisiana Seafood

Spring Into Grill Season: Mouthwatering Steaks

Chef Rocco Dispiritos Cheap Yet Healthy Comfort Food

Kid Chefs Offer Tasty Recipes 4 Sandwiches Adults Will Like

Spring Food: Chef Kellers Marinated Skirt Steak, Ice Cream Sandwiches

Louisiana Crawfish Etouffee From Lafittes Landing


From the Humor Blogs:


Funny Surfing Peruvian Alpaca

Religious Sex Scandal Cartoons

Funny Marriage Quotes

Funny Easter Bunny Cartoons and April Fools Day Fun


Photo blog:


Dennys Photo Gallery: Spectacular Sunrises


*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!

Weekly Posts Roundup at Dennys Blogs - 28 Mar 2010

From Denny: This funny polar bear says it all: Whew! Time to take it easy after a long harsh winter!

If you are a blogger like me with the Blogger platform at blogspot.com, and you haven't already heard about it since it came out a couple of weeks ago, you might want to check out this new feature from Blogger: Blogger in Draft. I spent the entire weekend playing around with the possibilities and decided to change over to this new dashboard and template offerings.

Blogger has come out with some outstanding new templates and the ability to widen margins of all your columns to imitate the old stretch template or create your own ideas of what appeals to you. Be as creative as you like! Read that as embedding videos and cartoons will now work better. Before, if you had a background from somewhere else - like I was doing - you had to reduce the width of your template down to the Minima template offered by Blogger. Then you could not run the cartoons at all as they were chopped off on the right side.

You now have many choices of how to arrange your columns just like a newspaper. There is a good variety of stunning backgrounds from which to choose - and believe me I've been choosing all this weekend for 12 blogs! :) I would like to see them expand their background choices in various colors and genre but what they have offered so far is plenty for most bloggers.

What am I still looking for from Blogger? To the folks at Blogger: I'm looking for more seasonal choices that have a sophisticated look, peaceful or spiritual, as opposed to just fun or downright cheesy. Backgrounds tailored to writing, poetry, art and literature other than the standard stack of books would be great - like beautiful calligraphy pens and parchment papers, stylized handwriting or fonts offered on the background and for the blog. You might want to consider backgrounds of America's cities like New Orleans and others for those of us with regional food blogs.

I'd also like to see the ability to post headlines and 200 word summary excerpts of up to 10 posts per page so people could easily choose what they want to read much like Wordpress already offers. Scrolling at the top of the page or at the header of the most recent posts would be cool like you see at newspaper sites online. Dreamer, that's me! So far, Blogger is on a roll so keep up the good work, guys! Oh, and if you could ever get that Google Connect or Followers Gadget to work with Google AdSense ads on the same page it would be much appreciated too.

On to the posts of the week and a few extra recipe posts from the past two weeks in case you missed anything good! :) Finally got caught up over at my science blog this weekend with some interesting stories so be sure to check out their offerings. Please bookmark this post to catch up on all the interesting news, great recipes and beautiful photography in our world! :) Enjoy...






The Social Poets:


51 Funny Political Cartoons - Sex Scandals, Rove, Obama, Health Care, Tea Party - 27 Mar 2010

Release Your Dreams and Spring into Life poem - Libations Friday 26 Mar 2010

Bullying Death Threats Against Congress Because of Health Care Law

Origins of the Funny Easter Bunny - Cheeky Quote Day 24 Mar 2010

Senate Parliamentarian Rules Against GOP to Stop Passed Health Care

Fleecing America: Political Hypocrites Drenched in Stimulus Money

Roundup of Late Night Comedy - 22 Mar 2010

The 11 Choices poem - Libations Friday 19 Mar 2010

Funny Late Night Comedy Roundup - 15 Mar 2010


41 Post Roundup at Dennys Blogs - 21 Mar 2010





Dennys Global Politics:


How New Health Law Affects You, Comics Review The News, Tea Party Antics - Headlines 26 Mar 2010

Health Bill Bounces Back to House for Final Push - Headlines 25 Mar 2010

More Hideous Molestation Sex Scandals - Headlines 24 Mar 2010

Sweeping Health Care Reform Signed into Law Today, Headlines 23 Mar 2010





The Soul Calendar:


Now Peru Faces Water Wars From Climate Change

Come to Iceland: Experience Living With a Volcano in Your BackYard

Moon Water: Order Up Your Cocktail Today

Check Out This Tripping New Look for the Milky Way

New Finding Under Antarctic Ice: Stinky Greenhouse Gas Ready to Go Boom

Friday Trivia: 14 Useless Random Facts






The Healing Waters:


Good News: 12 Year Old Walks to Raise Awareness About Homeless Kids

Good News: How New Health Care Law Affects You, Marines Rescue Tangled Seal

Good News: Afghan Orphanage Female Director Honored





Beautiful Illustrated Quotes:


Does Your Life Feel Like a Disaster?

3 Quotes About Facing Tough Times





Food Blogs:


Louisiana Crawfish Etouffee From Lafittes Landing

Kid Chefs Offer Tasty Recipes 4 Sandwiches Adults Will Like

New Orleans Recipes: Crawfish Etouffee, Chicken and Sausage Gumbo, Jambalaya, Sazerac Cocktail

Super Bowl Food: Jumbo Shrimp and Gouda Grits

Chef Sandra Lees Quick Baby Back Ribs

7 Easy Recipes for Relaxed Weekend Food

5 Super Easy Chocolate Desserts: Only 5 Ingredients

Gorgeous Whiskey Chocolate Brownies

Moistest Low Cal Chocolate Cake, Pesto Veggie Lasagna, Quick Salad

Spring Food: Chef Kellers Marinated Skirt Steak, Ice Cream Sandwiches

Easy Rich Yellow Loaf Cake with Chocolate Ganache





Photo blog:


Dennys Photo Gallery: Beautiful Blues in Our World

Photo History: 1st Lady Gowns, Michelle Obama Donates Hers

Photography, Beautiful Metaphor for Life: 17 Boats

Only White Theme: 26 Photos

16 Beautiful Creative Angel Photos

10 Make You Think Fantasy Photos

30 Funny Creative Animal Ads





Humor Blogs:


Funny Comics Review The News - 26 Mar 2010

Outrageous Dog: Chews Car Bumper Off Police Car

Funny Rules of Chocolates, Origins of the Funny Easter Bunny

Funny Video: Movie Trailer 4 Death at a Funeral

Friday Trivia: 14 Useless Random Facts

Funny Sarcastic Sayings 4 Any Day

Funny News: Italys World Slow Day

Weird News: Watching Porn in Church

7 Funny Quips 10 Mar 2010

8 Funny Quips






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This Weeks Roundup Posts on Romancing The Chocolate - 17 Nov 2009

From Denny: In case you missed out on any of the posts this week, here's a roundup - so you don't have to mind-numbingly go page load after page load to find out - can you tell I'm ever so patient myself for that action? :)

Video: Halle Berry Making a Difference for Battered Women

3 Quick Awesome Chocolate Recipes for the Holidays

Chocolate Trivia - Who Are the Biggest Chocolate Gluttons on the Planet?

Funny Money Advice, Cheeky Quote Day at The Social Poets

Video: Cool Food Gifts for the Holidays, Southern Sweet Chocolate Coconut Pie Recipe

Chocolate Trivia from Horror Director Hitchcock

Awww, 7 Funny Dog Photos to Make You Laugh

Warm Chocolate Pudding Cake

Video and Recipe: Learn How to Make Slamming Chicken Wings at Wings Boot Camp

From Denny: This guy is touted as The Wing King and he shares some of his successful - and very easy - recipes with us. Make these favorites for all your friends and family during football season.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Wing King's BBQ Buffalo wings

From: Drew Cerza

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 2 T. butter
• 1 large shallot
• 2 garlic cloves
• Dark beer 2 oz.
• Chili sauce 1 cup
• BBQ sauce 1 cup
• (Stir up for 1 minute)
• Ancho pepper 1 1/2 t.
• Brown sugar 1/2 cup
• Honey 1/2 cup
• Cayenne pepper sauce 4 oz.

DIRECTIONS

Chop up and sauté butter, shallot and garlic cloves. Add dark beer, chili sauce and BBQ sauce — stir up for 1 minute. Add ancho pepper, brown sugar, honey, cayenne pepper sauce — stir for 2 minutes.

As you create the sauce, drop 50 chicken wings (the amount you drop in at one time will depend on the size of your fryer) in your table-top deep fryer.

Once wings are fully cooked, sauce the wings in a large mixing bowl. To plate the wings: Garnish the plate with celery and carrots and serve with a side of blue cheese dressing.
TIPS

Serve with celery and blue cheese dressing. For equally crispy wings: Deep-fry wings at 375° F (High) 10 minutes until cooked and crispy; drain and serve.

***

Original Buffalo Wings

From: Drew Cerza

Makes: 24-30 individual pieces

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 2 1/2 pounds chicken wings
• 1/2 cup hot sauce
• 1/3 cup melted butter or margarine

DIRECTIONS

Split wings at each joint; discard tips. Place wings on rack in foil-lined pan.

Bake 20 minutes at 500° F until fully cooked and crispy, turning halfway.

Combine hot sauce and butter. Dip wings in sauce to coat completely.
TIPS

Serve with celery and blue cheese dressing. For equally crispy wings: Deep-fry wings at 375° F (High) 10 minutes until cooked and crispy; drain and serve.

Video: Dinner Under $10, Angel Hair Frittata

From Denny: School is back in session and families are looking for quick, easy and inexpensive dishes for dinner. Here's a tasty quick idea of what to do with leftover pasta noodles: turn them into a frittata omelette cake with cheese!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy