Just had a odd experience where someone left a comment on one of my Instructables accusing me of stealing the idea for my Hot Wheels Car Launcher. At first I was like ‘dude, I’m sure other people have thought of similar things in the vast internets’, then I googled and found what he was talking about. The car launcher in the video was exactly like mine. But the video was by Make Magazine, who had published my How To on the Car Launcher last December (the Kids Issue). So the guy was basically accusing me of ripping off my own design. So no worries. But I had totally missed the video — it was really cool to see someone else building my design, and showing it off to the world! So I figured I’d link to it here: How to Make (DotatDabbled’s) Hot Wheels Car Launcher video.
In August over at Foodwhirl we’re going to be talking about what to pack your kids for lunch. And apparently, according to the feedback I’ve gotten back, everyone wants ideas! So let’s start an idea exchange… Do you have a go-to lunch idea for sending with the kids that holds up until lunchtime, is liked by the kids, and isn’t a PB&J? Or just some good tips? On Facebook one of the commenters was looking for ways to keep a lunch warm (like a quesadilla) without using a thermos. Leave a comment (or email) and I’ll compile all the ones I get for a post on Foodwhirl.
Also, Foodwhirl is looking for some guest posters to talk about handling the lunch dilemma–or good posts on the subject to link to..- check here for details on participating!
I finished a new website, by the way (That web design thing that’s been keeping me super busy this summer and cutting into the quality time I can spend with you guys! ). It’s a super simple one, but I think it looks lovely–and is a good example of simple doesn’t equal boring…. So if you need house cleaning in Atlanta, click on through!
Fun:Cutesy Crafty:
Make It:
Thanks for all the feedback on my ‘teaching kids to read’ question the other day… lots of good input – very appreciated! If anyone else wants to weigh in, be sure to stop by 
I’m missing my little one, who has been visiting myriad grandparents and other adventures. Will see his cute little face on Saturday!
(Here he is from a few weeks ago when
we went to the Botanical Gardens >>)
And also… If you’re a fan of Dabbled friend The Domestic Scientist, stop by and help her out… Apparently there are some great tools on the iPad for her autistic son.
For those of you who don’t stop regularly by Foodwhirl (and why not??) I try to link some of the recipes and techniques here at Dabbled on occasion, so you don’t miss any yummies.. (By the way, if you’re interested in contributing a recipe to Foodwhirl, just let me know!)
So, over at Foodwhirl, I’ve finished the overlapping ingredients series I was working on at Foodwhirl… So if you like noodles, shrimp, and things like that, go check it out!
Starting off our Asian “Overlapping Meals”, we have one of my favorite comfort foods, Pad Thai… As with the goal of this series, many of the ingredients used in this dish will also be used later in the week, for less waste and more cost effectiveness!
Next in our series of ‘overlapping meals’, here is a wonderful Asian inspired main dish salad that is quick to prepare on a hot summer evening. I love this cross between a pasta dish and a salad! This was inspired by Vietnamese Noodle Salads, but it draws on similar sauce and techniques from the Pad Thai.
If you’ve never tried to make sushi rolls (maki) before, it’s a fun thing to try… especially if you have a little helper like I did. It makes a great appetizer or first course for a dinner party–or add a salad or some steamed edamame, and I’d eat it for dinner by itself!
This is an excellent salad recipe that I posted at my Gaia’s Greens website a couple of weeks ago when we had beets in our organic produce boxes. It is quickly becoming a favorite in my house!! The combination of flavors is just perfect and it’s fast and easy to make.
Our 2010 crop is in full swing with yellow and zucchini squash topping the list of most prolific. In spite of the fact that we’ve eaten squash with almost every meal for the last week or so, I still love it and am always looking for new ways to prepare it.
I love the convenience of reaching into the freezer and grabbing a few handfuls of meatballs for something like a quick spaghetti dinner. When my child was a toddler, meatballs were a great alternative to whatever meat the adults were having (like steak!), so I’d pull out a few frozen meatballs, and have a quick kid friendly main dish…
We’re all looking for ways to stretch our food dollar these days, and also–if you’re anything like me–we like to have common ingredients on hand so we can pull together a quick dinner without having to run to the store. Ground beef if one of those things I always like to have on hand. It’s great for making a quick chili in the winter, or an easy taco night. Or to beef up a quick pasta meal or pull together a shepherd’s pie. Or even for hamburgers!
In the Spotlight: I love eggplant… (Eggplant fried up nice and crispy is one my guilty pleasures!) so this take on a bite sized appetizer portion of eggplant parmasan at Talk of Tomatoes sounds pretty tasty! Bites, nibbles, crumbly blobs of Parmesan and breadcrumbs on small pieces of eggplant.
In the Spotlight: Spotted at Can You Stay For Dinner, how to make Buffalo Chicken Fingers… and some great thoughts on not demonizing food, too! I love recipes that let you make your pub food favorites at home. And if you don’t want to make them spicy, this recipe would work for plain chicken fingers to feed the kids!
So, a query for you more experienced parents out there:
The Boy just turned 5, and we’ve been wondering what and how much to do around beginning reading. He loves to be read to — we read both picture and chapter books to him before bedtime every night, and he has a learning video game that he likes, that seems to have some basic phonics and sight words in it. But he’s not really showing much interest in reading himself. He can spell a few words, and is pretty good with letter sounds. So I’m wondering… do we try to work on this with him, or just let it develop naturally, and let kindergarten worry about it in the fall?
I did think this was a cute idea from Filth Wizardry: Using Duplo blocks to make words and sentences.
Here’s ‘learning to read toy’ from Quirky Momma: How to make a word learning Cootie Catcher. (via ParentHacks) (removed link because a virus warning was reported, and let Quirky Momma know)
Any other cool ideas to make learning to read fun?
Meh, enough learning… for those who liked the Futurama cupcakes yesterday, here are some more featuring Brain Slugs (via Craftzine).
Twitter It!I spotted these Bender (from Futurama) cupcakes over at Duhlicious and had to share them here with you guys. What a cute idea…
mădălina says:
For these toppers I used Wilton Edible Writers on hard fondant disks. The cool thing about edible writers is that you can use them to doodle, and they are safe to eat. Personally, I’m not a big fan of fondant, but they make for a perfect canvas. Instead of using fondant to fully cover your cupcakes, you can make disks to top your cupcakes.
She has a video tutorial on making them, including how to draw Bender!
Go check it out.
I love the idea of using the edible pens for fondant decoration. So many possibilities!
(Duhlicious has some great stuff, by the way, we’ve featured Duhlicious recipes several times at Foodwhirl)
Twitter It!
Here is part 2 on dealing with Comment Spam… the bane of a blogger’s existence. In part 1 we talked about Comment Moderation and Blacklisting, so, to continue…
(If you missed it: How to deal with Comment Spam, Part 1)
Lately I’ve been noticing a trend of spammers who look like they have actually read your post, and respond with a somewhat intelligent comment, not full of spam links. These can be almost more annoying, because they can slip by automated checks, and because they require more work. Plus, sometimes you’re not even sure if they are really a spammer. These will be notable by either a really odd name (like “Boys Birthday Cards” or “Best Home Loans”) which link back to their spam site, or they’ll have a normal name (like “Sue Smith” or “Jessica”) but their name links to something like myspammyloansite.com.
So what to do about them? You can just delete them like normal spam. But what if they’ve asked a relevant question that other people might want to know the answer to? Or if other commenters have already responded to their comment? Then I hate to just delete them. So…
Well, if you have your comments links set to nofollow (more on that below) you could just leave them. They aren’t getting any page rank juice out of the link anyway. But (particularly if the name is suspect) I don’t like to look like I didn’t notice the spam, and I don’t want my readers to click on their name and give them any traffic. Also, what if a real commenter has just a suspect website name, I’d hate to delete them.
If you’re using Wordpress, you can delink them, and even change the name.
In Wordpress, click on the Comments section in your Dashboard Sidebar. When you hover over the comment, you’ll see the Quick Edit option.
Twitter It!When I posted the Perry the Platypus (of Phineas and Ferb fame) cake from The Boy’s birthday party, reader Janelle asked for the How-To, so she could do her own for her daughter’s birthday party. Her ingenious idea was to use twinkies to make mini Perry cakes… and they came out wonderfully! She shared them on the Dabbled Facebook page, but I thought they were too awesome not to share here as well!
Janelle says:
“Finally!!!! Thanks to the “Dabbled” instructions on the Perry the Platypus cake I gathered the courage to do my first fondant cake. Due to a broken ankle I put it off a couple of weeks but the party is now over and nary a Perry is to be found. The kids loved them. I made mini Perrys using twinkies as the cake base. Thanks so much for your help, Dabbled”
I totally love this! She simplified the more complex original instructions, and achieved a herd of adorable Perrys! This is a great idea for those who want to create the look, but in a less complicated way. These would also be great sitting on top of a store bought sheet cake for a custom look. Thanks for sharing these with us, Janelle!
And if you’re thinking of throwing a Phineas and Ferb party, along with your Perry cake, you might like some of the other party food: Phineas & Ferb / Star Wars the Clone Wars Party Food!
