Sparkalyn.com

Introducing Mama

Before she was my mother she was an oldest daughter and sister to 9 siblings. She grew up in North Carolina, went to school and got her Masters degree. She taught special education. She owned and operated one of the first contemporary jazz clubs in New Orleans and is respected by legends.

She raised four kids and homeschooled three. She participated in every activity I ever remember doing, from dance to karate, and there were a lot of them. She chastised, encouraged, switched, laughed and advised me into the person I am.

She is everything I’m working towards being and today is her day.

Best Pan-name EVER

Every year Veteran Mas N Steel members choose honorary pan names for freshman members. It originally started after the style of such calypsonians as Lord Kitchener and The Mighty Sparrow but it has since morphed into something completely unique and often hilarious.

Name origins range from playful commentary about your personal attributes or habits (such as Peachfuzz, Gunshow and Mrs. Mike Catania) to your skills (Lord Iron) to various plays on your name(Jshorty, Sing Bran Don). And if you say anything even remotely memorable during the semester it’s sure to work it’s way into your moniker… as in the case of 9 inch banana bass, and sweetums(which must be said with a pirate voice and hooked finger)
But this year (Spring 2006) I would like to extend the prize of best pan-name ever to the new Brazedacuse (pronounced bruh-zedda-cues) Howler, The New Age Monkey
Congrats also to Sean Pan Diddy, Lady Wynx(en?), Pangea, and [various dance movements and gestures] Ross!(or interpretive dance project Ross! for short)

So if someone had to choose a nickname for you based only on casual conversation and visible personal attributes… what do you think it would be?

Step One

Write down your ideas. That means always have a pencil and paper. Then remember where you stuck the paper and as soon as you get a chance, make it permanent. Put it in a file folder, write it in a book, or type it in an excel file somewhere where you can re-visit, consider and compare.

Secure in my decision

…to tell everyone that can’t get their favorite (or non favorite) flash sites working in the newly “secured” IE to switch to firefox and never look back.

I don’t have time for this bullshit.

Flavor of the week: Dulse & Tomato Sandwiches

Ingredients

1. Bread (duh. go for something sweeter or nuetral like multigrain or honey wheat. Rye is good for normal tomato sandwiches but the dulse needs something to balance it.
2. Mayonnaise
3. Tomatoes
4. Dulse
5. Pepper to taste. You can use a little salt but you don’t really need it.

You could also add cheese although I recommend something mild. I tried sharp cheddar because that’s what I had but it overpowered everything except the bread.

My Reasons

I’ve been eating tomato sandwiches since I was old enough to chew but my mom just recently reminded me how much I used to love dulse so I wandered off to the health food store to get some.
According to the package, dulse is a “wild atlantic sea vegetable” or in other words seaweed. You can eat it “raw” which really just means straight out of the bag, or you can crisp it up a bit by roasting in dry pan or the oven or pan fry it like chips. With no prep it’s chewy, salty and has a very strong but not overpowering flavor. It’s also full of nutritional value if you’re into that kind of stuff. I like to think that dulse is to lettuce as raisins are to grapes even though it’s mostly inaccurate. Chalk it up to my college education.

Further exploration

Those of you that think a sandwich without meat is just a cleverly disguised salad should try adding dulse to your turkey or chicken salad sandwiches. I don’t think it would go very well with italian or processed meats (salami, bologna, etc.) but you could give it a try and prove me wrong. I know for a fact it’s really good with avacado. And if you’re unsure about eating seaweed don’t be. Seaweed can do more for food than wrap sushi.