Great Video on Happiness and The Rat Race

Great Video on Happiness and The Rat Race

Great Vietnamese Cold Brew

This was some awesome Vietnamese Cold Brew from Whole Foods. 

Man, this was good stuff!

 

Although I am not sure about the reference to a "bioengineered food ingredient."  

Oh wait, I think I'm turning into Spider-Man!  ;-)

Great Vietnamese Cold Brew

Nalgene Bottle Lights

Who knew that Nalgene bottles could be used as light fixtures. 

What a colorful display.

Creates a little mood lighting for that cool shopping experience. 

And inside is a water bottle for every adventure. 

Simply unscrew the bottle to change the light bulb.  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Nalgene Bottle Lights

Chocolate Tiger Sugar

Wow, that was a treat!

Tiger Sugar: brown sugar boba bubble tea with fresh cream and streaked with syrup.

This one was the chocolate malt version. 

You can see the bobas floating at the bottom.  

Watch out Starbucks, Tiger Sugar is gonna eat your lunch!  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Chocolate Tiger Sugar

Frozen and Delicious

It's frozen and delicious. 

Packs some oomph!

And the flower tops it off as beautiful.  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Frozen and Delicious

Happy Chairs

These Margaritaville chairs are really happy. 

Sunshine, palm trees, swimming pool, and a nice cold drink on a hot day. 

The chairs say:

It's five o'clock somewhere.

But definitely not here in Florida where it's party all the time!  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Happy Chairs

Butterfly Mug

Thought this was a beautiful butterfly mug.

Rainbow wings and hand painted. 

There is always another mug whether you drink coffee or not.  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal
 

Butterfly Mug

Sounds Refreshing

Great sign for the Pablo Picasso drink.

If you have too much, do you feel like the guy pictured here?

Maybe people need to feel this way sometimes (especially when the world looks like it's going to hell).  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Sounds Refreshing

Royal Tibetan Teapot

Brass Tibetan Teapot. 

With silver dragon spout and handle. 

I bet the tea tastes better from it any day of the week. ;-)

(Credit Photo; Andy Blumenthal)

Royal Tibetan Teapot

Shake It Up

This bartender knows how to shake things up! 

She can do one drink or two at a time! ;-)

(Credit Video: Andy Blumenthal)

Shake It Up

Dog Likes Starbucks

Dog(s) like Starbucks coffee.

And people like (dog) biscuits.

What's the world coming to?  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Dannielle Blumenthal)

Dog Likes Starbucks

Colorful Drinking

That's an "absolut"ely friendly-looking bottle of vodka. 

You drink it one ribbon at a time? ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Colorful Drinking

Alcohol Coaster Set

Cool alcoholic coaster set. 

Different colors for different booze. 

Wine is fine, but liquor is quicker!  

What's your poison?  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Alcohol Coaster Set

Shabbat Shalom - Starbucks Style!

 (Credit Graphic: Andy Blumenthal)

Shabbat Shalom - Starbucks Style!

Election + Covid = Alcohol

Between this election and Coronavirus, how can any of us truly be feeling?

This old bottle of wine is looking mighty fine to me about now. 

Sometimes, we all need something for the pain!

And this election and the plague has been nothing but painful. 

The question is drink it now or hold it for tomorrow night. ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Election + Covid = Alcohol

Card Ya

Thought this was novel in the store. 

They have a digital calendar with the date from 21 years ago.

It says:

To Purchase Tobacco Products You Must Have Been Born On Or Before This Date.

 Thank you for showing you I.D.

Ah, easy to match the DOB on the I.D. presented to the date on the calendar.  

Nothing to calculate, no mistakes. 

They raised the age for smoking (cigarettes and vaping) in Maryland to 21 on October 1, so it's the same requirement as for drinking alcohol.

Luckily for me (even though I'm over 21), I don't really do either--definitely not the smoking, and the drinking limited primarily to the Kiddush prayer on Shabbat. ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Card Ya

Is Beer A Color?

So thought this was an interestingly funny flip chart. 

It's titled "Colors".

And it has the typical ones you'd expect: blue, red, green, yellow, orange, purple, black, white, grey, brown, and tan. 

But thrown into the mix is beer (and Summer)--maybe these go together! 

Perhaps, someone had a little too much beer when asked about colors.

On second thought, maybe beer is a color.  ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Is Beer A Color?

Best Cup Of Tea

So my daughter went out for dinner in Israel and she sends me this photo of an amazing cup of tea. 

- Cinnamon

- Lemon

- Ginger

- Mint

What's so great is you can actually see the cinnamon stick, mint leaves, and lemon and ginger slices. 

It's completely fresh and healthy, and not just from a tea bag or minced up tea in a tin. 

To me, this looks absolutely appetizing and delicious!

Usually, I'm a Snapple Iced Tea type of a guy, but for sure, I'd go for some this fresh tea from Israel...L'Chaim! ;-)

(Source Photo: Minna Blumenthal)

Best Cup Of Tea

The Yom Kippur Diet Plan

So Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar is a 25-hour day of repentance, prayer, and fasting. 

This last Yom Kippur, someone mentioned to me that some people take the idea of fasting and apply it to dieting during the year by doing a 3-day fasting. 

Uh, that sounds pretty severe and maybe even a little dangerous. 

But it got me thinking that on Yom Kippur we fast for a day and then eat a meal, so why not do that daily for dieting. 

Just subsist on one main meal a day--basically limiting intake of food to a few hours in the evening. 

This made sense to me as a moderate way that I could stay focused and disciplined without any food for about 20 hours at a time, but still give myself something to look forward to with a proper, natural dinner--almost like a natural give and take that I believe I could live with (at least for a good while). 

I thought let me give this a try!

And I did. 

First without drinking or eating. 

Then I rethought this after a few days and getting parched, and said just drink zero-calorie drinks, but no food or caloric intake during the day until the meal at the end of the day. 

And I've been doing this now since Yom Kippur 2 weeks ago. 

I have actually lost almost 10 pounds in that time and feel great. 

It hasn't been hard--except for one day when the synagogue had a mega Bar Mitzvah kiddish/luncheon and I sat there and didn't have a thing!

But otherwise, I go to work and all my activities, including working out--sometimes twice a day--and without any food.

It seems to be working. 

While previously, I stayed completely off any carbs, and still gained weight--now, I allow myself to eat everything (kosher) at dinner and am losing!

I wonder if I am on to something with this new "Yom Kippur Diet."

I pray to Hashem that I've discovered something good and healthy here and am committed to seeing it through. 

(Source Graphic: Andy Blumenthal)

The Yom Kippur Diet Plan

Everyone Drinks

So this is a water fountain on steroids. 

Not 1, not 2, but 3 drinking spouts. 

Adults, children, and even pets can all get theirs.

And at the same time...no one goes thirsty!

So simple, yet why make people wait and take turns.

Drink everyone, drink to efficiency. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Everyone Drinks