Photo Diary: March 2016 Part 2
St. Patrick’s Day
Photo Diary: March 2015 Part 3
Still very slowly working my way through these. Here’s the latest batch. More will go up…later.
I don’t usually do this, but here are a few links related to these posts. My action figure review went up on CBR and focused on three of the latest Greg Capullo Batman figures from DC Collectibles.
Here‘s my review of The Giant Mechanical Man which I really enjoyed. I also eventually finished that run on Amazing Spider-Man. It’s one of my favorites and I wrote about it on my pop culture blog.
You can read my Geek.com posts on my author page. That’s been a really fun gig!
The Pop Poppa Nap Cast Episode 95
In an effort to make up for no episode last week, I’m posting The Pop Poppa Nap Cast Episode 95 a bit early this week. I’m feeling good lately thanks to the snow melt and a working car, plus I’m looking forward to seeing where Jack’s next year will take us!
If you’re not a fan of weird ancient Greek hell mythology, the guy pushing the boulder I mentioned was Sisyphus and the bird-gut guy was Prometheus.
I posted about Fiddlestix’s St. Paddy’s Day food here, here and here. You can see what I’m talking about above.
It’s not overly clear in the recording, but Lu’s version of “All About That Bass” translates into “All ’bout that face, ’bout that face, ’bout that face, no travel.”
Wow, I talked about Violet
For more of me check out UnitedMonkee.com, Comic Book Resources and @PoppaDietsch on Twitter.
Bonus Food Pics From Yummy Taco, Handsome Devil & Fiddlestix
One of the more frustrating things about where we live is that there’s not a great taco place that we can run into when we have that hankering. There’s a nice Mexican place, but it’s sit-down and sometimes I want to just call in a bag of tacos and have my wife pick them up on her way home from work. So, we got pretty excited when we were leaving Target one day and saw a new place called Yummy Taco opening up soon. Well, the other weekend it was actually in business, we gave it a shot and all had pretty delightful food. Above you can see the chicken and beef burrito I had which was more of a giant taco, but who’s counting? I will say that this is a rather interesting establishment because everything about it screams “Chinese food place” from the decorations and staff to the picture menu above the ordering station. But, none of that matters when you realize they’re making their own tortillas on the spot and making killer food. It’s still not super close, but it’s nice to know there’s a solid taco joint nearby we can hit up while running errands.
About a month ago, my inlaws came into town and watched our daughter while my wife and I went out for a nice Italian dinner around Valentine’s Day. Meanwhile, they discovered a new barbecue joint we didn’t even know about called Handsome Devil that’s actually above an ice skating rink (that we also didn’t know about). We’ve actually got a lot of solid BBQ joints nearby, but I think this one will be tops on our list. Brothers has been so-so and Johnny D’s is a bit far away for more of a casual dinner, so Handsome Devil takes the top spot. I had the ribs and pulled pork along with some mac and cheese and onion rings, all of which were delightful. Plus, they’ve got a variety of local beers on tap which I always appreciate.
And finally, I have to sing the praises of Fiddlestix once again. The above photo comes from their St. Patrick’s Day menu which, as always, was some of the best Irish food I’ve ever had. This is the bangers and mash which was so good I wish I could have it every day. The mashed potatoes had a healthy, but not overpowering dose of horseradish which made for a delightful side. Looking at this picture is actually making me hungry.
The Pop Poppa Nap Cast Episode 52
The 52nd episode of The Pop Poppa Nap Cast covers diaper snaps, weird baby clothes and more.
Caillou, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood and Powerpuff Girls can all be found on Netflix Instant! 
The Marah sampler I first discovered is called Float Away, the record I have is If You Didn’t Laugh, You’d Cry. I highly recommend both. Also do yourself a favor and check out the Ditty Bops.
Head on over to KAMSnaps.com if you’re interested in redoing your cloth diapers.
Don’t get me wrong, Carter’s makes great clothes, they just put some weird stuff on their shirts.
The post I mentioned about not being too strict or too passive was written by Janet Lansbury, called “Respectful Parenting Is Not Passive Parenting” and can be found here.
For more of me check out UnitedMonkee.com, MonkeyingAroundTheKitchen.com, Comic Book Resources and @PoppaDietsch on Twitter.
Belated Bonus Food Pic: Fiddlestix’s Irish Lunch
I can’t believe this picture is almost a month old at this point. Sorry about the lack of posts the past few weeks, hoping to get back on the horse. Anyway, even though I had this fantastic plate of Fiddlestix food on St. Patrick’s Day, I can still remember how fantastic it was. If memory serves you’ve got corned beef, braised cabbage, mashed potatoes (possibly with horseradish?) and Irish soda bread that was quickly cooked or warmed on the stove. I can’t remember exactly how it was prepared, but there was something special about the corn beef. Maybe it had Guinness involved? I think that might have been it. Anyway, this is what I think of when I think of amazing corned beef. I’d love to see this meal on the regular menu which is made all the better by that delightfully crisp soda bread!
The Pop Poppa Nap Cast Episode 5
This week’s episode of The Pop Poppa Nap Cast recaps a recent visit from my parents, awards the Pop Poppa Of The Week to a person I actually know and compares raising a toddler to Enemy Mine. Enjoy!
The Pop Popps Nap Cast Episode 5
If you’re interested in a little more information on our sign language process, check out this post I wrote a while back.
Here’s the Monkeying Around The Kitchen post I wrote about Barnaby’s.
I also wrote about Enemy Mine over on UnitedMonkee three whole years ago.
If you’re interested in learning more about this week’s Pop Poppa Of The Week Justin Aclin, check out his blog, but also be sure to buy his books Hero House and Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Defenders Of The Lost Temple. If that’s not enough, listen to his recent interview over on Matt and Brett Love Comics where, yes, he does in fact mention me.
And, finally, the drumming video:
St. Patrick’s Day Weekend Food Pics
In the past, I’ve had less than great luck with corn beef and food on St. Patrick’s Day. For a while there, it seems like gnarly corn beef was attracted to me like a magnet and bad metal. It’s okay, though, I’ve gotten past it and actually had some amazing CB in my life, especially this week. I didn’t bother making anything St. Patrick’s themed because it landed on the weekend and I tend to take those off for cooking. We wound up heading to a few of our favorite restaurants this weekend, all of which had wonderful Irish-themed food. You know you want to see the pictures, so scroll on down! 
On Friday, we headed over to King’s Pommes Frites in Cornwall and got their corn beef specials. These weren’t Reubens because they didn’t have sauerkraut and the bread was a sesame roll, but they were still quite tasty. Obviously, Reubens aren’t Irish, but they do utilize corn beef, so there’s the connection. But who cares! I went to Ireland about 12 years back and the food wasn’t all that great. In fact, this was one of two German dishes I had last weekend. Oh, my wife and I got the same thing, but we also tried a pair of new sauces: Horseradish and Basil, both were fantastic and highly recommended.
On actual St. Patrick’s Day, we headed to Fiddlestix, also in Cornwall, for breakfast or lunch, whichever you please. I went with lunch because they had something called The St. Patrick’s Day Sneak Peek or soemthing along those lines. This was all Irish (as far as I know). The corn beef was tender and juicy, some of the best I’ve ever had and those mashed potatoes actually had horseradish in them and were super tasty (I’m gonna have to remember than one in the future). The cabbage was a little bland, but with all those other flavors going on, that wasn’t such a terrible thing. Lastly, but in no way least, you can see a thick piece of Irish Soda Bread. I haven’t had a lot of this in my life, but this piece was MAGIC. It actually tasted a bit like French toast and I’m a little surprised that wasn’t on the menu. Maybe next year! 
Billy Joe’s Ribworks also had a series of Irish themed meals on Sunday, which was nice. We decided to go on a whim and weren’t even expecting that, so it was a nice surprise. I thought about getting some more corn beef, but instead I went with kielbasa which came with some amazing sauerkraut and Irish soda bread as well as two sides–I went with macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes because I love both of those things in my mouth. We also got out first and only…
green beer! It’s Bud Light which probably explains why they were able to get such an electric green. Everything was super tasty. Again, I know I was eating German food while celebrating and Irish-themed holiday, but I do not care. Any time I can get quality kielbasa next to mashed potatoes and mac and cheese, I am golden.
