Freak The Mighty And Olive

What book(s) did you read as a kid that you would want your kids to read someday?

Ah, so so many…My son pretty much has already inherited my library. I had a collection of children’s books that numbered about 500 before he was born. I shared all of my favorites with him. We giggled our way through the Ramona series by Beverly Cleary, Beatrix Potter, The Mouse on the Motorcycle … So many books. We discovered the Animorph books together by buying a bunch at a yardsale.I read so many science fiction and fantasy books when I was older. I read Harry Potter to him before he could read and then he read them on his own.He’s a young man now and has read my Roger Zelazny books recently. I can’t begin to list all the books I’ve shared with him. My personal library has a lot of science fiction and fantasy from the 1960’s to now. He has enjoyed reading my “old school” books for some time now. Asimov, Clark, LeGuin, Bradbury, Poul Anderson, Joan D, Vinge, Tanith Lee. His bedroom is wall-to-wall books, mostly my books. It’s a joy to see him loving my favorites.

Is homemade pizza better than shop bought pizza?

If you take care in the prep of the dough. Use a good oven that can go up to 475-500F at LEAST and you follow the steps, you will have a better pizza than the store bought type. As good as some pizza places that make their own dough…DONT skip the proofing. And try to get a special pizza flour. It has less protein and produces less gluten. The Italians have a Type “00″ flour just for pizzas.You will also have way less preservatives and if you choose the right toppings, less fat and sodium, etc…Making a homemade sauce is simple… Roast some garlic, add crushed tomatoes, a table spoon of tomato paste, some brown sugar, a bit of hot pepper or sriracha and LOTS or oregano… Just let it thicken and add salt and pepper to taste. Maybe a dash of a good Balsamic vinegar to balance the sugar. 15- 20 minutes and its ready. I like mine very thick. More like a spread than a pizza sauce. It really helps to keep the toppings from sliding all over and it gets you a nicer crust. Not as wet…

What do you think about adults who order themselves a kid’s meal?

When I was a manager at Wendy’s, if an adult ordered a child’s meal, I use to always ask them if they wanted the toy.If they did, I gave them the typical child’s meal inside the child’s meal bag with the toy. It was no skin off of my back, and I did not care as to why they wanted the toy.If they did not want the toy, at the time (it has been five years since I last worked there), Wendy’s had a way to ring up combo meals off of the value menu. Where a child’s cheeseburger meal came with a child’s fry and child’s drink, I could ring a jr. deluxe off of the value menu and combo meal it, and the customer received a small fry and a small drink for the same price. The child’s chicken nugget meal only came with 4 nuggets, while the value menu chicken nuggets came with five nuggets and the larger fry and drink, and the price was only a few cents different. I would always let them know about the alternative, and many of my customers happily accepted once they knew it was an option.I totally understood. When I worked at Wendy’s, for my meals, I frequently ate off of the value menu because it does not take a lot for me to feel full. I could never understand how someone could eat a triple Baconator with a large fry and drink and not feel like they would explode.

If I work out every day, will KFC be a good source of protein?

No, any fast food, even if it contains chicken, is not a good source of protein. Mostly because of added fat, lot of carbohydrates and other unhealthy ingredients.Have a look on nutrition information on KFC’s website: Nutrition Information - KFC.comHere is a list of ingredients for chicken on the bone chicken breast: Fresh Chicken Marinated With: Salt, Sodium Phosphate and Monosodium Glutamate. Breaded With: Wheat Flour, Salt, Tricalcium Phosphate, Whey, Nonfat Milk, Egg Whites, Corn Starch, Potato Starch, Maltodextrin, Triglycerides, Natural Flavoring (Milk), Gelatin (From Chicken), Colonel's Secret Original Recipe Seasoning.)Doesn’t look healthy, does it? In one serving there are 33g of protein and 16g of fat - in chicken breast! Chicken breast is the skinniest part of chicken and raw doesn’t contain any fat at all.Of course I am not saying you should not eat any fat - it is as much important as proteins, but you should choose healthy fats like olive oil or coconut oil.Other point is that you should avoid ingredients like Tricalcium Phosphate or Monosodium Glutamate.