COME TREASURE HUNTING WITH US
----Table of Contents----
1. For Inquiring Minds
2. Baby Freebies
3. How Good is Your Doctor?
4. How Good is Your Hospital, Nursing Home, or Assisted Living?
5. Crossword and Scrabble Fans Have a Search Engine!
6. Tell a Friend
7. All Fr*ee Crafts
8. A Food Treasure: Gumbo Town
9. Secret Cajun Weapon
10. Recipe: Cajun Sweet Potatoes
1. FOR INQUIRING MINDS
"The most useful single reference site on the Web...superb and then some." - Chicago Tribune
Whether you're a doctoral candidate or an elementary school student, the quality of your reference material counts. And the more you learn about the wonders of the Internet, the more you think there's TOO MUCH reference material available. How can a person tell which is best?
The helpful people at Library Spot say, "We created LibrarySpot.com to break through the information overload of the Web and bring the best library and reference sites together with insightful editorial in one user-friendly spot. Sites featured on LibrarySpot.com are hand-selected and reviewed by our editorial team for their exceptional quality, content and utility." Following is a small segment of the list of THE BEST they've compiled: biographies, business, calculators, calendars, countries, current events, dictionaries, directories, encyclopedias, geneology, government, grammar. (Not to mention their access to whole LIBRARIES online.)
If you're a student at any level, this is the first place to come for quality information. Click on
http://www.libraryspot.com/about.htm
2. BABY FREEBIES
If you are expecting a baby or have a new baby -- or if you know someone in those categories -- do pay a visit to Babies Online, where you can get $500 worth of fre*e baby products, a list that goes on and on. Plus specialty baby items up the wazoo. Their chief interest is, of course, in finding new parent customers, and they're willing to give away freebies in the process. If you'd like to be part of the process, click below:
Baby Chatter does the same thing, with a whole section called "Baby Fre*e Stuff," and a fre*e subscription to American Baby magazine CUSTOMIZED TO YOUR WEEK OF PREGNANCY OR THE BABY'S AGE! AI YI YI!
http://www.babychatter.com/babyfreebies.html
And then there's "FreeStuff4Baby." Their most important offer was a year's fr*ee diapers OR paying one of your monthly bills. I investigated this a week ago, using an e-mail address I rarely use. I quit filling out the form halfway through, not wanting to get a lot of unsolicited solicitations. Today I checked the e-mail at that address, and it was FULL of inquiries from J.C. Penney and other mainstream merchants offering bargains. So if you don't mind being marketed to -- and these are reputable merchants -- you can check out the offers here:
http://www.freestuff4baby.com/
The offer that tickled my fancy -- one that's no more disinterested than the rest, but neat all the same -- is the fre*e ticket to RINGLING BROS. CIRCUS. It can be cashed in at any age, and any baby less than a year old is eligible. Find it here:
http://www.ringling.com/offers/baby.aspx
3. HOW GOOD IS YOUR DOCTOR?
I looked for a fr*ee and easy way to examine our doctors' records. But what was fr*ee wasn't always easy, and vice versa. I first tried the site mentioned in my October 25 newsletter: http://searchsystems.net/ The information is there, all right, but you have to pay for "physicians/disciplinary history." So let's try another:
Docboard says it "remains the only combined public online physician database in the nation that has its direct source of data from state government licensing boards and that also remains fr*ee of charge to the public."
Docboard.org will send you to your state Board of Medicine website, where you can check the background of your doctor or physician's assistant and find out whether he or she has had any disciplinary actions or malpractice suits. Or at least this is what I got from the Virginia State Board of Medicine. According to Docboard, some states give more information than others. The report was fre*e.
Maybe your state didn't give you as much information as you wanted. You may need to pay for the information on "physicians/disciplinary history" at http://searchsystems.net/ as mentioned in the first paragraph. Or try
Their initial report is $7.95 and followup reports $3.95. In my case, this report covered the same material I got fre*e from the State Board of Medicine, except they DID NOT report malpractice suits. They also give "quality comparisons and quality ratings for area hospitals," which you can also get without charge from the website below. In addition you can purchase reports on your hospital or nursing home, but see below for other ways to get those.
4. HOW GOOD IS YOUR HOSPITAL, NURSING HOME, ASSISTED LIVING?
The website of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations is a great help if you're using -- or about to use -- health care services. The site lists hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, hospices, home care agencies, and more. You can find out whether an organization is accredited, then compare one accredited organization with others in a number of ways. And all the information is fr*ee.
Once you're on the website, click on "See What's New on Quality Check" at the top of the page for hints on accessing this valuable information:
http://www.jcaho.org/quality+check/index.htm
5. CROSSWORD AND SCRABBLE FANS HAVE A SEARCH ENGINE!
If you're a crossword puzzle fan, this Reference Desk website has TOO MUCH for you. (I'm not entirely kidding.) The list of websites with crosswords scrolls down and down and down. The New York Times and London Times crosswords, of course, along with several scientific crosswords, puzzles for people in a hurry, a hexagonal crossword, and, and, and. Plus a site with the recently popular SUDOKU puzzles. The list is at
http://refdesk.com/crosswrd.html
If you are a world-class crossword puzzler or Scrabble player, go to the following site for a PUZZLER'S SEARCH ENGINE! Which search engine allows you to search about 30 dictionaries and specialized word lists, including a Scrabble dictionary and a Scrabble word list.
http://www.puzzlers.org/wordlists/grepdict.php
And now that you're well into it, come to the National Puzzlers' League main page, on the site with the dictionary search engine. They say, "Whatever wordplay delights you...palindromes, cryptograms, crossword-type puzzles, cryptic crosswords, anagrams, poetry writing, discovering the word SCHOOLED has the letters in the words SHOE and COLD perfectly interlaced...you'll probably find it in our monthly publication, The ENIGMA." Learn more by clicking on the home page of
6. TELL A FRIEND
Do you have an online relative or friend who would enjoy this Tastebud Tango newsletter? Do forward your copy (a complete copy, please) to them. Tell them they can have their own fre*e subscription by going to the address below and signing up. And I will not give or sell their e-mail address to anyone else.
http://delightfulfood.com/Archives/index.html
7. ALL FR*EE CRAFTS
If you like to make your own gifts, this is a highly inspirational site. The address below takes you to the Christmas page, which is also the Food Gifts page, but the site's Nature and Home Decorating pages have a multitude of other good ideas. Click below:
http://www.allfreecrafts.com/christmas/homemadefoodgifts.shtml
8. A FOOD TREASURE: GUMBO TOWN
The author says, "Oh my, what is there in this world that compares with a steaming bowl of real gumbo? Just the memory of a spoonful of great gumbo can send you swooning years later. When the deep rich fragrance and dark chocolate color have you completely mesmerized; when each bite offers layers upon layers of complex flavor; when true alchemy has taken place in that gumbo pot -- then you know that life is truly, truly sweet.
"No two batches of gumbo are ever the same. You can't go home again, and you can't make the same pot of gumbo twice, either . . ." But you can make some great gumbo by clicking below:
http://www.pannett.com/gumbo.html
9. SECRET CAJUN WEAPON
The Cajun secret weapon is, of course, Cajun seasoning. It will lift your food right out of the ordinary class -- and I'm happy to say this little piece of happiness can be found on my Tastebud Tango website under Spectacular Spices. These spectacular seasonings were created by a Cajun fellow by name of T-Boy, who says, "Food is my passion!" T-Boy tested the seasonings on the customers at his meat market in the little Cajun town of Mamou, Louisiana, following their suggestions to add a little more of this and that, until he achieved a PERFECT blend of spices. Read about them at
http://my-url.us/pv-spice.html
And here's the recipe, posted by Rita L. on Recipezaar.com, that will make your marshmallow hating friends cheer and show off T-Boy's creation too. And don't you think this recipe would be delicious with winter squash or carrots instead of sweet potatoes?
10. RECIPE: CAJUN SWEET POTATOES
2 sweet potatoes, cubed
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
1/2 teaspoon dried herbs
1 teaspoon brown sugar
salt and black pepper
Preheat oven to 350. Place cubed sweet potatoes in a baking dish. Add remaining ingredients, stir, cover and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. 3-4 servings.
Recipezaar also gives a review of the Cajun sweet potatoes by "Nimrod Cook": "These were very good. I left out the "dried herbs" cause I didn't know what to put in and upped the brown sugar to 2 tablespoons and it turned out really good. Baked these for 45 minutes and they were perfect. Thanks Rita for another great one."
© Copyright 2005 Janette G. Blackwell. All rights reserved. You may copy and use portions of this newsletter for noncommercial, personal use only. You may forward a copy to someone else as long as the copyright notice is included. Any other use of the materials in this newsletter without prior written permission is prohibited.
Tour the Sites newsletter comes out on the first and fifteenth of each month, and we'll NEVER give or sell your e-mail address to anyone else. Plus, these breathtaking "tours of the sites" are absolutely free!
So add your name to our Tour the Sites mailing list at the bottom of this page, and let's dig up more exciting treasures!
Janette Blackwell