My online haunts

Posted October 17th, 2009 by Kimberly Dowd

I have these little obsessions that I probably would never have if I didn’t have always-on internet service. Here are the “rest stops” you’ll find me lurking at on our Information Superhighway. (I still love that late-90s term!)

West Coast Swing Videos
I have never, ever danced the West Coast Swing. Back in February, 2005, I took an East Coast Swing class and found out that we danced better with other partners. Prophetic, no?
Anyhoo, for years now I’ve been completely ensorceled with watching other people dance WCS. Probably because although it looks amazingly smooth and elegant, I think with a little bit of practice I could learn.

See? Awesome. Hypnotic. And there are tons more at YouTube.

Baking websites

I don’t know how it started, but within the last few months I discovered Bakerella and between her inventive takes on classics and the gorgeous photography, I was hooked. I quickly tore through her archives and even tried out the pumpkin pie bites. They came out okay due to my less-than-perfect kitchen skills. I also tried her yellow cake and buttercream recipes and they were divine!

I mean..look at this!

Other sites I routinely visit are Building a Bakery, Cakespy, and to keep me from going off the deep end, Cake Wrecks.

Bento box sites

If your parents packed lunch for you as a kid, the most heartwarming moments came when there was a little note tucked in there or perhaps an extra Chips Ahoy cookie. It was kinda cool to know that someone took a few extra minutes out of a busy day to make your lunch special. And it was great!

Now imagine opening your box and seeing a lunch like this!

This is what’s called a bento box meal, where how the box looks is just (if not more) as important as what’s in the box. And yes, that is a hard-boiled egg molded into a cute shape. Amazing.

Now on one hand I can see the whole “food is love” angle. And, yes, you want to make sure you or your kidlet eats a good meal. But on the other hand, so many of these are packed for children that I have to wonder if it’s worth it to put all of that work into a lunch for a kid who’d be just as happy with a note and an extra cookie wrapped in store-brand plastic wrap. And some of the blogs I see have a tinge of the rampant “perfection parenting” that we see these days.

But I’m still hooked. There are pages and pages of photos on Flickr with a bento tag as well as blogs like Lunch in a Box and Adventures in Bentomaking.

What are your weird and wonderful (and PG-13 or under) internet obsessions?