Three of the Country’s Most Unique Museums

Who says you have to leave the country to find a truly fascinating, unique museum? These impressive American museums offer plenty of wonder, and you won’t even have to dig out your passport to visit them.

Mutter Museum
One of the country’s only museums devoted entirely to medical history, the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia is a great choice for anyone interested in anatomy or the history of the healthcare field. This cabinet-style museum features preserved anatomical specimens, models, and medical instruments so that viewers might ponder the human body’s mysteries and the wonders of medical treatment. 

Museum of Osteology
Oklahoma City’s Museum of Osteology is a sprawling 7,000 square foot museum showcasing skeletons from creatures all over the world. A unique educational experience that aims to show visitors the form and function of each unique creature, this museum also features exhibits with themes like locomotion, diversity and adaptation. 

Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia
Full of over 900 pieces of Pez memorabilia, this California museum is dedicated to the fun, whimsical novelty behind the popular candy. If you’re a collector yourself, the museum also has a gift shop full of new, vintage and imported Pez dispensers to add to your own collection.

Follow Football All Week Long with These Great Sites

Sure, you can watch the big games on Saturdays and Sundays. But devoted football fans also have a growing number of ways to keep up with their favorite sport online throughout the rest of the week. Here are three websites where you can read in-depth articles, watch videos, and see stats as a lead up to the next big game!

NFLNation
Hosted by the beloved television sports network, ESPN’s NFLNation is a great online source for following pro football. This site is jam packed with articles and discussions written by football experts, the latest league news, a constantly updated scoreboard and weekly player stats that you won’t find anywhere else. Fans can even search NFLNation to see stuff about their favorite team.

Football Outsiders
Written by thinking fans for thinking fans Football Outsiders is an in-depth website that takes an entirely new approach to analyzing the sport of football. The site’s statistics-centric writers provide brand new stats that attempt to make a more effective analysis of each game, as well as long-form articles that might change your perspective on the game.

Dr. Saturday
Yahoo! Sports’ Dr. Saturday is a college football blog that discusses the players, teams and coaches within the world of college football. With a laid-back, conversational voice and expert analysis, this is the ideal follow-up reading after watching your alma mater’s latest game.

Learn to Cook Right from Your Phone with These 3 Apps

When you’re making something in the kitchen you need your recipe to be easily accessible, and there’s nothing more convenient than your smartphone. These helpful cooking apps will give you recipes, cooking techniques, and other necessary information right from your mobile device:

How to Cook Everything: Cooking Basics
This app, developed by New York Times cooking columnist Mark Bittman, includes an assortment of recipes and high-quality photos, video and audio to make your time in the kitchen easier and more hands-on. The recipes are simple and straightforward, and if you come across a technique that you don’t understand it even includes links to video tutorials to help you learn as you go.

Epicurious
The popular cooking website now has a helpful app for iPhone, iPad, Android, Nook, Windows and Kindle. The Epicurious app provides users with numerous recipes, and it has a printing feature that allows you to print your favorite recipes from anywhere. The shopping list feature even creates lists of ingredients that you can easily access at the grocery store.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking: Selected Recipes
The famous Julia Child book "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" is now available from your mobile device with this innovative app.  With real photos straight from the book, Child’s most beloved quotes, and even video tutorials for mastering some of her more complex dishes, this app is ideal for anyone who wants to learn the art of French cooking.

Find a Delicious Recipe Using Ingredients You Have at Home

You know the feeling: it’s dinner time, you’re rummaging through your kitchen cabinets trying to find something to make, and you come up empty handed. These helpful websites are made for days when you just don’t have time to get to the grocery store. They’ll help you to combine the things you already have to make a tasty and filling meal, and you might even find a new favorite recipe along the way:

Super Cook
Super Cook offers a simple layout and easy-to-use search bar that allows you to type in the ingredients you have and browse recipes using only those ingredients. The site searches other places around the web to give you a variety of recipes to choose from, and it even allows you to save the ones you’ve tried and loved or plan on trying in the future. Super Cook also has search filters for dietary restrictions, omitting things like dairy, gluten, meat or shellfish.

Recipe Matcher
Another great website for combining mismatched ingredients into delicious, wholesome meals, Recipe Matcher operates off of user-submitted recipes that are constantly updated. If you have a recipe that you’d like to share, Recipe Matcher also has a submissions page to allow you to help others become less wasteful and save a bit of grocery money along the way.

Find Local Food in Season Near You

Finding fresh, healthy foods nearby can extend beyond the produce counter at your neighborhood grocery store. If you want find food grown in your region, these three websites can help guide you:

Local Harvest
The CSA page of the Local Harvest website gives you complete information about signing up for a CSA, and where to find one in your area. CSA stands for “Community Supported Agriculture”, and it generally operates like a subscription to your local farmers market. If you want a constant supply of fresh, local produce, Local Harvest is worth a read.

FarmersMarket.com
FarmersMarket.com is an entire website devoted to, you guessed it, farmer’s markets. Type in your zip code and you’ll instantly receive information about all of the farmer’s markets in your area, giving you quick and easy access to information about local and organic products. FarmersMarket.com also has an informative blog with tips and recipes for using your market purchases in healthy and delicious ways.

Epicurious
This self-described website “for people who love to eat” features information about farm-to-table meats and produce and where to find them in your area, including an interactive ingredient map. Epicurious also employs healthy, seasonal recipes, a tight-knit online community, and articles from chefs and other experts to keep you informed about local foods.

Broadlands Sports Bar & Grill: A Friendly Ashburn Restaurant

Broadlands Sports Bar & Grill offers visitors a chance to chill out in a friendly environment. Wall-to-wall high definition TVs means you can watch just about any sports event imaginable while you sip a beer and chow down on a tasty bite to eat. Fried Pickles, Jalapeno Poppers, Homemade Chili and Crispy Calamari are some of the appetizer options to whet your appetite. Quesadillas, burgers, sandwiches and wraps are also on the menu, as are full entrees like Blackened Grilled Chicken, Fettuccini Meatball Marinara, New York Strip Steak, Fish & Chips, New York Strip & Wings and Chicken Veggie Stir Fry. The Little Leaguers menu provides some tasty $5 meals for the kids. Open every day.

Broadlands Sports Bar & Grill
42882 Truro Parish Drive
Ashburn, VA 20148
(703) 729-7119
http://www.yelp.com/biz/broadlands-sports-bar-and-grill-ashburn

Become a Mobile Artist With These 5 Apps

Interested in getting more involved in art or something creative? While you may not have time to sit down at an easel and paint a masterpiece, chances are you have five or ten minutes to draw something on your smartphone or tablet. Next time you're waiting for your dining companion, on the train, or taking a small break, check out these five great apps. 

ASKetch
Draw a black and white portrait or cartoon with the touch of your finger. The app has a minimal interface, so you can focus on your drawing. Pick a place on the screen and start drawing. You can switch back and forth between different types of pencils for different looks. Available for iPhone and iPad.

How to Draw
New to drawing but interested in learning? This great app, available for iPhone and Android, will teach you how to draw. Learn to draw over 200 different objects with easy to follow, step-by-step instructions. Lessons range from beginner to more advanced. 

Comic & Meme Creator
Sometime the best way to tell a joke is through a drawing or comic. If you aren't the best drawer, this app is for you. Create a comic or meme with pre-drawn characters and backgrounds. Just add the words! Once your comic is done, you can send it to friends on Facebook and Twitter. Available for iPhone and Android. 

Paper
This free app for iPad lets you create beautiful images right on the screen. Add on additional tools, like brushes and color mixers, for a small fee. Create beautiful images, landscapes, and even presentation tools. Each work of art is stored in a notebook within the app. 

Auryn Ink
Paint a watercolor picture right on your phone with this great app. Choose your canvas, brush size, color wheel, and more. You can allow your watercolor picture to air dry or dry it instantly. It's just like painting a real picture but without the mess. Available for iPhone and Android. 

Greater Reston Arts Center: Discover Your Inner Art Lover

The Greater Reston Arts Center (GRACE) brings a wealth of contemporary visual art to Northern Virginia. The Center hosts rotating exhibitions in its spacious gallery, featuring artists from across the mid-Atlantic region. Receptions, artist’s talks, lectures, workshops, readings, and other programs regularly provide the public an opportunity to further engage the arts. GRACE’s signature Fine Arts Festival brings together over 200 artists, performers, and crafters for two days each spring. The Center also offers a range of educational programming for children, teens, and adults in both visual and performing arts. Popular programs like “Explore More Buckets” and “Free Fridays” offer drop-in opportunities for young children and families to discover the arts at no charge. Visitors to the Center say it provides a welcoming, playful environment in which to create, learn about, or take in the arts. Whatever your preference, GRACE makes it easy to fit the arts into your life.

Greater Reston Arts Center
12001 Market Street, Suite #103
Reston, VA 20190
(703) 471-9242

Charcoal Kabob House: Tasty Mediterranean Fare

Just a short trip from BLVD l Loudoun Station in Herndon, Charcoal Kabob House is a Mediterranean restaurant that is famous among regulars for its signature kabobs. The tender lamb kabob seems to be the favorite kabob, but Charcoal Kabob offers other quality meat selections like chicken and beef. If you order a kabob, you also get vegetable curry, freshly baked naan bread, Basmati rice, and a salad. The prices may be a bit high, but you’re getting a large portion of authentic, quality food. Customers rave about the perfectly seasoned chickpea side and creamy, refreshing yogurt dip. A twenty-minute wait is common for Charcoal Kabob, but the cooks prepare dishes with a tandoor and use hickory charcoal (hence the name!) for an authentic, healthy taste. If you don’t have a lot of time, skip the kabob and instead choose the curry. It's all worth the wait!

Charcoal Kabob House
394 Elden Street
Herndon, VA 20170
(703) 435-2400

Trip Idea: Frankfort, Kentucky

If you are a history lover, take a trip to Frankfort, Kentucky. The capitol city of Kentucky was settled in 1786. Since then the city has been through a lot, leaving it filled with tons of historic sites. Make sure you check out these great attractions during your trip! 

Buffalo Trace Distillery
Visitors say Buffalo Trace makes fantastic bourbon. You can tour Buffalo Trace for free or just head over to the gift shop where they offer free tastings of the bourbons like Buffalo Trace Bourbon Cream and Eagle Rare. The tour guides are very friendly and knowledgeable. You'll learn about history as well as bourbon on these tours. 

Buckley Wildlife Sanctuary
See beautifully preserved prairie land in Frankfort. This excellent center has several hiking trails, clean bathrooms, a pond, and a small nature center. Watch birds in the scenic bird blind room. For a scenic view and beautiful walking trail, the $4 admission is worth it. 

Rick's White Light Diner
Delicious Cajun cuisine is on the menu at Rick's. Stop in for a delicious lunch of New Orleans’s Muffaletta, Shrimp Po’ Boy, Crawfish Etouffee on a Bed of Grits, and Fried Catfish. Make sure you save room for a slice of fresh baked Bourbon Pie!  All the meals are made with high quality, locally sourced ingredients. Open Tuesday through Saturday. 

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