Welcome Back, EC!

Boy, am I glad I didn't give away all my credits. Certain...events have transpired since I removed my widget a few days ago that now give me the freedom to do more of what I want with my blog. Not a whole lot will change, but I'm glad to have EntreCard back. I found a lot of neat blogs that way.

So we'll just see what happens next. There have been times when I've thought a more appropriate title for this blog should be "How The Heck Do You Work This Thing?" I've never blogged before, and probably haven't been the best blogger out there. ("Probably"? That's an understatement!) But I do aspire to learn and grow and eventually graduate to being a good blogger. I look forward to reading over these early posts and laughing at how ridiculous I sounded!

My Burning Question About Sarah Palin...

Which of the Saturday Night Live chicks will play her? As of a few days ago, producers still had not officially picked their player. I know there's a lot of buzz in the media about what a Tina Fey look-alike Palin is (because she has dark hair and glasses, I guess -- beyond that, I don't really see it). But the problem with this is that Tina Fey is no longer on SNL. Aside from the occasional hosting gig or cameo appearance, they're going to need to appoint one of their regulars: Kristen Wiig, Amy Poehler, or Casey Wilson.

I don't think Poehler has the look or the voice to pull off the impression, but she could surprise us. And though Wiig is incredibly talented (her Suze Orman is spot-on, and I love her in the "Two A-Holes" sketches), she's also incredibly overused. I haven't been impressed with what I've seen of Casey Wilson so far (her Rachael Ray is dreadful; and the only other sketch I can recall her in was the hammy, neverending Quadraplegic Stripper). However, I think Casey might prove to be the best choice for the role.

(Palin and Wilson)

It's quite hard to find videos of Casey online (I was only able to scrounge up this one) but I really think she has the look and the voice to bring Palin to life for our amusement. What do you think?

Sleep Hygiene

I've mentioned in a previous post how I'm a natural "night owl" -- this is partly caused by some pretty frequent insomnia. So I've done a lot of reading about how to reduce insomnia. One of the most popular tips is to practice good sleep hygiene. This means using your bedroom just for sleeping (and, well, you know...) -- no work, no TV. You also need to make sure that your bedroom is tidy, comfortable, and aesthetically pleasing. My bedroom does not meet any of those descriptions! The furniture is mis-matched, inefficient, and not very comfortable.

I've been considering replacing them with new bedroom furniture. I know a lot of people cut costs by buying used furniture in thrift stores, on eBay, or antique auctions, but the recent resurgence of bed bugs should really make you think twice. For me, it's new or nothing!

My first priority is to replace my box-spring bed with a platform. Oh, my aching back would love a platform bed! South Shore Furniture makes some really elegant ones. But I like the platforms that have storage drawers underneath, to help curb clutter. Prepac Furniture makes a lot of those that are very stylish as well. Those links I dropped are to Home and Bedroom, which has some amazing prices for their sets and pieces; they don't just sell beds but also matching headboards, nightstands, dressers and armoires (in addition to lots of other home furnishings). All of which would bring my bedroom's new look together in a really practical but beautiful way.

I'd love my new bedroom to look like this.

I don't have children, but I notice Home and Bedroom also has some really adorable Kids Bedroom Sets, too. Some of the mommy bloggers I network with should definitely check those out.

Let's Hear It For Sugar

I have had a pretty bad day today. It's actually been a pretty sucky year, but I don't blog much about it because it would be really boring and depressing. So instead I mainly just show my "happy side" to my blog. Is this disingenuous? It would probably be considered so. And that bugs me, because part of being a successful blogger is being an honest blogger. People can tell when you're BSing them. Not that I'm lying necessarily, just maybe omitting some of the...darker parts of my life. If only one could do that with life itself! Just erase the not-so-fun parts!

Anyway, I'm not the only one having a bad day, or a bad week. Some of my blog buddies (I swear I'll get my blog roll back up as soon as I've figured out what the heck I'm doing!) are having bad weeks, too. Money, health, marriage.... You name it. I'm really starting to think 2008 is cursed, because I honestly have yet to encounter someone for whom this year has been totally awesome (if you're out there, please share!). I know the foreclosure crisis and gas prices and the economy in general have everybody down, but there's more to it than that. It just seems like there's a dark cloud hanging over everybody. Bizarre things that you'd never expect to happen to certain people...are happening.

That said, I took about 20 minutes tonight to bawl like a baby, while I was making a snack -- cinnamon toast and some of my precious hot cocoa. I know I'm asking for diabetes with a "meal" like that, but, eh. I decided to stop crying so I could eat it, telling myself I could continue again when I'd finished. But now that I've got all the sugar and carbohydrates pumping lots of serotonin through my brain, I don't feel like crying anymore!

Of course, I'm aware that the buzz is only short-term with refined sugars -- I may be in for a crash later -- but for now I'm enjoying it. Hooray for sugar!

(Foot) Balls

I really need to stay on top of the news a little better. I'm a huge Notre Dame Football fan, and I only just now read that they had their season-opening game today. I missed it!

I'm pleased to see that they at least won, 21 to 13, against San Diego State. I'd like to see that trend continue, because last season was an utter nightmare. I hope I'll remember to tune in next week to watch them play against Michigan!

So Long, EC

As much as it pains me, because it's been so very good to me, I think I'm going to have to deactivate my EntreCard membership with this blog...at least for now. There are some out there who I guess would consider the traffic generated to be synthetic, and I suppose they would have a point.

Still, I seemed to get a lot more attention with EntreCard than I think I ever would have gotten without it. It's a shame, because I just crossed over the 1k mark in my popularity ranking: 1152 today. Not bad for just a week in the system.

I'm guessing the most ethical thing to do is cancel my eight queued ads. I hope the credits they spent will be reimbursed....

Now I suppose I will have to figure out ways to lure traffic more organically. Watch this space for more posts about Sarah Palin, Miley Cyrus, and the Jonas Brothers! (God, I hope that's sarcasm...)

I Caved...

...and downloaded Google Chrome. So not worth it. First of all, the initial download itself is just another downloader app, which, by the way, takes forever to fully complete on a pretty decent connection. This bugs me, because I was unable to see exactly how big the actual download would end up being. Also, all the "calling home" freaked out my firewall. Strike one for Chrome.

Once it was finally downloaded and installed, Chrome offered to import my settings from Mozilla. "Oh, cool," I thought. Not cool. The screen hung after appearing to import. I had to kill the task from my Task Manager. Twice. It never did actually import my bookmarks (as one of my commenters has said). Strike two for Chrome.

Finally loading the actual application itself, my firewall complained some more (this is typical for a browser; but there certainly do seem to be a lot of calls out), and I was hit by a lot of sparseness. There are few menu options available to the user. And, honestly, I didn't notice much of a speed increase at all. Strike three, Chrome is out.

Back to my old trusty Firefox, which I can tweak to my heart's content! Perhaps once Chrome leaves Beta stage, I'll give it another whirl. Until then, I'm now convinced that I'm not missing anything.

How Many Girls Will the Internet Kill?

So I just read that Miley Cyrus died in a car accident last night. This is only less than a month after reports of rapper Lil Wayne's daughter also being killed in a wreck. Thing is? Neither is true!

The Wayne rumor was circulated by various gossip sites last month, resulting in a flood of traffic and comments to the rapper's MySpace page. His record label soon debunked the myth. But you have to wonder what sort of trauma such lies could do to an 8-year-old girl.

Miley's rumor, meanwhile, seems a bit less sophisticated, and is nothing more than a little April Fool's-style Digg abuse and Wikipedia vandalism. Thankfully, it doesn't seem to have even made a blip on the radar screens of legitimate news outlets.

But it all leads one to wonder: Who's next?

And it also whips up a little food for thought: With the lines blurring between the professional journalists of legitimate media and the amateur journalists of the blogosphere, how long will we actually be able to count on believing the "news" we read? Have we ever really been able to?

Money = Happiness?

We've all heard that money can't buy happiness -- but researchers have discovered there are certain things money can buy that do lead to happiness: Whatever promotes social interaction -- like a new barbecue grill for a neighborhood cookout, or a vacation with friends or loved ones.

Fond memories are huge joy boosters, because they often only get better over time. Quick -- think about your last pleasure trip. Now think about whatever toy you bought at around the same time. Which thought makes you happier?

I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that taking a break for a little while and charging my "happy sectors" just makes me feel alive again. I'm more vibrant and productive when I return to my "daily grind." So I think it's really great when certain companies reward their employees (and, in some cases, their customers) for excellence/loyalty with "experience rewards" -- like dinners and retreats and vacations -- rather than just "stuff rewards" -- like cash or a new TV. And, really, sometimes you have to almost force a hard worker to take a vacation!

There's a company called Bellwether Rewards that specializes in such "corporate incentive programs" -- though any business could take advantage of this because of the tiered reward levels. A business could gift a few of its top performers with a higher-level 7-day getaway to a Caribbean resort, or spread the appreciation around to even more stars with a little trip to a Canadian retreat or a spa in one of several U.S. destinations. Even the weekend getaways to some great places in Canada, California, and Florida would be a fantastic rejuvenating treat.

Bellwether takes care of all the airfare, accommodations, and ground transportation for the lucky travelers. All the boss has to worry about is promoting the incentives to his/her employees! I know if I ever worked at a place that offered such cool rewards for hard work, I'd really bust my butt to win!

'Cause have I mentioned? I need a vacation!

Come On, Bedtime!

You ever have days when you're just counting down the hours until you can climb into your bed and go to sleep? I'm having a day like that. It's not like it's a particularly bad day, I'm just sooo tired. And I realize that's the least interesting thing a person could say on a blog.

I mean, yeah, I could blog about, oh, I dunno, Sarah Palin. 'Cause, like, nobody's said a peep about her since she was selected as McCain's running mate, right? Or maybe I could blog about the giant, 50' spider that's running rampant through Liverpool, England. (Relax. It's a robot. They've dubbed it "La Princess" and keep calling it "art" which makes it about 1,000 times less cool than just calling it a giant robot spider.) Or I could even blog about Raquel Welch who, either by the miracle of Botox or a deal with the devil, still looks fan-damn-tastic at 68 years old today.

But instead, I'm just gonna slack off and whine about being tired. Much less effort that way.

My Credit Confession

I have a rather controversial confession to make. Ready? I don't have a credit card. I never have. Well, kind of....

My mom has had credit cards (and racked up a lot of pesky debt because of it -- any wonder I'm gun-shy?), and at one time I was the "authorized user" on them. For some internet transactions, this was a necessity. However, I've mostly just gotten by with debit. But then recently I thought maybe I'd try to establish some credit of my own. I didn't want to carry a balance or anything, just create a credit history. So my first step was to look up my credit report. Was I in for a shock! Not only did it list all the cards I had ever been an authorized user for, but I discovered one of those sneaky companies had made me a joint account holder without my permission! I was able to get myself removed from the cards where I was an "authorized user," but that one -- which I always assumed I was just an authorized user for -- remains. No matter how many calls I've made, how much I've protested that they did it without my permission, they refuse to let me out of it. I am not happy about it.

So, even if you're just someone's "authorized user," I strongly suggest you check your own credit report. Make sure there's nothing there that shouldn't be! If I had stayed on top of mine, I might not be in this mess.

That said, I still have an interest in establishing my own credit. But this situation has made me ultra cautious about it.


I was recently made aware of CardHub.com, which is a credit card index site. I've been to sites like this before, but I honestly really like CardHub the best. They help you filter cards based on your credit standing, and then you can filter further by multiple factors, like intro rates, annual fees, etc., all of which are plainly listed with each card. The cards they feature are all pretty well known -- no shady underground companies you've never heard of. But best of all is their education center. I've learned a lot from the few articles I've read (I'll be reading more later). They really take you by the hand to teach you all the ins and outs of how credit cards work and how to be a savvy applicant.

I'd love to find something that I didn't like about my experience at CardHub, just so I could make this a balanced review, but I can't find anything that I feel needs improvement!

Thanks to what I learned at CardHub, I'm definitely going to be paying that little extra to get my actual FICO score, so I know exactly what my credit standing is. That way, I know CH will be able to help me find my perfect card.

Are You a Cereal Junkie?

My grocery shopping trip has me thinking food a lot lately.

I shop at a "membership" type of store -- the prices are usually very good, especially for cereal. There have been times in the past when I've been able to pick up my fave, Post's Cranberry Almond Crunch, for as little as $2 a box. (I probably could have found a better link there if The Empty Bowl hadn't gone offline. Now the cereal enthusiast community is woefully underserved. Hmm...I'm starting to get ideas for my next blog.)

Anyway, maybe I'm just not lucking out to go at the right time...but I tend to think the economy is more to blame for the fact that the price for a little crunchy cranberry bliss now comes at no less than $3.50 a box. And that's for this little, thin, 13 oz. thing! I actually scanned most of the boxes, and couldn't find a single price for less than $3. I know there are some places that do 2/$5 sales sometimes, and I guess I'll have to start getting my cereal that way. But I know my choices will be limited to the store's whims.

I also read a Cranberry Almond Crunch review that suggested WalMart *shudder* might have good prices. I'm certainly willing to descend to that level to get my fix.

Where do you buy cereal? Have the prices gone out of sight?

Back To School Memories

I don't have kids (I'm nearly still just a kid myself), so I can't really relate with a lot of the parents who are going through the back-to-school craziness right now. But it does make me think back to my own childhood days of going back to school. It was always an exciting, and slightly intimidating time: Would I enjoy my new teacher? Would I make any new friends?

One thing I could always look forward to, though, was getting a brand-new binder and folders, and a new backpack. I loved that part. And then, once school had started, we all had to cover our books and could get really creative!

I went to the same elementary school for all six years -- a small, private school -- so most things were pretty routine and predictable. But I went to a public school for the middle grades -- culture shock! And worst of all was that school didn't have lockers! Insanity! We had to guard our belongings with our lives!

I can't count the times I misplaced/lost things during that time. Nothing major ('cause, come on, who brings something important to a school with no lockers?), but it was still annoying. Perhaps if I'd had labels on my stuff, they would have had a better chance of finding their way back to me!

DYMO has a really neat label maker that is quite reasonably priced. I would have had so much fun with this back when I was in school. You can use lots of different types of labels with the same tool: for clothing, or sticking on items; metallic labels, color labels, even magnetic labels! The website has a lot of unique and clever labeling ideas. I have to admit, I'd have fun with those magnetic labels even now. But I'm sure kids would find all the label types endlessly fun and beneficial. I'm just imagining how blinged out my old school book covers could have been with some custom labels!

My Hot Cocoa Weakness

I went grocery shopping today. I have a backup freezer and stock it full, so I don't go grocery shopping all that often. Gas prices and all that.

It was an exhausting day for many reasons. Not feeling great.

Anyway, hot cocoa -- you know, the chocolate powder packets that you add hot water to -- was not on my list. It hasn't been for a while because partially-hydrogenated oils are too far up on the ingredient list. This is a bummer, because I really like hot cocoa and have been pretty miserable without it. I've looked at the "fat free" mix varieties, but while they don't contain any hydrogenated anything, they also contain sucralose, A.K.A. Splenda, which is fake sugar with a building scary reputation. That may be why they now call it "sucralose."

You are perhaps wondering if there are any ingredients I'm not afraid of. Well, of course! The things found in nature!

So instead of packaged cocoa, I've been experimenting with homemade. I tried the real thing, with a saucepan and milk and all that, but it tasted...weird. So instead I tried this recipe for a homemade mix. I had everything but the non-dairy creamer. It tasted closer to what I was used to, but still a bit weird. So I thought, "Okay, I'll get some non-dairy creamer and try again." But you know what non-dairy creamer has in it?

Hmm?

Partially-hydrogenated oils! Nooooooooo!

As I said, I have had a bad day. Then I had a hard shopping trip where the store was either out of what I needed or the prices of what they did have went up -- again. By the time I got to this, I just wanted to sit down in the aisle and cry.

So I wandered back over to the packaged cocoa mixes. And I re-read the ingredients list of my old favorite, Nestle Milk Chocolate. Nope, no change. But Swiss Miss? She's now using fully-hydrogenated oils! Is this ideal? No. But it was close enough and I bought it. I had a mug of it tonight, and it tasted good.

Sometimes you just have to make a compromise. I compromised for cocoa. And I have no regrets.

A Whirlwind of Hosting Options

Don't you hate it when you stumble into a blog that seems to be mid-conversation, and you're left wondering what half the post means? This is why I tend to reiterate a lot of stuff. If anybody is a regular reader, don't worry -- it kinda irks me, too.

So I'm looking into getting a new web host. My current one is kind of a joke, and I want to host my website and my blog, and maybe more blogs, myself. My current host probably couldn't cut it. I remember the last time I went host-hunting; it was kind of a nightmare. I want my new search to be as easy as possible.

I've found another webhosting directory/rating site. WebHostingRating.com ranks hosts based on user reviews. They have an overall best list, and then you can also narrow the best by category, like best budget hosting, best Unix hosting, etc. Both are of interest to me. I was on a Windows server once, where I learned my first real coding language -- ASP -- but I've since gotten really comfortable with PHP and I like playing with .htaccess files, so Unix is my buddy.

It's really handy to compare the results of multiple host rating sites, to see if they have the same opinion about a certain host. But I have to admit I loooove how WebHostingRating gives you so much info about any given host right on their site. You can really compare the nitty gritty features that you may need. I also think they have a great article section. They've got one there about all the wonders of cPanel. I adore cPanel. I don't know if it's just the funky way my current webhost is set up, but ever since they switched away from cP to Plesk, I don't have as much control over the way my server operates. And that is so not cool.

So I think I'm well-armed to find myself a new host! I'm kind of scared -- switching can be kind of tedious and nerve-wracking -- but if I follow the reviews, hopefully I'll find a host who makes switching a breeze.

Will You Go Chrome?

Google recently released the Beta of their own free browser called "Google Chrome" (you can download Chrome here). The experts are saying this will be a huge rival to Mozilla's Firefox.

Back when I was on my old, junky computer, all I could use was Internet Explorer. I hated it, but Firefox just ran too slow. When I got my new computer, one of my first downloads was Firefox. I fell so deeply in love that I never looked back.

You can customize FF with add-ons and richer options. The latest version, 3, is quite fast. And as a web developer, I appreciate the fact that Mozilla is trying to adhere to W3C standards.

On the surface, Chrome seems like a great idea. Google claims that they're revolutionizing the way browsers work, by integrating apps and efficiently threading the processes. But with all of the privacy issues surrounding Google, I'm wondering how much a user's activity might be tracked with Chrome. Because of this, I'm hesitant to try it out. However, if this does take off, I may have no other choice but to at least have it on my system for site testing.

What do you think? Will you be going Chrome? Will it dethrone Firefox?

Fall Fashion

I've mentioned being a "boot girl," and boots usually only come in to fashion in the Fall, which means I love Fall clothes shopping. Because not only do I love boots, but I love the rich colors and textures of the clothes. Oh, yes, light, frilly clothes with strappy sandals have their place, but I just feel...cooler in sleek, dark autumn fashions. And now is a great time to start shopping, because "back-to-school" sales are the first chance you can get in on those looks for a fantastic price.



With the economy the way it is, Discount Clothing is essential. But even at some of the discount chain stores, the prices can be shocking. "You want $30 for this? Really?" At GetHeavenly.com, you really can get Cheap Clothing -- that's also a great quality -- because everything is $17.95 or less! Plus, they're doing a back-to-school sale right now for up to 10% additional savings. And in the continental U.S., all orders over $75 ship free, so that's a saver as well.



Aren't these boots drool-worthy? And only $13.80!

Pff...

I have wasted so much time over the past couple of days learning how to screencast. I originally thought I would create a tutorial for how to tweak a Firefox feature for some of my fellow ChaCha guides. So I downloaded CamStudio (eh) and uTIPu's TipCam (nice, but my computer seems to dislike it a bit) and tested them both out. Then I realized, rather than going through all the trouble of teaching these people how to fish, why not just give them a fish?

So that's what I'll do.

That said, I think my knowledge of screencasting will come in handy down the road.

Vacation Fever

I think I may have done myself a disservice by talking about past vacations, because it gets me thinking about future vacations, and not having taken a vacation this year now I'm all itchy to get outta town.

I've mentioned in previous posts how I'd love to go to Orlando, and how I've always dreamed of going to New York City. There are actually a lot of places I'd love to visit. Do you have a list of places you'd love to go? Mine just seems to get longer and longer! One place I'd never considered was New Jersey, 'cause, you know, you hear stories about New Jersey. Then again, you hear stories about a lot of places -- that doesn't make them true!

Generally, I just never knew of very many New Jersey attractions, until I stumbled onto that site for an amusement park in Wildwood, NJ, called Morey’s Piers, which looks like the perfect place for a family beach vacation.

I live near a historic amusement park, with the wooden coaster and the carnival-type rides. I like that kind of amusement place better than the cookie-cutter franchise places that boast their "tallest, fastest, scariest rides EVAR!" Morey's Piers seems like a wonderful combination of both -- big, fast, thrilling rides as well as tamer, "quaint" rides for chickens like me. But in addition to the rides, they also have waterslides and stuff for beating the heat. And although you need to pay general admission to get into the water-park sections, the other amusement areas are pay-to-ride, so you can still just hang out with your friends or family and enjoy the beach without feeling like you're wasting your admission by not hitting every single ride in a given day.

I spent a huge amount of time browsing the website -- they've got videos of all their rides -- and it's really organized and easy to navigate. I love that. They even have information on nearby accommodations and dining, with price indicators, so you can easily plan and budget your vacation. And with regular weekly specials, it's almost impossible to resist this New Jersey getaway!

Happy Happy, Joy Joy

I'm feeling happy today. Life is still hard -- it's not like I won the lottery and/or every single one of life's problems have magically disappeared -- but there are some things that are just making life...better.

First of all, I got a new pillow. I know this isn't cosmically life-changing, but it's puffy, it's got that "new pillow smell," and I sleep differently with it.

Secondly, EntreCard is being very nice to me. Well, who am I kidding, it's the EntreCard users who are being very nice to me. I only started blogging -- for real -- almost two months ago, and only signed up with EC earlier this week; so I'm still a newbie but I've already learned some stuff and am trying to figure out how to promote some of my faithful clickers. I'm thinking something along the lines of a widget based on the Top Card Droppers RSS feed.

I shall start looking around for that. I really need to investigate RSS better. It always intrigued me, but now at last I can finally see some practical use for it.

Blog Host?

I'm really starting to warm to the idea of hosting my own blog with WordPress. I'm a control freak who likes to tweak things, so that would be right up my alley. The only problem is, my current webhost, as I have mentioned in the past, is kind of flaky and doesn't offer enough monthly bandwidth to support everything -- because, ideally, I'd host the blog (and any future blogs) as well as my website on the same server. I'd obviously have to find a new host.

Argh.

I came across WebHostingGeeks.com, which is a web host directory and rating site. It looks like a great resource for finding good, cheap web hosting. (I like cheap! My wallet does, too!) The editors rate and rank hosts, and then users chime in with their own reviews, so it's very democratic. Best of all, they allow you to refine your searches based on your needs, and the individual hosts' features are plainly laid out to compare. I've already looked at a lot of their tops picks, and they blow my current host out of the water with their features and prices. And although I've been down this road before, I could always stand to learn a thing or two, so I've also been perusing some of their educational articles, like this one.

I wish I'd known about this site a couple of years ago, when I was beating my head against a wall trying to find a host. I ended up with a not-so-great one. Hopefully my next one will be much better, thanks to these Geeks! (Gotta love geeks!)

Salmon Burgers

My family has fallen in love with a recipe we found on the back of a Bumble Bee Pink Salmon packet. I love how they're doing fish, that once you could only buy in a can, in packets now. It does seem to taste better, and in the case of salmon there are fewer/no bones. That said, the cans are cheaper, so the other night I decided to do this with canned red salmon (sockeye, which I've heard is healthier because of less mercury). Other than the pain in the butt of having to pick out the little bones first, the taste was pretty much the same as packets in this recipe. It's very forgiving. I quoted the original recipe below, but you'll notice I noted a lot of my modifications, one of which is that they say this makes two patties, but they're huge; so instead I make four decent-sized patties. They still turned out great!



INGREDIENTS:

Salmon Burgers:

• 1 6-ounce can/packet salmon
• 1/4 cup finely chopped green onion (I used yellow)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped celery (I omitted this)
• 1/2 cup diced bread crumbs (I used fine crumbs)
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (I added a little more, otherwise they're a bit too dry)
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind (I didn't have any of this, so I used 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and a few dashes of lemon-herb seasoning)

Dill Sauce:

• 1/4 cup sour cream (I used fat-free yogurt, and added 1 tsp light mayo for extra creaminess)
• 1 cup finely sliced cucumber (I omitted this)
• 1 teaspoon fresh dill (I used dry)
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh mint (I omitted this)
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• Salt and pepper to taste (very little is needed)

Finishing Touches:

• Hamburger buns (I used sourdough English muffins)
• Your favorite garnishes (I used fresh spinach leaves and tomato slices)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine salmon, onion, celery (if used), bread crumbs, egg, mustard and lemon rind (or juice and seasoning). Mix well. Form into two-to-four patties. Chill one hour or until ready to cook (I cook mine immediately - they're a snap to put together).
2. In lightly greased skillet, cook burgers over medium-high heat 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until lightly browned.
3. For dill sauce, combine all ingredients; mix well.
4. Serve burgers on buns/English muffins with sauce and garnishes.

YUM!