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bookmark_borderVegan baking powder biscuits

Posted on by PAO Productions
I gave up most dairy products a long time ago, and I've never looked back. Cow's milk isn't something meant for humans to consume, as evidenced by the fact that most of the world's people develop an intolerance to lactose as they get older. But like a lot of people, I have my food weaknesses, and two of my most particular weaknesses are breads and fried foods. And two of my favorite breads from back in the day are pancakes and biscuits.

Unfortunately, despite various attempts over the years to come up with a good replication of the baking powder biscuits I grew up with, I always came up short when it came to replacing the buttermilk and nailing a good texture. Finally, after gaining some new knowledge concerning buttermilk substitutions, and after some more trial and error and tweaking, I came up with the recipe that I'm presenting here. These biscuits aren't quite the same as the ones I grew up eating - they have a softer texture and some natural sweetness due to the use of sweet potato - but they are good enough to keep as my "go-tos."

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bookmark_borderThe Comic Book Show, 1990

Posted on by PAO Productions
When I was a young child, I used to want to be a comic book artist. I never got farther than selling a few home drawn comics to other kids in my class at school, but I did end up in the newspaper for my efforts when my sixth grade teacher called The Dallas Times Herald and they featured me in a story. The producer of a local cable access television show happened to see the article, and I ended up featured on TV.
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bookmark_borderRemembering those from the local arts and music scenes

Posted on by PAO Productions
Updated September 10, 2024
Remembering those in the local arts/music scenes who are no longer with us.

bookmark_borderNew and used music stores in the DFW area

Posted on by PAO Productions
New and used music stores in the DFW area
With the decline of physical media over the last decade, the experience of digging through bins full of items in search of that hidden gem, or stumbling across that item you never thought about before but now just have to have, is increasingly on the wane. Fortunately, there are a surprising number of brick and mortar stores still active in the Dallas-Fort Worth area ready to cater to that very need, serving those audiophiles and music lovers among us who still appreciate that old time experience.

SOME IMPORTANT NOTES:

1 - For this post, I am only reviewing places that specialize in or do a substantial amount of business in the sale of physical music and music-related items, and that exist as brick and mortar stores open to the public. I am not considering places such as dedicated flea markets and internet based businesses.

2 - Creating a scoring system, and determining how much to weight each item being scored, have been challenging. None of the ratings or reviews in this post should be taken as indicative of whether a particular store is worth your business or support. Some of the stores reviewed are corporate, but others are owned by individuals or families, and some play roles in their local communities that go beyond the sale of physical media. All are evaluated based strictly on how well they are likely to serve the buying needs of a music fan with somewhat broad/eclectic tastes - I'm not looking at things here from an investment perspective. Other factors worth considering, such as how well a particular store serves a specific music market, genre, or neighborhood, are not factored into the ratings. See an explanation of the ratings here.

(Special thanks to Alex Pogosov and Alison Pham for their suggestions and feedback)

Forever Young Records (Grand Prairie)

2955 S State Highway 360, Grand Prairie, TX 75052 Forever Young Records This retailer has been serving the DFW area since 1984, and it's one I used to frequent regularly during my last year of high school.

Pros: