Break.com

​Chips. Dips. Lil' Smokies. Along with chili, beer, and something mixed with Velveeta in a crock pot, these are the staples of the Super Bowl diet. Perhaps you are planning on getting fancy with crudités, canapes, and blended drinks but have you thought about your game day centerpiece yet? If you're considering making one that's edible, scrap the tower of football shaped cupcakes with royal icing laces (you did that last year, everyone knows) and really go all out with a snack food stadium.

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http://www.teamsnap.com/bizarre_sports/cheese_rolling.php

All for the love of cheese

​Broken bones, sprained ankles and concussions are just a few of the typical injuries sustained at the annual Cooper's Hill cheese-rolling event in Gloucestershire County, England. Ambulances are on hand, as well as a volunteer rescue crew responsible for carrying the injured fallen to safety at the bottom of the hill. These were cited as reasons for canceling the event for the past two years, but yesterday the good people of Gloucestershire took matters into their own hands and held an unofficial, renegade version of the competition.

The rules of the competition are simple: an 8 lb. round of Double Gloucester cheese is rolled from the top of a large hill, and competitors bound after it, rolling, tumbling, and lurching downhill. The first person to cross the finish line at the bottom of the hill wins the cheese. Words don't do the spectacle justice, so take a look at the video:

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xxpandafacexx via YouTube

Now, that's a sweet dress!

Yesterday, the internet was all abuzz with talk of a Wisconsin mom's sweet creation. Kerrin Frey made her daughter, Tara's, prom dress entirely from Starburst wrappers. A dress made out of reused candy wrappers is the perfect salute to Earth Day this Friday, so we went searching for even more candy-centric attire. 
While our search turned up several other Starburst prom dresses, like this one by a Michigan teen, we thought you'd appreciate some of the more mature wrapped finds we discovered.

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Politics makes strange kitchen mates. Who won Minnesota' congressional hot dish cook-off?

​Politics in Washington can be pretty polarized these days, but among Minnesota's congressional delegation yesterday, it wasn't rhetoric that was heated, it was casserole.

In the new and no doubt temporary spirit of unity infecting Congress lately, Minnesota Sen. Al Franken had issued a bipartisan challenge to the state's Washington politicians: Who makes the best hot dish?

That challenge was taken up by DFLers Franken, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Representatives Keith Ellison, Betty McCollum, and Tim Walz, and Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann. Here's what they brought--and who won the political potluck.

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courtesy of David LaRochelle

Minnesota author David LaRochelle illustrates children's books and pumpkins. See a slideshow of LaRochelle's amazing art

​If your idea of carving pumpkins involves the typical triangle eyes and a crude gap-toothed smile, prepare to have your mind expanded. David LaRochelle, a White Bear Lake author and illustrator of children's books, has turned jack-o'-lanterns into an art form.

LaRochelle has been carving pumpkins for more than 20 years, creating intricate designs with a children's-book whimsy. These aren't just scary faces hacked into a gourd; LaRochelle pumpkins set a scene or even tell a story: a shark is about to devour a fisherman, a spider weaves an elaborate web, a school bus of ghouls drives along on wheels of winter squash.

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weglet/flickr

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