Broke-Ass Stuart.

For years, budget-bouncing impresario Broke-Ass Stuart has shared scores of secret power-ups and tips for stretching gold in the two poles of this country that matter most (if you’re the creative-pilgrim type) with guidebooks on San Francisco and New York City, and on his eponymous web log. Now Stuart (nee Schuffman) is aiming nationwide with a third book, Young, Broke & Beautiful, and a TV show of the same name on IFC that debuts tonight. Brokelyn had a chance to skim the book, preview a few episodes, and chat with our brokester-in-arms about the evolution of his hobo wisdom and hustler ingenuity. We’ve got a few copies to give away to Brokelyn readers too before it even hits the shelves. (more…)

Leda Meredith with $300 worth of mushrooms found in the park. via ledameredith.com.

Since reading Of Mice and Men way back, I’ve nursed a distinct wish to get a little stake together, retire from field laboring and live off the fat of the land. Of course, George and Lennie existed in prewar California: a landscape of large estate farms where all you had to do was vault a split-rail fence, gather a few cabbages, kidnap a sheep or some rabbits and (spoiler alert) it still turned out to be a pipe dream. We live in the most populous city in the nation, where scarcity is a word used for bedrooms under $1,200. Forget about food just lying around to be taken, right? Well, for botanist and wild edibles expert Leda Meredith, the nearest leafy, twiggy surroundings is as good as any common grange. In advance of upcoming tours of Prospect Park, Meredith tells us why hunting for food in the urban wild beats Dumpster diving any day. (more…)

Do you know exactly how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? Is it because you’re terrified of your molars cracking around a cavity that lay in wait like the loose plank on a rope bridge? Living without dental insurance can be an exercise in masticatory terror, where danger lurks inside every bag of corn nuts. If you dare, find out just how bad it is tomorrow by submitting to free bitewing xrays from a dental hygiene student at New York City College of Technology. Appointments are available for tomorrow, March 25, at 8:30 am, at the school’s downtown Brooklyn HQ. Patients even get a copy of their prints to take home for fridge or frame, or save time and money once you save up enough to visit the dental pros. Contact Tracy Lau to volunteer or for more information.