In the Western world, we tend to perceive the practices, cultures, and diets of the Eastern world as exotic or taboo. Though some of what is heard actually is true, many of the extreme and gruesome stories that are told about the exotic foods in Asia are merely overexaggerated legends. With an open mind and the proper knowledge we can see that it is not as repulsive as it may seem.

Delicacies of the Asian cultures may include things such as jellyfish, beef tendons, and shark’s fin soup. Though these dishes may make any American squeamish, in retrospect, our delicacies in the Western world would make some one of a different culture just as disgusted with our practices. Not many Easterners would be willing to eat things such as cavier, frog’s legs, or pate. The stories of cat and dog meat being eaten in China holds some truth, but not nearly to the extent that the stories make it seem. Cat and dog are served as rare delicacies is some areas, but in the more modern parts of the East it is becoming more commonly illegal to kill cats and dogs for the purpose of food. And once again, our culture serves foods that are equally repulsive, such as haggis and head cheese.

There are some legends that should be laid to rest, for they are aimed to make the Eastern cultures appear to us as barbaric. Live animals are not sacrificed at feasts as the story suggests. Some medicinal uses make particular items acceptable from any view point, once it is realized that these items are not taken or served inhumanely. Bear paw, animal penis, and antlers are a few examples of the exotic foods in Asia that serve a medicinal purpose.

Economic hardships have been the main reason for some of the less palatable dishes that have been served in China. Dishes such as chicken hearts and pig intestines are quite unappealing to anyone, but are a cheap and adequate source of protein when circumstances prevent one from eating the higher quality and better tasting foods. Once again, the cultural differences set things into perspective. Easterners are disgusted with the idea of eating foods like salty beans or sausage.

With the facts, it is not so hard to understand the culture and the reason for such exotic foods in Asia. Just as with anything, tastes are accustomed to the person more than the culture, so what some find appalling, others may find to be delicious. It is important to keep in mind that people tend to exaggerate the stories of inhumane and disgusting easting practices merely because they don’t understand the way of life. Perhaps this may help shed some light on a very misunderstood culture and put an end to the horrendous, widely spread fables.

By: Wendy Pan

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Most of us at some time or another are trying to lose weight. Even those who aren’t try and stay as healthy as we can.

The majority of health conscious shoppers have always checked the fat content on labels, and are finally starting to check the sugar content as well. It is gradually becoming known that the amount of sugar and other sweeteners in food is as important as the fat it contains. These hidden calories add to our weight problems.

The first thing we do when trying to lose weight is change our eating habits, nutritionists think that changing what we drink is of equal importance.

The news coming from the health experts is far from good. Our bodies are being overloaded with the unnecessary sugars hidden in these drinks and our health service is having to deal with a huge rise in sugar related health issues. The drinks market is incredibly misleading, that healthy looking carton of juice could be anything but. Don’t be fooled by the various ingredients such as sucralose, corn syrup and sucrose, these are all sweeteners and sugars that make this drink one to avoid.

So nothing with these misleading ingredients ever finds its way into my shopping cart. If I want juice I am happy to pay a bit extra to get 100% pure fruit juice. I do also enjoy carbonated drinks too.

Sparkling fruit drinks can also be misleading so always check the ingredients. Three of the best that I’ve found are made by Fizzy Lizzy, Izze and R.W. Knudsen.The latter also make delicious fruity spritzers.

The mixture of pure fruit juice and water that has been carbonated is all that’s in these drinks, none of that stuff that we now know to avoid. The natural juice is also giving your body an extra boost of fruit.

By: Patricia Fields

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It’s no secret that organically grown vegetables taste WAY better than the processed, chemically grown, stuff.

In fact, I have a friend who owns an upscale restaurant and his customers *rave* about the food when his chef uses organic vegetables.

So why exactly do organically grown vegetables taste so much better?

Here’s the biggest and most important reason: they don’t have all that chemical fertilizer and pesticide poisons all over them!

Myth Exposed: Organic Gardening Is More Difficult Than “Regular” Gardening

You’ll hear plenty of commercial companies (especially the “big guys” who want to sell you their chemicals!) go on about how difficult and time consuming it is to grow organic vegetables.

Truth is, it’s not difficult and won’t take any extra time at all as long as you follow some simple steps!

So here are the “secrets” you need to know if you’re going to get your organic vegetable garden started the right way.

Secret Tip #1: You *Must* Plan Your Organic Garden Out!

First things first, gardening is NOT one of those areas where you can just bolt outside without thinking, throw some seeds and water at the ground and be done with it.

(As obvious and funny as that last statement sounds, I have friends who have done just that!)

…Can you imagine if a construction crew started building a house without blueprints?

…What about if a car company just ‘went to work’ putting a new car together without plans?!

Take my word on it, planning your vegetable garden *first* will save you headaches down the road and make your garden easier to manage.

Common Planning Mistake: Make sure the plot you chose for your garden is close to a water supply!

Beginners will often start by placing their garden in the “nicest looking” spot of the yard.

They forget that veggies need access to lots of water to grow!

Secret Tip #2: Make Sure Your Garden Is Always Facing *South*!

Why should my vegetable garden face south, you ask?

Because it will get plenty of sun.

Here’s the ‘inside scoop’ on sunlight: a vegetable garden needs a minimum of 6 hours sunlight to produce the best crop.

Of course, you’ll need to make sure there are no shadows covering your garden – i.e. trees, sheds or even your house!

Just don’t get this sunlight part wrong — if you do, then it won’t matter what else you do right, your garden will fail!

Secret Tip #3: Getting Rid Of Weeds The ‘Organic’ Way

Before you plant even a single seed, you’ll need to make sure your vegetable garden is completely free of weeds.

(Of course, you don’t want to use chemical weed killers – that would contaminate your organic crop!)

Unfortunately there’s no “fancy pants” way to get rid of weeds… my suggestion? Just yank the suckers out by hand when they creep up!

You’ll definitely want to use a shovel or weeding tool to help you get the roots out. (This way more weeds won’t crop up!)

I’ve had people come and tell me: “Surely there *has* to be a better way to get rid of weeds!?”

Well, I have good news. There is…

Do your best to prevent the weeds from growing in the first place!

Secret Tip #5: Some *Awesome* Weed Prevention Tips…

1. Get Some Free Fertilizer From Starbucks!

Those left over espresso grounds make an amazing natural fertilizer that’s actually healthy for your vegetable plants.

No need to be shy about asking – the Starbucks corporate offices have actually instructed their employees to promote this “freebie” as a way to recycle coffee grounds!

2. Clean Like *Crazy* After You “De-Weed” Your Garden.

It’s unbelievable how the smallest weed spore can fall from your glove, or tools and re-deposit itself into your garden.

That’s why you need to go nuts after weeding your garden and clean your gloves, knee pads, tools,.. even your shoes!

3. When In Doubt, Use Good Ole’ Cornstarch.

Spreading cornstarch on the ground adds nitrogen to the soil – it’s like a natural fertilizer to your plants with the added bonus of killing weeds!

4. Give “Big Bird” A New Restaurant To Eat At…

If you’ve got bird feeders too close the left over seeds can sprout into weeds!

Bird feeders should be at a minimum distance of 20 feet away from your vegetable garden.

By: Costas Peppas

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Take advantage of this easy to make chocolate cake dessert. Here are the ingredients that will be needed to prepare this chocolate cake dessert:

2 Cups Granulated sugar

3/4 Cup water

1/2 Cup oil

3 eggs

1 Container sour cream (8 ounce)

2 1/4 Cups all-purpose flour

2/3 Cup unsweetened cocoa

1 1/2 Teaspoons baking soda

1 Teaspoon salt

1/2 Teaspoon baking powder

Also, here’s what you will need to prepare the icing for this chocolate cake dessert:

1 Teaspoon vanilla

3 Cups confectioners sugar

1 Cup coarsely chopped pecans

1/2 Cup butter or margarine

1 Cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/3 Cup milk

Cooking Instructions:

Preheat over to 350 degrees F. Generously grease and flour a 9×13 baking pan.

Mix all of the dry ingredients in large bowl thorougly. Add water, oil and eggs and mix until combined. Beat at medium speed

for two minutes. Next, stir in sour cream and pour into pan. Bake 35-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes

out clean. Cool on wire rack.

Finally, the praline pecan frosting. You’ll need to…

Melt butter in medium saucepan. Stir in brown sugar and milk. Bring to a boil and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove

from heat. Stir in vanilla and confectioners sugar. Beat until smooth. Immediately spread on top of cake, or if preferred,

remove cake from pan and frost entire cake. Finally, you can prinkle with pecans.

The Chocolate Cake Dessert Recipe is popular due to its simplicity. You will find it easy to make and a lot of fun. We hope you enjoy this chocolate cake dessert recipe! Have a great day.

By: Krissy Leighton

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Deer food plots are gaining in popularity every year. Many farmers who hunt have the luxury of using their equipment and know-how to plant food plots. But what about us city slickers who don not even know what a cultipacker is? We want in on the action too.

Even though I’m a city slicker, I can tell you that creating a deer food plot is not as hard as you might think.
In this article I am going to share with you how you can easily create your own little deer magnet for next hunting season with out using any power equipment.

Here is a short list of the tools you will need.
-Hand held tank sprayer or backpack sprayer. Opt for the backpack type, you can thank me later.
-Spade shovel and small hand shovel
-Steel come-along rake
-Metal leaf rake
-Good hand saw for cutting trees and branches. Sierra tooth blades work best.

So where do you start and when? Assuming you have a good little location picked out, about 1/8 acre, that is not in a wide open area with no nearby cover for deer, and is not too sandy, the first thing you should do in the spring is take a soil sample with your hand held spade shovel. Take enough soil from about 4 different spots in your plot to fill a quart size ziploc bag. Bring it somewhere to have it tested for growing brassicas and clover. If you skip that step, you will be sorry when it is too late. You can thank me later for that too.

When the grass and weeds in your future deer food plot get to about 8 inches tall, you want to spray your whole plot with Roundup concentrated herbicide. Mix about 8oz per 1 gallon of water in your backpack sprayer. About 4 weeks later spray your plot again with the same mixture. By now all the vegetation should be dead and lying on the surface. Just leave it all lay there.

Around the first week of August spray it for a third time. You will now have a weed-free seed bed. Now use your come-along rake and leaf rake to remove all the dead debris. Up until now things have been pretty easy. This next step is the toughest. Try to recruit a couple friends or relatives to help you loosen the surface of the bare dirt with come-along rakes, hand-held cultivators, garden weasel, or spade shovels. Hint: when you are done loosening the surface to about 1-2 inches in depth, check to see if there are any real soft spots where you could dig up some that dirt and throw it around the rest of the deer food plot for added depth of the loose soil.

Now after your required applications of lime and fertilizer, you are ready to plant your seed. Of course, if you have the ability to use a rototiller in your plot instead, go for it.

By: Randy Vanderveen

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It is common perception that chocolate is a mood elevator although some people believe that it causes headaches and migraine. Though it is widely accepted that chocolate affects our moods, the research on this is still in a fluid state. Every contention is fiercely debated. We will discuss various ways that chocolate affects our moods and emotions, according to the present set of beliefs.

Chocolate affects us both negatively and positively. Some people, when they are sad or depressed, experience a craving for chocolate. On eating chocolate they report that their mood is elevated and they feel better. This elevation in mood is temporary though and when this effect wears off, they again revert to their previous state of mind.

There are many health benefits that are attributed to chocolates. It is good for the heart. It increases the responsiveness of blood vessels which is useful for preventing heart disease. It also increases glucose tolerance. Chocolate also contains some substances which have an anti oxidant effect. This is helpful in preventing cancer.

Chocolate is reported to cause headache, obesity, rectal itching, heart burn and emotional problems like irritability, confusion, anger and depression.

Chocolate is rich in carbohydrates, which increase the rate with which tryptophan enters the brain. This increases the level of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that regulates moods, creating a good feeling.

The addictive property of chocolate is also well documented. This is evidenced by the fact that some people, when trying to give up alcohol, depend on chocolate to satisfy their cravings. This drug-like property is attributed to caffeine, anandamines, phenylethylamine and magnesium that are present in chocolate. The presence of caffeine and magnesium can contribute to a feeling of craving for chocolate. Ananadmides affect the brain in a similar way to marijuana, though research in this field is still debated.

There are more than 350 chemicals in chocolate. Some of these are believed to cause allergic reactions. Some scientists believe that phenylethylamine and theobromine could cause changes in moods. Phenylethylamine causes blood pressure and blood sugar to rise. It generates a feeling of alertness and contentment thus creating a feeling of well being. But, a short period of emotional high is followed by a period of emotional low. Theobromine is found naturally in cocoa and acts as an anti-depressant, but has been known to be toxic to animals.

Eating chocolate can also give rise to a feeling of anxiety. Phenylethylamine is said to cause dilation of blood vessels in brain causing headaches. Though it is still debatable whether phenylethylamine reaches the brain.

One ounce of chocolate contains 20 mg of caffeine. Researches on the effects of caffeine have reported that caffeine can cause problems in sleep, restlessness, irritability, heartburn and anxiety. Withdrawal from caffeine causes fatigue and headaches.

Tyramine is another amino acid present in chocolate. Though it is not certain whether any significant amount of tyramine reaches the brain, yet it is known that it causes blood vessels to expand and contract causing dull headaches.

Women appear to crave chocolate more than men, including diabetics. Some amongst these women reported that only chocolate and nothing else could satisfy their craving. The presence of magnesium in chocolate can account for the fact that during PMS (Post Menstrual Syndrome) craving for chocolate increases in women, as during this period a deficiency of magnesium may arise.

With all this contradictory information on the effects of chocolate on mood, one has to observe from one’s experiences and decide whether chocolate is right for one. But, certainly, large amounts of chocolate will effect us physically or emotionally one way or another.

By: Michael Russell

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