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A fruit by its color is more than just a fruit

Time and again I have heard and read health and nutrition professionals speak and write about the health benefits provided by fresh fruits. No doubt about that. But, are some fruits better than others? "Fruits are the ripened ovaries or carpels that contain the seeds". That is the botanical definition of a fruit. Accordingly it can be classified as 'simple, aggregate or multiple'. Wow! I didn't realize that it's mere classification is not really that simple. Anyway, some examples of common simple fruits are legumes, nuts, carrots, radish, and beets. There are also those known as fleshy, simple fruits like, tomatoes, avocado, plums, cherries, peaches, apricot, olive, banana, cranberries, apple, and pears. Aggregate or fruits that develop from a flower are raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries. On the other hand, examples of multiple fruits or those that come from a cluster of flowers are pineapple, edible fig, mulberry, osage-orange, and breadfru

Feng Shuing My Home

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If plants are the main determinant of a good home, feng shui, then my home certainly qualifies. But maybe, I need a truckload more. Ha! Ha! Your Feng Shui is Amazing Your home is the perfect place to work, play, and unwind. Beautiful and streamlined - you understand the importance of design and flow. Your home is not weighted down by clutter, but it's not austere or sterile. You treat your home as well, and as a result, it treats you well! How's Your Feng Shui?

Corn(y) Coffee Anyone?

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We have recently been gifted with a large bag of corn coffee. I was supposed to take a photo of the product to be uploaded here but heck my feebling mind got in the way again :-) Anyway, our first attempt to brew, resulted in a dark mixture, fresh but lightly aromatic. Actually, I could not have guessed it was made from corn. My partner found it way too light to be called coffee. Well that was the first. The second was much, much better. I think longer brewing time allows the true taste to reveal itself. In a pan, we put 2 heaping tablespoons of the ground thing on 2 cups of water. We boiled it for three minutes. The brew practically turned my dirty kitchen to a pleasantly smelling space, that evoked coffee strength as well as flavor. Way to go. I understand that corn coffee has been in the market for awhile now. They were originally, from southern Philippines and is slowly catching attention. Corn coffee is made from corn, dried under the sun and roasted on hot coals.

And Now Contaminated Kimchi

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If you like kimchi, please help yourself to this latest controversy. Both China and South Korea avid producers of that vegetable delicacy are accusing each other with providing their respective markets with extra flavored kimchi. The flavors are lead, artificial sweetener, food coloring, or could come with parasites. The Korea Food and Drug Administration admitted that Korean made kimchi were found to be contaminated with parasite eggs. These were found from 16 out of 502 local makers. As a result 472 kilograms or 1,041 pounds were impounded. Some of these kimchi were exported to China. On the other hand, Chinese made kimchi are said to be tainted with carcinogenic materials as mentioned but found its way to Korea because it was cheaper. "One of the largest Korean producers, Doosan, established its factory in Beijing's suburban Miyun industrial zone in Au gust 2003. According to a Korean kimchi factory manager based in China, who declined to be identified, there ar

Chicken Dish In a Jiffy

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Some days, I find my refrigerator crisper almost empty. What's left are a few tomatoes, a large sized green bell pepper. And on my cupboard, 3 pieces of medium sized potatoes. From the freezer, I bring out, 2 pieces of chicken breasts which have already been filleted, and sliced in bite sizes. The chicken needs to be thawed for awhile. Think. What can I cook out of these few ingredients. Aaahh. Okey. From my cupboard, I gath er several cloves of garlic and 1 large onion. How I did it? I pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil on the pan. In very low fire, sauteed garlic, diced onions and then tomatoes. And then add the chicken. Cook until almost brown. I added a pinch of salt and liberal serving of freshly milled black pepper. Last, add sliced green bell pepper for that sweet pimiento aroma That was it. Easy preparation. Cooked in a jiffy.

And What About Capons?

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After that egg trivia post, I will now post about capons. Surely, not Al Capone. But capons of the rooster kind. With poultry, I prefer hens to roosters. Broilers to be specific. In the first place, I had the impression that rooster meat are tough. But I am getting ahead the story. So what are capons? They are roosters without penises which have been surgically removed at a young age. Typically, the castration is "performed when the chicken is between 6 and 20 weeks old". Capons are essentially a no-fighting bird as an after effect of castration. Eliminating its testes make the bird tamed. Capons live just to serve as a father for baby chicks. That's it. And because, capons grow slower than uncastrated cocks, they accumulate more body fat; the "concentration of fat in both the light and dark areas of the capon meat is greater than in that of the uncastrated males". Thus, capons are more tender, juicier and flavorful. In fact, in some places, capon

An egg head on eggs?

At this age, I realized recently, that I am not an egghead but still am 'ignorant'. Or perhaps, just maybe naive? Because, one morning as I was preparing breakfast and was taking out the eggs from the refrigerator, I suddenly got dense curious, do hens make love at all? Do they always do it with rooster to produce eggs? Huh! To even think this, early in the morning :-) And this is what I found out. All commercially sold eggs; those found in the super and wet markets are never fertilized. Generally, laying hens never mate. This type of hens are raised for laying purposes alone, nothing more. Awww shucks, those roosters are missing a lot. Joke! But when roosters and hens mate, the eggs resulting from 'the act' are what we call fertilized. We can still eat fertilized eggs, though. No, problem, still provide the same nutritional value. Though fertilized, eggs never develop into embryos because of refrigeration, the other end of the chicken egg production pendulum