text:
The third B&B room we named after the well-known Marchigianian composer Rossini. This spacious room has a double bed, and features a private bathroom with shower.
It is also possible to add 2 extra beds in the room. The room is located on the ground floor and gives directly on the outdoor terrace.
All rooms are non-smoking and have free wi-fi.
Room facilities: Shower, Hairdryer, Toiletries, Toilet paper, Toilet, Own bathroom, Heating, View, Wardrobe / closet, Towels, Linen, Terrace furniture, Terrace, Room is on the ground floor, Desk, Seating Area.
Room / Apartment size: 30 m²
Bed size: Room with double bed, 2 extra beds possible
Taxes: 68,-€ / 75,-€ (July-August) for a double room
Prepayment: For reservations we ask a deposit of 50% of the rental fee. The remainder can be paid on the day of departure.

domain: travel


text:
CEO Marina Kolesnik runs travel booking site Oktogo.ru.
By Beatrice Jeschek (Contributor, DLDwomen)
It looks like Matryoshka dolls are getting some real-life female competitors symbolizing Russia, at least in the e-commerce sector. One of these new faces belongs to Marina Kolesnik, the CEO and co-founder of travel booking site Oktogo.ru.
Kolesnik is among the “Top Ten Most Interesting Russian Internet Entrepreneurs to Watch” identified by blogger and Internet Entrepreneur Yakov Sadchikov for The Moscow Times. Six out of ten are women: Alisa Chumachenko, founder and CEO, Game Insight; Yulia Mitrovich, Entrepreneur in Residence, Svyaznoy Group; Elena Masolova, co-founder and CEO, Pixonic; Anna Znamenskaya, founder, Workingmama; Olga Steidl, CEO, Talkbits.
» Read the full article at DLD Conference.

domain: economics


text:
Upcoming: Valentines Day
Valentines Day is right around the corner!!
Get your order in to sweeten your holiday with Pie!!
We're located at 3604 Verandah Drive, Augusta, GA 30909
Augusta's Homemade Pie Destination
Once you get a taste of our pies, you will come back for more! The Pie-Hole is Augusta's only premier homemade sweet and savory pie destination. Want to know what's cooking? Follow our Facebook page for updates and more!

domain: food


ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT (Chapters 1 through 182)
HOUSING AND URBAN RENEWAL
Designation of authorities
Section 10. Unless otherwise particularly provided in sections fifty-eight and fifty-nine the operating agencies having the powers and subject to the limitations provided in sections fifty-eight and fifty-nine of this chapter shall be either housing authorities or urban renewal agencies, whichever may be designated for the purposes of the particular program by the municipal officers.


text:
Sarah Glennie appointed to Arts Council expert advisory group.
NCAD Director, Sarah Glennie, has been appointed to an expert advisory group convened by the Arts Council to help address the effects of the COVID19 crisis on the arts sector.
The Board of the Arts Council has established a short-term Advisory Group to identify ways to deal with the Covid-19 Crisis.
The Council has brought together a number of leading expert voices from the arts and other sectors including public health, economics and media. Members of the advisory group include filmmaker Lenny Abrahamson; theatre and opera producer Anne Clarke; chairperson of the National Campaign for the Arts, Angela Dorgan; Director of NCAD, Sarah Glennie; musician Martin Hayes; Director of the Arts Council, Maureen Kennelly; journalist Fintan O’Toole; and public health specialist Dr. Gabriel Scally.
The group's discussions will inform a report on measures and government supports needed to help the sector survive the crisis.
Read more about the group's work here: http://www.artscouncil.ie/News/Arts-Council-establishes-Advisory-Group-to-help-address-Covid-19-crisis-in-arts-sector/
See the NCAD COVID-19 micro-site, a support site for NCAD students and staff during campus closure.

domain: artistic


Ever since its unveiling on the market last year, the all-new Alfa Romeo Giulia has been a real nightmare to the BMW M3 Sedan, especially the top of the line Giulia QV.
Lots of reviews, official tests, drag races and videos have demonstrated already what the Giulia`s QV can do against the M3, and all that thanks to the car`s impressive power and torque.
Motor Trend auto magazine, which is well-known for its fair drive tests, has pulled over the M3 and decided to take an M3 with Competition Package for a change, and put it against the same Alfa Romeo Giulia QV, hoping that this time, the odds would be on the German`s side. The entire test was recorded on tape and can be seen below.
Initially, the test also comprised two other smashing cars, like the Mercedes-AMG C63 and the Cadillac ATS-V, but since our eyes were on the M3 and Giulia QV, we considered that these two deserved our best attention. As for the rest of it, you can find out more from the video put together by Motor Trend magazine.
The test carried out by the famous magazine highlighted the gorgeous driving capabilities that the M3 with the Competition Package is coming with, making the car extremely dynamic and fun to drive. The first thing you get to notice fresh at the M3 with the CP is the extra power juice and boost.
With the Competition Package, the BMW M3 Sedan feels more alive, getting to enjoy the same 3.0-liter inline straight-six engine, now developing 444 horsepower, and allowing a sprint from 0 to 100 km/h in just 3.8 seconds.
Even so, it does not match the Giulia QV`s 2.9-liter twin-turbo engine with as close as 505 horsepower, with the same sprint done in rather the same figure as the M3 Competition Package. Both models come with automatic transmission, adding a rear-wheel drive layout.
However, on track, the M3 Competition Package seems to fall behind the Giulia QV with around 4 tenths, the model managing a lap run in 2:00.61, while the Giulia QV ran the same distance in 2:00.22. And in this business, each millisecond counts.
The slight difference counts when it comes to far more advanced aerodynamics in the QV in favor of superior technology on-board of the M3. So, with no further ado, even if Motor Trend chose the QV, it might remain a consolation for you to watch the video below. It`s well-worth it!


text:
Protein is a critical macronutrient with many benefits to our overall health. Our body does not keep a backup store of this vital nutrient, so we have to continuously consume it for maintaining good health.
What role does protein play in recovery? Protein is involved in virtually every function our body carries out to run efficiently. Drug and alcohol use leads to under-nutrition and poor health in most instances, due to an inattention to diet which can be felt for months after adopting a healthier lifestyle. The resultant damage to organ systems and to metabolic processes requires protein to help repair. Protein can also help to accelerate recovery from the effects of mal-absorption that occurs in addiction.
Whilst we recommend a higher protein intake for those recovering from addiction, there are no set recommendations for protein intake in addicts. The guideline is to incorporate protein rich foods at your 3 meals and 3 snacks. The benefits include increased energy levels, improved strength, better digestion and improvement in liver function.
Dietary sources of protein include:
- Meat (poultry, red meat, and seafood)
- Legumes (dry beans and peas)
- Dairy (milk, cheese and yogurt)
- Soy and Tofu
- Nuts and seeds
- Some grains (quinoa, whole grains etc.)
So why does increased protein benefit the recovering addict?
Protein is important in the production of neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are the chemicals in our brain that sends information to the rest of our body. Some neurotransmitters make us feel happy and energized while others help us feel calm and optimistic. The proteins we eat are broken down into amino acids which then help the neurons, in our brain, manufacture neurotransmitters. Tyrosine and Tryptophan are two of the main amino acids which support the production of dopamine and serotonin. Dopamine, the pleasure molecule, is associated with the reward center of the brain. Drugs, alcohol, gambling and even food addiction, hijack the neurotransmitters through an over stimulation in the production of dopamine which floods the brain and produces a high. During withdrawal dopamine levels diminish and become off balanced which often creates a yearning to go back to the behaviour that produced the high, and is in part what fuels drug seeking behavior.
When planning meals it is important to be mindful of combinations. I like to encourage the ‘eating of the rainbow’ and keeping foods as close to their natural state as possible. Think grilled salmon, brown rice, red beans and steamed carrots and broccoli. Side that with a huge tossed salad with a combination of your favorite salad vegetables such as lots of kale, spinach, bell peppers, cucumbers, lettuce etc. Go easy on the salad dressing or try your hand at making your own. It could be as simple as olive oil and fresh lemon juice. Snacks can consist of hummus and whole wheat pita bread, cottage cheese and fruit, Greek yogurt with granola, string cheese or tuna or natural peanut butter with whole wheat crackers. Be creative!
Restoring the natural balance and production of dopamine is important to recovery hence incorporating foods that are high in protein throughout the day helps to slowly stabilize the production of dopamine in the recovering addict. In recovery, restoring the normal production and balance of the many neurotransmitters present can help to lessen the symptoms experienced, including cravings for your drug of choice.

domain: medical


Ice cream fit for a prince
Jason Peck wasn't satisfied with the amount of ice cream options in Macomb, so he figured he'd add one.
The co-owner of the Student Prince restaurant said the Jackson Street mainstay will soon be making and selling its own ice cream along with several upgrades the business is undergoing.
"As far as ice cream in town, there is only Dairy Queen. That just doesn't do it for me," Peck said. "We're making hard ice cream, not soft serve. We'll probably have eight to 10 flavors on hand any given day."
The addition of ice cream is just one of the new additions to the restaurant. Construction is underway on a walk-up window that will serve customers in the business' planned outdoor seating area.
Peck said he plans to clean up the parking lot behind the building and add a fence and six picnic tables for customers to enjoy the restaurant's fare outdoors.
The inside of the restaurant won't be ignored in the upgrade, however.
"We're getting new menus. We're repainting the interior and exterior. All the booths are going to be recovered. It's going to look completely different," Peck said. "The place has been in need of an update for a while now."
What Peck said isn't going to change much is the food. The restaurant will keep everything it has always served save a few items. Peck said they have already added homemade corned beef to the menu and will eventually start serving waffles.
The official name of the restaurant will grow to "Student Prince Diner and Ice Cream Shop." While the business hasn't shut down through the construction, it will have its grand re-opening on June 28.
Overall, Peck said the ownership is trying to improve the business to better serve its customers.
"When the place opened up it was a town hangout," Peck said. "I kind of want to bring that back and give families a reason to come back here."


text:
I am always blown away and inspired by the players that come through my stall at The Bluesfest.
From seasoned players to absolute beginners.
Always a thrill to get someone who has never played a cbg (or guitar) before up and running.
Here is some footage. All shot on my phone. Next time i'll do it all sideways.
Fun Fun Fun!
It's a long video so maybe grab a beer or a cup of Tea
or a cbg and jam along!
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PAaRh84AZgg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Started by JB in For Sale: Cigar Box Guitars, other instruments, cds and related items. Last reply by JB yesterday. 7 Replies 0 Likes

domain: hobby


text:
Every 40 seconds, someone in the United States has a stroke, according to the American Stroke Association; yet, 80 percent of all strokes are preventable. To raise awareness during National Stroke Awareness Month and to help the community evaluate their risk for stroke, St. Mary Medical Center will host its annual Stroke Symposium from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Thursday, May 18 at the hospital, West Entrance, 1500 S. Lake Park Ave. in Hobart.
Healthcare specialists and leaders in the areas of stroke prevention, detection and treatment will present on a variety of stroke-related topics:
9 a.m. – Stroke is an Emerg-ency, Emergency Medical Services, St. Mary Medical Center;
9:30 a.m. – AFib: A Common & Preventable Cause of Stroke, Samer Ajam, M.D., Electrophysiology, St. Mary Medical Center;
10:45 a.m. – Stroke 101, Mark Simaga, M.D., Neurology, Medical Director of the Stroke Center;
12 p.m. – Rehabilitation after Stroke: A Patient’s Perspective, Acute Rehabilitation Team, St. Mary Medical Center; and 12:30 p.m. – Get Your Plate in Shape, Chef Ryan C. Smith, Production Supervisor/Chef.
The event will also feature a vendor fair providing stroke education and resources, and free health screenings, including lipid profile screening, A1C glucose screening, body composition and blood pressure. Twelve-hour fasting is recommended for the lipid profile and glucose screening.
Advance registration for this free event is necessary. To register, call 219-836-3477 or toll free at 1-866-836-3477. Attendees are encouraged to use the free valet parking at the West Entrance of the hospital.


Advantages of Using Translate Media Services
Translate Media is an average service provider and technology company that has been put in place to translate the message in any language.
If you’re looking for the most effective way to communicate to the local people in their context used translate Media which has been very successful for many years.
They are able to reach the target audience in their local market lovers is maintaining the styled from the voice and context of the original message.
Marketing in business today has been ages arrived and for this reason, at some point, it may not be able to meet the needs of a target group due to language barriers.
Therefore, we are looking for any of these services for you to be able to reach our target audience you can always protect translate you there and then we are very grateful to you.
Translate Media, therefore, become the best medium of communication especially when you want to communicate with people who can understand your language.
Translate media has been leading in ensuring that marketing has taken the best position.
There are many benefits of using translate media and some of them are the fact that the area that your message is translated in the best way possible.
Open this site for more information about transport media and how they will be of help to the business.
Translate media has been successful in helping identify your target audience and also other stuff their habits and motivation.
Many successful businesses in marketing have been going through translate media which has gone a long way in ensuring but it has worked successfully?
Therefore, able to attract many listeners. Are you looking for Global digital marketing experts?
Open t5his site to learn more about translate media.
They also offer personalized services or you need to do is to give them your details and they’re very sure that they give you services that a man who is the.
Translate Media having been awarded as global digital marketing experts and professionals the ensure that we use the language that your audience identifies most with and also go to their contacts so that they will understand and Embrace the message.
Visit this page for more information on translate Media.
This link tells more about translate Media customer service.
In conclusion, do not leave behind if you’re looking for website translation as you all optimization people see social media copywriting just mention but a few reach out to translate media and they will start the chance to ensure they give you the best services ever.


text:
Load mobile navigation
UK & World News
Business & Consumer
Science & Technology
Scotland Football Team
English Premier League
TV & Celebs
TV & Radio News
Life & Style
In Your Area
See all locations
Work for us
Got A Story?
Book an Ad
Buy a Photo
How to Complain
Corrections & Clarifications
Contact the Judge
Sunday Mail Centenary Fund
Paper Subscription to the Daily Record and Sunday Mail
Paper Subscription to the Paisley Daily Express
Terms and Conditions
© 2019 Scottish Daily Record and Sunday Mail Ltd
10:57, 22 NOV 2019
Hustings cancelled as Tories decline to attend
Perth For Europe has been actively leafleting people to encourage tactical voting against Conservative campaigns
May day in Milnathort as former PM hits campaign trail
But SNP opponent says area is “scunnered by Tory chaos”
Kilmarnock youth parliament members blast silencing of 16 and 17-year-olds in General Election
“What it comes down to is that I can marry my MP but I can’t vote for them.”
Gordon Brown says only Labour can keep Scotland in UK and Europe Union
The former prime minister has harsh words for the Tories and SNP as he writes exclusively for the Record.
Your guide to 2019's General Election across Ayrshire
Voters will go to the polls next month and here is the state of play throughout Ayrshire.
Kilmarnock and Loudoun candidates have their say on Brexit issues
The various hopefuls give their opinions on the exit from the European Union to the Kilmarnock Standard team of Ross Dunn, Tara Fitzpatrick and Colin Paterson.
General Election debate RECAP as Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn go head to head
The Prime Minister and Labour leader met in the first of a series of TV showdowns before the UK votes on December 12.
General Election 2019 in Scotland – Key seats profiled as SNP and Tories battle for Stirling
Conservative candidate Stephen Kerr is defending a majority of just 148 with
Perth and Kinross general election candidates finalised
Residents across the region will be going to the polls on Thursday, December 12
Scottish Labour leader leads push to win back West Dunbartonshire in election
Richard Leonard says he is focused on helping Jean Anne Mitchell defeat the SNP’s Martin Docherty-Hughes.
Scottish Conservative Party
Aberdeen North Tory candidate Ryan Houghton suspended over Holocaust comments
The Conservative hopeful vowed to clear his name and claimed he had never held anti-Semitic views as past comments he made about Holocaust denier David Irving came to light.
Children’s ward at St John’s Hospital in Livingston could take five years to fully reopen
Staff shortages forced bosses at NHS Lothian to suspend full-time care for youngsters at the NHS hospital in July 2017 and the situation may not be resolved until 2024.
Scottish National Party
SNP and Lib Dems lose high court challenge over ITV leaders' debate
A debate between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn is due to air but lawyers for the Lib Dems and SNP contested the decision not to include them.
Race hate Scot's 'go home' threat targeted female student
Traditional Britain Group vice-president Gregory Lauder-Frost picked on 21-year-old Isadora Sinha.
Blocking Indyref2 branded 'undemocratic' as Scotland's 'move towards independence unstoppable'
The SNP's Ian Blackford insists the next Prime Minister must not stand in the way of a second Scottish independence referendum.
Boris Johnson ignores campaign trail jeers as he pulls of fake boos mind trick
John Niven can't believe the Tory leader's ability to shrug off criticism and his ability to have a laser-like focus on any tiny positive.
Jennifer Arcuri says Boris Johnson cast her aside like a 'gremlin after a one night stand'
In an explosive TV interview the US businesswoman said she had kept the Tory leader's secrets and been loyal to him but she had been blocked and humiliated in return.
Scottish leaders' debate will go ahead on STV ahead of General Election
The Scottish broadcaster has invited Scottish leaders of Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and the SNP to take part in a debate on December 3.
Derek Stillie reveals death threats after THAT Rangers 6-1 defeat as he bids to become a Tory MP
The former Aberdeen keeper has looked back on his football years as he aims for high office.
Nicola Sturgeon visits Scotland's pro-Brexit areas in bid to kick out Tories
The SNP leader is gambling on a pro-independence pitch to sweep away Tory gains in the north-east.
Here are your candidates for the upcoming general election
There are six candidates in East Kilbride and four in East Renfrewshire.
Appalling legacy of austerity should make Tories hang their heads in shame
Record View slams the extreme poverty pushing vulnerable people to the absolute limit.
Tory immigration plans are 'hostile' for Scotland
Home Secretary Priti Patel was accused of putting the Scottish economy at risk after vague promises to cut immigration.
Campaigners stage protest calling for council to re-think Viewforth Link Road
Campaigners staged a protest outside Stirling Council’s headquarters on Saturday over the proposed Viewforth Link Road.

domain: politics


text:
Coffee is one of the most widely-traded products in the agricultural commodities market, with a retail value of USD$83 billion (£64 billion) and employing 125 million people worldwide in 2017. Approximately 12.5 million farms around the world grow coffee, with the majority of these (80%) being smallholder farms in developing nations. Coffee is a highly climate-sensitive crop which currently only grows well in the ‘coffee belt’ (the region between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn). Coffee plants require a very specific set of weather conditions for successful growth: the areas where these conditions are found are already changing owing to the impacts of climate change.
It is estimated that there are around 150,000 coffee-producing farms in Kenya, with around six million Kenyans employed in the coffee industry, either directly or indirectly. The major coffee growing regions in the country are in the central Kenyan highlands, owing to their acidic soils and excellent growing conditions, although other areas in the country also produce coffee on a smaller scale. Today, Kenya produces about 50,000 tons of premium Arabica coffee annually, a decrease from its peak of producing over 100,000 tons annually in the 1990s. This decline occurred due to several factors: the cost of production, low productivity and lack of access to information about the international coffee trade. Kenya is a country with severe vulnerabilities to climate change, and the coffee trade in the region is likely to decline further as a result, with some of the impacts of climate change already affecting coffee farmers’ livelihoods.
According to the IPCC’s 2014 assessment report, Kenya is expected to see extreme droughts and heatwaves throughout August and September by 2100. This is likely to lead to loss of suitable land for coffee growing in both the eastern and western Kenyan highlands, with growing regions likely to move from 3,300 to 4,600 feet above sea level owing to rising temperatures and decreasing rainfall. To date, the tendency towards drying in the country has been more severe than predicted by the fourth IPCC assessment, with long seasonal rains in the centre of the country having declined by over 100mm per year since the mid-1970s. Should the IPCC be correct in its worst-case climate change pathway predictions, Kenya is likely to see further serious decline in its coffee production as the country’s weather conditions change.
The Kenyan government has taken steps to reinvigorate the national coffee industry since the decline in production in the 1990s, including improving access to the international market for producers, seeking international funding to support the market and seeking private investment in milling in the country. However, it is recognised that threats such as climate change will require further action and as a result, new approaches to farming in Kenya must be considered. New farming systems such as agroforestry and crop diversification will be required to guarantee farm productivity.
What is agroforestry?
Simply put, agroforestry means combining agriculture with trees. It is an ancient natural practice but, in many locations, has been abandoned in favour of making more room for specific crops, sometimes leading to monocultures. There are multiple benefits to agroforestry. Firstly, trees can provide shading. This is a farming technique that provides protection for crops from more extreme weather conditions (particularly sun and wind) than would be ideal for coffee farming. The shading aspect also benefits farm workers by protecting them from the same weather. Trees can also help in a multitude of other ways; to naturally enrich soil on farms, to reduce erosion, to regulate water flows and depollute water and to regenerate biodiversity and improve pollination. Depending on the type of tree planted, this could also help farmers to diversify their crops. For example, farmers could plant fruit trees to shade the coffee trees, thus growing two types of crop simultaneously. One study found over 100 benefits of planting trees for agroforestry.
While there is an initial cost to planting the trees, studies have shown that the cost of up to US$6 (£4.65) per tree may have benefits valued at up to $19 (£14.73) per tree per year for farmers and local communities. This is in addition to the more well-known benefits of trees when it comes to tackling climate change; their ability to sequester carbon has been much-discussed. While agroforestry is already used, and has been for centuries, in many Kenyan communities (for example, the Cherangani people, located in the Rift Valley), it is likely to provide a low-cost solution in the near future for smallholder farmers to both continue growing coffee and to potentially expand to growing further crops.
Trees are the key
If you’ve got some free time and you’re interested in finding out more, why not check out our documentary #TreesAreTheKey? As well as explaining why reforestation in the tropics is vital, it shows how growing crop trees such as mangoes and cashews can have an enormous benefit to local people.
Holly Jones and The Team

domain: agronomy


The film is about the life of a journalist, who takes photos for women. She became fond of some photos, but realised something strange - that the psychology of women is different from those photos .
Baran was born in the province Hakkari in 1978. She completed her studies in the same city and has worked in different media, such as Roj TV, MMC and Newroz TV.
2010 Rêwiyên şad
2003 Dema jin hez bike
Original Title: Sindrik
Production Company: Directorate of Cinema Arts- Duhok
Production Year: 2013
Director: Jinda Baran
Script: Jinda Baran
Cinematography: Nerev Qechax, Renas Sedullah
Editor: Hakar Abdulqadir
Music Composer: Koma Jinen Botan
Producer: Nerev Qechax
Running Time: 6min
Main Cast: Kani Muhabadi, Helkeft Idris


text:
A US-based newspaper executive is to make a transatlantic job switch to join Johnston Press as its new digital chief.
Jeff Moriarty, currently vice-president, digital products for the Boston Globe and general manager of Boston.com, is joining the regional publisher as chief digital and product officer.
Jeff, whose appointment follows a global search, is a former journalist who has been credited with creating sucessful regional subscription-based websites in the US, notably BostonGlobe.com.
Chief Executive Officer Ashley Highfield said: “Jeff is an outstanding candidate and the knowledge, experience, insight and innovation that he will bring to Johnston Press will help us forge ahead with our ambitious growth plans.
“Our digital revenues have grown by 60pc and in many parts of the UK they now account for 20pc of our overall advertising revenues. Jeff’s exceptional track record will ensure our growth continues and I very much look forward to welcoming him aboard.”
A journalist by background who started out as founding editor of a weekly newspaper, Jeff has spent much of his career at The New York Times Company where he
held a number of vice president and general manager roles in classified products, product & technology, new media, and product management.
He launched the first regional websites in the Times and was also responsible for building an industry-leading Manhattan real estate site and verticals in autos and jobs, as well as niche products such as Winetoday.com on California wines.
Later he designed and developed what is considered to be among the most successful regional subscription-based sites in the US – the award-winning BostonGlobe.com, known for its pioneering use of Responsive Web Design to embrace the shift to mobile devices.
He joined About.com in 2009 and brought that site new mobile, video and advertising offerings before joining The Boston Globe in 2010.

domain: news


text:
So, this is a continuation of the blog post I did back in May of this year of other blogger's recipes. Something I do not do as often as I should! One is from a blog that is no longer available and the other is from a restaurant's website. Both are amazing and we now have them regularly - well, maybe not the brownies regularly ;-) Honest!!
Super Fudgy Brownies - originally from the (now gone) blog "Not A Rabbit" reposted at "Cooking Vegan Food Up North"
♥ Aaaah, look at that perfect crackly topping!! ♥
I have so many people to thank for this recipe. First, the original author of the blog "Not a Rabbit" - unfortunately I had never seen this blog and it's now gone, sad, because if this brownie recipe is anything to go by it must have been a good one! Second, Fanny at "Cooking Vegan Food Up North" for saving the recipe and reposting it, and third, Julia at "Snarky Vegan" for tweeting about this recipe and providing the link to it.
I cannot tell you how happy I am to have this recipe in my life. You may have noticed that despite having over 250 recipes on this blog I don't have a basic brownie recipe. This is down to me searching for the perfect one, I tried so many, and to be fair they were all good. I mean a brownie can't really be bad can it?!? But I really wanted that crackly thin skin topping ALL good brownies should have, as well as a really dense super fudgy texture bursting with full on chocolate flavour. This one ticks all those boxes. So the search is over and this one is so perfect in every way I'm not even gutted I didn't come up with it!! It really is the BEST brownie recipe. EVER!
I hope this is ok but as the original blog is gone I'm also going to post the recipe here because I have converted the one posted at Northern Veg there into grams and ml's for those of us on this side of the Atlantic. I also didn't have vanilla sugar so added some vanilla extract. Just click on the recipe link above to get the original in cups if you prefer.
Super Fudgy Brownies
150g granulated sugar - must be this type, not caster
60ml vegetable oil
125ml chocolate soya milk
160g dark chocolate
80g plain flour
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Line a 7 or 8 inch square baking tin with baking paper, mine was actually 6 inch, and preheat the oven to 180C.
Place the sugar in a blender and whizz until it's a fine powder and tip into a large bowl. As the original poster states, do not omit this part, it's what gives the brownies their crackly topping. I also thought I would just omit this step and use caster sugar instead but I'm glad I didn't. Granulated sugar blended comes out somewhat in between caster and icing sugar so I'm sure this step is essential, at any rate it's dead simple!
Mix together the flour and sifted cocoa powder and set aside.
Pour the oil, chocolate soya milk and vanilla into the sugar and mix well.
Melt the chocolate in the microwave and quickly whisk into the oil/sugar mixture.
Quickly stir in the flour/cocoa mixture and mix well with a wooden spoon until it all comes together.
Pour/scrape into the prepared tin and bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Mine took 20 minutes in a fan oven.
Leave to fully cool then refrigerate for a couple of hours before cutting. It wasn't explained why this is but I think if you try and cut them whilst warm they might just fall apart. I did as told and they came out perfect, once I cut them though I stored them at room temperature.
Cut into whatever size you like, I got 16 small squares out of this as even though they are small, they are 140 calories per square ;-) SO worth it though!
Slow Roasted Red Peppers with Chickpeas, Smoked Paprika and Fresh Sage by Demuths Vegetarian Restaurant
Demuth's is a Vegetarian restaurant in Bath, England who also have a blog. Sadly despite living in England for 12 years we never got the pleasure to eat there. Thankfully I follow them on twitter and one day they tweeted a link to this recipe on their website. I knew I had to try it right away as it had all my favourite flavours there and just sounded amazing!
This is absolutely delicious, so simple, versatile and now on our regular dinner rotation. Once, I had no cherry tomatoes but had mushrooms so added those instead, it was equally as good. So good in fact I now add both mushrooms and tomatoes on most occasions. They recommended a side with it and I opted for a lemon couscous which I think goes lovely with the flavours in the slow roasted peppers.
What's really nice in this is besides the deeply roasted peppers is that the chickpeas in the peppers stay soft but the ones outside of the peppers get all roasted crispy providing a different taste and texture in the dish. Sometimes I use fresh sage, sometimes dried, like I said, it's very versatile. Their recipe called for sweet paprika but I used smoked as I'm sure most of you who have followed me for awhile it's hands down my favourite spice :-)
♥ Before going in the oven ♥
So there you go, a couple more outstanding recipes found online, mostly thanks to twitter!
I keep looking at these two recipes here thinking, damn, that would make a fine meal, roasted red peppers and couscous and brownies for dessert :-) Being vegan is fantastically tasty!
|This photo is from Feb. 2013 - we are still loving it! As you can see we have a reduced portion these days though, just half a pepper each. I also now use wholegrain couscous which works just as well.|
Perfect Gingerbread from Kake's Vegan Cookery Site
Please excuse the rather boring photo here, I took this last year in a rush and haven't gotten around to taking better photos of this. Regardless, I have been making this gingerbread for years now, ever since we became vegan and it really is perfection. The flavour and spices are spot on and look at that texture! It's absolutely heavenly and fills your kitchen with the most amazing wintry spices. I've served this to many omnivores who have also raved about it. The cream there is my rummed up vegan whipped cream I like to serve with my Marzipan Mince Pies, they go really well together :-)
I was also very honoured to be given a 'Liebster Blog' award by Sophia over at 'What Your Momma Didn't Know' (BEST Blog name EVER!!) :-D Thank you so much!
Here are the rules if you would like to participate:
1. Show your thanks by linking back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Choose 5 of your picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Post the award on your blog.
4. Enjoy the blogger love!
I've decided to use this opportunity to pimp some great Irish Vegan Blogs, here they are!
3. Velove Vegan
4. Full Irish Vegan - sadly not sure this is updated anymore :-(
...and I think that's it! If I am missing any Vegan Irish Blogs here, please let me know, would love to connect!


text:
top of page
Illustrator - Character Designer - Visual Development Artist
JBMonge - illustration féerie fantasy
Follow me on
Join date: 25 mars 2022
Gentlemen, let me lead you on a journey to ecstasy that'll bring back a lifetime of unforgettable memories and thoughts. The Sexy private tour guide and the escort will guide you through the city of Delhi.
bottom of page


Will an automatic sprinkler system water as effectively as I can water by hand?
It will do a much better job because a professionally designed system will deliver exactly the right amount of water to individual lawn and garden areas.
Can I save money by installing my own system?
No! In fact, it could cost you more money in the long run.
What’s the learning curve to operate this system?
It’s easy! We’ll explain to you how your controller works and how the watering times have been set. Then, if necessary, the watering times can be adjusted by following the instructions on the inside of the controller cabinet. And that’s it; the system does the rest for you.


Dub Club is no longer just another weekly in L.A., if it ever was to begin with. It’s an institution, respected by Reggae heads from Silver Lake to Kingston. There are other places in the states where you can listen to DJs spin Reggae, Dub, Ska, Dancehall, and anything else worth listening to that’s come out of Jamaica, but none like Dub Club.
It’s only at Dub Club that can you see artists from the old, often forgotten records live. The man behind Dub Club and the man responsible for bringing these artists out to L.A. is DJ/producer Tom Chasteen, who’s been DJing/selecting and handling the day to day at Dub Club for over a decade now.
Chasteen recently linked up with Jamaican artist Tippa Lee (“No Trouble We”) to produce/record Foundation Come Again, a collection of twenty new recordings with sound system legends like Ranking Trevor and Brigadier Jerry. The album is a great listen all the way through, a record that feels less like a throwback and more like a traditionalist record by the best in the business. Above all, Foundation Come Again is the music each of these MCs probably would’ve been making had someone like Chasteen been around earlier in their careers.
Foundation Come Again drops tomorrow (July 16) via one of L.A.’s best indie labels, Stones Throw. Fittingly, the fantastic Dub versions of the record are already out (see here). The release party will take place at this week’s Dub Club, where Chasteen and DJ Boss Harmony will select for Trinity, Tippa Lee, Ranking Joe, and some surprise guests.
In our near hour conversation we discussed Chasteen’s music career, his time at Dub Club, the new record, and all things Reggae/Dub. – Max Bell
How long have you been a DJ?
I started DJing college parties when I was going to school, which would be like ’86 or ’87.
When did you start producing?
I was actually producing back in the early ‘90s. I started this label called Exist Dance. We put our first record out in ’91 and we were basically the first label to come out of the whole rave scene that was going on here in L.A. We probably released a lot of the first kind of Techno and break beat records and also some of the first experimental Hip-Hop music, in the vein of Trip-Hop. One of the records we released was “They Came in Peace” by Tranquility Bass. That came out in ’91. And that was before Tricky and Portishead. That track actually ended up being on this compilation Headz, which came on Mo’ Wax and is considered to be one of the seminal Trip-Hop compilations from back then.
Anyway, so in the early ‘90s I was producing Techno, House, Trip-Hop, and all that kind of stuff. I did that all the way up until I got kind of burned out on it. Then people were really getting into Dub Club a lot, so I switched to that.
But my stuff always had this real Reggae influence. And I was a super Reggae collector through all the years. For a while I was living in Arizona, from the mid to late ‘90s, and I would do Reggae and Dub stuff at these big rave parties out there.
When did your interest in Reggae and Dub music first develop?
I was lucky because my parents had a really great record collection. And they actually have a lot of good Reggae records, so I was listening to it ever since I was a little kid. They had stuff like Toots & the Maytals and The Harder They Come soundtrack.
One of the records that always sticks out for me is Scientist Wins the World Cup, which is one of those Scientist albums with the crazy cartoon covers. I think got that record in the ‘80s, when I was in high school. And I just listened to that thing over and over and over. I was totally hypnotized by that. That was probably the first Dub record that really got me into it.
Is there are distinction between Reggae and Dub music?
Dub is Reggae. They’re not really two different types of music. Basically, Dub is engineers taking Reggae music and tweaking it with echoes and reverbs and creating this new piece of music.
What about Dub music attracts you?
I like rhythm, and Dub always has that solid, pounding rhythm. I guess the other thing you could say about Dub, which is similar with Reggae, is that it always has that bass. There’s no Dub that doesn’t have this heavy, heavy pulsing bass. But it’s more than that too. It’s not just the bass line. I like music that swings and I like the psychedelic in music. I like sort of swirling echoes and all the crazy experimental things that Dub can do.
Because a lot of Dub is like, ‘Well what can we do in the recording studio that’s kind of breaking the rules?’ or ‘How can we take this song and sort of fracture into a million pieces?’ At the same time you can still rock a dance floor with a Dub record, as weird as it might get, because you’re still maintaining that rhythmic pulse through the whole thing.
With all of your years of digging, are you still finding Dub and Reggae music that’s new to you?
Yeah, totally! I mean Reggae is amazing. Jamaica has really so much music it’s just amazing. There’s always new stuff to be digging for. I mean it’s just endless. You’re always going to find something.
I went to the Beat swap meet a couple months ago and I bought like three or four boxes of ‘45s, like big long boxes. And I went through those and out of those I found one record that I really liked. But the thing about it is that I’ll go back and go through it again because sometimes records I don’t like one year I’ll like a year or two later. You never know.
And the thing that I would say about Dub Club is that we don’t only play Dub. We play all styles of Jamaican music, going back to early ‘60s Ska and Rocksteady, and then the more ‘70s Roots, and the ‘80s Rub-a-Dub style, and ‘90s Dancehall and digital, up into modern stuff. We kind of try to span the whole spectrum of Jamaican music.
Would you say Dub Club had been pretty successful thus far?
Well I mean the goal is that the shows pay for themselves and turn a profit, but that doesn’t always happen. Still, we have great audience for Reggae in California and we usually get a pretty good turn out for the shows. I mean Reggae is a funny thing. In some ways it’s underground, but in other ways it’s widely popular. So we’re lucky. But then there’s a lot of hassle trying to get some artists into the country. There’s a lot of Visa problems.
When did you guys start bringing in artists to perform at Dub Club?
Well first we brought in Adrian Sherwood, who is like an English Dub guy. That was probably 2001 or 2002. Then I just started to get offers from more and more people.
The story I always tell, which is true, is that it kind of blew my mind when I realized, after looking at records and seeing a name like Ranking Trevor on a dusty old ’45 and thinking that this was just music from a whole other world and time, that this guy Ranking Trevor is just there in Kingston and still wants to perform and that it can be arranged.
And I would say, not to blow our own horn too much at Dub Club, is that it’s something that sets us apart from most clubs of this type that I can think of. Because there are clubs where you can go hear rare Funk and rare Soul and lots of different types of music, but there’s not too many clubs that do that and actually bring those artists on those old records to perform. I think that’s a pretty rare thing, and it takes a lot of work. Believe me.
Do you personally finance the artists’ trip out here?
Not always. Sometimes people are on tour already. But when I’m doing really special artists—I mean there have been artists where Dub Club is their only show in California. So for somebody like that I’m financing the whole thing. I fly them out here, put them in a hotel, and organize the show—the whole thing top to bottom.
Was the goal with Dub Club always to make a record at some point?
No, not really. The goal was always just to do the party. But I’ve done a lot of different Dub related stuff over the years. I did a lot of what I would call Dub remixes back before I even did Dub Club. I actually did a Dub mix of some Sly & Robbie in the late ‘90s.
But what happened is that when we started bringing in more artists to perform at the club then I started doing more recording with them. So there started be this big body of recordings and it made sense to do a record. And then Stones Throw was interested in releasing it so that was great.
How has it been collaborating with Stones Throw on the release?
They’re great. Chris (Peanut Butter Wolf) has been a big supporter of the Dub Club and we’ve had him spin there a bunch of times. It’s just great. I couldn’t say enough good things about working with them.
When did you first come up with the idea for Foundation Come Again?
Well we’ve been doing it all these years—because it’s not only these Jamaican sessions. A lot of times when artists come to town, like Big Youth, who’s on the record, I recorded him when he was hear for a show. Same thing with Brigadier Jerry. And there’s a lot more material than is on that record too. We have a huge library that we’ve just been kind of stockpiling over the years. And we also have singers. The album is all DJs, DJs in the Jamaican sense—basically when Jamaican artists say DJ they mean someone who is toasting on the mic. So this album is all DJs, but we also have records with singers and stuff.
We have this huge body of stuff that we’ve been doing for years and Tippa and I had the idea to do a record that just concentrated on all of the foundation DJs. Then what I would like to do is have a follow up that’s all singers. So we’ve been working on that.
Are there plans to release any of that archival material?
Yeah, hopefully! (Laughs) It depends on how this stuff goes over.
Where did you record Foundation Come Again? What was the recording process like?
I mostly used a studio called King Size. It’s in Eagle Rock. And then some of the stuff was recorded in Jamaica too.
I didn’t actually go to Jamaica but the other producer, Tippa Lee, who’s also an artist on the record, he went over there and had a couple wild studio sessions where he got the studio for a couple days and just rounded up all these old school guys. There’s some cool video of it where they’re just all hanging out in the studio together and smoking weed. (Laughs) I wish I would’ve been there for those sessions, but I wasn’t.
A lot of those guys actually can’t come to the U.S. I don’t want to talk about anyone personally, but usually it’s because they have some kind of police record or something. There was a time in the ‘70s and the ‘80s where a lot of them came to New York and Miami and a lot of them kind of got into trouble with the law and they had to go back to Jamaica. They can go to Europe, but if you have certain things on your record they won’t let you into the U.S.
Tippa had a hard drive with him and basically he went over to Jamaica with maybe fifteen instrumentals or so. I would talk to him on the phone and go over which artists were there. Then he would go over the instrumentals with the artists and match up who wanted to work on which tracks.
What’s behind the name of the record?
The name comes from all of the artists that are on there. They’re like foundation artists. It’s kind of the return of the roots.
Do you have a favorite track on Foundation Come Again?
I really like that Josey Wales track “Hard Time.” I think that’s such a tough track. The lyrics are so tough. I’m really happy with that one. But the whole record—I’m pretty proud of it. It sounds good. When I play it in the club it sounds rough and tough. And the Dub records do too.
You released the Dub version of the record first, right?
Yeah. Stones Throw kind of let me know at the last minute that they wanted the Dub records, so a majority of those were done in like two days. It’s kind of unusual. Usually you do the vocals and then you put the Dub version out afterwards. It was kind of rad to do it this way. And the two records don’t actually match up all the way. There are tracks on the Dub record that have no counterpart on the record with the vocals.
It’s partially on purpose because with Reggae it’s often very confusing. Things are mislabeled and the vocal album doesn’t quite match the Dub album and there’s a certain level of mystery and confusion. So I thought I would stick with that tradition. But maybe I’m just mysterious and confusing (Laughs).
Are there records in your collection where you can’t identify who recorded them?
You know what’s really maddening that I think is somewhat unique to Reggae is that there a quite a lot of instrumentals that were never released. When I worked with Brigadier Jerry, he had a CD of all these instrumental Dubs that he would use to toast over, but a lot of them were never released. They just cut them in the studio one day when they were mixing the album. They are custom Dubs. I have some of that stuff, but those are the ones that you really, really want. There’s no way to get it. That’s all behind the scenes stuff. And people don’t give those things out because those are your secret weapons. I have some that I got from various places.
Have you ever thought about reissuing some of the old material from artists you’ve worked with?
I was thinking about it. It’s a real labor of love, I think. Because a lot of people do those reissues now and they’re great, but you have to have a lot of stamina. To go back and work with some of these older labels and do all of the financial negotiation that’s involved—(laughs) I’m not that stoked on trying doing all that. Somebody should do it, maybe just not me. I’m more focused on doing new music at this point.
But I was talking to DJ Boss Harmony the other night at Dub Club about this. All of those guys have released so much music—we were actually talking about this singer Roman Stewart, which I’m sure not that many people have heard of. But if I had access to all of his music legally and I could put together a greatest hits—same thing with Tippa Lee—I could make the most killer, killer album. But it’s so hard to do that because they put out stuff on dozens of tiny labels and you have to go negotiate with each label. Still, that’s part of what’s fun about Reggae. Even today there’s I don’t know how many little tiny labels pumping out music from Jamaica. It’s just a treasure hunt for rare and obscure stuff that never ends.
Do you have a favorite current label in Jamaica?
Not off the top of my head. I’m a little sad because they’ve sort of stopped doing vinyl, which is hard for me because we only spin vinyl. Most of the vinyl is coming out Europe now.
Are there any Reggae or Dub records that have “Holy Grail” status for you, record you own or desperately hope to own?
(Laughs) There a lot of those. The Holy Grail status records for me are those that I want to use for performing with the MCs. Basically it’s like really clean instrumental versions of songs that I can spin when I’m performing with the DJs. Those are really rare and hard to find. It takes a lot of digging.
That’s a whole other part of Reggae DJing that people don’t really understand. It’s really hard to get the proper versions to spin behind these guys. You don’t want the Dub version because it’s going to have little bits of vocals coming in and out. So you have to find an instrumental without the vocal. I actually wrote a whole essay about it for the record.
Do you have a favorite Dub Club performance?
I mean one that I would mention is the first time we had Brigadier Jerry. That was one of the first times where I personally selected for the artist on the turntable. I was really nervous because he’s such a master of his craft. It just felt like such an honor to be performing alongside an artist who was working on a level like he was. It just kind of boggled my mind.
The other ones that really stand out to me are when we bring out artists who’ve never performed out here before. Like we brought out this singer Madoo, who’d never performed out here—he’s a legendary Dancehall singer from the ‘70s and ‘80s. Collector’s have maybe listened to those records for thirty years and thought they were never going to hear this guy. Same thing with Prince Jazzbo. He had never performed in the U.S. before and we did a show with him last year. Like after thirty years of listening to the records, ‘Okay, here’s the man himself.’ That stuff is really gratifying to me.
Some of the performers are pretty old, right?
Yeah. Sadly, three of the guys on the Foundation Come Again record have passed away.
With you extensive Reggae/Dub knowledge, have you ever thought about writing a book on the subject?
I don’t know. Other people have done pretty good books. But maybe when I have arthritis and I can’t DJ anymore I’ll dictate it to my computer or something (laughs). There are lots of good, behind the scenes Reggae business that I couldn’t tell for many years. Selector memoirs would be good.
I think a lot people really got into the whole live band thing because Bob Marley was so popular. But I think what’s going to be more important as people start looking back on Reggae is the whole DJ/turntable culture. That’s what led directly to the birth of Hip-Hop. And I think even still, when you look at Low End Theory and all of this bass culture music that’s coming out of L.A., there’s such a link to heavy bass sound system. A lot of stuff can be traced back to Reggae. And it’s an amazing thing if you think about this little, tiny poor island and like the poorest neighborhoods on that island have made this music that’s popular all around the world.
Is it still a dream come true to work with some of these guys?
It is a dream come true. They’re such interesting people to work with. To get to know them is such a privilege. I think for a lot of DJs you hear some record that you totally fall in love with and you want to share this record with people because you love it and you want everyone to hear it. And for me, the next step is doing a show with the artist that sang that record. If you can go, ‘Here’s the song I love, and here’s the original singer singing’—there’s nothing better than that.


text:
Much of the Prairies has experienced freezing temperatures over the last few days, with a risk of frost not yet out of the forecast. This has growers concerned about cereal tolerance to frost, as well as when and if a pre-emergent application can still happen.
Wheat and barley are typically more resilient to cold temperatures than canola would be, says Jeremy Boychyn, agronomy specialist with Alberta Wheat and Barley Commissions. At this stage in wheat and barley on the Prairies, the growing point, or most of it, is still below the soil level.
“We may see some leaf burn, but typically we’re not going to see whole plant death, and that’s because there’s the soil and some of that moisture in the soil kind of buffering that cold temperature,” says Boychyn.
Things to look out for include some leaf tips dying, but three to five days after the frost event, new growth may appear. For wheat, the -8 to -10 °C range is the point at which leaves burn. For barley, the range is between -4 to -6 °C. It doesn’t mean the plant is dead, says Boychyn, it just means some of the leaf has died off.
Catch the full conversation for more on frost, pre-emergent herbicides, and keeping records of plant stands. Story continues below player.
Boychyn also says that with wheat or barley genetics, a bit of stress will up-regulate the gene stress hormones, which primes the plant for more stress later.
When you’re going out and assessing the crop, consider that there are so many variables that play into frost severity, like soil moisture, residue cover, how cold it got and for how long. Boychyn says to look for leaf-tip burn, and then if you see this symptom, dig up the plant and determine if the crown is mushy or water-soaked and has died off. Typically, a healthy plant will be white and clean looking in the area between the roots and the leaves.
Spraying decisions are also impacted by this cold snap, whether it’s pre-emergent applications or in-crop, depending on the stage of crop.
“Typically the answer is we want to be waiting until those plants have the ability to grow again,” says Boychyn. Metabolism needs to function, both in the weeds and the crop because the herbicide needs to be shuttled through a weed’s system, and the crop needs to be active in order to metabolize the herbicide.
Night-time temperatures need to be at least 5 °C and a warm sunny day is necessary to get metabolism going again. New leaf growth is also crucial for proper metabolism and effective herbicide applications.
Boychyn recommends having an agronomist come out and assess the situation before making a pre-emergent herbicide application. It can make for a tight window between the time that those optimal temperatures come back after a frost event, and when the crop comes up.
“We know that weeds that have emerged prior to the crop emerging have the most impact on yield,” says Boychyn. “So we know we want to control those as much as possible, given the opportunity, rather than wait until after.”


text:
Apart from the values that we get from our parents, the environment in which we grow, the friends that we make and the habits that we encourage go a long way in making us the kind of people that we are. In our hurry to get on with life and to manage to do all that we can as quickly as possible, we tend to miss out on our precious connection with Ma Nature.
Though I did not have the good fortune of having grown in a place blessed with bountiful nature, I did grow up in a place which was once known as Garden City. Most roads had trees lined on them, making walks, rides and strolls a pleasure! My mother grew plants of different kinds and was popular for her green thumb. The school where I studied and where I spent the major part of my days was filled with plants, flowers and trees of different shapes and colours.
But then, time changed. Industrial development was followed by digital development which led to lesser trees and more concrete jungles. It was a change we just could not avoid. Fortunately, after my son was born, when he was around a year and a half, my husband was transferred to Palakkad, Kerala. Having lived for long in a big city, settling down in a town bereft of many facilities kind of unsettled me!
Not that I did not want the warmth of Nature. But, this sudden shift from city to town, from concrete jungle to real jungle kind of irked me. But then, as it is rightly said: ‘Whatever happens does for the best.’ And so it was here too. After a year of adjusting with new baby, new place, new language and all, I had finally become comfortable in God’s Own Country.
Walking barefoot on dewy grass early in the morning, watching the seven sister sparrows, being witness to coconuts unexpectedly falling down coconut trees, feeling the shade and warmth of nature all around me moved me greatly.
Inspite of the little hardships of managing household chores with husband out-of-town on duty most of the time – each step that I took had a smile to it. My son spent seven years of his life growing up in such a beautiful ambiance. He watched the monsoon rains in full form. He helped me grow vegetables and flowers in my garden. He made friends with kittens and crows. He had a swell time. That’s why; even today I can sense his appreciation for flowers, animals and birds. I owe it all to out stint in a town truly blessed by God and Nature.
Today, gadgets, music and friends may have taken the fancy of my son. But, this much I know that his connection with Ma Nature will never get lost amidst the distracting banter of modern living!
Shail Raghuvanshi is a freelance journalist, content writer, editor, book reviewer and poet. She has 15 years of writing experience in newspaper, magazine, radio and television. She has worked as a Spoken English Teacher too. She runs a blog for writers called Write Space and blogs at her personal blog Muse N’ Motivation. A daughter, wife, mother and friend, she believes that there is no situation that can’t be made better. Faith, Friendship and Family are what makes her life complete.

domain: literature


Diagnostic testing via infrared thermography is the most basic form of electrical testing and typically the first step in electrical maintenance. ECA Services’ certified & trained technicians wield high-tech infrared thermographic cameras during thorough electrical inspections to determine if your facility is receiving clean and reliable power.
An electrical inspection including an infrared thermographic scan should be conducted at every facility at least once a year. ECA Service offers these inspections at a competitive rate. ECA Service technicians are not only Infrared Certified, but are also all licensed electricians. ECA Service electrical inspections not only include the infrared scan, but also any electrical code violations, fixes to problems found (that can safely be conducted), and analysis of what may be causing a problem.


text:
Microbiology of Fruits and VegetablesAuthor:
Publisher: CRC Press
Publish date: agosto 2005
Examines both pre-harvest and post-harvest practices and sources of microbial contamination Considers continuing problems with post-harvest decay, bacterial soft rot, and microbial spoilage of fresh-cuts and processed juices Addresses important food safety issues Provides recommendations for good agricultural practices and improving the efficacy of produce decontamination Includes recommendations for standardizing methods for microbiological evaluation of produce Fresh and fresh-cut fruits and vegetables have an excellent safety record. However, surveillance data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and recent foodborne illness outbreaks have demonstrated that the incidence of foodborne illnesses linked to the consumption of contaminated fresh fruit and vegetable products may in fact be more prevalent than previously thought. U.S. FDA and USDA microbiological surveys of domestic and imported fresh fruits and vegetables demonstrate that human pathogens are sporadically found to be associated with fresh produce. In addition to increased safety concerns, microbial spoilage represents a significant source of waste for growers, packers, retailers, and consumers. Microbiology of Fruits and Vegetables reviews the extensive research that has been conducted on microbiological problems relating to the safety and spoilage of fruits and vegetables in recent years. It considers incidences of human pathogen contamination, sources of microbial contamination, microbial attachment to produce surfaces, intractable spoilage problems, efficacy of sanitizing treatments for fresh produce, novel interventions for produce disinfection, and methodology for microbiological evaluation of fruits and vegetables. The text is divided into five sections: (I) contamination and state of microflora on fruits and vegetables (II) microbial spoilage of fruits and vegetables (III) food safety issues (IV) interventions to reduce spoilage and risk of foodborne illness (V) microbiological evaluation of fruits and vegetables. In Microbiology of Fruits and Vegetables, the editors, three leaders in the field, have endeavored to present a comprehensive examination, focusing on issues needing coverage, rather than attempting an encyclopedic compilation. They have selected chapter authors who are active researchers in their respective fields and thus bring a working knowledge of current issues, industry practices, and advances in technology.
página de índice


text:
Eltham has grown from a village to a bustling suburban area in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The area boasts plenty of green open spaces and beautiful historical sites, including Eltham Palace, once home to Henry VII and Henry VIII, and The Royal Blackheath Golf Club, the oldest golf course in England. Eltham was also the home of singer and song writer, Kate Bush, whose previous home we are currently marketing on Court Road. The house, where Kate lived for nearly 20 years, is on the market for £2,750,000 and offers six bedrooms, six bathrooms, an acre of land and private access to The Royal Blackheath Golf Club.
Although Eltham is predominantly known for its variety of lovely period properties - some of which form part of the local conservation area south of Eltham High Street - the area is now also benefiting from many new build homes. Keen Buy-to-Let investors will be happy to know that there have been recent additions made to Eltham High Street by Galliard Homes, who are in the process of building over 100 new apartments, while the recent redevelopment of Kidbrooke Village has also raised the areas profile greatly.
Local residents benefit from a range of rail services into Central London via Mottingham, New Eltham, Eltham and Falconwood stations. From Eltham station, commuters can travel into London Bridge station in under 30 minutes and Canary Wharf station within 36 minutes. The local council is also investigating a range of possible routes to improve links with the wider transport network, including bus, rail and Docklands Light Railway services, which will better connect Eltham with East London. For those needing to commute outside of London, the A20 and A2 connects conveniently with the M25, offering access to the motorway and Gatwick Airport.
Once regarded quite a gritty location and less sought after than neighbouring Mottingham or Chislehurst, Eltham’s popularity is on the rise. Last year, Rightmove reported seeing annual average property prices increase by 16%,demonstrating the area’s growth potential for eager investors. Although the prices of properties have risen in recent months, it is still a very affordable area to buy in. Eltham offers homes for every price bracket - first time buyers getting a foot on the property ladder can purchase a one bedroom flat for under £250,000, while a younger family seeking a three bedroom house can expect to pay upwards of £350,000. Eltham also has a good selection of grand stately homes, where property prices typically start from around £2 million.
If you are looking to buy or sell in the area, contact our Lee branch today.

domain: finance


text:
Talk Cinema is such a fun thing to do on a Sunday morning, and the best, most intelligent post-film comments come from the most unlikely people, especially in a liberal college town. I love this place. Also, it is slightly weird, but also cool, being the youngest people at a uber nerdy thing.
Be Kind Rewind is not as good as the cutest ode to film, Cinema Paradiso. But it's fun, and often funny. Worth seeing, just to celebrate the fact that most people truly delight in the visual medium of film, and that the delight is so visceral. More to come later, because there's lots of interesting legal issues.
Roman de Gare is a very good, interesting film that self-consciously references, gives tribute to, and shamelessly celebrates: Hitchcock, Highsmith, train-reads, and plot-mobiles. Fanny Ardant is freakin' awesome, as is Dominic Pinon.
But neither are as awesome as an afternoon spent with TM and TI.


Eur. Phys. J. AP
Volume 20, Number 3, December 2002ACO: Action Coordonnée Optique
|Page(s)||191 - 196|
|Section||Laser, Optics, Optoelectronics and Nanophotonics|
|Published online||15 November 2002|
Stabilization of a 1.55 μm extended-cavity semiconductor laser by intracavity dynamic holography
Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique (Unité Mixte de Recherche 8501 du CNRS), Bât. 503, Centre Scientifique d'Orsay, BP 147, 91403 Orsay Cedex, France
2 NetTest, Photonics Division, 45 avenue Jean Jaurès, BP 81, 78344 Les Clayes-sous-Bois, France
Accepted: 28 March 2002
Published online: 15 November 2002
Commercial grating-tuned single-mode extended-cavity semiconductor lasers (ECLD's) can be tuned over 100 nm around 1.55 μm. This continuous tuning with no mode-hopping requires delicate factory adjustments and a high mechanical stability. These constrains are relaxed by the adjunction of a photorefractive crystal inside the cavity which creates an adaptive spectral filter which decreases the loss of the lasing-mode and thus enhances its stability.
PACS: 42.55.Px – Semiconductor lasers; laser diodes / 42.60.-v – Laser optical systems: design and operation / 42.65.Hw – Phase conjugation, optical mixing, and photorefractive effect
© EDP Sciences, 2002
Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.
Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.
Initial download of the metrics may take a while.


text:
Hutchison Telecom expects its Hong Kong operator to be in the forefront of 5G adoption and to launch commercial services by 2020.
Cliff Woo, CEO of 3 Hong Kong, told LightReading: “According to what the experts have said the standard will only be finalized in late 2018 or early 2019. We have to take the final product/spec for manufacturing, including the chipset and handset, so that will take another 12 months. So we think probably the year 2020.”
He expects the initial 5G-specific band in the country to be 3.5 GHz, although regulator OFCA is also looking at 26 GHz and 28 GHz for early-stage 5G allocations.
Hong Kong would join Japan, China, Korea and the US in targeting 5G launch in or before 2020, maintaining a pattern of early roll-out which saw it in the first wave of 4G deployers too, going live in late 2010.
The operator is working closely with Huawei both on 4G enhancement and 5G trials. By the end of this year, it plans to support five-carrier aggregation, which would combine spectrum in 1.8 GHz, 2.1 GHz and 2.6 GHz, plus two carriers in the 2.3 GHz TDD band, to achieve peak downlink speed of 1.2Gbps. Before that, it will deploy four-carrier aggregation in mid-2017 to boost data rates to 500Mbps per user, along with 4×4 MIMO and 256QAM.
The company is also testing 128 x 128 Massive MIMO in a field trial in the Causeway Bay shopping district, using the unpaired 2.3 GHz spectrum, and says this has delivered a sixfold increase in throughput.
And it is deploying Huawei’s CloudEdge technology on its core network and starting to extend that to CloudRAN too. It also says it plans to adopt the Chinese vendor’s innovative CloudAIR flexible spectrum technology.
Woo added: “As we move towards the 5G and IoT era, 3 Hong Kong is actively deploying 5G technologies and upgrading its existing network architecture. In addition to using CA technology with 5CC, we have conducted research and carried out trials for various technologies, such as small cell installations, network cloudification, NFV and Massive MIMO towards the 5G era. These efforts will enable the timely launch of services to meet market demand as soon as the 5G standard and Hong Kong’s spectrum plans are confirmed.”


text:
Untaxing the rich
Taxation is inherently political, as not only how tax income is spent, but more importantly, how it is collected reflects political choice. However, one would be hard pressed to find an example where an individual, or a group of individuals, voluntarily ask to pay more taxes and are rejected by their governments.
The picture becomes even more puzzling when those same governments are in dire need of income, as there’s a general consensus that they may be unable to fulfill their debt obligations if they do not find a sustainable way to shore up their finances.
Yet this is exactly what is happening, and in more than one country. Groups of wealthy businesspeople in the United States, France and Germany have been actively campaigning to pay more taxes – and are apparently being turned down by their respective states, which are in dire need of tax income.
In the U.S., the “struggle” has been going on since at least November 2010, when more than 100 wealthy individuals “organized” to urge President Barack Obama to let the Bush-era tax cuts expire for people making more than $1 million a year. They are still campaigning through the patrioticmillionaires.org website. There are other groups, such as “Responsible Wealth,” which have hundreds of wealthy Americans as members.
Warren Buffett, one of the wealthiest persons on earth, wrote an article for the New York Times on Aug. 14, saying that Washington should stop “coddling” the rich and raise the top income tax rate.
“While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks,” Buffett wrote. “Some of us are investment managers who earn billions from our daily labors but are allowed to classify our income as ‘carried interest,’ thereby getting a bargain 15 percent tax rate. Others own stock index futures for 10 minutes and have 60 percent of their gain taxed at 15 percent, as if they’d been long-term investors.”
Luca di Montezemolo, the chairman of Italy’s Ferrari, announced his support. “I am rich and I am ready to pay more taxes, for reasons of fairness and solidarity,” la Repubblica quoted him as saying.
A total of 16 French businesspeople, including the CEOs of Total, Societe Generale, Airbus, Peugeot-Citroen and Liliane Bettencourt, the heiress of L’Oreal, signed a petition, asking to pay more taxes.
In Germany, around 50 wealthy individuals have been “campaigning” to have the government raise the top tax rate since 2009.
In stark contrast, income tax rates for top earners have been falling steadily. In the U.S., this rate was nearly 70 percent in 1981 – today, it is 35 percent. In the same period, tax rates for the richest individuals fell from just below or above 60 percent to around 40 percent in Japan, Germany, France, U.K., Italy and Australia. In Turkey, the figure is also 35 percent.
According to a 2008 International Labour Organization report, the average corporate tax rate worldwide was cut by 10 percentage points between 1993 and 2007.
Needless to say, the years of decline in taxes for top earners were also the years that the gap in incomes has surged. Today, as most of the economies mentioned above face crippling debt crises, their policy makers are working to load the burden on the working classes, even as prominent members of the club of the rich beg to be taxed more!


Sounds Like: J.Cole, T.I.
Bio: My name is Reggie Harris but I go by the name RegMH. I am a zone12music artist. I am an aspiring hip-hop artist whose music can be described as real and heartfelt. I try to make my music as clean as possible so that everyone can listen to it. Music is my life and I will do this until I am not abl...See Full Bio
“i live to dream the good life and i dream to live the good life”


text:
Many of the biggest choices in World of Warcraft happen during character creation. I've spent hours debating myself over which class or race to play, but few other choices in World of Warcraft, like what gear to wear, is as meaningful because the answer is often so obvious. It's a consequence of Blizzard having to constantly trim features to stop its 16-year-old MMO from collapsing in on itself, and despite efforts to inject interesting choices into how you customize your character at endgame, WoW just always feels a little too straight forward. But Shadowlands, the upcoming expansion, might be Blizzard's most concerted effort to bring actual, game-changing character customization back to its MMO—but not everyone is convinced it'll work.
Deal with the Devil
When players hit level 60 in Shadowlands, they'll have to make a crucial choice to enlist with one of four Covenants. Each represents one of Shadowlands' main factions: The vampiric Venthyr, the Necrolords of Maldaxxus, the whimsical Night Fae, or the divine Kyrians. These Covenants are almost as important as deciding whether you're in the Alliance or the Horde, as each has a distinct aesthetic and tons of unique options both in how you look and play.
It's a lot to take in, but by the time players are required to make that choice they'll have already completed Shadowlands' main campaign and spent hours in each Covenant's zone, completing quests, meeting their chief characters, and experimenting with the powerful abilities each one offers.
Likely the most important thing to consider is that each Covenant grants players a unique ability based on their class and a second ability shared by all players of that Covenant. My Demon Hunter, for example, learns Sinful Brand which slows an enemy's melee and casting speeds and deals some extra damage, but any Venthyr player will also get access to Door of Shadows, which lets you teleport 35 yards—a ridiculously powerful ability we'll talk about later.
Each Covenant also gives you access to Soulbinds, a kind of skill tree full of passive buffs that you'll unlock gradually as you play. Each Covenant has three Soulbinds to choose from, each geared toward a different play style. That basically equates to having 12 skill trees to choose, with the option of being able to level and rotate between three. But there's even more depth, as each tree has empty sockets that can be slotted with gems that grant their own passive buffs.
Suddenly, World of Warcraft is starting to sound a little bit more like Path of Exile. That's a good thing, and I haven't even touched on the special endgame activity each Covenant has, like being able to throw posh vampire parties as the Venthyr, tending a spirit garden as the Night Fae, or building your own Abominations as the Necrolords.
The choice doesn't have to be purely driven by stats, though. Covenants benefit from Blizzard's excellent worldbuilding, too. The Shadowlands is uncharted territory as far as the original lore goes, but I love how different it feels to anything else I've seen in Azeroth. Each place I travel to instantly becomes my new favorite. The sinister red sky above the Venthyr's crumbling gothic architecture is great, but I'm equally as intrigued by Prince Renathal and his host of Victorian-era vampires who are planning a revolution just so they can get back to hosting formal galas and drinking blood.
If you've played Legion, you'll immediately recognize a bit of the DNA from its class Order Halls in Covenants. Like Order Halls, each one has a sprawling endgame quest campaign that will, over time, see you rebuild your Covenant's stronghold, dumping resources into building structures that unlock features like extra fast travel options and unique cosmetic rewards like armor styled after your chosen faction.
What I love, however, is that Covenants are a choice independent of everything else. In Legion, Class Order halls were just a reflection of whatever class I chose, and Battle For Azeroth's war campaign was a result of being either an Alliance or Horde-aligned race. It made these features feel like implicit consequences instead of actual choices. Choosing a Covenant, by comparison, feels so meaningful it borders on intimidating—especially because switching to a new one resets your progress and Blizzard has said switching back will be even harder. It's like I'm the transfer student in a high school comedy: Do I hang out with the goths, the theater nerds, the hippies, or the bible club?
Choice and consequence
On paper, this all sounds fantastic, but Covenants are a hotly debated topic in the WoW community. The problem centers on each Covenant's main ability and how powerful they are in certain scenarios. The Venthyr, in particular, are where players are most concerned because Door of Shadows could be used to teleport past certain fights in dungeons and raids or used in all sorts of wacky ways in PvP. Meanwhile, Kyrians' big ability calls an owlman butler to give you a health potion. It's a little unbalanced.
For a casual player who just cares about running dungeons occasionally and looking badass, that might not influence which Covenant they choose. But if you're the only person in a Mythic+ dungeon group without Door of Shadows and you're preventing everyone from skipping a combat encounter that could save them precious seconds needed to earn that bit of extra loot? Nobody wants to be that person, so there's going to be a lot of pressure to pick whichever Covenant players decide is best.
"What can easily be dismissed as a concern for only like the top fraction of one percent of players has a way of trickling down through guides and player perception into the behavior of a broader range of players," game director Ion Hazzikostas told me in an interview yesterday. "And I think, at the core of a lot of these concerns is the anxiety that someone is going to pick the Covenant that they think is coolest and then get told that they're being declined for a Mythic+ group, or pick-up group raid or whatever, because they're in the wrong Covenant. That's a very valid concern."
On paper, Hazzikostas wants Covenants to feel like asking someone whether mages or hunters are the better class. "You could ask people in the best raiding guilds in the world, people who were in the [Mythic Dungeon Invitational] which is better, and it's still not 100 percent clear. It depends on a lot of things. It depends on a lot of situations. Both are great, but which is more fun, which do you enjoy playing more? That's actually a valid answer that can drive you, and there's no wrong choice between those two. That's what we want Covenants to be."
It's a noble goal, but a lot of people are skeptical of whether Blizzard can actually deliver. Back in April, PreachGaming made an excellent video dissecting why Covenant abilities were such a scary problem, focusing specifically on how Venthyr's Shadow of Doors has so much potential in dungeons and raids that no other class ability can have. If players have to choose between picking a Covenant that lets them be competitive versus one that just looks really nifty, chances are they'll take the latter.
It's an awkward situation right now because Shadowlands is still several months from release and still technically in an alpha state. So much can and will change. But considering how Covenants are the central progression system in Shadowlands, a lot is riding on whether they're satisfying. In yesterday's livestream, Hazzikostas explained that tuning and balancing is something that typically happens much later in development. It was an appeal for players to trust in Blizzard's development process. But seeing as how Battle for Azeroth, the current expansion, missed the mark on some of its biggest ideas, a little skepticism seems necessary.
As a more casual player, I'm not as worried about min-maxing every bit of my character as I am having fun and looking cool. But Hazzikostas' earlier point is extremely insightful: Many of WoW's most hardcore are also its most notable influencers and streamers—tastemakers who, through guides, tutorials, and podcasts help define WoW's esoteric minutiae for millions of less serious players. And even if Covenants are imbalanced in a way that'll only affect those who care about those tiny optimizations, it'll trickle down to average players, who may be punished for not making optimal choices even when in situations where it really doesn't matter. If you've ever been kicked from a non-competitive raid group for not having the proper achievements or for making an honest mistake during a fight, you'll know how frustrating that kind of elitism can be.
What makes me optimistic about Shadowlands, however, is that these conversations are happening months before launch instead of months after. Hazzikostas has admitted before that Battle for Azeroth didn't get as much time in beta as it should have, resulting in Blizzard not being able to incorporate feedback from players who then felt extra frustrated by problems they'd spent months complaining about. It doesn't seem like that'll be the case with Shadowlands.
The obvious answer for many players is to make Covenants something you can switch between without consequence, or to make their abilities freely available regardless of which one you join. That might fix one issue, but then how would they be different from the mountain of less meaningful choices that Warcraft already has? Even so, Hazzikostas told me that player feedback is important enough that nothing is off the table.
"I think, for us, freely being able to change all of these things such that they no longer become part of your character's identity but are just yet another toggle or switch in your loadout ... that's a last resort that we would only turn to if all else has failed along the way," he said. "I'm not completely, irrevocably closing the door to that option, but we see it as a last resort."

domain: game


Boys and Girls Club of the Northwoods looks for staff ahead of fall programming
The Boys and Girls Club of the Northwoods served more than 300 students in Rhinelander last year. But this year, it’s struggling to find the staff to fill open positions.
One year after it opened a location in Rhinelander, the Boys and Girls Club of the Northwoods is looking to hire a slate of staff before it opens it again this year.
It needs a club director, four youth development professionals and two program assistants.
“We learned a lot in our first year and you can see, by serving 317 different kids, there’s obviously a need for our program in our community,” said Angel Zimmerman, the organization’s CEO.
But finding the labor to meet that need is proving difficult.
And it’s not just staffing for the after-school program.
The bus service that transports students to the program’s location at Pelican Elementary is also short-staffed.
“We’ve checked any other transit that we are aware of, but it’s just not possible right now,” Zimmerman says. “We’re open to serving all kids in the community, it’s just we won’t be able to transport them.”
This means the Boys and Girls Club of the Northwoods Rhinelander location will only serve Pelican Elementary students this fall, unless parents can arrange their own transportation.
Zimmerman says the club hopes to start serving students by the beginning of October.
If it can’t hire enough employees by then, it’ll cap the number of students who can be involved.


text:
Greinke pitches scoreless ball into 6th, D-backs beat Texas
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) Zack Greinke pitched scoreless ball into the sixth inning and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat a Texas Rangers split squad 11-1 Saturday.
Greinke, starting for the fourth time with his new team, allowed four hits in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out seven and walked one. Greinke entered the game with four strikeouts in his past 8 2/3 innings.
Welington Castillo and Brandon Drury homered on consecutive pitches in the third for the Diamondbacks. Kevin Cron also homered and Paul Goldschmidt added an RBI double.
Chi Chi Gonzalez, in the mix for the fifth spot in the Texas rotation, allowed seven runs on eight hits and two walks over 3 2/3 innings.


text:
let's explore more queen City of the south......
the north side of Cebu
48 kilometers from Cebu
you may also try to hike mt. Manunggal wherein late President Ramon Magsaysay plane crash happened.
click my link:
20 kilometers from Cebu
Villa Asilo Resort, a place you can relax
17 kilometers from Cebu
at d' pond wherein you are the one catching your fish for your lunch to eat. a perfect experience to try fishing with your friends and family.
know more about d'pond click my link
side trip at liloan light house 1904
or you may try to side trip at PAPA KITZ wherein you can try 800 meters zipline longest zipline in Cebu
17 Kilometers from Cebu
at the 2nd bridge they have a park wherein you can hide / relax watching sea boat crossing the bridge
or visit the Lapu-Lapu shrine
BANTAYAN ISLAND, CEBU
272 kilometers from Cebu
enjoy the clear white beach under the sun
Related article about bantayan island
how to get there? accommodation? expenses?
MALAPASCUA ISLAND, CEBU
116 Kilometers from Cebu
a perfect place for diving, snorkeling, island hopping
how to get there? travel expenses? accommodation?
click my link
112 Kilometers from Cebu
How to get there? travel expenses? just click my link below:
OLANGO ISLAND, CEBU
28 kilometers from Cebu
at TALIMA adventure and water park
how to get there? travel expenses? what to do? just click my link
SAN REMIGIO, CEBU
126 kilometers from Cebu
a lot of public / private resort to choose from surely you will enjoy.

domain: geography


text:
Racial preference dating asian
Starting with the British colonial Census of 1901 led by Herbert Hope Risley, all the jātis were grouped under the theoretical varnas categories.
Although caste systems exist in various regions, its paradigmatic ethnographic example is the division of Indian society into rigid social groups, with roots in India's ancient history and persisting until today.
In 2005, government recorded approximately 110,000 cases of reported violent acts, including rape and murder, against Dalits The socio-economic limitations of the caste system are reduced due to urbanization and affirmative action.
Nevertheless, the caste system still exists in endogamy and patrimony, and thrives in the politics of democracy, where caste provides ready made constituencies to politicians.
Scholars believe that the system of varnas was a theoretical classification envisioned by the Brahmins, but never truly operational in the society.
The practical division of the society had always been in terms of jātis (birth groups), which are not based on any specific principle, but could vary from ethnic origins to occupations.

domain: history


text:
Restaurant chefs and gourmet bakers have long been proponents of unusual herbs and flowers to enhance food flavor and add visual excitement. Most cooks have little experience with edible flowers, however, and growers have traditionally kept flower gardens and vegetable plots well separated.
Even if you understand that some types of flowers repel pests, and that produce often benefits from a symbiotic relationship with other plants, flowers and vegetables are often at opposite ends of the growing spectrum.
That may be changing, if modern trends are any indication. Will it last?
Proponents of eco-gardening note that edible flowers and the use of multiple parts of a single plant are somewhat forgotten arts that are worthy of being revived. The practice is common in many cultures, and there is ample evidence that some edibles, including fragrant, digestible flowers, also have healing and mood-changing properties.
Growers in numerous “foodie capitals,” including the Dallas-Fort Worth area, report a surging demand for blossoms. Many well-known chefs prefer locally-grown produce, and eagerly purchase lettuces and microgreens, heirloom tomatoes, carrots, peppers and beets, exotic mushrooms, and flowers from individual farmers and from local farm stands and farmers markets. Restaurant customers welcome the flavors and the unexpected dining experiences. Edible flowers add new dimension and spice not only to salads and entrees, but also to craft cocktails, specialty teas and desserts.
Part of the popularity can be traced to the public’s demand for fresh, natural ingredients, and the growth of farm-to-table venues. It also speaks to a desire to return to a time when backyard gardens were the norm, and when home cooks practiced self-sufficiency, sustainable lifestyles and enjoyed kitchen experimentation.
But it doesn’t end there.
Today, casual gardeners and professional growers alike have discovered the joys — and the profit — produced by crops that are as beautiful as they are fragrant and flavorful. Gardeners today grow flowers to enhance the home landscape, and those same flowers can add spice to family meals. There is a growing organic market for floral mainstays like pansies, nasturtiums, marigolds and lavender. There is also newfound interest in plants at one time considered weeds — dandelions and purslane, as examples — and for root vegetable greens that were once simply discarded, carrot tops and colorful beet greens among them.
Stuffed squash and zucchini blossoms are not unusual in the South and Southwest, and other flowers are used in Asian dishes, but salads made with nasturtium leaves and blossoms have been uncommon until recently. Dandelion bread pudding, lilac scones, pansy pancakes and red poppy pasta sauce may not be on your home horizon yet, but such recipes are widely available. Professional chefs at local hotels might grow their own edible flowers, but farmers markets shoppers also want unusual products. There is a new desire to “get back to the earth,” to focus on health and wellness, and to prepare and enjoy healthful, nutritious food.
Delicate violets and candied rose petals have for some time been favored wedding cake decorations, but they are now joined by a wide variety of other blooms. Whole flowers make attractive fresh garnishes, but flowers of all kinds may also be dried, boiled, baked, battered and fried, used to infuse teas and other drinks, added to soups or used to flavor meat and fish cooked on a grill. The perception is that naturally grown food, including tasty flowers, will contribute to lasting well-being.
There are myriad options. As you may know, herb flowers often taste just like their leaves, but they’re prettier. They add subtle flavor without overpowering other ingredients; they also add sophistication to simple meals. The bottom line is that flowers are no longer just supporting players. They are becoming stars in contemporary kitchens.
Get Acquainted with Flowers
It’s important to know your flowers. Some of the prettiest are not so good to eat; others will send you to the doctor with symptoms that range from rashes to stomach or intestinal upsets, even stupor and, in rare cases, death. But the same is true of all plants. Simply “weed out” plant options that can cause problems. As with anything unknown, if you’re uncertain, always err on the side of caution. Never sample any part of a plant unless you know it’s safe.
Container gardening is especially suitable for growing edible flowers, because many of them are annuals. But flowers can also be interspersed along the rows of your vegetable garden. Experimentation is the key to success. Gardening should be creative, and it is a constant adventure, whether undertaken for fun or profit. Managing your crops requires not only the basic knowledge, of course, but also the will to improvise.
If a crop of edible flowers is something you’ve been considering, now may be the perfect time. The harvest is likely to be rewarding.
About: Adrienne Cohen is a full-time freelance writer with a passion for travel, good food, urban agriculture, school gardens, and architecture and design. She writes about them all and is happiest when her travel plans allow her to visit with farmers and educators, restaurant owners and chefs in far-flung places. Although her forebears were farmers, she claims to struggle with her own garden, but loves plucking fresh flowers from their stems and harvesting fresh herbs to use in new recipes. She is a member of the North American Travel Journalists Association, maintains a couple of personal blogs and contributes to travel, agricultural and lifestyle magazines, both online and for print versions.