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Fannie May began small, yet it has proved that terrific service, high quality, and an extensive variety of chocolates are the secret recipe for winning. This much loved chocolate store began trading in 1920 in Chicago, and over 85 years of trade it has developed into one of the nation’s favorite sweet shops. Fannie May’s talent of mixing premium ingredients in precisely the right way made them such a favorite with the customers that they grew to just below forty-eight outlets in just fifteen years. During WWII rationing, the doors of the business were temporarily closed, as they decided not to degrade the quality of any of their products. A few of these original recipes are still still being produced and savored in the 21st century. Naturally the chocolates look as great as they taste. Decorative gift boxes and tins add that something special and you will have a gift anyone will treasure. How much you spend is wholly up to you, from a single chocolate to a tower bulging with each type of chocolate truffle, nuts and virtually any other center you can think of manufactured by Fannie May. If you would like to pick out specific sorts that’s easily done, nonetheless a great assortment of premade gifts are available besides. Unlike most of its competition, Fannie May is proud to have multiple branches across America and worldwide. So you can choose a gift on the internet and have your gift box delivered across America or even further afield. While they do have a couple of shipping restrictions during the hotter weather, Fannie May will happily have presents delivered 365 days a year and will guarantee the freshness of the chocolates when they arrive. Even if you are on a sugar-free diet or have allergies, there is chocolate that is for your dietary needs. Bakery items and other sweet treats are available as well as premium chocolates with no sugar added. If you need a large amount of tiny gift boxes or wedding favors, Fannie May can assist you there as well. Pick up the phone or contact Fannie May online with the details.

Fannie May has developed into such a popular chocolate business because of its dedication to quality, service and its unique selection of offerings. The truth is, the one tricky part is selecting from the tremendous range of alternatives on offer. With every sweet treat conceivable from truffles to pretzels to be had, you’re guaranteed to find precisely that ideal present you are looking for.

1800Flowers has examined the gift market, innovating a single place to buy presents for friends, colleagues, or family. That solution? 1800Baskets.com. But there’s more — they have global range, so no matter where your intended recipient is, you’ll be able to get their gift to them with no trouble.

Packed to the brim with all sorts of treats, the baskets put together here can improve any event on your schedule. Looking at one example, their food is a treat for gourmands everywhere. Most baskets draw on crackers, meat, fruit and cheeses to make toothsome snacks which are sure to please. And it isn’t just food; as you surely already know, meals will only be enriched by the drinks that accompany them — so 1800Baskets.com will typically accompany their baskets with one or more bottles of classy wine for good measure.

And what will the sweet lovers do? Happily, other baskets are designed with just that in mind. You might order a basket which only holds sugarplums, or alternatively use them as part of an assortment. And what are these treats, you inquire? Every bit as suitable for a sweet tooth are cakes and we promise you that the selections will put a smile on the lips of the recipient.

Should the recipient prefer to minimize their consumption of sugar while they still want sweet treats, this gift basket store offers assorted fruits in selected collections. Such arrangements include boxes of a single fruit like pears, tropical boxes, and boxes of cheese & fruit, ensuring everyone should be able to find a deal they like. And of course there are non-edible variations, including the spa set which offers bathing luxuries. Quite a few of the baskets have been designed with the holidays in mind. To fill special handsome packages they lavish cookies, crackers, chocolates, treats, mints and many more for gifts and decoration. Pick out the look that is most appropriate — do you prefer a family-friendly Santa Claus, or is it a formal basket suited more to the office? Rest assured they’ve got what you need. Christmas is far from the only big date on your calendar, so don’t panic — they offer specials for birthdays, funerals, closing a business deal, anniversaries, in addition to other major events. Baskets create novel ways of brightening a loved one’s day, anywhere in the world. You can send a present to anybody, and due to 1800Baskets’ superb quality, provider network, and service, you will know that what you asked for is precisely what will actually arrive.

Because of the delectable appearance of chocolates, these candy delights may be too much for one person to resist. One secret: it’s tempering that lends such qualities, whatever chocolate type it is:

• Dark, semi-sweet or unsweetened chocolates, which are made of cocoa butter, chocolate liquor and sugar. The more cocoa solids to them, the more bitter it is so some people add vanilla flavor to reduce the tartness.
• Milk chocolates are sweeter, with milk supplementing the cocoa butter and chocolate liquor.
• White chocolates, which others say isn’t really chocolate because it doesn’t have chocolate liquor. But it does have cocoa butter, along with vanilla and sugar.

If you skip the process of tempering, your chocolates will not have heat resistance, shine, smoothness and crispness. Blooming will definitely be an issue, as well as a matte finish and a gritty texture.

Tempering by hand is a tough task but artisanal chocolatiers prefer it to tame the cocoa butter in chocolates. A cycle of heating, cooling and reheating is involved in tempering and you’ll need a double boiler or an electric skillet to start heating. The difficulty in tempering is attributable to the strict adherence to temperatures while working on the chocolates. If you don’t keep an eye on correct temperatures, you’ll be tempering again and again. Take note: over-mixing will lead to separation of fats and under-mixing, to an underproduction of type V crystals.

Speed up tempering with chocolate tempering machines, which are certainly affordable. These tempering machines will help you produce consistently excellent-grade chocolate confectioneries because all the complexities in tempering are already automated. But your decision to buy one should be based on your budget, the number of operators and the number of hours the machine will be put to use.

For example, ChocoVision’s Revolation 1 is a perfect fit for novices and small-volume chocolatiers as it only works 1.5 pounds of chocolate.
An ACMC Tabletop Temperer does the job of tempering continuously in a quiet manner. Able to temper 6 pounds of chocolates within an hour and armed with a digital thermometer, it has a 5-quart detachable steel bowl and a couple of 100 watt lamps as heating source. It has front control panels and digital displays for making sure temperatures are within acceptable ranges.

There’s not a major difference in features between Revolation 2 and Rev 1 and those who have sufficient chocolate-making experience prefer to use Rev 2. It has an adjustable digital thermometer display, an overnight standby mode that can keep tempers all night and an option to pause the process.

Large quantities can be tempered with the Revolation x3210, the capacity of which is 10 pounds of chocolates per hour. This large-volume temperer has a stainless steel body, pausing option and overnight standby mode as additional features.

Host a youngsters’ Halloween celebration on October 31st to have the most of the occasion for your miniature goblins. With a regular trick-or-treating starting time of 6:00pm, great celebration planning is essential to make sure the children gobble up spooky eats and have some friendly witchy fun before rapping on thresholds and collecting a candy store of desserts!

Go for grand, effortless and not too terrifying with your Halloween decorations. Absurd pumpkins, absurd spiders and crazy witches work well for all ages. Unusual skeletons and dark hooded creatures can freak out children no matter what their age.

Follow these tips for your Halloween party ideas:

* Hang a kid-friendly Halloween scene-setter for a lot of ambience with little exertion.

* Let game set-ups serve as decorations.

* Purpose the buffet and dining table to finish your party ornamentations.

* Don’t function candles at a child’s celebration. Instead try out battery-operated flicker lights to do a Halloween climate.

Keep game playing simple. Some tykes will be so keyed up about trick-or-treating that they’ll need to relieve some steam, while others may have had a day of school and plenty of the regulations.

To add a marvelous touch to your celebration, prepare a haunted candy bar:

Place a dining room table or snack counter with a long dark tablecloth for a dramatic backcloth. Produce 2 tall ghost pop ‘trees’ by spray painting styrofoam floral cones dark.

Produce ghost pops by cutting a 7″ shape from white cloth. Set the focus of the square over a round lollipop (charms bubble pops work well). Tie a white string around the base of the lollipop to make a ghost head. Employ a dark pen to draw on empty dark eyes and a grand mouth.

To produce a sanguineous drinking chocolate fountain, contribute colored treat dye to white chocolate. Set out black bowls stuffed with snacks.

Hosting a hog roast is now one of the most fashionable ways of catering for parties and any event large or small. A hog roast can feed upwards of one hundred individuals, and are best suited to informal occasions. Only the most prestigious and richest people would be able to afford a hog roast in medieval times, but now thats all changed anyone can host a hog roast. I’m about to give you a few tips which should make the trying task of choosing a hog roasting company a lot simpler and less time consuming.Get a company that will be able to offer everything that you could possibly require. You could need bread rolls and salads to go with the meat, all the cooking equipment and a chef for the duration of your event and of course an animal to roast.Picking Out the best company will step-up the quality of your event, better companies will provide better equipment, better chefs and better quality meat. If you’re not a big fan of pork then don’t be put off of this type of catering, the enjoyable thing about spit roasting is you can roast any animal you require. There have been stories about different animals being spit roasted, from things that are usually spit roasted like chickens and lamb to the not so regular goat and even a whole cow. Hopefully these tips will help make sure that your event runs to plans and that your guests all have a great time.

If you are in the mood for a culinary masterpiece, then you should visit Takumi. This Melbourne Japanese restaurant is the best of its kind. Not only is the food top notch, but the design of the restaurant creates a relaxing and enjoyable ambience.

Takumi is the only Japanese restaurant in Melbourne that serves Wagyu beef. Wagyu is a premium grade cut of beef that is second to none. The meat is so tender and juicy it melts in your mouth. Being an expert in Wagyu, this beef is offered in many dishes in the restaurant. The Wagyu beef burger, grilled and marinated with Sukiyaki sauce is a popular selection among lunchtime customers. I highly recommend the Wagyu Yakiniku lunch set. The beef is served raw and is cooked on a charcoal grill. Companioned by veggies and a complimentary glass of beer or wine. Not only does this taste yummy, but being able to see it prepared is an excellent experience.

This Japanese restaurant may specialize in Wagyu beef, but that is not the only delicacy it has to offer. The bento box is also a well-known lunch option among regular visitors. The restaurant offers several selections on the main entree for the bento box. A common Japanese entree is Gyoza. These pan fried dumplings are extremely good and addictive. One is certainly not enough. If you are in an adventurous mood, give the Unagi bento Box a try. Unagi is smoked grilled eel and is a very popular and delicious Japanese restaurant dish.

The decoration and color scheme of the restaurant has a very zen feel. It is relaxing and tantalising which makes you feel like you are right at home. The sleek and comfortable tan chairs and subtle ornaments have a calming affect and lets you to feel like you are having a quiet meal at home, even though you are in the presence of other patrons.

Overall, Takumi is a wonderful Japanese restaurant. From their delicious menu offerings, to the many different Sake choices, this Melbourne Japanese restaurant is number one in my book.

When I see jars of expensive bean dips for sale in the supermarket, I just shake my head. Nothing could be easier to make. Just open a can of beans and pour it into a blender along with some seasonings. Here are three recipes to get you started; you’ll find it’s easy to invent more.

Zippy Black Bean Dip
1 can black beans, drained
1 clove garlic
Bottled hot sauce or chopped pickled jalapeno peppers, to taste
1 tablespoon mild vinegar (or to taste)
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon chili powder

Mash the ingredients together or puree in a blender. Serve with raw vegetable dippers.

Yield: About 2 cups

Hummus
1 can chick peas, drained
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup tomato sauce
Juice of one lemon
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Pinch cayenne
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
Black pepper to taste

Puree all ingredients in a blender. Serve as a dip for raw vegetables.

Yield: about 2 cups

Tex-Mex Bean Dip
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper

1/2 cup bouillon or a little olive oil
1 can kidney beans, drained
juice of one lime
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves
2 teaspoons mild chili powder
pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste

Heat the onions, peppers and the bouillon or oil in a small pot and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Combine with the remaining ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Serve with raw vegetable dippers of your choice.

Yield: About 2 cups

FREE — 100 healthful recipes, food lists and more in my Good Food Book

Dr. Gabe Mirkin has been a radio talk show host for 25 years and practicing physician for more than 40 years; he is board certified in four specialties, including sports medicine. Read or listen to hundreds of his fitness and health reports at http://www.DrMirkin.com

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Whatever your reason for having a tight budget, the truth is
that going to the grocery store without a plan is a BIG budget
breaker. And sadly all that cash ends up vanishing into our
stomachs and then…well, you know what comes next.

But if you only had $300 a month to spend on groceries for a
family of four, could you do it? What sort of food would make
the list and what would stay tauntingly on the store’s shelves?

Could you save $25 a month on groceries? How about $50 or $100?
Possibly you could cut your bill by almost 50% if you consider
some of the following suggestions:

First you must divide the budget you have into three categories;
weekly, bi-weekly and monthly. Once you have the totals fixed,
try to find a way to make it work. If you budgeted too tight,
only then consider how much more you really need to spend.

Second, identify your WEEKLY needs; milk, bread, fruits. These
will be your saving graces when the troops are hungry. You can
load up every week and always have a healthy snack available.
Think about $15/week.

Third, identify your BI-WEEKLY needs; eggs, cheese, vegetables,
meat and cheese for sandwiches etc. These items have a slightly
longer shelf life but you will watch how much you use when you
know there’s still four days until your next purchase. Try $20
every two weeks.

Fourth, get the remainder of your groceries in one place. Use
cash to pay (to avoid temptation of over spending) and work out
your shopping list ahead of time. You only need to do this once
as many of the items (Cereal, meat etc.) will need to be
repurchased each time. Other items (sugar, flour etc.) may be
substituted every other month. In this example you have $200
left.

Fifth, have a schedule of meals that you can rotate. Cheap,
healthy meals like stir fry can be inexpensive as they use less
meat than full pieces of chicken or beef for dinner. Plan to
have a meat meal offset by a simpler dish like pasta every other
night. This way your family will not go through
‘feast-and-famine’ when they eat like kings the first week and
are eating canned chili every night for the last week.

Always determine your meals based on what you really plan to
cook. If you have easy weeknight staples, try to find the
cheapest method of preparing them, or make do with less pre-
packaged affair on other nights when you have more time. Using
items like frozen vegetables can make eating cheap also healthy
and convenient.

Clearly the $300 suggestion will depend on your family, the age
of your children and how much your budget really allows.
Whatever your budget, taking the time to draw up a plan and
think about your choices will guarantee that you keep more cash
in your wallet for other important things.

Don’t you just love bean soup in the winter? This is an Italian version that we think is very good. Use any dried white bean you have. I particularly like the white kidney beans, but any of them will do. I also like the little tubular pasta that isn’t much bigger than the beans. It holds some of the thick liquid and the size seems just right. Also, have lots of extra parmesan cheese at the table for stirring in at the last minute. Add some crusty bread and a salad and you’ve got a perfect winter supper.

2 T olive oil

1 small onion, diced

2 carrots, diced

1 large stalk celery, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 cups canned tomatoes

2 cups white beans, cooked

3 cups chicken broth

1/2 lb small pasta

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated

salt and pepper to taste

I prefer to pressure cook the beans which only takes about 45 minutes. You can cook beans in 3 times water to beans until tender, covered over medium heat, until done. If not using a pressure cooker, simmer over low heat until the beans are tender. If not using a pressure cooker, it should take at least an hour and a half.

Sauté the onions, carrots and celery in olive oil until tender, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and sauté 1 minute. Add tomatoes and simmer 5 minutes. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Add beans. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add parsley. Adjust seasoning. Serve with generous portions of parmesan cheese and crusty bread.

Enjoy!

Peggy Bloodworth, formerly a well traveled sales executive, left the corprate world to cook for others. Her passion for creative cooking is an obsession that she uses to entertain and create menus and recipes that are sure to please. You can find more information, recipes and food pictures at http://www.swankcatering.com.

Besides the fact that organic food tastes better and it reduces
the amount of cancer-causing chemicals that enter your body,
there are plenty of other very good reasons why you should buy
organic food. Here are just a few:

Organic Meat Comes From Healthier Animals

The animal from which you got your meat is guaranteed to have
been healthy throughout its life. Why? Part of the criteria
governing organic products is agreeing not to use antibodies to
treat an illness. Animals that are raised with the ultimate goal
of being organic are raised in more humane conditions (as
outlined by the United States’ Humane Society). These better
living conditions result in healthier animals and healthier
animals simply are less prone to illness and disease. Of course,
nothing can guarantee an animal will never become ill, and
occasionally one will require antibiotics to cure an ailment.
When this situation happens however, the animal that was treated
with the antibiotics must be removed from the organic farm. The
affected animal loses its organic status and is usually sold to
a conventional farm where it lives out the remainder of its life.

Buying Organic Is A Form of Protest

When you buy organic food, you’re basically making a statement
that you care about what you’re putting into your body. So much
is happening to our food before it enters the supermarket. We
hear about it, yet we do nothing to stop it. If you ever took a
few moments to think about all that food is exposed to, from
start to finish, the details likely would boggle your mind.
Sure, all that perfectly-shaped produce and those rather
full-sized chicken breasts look enticing, but those perfections
are the end result of growth hormones, genetic engineering, and
an abundance of pesticides and fertilizers. You’ve probably
heard the saying, “Nature is not perfect” countless times, yet
time and again you continue to reach for that perfect tomato.
When you buy organic, you are in effect saying you don’t want to
be part of that scene any longer. When enough people buy
organic, and more are making the switch every day, food
companies will be forced to listen to consumers.

It’s Something You Can Do to Protect the Environment

The chemicals that go onto the fields that produce the fruits
and vegetables you eat and that feed the cows and pigs that turn
into your hamburgers and pork chops contaminate the soil and the
water. This affects the animals that live off the land and it
also contaminates the environment. When you choose foods that
are produced without these cancer-causing chemicals, you are not
adding to this problem. Your purchases likely won’t put an end
to environmental damage, but as with all things in life, change
begins with one person. Get a few friends to change their buying
and eating habits, and then have them get a few friends to
change and soon enough, a sizeable impact will be in the works.