Cucumelon Sticks

Cucumelon Sticks?

I came across a story the other day about how a woman in Australia accidentally cross-pollinated her crenshaw melons and cucumbers and ended up with an odd, tasty cucumber-shaped yellowish fruit. I even saw a picture of her eating one of her prizes, rind and all, and could tell from her expression that she had stumbled upon a real treat.

I had always thought such a cross was possible, and now have the evidence. Since it's too late in 2010 for me to try it, look for 2011 to be the year of the introduction of Baxter's famous watermelon cukes. For the first year, I hope for several qualities in these hybrids. First, I'd like the watermelon cuke to be of reasonable size (in other words small enough to eat without the need for cutting). I'd also like the meat to be red or at least pink, and though I don't imagine they'll be as sweet as I'd like the first year, I do hope they're pleasant in that regard and crunchy as well. I hope for an edible rind and soft cucumber like seeds that go down the gullet barely noticed. The obvious strategy will be to pollinate from the melon flowers to the cucumber plants and hope for the best in terms of miniaturization, though I do plan on trying it the other way around as well to see what happens..

If I can achieve that much during the first year, I'd be delighted. I also will be working with other melons and cucumbers to see what delicious freaks of nature we cam contrive. But mostly someday I want to prefect Baxter's watermelon cuke: a cucumber sized juicy, sweet watermelon with soft seeds that you can eat out of hand, rind and all. Just imagine the hit they'll make at picnics, barbeques, and gala affairs like the Fourth of July. Kids will love them, and I know you will too!

Savoring Turkish Cuisine

This article will serve as a guide to finding exciting and flavorful meals yet low in cost, while you're on your vacation in Turkey. When you go and visit Turkey, eat as the Turks eat and have a culinary experience like no other. Doing so will probably save you travel money, but what's more interesting is the fact that it will increase your understanding of the country because the Turkish cuisine is actually a major part of the culture.

When you are in Turkey for a vacation, make it a point to allow your exploration of Turkish foods be an adventure. If you are eating out, don't stick to the typical foods that you already have consumed so instead of a having a hamburger, go and try out the Turkish version of fast food: the kebab. Aside from the well-liked kebab you can also try other fast foods like the peynirli tost (cheese toast), kasarli pide (Turkish cheese pizza), lamacun (thin meat pizza), simit (hard bagel with sesame seeds), acma (soft bagel) and ayran (a yogurt drink that is salty which is a 'meal-on-a-run').

The hotel where you will be staying may provide you with a typical Turkish breakfast but if not well, I tell you it is very easy to throw a healthy breakfast yourself. All you have to do is make a plate of fresh bread, put in some sliced cheese and tomato slices, plus olives, cucumbers, then honey and you will be beginning a new day just like a real Turk. The best thing is that all of these ingredients are always available at the local store at a corner, so it will be a walk in the clouds.

When you want to have a sit-down dinner, you can find a restaurant that serves Turkish entrées or mezes. Turks enjoy lengthy meals when dining out and may order many mezes, and you may do so, too. Typical Turkish dishes include pilaf (rice and bulgur), manti (meat ravioli), gozleme (crepes with various fillings), borek (thin pastries wrapped around cheese, minced meat, spinach or potatoes) and kofte (balls of minced meat, served with various ingredients or a sauce). Deserts usually include baklava, kadayif, helva, and dondurma (Turkish ice cream).

Most visitors to Turkey will spend their meal times at Western food chains which is what they have at home. However, it defeats the purpose of travelling as such places rob the visitors of a genuine Turkish experience and it also robs them of their travel money due to the high prices at those fast foods. For example, if you are in need of a caffeine fix, instead of running to Starbucks, try heading to a local teahouse and experience authentic Turkey.

Catering Services in West Palm Beach

West Palm Beach is home to many fabulous features and attractions and attracts a massive amount of tourists every year. Many people will come here to get married just because of the sheer natural beauty that lies within this Florida city. Regardless of whether you are having a wedding, throwing a party, or hosting some sort of similar function, you are going to need food and beverages to supply at these parties. This is where a catering service comes in. The question that comes up now is, "Where can I find a catering company?"

That answer to that question is really quite simple; West Palm Beach is a thriving city that is home to a number of parties, functions and wedding every day, so there is naturally going to be an abundant amount of catering companies. To find all the different catering companies, you will have to break out the research skills and search for them. In the meantime, here are a few of the different catering services currently present in West Palm Beach, Florida:

A Alexander Event is another catering company that serves the West Palm Beach Area but is based in Delray, Florida. With over 25 years of experience in the catering business, A Alexander Event offers exceptional food that will please the likes of any function, whether it is a major office gathering or a smaller social event. You can contact A Alexander Event by calling (561) 243-2539.

Ultimate Cuisine: is a wonderful catering service that serves West Palm Beach, but is based in Oakland Park, Florida. Ultimate Cuisine has over 20 years of quality, exceptional catering service. They can cater to just about any function or event, from elegant weddings to corporate and social functions,.

Aaron's Catering of The Palm Beaches: is based in Wellington, This is a full service catering company that provides awesome service for just about any event, function or gathering; big or small.

Those are four wonderful, full service catering options to suit just about any type of function. Those are not your only options, there are plenty of other catering companies available for catering in the West Palm Beach area. To find other companies, you can consult the yellow pages of the local phone book or do a search on the Internet for catering companies. Regardless of what catering company you go with, make sure that the company is reputable and will provide everything needed to supply excellent food and beverages at your gathering.

The Delicious Penne

There are simple noodles in life, and then there is Penne. This pasta noodle is a noodle that was designed for the association of pasta and sauce, it is a marriage that have gone on for centuries and it will continue as long as there is a desire for this wonderful noodle. The Penne noodle is very simple in shape and use, the noodle is actually grooved to accept sauce and keep it attached to the noodle. This make s this type of pasta the ideal noodle for fine dining, as it allows the chef to actually showcase their sauce without worry of it separating from the pasta.

In Many Dishes

You can actually find the Penne pasta noodle within many Italian dishes, most of which will be associated with a red sauce versus a white creamy sauce. One of the most popular dishes that contains Penne pasta noodles, is baked Ziti. This dish is an absolute delight, and is considered one of the finest Italian pasta dishes available today. You will find this dish in just about every Italian restaurant worldwide, and this is for good reason. This dish is simply delightful, and it will fill you up and make you warm for the rest of the day. There are several forms of pasta noodle, yet few can be as versatile as the Penne noodle that graces so many fine baked pasta recipes today.

Difficult Die, Simple Noodle

When the Penne pasta noodle was thought out, Italian pasta making die makers, actually had a difficult time creating the die for the pasta maker that will forge the Penne noodles. The shape is nothing that they were familiar with, and the tube like shape was actually very fragile. To keep the noodle from collapsing on it, the pasta makers had to ensure that they kept the length of the noodle rather short opposed to some of the other noodles that you can find today. This noodle was actually used most often within the capital city of Rome, and it was used with a white sauce and usually was coupled with shrimp or scampi. Both of these variations became quite popular in Rome, and managed to make their way out of the confines of Rome's walls. Today, this noodle has its share of followers with not only white sauces but also great red tomato sauces dressing it and setting it for dining.

Various Sized Noodles

While Penne is actually a standard size, you can find its distant cousins within various sizes that allow for many recipe changes. This means that the introduction of meats and or whole tomato pieces can actually find a place on the plate with noodles that are not exactly Penne, but they definitely share their shape and structure. This makes this type of noodle extremely versatile, and you can use this pasta noodle for so many recipes it will make your head spin. This noodle is also great when used within a soup or stew as well, as this noodle is simple to get a hold of with a spoon.

The Queen of Feasts - The Picnic

Picnics are a British institution; all you need is a basket full of scoff, a stiff upper lip, horizontal driving rain, and teeth-gritting determination that the weather/wasps/curious herd of cows will not spoil the bliss of eating food out of doors. The picnic is the most versatile of feasts, yet needing only two ingredients: some outside space, and something to eat. Picnics can be taken at any time of the year; cake and a flask of hot tea on a cold winter walk, or a cool box stuffed with (sand) sandwiches for a day on the beach. The outside bit means that you can choose from infinite locations: a shady part of your garden, the local park, a mountain top, a cricket match, or a green and lazy riverbank. The food bit could be a six course meal (don't forget your butler to carry the hamper) or cucumber sandwiches wrapped in tinfoil. You can have a picnic breakfast, brunch, luncheon or evening meal; make the most of the beautiful mornings, and long evenings to eat outside.

I am passionate about picnics, and have a massive selection of wicker baskets, cool boxes, ice packs, plates, glasses, and blankets. I love preparing a perfect picnic with pretty plates and a blanket, a selection of salads, cheeses, olives, home made bread, chilled cider, a flask of coffee to go with cake, all packed neatly and snugly into a basket, and ready to be enjoyed in a perfect setting. Equally I love to throw kids and dog into the car, chuck some hard-boiled eggs, a French stick, a lump of cheese and an onion into a bag with a knife wrapped in a tea towel; the perfect no-fuss picnic.

Often we will forage for something to add to the picnic, sorrel, wild garlic, whortle berries, blackberries or cob nuts, and on one unforgettable picnic on a windswept Cornish beach we dined on apples from a pip-grown tree from someone else's picnic many years before. Even the most ordinary of foods takes on another layer of taste and interest when it is enjoyed on a grassy bank overlooking a pretty view. The picnic is the perfect cheap day out with kids, if there is nothing much to do, mine will always ask for a picnic, they will cram themselves full of salad and fruit (which they might spurn for an ordinary lunch at home), and burn off huge amounts of energy running everywhere, paddling in streams and climbing trees.

Even picky grown-ups, who are inclined to dismiss vegetables and salads as rabbit food, may feel more inclined to tuck into a roughly sliced beef tomato and a handful of salad leaves at a picnic. You can turn a picnic into the perfect healthy outing; stop off at the farmers market for fresh ingredients, invite friends and family, take a long walk to the picnic spot, play rounders or organise rolly polly competitions when you get there, and pack bubbles for children to chase. Sit back over a long relaxed lunch and admire your surroundings, or chill out while the kids run round and enjoy the fresh air and space. There are plenty of urban and rural locations which will make a perfect summer picnic, so get out there and enjoy!

Until next time ,
get nibbling outside,
Vikki

Enhance Your Health and Beauty With Goji Berry

Practically everyone is getting more conscious about one's health these days. Most would also like to preserve their youthful looking appearance. If you want to enhance both your health and beauty, then you would benefit the most from Goji Berry.

Goji Berries are a variant of the berry family that grows in the Himalayas, Tibet, and China. It's a wrinkled and usually dried-up red berry that resembles the red raisin in appearance. Traditional Chinese use the fruit for medicinal purposes as the fruit is found to be an effective treatment for several ailments.

But the fruit is not only known to help improve and maintain one's good health condition. It also stimulates the production of the youth hormones in the body. When you consume the fruit, it enables you to delay your aging process.

Gojes come is different forms, the most popular of which is the Goji Berry Juice. Many people who want to enjoy the benefits of good health and youthful appearance usually prefer to take the fruit in its juiced form as the Goji Berry Juice is more convenient and delicious.

Health Benefits

Among the health benefits of the Juice are the following:

· It helps you lose your unwanted body fat;

· The juice helps speed up your healing from health ailments and diseases;

· Drinking the juice stimulates and improve your memory;

· It is an effective treatment for insomnia as the juice helps induce sleep;

· It helps in the treatment of arthritis and body pains;

· It is found to be effective as part of diabetes management with no adverse effects.

These benefits are possible because the Goji Berries contain phytochemicals high in anti-oxidants that fight free radicals and eliminate toxins in the body. It also contains bioflavonoids essential to enable the body to easily absorb its needed nutrients especially Vitamin C.

Beauty Benefits

The benefits of the Goji Berry Juice extend to improving your appearance. As you grow older, the production of the growth hormones in your body, specifically the youth hormone, slows down. What the beverage does is it encourages your body to produce more of the youth hormone and delays your aging process. You enjoy your youthful looks longer. The beverage also helps eliminate signs of aging such as accumulating unwanted body fats easily as well as the feeling of lethargy among others.

There are just so many benefits you can get from either the fruit or Goji Berry Juice. In whatever form you decide to take the fruit, you are doing your body a favor by ensuring its good health condition as well as maintaining its youthful appearance. For enhanced health and beauty, start benefitting from the Goji Berries right at this very moment.

The Best Gluten Free Chocolate Dessert

What is the best thing to have after a gluten free dinner? What about a gluten free chocolate dessert? What is the best gluten free chocolate dessert you can offer after the greatest gluten free dinner? Gluten free cookies!

Gluten free cookies are the best gluten free chocolate dessert because they are something everyone is familiar with and something you can smell from the kitchen baking as you finish up the last course. Why not treat your guests or loved ones to gluten free cookies that will satisfy their stomachs and noses at the same time? It is a great food to have at any event or dinner party as well, people who eat wheat products won't even know the difference-assuming you pick the right recipe or mix!

Gluten free chocolate desserts can range in varieties but many of them are too sugary or full of preservatives. If you pick a great gluten free chocolate chip cookie mix to make you can have the whole house full of great aromas and fragrances that will have everyone flocking to the kitchen to see what is being baked.

Gluten free cookies make for the perfect treat, snack or dessert for your family and loved ones. They also make an excellent gift to a gluten free friend or relative. A great idea is to use a gluten free chocolate chip cookie mix and to bake it at home, arrange a decorative cookie tray and deliver it during the winter-they will love you forever!

Gluten free cookies are a long time favorite of mine simply because of the great recipes I am familiar with. There are a lot of people out there trying to master the gluten free cookie recipe but they just aren't seeing success yet.