The Hambuger

The Hamburg steak as it was called in the 1800’s was served on the voyages from Germany to the United States. The meat patties were quickly cooked and served on two pieces of bread. To attract many of the sailors and European visitors to their eating stands vendors. They would offer the Hamburg style steak on the menu.

With Hamburg steak firmly embedded the American culture in the late 1800’s claims of the way it served in today’s standard is according to Congress woman Rosa DeLaurao.

A ground meat patty served between two pieces of bread was created in America in 1900 by Louis Lassen a Danish immigrant, owner of Louis Lunch in New Haven Connecticut. This is a disputed fact. We’ll give you a few more names and places of the Hamburger in the United States.

Fletcher Davis of Athers Texas sold burgers in the cafe in the late 1800’s before taking them to the World’s Fair in 1904.

Frank and Charles Menches vendor at a county fair ran out of their sausage sandwiches and started using beef instead. It was recorded this took place in 1892 at the Summit County Fair in Akron Ohio. Continue reading “The Hambuger”

Kitchens: Then and Now

Kitchens have come a long way since the 20th century – back then typically used for the sole purpose of preparing and cooking food in our home. Today, kitchens have evolved into one of the most social rooms in the house.

Historically, house design in North America and parts of Europe included a dining room to be separate from the kitchen. Often, the kitchen would be the smaller room separated by archways and enclosed in walls. Typically, these old traditional designs allowed for a small table to be placed in the kitchen for less-formal dining. Built-in-place cabinetry used to be considered more practical and there was not much desire or need for aesthetics. The kitchen archway would often lead to the dining room where family, or other formal dinner guests, were waiting. This 20th century custom has been replaced by open-concept design which adds functionality, aesthetic appeal, and an increase in value to your home.

Continue reading “Kitchens: Then and Now”

A Clean and Organized Kitchen for Better Health and Less Waste

When was the last time you took stock and organized your kitchen? Now is a great time to do it. Start with the refrigerator, and then move on to the pantry and cabinet shelves. Finally, clean the whole room.

First, literally empty the refrigerator, one shelf at a time, then the doors. Use a cooler to keep foods cold while you clean. Wipe shelves down with a kitchen disinfectant spray, working from top to bottom, including doors.Sort the food you removed from the refrigerator, check dates, determine if it should go back in or not (or on another shelf). Continue this process until you’ve emptied everything out, checked, sorted, and put back.

Move open items to the front. If there’s only a few tablespoons left in a jar, use them up in the next day or two, or figure out a way to work it into a recipe. Take note of any cheese or cream cheese that’s expiring and plan a meal around it before expiration. Continue reading “A Clean and Organized Kitchen for Better Health and Less Waste”

How to Calculate Nutrition Data Using Excel or Open Office Calc

EU directive 1169/2011 comes into full effect on the 13th of December 2016. The first phase of this directive came into effect in 2014 on December 13th but the second requires nutrition data which begs the question of how to calculate nutrition data.

The first phase of this regulation required that all ingredients on labels needed to include allergen information within the ingredient list. Prior to this regulation, it was legally acceptable to include allergen information in a separate area of your label.

The new regulations simply require allergens to be highlighted within the single ingredient list for the product but ingredients also need to be stated in quantitative order.

Quantitative order simply means the largest constituent ingredient must be indicated first, then the second largest and so on. The percentages of these ingredients should also be included. Continue reading “How to Calculate Nutrition Data Using Excel or Open Office Calc”

Advice For Restaurants in Oaxaca Mexico During COVID-19: Consider Staying Closed

Oaxaca de Juárez, a quaint colonial city in south central Mexico which relies on tourism for its very existence, relaxed its COVID-19 protocols near the beginning of July, 2020. And as we have moved into summertime, so have other cities throughout the world which are similarly dependent upon visitors. Restaurants have begun to open. Should they do so, just because of a change in municipal rules and regulations, especially as numbers of confirmed cases of COVID-19 continue to rise?

While Mexico is thankfully far behind the US in terms of a litigation-happy public, nevertheless attitudes towards liability are changing, even in Oaxaca. Two questions come to mind:

It is going to make an appreciable difference to your bottom line with your eatery open, assuming tourists are not yet ready to visit Oaxaca and patronize your restaurant?
Are you prepared to follow sound advice, perhaps more stringent than your city dictates, so as to avoid the prospect of a patron or staff member becoming ill; and if not, are you willing to assume the risk of what may lie in store for you as a consequence?

Continue reading “Advice For Restaurants in Oaxaca Mexico During COVID-19: Consider Staying Closed”

Barbecue Success With The Rule Of Thirds

Ever been to a barbecue party where the ‘chef’ placed as much food as he could possibly fit onto the barbecue grill, every so often stabbing the food with a fork and juggling it around so that it cooks evenly? Ever noticed how, within a few minutes, the flames start gently flickering under the food, the chef proudly standing back admiring the char grill effect that he’s creating? Ever notice the panic that sets in when the flames suddenly leap up and around the food burning it black on the outside and leaving it raw on the inside?

The difference between great char grilled barbecue food and burnt offerings lies in a few small precautions. The chef that we’ve just described made a few fatal errors that could easily have been avoided. Before discussing the errors though, lets consider the equipment that we’re talking about. Although the same can happen with gas as with charcoal, gas grills can be turned lower, or off, when the flames start getting out of control. The flames can also be controlled if the barbecue grill has a tight fitting lid, as with a Weber kettle grill. However most people seem to cook on an open top barbecue grill with the lid, if it has one, open. Note that we’re talking about a barbecue grill here, where the food is cooked directly over the hot coals. True barbecue uses indirect heat with the food fully enclosed as though in an oven. So, the barbecue grill that our imaginary chef is using is an open top, charcoal, barbecue grill. Continue reading “Barbecue Success With The Rule Of Thirds”

5 Ways to Lose 8 Ounces a Day

What if I told you to go out join a top weight loss program and gave you false expectations. Lose 30 pounds in 30 days. That’s a pound a day, what happens if after the 1st week you’ve only lost 2 pounds? Maybe you were busy and couldn’t make all there meal suggestions, maybe they were asking to much money so you skipped a meal or two or maybe you went in saying this is it. I’ve tried 10 programs none of them worked and if this doesn’t show me results I’m done.

It’s the same with becoming a Millionaire, so many people give up on their dreams because they set unrealistic goals and quit before they even understand why? Wouldn’t you agree that before becoming a millionaire you have to earn your first $100 and then $1000, after you get better, learn more, gain more knowledge and then you earn $10,000 and so on. Continue reading “5 Ways to Lose 8 Ounces a Day”

Dark Chocolate Pros and Cons

This article will tell you the pros and cons of dark chocolate. Let’s start with the benefits of Dark Chocolate; one of the best qualities of this sweet is that it contains healthy nutrients such as cocoa, this agent helps to improves the body blood flow, not only that but also contains spicatechin a kind of chemical that does similar things like anaesthesia, which is beneficial for a pain free body.

These were the pros of Dark Chocolate; now let’s talk about the cons. The only big disadvantage of this sweet is that it is high calorie product, just like any other sweet, not everybody can consume dark chocolate in freedom, especially people with diabetics, because it contains sugar. Although the quantity of sugar is up to 70% less then the ordinary chocolate, but still is not sugar free sweet so it is a risky business for a diabetic person to consume this product. Continue reading “Dark Chocolate Pros and Cons”

Eguchi Toshihiro and Palm-Healing

One person whose name recently has appeared on a number of different pieces of the puzzle is Eguchi Toshihiro. Some people today believe that he influenced the teachings of Usui Mikao particularly through his deep knowledge of Shinto practice[i]. This is reflected largely in what we now know as Level 2 or Okuden in the system of Reiki.

From the early 1900s Japan was in a great popular health movement that continued well up to its entry into World War II. Not only was Usui developing a practice that would initially be taught to hundreds but so were many other seekers and searchers including Eguchi.

Japanese culture appears to have always held a special place for hand or palm healing within its natural laws. Palm healing in Japan has been practiced as an element of Buddhism since ancient times and similar concepts are currently in use with the popular deity Binzuru as an example. Here the devotee seeks to experience healing by rubbing his/her body’s physical equivalent on the statue of Binzuru. Continue reading “Eguchi Toshihiro and Palm-Healing”

The Folk Story of Bra Kakroch (Cockroach) and Bra Fohl (Fowl)

Once upon a time there lived two good friends, Bra Kakroch (Cockroach) and Bra Fol(fowl). They were living happily together in one isolated village called Dunkoma deep in the hinterland of Sierra Leone and sharing and doing things in common. Then both of them bought a piece of land on which they proceeded almost immediately to set up a farm from where they hope to earn their living. But Bra Kakroach started developing some wily and selfish if not lazy ways. He would leave most of the odd jos to Bra Fol to do whilst he kept making excuses whenever it was time for work. In as much as Bra Fol was not a dictator and would not wish to be so, he would allow Bra Kakroach to have his way most of the time.

Then famine struck the land and food became very hard to come by. Hunger took control of the land. Fearing that they would die of hunger, Bra Fol one day called Bra kakroach and suggested: “Bra Kackroach, you know what? Let’s go out into the farm and start doing some serious farming. One may never know what might come our way. Perhaps God will help us find some food.”

Having become used to laziness, Bra Kakroach started pretending to be ill and replied: Continue reading “The Folk Story of Bra Kakroch (Cockroach) and Bra Fohl (Fowl)”