Host An Easter Dinner Without Losing Your Mind

Spring is here. It's time for daffodils to pop, lilac bushes to bloom, little girls to put on their finest dresses, and a bunny bearing eggs to visit. It is also a time to gather with family and friends to celebrate Easter more formally with a sit-down dinner. Formal dinners can be a little daunting if you're the one responsible for pulling it off. There are a lot of moving parts to organize, from the menu to the table settings. That's why you need a plan. Without one, you're likely to be a stressed-out mess, running around like a chicken without a head the night (or even the morning) before. People want to see and spend time with the host of the party and you want to be able to relax and enjoy the gathering as well.

Holidays Away From Home

by Carol Penn-Romine

Have you ever spent a major holiday away from your family and friends because of job, school or some other circumstance?

You don’t have to be one of those types who get all weepy over the phone company ads on television to appreciate the deep need all humans have to make a connection with others, especially at holiday time. Being separated from friends and relations and the familiarity of tradition during the holidays can be a misery, even for the most optimistic among us.

20 Chocolate Facts

Chocolate is the most popular confectionary flavour worldwide. We love and enjoy it in all its variety and forms, but just how much do we know about it? Although one doesn't need to be a master chocolatiere to appreciate it, there are an endless number of fascinating facts and statistics about its production and our usage of it. Here are just 20 facts that I have compiled for your observation. I'm sure they'll make interesting points of conversation (if nothing else).

Chili Cooking Basic Fitness Plan

Nearly everything about chili is controversial including the spelling. The spelling, chili, is probably taken from the Midwestern or Eastern spelling, which came from the British chilley.

The chile spelling is Spanish and describes the pod and is generally used to describe "chile" dishes in Mexican cooking. As I stated in my Chili Madness book, "In this book, which is written for all serious chili lovers--"chiliheads" as they are known in the West--we are using the "chili" spelling for the dish, the "chile: spelling for the peppers, and "chili powder" for the commerical premixed blends."