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."

BBQ Catering - The Best in the SF Bay Area

It is quite a rare sight when we encounter members of the same family eating and enjoying the food together. With every member having a different lifestyle and different working hours this kind of situation is quite expected. Gone are the days when the whole family would sit at the dinner table where they would not just share their food but would also share anecdotes from their daily life. In fact, one might even go on to say that this was the driving force behind the bonding of family members. Nowadays people hardly seem to have the time to bond over food. In this type of a situation, the idea of barbeque seems to be quite enticing.

Adventures in Staycating on your Staycation

The trend this summer, with the economy and the dollar growing weaker than Superman in a kryptonite speedo, is toward "staycation." It's a good idea, in theory, but you need to get away from your "stuff," both the literal stuff and the figurative stuff, if you're going to relax and experience something new. And that can take some work-or at least some creative planning.

One way is to sample food that's outside your usual repertoire. New Year's Eve a few years ago found my husband and me resolving to do three things each month: try a new cuisine, see at least one play and take a hike somewhere outside the confines of the city. Of course, resolutions are made to be broken, and while we were unable to carry through with all three components of our resolution for the entire 12 months, we did manage to enjoy some cuisines with which we were unfamiliar.