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Video: 'Mormon Muffin' mom heats debate

The White House -- finally! -- has released its guest list for tonight's state dinner. Among the politicians: Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Sen. Chris Dodd, and Sen. Claire McCaskill. Among the members of the media: NBC's Brian Williams, CBS's Katie Couric, the New York Times' Tom Friedman, CNN's Sanjay Gupta, and ABC's Robin Roberts. Among the celebrities/moguls: David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Gayle King, M. Night Shyamalan, and Steven Spielberg. Below is the entire list...

A recent study confirms that the antioxidants and other plant-based nutrients in chocolate and cocoa products are highly associated with the amount of non-fat cocoa-derived ingredients in the product. The study expands on previously published results. The study, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, was conducted by a scientific team from The Hershey Company, Brunswick Laboratories, and Cornell University, compared the detailed cocoa antioxidant contents of commercially available chocolate and cocoa-containing products sold in the United States. The flavanol compounds, with the exception of catechin, correlated very well with total polyphenols, the non-fat cocoa solids, and to...

If there is one thing that you can find wherever you go in the Middle East - Jerusalem, Gaza, Beirut or Cairo - it is hummus, that mashed-up festival of chickpeas, olive oil, sesame paste, lemon juice and garlic. It should be touching - a food that unites. But the Middle East is a place where passions are quick to ignite. And so, where there is hummus, there is also intense rivalry - over who has the best recipe, over who invented it, and over who can make the biggest bowl of it. Last year, Israeli chefs came up with...

Turkey 1541, "guinea fowl" (Numida meleagris), imported from Madagascar via Turkey, by Near East traders known as turkey merchants. The larger North American bird (Meleagris gallopavo) was domesticated by the Aztecs, introduced to Spain by conquistadors (1523) and thence to wider Europe, by way of North Africa (then under Ottoman rule) and Turkey (Indian corn was originally turkey corn or turkey wheat in Eng. for the same reason). The word turkey was first applied to it in Eng. 1555 because it was identified with or treated as a species of the guinea fowl. The Turkish name for it is hindi,...

Having friends over for dinner used to involve a minimal and fairly unremarkable to-do list: There were groceries to buy, along with flowers and a couple of bottles of semi-respectable wine. I would put out some guest towels and a collection of fancy soaps that were off limits to blood relatives, and then — voilà! — dinner was served. Preparing for a dinner party these days is far more complex, thanks to a vast and bewildering array of dietary needs that seem to have suddenly overtaken everyone I know. Complaint Box Steamed? Dish out the peeves. Send your essays —...

New diet fads constantly offer hope to the unhappily overweight, before fading away, leaving only disappointed expectations and stubborn flab. The more extreme the eating plan, the more keenly it's adopted - until its followers realise that measuring portions with a thimble isn't sustainable in the long term. But there's a new diet trend which claims dizzyingly high success rates, promises painless life-long commitment and allows dieters to eat anything they want. Faith-based diets take the principles of Christianity and apply them to our overwhelming craving for chocolate, chips and cheese. Advocates say dieters learn to fill the spiritual hole...

Anyone else see Food Network Iron Chef? There was a promo commercial touting a 2 hour episode with a "very special guest" while showing the Washington Monument.

My personal favorite is the Upside Down Mac and Cheese Pizza.

A marvelous painting of a gourmand at his table hangs in the Musée Carnavalet in Paris — a portly, pink-faced figure happily gorging on a regal casserole, with a bottle of wine at one elbow and a luscious-looking soufflé at the other. It is traditionally believed to be a portrait of Alexandre-Balthazar-Laurent Grimod de la Reynière, an aristocrat notorious in Napoleonic France for gratifying his palate with the same abandon as his contemporary the Marquis de Sade showed in indulging carnal desires. Whether or not the painting is actually Grimod’s likeness, it captures the eccentric, omnivorous spirit that made him...

Beer is the third-most-consumed liquid in the world (after water and tea), but not long ago it was still surprisingly hard to find a decent beer bar in Los Angeles. No, not an ultra lounge cordoned off by velvet ropes and cologne-soaked bouncers or a high-end speakeasy specializing in retro cocktails. A bar. One that serves craft-brewed beer. Not anymore. The beer is pouring. A handful of new beer bars, such as recently opened Stout in Hollywood and soon-to-open the Surly Goat in West Hollywood are making the city more amenable to suds sippers. And after 18 painful months of...

How often do you shop for groceries? I don't mean for the last-minute half-gallon of milk or package of cigarettes from the convenience store, but the heavy-duty grocery shopping. All the older siblings and their spouses appeared to shop once a week, filling up the automobile or van to the rafters. I on the other hand have always emulated the parents, who shopped for groceries every single day excepting Sundays (but then and again, it needs pointed out franksolich has no spouse and dependents, so it's a somewhat different sort of thing). In the town of circa 3,000 alongside the...

If you thought your boss was tough, try working at the Paradou restaurant. The owner of the Meatpacking District bistro made George Steinbrenner and Donald Trump look like pussycats, when he sent a profanity-laden e-mail memo to his staff demanding they get customers' e-mail addresses or be fired. "WHAT THE F - - - IS WRONG WITH YOU A - -HOLES?!?!?!" wrote Paradou owner Vadim Ponorovsky. "How many times do we have to tell you how important it is that you collect emails. "Everytime we have a slow night and you make no money and you sit there bitching about...

Place you Favorite Recipes here.

Good morning to all of you gardeners. Thanksgiving is next week and I hope all Freepers enjoy a bountiful feast with family and friends. Don’t forget to give thanks, it can turn a meal into a feast. A reminder for those of you who have a frozen turkey, for every 4 pounds of turkey it will take a day to thaw in the refrigerator. A 20-pound turkey will take 5 days so you need to start defrosting it tomorrow. If your turkey will not fit into your fridge defrost it in an ice chest with ice. If the turkey is...

A company in the United Kingdom is about to lift the lid on a device that zaps lobster with electricity to kill them, and the inventor said Wednesday his humane alternative to boiling is about to give the entire industry a jolt. British entrepreneur Simon Buckhaven said the CrustaStun system, developed over the past decade by his company Studham Technologies Limited, near London, kills the lobster with an electric charge, so the crustacean feels no "pain or distress." "I am entirely aware this product will be greeted at first with some skepticism among people in the lobster industry in Eastern...

FORT HUACHUCA — With the handout of turkeys and food vouchers Wednesday, a major holiday problem for some military families has been answered. But with Thanksgiving needs met, still ahead for the fort’s outreach ministries program is Christmas. Before noon, employees of Sundt Construction purchased and delivered 300 turkeys to the main post chapel administrative offices. The turkeys — with a total weight of more than 2 tons — will be handed out with $50 in food coupons for the post commissary. Josephine Moore, who heads the outreach ministries, said the needs of 300 military families, ranging in size from...

(The whole world is taking up sides in the Twilight saga ... Edward or Jacob? If the Earth could cast a vote, it would definitely pick Edward, the vegetarian vampire.) Vampires. Everyone thinks they’re so scary and so evil, but in reality they’re really some of the greenest creatures on the planet … especially if it’s one of the Cullen clan from the Twilight saga. That’s right kids, the next installment of the Twilight Saga, New Moon, hits theaters tomorrow. So how are the Cullen’s so eco-friendly? •Since they’re not really alive, they have a very small carbon footprint. •Since...

...Fieri's meteoric ascent is impressive, but it also makes him one of the culinary world's most polarizing figures. For as many fans as Fieri earns—Dora Long, the creator of Fieri's biggest fan site, says she gets “hundreds of emails a week”—he draws equal detractors. Like Rachael Ray or Emeril Lagasse, Fieri is a food personality who has rapidly outgrown the food, walking the narrow line between technique and celebrity that makes so many in the industry nervous. His recipes have names like “No Can Beato This Taquito,” and “Mac-Daddi-Roni Salad,” and he often effuses about the greasy meals he eats...

Kellogg is rationing its Eggo products due to flooding and equipment problems at two bakeries. The shortfall could last through mid-2010. Better hoard your Eggos! Grocery stores will be experiencing a shortage of the waffles until mid-2010 due to problems at two bakeries, a Kellogg's spokeswoman said on Wednesday. Flooding at an Atlanta bakery during heavy rains in October forced Kellogg, which makes Eggo products, to shut down production temporarily, said company spokesman Kris Charles. Plus, equipment at Kellogg's largest waffle facility, based in Rossville, Tenn., needs extensive repairs. "We are working around the clock to restore Eggo store inventories...

A man described as mentally ill and accused of lying to the police in an emergency call this summer, which sent a bomb squad to the McDonald's on Loudon Road, was arraigned on felony-level charges yesterday. William Fenick, 53, cried and held his head in his hands when a judge said he was being charged with creating a false public alarm, a felony, during a video arraignment at Concord District Court. The Center Barnstead resident called 911 just before 7 a.m. Aug. 7 to report two black men in the Concord McDonald's parking lot throwing gasoline on a U-Haul truck,...

Other than the ads that claim Acai Berry is a great diet supplement does any Freepers use it for a reason as a diet supplement in concentrated capsule form? Thanks. Could not find any legit forums when I googled it is all ads promoting the product no real medical info. And I dont count Dr. Oz as a legit resource.

Mountain goats are no exception to the general rule among mammals that larger males sire more and healthier offspring. But University of Alberta researcher David Coltman has found a genetic quirk that might make female mountain goats think twice about their romantic partners. Big, heavy males mountain goats shove lightweight Romeos aside taking the eligible females for themselves. The larger males pass their physical attributes and mating success to their male heirs. But Coltman's data shows the daughters of the big, bruisers are routinely smaller and less fit than females produced by physically more modest fathers. Nature can be cruel...

Sweet potato hating kid loves Saltgrass' baked sweet potatoes. He wants some at Thanksgiving and thinks the key is the seasoned butter flavoring. Anyone know how they make or season them? Thanks.

Raw Emotions Over Raw Oysters The FDA's proposal to treat raw oysters had sparked an outcry among diners. Legend has it that raw oysters are good for love — but they're also worth fighting over, as the Food and Drug Administration has learned. Facing political pressure from the Gulf Coast oyster industry, the FDA has backed off a plan to require raw oysters from the Gulf of Mexico to be treated to rid them of Vibrio vulnificus, a potentially deadly bacteria found in warm-water oysters. Harvesters and politicians had warned that the plan could devastate the industry. The outcry was...

November 17, 2009 Caught On Camera: Hippos Kill Crocodile In Rare Clash [Pics in URL: 4 Images] Faced with the angry hippos, the crocodile decides to run across their backs Jonathan Clayton, Africa Correspondent Bathing hippos usually have a tolerant attitude towards their fellow creatures — until something snaps. And then, as this crocodile discovered the hard way, they are the most dangerous wild animals in Africa Vaclav Silha, a Czech wildlife photographer, had set up his camera on the banks of the Grumeti in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, to take pictures of a group of 50 placid hippos...

Chemicals found in many plastics are causing little boys to act more like little girls, according to new research.

SUSPECTED cannibals killed a young man, ATE part of him and then sold other bits to a KEBAB house. Cops also believe the 25-year-old victim's body parts may have been used to fill PIES too. The trio of homeless men were arrested in Russia - accused of murdering the man with knives and a hammer. Prosecutors revealed: "After carrying out the crime, the corpse was divided up - part of it was eaten and part of it was sold to a kiosk selling kebabs and pies." Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2730715/Butchered-man-used-for-kebabs.html#ixzz0WxueLNEc

I did this last year and a lot of good recipes were posted so I thought I'd try it again. Take one and/or leave one!

My wife and I are enjoying a chilled Chimay Blue ale for the first time...oh my, oh my, OH MY! Fellow beer-drinking Freepers, does it get any better than this? Your best beer recommendations would be appreciated... Try to ignore the coming collapse for a few moments and have a wonderful weekend! Signing off, Third Person, on the outside looking in.

The one that didn't get away     Nibble ... Sean and his massive catch GEOFF ROBINSON         By RICHARD MORIARTY Published: 12 Nov 2009     AN angler has netted a giant catch — a huge catfish weighing more than new heavyweight world boxing champion David Haye. Sean Kinnear, 27, was amazed when he felt a fierce tug on his fishing line and pulled in the 9ft monster, which weighs a whopping 17 STONE. He waged a 15-minute battle to land the beast, which hits the scales at an incredible 233lb 6oz — more than...

Now I love chips and salsa so ended up with about a gazillion of the salsa jars. These seem to me to be just about perfect for canning. So I was thinking about trying to can some bulk veggies that are now pretty cheap, like acorn squash, sweet potatoes, maybe some spinach. When I was a yute my mom would cook stuff, put the jars through boiling water, fill the jars with whatever it was she cooked, then pour molten canning wax over the top - close them up and let them cool. Personally, I've preserved berries by mashing them,...

Good morning to all of you gardeners. Hurricane/Tropical Storm Ida made land fall in Alabama went quickly degraded moving slowly northeast up through and Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia causing considerable flooding along its path. There are many Freeper gardeners this event may have affected. I know the two Freepers, Gardengirl and Gabz who started the original Gardening thread, live in the coastal areas of N.C. and Va. and I hope y’all are safe and well. The indexing/archiving of this past year’s posts is still on going. Please let me know if there was a particular post that you found...

Local business owners say Yelp offers to hide negative customer reviews of their businesses on its web site ... for a price.The phone calls came almost daily. It started to get creepy. "Hi, this is Mike from Yelp," the voice would say. "You've had three hundred visitors to your site this month. You've had a really good response. But you have a few bad ones at the top. I could do something about those." This wasn't your average sales pitch. At least, not the kind that John, an East Bay restaurateur, was used to. He was familiar with Yelp.com, the...

The dairy industry rolled out an expensive media campaign this week in praise of chocolate milk, a classic school lunch beverage whose sugar content is under assault in some districts. But as trade groups spend upward of $1 million to defend the drink, three area fifth-graders already have come to its rescue. A year after Barrington Community Unit School District 220 banned flavored milk from its lunch menus, the students persuaded administrators to give it another chance. Now the sweetened drinks are served on Fridays as the district tries to decide whether the benefits of calcium and vitamin D are...

FLESH OF YOUR FLESH

A new policy dictating the selection of prepared food vendors at the Santa Monica Farmers' Market is drawing fire from Main Street merchants who are concerned that there won't be enough preference given to local restaurants.

They eat human brains and eyeballs, turn snails into pulsating zombies, grow up to 25 feet long in people’s intestines and eat the tongues of fish. Symbiotic relationships may be common in nature, but that doesn’t mean that all parasites are beneficial – many are downright horrifying

LOVELAND, Ohio, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- An Ohio man landed a 95-pound blue catfish in Lake Isabella, a park district record and only one pound less than the state record holder, park officials said. Lake Isabella Harbor Manager Harry Scott said the massive catfish, which he weighed twice for accuracy, dwarfs the previous largest catch in Hamilton County Park District's history, a 50-pound blue catfish, and weighs in at only one pound under the 96-pound state record, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported Wednesday. "I've never seen anything this big in my whole life, and I've seen lots of fish," Scott said....

Elevated dietary fructose linked to high blood pressure A diet high in fructose increases the risk of developing high blood pressure (hypertension), according to a paper being presented at the American Society of Nephrology's 42nd Annual Meeting and Scientific Exposition in San Diego, California. The findings suggest that cutting back on processed foods and beverages that contain high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) may help prevent hypertension. Over the last 200 years, the rate of fructose intake has directly paralleled the increasing rate of obesity, which has increased sharply in the last 20 years since the introduction of HFCS. Today, Americans...

The "chocolate cure" for emotional stress is getting new support from a clinical trial published online in ACS' Journal of Proteome Research. It found that eating about an ounce and a half of dark chocolate a day for two weeks reduced levels of stress hormones in the bodies of people feeling highly stressed. Everyone's favorite treat also partially corrected other stress-related biochemical imbalances. Sunil Kochhar and colleagues note growing scientific evidence that antioxidants and other beneficial substances in dark chocolate may reduce risk factors for heart disease and other physical conditions. Studies also suggest that chocolate may ease emotional stress....

PORTLAND, Ore. - Learning to brew your own beer in Portland, a.k.a. Beervana, would seem to be pointlessness personified. Yet 80 homebrewers and brewers-to-be spent a rainy Saturday morning doing just that in a stark warehouse warmed only by two boiling kettles. "It's not pointless at all," said Michel Brown, a well-known Portland homebrewer who began making his own beer 38 years ago at the age of 17. He was teaching the advanced class in the back room at F.H. Steinbart, the 91-year-old brewers supply store. Steinbart regularly offers free classes such as the one Saturday. "By brewing your own, you...

I know I will never eat another. Not like I ever really ate them anyway.

(Start Rant)Just a small rant about something that maybe isn't so important!I am originally from South Florida but am now living in Virginia. For the past few weeks, I have been trying to find some decent tomatoes. (without success) I have been reading the labels on all of the tomatoes .. Hydroponic and garden grown. Every Single package is from ...Mexico! Why the Hell can't I find Any tomatoes that are grown in the good ole USofA? I know Damn well that the folks in my home state still grow excellent tomatoes! Wouldn't it be less expensive to ship...

Starting this weekend (SIC: Past Weekend), restaurants across the country are honoring veterans for their service with special offers.

t might not be good for America's waistline, but froufrou dining off petite plates is out. The recession has made us hungry for family-size piles of comfort food.. Like other segments of the retail economy, the restaurant industry has struggled over the past two years as unemployment has soared and consumers have curtailed spending. The National Restaurant Association's performance index shows that the industry has been shrinking for 23 months in a row. High-end bistros have fared the worst, with sales at fancy restaurants like Ruth's Chris and Morton's Steakhouse off by 20 percent or more, as corporate customers pare...

While I am reading the forum and keeping an eye on Pelosicare I decided to exercise my opposition to this bill and whipped up a batch of chocolate mousse ... ecstacy it was! Here's the recipe for anyone who dares: Chocolate Mousse (Yield=6 if your are generous) 6 oz. bittersweet chocolate (4 oz bitter choc, 2 oz sugar) 4 tbsp butter 4 eggs, separated 2 tbsp sugar 1 cup heavy cream ¼ cup sugar 1 cap Vanilla Extract Melt chocolate over double boiler, temper in butter. When melted, remove from heat, temper in egg yolks. Allow to cool to room...

WESTON , Fla., Nov. 7 (UPI) -- A man and woman working in tandem stole a $3,500 commemorative bottle of whiskey from a liquor store in Weston, Fla., police said. The limited edition Johnnie Walker Blue Label bottle was one of just six bottles distributed in Florida to mark the 200th anniversary of the Scottish whiskey maker, Broward Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Keyla Concepcion said. The bottle taken from a display case at Master Wine Liquor had been gone for three days before store employees realized it had been stolen, The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Saturday. Surveillance video from Oct. 30...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is issuing this health alert to warn consumers not to use Pig Ears and Beef Hooves pet treats manufactured by Pet Carousel because the products may be contaminated with Salmonella. The products were distributed nationwide in both bulk and retail packaging for sale in pet food and retail chain stores. Pet Carousel is based in Sanger, Calif. The products were manufactured under conditions that facilitate cross-contamination within batches or lots. Although no illnesses associated with these products have been reported, the FDA is advising consumers in possession of these products to not handle or...

Good morning to all of you gardeners. I hope all of you are doing well this first week in November. This past week has been beautiful here in Miss. Highs in the mid 70’s, clear and dry. Great weather to clean up the yard and add to my compost pile but I just could not get motivated to do it. The indexing/archiving of this past year’s posts is still on going. Please let me know if there was a particular post that you found helpful or just interested you.