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The day before he put a gun to his head and killed himself at an M Resort buffet on Easter, a Las Vegas man filled a box with his complaints against the resort and its employees and mailed it to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. In his final, angry message to the world, delivered to the newspaper Monday morning, John Noble blamed his suicide on depression that set in after the Henderson resort awarded him free meals at the buffet for life then banned him from the property in 2013 for harassing some of the women working there. “Today, I end...

A federal panel that helps set federal dietary guidelines is recommending Americans eat less meat because it’s better for the environment, sparking outrage from industry groups representing the nation’s purveyors of beef, pork and poultry. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, a federally appointed panel of nutritionists created in 1983, decided for the first time this year to factor in environmental sustainability in its recommendations. They include a finding that a diet lower in animal-based foods is not only healthier, but has less of an environmental impact. The meat industry is lashing back, contending the panel has neither the authority nor...

Apparently, parents should visit the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) website to find out how to teach their children good eating habits.The agency in charge of the country’s agricultural sector is now in the nanny business, thanks to First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative to fight childhood obesity, which links to choosemyplate.gov on its website.In the kids’ section of My Plate, advice is dished out on how parents can help pre-schoolers “develop healthy eating habits,” including a warning about praising an empty plate.“Avoid praising a clean plate,” the website states. “Your child should stop eating when he or she...

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread. Planting, Harvest to Table(recipes)preserving, good living - there is no...

A strikingly high percentage of refugees to the United States use some form of public assistance, according to a government report to Congress. The Office of Refugee Resettlement’s Annual Report to Congress for FY2013 reveals that nearly 3 in 4 refugees were on food stamps. Additionally, nearly half were on some form of cash assistance and more than a half were on medical assistance. More than 20 percent were on Supplemental Security Income, more than 22 percent were in public housing and nearly 20 percent were on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). The report noted that many households received...

Tomatoes - A complete planting guide including state specific planting dates and varieties, tips for soil preparation, planting, watering,fertilizing, insect and weed control...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is promoting a giant full-body exhibit for kids to walk through to promote healthy eating habits.While encouraging schools to apply for nearly $6 million in grants to help them comply with the First Lady Michelle Obama-promoted Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act new lunch standards, the USDA highlighted efforts by the Kansas State Department of Education.“Body Venture, a traveling health education exhibit sponsored by Kansas State Department of Education travels to schools to teach students about nutrition and physical activity,” the USDA said in a blog post Friday.Body Venture is a 45-foot by 50-foot exhibit that starts...

Have you ever visited your favorite fast-food restaurant and, as you grab that sack of burgers or chicken, wondered how much money that restaurant makes? Well, restaurant trade magazines track those stats for the big fast-food chains. And the answers can be surprising. It turns out that only seven of the top 50 quick-serve brands in the country pull in more than $2 million per store. For perspective on that, for a full-service restaurant to be a profitable enterprise, it needs to pull in $1 million a year — that’s the rule of thumb I learned in my years as...

A new study found that government biofuel policies rely on reductions in food consumption to generate greenhouse gas savings. Shrinking the amount of food that people and livestock eat decreases the amount of carbon dioxide that they breathe out or excrete as waste. The reduction in food available for consumption, rather than any inherent fuel efficiency, drives the decline in carbon dioxide emissions in government models, the researchers found."Without reduced food consumption, each of the models would estimate that biofuels generate more emissions than gasoline,"

A "food source" sickened nearly 100 restaurant patrons in Philadelphia last month, but city and state health officials say Pennsylvania law bars them from disclosing what the food was or how it was contaminated. Philly.com reported Friday ( http://bit.ly/1HQbZYs ) that dozens of lawyers and law students became sick after a Feb. 27 feast at Joy Tsin Lau in the city's Chinatown. Some said they were bedridden and others had to seek medical attention after becoming sick, but the owner said her restaurant didn't cause it.

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread. Planting, Harvest to Table(recipes)preserving, good living - there is no...

Kraft Foods Group Inc, maker of Velveeta cheese and Oscar Mayer meats, is in talks to be acquired by Brazilian private equity firm 3G Capital, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. 3G teamed up with Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc to acquire Ketchup maker H.J. Heinz Co for $23.2-billion two years ago. 3G is now expected to merge Kraft with Heinz if it clinches a deal.

Millbrae's Wonderful Chinese Restaurant has video footage that disputes one Yelper's written complaint. According to Eater SF, a Yelp member from San Bruno named Dan W. wrote that Wonderful would not seat him and awarded the restaurant one star. The review, since removed, reportedly said, "It's not that classy of a place, but they wouldn't seat me." The restaurant posted a video called "Lying Yelp Reviewer Caught by Wonderful Chinese Restaurant" to YouTube Monday showing the man entering the front door, lingering for just over 30 seconds, talking to no one, and leaving. Wonderful also posted a response to Dan...

Calvisano (Italy) (AFP) - With pools 85 times the size of the nearby pitches where Rugby Calvisano plays, the company Agro Ittica Lombarda is putting this northern Italian town on the map again -- as the world's top caviar producer. The story began in the late 1970s, when the town's steel mill teamed up with a Californian biologist to use the heat generated by the mill to warm pools to raise sturgeons, whose eggs are used to make the salty delicacy. The world's most prized caviar comes from wild sturgeon in the Caspian Sea. Agro Ittica was the first sturgeon...

This week, we have Savory, with Fruit! (Heads-up, pugmama!) I've never been a very fancy cook, though I do enjoy making food pretty and presentable and will go to some lengths for that. Otherwise, I'm into 'comfort' foods. But I greatly enjoy having something very different and unusual from time to time; and some of my favorites have been dishes that are savory, but include a sweet element, usually fruit. I once vacationed with friends who came from a restaurant background, and eating with them was always a great experience - always something unexpected and never before encountered. About 25...

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread. Planting, Harvest to Table(recipes)preserving, good living - there is no...

LANSING -- The Michigan Senate passed a bill allowing up to three fundraising bake sales in public schools per week, providing a way around federal health standards that banned them. brownies. State Sen. Patrick Colbeck, R-Canton Township, introduced Senate Bill 109, which passed 36-1, with one senator excused from voting. Colbeck said Boy Scouts in his district asked him why the state banned bake sales in schools. After looking into it further, he realized Michigan had not approved exemptions from the federal Smart Snacks in School standards that disqualify most bake sale items. "(This bill is a) common sense change...

Forget the possible heat and inevitable crowds, it's time for another edition of the Ramen Yokocho fest. The massive noodlepalooza is coming to Santa Anita Park on the weekend of March 28-29, and this time the Ramen Yokocho Assn. is not only bringing you 11 ramen-yas but, for the first time, they're holding a ramen championship. When you buy a ticket, you'll also be given a ballot so that you can vote for your favorite ramen. Only the U.S. ramen shops are eligible (the Japanese shops are considered guests), thus seven of the 11 shops are in the running to...

Not healthier than Western foodBian Huawei, head nutritionist at The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, said that it was a common misconception that Chinese food was healthier than Western food. In a November 2013 tencent.com report, Bian noted that although traditional Chinese food uses fewer animal fats compared to most Western dishes, many Chinese restaurants nowadays use excessive quantities of oil and salt to make dishes more flavorful. "Most cooking methods used in Chinese cuisine, such as deep-frying and roasting, use an excessive amount of oil," said Bian. "Even for the dishes that are cooked in a healthier...