Foodie Films: Chocolat & Fondues!

This month's Foodie Films luncheon paid tribute to chocolate, as it is a popular month to give and enjoy chocolate treats. What better movie to celebrate chocolate with than Chocolat?! Nominated for 5 Academy Awards(R) including Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress, CHOCOLAT is the beautiful and captivating comedy. Nobody could have imagined the impact that the striking Vianne would make when she arrived in a tranquil, old-fashioned French town. In her very unusual chocolate shop, Vianne begins to create mouth-watering confections that almost magically inspire the straitlaced villagers to abandon themselves to temptation and happine

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Είμαι από την Αίγινα

Ορος, παραλία, φάρος Μπουρα, Σουβάλα, Ασώματοι, Κυψέλη, Αιγινίτισσα, Μαραθώνας, Πλακάκια, Φάρος (α ρε Κώστα) Περιβόλα ,Κοντός, Αλωνες, Βαγία, Αγιοι, Αφαία, Πόρτες, Σφεντούρι, Κλειδί, Μονή ,Αγκίστρι, Κοντός Πέρδικα,Παλιαχώρα, Παναγιά Χρυσολεόντισσα και ο καλός μας Αγιος Ανθρωπος ο Νεκτάριος.

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Autism Reporting: Mainstream Media's Incompetent Handling of Autism Issues

One point that has become crystal clear in the recent discussion of the vaccine-autism war. The mainstream media, as a general rule, is not competent in its coverage of autism issues. The New York Times and the Globe & Mail (self promoted as "Canada's National Newspaper") have been brutally one-sided in their misrepresentation of vaccine-autism issues. They have largely abandoned their journalists' hats to promote the views of public health authorities and the vaccine industry.CNN's Campbell Brown has also weighed in with a largely ignorant, mostly bull and lots of bias, attack on those who express concerns about vaccine safety and autism d

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Daring Bakers Challenge...Chocolate Valentino

This months Daring Baker Challenge was truly one of my favorites! I absolutely loved it and I knew that I would the minute I saw it!!! The cake was perfect and the prospect of making ice cream was wonderful (more on that later). To make this event even more wonderful was the fact that I had my good friend Jenn The Leftover Queen here during the month of February! The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.Thanks Dharm and Wendy for a great choic

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Guava Pound Cake

For a Cuban inspired dessert, I made a guava pound cake which I served with a homemade strawberry & banana vanilla soy ice cream. This pound cake recipe was recently featured in Ashlee's blog where she used the recipe for a cake. It's a recipe from Paula Deen and much to my surprise, it wasn't as heavy as I expected.To adapt Paula Deen's pound cake recipe with a Cuban flair, I substituted 1 cup of sugar with 1 cup of guava syrup... and it came out beautifully and moist!Guava Pound Cakepound cake recipe adapted from Paula Deen1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter2 cups sugar1 cup guava paste1 cup sour cream1/2 teaspoon baking soda3 cups all-purpose flour6 la

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Johns Hopkins Reports ECT Helped Autistic Child Reduce Severe Self Injury

Deanna Chieco, in the Johns Hopkins Newsletter, reports on a case study in which ECT, electro convulsive therapy, was used to treat a young autistic child who was incurring 109 self injurious incidents per hour. With ECT the self injurious behavior was reduced from 109 to 19 incidents per hour, permitting the child to be able to attend educational programs, behavioral therapies and family activities and thus dramatically improving the child's quality of life.This article and the study on which it reports should be must reads for parents of autistic children, neurodiversity ideologues, autism therapists and health care professionals and researchers.

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Shrimp & Mango Skewers

With a Cuban inspired dinner menu planned in February, I wanted to give a taste of the tropics despite the cold winter weather. I always thought food on a stick were fun so skewers were added to my menu. These shrimp and mango skewers are both sweet and savory as well as colorful! They're easy to make and lend a nice refreshing flavor.Shrimp & Mango Skewersoriginal Joelen recipe1 cup homemade salsa verde1-2 cloves garlic, minced2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil1 lbs shrimp (jumbo size)1-2 cups fresh mangoes, cubedchopped cilantro for garnishlime wedges for garnishPreheat your oven to 350 degrees (or warm your grill to a medium heat).Prepare y

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Whole Baked Tilapia Cuban Style

For a Cuban inspired dinner, I prepared the following recipe. It was both easy and flavorful and definitely a hit among our guests! The recipe comes from Emeril Lagasse and I used whole tilapia fish. I will definitely make this again!Whole Baked Tilapia Cuban Stylerecipe adapted from Emeril Lagasse2 (3-pound) whole fish, such as striped bass, tilapia, flounder, or sole, cleaned and scaled2 limes, juiced3/4 cup Spanish olive oil, divided2 onions, peeled and thinly sliced, divided1 large green bell pepper, cored, seeded, and thinly sliced, divided1 lemon, sliced thinSalt and freshly ground black pepper1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes1 tablespoon m

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President Obama Requests Autism Research Dollars, Let's Hope Some Is for Environmental Autism Research

President Barack Obama has requested $211 million as part of the Department of Health and Human Services budget for autism research and services. Let's hope a substantial portion of the research is directed towards environmental research, including possible vaccine causes, and for treatments. The "it's gotta be genetic model" of autism research funding identified by Teresa Binstock in 1999 has ignored the environmental component of autism causation referenced on several occasions by Simon Baron Cohen. The notion that this complex condition is entirely genetic was never evidence based.Hopefully President Obama will not let the IACC continue its

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Winner of Foodie Freebie Friday: Cook's Illustrated!

Are you ready for the weekend?! It boggles my mind that we're just finishing the month of February and it's soon to be March! For this week's Foodie Freebie Friday, I was curious to see what cooking and baking resources (books, magazines, websites, etc) use to inspire and guide them in the kitchen. It was a great response of so many places to find recipes, tips and hints! I think it just goes to show how much of an impact cooking and baking has since we all have to eat.It was especially interesting to see how many enjoy using online sources such as food blogs reflected in personal Google Reader listings and specific recipe websites including AllRecip

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WELSH CAKES

When we think of Wales and all things Welsh, what comes to mind?The Queen’s Welsh corgis?Leeks?A funny language and a bonnie Prince with large ears?And Rugby! (again)Ooops! That’s Chabal of Les Bleus…my mistake!Friday night France vs Wales. I know that I keep talking about the Rugby 6 Nations Tournament, but this may very well be an exciting match! And, of course, this calls for a special traditional Welsh treat.These are not quite as light and airy as scones, but dense and spicy, redolent of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger with the fruity sweetness of raisins or currents in every bite. JP loved them hot off the griddle, smeared with butter and jam. I can

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Conor and Mom Check Out the 7:10 Sun

Conor and Mom check out the 7:10 Sun. Mom is the "less tall" of the two :-) The light in the window in the bottom pic is not the sun, it is the flash from my camera.autism var addthis_pub = 'AutismRealityNB';

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