Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest winners and recipes
November 3, 2007
Tonight, one hundred cooks who have put their all into creating the most tasty and unique dish are dreaming of winning the Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest one million dollar prize.
Celebrating 58 years of recognizing creative cooks, the Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest announced the 100 finalists out of the thousands who submitted recipes to the bake-off. The ultimate winner will be announced next April 2008 in Dallas, Texas.
All 100 finalists won a trip to Dallas, Texas to compete in the bake-off on April 13-15, 2008. The trip includes round-trip airfare, hotel accommodations, meals, a GE microwave and one hundred dollars. In addition to one million dollars, the Grand Prize winner will receive a GE Profile Double wall oven with PreciseAir convection, and $7,000 dollars in GE Profile kitchen appliances of their choice.
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JK Rowling: The Tales of Beedle the Bard after Harry Potter
November 2, 2007
Legendary waif wizard Harry Potter’s JK Rowling has finished her first book after the completion of the Harry Potter series, although few JK Rowling Potter fans are likely to read it. The Tales of Beedle the Bard will be a very limited edition with a grand total of seven copies in print. The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a collection of five magical fairy stories illustrated with drawings and handwritten text by Rowling.
In December, six will go as gifts and one will be auctioned to benefit the children’s charity The Children’s Voice. The Tales of Beedle the Bard book up for auction is bound in brown morocco leather and mounted with silver and semiprecious stones. Starting price at auction for the very limited edition of the book will begin at $62,000 dollars.
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Candy: Retro candy favorites of the 50s, 60s, 70s
October 28, 2007
Halloween is hay bales and the pumpkin patch, carving pumpkins, roasting pumpkin seeds, creating a unique costume, trick-or-treating and the ultimate candy sugar rush. According to the National Confectioners Association, Halloween is the single biggest holiday in candy sales. No surprise there. When it comes to the consumption of candy, Easter is the next biggest day for candy sales, followed by Christmas and finally Valentine’s Day.
While chocolate is the perennial favorite among candy lovers of all ages, chocolate is certainly not the only candy favorite. Depending on when you were born and the nostalgic candy memories of childhood, candy nostaglia can differ from decade to decade. As a child of the 60s, my candy favorites were any penny candy as well as Bit o Honey, Sugar Daddies, Sugar Babies, Chick-O-Sticks, Boston Baked Beans and Big Hunk.
In researching the decades of candy popularity, I discovered some of the candy favorites of children in the 50s, 60s and 70s are similar and some unique to the decade.
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Yoda: Star Wars Jedi Master new postage stamp
October 27, 2007
The Star Wars Saga souvenir sheet of postage stamps featuring Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Chewbacca, Princess Leia Organa and R2-D2, C-3PO, Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Emperor Palpatine, stormtroopers, Boba Fett, the Millennium Falcon, an X-wing starfighter, Queen Padmé Amidala, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, and Darth Maul created by Star Wars poster artist Drew Struzan was offered by the United States Postal Service (USPS) this last Spring.
By popular vote from stamp collecting customers, Jedi Master Yoda was deemed the most favorite character of the Star Wars souvenir sheet of first class stamps. As such, Yoda is now featured in a pane of 20 stamps.
Known for his unique speech of ending sentences in verbs, mischievous, benevolent and the teacher who has mastered the enigmatic wisdom and power of the Force, it is easy to understand how Yoda became one of the most beloved characters in the Star Wars saga.
A few of my favorite Yoda quotes are:
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Carole King: Welcome to My Livingroom
October 26, 2007
On October 23, Carole King’s Welcome to My Living Room DVD became available. The same day, Carole King was presented with the Living Legend Award at the Dreamers into Doers Awards Gala.
The Dreamers and Doers recognizes those who have taken their pursuits and passions and by starting businesses and/or philanthropic efforts have bettered the communities where they live.
Carole King is the first to receive the first Living Legend Award for inspiring creativity and hope for many decades.
Of Rock ‘n Roll fame as a singer and songwriter, Carole King has spent many years an avid environmentalist.
“When I first started educating legislators about the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA), most people didn’t even know what an ecosystem was,” states King. “Today, with the perils of global warming on everyone’s mind, NREPA is a win/win for the planet and for the American taxpayer.”
Over the decades, Carole King has entertained and inspired us with her music and ideas. Within the official Carole King website is an area called the Ideas page. King states,
“I decided to call this page Ideas because ideas are important to all of us; the idea of love; the idea of family; of contributing to the well-being of humanity and animals and taking care of the environment; of affecting even one person in a positive way during your lifetime.”
Born in 1942, the singer, songwriter, and pianist Carole King has been honored with four Grammy Awards and has been inducted into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She resides in Idaho with her long-time partner Gerry Goffin.
Pumpkin Mini Muffins: Comfort food recipe
October 25, 2007
In addition to using the following pumpkin mini muffin recipe to make mini muffins, the recipe can be used to make pumpkin bread or pumpkin bundt cake. Simple vary the baking times depending on how you choose to use the pumpkin batter. It is a very tasty basic pumpkin muffin and pumpkin bread recipe.
Bite size pumpkin mini muffins won’t last long on the counter. The muffins tend to be grabbed up in multiples. They are that popular with kids and adults.
I add a crumb topping to the pumpkin mini muffins but it is not necessary. Just an extra bit of goodness.
And I like to think that pumpkin as a major ingredient makes the muffin a little more nutritious for my family and friends. Canned pumpkin is easy to keep stocked in the pantry and if you wait until this time of year to stock up, canned pumpkin is usually always on sale at a good price. A seasonal sale coinciding with Thanksgiving, pumpkin pie and all.
Here then is the recipe for Pumpkin Mini Muffins:
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World Series: Taco Bell Steal A Base Steal A Taco
October 24, 2007
Steal A Base. Steal A Taco. During the World Series, if a base is stolen Taco Bell will offer every person in the US a free Crunchy Seasoned Beef Taco.
According to the official rules: Only one free taco per person, regardless of how many eligible bases are stolen during the Games. In the event the Games are not played on October 24-November 1, 2007, the offer will be good during any Games of the 2007 MLB World Series to be announced.
No purchase is necessary. The free Crunchy Seasoned Beef Taco will be given away on these dates only: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 (if base is stolen in Games 1 or 2 on October 24 or October 25, 2007); November 6, 2007 (if base is stolen in Games 3-7, October 27, 28, 29, 31, November 1, 2007). To obtain the free taco, consumers must visit any participating Taco Bell restaurant in one of the 50 the United States or District of Columbia between 2:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. (local time) on the Redemption Date only and request a Free Crunchy Seasoned Beef Taco.
Complete details of the World Series Taco Bell Steal A Base Steal A Taco can be found on the official site of Major League Baseball here.
Coke and chinese herbs: Birth of a refreshing idea
October 24, 2007
The Coca Cola Company is branching out into the possibility of developing health drinks with the opening of a research center at the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences in Beijing.
Among the chinese herbs and traditional chinese medicine formulas of interest are chrysanthemum and myrobalan, a prune-like fruit rich in antioxidants. The new research center is housed within the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, the national center for research, health care and education in traditional Chinese medicine.
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Dancing with the Stars Marie Osmond faints
October 22, 2007
While Marie Osmond stood next to her Dancing with the Stars dance partner Jonathan Roberts in front of the judges, Marie collapsed and lay lifeless on the floor.
Dancing with the Stars host Tom Bergeron bend down over Marie and after a few moments the show cut to commercial. When Dancing with the Stars came back after commercial break, Bergeron told the studio audience and TV viewers that Osmond had fainted but was doing well. He shared when the 48 year old Osmond came to and looked up from the floor to see people over her, her first words were “Oh crap.”
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JK Rowling: Dumbledore gay Rowling marries Harry Potter
October 20, 2007
The Leaky Caludron has published a transcript of JK Rowling’s meet up with the Scholastic’s Open Book Tour sweepstakes one thousand grand prize winners and their guests at New York City’s Carnegie Hall.
Rowling read from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and answered questions from Harry Potter fans. Among the new revelations include the fact that Rowling’s Albus Dumbledore is gay.
From the transcript Rowling explains:
“Dumbledore fell in love with Grindelwald, and that added to his horror when Grindelwald showed himself to be what he was. To an extent, do we say it excused Dumbledore a little more because falling in love can blind us to an extend, but he met someone as brilliant as he was, and rather like Bellatrix he was very drawn to this brilliant person, and horribly, terribly let down by him.”