Great Canadian Music

Music from the artist of my homeland. The true North, Strong and Free.
Featuring artists such as Jann Aden, Avril Lavigne, Chantal Kreviazuk, Fiest, Nelly Furtado, Cory Lee, Celine Dion, Kardinal Offishall, Chad Kroeger, The Barenaked Ladies, Kreesha Turner, and Hedley

Great Quote from Richard Taylor, beekeeper and writer

"There are a few rules of thumb that are useful guides. One is that when you are confronted with some problem in the apiary and you do not know what to do, then do nothing. Matters are seldom made worse by doing nothing and are often made much worse by inept intervention." --The How-To-Do-It book of Beekeeping, Richard Taylor

Birthday Cake

Evidence of birthday observances dates back before the rise of Christianity. In pagan cultures, people feared evil spirits - especially on their birthdays. It was a common belief that evil spirits were more dangerous to a person when he or she experienced a change in their daily life, such as turning a year older. As a result, birthdays were merry occasions celebrated with family and friends, who surrounded the person of honor with laughter and joy in order to protect them from evil. Instead of gifts, most guests brought positive thoughts and happy wishes for the upcoming year. However, if well-wishers did bring gifts, it was considered an especially good influence for the birthday person.

The world's largest birthday cake was created in 1989 for the 100th Birthday of the city of Fort Payne, Alabama. The cake weighed 128,238 pounds, 8 oz. and used 16,209 pounds of icing.

Between The Sheets

The Between the Sheets Cocktail was born during Prohibition in the 1920’s. A speakeasy was the only place to get a decent drink, and no respectable Flapper would be seen without her flask neatly tied to her leg. Most cocktails only masked the taste of inferior booze, so fruit juices became the standard mixers for just this purpose.

Ingredients:
1 oz brandy
1/2 oz light rum
3/4 oz orange liquor
1 oz. guava juice
1 oz. mango juice
1 oz. passion fruit
1/2 oz. lemon juice

Beet Root

Beet Root is one of our favorite scents to wear. On the skin it gives the wearer a sense of the dirt it just came from, and the beautiful rouge-sweet juice within.

Red beets as we now know them probably didn't develop until the 17th century--but they have been eaten as wild, slender-rooted plant species with edible leaves over a broad sweep of land, from Britain to Indian, since prehistoric times. Early Russian homeopaths claimed it could cure tuberculosis, scurvy, and toothache--while Russian peasants believed it worked as an insecticide. During "babye leto" (Indian summer), they would bury beets imbedded with mosquitoes and flies in a ceremony meant to relieve them of insect bites. Ironically, Russian beauties--both peasants and ladies in high society--used the beet as rouge for their cheeks...to keep away mosquitoes and attract the opposite sex.

Robot Chicken: If You Give A Mouse A Cookie

A Brief History of Basil

It's not commonly known that basil originated in India. It was brought to the Mediterranean via the spice routes in ancient times. Basil spread to other parts of Asia, and became popular in the use of curries in Thailand, and in Italian cuisine.

In Romania, basil took a more romantic turn; when a man accepts a sprig of basil from a woman, he is officially engaged. The Greek word for basil means royal or kingly. It was believed that only the king himself should harvest this herb, and only with the use of a golden sickle. No matter what the country the consensus is that basil is Royalty amongst the herb family.

BANANA FLAMBE!!! OH YEAH!!!!

6 firm bananas
1 c. orange juice
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. rum

Peel bananas and slice in half lengthwise. Arrange in layers in buttered baking dish. Sprinkle each layer with orange juice and brown sugar. Dot with butter. Bake in 400 degree oven until fruit is softened, not too soft, about 15 minutes. Warm rum. Place bananas in chafing dish, bring to table and add heated rum. Ignite and serve when flames die down. Serve over vanilla ice cream.

Bamboo

Bamboo regenerates itself eternally. The life span of a single bamboo is not very long-about 20 years-but the grove stands forever. The fully mature bamboo sends most of the organic nutrients prepared by its leaves down through paths in the vascular bundles, which run vertically down the culms, to its rhizomes, which form the vast, complicated underground network that creates its progeny. New bamboo shoots are produced every year from these rhizomes, ensuring the survival of the bamboo grove.

Mmmmm....Apple Pie

“As American as Apple Pie!” How many times has that phrase been uttered over the years? But is it true? Well, yes and no. Not to upset the Founding Fathers, but Apple Pie, like most American customs and traditions, is European in origin. Indeed, pies were especially popular during the reign of Elizabeth I.

No one knows who ate the first slice, but pie in one form or another has existed since the ancient Egyptians made the first pastry-like crusts. The early Romans, who probably learned about it from the Greeks, probably made the first pies we would recognize as pies. The Roman, Cato the Censor, published the first written recipe: a rye-crusted goat cheese and honey pie. The Romans then spread the word around Europe, including England.

Evan Jones, in American Food the Gastronomic Story, writes: Some social chroniclers seem convinced that fruit pies as Americans now view them originated with the Pennsylvania Dutch. Potters in the southeastern counties of that state were making pie plates in the early 18th century and cooks began to envelop in crispy crusts every fruit that grew I the region. “It may be,” Fredrick Klee asserts, “that during the revolution men from other colonies came to know this dish in Pennsylvania and carried this knowledge back home to establish pie as the great American dessert.”

Thus, Apple Pie, while not originally American, was “assimilated” and transformed into a distinctly American experience. If the food loving Pennsylvania Dutch didn’t invent pie, they certainly perfected it.

Mmmmm...Angel Food Cake

No one is completely sure of the origin of Angel Food or “angel cake”, although we know it surfaces first in America, and in the 1880’s. Most culinary historians think Angel Food is a takeoff of the sponge cake and the cornstarch cake, and that it originated in southeastern Pennsylvania. Critical ingredients in Angel Food are egg whites, sugar, vanilla and coconut.

Almonds

More than just foods, throughout history, almonds have maintained religious, ethnic and social significance. The Bible's "Book of Numbers" tells the story of Aaron's rod that blossomed and bore almonds, giving the almond the symbolism of divine approval. They were used as a prized ingredient in breads served to Egypt's pharos. The Romans showered newlyweds with almonds as a fertility charm. Today, Americans give guests at weddings a bag of sugared almonds, those wonderful Jordan Almonds. In Sweden, cinnamon-flavored rice pudding with an almond hidden inside is a Christmas custom. Find it, and good fortune is yours for a year.

The Cavalcade of Comedy

Michael Phelps on Saturday Night Live

A Short History of the Popsicle

The Popsicle was created by accident in 1905. One afternoon, Frank Epperson, then 11, left a mixture of powdered soda and water and a stirring stick on his porch. That night, San Francisco experienced record low temperatures, and he woke the next morning to find the flavored water had frozen solid to the stick.

Epperson dubbed his invention "Epsicle," a combination of the first two letters of his surname and "icicle." He experimented with "Epsicle" variations for friends and eventually created the Epsicle Company of California. Epperson sold his product at amusement park concessions in California before applying for a patent. Sometime after receiving a patent in 1924, Epperson changed the name from "Epsicle" to "Popsicle." According to legend, the name evolved from his children's frequent requests for "Pop's sicle."

The Creamsicle, the ice cream variation on the Popsicle, came in 1938

Some Zack Scott

Tina Fey!!

Kieth Olbermann on the Simpsons

Meh: Americana

Keith on Colbert and O'Reilly

Giant Sequoia

A big, bold, fresh evergreen and woody fragrance capturing the unique scent of the majestic Giant Sequoia.
These trees are generally considered the largest living organisms on earth. It is hard to be anything but awed in their presence.
These Amazing organisms can live for up to 3,500 years.

Giant Sequoia in California

Will Someone Please Kill Bill O'Reilly

FRINGE!!!

OMG Do not forget to catrch Fringe. If you do I'm afriad I must kill you. Lmfao jk jk