Souffle Cafe

You may want to think again when you drink your favorite juice.

2011-12-17T07:40:00.000-05:00

video platform video management video solutions video player

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-30T13:09:00.001-04:00

Gypsy Picnic

2011-10-06T18:40:00.000-04:00

I am huge fan of food trucks and this Saturday October 22, 2011 (11am to 8pm) in Austin, Texas there is be a food truck festival, called the Gypsy Picnic. Over 40 food trucks and food trailers will be there and of course live music (it wouldn't be Austin without music). If you are in the area and you love good food, bring your family to check this out! I live in the D.C. area and just found out about this today from a friend who lives in Austin. I wish I could fly down right now so I can check out the festival for myself. It looks like fun! I will have to plan next year.

I love Starbucks and here is why I do!

2011-10-03T18:05:00.000-04:00

Are you like me and love to go to Starbucks? Well here is a good excuse why you should go to Starbucks.
Starbucks is hoping they can get their customers to donate $5 to stimulate the U.S. job growth through its "Jobs for USA Program". I have to say this is good news. I just hope it works, I don't see congress helping and big banks here in the USA seems to make things worse.
Starting November 1, Starbucks will be asking it's customers for help by donating $5 to help with our economy. Starbucks is collaborating with the Opportunity Finance Network to provide loans for firms and organizations that can create jobs or stem job losses. Starbucks is also doing its part by also hiring about 200 people a day in the U.S.
For awhile there I had stopped going to Starbucks, because it seemed the coffee was priced a little high. Even they make great coffee I had to watch my budget and not over spend. But every now and then I would sneak off into a Starbucks and order a Java Chip or a favorite of mine the Pumpkin Spice.
So there you have it, here is a good excuse to go to Starbucks and buy coffee, now you and I can go and feel good that we took part in helping our country and help other Americans who really need the help. I will drink to that!

Amazon's New Tablet!

2011-09-28T17:44:00.003-04:00

I have to say I don't get to excited about tablets but I have been checking out the new Amazon Fire Tablet and I feel the need to buy one for myself. You really need to check it for yourself (I added a link so it will take you right to the Amazon home page). You might end up buying one for yourself. Don't blame if you buy one too. Oh and you can download cookbooks too and watch movies and view your pictures...Oh and the price is just right at $199...can you tell I am excited about this? :)

Update: I just pre-ordered my tablet...I couldn't help myself!

My earned ACF Medals

2011-08-07T20:48:00.003-04:00

The first few times winning ACF medals was a amazing experience, I encourage everyone who is in the culinary world to compete. I have learned so much from competitions and try to improve each time I compete. It is nice to win a gold medal but I have to say winning gold isn't everything. It is what you get out of it that's important. If you don't learn from your wins or mistakes then whats the point of competing? I have entered in over 20 events. Didn't win all gold, mostly silvers. But I did have fun and when I did win a gold I was pretty excited. I will be out there again trying my best and if I don't win no big lose, I am just happy to be there and experience the excitement. Hope to see you there and good luck if you decide to compete in a culinary event.

Fajitas at El Paso Cafe

2011-07-27T22:52:00.001-04:00

If your the are in the need of good Mexican food and margaritas, please try El Paso Cafe. You will not go wrong. I found El Paso Cafe by accident while getting lost around Arlington, Virginia. I felt like I walked across the border into Mexico. I love it it there and I know once you visit you will too, check out for yourself and let me know what you think.

Team Pentagon meets with the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates

2011-04-26T17:51:00.001-04:00

Our team

Meeting the United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was a nice honor for me.

Berry Austin

2011-04-14T16:53:00.000-04:00

Another day in Austin and I am in need of more Ice Cream! Today I went to Berry Austin, They have self serve ice cream and sorbet. Just pour it yourself and add the topping of your choice and have the cashier weight it and your on your way to a delious and cool dessert. Just thinking about it makes me want to go back right now to get more. It was a fun place to visit. Check out when you get here in Texas! Located on 5523 Balcones Drive, Austin, TX, 78731

NYT

2011-04-13T10:41:00.009-04:00

Google’s Quest to Build a Better Boss

By ADAM BRYANT

Mountain View, Calif.

IN early 2009, statisticians inside the Googleplex here embarked on a plan code-named Project Oxygen.

Their mission was to devise something far more important to the future of Google Inc. than its next search algorithm or app.

They wanted to build better bosses.
So, as only a data-mining giant like Google can do, it began analyzing performance reviews, feedback surveys and nominations for top-manager awards. They correlated phrases, words, praise and complaints.
Later that year, the “people analytics” teams at the company produced what might be called the Eight Habits of Highly Effective Google Managers.
Now, brace yourself. Because the directives might seem so forehead-slappingly obvious — so, well, duh — it’s hard to believe that it took the mighty Google so long to figure them out:
“Have a clear vision and strategy for the team.”
“Help your employees with career development.”
“Don’t be a sissy: Be productive and results-oriented.”

The list goes on, reading like a whiteboard gag from an episode of “The Office.”
“My first reaction was, that’s it?” says Laszlo Bock, Google’s vice president for “people operations,” which is Google speak for human resources.

But then, Mr. Bock and his team began ranking those eight directives by importance. And this is where Project Oxygen gets interesting.

For much of its 13-year history, particularly the early years, Google has taken a pretty simple approach to management: Leave people alone. Let the engineers do their stuff. If they become stuck, they’ll ask their bosses, whose deep technical expertise propelled them into management in the first place.

But Mr. Bock’s group found that technical expertise — the ability, say, to write computer code in your sleep — ranked dead last among Google’s big eight. What employees valued most were even-keeled bosses who made time for one-on-one meetings, who helped people puzzle through problems by asking questions, not dictating answers, and who took an interest in employees’ lives and careers.

“In the Google context, we’d always believed that to be a manager, particularly on the engineering side, you need to be as deep or deeper a technical expert than the people who work for you,” Mr. Bock says. “It turns out that that’s absolutely the least important thing. It’s important, but pales in comparison. Much more important is just making that connection and being accessible.”

Project Oxygen doesn’t fit neatly into the usual Google story line of hits (like its search engine) and misses (like the start last year of Buzz, its stab at social networking). Management is much squishier to analyze, after all, and the topic often feels a bit like golf. You can find thousands of tips and rules for how to become a better golfer, and just as many for how to become a better manager. Most of them seem to make perfect sense.
Problems start when you try to keep all those rules in your head at the same time — thus the golf cliché, “paralysis by analysis.” In management, as in golf, the greats make it all look effortless, which only adds to the sense of mystery and frustration for those who struggle to get better.
That caveat aside, Project Oxygen is noteworthy for a few reasons, according to academics and experts in this field.
H.R. has long run on gut instincts more than hard data. But a growing number of companies are trying to apply a data-driven approach to the unpredictable world of human interactions.
“Google is really at the leading edge of that,” says Todd Safferstone, managing director of the Corporate Leadership Council of the Corporate Executive Board, who has a good perch to see what H.R. executives at more than 1,000 big companies are up to.
Project Oxygen is also unusual, Mr. Safferstone says, because it is based on Google’s own data, which means that it will feel more valid to those Google employees who like to scoff at conventional wisdom.
Many companies, he explained, adopt generic management models that tell people the roughly 20 things they should do as managers, without ranking those traits by importance. Those models often suffer “a lot of organ rejection” in companies, he added, because they are not presented with any evidence that they will make a difference, nor do they prioritize what matters.
“Most companies are better at exhorting you to be a great manager, rather than telling you how to be a great manager,” Mr. Safferstone says.

PROJECT OXYGEN started with some basic assumptions.
People typically leave a company for one of three reasons, or a combination of them. The first is that they don’t feel a connection to the mission of the company, or sense that their work matters. The second is that they don’t really like or respect their co-workers. The third is they have a terrible boss — and this was the biggest variable. Google, where performance reviews are done quarterly, rather than annually, saw huge swings in the ratings that employees gave to their bosses.
Managers also had a much greater impact on employees’ performance and how they felt about their job than any other factor, Google found.
“The starting point was that our best managers have teams that perform better, are retained better, are happier — they do everything better,” Mr. Bock says. “So the biggest controllable factor that we could see was the quality of the manager, and how they sort of made things happen. The question we then asked was: What if every manager was that good? And then you start saying: Well, what makes them that good? And how do you do it?”
In Project Oxygen, the statisticians gathered more than 10,000 observations about managers — across more than 100 variables, from various performance reviews, feedback surveys and other reports. Then they spent time coding the comments in order to look for patterns.
Once they had some working theories, they figured out a system for interviewing managers to gather more data, and to look for evidence that supported their notions. The final step was to code and synthesize all those results — more than 400 pages of interview notes — and then they spent much of last year rolling out the results to employees and incorporating them into various training programs.
The process of reading and coding all the information was time-consuming. This was one area where computers couldn’t help, says Michelle Donovan, a manager of people analytics who was involved in the study.
“People say there’s software that can help you do that,” she says. “It’s been our experience that you just have to get in there and read it.”
GIVEN the familiar feel of the list of eight qualities, the project might have seemed like an exercise in reinventing the wheel. But Google generally prefers, for better or worse, to build its own wheels.
“We want to understand what works at Google rather than what worked in any other organization,” says Prasad Setty, Google’s vice president for people analytics and compensation.
Once Google had its list, the company started teaching it in training programs, as well as in coaching and performance review sessions with individual employees. It paid off quickly.
“We were able to have a statistically significant improvement in manager quality for 75 percent of our worst-performing managers,” Mr. Bock says.
He tells the story of one manager whose employees seemed to despise him. He was driving them too hard. They found him bossy, arrogant, political, secretive. They wanted to quit his team.
“He’s brilliant, but he did everything wrong when it came to leading a team,” Mr. Bock recalls.
Because of that heavy hand, this manager was denied a promotion he wanted, and was told that his style was the reason. But Google gave him one-on-one coaching — the company has coaches on staff, rather than hiring from the outside. Six months later, team members were grudgingly acknowledging in surveys that the manager had improved.
“And a year later, it’s actually quite a bit better,” Mr. Bock says. “It’s still not great. He’s nowhere near one of our best managers, but he’s not our worst anymore. And he got promoted.”
Mark Klenk, an engineering manager whom Google made available for an interview, said the Project Oxygen findings, and the subsequent training, helped him understand the importance of giving clear and direct feedback to the people he supervises.
“There are cases with some personalities where they are not necessarily realizing they need a course correction,” Mr. Klenk says. “So it’s just about being really clear about saying, ‘O.K., I understand what you are doing here, but let’s talk about the results, and this is the goal.’ ”
“I’m doing that a lot more,” he says, adding that the people he manages seem to like it. “I’ve gotten direct feedback where they’ve thanked me for being clear.”

GOOGLE executives say they aren’t crunching all this data to develop some algorithm of successful management. The point, they say, is to provide the data and to make people aware of it, so that managers can understand what works and, just as important, what doesn’t.
The traps can show up in areas like hiring. Managers often want to hire people who seem just like them. So Google compiles elaborate dossiers on candidates from the interview process, and hiring decisions are made by a group. “We do everything to minimize the authority and power of the manager in making a hiring decision,” Mr. Bock explains.
A person with an opening on her team, for instance, may have short-term needs that aren’t aligned with the company’s long-term interests. “The metaphor is, if you need an administrative assistant, you’re going to be really picky the first week, and at six months, you’re going to take anyone you can get,” Mr. Bock says.
Google also tries to point out predictable traps in performance reviews, which are often done with input from a group. The company has compiled a list of “cognitive biases” for employees to keep handy during these discussions. For example, somebody may have just had a bad experience with the person being reviewed, and that one experience inevitably trumps recollections of all the good work that person has done in recent months. There’s also the “halo/horns” effect, in which a single personality trait skews someone’s perception of a colleague’s performance.
Google even points out these kinds of biases in its cafeteria line. The company stacks smaller plates next to bigger ones at the front of the line, and it tells people that research shows that diners generally eat everything on their plate, even if they are full halfway through the meal. By using the smaller plate, Google says, they could drop 10 to 15 pounds in a year.
“The thing that moves or nudges Googlers is facts; they like information,” says Ms. Donovan, who was involved in the management effectiveness study and the effort to encourage healthier eating. “They don’t like being told what to do. They’re just, ‘Give me the facts and I’m smart, I’ll decide.’ ”
The true test of Google’s new management model, of course, is whether it will help its business performance of the long haul. Just a few hours after Mr. Bock was interviewed for this article in mid-January, Google surprised the world by announcing that Larry Page, one of its co-founders, was taking over as C.E.O. from Eric E. Schmidt.
Though Mr. Schmidt explained the move on Twitter by writing, “Day-to-day adult supervision is no longer needed,” the company made clear that the point was to speed up decision-making and to simplify management.
Google clearly hopes to recapture some of the nimbleness and innovative spirit of its early years. But will Project Oxygen help a grown-up Google get its start-up mojo back?
D. Scott DeRue, a management professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, applauds Google for its data-driven method for management. That said, he noted that while Google’s approach might be unusual, its findings nevertheless echoed what other research had shown to be effective at other companies. And that, in itself, is a useful exercise.
“Although people are always looking for the next new thing in leadership,” he said, “Google’s data suggest that not much has changed in terms of what makes for an effective leader.” Whether Google’s eight rules will still apply as the company evolves is anyone’s guess. They certainly aren’t chiseled in stone. Mr. Bock’s group is continuing to test them for effectiveness, watching for results from all the training the company is doing to reinforce the behaviors.
For now, Mr. Bock says he is particularly struck by the simplicity of the rules, and the fact that applying them doesn’t require a personality transplant for a manager.
“You don’t actually need to change who the person is,” he says. “What it means is, if I’m a manager and I want to get better, and I want more out of my people and I want them to be happier, two of the most important things I can do is just make sure I have some time for them and to be consistent. And that’s more important than doing the rest of the stuff.”

Amy's Ice Cream

2011-04-13T10:41:00.007-04:00

This week I Flew back to back in Austin, Texas because I just can't stay away. One of the places I often visit is Amy's Ice Cream and because of the beautiful weather here I need something to cool me down a bit. Today the weather is sunny and super warm, not a cloud in the ski makes for a perfect day to eat ice cream from Amy's. I ordered the killer queen. It has chocolate ice cream with chocolate pebble puffs and peanut butter chunks. It sure hit the spot!

Here is the link if you like to check it out http://www.amysicecreams.com/2.0/#/home/

Student Skills

2011-03-25T22:33:00.001-04:00

Our team got a gold in the student skills category. Here is our gold medal four course meal

My 6 platted desserts

2011-03-19T19:32:00.005-04:00

Only got a bronze this year, I better try harder next year to earn a gold medal. Can't win if you don't try.

Team Pentagon!

2011-03-14T17:35:00.001-04:00

This year at the 36th. Annual Culinary Competition team Pentagon takes Gold! We are a joint service (Navy, Army, Marines, Air Force) culinary team. With a little budget and practicing on our own time we pull off winning a team gold medal. We took home over 55 medals, more then any other team. It was the first time the Pentagon team has won in the culinary competition. We also earn a team trophy, no word yet where our trophy will be placed.

Pastry Live competition

2011-03-14T17:19:00.005-04:00

Here I am in my live competition, I had hour and half to make a dessert for four people.I end up winning a Gold Medal. My dessert (from bottom to the top) chocolate brownie, vanilla custard, chocolate board, white chocolate mouse, chocolate board. What you don't see I added a berry compote, with a blueberry sorbet.

Coca-Cola’s Secret Recipe Finally Revealed

2011-02-15T20:14:00.003-05:00

The secret recipe of Coke has been hidden and locked down for 125 years. But apparently, not anymore. This American Life says they've found the ingredients that make up the delicious bubbly cola and have revealed it to our delight.

The story starts with John Pemberton, a Civil War veteran who's credited with inventing Coca-Cola. His original recipe was written down in a recipe book of various ointments and medicines that was passed down from generation to generation.

A photograph of that recipe, from that very recipe book, was taken in the Feb. 18, 1979, edition of the Atlanta-Journal Constitution and only recently came to light when Ira Glass from This American Life stumbled upon it. Glass tracked down other people who claimed to have discovered the recipe as well and though they didn't match up exactly, they were so strikingly similar that Glass concluded that this recipe was the original. Here it is:

The recipe:
Fluid extract of Coca: 3 drams USP
Citric acid: 3 oz
Caffeine: 1 oz
Sugar: 30 (unclear quantity)
Water: 2.5 gal
Lime juice: 2 pints, 1 quart
Vanilla: 1 oz
Caramel: 1.5 oz or more for color
The secret 7X flavor (use 2 oz of flavor to 5 gals syrup):
Alcohol: 8 oz
Orange oil: 20 drops
Lemon oil: 30 drops
Nutmeg oil: 10 drops
Coriander: 5 drops
Neroli: 10 drops
Cinnamon: 10 drops

Coke has become infamous in guarding their secret recipe with tales of the recipe being under 24 hour surveillance, Coca-Cola executives only knowing half the formula or that the two people who know the recipe can never fly together. It's added to the allure of Coke, for sure, but there's also some truth to the that. When Asa Candler, an early Coke President, bought the original formula from Pemberton in 1887, he was so paranoid about people stealing the recipe that he ordered that the recipe could never be written down again. He also removed all labels from the ingredient bottles and went through company mail to see if anyone was snitching.
Truth be told though, it's impossible to fully replicate Coke's recipe because there's one ingredient only Coca-Cola can get: fluid extract of coca (which is coca leaves stripped of cocaine). Only one factory can process those leaves and only Coca-Cola has a special deal with the DEA that allows them to use it. So even if the secret is out, we're still missing the Coke in our Cola. [This American life via Time]

Foods for a Healthy Heart

2011-01-30T11:29:00.002-05:00

Take heart with berries, beans, and other healthy fare.
Oatmeal
Start your day with a steaming bowl of oats, which are full of omega-3 fatty acids, folate, and potassium. This fiber-rich superfood can lower levels of LDL (or bad) cholesterol and help keep arteries clear.
Opt for coarse or steel-cut oats over instant varieties—which contain more fiber—and top your bowl off with a banana for another 4 grams of fiber.
Salmon
Super-rich in omega-3 fatty acids, salmon can effectively reduce blood pressure and keep clotting at bay. Aim for two servings per week, which may reduce your risk of dying of a heart attack by up to one-third.
"Salmon contains the carotenoid astaxanthin, which is a very powerful antioxidant," says cardiologist Stephen T. Sinatra, MD, the author of Lower Your Blood Pressure In Eight Weeks. But be sure to choose wild salmon over farm-raised fish, which can be packed with insecticides, pesticides, and heavy metals.
Not a fan of salmon? Other oily fish like mackerel, tuna, herring, and sardines will give your heart the same boost.
Health.com: 20 healthy salmon recipes
Avocado
Add a bit of avocado to a sandwich or spinach salad to up the amount of heart-healthy fats in your diet. Packed with monounsaturated fat, avocados can help lower LDL levels while raising the amount of HDL cholesterol in your body.
"Avocados are awesome," says Dr. Sinatra. "They allow for the absorption of other carotenoids—especially beta-carotene and lycopene—which are essential for heart health."
Health.com: 8 avocado recipes besides guacamole
Olive oilFull of monounsaturated fats, olive oil lowers bad LDL cholesterol and reduces your risk of developing heart disease.
Results from the Seven Countries Study, which looked at cardiovascular disease incidences across the globe, showed that while men in Crete had a predisposition for high cholesterol levels, relatively few died of heart disease because their diet focused on heart-healthy fats found in olive oil. Look for extra-virgin or virgin varieties—they're the least processed—and use them instead of butter when cooking.
NutsWalnuts are full of omega-3 fatty acids and, along with almonds and macadamia nuts, are loaded with mono- and polyunsaturated fat. Plus, nuts increase fiber in the diet, says Dr. Sinatra. "And like olive oil, they are a great source of healthy fat."
Health.com: 8 super nuts

Fotolia

BerriesBlueberries, raspberries, strawberries—whatever berry you like best—are full of anti-inflammatories, which reduce your risk of heart disease and cancer.
"Blackberries and blueberries are especially great," says Sinatra. "But all berries are great for your vascular health."
Legumes
Fill up on fiber with lentils, chickpeas, and black and kidney beans. They're packed with omega-3 fatty acids, calcium, and soluble fiber.
Spinach
Spinach can help keep your ticker in top shape thanks to its stores of lutein, folate, potassium, and fiber.
But upping your servings of any veggies is sure to give your heart a boost. The Physicians' Health Study examined more than 15,000 men without heart disease for a period of 12 years. Those who ate at least two-and-a-half servings of vegetables each day cut their risk of heart disease by about 25%, compared with those who didn't eat the veggies. Each additional serving reduced risk by another 17%.
Health.com: What can you make with fresh baby spinach?
Flaxseed Full of fiber and omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, a little sprinkling of flaxseed can go a long way for your heart. Top a bowl of oatmeal or whole-grain cereal with a smidgen of ground flaxseed for the ultimate heart-healthy breakfast.
SoySoy may lower cholesterol, and since it is low in saturated fat, it's still a great source of lean protein in a heart-healthy diet.
Health.com: Supplements for cholesterol: What works?
Look for natural sources of soy, like edamame, tempeh, or organic silken tofu. And soy milk is a great addition to a bowl of oatmeal or whole-grain cereal. But watch the amount of salt in your soy: some processed varieties like soy dogs can contain added sodium, which boosts blood pressure.
Source http://shine.yahoo.com

Chocolate!

2011-01-26T21:22:00.002-05:00

The Naga Viper rates an astonishing 1,359,000 on the Scoville scale

2011-01-26T17:07:00.002-05:00

Neither Mexico nor India: The world's hottest chilli comes from a tiny greenhouse in Cumbria

By JAYA NARAIN
Last updated at 8:39 AM on 3rd December 2010

It is so hot weapons experts plan to use a couple in a spice bomb to incapacitate enemy soldiers on the battlefield.

But the world’s hottest chilli does not hail from India, Thailand or Mexico but from a small greenhouse in Cumbria.

It was created by crossing three of the hottest varieties of chilli pods known to man.

The Naga Viper rates an astonishing 1,359,000 on the Scoville scale, which measures heat by the presence of the chemical compound capsaicin

The result is a record breaking chilli that will make your eyes stream, throat burn, nose run and much, much worse.

The Naga Viper chilli packs an astonishing 1,359,000 on the Scoville scale, which measures heat by the presence of the chemical compound capsaicin.

Experts at Warwick University carried out tests on the chilli and officially declared it the hottest.

It beat competition from the ferocious Bhut Jolokia pod - the previous holder - to take the title of the world’s hottest chilli in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Creator, Gerald Fowler, a full-time chilli farmer for five years, said: ‘When they grow chilli in India or the Caribbean they’re used to the heat and the drought. When they’re grown over here I think they fight back against the harsher climate and produce even more heat.’

Dozens of customers at Mr Fowler’s village pub, the Engine Inn, signed a disclaimer stating they are of sound body and mind before sampling a curry cooked with Naga Viper. Only two managed to finish the whole dish.

He sells the chilli as a tongue-blistering sauce for curries but says he is getting a lot of interest from chilly growers keen to get their hands on the seeds.

Gerald Fowler with his Naga Viper chilli pods, the hottest chilli pods in the world

‘It’s painful to eat,’ said Mr Fowler, 52, who runs the Chilli Pepper Company, in Cark-in-Cartmel, near Grange-Over-Sands. ‘It’s hot enough to strip paint.

‘It numbs your tongue, then burns all the way down. It can last an hour, and you just don’t want to talk to anyone or do anything. But it’s a marvellous endorphin rush. It makes you feel great.’

The most popular chilli – Jalapeno – measures a pitiful 2,500 to 5,000 on the Scoville scale.

Mr Fowler’s Naga Viper is more than 270 times hotter and trumps the previous world record holder, the Bhut Jolokia, at 1,001,304.

The Indian Government has been examining ways of using the very hottest chillis such as the Bhut Jolokia to produce a spice bomb that would completely incapacitate enemy soldiers without killing them.

Earlier this year they created an 81-mm tear-gas like grenade which could be thrown by a soldier.

The mix of spices and phosphorous chokes the enemy’s respiratory tract, leaving targets barely able to breathe for a time.

It also causes severe stinging to the skin as well as streaming eyes, a burning throat and disorientation.

Mr Fowler crossed the Bhut Jolokia, with two other varieties, the Naga Morich and Trinidad Scorpion, and grew the plants in his 8ft by 16ft heated greenhouse.

He said: ‘The chef Heston Blumenthal gave a volunteer our chilli oil and monitored their brain activity on a CAT scan. It showed the part of the brain which registers heat was right next to the part of the brain which makes us feel happy.’

He said: ‘Some people have actually eaten the raw pods, because that’s the sort of macho thing that some people do, and posted it on YouTube. A couple were sick.’

Mr Fowler has sold chilli seeds to the Eden Project in Cornwall, to the Edinburgh Horticultural Society, and to farmers in Afghanistan, as a alternative to growing poppies for opium.

‘I’ve been growing chilli for 10 years, and doing it full-time for five,‘ he said ‘I was a website designer and just got drawn into it when my dad got a chilli plant.’

Naga Viper

The Chile Pepper Institute has had many inquires about the Naga Viper, the latest claimant to the world's-hottest chile pepper, since yahoo and other wire services have run the story. The Chile Pepper Institute can not confirm that the Naga Viper is the world's hottest. To confirm that the Naga Viper is the world's hottest, a scientific replicated experiment will have to be done. Mr. Gerald Fowler, the developer of the Naga Viper, is a member of the Chile Pepper Institute. The Chile Pepper Institute has contacted him and asked for a seed sample. If Mr. Fowler is willing to submit a seed sample, The Chile Pepper Institute would grow the Naga Viper and the Bhut Jolokia side-by-side in replicated trials at New Mexico State University in 2011. The Chile Pepper Institute will keep our members appraised of the results.

UPDATE - Currently, there are no seeds of this variety available http://www.chilepepperinstitute.org/

Scoville heat units	Examples
15,000,000–16,000,000	Pure capsaicin^[9]
8,600,000–9,100,000	Various capsaicinoids (e.g., homocapsaicin, homodihydrocapsaicin, nordihydrocapsaicin)
5,000,000–5,300,000	Law enforcement grade pepper spray,^[10] FN 303 irritant ammunition
855,000–1,359,000	Naga Viper pepper^[11] Naga Jolokia pepper (ghost chili)^[12]^[13]
350,000–580,000	Red Savina habanero^[14]^[15]
100,000–350,000	Guntur chilli, Habanero chili,^[16] Scotch bonnet pepper,^[16] Datil pepper, Rocoto, Piri piri (African bird's eye), Madame Jeanette, Jamaican hot pepper^[17]
50,000–100,000	Bird's eye chili,^[18] Malagueta pepper,^[18] Chiltepin pepper, Pequin pepper^[18]
30,000–50,000	Cayenne pepper, Ají pepper,^[16] Tabasco pepper, Cumari pepper (Capsicum Chinese)
10,000–23,000	Serrano pepper, Peter pepper
2,500–8,000	Jalapeño pepper, Guajillo pepper, New Mexican varieties of Anaheim pepper,^[19] Paprika (Hungarian wax pepper), Tabasco sauce
500–2,500	Anaheim pepper, Poblano pepper, Rocotillo pepper, Peppadew, Padron pepper
100–500	Pimento, Peperoncini
0	No significant heat, Bell pepper, Cubanelle, Aji dulce

Scoville scale: The scale is named after its creator, American chemist Wilbur Scoville. His method, devised in 1912,is known as the Scoville Organoleptic Test. The modern commonplace method for quantitative analysis uses high-performance liquid chromatography, making it possible to directly measure capsaicinoid content. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale

Great deals on KitchenAid Professional 600 Series 6-Quart Stand Mixer

2011-01-17T13:54:00.002-05:00

If you have been wanting to get a new Kitchen Aid Mixer, now is the best time! You can get additional $40 off a new mixer from Amazon. Check it out for yourself, click on the Photo and it will take you to the Amazon website.

More of El Paso, Texas

2011-01-17T10:15:00.002-05:00

El Paso restaurant owner plans show on Cooking Channel

By Victor R. Martinez / EL PASO TIMES

Posted: 01/12/2011 12:29:08 AM MST

Chef and restaurateur Sai Pituk inside the recently acquired Marcello's Italian restaurant at 5380 N. Mesa. Pituk will remake the restaurant. "Ruby," the large mural in background will stay, she said, although somewhat altered. (Rudy Gutierrez/El Paso Times)

The best food of your trip won't be served in a restaurant.

At least not if your traveling partner is El Paso restaurant owner/chef Sai Pituk.

"The best food in the world is not made in five-star, stainless steel, picture-perfect kitchens," Pituk said. "They are made on the streets of the world."

To adventurous travelers like Pituk, street cooks are magicians who create their culturally enriching meals with little more than a cart and a griddle, mortar or deep-fryer.

Pituk, who owns Tara Thai Restaurant at 2606 N. Mesa and is in the process of opening two more restaurants, The Kitchen (5380 N. Mesa) and the Gastro Pub (1360 Lee Treviño) - both former locations of Marcello's Ristorante Italiano - is going to chronicle her travel and culinary adventures on the Cooking Channel.

The working title for the series is "Savory Streets with Sai Pituk."

"The show is a travel cooking show," she said. "It's going to explore the real cooks of the world; the cooks on the streets."

Two pilots were filmed - one last summer during the annual Music Under the Stars concerts at the Chamizal and another at the Whole Enchilada Fiesta in Las Cruces.

Filming for the series will begin this summer, possibly in Spain, with the first show airing in the fall.

"I wanted to go to Thailand first but, you know," she said. "I'm going to go all over the world and find the most interesting street cooks and discover the stories behind them. Then I'm going to learn how to cook what they are cooking and the viewers are going to be able to watch the process and learn with me how to cook these types of food."

The idea for the travel/cooking program came to Pituk during a three-month visit to Thailand.

"I walked the streets of Thailand and asked the people, 'Hey, who makes the best curry? Who makes the best noodle dish' or whatever I was learning how to make and they would tell me and I would go to that street vendor and I would barter with them to teach me."

Sometimes she would pay them with a pair of Levi's Jeans.

"Those guys have been doing those recipes for generations," she said. "They are the masters of what they do. That's how I learned how to cook."

What impresses Pituk the most about street cooks is the way they conjure up not just a delicious snack or meal but the very essence of a place.

"Every city has it's own culinary swagger," Pituk said. "It's my job to get into those nooks and crannies of that swagger and bring it home to the viewer."

From banana leaves stuffed with sticky rice sold on a Thai train to harira soup, a traditional Moroccan broth of chickpeas, tomatoes, onions, cilantro and turmeric - the cuisine of the people - is found in practically every country.

"Any country that is big on street food I want to visit," Pituk said.

"Places like Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, Alaska and of course New York. I want to go everywhere."

Pituk said she is also going to share her experiences in dishes at her two new restaurants.

"It's nice to have an outlet to everything that I have seen, smelled and tasted," she said. "At Tara Thai I'm restricted to just Thai food but at the other two kitchens I'll be able to share more experience with different ingredients with El Paso diners."

The El Paso version of street foods is not as extravagant as international cities.

"You would be hard-pressed to find an outside food vendor in El Paso because of the city regulations," said Nick Gomez, a pharmaceutical salesman who travels around the country. "My favorite street foods are in Chicago along the walking paths in the northern part of Lincoln Park."

Gomez said you'll come a across all kinds of vendors selling chicharrones, tacos and cups of freshly cut pineapple, mango, watermelon and melon tossed with lemon and orange juice, cayenne pepper and salt.

He said he would love to see more food trucks, carts and even hot dog vendors around San Jacinto Park downtown.

"I really think street food is a window into a city's soul," Gomez said.

"The closest thing we have to clump of local vendors like that are the ones at the Fox Plaza swap meet on Sundays. I know it's not the most glamourous place but the food is good and authentic."

Because of its proximity to Mexico, street food such as elote en vaso (corn in a cup) served with butter, lime juice, crema Mexicana chili powder and lime wedges are very popular.

"I remember going over to Juárez when it was safe to do so and eating tacos on the corners of Juárez Avenue," said Larry Mendoza, who used to go over the bridge with friends while a student at UTEP in the '90s. "They used to have different kinds of meat on a steel rod and the vendor would cut it off and make tacos right in front of you."

It is memories such as those that Pituk wants to share with viewers of "Savory Streets with Sai Pituk."

"Germany, New York, Thailand, Hong Kong and Japan each has its own food swagger," she said. "It's fun to pick up on some of the ingredients they use in a particular country like in Thailand where fish sauce is very prevalent. It's fun to take those ingredients and use them in American cuisine or Mexican cuisine."

And El Paso's food swagger?

"El Paso doesn't really have one right now, but it's up and coming," she said. "With the new talent of chefs that we have coming into town, El Paso would be accommodating to the new cuisine that's coming into the city and they will be a part of the culinary revolution in El Paso."

Victor R. Martinez may be reached at vmartinez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6128.

Just discovered: A 2,500-year-old recipe for Celtic beer

2011-01-15T22:54:00.002-05:00

Just discovered: A 2,500-year-old recipe for Celtic beer

An archeobotanist has figured out how they made beer in 500 BC. With a ditch in the back yard, some barley seeds, and some henbane, you too can drink up like the ancient Celts.

Like me, many of you missed Oktoberfest this year, and every other year, for the last two and a half thousand years. We have a lot of drinking to make up for. Fortunately, archeobotanist Hans-Peter Stika, of the University of Hohenheim has been doing research that lets us know how to start. Stika has been spending time at ancient Celtic sites, figuring out how the local groups made their beer.

The first step to drinking like the Celts is to dig an oblong ditch. Pour in water and barley, and leave them there until the barley sprouts. Once they have, they need to be dried. Light a fire at each end of the ditch and keep it going until the barley is dried. This will darken the beer and give it a smokey flavor. It will also dry the grains slowly enough that they'll secrete something called lactic acid. Like other acids, it tastes sour. Sourness and smoke; delicious. Some of the grains will char. Leave those in the ditch for future archeobotanists to uncover. Mash up the grains to maximize the amount of sugar that the yeast, which gets added later, has to feed on.

Most beers are now flavored with hops, the flowers from the hop plant, but the first use of them wasn't documented until 800 AD, well after the time period we're looking at. Before that, beer was flavored with a special mix of plants known as gruit. Gruit contains yarrow, carrot seeds, mugwort, and henbane - otherwise known as stinking nightshade. The last is said to increase the intoxicating properties of alcohol, which is the only reason was something with that combination of names would be added to food. Just to be safe - don't add that. Just imagine what it will taste like. Boil these ingredients with the mashed grains, either towards the beginning to flavor the beer. Separate out the lumpiest bits of grain. You don't need them anymore.

Next comes the heating and the yeasts. The yeasts have to be alive to make alcohol, so the beer would have to have been heated slowly. It's possible this was done by heating stones and dropping them into the mixture, but more likely that didn't come until later. Instead, just keep the beer over a very low fire and add yeast. There's no need to get brewer's yeast from a store. The cloudy stuff that accumulates on fruits like grapes, and on nuts, is wild yeast. Dropping some fruits or nuts into the slowly heating mixture, and letting it continue to stay lukewarm for a long time should brew up all the yeast that's needed. Keeping it somewhere between 50 and 70 degrees fahrenheit. When the yeast is done, most of it will settle to the bottom. Cool the beer and enjoy.

Or, at least try to enjoy. Ancient beer was served room temperature to warm, and usually had a good bit of the yeast still in it. All that and mugwort, too! By Bruce Bower

Earliest known winery found in Armenian cave

2011-01-11T20:45:00.002-05:00

Earliest known winery found in Armenian cave

Story user rating:

RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
Published: Today

This undated handout photo provided by National Geographic shows a wine press, behind which an archaeological identification kit is placed, In Armenia. The vat, right of the press, apparently used for accumulating grape juice and the consequent wine fermentation, emerges clearly here as a result of the excavation. The earliest known wine-making equipment has been uncovered by in a cave in the mountains of Armenia. A vat to press the grapes, fermentation jars and even a cup and drinking bowl dating to about 6,000 years ago were discovered in the Areni-1 cave complex by an international team of researchers. (AP Photo/Gregory Areshian, National Geographic)

WASHINGTON (AP) - The earliest known winery has been uncovered in a cave in the mountains of Armenia.

A vat to press the grapes, fermentation jars and even a cup and drinking bowl dating to about 6,000 years ago were discovered in the cave complex by an international team of researchers.

While older evidence of wine drinking has been found, this is the earliest example of complete wine production, according to Gregory Areshian of the University of California, Los Angeles, co-director of the excavation.

The findings, announced Tuesday by the National Geographic Society, are published in the online edition of the Journal of Archaeological Science.

"The evidence argues convincingly for a wine-making facility," said Patrick McGovern, scientific director of the Biomolecular Archaeology Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia, who was not part of the research team.

Such large-scale wine production implies that the Eurasian grape had already been domesticated, said McGovern, author of "Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer and Other Alcoholic Beverages."

The same Armenian area was the site of the discovery of the oldest known leather shoe, dated to about 5,500 years ago. That discovery at the area known as Areni-1 was reported last summer.

According to the archeologists, inside the cave was a shallow basin about 3 feet across that was positioned to drain into a deep vat.

The basin could have served as a wine press where people stomped the grapes with their feet, a method Areshian noted was traditional for centuries.

They also found grape seeds, remains of pressed grapes and dozens of dried vines. The seeds were from the same type of grapes - Vitis vinifera vinifera - still used to make wine.

The earliest comparable remains were found in the tomb of the ancient Egyptian king Scorpion I, dating to around 5,100 years ago.

Because the wine-making facility was found surrounded by graves, the researchers suggest the wine may have been intended for ceremonial use.

That made sense to McGovern, who noted that wine was the main beverage at funeral feasts and was later used for tomb offerings.

Indeed, he said, "Even in lowland regions like ancient Egypt where beer reigned supreme, special wines from the Nile Delta were required as funerary offerings and huge quantities of wine were consumed at major royal and religious festivals."

McGovern noted that similar vats for treading on grapes and jars for storage have been found around the Mediterranean area.

In his books, McGovern has suggested that a "wine culture," including the domestication of the Eurasian grape, was first consolidated in the mountainous regions around Armenia before moving to the south.

Pro's Ranch Market in El Paso

2011-01-10T20:22:00.004-05:00

If you are ever in El Paso, Texas better make sure you stop into Pro's Ranch Market. It is far the Best market in EP! Pro's Market is filled with mostly Authentic Hispanic foods. But it has more then just Hispanic it is also an experience. It is not like any other market you have been too, it is unique!

The Best Market in El Paso, Texas!

Cow's Head (click on the Cute pic)

Chicharron Delgado (Pork Rind), off to the right is Candied Cactus, Pumpkin and Sweet Potato

Me and I am looking for my food.

What do you know about Bottle Water?

2011-01-10T17:57:00.014-05:00

I came across this article on Yahoo, and I was pretty surprised what they had to say about bottle water and thought I share it with you all.
EWG analyzed the labels of 173 unique bottled water products and company websites to determine if companies disclose information on where water comes from, how or if their water is treated, and whether the results of purity testing are revealed. The nonprofit also looked at how effective (and advanced) any water treatment methods are. Researchers followed up by calling dozens of bottled water companies to find out which ones willingly tell consumers what's in their bottles.
The Environmental Protection Agency says on its website that consumers have the right to know where their water comes from and what's in it so they can "make informed choices that affect the health of themselves and their families." Tap water is regularly tested and consumers can find their local water info online. That's not necessarily the case with bottled water, which is not required to disclose that information to consumers. "Bottled water is a food product and every one of these companies is complying with federal law," says Tom Lauria, of the International Bottled Water Association.
More than half of the bottled water products surveyed failed EWG's transparency test --18 percent didn't say where their water comes from, and another 32 percent did not disclose any information on treatment or purity of water.
Only three brands earned the highest possible marks for disclosing information and using the most advanced treatment methods available - Gerber Pure Purified Water, Nestle Pure Life Purified Water, and Penta Ultra-Purified Water.
On the other end of the spectrum, these six brands got the worst marks in EWG's report because they don't provide consumers with the three basic facts about water on product labels or their company website - Whole Foods Italian Still Mineral Water, Vintage Natural Spring Water, Sahara Premium Drinking Water, O Water Sport Electrolyte Enhanced Purified Drinking Water, Market Basket Natural Spring Water, andCumby's Spring Water.
How does your bottled water brand stack up? Here's a look at the 10 top-selling* U.S. brands:
1. Pure Life Purified Water (Nestle), EWG grade = B

2. Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water (Nestle), EWG grade = C

3. Aquafina Purified Drinking Water (Pepsi), EWG grade = D

4. Dasani Purified Water (Coca-Cola), EWG grade = D

5. Deer Park Natural Spring Water (Nestle), EWG grade = D

6. Ice Mountain Natural Spring Water (Nestle), EWG grade = D

7. Ozarka Natural Spring Water (Nestle), EWG grade = D

8. Poland Spring Natural Spring Water (Nestle), EWG grade = D

9. Zephyrhills Natural Spring Water (Nestle), EWG grade = D

10. Crystal Geyser Natural Alpine Spring Water (CG Roxane), EWG grade = F

Filtered tap water received the best grade (an A) from EWG because if you change your filter regularly, EWG says it is purer than bottled water, plus it saves money (bottled water can cost up to 1,900 times more than what flows from your tap). Drinking tap water also takes less of a toll on the planet. EWG offers p lenty of tips for filtering your tap water so that you can drink the healthiest water possible.
What should you do when bottled water is your only option? "While our top choice is filtered tap water, when you do need to choose bottled water, we recommend brands that tell you what's in the water and that use advanced treatment technologies like reverse osmosis and micro-filtration," says Houlihan. Advanced treatment technologies remove pollutants that other methods don't. You should look for bottled water products that tell you where the water is coming from and how pure it is.
Here are the results for all 173 bottled water brands included in the report. You'll find that some less popular brands rank even lower than our list of top-sellers.
The advice to drink filtered tap water can seem confusing when there are often reports about the contaminants found in municipal water supplies. Just last month, for example, EWG announced that cancer causing hexavalent chromium (chromium-6) is in 31 cities' tap water. Houlihan says chromium-6 is as likely to be in your bottled water as it is in your tap water and we need action from the federal government on this. She points out that a reverse osmosis filter can remove the worrisome contaminant. You can guarantee its removal in your home supply, but in many cases you don't know what's in the bottle you're drinking from.
[Related: Giving up bottled water saves a shocking amount of money]

*Sales rankings from the Beverage Marketing Corporation.
Environmental journalist Lori Bongiorno shares green-living tips and product reviews with Yahoo! Green's users. Send Lori a question or suggestion for potential use in a future column. Her book, Green Greener Greenest: A Practical Guide to Making Eco-smart Choices a Part of Your Life is available on