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Tag Archives: recipes

Spamtown USA Offers More Than Luncheon Meat

City Review: Austin MN – Food Mfg and the Hormel Foodie Throwdown

– The parent company of Spam, Hormel, contributes large grants to local universities and colleges to find cures for cancer through biomedical research. Along with this, new jobs are being created, the Downtown Austin area is offering new businesses and living spaces, and people are beginning to look at Austin, Minnesota in a new way. Food manufacturing is different from automobile manufacturing, but higher paid jobs are just as available. the 2012 Foodie Throwdown was suck a success that is declared an annual event, building on the success of the city’s two food companies.

With tax and rent incentives, crime half the rate of the USA overall, and a lower cost of living, Austin MN is attracting new businesses and new families to its location in Southern Minnesota. Lots of attractions and outdoor activities.

Spam Is Hawaii’s Favorite Food – Recipes and Fun

– Minced Ham and Spiced Ham disappeared in the mid-1930s until Hormel Foods Corporation developed Spam in 1937. It is even  black market item in some countries and sells millions of cans worldwide. Fine a couple of recipes at the link that are not gimmicky – they’re good.

Historical Accuracy: 1621 Thanksgiving – No Pilgrims or Pie, But Beer

Museum documents in the form of correspondence and diary pages from settlers and the Mayflower; along with marketing records for smaller department stores,  F&R Lazarus, and the larger Federated Department Stores enterprise and big business in 1840 show that the scenario of black-and-white dressed Pilgrims and pies did not appear at the First Thanksgiving at all.  The first harvest failed.  The popular story is a marketing ploy invented by a female advertising person for a department store in the US East in 1840 – revisionist history written to make the English settlers more sympathetic and to garner more Holiday Shopping dollars. I had ancestors that saw it all happen. This need not ruin Thanksgiving, but many people are tired of the lies.

The Pilgrims stayed in England. The poorest of the poor  were sent to America and called themselves “saints.” They brought kegs of beer, according to historic records and eye-witness accounts, and no seed for crops.  They did not plan ahead, thinking everything they’d need would be in the New World,  and their governor was disgusted at one point – although he should have accepted some of the responsibility. His edict of He who does not work shall not eat was not only necessary, but NOT one that would have been used on disciplined and hard working Pilgrims.

Native Americans provided most of the food, along with 90 uninvited guests -  traditions that surprised the 1621  English. The natives provides all of the corn – 10 acres of it. There were no pies, because there was no wheat to grind into flour! Puddings of the day – like pies without crusts – were made instead. The food was good and we have the original recipes form The Ohio State University, whose staff researched the first gathering and the foods.

Please enjoy:

Weekly Writing Contest

Many people today are considering online writing as a means to an income while they look for work. They have been downsized, displaced, left by a spouse or partner that produced the family income, have been hit by medical misfortune, and suffered any of dozens of problems that stopped their income. They are struggling with substantial effort to make a living. Others are new high school and college graduates that enjoy writing and also seek online writing as a source of supplemental income while they look for work.

We have a weekly writers’ recognition program that  publishes the articles of writers on our site for three months are less. We nominate 18 of them each week and 9 win extra Internet traffic through a variety of means.

Please visit the round-up of this week’s writers and review the Nominees’ work and please vote. Anyone can vote, no registration required. You’ll be helping someone earn an income! And thanks very much.

Work and Life

A few topics to be considered at the end of Spring:

  • Downtown Revitalization The Columbus Commons - How fast growing cities are redeveloping urban areas with green spaces, new businesses and new jobs, while entertaining families. It’s genius!
  •  Spring and Summer Non-Alcoholic Punch Drinks - Some of these even contain fruit teas and one uses a coffee-ice cream punch. These are different, great for the whole family, but can be kicked up with alcohol for adults if desired. Very versatile. It’s been in the 90s F in Ohio during the last week of May, despite the deluge of rain storms. These beverages are not expensive to make, and just in time to break the heat spell.
  •  How the Retail Marketing Calendar Swallowed Patriotic Holidays - Patriotic holidays were ripe for co-opting for retail sales promotions way back in 1840, when one woman made up a Thanksgiving Story that people ate without chewing -they inhaled it like a drug. In the 21st C, all our patriotic holidays are but stepping stones to Christmas Shopping, but plenty of Americans still honour our armed services people.      
  • Series Capstone: Aboriginal Peoples In Canada - Many more bands of First Nations peoples are receiving recognition since the suceess of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. Big changes are occuring in recording the histories of these peoples.

Ice Cream Sundaes – Long Before 1700

Ever hear of a leather ice cream cone? Keep reading :)

The wintertime farms in eastern Ohio, families made ice cream from the snow, adding sugar, or honey when they kept bees, vanilla, and some milk or fresh farm cream. This tradition went back before the American Civil War and probably farther.

For a big treat, they dribbled honey over fresh vanilla ice cream. For me, the ice cream sundae was invented the first time someone made ice cream from snow and put something on top: honey, home-canned friut, dried fruit, molasses, maple syrup, homemade mincemeat yes, and probably some other condiments.

We cannot place a date on that, but I know it was done at least as far back as 1840 in my fathers family, when the men were working on the National Road, Route 40.

When did the commerical ice cream sundae and cones first appear?

Ice Cream Sundaes and Cones - Fact or Fiction?.

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A Judge Bee Mystery: New Writer’s Awards

Interesting Journey (you know what “interesting” means in China…)

Our journey this week takes us on assignment to the Ancient China That Should Have Been, But Was Not, as described in author Barry HugHart’s trilogy. Indeed, it is also the land of the actual Judge Dee and his written case mysteries, one of the world’s first detectives as well as a judge.

Fortuitously, we have with us on the HubNugget Team one of his descendants, the Honorable Judge Bee. See her to the right as she feeds her geese while contemplating The Case of the 18 Purloined HubNugget Wannabes. They were nicked by someone with access to the vault…

A Judge Bee Mystery.

Do you like NBC’s Harry’s Law? –  Help us choose 6 winners in this Mystery set in Ancient China, filled with literary references and puns.

Shopping for Bargains without a Paupers Mentality

Some people enjoy bargain shopping and discount coupons. It’s fun!

Others like to save money they can use for other necessities, luxuries, and emergencies. That’s a good reason to bargain shop in the 2010′s – especially with national economic worries.

Still other people bargain shop because they cannot afford retail prices in grocery, clothing, restaurants, and other retail places – especailly upscale establishments.

I think all bargain shoppers can enjoy bargain hunting, even those that MUST save money to make ends meet. It should not be a mark of poverty.

Let’s acknowledge that our country produces and imports some cheaply made goods at both low and high prices. Avoid  both types. 

If consumers can resist Madison Avenue and media advertisements that urge and even trick them into spending money best used elsewhere, then they have a victory. Look a the article below for links to regional bargains and tips for finding even more in your own town.

via Shopping for Bargains without a Paupers Mentality.

Corn Flakes or Barbiturates?

CW Post – Alternatives to “Wellville” Addictions

Don’t fall for health fads when you make up your list of New Year’s Resolutions this coming year! Enemas and colonics may not help as much as you think and they definitely can harm you if used too often.

See the stories of enemas, Marilyn Monroe’s addiction, and the Kellogg Insitute at the link above.

Harvard Reverses Aging

Reverse Aging for Better Health with Best Nutrition and Fitness

Telomeres (end pieces of chromosomes that shorten every time a cell divides) have been examined for a few years in health research (aging) and Dr. DePinho has found that preventing telomere-shortening eliminates aging issues in mice bodies and organs. Will it eliminate human dementia, macular degeneration, and other conditions? The operator of this miracle is the addition of extra of the enzyme aptly named telomorase by injection. Mice became younger in 30 days. The brains even grew new neurons. Read more at the link.

Christmas Recipes From the First Nations

These traditional recipes from Native Americans and American Farmers in the New Nation of the 18th and 19th centuries are good-tasting and use local products and ingredients.

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