Best Dark Chocolate From All Over the World Series – Part 1
February 14, 2010 by Tucker · 9 Comments
One of my great passions in life is tasting and discovering new and exciting dark chocolates. In fact, I enjoy it so much that I have decided to write a series of articles here on my personal experiences with dark chocolates from around the world. Therefore, if you are a chocolate lover like myself, I invite you to come on board and let us take this journey together to everlasting ethereal chocolate bliss!
First off, there are boundless tastes, textures and flavors when it comes to dark chocolate. Much like fine wine with the added element of texture, but without so much variance in smell, chocolates range from the sweet fruity to the bitter chalky – from the smooth creamy to the rich bold. And, from the flat one dimensional to the explosive full body.
These wide ranging characteristics are not by accident. It all starts with the cocoa bean. Cocoa trees grow only in tropical regions of Asia, Central America, Africa, and South America, within about 15 degrees of the equator. Then before cocoa can be made into chocolate, it has to go through several steps of processing. Cocoa processing includes converting the beans into liquor, nibs, butter, cake and powder. Chocolate manufacturing includes the blending and refining of cocoa butter, cocoa liquor, and various ingredients, such as vanilla, almond and sugar. In the case of dark chocolate, milk solids are excluded from this process, which gives it the added health benefits so touted by health experts.
In this first of many articles in this series, I am going to start with one of my favorites – “Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Premium Bar”. I chose this particular chocolate bar to start with because it is an all purpose bar (i.e. both for eating and cooking) and is readily accessible at most grocery stores. It has a rich deep flavor with a hint of vanilla. Plus, its texture is extremely smooth. I give it a 9 on a 1 to 10 score (i.e. 10 being the best).
Learn how to inexpensively find the dark chocolate covered almonds from a 25-year connoisseur in the field at John Wayne Marshall’s dark chocolate website.
<b>About The Author</b>
John Wayne Marshall, a long time resident of Naples, Florida and the Florida Keys, has spent much of his adult life tasting and cooking with countless chocolate brands that come from all over the world. Visit his site now and discover which extra dark chocolate bars, chocolate recipes, and chocolate ingredients he recommends for all your discriminating tastes. –> Dark chocolate gifts online, go to http://www.bestdarkchocolate.org/about-john/
Latest Clinical News
September 4, 2009 by · 12 Comments
Cost effective clinical trials are being provided in various countries in Asia and Eastern Europe, the main reason for this is to increase the growth and revenue for this specialist industry, This has had an impact on many Pharmaceutical and Bio-tech companies who are now outsourcing the clinical trial research to these countries.A large amount of specialists in the pharmaceutical industry have recognised this trend and are making use of this cost effective service offered abroad due to the large amount willing volunteers and also due to the international increase in demand for healthcare products.
The conduct of Clinical Trials has become cost effective in these countries.
Organisations such as pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, as well as contract service providers, are faced with some challenging ethical business issues as sales and research continues to boom in these regions. Due to a lack in logistical and institutional capacity, many of these countries are faced with situations which lead to government representatives and business leaders accepting bribes or becoming involved in other corrupt acts with the aim of securing approval to conduct a certain clinical trial, or acquiring the materials to conduct these studies.
The Corruptions Perceptions Index, monitored by Transparency International (a not-for-profit organisation based in Berlin), affords a basis for which the risk of corruption can be approximated.The index is intended to rate countries based on the opinions of state analysts and business executives.India was ranked 85th , China 72nd and Brazil 18th out of 180 countries where the country ranked the lowest would be considered to be the least corrupt.
Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology organisations need to consider this before looking to outsource their studies in other countries. They need to be fully aware of the ethical violations that there CRO partners may encounter. If these organisations are ignorant towards this, the clinical trial may in turn be jeopardised or the trial outcome report could be made invalid if the CRO carrying out the study have breeched any ethics violations that may be in place. This could be detrimental for the organisation’s reputation, and could hinder any business in that country for the future.
Nicky Hargreaves has over 24 years in R&D, manufacturing, quality and regulatory affairs.”Trusted UK based Clinical Research organisations or pharmacology companies who provide professional clinical trials (providing the statistical analysis, Clinical Data Management and the clinical research) that assists with the development of new drug entities are known to be the top resource.” Says Nicky; who is a microbiologist by training and has managed projects in numerous divisions, including pharmaceutical, medicinal, OTC, oral healthcare and animal healthcare.
* Before taking any medical advise you should consult your doctor. *
Water damage in the bathroom
June 10, 2009 by · 6 Comments
The place in your house where water damage is most likely to occur, is definitely the bathroom, with the kitchen as a good second. Bearing in mind that the internet is totally international, the word “bathroom” needs a clear explanation. What all around the world is called wc or toilet, is called bathroom in the US of A. In Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia a bathroom is nothing else than presisely what it says: the room where one has ones bath. It’s good to bear that in mind, not only when reading this blog post, but also when travelling to the US from elsewhere, or to elsewhere from the US! Many hilarious misunderstandings have already resulted from this tiny difference in idioms, and quite a lot more will occur in future!
Preventing the ruinous effects of water damage is much better and cheaper than repairing it, and it takes very little effort that might save you a lot of expenses. You need to start with a simple check for hidden leaks: turn off all the faucets (English) or taps (American) in your house, and all household appliances that work with water like coffee machines, dishwashers, washing machines and such. Nothing in your house should, for the time being use any water at all. Check your water meter and write down what it says. Leave things alone for about an hour, and then take a look at the water meter again. A different reading almost certainly indicates the presence of a water leak, unless of course you’ve forgotten to turn off really everything.
Give your bathroom AKA (wc|toilet} a good inspection then. Soft, slightly damp or outright wet floor spots near the edge of the bathtub, the shower stall or the toilet bowl, often accompanied by some discoloration, are sure signs of water damage that requires your immediate attention. Fortunately that’s very easy: re-caulking the area where the walls meet the floor or the appliance, usually helps solve the problem. If, like in most homes, you have tiles in your bathroom, cracks in grout or areas where it is missing can also cause a lot of damage.
The overflow of toilet bowls is an well-known cause of water damage, even if it does not happen that often. Putting too much toilet paper or other objects down the toilet bowl can cause it to back up with a vengeance. Even the kind of deodorant that is placed inside the toilet bowl can cause blockages in the plumbing, and if that deodorant happens to be chlorine-based and the pipes are of the ancient metal kind, it can even cause the pipes to oxydize and produce an additional leak. You must definitely be aware that your toilet bowl is not intended to be a household waste receptacle, and never try to flush anything down that simply should have been thrown out into the rubbish bin.