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/
Powerful Binoculars and Extra Items a Bird Watcher Would Would Like
September 4, 2009 by · 10 Comments
Ornithology is one of the great hobbies which permit you to meet a variety of people, understand about birds, their species and spend time in the open. In case there is some one you know who shares similar interest, you could buy them something which would help them with their leisure pursuit. To answer that, you have to know what they bring along every time they had out into the woods.
Perhaps if you give the person a hat, that would be a present that doesn’t cost the earth. Not only would this gift can help prevent the glare of the sun and protect them from its rays. The next gift idea is a pair of cargo pants with multiple pockets which are good for small necessary items.
Equally (if not more) useful is a bird watching vest, since this has even more areas to stow stuff. They can put their cell phone on one pocket, snacks, water, map, and insect repellent and more on the others making it within arm’s length instead of taking this out of the back pack. If you think that their old back pack is due to be replaced, you could get a new one and save them the trouble. Since these people do not carry too much with them throughout the day, you really only need to buy something that is just large enough for a day out.
The gift which costs most for a birdwatcher is a pair of decent binoculars. But what are the best compact binoculars? Quality compact binoculars are expensive because of the optics involved which allow the bird watcher to see the birds from a distance with great clarity. There are some pocket sized binoculars where the lens can be interchanged and some which allow night vision as well as photo shoots and video capture. Since birdwatchers usually log which species they see, where and their numbers, so a bird watching journal could be a great idea for a present.
For a gift with a difference, why not pay for an annual subscription to a bird watching magazine, preferably one they already read. Well pictures, information and stories about birds which frequent places around the globe, most often from areas where they have never visited. Those who can spare some cash can even send the person off on a bird watching vacation perhaps up north in Canada or down to South America. Of all the varieties of birds, there are still vast numbers that live outside of America although some might visit during certain seasons.
So which one should you buy? A short conversation will already give you several ideas, and then you just have to pick the right one that is within your budget and meaningful to the person. It’s possible that during the course of your shopping, you might learn to appreciate bird watching yourself. Instead of just supporting that person, you could soon join them on excursions!
Tattoo Body Art – Prevalence In Modern Society
January 19, 2009 by · 7 Comments
Tattoos have experienced a resurgence in popularity around various parts of the globe, particularly in North and South America, Japan, and Europe. This rise in the number of tattoo enthusiasts has seen an influx of new artists into the industry, many of whom have technical and fine arts training. This development in conjunction with the use of better pigments as well as technical development of tattoo machines, this has led to an improvement in the quality of tattoos being produced. Modern tattoo options include wrist tattoos. Many females choose “softer” tattoo motives such as butterfly tattoo designs. More elaborate, maybe more masculine, designs include dragon tattoos.
In June 2006 the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology published the results of a telephone survey which took place in 2004. It found that 36% of Americans ages 18-29, 24% of those 30-40 and 15% of those 41-51 had a tattoo. In September 2006, the Pew Research Center conducted a telephone survey which found that 36% of Americans ages 18-25, 40% of those 26-40 and 10% of those 41-64 had a tattoo. In January 2008, a survey conducted online by Harris Interactive estimated that 14% of all adults in the United States have a tattoo, just slightly down from 2003, when 16% had a tattoo.
In the United States many prisoners and criminal gangs display tattoos as a way to show for example criminal experiences, prison sentences, and gang memberships. As an example, a tattoo shaped as a tear can in some cases indicate murder, with each tear representing the death of a friend. At the same time, members of the U.S. military have been using tattoos for a long time as a way to indicate military units, battles, kills, etc., an association which remains widespread among older Americans. This practice is also prevalent among the Brish Armed Forces.
Insofar as this cultural or subcultural use of tattoos predates the widespread popularity of tattoos in the general population, the use of certain tattoos is still to some extent linked to criminality. Although the general acceptance of tattoos is on the rise in Western society, tattoos can still be seen as carrying a stigma among some social groups.
The prevalence of women in the tattoo industry, along with larger numbers of women bearing tattoos, is changing negative perceptions. Keep in mind though that a study of “at-risk” (as defined by school absenteeism and truancy) adolescent girls showed a positive correlation between body-modification and negative feelings towards the body and self-esteem; however, also illustrating a strong motive for body-modification as the search for “self and attempts to attain mastery and control over the body in an age of increasing alienation.”