Finals!

Finals are almost over, I think I can breathe again. By the end of the year I believe I will start looking like this fellow!

The Buffalo Theory

The "Buffalo Theory" of Beer

A herd of buffalo can move only as fast as the slowest buffalo. When the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first.

This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members.

In much the same way the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, we all know, kills brain cells, but naturally it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first.

In this way regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine.

That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers, and that's why beer is so GOOD for you!

Cranberrie shortbread sandwiches. Delicious!

I love cranberries, oh the sweet and tangy taste it leaves in my mouth is absolutely amazing! During the Thanksgiving I baked a batch of yummy cookies that my family just couldn't get enough. The secret ingredient contained cranberries and a small amount of red crushed peppers! It was a great combination. Who knew it would taste so good!

Not only can you enjoy this flaky buttery cookie but cranberries are very rich in vitamin C and flavonoids. Researchers have identified proanthocyanidins as the substance that prevents infectious E. coli from sticking to the lining of the urinary tract. These anti-adhesion effects could potentially help prevent peptic ulcers as well. As for the red pepper it contains capsaicin that stimulates blood flow and has well established antibacterial activity. Many people believe that eating spicy food will induce stomach ulcers but researchers have discovered that capsaicin provides protection against them. Experiments have also proven that cayenne benefits the cardiovascular system by reducing triglyceride levels and platelet aggregations in the blood.

Heres the recipe for this great shortbread sandwiches if you dare to try this unique combination!

Shortbread:
1/2 cup dried tart cranberries
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cold cup unsalted butter, cut in 1/2 inch pieces

Whipped filling:
1/2 cup whipping cream
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 recipe fudge sauce, below

1. preheat oven to 325 F. In bowl combine cranberries and crushed red pepper, cover with boiling water, Let stand 10 minutes; drain.
2. In food processor bowl combine flour, granulated sugar, cornstarch, salt, and bakindg powder. Add butter and soaked cranberries. Pulse until dough begins to clump together. Remove from processor. Gather dough and press in free-forms saquare. Roll between two sheets parchment paper to 12x9-inch rectangle. With knife, cut thirty-six-inch pieces (do not seperate). Slide parchment onto baking sheet and remove top parchment.
3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove from oven. Cool on wire rack.
4. For whipped filling, in bowl combine whipping cream, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla, Beat with electric mixer on high until stiff peaks form. Refrigerate until ready to use.
5. To assemble, spread flat side of 18 rectangles with scant tablespoon of whipped filling. Top with remaining shortbread, flat side down.
6. Serve with fudge sauce, sprinkle additional crancberries.

Fudge Sauce:
In a saucepan combine 1/2 cup whipping cream and 3 tablespoons light corn syrup. Cover over medium-high heat until hot. Remove from heat; stir in 4 ounces chopped semisweet chocolate until melted. Let cool until thick about an hour. Dip shortbread cookies halfway into fudge sauce and place in parchment paper and enjoy!

Makes 18 sandwiches

I was watering my plants this morning and I noticed that ants are eating away my chile piquin plant. Which by the way is loaded with chiles! I love spicy food, the hotter the better. I have been eating spicy food since I was four years old! With every meal my mother would cut up a jalapeno with salt and I enjoyed the tingling hot feeling it left on my tongue.

Okay, I went off the subject. I was upset because the ants love eating my plant. So I mentioned the problem to my mother and she gave me a wonderful trick that would solve this nasty problem. She said to sprinkle a small mound of grits around the base of an anthill. Each ant will carry along one grit at a time and eat it afterwards once they settled in their home. After the ant drinks some water, the grit will expand and causing the ant's stomach to burst.

I was very pleased with the results and now my plant is ant free!

Benefits for eating hot peppers: helps with gettig rid of headaches, arthiritis, and weight loss

Home remedy for sugar levels

Problems with high off the rocket diabetes numbers well no problem! My grandmother gave me one of her home remedy solutions that is suppose to help control sugar levels. So if you have a blender you are off to a good start! All you really need is one cactus cleaned and washed (nopales) about medium size, cut of a small arm of an aloe vera plant you only need the inside of the arm (it feels slimmy and has a clear look to it), 2 cups of fresh orange juice and mix in a blender. Drink up and enjoy! well I don't know if you can really enjoy that kind of smoothie early in the morning but it really works! I gave this recipe to couple of friends and they have seen improvements on their sugar levels. Maybe it will do the same for you!

We are Monsters!

What ever happened to the horny toads in the Rio Grande Valley? I can still remember when I was a child I would love to pet them. Everytime I went to the backyard I was fortunate enough to find one. But as I grew older I saw less and less of this small creatures. I know what people must be thinking. How can you play with those ugly creatures? But it was amusing to me and I liked touching their thorny backs. They are harmless in fact many Hispanics have a superstition towards the horny toad. They believe the poor creature holds magical powers and if you carry one at all times it was suppose to bring good luck. I have a crazy uncle that used to carry one, when he used to play cards at the cantina. I'm not sure if it brought him luck nevertheless, he believed it did.

Could it be that horny toads are becoming extinct in the Valley? It could be possible since more houses are being built in the Rio Grande Valley, forcing the horny toads out of their native habitat. Another possibility could be that people place rat, lizard, or ant poison in their homes and causing the poor creatures to die.

So if you see a horny toad in your backyard please don't kill it! It's sad that we are destroying many plants and creatures, forcing them into extinction!

We should go back to organic food!

What is happening to us? Cloning cows for the consumption of meat and milk is just too much! What happen with eating organic food? No wonder our children are reaching puberty at a young age. If you look at a 10-13 year old kid they look like they were in high school. I remember when I was that age and I looked nothing like a grown 18 year old. But I believe it has alot to do with the food we eat. There has to be something behind the animals that we consume. Who knows what they feed the chickens for them to grow so big or a pig as well. Don't you think that it affects us? I believe it does that is why many people suffer from obesity, cancer, diabetes, cholesterol, and many other diseases out there.

My parents were born in a small little town called Miquihuana, Tamaulipas and once a year we go and visit family members. The town is surrounded by gorgeous mountains and although poor but the dwellers are very healthy. My mother said people never suffered of any sickness. And I think it has to do with the way they live. For example they grow their own corn and with that not only do they live off the corn but they feed it to their animals. Corn is very essential in Miquihuana, a person makes tortillas, tamales, goritas, and atoles. Their livestock only eat organic food such as hay, corn, grass, cactus, and stale tortillas. They also grow their own fruit and vegetables. Every household has their own garden patch. I was observing my aunt's garden and she had a wide selection of fruits and veggies. She has a huge trees that produces avocados, figs, oranges, lemons, grapefruit, walnuts, pecans and the list goes on, not to mention her tomato plants, zuchinni, onions, potatoes, and the best peas ever! Also the citizens of Miquihuana are blessed because they get to eat anything that grows in the mountains such as pine nuts, nopales, prickly pears, chochas (a flower that grows on top of a palm tree), deer, and many more. When my mother cooks scrambled eggs on a fire outside.The taste it's very different than an egg cooked on a stove.

I can keep going on and on about the quality life they have. The people their are very humble and simple but they live a very long and healthy life. My grandpa died at the age of 105 years old!! And his favorite food was a warm homemade tortillas filled with beans and of course his coffee. I also had a great great aunt that lived up to 115 years old! I know its hard to believe but its true. She was a wonderful cook and loved to cuss alot!!

I started noticing the children in the town and they are strong and healthy kids. And I have not found one yet that is obese. The best part of all they hardly get sick! Which is good because the doctor only comes to the village once a month. Also the children are not fully developed like the children over here. They look exactly their age and not like an adult.

I think we should go back to the old fashion ways and promote orangic food. We really need to stay away from cloning animals because that is just like putting your shoe in the door. And who knows what's going to happen next. Later people are going to want to clone humans which is going to lead to many problems in the future. Don't people understand we are hurting ourselves and our children. I believe this cloning business is going to get out of hand, even though it has good benefits it also comes with its bad ones as well.

The Tree Man

I was browsing the web these morning and I came across an interesting article of a person named the Tree man. Papilloma virus (HPV) is usually a common disease that causes small warts on people who suffer from the disease. But with Dede it's quite different, if you look at him he really looks like half tree and half man just like something you will see at a circus. Well actually he traveled with the circus for a while in order to support his family. Dedes immune system is unable to stop the rapid growth of warts that is covering his body and turning him into a tree. The virus is taking over his life and producing massive amounts of cutaneous horns mostly on his hands and feet.

Dr. Gaspari is caring for Dede and treating him with vitamin A which is showing signs of improvement. The warts have seemed to slow the growing process and the most stubborn warts will be surgically removed.

I don't know if this disease is related to the cutaneous horns that is growing on jack rabbits. Nevertheless, it's a very interesting disorder to research and study in much deeper depth.

Betsy and her skin disorder

Betsy is my 10 month old shnauzer however she looks nothing like a shnauzer. I think it has alot to do with the fact that I shaved her hair about three times already! Well, when Betsy came into our home she was the cutest puppy. But a couple of months later she started to get dry skin. At first I didn't pay much attention to the scratching. However, her dry skin started to get worse to the point she was going bald. I took her to the vet and he said it was mange. He gave me an ointment and I was to rub the cream all over her skin for about a week. Unfortunately, she only got worse. I had a feeling she didn't have mange but I figured what the heck maybe it would help. The veterinary visit cost me $180! Well I was definitely not taking her back to the Vet again. Then I started reading on schnauzers skin disorders and I found numerous conditions. One was the hormonal imbalance which can be diagnosed with a blood test what happens is that the glands are not working properly which produces dry skin and even hair loss. The other disorder is bacterial infection which causes yellow spots filled with pus. Later the ulcers turn red, patchy and flaky. Another condition is allergies and can be caused by the grass, carpet, trees, pollen, or dust. This disorder causes the dog to scratch and biting and chewing. The most severe place would be at the armpits, paws, groin, and flanks.

I knew right away it was allergies causing poor Betsy to scratch continously. So I went and bought her allegy medicine over the counter. Claritin did wonders on her and I also included some booties to help for the scratching.  I put the booties on her for about a three weeks and when she tried to scratch she wouldn't irritate her skin as she did before. After three week later I started noticing she stopped scratching and her skin coat looked much healthier. I am happy to say Betsy is doing much better. Unfortuately, her hair is taking a while to grow back.

Life is the essence of Biology

Life is Gods wonderful creation! A week ago my mothers Chihuahua had one female puppy which it doesn't surprise me since Cookie (the chihuahuas name) is of age. She shouldn't be having puppies anymore. Cookie had four puppy litters even though my mother took her to the Veterinary so she won't be able to get pregnant anymore. Well, I'm not sure what happened but the operation was useless and Cookie still keeps going at it.

I went over to visit my mother on Sunday and I looked at the puppy and it looked very skinny. I asked mom if Cookie nurses the puppy and she said yes. And while I was there I kept an eye on Cookie to see if she was caring for her puppy. Well mother was right however Cookie is so old she can't even produce milk anymore and maybe that is why the puppy is skinny. I immediately went over to pet smart and bought a can of puppy milk and gave it to the puppy. But the puppy was so weak she couldn't even latch on to the nipple. Finally, after much struggle she was able to drink from the bottle. Although Cookie is a good mom and tries to feed her puppy, she won't be able to care for it anymore. So I took the puppy home with me and I'm feeding the puppy every three hours until she gets stronger and she can go back home with her mom. I named her Canelita (cinnamon) hope she makes it through because she is so tiny and weak.

It's amazing how life is formed, biology is the essence of a living organism. Life promotes growth, homeostasis, maintains growth, reproduce, and are able to adapt to environment.

Yeast

As I was drinking the morning coffee with a sweet mexican bread I started to wonder how did our ancestors stumble upon yeast and coffee. Yeast is a fungi that is used to make bread, wine, and beer. With the lack of oxygen the yeast ferments to produce energy and converting the sugars into carbon dioxide and ethanol; thus producing alcohol and a delicious piece of bread. Even though our ancestors didn't know it but they were biochemists! Did someone accidentally placed the yeast with flour and noticed that the yeast made the flour mixture swell up and tadaaa, bread was produced. I don't know how it was discovered but one thing for sure yeast was used many years ago. It is even written in the Bible!

I am thankful for the discovery of yeast because I can enjoy my piece of mexican bread every morning along with my coffee. Plants and fungi are very important to everyone.

Home remedies

As a child I dreaded my mother's home remedies. Everytime I approached her with a stomach ache she would take out her tea pot and fill it up with water and insert a dried herb that she had tuck away to the very end of her spice cabinet. I could still taste that wretch bitter tea in my mouth! But surprisingly enough the stomach pain would go away. Our mother would hardly take us to the doctor instead she would cook up a witches brew and make us take it. Okay, I'm exaggerating about the witches brew. However, she would take out her herbs and make her own medicine. Plants are very important and due to home remedies we had a healthy life. In fact I still use some of my mother's remdies. In a saucepan I place a small garlic clove with one tablespoon of olive oil and warm it up on the stove. Once it's cooled I grab a cotton ball and let soak, then place three to four drops inside the earache and cover it with a clean cotton ball. When my daughter gets a minor earache I use this home remedy and it works everytime. Oh, and aloe vera works wonders for minor burns! More and more people are using plants for sickness rather then popping pills in their mouth.

Stop littering!

I enjoy fishing at South Padre Island but what really upsets me is when people are out by the jetties, they leave their trash all over the place. Why can't they carry a small trash bag with them and that way if they have something they want to get rid off they can go ahead an dispose of it in the trash bag. But Noooo, instead there's broken beer bottles along with empty boxes of shrimp bait and food wrappers laying on the jetties. Don't they undrestand they are polluting the Island. The same way is at Arroyo city. The people do the same thing, but there is worse because instead of letting the small fish go back into the water. They just leave the poor fish out by the sand to die.

 I mean why can't the people get it through their thick skull that they are not only hurting the earth but our children as well. You know they are the ones who have to figure out how to clean up the mess we left after we pass away. If we really love our earth and our children (which are the next generation) then we should be more cautious of our pollution habits. A good example of what I'm talking about is the oil spill in the Macondo well of the Gulf of Mexico killing many sea creatures and their habitat due to BP's negligence.

Cosmetic Surgery in Medieval age!

Absurd?......Indeed, nevertheless true.

Even in historic times women managed to figure out a way to improve their appearance. How far is a woman willing to change who they are? Plastic and cosmetic surgery is the leading medical  technology all over the world. Women place themselves in painful situations and many loose their lives just to look a certain way. I'm sure many of us know or heard of someone who under went a plastic surgery procedure. The most common one is breast implants however theres other surgeries such as rhinoplasty, tummy tucks, facelift, permanent makeup and so on.

During the Sung Dynasty in China, women carried out a cruel and tortuous lifestyle. Girls at a young age were forced to bind their feet with bandages and wear a three inch shoe. By doing so the young girls had a great possibility of getting married. Small feet was considered beautiful. The initial process was carried out by excruciating pain. The foot would be washed and manicured in order to prevent infection. A bandage would serve to keep the toes curled inward touching the sole of the foot. If the procedure was started early in their childhood around the age of three or four years old it was less difficult for the child to adjust. However, poverty would interfere and many girls had to work in the fields in consequence they started the procedure at an older age which contributed to a high level of pain. During this treatment the girls had to keep up with the daily chores at home. The feet would bleed and pieces of skin would shed allowing the feet to stop from growing. It would take two to three years to keep the feet at a desired size. Sadly, as the girls flourished to adulthood they were unable to walk, tend to the home, cook, rise from a chair, or squat. Osteoporosis would set in and cause spine deformation as they got older. Unfortunately, only women with small feet were worthy of marrying. The others had to stay with the parents and work on the farm.Sadly, many were looked down upon by society.

Its true what they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Alert! Children in danger!

I was walking the other day at the park when I noticed how many children are overweight. Then I started observing my surroundings more carefully and I was astonished by what I discovered. More than half of the people in the park are overweight. This brought me to think, the Rio Grande Valley is populated by Hispanics. And one of our weakness is food. We love to eat! Yes, I know its hard to say no to the .99 cent  taco at Valero gas station but we have to be aware that with such indulgence leads consequences.              

Diabetes, high blood pressure, and cholesterol play a major role in Hispanics and to make matters worse its affecting our children as well. Parents have shied away from preparing home cooked meals due to the overload of duties such as work and maintaining a home. Instead parents round up all the kids and head out to guess what.....? Yep , thats right Mcdonalds! 

Parent's have to be careful what they feed their children if this continues your child could be in real danger. Its rather important to prepare your food with more nutritous meals in order to prevent heart problems, difficult breathing, high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, and even low-self esteem that can affect our children in the future.