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1. Small-batch Shortbread Cookies
- Shortbread is a type of cookie traditionally made from one part white sugar, two parts butter, and three parts flour (by weight). Shortbread is different from shortcake, though they are similar. The difference is that shortcake can be made using vegetable fat instead of butter and usually has a chemical leavening agent such as baking powder, which gives it a different texture. Beside the three primary ingredients, many shortbread recipes call for salt, which helps to enhance the taste. Shortbread history goes back to at least the 12th century and originally started as biscuit bread. Shortbread originated in Scotland, with the first printed recipe, in 1736, from a Scotswoman named Mrs McLintock. Shortbread was defended by early Scottish bakers who fought to prevent shortbread from being classified as a biscuit to avoid paying a government tax on biscuits. January 6th is National Shortbread Day. Traditional shortbread comes in either rounds, fingers or “petticoat tails” – delicate triangles cut from a larger circle, made to resemble the petticoats which medieval ladies, like Mary Queen of Scots would have worn. The large amount of butter is what makes shortbread short. The term short, when applied to biscuits and pastry, means crumbly....READ MORE HERE:
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2. Seared Sesame Tuna Bites
- Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Tuna. They’re Big...Bluefin tuna can grow to be more than 6 feet long and over 500 pounds. The largest tuna ever caught was an Atlantic bluefin that weighed 1,496 pounds! They’re Expensive...Tuna supports a $7.2 billion dollar industry. The most expensive tuna ever sold was a 593 pound bluefin, sold in Japan for $736,000. They’re Fast...Tuna can swim at speeds of more than 40 miles per hour. They achieve these speeds by retracting their dorsal and pectoral fins, which reduces the drag they create. They’re Omnivores...That’s right, tuna eat other fish. They also will eat shellfish, squid, and even eels. But they also eat plankton, kelp, and other vegetable matter in the sea. They’re Warm Blooded...Tuna are warm-blooded, which means they can regulate their own body temperature, a rarity among fish. They’re Endangered...Because of overfishing, tuna are actually endangered. Bluefin tuna numbers have dropped 90% since the beginning of the 20th century. They’re Nomads...Tuna are constantly migrating to spawn. Some tagged tuna have been tracked from North America to Europe and back several times a year. They’re Camouflaged...Tuna’s dark blue and silver-white colors help obscure it from predators in dark waters....READ MORE HERE:
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3. Brussels Sprouts Eggplant Curry
- Curry has become an iconic and favourite dish in British society over the past few decades. We all have our favourites on what to order when dining out. Curry is as diverse as it is delicious, and there are plenty of interesting facts about curry that you probably didn’t know. To get you in the mood for a nice curry dish we pulled together these 10 “hot” facts about curry: The origin of the name “curry”...All too often when we refer to curry we don’t give much thought to what it means. But just how did curry get its name? There are different theories from where the word originated from. It could refer to the French “cuire”, which means “to cook”, as some believe. It was also mentioned in the title of a book in the 1700’s called “Forme of Cury”. The most likely origin of the word “curry”, comes from the Tamil name “kari”, which was a soup-like spiced sauce as it was first described in the mid-17th century in a Portuguese cookbook. The first curry house in Britain...With all the curry houses around, it is difficult to believe that nearly 200 years ago there were almost none. The first Indian restaurant in Britain was set up in 1810 in London. Sake Dean Mahomed, traveller and one of the most notable non-European immigrant entrepreneurs, opened the restaurant in George Street, near Portman Square in Central London. The restaurant was known then as the Hindoostane Coffee House, which offered many things such as Indian cuisine. Thus, introducing unintentionally curry culture to Western Europe. Unfortunately, the venue does not exist anymore as it came to an end due to financial difficulties. The first English curry recipe...Indian recipes used to not be written, but rather passed by word of mouth over generations. The earliest recorded known curry recipe dates from 1747 from the book “The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy”. Written by Hannah Glasse, it was the first edition mentioning the curry dish. The recipe was called “To make a Curry the India way” and only used black pepper and coriander seed for seasoning of the curry. Later, in the fourth edition of the book, she implemented other ingredients such as turmeric and ginger. Hot spices were not mentioned in the book, as hot spices were not introduced in India until the 16th Century....READ MORE HERE:
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4. Chocolate Chunk Cookie Bars
- Chocolate chips are a required ingredient in chocolate chip cookies, which were invented in 1937 when Ruth Graves Wakefield of the Toll House Inn in the town of Whitman, Massachusetts added cut-up chunks of a semi-sweet Nestlé chocolate bar to a cookie recipe. Originally, chocolate chips were made of semi-sweet chocolate, but today there are many flavors. These include bittersweet chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, mint chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, and white and dark swirled chocolate chips. Chocolate chips can be used in cookies, pancakes, waffles, cakes, pudding, muffins, crêpes, pies, hot chocolate, and various types of pastry. They are also found in many other retail food products such as granola bars, ice cream, and trail mix. The chips melt best at temperatures between 104 and 113 °F (40 and 45 °C). The melting process starts at around 90 °F when the cocoa butter in the chips starts to heat. The cooking temperature must never exceed 115 °F (for milk and white) or 120 °F (for dark) or the chocolate will burn. Today, chocolate chips are very popular as a baking ingredient in the United States and the chocolate chip cookie is regarded as a quintessential American dessert. Chocolate chips are also available in Europe, Australia, and other parts of the world. Nestlé and The Hershey Company are among the top producers of chocolate chips. In 1987 Chester Soling sponsored a contest to find the best recipe for chocolate chip cookies and got over 2.600 responses for various recipes....READ MORE HERE:
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- Five Little Speckled Frogs Lyrics
- Five little speckled frogs sat on a speckled log. Eating some most delicious bugs (yum, yum!). One jumped into the pool, where it was nice and cool. Now there are four green speckled frogs. Four little speckled frogs sat on a speckled log. Eating some most delicious bugs (yum, yum!). One jumped into the pool, where it was nice and cool. Now there are three green speckled frogs. Three little speckled frogs sat on a speckled log. Eating some most delicious bugs (yum, yum!). One jumped into the pool, where it was nice and cool. Now there are two green speckled frogs. Two little speckled frogs sat on a speckled log. Eating some most delicious bugs (Yum, yum!). Now there are how many frogs? ONE! ONE little speckled frog sat on a speckled log. Eating some most delicious bugs. (Yum, yum!) He jumped into the pool, where it was nice and cool. Then there were no speckled frogs! Glug, glug!
- DID YOU KNOW:
- There are over 5,000 species of frog. Frogs don't need to drink water as they absorb it through their skin. A frog's call is unique to its species, and some frog calls can be heard up to a mile away. Some frogs can jump over 20 times their own body length; that is like a human jumping 30m.
