The treasure of sound in your music jewelry box

An endearing childhood memory for many women is the music jewelry box they had as a little girl. Their music jewelry box was a place that not only stored their most prized possessions; it played for them a song that they may still recognize so many years later. Jewelry boxes have always come in all shapes and sizes and played different songs, and they are as popular today as they ever were. Whether you are looking to recapture the magic of years gone by, or pass on the gift of a jewelry box to a young girl in your life, the ageless appeal of the music jewelry box still holds true today.

A music jewelry box can come in a wide range of sizes. Some are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. Others may be the size of a shoebox that fits neatly on your dresser or nightstand. And still others are like pieces of furniture that stand on their own and have compartments to hold your rings, necklaces, and everything in between.

Large music jewelry boxes are usually constructed primarily out of wood, although they may be inlaid with glass, metal, or other embellishments that serve to decorate the box. The wood may have a natural finish - where the wood grain is visible - or it may be painted with a glossy, colored finish instead. Smaller boxes can also be made of wood, but it is not uncommon for them to be constructed of metal or even glass as well. But what is on the outside of a music jewelry box is only half of the equation; the real magic lies inside.

The inside of a music jewelry box is the place where all the treasures are stored. Tiny drawers, compartments, and hiding places are there to provide a home for all your treasures. But more important, it is where the music lies. Nearly every style of music jewelry box begins to play its song when you open the box. The simple, yet charming sound of a music jewelry box is one that will create lasting memories, or take you back to a simpler time.

If you have an interest in jewelry boxes there are many avenues for you to explore. There are retail stores that specialize in new music jewelry boxes, but you can also find them in antique stores or online. There are even music jewelry boxes that are considered works of art that cost thousands of dollars. No matter what avenue you choose, a music jewelry box can provide enjoyment now and for years to come.

Vegetables or cows eating vegetarian in argentina

Argentina: meat central, right? This is not necessarily so anymore. As a committed vegetarian (that means I do eat dairy products) unlike vegans (no dairy or eggs) I feared moving to Argentina and being deprived of vegetarian options. I would be in carnivore heaven and starve, well maybe not. What could I eat except for deep fried cheese, pizza and be completely deprived of nutrients. (and about 25 pounds heavier)

I was surprised! There are many vegetarians in Buenos Aires (compared to the USA its not that high) and numerous vegetarian dining and cooking options.

My top restaurants for a guaranteed healthy and tasty meal include:

Pura Vida Restaurant on Uriburu 1489 and Pena (look for the bright orange awning). This is a juice bar that also serves soup, sandwiches and salads. It has been open less then a year ago by two expats from the United States. One owner is a strict "raw foodist" (nothing baked) and the other is a vegan. At Pura Vida you will have delicious liquados (smoothies) or jugos (juices). My favorite smoothie is the "Strawberry Fields Forever" which has banana, blueberry, raspberry, apple juice and I request spirulina to be added.

The other option although not solely vegetarian but carnivore friendly is California Burrito Company in Microcentro on Lavalle 441 and San Martin (4328-3056). This restaurant was also opened by three expats from the United States. This restaurant has an assembly line system to ordering your meal. They claim 15,000 variations can be created for a fajita, burritio or taco. As a vegetarian, you choose from either pinto or black beans, various salsas, spicy mole, guacamole, sour cream (non-vegan), and vegetables. The burrito also includes a beverage of your choice all for under the price of $20 AR.

In the Collegiales neighborhood, you will find Verde Llama on Jorge Newbery 3623 (4554-7467). This is a raw foods restaurant run by Diego, an Argentine and staunch believer of the "life foods philosophy." If vegetarianism is radical in Argentina then raw foodism is sacrelegous. At Verde Llama nothing is cooked. The base of the foods is made from cracker like food made from sprouts processed in a "dehydrator."

The menu includes salads, lasagna, coconut curry, and an extensive juice and wine list. They also have a mate mousse for dessert. Diego is very passionate about "life foods" and gives classes at the restaurants on preparing raw food dishes at home. One of the chefs at Verde Llama is also a baker and sells his wares for $10 AR at the restaurant along with some other ready made products.

As a vegetarian, its easier to prepare meals from home then scout out what I can and cannot eat from a menu. (Its also more cost effective to eat in!) The supermarket chain, Jumbo in Palermo (near the mosque) is a good resource for buying vegetables, soy sauce and some other staples. For more extensive shopping its worth a trip to Barrio Chino in Belgrano.

Barrio Chino is made up of about 2 or 3 blocks and there are many restaurants (some vegetarian) and shops crammed into this little area. You can always find soy milk in Barrio Chino. At Asia Oriental Market on Arribenos you will find an extensive supply of baked tofu, silken tofu, prepared foods such as vegetarian sushi, vegetables and fruits.

I have seen on expatriate websites in Buenos Aires people searchin for coconut oil, sesame milk and other items easily found at The Whole Foods market chain in the USA. However, these products are not easy to find here. The solution? People are learning to make their own almond, and sesame milk. There is clearly a market for a Whole Foods market here in Buenos Aires. There is a growing market to accommodate vegetarians and with all of these people opening up restaurants and markets the demand will increase. Perhaps, Argentina land of carnivores will become famous for vegetarian living too!

Wine and food pairings - which wine to serve with dinner

Most people love to throw dinner parties for their friends and family. But, they may avoid serving wine because they do not know exactly what to serve. Do you serve red or white with fish? Will Merlot be okay if you are serving a Mexican dish? Do not stress over it - there are some basic wine rules you can follow.

The number one rule of thumb when choosing wine is "red wine with red meat, white wine with white meat." This is not always true, but it generally works quite well when you are unsure. One exception is chicken. The meat is white, but a nice fruity red wine goes well with it. The same can be said for tuna or salmon, so you do not have to always follow the rule of not serving red wine with fish. The second rule is the rule of complements. It is okay to match sweet seafood such as lobster with a sweet white wine. The next rule is the opposites attract. While you usually want to match like flavors, sometimes a contrast, such as a White Bordeaux with bluefish can be wonderful.

Outside of the basic rules, there are certain things you can look for and certain things you can avoid depending on what you are serving. Here are some hints as to what to serve with particular types of food.

Salads and Appetizers

You should avoid serving wine during your salad, as vinegar and wine do not mix well. But, if you are having an appetizer, you need to consider the ingredients in the appetizer to help you choose your wine. If you are having a cheese tray, the type of cheese will help you determine the wine. For example, cheddar is best with dry reds, Merlots, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Pinot Noir goes best with Swiss. Camembert and brie are great with a Chardonnay. The cheese we tend to think of as Italian such as parmigiano, romano, and reggiano go well with Italian dry red wines like Chianti and Barlol. If you are serving something a fried appetizer, consider serving a crisp, fruity white or red wine to help cut the oily flavor.

Beef, Steak and Lamb

Do you remember the "red wine with red meat" rule? That one is great to use when serving beef, steak, and lamb. Choose a dry red wine like Cabernet Sauvignon or a burgundy like Pinot Noir. You can also consider serving an Italian red such as Barolo or Chianti.

Fish and Seafood

To be safe, stick with a dry, crisp white wine. Sauvignon Blanc goes well with white fish while Sancerre and Muscadet go well with oysters. If you want to be different, try a fruity red wine (without tannins). But, use caution when serving red, especially if you are serving white, delicate fish. Cabernets with tannins combined with fish can leave a metallic taste in your mouth.

Poultry, Pork and Veal

For the most part, you want to follow the "white meat, white wine" rule with these. White chardonnays and Pinot Blancs are great. If you want to serve red with chicken, remember to choose a wine that is fruity like a Merlot or Zinfandel.

Turkey

Think back to Thanksgiving. Do you remember how well your cranberry sauce went with the turkey? The same rule applies here. For turkey, since it has both white and dark meat, you want something fruity and tart such as a Beaujolais for red or a Riesling for white.

Spicy Foods

If you are planning on service something spicy like Thai or Indian food, a sparkling wine works best. Avoid wines with tannins and look for something fruity. And, make sure the wine is well chilled. Cold wine goes well with spicy foods.

Dessert

The best thing to serve with a delicious dessert is a dessert wine. In fact, you can skip the dessert part and just serve a dessert wine to your guests. These are sweet wines often sold in smaller bottles as you don't drink as much dessert wine as you do regular wine. Wines such as Sauternes, Beerenauslese, Bermet and Cammandaria will make a great end to any evening.

The most important rule about what wine to serve is to avoid being snobby about wine. There are no right answers, only basic rules to go by and even those, as you have seen, can be changed. Do not be afraid to experiment with different tastes. Chances are if you do not act like there is anything wrong with the wine you are serving, your guests will not either.

Making a perfect cup of espresso coffee

When it comes to making Espresso, each and every professional coffee maker, such as Barista, will have their personal secret recipe. In this article I will show my recipe on how to make a delightful cup of Espresso.

The first most important ingredient of Espresso is water. In espresso you can only use fresh hot water. The water should ideally be around 203F (95C) that is nearly boiling. Water often becomes stale due to the presence of mildew, pure cleaning methods and inadequate filtering. If you use stale water then no matter how good the quality of the coffee bean, it will not be able to overcome the association of poor water.

The next ingredient is coffee. While making Espresso you should choose Arabica. It doesn't matter whether it has been grown in Brazil or Bogotб or elsewhere. The bean should have been grown above 915m and should be delivered all fresh for roasting. You can either elf roast it or but it a few days after but your coffee should essentially have the 'fresh food' smell in it.

You can also use Robusta beans as they are easier to grow and more disease resistant. However, this bean has more caffeine and fewer flavors so it is best used for those quick pick-me-up drinks and not for Espresso.

After that you have to finely ground the beans in a burr. Do not use the blade attachment of the blender as the blade often chops the beans and does not grind them. In the burr attachment the beans are ground between two pyramids shaped teeth on two plates. Ideally, your ground coffee should be like the dark Viennese or French. This name often refers to color of the ground coffee and not to where it's grown.

The distance between the two plates often determines the fineness of the granules. The ground coffee should be sand grain sized. It should not be too finely ground or should not be like the shape of small gravel. You should also remember to not to leave the coffee exposed to air, mainly because just like other foods, coffee also oxidizes and absorbs odors from the air. This may often ruin your perfect cup of Espresso coffee.

Since you know the basic ingredients, you can proceed to the next stage of Espresso making.

The first thing that you should do is pre-warm the equipment. All you have to do is turn the espresso maker on, run it through good water and let it heat. When the water is warm enough, you can run a cup through without any coffee in it. This will help to warm the equipment and flush out any particles present in it.

Now, you have to add your ground roast. Just as in tobacco, remember to pack it down slightly. You should feel some springiness that you often feel in pipes. You should be careful as to not let the coffee scatter.

After this you firmly place a hopper inside the machine and a warmed cup of espresso at the outlet of the machine. After you start the machine you should have the perfect thin steady stream of coffee in about five seconds. A double shot would require around twenty seconds.

If you want to make cappuccino then you should warm half cup of organic milk in a microwave for about 90 seconds. Then you should froth it and add it to your Espresso. You can also add different garnishing like cinnamon, chocolate or nutmeg. If you like your coffee sweet then you can add a little bit of organic sugar.

In the end, if you want a great cup of Espresso all you have to do is keep the whole process simple and straight. You should always remember to keep your equipment clean and to start with good quality ingredients.

Making the best sauce to go with the best raviolis

Ravioli is a type of popular pasta derived from the word Ravolgere, which means 'to wrap'. A filling in between two layers of pasta dough is the basic structure of Ravioli. A common vegetarian filling is of ricotta cheese and vegetables like spinach or nettles instead of meat. It is then delicately topped with red tomato based sauce, pesto, broth and cream based sauce.

The various versions close to Ravioli were the pastas in Medieval Europe, which were stuffed with meat, fish and vegetables or even creamy ricotta cheese. In Italy, these pastas have been found to exist even in the 14th century. Today it is available in packed frozen form all over the world. The parallels of ravioli in China is Jiaozi, in Russia the pelmeni, in Tibet it's the momo and Jewish call it Kreplachs.

Century ago pasta was commonly eaten on Fridays with vegetable based fillings. The poor who could not afford meat had it round the year. The left over meat after a treat or Sunday dinner would be used for preparing pasta. With changing time, today Italians buy readymade stuffed pasta, which is available in the supermarkets. Freshly packed pastas have a shelf life of 7 weeks. If you make your own pasta, you can use your own choice of fillings.

The best ravioli sauce makes the best ravioli. Choose your pick from the many sauce combinations:

- Toasted ravioli with red sauce

- Jumbo ravioli with marinara sauce

- Ravioli with fresh basil and tomato sauce

- Eggplant ravioli with ginger-cilantro sauce

- Cheese ravioli with crab and garlic sauce

To prepare a Ravioli the steps are:

1. Collect all ingredients and tools, which are a big mixing-bowl, a rolling pin for rolling dough, cutting board or surface to roll the dough.

2. Mix the dough. Put the ingredients in a bowl, mix well and put eggs, oil and water in the center. Mix with a fork till it is tough, then it is to be kneaded. It will become elastic, shiny and easier. Let it set for an hour.

3. Meantime prepare the filling. Brown the meat and check if it is cooked well. Take onion, celery and parsley, sautй it till it is soft. Drain spinach, take the vegetables and meat, then mix in a food processor. Add eggs and mix well.

4. Get the dough, tear a chunk and flatten it with the rolling pin. Roll the dough into a thick rectangle, put small balls of fillings. Roll the pin over the dough and filling will lay on the grid formed. Paint a line with water making a checker pattern. Fold the dough and roll the rolling pin over it, which seals the dough making separate pockets. Make a pattern on the edge of each ravioli, with the help of wimped zig-zag cutting edge. Cook by boiling them till they come to the top of water.

Now, its ready to eat with a ravioli sauce of your choice.

What you should know about organic baby foods

It’s not everyday that you will come across a revolution in the making, but there you have it. From being nearly organically-ignorant twenty years ago, to being semi-organically-ignorant fifteen to ten years ago, the human race is now making direct contact with its grassroots and going back to being healthy and eating healthy. And not surprisingly this has also spread to such an extent that we now have organic baby food as well.

We have been privy to witness a revolution, a significant change in our history that ultimately comes down to whether we care about what we put in our bodies or not. Almost with the turn of the new millennium, more and more people started joining this revolution, and it wasn’t long before we could see organic foods coming out of their specialty and health food stores and moving to the normal everyday grocery and convenience stores.

And it definitely wasn’t long before new parents started making the transition for their babies as well. After all, if they were trying to eat organic, why not go the same route for their baby? The problem that many parents encountered in the beginnings years of the organic baby food revolution was the utter lack of premade organic baby food.

This meant that they either had to either make their own homemade organic baby food, or they had to give up on the idea, and allow their young babies to happily eat away at second hand toxins, pesticides, antibiotics, and genetically modified foods. Naturally enough this didn’t sit well with too many parents, but it is sad to say that this isn’t what turned the tide favorably in the organic baby food revolution.

No, this took some time, and more research still before mass production of organic baby food hit the markets in any significant numbers. Worse still, the price of getting organic baby food was just as bad as getting organic foods for yourself, and for your normal everyday family this was simply not an affordable alternative.

Although there is a growing trend towards buying organic baby food the problem still exists in that it is still not as readily available as it could be, and it still costs an arm and a leg to keep your baby in organic baby food.

Luckily with the tides turning more and more towards organic grassroots, there has also been a resurgence (a very small one for the moment) of making your own organic baby food. It’s not very difficult and in the long run, a few minutes spent in preparing your baby’s food in a healthy manner with organic foods can only be of benefit to your baby in the future.