Spices:  The Mystical Magic Potions, Top 10 Kitchen Essentials & More!

If the appearance of spices were to reflect their real importance in the history of the world, the bottles of spices would be filled with brilliant sparkling substances such as diamonds, rubies, emeralds and gold. When you open each bottle, a whiff of vibrantly colored, mystically fragrant, magical smoke would slowly billow softly throughout the…

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The Twinkies Time Tube: A Cream-Filled, Spongy, Yellow Bite of History

Do you remember your first Twinkie? How old you were and how you felt after taking your first moist, sweet, creamy, lusciously spongy bite? No you’re not pathetic…most everyone on the planet remembers! How could we not? They were simply the best things on earth—at the time. Speaking of which, let’s enter the portal and…

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“Pop” The Tart, The Past and The Culture  

In 1963, Kellogg was experiencing overwhelming success in the cereal market: Fruit Loops were polishing shelves as a bright, colorful addition to breakfast, along with Mini-Wheats and Apple Jacks. Cereal had (and still does have) its merits: it can stay on shelves without spoiling for months on end. Post, Kellogg’s main competitor, hadn’t struck the…

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Pie, Oh My! Bet You Can’t Eat Just One! A Pocket Full of Info…

Apple, blueberry, peach and lemon, savory, hand or even Pop tarts! Pie is what happens when pastry meets filling. Pie can be closed, open, small, large, savory or sweet. The basic concept of pies and tarts has changed little throughout the ages. Cooking methods (baked or fried in ancient hearths, portable colonial/pioneer Dutch ovens, modern…

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Puttanesca! This Pasta Has a Past!

The history of Pasta alla Puttanesca carries many colorful Italian folk tales. This quick, tangy, salty, tomato-based pasta sauce is not simply that—it has a past! Some believe that this sauce was initially created by a restaurant owner who had many guests come to his restaurant to eat late one night as he was about…

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Are You a Cookie Monster? Allow Me to Introduce You to Ruth!

What do Toll House and Ruth Wakefield have in common? They were both formally introduced to Nestle for one. Ruth, wife, mother, former dietitian, author, baker and tourist lodge owner, made a boo boo in Whitman, Massachusetts on a cold winter’s day in her kitchen at the “Toll House Inn” in 1937—so she’s the first…

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