Today is...

[IceWizard]

Thusday 29 Sep 2016

World Heart Day



Heart Day is part of an international campaign to spread awareness about heart disease and stroke prevention.

This is the perfect day to quit smoking, get exercising and start eating healthy – all in the name of keeping your ticker in good working order, and improving the health and well being of people the world over.

The World Heart Federation have found that heart disease and strokes are the world’s leading cause of death, killing 17.1 million people every year – that’s more than victims of cancer, HIV and AIDS and malaria.

Overeating, lack of exercise, unhealthy diets and high blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose levels are all factors which can trigger heart disease and threaten our own lives, and those of loved ones.

Heart Day was set up to drive home the message that heart problems can be prevented. The aim is to improve health globally by encouraging people to make lifestyle changes and promoting education internationally about ways to be good to your heart.

This lesson is becoming increasingly relevant as reports of obesity, poor diet and physical inactivity in children and young people become more and more common.

Events take place to promote healthy hearts. Charities and other organisations coordinate walks and runs, health checks, public talks, shows and exhibitions to name a few of the interesting and informative events which mark the day.

So on Heart Day, get involved, eat your fruit and veg and get outside; both you and your heart will feel the benefits.



And



Biscotti Day



Chocolate Hazelnut, Honey Pistachio, Almond and Lemon Dipped in White Chocolate, Dried Cherry and Almond Biscotti, Biscotti alla Parmigiana, Peppermint Biscotti, Almond and Raisin, these are just a few samples of the absolutely rainbow of flavors you can get Biscotti in.

All of them are the perfect accompaniment to your favorite blend of coffee or a steaming cup of relaxing tea, their double-baked crunch absorbing the myriad of flavors and softening into an expertly textured snack.

Biscotti Day celebrates these wonderful treats, and reminds you to try a new flavor, or indulge in your favorite.

History of Biscotti Day

Biscotti are almond biscuits that originate in Prato Italy, they are the result of a process that leaves them delicious and crunchy, twice-baking. Their firm crispy texture is one of the reasons they’re traditionally served in Vin Santo, a sweet white dessert wine. Biscotti were the result of a process that was used to help preserve food for a long time, and thus twice-baked foods were often taken on long journeys and wars by Roman Legions.

Since then they’ve been a popular part of the dietary culture of Italy, and eventually spread across the world finding a new home in coffee shops.

The cooking process starts with a barely wet dough of flour, sugar, eggs, and unskinned/ unroasted almonds, without any form of yeast or fat. This dough is baked once in a slab the shape of the biscotti, and then baked again after being sliced into the signature shape known to the end customer.

While the traditional recipe involves almonds, as mentioned above, they can also be made with pine nuts, walnuts, dry fruits like raisins, or just about any low-moisture ingredient you can conceive of. It’s from these origins that the humble Biscotti comes.

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And

NATIONAL COFFEE DAY



Whether getting one to go or lingering over a second cup, on September 29 be sure to observe National Coffee Day!

Ah, the perfect cup of java. According to an expert cupper (a professional coffee taster), there are four components of a perfect cup: aroma, body, acidity, and flavor.

From the moment the average coffee lover opens a fresh bag of coffee beans, the aroma beckons, percolating the senses.

Even those who don’t drink coffee tend to enjoy the fragrance a roasted bean casts. When determining the body of a coffee, the bean, the roast, and the brew are all factors.

The bean affects the texture of the coffee, whether its silky, creamy, thick or thin on the tongue and throat.

However, the darker the roast and how it is brewed will alter the feel of a coffee’s body, too.

Grandpa’s motor oil blend versus the coffee shop around the corner’s silky smooth, well- practiced grind have entirely different bodies. The region a coffee is grown determines its acidity. The higher the elevation the coffee grows, the higher the quality and the acidity.

These coffees are considered brighter, dryer, even sparkling by cuppers.

When it comes down to it, coffee lovers cherish the flavor as well as the caffeinated boost this roasted bean gives morning or night, black or with cream and sugar.

Hot or cold it provides enjoyment even when decaffeinated! There are many legendary accounts of how coffee first came to be, but the earliest credible evidence of either coffee drinking or the knowledge of the coffee tree appears in the middle of the 15th century in the Sufi monasteries around Mokha in Yemen.

It was here coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed, much like they are prepared today.

Yemeni traders brought coffee back to their homeland from Ethiopia and began to cultivate the seed. In 1670, coffee seeds were smuggled out of the Middle East by Baba Budan, as he strapped seven coffee seeds onto his chest.

The first plants grown from these smuggled seeds were planted in Mysore.

It was then that coffee spread to Italy, to the rest of Europe, to Indonesia and the Americas. Brazil produces more coffee in the world than any other country followed by Colombia.

More than 50 countries around the world grow coffee, providing a delicious variety for the indulgence of steamy cups of the black drink for connoisseurs to consume.




Finally a day Linville can really get into