Interesting Beer Games to Go with Your Food

By Sky Joe

Most beer games are designed to get the players as loopy as possible. I’ve listed a few here that at least require a modicum of skill and not as much chug-a-lugging. I’ll say it again: Be responsible and don’t torture yourself and others around you by drinking too much. Most beer games are takeoffs of basic non-beer games.

Beer Ping-Pong
Players place a full glass of beer one paddle-width from the edge of the ping-pong table. If you hit your opponent’s cup, you earn a point and your opponent must slip. If you get the ball in your opponent’s cup, you earn five points and he or she must drink the whole cup. (Don’t swallow the ball!)

Beer Piano Here’s one of the musically inclined. One person blows into a beer bottle that’s been all or partially drunk. The player tries to find that note on a piano (or any other instrument). He or she gets three tries. If the person fails, it’s times to drink a beer. If the contestant gets the note, the note blower must drink.

Beer Cheers or “Hi Bob!’
This is similar to many television drinking games. Watch Cheers. Every times Norm touches his beer, drink a gulp of beer. If he drinks from his beer, drink the entire time he’s drinking. Every time the crowd yells “Norm!” drink. Other players can base their consumption on primary character’s actions in the show. A similar game is played with the old Newhart show. Every time someone says “hi Bob!” it’s time to chug.

Beer Hunter This one cracks me up. Take one bottle of beer and shake it for five minutes. Put it in a box with six or more beers just like it. Mix them up while the player is not looking. Have another person mix them up when the fist mixer isn’t looking and so on. The idea is to have the shaken beer hidden among its unshaken brethren. The first player picks up the beer and opens it. If he or she doesn’t get a face full if beer, he or she drinks it. And so on. You may want to try this one outdoors-no sense in damaging any furniture or angering the host.

©Skyjoe. All rights reserved. This article may be freely distributed as long as it remains unaltered inclusive of the active links and the copyright notice. No alteration is allowed without express written permission from the author.

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I Love French Wine and Food - A Rhone Valley Crozes-Hermitage

By Levi Reiss

If you are looking for fine French wine and food, consider the Rhône Valley region of southeastern France. You may find a bargain, and I hope that you’ll have fun on this fact-filled wine education tour in which we review a Crozes-Hermitage red wine from the northern Rhône Valley.

Among France’s eleven wine-growing regions the Rhône Valley ranks second in acreage. The region extends 125 miles (200 kilometers) along the Rhône River. This region is actually composed of two parts, the north and the south whose wines tend to be quite different. The northern Rhône Valley is quite narrow. Its major red grape variety is Syrah, while its major white variety is Viognier. The northern Rhône Valley produces some of the best red wines in all France, and according to its fan club, some of the best red wines on earth. The southern Rhône Valley produces about 95% of the Rhône Valley wines. This is the kingdom of grape blending. For example the famous Châteauneuf-Du-Pape AOC wine may be made from up to thirteen different grape varieties.

Vienne, population about thirty thousand, was a major town in Roman Gaul and still retains a lot of its history and its charm. Near the river you’ll find the Romanesque church of St-Pierre already rebuilt in the Ninth Century. The Gothic Cathedral of St-Maurice was built during the Eleventh to Sixteenth Centuries and largely destroyed in a religious war during the mid-Sixteenth Century. Rue des Orfèvres (Goldsmiths’ Street) is filled with Renaissance buildings and the Romanesque church St-André-le-Bas (St. Andrew the Lesser).

Vienne’s Théâtre Romain (Roman Theater) is one of the largest in France; it spans almost 450 feet (140 meters) and once held thirteen thousand spectators. Excavation started only in 1922. This theater hosts a great jazz festival in July. Other Roman ruins include the Temple d’Auguste et de Livie (Temple of Augustus and Livia) erected by the Emperor Claudius and the Plan de l'Aiguille (Needle Tower), a truncated pyramid that was once part of a Roman circus. Some say that this structure encloses the tomb of Pontius Pilate.

Before reviewing the Côtes du Rhône wine and imported cheeses that we were lucky enough to purchase at a local wine store and a local Italian food store, here are a few suggestions of what to eat with indigenous wines when touring this beautiful region. Start with Foie Gras avec Gelée de Viognier (Goose Liver Pâté with Viognier Jelly). For your second course savor Chevreau à l’Ail et Herbes Sauvages (Baby Goat with Garlic and Wild Herbs). And as dessert indulge yourself with Granité aux Pommes et Calvados (Apple and Calvados Ice).

OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.

Wine Reviewed
Domaine du Colombier Crozes-Hermitage 2005 13% about $25
Let’s start by quoting the marketing materials. Until 1992, Florent Viale and his father sold all of their grapes to négociants. As Crozes-Hermitage came into its own, the Viales decided to make their own wines. The results have been nothing short of spectacular. Layers of blackberry, tar and black pepper dominate their finely made Syrah-based wines. A very good match for roast leg of lamb.

My first meal was a barbecue including a rib steak marinated in a homemade ketchup-based sauce with chunks of garlic, corn on the cob, and red-skinned potatoes. The wine was powerful and mouth-filling. It was quite long and had no trouble maintaining its flavors. I didn’t used to be a fan of tannins but these Crozes-Hermitage tannins melted in my mouth along with the meal.

My next meal involved a combination of marinated barbecued beef and veal ribs, red-skinned potatoes, and a garlic-based Moroccan salad. First I tried the more subtle veal ribs. The Crozes-Hermitage was very powerful with a lot of tobacco. As powerful as the wine was, it complemented the veal very well. The taste of dark fruit predominated with the beef ribs. There was quite a change in the wine, but with both types of ribs it was simply great. Dessert consisted of blueberry fruit juice candy. I was somewhat surprised but the wine was a good accompaniment. I tasted blackberries in the wine.

I know how much this wine likes beef and veal, so I decided to try it with barbecued chicken marinated in a commercial Mediterranean-style light sauce. The wine was careful not to overwhelm the meat. Once again the meal included barbecued red-skinned potatoes and this time, perhaps because the meat was subtler, the potatoes had more effect bringing out the earthiness of the wine. Interestingly enough the intensive Turkish Salad was the least successful accompaniment to the wine. One might have expected the contrary, namely, that the greatest pairing success would be with the strongest tasting component. The Turkish Salad and Crozes-Hermitage combination was good, it just wasn’t as good as the other pairings in this meal.

The first cheese was a mild-tasting Italian Pecorino Fruilano. This wine is so fine that even though the cheese flattened it somewhat, it remained excellent. But believe me, I won’t subject the wine to such an indignity again. The second cheese was a nutty tasting Dutch Edam. This more powerful cheese had less of a flattening effect on the wine. Go figure.

Final verdict. This wine is a definite winner. I went back to my previous article describing a Rhône Valley wine: I Love French Wine And Food – A Red Côtes du Rhône to refresh my memory. I was very happy with that much more modest wine, priced at about half of this one.
Is the Crozes-Hermitage better? Yes. Is it twice as good? That’s a hard question. It really depends on how you view wines. The Crozes-Hermitage is definitely a fine wine for its price range, as was the other. I am definitely tempted to taste a Rhône Valley red wine in the $50 range. But I can’t promise you when. Perhaps what I should do is buy a case of this Crozes-Hermitage and drink one a year and see if the critics are right when they say it can be cellared for many, many years.

Levi Reiss has authored or co-authored ten books on computers and the Internet, but to be honest, he would rather just drink fine Italian, French, or other wine, accompanied by the right foods. He teaches classes in computers at an Ontario French-language community college. His global wine website is www.theworldwidewine.com and his Italian travel website is www.travelitalytravel.com

Halloween Recipes Are Great For Creating Ghoulish Halloween Food And Candy Treats

By Daryl Plaza

Halloween is meant to be the most frightening and scary night of the year. The guests at your Halloween themed party are certainly going to want to see you using some Halloween recipes to create fantastic Halloween treats for the table. Of course, the more ominous looking, and shockingly scrumptious the Halloween food is at your Halloween themed party, the more fun it will be. You can find a lot of different Halloween recipes that will bring out the devil in you, and provide you with inspiration to create ghoulish Halloween treats from almost any type of food that you can imagine.

Frighteningly Fun Halloween Recipes
One of the most well known and enjoyable types of Halloween decorations is a Jack O'Lantern, carved from a pumpkin. Of course, once you have carved a handful of pumpkins into scary masterpieces that you can display around your home, you are left with a lot of pumpkin flesh - this means it is time to get cooking some pumpkin Halloween treats. Some of the best Halloween recipes that are a great way to use this leftover pumpkin are for pies, soups, cookies and muffins.

Apples are another popular Halloween food item, because they are in season then too. Toffee apples are wonderful Halloween treats, and bobbing for apples makes a great game at your Halloween themed party that all the kids will love. Cookies are always a favorite treat, and you can create some creepy cookies for your Halloween party. The type of cookie mixture doesn't need to be anything fancy, the fun comes from using Halloween themed cookie cutters, such as bats, ghosts or Jack O'Lanterns, or just letting your imagination run wild and creating your own free hand designs. Food coloring adds a truly frightening finishing touch to the icing on these Halloween treats.

Halloween Tricks - or Treats?

It doesn't matter whether you are choosing which types of Halloween treats and drinks you want to serve at your Halloween party, or are trying to decide what sort of treats you are going to dish out to the miniature monsters and small spooks that turn up at your door, there are a lot of fun Halloween recipes that you can wrap up and give away as Halloween party favors, or rewards for not having any tricks played on you.

For example, a great idea for treats for your Halloween themed party is to make popcorn ghosts. Just use your favorite popcorn ball recipe, and shape them into ghostly shapes. Add a Popsicle stick for a handle, and jellybeans for eyes, and you have the perfect Halloween treat. You can adapt all of your kids' favorite foods into terrifying treats. There is no need to spend a lot of money on Halloween treats, and it can be easy to create some monstrous munchies with a little imagination. You can add your own hint of Halloween to almost anything to create devilish drinks and gruesome goodies.

Daryl Plaza is a regular contributor to Spookynite.com a Halloween informational website on creative ideas for planning a Halloween parts with decorations, music, costumes, food and candy treats.

Todays Health Food Stores: There May Be Nothing There For you Anymore.

By Jim Swank

Health food stores are emerging at a rapid rate across the country. They are expanding their numbers increasingly. Many health food stores are worker owned cooperatives and consumers' cooperatives due in part to their growth of popularity during the counter culture movement of the 1960s and 1970s and the ability of cooperative buying power to bring lower costs to the consumer.

Products
Regulators need to consider regulations to better protect vulnerable patients from incurring significant costs due to their purchasing of natural health food products lacking evidence of benefit and of questionable safety. GNC has its own line of homeopathic products as well as natural herbs. The recent boom in health food stores has provided an enormous variety of high quality products that are heads above the processed junk loaded with preservatives currently sold in today's super markets. In addition to the wider array of health food products, health food stores are often a good source of milk substitutes, cruelty-free cosmetics, bulk grains, nuts and seeds, organic fruits and vegetables, non-toxic cookware, vegetarian meat substitutes, non-dairy cheese alternatives, fat-free natural pastries, and fast-food delis.

Organic
Don't assume that chickens or eggs in health food stores are raised on pasture or are fed organic feed. It is more labor intensive on pasture and organic feed costs twice as much. Therefore, many suppliers use wording that gives the impression of pasture or organic to increase their sales and selling price.

Supplements
A health food store is a type of grocery store that primarily sells organic foods, local produce, and often nutritional supplements. The employees in health food stores differ widely in how much they know about supplements and what they can do. A health food store might also sell herbal supplements, dietary aids, body care items and many more products that might help you lead a healthier lifestyle.

Sugar
Most health-food store owners would steadfastly refuse to carry coffee, regular tea and chocolate because of the caffeine and would not sell baked goods made with sugar or white flour.
But Herb Ferleger, who owns “Food for Thought” as well as “Capitol Health Foods” on New York Avenue in Huntington, has a different attitude. The health-food pastry's greatest claim to superiority is that it is, according to the label, ''sweetened with fruit juice,'' as if that were better than sugar, corn syrup or honey. They don't taste very good, especially if you've come off of a standard Western diet high in refined sugars, refined carbohydrates, white flour, and so on.

"The main thing you want to look out for in juices is that you are getting a lot of true juice and not a lot of sugar. Some things disguised as juice can have quite a lot of sugar," Anderson warns.
Health food stores are notorious for disguising sugar with many fancy-sounding names like cane juice and cane syrup and honey -- these are all sweeteners and are no better than sugar.

Research
Researchers posing as typical consumers found employees of these stores readily giving information and product recommendations. The researchers found that, health food stores are recommending a variety of products. Early research suggested that antioxidants could be helpful in preventing heart disease, but newer research has called that theory into question. He emphasized patients should also take responsibility for researching how other remedies could affect their treatment.

Vegetarian
Health food stores often offer foods that attract people with special diets, such as people with wheat and gluten allergies, diabetics, vegans, vegetarians, and raw foodists. In addition to the wider array of health food products, health food stores are often a good source of milk substitutes, cruelty-free cosmetics, bulk grains, nuts and seeds, organic fruits and vegetables, non-toxic cookware, vegetarian meat substitutes, non-dairy cheese alternatives, fat-free natural pastries, and fast-food delis. A lot of health food stores have special products for individuals on special diets, such as gluten-free diets as well as vegan and vegetarian food. "Being vegetarian is not necessary, but if you choose that lifestyle you can get a lot of benefits.

This article was written by Jim Swank. For more information on health and nutrition, go to Jim`s website at: http://www.healthandbizguru.com

Jim Swank has been in the health care field for a number of years. His particular area of expertise is Health and Nutrition. He has a special interest in sharing how nutrition can help those with learning disabilities. For more information on health, fitness and nutrition, go to his website at: http://www.healthandbizguru.com