Flower19 added an entry about lose weight : I’m 5’ 3” and I currently weigh 131.8 pounds which doesn’t make me overweight but ugh… I’m not where I want to be. I want to lose 12 pounds and I’ll reach my goal by March! * crossingfingers * I started running again, about 7 1/2 miles, it’s been only 2 days since I started, I had forgotten how great it felt and how much I enjoyed doing it!

If you’re doing some financial belt-tightening at the same time you’re working to whittle your waistline, don’t give up. There are  ways to keep that New Year's resolution.

Filed under: Books , Champagne , Southern States The word "septicemia" probably won't figure into the next Moët & Chandon ad campaign, but for my money, the passage that follows would be a sure-fire sell (as if I need any more reason to buy champagne). Forget Granny Clampett's medicinal moonshine, i.e., the Hollywood version of alcohol as folk curative, and raise a glass to this well-told true story from One Writer's Beginnings , the elegant memoir of a true grande dame of Southern lettres, Eurora Welty: "What had struck her was septicemia, in those days nearly always fatal. What my father did was to try champagne." Continue reading Champagne as Folk Medicine

New Year is the time when many people decide to join a gym, or revisit a neglected gym membership, and in the current economic climate, gym owners will be concerned not only to attract new members but also to hold onto their existing ones, so now is a good time to get a good deal on your gym membership. According to some of the media reports from the US, gym companies are "slashing prices" (LA Times, 5 Jan 09).

New Year is the time when many people decide to join a gym, or revisit a neglected gym membership, and in the current economic climate, gym owners will be concerned not only to attract new members but also to hold onto their existing ones, so now is a good time to get a good deal on your gym membership. According to some of the media reports from the US, gym companies are "slashing prices" (LA Times, 5 Jan 09).

The minute the cold weather hits, out comes the cocoa powder to make hot cocoa. It's been a favorite winter beverage in the Magee house since my girls were old enough to ask for it! Since none of us particularly like drinking milk as a cold beverage, hot cocoa is a welcome opportunity to get some of that calcium, vitamin D, and protein that low fat milk so aptly provides. Not to ruin the whole celebration of hot cocoa or anything, but depending on how you make the hot cocoa and the embellishments added to it, we could be talking about a high nutrient beverage with about 120 calories and 1.2 grams of fat OR we could be talking about something that is in the ballpark of a rich dessert with about 350 calories and 20 grams of fat (12 grams saturated fat). So...if any of this matters to you, here is the "lighter" way to look at the basic three ingredients in hot cocoa:

Fake Colgate toothpaste, which may be contaminated with harmful chemicals, has been sold across the country.

Many people enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning to start their day with a little extra "pep." The same is often true of many exercisers, who throw back a cup of Starbucks or a diet Red Bull before hitting the gym. There's little debate that doing so will provide some extra vitality, but new research shows that...

Check out this fabulous lunch box survey form (pdf) from FamilyFun that you can print out and include in your child's lunch box. What a clever idea!

***Click on image to enlarge!*** As chef, culinary educator and a believer in non-toxic agriculture, I develop my garden as a lab for freshly delicious, seasonal cooking, becoming one of my greatest joys. A friend told me not too long...