Using Coffee Pods to Make an Excellent Coffee Called Coffee Senseo

Attention, coffee lovers of this world, here is another beautiful way to make your favorite drink. If you like espresso coffee, it is almost certain that you will also like a thing called coffee senseo! Introduced all over the world by the consumer giant, Philips, Senseo is an acronym given to the new machine that uses round packages of high quality and premium grade coffee pods. If you ever want your coffee pods to be used in a more sophisticated way, you never have to go too far! Using a Seneso machine to brew a cup of coffee from an exotic blend of coffee pods is the ultimate way of creating a coffee.

The finest system of making Senseo espresso is an art by itself; a few top grade coffee pods are enough to lend you an exotic coffee that is full of high quality fragrance and taste. Seneso espresso has taken the European mainland by storm and everyone likes to use their coffee pods to make a cup of superior Seneso Espresso! This system offers many benefits and advantages like a fine filter that doesn't clog the system and an innovative way of brewing that is the trademark of this machine.

Coffee pods could be turned into a superb cup of coffee by using a Senseo machine. Simply place a coffee pod into the machine, switch on and Presto, your drink is ready within the nest 25 seconds. Take out the coffee pod and dispose off the wastage! It is as simple as that! There is no wastage of coffee pods and you will almost forget about mess that you would usually see in a coffee filter! With coffee Senseo, every time, you can make an exotic blend of rich and frothing coffee! Coffee Senseo pods are specially processed and supplied in light, medium and strong dark roast, and each and every cup is as good as anything you can hope for!

The new coffee pod system is being used by several coffee makers, who have now found a unique way presenting coffee pods. In fact, coffee pods can now be found everywhere on the internet: light, strong, decaffeinated, and flavored. There are hundred of coffee pod varieties that are available over the internet and you can choose the best coffee pod for your Senseo machine.



If coffee is grown by Mother Nature, it is brewed by master blenders assisted by coffee tasters. However, notwithstanding this fact, the quality of coffee brew depends on several factors and parameters. Coffee making is an art and this art form is perfected by many factors like quality of coffee pods, roasting parameters, time since grinding the beans, time since roasting, and cleanliness with brewing equipment, bean quality and water quality. However, the final quality of brew is entirely dependant on the quality of coffee pods.

How to Purchase Best Coffee Bean Grinders

Know your requirements



Coffee bean grinders come in different models and features. There are two main types of blenders available in market, Blade and Burr. Blade bean grinders just like their name use blade to cut the beans into small pieces whereas Burr bean grinder uses the pressing technique and cost you more. Besides the big difference in price between Blade and Burr grinders there is also big variation in the quality of brew created by them. Being pressed by burr grinder the brew comes up fine and in similar size but beans cut by blades can vary in shape and affect the taste. So is up to you to spend more money for superior brew or get blade grinder and limit the expenditure.



Is your coffee bean grinder durable?



Another point to think about while selecting the coffee grinder is that it should be easy to maintain. For example the body should be made from high quality durable material, and it should not feel flimsy. Just like any other kitchen appliances always prefer a coffee bean grinder which you can wash easily using your dish washer system and clean easily using hand.



Confirm with seller for warranty cover on its electric machinery part, because that going to be the costliest repair in case of a fault.



Contemporary Product Design



As per design is concerned select the coffee bean grinders with detachable parts, as they are easy to clean. Another feature seen in new designs is the broad neck so that user can dispense beans into the coffee grinder with ease. Other features like well balanced shape and anti-spill container should also be noticed. Try not to buy a grinder with unconventional shape and complex machine parts.



We hope this small guide has explained you adequate regarding coffee grinders and you can easily get yourself the best coffee bean grinder.

How To Stay Healthy When Eating During The Holiday Season

I don't know about you but I am like most people and I find the weight I lost over the summer and fall during the holiday season from November through Christmas. It is difficult to stay on a half way decent healthy diet when all the sweet stuff is calling your name! Still, it is possible to enjoy the holidays and still taste some of the forbidden fruit while eating healthy and avoiding the holiday weight gain that most experience.



Traditional holiday foods can be prepared to be low fat in most cases. For example, the turkey that just about everyone has for thanksgiving or Christmas dinner is extremely lean if you remove the skin and you can make a lean gravy to go over it as well. Potatoes are very good for you, until you load them up with butter and sour cream. Even pumpkin pie can be made to be healthy and nutritious if you forego the mound of whipped cream.



One of the other reasons that people gain a lot of weight over the holidays is because they decide to skip out on exercise. Half the battle of keeping the pounds off during the holidays is regular exercise, and maybe even a little extra to get rid of those extra calories you are taking in. It is a good habit to get into taking a walk after every meal and do some extra walking when you go shopping, park way out instead of looking for the closest spot. Not only will this help you to reduce your weight but it will reduce stress as well.



When it comes to the food itself, fill up on things like fresh vegetables, fruits and lean meat. That way you won't have the room to even feel like eating all the fattening desserts and you will choose a tiny sliver of pie instead of choosing a quarter of the whole pie.



Alcohol is another big culprit for excess calories and in addition to the empty calories it takes away your will to diet and also will make you eat more. Make sure that you choose water instead which will keep you from adding all the extra calories as well as help you to feel more full. Try to totally avoid eggnog which is loaded with belly building calories and fat.



You don't have to be super strict to the point of not enjoying the holidays, just remember to eat in moderation and limit the fatty foods to not much more than a taste, balancing that with some additional exercise and you will avoid the holiday bulge.

Most Popular Cake Ideas

Have you browsed online for cake ideas lately. Not all of the latest and greatest cake designs are complicated. Many of these cake ideas for birthdays and other celebrations look like just plain ol' fun! And if you've visited with wedding cake designers lately, then you know that the times are a changin' in this area.



Party Cake Ideas



Whether it be a guitar for a teen musician's birthday, a ship for a going away party or a Scooby Doo cake for a child's birthday; the character or novelty cake continues to be a favorite, especially the kind that is so easily made with a mold cake pan. Character and novelty pans are sold at large craft stores and baking supply stores. You can also find them online from well- known suppliers.



We're seeing more and more castle cakes at parties now too, from Cinderella's castle to enchanting sculptures for Renaissance events.



The more unusual birthday party cakes are getting lots of attention lately, such as the volcano cake. It's not your typical chocolate lava cake that's for sure! This one steams and spews lava, thanks to dry ice and one of the fun cake recipes from the "Cake Decorating Made Easy!" Video Books.


Another unique and fun cake idea is the beach pail cake. A variation of the flowerpot cake (a fun one for a gardener or kids by the way), the beach pail cake is a big hit with toddlers who enjoy really digging into their cakes. A plastic beach pail is filled with pudding cake and topped with a thin layer of cookie crumb sand. Vanilla sandwich cookies are a good choice for this because the filling adds some moisture to the crumbs. And when the cake's "all gone" your toddler has a new toy!



Speaking of toys, doll cakes continue to please. Barbie type dolls featuring a real doll with a cake and icing dress are popular not only with young school age girls, but grown up girls as well. Creating this type of cake appeals to the fashion designer in us!



And last but not least, buttercream and royal icing roses continue to be a top request for cakes from a young girl's birthday to a grandmother's retirement party.



Wedding Cake Ideas.



The word from wedding cake designers is "Less is more." Today's bride prefers a far less ornate design. Whether classic or whimsical, understated is often preferred. Fondant continues to be a favorite cake covering because its satiny smooth finish lends itself well to the wedding cake ideas that brides are bringing to their cake decorators. Many of the more popular cake ideas are coming from an Asian influence, such as white decorations on white icing, accented lightly with red.



Popular wedding cake ideas are also influenced by the current wave of colors that are replacing the white fondant and buttercream. Ice blue, light blush, rum pink, and lavender

are providing the backgrounds for quietly elegant or whimsical decorations such as

silver polka dots, sugar crystallized fruits and daisies. Roses, orchids and lilies continue to be part of today's wedding cake ideas.



Of course, decorating alone doesn't make a great cake. Taste and texture count too!

To learn more, check out our article on cake recipes.



And here's one more cake idea: For an easy to make castle cake, use empty paper towel tubes and ice cream cones (the sugar cone variety) for the turrets. Or just the cones alone can be used. Cover them first with icing and glue with royal icing to a graduated square or round, stacked cake (use two or more graduated square pans to create the cake). Fly colorful flags off the top of the turrets. These can be made with construction paper, cut in triangular shapes and attached with icing or glue to toothpicks. If you have enough ice cone turrets to go around, you could even fill the cones with icing - that is if you do this just before serving!

The Perfect Low Carb Diet Food

Whatever diet you choose, low carb, low fat, low sugar, all of the best tasting foods are always the villains! All the comfort foods are high in carbohydrates, high in calories, and are highly processed. All three of these things are to be avoided when trying to lose weight and/or gain health.



Carbohydrates are literally in just about everything. There are simple and complex forms of carbohydrates. We need a certain amount of carbohydrates to function. We just need LESS of a good thing. So the phrase low carb diet food, simply connotes those foods that are lower in carbohydrates.



Simple forms of carbohydrates burn faster, so you are hungry again sooner, and for one thing, this leads to cravings and binges. Simple carbohydrates are for instance those that contain sugar. While refined sugar (sucrose) is the worst enemy, there is also fruit sugar (fructose) and milk sugar (lactose).



A low carb diet food would be those that limit all carbohydrates, but especially the simple carbohydrates. Of the simple carbohydrates the only one we really don't need much of to be healthy is sucrose. Particularly, refined white sugar. We would not be wise to eliminate milk (as long as it is skim or low fat), and certainly fruit is always associated with a healthy diet.



Complex carbohydrates are those that are more healthful, such as whole grains and vegetables, which are less processed. It seems the processing is what removes the nutritional value of the foods. Complex carbs take longer to digest and are therefore available to generate energy for a longer period. However, these whole grain foods would also need to be limited due to them being considered high in carbohydrates. In that they are healthy foods, however, small amounts would provide more nutrition than a large amount of processed foods.



The only foods that don't have carbohydrates are meat and fat. Both of these, if eaten in excess can be detrimental to your health. If I eat only meat and fat, I will indeed be on a low carb diet and may lose weight. However, while I may look better, I may die of clogged arteries or a number of other diseases caused by too much meat or fat. No use being a svelte corpse. I'm vain, but not that vain



Pastries are usually made from processed flour, and refined sugar is their main ingredient. Almost as tragic as a life without pastry, is a life without pasta or rice. However, this wonderful food is also one of the main foods that would not ever be considered a low carb food! Eat these very sparingly.



So besides avoiding these major villains, the operable concepts in describing the low carb diet food are limiting or reducing, (not omitting) most carbohydrates; and choosing natural or unprocessed forms of carbohydrates, rather than processed or refined; moderation, as in all things, is key to a low carb diet plan.

A Pondering About Absinthe for Bartenders

Absinthe is one of those historic fascinations that never quite go away. We were just on the verge of letting absinthe settle into the dustbin of history when two events happened. One, the Goth kids heard about it, especially that (whoever the 19th century poet they pretend to have read) drank it, which means they must have a glass immediately so everybody knows how cool they are. Two, the cult classic (and tragically short-lived) HBO series "Carnival" featured a character who drank absinthe the way the Small Lebowski drank White Russians, so the art scene found out about it.



For satisfying this crowd of looky-loos, you could just about add green food coloring to ordinary vodka and slap on a new label and most of them wouldn't know the difference. Truly, would you yourself know absinthe if you tasted it? But for the barkeep who's serious about doing their homework and offering the real deal, here's all the research in one place.



Absinthe is (or was) a highly alcoholic, distilled liquor with a kick of anise flavoring, made from a complex set of herbs including the plant known as "grand wormwood", with a light bitterness and great complexity imparted to the flavor by multiple herbs. Be sure to correct those who call it a 'liqueur' - it had no added sugar. That's why you have that goofy spoon - you put a lump of sugar on the spoon and hold it over the glass and pour the absinthe over it. It was consistently green in color, like watered-down green apple schnapps.



Due to its sky-high proof (around 75 percent pure alcohol) and concentration of oils, absinthe drinkers typically add from three to five parts ice-water to a shot of absinthe, which causes the drink to turn cloudy; often the water is used to dissolve the added sugar (from step one) to increase bitterness. This preparation is considered an important part of the experience of drinking absinthe, so much so that it has become ritualized.



Now, here's where the kid angle comes in: The ingredient wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), contains the neurotoxin thujone. Thujone is chemically similar to THC, which is the active ingredient in marijuana, and some speculate that the two compounds act on the brain in similar ways. Of course, the first thought running through the head of a shrouded Goth is "So it's like legal pot???" Well, try to break it gently to them, but no, it isn't. Thujone is only similar to THC, not equal. You'd have to chug a gallon of the stuff to get the thujone effect, passing out in a drunken stupor first. And finally, it is, for the most part, illegal in many parts of the world even today.



The reason behind its illegality is that it was demonized as a ruining influence in 19th century France. All their poets and painters, gargling their late night glasses by gaslight in the cafe society of the belle epoch, supposedly went mad or at least slacked off on production. Vincent van Gosh lopped off his ear and he drank absinthe, so, with the same logic that causes today's courts to ban violent video games whenever kids go on a shooting spree, absinthe was promptly outlawed.



Studies have since shown that the real problem was probably alcoholism in general (including wine served at every single meal), that any specific drink. Perhaps, because absinthe was so strong, alcohol poisoning and the occasional shot of methanol (after all, it was the 19th century, and they were working by gaslight) probably struck the absinthe drinker with more regularity.



Today, most countries do not have a legal definition of 'absinthe' like they do 'scotch whiskey'. But it is technically illegal in a patchwork quilt of countries all over the globe, whatever it is. In some places the laws say absinthe's OK as long as it isn't so-and-so percentage this and that, some countries outlaw it based on its alcohol content alone, and some countries make no sense and ban drinks with wormwood in them, while ingredients like sage and sage oil (which can be 50% thujone!) get off Scott free.



Hey, sage! That's a plan. Maybe you could take Everclear, dilute it with something weak but complicated-tasting, add some sage oil, and sell it as "absinthe"! All it would take is a patent and trademark on the name, you'd have brand recognition for years to come. What's that, Everclear is illegal in some states, too? Oh, phooey, they won't let us have any fun.

For One Cup Convenience Use A Tea Pod

For many years, a person who wanted a good cup of coffee, but only one, had many methods for making it. If they wanted it to be really easy they bought a packet that had a one cup serving of coffee, put it in the brewer and waited for it to be ready to drink. Now that same convenience is available for tea drinkers. You can by a tea pod with the exact right proportion of tea sealed in a pod and ready to be put into your pod brewer. This is probably the quickest way to make gourmet tea. You can have a cup ready to drink in half a minute and because the pods are sealed they remain fresh.



The only problem is that sometimes the tea pod made by one company will not fit in the pod brewer made by a different company. This can be handled one of two ways. Either make sure that the tea you prefer is available through the company that makes the brewer you like best or buy the tea packets that say on the package that they are compatible with a variety of brewers. Check to be sure your brewer is listed. Some of the companies that make the pods have a little device they will sell you that will make them compatible with just about every pod brewer you can buy. If you are also a coffee drinker you can buy brewers that can use pods for both tea and coffee.



Although a somewhat more expensive way to buy tea these pods are catching on. An average price is five dollars for a tin of thirty pods. This is for a variety of types of tea including your old standbys like Earl Grey, other black teas and green tea as well as a variety of herbal teas. The tea pod brewers cost anywhere from two hundred to two hundred and fifty dollars. But, for many who are looking for speed and convenience with little mess to clean up, this is the way to go when making tea.



Not all retail outlets will carry the pods, so you may have to do some checking around town before you find a store that will carry what you need. Health food stores, as well as specialty supermarkets are good places to begin your search. Should you have no luck finding what you need locally, then log onto the Internet. There are a number of online stores that will provide you with a wide variety of teas available in pods, as well as quick shipping and handling.