Wine and Food Pairing
Cabernet Sauvignon
Flavors range from black currant, cherry, plum, mint, chocolate and spice. Pairs well with rich roasted meats or with grilled vegetables.
Chardonnay
Grape comes in a variety flavors. Tastes includes orchard, tropical, citrus fruit, butter or spice. Pairs well with fish and seafood
German Rie Continue reading »
So many of you will know that Carp belong to the species (Cyprinus Carpia). A fish whose natural habitat was Asia, but is now found on most of the large land masses, like Europe and North America.
Carp have had a chequered career. They were once considered to be an undesirable element in fresh water lakes and rivers. This resulted in a lot of activity aimed at getting carp exterminated.
Why were they undesirable? Because they are omnivorous – they eat both animal and plant foods indiscriminately. To ensure they miss out on nothing in their diet, carp roil about in the water, stirring up the sediment, rooting about for food. This increases the turbidity and creates an environment which affects the well-being and growth of many of the plants and animals found underwater.
A nice word – roil. It also means to vex, disturb and irritate, which bring us back to the verb ‘to carp’. This means to find fault, to complain unreasonably, to niggle or be critical. There seems to be a connection here between ‘carp’ and ‘to carp’ – don’t you think?
Carp’s fortunes began to turn when it was discovered that they are an easy fish to raise for food. If they are farmed, large amounts of fish meat can be produced per acre. This is done most successfully in Europe and Asia. To fish-farm successfully, the oxygen in the water needs to be replenished regularly. This can be done fairly easily when the fish are kept in tanks and the water is continually circulated by means of a pumping system. The food is fed directly into the tanks, though it’s unclear what exactly happens to the waste the fish produce.
This mass food production is a little at odds with the fact that they are not a particularly edible variety of fish, except perhaps to Polish people, to whom they are as important at Christmas time as the turkey is elsewhere. You will not find Carp appearing regularly as a dish on 5 star menus anywhere in the world.
To anglers though, catching Carp is a great sport. They can be very wily, putting up a great fight to avoid being removed from the water. At present the world fishing record for a Carp is more than 90lbs 15ozs.
And then, how about:
C for Carp
A for Anglers
R for Ready mades – boilies which have already been manufactured, sold in bags.
P for Pod, a folding stand where carp rods are placed.
Check out an ebook UK Carp Fishing Secrets which includes recipes for bait and tips on rigs, at the website below.
Get software to convert your real audio songs to mp3 with this convert ra to mp3 tools.
America’s lasting gift to the world, the potato feeds people all over the planet. Following the discovery of the New World, Spanish plundered the palaces, and their Galleons carried off gold and silver by the ton, but that was only money. The foods they took from Native American farmers would ultimately feed the world. Where would we be without corn, or chocolate, or potatoes?
Potatoes originated in the Andes Mounta Continue reading »
Hot chocolate is a delicious drink that is a cocktail of cocoa powder or chocolate, sugar, and milk. This toothsome beverage can be traced back to the Mayan and Aztec civilizations in which they consumed their chocolate drinks made from roasted cocoa seeds mixed with spices like chili and achiote or annatto. The chocolate beverage was not only enjoyed but was also revered. Unfortunately, not everyone has the honor to drink choco Continue reading »
France and Germany are expected to have large online gluten free search demand values, but they don’t. Search volumes for Nov 2009 gluten free associated search term volumes were found and the results shown in the tables below:
france / French TOP TEN (Both English and French searches)
FRANCE – English speaking
Terms…………….……NOV 09 Volumes
Gluten………………….5400< Continue reading »
The early Greeks were the first in learning the secrets of mixing flour and water. The dough would be rounded and flattened then heated over hot stones. The round flat bread found its’ way to Italy. In the 18th century the flat bread was called “Pizzas”. The pizza was an inexpensive meal and sold by vendors in Naples to the people. Keep in mind there were no topping on the pizza at this time.
Queen Margherita wa Continue reading »
Edible mushrooms are rare but once you taste it you won’t forget its unique flavour. Delectable mushrooms that can be included on your daily food recipes as an additional spice.
Many animals and humans also eat the fruit of the mushroom body. There are greater than two thousand types of mushrooms but only 2.5 to 5 % are edible. The rest are highly infectious and can even mimic the ones that are fit for human consump Continue reading »
There are new trends driving the ready meals market forward in 2008. Consumers are regaining a sense of heritage which is driving demand for traditional national recipes. Manufacturers are developing ready meals that are making it more convenient for consumers to develop ‘homemade’ style food, involving the use of fresh and local ingredients. The demand for freshness overlaps with trends in healthy ready meals, which remains Continue reading »
I love small engines, and fix them for the fun of it. I’ve found that most of the problems with engines are pretty simple once you’ve seen them so I’m planning to document what I can to make “Fixin’ Mowers” simple. Here’s what I’ve documented so far:
Doesn’t Start:
If the mower was running just fine last Fall, and will not start in the Spring, the first thing to suspect is that the gas has gone bad.
If it just keeps running worse and worse until it stops (or doesn’t start), it could easily be the air filter.
This is what a “Fouled Plug” looks like.
‘Tecumseh carbs are famous for gumming up and the mower may start but it will not keep running. Here’s a “quick” cleanup.
Here’s “starts, but doesn’t run” problem from a very NEW Tecumseh with the mostly plastic carb. The seal between the main jet and the carb bowl swells up and cuts off the gas. I replaced it with a small O-ring. Get FIAT KOBELCO repair manuals
You hit something and the motor will not restart. Most likely, it’s a broken flywheel key.
B&S carbs with the carb on the gastank are VERY reliable, usually all they need is a new gasket between the carb and the tank. While it’s apart check the screens on the pickup – I’ve seen more than a few that have been plugged up.
No spark on an OLD (many before 1982) engine? It’s probably the points, but it may be easiest to replace the coil with a newer pointless model.
Bring home a previously working riding mower and it doesn’t even try to start?
WATER in the gas will stop a mower dead. It goes to the bottom of the tank, and the bottom of the carb – where the engine pickes up gas. Drain the carb and dry the tank if you find water in the carb. This is water and gas in a jug, but if you see drops in the bottom of the carb bowl or tank, or see it bead up on top of the driveway or a rag, you have water. Don’t park the mower outside!
ALCOHOL in the gas is causing problems for older mowers. They’ve even had to change the materials of the float needle valve seat. I’ve seen old seats that have swollen shut. A mower I just worked on didn’t have that, but it HAD separated the liner from the fuel line and the liner turned into a one way flap valve!
Flipped my mower over upside down, and now it doesn’t start!
If you poured gasoline into the oil filler and caught it before you ran the engine, just drain it out and pat yourself on the back for catching the mistake. A little fuel left in the crankcase will quickly evaporate off. If you filled it up to the top and ran it, it probably made a terrable mess before you could do a whole lot of damage, so same thing; drain and refill it. If you didn’t catch it in time, it would have made grinding sounds and maybe even frozen up or thrown the rod through the crankcase side.
Starter Problems:
How to replace the pull rope.
Rope problems with the newer B&S ratchet system: starter clutch trouble.
More starter ratchet problems: Rope doesn’t retract or it trys to spit out the rope, this is the OLDER B&S starter ratchet.
How to replace the pull rope on a weed wacker string cutter.
How to repair the spring of a B&S starter
The mower trys to yank the starter rope out of your hands! You hit something and the motor will not restart. Almost for certain it’s a broken flywheel key.
Doesn’t Move:
Here’s the normal problem on a shaft drive Lawn-Boy.
And here’s an example of what happens when the belt drive clogs up with grass. It happens with the Craftsman type horizontal belts, too.
Other Stuff:
Blowing white smoke out the exhaust may not be terminal.
Tecumseh carb floods or leaks gas. It’s only a matter of time until they do!.
If you let water sit in the carb, this happens. You can clean it up, but it’s a lot of hard, messy work!
It stopped for NO REASON, can be that grass has managed to gum up the drive.
Snapper Blade Clutch – Comet Blade Clutch
How does my Techumseh (most Craftsman) throttle linkage hook up? Most newer ones look more like this.
How does my Briggs & Stratton throttle linkage hook up? (the older mowers only have the larger spring)
Briggs and Stratton Gas tank has cracked and leaks. It’s almost impossible to repair, but if your mower isn’t too old – ask your dealer or B&S about the safety recall. I promise that all the Gorilla Snot in the whole world will not fix it!
Big Problems:
You can split a late model OMC Lawn-Boy case with the engine on the deck.
You hit something and the motor will not restart. Maybe it’s a broken flywheel key.
If it’s not the flywheel key, it could be one of several PLASTIC gears inside the motor. This example is the govenor gear after a quick stop.
Did your 5-6hp Techumseh BLOW UP for no good reason? It wasn’t YOUR fault, they ALL do that!
If you wish you knew more about repairing engines either as a hobby like me, or a side business, this is my advice:
I’d worked a lot on motorcycles and cars, so mowers were just the same to me, but easier.
The reference book that I found most useful when I was starting was “Walk-behind Lawn Mower” by Intertec.
The “Briggs and Stratton Service and Repair Instructions” by B&S is good
(they have a lot of repair info on their site)
A neighbor gave me “How to repair Briggs and Stratton engines” by Demsey which looks pretty good too – but I haven’t had time to read it.
The local Community College has small engine classes that are pretty good (maybe yours is too).
There are a couple of Yahoo groups – “smallengines” and “Sharing_small_engine_secrets” that you should join and read and read and ask and ask. And finally, find a couple other folks that like to fix motors. I have several small engine friends I’ve made, and we swap experience all the time.