They say it’s never a good idea to drink alcohol on an empty stomach. That may be true if you’re not worried about gaining a little weight. By the same token, alcohol is full of ‘empty calories’. So, how can adding empty calories on an empty stomach possibly do us any harm? What it really means is that we run the risk of putting on extra weight by adding calories to our diet that our bodies don’t need.  Whether we drink or not, we still need to fuel our bodies with three square meals a day. Alcohol is not part of a daily, balanced diet, though I often try to prove that idea wrong. So, what do you do if you are a moderate drinker that likes to enjoy a couple of cocktails before a meal; a couple of glasses of wine with dinner … or both? I think it’s important to know what we’re putting in our drinks in addition to the alcohol. A 1 ounce serving of 100% alcohol would contain about 200 calories. I used the nutrition label on a bottle of Everclear Alcohol to deduce this simple bit of math. A 190 Proof, 1 ounce serving of Everclear alcohol contains about 190 calories. But, who wants to drink Everclear Alcohol? Read the rest of this entry

Veggies Straws: A Healthy Snack or Not?

In my never ending search for healthy delicious snacks, I often find they taste more healthy than delicious. The ironic thing is that the less delicious they taste the more suspicious I become about how ‘healthy’ they really are. If you’re as old or older than me, you remember how much better McDonald’s French Fries tasted when they were deep fried in Beef Tallow. Unfortunately, our nation’s health experts came up with the mistaken notion that saturated fats caused heart disease and flavorful healthy eating have never been one in the same. These very same nutrition geniuses that told us saturated fats and cholesterol were going to kill us were the same ones who spurned the invention of the one thing that really is dangerous to eat: Trans-Fats. When McDonald’s started cooking their French fries in vegetable oils they not only tasted worse, but it turns out they weren’t so healthy after all. In fact, they were loaded with these deadly trans-fats. So, now we have McDonald’s French Fries cooked in Canola or some other oil that supposedly is void of any trans fats OR saturated fats. Well, I’m here to tell ya – it still tastes fishy to me, and I mean that literally. If you’ve ever tasted any type of oily, crisp snack and wondered what that fishy taste is, you can be sure it's the result of the canola and vegetable oils which are being used in place of saturated fats. I once watched a potato chip taste test where an entire audience rated one product, "dead-last" because it tasted like fish oil. The culprit was canola oil. The winner of the taste test was the product that was cooked in sunflower oil. There is a reason our grandparents, great grand parents and beyond, used meat fats for cooking oil. It tastes better, it cooks better and it really IS healthier for you. I no longer rely on what is considered to be ‘healthy’. I rely on my taste buds. What tastes natural and good to me, is what I consider healthy. I stay away from fake-oil fried chips and I wish so badly that the burger joints would start making their fries the old way again. As I discussed earlier in my article, “How To Lower Cholesterol Fears”, this whole notion about dietary fast, cholesterol and heart disease is a dangerous and unfortunate myth. Does anyone think the nation has lost weight since the low-fat diet became popular? Read the rest of this entry

What is the hottest hot sauce? I would bet that most of us have met people in our lifetimes who claim that they can eat anything. They will proudly claim that they’ve never tried a pepper that was too hot. They think can eat the hottest chili in the world and any other number of spicy things that most normal men or women would not even dare to touch with their bare, naked lips. And if you tell them that you once ate something very hot, they will argue that it was nothing like the ridiculously, incredibly hot stuff they once had. That’s the way these boastful, hot-pepper people talk. If you know someone like this, maybe you should put them up to the task. I’m here to tell ya: Just a spoonful of Dave’s Insanity Sauce will have these manly, macho, hot-pepper-touting fools squealing like remorseful pigs before you can say, “pass the Cholula.” This stuff is not merely just another pepper sauce like Tabasco or Cholula hot sauce; it’s in a league all of its own. In fact, one dash of Insanity Sauce will have you reaching for the Cholula or Tabasco to wash it down. I used to eat lunch with a guy at a Vietnamese Pho restaurant, who would squirt gobs of hot Sriracha sauce onto a spoonful of jalapenos and gobble them down like they were vanilla wafer cookies. Unlike some of the other hot-pepper connoisseurs I’ve known, he didn’t do this to brag, show-off or impress anyone. He simply thought it tasted good and judging by his expression, he never had a bite that was too hot. I often wondered if his taste buds were dead. If I run into him again, this is the one guy that I would like to introduce to Dave’s Insanity Sauce. If this guy can eat a bite of Dave’s Insanity Sauce without flinching, it might give Dave a reason to go back to work on developing another product. What should he call it? Dave’s Ultra Ridiculously Insane Insanity Sauce? Based on the hot pepper scoville heat scale alone, I don’t think Dave has much room for improvement. Read the rest of this entry

While, I am really more of a scotch drinker, Bourbon is a whiskey I enjoy during the colder months. There is something about the cold, dark evenings that sometimes put me in the mood for the darker, sweeter, heavier bourbon flavor. A couple of years ago, a friend of mine had me do a blind taste test of three different bourbons: Ezra Brooks (Green Label), Jack Daniels, and Evan Williams. I rated the Evan Williams last, and a close draw between the Ezra Brooks (green) and Jack Daniels. My friend exclaimed that Ezra Brooks was his favorite. He preferred it over the more expensive Jack Daniels. I had to agree that it tasted good enough that I wouldn't spend the extra money on Jack either. So, Ezra Brooks has kind of become my household standard for Bourbon. I've always considered the more expensive Bulleit Bourbon to be a very good brand, so I decided to do a little bourbon review and comparison.

Bourbon Bulleit History

There is some interesting history behind Bulleit that makes it worth mentioning in this bourbon review. Bulleit Bourbon was actually invented by a Frenchman who developed a liking for Bourbon after moving from France to New Orleans, than Kentucky (Bourbon-Land). Being from France, Augustus Bulleit developed a recipe which was a little different than popular bourbons. His recipe contained a higher percentage of rye. This could explain some of what I describe in Bulleit's taste and characteristics below. The other interesting thing is that the maker of Bulleit bourbon vanished in the 1860s. With no family or close friends nearby to take over the recipe, Bulleit Bourbon was no longer made for well over 100 years. In the late 1980's, a great, great grand-son of Augustus, Tom Bulleit decided to get his hands on the recipe and re-invent his father's famous bourbon recipe. I'll never forget the commercials when Bulleit was introduced back in the U.S about 10 years ago. Thinking it was an odd, unfamiliar name to me, I decided to look up a bit of this fascinating history which made me eager to try it. I liked it, but not being much of a bourbon connoisseur, I decided I would stick with the cheaper, reputable brands for my winter bourbon cravings. About 10 years later, I was sold on Ezra Brooks. Now, 10 years later, I thought it would be fun to try Bulleit Bourbon again and compare it to my standby favorite house brand, Ezra Brooks. Read the rest of this entry

Coffee beans are green before they are roasted. It fascinates me how a hard, odorless, flavorless, green bean can be turned into something so deliciously aromatic and tasteful merely by roasting it. There is such a huge variety of coffee on the market. The way the coffee is roasted can vary from extremely light, to medium-dark, to coal black and anything in between. The fact is, no two gourmet coffee drinkers prefer it exactly the same way. Yet, we certainly spend a lot of money on coffee trying to match our tastes. Then, when we finally believe we've found that perfect coffee - the one variety or brand that we like better than all others, we get curious and wonder what it would be like to try something new? Inevitably, we waste money buying coffee we don't like before we find another one that matches our preference. It's a never-ending process that makes me wonder: We mix our own drinks, make our own beer and wine, cook, fry, boil and roast our food. Why don't we do the same with our coffee? There are three reasons to consider your own Home Coffee Roaster: Read the rest of this entry