~ A blog for the citizens of Durham Region and others to enjoy, Bowmanville, Newcastle, Ajax,Whitby, Pickering, Clarington. This blog is about Food, Life, Culture
Make entertaining a crowd a no-fuss affair with a few of our favorite appetizer recipes.
Simple Summer Appetizers
Grilled Shrimp Gazpacho
A cool soup to temper a hot day is an essential summer treat. Plenty of fresh summer veggies, such as cucumbers and bright bell peppers, lend a festive confetti-like coloring to this recipe. This popular Spanish dish pairs well with Latin American flavors, so plan a fiesta menu! Recipe:Grilled Shrimp Gazpacho
Smoked Bluefish Spread
Dips are the secret to hosting a stress-free summer gathering: They’re simple to prepare, no trouble to transport, and they keep guests satisfied while you prepare the main entrée. This one mixes fish with cream cheese for a winning combination. If bluefish isn’t available, smoked tuna or trout can be substituted. Recipe:Smoked Bluefish Spread
Greek Shrimp Bruschetta
Combine some Mediterranean flavors with a classic Italian antipasto, and you get this highly rated recipe. Shrimp adds a new dimension to bruschetta and makes it a heartier accompaniment to a meal. As reviewers have noted, this zesty dish is perfect for a crowd. Recipe:Greek Shrimp Bruschetta
Women are 14 percent more likely than men to select environmentally friendly packaging over non-“green,” more-convenient alternatives, according to a recent study of 1,011 adults commissioned by the IP Solutions business of Thomson Reuters. Men surveyed were more apt to select products packaged to provide greater convenience.
This finding is part of an intellectual property report released by Thomson Reuters, World IP Today: Convenience vs. Conscience – Food Packaging in the 21st Century, that explores the food packaging industry to identify its trends and drivers. The analysis assesses the state of food- and beverage-packaging innovation across a number of information sources, including patents, trademarks, scientific literature and litigation data.
Key findings from the report include:
Convenience vs. conscience – a tie: In the great “convenience vs. conscience” debate, people are fairly evenly split between environmental conscience and consumer convenience when it comes to making food- and beverage-packaging decisions. The industry is headed in the direction of providing both convenient packaging and conscientious protection of the environment, satisfying both needs rather than making it an either/or decision.
Consumer-facing companies top leader lists: Companies such as Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods and Mars Inc. are the top B2C (business-to-consumer) filers of design patents in terms of their packaging innovation, while others such as Reynolds, Solo Cup Company and Nestle are the leading consumer product companies filing for protection of packaging-related trademarks. The top B2B (business-to-business) packaging innovators that supply the consumer product companies include Dianippon Printing, Toppan Printing and Yoshino Kogyosho (Yoshino Plastics).
Green labeling “loophole”: While patents mentioning biodegradability, recycling and barrier films are increasing in frequency, a lack of standardization in what constitutes an environmentally friendly package has resulted in ambiguity as to which packages really are “green.” With organizations including the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Sustainable Packaging Coalition and the European Organization for Packaging and the Environment currently working on standards, this issue will likely receive more attention in coming months.
Looking ahead – interactive packaging: Beyond the “green” theme, other key areas of focus showing up in the Thomson Reuters analysis are innovations in tamper-evident packaging and interactive packages that use RFID technology to track food from source to destination.
"Analysis in the Convenience vs. Conscience – Food Packaging in the 21st Century report shows the insight that can be gleaned from studying intellectual property information and related scientific-journal data,” said Susan Cullen, Ph.D., Thomson Reuters IP practice director and co-author of the report. “It is our hope that readers will see the unique perspective IP data provides and look to it when making business decisions and trying to understand an area more clearly.”
The data in this report were compiled using the Thomson Innovation® IP research and analysis platform, which incorporates the Derwent World Patents Index® (DWPISM) database of 20 million patent families covering more than 42.5 million patent documents. Trademark research was conducted using SAEGIS™, an online trademark screening solution. Litigation information was gathered using IP Monitor on Westlaw, the industry-leading legal research service from Thomson Reuters.
Celebrate your successes, your growth, your accomplishments, small or large. Celebrate you and who you are. You are a child of God. Beautiful, a delight, a joy. You do not have to try harder, be better, be perfect or be anything you are not. Your beauty is in you, just as you are each moment.
Celebrate that.
When you have a success, when you accomplish something, enjoy it. Pause, reflect, rejoice. Celebration is a high form of praise, of gratitude to the Creator for the beauty of God’s creation. To enjoy and celebrate the good does not mean that it will be taken from you. To celebrate is to delight in the gift, to show gratitude.
Celebrate your Life! Celebrate the lessons from the past and the love and warmth that there is today. Enjoy the beauty of others and their connection to you .
Celebrate all that is in your life. Celebrate all that is good. Celebrate you!
Today, I will be grateful for any awareness I encounter, I will display gratitude, peace, and dignity when life gets my attention, I will remember that’s it’s okay to accept the temporary discomfort from awareness because I can trust that it’s my higher power moving me forward.
God, I pray that You would cause only good and excellent things to come from my lips. Fill my heart with Your love, peace, patience, and kindness so that it overflows from my mouth. Help me to speak of positive things and not negative-words that bring life. I know the words I speak can bring blessings into my life or they can keep blessings from me. Help me to never shut off the flow of all You have for me by speaking words that are not glorifying to You.
Listen, for I will speak of excellent things, and from the opening of my lips will come right things.
Proverbs 8:6
***
*This weekend I am in the mood for some serious Reggae music oh, my, gosh! Below you will find three reggae songs—Enjoy!
Estelle Fanta Swaray is 30 yrs.old commonly known as Estelle, and formerly as Est’elle, is an English R&B singer-songwriter, rapper and record producer. Estelle is from Hammersmith, London England. In 2009, she won a Grammy Award for American Boy featuring Kanye West in the category for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration as well receiving the MOBO for ‘Best Newcomer and received three consecutive ‘Best Female Artist’ trophies from the UK Hip-Hop Awards. Estelle have performed with many artist including David Guetta, Sean Paul, Kanye West, John Legend, Will.I.Am, Karl Hinds, Keezo Kane & others.
One word for this song—Wicked! I feel like I could go to Jamaica right now oh, my, gosh! That’s not possible though so Estelle & Sean Paul took me there with this song.——Enjoy!
Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques is 38 yrs.old who performs under stage name Sean Paul, is a Jamaican Grammy winning reggae/dancehall artist who is the former lead vocalist of the Dutty Cup Crew. Sean Paul was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and spent his early years in Upper Saint Andrew Parish, a few miles north of Kingston. His parents, Garth and Frances, were both talented athletes, and his mother is a well-known painter. Sean Paul played for the national water polo team from the age of thirteen to twenty-one, when he gave up the sport in order to launch his musical career.His paternal grandfather was a Sephardic Jew whose family immigrated from Portugal, and his paternal grandmother was Afro-Caribbean his mother is of English and Chinese Jamaican descent.
Kevin Lyttle (born Lescott Kevin Lyttle Coombs, is 34 yrs.old and is a soca artist hailing from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, who had a worldwide hit with the interpellative soca ballad, "Turn Me On", which was recorded by Lyttle and the dancehall artist Spragga Benz. Lyttle lives in Miami, Florida and is married to Dr. Jacqueline James. http://www.kevinlyttle.com/
Love this Song! Turn this up and dance—These West Indians not shy at all about dancing. They don’t understand to dance conservatively—That’s not in their vocabulary—I hope they all single —oh, my, gosh! Ahh……too funny—–Enjoy! This Video is newer—see the original one here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP3Exc5tCtc
of 1,011 adults commissioned by the IP Solutions business of Thomson Reuters. Men surveyed were more apt to select products packaged to provide greater convenience. 
Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques is 38 yrs.old who performs under stage name Sean Paul, is a Jamaican 
Kevin Lyttle (born Lescott Kevin Lyttle Coombs, is 34 yrs.old and is a soca artist hailing from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, who had a worldwide hit with the interpellative soca ballad, "
