The Unashamedly Always Appetizing Urgelia Cheese

It is semi-soft with creamy and aromatic meat body and is made in the Catalan Pyrenees mountain region of northern Spain. Urgelia cheese has a robust, slightly salty flavor with small eye holes through out. The salty flavor comes from the salt brine used to cure it. Otherwise it has a slightly nutty, beefy and creamy flavor.

Urgelia goes well with burgundy and merlot wines, is a great complement to crackers, olives and breads. This Spanish cheese is comparable to the French cheese called St. Nectaire made in the Auvergne region of central France.

You can buy this cheese at specialty store but it can get pricey. Venissimo Cheese, Inc. out of San Diego sells urgelia for $11.00 a half pound.

Very Vanilla Fruit Salad fits the V

Do want to make something delicious and sweet but have very little time? Very Vanilla Fruit Salad is a quick recipe that can be thrown together, tastes so good even kids will love it, and it has very little calories (56 per serving!) and absolutely no fat!

Visit Start or End the Day with Very Vanilla Fruit Salad to view the recipe and a drink mix that is a perfect match. I made this recipe at home in just a few minutes and it didn't last much longer. My kids absolutely loved the fruits I put in our fruit salad but don't let my recipe fool you. You can change it up to add any of your favorite fruits to create a fruit salad everyone in your house will love!

Happy Eating!

Waffling for Waffles

Waffles! Waffles! Who wants waffles? Waffles are a dough-based batter that is cooked using a waffle iron to create pattern. This pattern gives waffles their unique look with little crevices through out (great for catching all that syrup!).

Waffles are often served as a breakfast food but they can be served any time of day and they can be sweet, savory and even decadent depending on what you put in the batter or on top of them. Some foods that compliment waffles are fruits (bananas and strawberries are a favorite), chocolate, whipped cream, maple syrup, and even ice cream.

In Sweden, an entire day is dedicated to this typically American breakfast food. Waffle Day is held on March 25 and people eat waffles through out the day. According to a bunch of waffle sources that cannot necessarily be relied upon, the world's largest waffle was over 3,000 square feet and existed briefly in Chicago in 1986 before it disappeared the next day.

If you are looking for something new give this Food Network recipe for Savory Sour Cream and Chive Waffles with Sausage and Lingonberry Syrup a try.

Yum for Yakitori!

Yakitori is the basic food on a stick. Traditionally it is Japanese skewered fowl or chicken. Non-poultry foods can be considered Yakitori but it most often made up of chicken parts on a stick. Some of the common types of chicken found in Yakitori include chicken heart, liver, chicken meatballs, gizzard, skin (until really crispy), gizzard and all white meat (called toriniku in Japanese).

Just because you put chicken pieces on skewer doesn't make it Yakitori yet. How it is cooked and the sauce applied are what give this food item its unique flavor. Yakitori is cooked over a charcoal grill and is either salted and then cooked or covered with tare sauce. Tare sauce is made up of mirin, sake, soy sauce and sugar.

So, the next time you are outside cooking up some grub for family think about making Yakitori the highlight of your meal.

Unleash the Fiesta this Cinco de Mayo with THE CLASSIC MARGARITA by mike’s®

Mike's Hard Lemonade Co. wants you to "Unleash the Fiesta" this Cinco de Mayo with The Classic Margarita, a new ready to drink margarita available in three flavors; Traditional Lime, Raspberry and Peach. To celebrate the launch of the new margarita drink Mike's has created a mobile app for iPhones and Androids called "The Mariachi Maker" where users can create their own grassroots mariachi jam with friends.

The app is available at the iTune's store for iPhone users and at the Android Market for Android users. To use "The Mariachi Maker" you choose an instrument; guitar, maracas, or trumpet, to create your own music by strumming, tapping or shaking your phone. Along with playing some grassroots music you can easily find Mike's new margarita drink with the product locater that the app comes with.

Andy Horrow, Chief Marketing Officer for Mike’s Hard Lemonade Co. said of the new app and product, “We want to give mike’s fans a fun and innovative way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo with the Mariachi Maker mobile app and the real margarita taste of THE CLASSIC MARGARITA by mike’s® With our ready-to-drink product and the ability to form your own mariachi band, it couldn’t be any easier to create an instant fiesta at home -- without the hassle of mixing multiple ingredients or using a blender. Now that’s what we call a fiesta!”

Whether your at home or out with friends this Cinco de Mayo give THE CLASSIC MARGARITA a try. Remember to drink responsibly. To see a video of the real Mariachi Band behind "The Mariachi Maker" check out Mike's Hard Lemonade's Facebook page.

As Mike's slogan goes, "MIKE'S IS HARD. SO IS PRISON. DON'T DRIVE DRUNK.®"

Xigua better known as Watermelon

Xigua is a common melon found in Africa. It has a hard rind that can be yellowish to green and has a soft fleshy inside that is pink and edible. American's refer to Xigua as watermelon. We eat it often and in abundance especially in the summertime. Why the fruit's name was changed is anyone's guess. Perhaps, Xigua is too hard to pronounce or maybe watermelon describes the fruit in the most sufficient way.

Some odd facts about Xigua (watermelon):
Xigua is 92% water, 6% sugar (probably the reason it is called watermelon!).
Xigua seeds were found in the Pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb suggesting that the fruit was grown in the Nile Valley in 2000 B.C.
44 U.S. States grow watermelon for commercial use.
There are over 1200 varieties of xigua fruit available in the world.

Zeppola, Zeppole, Zeppoli!

It doesn't matter how you say it. The taste is what matters. Zeppola better known as Zeppole, is a fried dough ball dusted with powdered sugar and sometimes filled with cream, jams, custard or even anchovies.

Zeppoli's are an Italian food that are sometimes called St. Joseph Day Cakes because they are eating during the feast day of St. Joseph (March 19th). These delicious pastries can be sweet, subtle or savory depending on what ingredients are used with it.

The sweet variety commonly found on board walks and in pizza shops in the U.S. is often filled with a custard or cannoli-style pastry cream and topped with powdered sugar. A savory variety can be found in Malta during the fasting period of Lent. The Zeppoles or as they are known in Maltese, sfineġ, are stuffed with anchovies making them a savory dish rather than a sweet one.

Whether you call a single one a Zeppola, a few of them Zeppole, Zeppoli or sfineġ in another language, this food item ought to be on your list of foods to try. Don't be afraid to indulge, just do it in moderation!