email this pageMay 14 - Don't Forget
Whitman's Sampler, the popular Mother's Day gift, has been around longer than the holiday itself. Launched in 1912, two years before President Woodrow Wilson officially proclaimed Mother's Day a national holiday, the Sampler, whose box is modeled after a piece of cross-stitched needlework, was the brainchild of Whitman's Chocolates President Walter P. Sharp. It's possible that the box design vaulted the Sampler to chocolate supremacy, but it might have been another innovation: a diagram inside the top shows which chocolate has which filling, so Mom can go straight to her favorite truffles and leave the cashew clusters for you.
- Tamar Haspel
Easy to Be Green
Now there's a new way to get back to nature in some U.S. national parks. Park concessionaire ARAMARK has launched sustainable, wine-paired menus at restaurants in Shenandoah, Mesa Verde, Denali and Olympic National Parks. Grown and harvested in ways that are most healthful and least harmful to the environment, ARAMARK's offerings include organic produce, shade tree-grown coffee and seafood from species populations that are not currently under threat of extinction.To find out more, go to www.aramarkparks.com - Charyn Pfeuffer
Say Queso
If Monterey Jack (born in Monterey, Calif.) is the closest you've come to Mexican cheese, head a bit farther south. Most real Mexican cheeses are fresh cheeses with a consistency more like feta than Cheddar. Queso blanco (white cheese) and queso fresco are intentionally mild and cooling to contrast the spicy chile-based dishes south of the border. They have a crumbly texture and become soft and creamy when heated, although they don't melt. Because they're higher in moisture than aged cheeses, they have a lower fat content too.
From One Busy Mom to Another
Holly Clegg is not out to impress a restaurant full of diners or the food cognoscenti. She's out to impress the most important people in her life - her family. In addition to writing cookbooks, whipping up brownies on television shows and promoting skillets and sweet potatoes, Clegg is first and foremost a mom. And the busy lifestyle of a mom is what has shaped her food style and cookbooks for the past 20 years. Her latest book, The New Holly Clegg Trim &Terrific Cookbook (Running Press, 2006) contains more than 500 familiar favorites, most attainable in less than 30 minutes. Clegg doesn't shy away from convenience items such as canned Mexi-corn, jarred salsa and bottled sweet and sour stir-fry sauce, and her recipes contain a complete nutritional analysis. Check out her brunch menu, perfect for Mother's Day, at www.relishmag.com. For more of her recipes, go to www.HollyClegg.com.
Related Stories
If you enjoyed reading this story, This and That May 2006, then you might enjoy these other stories.- Snack Attack
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- A Mother's Day Brunch for Busy Moms
- This and That July 2006
- Mother’s Day Dream
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