Wordless Wednesday is Holiday Lip Balm

Holiday Lip Balms - In Tubes!

Word of the Week: Hot

My husband was given a bottle of this hot sauce a few years ago. It's from W.O. Hesperus Co., made right here in Portland, Maine. With a simple ingredient list (Red Savina Habaneros, cider vinegar, Maine sea weed & sea salt) and a heat level of 13 out of 10, it's a flavorful sauce that packs a punch wallop.

That gift marked the beginning of a beautiful relationship. It started off appropriately enough: on nachos, with guacamole, in dips. Then one night the bottle appeared, uninvited, next to the soup bowl. Within a short time it was popping up by the pasta salad and heating up the roasted veggies. Even the omelets weren't safe from its scorching. "It really enhances the flavor of lots of foods," my husband says, as he sets the fourth new bottle in its place of honor next to his plate.

He's also tried the Cocoloco sauce, which wasn't as hot but had "great tropical coconut-y flavor," and the Kick in the Nuts pistachios which were "tasty but would have been hotter if they'd removed the shells before seasoning them."

The interesting thing about this culinary obsession is that in two years' time, my husband has had one cold. While the rest of our household passes around viruses, he passes the Jolly Roger bottle: stirred in soups, tucked in tacos, muddled in macaroni. And never a sniffle. In fact, that solitary cold came within a week of running out of his beloved sauce.

I wondered if there was a good reason for his seeming immunity. While chili peppers are high in vitamin C—an antioxidant that may help the immune system—they also contain capsaicin, which may (according to WebMD) "help prevent bacterial infections" and "may also make mucus thinner and help move it out of the lungs." If you're exposed to a virus or bacteria, maybe that runny-nose-feeling from hot sauce is actually helping you throw it off. (And if you catch a cold, at the very least hot sauce will make you feel less congested.)

Of course, my husband's story is just an anecdote, and I'm not saying this will work for everyone. But with my kids' school flu clinics canceled and no rescheduled date, I think we all may start passing the bottle. Got hot?

Happy Halloween!

Happy Candy Corn Day

Yes, it is National Candy Corn Day. No, I usually don't celebrate. But when there's candy corn around (and honestly, what family doesn't have a big ol' bag or bowl of it this time of year?) why not indulge? After all, it's fat-free! Here are some other candy corn facts:

- Candy corn was first made in the 1880s.

- About 9 billion (yes that was a "b"--BILLION) kernels are made by candy companies in a year.

- Originally made by hand, candy corn is now manufactured by machines.


More candy corn information.
Gourmet candy corn.
Candy Corn lip balm

Pink Lady and Pink Cupcake Review

I had to share this with you! I was really excited to see this review of our Pink Lady and Pink Cupcake products today at Sarah's Surprises. Sarah had mentioned the Pink Lady products earlier this month because the sale of these items benefits breast cancer awareness year-round.

Please feel free to leave your comments here...or better yet, leave some comments for Sarah if you've tried any of our products and have feedback to share!

Wordless Wednesday is Red Currant

Coming soon...

350.org Action in Brunswick, ME

Last week I wrote 350 words on 350.org, and mentioned that I was planning to attend a 350.org action in Brunswick on Saturday. Well, I watched it pour Saturday morning and sorta started wishing I hadn't blogged about it...much easier to chicken out and stay home if no one is waiting for the follow-up! But I was marching with the "diehards" so there was no turning back!

We did have a small discussion about the irony of allowing annoying weather to prevent our attendance at a climate change event. Without appropriate action, annoying weather will be replaced by devastating weather, and getting a little bit wet will be the least of our problems. That thought made it easier (for me) to take a walk in the rain. So here we go...


Here are some of the members of St. Paul's Earth Care Commission just before the bell ringing! (My parents are third and fourth from the left.) Here is the group's action report, which you can view with the other photos at the 350.org Flickr Photostream:
"St. Paul's Episcopal Church Earth Care Commission rang bells at 2:30 in front of the church. We marched to the Unitarian Universalist Church down the street where we joined with their prayer and ringing of their bell. As a joint group, we marched up Maine Street to the First Parish Church, joining with their group as they rang their bell 350 times. The entire group then marched to Bowdoin College where we joined their 350 climate action."


Here I am looking really dry! That didn't last. But you can see I had my umbrella with me, and fortunately the event at Bowdoin was moved indoors.

And here we are in Morrell Lounge, in Smith Union at Bowdoin College, making our 350. I know, it's hard to see the 350. I'm in there, though, and so are my parents and the rest of their group! This photo was taken by Margot Miller. http://www.flickr.com/photos/350org/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Here are more details about the 350.org event at Bowdoin.

I'm so glad I was invited to participate--I truly enjoyed meeting the members of the Earth Care Commission and spending an hour in the rain with them! The event at Bowdoin reminded us that climate change is also a national security issue. There is a lot at stake, so it's vital that we keep reminding our senators and representatives how important clean energy is to all of us.

Did you participate in a 350.org action? I'd love to share your photos and experiences, too! Please let us know where you were and what you did!