DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

   Obon  or just  Bon  is a  Japanese   Buddhist  custom to honor the departed (deceased)  spirits  of one's  ancestors . This Buddhist custom has evolved into a  family reunion  holiday during which people return to ancestral family places and visit and clean their ancestors' graves, and when the spirits of ancestors are supposed to revisit the household altars. It has been celebrated in Japan for more than 500 years and traditionally includes a dance, known as Bon-Odori.    The festival of Obon lasts for three days; however its starting date varies within different regions of Japan. When the lunar calendar was changed to the  Gregorian calendar  at the beginning of the  Meiji era , the localities in Japan reacted differently and this resulted in three different times of Obon. "Shichigatsu Bon" (Bon in July) is based on the solar calendar and is celebrated around 15 July in eastern Japan ( Kantō : areas such as  Tokyo ,  Yokohama  and the  Tohoku region ),

Blueberry Muffin Cookies I should clarify, that’s a blueberry muffin cookie with a few raspberries. I added the raspberries for a bright shot of berry tartness that the blueberries alone could not provide. Remember awhile back when I was flipping classic desserts into cookies, eg.  Cinnamon Roll Cookies ,  Banana Bread Cookies , Coffee Cake Cookies ,  Pecan Pie Cookies ,  Carrot Cake Cookies . I went back to that with this one. Keep reading to find out the two key ingredients to turning a classic blueberry muffin into blueberry muffin cookie. And no, these are not muffin tops . The crumb is softer and these Blueberry Muffin Cookies are missing the hardy dome exterior of a muffin top. But I did keep the streusel topping for a little bit of crunch and an extra added kick of sweetness. To give the body a more cake-like texture I added in some cottage cheese. Oh, yes I did. I could have used sour cream and you can too if you don’t have cottage cheese on hand, but I pref

8 TIPS FOR MAKING THE PERFECT CAKE POP As many of you know I get asked to make cake pops for various events. After having some major pop catastrophes and  trying to make the best of the rolled cake pop method , I knew there just had to be a better way. I had originally thought if hand-rolled pops were good enough for  Starbucks then they must be easy enough to make. Wrong. Though I did find  ways to make it slightly more successful , my cake pop grave yard was growing with sad little cake babies that had bitten the dust and slid off sticks into the candy, while drying, after being decorated… you name a point in the process and I had pops sliding off sticks. Plus, some people didn’t care for the extreme sweetness that came from the additional frosting. The rolled method really has the texture of cake batter rather than actual cake. The softness was part of the problem. I knew I needed something more firm to hold up on the stick. So when I was asked to do the cake pops for my swe

   The  World Sauna Championships  were an annual endurance contest held in  Heinola ,  Finland , from 1999 to 2010. They originated from unofficial sauna-sitting competitions that resulted in a ban from a swimming hall in Heinola. The Championships were first held in 1999 and grew to feature contestants from over 20 countries.  Sauna  bathing at extreme conditions is a severe health risk: all competitors competed at their own risk, and had to sign a form agreeing not to take legal action against the organizers. Notably, the  Finnish Sauna Society  strongly opposed the event. After the death of one finalist and near-death of another during the 2010 championship, the organizers announced that they would not hold another.    This followed an announcement by prosecutors in March that the organizing committee would not be charged for negligence, as their investigation revealed that the contestant who died may have used painkillers and ointments that were forbidden by the organizers.