Advertising Nursery Plants In National And Regional Magazines

Some mail order nursery companies still continue to advertise their plant products in magazines. To determine whether or not a selected magazine may have editorial pages and content concerning plants to attract mail order customers is important. The advertiser must predetermine whether or not his nursery ads will result in orders after receiving a free printed catalog or after a visit to a plant nursery website, and that is not an easy task for the inexperienced nursery man. One simple test could be: are plant nursery or other agricultural advertisers focused towards advertising in this particular magazine? A fascinating development has occurred in the past 15 years concerning the shocking and contradictory absence of nursery plant ads in so many agriculturally focused magazines. Many nursery plant advertisers in those magazines appear to have fled the marketplace and are now replaced by ads from automobile companies, farm and garden implement and tool companies, pool and fountain manufacturing companies and statuary and plant container, pot companies.

Fifteen years ago magazine subscribers could turn through a publication, page after page, of black and white classified ads located at the back of the publication. There were also boring, page after page, display ads printed in fractional page sizes or in some cases full-page ads from plant advertisers. The reasons for the staggering dropout of advertisers are several. The primary reason for the retreat resulted from the collapse of so many mail order catalog companies in years past, that failed to update and change their catalogs to meet the changing needs of the modern mail order customers. The publishers of these mail order catalogs began experience an increase in their production costs dramatically upwards every year.

The mailing costs increased every year and the U. S. postal service became an aggravating bureaucracy to deal with . The U.S. Postal Service required mail order catalog companies to jump through many hoops in order to receive bulk rate delivery. Jumping through one of the precarious hoops required the catalog mailer to have many extra employees that were needed to arrange the stacks of catalogs into precise zip code progressions. Often if one catalog was found out of order, the post office would return the whole shipment with a requirement to be rearranged by the sender, often resulting in a delay of several days. There appeared to be no active interest by the post office to improve the time of delivery for the catalogs which took ten days or more, even at the closest locations. By the time the mail order catalogs were received, many potential impulsive customers had lost interest in buying the product, or either had already purchased the plant from a local box store. Many of the catalogs were mishandled by the U.S. postal service or miss-boxed to box holders who had no interest in ordering plants. The worst policy change of the U.S. Postal Service, 15 years past, was their decision not to deliver catalogs to street addresses used by U.P.S. delivery-possibly intended to damage the U.P.S. competition, and even though a person located in a city had an assigned post office box, there would be no delivery of that persons catalog, if his P.O. box number was not designated on the catalog's shipping label, instead replaced by a street address. At that point the postal service lost its personal touch and turned an indifferent, cold shoulder to the needs of the mail order catalog companies. These so called, “undeliverable”, catalogs were sent back by the U.S. Postal Service to the sender and the catalog company was required to pay first-class postage in order to recover the catalog and the disinterested postal worker was too lazy to deliver the catalog. It is unclear, whether or not, a profit motive was in-play that resulted in the new policy change requiring an additional first-class postage fee would be paid to the U.S. Postal Service, in order to recover the “undeliverable” catalogs.

Another huge problem with the U.S. Postal Service resulted from the issuing of postal money orders, normally sent through the mail after a customer received a COD order from the mail order company. The postal money order was in payment for catalog ordered COD plants. These money orders were often lost or mis-boxed by postmen for the C.O.D. orders, and sometimes the mail order catalog nursery company never received payment for the orders that were delivered to the customer. The tracing of these lost money orders was another bureaucratic horror, that usually meant that the post office emerged as the winner, and the catalog nursery did not get paid resulting in unprofitableness and in some cases business failure. The U.S. Postal Service today is floundering in lost business, poor service, email competition, dead wood, retirement pensions, and they may eventually ride down the road to extinction like the inefficient Pony Express of the 19th Century.

There are some large, subscriber, regional magazines with circulations of over one million that still run plant nursery, full-page, color ads for box stores and regional nursery chain stores, but most smaller display ads or classified ads for nursery products have vanished. These large regional, (Southern, Northern, Eastern, Western), magazines have become heavily advertised with automobiles, food, travel & leisure, Pharmaceuticals, furniture and clothing ads. It is difficult to find the editorial articles of interest, or even the index page of contents that lies buried somewhere within the necessarily, frantic exhaustion of meaningless page turning.

Magazines normally give discounts on display or classified ads, if the ads are repeated several times. If a nursery produces its own advertisements, and additional l5% discount is normally allowed for “in house” ad production. Classified ads are the least expensive form of advertisement and appear invariably at the back of the publication in small, hard-to-read, black and white letters, but often work well for an advertiser, if the ads are repeated several times.

It appears clear through expensive years of experience, that nursery plants and products are the least effective when advertised in magazines than any other forms of media, and improvement in the future is unlikely, because of the low cost, simplicity and fast results of the inter-net. For local nursery advertisers, newspapers, radio and television do offer specialty advertising that will work occasionally on a limited basis during the proper season for selling.

Regional Cuisine Of The United States: California-Style Cooking

The great state of California carries some of the most rich aspects of American culture, from the pioneers to the gold rush to quality cuisine. Bordered by the Pacific Ocean, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, and Baja, classic California food can take on many forms. The unique cuisine of California is earmarked by a tradition of freshness and home grown quality, calling forth to mind fresh leafy green salads, fruit, and organic just-about-anything.

California is one of the major agricultural centers of the United States. The state of California, as one of the nation's leading producers of fresh produce, has an extreme abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables. When it comes to food in California, a lot of the focus is shifted to quality and nutritiousness rather than cost, taste, or anything else. While this does not necessarily mean that California cuisine tastes badly, it is not for everyone. Those who prefer a heavier, fried or battered food would have better luck sampling some other type of cuisine.

Fruits and nuts account for at least a quarter of California's farm income, and vegetables in themselves account for another 25 percent. This includes the famous grapes, oranges, nectarines, peaches, nectarines. and avocados that California is famous for producing, as well as almonds, pistachios, and walnuts. Organic food, which is grown without the aid of pesticides, insecticides, and other potentially harmful additives, is also an extremely popular aspect of California cuisine. Don't get it confused, though; contrary to popular belief, California food is not all about grapes, nuts, yogurt, and organic orange juice.

The taste of California is, of course, highly accented by its major influence from the south--of course, Mexico. Tex-Mex or Baja-style cooking plays an integral role in good old-fashioned California Cuisine. Mexican-style food is part of the way of life in California; with the dense Mexican-American population in California (about 34.3 percent of the total number of California residents), a great California chef can put a south of the border twist on just about anything! El Pollo Loco is a fast-food restaurant very commonly seen in California. El Pollo Loco, which translates into The Crazy Chicken, specializes in marinated, grilled chicken in tacos, burritos, or alone. El Pollo Loco is an excellent representation of southern California's obsession with Baja-style "Mexican" food.

There are some restaurants in California, even, that boast to serve the "classic Californian cuisine." The California Pizza Kitchen is a chief example of this type of restaurants. The California Pizza Kitchen has more than 180 locations all over the United States and the world. On July 5 the company even opened a CPK in Shanghai, China. They specialize in making food authentically "California-style." The Pizza Kitchen specializes in healthier foods; they mainly serve many different kinds of salad and pizza. All of their pizzas are specially prepared in an open flame pizza oven, conforming to the California trend of healthier meal preparation and eating.

Regional Cuisine Of The United States

Louisiana Cajun cuisine originated with a group of French residents of Nova Scotia, who were expelled by the British in 1755. They eventually, after years of a nomadic existence, settled in the Southern Louisiana swamplands. There they adapted their native cooking methods to use ingredients that were available in their new land. This cuisine is the food of hardworking country people, used to difficult conditions. It is practical, strong country food, taking advantage of easily available local ingredients, often an entire meal prepared all in one pot. This style of cooking became the hallmark of these people, called Acadians, which was later shortened to Cajuns.

Authentic Cajun recipes can be hard to come by, as they were traditionally passed down verbally from one generation to the next. They also tend to change a little with each generation, each adding their own flair. There are hundreds of recipes for most common dishes, as the independent nature is of the Cajun people is reflected in their cuisine, each kitchen adding their own special touches.

Some of the specialties of Cajun cuisine include gumbos, stews, etouffees, and rice dishes, such as jambalayas. Cajun dishes often begin with a roux, which is butter or oil cooked with flour. Roux is used to thicken, and for flavor. There are three types of roux, depending upon how long it is cooked. There is light or blond, medium, and dark roux. The light and medium types are primarily used for thickening gumbos, etouffees, and sauces, while the dark roux is used for flavor.

The common ingredients of this cuisine are easily available and native to the Southern Louisiana swamplands. Seafood is very common, such as crawfish, shrimp, oysters, red fish, speckled trout, and crabs. Rice is a staple ingredient. Other ingredients frequently used are pork, homemade sausages, beans, black-eyed peas, tomatoes, yams, okra, figs, pecans and oranges. Game is also used, such as wild turkey, duck, turtles and frog.

There are relatively few spices used in Cajun cuisine. The unique flavor comes primarily from the long simmering of the dishes prepared. One spice that is used liberally in this cuisine is Cayenne pepper. It is a fiery, finely ground spice made from the Cayenne Chile. It is usually used along with white and black pepper. Another seasoning common to Cajun cooking is file powder, also called gumbo powder. This is made from sassafras leaves that are dried and ground. Creole mustard is also used in many dishes. This is a coarse and spicy local mustard. Tabasco and other hot pepper sauces are standard condiments on the Cajun table

Cajun cuisine is unique to Southern Louisiana, making the best of the native resources, but still retaining the French influence brought to it by the migrants many years ago. It is varied and flexible. Whether you are craving a touch of the exotic, or a little down- home comfort food, this cuisine has managed to include both, often in one big pot. There is something for everyone to enjoy when experimenting with this wonderful style of cooking.

Perfect Blend Of Two Regional Styles

A song can be the window to your heart and kind of music you like could very well map out your personality. But again there are many of us who do not stick to particular genre of music and have a taste that ranges across barriers of the land. Music indeed can be the perfect string that ties people of different country, religion and culture in a warm bond. Country Western music is one such genre that has evolved as a result of merging together of two regional styles that were born in America. The Southeast region had a unique style (country music) and so had the Southwest and West (western music). The two styles were merged together around the 1920’s and were further consolidated as a result of the musicians of both styles mixing with each other during service in World War II.

The music lovers across the globe can get best of both the worlds through the form of Country Western music which has adapted the best points from both country and western music. The main distinguishing factor between the two styles is that country music is much simpler and stresses on the use of few instruments like the guitar, fiddle, banjo and harmonica. The Southwest style depends more on steel guitars and big bands, distinguished by a strong rhythm section, usually including double bass and drums with the tempo varying from medium to fast. Country Western music has managed to absorb the attractive aspects of the styles and emerge as a genre that has touched the heartstrings of millions of music lovers across the world.

The origin of the country western music is from folk songs, ballads and traditional music of the Scottish, English and Irish settlers with modern lyrics that describe and depict the story of the rural and urban-poor whites. The rural African-American like the Jazz and Blues has also left an impression on this particular style of music. The country western music has also played a significant role in the development of rock music. Over the last five decades or so, the genre of country western music has gained a worldwide audience. Bluegrass is also a style of this kind of country western music that is distinguished by each instrument like the fiddle, banjo, acoustic guitar, mandolin and upright bass taking a turn and improvising on it while the other instruments revert to backing. Bluegrass is also distinctively acoustic and rarely relies on electric instruments.

Country western music also has traces and influence of Celtic music, Gospel music, Hokum and North American old-time music. Country music in itself has produced two of the top selling solo artistes of all times – ‘The King’ Elvis Presley and Garth Brooks. Country western music has again undergone a revival phase with the influx of performers such as Tanya tucker, The Judds, Ricky Scaggs and Reba McEntire who have gained tremendous popularity. So music lovers across the world are in for treat with the revival of this popular genre that is country western music.

Regional Cuisine Hunan Cuisine

Hunan cuisine shares many commonalities with its close, more well-known cousin, Szechwan cooking, Both cuisines originate in the Western region of China. The climate there is sub-tropical – humid and warm enough to encourage the use of fiery spices to help cool the body, and to require high spicing of food as a preservative. With similar climate, the two regions also share many ingredients – rice is a major staple in both diets, and chili peppers are an important part of most dishes. The two styles of regional cuisine are similar enough that many restaurants and cookbooks lump them together under ‘Western Chinese cooking’ or simple refer to both as Szechwan cuisine.

There are some important differences, though. Hunan cooking is, for one thing, even more fiery than most Szechwan dishes. Szechwan dishes often include chili paste for rubbing into meats, or including in sauce. Hunan chefs include the entire dried chili pepper, with its intensely spicy seeds and rind.

The differences in the actual land of the two regions also has an effect on the differences in their cuisine. The Szechwan region is mountainous jungle, with little arable land for farming. The Hunan region, by contrast, is a land of soft rolling hills and slow rivers. Because of its fertile hillocks and valleys, the Hunan region has access to an amazing variety of ingredients that aren’t available to Szechwan chefs. Seafood and beef are both far more common in Hunan cooking, as are many vegetables.

The land, and the hardships associated with it, also give the Hunan more time to concentrate on food. Hunan cooking features complex and time-consuming preparation time. Many dishes begin their preparation the day before they are to be served, and may be marinated, then steamed or smoked, and finally deep-fried or stewed before they reach the table. The same attention is paid to the preparation of ingredients, and it is said that Hunan cuisine is the most pleasing to the eye of all Chinese cuisines. The shape of a food in a particular recipe is nearly as important as its presence in the final dish. Hunan chefs are specialists with the knife – carving fanciful shapes of vegetables and fruits that will be used in preparing meals, or to present them.

Hunan cuisine is noted for its use of chili peppers, garlic and shallots, and for the use of sauces to accent the flavors in the ingredients of a dish. It is not uncommon for a Hunan dish to play on the contrasts of flavors – hot and sour, sweet and sour, sweet and hot – pungent, spicy and deliciously sweet all at once. Hunan chefs are noted for their ability to create a symphony of taste with their ingredients. A classic example is Hunan spicy beef with vegetables, where the beef is first marinated overnight in a citrus and ginger mixture, then washed and rubbed with chili paste before being simmered in a pungent brown sauce. The end result is a meat that is meltingly tender on the tongue and changes flavor even as you enjoy it.

More and more, restaurants are beginning to sort out the two cuisines, and Hunan cuisine is coming into its own. Crispy duck and Garlic-Fried String Beans are taking their place alongside Kung Pao Chicken and Double Cooked Spicy Pork. But there is no battle between the two for a place of honor among Chinese Regional cuisines – rather, there are only winners – the diners who have the pleasure of sampling both.

Regional Cuisine Of India: Tasting East India

East India, with a complex history that includes long periods of European colonization, has developed culinary traditions that reflect centuries of tradition and a variety of cultural influences. In addition to the various cultures that have been assimilated into the cuisine of the region, the geography also has influenced the development of the culinary traditions of East India, as has the climate.

Portuguese and Spanish explorers first brought the spices of India to widespread European use in the 15th and 16th centuries, inspiring European political and economic colonization of the area. The famous British East India Company and the Dutch East India Company, both established in the 17th century, were companies specifically created for the production and sale of a variety products from the region, including spices. Naturally, as the native populations interacted with the European peoples, including through forced service in their homes, a European influence came to affect local cuisines.

The coastal area ensures that seafood is an important part of the East Indian diet. The wide variety of fish is served in many ways. Naturally, the area is well known for delectable fish curries, but seafood is also served steamed and delicately spiced, fried with spices that serve to enhance rather than to mask flavors, and is used to created snacks and appetizers like pakora, served with chutneys and other dipping sauces. Because of the prominence of seafood in the cuisine, and a climate conducive to the growth of a variety of vegetables and fruits, as well as the culinary influences of past Portuguese and British colonization and the Muslim population, the food of East India tends to be of a lighter sort. Spices are used with a lighter hand, preferred cooking methods are often of the sort that enhance natural flavors and encourage the subtle blending of flavors, such a stir frying, steaming and boiling. A moist, rainy climate allows for the production of rice, which functions as a basic element of most meals.

In addition to savory fish dishes, East Indian cuisine is known throughout the world for the quality of its sweets, with many of its confections having deep roots in Hindu culture. Many religious ceremonies and celebrations have specific confections associated with them, and include ritual offerings of sweets to gods and to the poor. As with many East Indian dishes, the sweets of this region tend to be less dense, lighter, making them a bit more appealing to westerners than some of the very heavy, ultra-sweet confections of other regions in India. In addition to candies and other similar dessert style sweets, the region is known for its fine cakes, which have a distinctly European influence, as does the preference for tea as a beverage.

East Indian cuisine has a distinct character that sets it apart from the cuisines of other parts of India. With coastal areas that made seafood a staple and a climate that made a variety of fresh foods readily available, came a tendency towards letting the natural, fresh flavors of foods take center stage in the cuisine. European explorers who were attracted to Eastern shores contributed their own culinary style to the region, as did Muslim settlers, resulting in the amazing combination of cultures that created the unique flavors of East Indian cuisine.

The Effects of Job Losses in House-Building

What’s more the construction industry was a major employer of graduates, with a third of new positions being offered to university leavers. Unfortunately these figures were estimated during a time of financial stability and a rising market. Now with the credit crunch the construction industry is being threatened just as much, if not more, than other market sectors.
Construction jobs cover a vast area of the job market including such diverse building services as: infrastructure repair and maintenance; public and private house building; and the building of factories, hospitals and schools. All of these areas are threatened. Perhaps the worse hit is the residential house building market as falling house prices are meaning that people are pulling out of property buying altogether.

At the beginning of July 2008 The Times Online told how Barrett Developments, one of the UK’s lead construction companies, made around 1000 redundant in just one day. Over two days the redundancy figure hit a staggering 2500 people. As well as all of these job cuts the company’s shares have also dropped by 97% since a peak in February 2007. Regional offices are being merged or closed entirely. Similar trends are being echoed throughout the market sector.

All of these factors add up to an unprecedented drop in the sector as mortgages become more difficult to secure and as the economy weakens generally. Not only are the larger companies, such as Barrett Developments being hit, so are mid-level companies and smaller companies. In fact the mid-range and small organizations are in much more risk of folding entirely.

Also like the swinging ball executive toy the cuts in house building are affecting all the other jobs within the construction industry. Managerial staff, and desk-based staff are being affected along with builders and other ground-level workers.

Similar trends are being seen in the USA and practically all countries around the world. One of the worst hit is Ireland and the situation there could be seen as a precursor of what is going to happen in the UK. It is now being commonly agreed that a recession is approaching, although the severity of this recession is being hotly debated. Within the construction sector the length of this recession is being estimated at one to three years depending on which expert you ask.
So as you can see the job losses in the house building market have had far reaching effects on the construction industry as a whole. Not only are there construction job cuts left, right and centre at a ground roots level but these are affecting jobs at all levels within the sector. Added to this companies are moving, or selling regional offices completely, meaning still more job cuts. What’s more the rocky period is believe to have just begun and to be lasting for at least another year meaning that we have a long way to go yet.
At a time like this a construction recruitment specialist can really help you find the best, most secure openings and advise you on how best to pursue your career move within the current economic climate.

Treat Regional Enteritis by Herbs

Regional enteritis is a digestive system problem. It's a chronic and extremely discomforting inflammation of the digestive tract. Common symptoms include infected colon and rectum, diarrhea, weight loss, fever and depression, in addition to the pain. The condition is almost always associated with ulcers that form along the gastrointestinal tract. The ulcers often heal, leaving deep scars that narrow the lining of the intestine. They also make waste elimination painful and difficult. Ulcers also tend to bleed, causing blood disorders. Regional enteritis is mostly caused by a poor diet, low in fiber and high in sugar and acid. Conventional drugs such as steroids are usually used to treat the disease, however, herbal and other natural remedies are very effective. You should take this natural regimen for two weeks.

First, you should remove all processed foods from your diet. It's time to remove the junk food from your life. It is important that you allow your body to properly digest foods and eliminate their waste. Foods high in sugar, saturated fats and chemicals prove to be very aggravating to some people, contributing to conditions like Regional enteritis. Red and fat-filled meats are also triggers. If you are prone to bouts with enteritis you should refrain from eating high amounts of nuts, table sugar and seeds

Before your breakfast you should drink a 12-ounce glass of carrot juice. To make vitamin A, you should drink some carrot juice. The carrot juice is also a wonderful antioxidant. For flavor, juice a whole apple and add it to the mix. You should drink a superfood drink which is multi-nutritious as it contains many essential vitamins and minerals with breakfast and lunch. It is also rich in spirulina. In treating Regional enteritis, spirulina acts as a wonderful natural anti- inflammatory and will help to ease your pain.

On the other hand, you should make one large cup of rose hip tea between breakfast and lunch. Rose hip contains vast amounts of vitamin C, more than what's available in citrus fruits such as oranges. Because it's also rich in vitamin A and E, rose hip helps heal damaged tissue caused by enteritis.

It's time to eat one cup of brown rice with dinner. Brown rice is a wonderful source of fiber and it won't bind you up. Also, drink four to six ounces of ginseng drink. Add 1 tsp. of royal jelly. This mixture will help boost your immune system and reduce pain. One hour before bed you should drink one cup of peppermint tea. Peppermint tea will allow your body to digest your food and supplements at a proper rate. It also helps ease your bowels. Only in this way you could sleep comfortably.

BMI Regional

bmi Regional is a British regional airline based in Aberdeen, Scotland. bmi Regional is a trading name of British Midland Regional Limited which is a subsidiary of British Midland Airways Ltd. operating scheduled passenger services primarily within the UK. Its main base is Aberdeen Airport.

British Midland Regional Limited holds a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Type A Operating Licence, it is permitted to carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats

History

The airline was established in 1987 as Business Air and started operations in August 1987. In 2001 it changed its name to British Midland Regional.

The airline is owned by Sir Michael Bishop (50%), Lufthansa (30%) and Scandinavian Airlines (20%) and it has 378 employees.

In March 2008 BMI Regional was given a Flight on Time award as the most punctual scheduled airline in the UK for the third consecutive year according to CAA statistics.

The Myth of the Happy Church-Growth Pastor

Once upon a time there was a young man who felt called to become a Pastor. He went to a Christian college where they taught him many wonderful things...how to love people and teach the Bible and win people to Jesus. But when he entered his first church he realized there was a big difference between what he was taught and the skills needed to run a dynamic congregation. So he read books and attended conferences and sought advice from consultants, and sure enough, his church began to grow. New people were coming to Christ like never before. They needed more worship space and parking so they ran a capital campaign. More people were baptized, their offerings grew and they added new staff. A few years later people took note of the growth of his church and he found himself in the interesting position of being looked to for advice. But the pressure of leading a growing church began to take its toll. Endless staff meetings. Long nights. Weekly anxiety over whether or not they would meet budget. Management issues. Architects. Piles of phone calls and emails to return. Systems. Planning. Paperwork. Requests for counseling. Inability to go anywhere in his community without being recognized.

Deep down he wondered if this was all worth it. But he persisted. He shoved any disapproving voices in his soul farther and farther away. “I’m doing this for the kingdom,” he reminded himself. “Besides, I’ve gotten them too far in debt now to leave.”

Years later his church had grown beyond anything he ever imagined. He had book deals and endless speaking requests. People lauded him as someone to model their ministry after. In other pastor’s eyes he had achieved it all. But personally his soul was smaller now than it had ever been before. Late one evening after a discouraging meeting with his Finance manager over sagging contributions, he walked into the staff office bathroom, stood in front of the mirror, and slowly slapped water on his face. He starred at the person he was forced to become to maintain such growth. With every new building built, and with every new staff member added, and with every capital campaign administered he felt like a little bit of his soul shriveled up and died. He felt numb. He mumbled something almost inaudibly at first. Then he repeated it again. “Is this what I signed up for when God called me into the ministry?”

One of my favorite rock bands, Coldplay, released a song a while back called “Clocks” that immediately hit the top of the charts. Buried in the middle of that song is a little question that flies by so fast you almost miss it unless you are listening closely.

The song asks, “Am I a part of the cure, or am I part of the disease?”

As of late I can’t get that question out of my head.

Four years ago my wife, kids and I moved to the suburbs of Philly to launch a new church for a heavily unchurched area. In just four short years we’re popping over 800 and getting ready to break ground for a multi-million dollar complex.

People would say things are going great.

But the larger this thing gets, the more unhappy I become.

Why?

It’s that question.

I keep wondering if this thing we’ve just created, this entity, this land consuming, staff adding, money raising, people churning, numerically and financially growing conglomeration of people…I’m wondering if it’s part of the cure or part of the disease.

By now you can probably tell where I’m leaning, so let me explain…

I don’t like what I’ve become

A while ago I asked a nationally recognized Pastor and author to give me some direction. To be honest, I was pretty surprised that he was willing to come and consult with a scrub like me, but he graciously did. I had a long list of questions that I needed help answering, but top on my list was the question, “How can I sustain this for the long haul?” When his plane landed we spent two days together driving around our area talking and praying. Do you want to know what his first words to me were? “Brian, it takes a pretty unstable person to lead a church from 0 to 500 in 3 years.” I said, “Ummm, thanks, I think.”

I don’t like what I’ve had to become to lead, manage, catalyze and propel this ever-growing mass forward. In his book, Organizing Genius, Warren Bennis says that “Great groups are full of indefatigable people who are struggling to turn a vision into a machine and whose lawns and goldfish have died of neglect.” My problem is that I want out of the machine building business. In fact, I never wanted to be in the machine building business in the first place.

The sheer weight of the burden on my shoulders never leaves. Money. Meetings. Planning. One friend of mine in a similar situation calls himself “the weeping prophet,” not because of his passion for the lost, but because of the misery of running the machine. In fact, almost every mega-church pastor I have ever talked to, and I mean almost every one, has whispered behind the scenes, “This is hell. I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy.” To lead a growing church you have to become a workhorse (and lead a team of exhausted workhorses). The problem is when I do this I become a hypocrite. There is a disconnect between the life I’m leading and what I’m teaching our people. Rest, peace, freedom from anxiety, and contentment…are words that cannot cross my lips with any amount of authenticity when I’m running the machine.

My question is “Why isn’t anyone warning upcoming pastors about this?” If we are a fellowship of churches with endless numbers of congregations looking at the 1,000 mark in their rear-view mirrors, does anyone else see a problem? How can this be a part of the cure when the people leading these entities are miserable?

I don’t like what my calling has become

In the 1920’s a team of archaeologists excavating a section of a city called Dura-Europas in western Syria uncovered a spectacular find-the first known dedicated church building. Dated to roughly 231 a.d., it was a house converted into worship space, including a tub for baptisms. Over this tub they found a beautiful mural of a young beardless shepherd carrying a lamb on his shoulders.

While I am jazzed by the nature of this archeological discovery, I am also saddened. Unlike me, for the first 100 years of its existence, kingdom leaders were focused on people—reaching them, baptizing them, teaching them, and starting new fellowships for them. That was their calling. And this is what I thought I signed up for. They didn’t see building buildings as part of their mission. The only collections that they had were for the poor. There were no budgets. No Capital Campaigns. Church leaders didn’t worry about things that consume our time like programs and systems and mission statements and strategic planning. There was a small group of people that met in a home. That’s it. New Testament scholars all agree these small fellowships were no more than 25 to 50 in size, and the Apostle Paul seemed quite content with that.

I feel at times like the leader of a spiritual institution…like a regional manager for a Wal-Mart or YMCA. Of course I am passionate about reaching people for Jesus, but I also constantly need money to keep this thing going. People are needed, not so much to become disciples but to lead and administer and fill up programs. People in the hallway are immediately sized up in my head, “Potential leader...contact. Whiner...avoid. Sharp couple with great giving potential…connect.” I despise this. I can’t imagine this is the vision Jesus had for his new community.

So What’s The Answer?

This past summer I had a chance to visit a booming mega-church in the west. It had just completed its billionth capital campaign and had it all: new state of the art buildings, acres and acres of land, surplus parking, a spacious bookstore, snappy graphics and lots of happy, carb-counting worship leaders. It even had the coolest coffee bar I’d ever seen in a church lobby. Walking into the worship center with my wife, I stopped mid-stride, threw up my arms and said, “I don’t want to do THIS anymore.”

She said, “What?”

I said, “THIS. All of this. Every last bit of it. Giving my life to THIS is shrinking my soul a little bit everyday. If I keep it up nothing will be left.”

I guess what I allowed myself to articulate for the very first time was that I wanted out of the machine building business.

Machine building is part of the disease.

I want to be a part of the cure.

I don’t want to be 55 years old, looking in the mirror and mumbling to myself, “Is this what I signed up for when God called me into the ministry?”

The only problem is I don’t know what the cure looks like.

Myths About USA Gymnastics Level 4 Gymnasts

Not Originally Designed for Competition

Level 4 is the first official level of compulsory competition in the USA Gymnastics competitive system. The Level 4 vault and bars, beam and floor routines are substantially similar to the routines in the previous 8-year compulsory cycle, which ended in 2005. During that cycle, Level 4 was upgraded to official competition status and gymnasts were allowed to enter official USAG competitions up to the State Championships. But the routines and especially the vault were originally designed simply as training devices, not for competition.

The Level 4 Vault Mat

This is most obvious with the Level 4 vault – a handspring onto big stack of mats. In order to add this “vault” into regular competitions, a new piece equipment had to be designed and provided at competitions completely separate from the normal vault horse/table. And unlike any vault at any other level, gymnasts do not land on their feet in the Level 4 vault requiring a whole new approach to judging the vault.

You Don’t Have to Compete Level 4

Another common misconception is that gymnasts are required to compete Level 4 before they can compete in Level 5. There is no Level 4 competitive requirement before you compete in Level 5. The only requirement for Level 5 is that gymnasts must pass a skill evaluation from a skill evaluator with a score of at least 75%. You don’t have to compete Level 4! It is not required!

Level 4 Skills are Almost Never Used at Higher Levels of Competition

Level 4 skills, especially the bar skills are almost never used at the higher optional levels of competition. There are 12 skills in the Level 4 bar routine and none of them are ever used in optional bar routines, except for the casts. On beam and floor, the situation is somewhat better. About half of the skills are direct progressions to more difficult skills that may be used later, but that also means that half of them are not.

The Majority of Level 4 Skills Lead Nowhere

Since the vault, all of the bars skills and about half of the beam and floor skills are not used later at the higher levels of competition, it is obvious that most Level 4 skills are not used ever again in competition.

Level 4 Has Been Watered Down

During the previous 8-year compulsory cycle, Level 4 gymnasts were allowed to attempt to compete a kip on bars. Starting this year, you must be a Level 5 gymnast to do a kip in competition. Level 4 gymnasts no longer need to hit a real cross handstand in the beam routine, only a ¾ handstand. The handstand hold time requirement on the beam dismount is also less than in the last compulsory cycle. In short, USA Gymnastics has made the Level 4 routines easier.

Why?

By now, you must wonder why USA Gymnastics has made all these Level 4 changes. The answer is quite simple and even justifiable. They are trying to make the sport more available to more gymnasts. By lowering the entrance level to competition, more gymnasts may participate in the USA Gymnastics competitive system. This is not necessarily a bad thing for the sport. It increases the financial base of USA Gymnastics and the number of gymnasts competing by a very significant percentage. Some of those gymnasts may eventually rise to the top of the sport.

What Does It All Mean?

But parents and gymnasts should know that there are other paths to becoming a high level gymnast other than competing at Level 4. In fact, most of the gymnasts you see on TV were probably not ever Level 4 gymnasts. If it is your goal to become a high level optional or Elite gymnast, then you should be aware of the other paths that are more likely to make that happen.

Count Out the Years

Really good gyms and training programs create high level optional and Elite gymnasts in 3 – 5 years of daily training. That is fewer years than it would take to move from Level 4 to Level 10 (at one level per year) and they are working on harder skills sooner in their career (which is usually a good thing). For gymnasts on the Level 10/Elite track competing at Level 4 may be a waste of a year of their gymnastics career.

Special Elite Strength and Skill Development Programs Available

Elite and level 10 gymnasts often use programs like the USA Gymnastics TOP program and the USAIGC (United States Association of Independent Gymnastic Clubs) STEP program and competitions or their own version of these types of programs. The TOP and STEP programs both concentrate first on building strength and flexibility and then the teaching of high level optional skill progressions.

TOP and STEP Programs Work for All Gymnasts

The truth is that these type programs that build gymnastics strength and flexibility and work on high level skills and their progressions are really the best training system for all types and levels of gymnasts. It is, however, possible to participate in these programs and compete at a compulsory level to gain competition experience. But by far, it is more important for a gymnast’s career to develop strength, flexibility and begin to train on the appropriate higher-level skill progressions.

Home Building - Exterior Style Choices

The exterior style of your home is the fun part. It doesn’t require any further calculations, just simply what appeals to you. Most people prefer their home to be in harmony with the surrounding community and choose exterior styles that are appropriate to their region. To be safe, resale value should play an important part in the choice of exterior style. The five most prevalent styles in today’s market include:

Country: Nationwide this is by far the most popular style. Characteristics include a large, usually covered front porch or a wraparound porch, and a steeply pitched gabled roofline that runs lengthwise. The roofline is often punctuated by dormer windows and gabled wings, creating casual, informal living. The farmhouse style home is typically a rectangular or L-shaped home, often with two-stories. Horizontal siding is the typical material for county and farmhouse designs, although masonry or stucco is possible.

Traditional: This describes a multitude of classic designs including Colonial, Georgian, Federal, Cape Cod, Saltbox and Ranch designs each distinctly regional. Simplicity is a common characteristic of all traditional designs usually with small-paned or mullioned windows that are usually spaced symmetrically.

Victorian: This particular traditional-style home has strong historical origins with very intricate rooflines and the use of turrets, dormers, towers, bays and eyebrow windows. Ornate porches are a prevalent feature along with shingles or narrow-lap wood siding. This style is more appropriate for two-story homes, although one-story designs with Victorian features are available.

Mediterranean: Some view this style as traditional, others say it is contemporary, regardless, it’s popular in the Sunbelt states, particularly in California, the southwest and Florida. The exterior is traditionally stucco and includes tile roofs, broad overhangs, lower pitched roof lines and open-air verandas, courtyards and covered porches or lanais.

Contemporary: This broad category embodies many different styles and shapes of homes. Typically contemporary homes have bold geometric shapes, large expanses of glass, and windows that are not framed by shutters or other decorative trim, and rooflines that can be anywhere from flat to low-pitched to dramatically steep. Siding can be vertical or horizontal wood siding, stucco or masonry. There are really no rules with contemporary styles.

Other styles: although the above are the most prevalent choices there are a multitude of other styles many homeowners opt to adopt. These include Craftsman, European, Italianette, French or French Country, Tudor, etc. Also certain locations or uses can often produce a particular “style”; narrow lots, beach, mountain or vacation houses are examples.

The Eropean Satellite Navigation System "Galileo"

The Galileo positioning system is a proposed satellite navigation system, to be built by the European Union (EU) as an alternative to the US military-controlled Global Positioning System and the Russian GLONASS. The system should be operational by 2010, two years later than originally anticipated.The Galileo positioning system is not abbreviated to GPS; use of the acronym "GPS", here and elsewhere, refers to the existing United States system.

The Galileo System will comprise global, regional and local components. The global component is the core of the system, comprising the satellites and the required ground segment

The regional component of Galileo may comprise a number of External Region Integrity Systems (ERIS), implemented and operated by organisations, countries or groups of countries outside Europe to obtain integrity services independent of the Galileo System, in order, for example, to satisfy legal constraints relating to system guarantees. Local components may be deployed for enhancing the performance of Galileo locally. These will enable higher performance such as the delivery of navigation signal in areas where the satellite signals cannot be received. Value-added service providers will deploy local components.

The first stage of the Galileo program was agreed upon officially on May 26, 2003 by the European Union and the European Space Agency (ESA). But system studies were conducted well before. In 1999 the 4 different concepts (from France, Germany, Italy and The United Kingdom) for Galileo were compared and reduced to one concept by a joint team of engineers from all four countries. The system is intended primarily for civilian use, unlike the US system, which is run by and primarily for the US military. The US reserves the right to limit the signal strength or accuracy of the GPS systems, or to shut down public GPS access completely, so that non-military users cannot use it in time of conflict. The precision of the signal available to non-military users was limited before 2000 (a process known as selective availability). The European system will not (in theory) be subject to shutdown for military purposes, will provide a significant improvement to the signal available from GPS, and will, upon completion, be available at its full precision to all users, both civil and military.

The European Commission had some difficulty trying to secure funding for the next stage of the Galileo project. European states were wary of investing the necessary funds at a time of economic difficulty, when national budgets were being threatened across Europe. Following the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack, the United States Government wrote to the European Union opposing the project, arguing that it would end the ability of the US to shut down GPS in times of military operations. On January 17, 2002 a spokesman for the project sombrely stated that "Galileo is almost dead" as a result of US pressure.

A few months later, however, the situation changed dramatically. Partially in reaction to the pressure exerted by the US Government, European Union member states decided it was important to have their own independent satellite-based positioning and timing infrastructure. All European Union member states became strongly in favour of the Galileo system in late 2002 and, as a result, the project actually became over-funded, which posed a completely new set of problems for the ESA, as a way had to be found to convince the Member States to reduce the funding.On March 20, 2003, the United States and three other countries began military operations in Iraq, further motivating the EU to develop a navigation system independent of US control.

Regional Cuisine – Down Home Southern Cooking

I grew up in New England, the home of ‘plain cooking’, where corn on the cob is served as is with a slab of butter and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. We boil salted meats with vegetables and call it – well, a boiled dinner. Our clam chowder is white, our baked beans have bacon and molasses in them, and no one in the world has ever invented a food that was improved by the addition of curry. By the time I was eighteen, I could boil a lobster, steam clams and grill a pork chop to perfection. Then I moved to Virginia, picked up a roommate from North Carolina – and discovered a whole new world of down home country cooking goodness.

To an All-American Italian girl from Boston, the menus in restaurants were in a foreign language. Chicken-fried steak, grits, corn pone pudding, strawberry rhubarb pie – sweet potato pie?? In my mind, chicken and steak were two different meats, grits is what’s on sandpaper, corn is a vegetable – and what in the world is sweet potato doing in a crust? But I became a fervent convert to Southern cooking the first time my roommate made up a pan of the sweetest, tastiest, most perfectly melt-in-your-mouth delicious Southern baking powder biscuits and topped them with sausage gravy. From that day on, I was Sue’s disciple, standing at her elbow as she diced scallions to make up a mess of pinto beans, stirred the milk into a pan of drippings for milk gravy and rolled thin steak strips in chicken batter to make chicken-fried steak.

Down home southern cooking is no different than New England plain cooking – at least at its most basic level. Like any other regional style of cooking, it makes use of the ingredients that are plentiful and cheap. In New England we gussy up our dried beans with brown sugar and molasses, and serve them with thick, sweet heavy brown bread dotted with raisins – perfect fare for cold winter nights. In North Carolina, they simmer for hours with salt pork and onions and served with scallions for scooping and a side of flaky biscuits cut out of dough with a juice glass. Salty, spicy and flaky-good all at once, it’s a down home meal that makes my mouth water just to remember.

Some dishes just don’t translate, though. There is no New England substitute for a Southern barbecue sandwich – shredded pork simmered with spices for hours and ladled over buns in a ‘sandwich’ that really requires a fork. The ubiquitous ‘sloppy joe’ just doesn’t cut it. It lacks the spicy-sweet tang and buttery texture of real slow-simmered pork barbecue. Nor is there anything that compares with chicken fried steak – a dish that can’t be described in words without selling it short. If you’ve had it, you KNOW how good it is. If you haven’t, the idea of dredging and dipping strips of beef and frying it like chicken just doesn’t do it justice.

My New England Italian roots show wherever I go. Lasagna will always be a favorite meal, and New England boiled dinners still make my mouth water. But I know, deep in my soul, that when I go to Heaven, the diners will serve flaky Southern biscuits with sausage gravy and chicken fried steak. Some temptations even the angels can’t resist.

Regional Cuisine – New England Clam Chowder

Sea air, crisp apples, the brisk, spice of fallen leaves – there are few things that say autumn in New England like the scents that seem to buffet the senses from everywhere. Among those marvelous treats for the senses are popular dishes from appetizer to dessert that you just won’t find – or at least won’t find quite the same way – anywhere else in the country. If you doubt it, there’s always an ad that was popular this past autumn – after the Red Sox won the World Series. In it, a man was explaining, “Son, when you live in New England there are three basic truths... clam chowder is white…”

And the other two truths don’t matter. We New Englanders take our clam chowder seriously. Up and down the New England coast throughout the autumn, nearly every town and township has its Chowder Festival. Throughout the six states, restaurants cook up pots of chowder from their best recipes and compete to be named Best Clam Chowder. The granddaddy of all New England Chowder Festivals is held in Newport, Rhode Island, where dozens of area restaurants compete for the title of ‘America’s Best Clam Chowder’.

It’s a simple enough dish, but like chili in Texas and crab cakes in Maryland, every cook has their own special twist on the recipe. There are the basics: clams, potatoes and milk. From there, it’s every chef for himself. Some swear that clam chowder without salt pork is just potage. Others insist that clam chowder can’t be made without onion. Chefs nearly come to blows over whether heavy cream should ever be used and why a butter and flour roux is a better base than clam liquor. Secret recipes abound – and everyone has their favorites.

My own personal favorite is the thick, creamy, eat-it-with-a-fork variety of clam chowder served at Legal Seafood and Au Bon Pain in Boston. Rich and laden with chunks of potato, meaty bits of clam, onions, garlic and salt pork, it’s a meal rather than an opener for one. Served with a slab of homemade bread slathered with butter, it’s guaranteed to raise your cholesterol level and please your taste buds for hours.

While many chefs cry sacrilege, others believe that fresh corn adds the perfect touch of crisp sweetness to the rich broth and pungent bits of clam meat. Corn isn’t the only bone of contention when it comes to this regional specialty. Purists insist that the only real ingredients in clam chowder are clams, water, milk, onions, potatoes and butter. They argue whether chowder should be made with mussels or littlenecks (if you’re in Maine, it’s littlenecks – in Connecticut, mussels. Anywhere else – it varies), whether to add the clam bellies or just the necks, even whether clams should be steamed ‘virgin’ or with garlic, wine or beer.

Whether you like your chowder thick or thin, with or without corn, flavored with salt pork or bacon or something else entirely, there is one thing on which all New Englanders agree – clam chowder is white. We’re not sure what it is that they serve in Manhattan – but it’s not clam chowder.

Regional Cuisine: As American As Apple Pie

We love baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet – or so an old ad for Chevrolet tells us. Apple pie is as American as… well.. apple pie. If baseball is the All-American sport, then apple pie is the all-American dessert. And while the internet and book stores have spread the recipes far and wide, there are classic apple desserts in every region that are characteristic of the cuisine for that area. Wherever Johnny Appleseed spread orchards, there are recipes that make use of other regional ingredients and traditions to create unique desserts with apples and – whatever!

If you think of apple pie as having two crusts and a filling of apples combined with sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, some of the regional variations may surprise you. Apple cobbler, apple pandowdy, apple puff, apple crisp, apple brown betty are all variations of apple pie in different regions. The prevailing apple recipes for any region may be affected by the variety of apple that’s hardiest and most popular in that area, as well as the style of cuisine that’s prevalent.

In New England, for instance, most apple recipes call for Pippins, Granny Smith’s or other firm fleshed, sweet varieties of apple that cook up well and lose little moisture when being baked. In Maine, it’s not uncommon to find blueberries in your apple pie. In Massachusetts, cranberry apple pie is a favorite. In Vermont, the apples may be sweetened with honey or maple syrup. And in many restaurants on Cape Cod, rather than vanilla ice cream, your piping hot slice of heaven will be served topped with a slice of melting cheese.

In the Southern states, with their predilection for creamy, lightly spiced foods, the most common apple pie recipes include Apple Cream Pie (made with sour cream) and Apple Bourbon Pie, with raisins soaked in bourbon. Raisins soaked in rum are another popular addition to ‘apple pie’ in the South, especially in New Orleans. Other additions include rhubarb, diced peaches and walnuts.

Midwestern Apple Pie is the classic apple pie – two flaky crusts packed with thick, sweet, juicy apple slices mounded high and vented to let the fragrant steam escape. In Kansas or Missouri, your apple pie will satisfy any purist – served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream that melts into the syrupy filling and adds the perfect touch of creaminess to the mix.

In the South and Southwest you’ll find deep-fried apple pie, a variation that matches melt-in-your-mouth flaky fried crust with sweet, diced apples in a syrupy sauce. And in Pennsylvania, the home of the Pennsylvania Dutch, Apple Crumb Pie and Apple Pandowdy take the place of Apple Pie a la Mode on most restaurant menus.

As American as Apple Pie … from coast to coast, Americans have done what they do best – taken a classic and adapted it to suit the ingredients and tastes that surround them. Whether you top it with a sprinkle of cinnamon, a dollop of whipped cream or a slice of sharp cheddar, there’s no other food that comes close to being the All-American dessert.

.com Not Listed In Regional Yahoo? Don’t Despair!

If you’re a non-American business with a .com web address, and your regional Yahoo ranking is important to you, then my story might interest you.

Recently my copywriting website dropped out of Yahoo’s Australian rankings. For quite a while, it had been at number 1 for my primary keywords “advertising copywriter”, “copywriter”, and “website copywriter”. But then it suddenly disappeared. I clicked through about 10 pages of results, and it was nowhere to be seen. I then searched for my domain, and Yahoo couldn’t find it.

Something smelt fishy.

I’d done nothing ‘naughty’ to my site to warrant a ban, and I still had heaps of links to my site (actually, I had more than ever before).

I’m an Australian advertising copywriter. I’m based just north of Sydney and I host my website with a major Australian host. But my web address is a .com, not a .au. I started thinking this might be the problem.

So I emailed Yahoo support, explaining the problem, and sharing my thoughts on the cause.

And all of a sudden, nothing happened.

So I waited. And I waited. And I waited. And finally, after about a couple of weeks, I received an email from a Yahoo support representative informing me – incorrectly – that my keyword wasn’t featured in my page title or description. I should remedy this shortcoming and re-submit my site to Yahoo.

Frustrated, I replied. I repeated the important facts from the first email just to ensure they’d listened. They hadn’t. They hadn’t even searched for my domain to confirm that Yahoo no longer recognised it.

When they got back to me this time, they had started paying a bit more attention. The support rep confirmed my suspicion that Yahoo had excluded my site because of its .com URL. Her very helpful solution was that I should change my domain to .au! She included some ridiculously complex instructions for how to do so, and sent me on my merry way.

As you might expect, I wasn’t satisfied. Nor was I merry. I explained to her that this was not an acceptable solution because all the links to my site on the internet are pointing to the .com and my email address uses the .com.

She was unmoved. She asserted that this was the best and only way to solve the problem. Oh… and it might help if I added my primary keyword to my title and description.

My laughter was not good humoured! I wrote back expressing my displeasure at this “solution”. I painstakingly explained how Yahoo had made a mistake, and that if Google was capable of recognising my Australian business despite its .com addresses, I would think it’s technically possible. I also cited several other .coms in the first couple of pages of Australian results.

No response.

The situation didn’t look promising…

If this sounds like a familiar story to you, don’t despair. A week or two later, I searched Yahoo Australia for my primary keyword, and surprise, surprise… My site was ranked number 1 again!

The moral to the story? Don’t be intimidated by Yahoo. Trust your instincts and don’t give up. If you’re an Australian business with a .com, and you’re not listed in Australian searches, this might be why. In fact, I would think this story is relevant to all regional Yahoos. (Of course, before making any accusations, it’s a good idea to make sure your site is properly optimised and that you have plenty of inbound links.)

Anyway, that’s my story. I hope it helps someone.

And they all lived happily ever after. So far at least…

Yahoooooooo!

Regional Cuisines Of China

It’s easily one of the world’s favorite foods. No matter where you are, someone you know is bound to suggest, “Hey, let’s do Chinese.” For decades, Chinese food meant one thing – Cantonese cuisine. It was the style of Chinese cooking with which most of the world was familiar – the appetizers and roasted meats and delicate sauces that blend vegetables and spices in a perfect marriage of flavors. But Chinese food is far more than just the Cantonese cuisine. There are four major styles of cooking across China, and several more subdivisions to divide them even further.

Cantonese is the most well-known and popular of the Chinese regional cuisine styles. Cantonese chefs specialize in delicate sauces and roasted meats, in steamed and stir-fried dishes with vegetables that are as carefully chosen for appearance and appeal to the eye as to the palate. Steamed rice is a staple of Cantonese cuisine, and is the base of most meals. Every vegetable is sliced to best show off its color and shape, even in a stir-fry or sauce. One of the more enduring and widely enjoyed traditions of Cantonese cooking is ‘dim sum’ – ‘little hearts’. In many cities, both in China and in other countries around the world, you’ll find little dim sum shops tucked beneath stairways and in storefront shops. They serve tea and the delicious savory and sweet little dim sum pastries to businessmen and afternoon shoppers.

Szechwan cuisine has grown in popularity over the last few decades. Most famous for searingly spicy foods like Kung Pao Chicken and Double Cooked Spicy Pork, Szechwan cuisine is a distinct style of cooking that is native to the landlocked mountainous center of China. The pungent flavors of ginger, fermented soybean, onions and garlic characterize much Szechwan cuisine, but there are also more subtle dishes that rely on the interweaving of texture and flavor. The typical cooking methods include frying, frying without oil, pickling and braising.

Hunan cuisine is the most well known of the several regional Chinese cuisine styles from Zheijiang region of China. It is characterized by thick, rich sauces and complex pungent flavors. Typical ingredients include scallions, chili and pepper. A popular favorite dish in the Hunan style is Pepper Chicken, with small chunks of succulent chicken quick-fried with black pepper and onions.

Shangdong cuisine is characterized by its emphasis on fresh ingredients in combinations that emphasize the flavor, aroma, color and texture of each ingredient. The Shangdong regional cuisine is known for delicate flavor combinations that are surprisingly pungent. Garlic and scallions are frequent ingredients, as are seafood, fresh vegetables and shoots. The soups are either thin and clear with a light flavor, or thick and pungent, rich with cream and spices. One of the most famous dishes from the Shangdong area, Bird’s Nest Soup, is typically served at major affairs of state.

While these are four of the main styles of Chinese regional cuisine, there are a number of others worthy of note. Fujian and Jiangsu Cuisine both focus on seafood and shellfish, accompanied by fresh vegetables. Fujian cuisine blends sweet, sour, savory and salt flavors in magical combinations. Jiangsu cuisine is light, fresh and sweet, and is characterized by its elegant presentation. More than any other style of Chinese regional cuisine, it emphasizes appearance as an important part of the appeal of a meal.

China is a complex country, with many smaller nationalities and regions within its borders. Most have typical styles of cooking that are starkly different than those of other regions around them. It is, however, a nation whose love affair with food has produced some of the most complex, rich, delicate and delicious dishes ever created.

Regional Cuisine Of Mexico

Just south of the United States and bordering the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, Mexico is quickly advancing both culturally and economically. The devaluation of the peso in 1994 threw the Mexican economy into a frenzy, lowering their per capita income to a mere quarter of that of the United States. Through repeated social and economic turmoil, the rich cultures of the original Yucatan civilizations has remained, though somewhat jaded after their emersion from under Spanish rule in the 19th century.

It isn't hard to research the rich history of Mexican cuisine. When the Spaniards first landed in Tenochtitlan (present-day Mexico City) they carefully chronicled every aspect of life there in Mexico, especially the food and cooking techniques of the natives. During their observations, they noticed that the Mexicans had a lot of corn-based foods. This was due to the fact that maize was Mexico's chief crop at the time. A lot of these notes have carefully been preserved in the name of history--not that that is necessary. The Mexican culture has continued to live on through food, if through nothing else at all.

Be warned: Mexican food is not for the faint of stomach. Consisting of such rich, heavy foods as tortillas, chili peppers, and beans, many bodies cannot take the richness and spiciness of Mexican cuisine.

Mexican food is one cuisine that will always have a taste and sabor (flavor) all its own. Present-day Mexican food is a mixture of original Mayan and Aztec cuisine combined with the influence of the culture of the Spanish conquistadores. While Tex-Mex and local "authentic" Mexican restaurants have become very skilled in mastering the style of Mexican cooking, there is no comparison between the Americanized "restaurant" version and the real thing. Mexican food is known for its wealth of spices and intense, deep flavoring.

Tortillas are the staple of Mexican cuisine. Tortillas are made by curing maize in lime water, kneading the mixture into a dough, and cooking the thin patties on a flat grill. The most common tortillas in the United States' version of Mexican food are made of corn, although this version of the corn tortilla is quite unlike the original, authentic version. Authentic corn tortillas are made by hand on a flat grill (called a comal). The corn is ground by hand, resulting in thick tasty tortillas that the grocery store versions pale in comparison to. Flour tortillas were implemented only after the Spaniards introduced wheat to the Mexican region.

Chiles are another staple in traditional Mexican cuisine, adding color and dimension to many traditional Mexican dishes. Bell peppers, tabasco peppers, and paprika peppers add the color and the flavor kick that Mexican food is so known for.

It is also important to take into consideration that Mexican cuisine varies in reference to the region it is coming from or being made in. Northern-style Mexican food normally consists of dishes with a lot of beef, while southern-style Mexican cuisine consists more of chicken and vegetables such as bell pepper, radishes, and broccoli, more than anything else. Veracruz is also another common style of Mexican food, coming from the coastal areas in Mexico. Veracruz cuisine, which was named after a state in Mexico and its largest city, consists of seafood such as fish and shrimp. More indigenous areas have even been known to incorporate spider monkey and iguana into their meals. Especially while in Mexico, "Mexican Food" does not always imply tacos and burritos.

Authentic Mexican cuisine is not to be confused with the Americanized Tex-Mex or New Mexican food (versions of Mexican food in Texas and New Mexico).

Cantonese Regional Cuisine

Easily the most well-known of the Chinese regional cuisines, Cantonese cuisine comes from the region around Canton in Southern China. Simple spices and a wide variety of foods used in cooking characterize Cantonese cuisine. Of all the Chinese regions, Canton (Guangdong province) has the most available food resources. Its proximity to the sea offers a veritable marine cornucopia to be added to its dishes, making possible such delicate matings as Seven Happiness, a dish that includes shrimp, scallops, fish and lobster along with chicken, beef and pork. The light, delicate sauce, quick cooking and subtle spicing allows the natural flavors to shine through rather than being overwhelmed and blending together.

The spices used in Cantonese cooking tend to be light and simple: ginger, salt, soy sauce, white pepper, spring onion and rice wine. For many who are used to the more rich, spicy and complex flavors of Hunan and Szechwan cooking, Cantonese cooking may seem bland – but the subtle blends of flavor and aroma are created by the hand of a master chef.

All Chinese cuisine takes far more into account than the flavor of a dish. Chinese cooking is a presentation of texture, color, shape and aroma with even the name of the dish contributing to its overall presentation. In true Oriental fashion, a meal is poetry, with every part of it contributing to the overall effect. Chinese courtesy demands that a guest be treated with honor, and to present a guest with anything less than perfection is the height of rudeness.

As an honor to guests, freshness is one of the ultimate ‘ingredients’ in Cantonese regional cooking. In many restaurants, guests can choose their meal from a seafood tank in the dining room. It’s not unusual for a patron to be brought a live fish or crab at the table as proof of the freshness of the meal about to be prepared. Vegetables are likewise fresh, crisp and sweet, and the quick cooking methods preserve each flavor separately to play against the others.

Light sauces with subtle seasonings bring out the natural sweetness of seafood – but the Cantonese chef will only use the very freshest seafood in those dishes. For ‘stale’ seafood, Cantonese cuisine offers thick, spicy sauces meant to mask the characteristic odor of fish. Pungent/sweet dishes like sweet and sour butterfly shrimp might be served this way.

There are few Cantonese desserts that are indigenous to the region, though many restaurants serve a mango based pudding or tapioca. Most meals are served with plain boiled rice, and accompanied by either tea or rice wine.

Wherever in the world you are, you’re likely to find restaurants that serve Cantonese cuisine. It has been carried across the world by emigrants from the Quangdong province, and its light, delicate flavors are easy on the Western palate. To truly appreciate it though, takes more than the taste buds. Cantonese cuisine is a treat for the eyes and the nose as much as for the mouth. Appreciate it.