Connecticut farmers encourage locals to buy native-grown fruits and vegetables at the West Haven Green’s annual farmers market.

West Haven’s farmers’ market takes place on West Haven’s green, located at the corner of Campbell Avenue and Main Street.

“Send more people…the prices are unbeatable,” says Maryanne Barrelli, a farmers’ market vendor.

The Farmers’ Market is a nationwide movement, created to encourage and support local farmers. Connecticut currently hosts over 100 farmers markets statewide that are conducted daily. Connecticut’s Certified Farmers’ Markets are committed to selling only Connecticut-grown farm harvests.

Most markets also participate in supplemental food programs and will accept vouchers and payments from WIC or EBT.

West Haven’s farmers’ market takes place on West Haven’s green, located at the corner of Campbell Avenue and Main Street on Thursday afternoons from 12 p.m. until 6 p.m., and on Saturday from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Although one of the smaller farmers’ markets in the state, West Haven carries a large variety of fruits and vegetables including apples, pears, plums, corn, cabbage and squash, just to name a few.

The West Haven farmers’ market was dedicated to a local, Tony Inzero, who died last July at the age of 59. Inzero was very involved in the downtown community and was a founding father of the West Haven Business Association. As the president of the association, Inzero encouraged several programs, including the opening of West Haven’s farmers’ market in 2000.

The local market is seasonal and runs from the months of July through October; this is the 11th year that it has been held on the green. West Haven’s farmers’ market is currently WIC certified and welcomes WIC vouchers.

“This is the freshest stuff you can get in Connecticut,” says Jose Guadulupe, Smith’s Acres employee and market vendor.

Mini Cheesecake Cupcakes: Serving Size 6

Don’t feel like making an entire cheesecake? Mini cheesecake cupcakes are the perfect size and hassle-free!

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

(Crust)

-1/3 cup graham cracker crumbs

-1 tbsp. sugar

-1 tbsp. margarine

(Cheesecake filling)

-8oz cream cheese

-1/4 cup sugar

-1/2 tsp. vanilla

-1 egg

Tools:

-cupcake papers

-two bowls

Directions:

1. Melt margarine and mix in with graham cracker crumbs and sugar. Scoop into the cupcake holders and bake at 325 degrees for 5 minutes

2. In a separate bowl, mix cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and egg. Make the batter as smooth as possible

3. Scoop on top of the crust. Fill the cups up to the top, the cheesecake does not rise much.

4. Bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes. Allow to completely cool. Refrigerate if you want to speed up the process.

5. Feel free to add any fruit topping right before serving.

Making a regular-sized cheesecake is extremely difficult. You need to have a spring form pan and know how to cook exactly. Also, when cooking cheesecake, the cake sometimes cracks and makes for an unsightly desert.

Microwave Cupcakes: Serving Size 5

Microwave cupcakes made in minutes!

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 2 minutes

Ingredients:
-1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
-2 tbsp. butter
-1 egg
-1 tbsp. oil
-1/3 cup sugar
-1 tbsp. milk
-2 tbsp. cocoa powder (unsweetened)
-pinch of salt
-2 tbsp. flour
-1/8 tsp. baking powder
-frosting

Tools:
-snack size Tupper wear
-cupcake papers
-two bowls

Directions:

1.    In a small microwave safe bowl, add chocolate chips and butter. Microwave for 20 seconds and stir until the mixture is melted.

2.    In a separate bowl (cereal bowl is good) add the egg, oil, milk, sugar, and salt and mix until well combined.  

3.    Mix in chocolate mixture and stir again.

4.    Mix in cocoa powder, flour and baking powder over the egg mixture and stir well until combined.

5.    Take your small Tupper wear and place cupcake paper in it.  Fill the cup up with the mixture about half way. Microwave on high for 1 to 1.5 minutes. Cooking time depends on your microwave.
 
6.    Let the cupcake cool and then frost how desired.

These cupcakes are made in small batches, so you can make a few at a time. They cook really fast so they are there when you need it. During late-night study sessions, you can take a quick break and have a yummy snack. Enjoy!

You may be “Lovin’ It” a little less in the near future, according to McDonald’s Chief Financial Officer, as discussed during a conference call with investors earlier this week. As commodity prices rise, the need to increase prices on their menu items seems to be an eminent change for the popular fast food chain. What changes are to be made, and how much the prices will increase, is still a mystery, but the probability of a sharp increase is unlikely due to several factors.

Despite the fact that McDonald’s net income rose from $1.22 billion from last year, to $1.24 billion this year, they believe that their food costs will rise 2 to 2.5% in the United States and 3.5 to 4.5% in Europe in 2011. In order to offset these costs, they are suggesting passing this off to the consumer. Yet, there is no need to worry. Why is this? McDonald’s has always been known for low cost, no frills food. Originally, they had no competition, but over the years, other fast food chains have opened. Places like Burger King and Wendy’s offer similar food, with prices to match. If McDonald’s were to raise their prices, one of two things could happen.

Since they all have similar food, they have to buy the same ingredients. McDonald’s is not the only company that rising costs, in areas such as beef, are affecting. If they were to raise their price, competitors may do the same thing. This would leave them on an equal playing field. However, there is also the possibility that other fast food restaurants would capitalize on new price increase. With the use of clever marketing strategies, targeting McDonald’s as the expensive fast food could hurt them substantially. They have a reputation for low cost food, and if they were to lose that, they could lose all their customers as well.

Regardless of how McDonald’s goes about this, they assure customers that staple items will not increase sharply. This would ensure that regulars would continue to eat there, who began when the economy failed. Nothing is official yet, and until McDonald’s crunches the numbers, it is uncertain whether they will go through with these changes. Nevertheless, be warned: if your favorite “Dollar Menu” items go up; you may have to shell out an extra nickel or dime in order to enjoy it. Will you look somewhere else for your fast food needs, or will you stay loyal to McDonald’s?

WASHINGTON – Scientists say they have for the first time tracked how certain nontoxic elements of oil from the BP spill quickly became dinner for plankton, entering the

In this Oct. 14, 2010 picture, X in Bay Jimmy near the Louisiana coast. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

food web in the Gulf of Mexico.

The new study sheds light on two key questions about the aftermath of the 172 million-gallon spill in April: What happened to the oil that once covered the water’s surface and will it work its way into the diets of Gulf marine life?

“Everybody is making a huge deal of where did the oil go,” said chief study author William “Monty” Graham, a plankton expert at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama. “It just became food.”

The study didn’t specifically track the toxic components of the oil that has people worried. It focused on the way the basic element carbon moved through the beginnings of the all-important food web. Graham said the “eye-opening” speed of how the oil components moved through the ecosystem may affect the overall health of the Gulf.

Michael Crosby of the Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida didn’t take part in the study but said what fascinated him was that the carbon zipped through the food web faster than scientists expected. That in itself isn’t alarming, but if the nontoxic part of the oil is moving so rapidly through the food web, Crosby asks: “What has happened to the toxic compounds of the released oil?”

Graham said it was too hard to study the toxins in tiny plankton, which are plant and animal life, usually microscopic. So he had to go with an indicator that’s easier to track: the ratio of different types of carbon in microbes and plankton around and even under the BP oil slick. That important ratio jumped 20 percent, showing oil in the food web.

By late September the carbon ratios in microscopic life had returned to normal, Graham said.

Graham emphasized that the results of his research don’t mean the plankton, the fish that feed on it or the people who eat Gulf seafood are at any risk. What he found, he said, is merely a biomarker that shows the movement of spill-related carbon through the food chain. Much of the plankton he studied was “swimming around and doing great” and in equal or higher numbers than before the spill, he said.

Graham’s study, released Monday, is published in Environmental Research Letters. It was mostly funded by the National Science Foundation, with additional money from the state of Alabama and BP’s Gulf Research Initiative, which distributed money through the Northern Gulf Institute in Mississippi.

For Graham it’s noteworthy how voracious the oil-munching bacteria were: “The microbes came to the rescue.” After they snacked on the surface oil, other microscopic sea life ate the microbes and were, in turn, chomped on by zooplankton, tiny animals.

Larry McKinney, director of a Gulf research institute at Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi, said the study confirms what scientists had expected. The big question is will it affect eggs and larvae and next year’s production of shrimp, crabs and fish, McKinney said.

WASHINGTON – Think propane and butane are just for barbecuing? Think again: The common cooking fuels can also chill your drinks and ice cream with less energy and almost none of the global warming worries of current refrigerants.

Some of the world’s largest consumer product companies are promoting freezers and refrigerators in the U.S. that use propane, butane and other coolants that don’t trap heat in the atmosphere as much as Freon and other conventional refrigerants.

The new so-called hydrocarbon coolers — already popular in Europe — are being tested by Ben & Jerry’s ice cream company at stores in the Washington and Boston areas. Meanwhile, General Electric is seeking approval to market a home refrigerator in the U.S. using a hydrocarbon refrigerant.

The new freezers take advantage of the way hydrocarbon gases absorb heat when they change from a liquid to a gas. It’s the same process when a propane tank becomes cool to the touch when you’re using it with a gas grill. The hydrocarbon refrigerant is compressed and expanded as it makes its way through the compressor and tubes surrounding the freezer.

Unlike car exhaust or power plant pollution that’s spewed directly into the air, the coolants used in most U.S. refrigerators today only enter the atmosphere when their compressors leak, or when appliances are thrown out and their refrigerant eventually escapes.

If hydrocarbons are accidentally released into the atmosphere, their effect on trapping heat is about 1,400 times less than conventional refrigerants, said Pete Gosselin, director of engineering for Ben & Jerry’s.

The fuels are flammable, of course, but current models only use the amount contained in two or three cigarette lighters. Electronic components are designed to prevent igniting a possible leak.

“It’s extremely potent,” Gosselin said. “And as the world develops, especially in developing nations, refrigeration use is one of the first technologies that comes on board.”

The appliances cost about the same as similar conventional freezers and use about 10 percent less electricity.

“And that turns out to be a huge gain in terms of your carbon footprint, that 10 percent gain in efficiency,” Gosselin said. “Every kilowatt hour that comes in the wall, comes in with a certain amount of CO2 footprint with it and if you can knock 10 percent off that, that’s huge.”

Gosselin said Ben & Jerry’s still hasn’t determined whether hydrocarbon refrigerants can be used in larger applications. Coca-Cola spokeswoman Lisa Manley said the company decided on using carbon dioxide because their equipment requires more cooling capacity and would require using more hydrocarbon refrigerant, which they decided against partly out of safety concerns.

While carbon dioxide equipment is more costly, Coca-Cola is hoping to convince others to adopt the technology and drive the price down through increased demand, Manley said.

The U.S. will be playing catch-up. Unilever, which has more than 2 million ice cream cabinets worldwide, including 100,000 in the United States, now has more than 400,000 hydrocarbon-based units in Europe, Latin America and Asia, Gosselin said.

About 42,000 bottle vending machines using hydrocarbons or carbon dioxide as refrigerant also have been installed in China, Europe and Latin America by Coca-Cola, Carlsberg and PepsiCo. And McDonald’s has opened two pilot restaurants in Denmark that don’t use traditional refrigerants, according to the Refrigerants, Naturally Web site.

The Environmental Protection Agency, which allowed Ben & Jerry’s to test the new coolers, has already completed a preliminary review on the freezers, as well as the new GE refrigerator. It expects to make a proposed rule on the machines available for public comment later this year, and a final decision could be issued by early next year, said Drusilla Hufford, director of the EPA’s Stratospheric Protection Division.

On a recent afternoon, Dominic Abruzzese, a senior at George Washington University, said he wasn’t aware the freezer steps away from him at the university’s Gallery Market was any different than others nearby.

“I knew Freon was bad, but I didn’t know people were switching to propane freezers,” Abruzzese said.

The Ridley Park, Pa., student said he would consider buying a propane-based refrigerator or freezer in the future.

“I guess I would be more likely to buy a freezer that was more environmentally friendly, for sure,” he said.

Cathy Cerda, a mother of five from Herndon, Va., said she also wasn’t aware the Ben & Jerry’s freezer was different.

“If I had to make a decision between the two, well give me that one,” she said. “But if it was a lot more expensive, because for me having five children, I think the expense would top my list.”

On Friday, Sept. 25, the Equinox Diner in Orange sponsored their first Equinox celebration. The diner was unusually peppy and exciting as you walked in the front door. Guests were greeted with balloons, a cotton candy machine, and flowing bottles of champagne.

For those who have never been to the Equinox Diner on Boston Post Road, the small diner is a large step up for traditional dining in the area. Serving high quality food at a diner price, the restaurant serves as a perfect introduction to the “diner” atmosphere. From the traditional eggs and bacon breakfasts to brie and turkey lunches, to seafood stuffed dinners with drinks, the Equinox Diner provides great service and platters to its customers.

On this particular Friday, The Equinox was celebrating the cause of its creation: the fall equinox on Sept. 22. The Equinox, which marks the changing of seasons, was also the day the owner was married and the name which inspired the restaurant. For all the diners that came in on Friday, the owner of the Equinox offered a unique gift: a gift card equal to the amount spent for their meals. They also offered free champagne, lots of cotton candy for anyone under 21, and a promise that proceeds would be donated to Big Brothers Big Sisters.

If you missed out on the celebration: don’t fret! While you missed a really great opportunity for some essentially “free” dining, make sure to check out the Diner next time you’re craving a late night snack! The Equinox is open late just for us college students and provides a never ending menu of delicious breakfast foods. Plus, bring your University of New Haven ID: with it, you are guaranteed ten percent off! Make the Equinox your go-to place for great food, great times, and great events!

From The Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) — The company that added “venti” and “frappuccino” to American vocabularies is making a push throughout North America to convince connoisseurs to sample what many see as a down-market drink — instant coffee.

Nearly eight months after Starbucks Corp. began selling its Via instant coffee in Seattle and Chicago, the company on Tuesday will begin offering the dissolvable drink to the rest of the country and in its Canadian stores.

Backed by the company’s first-ever television ads, along with large-scale distribution to about 1,500 sites outside its stores, the Via launch shows just how determined Starbucks is to own a stake in the $21 billion worldwide instant coffee market.

“Based on the success we’ve had, we feel strongly that we’re sitting on a very big opportunity,” said Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said during a conference call with journalists. “What’s going to sell Via at the end of the day is that (it) delivers in the cup. Most people will not be able to tell the difference.”

While instant coffee is pervasive throughout Europe — accounting for as much as 80 percent of coffee sales in the U.K. — the insta-brews haven’t won over American taste buds, in large part because of their image as an inferior knock-off of drip-brewed beverages.

But it’s that perception that Starbucks executives are trying to change. They hope the skinny cylindrical 3-packs ($2.95) and 12-packs ($9.95) of coffee that dissolve in water will eventually be as prevalent on store shelves as its packaged coffee is now. The coffee is available in Colombia and Italian Roast flavors, and more varieties are expected to be introduced in the future.

To read the rest of the article here’s the link below:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Starbucks-rolls-out-Via-apf-273848205.html?x=0

From The Associated Press

MEXICO CITY – Mexico now has one of the world’s most liberal laws for drug users after eliminating jail time for small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and even heroin, LSD and methamphetamine.

“All right!” said a grinning Ivan Rojas, a rail-thin 20-year-old addict who endured police harassment during the decade he has spent sleeping in Mexico City‘s gritty streets and subway stations.

But stunned police on the U.S. side of the border say the law contradicts President Felipe Calderon’s drug war, and some fear it could make Mexico a destination for drug-fueled spring breaks and tourism.

Tens of thousands of American college students flock to Cancun and Acapulco each year to party at beachside discos offering wet T-shirt contests and all-you-can-drink deals.

“Now they will go because they can get drugs,” said San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne. “For a country that has experienced thousands of deaths from warring drug cartels for many years, it defies logic why they would pass a law that will clearly encourage drug use.”

Enacted last week, the Mexican law is part of a growing trend across Latin America to treat drug use as a public health problem and make room in overcrowded prisons for violent traffickers rather than small-time users.

Brazil and Uruguay have already eliminated jail time for people carrying small amounts of drugs for personal use, although possession is still considered a crime in Brazil. Argentina’s Supreme Court ruled out prison for pot possession on Tuesday and officials say they plan to propose a law keeping drug consumers out of the justice system.

Colombia has decriminalized marijuana and cocaine for personal use, but kept penalties for other drugs.

Officials in those countries say they are not legalizing drugs — just drawing a line between users, dealers and traffickers amid a fierce drug war. Mexico’s law toughens penalties for selling drugs even as it relaxes the law against using them.

“Latin America is disappointed with the results of the current drug policies and is exploring alternatives,” said Ricardo Soberon, director of the Drug Research and Human Rights Center in Lima, Peru.

As Mexico ratcheted up its fight against cartels, drug use jumped more than 50 percent between 2002 and 2008, according to the government, and today prisons are filled with addicts, many under the age of 25.

Rojas has spent half his life snorting cocaine and sniffing paint thinner as he roamed Mexico City‘s streets in a daze. Most days he was roused awake by police demanding a bribe and forcing him to move along, he said.

“It’s good they have this law so police don’t grab you,” said Rojas, whose name, I-V-A-N, is tattooed across his knuckles.

Rojas hit bottom three weeks ago when he could not score enough money for drugs by begging and found himself shaking uncontrollably. He accepted an offer for help from workers from a drug rehabilitation center who approached him on the street.

“Drugs were finishing me off,” said Rojas, whose 13-year-old brother died of an overdose eight years ago. “I lost my brother. I lost my youth.”

Juan Martin Perez, who runs Caracol, the nonprofit center helping Rojas, said the government has poured millions of dollars into the drug war but has done little to treat addicts. His group relies on grants from foundations.

The new law requires officials to encourage drug users to seek treatment in lieu of jail, but the government has not allocated more money for organizations like Caracol that are supposed to help them.

Treatment is mandatory for third-time offenders, but the law does not specify penalties for noncompliance.

“This was passed quickly and quietly but it’s going to have to be adjusted to match reality,” Perez said.

Supporters of the change point to Portugal, which removed jail terms for drug possession for personal use in 2001 and still has one of the lowest rates of cocaine use in Europe.

Portugal’s law defines personal use as the equivalent of what one person would consume over 10 days. Police confiscate the drugs and the suspect must appear before a government commission, which reviews the person’s drug consumption patterns. Users may be fined, sent for treatment or put on probation.

Foreigners caught with drugs still face arrest in Portugal, a measure to prevent drug tourism.

The same is not true for Mexico, where there is no jail time for anyone caught with roughly four marijuana cigarettes, four lines of cocaine, 50 milligrams of heroin, 40 milligrams of methamphetamine or 0.015 milligrams of LSD.

That’s what concerns U.S. law enforcement at the border.

“It provides an officially sanctioned market for the consumption of the world’s most dangerous drugs,” San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said. “For the people of San Diego the risk is direct and lethal. There are those who will drive to Mexico to use drugs and return to the U.S. under their influence.”

Don Thornhill, a retired Drug Enforcement Administration supervisor who investigated Mexican cartels for 25 years, said Mexico’s rampant drug violence will likely deter most U.S. drug users, and the new law will allow Mexican police to focus on “the bigger fish.”

The Bush administration criticized a similar bill proposed in Mexico in 2006, prompting then-President Vicente Fox to send it back to Congress. But Washington has stayed quiet this time, praising Calderon for his fight against drug cartels — a struggle that has seen some 11,000 people killed since Calderon took office in 2006.

“We work with Mexico every day to combat illegal drugs and cartel violence,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said when asked about the law. “And we look forward to continuing that cooperation.”

Up the road from campus sits a fast food restaurant like no other. Frankies, a franchise with nine locations throughout Connecticut (and even one in Florida), is a well-known gem in this area. Located on the Boston Post Road in West Haven right near Guitar Center, Frankies offers a variety of food items in a casual sitdown atmosphere.

When millions were wondering where the economy would end up in 1933, founder Frank Caiazzo was banking – no pun intended – on becoming a successful businessperson. He put down a deposit on a location and received building materials on credit from a local lumber company, calling Frank and his brother ambitious, likeable, and persuasive. Business in the ’30s was slow, however.

According to Frankie, “it was so bad that when someone came in, we’d give him an extra cup of coffee just to keep his car in our lot!” But today, Frankie’s is a local favorite throughout Connecticut. Its Waterbury location even attracts customers from the Boston area and beyond.

Frankies’ menu has a vast array of choices, ranging from soup, salad, appetizers, chili, fried cauliflower, cheeseburgers, fried seafood, tuna rolls, and Philly cheesesteak just to name a few. But don’t forget what makes Frankies so popular: their delicious hot dogs, with options to be topped with chili, cheese, peppers and onions, mushrooms, hot cheddar cheese, bacon, and served as corn dogs.

Be sure to check out Frankies next time you venture out for a delicious dinner, a simple snack, or in the words of Tim Fasano a “liberal lunch.” Tim and I both guarantee that you won’t be disappointed.