Meet the Amazing Cat Who Adopted a Senior Living Community

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Nursing homes do everything they can to create a relaxing and welcoming environment for their residents. In fact, the environment is so relaxing and so welcoming that it’s very likely for them to attract more than just the elderly!

Mr. Pickles was an outdoor cat before he became a permanent member of the Bayview Retirement community. He’d often stop by the home for free treats and to sleep by the fireplace as his previous guardian was in and out of the hospital so much that he could no longer care for Mr. Pickles.

Once Mr. Pickles previous caretaker got wind of where his cat was going, he knew that Bayview was the right place for him. Since then, Mr. Pickles has earned his place as the self-appointed hospitality specialist and greeter at the Bayview Retirement Community. He keeps the residents company and uses his dashing good looks to keep everyone entertained and upbeat.

This kitty is way more than just a mascot, though, at five minutes in, a resident displays one of the many times Mr. Pickles has pulled his own weight and helped out with chores!

While there is no doubt that this particular kitty is special, animals who take on therapeutic roles in retirement homes like Mr. Pickles aren’t uncommon. Having a four-legged friend around does wonders for the physical and mental well-being of residents. At Bayview, there is no question that the residents love Mr. Pickles and it’s pretty obvious that he loves them back. What more can you ask for?

The English Provender Co. reinvigorates the pickle category with latest innovation

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The English Provender Co. has launched a range of premium pickles, set to revolutionise the stagnating pickle market and drive consumer engagement.  Building on the brand’s proven success within the wider category – the number one chutney brand in the UK with 13% market share – the product range addresses a real gap in the market and delivers an attractive alternative to current pickle offerings.

The four-strong range combines contemporary, creative combinations to deliver a distinctive range of great tasting pickles: Proper Pickle in Chunky and Finely Chopped options, Beetroot Pickle and the unique Pickled Onion Pickle. Available from Waitrose and ASDA stores nationwide from October 2015, the pickles come at an RRP of £1.50.

Made with authentic, natural ingredients that champion British produce and with no added perservatives, colours or flavours, the pickles are aimed at ABC1 consumers looking for a  quality pickle to add to sandwiches and salads.

Joanne Walsh, brand manager at English Provender Co,, said: “Our research* revealed that consumers perceive the category as old-fashioned and dull and with no innovation in recent years there was a clear gap in the market for premium, great tasting pickles.

“Our Proper Pickle range is just as pickle should be – naturally delicious with a more refined flavour and texture to appeal to time-poor consumers looking for something different. With flavours to suit individual preferences and tastes, the range has already received fantastic feedback and we’re confident it will help bring the pickle category back into growth.”

New contemporary labels will highlight the simplicity of its natural ingredients and champion British produce. With strong in-store stand out the range is presented in a slender 305g format, which stays true to EPC’s iconic premium square glass jars, for added convenience for both customers and consumers.

Walsh adds: “With 92% of UK consumers eating a least one sandwich a week*, from traditional sandwiches to burritos, paninis and toasties, our Proper Pickle range offers a strong opportunity for retailers to increase their revenue and re-engage consumers within the category. Moreover, there is huge growth potential outside the main lunch occasion, such as the consumption of pickles with salads.”

The product launch will be supported by a heavyweight PR campaign, digital advertising and targeted in-store sampling and outdoor sampling.

Families flock to Habersham Harvest Festival on perfect autumn day

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Kids eating dill pickles

A group of youngsters struggles to eat plates full of pickles in a minute during a pickle eating competition at the Habersham Harvest Festival in Beaufort on Saturday. “It was really sour,” said contestant Kailey Kreiss, 10, second from right. Jay Karr jkarr@islandpacket.com

 BY JAY KARR   –   The Beoufort Gazette

Carnival rides, a pickle-eating contest and petting zoo animals entertained visitors at the 7th annual Habersham Harvest Festival on Saturday in Beaufort.

Families enjoyed a perfect autumn day strolling beneath the overhanging Spanish moss-draped branches at the Habersham Marketplace.

In addition to seasonal activities such as hayrides, the festival featured carnival rides provided by Big Round Wheel of Blacksburg.

New arrivals were met by a 47-foot-tall Ferris wheel with a long line of people stretching nearly back to the scarecrows at the festival entrance. From the air, riders were treated to a bird’s-eye view of the festival.

Down below, crowds of people, some pushing children in strollers or walking dogs on leashes, navigated the street past vendors and craft booths selling a variety of items ranging from pillows to neon-colored fish paintings.

Meanwhile, a pickle-eating contest got underway at the main stage area where groups of youngsters competed to see who could wolf down the most pickles in a minute’s time.

“I shoved them all in my mouth. I think I had nine or 10,” said Kailey Kreiss, 10, of Savannah after competing. “It was really sour.”

Further down the street, at the mini petting zoo, Rhonda Alexion, of Beaufort, showed goddaughter Carley Holmes a pair of turkeys strutting around their cage. “You know when I tell you, ‘you little turkey?’ Well, that’s a turkey,” she said.

A second petting zoo featured farm animals such as goats and exotic creatures like llamas. Next to the petting zoo, a carousel was spinning a few feet from an attraction offering rides on real ponies.

As the lead singer of the band NightTrain sang a country song about a honky tonk angel turning his life around, festival goers bellied up to a variety of food vendors. The Tavino’s wood-fired pizza booth was doing a land-office business, while nearby, the pulled-pork tacos with blue cheese slaw featured at the Downtown Curbside Kitchen food truck were selling like hotcakes.

New to the festival was a collection of whimsical scarecrows adorning the entryway. The scarecrows, which were a popular background for festival goers to take selfies and group photos in front of, were a collaboration between the Boys and Girls Clubs of Northern Beaufort County and the Habersham Builders League, with a portion of the proceeds to benefit the Boys and Girls Clubs.

 

 

PRODUCT REVIEW: The art of canning requires a funnel

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By Catherine Krummey   –   Grand Forks Herald

This fall, I reluctantly (and later happily) became one of those people who can their abundant summer produce.

After hearing stories about my mom making pickles and my brother making his own salsa—both through canning—my boyfriend was inspired to make pickles. I got my grandmother’s refrigerator pickle recipe from my mom to share with him, and it quickly turned into “We’re making pickles.”

As we both had an abundance of cucumbers thanks to a mom with a very green thumb, a sister with a CSA subscription and one too many trips to the farmers market, he figured it was the thing to do, and he was right.

My grandmother’s pickle recipe came to us via a text message, without many suggestions on techniques, so we learned a few things the hard way during our pickling attempt:

First, how important it is to routinely clear off your cutting board no matter how big it is and how many cucumber slices you can stack on it, otherwise you might run out of room and take a nice slice into your finger.

Second, when you’re letting your cucumbers, green peppers and onions sit in salt for a bit, do it in a strainer in the sink, not on a cutting board on the counter, where pools of water seep onto your kitchen floor.

Third, when it came time to actually can our refrigerator pickles and pour the vinegar and sugar brine over the top, it was a little messy. “I wish I had a funnel,” I said as I clumsily transferred the brine from my saucepan to the jars, spilling a fair amount.

“I could go get the one from my car,” my boyfriend joked, his quip met with a glare.

Our first batch of pickles turned out to be very delicious despite any mishaps, but when the boyfriend announced he wanted to make a second batch, I wasn’t going to fool around: I bought a funnel set (of the non-automobile variety) on my next Target run.

As the OXO Good Grips name suggests, the two funnels each have four skinny red rubber grips to keep them from slipping and sliding when you use them.

Using the larger funnel from the set made the brine process go much more smoothly with our second batch of pickles. No spills, no sticky residue on the outside of the jars when you go to grab some pickles for your burger.

Rating: A

Price: $7.99 at Target

Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custard Turns up the Heat with New Burger

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Regional All-Natural Quick Service Chain Introduces the Jalapeño Cream Cheese Burger

DENVER, Oct 22, 2015 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Good Times Restaurants Inc. GTIM, +2.09% operator of Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custard, a Colorado favorite quick service restaurant chain best known for its fresh, high-quality, all-natural products, is firing up the month of October with the Jalapeño Cream Cheese Burger.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151022005099/en/

The savory new burger features fire roasted jalapenos, fried red & green jalapeno sticks, cream cheese and raspberry jam. Available for a limited time, the new menu item will continue to uphold Good Times’ mission of offering fresh, all-natural, hand-crafted food using locally-sourced ingredients to create the tastiest fast food available. Similar to the everyday items on the menu, the Jalapeño Cream Cheese burger will be made with Good Times’ humanely raised, steroid-free beef.
“The Jalapeño Cream Cheese Burger is the perfect blend of sweet and spicy ingredients, and a Colorado favorite that you would otherwise only find in an upscale casual dining environment. Using ingredients you won’t find at any other fast food restaurant, I believe we have created a true one-of-a-kind menu item,” said Nick Biegel, Director of Product Development. “Our LTO offerings are a fun way to incorporate different local produce into our menu items. We’re looking forward to seeing if our customers love it as much as we do.”

Good Times continues its commitment to quality menu offerings with its completely all-natural protein platform, recently adding all-natural, nitrate-free bacon to the mix. The restaurant chain also recently introduced All Natural Housemade Pickles and Hand Breaded Fried Pickles, which are prepared in small batches by hand daily in each restaurant.

“Our brand position is based on the belief that food should be as fresh as possible, unique and of the highest quality,” said Biegel. “Every menu item that we have and will have in the future will be held to that standard in order to give our customer’s the best quick service experience possible.”

About Good Times Restaurants Inc.: Good Times Restaurants Inc. (GTIM) operates Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custard and was founded in 1987 in Boulder, Colorado. Good Times prides itself on serving fast food to be proud of by offering a high quality, fresh, unique, proprietary selection of hamburgers made with Meyer All Natural Angus beef, All Natural chicken tenderloins from Springer Mountain Farms, All Natural, Nitrate Free Bacon from Good Nature Farms, Hatch Valley Green Chile Breakfast Burritos, signature Wild Fries and Natural Cut Fries, Beer Battered Onion Rings and fresh, creamy Frozen Custard in a variety of flavors, Hand Spun Shakes and Spoonbenders. Good Times currently operates and franchises 38 restaurants.

GTIM owns and operates Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar restaurants. There are currently 14 company owned, joint ventured, franchised and licensed Bad Daddy’s open. Bad Daddy’s is a full service, upscale, “small box” restaurant concept featuring a chef driven menu of gourmet signature burgers, chopped salads, appetizers and sandwiches with a full bar and a focus on a selection of craft microbrew beers in a high energy atmosphere that appeals to a broad consumer base.

Good Times Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. The words “intend,” “may,” “believe,” “will,” “should,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “seek” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, which may cause the Company’s actual results to differ materially from results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks include such factors as the uncertain nature of current restaurant development plans and the ability to implement those plans and integrate new restaurants, delays in developing and opening new restaurants because of weather, local permitting or other reasons, increased competition, cost increases or shortages in raw food products, and other matters discussed under the “Risk Factors” section of Good Times’ Annual Report on Form 10-K/A for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2014 filed with the SEC. Although Good Times may from time to time voluntarily update its forward-looking statements, it disclaims any commitment to do so except as required by securities laws.

An easy introduction to modern fermenting

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By Diana Henry   –   The Telegraph

If a man ever asks you to try his “new greens”, I’d advise you to take him up on the offer. That was the invitation I received from pickling and fermenting expert Nick Vadasz. A week later I’m standing in an industrial unit in Hackney peering into a big plastic bucket. Murky brown liquid, flecked with chili, garlic and herbs, surrounds a mass of bright green cucumbers curling in upon themselves like snakes.

“New greens” are what these are called in New York’s Jewish delis. Vadasz fishes one out with extra-long tongs. I bite into it. It’s crispy, sour, garlicky, spicy – I immediately want to take the whole bucket home. And I’m not alone: we British are developing a taste for the sour and Vadasz is one of a growing number of producers selling fermented foods and teaching others how to pickle, too.

“My Hungarian dad passed on two skills to me. One was the ability to swear brilliantly in Hungarian, the other was to make great pickles,” Vadasz laughs. “I started fermenting because it’s part of my heritage. It seemed like an ethical and sensible way to deal with foods that were plentiful, too. I also realized there were lots of Eastern Europeans living here who couldn’t get the sour pickles and krauts they ate back home, so I spotted a gap in the market.”

Think fermentation is just a foodie trend? Stay with me. You already eat lots of fermented foods – including wine, vinegar, cheese, yogurt, sourdough and salami – all made using the mysterious power of microbes. More distant cultures consume them in greater quantities: kefir, slightly sour fermented milk, is drunk in the Caucasus; labneh is a staple of the Middle East; fermented pickles are offered at every meal in Japan; kimchi, spiced fermented cabbage, is a staple in Korea.

To ferment vegetables all you need is salt. To make your own yogurt you just need some live yogurt. To ferment milk or water you need to get kefir grains (you can find them online). It might seem mysterious at first, but pickling isn’t difficult and it’s a great kitchen adventure.

“The way fermentation transforms foods is quite magical,” agrees Vadasz. “Shred and pound some cabbage. Add salt to create a brine. Within that brine you have natural sugars that are activated by the yeasts in the vegetables and in the air. You don’t add sugar or vinegar. The cabbage sours and keeps because of lactic acid fermentation. All you have to do is keep the cabbage submerged and observe the changes in flavor.”

Some people are interested in fermented foods for health reasons – they are said to improve gut health – but I’m interested because of taste. During a recent trip to the United States (where pickling evangelist Sandor Katz kick-started the trend with his 2003 book Wild Fermentation) the best meal I had was at Bar Tartine in San Francisco. It was brunch, but there was no French toast with maple syrup; just home-made yogurt, fermented vegetables and kefir butter.

At first I groaned – I even tweeted a picture of the menu because it was so achingly hip – but it turned out to be a meal of startling flavours. There was sourness – from the fermented elements – and a real earthiness. This meal and Vadasz’s “new greens” are the most persuasive argument I’ve encountered for fermenting at home.

But how do we know what we’re creating in our own kitchens is the product of good bacteria and isn’t just food rotting? Food writerCharlotte Pike’s new book, Fermented, should help you embark on experiments confidently. Her recipe for Kombucha – fermented tea – is simplicity itself. It tastes like tart apple juice with a dash of cider vinegar and, chilled, is addictive.

“Darling, my kefir has died,” reads the opening line of an email I receive from a friend living not in fermentation haven California but Dublin. It’s easy to laugh at the obsessiveness of food lovers, but she has my sympathy. Now that I’ve dipped my toes into the pickle barrel I’m fired up with enthusiasm. In fact, I’m waiting impatiently for my own kefir grains to ferment the cream I’m going to turn into butter.

Best Maid Pickles Dill Dash

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at Coyote Drive-In

Dress up in your best pickle attire and run. Prizes will be awarded for the best pickle themed runner. All are welcomed at the After Party with family friendly pickle games.

The Dill Dash benefits the Smiley Fund, established to help at-risk Texas children with the means to achieve success and live healthy lifestyles, through after-school programs in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
5K – $20; $25 after Oct. 19.
1K Fun Run – $10 for 1K

The uplifting story of Mr. Pickles

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There’s a cat named Mr. Pickles who lives among the residents of the Bayview Retirement community. As a pet therapist he brings warmth and love to the residents of the entire building. See the full story of this cute (and tubby) animal.

Pickles for Tatyanna – Latonja Williams makes flavored pickle business a family affair

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Kim Diggs, kdiggs@starlocalmedia.com   –   Star Local Media

Tropical Punch, Peach Mango, Hot N’ Spicy and Sour Grape – these are all flavors of sliced pickles that Latonja Williams, owner of Tatyanna’s Pickle Palace, has cooked up after taking customer requests. She runs her flavored pickle business out of her home, experimenting with various flavorings. Her most widely used agent to get the robust flavor she’s looking for – Kool-Aid.

The discovery that pickles can add a new element to fruity or savory flavors came to Williams as a happy accident. She took the first steps in what would grow to be a business when she was a kid playing with her cousin.

“I started [making these pickles] when I was about 10,” Williams said. “Me and my cousin would get the Kool-Aid, and steal a little sugar from my mama and mix it and put some pickles in it. I think it was just something we used to do. When we used to get Kool-Aid, we used to put lemons in it, and I decided one day that I was going to try it with a pickle in mine. That’s where it all started.”

She never really thought about turning the discovery into a business until her daughter, Tatyanna, started becoming more active in school and participating in a lot of activities. In order to be able to afford all of the fees that came with that, she decided to turn a family tradition into a business. But it took a conversation with a friend to give her the nudge to get started.

“What happened was one of my friends made a tropical punch [pickle] and she wasn’t selling it, and I told her she should do it,” Williams said. “When she decided she wasn’t going to do it, I thought ‘Why don’t I do it?’”

For a while, she sold them out of her home for $1. They were selling so well that she decided to take her business to the next level and start selling them at events.

“My first event was Zydeco Fest,” Williams said. “I made 10 different flavors, and the grown-ups were actually the ones going crazy for the pickles.”

Since 2014, her pickles have taken off across the state and throughout Louisiana. She’s sold pickles at Taste of Rockwall, Essence Festival in New Orleans, festivals in Seagoville and Balch Springs, the Martin Luther King Parade in Dallas, a Mardi Gras parade in Shreveport and many other places.

From 8 a.m.-8 p.m. each Saturday, she can be found at Paschall Park in Mesquite, Texas selling pickles. She continues to set up and sell at events.

One of the upcoming events is a party that lasts from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 24 at Bradfield Place, 3700 Oates Drive, a senior living community in Mesquite. There, families will be able to participate in games, watch live entertainment and compete for prizes. Admission is free.

She will also be selling her pickles at Trunk or Treat in Rowlett, texas. It begins at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 30 at Mercer Place, 5701 Dexham Road, Rowlett. Trunk or Treat is a Halloween event in which people decorate their cars to fit a specific theme and children dress up in costume and visit each car to get candy and prizes.

Williams’ latest goal is to grow her business and apply to sell her confections at the Texas State Fair next year.

Two Homeless Dogs Relied On Each Other To Stay Alive

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Living on the streets is no doubt terrifying, and two little dogs found a way to make it more bearable.

Hope for Paws, a rescue organization in Los Angeles, received a video text message of two homeless dogs fending for themselves.

They helped each other make it through the rough times, and their rescuers knew that they also needed to be rescued together.

When they found and approached the pups in a trash heap behind a building, the duo were friendly and eager to be rescued — but also unwilling to leave each other’s sides. The pair allowed rescuers to pet them and give them attention, and even accepted food.

Hope for Paws volunteers named the dogs Dill and Pickles. They put a leash over the boy, Pickles, first, so Dill could see that it was safe. If her best friend could do it, then so could she.

Before taking them back to the car, Pickles cuddled up to Dill, proving to rescuers that the only way these two got through living on their own was by being together, always.

One of the volunteers picked up Pickles to bring him to the car, and Dill immediately followed, going wherever her best friend went.

When a volunteer climbed into the car with Pickles, Dill knew that it must be safe, and climbed up onto the car, signaling that she would be OK with being lifted in, too.

Finally, both friends were in the car and ready to be taken off of the streets — forever.

Even now that they’ve been rescued, Dill and Pickles are inseparable, and don’t like to be apart for very long at all. Hopefully these two will find a loving forever home where they can be together forever and finally feel safe.