Seca Supra Plus 720 Digital: 2013

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

X Men For Women, Which Are You Most Like?

With the timely release of X Men Origins, ladies in the house have you ever thought which X wom

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Sunday, December 8, 2013

Review: Elizabeth Peter's River in the Sky, Archeology, Romance, Good Light Reading

A River in the Sky, by Elizabeth Peters... I love the names Peters has given her characters. Emerson and Peabody. Ramses and Nefret. Gargery. Reverend Panagopolous. Even the cat, Horus.I bring this up only because years ago, when I was quite small, I read a book all the way through before I discovered that the heroine's name was ABigail, not aBIgal. Then there were the Sigh-ox Indians. And aGAtha Christie. Ever since, I have to decide before I begin reading how I'm going to mentally pronounce all the names.Emerson is an easy one. Peabody could be Peebody (American) or Pibbidy (English); I went with English (they're English, after all). Ramses, no problem. For Nefret I emphasized the first syllable. Gargery is like Gregory as in Peck. And the reverend? Well, I've always been good at Greek names. And the cat's Horace. Okay, now that we've got pronunciation out of the way, let's talk about the book.A River in the Sky is, according its foreword, "... another volume of her (Mrs. Emerson's) memoirs" and chronicles events that occurred in 1910. The point of view-it is a memoir, after all-is that of Amelia Peabody, who is always referred to as Peabody. The reader doesn't need to get very many pages into the book until it becomes obvious that Peabody is a woman with 21st century sensibilities, despite having been born at the end of the 19th. She may live in an age where women take a secondary role to the men in their lives, but Peabody in no way lets that stand in her way. She is in charge in the family adventures, by hook or by crook, and most of the time by stealth.Professor Emerson is, at least in Peabody's estimation, "... the greatest Egyptologist of this or any other century." He also, according to Peabody, is a man of "splendid physical endowments," including muscles that ripple across the breadth of his chest, becomingly disheveled thick black hair, and sapphirine blue eyes. Gasp! (Bad tempered, though, and is known in the archeology world as "Father of Curses.")Peabody is an accomplished individual, comfortable in a number of languages, is a bit of an expert in Old Testament times, and has acquired a well-deserved reputation as a solver of difficult puzzles. Among the other central characters, Ramses is the Emerson's son; Nefret is their adopted daughter; Gargery, a butler extraordinaire, and Reverend Panagopolous is possibly a minister of the gospel, possibly demented and/or obsessed, possibly-well there are lots of possibilities.The Emerson/Peabody family get themselves into-and out of-some serious scrapes. The tale takes the reader from home base in England through much of the Middle East. I hasten to remind the reader that the Middle East of the late 19th and early 20th century is not the Middle East of today, but it still roils with political, religious and geographical stresses, and is an ideal setting for a mystery novel full of wild characters and much intrigue.Ramses, a budding archeologist, has a lifelong penchant for getting into trouble, and while in the Middle East on a dig, he is kidnapped. His parents, by the time they learn this, have already made plans to go to Palestine to intercept an imposter who may be using a search for an historical relic as a blind for spying activities for Germany. Nefret, to her parents' dismay, decides to save Ramses on her own. Reverend Panagopolous travels with the family, and once the group is underway, there ensues an endless variety of trials and tribulations within different countries, involving a wild assortment of subsidiary characters.How it all works out is, of course, the meat of the story. The characters are consistently inconsistent, and there are surprises all along the way. I made plot assumptions that were promptly discarded and replaced with others to be discarded. Peters gets lots of historical and biblical references and descriptions in amongst the goings-on and they add a sense of authenticity to the book.The overall tone of the novel is, to put it in American-style slang, snarky-as in irreverent or impertinent, a style I mimicked somewhat in this review. But A River in the Sky is a well-told, clever tale, with interesting characters and an entertaining, multi-faceted mystery. I found myself annoyed from time to time with Peabody's manipulations of Emerson, but it didn't get in the way of my enjoyment of the antics described. What else was a smart woman to do, in those times and places?It's a good read, entertaining, not intellectually challenging, but fun. I recommend it.

About Marcia Applegate Retired communications consultant with major firms, writer, columnist, blogger, living in Asheville N.C., moved here from Chicago, love Asheville mountain scenery and people, still miss Chicago, though. Children, Grandchildren, greatgrands scattered across the country. Love reading, of course, love reviewing what I read, and have lots and lots of opinions on this and that.Watch for my new reviews and opinions here and on my blog www.mkamysterylady.comThere is lots to read some plan on spending a little bit of time looking through the site. I always love comments and am looking f

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Wednesday, December 4, 2013

The Top Culinary Schools - Getting A Degree In Culinary Arts

Top Culinary SchoolsA person with a passion for cooking may want to consider food as a career and therefore seek out some top culinary schools. There are many cooking schools across the world that offer students, young and old, the opportunity to pursue a career in culinary arts. Since eating is one thing everyone has to do on a regular basis there will always be a need for cooks and chefs. From fine restaurants to hospitals and schools, cooks are always in demand.Finding a school that grants degrees in culinary arts is not difficult. Most states now have at least one degree or certificate granting institution within their boundaries. This makes travel to classes much easier for students. Many of these educational institutions offer courses of study that require less time than the traditional bachelors or associates degree programs. The Cooking Institutes at Le Cordon Bleu offer a full range of programs from certificate programs that can be undertaken at a student's pace, to diplomas and bachelor's degree programs. Each program offers a full complement of courses in food preparation, management, sanitation and human resources. Depending on the curriculum that is pursued completion can be in as little as two years. Upon course work completion the school will assist in finding a suitable externship to allow on the job completion of studies prior to granting a degree. Le Cordon Bleu has several sites around the world. In the United States there are nearly twenty different locations and online curricula for Le Cordon Bleu.The Culinary Institute of America also offers a full array of degreed courses in culinary arts. This prestigious school has been in business for over six decades and has graduated many of the top professionals in cooking and management. It would be considered amongst the top culinary schools around. There are locations in Texas and New York that offer courses from the Culinary Institute of America. Courses are offered on campus and allow students the opportunity for practical hands on food preparation to sharpen skills learned in classrooms. A full series of courses of culinary classes including management of restaurants and hospitality settings is included. Persons attending these courses are taught in real restaurant settings and given the opportunity to prepare and present food preparations.The Arts Institute of America offers courses in culinary arts, food preparation and hospitality management at several locations nationwide and online. The courses offered here will allow students to get an overall exposure to culinary arts as well as specialized training in areas such as pastry preparation and baking. Other specialties include wine and spirits management and catering. Once the core work is completed the school will assist in placement at a restaurant or hospitality workplace for completion of requirements leading to a degree.All of the top culinary schools across the globe offer programs designed to turn out top notch chefs and cooks. With specialties in several areas including international cuisines, pastry and baking, wines and spirits and hospitality management, these schools provide everything that is needed in the real world of food preparation and management. Most of the world's greatest chefs all started by taking courses at a culinary school. Anyone wanting to be the next Emeril LaGasse should consider one of these top culinary schools as the beginning point.

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Monday, December 2, 2013

Fashion Pattern Making System by Lutterloh

Fashion pattern making has become one of the most popular ways to make your own dress. There are a lot of standard patterns available in the market which you can sew to your dress form. However there are a lot of problems with these patterns. First of all, these patterns are made for standard dresses but most people differ. So you may have to adjust them to your size.The second thing however is that these patterns are way too common and sometimes this is not enough to add a touch of uniqueness to your dress. With the Lutterloh Pattern Making System, you can draft your own patterns also.LutterlohIn 1930 in Germany, there developed a pattern drafting system to help home sewers. This was called the Lutterloh Pattern Making. This kind of drafting system was basically developed to help those who do not have much experience or knowledge about the art of sewing. The company which owns this system is family owned and still in business.I Guess that shows a lot about the popularity of this drafting method. Personally if you ask me, the Lutterloh system's popularity is based upon its easy to use sewing pattern drafting system that anybody can use, even a person who has never held a needle and a thread before.Now the draft of the garment differs on the basis of the garment you are using. Lutterloh has a series of pattern designs that are based on different types of garment. This is also referred to as the Golden Rule System and has been converted into a book of the same name.The Golden Rule is a very popular book among sewers. A modified system of "radial grading" is used to create full sized patterns in the desired size with the help of this book. A special type of ruler that has special scales and tape measure are used to deal with the diagrams that the book has.So if you want to make sewing patterns that fit you also need to have additional tools that help you to use the Lutterloh system. Two such tools are the Designer's Curve and the Tailor's Curve.The Designer's Curve is a tool used by designers all around the world. The best ones are made of acrylic and are very well designed. It helps to get the minutest of designs very accurately. If you are a first time designer then you should all the more opt for this curve.The second tool that accompanies the Lutterloh system is the Tailor's Curve. As Designer's Curve helps with the designs, the Tailor's Curve helps to fit those patterns in the dress forms. There are many kinds of tailor's curves but the best ones have the perfect inseam, upper seam, hip and crotch curves.So make sure you check these before you purchase a Tailor's Curve. What's more, with the help of these curves and the Lutterloh system, you can make your own sewing patterns.So what are you waiting for? Get ready for your own fashion pattern making!

The biggest problem in home sewing is trying to get the pattern to fit! With our 40 years experience in the home sewing industry we have discovered and created the systems and tools that any sewing enthusiast can master without any special training. We also have a 3 hour DVD of our live classroom seminar. To learn about these and other unique pattern design tools visit us today at www.tru

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