Bettina's Blog

copyright 2010 The Bettina Network, inc.

Let's take a look at those Credit Card "Rewards" offered by just about every bank. This came from several breakfast conversations. We put it all together and voila - for your information!

Who pays for those rewards? Are they really 'gifts' from the banks and credit card companies as payment for your loyalty to them or are they profit centers generating more money transferred from John and Mary Q. Public to the banks without John & Mary realizing the game plan?

Those rewards do not come from either the Credit Card companies or their underlying banks. They come from you, the consumer using those credit cards. You pay for the rewards you think are 'free' and you pay a substantial amount of money for those 'gifts.'

How? When you make a purchase via a merchant with your credit card, the credit card company takes a percentage of your charge from the merchant; and takes a monthly fee; a rental fee for the equipment the merchant uses; money for telephone calls the machine makes from the merchant to the processing company to approve and record your charges; PLUS - an extra amount for whatever credit card 'program' your card indicates. So, the merchant is left with a fairly heavy discount taken by the credit card companies. The 'reward' program discounts can be pretty substantial as an addition on top of everything else.

I am sure by now you get the picture. The merchant can not absorb those discounts and stay in business so they are passed along - TO YOU!

Merchants have contracts with their credit card processing companies - just as you have a contract with your credit card company. Those contracts are changed on a basis about as regular as your contract is changed. The only 'consent' the merchants can give to those changes is to either agree and go along or stop accepting credit cards from their consumers and we all know what that would do to that merchants' business. So the merchant is pretty well locked into allowing the discount percentages for the rewards to be taken from the money they receive from the credit card processing companies. Those discounts are taken and sent to the credit card banks whether you use your 'rewards' points or they just disappear!

Some quick calculations will point you in the direction of the 'rewards' system being a profit center for the credit card companies instead of 'gifts' to consumers.

The rewards discount is taken from each and every credit card purchase by the credit card processing companies - whether the reward is used or not and each bank has a way of limiting the amount of rewards actually used. There are rules as to when you can use your rewards and when you get stripped of them. The merchant does not receive a credit if your rewards are stripped from you, that goes to the bank's bottom line profit.

We believe some of the 'reward' offers are downright fraudulent. Take for example when you start with a credit card company and they offer special promotions giving you 'double points' sometimes 'triple points' for buying stuff using their credit card. After a time, those same special promotions are offered to all credit card holders. What has happened? The 'rewards' which previously took 100 points to get - now take 200 points or in the case of the triple point offers - 300 points. The number of points it takes to 'buy' the same reward has increased two or three times. That was most noticeable when the points it took for airline tickets doubled - particularly with American Express.

On settlement day with the merchant, there are various amounts showing on the merchants statement from their credit card processor.

For example: One merchant - selling widgets - pays the credit card processor 2.99% for allowing that merchant to accept credit cards. The discount percentage varies from one merchant to another or in the case of American Express, from one industry to another.

In addition to that 2.99%, that merchant pays a monthly fee for using the service. In addition, the merchant pays for telephone calls, at so much per call, (haven't they heard of Skype) generated to put the charge through from the merchant to the processor, in addition, the merchant pays either a rental or purchase fee for the equipment used - some as high as $80/month for a small company (our research shows that is Bank of America) and on up.

And then comes the 'reward' discount. The merchant is charged an extra amount, on top of all of the above discounts, depending upon which card was accepted with which program in effect. It is a place where banks can nickel and dime a merchant into capitalisms graveyard without the merchants being aware they are terminally ill because the amounts on an individual charge seem to be so little. Very few merchants are good at that kind of math - and even more don't believe they are being robbed so blatantly.

When you add up the money across the entire credit card industry it is an overwhelmingly large amount. Then - do the math - subtract from that the amount not used by credit card holders who die with points on their credit cards; credit card holders who are stripped of their points because they had late payments; credit card holders who are stripped of their points for innumerable other reasons; credit card holders who don't ever get enough points to use them, etc. etc. etc.

When added up, one realizes that much money is being made here and where is it going? Into the banks' pockets and then into the preferred bankers' pockets individually through those obscene bonuses! How is it being reported? Is there a stripped out set of numbers which accurately reports the profit banks are making from their credit card 'rewards' program and how much the general public is paying for 'gifts' that they think are free to them as a bonus for their loyalty to their credit card? That is the area where all are notoriously silent.

Don't speak of it until we find another service with which to replace this rewards boon-doggle and then it can be trashed out of existence, while we quietly move along taking even more money from John and Mary Q Public.

Labels: An editorial just because, Making Connections

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2010

It is a little decadent to have dessert for breakfast, but we rationalize it by advising you to go for a long walk after breakfast to use up all that extra food energy.

You will need:

Organic Graham Crackers
Bettina's Marshmaples (recipe under 'Bettina's Cookbook')
Bettina's chocolate sauce

Bettina's Chocolate Sauce
Make this sauce immediately before serving because it becomes less liquid and more solid the longer it sits and cools. A cooled sauce will not pour over the Marshmaples.

To make the sauce you will need:
organic semi-sweet chocolate chips (the amount depends upon the number of s'mores you're making.)
organic heavy cream - enough to cover the organic chocolate chips.

Melt the chocolate chips in the top of a double boiler
pour in the heavy cream, once the chips have melted and stir.
If you would like to add flavor, organic oils in vanilla, almond, etc. will do nicely

Once the sauce is ready, use a very beautiful dessert plate (A saucer larger than a cup saucer)
Put an organic graham cracker on the saucer
Cut the Bettina Marshmaples to fit the graham cracker - with a scissors, dull knife, etc.
pour the chocolate sauce over the Marshmaples so it drips down the sides
Serve to lots of ooohs and aaahs and exclamations of joy!

These are best assembled and served one at a time so you can spoon Bettina's Chocolate Sauce from the pot while it is still over the double boiler!

We keep a glass dish of Marshmaples in the refrigerator because there are so many things you can do with them. We keep them in one piece and only cut as we need Bettina's Marshmaples for different dishes - or as someone would like one to go with their ginger or tulsi tea - or even at night with hot chocolate!

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Labels: Bettina's Cookbook

copyright 2010 Bettina Network, inc.

Stories about Cayenne Pepper and what it does for you have been floating around the breakfast table at a couple Bettina homes for several years.

The first time we heard about cayenne pepper - other than as a spice in your food - was from a Canadian Guest, in town to run a 26 mile Marathon. He was a serious runner who trained extensively. Before leaving for that particular Marathon, he asked his host family for cayenne pepper. They obliged and guests watched as he put liberal amounts of cayenne pepper in the inside of his running shoes. Of course, that generated much conversation. Before leaving to run the Marathon he had to answer many questions - how long had he done this; what affect did it have; how did he find out about cayenne pepper, etc.

At the end of the day, the only person who came back still walking and in pretty good shape was the Marathon runner who, that morning, liberally sprinkled cayenne pepper in his shoes.

We tried it for a couple months and it works. We don't run or train for the Marathon, but we do shop and shop and shop. Before leaving home we always sprinkle cayenne pepper in our shoes and it works amazingly well. What was once a tiring time has become a time which puts a spring in our step. We don't know what happens or why, but we do know sprinkling cayenne pepper in the bottom of our shoes seems to drop years and gives us much more energy to do our chores.

But for bed & breakfast, we would still be walking on tired legs and feet.

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Labels: Guest comments and talents, Making Connections

copyright 2010 Bettina Network, inc. by a guest

I made the Coconut Cake and it was just as great as I had hoped it would be. I did a few things a little different and wanted to share that with you.

For the icing, I used whole eggs instead of just the egg whites. I hate to waste and I knew I woulnd't be up to making Bettina's Chocolate Pudding or anything else after I finished this cake. I put four whole (organic free range) eggs in the mixer. I bought the Cuisinart stand mixer when you wrote that blog on your thoughts about mixers. I let the mixer beat for about 15 minutes. That is how long it took for the eggs to become fluffy the way I wanted them to.

In the meantime, I put the sugar and water on to boil. I used 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1 1/2 cups water instead of the 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water in your recipe because I wanted lots of icing.

When the water and sugar reached the 240 degree stage I started to pour it, very slowly, into the eggs while letting the mixer keep going.

When I finished that, I started to put into the mixer the butter. I cut the butter into small pats and threw each pat into the mixer letting it mix for a few seconds. Altogether I used three sticks of butter.

I also put in about 1/3 cup organic virgin coconut oil - which was hardened since that is its natural state. I got the idea to do that from your suggestion of using coconut milk in the cake. If you use coconut milk in the cake, why not coconut oil in the icing. It is the consistency of butter, whips up into a very light confection like butter and sure enough, it worked.

I let the mixer beat the icing until it turned into a light buttery like creation. At the end, before stopping the mixer I put in the vanilla oil you suggested in another recipe - the organic oil, you remember? That was the ultimate.

I did not put shredded coconut on my cake, I put the icing on as it was. The coconut milk and oil carried the day and gave the taste so I didn't need the shredded stuff.

It was unbelievably good. Thanks for the recipe. In case you don't remember me, I am the one who asked for the recipe and I appreciate your putting it on the blog.

Enjoy this change - it is nice to have more than one way to do something.

A loyal guest!
Thanks for not using my name. We are all paranoid these days.

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Labels: Bettina's Cookbook, Guest comments and talents

One response the Bettina Network, inc. made to the disaster in Haiti was to respond to a request from a bed & breakfast guest and now a friend, to give a one night stay at a Bettina home in Harvard Square for the silent auction being held by the town of Weston, VT.

We were delighted to respond and grateful that we were included and able to do a little more to help those in such shock and pain.

The event was held this past Saturday (January 23, 2010) and was, by all accounts, a very successful undertaking. Kudos to the town of Weston, Vermont for being involved and for moving so quickly to help address such an enormous need! Proceeds from the auction were sent to Partners in Health to further their work in Haiti.

What made it special to us were the number of people who gave a part of their work and talent: one woman gave cookies - to be baked at a time requested by the successful bidder. She had samples of the cookies at the event to encourage bids. Another gave her special carrot cake, also to be baked at a time requested by the successful bidder - and she also had samples. And there were more.

It is wonderful to give money - that is what's needed in the end - but to also involve yourself and give something which takes time out from busy lives is indeed special. It insures that you will think of the Haitians undergoing such trauma, after the fund-raising event and will put your hopes and wishes for them into whatever it is you have made.

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Labels: Event Review, Making Connections

copyright 2010 by Marceline Donaldson

Pralines generate memories that takes me back to a really great childhood. I shall always be grateful to those who sacrificed so much for me.

A neighbor and I (Troy Lynn), used to get in my grandmother's kitchen and experiment with pralines. Troy Lynn took her pralines home and ate them. I sold mine. My entrepreneurial spirit started early. I ran that enterprise the way some corporations are run today - which is probably why I understand those corporations.

My grandmother supplied the ingredients for the pralines, which was great, but I stuck my mouth out when she suggested I pay for the sugar out of my earnings. I was crushed. "Why do you want me to pay for sugar. You have lots of it in the cupboard." She tried to tell me about making sure you were making a profit. You also had to count your time in the equation so you would know if it was profitable or not. I was truly appalled at that point. If I did all of that I wouldn't make a profit and it wouldn't be worth making the pralines. "That's the point of doing the math," my grandmother said. My mouth continued to be stuck out and when she insisted, it started to quiver and she knew tears were next so she just gave up and I had a very successful business.

Thinking of those years and my grandmother and having been on the telephone with Troy Lynn talking about this venture, I decided to make pralines, just to connect to those times and those feelings and my grandmother.

She would have been amazed at the results of my efforts. I am in awe at what I have created. The pralines were sensational. I feel a little sick because I've eaten so many and goodness knows what the sugar is going to do to my aging body.

Those pralines brought so many memories rushing back I was crying by the time I finished making them. But, they were not a pure New Orleans creation. They connected Old New Orleans to the East. With these pralines I have managed to make cultural connections with New Orleans, Asia and India.

Ginger tea has become a staple in our kitchen. We always have a glass jar filled with Ginger Tea that we make, at least once a week. (ed.note - see Bettina's Blog for the recipe). We use it either as 'sweet tea' or regular tea - and it has a very strong kick.

This time, by Providence, the tea jar was empty and in the bottom were the slices of ginger root which we let steep to keep the ginger tea strong. That was the genesis of these fantastic pralines.

I used the ginger root slices in the pralines the way one would use pecans. I also used a little freshly ground nutmeg in some and cumin in others with the ginger root. The pralines were vaguely reminiscent of New Orleans pralines, but with a newness that made them a sensation. Pralines, for some, are the very essence of Creole New Orleans. The only food with a stronger connection to Creole New Orleans would be hot callas, but then that's another blog.

New Orleans today has a very large influx of Asians that call it home. These Ginger Pralines are a cultural amalgam which reflects today's reality of the city New Orleans has become.

We had just one guest in the house while I was making these pralines. She came into the kitchen while the pralines were cooling on the marble slab and between us we ate all except two of the pralines. Two seemed to be a decent amount to keep to see how they would taste when they were thoroughly cooled. She went to bed and after a respectable time, Robert and I split the last two pralines. They were even better cooled so I made more for tomorrow. They are now downstairs cooling. Maybe they will make it into tomorrow and maybe they won't. I haven't been up this late for months - my 7pm bedtime has been shot - my children would be proud!

Pralines aux Ginger - a very recherche dessert
(to be served on heavily gold encrusted dessert plates and eaten with your fingers)

Organic Turbinado Sugar how much you use depends upon how many pralines you want to produce.
for a first timer - two cups should suffice so if you ruin the pralines you can try again without knashing your teeth over your loss of ingredients.
for the experienced candy maker who wants a good number of pralines - one pound

Sliced Organic Ginger Root which has been boiled in a large pot of water for several hours to make tea. The Ginger Root you use for these pralines are what's left over after the ginger tea is gone.

Water - freshly ground Nutmeg - Cumin

1. Put the sugar in a PORCELAIN POT.

2. Add water to moisten and cover the sugar. Don't mix the two together. Pour the water over the sugar being careful not to let it splash, etc.

3. Bring the water and sugar to a boil to make a, sort of, simple syrup, but not that liquid.

4. When this mixture reaches about 200 degrees, add the ginger root and let it boil until the mixture begins to bubble and has almost, but not quite, turned to sugar. Stir constantly without stopping.

5. Quickly add any spices you want to incorporate into these pralines - ground nutmeg, cumin, whatever. Given the fact that you are using Ginger Root - even Root that has been previously boiled for several hours, I would not add anything with heat. These will have plenty heat on their own.

6. Take the pot off the fire and drop by the spoonfuls onto a buttered marble slab so you form what looks like small pancakes. Spread these with the spoon and round them with a fork until they form neat, round cakes - the size and thickness depends upon you. I like them about 1/4 inch thick and about 4-5" in diameter.

Let them dry. Pick them up with a knife or spatula, very gently. You will have the memory of a New Orleans Creole Praline changed into an East meets West confection. Someone have a name for this?

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Labels: Bettina's Cookbook, Making Connections, Preserving Family History and Stories

copyright by The Bettina Network, inc. 2010

"Creole" is New Orleans Creole.
This is a quick and simple breakfast cake which can be made in less than 20 minutes.  Very good if you want a nice ending to breakfast and don't want to spend hours baking.  If you want to dress it up, whip a little heavy cream, add organic turbinado sugar to the heavy cream and drop a dollop on top of a slice of this cake.  Rumor has it the recipe was created in a convent in New Orleans when the nuns were cleaning out the refrigerator and baked this with what they had.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Organic Turbinado Sugar
1/2 cup Organic, Stone-Ground, Whole Wheat Flour
  
   for this cake you can use either Pastry or Regular Flour, depending upon your taste at the time
   Use Pastry Flour when you want a more refined cake, Regular Flour when you want
   something a little heartier - just make sure whatever you use is not only Organic and Whole Wheat
   but it is also Stone Ground - a very important distinction - otherwise the flour is milled with heat
   which destroys all of the nutrition and it becomes a flour which has a very long shelf life.  It has
   that long shelf life because bugs won't touch it - there is no nutrition in it.  Even bugs know you
   don't bother eating what doesn't contribute to your life and health.  What bugs won't eat, neither
   should you.  A long shelf life benefits the seller, and ruins the health of the buyer.

1 Tablespoon baking power
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Organic milk (preferably raw)
1 organic egg
4 Tablespoons Organic butter (melted)
Extra  Organic Turbinado Sugar and Cinnamon to mix and sprinkle over top of cake.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix the sugar, flour, baking powder and sale.  Add the egg, milk and melted butter.  Mix well. Place the mixture in a round or square baking dish, depending upon your taste.  Make the baking dish either stainless steel or glass, please.  Sprinkle the top with the sugar and cinnamon mix.

Bake about 15 minutes.

Couldn't be quicker or simpler for a nice treat to sooth that sweet tooth.


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Labels: Bettina's Cookbook

by: Marceline Donaldson


A friend of mine died on Sunday. The world is changing much too fast. Old friends are leaving, quietly. You hear nothing for a couple years and then the news comes that they have died. Keep your friends and family close. Before you know it, they will be gone. 

Labels: An editorial just because, Growing Old, Making Connections, Preserving Family History and Stories

2010 copyright The Bettina Network, inc.        

148 Mount Auburn St.
Cambridge, MA. 02138
617 354 5233
www.darwinsltd.com

hours: 6:30am - 9pm six days/week        
sundays: 7am - 9pm

A really Cambridge-style grocery, deli, wine-cheese-beer store, with tables for those who want to visit and eat and enjoy this neighborhood gathering place.  It is a magnet for those who want a Harvard Square experience they can go home and talk about.

Darwin's on Mount Auburn Street, while being Cambridge, has an underlying New York tone, which makes it a little more upscale.

What we liked best about Darwin's was the picnic basket you could order and take with you wherever you wanted to go.  Not many of us can find such when traveling, especially a picnic with good food.

Second were the sandwiches!  They are incredible.  Buy one and have lunch and dinner, just ask them to cut it in half and wrap the second half for take-out.

The ambiance drew us in - it is great - would the food keep us there and make us want to return.  Well,  we were at Darwin's two or three times in so many days.  Whenever we were there,  someone always came in who we knew and we wound up with a table for four instead of the two of us who first wandered in wondering if the food would live up to the promise of the environment.

Our table mates bought a very nice bottle of wine, shared it and took what was left home with them.

There are enough teas at Darwin's to satisfy anyone and you can order a pot to just sit and savor.  And as for Bettina's, they would approve because a full third of the teas are organic.

If you want lunch, you have to go early.  Darwin's is a popular place. At lunchtime you will find a line which curls around, sometimes going outside as people come in for lunch from all around the area. That tells you about Darwin's reputation.

We particularly liked the soup.  It was a cold day and we weren't sure what we wanted, but when we saw the soups, we knew that would be our late lunch.  We also liked the pastries and brought some back with us for another day.

Darwin's had several kinds of beer, but not being connoisseurs, we can't comment pro or con.

There were people reading newspapers, visiting with friends, some were sitting on the bench outside Darwin's eating - because smoking is not allowed inside - and it was cold outside, but they didn't seem to even notice as they gestured-laughed-and generally enjoyed themselves on a cold Cambridge day eating on Mount Auburn Street.

We very much recommend Darwin's and hope you enjoy whatever you eat there.

Editor's Note: Steve and Isabel Darwin's parents stayed at one of the Bettina homes in Harvard Square when they visited Cambridge to help their children get the store ready for its opening.  Their parents are in the same business so the Darwin children had good consulting experience, which they used for the opening and beyond.

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Labels: Making Connections, Restaurant Review

This is great!  I've had this secret wish to be a journalist for a long time.  I do a lot of writing, but all scientific and publishing for scientific journals so you can guess I am an astrophysicist, and those who stay at Bettina's a lot and recommended this house to me - you know where I am - with my family this time, not on business.  i had to show my wife and children this house.  They love the doll houses and all the toys.  The kids slipped out of the room very early in the morning.  At first I panicked, how do I keep them reined in here - and I almost lost it when I thought of all those antiques in every room of the house,  then I heard .......... offering them a cup of hot chocolate and I knew I could go back to sleep.

Since they were playing right outside the door - one into the doll houses, the other hauling toys up to the landing from the toy room downstairs, I felt ok to sleep without worrying about them.  The place was a grand mess when we finally got up and dressed.  No one seemed to mind so we just left the mess because we knew it would only recur.  We did clean it up before we left for home - for those of you who don't want me to ruin a good thing for you!

Breakfast was really special.  Having read the Blog, I wondered about those 'stock tips'.  Maybe I would be at breakfast the morning a great investor dropped a huge tip which would make us a fortune.  Well I was at breakfast with a fairly heated discussion about a couple stocks.  Much heat, not enough light, but I am going home to buy the one which won the battle - Ford Motor Company.  A couple, who are in the stock market on a regular basis, talked about their 'investments' and they just bought Ford Motor Company.  My first thought was - WHY?  It just didn't sound very exciting and given all the trouble with the automobile companies who would jump in and buy one.  By the end of breakfast I was quietly convinced I should put nice money into Ford.  It is selling today at about $11, according to my breakfast mates.  They bought Ford at about $8.  I am going to buy around $11-12.  Hopefully, I will make enough to pay for this trip.

Because it is a holiday - although not my holiday, our hosts put a book at each plate.  That was our Christmas gift.  Its great.  You can't move in that house for tripping over books so it made sense that a book would be a gift.  Being very comfortable since I've been here a zillion times, I had to ask if I could swap the book they gave me for one I was reading in the bedroom and of course I could, so I am going home with three books - one a first edition.  My wife is horrified at my lack of manners, but I go downstairs late at night in my robe and pajamas to get hot milk, why not ask about another book?  Is it possible to feel too much at home?  I actually feel as though I am visiting my parents - I would say grandparents, but they are going to read this blog and I want to be welcomed back.

My wife plays the piano so she enjoyed playing on the grand piano in the house.  I'm not sure the rest of us did.  Later in the day we heard fantastic music coming from the piano.   We were really tired and didn't go down to see who was playing.  It was so nice just to listen, in bed.  I know enough about music to know it was Chopin, and to know it was good, but I did fall asleep in the middle of the music.

Oh, I almost forgot.  While my wife and I were sleeping the kids made playdoh - well not the real thing, but a pretty good imitation.  It was the highlight of their stay and they are bringing it home with them.  They made it out of flour, water and salt cooked up in a very large pot.  Given our lack of an organic home and our tendency to buy all of their toys, they were really excited about this amazing experience.

Hope you enjoyed my blog.  It was fun writing it.  Is this payment for the books I am bringing home?


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Labels: Guest comments and talents, Making Connections, stock tips

Deborah Henson-Conant.  A fantastic jazz harpist and Grammy nominated electric pedal harpist.  If you have a chance, don't miss one of her concerts.  In the meantime if you want to see her again try this

www.youtube.com/watch?v-pECeohhUBSs or www.hipharp.com

A great, fun experience!!!  She has quite a few videos on Youtube.com.  I don't know if she has CD's out but I suspect she probably has!  We are delighted you were able to have that experience!


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Labels: Guest comments and talents, Making Connections

I read your update on adding computers to Bettina homes.  I call only Bettina's when I travel and because of my research I mostly travel to Harvard Square Cambridge.  I wouldn't stay anyplace else.  When you leave home you leave all your conveniences.  I like to play the guitar when I get home from a tough day.  When I get to Cambridge, the home where I stay has a guitar which I take over and take to my room and play it evenings.  I've met other people who stay in your homes because they have access to other musical instruments.  Another house in Harvard Square has a harp which people can use.  I've been there to see friends staying there so I've seen and played the harp (sort of).  I met a woman there who plays beautiful harp - jazz harp, that was quite a while ago.  She played a brief concert for us and I will never forget hearing her.  Don't remember her name!

Your network is really a fantastic way to travel.

Thanks for your holiday greeting.  Keep up the good work and lots of luck in 2010!

A reader (no name please)

editors note:  Whenever we receive an email or phone call or etc.  We put your notes in Bettina's Blog, but we don't ever put your name or other identifying information unless you tell us its alright to do so.


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Labels: Bettina Network Info, Guest comments and talents, Making Connections, Reader Feedback, Travel Bettina Style

2009 copyright the Bettina Network, inc.

We received notes from guests about buying stock mentioned over breakfast when they stayed at a Bettina home.  Three stocks were mentioned and we have the dates the guests purchased the stock.  To keep it honest, lets take an end of the year note on what happened.

On 6/15/2009 a guest wrote about the conversation about IVAN, then selling at $1.56/share and IVN, then selling at $6.12/share.  You might check out those posts for more information.  This is only to bring those conversations up to date.
       Today IVAN is selling for $2.86/share - the energy stock
                  IVN is selling for $14.63/share - the gold mining stock

On 7/21/2009 another guest wrote about a conversation around a Bettina breakfast table about SIRI.  On that date SIRI was selling for $ .425/share.
       Today SIRI is selling for $.5895/share - the Sirius XM Radio stock

We will keep you up to date on other stock conversations and hope the people who emailed us about their purchase of these stocks will also email us when they sell.


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Labels: Making Connections, Reader Feedback, stock tips

copyright 2009 The Bettina Network, inc.

In 2010 you will find wonderful changes in Bettina homes for your added comfort and need for ever more elegant surroundings.  The major change is around technology.  All Bettina homes have broadband internet access - the kind which has a very fast response time, doesn't need a telephone dial-up and is accessible to you in your room at no extra charge.  That broadband includes wireless internet access in all homes.  In some homes,  you have immediate access to the wireless by simply turning on your computer; in others, where your host family is super-security conscious, your computer IP number is entered into the security system and you then have immediate access to the internet.  Eventually,  that kind of secure access will be common across the Bettina Network.

The change about which we are most proud is now YOU HAVE ACCESS TO A COMPUTER, at no extra charge,  as well as internet wired and wireless when you stay in a Bettina home.  You may request a computer when you make reservations and you will find one in your room when you arrive.

Some are computers without lots of bells and whistles; others are totally equipped with what you wish you had at home.  On the plain vanilla computers, you will have to sign into your home/office computer and use your programs remotely.  You will be able to access your email on the computer in your room.  In other homes, the computers are complete with every little thing available.  The difference is the level of technical competence of the host family.  As those host families become more comfortable and knowledgeable about their increased technology offerings, those computers will be upgraded and other things will be added. Although, some host families, who are technologically challenged, have so many technical people staying as guests, they tend to have better equipped computers because of their guests contributions to their knowledge and they have added other little gadgets like iPod docking stations.

We are constantly working to keep our position ahead of the pack.  Its no fun doing business when you are running with or slightly behind everyone else. It is not about offering cheap service at a cheap price,  that has never been what the Bettina Network is about.  - It is about offering quality, convenience, luxury, an elegant and very green lifestyle as economically as we can possibly offer it, with both our guests and our host families surviving and thriving nicely.

We had some interesting side developments in 2009.  One couple - who met in a famous Bettina home in Harvard Square Cambridge - are now engaged and planning a wedding in June:  one Bettina host family is helping them plan the wedding; and they are going to be married by another Bettina host family member, but unfortunately not in a Bettina home, in their family home - which we would love to add to the Bettina Network.  A family, who stayed in Bettina homes for many years, lost a loved one and a Bettina host family member, who had been involved in the last months of life with the family, was at the funeral and officiated.  Another Bettina host family member, who is a photographer/videographer produced a beautiful documentary, which is available in Bettina homes if you would like to see it and/or buy it.

Several guests registered their talent with the Bettina Network and we were able to find work for them -painting, sculpting, photographing, musicians, etc.  Concerts are now being held in a couple homes where the families are professional musicians.  Its great for the family member because they have an audience on which they can try a new program, before they present it in a public concert, and great for the guests who see and hear musicians perform, up close, able to ask questions, talk about what they've heard and enjoy an hour of beautiful music.

We are very happy about the direction in which we are moving and hope you will let us know how we can improve to better suit your needs in 2010!

One disappointment was to see our motto - "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares" - being prominently used by an Inn in Cambridge in their advertisements.  We keep hearing that imitation is the highest form of flattery, so we will take it as such and know that we must be succeeding in what we do or we wouldn't be imitated.  We know our guests are discerning and know the difference between follow-the-leader and the real thing.

Happy New Year!  May you think of us first and foremost during 2010 and beyond!


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Labels: Bettina Network Info, Travel Bettina Style

This is the time of year when you realize you know your friends, but you don't know which holiday they celebrate.  So our best wishes to everyone, everyplace, whatever you call your end of the year celebration.

- We rejoice in being in a business which allows us to share a small part of so many people's lives and to be immersed in such a wonderfully diverse community. You have allowed us into your world in ways we never could have dreamed of before we became a part of this Bettina Network.  We hope it continues into the next year and into the next generation!

Thank you for having given us so much.  Money tips are not allowed in the Bettina Network - from anyone - because our "tips" come from so many greater gifts from our guests as we share their lives no matter how briefly.

We have a favorite poem we pull out at this time of year, written by The Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman who was the Dean of Boston University's Marsh Chapel from 1953-1962.  He was an exceptional person and his writings are what some of us turn to when we feel as though we are straying from the path we are called to walk.  It is said that Martin Luther King, Jr. kept two books next to his bedside wherever he travelled - one was the Bible, the other was Howard Thurman's book "Jesus and the Disinherited."

It makes quite a statement about Boston University to know that in the 1950's, when it wasn't popular, the Dean of Marsh Chapel was an African-American.  That was a time when, if Howard Thurman went to conferences, or travelled about the country on Boston University's business, he would not be able to stay in the hotel in which the conference was held because hotels, in that fairly recent time frame,  refused to accept African-American guests.  Howard Thurman would have to enter the hotel through the back door or staff entrance to attend the conference because African-Americans were not allowed to enter hotels through their front doors.  When he travelled on other business he stayed with friends, Boston University Alumnus or bed & breakfasts.  In spite of these deterrents,  Boston University selected Howard Thurman for what was one of its most prestigious appointments.

Our holiday gift to you is this poem by Howard Thurman.  Many of us had to memorize this poem in grammar school and it has stayed in our hearts.  We hope you will pass it along to your children!!

"When the song of the angels is stilled,
 When the star in the sky is gone,
 When the kings and the princes are home,
 When the shepherds are back with their flock,
 Then the work of Christmas begins.


            To find the lost,
            To heal the broken,
            To feed the hungry,
            To release the prisoner,
            To rebuild the nations,
            To bring peace among brothers (and sisters),
            To make music in the heart."

MAY THE JOY, PEACE AND PROMISE OF THIS SEASON PERVADE YOUR LIFE AS LONG AS IT LASTS AND AT THE END, TAKE YOU INTO THAT PROMISED LAND GLORIOUSLY!!!!!

                                          From all of us at the Bettina Network!

Labels: Making Connections, Preserving Family History and Stories

copyright 2009 The Bettina Network, inc.

Cakes can be easy to make - or - judging from some recipe's I've read, they can be extraordainarily difficult.

I was raised with a simple 1-2-3-4 cake.  It can be varied with different ingredients and it doesn't take a genius to remember the recipe without pouring, once again, over many cookbooks.  This is the basis for the coconut cake.

1 - One cup of organic butter (equivalent to two sticks)

                 Put butter in your stand mixer and let it whirl for a few minutes

2.  Two cups organic turbinado sugar

                 Add the sugar to the butter, pouring it slowly while your mixer is on - almost, but not quite to the highest setting.  Don't let the butter mix too far ahead of adding the sugar because you can get the whipped cream look to your mixture if you add the sugar just a minute or two after you start whipping the butter.

3.  In a bowl measure three cups organic STONE-GROUND whole wheat pastry flour

                To this you want to add one teaspoon baking powder and a pinch of salt.  Mix this with a spoon or wire whisk until you've put lots of air into the flour.

4. Four organic eggs

               Add the eggs to the sugar and butter mixture one at a time, mixing until they are fully incorporated, but don't mix this too long. The sugar and butter can be whipped forever and the cake gets better the longer they mix.  Once you start adding eggs, don't beat the cake too much.

               After the eggs are incorporated, alternate adding the flour mixture and the liquid to the sugar-egg-butter mix.  In this case, for the coconut cake, the liquid is  either one can or 1/2 can of organic coconut milk.  If you are good at making your own coconut milk, go ahead, it makes for a better cake, but the canned organic variety is my speed at this point in time........for two reasons a) I don't know how to make coconut milk and b) I can never find organic coconuts to experiment.

                If you would like a creamier cake, add the whole can of organic coconut milk.  I find 1/2 can is more to my taste - it produces a drier cake, but not too dry.

Put the cake in either two* or four* cake pans which have been well buttered and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.  That is an estimate of time because each stove will bake in a different time frame. When the cake looks done, springs back when you touch the top and a straw or knife put in the center comes out clean, then you know the cake is done.

*If you like lots of icing on your cake you might consider making four layers.  If you like a less sweet cake then you want to choose to make only two layers.

One goodness of a cake made with all organic ingredients is that it tends to be less sweet than a cake made with white granulated sugar.

Take the cake out of the oven and let it cool.

The long part is the icing:

Break 4 eggs and separate them - the egg whites are what you want to use for this icing.  The only reason is because the icing on a coconut cake should be white and to use the entire egg would produce a more ivory/brownish looking cake.  It has a better taste, but the romance around a coconut cake is shattered.  (What to do with the egg yolks for all of us who think frugally - use them to make Bettina's Chocolate Pudding.)

Set the egg whites aside.  Put one cup organic turbinado sugar in a glass corning pot.  Add one cup of water.  Just pour in the water, don't stir, don't touch anything in the pot once you pour in the water and pour slowly so the water doesn't splash around the pot as you add it.

Turn on the flame and let the water and sugar cook until the mixture becomes a simple syrup - which means until the mixture reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer.

When the mixture reaches 240 degrees, put the egg whites in your stand mixer and whip them until they begin to have soft peaks.  When you reach that stage with the egg whites, gradually and slowly pour in the hot syrup.  Be very careful with the syrup because it is really, really hot and can burn you severely if not handled properly.

You can add coconut syrup, vanilla syrup or any other kind of flavoring you would like at this point.  Pour the hot syrup into the egg whites VERY VERY gradually and let this whip for a very generous length of time.

At this point you can do one of two things:

1.  Once the egg whites have become substantial and hold their peaks looking white, fluffy and beautiful, take a small portion aside in a bowl and add your favorite preserves (ginger preserves make an unusual and very delicious touch),  lightly mixing by hand.  Use this mixture for the filling in your cake.  OR - you can add lots of shredded coconut to this mixture - stirring by hand -  and use that for the filling with the rest used to slather very thickly on the top and sides of the cake.  And voila - you have your coconut cake.

2.  If you prefer a more butter-cream icing, you can start adding pats of butter to the mixture as it whips and let it continue to whip until it has a very whipped creamy/butter-creamy look.  This is delicious. Of course, it will take all of the butter in the house, plus some you will get from a quick trip to the store, --while your icing is mixing,  -- as you realize you don't have enough butter in the house for this icing to come through properly, -- but it will be worth the hassle.

Use this as you would the other icing - stir lots of shredded coconut into this icing; put a generous amount of icing on each cake layer;  put the layers together and slather the rest on the top and sides of the cake.

Because these icings hold peaks nicely, you can really get imaginative in making the cake look spectacular.

Sometimes when adding butter to the whipped syrup and egg white mixture,  your icing can break and when you look at it in the mixer you think you have a loser, but do not fear, just let the mixture keep on going - maybe as long as 15-20 minutes or longer and your icing will come through beautifully for you.

You can put this buttery icing on the cake, or you can sit in a corner with the bowl, making sure no one sees you, and eat until your heart is content.  It roughly reminds you of a wedding cake.  Whatever is left from this little act of gluttony can still be the icing on your coconut cake.


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Labels: Bettina's Cookbook

copyright the Bettina Network, inc.
Marceline Donaldson

I was going to keep quiet on this one, but who can resist a request to write something.  I can feel my daughters cringe as I speak out!  I am sure one of the things they are grateful for is a last name different from mine.  Nevertheless -

The first thing that strikes me is the media outcry about Tiger Woods who they claim pretended to be so "clean" and with such a "perfect image".  It is an amazing outcry.  Tiger Woods didn't claim to be anything.  He kept a private life private. His golf life was in the public eye, the rest of his life was totally private.  It is only very recently that we've seen Tiger Woods in pictures with his wife.

I see this whole tabloid event as being extremely racist and sexist.  It is difficult to do anything in this society which doesn't have such overtones, but this tops it.

First of all, it is quite possible and most probable that the core of the problem is simply that Tiger Woods and his wife were in a marriage that wasn't working and he found an outlet - or outlets, if you are to believe the tabloids with all the women coming forth claiming to be Tiger's mistresses. One was 49 years old. No one has even hinted at how Elin Woods handled this bad marriage.  No one is even claiming it was a bad marriage, even though what is out there for all to see says clearly that the marriage wasn't working. And from the alleged incident with the golf clubs, was it an abusive marriage.

Outside of everything else, this Tiger Woods mess has sent out a very clear call for a total clean-out of our media.  It is time for this country to demand that its media have standards other than greed - looking for twists on stories to bring in the most money for their particular media outlets.  The human cost has been enormous; our inability to get at the facts of any situation is clear because facts aren't what the media is about.  The media has very successfully developed a cynical viewership and readership.  Today, most of us don't believe anything we see or hear.  Good investigative journalism is a thing of the past, if it ever existed, except in a few exceptional corners.

Tiger Woods has simply replaced Michael Jackson for the media!  I remember when the Michael Jackson mess exploded onto the screen and in the written media.  To say he was lynched by the media is an understatement.  Once Michael Jackson died, predictably it was time to move on to take down another outsized African American male - and who fit that bill better than Tiger Woods.  Especially since Tiger Woods was married to a Caucasian woman.

It is first very striking in the different way the media treats our -ism groups.  Tiger Woods - African American male; Elin Woods - White 'European' female; David Letterman - White male in the right upper class group with the correct figures behind him; Hugh Hefner - White male "exotica" figure, not in the right group, but making money for the right people and throwing parties they all want to attend,  etc.

David Letterman is clearly the most harmful of the group.  He also is the one who got a free pass for his admitted past sexual abuse of women and given that, a free pass to continue.

We didn't see women coming out to make accusations or to link their name to Lettermans as one of his 'conquests'.  Very different from the way the Tiger Woods mess was handled.  Why is that?  Especially since the negative results for women and consequentially for our society are far greater in the David Letterman situation than in the Tiger Woods debacle. What was the difference in the women? - their career choices!!!  One group chose a career in which they  had to break glass ceilings. One group chose a career which totally fulfilled one of the negative stereotypes of women.  For women to come out to claim that David Letterman took advantage of them sexually on the job and put them in the position of either sex in a corner office or no job, no promotion, no ability to continue to work in their chosen profession - those women would have had to be ready to see their career disappear and daily survival become their biggest issue.  Not many are able to take that kind of stand and the stress that follows.  Unlike in the Tiger Woods mess where the pressure was on women to "out" Woods,  the pressure wasn't on women to 'out' Letterman, but for them to cover-up for Letterman.  For them to shut-up or lose job and career.

We didn't see celebrities making public statements condemning Letterman for this kind of gross discrimination against women - which is actually, the core of how this society institutionally and structurally discriminates against women.  We also didn't see those same celebrities refusing to appear on his show because of what they now know happened 'back stage.'  They came out in force, smiling, showing their continued friendship with Letterman and by their presence on his show making a statement about their acquiescence to and agreement with the way Letterman treated the women who worked with him professionally.

Our biggest celebrities ignored a horrible situation and continued and continue to appear on his show, glad-handing him and by doing so support this alleged sexual abuse of the women who work for him.  The media has been very conspiratorially silent.  So - David Letterman continues with no negative results to his career or professional future.

Tiger Woods is an African American man married to a White Woman - and a Swede at that - a blond, very white woman.  If you are not into denial about racism and sexism in this society, then you knew something was going to explode and that explosion would be to get rid of Tiger Woods or at least tar him with as ugly a brush as possible.  With Woods wrapped in the kind of scandal that has now surfaced.  The only thing better for those who contribute to this kind of mess would have been for him to have been found sleeping with young boys instead of grown, adult women.

It is striking the different way the tabloids handled the Rihanna situation and the way they handled the Elin situation.  It was horrific what happened to Rihanna and we all very properly admitted that and were appalled at the violent temper of her attacker. Her attacker was properly brought to justice and faced criminal charges.  There was also much talk in the media for him to be in an Anger Management program.

In contrast, there was loud cheering that went up when Elin Woods allegedly went after Tiger Woods with a golf club and allegedly did substantial damage to Tiger and his or their property.  At least Rihanna's attacker used his hands. Violence against another human being is wrong and for that there are criminal penalties.  Interestingly, the tabloid and other media were calling for criminal penalties against Tiger Woods and cheering Elin on.  She had, after all, seen the light and went after this Negro with a weapon to do what - teach him a lesson?

All of Sweden is apparently cheering-on Elin.  Some of Tiger's golf buddies are cheering-on Elin making comments about how sorry they were that they had introduced Elin to Tiger, he wasn't the kind of person they thought he was and one golf buddy apologized for the introduction.  What kind of introduction?  He introduced the top sports figure in the world today, with a fairly substantial formal education and intelligence, via among others Stanford University with awards for both his intelligence as well as his athleticism, to a woman who was that golfer's children's nanny!  He thought they were equals and was now apologizing to her for introducing her to someone who, according to that golf buddy, was clearly beneath her.  And the media simply reported the comments and couldn't hide their glee.  This golf buddy also suggested that Elin Woods use another kind of golf club next time.  He was, with his comment, condoning Elin's violence as her right and entitlement, suggesting that next time she use a golf club he would have chosen, that could do much more damage than the one she chose.  I suspect that same man would have had ugly things to say about Rihanna's attacker, who, of course, was not entitled to express his anger in a life threatening kind of way.  How do the two people differ?

Rihanna's ex-boy friend was portrayed as an out of control violent person - probably because of the way he was raised and the place he was raised - a ghetto?.  Elin Woods was portrayed as seeking a proper kind of justice to which she should be entitled and counseled on how she could deliver a more effective and damaging beating next time.  She has not been portrayed as a woman whose anger was out of control, but as having lots of guts and the physical strength to do what she allegedly did.  Several media outlets, entertainment and serious news coverage found what Elin allegedly did funny - a great joke! Out- of-control anger that could have wound up with someone dead, was deemed justified and they looked up to her for the alleged attempt!

The fact that a woman going after a man with a golf club is attempted murder, has not surfaced nor even been hinted at in anybody's column nor on anyone's tv show that I have seen or heard about.  Given the damage allegedly done to the car, that was clearly an act of out of control, unmanageable violence whether the person came from a middle-class Swedish neighborhood or the middle of Detroit's Black ghetto.  Where are the commentaries on Elin Woods needing to be in an anger management program?

And then there is Hugh Hefner.  A pathetic figure if I've ever seen one.  I don't think he would know how to begin a conversation with a woman "on his level" so to speak - a woman his age, his level of intelligence, financially his equal, similar levels of experience, etc.  Hefner shows men how to keep women on the level of sex objects and makes sure no one forgets that a woman is only worth her physical appearance and her ability to subvert everything she is about to one thing, sex.  His girl friends could be his great-grandchildren.  It is an ugly spectacle and we all laugh.

If Hugh Hefner were African American and his girl friends were Caucasian, how hearty would our laughter be?  Hefner has acted out a life in which men are interested in a woman for sex,  arm and eye candy and nothing else.  In Hefner's world, when a woman reaches 25 or so it is time to discard her for a younger version.  We fought that battle with the airlines and their need to discard their Stewardesses at age 33 and we won.  That model is still around and we are lauding and rewarding Hugh Hefner for holding it up so we won't move into some other kind of future.  He successfully beckons us to stay in that past time.  He keeps us steady until we can revisit and reverse those kind of victories for women.  In his world a woman should be a prostitute, call girl, whore, corporate wife, etc.  Nothing else is acceptable from a woman - and the media holds him up as an icon.  He can do no wrong.

What is even more pathetic than Hugh Hefner are the the women coming into the confessional booth to relieve their guilt and whatever else they are claiming about their relationship with Tiger Woods.  The media is having an orgy over these women, who are unashamedly self-promoting, looking for their 15 minutes of fame to increase their financial standing in the world.  Why?  Apparently, some are coming out of this with their income up from $1,0000/hour to $3,000/hour.  A nice increase for 15 minutes of fame or a turn on one of the morning shows.

The media is holding all of this up and giving it great coverage.  The also pathetic, are the women in the media who are holding all of this up and creating a huge deal about it - Joy Behar wouldn't have a show  if she talked about anything else,  nor would some other media have anything to write about because what they are about generally is reducing the world to sex, gossip about sex, etc.  In other words using other women and trampling over their bodies to get their own 15 minutes.

Most amazingly, the women coming out with these Tiger stories, are not being asked by journalists the first and most important question before beginning such coverage - proof?  some kind of proof? any kind of proof?   Instead, they are allowed in front of cameras and are being written about with no investigative anything. A couple have done follow-up blips on the reputation of the person "outing" Tiger and they have not come out as being among the world's great people!

They all clearly are not in the position of the women around David Letterman.  These women around the Tiger Woods story are coming out in droves because they can gain, career wise, from doing so, which is why so many are now making these claims.  Back to shades of Michael Jackson.  Tiger Woods can't come out to say which are true and which he's never seen before without stirring up even more dust and without the media calling him a liar, so any woman who wants to increase her call girl price now has the opportunity to take to the cameras and put on a performance worthy of awards.  And the cameras are rolling trying to give any and everyone who wants to make such a claim their time in the sun.

I am sure as the story unfolds, Tiger Woods and Elin Woods will divorce.  They will fight over the children.  She will fight to break any pre-nup she signed in favor of a very substantial settlement using these incidents to justify such claims.  No one will breathe anything about uncontrollable anger nor the need for anger management, nor what affect this will have on the children.

In reality, her marriage to Tiger Woods has been a great career move. She doesn't even have to baby sit her own children now she can pay others to do that for her. She can move on with at least a seven figure income and a seven figure home, neither of which she has earned.  Tiger Woods will stay out of the spotlight and when he returns, his personal life will still be as private as always and there will be someone in it with whom he thinks he has more in common and with whom he thinks he can make a more substantial marriage.

Maybe a few years to mature will help him find women who are financially, intellectually and educationally his equal and he will marry such a person.  If not, and he continues a need for immature arm and eye candy, he will most probably spend his life with these side affairs and miss what his life could have been about.  He will probably have more children. If he continues with side affairs they will be much more hidden and discreet.  He will probably have any woman he sleeps with from now on sign a confidentiality agreement with lots of financial and other penalties if she breaks the agreement.  Foreplay with Tiger will probably be a threesome - Tiger, the woman and Tiger's attorney!

As for the rest of us, when we pick up our favorite media outlets, the names will change, but the situations will be the same.  Maybe over time the racist and sexist overtones will mitigate. We will go along in our very immature ways not wanting a substantial and decent media enough to fight for change.

And this is the world I leave to my grandchildren and great-grandcildren!  May God have mercy on them and their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren!


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Labels: An editorial just because, Making Connections

I find whenever I see such controversies these days I go to Bettina's Blog to see what you have said.  You usually have a perspective most media writers don't have and a thoughtful insight I find interesting and helpful.  I looked this time and didn't find anything about the Tiger Woods business.  We would appreciate your insight and any information you have which has not appeared in the media.  Please e-mail me at the following address when you have posted a blog on Tiger Woods, but please don't publish either my name or my e-mail address.

Thanks,
A loyal guest

Labels: Guest comments, Making Connections, Reader Feedback

copyright 2009 The Rev. Eddie McBride
used with permission by The Bettina Network, inc.

                                                                       Bettina's changes

4 medium size sweet potatoes                       organic sweet potatoes          
2/3 cup brown sugar                                     organic turbinado sugar
4 Tablespoons Corn Syrup                              organic maple syrup
1 Can Condensed Milk                                   organic heavy cream
2 Eggs                                                          organic eggs
4 Tablespoons Real Butter                            organic butter
1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg                       all spices organic
1/4 Teaspoon Ground Cloves
1/4 teaspoon Ground Ginger
1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract                    powdered organic vanilla

1.  Cook the 4 medium-size sweet potatoes until you can drive a fork in smoothly.  Then de-skin the potatoes (while preheating the oven).

2.  Preparing crust for pies: 1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  2) Let frozen crust thaw 10 to 20 minutes. Price bottom and around sides thoroughly with fork.  3) Bake in oven for about 9 to 11 minutes or until lightly browned.  Cool.  Then....Fill with Sweet Potato Mix.

ed.note: If you prefer to make your own pie crust it would probably be better and healthier.  We have a recipe for one using organic flour in Bettina's Cookbook.

3.  Place Sweet Potatoes in bowl and blend with fork and electric blender, until smooth.  In large bowl, mix sweet potatoes and remaining filling ingredients with blender until blended thoroughly blended.  Pour mix into browned pie crusts.

4.  Pre-Heat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.  Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees; bake 30 additional minutes or until knife or fork inserted in center comes out clean.  However, if you are going to use the Streusel Topping, at this point, only cook for 15 Minutes before placing topping.



Streusel Topping for Sweet Potato Pie (optional...you don't need to do this part)
                                                                              
                                                                     Bettina's changes

1/2 cup packed brown sugar                        organic turbinado sugar
4 Tablespoons Butter                                  organic butter
1/2 Teaspoon ground cinnamon                    organic cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped Pecans                              organic Pecans
1/2 cup chopped Walnuts                            organic Walnuts

Mix above ingredients in a bowl.  Sprinkle Streusel over top of pie and bake for 15 to 20 minutes after Streusel Topping has been placed on pie or until knife or fork inserted in center comes out clean.

Who is Eddie McBride?
     He is single, likes to eat and cooks out of necessity.  He has a very respectable collection of recipes - most however, need little tweaks to keep the body healthy - as we did above.

He runs a non-profit corporation which works to help his community be its best self - primarily working with at-risk children.  It is a 501C3 organization.

You can tell from this recipe that he is from the deepest south - note the whole cup of condensed milk and the pecans, even though there are a few New England walnuts spread around, probably from his time in the Northeast.

Rev. McBride is currently working to bring MIT's Fabrication Lab (the FAB Lab) to Mississippi, January thru March, to expose his community to this form of technology with the goal of establishing a permanent FAB Lab in his area.

An MIT graduate and Harvard Divinity School student, Rev. McBride has ministered in Massachusetts and Upstate New York.  He is now working in Mississippi.  If you are interest in being a part of bringing MIT's FAB Lab to Mississippi, he can be reached at revedmcbride@comcast.net.


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Labels: Bettina's Cookbook, Making Connections

copyright 2009 The Bettina Network, inc.

We have come across many businesses in life, but we comment on only a very few.  Commonwealth Worldwide Chauffeured Transportation is one of those few.

You know our love for organic everything.  Well, this is a limousine service which is going green.  They get more than 40 miles/gallon from their cars because they use Ford Fusion Hybrid cars and they are still able to provide 95% of the room you've enjoyed in a Lincoln Town Car.  Commonwealth was awarded the 2009 Best of Boston and they are the official transportation service for the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

We spend a lot of time marketing and deciding where to place advertisements for the Bettina Network, inc.  We spend just as much time trying to decide how and where to give back.  That is one of our top priorities.  A business can't begin to be great until and unless it gives back to the world at least as much as it is given.  So, when we see a business, we look at their product and services and then if that adds up we ask ourselves ----- what do they give back for all the opportunities they have been given?  In the process of doing that we discovered Commonwealth.

We knew about their spectacular service and all that goes into making them an exceptional company.  We also knew the tremendous difference Jaimie Botero makes for Commonwealth as he goes about his daily job. He adds a very special touch to the services Commonwealth offers ordinarily and we tell all of our guests who use the Bettina Network in the Greater Boston area to ask for Mr. Botero.

You can imagine how delighted we were to discover that the November 28th BSO concert is being sponsored by Commonwealth.  What a wonderful thing to do!

So needless to say, we recommend Commonwealth when you are traveling and want to reserve transportation for your trip from the airport to your Bettina home and when you want to reserve a car for the day to take you the many, many places you need to visit when in Cambridge, Boston, New York, or worldwide.  Or if you want the luxury of being driven from Boston to New York to stay in another Bettina home for a few days, they will be very gracious and efficient in their response to your request.

Enjoy discovering a wonderful business and let us know if our recommendation met your expectations!


IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK YOUR ACCOMMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!!! 1-800-347-9166 inside U.S. or 617-497-9166 outside or inside the U.S.

Labels: Making Connections, Travel Bettina Style

copyright 2009 The Bettina Network, inc.

Great breakfast conversations today!  The bit of information I would like to share is from the gentleman who had to stop at the GNC to pick up a bottle of Saw Palmetto before leaving the country.  He buys a couple bottles each time he is in the U. S. because he can't find it in his country.  He uses it to keep his prostate healthy and swears by them.  First time I'd heard of this, but I will take it seriously, he is several years past retirement is very healthy and has been doing this for a number of years.  I wanted to ask if he'd had prostate problems or was this in response to prostate cancer, but I didn't know him well enough and he didn't go beyond where he could find a GNC store.  Maybe he will return and knowing him better we can get a bit more into his business.

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Labels: Food Shopping, Guest comments, Health

We just returned from a wonderful trip visiting our daughter and we stayed at one of your Bettina homes.  We had the best coconut cake I have ever had in life.  Please either send me the recipe - if you need to keep it secret - or put it on your Bettina's Blog - which I read every Sunday morning the way I used to read the New York Times.

Thanks,  We will definitely call you first.  I have never had such an experience, even in very expensive hotels.  Keep up your work, something is working.


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Labels: Bettina's Cookbook, Guest comments, Reader Feedback

copyright the Bettina Network 2009
The Rev. Dr. Robert A. Bennett

The big news out of the Vatican recently is that disaffected clergy (married or not) of the Church of England will be welcomed back into the Roman Catholic fold - no questions asked!!! What was previously a case by case procedure for return has been replaced with an announcement of a blanket welcome issued by the Vatican on Tuesday, October 27. 2009.

There has been much discussion about what lay behind this procedural change: decline of European Catholic members; the decline of Roman Catholic Clergy due to strict rules of celibacy; or even the resulting decline in revenues and the decline in capital because of the court decisions taking millions of dollars from the Catholic Church.

The mantra in many mysteries is "follow the money!"  The rationale behind otherwise unanswered questions of motive, is very often related to monetary matters.  Everyone remembers that the Reformation in England took on a distinctive non-doctrinal caste under Henry VIII's marital problems. The issue then was not doctrinal differences between Rome and England, but the matter of who ultimately controlled and held ownership rights over valuable Church properties and institutions.  Henry VIII resolved his marital issue by setting the stage for transforming (not reforming) the Catholic Church in England to the Catholic Church of England.  In 1553, Henry VIII seized and closed the monasteries and transferred these very valuable sources of income away from Rome, placing them at his and England's disposal.  The so-called "Elizabethan Settlement" of 1559 finalized this transfer and marked the Reformation in England as the creation of the Anglican Church, the Church of England.

Benedict XVI, scholar that he is, as Cardinal, was called "God's Rottweiler," the enforcer of Roman Catholic Orthodoxy in the very conservative mood.  Benedict XVI has reversed the ex-communications of ultra-conservative rejectors of change and rejectors of reform elements set in place by Vatican II, and has returned them to good standing in the Roman Catholic Church - one bishop returned to good standing is an acknowledged "Holocaust Denier".  The pope now issues a similar - y'all come back, now - decree for disaffected Anglicans who reject openly gay priests and bishops as well as rejecting female priests and bishops.

These actions, in the face of declining membership, declining sources of income, valuable real estate sold to pay court decisions, support the "follow the money" mantra.  They point to a way to increase membership and set the stage for the possible return of valuable real estate and institutions lost in Great Britain under the various Parliamentary acts of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I in the 16th century.

Pope Benedict XVI's recent relaxation of the means of return is best seen as setting the ground work for the return of valuable real estate lost when the Catholic Church in England was transformed into the Church of England (the Anglicans).  It is English Reformation history that may well lay behind the recent action of the Vatican.  Never underestimate the knowledge or even the dreams of the scholar.

Should the Orthodox church begin to be concerned about its real estate with the Roman Catholic Church now lining up its priesthood to be a married priesthood for the little guys, but celibacy as the path for those who are upwardly mobile and want to be bishop or above?


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Labels: An editorial just because, Making Connections

(ed. note) Having contacted this blogger as to what they meant by "ETF", it means "Electronic Funds Transfer" usually abbreviated by "EFT."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for your posts.  Your posts left out one way banks make money in unethical ways - particularly in businesses which have many ETF transactions because of taking MasterCard, Visa, etc. charges from their customers.

Those charges are settled  by the bank putting money into the businesses checking account.  That money is supposed to be treated as cash when it arrives - immediately available.  That does not happen.

On the weekends, if you receive an ETF transaction from the credit card companies, it is not recorded in your checking account until Tuesday morning.  When you call the bank to find out why - you discover their claim is that things don't happen over the weekend because banks are closed.  When you ask about Monday, you hear them say - Monday is a part of the weekend because no work is done on Sundays and this business is not recorded until overnight Monday showing up in your account on Tuesday morning.

What's wrong with this?  If a charge comes in over the weekend from whoever, as an ETF charge, the banks somehow do work for those very large institutions over the weekend and the charge is posted against your account.  On Monday, you will only have charges posted onto your account, possibly creating an overdraft situation even though there are credit card deposits which would cure that overdraft, because banks don't work for the little people over the weekend and your deposits must wait until overnight on Monday showing up on Tuesday.  For the large companies, banks do work over the weekend and their charges are posted overnight on Sunday showing up in your account on Monday morning.  It helps the large institutions cash flow, it creates the possibility for unearned income for the banks (by charging overdraft charges even though there is money at the banks window to make that not true) and screws over the small entrepreneur.

Thanks for your blogs.  This needs to be aired and I don't know where else to find such information or to post the information I have.  Imagine finding this on a blog about bed & breakfast.


IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK YOUR ACCOMMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!!! 1-800-347-9166 inside U.S. or 617-497-9166 outside or inside the U.S.

Labels: Guest comments

copyright 2009 Bettina Network, inc.

This is a follow-up on Bettina's Hall of Shame award.

We are beginning to think this award should be shared by the banks and the media.  The more we read the more we understand that the American public is being grossly misled and it is either because the reporters are ignorant of their subject or the reporting we've read is a purposeful attempt to mislead the public.

There has been much obfuscation around Debit Cards.  Much has been said and brought to Congress about how awful the banks are to give an automatic coverage of overdrafts for those with Debit Cards and how that automatic coverage allows the holders of these cards to overdraw their accounts and how it is allowing the banks to take them to the cleaners.  That is not true.  The public IS being taken to the cleaners, but its lack of knowledge and sophistication on how these things work allows this gross miscarriage of money which takes place on a daily basis.  And now the public is being misled by the media as to the real problem around Debit Cards.

Why did Debit Cards come into being?  It is another way the middle class can be drained of its money. Its a quick way to move money from the super rich to the becoming poor.

What's wrong with Debit Cards and why this automatic overdraft business is gaining so much attention?  Its simple.    It is a red herring, meant to take your attention away from the real problem so Debit Cards can become entrenched in this society as another structural element within the banking system which makes loads of money for banks by quickly taking it away from the Middle Class.

The banks don't want you to wake up to what they are doing.  So, you get this righteous indignation to take your attention, time and resources away from seeing and objecting to the real problem with Debit Cards.

When the Debit Card phenomena becomes accepted and normal the overdraft coverage will stop and you will be ripped off in ways you can't even begin to imagine.

HOW DO DEBIT CARDS WORK?

Today, when you make a purchase with your debit card, the money is immediately taken out of your checking account.  Sometimes this happens the same day.  If you make a purchase in the evening - say about 8pm, the next morning your checking account shows the withdrawal.  It is a total and immediate movement of money from you to the bank.  The merchant from whom you made the purchase doesn't get their money for two to three business days later - so you are out the money paid, the merchant is out the merchandise or services without payment for two to three business days and the bank has the money, which is supposed to be the merchants, which the bank keeps for two to three business days before sending it on to the merchant involved.  And the merchant gets to pay the bank from 2 to 3 percent in the form of an immediate discount, for this service.

Parallel that to what happens when you make a deposit.  In most cases, your deposits are "cured" by the bank for 5 business days before a deposit goes into your checking account as available funds.  So any money which you have deposited into your checking account which you put there to use for such purchases can't be touched for five business days.  (Only a few are exempt from this and then only temporarily until the bank can conjure up ways to put those few back with the unwashed - those who you now feel better than because you are one of the select few.  That feeling of superiority is short-lived because your stay in that heavenly area is temporary and the bank is constantly working with its idea people to shrink the number of people in that heavenly area and to decrease the amount of time they can spend there.)

Now, you've made your deposit and two days later you go to the store to make a purchase using your debit card thinking you have this money in your account and available.  What a mistake!  You are now in the weeds.  If you counted on that deposit to be there and usable you find you have overdrawn your account and are now being charged between $30 and $40 for that Debit Card transaction.  So without the automatic overdraft account added to your checking account, the purchase you made with your Debit Card would have bounced; you would be embarrassed at the check-out counter of wherever you are; and you would be furious with the bank doing whatever you could to change the situation.  What change would you be looking to make?  You want your money available when you make your deposit - or at the very least within two days of your deposit.

Instead, your bank covers the purchase, charges you an obscene overdraft charge and leaves you feeling as though this was your fault.  Was it your fault? NO NO NO!  You deposited good money and good credit for that amount should be immediately usable by you, especially when you think back on the fact that the merchant isn't getting paid for two to three business days.

In addition, even if the bank bounced your Debit Card you would still be in the weeds because banks charge you the $30-40 no matter whether they pay the charge or not.  And with all the fees they add on to your account, you never quite know your balance.  You can call the bank at 2pm and get your balance - at 3pm they can add a charge which reduces your balance, you try to make a purchase for the amount you think you have and voila, you discover you are overdrawn or your charge has been declined at the store.  In either case you are out $30-40.

So what have we here:
1.  You start the action by making a deposit to your checking account.

2.  You go to the store to make a purchase.

3.  Your purchase is immediately registered by the bank - they have their money as soon as you make the purchase.

4.  The merchant is out the goods or services and the money.  The Merchant waits 2 to 3 business days before getting paid for what you purchased and paid for days before.  In addition, the merchant pays the bank about two to three percent for this service.  The merchant pays that amount to the bank, not in the form of a check issued at the end of the month, but in the form of a discount immediately taken from the Merchant by the Bank.

5.  You don't yet pay for your Debit Card.   - in some cases you are being charged for this service - but most are not and given a little time you will also pay the bank a percentage to use your own money.  Congress will intervene on your behalf, but not for decades.  Meanwhile the bank will have another scheme going to replace the Debit Card income which will make billions more.  like the Debit Card gradually replacing the Credit Card.  Credit Card limits are being reduced.  They will finally go out completely.  Why take something that only pays you $ .95 on the $1.00 when you can replace it with something which pays you $1.50 on the $1.00.

Who benefits?  the Bank!  What is your alternative?  Use your check book.

Write a check for the goods or services you want.

If you have to wait in line with lots of people waiting behind you, that isn't your problem it is the merchants problem.  You have your check book and proper identification.  There is no reason for anyone to deny your check, especially since there are all kind of services merchants could subscribe to which lets them know if your check is good.  They have been brain washed to believe that every check given to them by their customers is going to bounce so they had better use the Debit Card route for their own protection.

WHAT THEY DON'T KNOW, but will soon find out is the Debit Card they accepted can be rejected by the bank even after they have received an approval code.  The fine print in their contract says the approval code is temporary and can be withdrawn.  So what have they gained by accepting your Debit Card instead of your check? They have gained the right to wait for their money and to pay the bank a percentage of your purchase to accept your money and let it "cure" and then pass it along to them.

You have given up control of your money to the bank when you have and use a Debit Card.  When you use your checking account, you write a check today to pay for your purchase.  The money is withdrawn from your account about two days later and it hasn't cost you anything.  If you overdrew your account by writing the check you can make a deposit the next day to avoid overdraft charges, which would have immediately accrued to your account had you used your Debit Card instead.

What has the bank gained?

           Your deposits to your checking account for five business days for nothing -
                        money they make money on.

            They have in addition gained an additional two to three days use of the money because you authorized the bank to withdraw money from your account to pay the merchant and while the bank has its money immediately, they don't pay against they money you have given them for two to three days when the Merchants bill comes due.

            The bank has gained use of your money in three ways, making substantial amounts when you add together the numbers of people who give them this right of access.
                            You are left penniless,
                                       the merchant is left struggling
                                                 and the bank is just as happy and rich as it can be.

From what we have seen in the economy of late, the bank isn't keeping that money.  It is being passed along in many schemes to the super rich.  Ethics have been suspended.  If the banks have to torpedo the society in order to create and work through its schemes - so be it as long as they are left functioning to continue this enormous transfer of wealth.

We are creating a modern version of the Emperor with his well-off minions and his indentured servants.  You may not yet be the indentured servants, but quite possibly that is the future of your children.


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Labels: An editorial just because, Bettina's Hall of Shame, Guest comments, Making Connections

copyright 2009 Bettina Network, Inc.

This dish can be the centerpiece of either breakfast or lunch.  Of course, we prefer it served at breakfast.  It is spectacularly beautiful.  Upon presentation to your guests it looks ike an ivory rose with a yellow center.  We believe this dish has its origins in Brazilian cuisine, but we can't vouch for that.

To serve four people you will need the following:

4 eggs, separated
4 slices French bread
4 slices cheese
8 slices bacon, ham, sausages (your choice)
butter

All ingredients should absolutely be organic - the eggs, bread, cheese, butter and the rest need to be organic or the taste will change to washed out, pasteurized.  We find people rave over our eggs.  We don't do anything special to get that great taste, we just buy organic eggs from farmers we know and have seen how they raise and feed their chickens.  The net result is their eggs taste like eggs.  Eggs from chickens grown in those apartment houses stacked on top of one another, fed horrific feed tastes like eating scrambled water and they pass the anxiety, pain and agony they suffered on to you, probably compromising your health in the process.

Set oven to 350 degrees.

You need a mixing bowl (from your stand mixer) into which you put the egg whites.
Crack the eggs and carefully separate the whites from the yolks.
Put the egg whites into the mixing bowl.
You need an egg carton for the next step.
Put the egg yolk back into its half shell and put the half shell into the egg carton to keep it upright and ready for use. Do this for all four egg yolks or however many you are using.
Spread butter on the slices of French Bread.  We like the bread cut fairly thick because it gives a better base for these egg-creations.
Place one slice of cheese on each slice of bread.  Set these aside on a buttered baking sheet.
With an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until they hold their peaks.  Don't over beat because you do not want these egg whites to be dry.
With a large wooden spoon, or other kind of utensil with which you are comfortable, take out about one fourth of the egg white (now a meringue) and mound this on top of the cheese.
Spread the meringue over the bread, butter and cheese to the edges so the bread is covered.
This should look like a small mountain - the middle of the bread and meringue should be higher than the rest.
With the back of your spoon, make an indentation in the center of the meringue so it can hold the egg yolk, making sure your meringue looks beautiful.  Imagine how it will look once browned with ivory and brown tinges on the peaks.
Very, very carefully put the egg yolk into the center of the bread in the depression you've just made.
Put the baking sheet with the bread, butter, cheese, meringue and egg yolk into the oven and let it cook for about 10-15 minutes.  10 minutes if you like your egg yolk still runny; 15 minutes if you like your egg yolk cooked firm.
When done, put a meringue square on each plate, sprinkle with sea salt and cayenne pepper and serve with either bacon, ham or sausage around the merinque square arranged for maximum beauty.
If you do not like bacon, etc. just omit it.  This dish carries itself off just as it is.  It is light, very tasty and makes a wonderful breakfast by itself with fresh fruit and a breakfast dessert of some kind.

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Labels: Bettina's Cookbook

It was clear where David Letterman was coming from when he made the very ugly and extremely sexist comments about Sarah Palin's daughter.  His disrespect and abuse of women showed through strongly when he could aim such ugliness at a young 14 year old girl who he didn't even know.  Why was that necessary?  We now know why.  To Mr. Letterman it was normal and funny and just a fine thing to do.  His friends glad handed him, slapped his back, gave him a cigar and admired his macho.  In his mind, it probably added two inches - and not to his height, to do such a thing.

At the same time, several people noted that David Letterman must be misusing and abusing women big time to come up with such an ugly remark, deliver it so easily and expect a great laugh therefrom.  We were surprised no one called for his resignation then.  We think many people let that slide because it was framed against a high profile political family who it is now fashionable to trash.  Instead of letting politics get in the way, the remark itself should have been responded to properly and Mr. Letterman made to fade into a history, which minutely documented his inability to respect women and young girls.

Sexual abuse is very lethal in the work place and we are certain many women's lives were changed and not for the better because of Mr. Letterman's assumption that as boss, the women under him were literally obligated to be "under him" when he took an interest in them.  Isn't that the traditional way for insecure men at the top to act?  Isn't it time to call them out?  Women should not have to trade sex for a job, a promotion or anything else.  Women who have problems, having been raised without a father are prime targets for men like Mr. Letterman.  And those same women are generally the last to be able to stand up and call out the men who have sexually abused them - can you ever doubt the truth of that?

Unless sexual abuse is recognized and rejected, equality will never happen because there will always be the David Letterman's who get away with years of abusing the women who work for them and then point fingers - filthy fingers with even filthier comments at girls as young and innocent as the Palin daughter of 14 years who had to endure the lurid publicity which Lettermans comments generated.

It is interesting that he was so quickly and easily able to make such a heavily sexual comment about a young 14 year old girl.  And the filthy fingers were all over women trying to establish themselves in a career, to support their families and to raise their children.  There have always been and always will be the David Lettermans in the work place.  When we endorse them by allowing them to stay and rub everyone's face in their arrogance and inappropriate superiority who are we as a society?  Our morality and ethics will have taken a big nose dive into the gutter - and it is a very dirty gutter.

It is past time to recognize those who come out so vocally in support of sexual abusers of women and to look closer at them, because they are in the same camp and will soon be "outed" for the same reasons.

The women who work and/or worked for David Letterman and who were so abused need to find their strength and courage to come out, stand up and be counted among those who will not allow such to continue and to continue being hidden.  They can find work elsewhere if their bosses also are hiding their own sexual abuse by standing behind David Letterman.  How does that old saying go - there, but for the fear I've engendered in those women who have children to feed - raise - take care of, who I have so seriously disrespected and to whom I have caused much grief, goes I.

Labels: An editorial just because, Guest comments

copyright Bettina Network, inc. and (Eska) 2009


415, Washington Street                      
Somerville, MA 02143.                        
(Corner of Beacon & Washington Sts)
Ph.: 617-661-3254  Fax 617-661-2813
Web: www.dalirestaurant.com


House: dinner, 5:30-11pm, Sunday noon
Phone: 617 661 3254  Fax 617 661 2813
            
A visit to the Dali Restaurant is appropriate both for a romantic evening for two or a lovely night for a group.  Small private tables within their own compartments and larger tables in open areas make this possible.  The detailed decor is a feast for the eyes (picture yourself inside one of Salvador Dali's paintings).  


Either way, prepare yourself for a festival of flavors.  You can find traditional Spanish dishes such as paella, a rich rice stew seasoned with saffron into which might be mixed a wide range of vegetables, sausage, chicken, meat, and seafood (the possibilities are endless; I have three cookbooks on my shelf containing   nothing but paella recipes).


The real specialty of the restaurant is the numerous tapas, small plates, that enable the diner to sample many different dishes to make a meal.  Each member of your party should start with three or so, but it's not likely that you'll stop there.  Perhaps some thinly sliced serrano ham, the finest in the world, and some marinated olives to whet your appetite.  If you're more adventurous, perhaps some octopus vinagrette.  The wonderful thing about tapas is that you can stick mostly with your favorites, or be just a little adventurous, or maybe a lot.  Never had stuffed squid in its own ink or pheasant or quail or rabbit or venison?  Try them all in a single dining experience, each in a regional Spanish preparation.  My personal favorites are braised rabbit in a red wine, juniper, and garlic sauce, and venison sausage in pomegranate sauce, but the tapas menu changes monthly, so
there's almost always something new to try, even after repeated visits.  


The Dali Restaurant features a delicious, all Spanish wine list, many at surprisingly affordable prices, to accompany your meal, but perhaps you'll want to try their home-made sangria, which has little in common with the prepackaged products that you can find in your local wine store.  


The staff are very attentive and efficient; they've always been anxious to make my visit an evening to remember.  The Dali Restaurant is to be recommended both for an intimate evening for two or a party for multitudes.



(ed.note) a restaurant review by a Bettina guest who frequents the Dali Restaurant and Tapas Bar.

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IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK YOUR ACCOMMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!!! 1-800-347-9166 inside U.S. or 617-497-9166 outside or inside the U.S.

Labels: Guest comments, Restaurant Review

I really appreciate your blog and your guts in putting Bank of America in your Bettina's Hall of Shame.

I have something to contribute, which is true of many banks.  You talked about overdrafts. What I see now is banks claiming to address and reduce their overdraft charges and its a joke what they are proposing.  I feel insulted!  What they need to address is the 5 business days during which they keep your deposits 'on ice'.  That is what is causing all of the overdrafts.  Your blog is the first place I've read which accurately puts the blame where it belongs.  In many cases the banks don't even tell you they put your funds on hold for five days.  I opened an account with Bank of America just recently and they held my first deposit for five days.  I couldn't believe when I went to draw cash out from an ATM machine I couldn't get five cents.  I was in a very bad situation because I had put all of my money into Bank of America and the person who opened the account said nothing to me about my not being able to access my money for five business days.

The federal reserve needs to address why it continues to give banks that huge loop hole in which they can make billions.  Banks do receive funds, even from out of state checks in much less than five days.  They are making lots of money through that loop hole.  Add that to what else they are doing with credit cards and you have an obscenity!

What are they doing? Taking money from the middle and lower middle class and yes, in many cases the upper middle class and giving it to the super rich - sometimes through the huge bonuses they pay out.  Where do you think the money comes from to pay those bonuses? From those overdraft fees, those credit card overlimit fees, those credit card interest charges at 30% from people with good credit, and on and on.

I want to add what is happening with credit cards.  Banks lowered many, many peoples credit card limits.  They claimed it was because of their bad credit and late payments.  That is a lie.  I know lots of people who had their credit card limits lowered and their debt level was lower when it was lowered than it was a year ago.  Their credit was good - they still had jobs and they had no late payments.

Why are banks lowering credit limits?  So they can collect overlimit fees.  If your credit limit is lowered - especially if you are not aware of that lowered amount - you charge over your new limit, but within your old limit and you have an overlimit fee.  Or even if you don't have anymore charges on your card you still get an overlimit fee because of the time of the month they lower it on your account and the credit card finance charges which get posted to your credit card balance throwing your account over its new limit.  Your credit card limit is generally lowered to within an amount which will cause an overlimit amount when the finance charges are added.  In some cases I know of the credit card limit is lowered to beneath your current amount due and while you don't get a fee at the time it is lowered to under your balance, you do get an overlimit fee shortly thereafter because of the addition of the finance charges and you keep getting overlimit fees unless you can come up with the money to pay the difference between your credit card new limit and your old balance.  They talk about contracts?  They throw stuff into new contracts on practically a daily basis and they don't honor contracts that they have with their customers.  They reserve the right to change the contract at any time for any reason and everything you did under the old contract is now being held under your nose in a new contract.  I've never seen anything like this before.  It is horrible and ordainary people are living under these circumstances trying to raise children, put food on the table, pay their bills and more.  This is a democratic country?  It seems to be this is a country where theft is happening legitimately by banks and other financial institutions.  The money banks are obtaining fraudulently from the American public makes Madoffs fraud look like pennies.

It is a total disgrace the way the banks are and are being allowed to rip off people.  Yours is the first voice I've heard which has put it so eloquently.  I hope you are heard.  I doubt that you will be because most of the media depends upon advertising and other monies from banks so they aren't ready to do a real indept article on all of this.

I would have thought Americans would be demonstrating in the streets against banks the way they are so shamelessly ripping off their own customers.  You said Bank of America is cannibalizing its own customers.  You didn't go far enough.  you should have said the entire banking industry - with very few exceptions - are cannibalizing their own customers. Something really drastic needs to be done about this.  The small things being done today are insulting!  The people addressing the issue must be getting money under the table from the banks because they are just letting air out of the anger of the public against the banks.

Labels: Bettina's Hall of Shame, Guest comments, Reader Feedback

Since reading your travel tip I talked to my boss.  I am leaving tomorrow for California so your suggestion is very timely.

I asked about the possibility of my company paying for the overnight postage to mail my bags instead of carrying them onto the airplane and it is a go.  Which is GGGGREAT!!!!!!  I can now travel without dragging luggage through airports; it isn't costing me anything; my company is going to save money because they don't have to reimburse me for the cost the airlines charge to carry all of the books, papers, etc. which get schlepped all over the place.

I am going to do this overnight mail going and regular (probably book rate) mail returning - which is where my company will save a few dollars.  Since I am going to a conference and would normally have a suitcase full of papers, books and more from the conference this is kind of exciting.

Hope this works as well as your travel tip indicates.

Labels: Guest comments, Making Connections, Reader Feedback, Travel Bettina Style

copyright The Bettina Network, inc. 2009

Labels: Guest comments, Making Connections, Travel Bettina Style

We are beginning to receive notes from former guests on suggestions for companies which should be in "Bettina's Box of Shame" and Bettina's Hall of Shame."

Labels: Bettina's Hall of Shame, Guest comments, Making Connections

copyright The Bettina Network, inc. 2009

Labels: An editorial just because, Bettina's Hall of Shame, Purpose of Blog

It is great reading your blog! Keep up the good work. I especially like the variety of information. My contribution will be two stocks I bought today. One is Avanti Mining (AVNMF) and the other is Sunridge Gold (SGCNF). Hopefully, these two will do as well for your readers as the stocks you mentioned in other blogs. I bought all of the stocks from your other blogs and am very happy with my new portfolio and not a minute too soon because the stocks I bought over the past several years lost a lot of money for me. So I shall reciprocate by suggesting stocks I think might benefit your readers in return for and as a thank you for the money I made on other readers' suggestions.

Labels: Guest comments, stock tips

copyright The Bettina Network, inc. 2009

Labels: Bettina's Cookbook

Copyright The Bettina Network, Inc. 2009

Labels: An editorial just because

Copyright the Bettina Network, inc. 2009

Labels: Guest comments, stock tips

We received a correspondence from a former guest on 7/4/2009 saying they bought SIRI - Sirius Radio at $ .425/share.

Labels: Guest comments, stock tips

A really great snack - healthy and it tastes great.

Labels: Bettina's Cookbook, Health

copyright The Bettina Network, inc. 2009

Labels: Bettina's Cookbook

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2009 by "Mac"

A trip to the Boston Harbor Islands is becoming the thing to do when visiting the Greater Boston/Cambridge area. A very knowledgeable guest took the boat trip and spent the day and was generous enough to write a review for all of us.

There are 34 islands and peninsulas. Most are glacial drumlins, basically a drowned drumlin field. They were created between 100,000 and 15,000 years ago when glaciers moved across the region. Deposits of glacial till beneath the ice were left behind as elongated hills when the glaciers retreated. These hills were later covered by rising seas with some tops remaining above water - these are the Boston Harbor Islands. The harbor's great tidal swings and moderate salinity create environments hosting an array of land and marine wildlife.

Since 1995 they have been rescued from filth from human activities with the help of local American Indian tribes, the Deer Island's Wastewater Treatment Plan and others in a partnership which is emphasizing "green" among other priorities.

"Summary of my trip to the Harbor Islands:

Make your way to the New England Aquarium and from there, walk around or through the Long Wharf Marriot to find the ticket booth. (note that tickets are also online at http://www.BostonHarborIslands.org).

You have to book a return time at the time of ticket purchase. Late afternoon returns from Georges Island fill up so its best to be early on weekends during good weather.

I only made it to Spectacle Island, made mostly of material from the "BigDig", but it affords a great view of the harbor and city, and has miles of ADA accessible walking paths and large grassy play and picnic areas. One theme of this island seems to be "Green Technologies" so, for instance, they have a large photovoltaic (PV) array on the main building and ranger led programs on recycling and alternative energy.

The islands are part of a National Park and you can reserve for camping on some of the islands. There are ranger led programs on Georges and Spectacle Islands. The ferry costs $14 for all islands round-trip fair. The boats appear well maintained and safe. If you want to spend a day on or around the water, the
Harbor Islands make for a fun adventure."

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Labels: Guest comments, Review of Local Attraction

NUMINA ~ Power, Spirit Place

Labels: Guest comments and talents, Labyrinth, Making Connections

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2009

Labels: Bettina's Cookbook

"Thanks for putting up the blog on stock tips. Otherwise I would not have written this one. Didn't think it was anything of interest to your blog readers.

Labels: Guest comments, Making Connections, Reader Feedback, stock tips

I've kept up with Bettina's Blog because of your strong interest in organic foods.

Labels: Guest comments

I stayed at one of the homes in the Bettina Network in Harvard Square Cambridge and I will always stay there when I travel to the Boston area.

Labels: Guest comments

copyright 2009 Bettina Network, inc.

Labels: Guest comments

A guests response to a Bettina Breakfast

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IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK YOUR ACCOMMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!!! 1-800-347-9166 inside U.S. or 617-497-9166 outside or inside the U.S.

Labels: Guest comments, Making Connections, stock tips

copyright 2009 The Bettina Network, inc.

Labels: A Scattering Sale, Making Connections

"Thank you for this wonderful recipe and its story. I used to take my grandchildren to tea every Saturday afternoon and they loved it. After trying your recipe I have an alternate suggestion: with my Asian background I find I am not really into cinnamon, so I used your "Dessert Breadsticks" recipe with a mixture of nutmeg and sugar. I found that much more to my taste. Perhaps some people might like to mix the cinnamon and nutmeg, but first try it with just nutmeg and sugar.

Labels: Bettina's Cookbook, Reader Feedback

copyright 2009 The Bettina Network, inc.

Labels: A Scattering Sale, Making Connections, Preserving Family History and Stories, Shopping

copyright 2009 The Bettina Network, inc.

Labels: Growing Old

copyright 2009 The Bettina Network, Inc.

Labels: Bettina's Cookbook, Preserving Family History and Stories

We had a really fun and interesting breakfast a few days ago.  We had the opportunity to watch one of our guests use a V shaped tree branch in the dining room to find water.  She walked around with the divining rod, which she broke off the cherry tree in the back yard. 

Labels: Guest comments and talents

copyright The Bettina Network, inc. 2009

Bettina's Box of Shame is for those who violate their own propaganda and policies and whose violations hurt the rest of us.  Three times in "Bettina's Box of Shame" lands you on "Bettina's Hall of Shame."

Labels: Bettina's Box of Shame, Food Shopping, Health, Making Connections

copyright The Bettina Network, inc. 2009

Labels: Making Connections

copyright by Bettina Network 2009                       New School of Music

Labels: Event Review

Sent to us in an email from Dr. Robert Perry ON 3/20/2009:

Labels: Health, Health and Beauty

copyright by The Bettina Network, inc. 2009

Labels: Health

Thank you for a wonderful blog!  I look forward to reading your new entries.

Labels: Bettina's Cookbook, Health

We have many guests from the Netherlands visiting several of the Bettina Network homes.  They have left an unmistakable mark on breakfast.

Labels: Bettina's Cookbook, Health, Making Connections

copyright by Marceline Donaldson 2009

Labels: Preserving Family History and Stories

copyright The Bettina Network, inc. 2009

Labels: Bettina's Cookbook

copyright the Bettina Network, inc. 2009

Labels: Bettina's Cookbook

487 Moody Street                                                                hours: Wed thru Sun

Labels: Restaurant Review

Labels: Reader Feedback

No comparison.  CUISINART WINS.  

Labels: Kitchen Equipment Review

Copyright the Bettina Network, inc. 2009

Put the egg whites into a mixer.  You can also use a wire whisk, but we are never that energetic. In todays fitness world, using the wire whisk to beat the egg whites will probably substitute for a day at the gym.  However, eating the cookies you bake takes that back so go and spend your time at your gym.

Beat the egg whites until they hold a peak.  Then add the sugar, french vanilla syrup, salt and continue beating until the egg whites look wonderul, white and are nice and well beaten.  Don't ask what 'well beaten' means.  Common sense and taste govern cooking - it is a cookie, not a scientific experiment which you will be asked to repeat exactly!  And it is hard to mess up turning egg whites into meringue!

+ 2 cups organic dark chocolate pieces

more or less!  We like chocolate and so do our guests.  You might be more circumspect and want to actually taste the cookie!

Hand stir in the chocolate pieces, coconut, ground almonds, and/or anything else you want to add to the cookie mixture. (As time goes on you will find what you like best added to these cookies.)

Butter a cookie sheet by making rounds wherever you are going to drop a cookie.  Drop the cookies onto the cookie sheet using a large spoon or, if you are really good you can put them in a pastry bag and squeeze them out into beautiful shapes.  - bake at 225 degrees for about 40 minutes.  They should be a beautiful ivory color when done - not white nor brown, but ivory!  

Turn off the heat and let the cookies stay in the oven for an hour or more until they have dried out and can be easily removed from the cookie tray.  If you have a hard time trying to remove a cookie - quit trying and put them back into the oven to dry a bit more.  You know they are ready when you can easily lift them from the cookie sheet.

Enjoy!

We like these best with chocolate and coconut added and Amaretto syrup substituted for the French Vanilla syrup.

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Labels: Bettina's Cookbook

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2009

Labels: A new home in the Bettina Network, Who are the Bettina Families

copyright the Bettina Network, inc. 2009

Labels: Bettina's Cookbook

                                                  Galileo died January 8, 1642

Labels: Making Connections

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2008

Labels: Labyrinth

Copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2008

Labels: Hair Health

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2008

Labels: Preserving Family History and Stories

copyright 2008 The Bettina Network, inc.

Labels: Health and Beauty

1595 Washington Street

Labels: Restaurant Review

12B Eliot Street
Cambridge, MA. 02138
Hours: Mon-Sat 10am-6pm, Sun 1pm-5pm
telephone: 617 547 1447
fax 617 547 1449

A very elegant discovery! We like to pop in at least once a week just to look at all the beautiful art works which appear with great regularity. Our favorites are the lamps - hand blown glass bases with truly special shades which you won't find anyplace else because they are all handmade and one of a kind.

There is a small collection of clothes which could be put in the category of Fine Art; Sculptures, including mobiles with small people and places to hang in your window or some unexpected place in the home; Wood carvings; clock which will astound you with their imagination and impeccable craftsmanship; jewelry with stones used in interesting ways with wonderful rings; and much, much more.

If you don't find anything else you must take home a pair of the slippers which will remind you of this gallery for a very long time as you pad comfortably around the house.

website: www.lemlemsgallery.com

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Labels: Shopping Cambridge MA

from a letter received 8/25/2008

I read your blog and loved every word. I would like to add something I read from a newsletter i receive on a weekly basis. It is excellent and I would like to recommend it to your readers. "Blueberries offer many health benefits, including protection against urinary tract infections, cancer, age-related health conditions and brain damage from strokes. The European blueberry, or bilberry, is known to prevent and even reverse macular degeneration."

This is from mercola.com. If your readers want to subscribe to this newsletter they just need to go to the web site and sign up - it is free.

Markus
Pennsylvania

Labels: Health

copyright Bettina Network, Inc. 2008

A wonderful cake/bread which is delightful for breakfast and with tea anytime during the day - or try it with hot chocolate before bed.

8 ounce package organic cream cheese (Creole Cream Cheese makes this fantastic)
1/2 cup organic unsalted butter
1 and 1/4 cup organic Turbinado Raw Sugar
2 organic eggs rich in Omega 3's
1 and 1/4 cup organic whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup organic whole wheat regular stone ground flour
1 tablespoon baking power
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 overripe bananas (organic - which you let ripen until the skins turn black)
the bananas are not a pretty sight on the side board while they over ripen,
but the taste and nutrition they add to this cake/bread are worth the eye sore
for a few days.

Sauce for After Baking

2 lemons
1/4 cup organic Turbinado Raw Sugar ( much better than powdered sugar for the
flavor and texture it adds to the bread.

A. Put butter in a mixer and let it whip until the butter becomes light and fluffy.

B. Add the cream cheese to the whipped butter and let it take a turn in the mixer
until the two ingredients have combined and are even lighter and fluffier.

C. Add sugar very slowly - Pouring it into the mixer turned on high until all three
ingredients are blended and look very light and fluffy.

Labels: Bettina's Cookbook

copyright 2008 the Bettina Network, inc.

We have been noticing what looks like a regular marketing practice in some of the Whole Foods stores. We can't say all because we have not visited all.

When Whole Foods is about to push or introduce a new Whole Foods brand - the other brands seem to disappear from the shelves - or - they are sold in other sizes - smaller and less popular sizes just to maintain a presence.

We've been looking at this phenomenon around Organic Whole Wheat Flour. Our choice is Organic Whole Wheat STONE GROUND Flour. In that group our choice is Arrowhead Mills Organic Whole Wheat Stone Ground Flour.

We've seen the Whole Foods brand of Whole Wheat Flour appearing on the shelves immediately adjacent to the Arrowhead Mills Flour. At the same time we've noticed the Whole Foods brand has depth in its positioning - usually, large bags of flour four abreast being placed either two or three bags deep on the shelves.

At the same time the Arrowhead Mills' position is shrinking. Only one bag long and one bag deep and most of the time there is none available. When we ask, we are told it is due in tomorrow. Tomorrow comes and the shelves still do not have the Arrowhead Mills Flour and we get the same response from the Whole Foods employee - tomorrow!

We looked carefully at the prospect of changing to Whole Foods flour and decided against it because the Whole Foods brand is "Organic Whole Wheat Flour". It is $1 less per bag, but it is not STONE GROUND. It is apparently ground with heat making it much less nutritious and with all that such milling implies. If you are going to get serious about this and are willing to spend more for organic products, make sure they are the best you can find. Make your money count. Eat less of the right food and save money even at higher prices.

While in one Whole Foods Store recently, we were standing in front of the Organic Whole Wheat flour and watched a woman pass quickly by, pick up the Whole Foods brand, advise us to do the same because it is $1 cheaper than the Arrowhead Mills flour. We stopped her and asked if how the flour was ground meant anything to her. "Of course," she said. We asked her to read the label of the Whole Foods brand carefully and tell us if it was what she wanted and what she thought she was buying. She looked carefully at the label and expressed her shock at realizing this was not flour ground properly for it to have the Organic label. Why pay more for flour so milled. She put the Whole Foods brand back and instead bought the only two small bags of the Arrowhead Mills "Organic Stone Ground Whole Wheat" Flour. She was quite upset that Whole Foods had 'tricked' her (her words not ours).

So - shop carefully and healthily as you shop for flour and if you don't like the Arrowhead Mills' Flour, please read the labels slowly and carefully and make sure your "Organic Whole Wheat Flour" is STONE GROUND" - ground without heat to destroy the nutrients.

Whole Foods is changing. While they have some great organic products, they are not the store they used to be and look as though they are on that slippery slope to becoming just an ordainary grocery store with a few organic products, most of which are their own store brand watered down from what they should be.

We are going to call the Arrowhead Mills company to see if we can't get the large bags of their stone ground organic whole wheat flour because what we see on the shelves at the Whole Foods Stores is small bags of Arrowhead Mills Flour and even those small bags are out most of the time now and we want a constant reliable source for our flour. Whole Foods seems to want to reduce and finally eliminate the competition, leaving us with lesser quality and less healthy products.

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Labels: Food Shopping, Health

copyright 2008 The Bettina Network, inc.

We had a very exciting breakfast - some would think it was x-rated, but it was a family-friendly discussion.

Apparently, the power of zinc is beginning to circulate. I thought we knew all there was to know about nutrition, vitamins, etc. but this bit of knowing was new to us. It can be a bit disconcerting when you realize you don't know it all!!!

A couple people at the breakfast table talked about how they discovered, in the process of taking zinc lozenges to get rid of a cold, or to dampen its horrid impact on the body, that they had interesting side affects. Not realizing exactly what caused those side affects, they experimented with several things they had been eating and much to their surprise it was the zinc lozenges. At this point, the breakfast table broke up into peals of laughter.

Much to our surprise, a quiet voice, from a woman at the end of the table verified that she also had the same experience and having tried it over and over again, the results were always predictable. She decided to take away her husbands viagra and substitute zinc. She did and he didn't notice the difference.

Could this be a great new scientific breakthrough? Or has this been known for hundreds of years only to be hidden from this current generation! Have we discovered something new or did our table talk rediscover what was generally known before we became so alienated from one another?

I hope this knowledge doesn't result in zinc being taken off the market the way the effectiveness of almonds was destroyed through that pasteurization process.

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Labels: Growing Old, Health

copyright 2008 The Bettina Network, inc.

Much to our surprise we discovered dramatic differences when baking bread by simply changing the oil we use. Different oil combinations will change the texture of the bread. By being careful what you add it also changes the goodness the bread delivers to your body. And - I will quietly say - it keeps you regular, which has to do good things for your immune system.

We started using Virgin Organic Coconut Oil in other recipes and decided to try it in the Bettina Bread Recipe. We first tried half butter and half VOCO. That was fantastic. The bread was light, but thick with no big holes as you slice it. Its consistency was amazing and the texture quite wonderful.It was really great when we tried 1/2 cup organic butter (one stick) and 1/4 cup VOCO. Totally amazing with 1/2 cup each, but that's a stretch for a lot of you - only the dedicated need try those proportions.

Using organic apple juice plus the VOCO and organic butter produced a much lighter bread and still that wonderful texture.

Throw in raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg, organic turbinado sugar - wow, how fabulous with coffee in the mornings. Put some organic butter on that bread and it warrants quiet time to enjoy a bit of heaven!

No more white flour - water - and salt bread for us. Just think of the nutrition our ancestors got from bread. No wonder it was called the "staff of life." Didn't understand that saying until we started experimenting to produce a loaf of bread that was great tasting and good for us.

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Labels: Bettina's Cookbook

copyright 2008 Susan Turtz

In our recent trip to Boston we visited one of our favorite restaurants in the North End. (The traditionally Italian Section of Boston).

Antico Forno
93 Salem St. North End
Boston, MA 617-723-6733


When you walk into Antico Forno, the first thing that will strike you is the noise. Happy diners seem to love to chatter. As soon as your friendly server approaches and gives you bread and a wonderful white bean spread, you'll be one of the group.

We started with Caprese (with fresh buffalo mozzarella) and a Caesar salad. Two appetizers fed three of us with leftovers.

We then went on to linguine chock full of clams, pizza and pasta with homemade sausage and mozzarella.

Everything was generous and delicioso.

Almost everything is finished in their high-heat brick oven, which gives a lovely crusty topping.

Make a reservation so you won't be disappointed. And don't do what we did -- leave room for dessert!


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Received via e-mail 6/20/2008

Labels: Restaurant Review

I don't see other such postings, but I stayed in one of your homes and enjoyed it very much. Your whole network seems to be health conscious and the home in which I stayed was the most organically conscious place I've been. So I thought I would share my recent experience with a urinary infection and my husbands with kidney stones.

We ate organic blueberries for a couple days - lots of them. My urinary infection cleared and my husband passed his kidney stones.

It isn't a great deal, but I wanted to contribute something of my experiences, in line with what I experienced in your network house.

Leila,
The Netherlands
6/22/2008

Received via postal mail 6/19/2008

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Labels: Health

copyright 2008
Orelia Ledbetter

I really don't understand the meaning of the word "blog", but I'll do my best.

Having reached the ripe old age of 92 through God's divine grace, I am wiser about my living, but weaker in flesh. What should I say about my 92 years traveling among human beings?

I have lived through the death of a still-born (female child), a miscarriage, a beloved son and the death of a husband to Alzheimer's. I believe my mission during these years was the gift of patience to listen to people in all phases of life, in joy and in sorrow and to remind them that God, the Holy Spirit, moves in mysterious ways His wonders to perform. Also to keep hope and faith in the Great Spirit who holds us in the palm of His hand - (yes, we are tatooed there).

God has allowed me to witness four grandchildren graduate from College in recent years, allowed me to be healthy, to enjoy a rich and full life in its beauty on earth.

I am grateful.

To the Bettina home in which I stayed - the beauty of your connection with God through your colorful garden and flowers
brings joy to my heart as I remember your peace found in the response to your care.

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Peace - Shalom

Labels: Guest comments

copyright 2008 Bettina Network, Inc.

Labels: Growing Old, Hair Health

Growing old is an amazing process.  Especially when you live in a society which worships youth. It seems as though every kind of media output is focused on being young, staying young, looking young, feeling young.  There is very little in our society to help you get through this last stage from life to death.  It is even considered morbid to broach the question or to discuss anything about that process unless, of course, you are dying from some terminal disease within months and your story makes good copy.  Even AARP is marketing/insurance oriented and doesn't really help.  You have to wade through all of those ads and some inane stories to get any kind of information and at that point the information isn't worth the time and effort it took to find it.

Labels: Growing Old

copyright 1984-2008 by Marceline Donaldson

Labels: Health and Beauty

During a recent tour around Harvard Square we stopped in at Legal Seafood in Charles Square. At one time it was exciting to eat at Legal Seafood.  I remember my first trip to the restaurant when they just opened in the Park Plaza Hotel in downtown Boston.  No reservations allowed.  You arrived and waited quite a while to get in.  Once seated you ordered and paid the waitress - cash - for your food before she placed the order with the kitchen.  That was fine with us because the reputation was high and the food was fantastic.  A group of us from Harvard Business School got together for a night on the town.  We passed plates around, tasted a little of everything on the menu and had a great time.

Labels: Restaurant Review

Before leaving to accompany our son on a trip to settle him at his first year at Harvard, we picked an angel card from the little bowl on our altar.  We received "trust."

Labels: Labyrinth, Travel Bettina Style

copyright 2007 by Marceline Donaldson

Labels: Bettina's Cookbook

copyright 2007 The Bettina Network, Inc.

It is time for a revolution! And for some basic change!!!!!!

I've noticed as the hair turns grey, many of you get on the "blue" band wagon and put the traditional laundry bluing in your hair.

It is beautiful, with the silvery blue look that it takes on - however - you have been cast as being "red" - from "red" states and all of that. So take your political assignment seriously and start to look the part. (Society has made an interesting symbolic choice for you, especially given the fact that when we were young, "red" had a different meaning. If you were from a "red" state, McCarthy would probably have called you up before his House on UnAmerican Activities Committee).

So it is time to change your hair and publicly acknowledge your party affiliation. Not in a hat wearing, banner waving, slogan yelling way, but far more subtle and much more sophisticated. Political Correctness is important in this modern world, so instead of the laundry bluing, which is really more characteristic of Democratic women with their "blue state" origins than it is of you, get out your bottle of beta carotene - the vitamin A capsules from carrots in oil - and let us start a politically motivated health and beauty change.

This is also very healthy and good for your hair, unlike the bluing, which dries it out - or the hair dye, which is probably the cause of so much cancer in women - the beta carotene costs only pennies. You can give the money you save to charity.

For the few pennies this costs we could convert many women to Republicanism from welfare, the homeless, from the lower-middle-income category. This is also an excellent plank to add, under the diversity section, to the National Republican Party Platform when it is drawn up.

How to achieve "Republican Hair"?

1. Wash your hair - any good organic shampoo will do.

2. Wipe it with a towel to get the excess water out. Don't dry it, just sort of wring it out.

3. Clip the tip of a capsule of beta carotene - making sure you have the kind with the oil inside.

4. Squeeze the contents of the capsule into the palm of your hand. This will turn your palms orange for a little while, but ignore that, it is healthy for your hands as well as your hair. If you really get carried away you can clip another capsule to put on your face. You will have to rinse your face with lots of water before going out to avoid stares, but your wrinkles will be gone! Well sort of gone!!!!!

5. Lightly and gently rub your palms together and then put the beta carotene oil in your hair. Rubbing your hands over your hair the way you would with any oil. You want to make sure you have a good, but not excessive application.

6. If your hair is shoulder length or longer you will probably need two capsules. If you add the facial you will need three!

7. Don't blow dry your hair. This will defeat the purpose as the heat from the blow drying will get rid of the color. It will also probably get rid of the vitamins which you want to feed your hair on the way to making you politically correct.

8. This works best if you set your hair on rollers and let it dry naturally. After a few treatments with beta carotene, drying will be quick because your hair won't hold all that water after washing - a plus for our side. Younger Republican Women won't understand this since they have this wash and wear hair. They could reach political correctness if they put the beta carotene in their hair and instead of blow drying before leaving home, they went about their business with their hair still wet from the shower - as many do. (And we wonder why the number of people with pneumonia has skyrocketed of late.)

The rollers are well understood by that upper-middle-aged generation, which the young and haughty will join soon enough.

SOME CAUTIONS:

A. This hair treatment will help you understand why our female ancestors wore those frilly, dainty, lacy, shower-cap-like
contraptions to bed. If you don't do the same, your pillow case will be orange in the morning! Although mine washed out just fine, yours might or might not.

B. The red color will last two or three days at most. The Vitamin A benefits continue much longer, but the color fades. It doesn't exactly disappear, but it just sort of fades leaving your original hair color, with its grey looking as though it has a blond overcast. To make the color go away completely, simply wash your hair - and then start over again.

A PERSONAL NOTE: My hair color faded at breakfast in the midst of an exciting conversation. Folks around the table were a little awestruck as they watched my hair fade from carrot red with darker red streaks to its original dark brown with grey streaks. Although the color didn't entirely disappear. It just sort of faded, leaving my original hair color with a blond twinge.

The health benefit? My hair has never been healthier. With all the other thngs I try, this one definitely helped old hair turn young.

Enjoy!

Labels: Hair Health, Health and Beauty

3 eggs

Labels: Bettina's Cookbook, Preserving Family History and Stories

We've always heard the little ditty "six almonds a day keeps cancer away." Today it would have to be "six raw, organic almonds a day keeps cancer away."

Labels: cancer, Health

This pie is a West Virginia concoction with a New Orleans Creole twist.

Labels: Bettina's Cookbook

1.  To keep you aware of developments within The Bettina Network, inc.  

Labels: Purpose of Blog