A lilttle January Humor

T'was the month after Christmas, and all through the house,
nothing would fit me, not even a blouse;
The cookies I'd nibbled, the eggnog I had to taste,
at the holiday parties had gone to my waist;

When I got on the scales there arose such a number!
When I walked to the store (less a walk than a lumber),
I'd remember the marvelous meals I'd prepared,
The gravies and sauces and beef nicely rared;

The wine and the rum balls; the bread and the cheese,
and the way I'd never said, "No thank you, please."
As I dressed myself in my husband's old shirt,
and prepared once again to do battle with dirt,
I said to myself, as only I can,
"You can't spend a winter disguised as a man!"

So, away with the last of the sour cream dip.
Get rid of the fruit cake, every cracker and chip.
Every last bit of food that I like must be banished,
'til all the additional ounces have vanished.

I won't have a cookie--not even a lick.
I'll want only to chew on a long celery stick.
I won't have hot biscuits, or corn bread, or pie,
I'll munch on a carrot and quietly cry.

I'm hungry, I'm lonesome, and life is a bore,
But isn't that what January is for?
Unable to giggle, no longer a riot.
Happy New Year to all and to all a good diet!

Author Unknown

Bar-B-Cutie has menu items that will fit in with your diet - much better than a celery stick.  Check out our healthier options today! http://www.bar-b-cutie.com/

Fa La La La - Cold and Flu Season is Here!!!!

As the winter days shorten, so return the sniffles and sore throats. This is the onset of cold and flu season, when germs travel easily from person to person as we spend more time together indoors. Everything can be a breeding ground for germs, computer keyboards, door knobs, telephones, shopping cart handles and escalator railings.
Germs get spread by hand-to-hand contact, by touching a contaminated surface or by being spewed through the air in droplets as someone sneezes, coughs or talks. The average adult gets about two to four colds a year, while children get about six to 10, mostly in the fall and winter months. Each year 5-20% of the populations comes down with the flu and some get sick enough to be hospitalized. The difference between the common cold and the flu is the severity of the fever. The flue is usually accompanied with fever, aches and pains and congestion in the lungs while a cold is more in your head, but both are contagious.
Colds tend to linger for a week to 10 days while the flue is shorter but carries a bigger wallop which leaves the sufferers feeling drained and exhausted longer. Here are some tips for staying healthy this season. The number one preventative measure for killing germs is washing hands. The CDC recommends washing hands, both tops and palms, for about 20 seconds with soap, then rinsing. Wash before eating and preparing food. Wash after using the bathroom, blowing your nose, changing a diaper and caring for a sick person. For anyone who handles food they must wash their hands: Before starting work, after taking a break, after going to the restroom, after handling refuse and refuse bins, before and after handling food, after touching their hair, nose and face, after smoking, eating or drinking, and after applying dressing to a wound.
Effective Proper Handwashing Technique:
Wet your hands with warm running water.
Add soap, then rub your hands together, making a soapy lather.
Wash the front and back of your hands as well as between your fingers and under your nails.
Rinse your hands well under warm running water. Turn off the sink with a paper towel and dispose in proper receptacle.
Dry hands thoroughly with a clean towel.If washing your hands with soap is not doable, slather on hand sanitizer.
Steer clear of anyone sneezing, blowing his nose or coughing, or at least give them room of at least six feet. You should cover your moth when you cough and sneeze with a tissue or into your elbow (“the Dracula cough”)
You should try to stay home from work if you are coughing and wheezing because otherwise in all probability you will pass that cold on to someone else.
In addition to that, wipe surfaces, desks and tables, phones, steering wheels—with disinfectants and cleansers periodically.
The best protection against the flu virus is the yearly flu shot. This year’s vaccine is made up of three flu viruses. Keeping your body healthy with a good diet, regular exercise and sleep will help guard against viruses. People who have stress get viruses and get more colds.
There has not been an effective study to suggest Vitamin C supplements help reduce the incident of colds, however zinc may be helpful, if taken at the first onset of a cold to reduce the length of time for recover. Just remember if you get a cold there is no cure it just has to run its course.  Stay healthy!!

Thanksgiving History

In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations.  For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving have been celebrated by individual colonies and states.  It wasn't until 1863 - during the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving day to be held each November.

When the Mayflower left Plymouth, England in 1620, it carried 102 passengers seeking a new home where they could practice their faith freely.  During the first brutal winter many of them remained on board and suffered from exposure, scurvy and outbreaks of contagious disease.  Only half of the original passengers and crew lived to see spring.  In March they moved ashore and received help from some Native Americans. In November 1621, after their first corn harvest proved successful, Governor William Bradford organized a celebratory feast which is now remembered as American's "first Thanksgiving" - even though the Pilgrims themselves may not have used the term.  There are no records on the exact menu but there are journal entries of a "fowling" mission by the Pilgrims and that the Wampanoag guests arrived bearing five deer. Historians believe traditional Native American spices and cooking methods were used.  Becuase there were no ovens and the sugar supply had dwindled by then, the meal did not feature pies, cakes or desserts which we now have.

In 1789 George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation by the national government of the United States; in it, he called upon Americans to express their gratitude for the happy conclusion to the country's war of independence and the successful ratification of the U.S. Constitution.  His successors John Adams and James Madison also designated days of thanks during their presidencies.

In 1817, New York became the first of several states to officially adopt an annual Thanksgiving holiday which was celebrated on a different day.  In 1863, in a proclamation entreating all Americans to ask God to "comment to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife" and to "heal the wounds of the nation," President Abraham Lincoln scheduled Thanksgiving for the final Thursday in November.  It was celebrated on that day every year until 1939 when Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday up a week in an attempt to spur retail sales during the Great Depression.  This was met with passionate opposition and in 1941 the president reluctantly signed a bill making Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday in November.

In many American households, the Thanksgiving celebration has significance now on cooking and sharing a meal with family and friends.  Turkey has become the staple food synonymous with the holiday.  Nearly 90 percent of Americans eat Turkey on Thanksgiving - whether roasted, baked or deep-fried.  Other traditional foods include stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.  Parades have also become a part of the holiday - along with watching football.

Have a Blessed Thanksgiving with your family and friends!!!

Thanksgiving Holidays

Thanksgiving is upon us - just next week.  Don't do all the work yourself this year - order a holiday turkey or ham from Bar-B-Cutie.  Check our website for a location near you and pricing.

Visit next week for a brief history of Thanksgiving!!

http://www.bar-b-cutie.com/

Regional Styles of BBQ

BBQ in the US is very diverse and each state and region has their own idea of what the best BBQ is.  Recently we posed the question on Twitter - Real BBQ lovers - pork or brisket?  Well that answer is really going to depend on where you live or where you come from.  So what are the differences in BBQ across regions?  Here is a small sampling of how different and similar BBQ can be.

Texas Style - Texas style BBQ is usually considered to be beef brisket.  The sauce is spicy and tangy tomato based sauce.  The meat is generally not cooked in the sauce but served with the sauce on the side or lightly spooned onto the meat after cooking.
Kansas City Style - Kansas City considers themselves the BBQ capital of the US and they have a high number of BBQ establishments per capita to justify this.  There is no specific meat but favorites there are pork spare ribs or beef brisket.  The most distinguishing factor is the sauce which is a tomato based, sweet and spicy sauce.  They generally cook with the sauce which is extremely thick.
Memphis Style - Memphis also considers themselves the BBQ capital of the US.  Predominately the meat of choice is baby back ribs which are cooked with various tangy and sweet dry rubs.  They seldom cook with sauce which is tomato based but much thinner than Kansas City's.  Sauce is usually used for dipping.
St. Louis Style - Pork spare ribs or BBQ pork steaks are the most famous St. Louis type of meat.  The BBQ sauce is a sweet sauce.  They are known for removing the fatty portion of the ribs.
North Carolina Style - There are 2 styles in North Carolina where they are serious about their BBQ.  Both areas agree that pork shoulder is the meat of choice.  However, they differ on the sauce.  The eastern part of North Carolina prefers a vinegar based sauce with red and black pepper and a few spices.  Sometimes they add a little sugar.  The western area takes that sauce and adds ketchup to it which makes it thicker and sweeter.
South Carolina Style - South Carolina also uses pork which is pulled.  The sauce is added after cooking.  It appears South Carolina is also divided when it comes to their sauce.  The northern section uses a mustard BBQ sauce while the southern section uses a vinegar based sauce with ketchup and brown sugar added to it.
Alabama Style - Alabama has a unique sauce, which is mayonnaise based.  This makes the sauce white. It is used on chicken, turkey and pork and always brushed on during the last 5 minutes of cooking.
Kentucky Style - Western Kentcuky is known for their signature BBQ Mutton with Kentucky Bourbon BBQ sauce which the locals call "black dip."
So as you can see - people in the US are very particular about their style of BBQ and it is as diverse as the people who make up this country.  What's your favorite?

Come in to Bar-B-Cutie and try our pulled pork or beef brisket and use one of our many sauces - Carolina, hot, mild and Tennessee Fire Sauce!!!! http://www.bar-b-cutie.com/

Happy Halloween

You are sitting at home on October 31st watching a little television, when there is a knock at the door, followed by children saying, “Trick or Treat.”  You open the door to find Lady Gaga, Captain America, Lightening McQueen and a Princess standing there with bags open.  You drop in candy and they run off to the next house decorated with spiders, ghosts and hallowed out pumpkins.  How did this holiday we celebrate, known as Halloween, evolve into what we have today?

The name Halloween, originally spelled Hallowe’en, is a contraction of All Hallows Even, which means the eve of All Saints Day.  All Saints Day is a Catholic holiday commemorating Christian saints and martyrs on November 1^st each year.  The origins of Halloween can be traced to ancient Ireland as the end of summer festival, an important time because of the crop harvests and the change of season and lifestyle.  Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the lining and the dead became blurred.  Early celebrations in America included “play parties” where neighbors would share stories of the dead, tell each other’s fortunes, dance and sing.

Trick or Treating dates back to the early All Souls’ Day parades where citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called “soul cakes” in return for their promises to pray for their dead.  The practice was eventually taken up by children who would visit homes and were given ale, food, and money.  In Ireland Trick or Treat was referred to as “guising” where the children would perform a trick, such as singing, in order to earn their treat.  American tradition is that if you do not give a treat there is a threat of a “trick” upon the owner or his property, such as throwing eggs or toilet paper.

The tradition of dressing in costume for Halloween has European and Celtic roots.  Hundreds of years ago winter could be a frightening time.  Food supplies often ran low and, for the many people afraid of the dark, the short days of autumn and winter were trying.  During Halloween, it was believed that ghosts came back to the earthly world since the line between the two worlds was blurred.  People thought that they would take them back to the world of the dead so to avoid being recognized by these ghosts, they would wear masks when they left their homes after dark.  They felt the ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits.

From these vast traditions our modern day Halloween has emerged.  Now it is not a serious holiday as it was hundreds of years ago, but a playful one.  Many feel that it has become like Mardi Gras or other countries Carnivals – a time to be something else and have a little fun before returning back to the realities of life.

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Holiday Magic

The holidays are fast approaching - let Bar-B-Cutie cater your Holiday office parties or family get-togethers.  We also have turkeys and hams available for pre-order for Thanksgiving and Christmas! 
Whole Smoked Turkey Breast - $19.95 (10-15 Servings)
Whole Smoked Turkey - $39.95 (10 - 14 lbs)
Whole Fried Turkey - $44.95 (10-14 lbs)
Quarter Spiral Sliced Ham - $24.95 (10-15 Servings)

Call a location near you (prices may vary). http://www.bar-b-cutie.com/