Elephant, Elder Abuse, Obesity, A Star is Gone.

How’s this for a frightening experience. This bull elephant eventually turned the car over having attacked it aggressively in a safari park. To see the rest of the pix, including the elephant sitting on the car, go to http://tinyurl.com/6bndmbu Luckily the passengers were not hurt, just terrified.

There seems to be an upsurge in reported elder abuse lately, two incidents have made the news, one man beating his aged father with a stick and starving him, another couple keeping a 68 yr. old woman in an unheated garage all through the winter where she had little or no facilities, and a bucket of water to wash. She is now in hospital where she was taken because of frostbite but once there she had a heart attack. One wonders why these kinds of things happen and what can be done to stop them happening elsewhere.

Having looked into joining South Beach Diet’s website, I get a regular email from them, today it was about healthy lifestyles and they said the American Dietetic Association (ADA) recognizes March as National Nutrition Month. In other words because of the high instance of obesity in the US (Canada and other countries too) they are promoting healthy eating and healthy living. There are many illnesses associated with obesity particularly Diabetes – a friend of mine was showing signs of onset diabetes, had a tummy tuck type of operation, lost a lot of weight and the diabetes symptoms have disappeared. It is NOT, of course, necessary for all overweight people to go through an operation, but it is necessary to follow a healthy diet and not to stuff oneself on junk food. There are several good groups out there which can help with weight loss. Weight Watchers is one of my favourites.

For those of you who remember her, Jane Russell died yesterday at 89. I remember seeing her in movies when I was a very young woman. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was one of the well known ones where she and Marilyn Monroe performed together.

If you look at this picture, how could I possibly pass up on this recipe. Looks like a chocoholic’s dream. I found it on Cooking.com. It doesn’t really fit in with healthy nutrition, tomorrow perhaps…

Mississippi Chocolate & Coffee Cake

Source: Close-up on Cakes - Weldon Russell.

INGREDIENTS

For the Cake: 2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch salt

1 3/4 cups strong brewed coffee

1/4 cup bourbon

5 oz unsweetened chocolate

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Chocolate Icing:

6 1/2 ounces semisweet chocolate

4 1/2 tablespoons butter

DIRECTIONS

FOR THE CAKE: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Oil a 9-inch round cake pan. Line pan with parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

In the top of a double boiler set over simmering water, heat the coffee, bourbon, chocolate, and butter, stirring until the chocolate and butter are melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sugar. Let the mixture cool for 3 minutes and transfer to an electric mixer. Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture, half a cup at a time, and beat medium speed for 1 minute. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely in the pan. When cooled, turn out onto a serving plate.

FOR CHOCOLATE ICING: Combine the chocolate and butter in the top of a double boiler and stir over low heat until they are melted and combined. Cool slightly and then ice cake.

Have a great day