Some Advice to Help Prevent Spam
by Craig Ray

A lot of spammers use "bots":  automated software robots that search the Internet trying to find email addresses.  If you post your email address in a public place anywhere online (such as a website, or discussion forum, or guestbook, or MySpace) then eventually it will be discovered by one of these "bots" and will get put into a list of email addresses that the spammers then use.  These lists are often sold to other spammers, or burned on to CD's and copied.

Some Advice:
Try to disguise your email address when posting it online.  For example, instead of writing "craig@carespring.com", write "craig AT carespring DOT com".

Sign up for some sort of free email address that you can use whenever you do have to supply one.  Something like Hotmail or Yahoo! or Gmail works good.  Use this "throw away" email address to post in guestbooks or other places.  The point of this email address is that it gets all the junk and spam email and you generally don't bother to even check it.

Keep a personal, private email address that you share with your friends and family, and never use it on any website.

Try to use feedback forms on websites instead of providing an email address, if available.

BROCCOLI WITH HERBED HOLLANDAISE SAUCE
AND TOASTED BREAD CRUMBS
by Jim Gehler

• 1 stick plus 2 tablespoons (5 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 slice sourdough bread (about 2 ounces), crust removed, bread torn into pieces
• 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1 ½ pounds broccoli – peeled and cut lengthwise into long, thick florets
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon boiling water
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• Tabasco
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon chopped mint
• ½ teaspoon coarsely chopped thyme

Preheat oven to 450. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Skim off the foam from the surface of the butter. Removed from the heat.
In a food processor, pulse the bread to coarse crumbs. Transfer the crumbs to a small cookie sheet, toss with 1 teaspoon of the olive oil and season lightly with salt and pepper. Bake for about 2 minutes, until golden brown.

On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss the broccoli with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil; season with salt and pepper. Arrange the broccoli in an even layer and roast for about 15 minutes, until just tender and starting to brown.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, bring 1 inch of water to a simmer. In a stainless steel bowl, mix the egg yolks with the boiling water. Set the bowl over the saucepan and whisk the yolks constantly until thickened slightly and bright yellow. About 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Gently reheat the butter, very gradually, whisk it into the yolks until a slightly thick sauce forms. Whisk in the lemon juice and a dash of Tabasco and season the hollandaise sauce light with salt and pepper. Whisk in the mint and thyme.

Transfer the broccoli to a platter; pour the hollandaise sauce on top. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and serve.

4 servings

Managing Cell Phone Costs
by David Eppers

Cell phones have gone from non-existent, to luxury, to necessity within the last 20 years. 
I recall the day when the President of a large publicly traded company would pull his car off the highway and use a land phone instead of paying high cellular phone costs.  That was in the early 1990’s.  Now my 13-year-old daughter has one just in case we need to reach her.  Times have definitely changed.

Today cell phones are much less expensive than they were 15 years ago.  However, they can still be very expensive depending on how you use them.  Make sure you know your plan and what you are paying for.  Here are a few things you can do to potentially save money.

• Know you plan.  Chose the number of minutes you need and stay within that amount.  If you are close, check your minutes prior to month end.  In some plans you can adjust your monthly-allotted minutes prior to month end without extending your contract.  Make sure you know when your plan’s month end is and leave yourself a reminder to check.
• Resist the urge to text message.  This can add to the bill very quickly.  Teens love to text, so limit it if you can.  If not, build it into your plan.
• Use a land line phone wherever possible. 
• Map your usage.  If you really only use the cell phone and rarely make calls from home, consider dropping your home phone. 
• Take advantage of “free” minutes.  Some plans have free nights, weekends, or free calls to other users that are with the same service.

All About Pumpkins
by Beth Lind, R.D., L.D.

Pumpkin season is upon us.  Did you know that the food of the month for November is pumpkin?  Autumn is prime time for eating pumpkins, but particularly in November.  

Pumpkins are loaded with Vitamin A, Beta-Carotene, Vitamin C, Magnesium and Potassium.  Pumpkin seeds are loaded with minerals, seem to have an anti-inflammatory effect, and may even help protect against prostate cancer and osteoporosis.

Some fun facts:

• A pumpkin is really a squash
• Pumpkin flowers are edible
• The largest pumpkin ever grown weighed 1,140 pounds
• Pumpkins are 90% water
• Pumpkins were once recommended for removing freckles and curing snake bites

How to Toast Pumpkin Seeds
1) Clean the pulp off the pumpkin seeds, and dry with paper towels.
2) If desired, toss with a little olive or other oil.  You only need enough to barely coat.  Add salt or any kind of seasoning you want.
3) Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the seeds out in one layer.
4) Slow roast them in a 250 F oven about 45-60 minutes, stirring about every 15 minutes – OR – Bake 3-5 minutes in a 350 F oven.

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