Crazy Shark Jumps In Fishing Boat

Ever hear of a shark to go out of it’s way to get in a boat? It happened last week in Florida! Check this out:

http://www4.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/MI128115/

Twitter Peeps

We joined Twitter in March 2009 and we now have over 400 followers on twitter.  I’d like to see 2000 by the end of the year. How about it people?  Get a 10% discount on our web site just for follwoing us on Twitter. Add yourself as a follower and then tweet “10% discount please” for you code.

Restaurants Give a New Spin on Take Out…From Your Local Grocer

Not exactly what you may be thinking. New data shows that more restaurants are selling their fare in the grocery store. We are used to seeing Taco Bell and Starbucks products on the shelf but now you will see other famous brands like (and may already have) Dunkin Donuts, Bob Evans, Quaker Steak & Lube and California Pizza Kitchen. You will find some of these products in your grocer’s freezer. Restaurants are getting double duty dividends having their brand in the grocery market. There brand is in constant view to the consumer and they have created a new profit center to boot. Making a profit on the advertising tool itself is smart marketing!

Want to try private label for your restaurant? I’m not saying bring your brand to the grocery store. Not yet anyway. But obviously it works or you wouldn’t see them in the grocer. Start small by selling your private label brand in your restaurant. Then expand to local meat markets, small grocery markets and maybe privately owned convenience stores in gas stations.

“If you can’t get the people to come to the restaurant…bring the restaurant to the people!”

“Hot Product” Wins Local Boat Parade Contest

Three cheers for Hot Product! Winner of the New Smyrna Beach, Florida Holiday Boat Parade (38 foot plus division)

Hot Product is the name of the boat owned by Douglas and Katheryn Feindt, owner of Captain Foods Inc. His 38 foot Hatteras was all dolled up for the parade with the help of friends and family. With young Captain Chris Feindt, owner of Red Inc Clothing Co., at the wheel they paraded down the Indian River Intercoastal waterway on Saturday night, December 6th. A merry time was had by all with great friends, great food (and hot sauce!), music, singing, dancing and an abundance of glittering Christmas lights and ornaments. Captain Doug Feindt was presented with a goody bag of gift certificates from local businesses and a $250.00 prize check.

Way to go Captain Foods!

P.S. The boat is for sale. If interested call Doug at 386-795-4598.

Minimum Wage Hike To Hike Restauant Prices?

According to the Boston Globe, restaurants will have some decisions to make on how they will combat the federal minimum raise increase from $5.85 per hour to $6.55 per hour. With the restaurant industry already facing hard times what will they do now? That’s a bout a 12% increase to their menu if they want to recoup the loss. Will they eliminate busing jobs and other hourly wage jobs. Will we no longer be greeted by a friendly host/hostess? Are we destine to have longer wait times because servers must now bus their own stations? What about the people who filled those jobs. What will become of them? Solutions anyone? see the article at http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/06/11/market_spotlight_restaurants_ready_for_wage_hike/

Dress your Kitchen or Barbeque Area

Dress your kitchen or barbeque area with 14 items found for chili pepper fans at www.tiffanyleonard.com. Among them you will find a great chili pepper apron and a tortilla warmer. Prices range from $6.95 – $29.95. Check it out!

Chili Peppers: The Hot New Cure for Surgical Pain?

As a way to keep patients off of narcotics after surgery this is what they are doing. Check out this article in Halifax Health magazine this month. www.halifaxhealth.org. According to the article, patients who received a vial of capsaicin liquid poured directly on the open surgical site were ready to get out of bed almost immediately after surgery. They said the capsaicin deadens the nerve endings for several weeks, so the site can heal.

Here are some other interesting uses:

Insect repellent. Apply super-hot sauces with oleoresin capsicum in them to the threshold of your front door to deter ants and other insects from crawling in under the door. NIT International has released NouGuard, a bio-repellent for ants that is made mostly from capsaicin. It is sprayed around the perimeter of structures to keep the ants outside.

Animal repellent: Chile powder can added to bird seed to prevent squirrels from eating it; there is no effect on birds and the vitamin A in the powder brightens the birds’ plumage.

One company, IntAgra, manufactures Get Away Repellent spray in two formulations: Dog and Cat or Squirrel and Raccoon. The Dog and Cat repellent is used to keep those animals out of garbage, gardens, lawns, and landscaped areas. The Squirrel and Raccoon spray is used on bird feeders and gardens.

Other unusual uses:

Barnacle repellent (my boss has used this one. You mix the cooked down chili mixture in with your bottom paint.

Chili Facewash (apparently, it is a good anti-acne agent.)

Please look these up online for the recipes before attempting to use them!

Source: Some of this information was found on a web page written by Dave Dewitt from Chili Pepper Magazine.

Bike Week and Hot Sauce Are Synonymous To Us

From nearly the start of the company in 1994 Captain Foods, Inc. introduced the famous annual tradition of the Bike Week Hot Sauce. Every year you will find a new version of the their Bike Week Hot Sauce complete with the year on the bottle for all you avid collectors. You can find the famous sauces gracing shelves of local restaurants, bars and shops during bike week in Daytona Beach, FL in March and October, Myrtle Beach, SC in October and Sturgis, SD in August. Bike Week Hot Sauce is not sold on their website making it even more prized. Check out some of their other HOT sauces and seasonings at www.captainredbeard.com.

27 Ways To Save The World! (Reuse your plastic water bottles)

Here are some great ways to keep plastic water bottles out of the landfill. You will also find some facts below on the subject.

1. Refill with filtered water from your fridge door. You’ll always have water to go.
2. Refill with any beverage you make in bulk and you’ll always have individual servings in the fridge. Easy and safer for kids to get handle. Plus, you’ll always have your favorite drink on the go when needed.
3. Use them to mix your powder protein/vitamin supplements.
4. Use to mix powder salad dressing and your can use right from the bottle. Great for picnics!
5. Use them to store and freeze sauces/soups/broth. Better than plastic bags.
6. Fill with water and freeze. Use them in your cooler instead of ice bags. They won’t get everything wet! Makes cleaning the cooler out an easier task.
7. Poke a few small holes in the top edge of one, fill with water and use it to water small plants in your home or office. Whalla, mini watering jug!
8. Make little bird feeder. Make several. Hang with fishing line or durable string from your trees or porch.
9. Make a nifty squirrel feeder. Cut off the bottoms of three or more water bottles.
10. Poke a few small holes around the top edge for drainage. Nail or screw the caps to a scrap piece of wood. Screw the bottles onto the caps. Fill each bottle with tasty treats like corn and sunflower seeds. Secure in a tree, mount on a pole or attach rope and hang.
11. Use them to hold small items nails and screws. Nail or screw caps to a scrap wood board, fill with nuts, bolts, etc. and mount above your worktable. They are safer than using glass jars.
12. Use them to store beads and jewels for beading and crafting.
13. Cut off the top and use it for a small funnel.
14. Cut off the bottom and use it for a pencil holder.
15. Cut off the bottom and use it for a paper clip or rubber band holder.
16. Cut off the bottom and use it for a seed starter.
17. Cut the bottom off and use as a paint cup.
18. Soak your paintbrushes in them.
19. Make a terrarium. Ad soil, then seeds, then a little more soil, water through the cap opening and watch it grow! Great for kids!
20. Use them as flower vases. You can decorate them if you like.
21. Have the kids make a mobile. Fill the bottles with ribbon, glitter, whatever you can think of or decorate the outside of the bottles. Use sticks, dowels or hangers and string to assemble.
22. Cut a slot to below the cap to insert your change and use as a “bottle bank”.
23. Call your local schools and see if the art dept, science dept or horticulture dept can use them.
24. Slug problems? Fill a water bottle with beer (preferable the cheap stuff) and bury it in the ground in your problem area. Bury it up to the top of the screw on part of the bottle opening. The beer will attract the slugs into the bottle and they can’t get back out. Or cut the bottom off and bury up to the edge and place in problem areas.
25. Fill them with a handful of small stones and use them as noisemakers for sports games or other events. The glass beads you get in flower arrangements are great for this.
26. Make a beach in a bottle. Add sand, a few small shells, a plastic fish or two and water and put the cap on.

27. Make “message in a bottle” invitations to an event. You can add confetti or other miniatures to coordinate with your event. To mail via U.S. Mail you must place them in a mailing box first. Save money and trees by hand delivering without the box.

Plastic Facts:

When consumers choose to refill and reuse convenience-size plastic bottles, should they be concerned about potentially harmful bacteria?
Not if they clean their plastic bottles between uses just as they would other drinking containers. Plastics are by nature extremely sanitary materials, and plastic bottles are no more likely to harbor bacteria than other kinds of packaging or drinking containers. Bacteria thrive in warm, moist environments. Once bacteria have been introduced, virtually any drinking container (coffee mugs, drinking glasses, serving pitchers, etc.) becomes a suitable environment for bacterial growth.

Consumers should clean any drinking container with hot soapy water and dry thoroughly between uses. Bottles specifically designed for extended reuse are often made with wide openings that allow consumers to use cleaning instruments and easily dry them.

Can freezing a PET beverage bottle cause dioxins to leach into its contents?
This is the subject of another e-mail hoax. There simply is no scientific basis to support the claim that PET bottles will release dioxin when frozen. Dioxins are a family of chemical compounds that are produced by combustion at extremely high temperatures. They can only be formed at temperatures well above 700 degrees Fahrenheit; they cannot be formed at room temperature or in freezing temperatures. Moreover, there is no reasonable scientific basis for expecting dioxins to be present in plastic food or beverage containers in the first place.

Where it started: Microwaving Plastic

Email:

Anyone who’s heated something up in the microwave has probably wondered about possible health effects. One common email exploits this fear by quoting information allegedly contained in a newsletter from Johns Hopkins University, adding that the “information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.” Various versions of this email say a Dr. Fujimoto from Castle Hospital was on a TV program warning that heating plastic in the microwave or freezing water in plastic bottles releases toxins, like dioxin and DEHA. In August 2004, the email took on new life when the name of an American Cancer Society staffer at the bottom of the email seemed to give the story real credibility.

Fact:

This email has its roots in a January 2002 appearance on KHON-TV, Honolulu by a genuine person, Dr. Edward Fujimoto, who apparently made these claims. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on its Web site does say substances used to make plastics can leach into foods. But the agency has found the levels expected to migrate into foods to be well within the margin of safety based on information available to the agency. As for dioxin, the FDA says it “has seen no evidence that plastic containers or films contain dioxins and knows of no reason why they would.”

Microwave Use and Plastic Bottles:

Using a plastic item in the microwave that was not labeled for microwave suitability isn’t necessarily “unsafe.” All plastics intended for food use – whether designed for the microwave or not – must meet stringent FDA safety standards before they can be marketed to consumers. But unless a product is labeled for microwave suitability, you won’t have the assurance of knowing that an item was tested and evaluated for this purpose. The concern is that, if used inappropriately, an item may warp or melt when exposed to extremely hot foods, and accidental burns could occur.

Because of its heat resistance and shatter resistance – a significant safety advantage – polycarbonate also is used in a number of applications involving direct contact with foods and beverages. Airtight polycarbonate food storage containers help preserve freshness and protect foods from contamination, and many polycarbonate food containers offer the added convenience of safely going from freezer to microwave to dishwasher. Durable, lightweight polycarbonate sports bottles (e.g., Nalgene® and other brands) enable active people to quench their thirst on the go, and polycarbonate baby bottles are among the safest, easiest and most economical ways to bottle-feed a baby.

Polycarbonate has been studied and tested for nearly 50 years, and its use in products that come in contact with food is regulated for safety by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well as governmental bodies worldwide.

For answers to other questions regarding plastic bottles go to www.plastics.org.