Month: October 2007

Many of us stick to an everyday diet where fish and seafood are unusual visitors at the dinner table. This is sad, because numerous studies show that eating ample amounts of fish and seafood has a beneficial effect on human health. You might think that cooking fish and sea food is difficult and expensive, but there are actually many recipes that are easy to follow and utilizes inexpensive and readily available ingredients. If you don’t feel like crashing your picky bank and learn how to cook lobster, why not try a Tilapia recipe? Tilapia is a fast growing fish that is common in grocery stores all over the world and is it usually a very inexpensive alternative to other sources of protein. Finding a Tilapia recipe that contains ingredients that you like is not difficult, because the Internet is filled with yummy Tilapia recipes from all corners of the planet. If you feel like splashing out, there are naturally Lobster recipes available as well. You can for instance give this Grilled spiny lobster tail recipe a try. You will need 4 live spiny lobsters, some butter and 2 cups of tomatoes. The lobster will derive taste from garlic, shallot, fresh basil, vinegar, and olive oil. Garlic, tomatoes and olive oil are three ingredients packed full of beneficial anti-oxidants so this is a great recipe for anyone that is the least bit health conscious.

Disco ball, glitter ball, mirror ball, ball mirror – this essential party item is known under many different names. Despite being strongly associated with the disco ear of the late 1970s and early 1980s, the first known disco ball appeared in the 1920s. If you take a closer look at Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt, a silent film from 1927, you can for instance see a shiny mirror ball inside a German nightclub. In the 1970s the connection between mirror balls and disco music were firmly established and has been since then. The term disco ball is now much more common than mirror ball, ball mirror and glitter ball.

Today, more and more people chose to install disco balls in their own homes as a fun element of playful interior design. If you don’t know how to make a disco ball, there are many shops that sell them. If you fail to find one in your area, you can always order to disco ball by mail and have it delivered to you in time for your next evening of disco dancing. You can also get your hand on all sorts of disco ball paraphernalia. What about a shiny disco ball necklace? A pair of glistening ear rings? Cufflinks in the shape of miniature glitter balls? Regardless how you use them, disco balls are a sure way of getting attention and bring a smile to anyone’s face.

Many people believe that orchids are extremely complicated to care for and some even throw them away once they have finished their first bloom. The truth is that orchid care is fairly easy, at least as long as you stick to the sturdy orchid species and hybrids that are common in the floral trade.

Two of the most popular orchid genera in the floral trade Cattleya and Phalaenopsis and caring for these orchids are actually fairly easy. One of the most important aspects of Cattleya care is to never allow the orchid to stand with its roots in a soggy medium. In the wild, Cattleya orchids grow directly on tree branches and they are therefore ill suited to a life in soil. Always use a well draining potting medium, unless you with to place your Cattleya directly on a tree branch or similar in a moist environment.

Phalaenopsis orchids are not only found on trees, some species grow on stones and cliffs. Just as the Cattleya orchids they will suffer if forced to grow in a soggy medium and picking a well draining substrate is imperative when it comes to Phalaenopsis care. Never give a Phalaenopsis orchid more water than what is required to keep the potting substrate moist right below the surface. In most cases watering the orchids once per week is enough.

The Neon tetra is one of the most popular fish species among beginner aquarists since they are small, adaptable, cheap and easy to care for. If you are a fairly inexperienced aquarists interested in breeding fish, you should however avoid many of the popular beginner species since quite a few of them are pretty hard to raise in captivity. The Neon tetra is for instance really tricky to breed and a majority of the fishes in the aquarium trade are still wild caught, not captive bred.

If you want to try breeding fish, you can instead opt for one of the many cichlid species that are known to readily breed in captiviyt. You should however keep in mind that many cichlids are too aggressive for most beginner aquarist. The Black convict cichlid (Cryptoheros nigrofasciatus) is a great choice if you want to breed fish, since is easy to breed in readily spawns in captivity, but it is also a very aggressive fish. Another example of a cichlid that is easy to breed but somewhat difficult to handle due to its aggressive temperament is the Texas cichlid (Herichthys cyanoguttatus).

One of the additional benefits of picking cichlids is that many of them exhibit really interesting rearing behaviours. Livebearers tend to give birth to a fry and then simply ignore it, or even devour it. Cichlids on the other hand are famous for caring for their young until they are big enough to make it on their own.