Product review

CEO of JAD Services discusses the cannabis dosing method of vaporizing

September 19, 2016 by daleottley Leave a Comment

-Julie Ann Davis

I created JAD Services several years ago, to be an organization that teaches risk factors and warning signs of mental illness and helps build an understanding of those illnesses and their impact. We also offer support by way of primary care physicians, psychiatrists, can other types of certified counselors. The mission of JAD is to bring mental health first aid classes to communities. In those classes we try to erase the stigma and fear associated with mental illness. Several years ago I lost both parents to stroke and in 2013 my sister lost her fight with ovarian cancer. Due to the lost of my family, I suffered from depression. With group therapy, coupled with doing things that bring me joy (gardening, walking, yoga) greatly assisted me in dealing with depression. I enjoy doing those things today!

My naturopathic doctor prescribed a regimen to me using cannabis oil to clear up the nodules on my thyroid that would have cause me to suffer from Hashimoto disease and eventually cancer; there were potentially cancerous hot spots on my breasts and right ovary. Today, I’m proud to report that with my cannabis oil treatments my symptoms have cleared up. Knowledge is power so when you know better you do better. All that I’ve been learning about the benefits of cannabis therapy, and what I’m experiencing with cannabis, I plan to incorporate all of that knowledge into my JAD course curriculum. Unfortunately cannabis has a bad reputation so I must also advocate helping fight the dissolution of cannabis prohibition countrywide! My new favorite way to consume cannabis oil is Vaporizing! I have tried products from several vape companies and I’ll talk about my favorites.

Evoxe

When I first read about the Evoxe Labs vapor pens, I was really excited because they are infused with essential oils and that made me ready to give them a try. However, when I realized they are disposable, that made me hesitant about purchasing them. Why spend money on a vaporizer that you will have to eventually toss when you are done. That seems like a waste of money and didn’t like the fact of tossing something away that will end up in a landfill somewhere never decomposing. I did learn that Evoxe Laboratories encourages individuals to recycle your used vape, for a new one. I am glad I changed my mind, because the fact that they are infused with essential oils really adds a nice touch to the smoke experience. I love the fact that Evoxe is discreet. So if you need to engage in one in public, no one will know what you’re doing and there is no smell of cannabis once you blow out the smoke. Here are my thoughts on the ones I have tried:

Balance+ (which is their newest CBD vaporizer) has a more earthy flavor to it than the Balance. Because they blend CBD, THC, cannabinoids and terpenes from the whole plant extract, blended with the essential oils of Frankincense, Ylang Ylang, Geranium and Tangerine left a nice party in my mouth after I exhaled.

Balance while not as earthy as the Balance+, Balance has a more mellow taste rounded out by the same essential blend of the Balance+. I like to use this one if I have any type of body pain, and after a couple of tokes the medicine will alleviate my pain without altering my senses.

Deep is one of my favorites to use if I need to wind down from a stressful day, or if I am having problems sleeping. With the soothing blend of Lavender, Chamomile and Orange, I have to pace myself when using this one – careful not to over consume – because I love all of the essential oils that Evoxe uses in this vaporizer. The first time I used it, by the time I took the second puff after waiting fifteen minutes to see how my body would react, I was knocked out. I slept like a baby and felt good the next day.

Engage is my top choice by far from the Evoxe line. This Sativa oil blend of Peppermint, Lime, Cypress and Cinnamon always puts an explosive note of rejuvenation in my mouth. If I’m feeling sluggish, I take one toke and I’m feeling energized. I actually took a toke while writing this review and I became fully engaged. It’s the stimulating/cooling effect of the peppermint/ cypress, mixed with restorative lime, ending in notes of cinnamon that gives this sativa such a vibrant energy. A perfect name for a perfect blend.

Kurvana

These vape cartridges by Kure Botanicals is cannabis oil at its finest. I like the fact that it is solvent free with no chemicals. The unique packaging makes for great storage, because the cork offers a seal tight closure for the cartridge. With the different flavors available each vape is full of flavor and powerful. I like the labeling system on each tube with the triangles facing up, down or towards each other to indicate the cannabis oil is a Sativa (upper), Indica (downer) or Hybrid (combination of both). These are my thoughts with some of their vape cartridges I have tried:

Blue Dream (Sativa) – The first puff of this Sativa left a compelling taste of blueberry in my mouth. Gives a nice, smooth vape cloud and just the right head high (not to strong of a high where I’m incoherent, but a nice buzz like after drinking a glass of wine). I’m a newbie to the game, I have learned to pace myself after each each inhale.

Sunset Tea (Indica)– This is my favorite one out of all the Kurvana vape cartridges I’ve tried. I love the taste of this tropical paradise which gives a smooth taste and nice smoke. It starts out fruity and ends on a minty note. Leaves a refreshing taste after I exhale. Nice high, great sleep and soothing vibes! Life is good!

Grapefruit Kush (Hybrid)- My first time trying out the hybrid. Although I’m not to fond of the taste (it has faint notes of grapefruit actually which I realize I don’t like in a vape), however, I do like the head/body high I get from this vape. It’s like I’m getting the best of both worlds which is nice.

Speakeasy

I was lucky enough to score a lovely, sexy, vaporizer and vape cartridge from Speakeasy 710. The cartridge which is lab certified, 75% THC (head high) was a pleasant, soft and vibrant experience. Their battery is easy to use with 5 clicks, and one long hold of the button you inhale for two seconds then exhale for a smooth tasting experience. It has a sleek design with the name of the company embossed on the cap and the letter “S” embossed at the bottom of the vaporizer, holds a pretty good charge; it lasts through four vape sessions. And it looks like a writing pen which makes it inconspicuous. When I do have to charge it, I used the USB charger from another battery and it worked fine. With one puff of this medicine, I’m down for the count!

Vegan Buddha

Velvet XT – I love the fact that this vape cartridge is truly VEGAN! There is no Propylene Glycol, chemicals or pesticides in their product. I am vaping organic flower extracted oil and the results are a pleasing, refreshing, lemon taste to my palate; not to mention a nice body and head high! All hale to VEGAN BUDDHA! Vegan buddha only has an active Instagram account it will be tough to view their products without first signing up for an account so below is a photo of their pen.

Seventh Generation is not the only choice

August 10, 2016 by daleottley 2 Comments

As environmentally safe products saturate the market like Meyers, Method, and Seventh Generation, it can be daunting to decide on what product to try. In my assessment and several months of use, ECOS is on the top of my list. By choosing ECOS as my number one environmentally safe line of products I’m not casting any aspersions on the other brands. Over several months, I’ve tried all of the ones listed above and I like them because they do the job, they just line up behind the results of ECOS.

I’ve been doing my own laundry for years and ECOS is the first detergent I’ve used that makes my whites clothes clean AND bright white in cold water. Historically I’ve been taught to use scolding hot water to wash white clothes. However being cost efficient by using only cold water cycles, I tested my whites and much to my surprise I did not have to rewash, use bleach or spot lifting chemical treatments of any kind to get a desired result. Without getting too technical, I’m sure it is due to the fact that they use plant based ingredients with coconut derived surfactants, the desired clean is the result every time. Also my environmental-geek friends would love to know that this is a family owned business fifty years strong that creates products using strict zero waste guidelines and manufactures those products in facilities powered by renewable energy. Yay!

About that clean to which I referred earlier, please know that although CLEAN actually has no fragrance. We are conditioned to accept fragrances as an indicator of things being “clean.” Well I love fragrances and ECOS delivers by using enzymes and essential oils. Those with fragrance issues do not have to be concerned; they have a hypoallergenic line of products that are fragrance free as well and the cleaning results are just as powerful.

By keeping their products and manufacturing process environmentally safe they can keep costs affordable. Score!

Daniel Grim has The Good Stuff!

June 27, 2016 by daleottley Leave a Comment

The Good Stuff Tonics creator Daniel Grim as a story that does not begin with much inspiration in fact you may be inclined to form an opinion before you read the entire story but please stick with it because it ends up phenomenally GOOD.

As an innocent Pedricktown New Jersey lad, Daniel Grim’s “coke-can-as-a-bong-toting” college roommate first exposed him to marijuana cannabis. When Dan smelled cannabis in his dorm room for the first time he became immediately fascinated by the fumes. Dan never smelled anything like that before especially fumes coming from a used soda can.

The 90’s offered such bohemian creativity for smoking herb such as jerry rigging apples, empty bear shaped honey containers and soda cans. So the roommate taught Dan how to smoke courtesy of a red and white aluminum can with the coca-cola logo. It was on. But after developing the habit of smoking daily, Dan made the unusual for a college student decision to cut smoking down to weekly, and then to semi-monthly and finally to only occasion. I’m sure to Dan, smoking daily with no reason why was bad stuff. However Dan never considered to stop handling cannabis cold turkey because he observed – years after college – how medicinally beneficial cannabis was to people that were close to him. He watched how cannabis improved the motor function of children of his close friends who suffered from cerebral palsy. That experience motivated Dan to instinctively tinker around his kitchen to create some GOOD STUFF for people that could be benefit from cannabis consumption without having to smoke.

Dan contemplated several ways that both adults and children could consume cannabis so that said, with absolutely zero experience in the beverage industry, Dan settled on beverages. He wanted to create a great tasting beverage that was infused with liquid cannabis and sourced locally. Since his mission is to create beverages and tonics for families, his products will be concentrated with high amounts of CBD [the cannabinoid that does not make you feel “high”] but rather provides your body with – relaxed, and virtually pain and symptom free.

Dan’s first product is Ginger Goodness. Ginger Goodness tastes like a light and refreshing ginger lemonade; not too sweet with a good balance of ginger. He infuses the cannabis in his product through a water kefir which is basically liquid cannabis. After the great response that Dan received after the launch of Ginger Goodness, he is currently experimenting with exciting new flavors to bring to market such as watermelon, verbena and vanilla. He let me in on a secret that I’m sharing with you only because it is so exciting – his next flavor will be cherry vanilla goodness. Yum!!!

Why will his products all be named fill-in-the-blank GOODNESS? That’s because Dan knows that the GOODNESS of cannabis is helping to get people well through tinctures, and high ~~amounts of~~ dose but small portion edibles. That GOODNESS should represent freeing the minds of people about the benefits of cannabis through “fun but little known fact” education to hold their interest. One fact is that George Washington grew cannabis, and that medical cannabis has been around for thousands of years used and grown by many countries including the USA. In fact once in our history virtually every household was “allowed” to grow several plants at home to do whatever they wanted. But today on the Federal level cannabis is still illegal. That subject warrants it’s own post so although I’ve digressed I’m back on track.

GOODNESS to Dan Grim is cannabis activism, education, innovation and evangelism. Dan’s dream is to be part of a generation that not only legalizes cannabis but ensures that people on all levels of our socio-economic spectrum has access to this medicine. He is so passionate that he follows the Ben & Jerry’s business model of giving back to communities and charities while making sure that patients on all income levels have access to the GOODNESS.

As a consumer, both of my thumbs are up for the GOODNESS of Dan’s heart.

Superbowl and Snack follow up – by contributing writer A.C. Tibbs

February 19, 2015 by daleottley Leave a Comment

Superbowl 49 was super crazy! Who thought Seattle was going to throw a pass from the one yard line? “The beast” Marshawn Lynch was poised and ready to break some Patriot’s sternum to cross that goal line. And they throw a pass … a pass?! My apologies I’m venting because I am not over it yet. I was supposed to be talking about snack that I used for my Superbowl shindig. Ugh! So here we go…

I didn’t go crazy because I had people over who were not quite down with me switching up the typical food/snacks. So here is what I did: I kept the baked beans, potato salad and ribs. I baked some killer ~~if I do say so myself~~ lemon pepper wings instead of frying. I incorporated the turkey and beef jerky that I wrote about in an earlier post. Now get this. I even made some kale chips from a recipe that a friend sent me. She read about the horrible time that I had with the kale chips that I bought and talked about, also in an earlier post so she encouraged me to try it. Here is the recipe if YOU would like to try it.http://paleogrubs.com/kale-chips-recipe.

I must say that it was much sweeter and less bitter that the bagged version. Will it ever replace my potato chips? I don’t know but what I will say is that trying the alternatives has made me use other choices which has cut down on the number of times that I eat the chips. I noticed that with the alternative snack, I don’t crave chips so much. Best of all my snacks [even with the alternatives] were a hit with my guests! So I would say that I’ve turned the corner.

All in all I played it safe because I wanted to make sure that I liked what I was eating. And I wanted to expose my friends to it as well. Therefore it was a HUGE success in my eyes !

Fondly,

A.C Tibbs

Superbowl and Snacks — by contributing writer A.C. Tibbs

January 22, 2015 by daleottley Leave a Comment

The Super Bowl is coming and that means super big parties with super amounts of food.
Whenever I think the essential Super Bowl foods, I think of wings, ribs, baked beans and potato skins. In my place the usual side snacks are: celery and carrots, with lots of ranch and bleu cheese, chips and salsa, potato chips in all styles and flavors…my favorite being Lay’s BBQ.

My idea is to replace all of those snacks except for the celery and carrots with healthy alternatives…I hope this doesn’t backfire. Some things just shouldn’t be trifled with. Maybe, I can upgrade the celery and carrots also.

I don’t think this is too much to bite off, & chew so I’m going to give it a shot.
I will let you know what happens after the Superbowl!

[Although they didn’t make it this year] Go Cowboys!

– A.C. Tibbs

Octoberfest/Oktoberfest

November 3, 2014 by daleottley 4 Comments

As a stroke survival magazine publisher I know that I don’t typically get heavy into the technicalities of my medical progress. Nor do I dole out much advice about things I’ve read on the subject, other survivors whom I’ve encountered, or details about my specific recovery. I don’t even share anything from medical journals or from the Stroke Net newsletter to which I am a subscriber. That is because what resonates most with me is moving on.

You see I had a stroke, that is a fact. Because of it I live with an obvious disability so I am rendered “disabled” in the eyes of the Federal government. Part of my moving on with life style of recovery, is to acknowledge what has happened, thank God that I’m still alive and continue living my life. It is not important foe me to not continue to go back to what happened. I survived and I have a pretty great life. I could have folded and disappeared so that all anyone could talk about is remembering me and how I used to be. I’d rather have people talk about how they can’t believe how well I’m thriving based on what I went through. THAT is what interests ME. My assumption is that my life interests you. But I digress with intent…

Over a decade ago, my dear friend Michael lost his brother Matthew due to a freak accident at home. And part of Michael’s grieving process was to take a trip away all my himself from everyone/everything that was familiar. Shortly after Matthews funeral [or before I can’t remember that detail] but my point is that Michael went away. He flew to New Orleans, without telling a soul. I only know about the trip because he told me ALL about it once he returned. He had a ball walking around the French Quarter, eating the fantastic food, talking to strangers. He even sang a set or two with a blues band in front of a crowd of people at a few clubs. Michael will always grieve his brother Matthew but Michael had to move forward with life. He didn’t THINK about going to New Orleans, HE WENT.

I know several people who still only WANT to jump out of an airplane, and do bold and daring things. They have been THINKING about it for years. Thinking? Really? Hum…

It’s strange that attending an Octoberfest event would be on my “bucket list” but it’s true. Many of you know that I am deep into craft beer movement thus I have been attending beer festivals around Los Angeles to support that interest. While my fellow beer enthusiasts get sloshed and flirtatious, I take my stein, sampling glass or whatever and I visit almost every tap in a bar or tasting room to TASTE new and exciting flavors from the craft beer revolution. With TV programs such as Brew Dogs, it is safe to say that the popularity of beer has made a major come back and is here to stay evidenced by all of the local breweries that are popping up all over the country.

In these breweries I chat it up with up and coming home brewers. Home brewers are folks who churn up beer in their kitchens or garages. I become instant friends with these people for the day as we go down the lists sampling everything that sounds good to us. The beer that gets my attention has some exotic name that is way too cool to pass up. Some of the exclusive tap craft beer flavors are: Wheat Chai, Apple/Pomegranate, Jalapeño, Strawberry Sour Sherry. My current favorite tap exclusive is Mango Shandy. Yes it is a sweet and yummy as it sounds. The clever guys at Dale Bros. Brewery in Upland California created the concoction and thanks to my new beer friend who shared her tasting pint with me, I found Nirvana in a glass at their annual Oktober [not a typo] Fiesta.

I had a similar experience several weeks ago at the October fest at the Beverly Hills Country Club. The featured frozen beer Apple/Pomegranate was extremely cold and extremely delicious. I could not get enough of this “girly” beer, no wheat or hoppy taste whatsoever. Just a liter of frozen slurpee like yum sensation. I could not get buzzed if I tried, due to the amount of ice and sweetness. The point of frozen beer is to stay hydrated and cool on a blistering day. THAT’S WONDERFUL NEWS FOR LIGHTWEIGHTS LIKE ME. They also sampled a darker more savory frozen beer with flavors of a typical porter [chocolate and coffee]. I was monumentally happy that the frozen beer made the sweltering heat more bearable that particular day which topped 100 degrees.

Evidently theses types of beer events have ~~silly~~ fun activities and ~~silly~~ festive outfits in order to get into the spirit of the event. Events like beer stein arm lifts and dressing up in German regalia. But regardless of how one is adorned, everyone is extra happy and only there to have a good time.

It is now early November and believe it or not the October fest activities have not yet stopped. I will be attending the largest craft beer event in Los Angeles next weekend on a Cruise ship in one of the ports of Los Angeles. I will bee geeking out with other craft beer enthusiasts looking forward to sampling beer called: Black Tuesday, Funk Metal, Buddaha’s Brew and La Vie en Rose. Some of the names of the breweries represented are: Hops & Pie, Hair of the Dog, Weird Beard, Tree House and Side Project.

Oooh I’m so excited…

The Struggle is real! … by contributing writer A.C. Tibbs

October 8, 2014 by daleottley Leave a Comment

If I am only going to live once. I’ve got to get it together and make what I have left the best that it can be for as long as possible.

This “Food for Life” change is not an instantaneous thing and its not for sissies. This thing right here…right here is a conscious lifestyle change that I must be on top of consistently to get the results that I want and or need.

I want to be serious about changing my eating habits. So, my new challenge was to introduce a vegetable snack into my rotation, as well as get my kids to try them with me. I looked on the chip isle for my next adventure and I chose…”Are you ready for it? Kale Chips!!! I thought that I would swing for the fence, people. I wasn’t playing. Folks, this is where the struggle became real.

That phrase came from a very close friend of mine. She often says, ‘The Struggle is real.” I remembered it once when I was 30 feet up climbing a rock. My face filled with crumbling rock and only a few bush roots sticking out of the rock. I had to use them to get up to the top of the mountain side. I thought of the phrase again when I understood the commitment that I was making to become and to remain healthy. When I noticed the Kale chips, I had to pick a flavor. First it wasn’t going to be that hard I only had to chose one of three …nacho cheese, plain or cool ranch. Since I was trying to turn this into an experience that I could share with my kids I selected cool ranch. I figured it would be like eating a dry salad with ranch dressing. Besides my kids LOVE ranch. Second, The price!! That one bag was a whopping $5.99! Do you know how many times I put it back on the rack? If l walked away that would undermine what I’m trying to accomplish. So I kept my eyes one the goal picked up the ranch flavor for the 4th and last time and I bought it.

Ok, I waited until the next day to try the chips with my 15 year old son because my daughter bailed on me when she heard the word Kale. I was a little surprised by it because we put Kale and swiss chard into our smoothies quite often. My baby girl didn’t like the idea of it being crispy – I guess. I’ll just chalk it up to her being only 10. I thought that would wait for my son to try them and he would help me manipulate her to try them later. As soon as my son opened the bag he said, “She isn’t going to like these”. It was a done deal.

Now it was my sons turn. He tried a small piece. The look of confused horror on his face along with the left to right head shakes left him silent. “This is terrible!” he said. Because I’m an optimist, I asked my son if he tasted the ranch flavor at all. So, being the Dad that I am I jammed my hand in the bag a pulled out a nice cluster of chips that were stuck together. I confidently put it in my mouth and looked at him to show him that it wasn’t that bad. Ladies, gentlemen and children of all ages “Wisdom is not a respecter of age.” The look that I saw on HIS face was now on MINE. I wonder if he had tears welling up in his eyes also.

Now don’t misunderstand me. The kale has a very earthy, green taste when it is fresh. When it is dried it is a little more intense. Tears were not forming because it was bad. It was a reaction to it being so strong and fresh. The struggle continued because what do I do with this expensive bag of chips that i don’t like? I was not going to throw it away and I did not want to try the other flavors. So, I did the next best thing to help me understand if my taste buds were fooling me…I took the chips to my job. I had asked 4 different people try them to see if they would have any negative reactions.

One person said that it wasn’t that bad but she could see why I wouldn’t like them. Two others had the same reaction that i did. And one accused me of trying to poison her. The last person had the same look that my son and I had except with every chew his face changed from a gremis to an over joyed smile. He said the it reminded him of the time when he used to grow kale. “I love it!” he said. So, i gladly gave him the bag, much to his delight. The struggle was over. For now.

Next on my list is healthy jerky!

AC Tibbs-

Contributing writer

Man this stuff is GREAT! … by contributing writer Mr. A.C. Tibbs

September 9, 2014 by daleottley Leave a Comment

I want to thank Dale Ottley, my wonderful friend for over 20 years, for opening my ears (because she was ~~yelling~~, ~~would not shut up about~~, telling me all about the healthy alternative snacks for me and for my children) and for opening my eyes to the world of healthier food choices. The deal is I’m transitioning from married to divorced and from homeless Dad to Dad with his own spot. My food choices reflect my mood. So, I can go from healthy to hellaciously bad…”yolo [You Only Live Once] baby.” Thanks to my parents, I’ve been blessed with genes that don’t allow my poor food choices to be obvious. However, I can tell and that is the reason for this change. I wanted to change the easy stuff first. Junk Food!!!! My junk food choices are based on two standards comfort and quality. That’s a lie, because if it tastes good I’m going to eat it. I used to believe that a healthy choice to replace Pork rinds was Funyuns, but i digress.

It must have been the full moon or maybe it was just Dale, my friend, ~~nagging me~~ encouraging me to try snacks that are healthier alternatives.

I figured that I would replace Dorito chips with these bean and rice chips by Beanfields. And they were great! They met and surpassed standards of comfort and quality. The taste kept me digging in the bag for more with no regret and no guilt because IT’S HEALTHY! ! This red bag contains my new sense of quality! I’m going to try these brands also:

I’m inspired by my friend Dale and how she has changed around her entire diet as a lifestyle. And I’m also inspired by what Krave and Rhythm are doing in the meat jerky and chip alternative market so I’m going to try Krave to replace Slim Jim beef jerky and Rhythm Kale chips to replace Lays.

I’m excited to get back to you all soon with my views on other the new items.

Fondly,

AC Tibbs

I scream, you scream…

July 25, 2014 by daleottley Leave a Comment

Yes my childhood has tons of memories that are filled with me, my sister, and cousins all running after the Mr. Softee truck. I am from New York City where each summer when the temperatures often reached 100 degrees and the air was filled with sticky humidity, the street pavement was so hot the reflection from the sun rays made the pavement look wobbly and wet. Nothing brought more pleasure than to hum along with the jingle of “come and get it.” Some think the Softee truck music is annoying but I disagree. It’s fun to hear, like any other song that takes you back to [name the event]. Music does that whether it’s coming from a radio, CD player, MP3, TV or your head. Rickety truck music is just plain fun so poo on those who feel otherwise. (Mr. Softee)

Well I’m all grown up now and my memories are so thick they cause me to be nostalgic abut those days. I drive by ice cream franchises daily without going inside. What messed me up forever was when I took a trip to Italy and tried gelato for the first time. Having delicious cold cream with no preservatives or additives was a revelation to me. My friend Letty and I had one scoop every day of our trip because we could not believe how fresh and delicious ice cream could taste. So after having the good stuff for the first time in my life, I vowed to never eat ice cream in the States again. That is until I tried McConnell’s Fine Ice Cream manufactured right here in the U.S. of A. in Santa Barbara California.

So sooooo good!

In 1949 when the founders first started the company they did not dream that they would be the pioneers of artisan ice cream. With classic flavors like: turkish coffee, golden state vanilla, peppermint stick and salted carmel chip I understand why Santa Barbara natives whom I’ve met are surprised that I [while residing in Los Angeles] have never heard of McConnell’s. All locally crafted with 100% all natural ingredients, from their dairy farm they take more than pride in their process, they take pride in their staff. When I met the marketing team at the 2014 Natural Products Expo West, I knew that to be true. The team was smiling and friendly answering all of my questions letting me try as many flavors as I wanted as many times as I needed to get a full experience. I also observed that they treated everyone the same way that they treated me at their booth. Thank you Remy for the comfortable and sturdy swag!!

My pick for the game changing star of the show at the 2014 expo earlier this year was McConnell’s Fine Ice Cream. I simply could not argue with their high quality product and their high quality customer service. Their passion to remain leaders in the specialty dessert market inspired them to create my new favorite ice cream flavor Eureka Lemon & Marionberry. Two fruits flavors who should have married long before now. My McConnell’s runner up flavor is their Churros Con Leche. I have had churros before and I have certainly had thres leches cake. Only a passionate company would dare to fuse those two flavors together and yes McConnell’s is that passionate and daring company. Nothing but happy dances all around!! Because of McConnell’s I am now a regular consumer of ice cream in America once again. Right now they can only be found on the West coast in select locations like whole Foods and any of their stores, trucks or carts but anyone can order their products on line here. I must state that my comments here in no way casts dispersions on Mr. Softee, Baskin Robbins, Carvel or ColdStone’s. All are establishments that have their good standing places in the market, and all from whom I have purchased at one time or another. However when you find the one you know it…right?

McConnell’s company manifesto

Not your average vinegar

July 23, 2014 by daleottley Leave a Comment

Each year I visit the Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim California where exhibitors from all over the world come to showcase their items. Each year I look for a star product and the star of 2013 [yes I’m a bit behind in my reviews but here we are.] was hands down Rozendal botanical vinegars. Why did I choose vinegar? Well when you have tasted and consumed as much wine as I have over the years, you develop a palate of sophistication. At least I like to think that my palate has developed on a sophisticated level. We all know the basic vinegars like Heinz or Bragg’s white vinegar. And our first real italian meal in a restaurant introduced us to balsamic vinegar; when coupled with olive oil makes a great dip for table bread. Those of us who strive for a healthier lifestyle gave us the apple cider vinegar option for salads, fish and a host of other things. In Asian cooking wine vinegars are very popular [rice, red wine, etc.].

Today there are artisan vinegars infused with botany and aromatherapy. That is why Rozendal sets the bar. Since 1913 this South African company has manufactured and received awards for their fine vinegar. I’m talking about flavors like: Green Tea, Lavender, Hibiscus and Fynbos. Just click the link to read all about how they infuse the flavors of honey-bush tea, rose geranium, wild olive, vanilla and kelp. These botanical combinations actually trick your senses to where one believes they are tasting wine not vinegar. I say that because at the expo they serve samples in little cups for you to take like a shot. When I received my package I introduced Rozendal to friends at a party. They were severing in small bowls with bread for dipping. The Lavender was the star of that party. I think because the lavender has a sweetness that you don’t expect in a vinegar. My personal favorite was the Fynbos. I know it’s due to the bush tea infusion. Bourbon bush tea is my favorite tea right now. Each season I get hooked on a new tea. I’ll write all about that soon.

For the adventurous I encourage you to pick up a sample pack of these award winning South African vinegars. They will make lovely gifts for your foodie friends or if you want to spice up hum drum meals these will make a great addition to your kitchen [beautiful packaging], your body will benefit too. Vinegar is known to help with heart disease, diabetes and other age related ailments.

(photo courtesy of Rozendal Auberge)