Mexico City – a Heady Mix of Chaos and Beauty
Endless lines of vehicles wind their way along the broad avenues, filling the air with exhaust. Mexico City appears unconcerned. At first glance, visitors may be overwhelmed by Mexico Citys noise, dirt and chaos, but look again.
Mexico City is the largest metropolis on the American continent and it is still growing. Despite the problems that inevitably accompany unrestrained growth, there are superb architectural treasures hidden behind the rather dull facades of this huge city.
No other Latin American city boasts as many baroque churches, monasteries and colonial palaces. It also has a number of acclaimed modern buildings, some of which are decorated with monumental paintings by the famous Mexican muralists, and world-class museums house still more art and treasure.
The eagle, the snake and the cactus.
In 1325, the Aztecs, who called themselves the Mexica, migrated into what is now central Mexico, where they founded their capital city, Tenochtitlan. They had chosen the site well, with a little help. According to legend, the Aztecs received a vision that told them to wander until they found an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its talons.
In the Valley of Mexico at an elevation of more than 2,000 metres they came upon this very scene in a swampy area scattered with lakes and islands. From a strategic standpoint, the location was ideal. They colonized the islands in the middle of a shallow lake, which protected their settlement well. The wandering Mexica had finally settled down.
Later, they built dams and causeways between the islands, which developed into a complex hydraulic system with canals, drawbridges and sluices. Tenochtittan grew in size to cover more than 13 square kilometres. The Aztecs ultimately conquered the entire high valley by force of arms, and soon controlled nearly all of modern-day Mexico, as well as other parts of Central America.
Hernan Cortes and the Fall of the Empire
The precipitous fall of the Aztec Empire began in 1519 when Hernan Cortes landed on the Gulf Coast of Mexico with just a few men. What Cartes achieved is incredible. With a small force, a few horses and indomitable will, not to mention a good dose of brutality and recklessness, he subdued an entire empire. His total command consisted of 500 Spanish soldiers, 16 mounted fighters, 6 cannons and 400 Indian mercenaries. The Aztec population he confronted numbered in the hundreds of thousands.
On 8 November 1519 the Aztecs fate was sealed. The Aztec ruler Moctezuma II received Cortes unarmed, possibly because he thought Cortes was the god Quetzalcoatl. This was an invitation to disaster. The Spaniards quickly took Moctezuma hostage and massacred the assembled priests and nobles.
The Aztecs were at first able to push back the interlopers and force them to retreat. Unfortunately, this only postponed their demise by a few years. In 1521, Cortes moved in with fresh troops, completely overwhelming the Aztec forces. The Spanish rulers then built their own city with churches and palaces on the foundations of the old one. Most of the lake was drained, as more and more land was needed. Tenochtitlan disappeared under a Spanish city. Parts of it, such as the Tempio Major, have since been excavated by archaeologists and are on view again after hundreds of years of obscurity.
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The Skin Needling Non-Surgical Facelift
Have you ever looked at older photos of certain stars and wondered where their acne scars went – (Cameron, Brad, Britney)?
Our moneys on medical skin needling! Heres why…
The only options available over the past few years have involved various laser machines or skin needling. Laser machine treatments that can leave the skin with post trauma issues – some skins become lighter in colour and more sun sensitive, while some
individuals are left with red, raw skin for a period of up to six months.
Since the downtime for skin needling is less than 24
hours, its most probable this has been the treatment of choice for Hollywood stars.
The Dermaroller is clinically proven to reduce the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, pigmentation and scarring; while simultaneously boosting collagen production for a toned, younger-looking skin.
The Dermaroller is a unique rolling device that significantly enhances the action of the delivery of transdermal agents.
Invented in 2000 and engineered in Germany, the Dermaroller is similar in appearance to a mini paint roller, but is embedded
with 192 ultra fine needles.
The Dermroller stimulates the skin to produce new collagen formation, thereby reducing dimpling, and improving skin texture. A roller with very fine needles is used to produce many microscopic channels in the skin, which stimulate your own body to produce new collagen.
These channels also improve the penetration of therapeutic active ingredients as well as multi-peptides, vitamins, or any other liposomal serums about 1000 times. Treatments stimulate skin renewal, thereby making the skin appear fresher and younger. Dermaroller is different from ultrasonic or Injectables because it affects your bodies own collagen activities so the effects are long lasting.
As the only TGA listed skin needling device on the Australian market, results include:
* Reduction of the appearance of fine lines & wrinkles
* Reduction of large pores
* Oil flow regulation
* Re-pigmentation – production of new melanin
* Smoother, more refined, younger looking skin
Think of the Dermaroller as a non-surgical facelift or having fractional laser without the downtime.
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USA Travel – Miami City Profile
Miami sometimes feels like a huge Hollywood set. The cliches about the city and its illustrious beach community, Miami Beach – nearly all of which are based in fact – are but a small part of Miamis colourful mosaic.
International financial deals are not the only thing happening in Miami. The citys concerts, theatre performances, gallery exhibits, ballet companies and museums offer plentiful cultural stimulation and world-class entertainment. Located in picturesque south Florida, Miami is a popular location for television and movie crews.
Fashion photographers from glossy magazines pose their models against the backdrop of the turquoise waters of the Gulf of Mexico or the deep blue Atlantic Ocean. Looking at Miamis striking skyline, home to corporate headquarters of hundreds of international financial institutions, it is hard to image that until recently southern Florida was a landscape dominated by mosquito-infested swamps. The first Spanish explorers of the region, arriving in 1513 with Ponce de Leon, declared it completely uninhabitable.
The real history of the city, which was founded on 28 July 1896, began with the advent of the railway. Freezing Canadians and New Yorkers climbed aboard to escape to beautiful, sunny Miami. In the 1920s, during the days of Prohibition, Miami was known as a city with legalized gambling and less than serious efforts to enforce the ban on alcohol. The result was a building boom. Little by little, starting with hotels and apartments, the Miami skyline began to rise.
Melting pot for Latin Americans.
After Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba in 1959, a stream of refugees poured into south Florida. The impact was enormous. Hoards of Cuban refugees arrived in Miami, settling in the neighbourhood called Little Havana. There, salsa music resounds in the streets, men play dominos and chess in the parks, and the air is thick with the aroma of coffee and cigar smoke.
A trip along the palm-tree-lined Ocean Drive, Miami Beachs famous boulevard in the heart of its famous Art Deco district, offers breathtaking views of the Atlantic Ocean, the beach and, of course, the rich and famous. With its uniquely Miami Style Art Deco architecture, the entire district is under historic protection today Rich with pastel colours and full of eclectic details, there is no other cityscape like it on Earth.
Unfortunately, the building boom of the 1920s also caused considerable damage to the natural environment. Over 120 hectares of the unique Everglades wetlands were drained to provide Miami with water and sewage facilities and dry land on which to build. Even today, south Florida draws millions of litre of water from the Everglades.
Interrupting the water cycle that supplies this magnificent natural landscape with moisture and nutrients diminishes the vitality of the biosphere. At present, national parks and wildlife preserves protect barely 20 per cent of the Everglades watershed.. The unique flora and fauna of the Everglades were added to the UNESCO List of World Natural Heritage Sites in 1979. Still, the environment was classified as endangered in 1993.
No stay in Miami would be complete without a short trip to Coral Gables, one of the first planned communities in the country. Distinguished by its beautiful Spanish colonial-style villas, Coral Gables also boasts elegant country clubs, world-class art galleries and the University of Miami.
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Wellington - the Worlds Most Southern Capital
Wellington, situated on the southern tip of New Zealands Northern Island is the southernmost capital city in the world. The gusty winds that blow non-stop off Cook Straight have earned it the nick name Windy City.
Wedged between steep hills, Wellingtons limited space for expansion has forced the city to build high in order to accommodate increased demand for commercial and residential building. Victorian structures fell victim to new construction and modernization, giving Wellington the most modern skyline in the country.
The Maori people called the area around Wellington the Head of Mauis fish, a reference to an incident in the Polynesian Maui Cycle when the hero, Maui, fought his brothers over a huge fish, leading to the land being cut up both by the fishs thrashing tail and by their knives.
When James Cook made a side trip here in 1773, the rough landscape of the bay was densely settled. Maori tribes fought one another constantly for the best coastal locations. This, along with the strong, unfavourable winds, may explain why Cook did not drop anchor and go ashore.
European settlement began with the landing of the warship Tory on 20 September 1839. In January of the following year, William Wakefield, commander of the first expedition of the New Zealand Company, bought the area from the Maoris for one hundred muskets. Wakefield thus became the founder of Wellington. The city was named in honour of Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington and Englands national hero in the Napoleonic Wars. Wellington was named New Zealands capital on 26 July 1865.
Wellington is more than the political centre of the country; it has also made a name for itself as a city of culture. Wellington is the home of Te Papa, New Zealands pioneering, interactive national museum, as well as to the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and such national treasures as the original Treaty of Waitangi.
New Zealands most famous writer, Katherine Mansfield, was born in Wellington and published her first short stories in a local literary magazine. New Zealands capital is remarkably diverse topographically, with mountains and hills embracing the compact city and its beautiful harbour.
At the summit of Mount Victoria, which can be reached by a cable tramway built in 1902, visitors can enjoy the beauties of Kelburn Hill and the Botanic Gardens. The gardens, established in 1869, now cover 26 hectares.
Beware the penguins
Wellington is almost certainly the only capital city in the world where penguins freely roam the streets. This encourages visitors to walk alongside them; the city centre is best experienced on foot. Visitors (and penguins) can wander through its shopping arcades, lovely cafes and, less happily, constant traffic.
Nowhere else in the country is urban life lived as intensely as in Wellington. Unique adventure tours are available along the Kapiti coast and hiking trails run all along the craggy coastline, just off the coast, the world famous bird sanctuary of Kapiti Island attracts visitors from afar.
The environs of Wellington are known for their luxurious country lifestyle. Many great estates lie inland, just over the hills. Directly north of Wellington is Hutt Valley, where visitors can arrange bush and coastal hikes, SUV trips, golfing, mountain biking and angling.
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Liposound Fat Removal
Non-invasive fat removal and body contouring called Liposound the revolutionary new way to slim down in five easy treatments. No surgery, no pills and no anesthetic – just an advanced system that fights the bulge with ultrasound technology. Because its a non surgical fat removal method, theres no downtime.
If youre a man or woman who cant eliminate those stubborn bulges through healthy exercise and diet, and dont want to undergo surgery, then this nonsurgical fat reduction technique may be for you.
Liposound is based on a high-tech way of destroying fat in the areas of the stomach, thighs, bottom, arms without the pain associated with other cosmetic treatments.
A revolutionary technology that through ultrasound waves focalized on low frequency produces microscopic bubbles that break the membranes of adipocytes (fat cells), without affecting other adjacent structures, respecting the integrity of circulatory and lymphatic system.
The released fat is then eliminated gradually by the body in two days thanks to the normal process of energy production. The results which can be obtained are obvious after very few sessions: accumulations of fat and cellulite are eliminated.
The treatment is best suited for the average to moderately overweight person who has a healthy lifestyle and exercises regularly.
This treatment can be used in conjunction with our skin tightening treatment for optimum results.
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Looking After Your eBay Donor Base
The vast majority of web users who buy things on eBay are customers. But as any successful eBay seller knows, they arent just buyers. You must remember that the customer is king, the key to maintaining a perfect feedback rating, and the key to ongoing business that can keep an eBay sales venture profitable. Cultivating ongoing relationships with satisfied customers is the key to a sustainable business.
To those who sell on eBay to benefit charity causes, customers are even more special: they are donors as well as buyers. Theyre people who keep you going and make your activities possible. As anyone who has participated in one of eBays community forums can tell you, the internet is a wonderful place to develop close relationships with individuals who share a common goal or interest, in other words, develop relationships with a diverse online community.
On eBay and the web, caring for and nurturing donors is as important as it is in the offline world. eBay gives you several ways to maintain good relations with other members. The most important is eBays well-known feedback system, which rewards trustworthiness and punishes dishonesty.
You can also volunteer information that helps your donors providing them with the URLs of web sites they might like to visit, on eBay or elsewhere, or answering questions on the message boards. At the very least, youll gain the respect of your donors by responding quickly to e-mail inquiries, and making payment and shipping easy. Its all about helping people to do the right thing.
Customer Support
If youre affiliated with a charity, you already know about cultivating your donor base. It boils down to being nice to your donors: inviting them, nurturing them, rewarding them, and giving them special access and possibly other perks.
On the web (and by extension, on eBay), cultivating donors is the same as providing a high-Ievel of customer service. But customer service on the Web is different than in other venues.
Nonprofits, like other organizations that sell on eBay or online, need to take into account the special way online consumers behave. In the traditional offline world, customer service is a matter of answering questions and solving problems with orders. Customer service representatives make themselves available to field questions and problems as they arise.
Customer care on the internet isnt a matter of publishing a phone number or e-mail address and waiting for consumers to send you questions. Such basics are important, but its more a matter of making information easily available to consumers. The customer is in charge on the web, not the seller. Customers choose to view your items for sale or visit your web site; they choose to make a bid or a donation, or go elsewhere with their money.
Many eBay sellers who receive questions from prospective bidders answer those questions quickly. But they go a step further, too. They also publish the questions and answers as additions to their sales descriptions. This reduces the number of similar questions you receive, which saves your volunteers some time; it also raises the level of customer support you provide, which makes prospective bidders more likely to purchase from you.
When you receive a question from a bidder through eBays message system, you have the option of simply responding to the buyer privately, or adding the question and your response to the body of your sales description.
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What can Israel Offer Australian Tourists?
Fun in the Sun
Israel’s summer months, which occur during the winter for Australians, are completely dry. If you are coming for the sun, beaches and water sports, you can rest assured that not even one day of your visit will be interrupted by rain.
Israel boasts hundreds of miles of beautiful beaches dotted with world-class beach resorts. Para-gliding, wind-sailing, snorkeling and scuba diving opportunities are abundant. Scuba enthusiasts will especially enjoy the unique opportunity to dive among ancient Roman-era ruins in the shallows of the Mediterranean Sea, or enjoy the grand coral displays nestled in the clear blue waters of the Red Sea.
Israel also caters to hikers with vast networks of marked, but largely untouched hiking trails crisscrossing geographical locations as diverse as deserts, pine forests and snow-covered mountains. Come during Israel’s winter months and you can even ski!
A Culinary Experience
Israel has something special to offer the culinary tourist as well. Home to Jewish immigrants from around the world and Arab clans from all reaches of the Middle East, Israel’s national menu is as diverse as they come. Chefs who compete at the highest levels in European competitions stand ready to serve up this wide array of specialties at an every growing number of gourmet establishments.
Complementing Israel’s rich assortment of foods is a local wine industry that is starting to grab the attention of top international critics. Wines from many of Israel’s boutique and larger wineries – all of which offer tours and tastings – continue to win international awards and accolades.
Historical Crossroads
Having played host to some of the world’s most ancient civilizations, Israel is a paradise for history buffs. Just about every patch of dirt in Israel has some bit of history underneath it, often making construction of new structures a nightmare.
Fully developed archeological sites providing a glimpses of life in pre-historic times, the biblical period, the Roman era and the Middle Ages – to name just a few – abound in Israel. Each and every historical site carries a unique story that could fill books, and many have.
A special bit of history for Australians is the famous charge of the Australian Light Horse Brigade during the Battle of Beersheba in 1917, widely reputed as the last successful cavalry charge in history. The charge effectively broke the Ottoman Empire’s southern defenses, allowing British General Lord Edmund Allenby to advance on and capture Jerusalem and marking a major turning point in World War I.
A memorial to the Australian Light Horse has been erected in the southern Israel city of Beersheba, and more than 1,000 Australians, New Zealanders and Britons came to Israel in 2007 to reenact the charge on its 90th anniversary.
The Holy Land
Israel is best known to travelers as the Holy Land, an area central to all three of the world’s monotheistic religions.
Jerusalem is the heart of the Holy Land, hosting the Temple Mount, Western Wall and the Garden Tomb where Jesus is said to have been buried. But the rest of the country is not left wanting for religious significance.
Jesus’ boyhood home of Nazareth and his base of ministry on the shores of the Sea of Galilee are sites not to be missed. Nor would any tour be complete without visits to locations in Israel’s southern desert and central mountain regions that the biblical patriarchs called home.
All in all, Israel is a well-rounded travel destination for every kind of tourist, and is second to none for those interested in history and religious pilgrimage.
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Using eBay Auctions for Fundraising
Everyone is getting on the bandwagon. Large corporations successfully use eBay auctions to clear distressed inventory, the Postal Service rids itself of unclaimed merchandise, police departments sell confiscated goods. Thousands of nonprofits are doing business with eBay.
Are eBay auctions the fundraisers cash cow or are the dangling cash-carrots never quite attainable?
There you have both ends of the online auction spectrum. Likely, your organisations ability to generate donations in this fashion lies somewhere in between, hopefully toward the high end. Merely registering an account with eBay doesnt guarantee that sellers will be prompted to donate part of an items selling price to your group. Or that buyers will gobble up your items. Philanthropically minded people are only beginning to see online auctions as a serious avenue of charitable donations.
Successfully trading on eBay is far more than a mechanical process. Youll need staff and/or volunteer commitment, and sales and marketing know-how. It takes little skill to get on the bandwagon; it takes a lot not to fall off.
There are several main reasons to use eBay as part of your overall fundraising plan. Not because its the cool thing to do. Not because it takes the place of person-to-person campaigning.
But because:
* EBay enables your group to reach a huge, new market of non-constituents, uncultivated strangers who will immediately participate in funding your projects by buying your items.
*You can fit a few hundred people in an in-house auction room, but you can reach millions online.
*Youll capture new prospects. A percentage of buyers will turn out to be donors to future campaigns if your follow-through is sound. Otherwise, why not simply run an online membership auction from your organisations web site?
* Its cost effective. No space to rent, tickets to sell, caterers to hire, and so on.
* Its novelty will captivate volunteers who are used to performing the same campaign tasks year after year.
How you can capture a profitable share of this new market depends on the sales direction you take, the items you offer, how theyre presented, and your game plan.
Direct and Community Selling
Youll obviously receive the most income and acquire the most new prospects if your group uses donated items to auction. For nonprofits, eBay terms this Direct Selling. Its the same technique used by organisations that produce in-house, live auctions by soliciting in-kind gifts.
Community Selling is a term eBay uses to describe the process whereby sellers designate all or part of the selling price to an organisation. This offers your present donors new opportunities to support your drive.
For example, the Johnsons annual gift is $125. Your latest newsletter describes and promotes the benefits to the campaign from members selling unwanted items on eBay. The Browns decide that two 17 hand painted platters are items they havent used for years. They list them on eBay at $19.95 each and designate your group to receive 80% of the selling price.
The remaining 20%, they figure, will take care of shipping. The platters each sell for $25. You have an additional donation from the Browns of $40. If 99 other present donors did the same youd have an additional $4,000 on top of their cash gifts. And what about the members who couldnt afford to give you cash donations? Surely, many of them would find an item or two to sell on eBay on your behalf. So, you see, the potential for raising funds through eBay is real, but eBay is only the vehicle, not the driving force. Selling the concept is the organisations job.
What Items to Offer?
While its been shown that many non-constituent eBay buyers react favorably to knowing that proceeds of a sale are helping fund a nonprofit organisation, their interest is driven by an items appeal, not necessarily an organisations mission.
People will buy anything, especially when they think theyre getting a deal. Last time I looked, a set of 10 real shark teeth was about to be auctioned for $7.99. But since youre in the serious business of raising money, not running online garage sales, offering genuine collectable teeth will do little to help fund your annual budget. Stay away from trinkets when soliciting direct selling items if possible. However, memorabilia is a natural for online auctions.
The more your items play to a universal audience the more theyll be seen, and the higher the selling price. For example, a vintage Cowboy type belt buckle from a city in Arizona could sell to a local organisation member or be even more valuable to an Australian outback buyer.
Most everything sells on eBay, but collectibles have always been big sellers, also electronics in all categories, music, books and games. Everyone has a few old books and CDs lying around that you can convert to cash by selling them on ebay. And certainly one-time, high profile items with special appeal, like seats in a corporate box at a big game. Or a trip to the Barrier Reef.
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Jerusalem – City of Peace
Jerusalem is one of the oldest continuously populated cities on earth. The Canaanite Phoenician city of peace, Urushalim, evolved into Jerusalem after it was invaded by King David around the year 1000 BCE.
Living in Jerusalem has always been a bit of a gamble. The ancient Babylonians, Egyptians and Persians all cast lusty eyes on Jerusalems riches. In the seventh century, Moslems invaded the Holy Land along with its city sacred to three faiths.
During the Crusades, Jerusalem changed masters often. After the knights of the First Crusade succeeded in breaking through Jerusalems walls, they killed nearly everyone within them, regardless of religion, wiping out as many as 40,000.
Today, the Israeli and Palestinian states lay claim to parts of the city and Jerusalems bloody, violent history continues.
Since 1980, Jerusalem has been the seat of the Israeli government, although all foreign diplomatic missions are based in Tel Aviv in accordance with a United Nations resolution.
Three major religions live together in Jerusalem, which naturally leads to a multiplicity of points of view. Each religious group is split and subdivided into factions and sects. There are as many as a dozen different Christian splinter groups, the largest of which is the Greek Orthodox group. This diversity of belief should contribute to Jerusalems attraction, but, in reality, it too often leads to conflict and bloddshed. The incredible concentration of sacred sites draw visitors, religious or not, from everywhere.
For Jews and Christians alike, Jerusalem is the Holy City and the birth place of their faiths. For Moslems, Jerusalem is the third holiest city after Mecca and Medina. It was the destination of Mohammeds miraculous journey to and from Mecca in a single night. Its Temple Mount is the place from which Mohammed ascended to, and returned from, heaven.
Three architectural styles
The Old City of Jerusalem was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981. It is separated into four districts. The Armenian Quarter occupies the south-west, the Christian Quarter, the north-west, the Jewish Quarter, the south-east and the Moslem Quarter, the north-east.
The wall around the Old City was built on the order of the Ottoman sultan Suleyman the Magnificent in the 16th century.
Jerusalems treasures are so numerous that only a handful can be mentioned here. The most visited site is probably the Wailing Wall, a 400-metre-long section of the retaining wall of the terrace on top of the Temple Mount where Herod the Great built his great Jewish temple.
This temple was destroyed by the Romans in the year 70 CE. Important pilgrimage sites for Christians include the Via Dolorosa, the name of the path Christ walked on his way to the crucifixion, and the fourth-century Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
One of the most beautiful Islamic monuments is the Dome of the Rock. Erected on the Temple Mount over the place from which the Prophet Mohammed ascended to heaven, the Dome of the Rock is not a mosque. The remarkable Al-Aqsa Congregational Mosque, one of the largest and oldest in the world, is located nearby, also on top of the terrace of the destroyed Jewish temple.
More than a lookout
The Mount of Olives (Hebrew: Har Ha-Zetim) is a historical hill on the eastern outskirts of Jerusalem. The ridge of hills is within sight of the Old City. The Temple Mount is actually higher than the Mount of Olives, which is just 809 metres above sea level. The Mount of Olives has great significance for all three major religions.
According to the Jewish faith, the Messiah will cross the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem before the Last Judgment takes place in the Kidron Valley. Moslems also believe the Final Judgment will take place there. For Christians, the Mount of Olives is inextricably tied to the life and death of Jesus. Today it plays a more mundane role for many visitors, because its observation deck affords a breathtaking view of Old Jerusalem.
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Vegetables for Health
Vegetables are necessary to the human diet. The latest recommendation from dieticians is a minimum of five serves of vegetables per day. The truth is we can get a great deal of our daily vitamin and mineral requirements from vegetables.
We need to make sure that how we cook them does not wash away vitamin contents and benefits of consumption.
Cooking vegetables can be complicated. Over cooking can make vegetables bland and soggy. My belief is that vegetables should not be boiled. Boling not only robs us of vitamin content, it is the main culprit in turning vegetables to a lifeless, tasteless form.
If we cannot boil, what do we do?
Steaming vegetables is always a good choice. This will leave vegetables full of life. They will be crisp and colorful. It will also not deplete the vegetables of their vitamin content.
It is a fast method of cooking too. By rule of thumb, vegetables will only need a few minutes in the steam. In some cases you may be able to cook your vegetables on the table and immediately serve them up.
For those who do not have purpose made vegetable steamers, an easy steamer can be fashioned out a of pot, a metal colander, and a pot lid.
Place a small amount of water in the bottom of the pot. Fit the metal colander into the pot. Start to boil the water. You will begin the see the steam rise. Place your vegetables into the metal colander and place the pot lid over the metal colander and pot. This collection of kitchen items will allow you to steam vegetables as good as any fancy store bought steamer.
Another good option is to cook your vegetables in a wok. The secret to the wok is that it cooks quickly at a very high temperature. Vegetables retain their flavors, textures, and colors with small amount of vitamin loss.
My favorite wok recipe for vegetables is to cook broccoli, carrots, bok choy, and snow peas in a very light chilli sauce. The vegetables remain crisp and the herb adds just the right amount of flavoring. This combination can be served with any cut of meat including chicken, beef, pork, lamb or fish.
I hope you will see that secret to cooking vegetables is not to over cook. Vegetables need to remain crisp and full of color. As you learn different tricks to bringing your vegetables to life, these will become the most requested dishes on your dinner table.
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