Do You Know a Prickly Cactus Pear? - Food Variety 5

Two of the sweet cactus pears

We just noticed in one of our city groceries “a pear like fruit” on the shelf. The size and shape look like the same with a green pear at glance.

It is called a Prickly Cactus Pear or a sweet cactus pear, with scientific name is Oppuntia engelmanni.

The Prickly Cactus Pears are found a lot in the country or regions of:

- Mexico

- USA

- Africa

- Mediterranean areas

- West Indies (the Caribbean islands)

- other regions of arid and semiarid

Some countries grow the fruit for commercial purposes, as an important income source of farmers.

The Prickly Cactus Pears on the grocery shelf

Like green pear, the Prickly Cactus Pears is sweet and may be consumed at raw stage.

The taste is similar to other fruits such as:

- strawberry

- raspberry

It is said that the cactus pear is a healthy fruit. Its contains:

- antioxidants

- fiber

- carotenoids.

Finally, do You Know and have tasted a Prickly Cactus Pear? 

Do Women Heart Beats more than Men? - Heart 9

Ginger plant, just for illustration

Let us talking the fact that women’s heart is healthier than men’s. Men tend to have heart diseases (coronary artery disease) than women while they are in the young age.

Female estrogen (sex hormone) is believed to alleviate arteries walls to cause the blood flow easily. At this point, It might one reasons why women live longer than men.

After 65 years old, the sex hormone production decrease, then women face the higher risk of cardiovascular diseases, but the risk factors are the same for both men and women.

Some risk factors of heart diseases are:

- high blood pressure

- high cholesterol.

- smoking

Halloween decoration, just for illustration.

Do Women Heart Beats more than Men?

The answer is yes. It is because women heart size is smaller than men, around 66% of men’s size.

The different of heart beat rate average between men and women are:

- 78 to 82 beats per minute for women.

- 70 to 72 beats per minute for men.

Clearly, fact shows that women’s heart beats are faster than men.

Previous posts relate to heart:

- What is the Irregular Heartbeats? - Heart 1

- Why Sugary Drinks Cause of Heart Diseases? – Heart 2

- What is the Meaning of Cardiovascular Disease? - Heart 3.

Cleaning the Roof as a House Routine Maintaining – Gardening and Hobby 10

Fig 01- Dirty roof, just for illustration

Roof is one of important parts of our house. People do cleaning house roof for many purposes, from just to make look beautiful to prevent from destroying to get good bargain when selling it.

Many of my neighbors call a cleaning roof company to do the cleaning, but few did by themselves.

These chemicals are favorite to clean roof in my neighborhood:

- bleach (Sodium Hypochlorite).

- Sodium Hydroxide.

- or Sodium Percarbonate

Bleach not only clean the roof, but also kill the organisms (micro plants) which attached on shingles.

Two important “micro plants” may destroy our roofs are:

- algae

- mold

Fig 02- Clean roof after washed by bleach

What is different between algae and mold?

Both are living organism. Algae need sunlight to live and grow, while mold does not require sun to survive.

Mold eats material on the roofs, and our roofs to be infected by molds. thus can make shingles rotten over times.

Fig 03- A house roof looks black in color, before cleaned

Our roofs may look “ugly,” because mold produces colors, include:

- black

- gray

- brown

- green

- white 

Fig 04 – Roofs of a house look pretty after cleaning

Many brands of roof cleaners are available in the market, some of them are:

- Thetford

- Dicor

- Propack

- Wet and forget

- Eterna

- Spray and forget

It is easy to clean the roof, first, just spray the shingles with bleach or other brand cleaners, let the solution on the surface for 30 minutes. Then rinse with pressure water.

The result is amazing. Roof looks shining. Please see Figure 02 and 04. Our neighbors did clean their roof every other year.

Do You Like to Grill Fish? - Food Variety 4

Marinated fish with certain seasoning, ready to grill

We prefer to fry fish than to grill it. We sometimes make curry with fish, one of our favorites.

Very rare, we grill fish, usually in the Summer season. From internet, top five favorite fish to grill in the USA are:

- Salmon

- Swordfish

- Tuna

- Snapper

- Mahi mahi

We might wonder: what is Mahi mahi?

It is a fish from Hawaii with scientific name Coryphaena hippurus. Another name is Dorado in Spanish.

In fact, Mahi mahi not only found in Hawaii, but also in tropical and subtropical oceans all over the world.

One of fish, live fish is good for grill.

Favorite fish is not big deal for us. We tried to consume many species of fish as mentioned in previous posts such as:

- Do You Know these by Catching Fish Species?

- Why Consuming Trash Fish could Help Environmental Protection?

To grill fish, we need fish to be seasoned. We just have simple ones or combination of:

- garlic

- olives

- lemon zest

- soy sauce

- chili flakes.

- parmesan cheese

Do you like to grill or barbecue fish? Do you have any favor of fish species?

A Possible Weapon to Kill Coronavirus was Found by a Teenager – Virus 25

 

Pumpkins in front the house, just for illustration

We have talked about possible drugs and vaccines to contain coronavirus (Sars Cov 2) at previous posts, some are:

- What is a Monoclonal Antibody to Treat Donald Trump? - Virus 22

- What is mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine? - Virus 15

- Updates of Vaccines to Combat Covid-19 – Virus 12

- Is Remdesivir a Potential Drug Against Covid-19? - Virus 11

A 14 years old teenager, Anika Chebrolu from Texas, proposed a new weapon, a kind of “specific” molecule to fight virus.

She was the winner of “2020 3M Young Scientist Challenge,” and got US$ 25,000 prize.

As we know that “Hemaglutinin” is an important “protein” in influenza vaccines. What is the Hemaglutinin?

One of the street in the neighborhood, just for illustration

Hemaglutinin is “antigen glycoprotein” found on the virus surface, in this case is the influenza virus.

The antigen glycoprotein to bind virus and infected cells, while this happening, then viral RNA genome penetrates into cytoplasm of cells.

They are replicating in the host (human) by using DNA polymerase of host cell. Replicating from one to thousands over time.

Why Hemaglutinin (antigen glycoprotein) is important in vaccines?

Vaccines such as an influenza vaccine is designed to trigger immune system to produce antibody to fight Hemaglutinin, then control virus.

Moreover, by using a method, namely “in silico methodology,” Anika Chebrolu found a “specific molecule” to bind spike protein on the corona virus, covid 19, SARS CoV 2 virus.

This “specific molecule” may be used to develop Covid 19 vaccine or drugs in the near future. Hence, we will have a lot of weapons to contain Coronavirus.  

Raising Chickens as Pets in the Backyard – Gardening and Hobby 9

Few growing chickens in the playing area

We know people raising chickens in their backyard for many reasons. Few of them are:

- as pets

- fresh eggs

- meats

- just for fun (without clear reasons)

A long time ago, we have less than 10 chickens as pets at our backyard. Morning crowing sounds from roosters make us happy.

Off course, we have daily fresh eggs as a source of healthy protein. We love soft boiled (half cooked) eggs.

It is said that we should wash our hand with water and soap after handling raw (uncooked) eggs to prevent transmission of microorganism from egg shells to other items, especially other foods.

Little baby chickens, just for illustration

Other advantages to have chickens are:

- control bugs and weed on lawn

- source of fertilizers.

- in addition to eggs, chicken is a source of meat (home grown meat).

Chickens does not require a big space, a chicken need only:

- 1 square meter to grow and play

- 0.3 square meter for nesting and hatching eggs

People love certain chicken breed, these are 5 favorite breeds in the America, just for examples:

- Rhode Island red

- Wyandotte.

- Silkies

- Cochin

- Easter Eggers

Have you ever raised chicken in your backyard? What is your purpose?

Harvest Fresh Chili from the Pot Routinely - Food Variety 3

Fig 01- A Chili tree in the wood box

We may not able to avoid chili in daily live, it is because chilis are every where whether we aware or not.

Chili could be consumed in fresh form (chopped or sliced) or in many other forms such as:

- sauces

- seasoning

- dressing

- spice powder

Quite surprising for me that there are 4,000 chili varieties in the world. The plant is native to South America region.

These spices are fruit, not vegetable. They are grown and traded since 6,000 years ago.

Fig 02- Green chili

People have grown chili in almost all part of the world today. Top countries to produce chili are following:

- China, produces about 16.1 million tonnes per year.

- Mexico, 2.7 million tonnes

- Turkey, 2.1 million tonnes.

- Indonesia, 1.9 tonnes.  

Fig 03- Red chili, just for illustration

In term of scientific name, chili includes in genus Capsicum with five main species:

- Capsicum annuum.

- Capsicum baccatum.

- Capsicum chinense.

- Capsicum frutescens.

- Capsicum pubescens.

We have chili trees in our backyard. Easy to maintain or take care. We harvest its almost every day and use its as food seasonings. Very fresh.

Do you love chili? What kind of chili do you like?