Health for life

Hi,

I just discovered that you can forward commercial e-mail scams to spam@uce.gov and the e-mail scams you receive and forward to them will become part of a data base that is available for law enforcement officials to peruse and investigate. This is a service of the Federal Trade Commission and the data base is meant to help shut down the operations of scammers. I intend to start using it.

Please note: this is not simply for hoaxes or misinformation or even spam -- which is often a legitimate business searching for customers. This address is meant for e-mail scams where someone is trying to fraudulently get money from you, gain access to your checking account, or find out your Social Security number or other private information that would be dangerous to you if it wound up in their hands. It is for e-mail scams.

I have gotten repeated e-mail scams letters at my online customer service address related to my www.bestluggagecarts.com website. I was almost taken in by the first one, but my supplier pointed out to me what was going on. I was so glad they were alert to this and told me about it. I then looked it up on the internet and found out more information about it.

What the scammers do is send an e-mail asking about a certain item (often it is something you sell -- sometimes it seems totally unrelated or even only vaguely related). They say they want to find out "more information about the item", "are they in stock," etc. and they drop the hint that as soon as you contact them they will give you a credit card number and then they will order a large quantity of the items they want. Not.

The reason they have not ordered anything from your website is that they dont have a valid credit card number so they are trying to get in the side door with the temptation of a large order. Dont fall for it. When I got the first one I actually responded to them. The second e-mail I got sounded like it came from a very busy (rich) person who was out of the country (in London) on business and they needed my personal help to get the items they wanted ordered and shipped to Haiti. They even gave me pick up orders because they wanted to use their own shipper. I wish I remembered the name of the shipper in that first letter because it was by googling the shipper name that I found the information about it being a scam.

The scammers will respond to any e-mail you send them and you will be drawn more deeply into their net. Here is an example of the most recent one I received:

Hello Good Day
With regards to your Company i am sending this email regards to order some ( Platform Truck ) ,i will like to know the type and sizes you have in stock and get me the sales price of one so that i will tell you the quantity i will be ordering, and also if you accept credit card as a form of payment .
Stay Bless .
John Truett (Owner)

Notice the name of the signer -- doesnt that sound like a typical American name? In this one the English is much smoother (they are getting better) but the gist of the e-mail is exactly the same. They promise to order (something) and want to know if you accept credit cards. If they had actually been to your website and were really interested in an order they would simply have placed it at the website. There would be no need for them to e-mail asking these kinds of questions or making these kinds of statements.

In this particular one they even have played on my religion with the line above the signature. They are trying everything they can think of to get me to trust them but, once bitten, twice shy.

After that first one, I began to recognize them. They always have what looks like a legitimate persons name as the sender -- something normal and American sounding like Bob Jones -- but it wont be a name from your address book. The language (at this point in time) is still a rather stilted and broken English. That is because it is not coming from native English speakers (nothing wrong with that -- but it is a clue). You get the gist. It will be rather bad grammar and sentence structure -- sometimes it may not even make total English sense. When you read it, it will sound "garbled" in your mind. These dont usually have any attachments but if you get one with an attachment -- do not open it because it will likely contain a virus.

I am glad to have a way to support law enforcement officials in shutting down this type of fraud. I will still delete them but not before sending them to the FTC. I found this e-mail address: spam@uce.gov at the FTC website: www.ftc.gov under the "contact" tab in case you want to check it out yourself. I like to check things out myself just to verify things in my own mind.

Be back soon -- Have a good one!

--Marcia

Up until last night, Ive always used canned beans in recipes. I wish I could say it’s because they taste better. Or they’re cheaper. Or they come in prettier colors and sing me neat Pink Floyd songs as I go to sleep at night.

Alas, that ain’t the truth. The truth is more like this: I have never been able to rehydrate dried beans. Ever. Like, in recorded history. Even before I was born, I couldn’t do it. No matter how long I soaked, no matter how many hours I boiled, my dried legumes always stayed dried. Like tiny, grainy BB gun pellets.

Then, I stumbled over The Kitchns One-Pot Pasta e Fagioli, which uses caramelized onions and a smattering of bacon to flavor a rich broth, in which dried cannellini beans, pasta, and spinach are then cooked to a soft, hearty stew. (Wow, that was a long sentence. Also, A Smattering of Bacon is potentially great title for your next novel about Existentialism.)

And just like that, I have been joined the ranks of the People Who Are Capable of Rehyrdating Beans, or PWACORB. Really, its kind of a revelation, and not just because dried cannellinis are much creamier than canned. Theyre also way, way less expensive, use significantly less packaging, and are a comparative breeze to carry. Which? Is important when youre training for the Olympics. (Note: I am not training for the Olympics.)

Back to that recipe, though: I liked it, and its a wonderful way to incorporate bacon into your diet in a healthy way. However, it did turn kind of mushy. Not unacceptably so. Just more than I would have liked. To remedy this, next time I will:

1) Try using a thicker pasta. I added elbow macaroni, and it softened pretty quickly. A whole-wheat pasta or sturdier mezze penne or orrechiette would have probably held up better.

2) Try adding the pasta last. That way, it wont have so much time to absorb extra water.

Besides that minor issue, we ate it, and have more than enough to last for a week o office lunches. Not to mention, now I will rehydrate beans with impunity. IMPUNITY, I SAY!

~~~

If this looks tasty, you’ll surely enjoy:

• Chicken Noodle Soup
• Easy Vegetarian Bean Chili
• Quinoa Soup with Avocado and Corn

~~~

One-Pot Pasta e Fagioli
Serves 8 to 10
Adapted from The Kitchn.


1 pound dried cannellini beans
5 strips bacon, chopped
2 medium yellow onions, sliced thin
3 medium celery stalks, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 (15-ounce) can chicken broth
1 bay leaf
1/2 pound small pasta (whole-wheat for extra healthiness)
5 thyme sprigs
3 teaspoons salt
10 ounces frozen spinach (fresh would also work)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Parmesan cheese, for serving (optional)

1) In a large mixing bowl, add beans and enough water to cover by an inch or two. Let sit overnight.

2) In a large pot or Dutch oven, cook bacon over medium heat until a little crispy. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon or a spider. Set aside. Get rid of all bacon fat in pot, except for one tablespoon. Add onions and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until caramelized. (This will take anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes, depending on how large you slice the onions and a few other factors.)

3) Preheat oven to 325 °F.

4) Add celery to onion mixture. Sauté 3 minutes. Add garlic. Sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Scoop half of onion mixture into a bowl and set aside with bacon.

5) Deglaze pot with 1 cup chicken broth, making sure you scrape up all the tasty onion bits stuck to the bottom.

6) Drain beans. Add to pot along with bay leaf, remaining chicken broth, and “enough water to cover the beans and onions by 1 inch.” Cover. Stick in oven and braise for 1 hour. If the beans aren’t soft after 1 hour, cook an additional 15 to 20 minutes.

7) Remove pot from oven. Place on burner and turn it up to medium-high heat. Add reserved bacon, reserved onion mixture, thyme, remaining salt, and pasta. Cook until pasta is almost done. Stir occasionally, and don’t be afraid to add more water if things are getting a little dry.

8) Add block of frozen spinach. Cook, stirring often, until spinach is totally defrosted and spread out in stew. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve topped with parmesan cheese.

OTHER SERVING SUGGESTIONS: Try using a thicker, smaller pasta, or perhaps a whole-wheat pasta. If you’d like it to have more of a chew, add it in with the spinach and cook until al dente. The pasta will soften significantly and absorb water as the stew sits, so dont fear adding more H2O as time goes on.

Approximate Calories, Fat, Fiber, Protein, and Price Per Serving
Nine servings: 312 calories, 3.6 g fat, 6.3 g fiber, 17.8 g protein, $0.68

NOTE: Calculations are for Goya cannellini beans, also known as white kidney beans or alubias.

Calculations
1 pound dried cannellini beans: 1500 calories, 10 g fat, 40 g fiber, 100 g protein, $1.59
5 strips bacon, chopped: 230 calories, 17.8 g fat, 0 g fiber, 15.7 g protein, $0.83
2 medium yellow onions, sliced thin: 92 calories, 0.2 g fat, 3.1 g fiber, 2 g protein, $0.50
3 medium celery stalks, diced: 17 calories, 0.2 g fat, 1.9 g fiber, 0.8 g protein, $0.30
4 garlic cloves, minced: 17 calories, 0.1 g fat, 0.2 g fiber, 0.7 g protein, $0.32
1 (15-ounce) can chicken broth: 30 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g fiber, 5.8 g fiber, $0.66
1 bay leaf: negligible calories, fat, fiber, and protein, $0.02
1/2 pound small pasta: 840 calories, 4 g fat, 8 g fiber, 28 g protein, $0.33
5 thyme sprigs: negligible calories, fat, fiber, and protein, $0.50
3 teaspoons salt: negligible calories, fat, fiber, and protein, $0.02
10 ounces frozen spinach: 103 calories, 0 g fat, 3.4 g fiber, 6.8 g protein, $1.00
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper: negligible calories, fat, fiber, and protein, $0.02
TOTAL: 2812 calories, 32.3 g fat, 56.6 g fiber, 159.8 g protein, $6.09
PER SERVING (TOTAL/9): 312 calories, 3.6 g fat, 6.3 g fiber, 17.8 g protein, $0.68

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