Join in the fun this spring as we celebrate quality, priced-to-please Australian wines. Defined by a vibrant mix of cultures and an unmatched diversity of land and climates, Australia produces wine styles as rich and varied as the soil from which each grape grows.

In the past few years, Australia has earned a solid reputation for producing some of the finest varietals in the world. We’re excited to offer eleven of Australia’s highest quality selections at affordable prices. From an organically grown Chardonnay and a spritzy, aromatic Verdelho-Viognier blend to a dark chocolate cherry Pinot Noir and the continent’s best Cabernet Sauvignon, we have styles for everyone. Throw some barramundi on the barbie and grab a bottle of one of these Aussie gems.

Here’s a sampling of three of these fabulous wines that are featured through May 5th at our stores that sell wine:

Innocent Bystander, Pinot Gris, Yarra Valley

• A thoughtful and refreshingly zingy wine from Victoria’s first wine-growing district.
• Its aromas of lime leaves, honeydew and tart apples end with cashew notes and a nice dry finish.
• Enjoy with Murray Bridge Australian Cheddar or light main courses such as sashimi or oysters.

Shoofly, Buzz Cut, Adelaide Hills

• This wildly aromatic white is a blend of Riesling, Viognier, Verdelho, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.



• Spritzy, with an herbal edge, tropical flavors and citrusy crispness.
• Drink with spicy Thai or Vietnamese food, pork, whitefish or Cypress Grove Purple Haze goat cheese.

Big Woop, Red Wine, McLaren Vale, Riverland, & Limestone Coast (Coonawarra)

• This Grenache, Shiraz and Petite Verdot mix is a huge value in a huge (1-liter) bottle!
• A bold, gently spicy red with dark berry flavors and a deeply fruited but dry finish.
• Perfect with burgers, barbecue, pasta with marinara sauce or King Island Dairy Roaring Forties Blue or Rogue Anniversary Blue.

On our Aussie Wine page, you can find out about all of the featured wines, take a virtual tour of Australia’s diverse wine regions and download a “do it yourself” Aussie wine-tasting party with wine descriptions, cheese tray cards, recipes and more.

We’ve also partnered with Tourism Australia australia.com/now and Wine Australia wineaustralia.com who are offering a chance to win a trip Down Under through their Aussie Virtual Wine Challenge.

Enjoy this spring with a wine walkabout!

During Whole Trade February, we hope you’ve learned a lot about the difference that Whole Trade makes. In case you are just tuning in, The Whole Trade Guarantee is our commitment to quality, the environment and ethical trade with partners in developing countries. To wrap up the month, we wanted to revisit bananas – our first Whole Trade product and a great example of the very real, positive impact we can have on farm workers, communities and the environment while providing a quality product to our customers.

Bananas were the first product to carry the Whole Trade Guarantee. Over the past several years, we’ve built relationships with some of the world’s best and most socially and environmentally innovative banana growers. Bananas from these farms are now stickered with the Whole Trade seal and are available in our stores nationwide almost every day. Considering the social and environmental problems that have resulted from large scale banana production in many Latin American countries, we are proud to offer this excellent fruit from growers that are truly part of the solution.

Our Whole Trade bananas come from two primary origins: Costa Rica and Colombia. Customers in our Washington, Oregon and British Columbia stores will find that we’ve recently introduced Whole Trade bananas from Ecuador and Peru as well. For this post, I’ll focus on our primary growers. I’ll tell you a little about each and I encourage you to follow the links to learn more on your own.

EARTH – Limón, Costa Rica

EARTH (Escuela de Agricultura de la Región Tropical Húmeda) is a non-profit, international university dedicated to the sustainable development of the tropics through education, research and outreach. EARTH specifically recruits students from poor, rural communities around the tropics and provides many students with full scholarships so they can attend. When EARTH’s founders acquired the land to build the university campus in the late 1980’s, the property included a commercial banana farm, which EARTH decided to keep active as an outdoor laboratory and as a business where they practice the entrepreneurial approach to agriculture that they teach. Since then, EARTH’s faculty, staff and students have been working to reduce the environmental impact of the farm by protecting biodiversity and drastically reducing the amount of chemicals used in conventional banana production. EARTH’s farm is certified by the Rainforest Alliance and they go far beyond the requirements of the certification. Some of the environmental techniques developed at EARTH in the early days have become industry standard. Learn more about the practices in place at EARTH’s farm.

Whole Foods Market has been buying EARTH bananas for more than six years. This will be the third year that we will buy all of their top quality production. We pay an above market, fixed price for this special fruit. We buy directly from the farm and ship and import the bananas ourselves. This direct trading model requires significant daily attention from a team at our national produce office but it allows us to pay EARTH more and lets us maintain a true direct connection to this farm. EARTH’s profits from its sales to Whole Foods Market support the scholarship fund and university operations.

This is most definitely a different banana and you will only find it at our stores.

Learn more: EARTH Foundation, EARTH University, Rainforest Alliance

Turbana/Uniban – Urabá, Colombia

Turbana is the brand and US-based distribution company of Uniban, SA, a company owned by independent Colombian banana growers in the northwestern Urabá region of Colombia. Uniban was founded in the late 1960’s when disagreements with multinational banana companies led a group of Colombian growers to seek direct access to export markets. They made their first direct sale in 1969 and have never looked back. The Urabá region was particularly affected by the decades of armed conflict in Colombia, but Uniban growers never stopped producing and exporting bananas. Their dedication kept a local economy and legitimate employment options alive during a very difficult time. As a group, they give back to their communities through a foundation that they fund with a donation for each box of fruit they export. More recently, many Uniban growers have implemented the Fair Trade certification, making Uniban one of the largest producers of Fair Trade Certified bananas in the world.

We buy Turbana’s Fair Trade Certified fruit for our Whole Trade program. According to a report we recently received from Transfair USA, our purchases of Whole Trade bananas from Turbana during 2009, “generated $268,677 in premium dollars for community development projects and $139,712 in above-market returns to farmers to support eco-friendly farming techniques, including conversion to mechanical weed control and the elimination of the use of over 300,000 gallons of herbicide preparations.” Those premium dollars are managed by workers at each farm who have chosen to fund housing, education, microloan and community development projects.

This is our second year purchasing Whole Trade bananas from Turbana. They have proven to be a valuable partner with a quality product. They are Whole Trade worthy all day long. We hope this is the beginning of a long-term relationship.

Learn more: Turbana, Uniban, Transfair USA

Matt Rogers manages our banana and pineapple programs and serves as team leader to our semi-nomadic clan of produce and floral field inspectors. He joined Whole Foods Market after spending three years in Costa Rica coordinating a broad partnership between Whole Foods Market and EARTH University. When not reading field reports or working to increase Whole Trade produce supplies, Matt can be found trying harder and harder to get out of cell range on foot, boat, bike or ski.

Is it just me, or is it starting to feel like winter is really trying to stick around this year? I know the conversation around my dinner table seems to constantly have the phrase “I’m so tired of being cold” thrown in at some point…but being a Native Texan, I think I’m just spoiled. Luckily, my job allows for the occasional side-trip into another season altogether. Regardless of what Mother Nature is brewing up, I’m typically living about six weeks to ten weeks in the future. So while it’s looking pretty miserable outside my office window right now, I’ve got a true campaigner for spring on my mind…tulips!

It’s hard to imagine the change in seasons without the quietly flamboyant face of a Novelty, the gentle giant of French, or the nostalgic joy of a Standard tulip greeting the morning sun across your breakfast table. It’s easy to admire the amazing attributes of a tulip, but what about the farms that grow them? Who are the people behind the joy we place in our vase? Whole Foods Market sources from a variety of farms and growers that offer up floral delights unlike any other, and tulips are no exception. Allow me a moment to introduce you to two of our partners in bringing spring to life; one from the West coast and one from the East.

Lane DeVries, President and CEO of The Sun Valley Group

The Sun Valley Group in California is one of the largest flower growing operations in the United States and has been in business for 61 years. Founded as “Sun Valley Bulb Farm” in Oregon by a high school agriculture teacher and one of his students, it expanded to the Northern California coastal town of Arcata in 1969. Lane DeVries partnered with two Dutch bulb cultivars in purchasing Sun Valley in 1991 and changed the name to Sun Valley Floral Farms. A fourth generation grower, Lane was born in the Netherlands and received his B.S. degree in Horticulture in Holland, before immigrating to the United States. Securing a job at Sun Valley, Lane came to Arcata and built the first Dutch Glass greenhouse. Soon after, he became the greenhouse manager, and in 1988 was promoted to General Manager. The California coasts’ unique climate really comes in handy, especially when it comes to tulips. Here, they are able to utilize the mild winters, cool summers, generous humidity, and coastally moderate sunlight. The glasshouse environments provide the greatest degree of accuracy for growing tulips as they can mimic an early spring season at any time of the year, and the process of going from bulb to bloom typically takes about 21 days. To the folks at The Sun Valley Group, harvesting these tulips is a labor of love!

Picking Tulips – The Sun Valley Group, Arcata California

On the other side of the country, the east coast is home to another specialist in the tulip field, with a slightly different approach to growing this energetic bloom. The folks at Fresh Tulips USA in Virginia come from a long line of tulip growers from The Netherlands, where Fresh Tulips USA majority owner Nico Boatman’s grandfather started a small farm shortly after World War II. Two generations later, the extended family now owns and operates a worldwide operation with tulip farms in Europe and South America. Picking only the top of the line in bulb size, quality, and variety; they import their bulbs from The Netherlands, France and Chile. These are then grown hydroponically (in water with no soil), allowing for a very clean product. Their state of the art greenhouses can be opened completely so as to utilize the wonderful weather in Stevensburg, Virginia whenever possible! This allows the tulips to enjoy the benefits of being grown outside (direct sunlight makes for super-green foliage and strong, bold colors). The direct influence of nature has a very positive impact on the flower quality, and as the team at Fresh Tulips USA says “the best quality is grown under natural circumstances.”

Coen Haakman and Nico Botman in the greenhouse at Fresh Tulips USA, LLC

Opened Greenhouse at Fresh Tulips USA, LLC

General Manager, Coen Haakman proudly displays their pink tulips

When it comes to tulips, the choices are as diverse as varieties and ways in which they are grown. Whether you yearn for bold and brilliant splashes of tangerine orange and imperial purple, or delight in the subtle hues of pure white, and butter cream yellow…there is a tulip out there to fit your mood! Thanks to the dedication to quality, attention to detail, and obvious love for what they do, the folks at The Sun Valley Group and Fresh Tulips USA help remind us that color has returned, and spring is on its way. I don’t know about you, but there is a bunch of bright orange tulips calling my name right now!

ufc-110-live–stream.blogspot.com UFC will be aired on feb 20, To watch UFC 110 Noguiera VS Velasquez live stream in high quality for free, please follow the URL above.

Kevin Rose interviewed Dr. Weil the other day and asked him a bunch of questions regarding health issues for computer geeks.

Geek Question: How bad is soda?

Dr. Weil: I don’t think there is anything wrong with carbonation, but the problem with most sodas is that they are high is sugar. The vast consumption of sugary drinks is one of the main things that’s driving the obesity epidemic in young people in this country. I like sparkling water with a little fruit juice in it.

High fructose corn syrup is bad and a marker of low quality foods, but whether a soft drink is sweetened with HFCS or “real sugar” is not a big difference nutritionally.

Geek Question: What about energy drinks?

Dr. Weil: You want to read labels. They throw everything but the kitchen sink in and there’s no real reason behind the ingredients. Be careful about sugar content. There may be many different caffeine sources in something. The price might not be justified with what’s in it. Plus, there are many tried and true energy drinks like coffee and tea.

Geek Question: What do you recommend to pull an all-nighter?

Dr. Weil: Coffee is great for that, but if you use it regularly, it’s not going to have much effect. There are forms of tea that are quite powerful. Matcha, a powdered green tea, was developed in Japan to keep Zen Monks awake.

There are other natural stimulants like bitter orange, which is an ingredient in some of these energy drinks. That has replaced ephedra in a lot of the things out there.

Geek Question: A lot of people are saying that dairy is bad for you. Is that true?

Dr. Weil: I think that’s an over-simplification. I think cow’s milk and all of its derivatives is a problem for a lot of people. Butter fat is not great for our hearts and arteries. The sugar in cow’s milk, lactose, is indigestible for a lot of people. But the big problem is the protein in cow’s milk, casein, has a particular ability to irritate the immune system and be associated with allergy.

The antibiotics that the cows are treated with is a whole other issue. One aspect that I never hear discussed is that in North America, we have cows lactating or pregnant almost all of the time. Because of that there is a high level of sex hormones in the milk and those hormones are cancer promoting. These are natural hormones that are the consequences of keeping cows lactating, but they can cause breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men.

Geek Question: What about soy milk?

Dr. Weil: In Japan, where soy milk is consumed regularly, there is generally better health, better longevity and much lower rates of hormonally driven cancers. I think it’s very beneficial to consume whole soy foods moderately and regularly. That’s WHOLE soy foods (edamame, soy nuts, soy milk, tofu, tempeh), not fake food made with soy isolate, soy supplements, or soy isoflavones. We have no information on the safety of these products.

Geek Question: What vitamins should we be taking?

Dr. Weil: I think the quality of vitamins matters, but the quality doesn’t necessarily correlate with the price. I don’t think vitamins are substitutes for the foods that contain them, because at best they are partial representations of what nature provides. They are useful for insurance against gaps in the diet.

Geek Question: What vitamin D? A lot of geeks don’t get a lot of sunshine.

Dr. Weil: This is standard. Vitamin D deficiency is the rule in this country. Dermatologists have made everyone so paranoid about the sun that they use sunscreen, which blocks vitamin D. It’s worth getting your levels checked, but I recommend that everybody take 2000 i.u. of vitamin D a day. Take it with your largest meal, because it needs fat to be absorbed. The BEST way to get it from sun exposure.

Geek Question: What about Omega-3 oils?

Dr. Weil: This is the greatest deficiency in our nation. I recommend you take 2-3 grams of fish oil every day. Omega-3 rich fish to eat: sardines and sock-eye salmon. Krill is a good idea, but I’m concerned about sustainability. Chia and flax seed are good for your diet, but they aren’t substitutes for the nutrients you get from fish. Plant derived omega-3’s are a different molecule that the body needs to convert to what it needs and that conversion is not very efficient.

Geek Question: What about cell phone radiation?

Dr. Weil: That’s a very controversial issue. The bottom line is that you should err on the side of caution. I try to personally limit cell phone use. Distancing yourself from the source of the radiation is useful.

Geek Question: What about eye problems from looking at the computer screen every day?

Dr. Weil: That is a real issue. I guess the best advice is to get into the habit of looking at something distance once every two minutes. Protect your eyes from UV radiation when you’re out in the sun. Take the right doses of antioxidant vitamins.

Geek Question: What about pomegranate juice?

Dr. Weil: We should be eating lots of fruits and vegetables. The practical advice is that you want to eat across the color spectrum (every color of fruit and vegetable that you can). I don’t think you need to spend outrageous amounts of money on exotic super fruits. There are plenty of things on hand to eat that are much cheaper and more available. You don’t need these exotic things in your diet and we have plenty of home grown things that are great.

Geek Question: What is it about chocolate that has such addictive properties to it and is that really good for me?

Dr. Weil: Chocolate has a stimulant drug in it called theobromine. It also has a high fat content. It also has a chemical in it called phenethylamine that some people think is associated with elevated mood and a sense of emotional well-being.

Geek Question: What about the Atkin’s Diet?

Dr. Weil: I think the better incarnation of that is probably South Beach Diet. For men, particularly, it’s a relatively easy way of dropping weight. I recommend the anti-inflammatory diet. Try to avoid products made with flour and sugar.

Geek Question: You were against trans-fats and now they are labeled on packaging. Is there anything else that you’d like to get awareness about?

Dr. Weil: High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is an indicator of low quality food. Avoid the food if there are too many ingredients on the label or ingredients that you don’t recognize.

Geek Question: At what point should you seek medical advice for depression? Are there supplements for it?

Dr. Weil: You should see a doctor about severe depression when it is interfering with daily living: can’t work, can’t get out of bed, disordered eating. Most cases of mild to moderate depression can be managed with regular aerobic exercise, getting adequate exposure to bright light, getting good sleep, moderate intake of caffeine and alcohol and supplements (vitamin D, fish oil, Sam-e, and St. John’s Wort).

Geek Question: What about exercise?

Dr. Weil: I think it’s important to get some sort of exercise every day. For people dealing with depression, I’d say a minimum of thirty minutes of some kind of vigorous aerobic activity at least five or six days of the week.

Geek Question: Are juice cleanses good for us?

Dr. Weil: The best way to detox a body is to stop putting toxic things in. The body has marvelous ways of clearing things up like urination, sweating, breathing and elimination. Drink more water, use a sauna and exercise to increase sweating and make sure you go to the restroom regularly. I tend to rely on those much more natural methods of detoxification. I don’t think you have to invest in these fancy detox kits and products that are sold in health food stores.

Geek Question: You’re a big drinker of tea. What do you recommend?

Dr. Weil: I personally like good quality green tea, oolong tea, occasionally Darjeeling tea, and pu-erh tea. Most of the medical research has been done on green tea. Go to a tea shop and Asian grocery stores to get good tea.

I got asked to stop filming!!! Hahahah….must be more stealthy next time although that’s kind of hard with the big open spaces and staff members everywhere. Just a note, this is a really big store – most grocery stores here are not quite as big as this but many metropolitan areas have one or two of these megastores where you can also find a restaurant, a phone store, electronics, home hardware and a drugstore beside the grocery. Something I didn’t address: the prices. Food prices in Switzerland are among the highest in all of Europe, for example much higher than in neighbouring countries like Germany or France. However, the quality of the food is in some ways also higher. Much of the meat comes from Swiss farms, and although the cost of having livestock in an expensive country like Switzerland is exorbitant, the quality of the meat is also really amazing. Organic food is very popular in Switzerland with usually a very large assortment available at all the big chain grocers. All organic food must be officially certified by an independent commission, and the criteria for becoming an organic farmer are very stringent. Swiss people in general care a lot about their food, where it comes from, the quality of the meat and produce, and the conditions the animals live in. However, all this comes at a pretty hefty price. Sometimes I wish food was cheaper and that Switzerland allowed more foreign imports to bring down prices, but on the other hand I think it is great that supporting Swiss farmers helps to keep up a high standard of food grade, versus cheap mass imports that are of inferior quality.

Since launching our enhanced Quality Standards for Aquaculture in July 2008, we’ve maintained a relatively low profile. We got the word out to the media, posted background information and the detailed standards on our website as well as brochures and other signage in our seafood departments. I also presented the standards at various meetings and conferences. However, we found that we still needed a quick way for our busy customers to see-at a glance-that there’s something special about the farmed seafood sold at Whole Foods Market.

Lots of people know Whole Foods Market as the company that prohibits preservatives such as sodium bisulfite, sodium tri-polyphosphate, and sodium metabisulfite in our seafood. But we go way beyond that. While there are a growing number of seafood standards out there, none have strict standards like ours that cover all the bases-from synthetic chemical use, feed, environmental contaminants, water quality and pollution prevention, predator control, to traceability. And this is just a subset of what our standards cover.

Simply put, the Whole Foods Market “Responsibly Farmed” logo means that the product meets our strict Whole Foods Market Quality Standards for Aquaculture. The logo also means that the product has been third-party verified to ensure our standards are being met.

But hey, don’t just take our word for it. It’s not just us saying that our standards are the strictest. Our producers-the ones who actually farm the fish and have to meet the standards-say it too. And so have our supporters in the environmental community. Here’s what a few had to say:

The Farm Raised Seafood Standards at Whole Foods Market are at a level unto their own and took years to develop—they are the highest in the industry.
—Rob Mayo, President, Carolina Classics Catfish, Inc.

There is no doubt that Whole Foods Market’s aquaculture standards are the strongest among all grocers. Producers who want to supply farmed salmon to Whole Foods Market must be dedicated to moving the salmon industry in the right direction. We are proud to be a part of that move.
—Johan Andreassen, Villa Organic, Norway

Whole Foods Market’s aquaculture purchasing policy sets a high bar for food retailers eager to provide healthy, ocean-friendly seafood for consumers across the country. When a leading retailer like Whole Foods Market makes this kind of commitment to standards for farmed seafood, suppliers around the world will work to meet the requirements.
—Tim Fitzgerald, Senior Policy Specialist, Environmental Defense Fund

So, how do you like the new logo?

Eyeglass, as an necessary ornament for most people, are required not only good in quality, excellent in durability but also innovated in style. So with development of eyeglasses for such a long time, different eyeglass styles have been designed, among which semi-rimless is a style popular among people in all aging groups.

From its name, it is not hard to tell that semi-rimless eyeglass is the one in which frames only cover half the lenses. It is between the full-frame and frameless ones in design. Therefore, it is also called, semi-frameless, half rim, and half-frame eyeglasses.

They are mainly composed of a frame line, which is used to hold the lenses at each side, a bridge, as an integrate part of the half frame and of course two lenses.

It is this designation that makes it find favor in the customer’s eyes. Because the designation not only makes the eyeglass lighter than the traditional full-framed eyeglasses, which reduces burden to nose, but also wins itself the uniqueness, attracting countless attentions. In addition, semi-rimless eyeglasses present the natural look of the wearer, therefore, for those who think they are not suitable to wear glasses, they can choose semi-rimless glasses, because they can be “invisible” on their faces if the proper type is selected.

Semi-rimless eyeglasses, as full framed eyeglasses, can be of diverse types. According to your preference, you can choose rectangle black plastic half rim glasses, or rectangle pink metal alloy half rim glasses or round titanium half rim glasses. At present, the top 3 semi-rimless glasses are: the unisex rectangle black semi-rimless glasses with titanium material, ladies semi rimless prescription glasses with spring loaded for added comfort and polished metal semi-framed reading glasses.

Generally speaking, semi-rimless glasses present a feeling of steady and maturity, therefore, wearing such a pair, the wearer will appear to be trustworthy and intellectually mature. Maybe a pair of semi-rimless eyeglasses is able to help you to strike deals and win trust from the boss.

If you want to buy a pair of semi-rimless eyeglasses, to cut price, you can choose to buy a pair cheap semi-rimless eyeglasses at Firmoo.com, a newly emerged but fast growing on-line optical stores, which sells high quality and low-priced eyewear, such as prescription eyeglasses, prescription sunglasses, prescription sports goggles. It is also an optical store which provides return and refund policy, so that right of customers can be guaranteed.

Firmoo.com is the emerging online eyeglasses store selling high quality eyewear, such as prescription eyeglasses (single vision myopic glasses, reading glasses, bifocal and progressive eyeglasses etc.,), prescription sunglasses (with RX tinted lenses), prescription sports goggles. Firmoo guarantees lowest possible price in the market. Firmoo’s return and refund policy makes any purchase risk-free ones.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/shopping-articles/buy-cheap-semirimless-glasses-at-firmoocom-1786206.html