MDBCs 24 Mar 2024

Raisins are dried grapes and are used in many parts of the world for cooking, baking, and as a snack. Usually sun dried, raisins have a high amount of sugar - almost 75% of their weight is sugar. They contain antioxidants, are high in fiber, and have a low glycemic index. They are also known to have blood pressure reducing properties.

Can Be Healthy

Chocolate is considered to be a health food, especially when it is not consumed with high amounts of sugar. Eaten in its purest form or with little sugar, chocolate can help reduce risks of stroke, heart disease, and blood pressure. It can also help boost mood and improve eyesight.

Chocolate covered raisins are sometimes called Raisinets, after a popular brand of chocolate covered raisins.

Chocolate Covered Holidays

Bittersweet Chocolate With Almonds Day and Chocolate Covered Anything Day are other holidays that celebrate chocolate covered snacks and food during the year.

How to Celebrate?

Make your own chocolate covered raisins. Share the snack with family and friends.

Did You Know…

…that the scientific name for the cacao tree, theobroma cacao, means the food of deities?

***

My high-school basketball team was scheduled to play in the district tournament, and when we got there we were all excited to find our pictures and our stats published in the glossy program. My friend Brian Bird, a senior who was having a great season, eagerly searched for his name. But then he threw the program down in disgust, and I figured that there must be some error in his entry.

Sure enough, his name appeared as "Bird, Brain."

***

Desperate for a child, a couple asked their priest to pray for them. "I'm going on sabbatical to Rome," he replied. "I'll light a candle in St. Peter's for you."

When the priest returned three years later, he found the wife pregnant, tending two sets of twins. Elated, the priest asked to speak to her husband and congratulate him.

"He's gone to Rome," came the harried reply, "to blow out that candle."

***

Today in the markets, helium was up; feathers were down. Paper was stationary. Elevators rose, while escalators continued their slow decline. Mining equipment hit rock bottom. The market for raisins dried up. Coca-Cola fizzled. Balloon prices were inflated. And Scott Tissue reached a new bottom.

***

Two convicts are working on a chain gang. "I heard the warden's daughter up and married a guy down on cellblock D," the first con says to the other. "The warden's mighty upset about it too."

"Why?" asks the second prisoner. "Because she married a con?"

"No. Because they eloped."

***

The family was viewing old slides and one flashed on the screen that caught everyone's attention. My father, wearing his favorite golf shirt, was holding me at the tender age of three weeks. The look on his face told all.

"There's my prize possession," my father said.

Touched, I smiled at him as he continued, "I wonder whatever happened to that golf shirt?"