POMEGRANATES

Since this is almost the month of September, I thought Pomegranates would be an appropriate fruit to tell you about. Fresh pomegranates are only available from September to January. If stored at 32 to 41 degrees they can have a shelf life of seven months.

If you've never had one, it might look like a little more trouble than it's worth, but trust me, it's easy to open and delicious to eat. If you cut off the top end you can cut or rip out the sections. Each section is filled with sacs of juice with a seed inside each one. The sacs are small and can easily be removed from the fruit. The sacs can then be eaten seeds and all if you wish. I usually spit them out, however the fiber you need is in the seed and it's perfectly all right to eat them.

Besides enjoying them right from the fruit as a snack, you can use them to sprinkle on ice cream, in yogurt, and dips. You can put them in stuffing’s and use them to make juice or sauces for main dishes. They are as versatile as they are delicious!

September means going back to school, preparing the upcoming monthly holidays, and also as Americans, gets us to thinking about 9/11. This must be a very difficult time for all the family and friends of the victims of that horrible day. We wish them well and hope that while the memories will always be fresh in their minds, it will get easier to deal with each passing year.

Some families however are still dealing with financial and legal matters related to that day. A widow of one of the victims, who is represented by simmons jannace & stagg, has been taken to court by a former lawyer who represented her before the Victims Compensation Fund. Her former lawyer wants 2.000.000 as his fee, when most lawyers understood that taking fees from this fund and situation was discouraged. They went before a federal court, which then decided that until the state court made its decision, they would stay out of it. The federal court did rule that when the state court had made its decision, they could be called on again to hear the case.