Spice Up Your Valentines Day With These Surprising Aphrodisiacs From Around The World

by Reena Ganga on

With Valentines Day fast approaching, you may be wondering how best to set the mood for some romance. Aphrodisiacs have been a popular approach throughout history and people around the world have invented all sorts of creative concoctions to up their game, so to speak.

What kinds of concoctions you ask? Well, put it this way: if all you’ve tried are the usual oysters and chocolate, you haven’t lived. Read on to learn about some of the more surprising aphrodisiacs used by different cultures, from crushed insects to sea creatures and beyond.

Note: some of these foods might leave you feeling nauseated rather than turned on. Don’t say you weren’t warned!

China: Sea Cucumbers

This sea creature’s claim to fame as an aphrodisiac may have something to do with its physical properties: it’s shaped like a cucumber and squirts out sticky white threads to defend itself from enemies. Yes, exactly. Sea Cucumbers (see image above) are often touted as a natural alternative to Viagra due to their high concentration of vitamins and minerals that have potential for boosting performance in the bedroom. The Sea Cucumber doesn’t have much flavor but locals whip it up into a soup or stir-fry to make it more palatable. Cleaning, soaking, cooking and preparing the gelatinous sea slug for eating is a rather a complicated process, so you may want to pick them up from an Asian market where most of the work has already been done for you. You can also find Sea Cucumber in dried or capsule form.

South America: Giant Leaf Cutter Ants

These giant ants, which grow up to three quarters of an inch long have been used to spark romance in South America for more than 500 years. Locals remove the wings and legs of the insects before roasting them up for a crunchy pre-sex snack that’s high in protein and low in fat. The Leaf Cutter Ants are so known for their aphrodisiacal properties that they’re considered a traditional gift to give to newly married couples. The ants apparently taste like bacon, so if you go this route, you can at least rest assured your partner won’t have to endure insect breath.

Ethiopia: Camel’s Milk

In Ethiopia, locals believe camel’s milk possesses powerful aphrodisiac qualities. The creamy white drink isn’t widely available in the West, but has long been a staple dairy product among those in Africa and the Middle East. Camel’s milk is rich in vitamins, with more than three times as much vitamin C as regular cow’s milk, as well as lots of iron and B vitamins. Because of this, camel milk aficionados tout the drink as a cure-all for whatever ails you – including any trouble you might be having in the sack.

Europe: The Spanish Fly

This aphrodisiac from Europe is made up of the dried up remains of a bug. Unlike many aphrodisiacs, which have more of a placebo effect than anything, Spanish Fly actually works – although we don’t suggest you try it since the remedy could seriously jeopardize your health. Spanish Fly does its job by irritating the male organs and causing them to swell up – but not in a good way. The chemical in Spanish Fly is actually toxic and can cause kidney and gastrointestinal problems and in some cases, even death. It’s not exactly the kind of bang you want to end your night with.

Italy: Salami

Probably the most mundane and approachable of all the aphrodisiacs on this list, salami is the key to getting hot in the cot according to a poll of Italians. More than a quarter of Italian women say that their aphrodisiac of choice is salami, while other common stimulants include cheese, risotto, and even steamed vegetables. Experts say the most effective kinds of salami are the super spicy varieties, since the chiles in them help to increase blood flow – helping you spice things up.

[Photo Credits: Flickr users Ed Bierman; Geoff Gallice; Zaid Al Balushi; Wikimedia Commons user H.Zell; Flickr user TheDeliciousLife]

Good News, Ladies! Now You Can Wear Pants In Paris

by Sean McLachlan on


Are you a woman planning a trip to Paris? Well, now you can pack a pair of pants without fear of running afoul of the law. The BBC reports that it is now legal for women to wear pants in the City of Love.

The city government has finally struck a law off the books dating back to 1800 that required women to get police permission before “dressing like a man.” Around the turn of the past century, concessions were made to ladies riding horses or bicycles but in general, fairer sex had to stick to skirts.

The law, of course, has not been enforced in many years. It isn’t the only odd law on the books. Every state and city has a few antiquated regulations that the local government doesn’t remember existing, let alone trying to enforce. There are a bazillion websites on the Internet listing weird laws.

Many of these are apocryphal, however. One I heard while living in Arizona stated that it’s illegal to wear suspenders in Nogales. The law supposedly dates back to Prohibition. Nogales, being a border town, was full of gringos heading south of the border to get drunk. It still is. Back in Prohibition days, the story goes, some tried to smuggle bottles back over the border into the U.S. and wore suspenders to keep their pants from falling down from the extra weight. The bullshit-cleaning website Snopes actually checked and found that no such law ever existed.

For every old weird law that gets eliminated, a new one crops up. Live Science has a great list of weird state laws that took effect at the beginning of 2013. In Oregon, for example, it’s now illegal for employers to post job openings if they won’t consider hiring someone who is unemployed. Perverts will be disappointed to learn that it is now illegal to have sex with a corpse in Illinois. It used to be that if you got caught with a cadaver the worst you could be charged with was criminal damage to property.

Um… since when are corpses considered property? Whose property?

[Photo courtesy Procsilas Moscas]

Bryan Adams Opens Photography Exhibition In Düsseldorf

by Sean McLachlan on

For any child of the ’80s, Bryan Adams is that clean-cut Canadian rock star with a steady string of hits. While he’s not as big as he once was, he’s still making great music and going on tour.

What many people don’t know about him is that he’s also an accomplished photographer. He’s been published in magazines such as Esquire and Interview and has done numerous shows at top venues such as the Saatchi Gallery in London.

Adams takes advantage of his superstar status to get other famous musicians to pose for him. Check out the image of Amy Winehouse below. He’s also photographed Queen Elizabeth II and got that image used on a Canadian postage stamp.

Now his latest show has opened at the NRW-Forum in Düsseldorf, Germany. “Bryan Adams – Exposed” features a cross-section of his best work from the past couple of decades. Some 150 portraits of artists are included as well as numerous new works. Some of his newer images go beyond his circle of superstar friends to portray wounded British servicemen from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, like this image of Private Karl Hinett.”I took my first photos with a small camera that belonged to my parents,” Adams said in a press release issued by the NRW-Forum. “The subjects of my first film, in the mid 1970s, were concert photos of the Beach Boys, parking lot walls, my girlfriend in the bathroom, my Mom, my piano, just everyday things, but exactly the things I could see around me.”

“Bryan Adams – Exposed” runs until May 22.

[Images copyright Bryan Adams]

A European Culinary Essential: 5 Recipes To Celebrate World Nutella Day On February 5

by Anna Brones on

There was a time when Nutella was merely a memory of European backpacking trips. The stuff was bought as you tried to keep your daily budget to $20 a day and would be spread on slices of bread from a local baker as you trekked through the old world.

But the hazelnut chocolate spread rose in popularity, and soon began to spread around the world, and now it’s as easy to find in an American grocery store as it is in a crepe stand in Paris.

February 5 is World Nutella Day, and for a product that has become synonymous with European breakfasts it’s only appropriate that the product gets its own international celebration. In fact, World Nutella Day is in its seventh year, and because of it, the website has a collection of over 700 recipes.

The earliest form of Nutella was created in the 1940s in Italy. Since then it has spread to global proportions. In fact, the amount of Nutella produced worldwide in one day is equivalent to nearly three times the weight of the Statue of Liberty.

To evoke travel dreams, here are five recipes perfect for celebrating World Nutella Day.

Make Your Own Nutella

It’s hard to go wrong with hazelnuts, chocolate and sugar, and Nutella is surprisingly easy to make at home.

Nutella Stuffed French Toast

The ultimate breakfast just might be French toast with a layer of creamy Nutella inside.

Nutella Cake

Infused with a little Frangelico, this cake is easy to make and shockingly addictive.

Hot Nutella and Cream Cheese Sandwich

A dessert sandwich? Yes. Combine Nutella with the savory flavor of a grilled cheese sandwich and you get this delectable item.

Chicken Enchiladas with Nutella Mole Poblano

Who said you had to stick to sweet dishes? Nutella makes an excellent addition to the classic chocolate mole sauce of Mexican dishes.

[Photo Credit: janineomg, Istelleinad]

Scientists Confirm Remains Of King Richard III Have Been Found

by Sean McLachlan on

Archaeologists from the University of Leicester have confirmed that they have found the remains of King Richard III beneath a parking lot in Leicester, England.

Richard III was the last of the Plantagenet kings and fought an epic struggle with the Tudors during the War of the Roses for control of England. He was killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. Support for the Plantagenet line crumbled and soon Henry Tudor was crowned King Henry VII.

After the battle, Richard III’s body was buried in the church choir of the Franciscan friary of the Grey Friars. Dr. Richard Buckley, lead archaeologist for the project, explained that the church’s location has always been generally known although the friary was dissolved in 1538 and soon all trace of the building above ground had disappeared.

Two trenches were dug at the site last August and human remains were found almost immediately. One male skeleton had suffered from scoliosis that led to curvature of the spine. It was also unusually slender and aged in its early thirties. All characteristics agree with contemporary descriptions of Richard III.

There are ten trauma wounds on the body. Eight are on the skull. One was from a bladed weapon that cut off a section from the base of the skull. A second injury, also on the base of the skull, cut through the bone as well. Both of these wounds would have been fatal. Several other blows shaved off pieces of bone or left pockmarks in the skull. It appears that Richard wasn’t wearing a helmet by this point in the battle.Two cut marks on the rib and pelvis also appear to have been inflicted after his armor was removed. The archaeologists theorize that Richard III was stripped and given “humiliation injuries,” a common practice with dead or dying victims in the Middle Ages. Historical sources state that Richard’s naked body was slung over a horse and brought to town after the Battle of Bosworth. It may have been at this time that the extra injuries occurred.

Richard III almost suffered another humiliation centuries later when the foundation for a 19th-century brick outhouse nearly cut into his grave.

Initially the archaeologists thought they’d found a barb, perhaps from an arrow, in the body but it turns out that this was probably a Roman nail disturbed from an earlier site. No other artifacts were found in the burial.

The next step was to radiocarbon date the bone. Results showed that they dated to the late 15th early 16th century. This was all interesting but still only circumstantial evidence. There was still no proof that they had found the lost king. There was also the troubling popular legend that an angry mob threw his remains into the River Soar after the dissolution of the friary. There’s even a historic plaque at the location where this was supposed to have taken place.

The university tracked down some descendants of Richard III who agreed to give DNA samples to compare with DNA extracted from the skeleton. This was the clincher. Project geneticist Dr. Turi King confirmed at a press conference today that, “The DNA evidence points to these being the remains of Richard III.”

Dr. Richard Buckley added that they could now confirm that the body is that of Richard III “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Back in December, some of this information was leaked to the press, but today’s news conference is the first official confirmation that archaeologists have, indeed found a lost medieval king.

Richard III’s remains will be reinterred in Leicester Cathedral early next year. A permanent exhibition about Richard III and the excavation will open in town at about the same time. The university has also launched a new Richard III website.

[Top photo courtesy University of Leicester. Bottom image of the Battle of Bosworth courtesy Wikimedia Commons]


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