to make food look more appetizing, to soften hard and tough foods, and to kill any microbe that may happen to be in the food. There are many ways of preparing food. Food can be fried, boiled, broiled, roasted, baked, steamed, stewed or saut. They can be well-cooked, half cooked or even raw. It is easier to digest food that is well cooked. But there are foods that are easier to digest when half cooked than when well- cooked. Meat and liver for example, are easier to digest when half cooked. But certainly they taste better when well- cooked. Many vegetables are also easier to digest when well-cooked but some are eaten raw. Lettuce is an example of a vegetable which is eaten raw. The Legend of the Poinsettia When the poinsettia begins to bloom, we are reminded that Christmas is near. As such it has become a Christmas symbol. Poinsettias begin to bloom in November until March. The poinsettia is an odorless flower with brilliant red color. Its flowers are actually leaves. How the poinsettia came about is an interesting legend. It happened during the time of the Holy Wars or Crusades, when the Christian knights were fighting the Mohammedans to regain the Holy Land. In one of the holy wars, a brave knight climbed the wall surrounding the Holy City to open the gates so that the other Christian soldiers could enter. A Moorish soldier saw him and shot him with an arrow. As he fell over the wall, his blood dropped on a shrub