Informative

Food for Lovers

First date. Always makes you both nervous and excited at the same time. And always the same questions comes up: Where to go,what to do, what to say, how long to stay… But eventually no matter how you see it, it seems that dinner, either as "just dinner" or as an event that follows or precedes something else (eg drinks or movie), is the most popular first date choice. And for a good reason too. It has several advantages: brings you close, you get to spend time doing something familiar to both and has a very specific duration 1-1.5 hrs. Deciding, however, on dinner as first date does not mean that you are done. Now actually comes the tough part. Where to go, what to eat, what to say. I am not a date coach or a dating expert. I am a foodie. Over the years I developed a set of rules that makes dining-out from a necessity to an experience.

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Sweeteners: Know your Sugar(s)

Sugar types: Raw sugar, partially refined, refined, light brown sugar, dark brown sugar.

The white substance that it's flavor has been coded on our DNA as the most desirable flavor, the last few years it has been blamed for every dietary disease. I am talking of course about sugar. The crystallized molecules of sucrose, that carry with them not only the sweetest flavor, but also the most densely packed energy. Energy that once was essential for survival, now is converted to undesirable fat in our waist and hips. In the vast world of diets, and nutritional information, many alternatives have been suggested as a healthier sweetness source. I am not talking about the aspartame, or the Splenda. Those chemical options taste horrible. I am talking about raw sugar, molasses, brown sugar and many more.

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Culinary Metrology

On cooking the primary reason for success is inspiration, in baking is measuring. By that of course I don't mean that measuring is not required in cooking, but deviation from the original ratio of ingredients can be forgiving. And equally when baking inspiration is a key but deviating from the recipe ratio even for very little, will immediately cause inconsistencies in the outcome or even complete failure. So at the early age of baking and cooking the ratio and dosing of the ingredients became very significant and the cooks or the housewife will employ their homemade measuring device that will ensure that the quality will be consistent. Nowadays one more parameter became important temperature! In the modern kitchen, there are so many ways to measure something that you must have PhD in metrology. Join me to navigate to the wonderful world of metrology. No PhD required.

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Live thin or die trying – Part II: Diet Showdown

In the previous post we saw a brief history of the diets and the evolution of the dietary habits. The important questions answered were the ideal weight and the concept of calories. At the end what we saw was a comparative study of the various diets according to the US News articles. From the discussion that preceded the ranking it became evident that there are two trends in dieting: restricting calories, or restricting certain foods, primarily carbohydrates. And we were left right there, hanging from a few more important questions. If the calorie intake is so crucial to the weight loss how can we see how much we need and you much we must take to maintain or lose weight? What diet is right for you? It is time to answer these questions. Please note however, that I am not a dietitian nor a lawyer, I just know math and moth usually never lie. Always before starting a diet or a serious dietary habit talk to your doctor.

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Reviewing Tips and Tricks for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is coming and the web is flooding from the side to side with tricks and tips on how to make thanksgiving dinner easier, better, less stressful, cheaper and everything else that will make your life easier. Among them I stumble upon the Buzzfeed post that describes 17 tricks to make Thanksgiving better. Everything from just making the mashed potatoes fluffier to cost saving tips. However, many of these tricks are not really justified and they might not even work well. I will go over these tricks and evaluate them. I will give you my verdict and you can judge if you want to follow them or not.

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Cornmeal Muffins from the past

Food is influenced by the times we live in. Certain times we need to change our habits due to food supply restrictions. Nowadays this happens in the winter when the watermelon supply gets short and the prices go up. And we are bumped. Awwww :-( . Did I mention that it is not even seedless? I know! Total agony. We turn to forget some other times back in the turn of the last century when war was a reality to every part of the world; from Europe to Americas and from Asia to Africa. Back then food supply was already short and the war made it even worst. Lucky people had to improvise and adjust their habits; most would just suffer.

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Five Failed Food Names

Onion Heart

Finishing the first hundred post was amazingly gratifying. The blog evolved over the years, but always stayed true it its values. To kick of the next hundred posts I am starting with a more philosophical approach to food; this time some unfortunate names of the food industry. Food industry has evolved. Evolved significantly. From the hunting to just going to the neighbor to trade goods, to the stores that sell foods to the modernization of the ready made foods. The industrial revolution. The food prices drops, the quantities increases and the competition among vendors grows. And that s the beginning of marketing, the beginning of a new era in the food industry. Targeting special groups, the vegans, the low fat, the high protein, the low sugar and the list becomes bigger and bigger.

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Cretan Diet II: Olive Oil

As it was underlined in the previous post, the olive oil is the basic constituent of the Cretan diet. A diet that is highlighted by the long live of the cretan people and their good health. Although these to two facts seem to be somewhat unrelated, since one is a fat and the other is health, the truth is (and it is backed up by scientific evidence) that they shed some light to the “mystery”. We will see why olive oil is so good for you, but we will also see that olive oil from olive oil is very different, not only by the name they go by, but for the health benefits.
Before we c...

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IQF: Individually Quick Frozen

This is a short post, following the great one of the blueberries. Pick your own berries type of farm are very popular especially here in Florida with the only drawback the quantity, that unless you have a family of 10 you cannot finish alone in a reasonable amount of time. They go bad within a few days, by shedding moisture, wrinkle and shrink. The modern solution to the problem is the freezer. The freezer that, is being extensively used to freeze from water to meats. 

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Happy Thanksgiving

So it is christmas again. and then New Years, and since Thanksgiving I had no posts. Things at work got bussy and cooking wise I was overdosed. I will be back soon with a few great recipes for cookies and a series I am preparing on the basics of fastfood. But, one thing I need share with you is the food of the thanksgiving. And some of the recipes. Most of them have been featured on the blog. Some of them are secrets and will not be shared.

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