Food

Make for a More Enjoyable Life – Have Fun – Eliminate Clutter

Some people are messier than others. Some go through life as if permanently in a restaurant or bar where servers and staff take care of them 24/7. In some cases they live Scot-free at someone else’s expense – a queen on a luxury trip whereas others ….

What ever the level of disorder in your life and home you can start to solve the problem. In some cases it’s a wholesale cost saving approach whereas with others it’s a bit of the steak bite by bite.

First of all get a handle on the clutter in your life and background. After all you want more to your life than just the four walls at home. You do wan to venture out in the world – whether our for a meal at night with friends or your neighborhood bar or sports lounge. Clutter is a sign that our life is cluttered with low priority minutia. Clear your abode and move your life forwards. Have fun.

It’s neither easy task nor a cake walk to get a handle on clutter. No doubt it’s a case of acknowledging the problem and then a determined effort to make changes. One elderly man had a wife who just left things as they were around the house. The place as a sister in law to be noted was “frightening”. The spouse tried and tried but as he said “people (meaning his wife), just won’t put things away”. On top of that the woman smoked cigarettes, not for enjoyment of an addiction – but to lose weight or keep trim and attractive for the other sex. Yet she did not inhale tobacco smoke what so ever into her lungs. It was way past the bar scene for her. On evening after returning from work, the man found fire trucks outside his house, and fireman trampling around. It seems a smoldering cigarette in a dry plant had started a small fire. It was a case of the powers of the universe taking care of the problem. Everything was trashed and the insurance company took care of the cleanup. End of the horror movie and the day’s entertainment.

Nothing is easy in life. Yet the major things in life, that count, are both basic and take determined time, effort and follow through. Nothing is for nothing so to speak and there is no such thing as a free lunch or dinner. It can be summarized best – free up the clutter that abounds about you in your abode and clear up your mind. You will ultimately have a more pleasurable, less stressful life having fun with friends and family. Why not go out afterwards completing your clean up for a Bud, spud  steak at your local sports bar?

Its a hectic Manitoba world out there – a nice night out might be a spin for  Canad Inn Winnipeg Bud Spud & Steak deal .  Book by phone or on-line

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How to Cook Ocean Fish Like a Freshest Fish Restaurant Chef

It’s getting harder and harder to find fresh fish – either in the ocean or at your supermarket. Everything seems to be frozen or in tiny little “convenient “packages. Stroll down the supermarket aisle and what no doubt will scan are those frozen or pre-cut or processed meat products. Thus many of us who love to cook are for the most unfamiliar with what our grandmothers used to know as fish and know as “fresh fish”. Yet it’s not too hard overall to learn some ingredients and cooking technique too easily, simply and deliciously prepare freshly caught fish, read on.

To Begin With Many Don’t Even Like the Smells & Odors of Fresh Fish:

Naturally too many of the un-initiated fish tastes and smells pleasant especially if it is fresh. Just look at the faces of many people as they enter a fresh fish boutique shop. So the focus in its preparation is just to intensify what is already present. Probably frying is one good way to cook any fresh fish. Gut and scale the fish first. Then decide whether to cook the whole or slice the fish. Add seasonings like salt and pepper as well as some herbs if you desire. After rubbing the seasonings evenly onto the fish’s skin, fry the fish. Use butter because it can deepen the delicious taste of the fresh fish. Be cautious against burning butter which can make the dish taste rancid.

Grilling of Fish to Avoid Grease & Oils:

If you want to avoid grease and oil, grilling can be the best option for fresh fish. However you have to watch out against burning and the leaking of the fish juice. Brushing thin layer of oil all around the fish surface can somewhat prevent juice from dropping off. This means however is not that effective. Wrapping the fish with the use of aluminum foil is probably the best alternative. With the foil covering the fish, the juice will be trapped making the fish meat more tender and delicious. You can also season the fresh fish before wrapping. The best ingredient options include salt, pepper, cilantro, rosemary and onions.

Baking Fresh Fish – Probably the Easiest Way for Novice Fish Cooks & Chefs:

Probably baking is the easiest way to cook fresh fish especially for novice. This is because it does not require close monitoring. After the typical step of gutting, scaling and cutting (if desired) the fish is then marinated for several minutes to hours before the actual baking. Once placed inside the oven, with the right time and temperature, you need not to worry anymore. You can just sit and wait until the cooking time is finished.

Lastly As a Rule Undercook – Take Care Not to Overcook Fresh Fish:

Preparing fresh fish is simple because of the inherent deliciousness and pleasant odor of fresh fish. The thing to watch out for is overcooking the fish. Overcooked fish can ruin the dish because it is already, dry, blunt-tasting and hard to chew. A good preventive measure to this is checking the doneness of the fish frequently. Another thing to remember is using only mild spices and ingredient to avoid masking the natural fresh fish taste and flavor.

Carlos Martin Rosado

Carlos “the lobster”  knows how to find and land those biggest and largest of fish in the the vibrant waters off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula .  You can bet that Carlos knows and even “thinks like a fish” in what many consider some of the best deep sea fishing in the world.  What the most experienced local Yucatan & Cancun Mexican  fisherman are feasting for is the upcoming  Puerto Morelos annual fishing tournament May 2012.  Carlos now has a webpage for on-line fishing charters bookings in Cancun made easy

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McDonald’s to Start it’s Own Television

Watching television while eating seems to be the norm in North America. As part of their plans McDonalds has stated that they will be starting their own television channel in California as part of a test.

All McDonald franchises in California will now be able to watch the television channel while eating their burgers. It is expected that at least 18 million people will watch the channel daily as part of the pilot program.

The company plans to go national once the pilot program is deemed successful in California. Only 8 mins of advertising per hour will be shown of which half will belong to the company itself.

McDonald’s may have taken the lead to keep up the innovation in the food franchise market, but only time will tell whether this innovation will pay off in the long run.

Eating Italian

Italy is one of the top tourist destinations in the world, its cities regularly feature high in opinion polls.  Everyone would love to drink a cappuccino at the foot of the Spanish Steps in Rome or eat a corneto on a Venetian gondola. However, there is one thing many people do not realise when travelling to Italy, eating out isn’t like going down the High Street back home. There is little likelihood of you finding spaghetti carbonara on the menu and no chance that ham and pineapple pizza will be served up.

Regional Fayre

Italy is fiercely regional, and so too are its dishes.  While certain food may be common down south, it will be unheard of elsewhere. The region’s dishes have developed over centuries and are often based on the traditional ingredients found on their doorsteps. For food, Italy must have one of the smallest carbon footprints, if it’s in season you eat it, if not try something else.

This gives a great sense of the passing of time with each meal and the autumn harvest brings out the best. The myriads of local vegetable gardens are full of tomatoes, courgettes, aubergines and onions. The woodlands, teeming with their much sought after treasures; porcini mushrooms, truffles, berries and wild asparagus. At this time menus come to life with rich, earthy flavour and local food festivals, the sagras, can be found everywhere.

Rustic Charm

If you love your food rural and natural Umbria is the province for you, wholesome, honest food, with the fruits of the forest being the mainstay of their diets. You will find wild boar sausages, pungent truffle dishes and rich strong pecorino cheese. Every one washed down with a mellow Grecchetto white wine.

Sicily, naturally, being an island has a great seafood menu with salty tuna, chickpea flour and fried Aubergines. They are famous for their delicate almond pastries and roasted peppers. While northern areas such as Trentino Alto Adige with their Germanic, Hungarian influences serve up an Italian Goulash and hearty soups reminiscent of any North European table. Dishes like braised cabbage in pork stew are popular or fruit stuffed Gnocchi for desert.

Seafood and Game

The narrow strip of land between the Alps and the Mediterranean in northern Italy, Liguria, uses its natural resources to the full. Rabbit and wild porcini are served up, cod and anchovies plucked from the sea are used in Ligurias signature dishes and its subtle olive oil is liberally poured over Focaccia bread.

Puglia, the high heel of Italy’s famous boot is a flat countryside, rich pasture land and its meals are heavily influenced by the profusion of wheat and greens that grow here. Broccoli, beans, wild garlic and dandelion all go into making a traditional Apulian menu. Here the winter nights are warmed with ragu sauces, raw sea urchins are a favoured snack in Taranto and skewered, grilled offal a popular snack with shepherds in the hillsides.

So next time you think about going out for an Italian, just which province of Italy are you considering, with twenty regions to choose from you’re bound to find a regional menu to suit.

Simon Grant is a traveller and blogger who writes for fabulous sites such as Amateur Gastronomy blog and would love to book his next adventure to Italy. Etihad Airways is an example of an airline who offer flights to Italy.

Food Chronicles-Mian Jee Ki Daal

From Pakistan:

Grand trunk road a.ka GT road is long stretch that is famous for its road side Dhabbas and tea stalls. With trade worth billions taking place using this route every year, these Dhabbas ensure that the journey takers of this historic road are fed with simple, comforting yet high quality food. One such place that surely holds a special place in my heart is the ‘Mian jee Restaurant’ located in the vicinity of Lala Musa around three hours drive from Lahore. Though, the place has a variety on offer on its menu,more than 90% of the people who visit the restaurant like to order only one dish and that is the ‘Daal fry’.

Frequently referred to as ‘Mian jee ki Daal’ , this simple dish draws in millions every year who are treated to an amalgamation of ‘Channa Daal’ and a careful select of spices. Having heard a lot about it, I got a chance to stop over at ‘Mian Jee’s’ with my family on our way to Islamabad. I was amazed at the quality of gathering over there which included a lot of families that drove around 2 hours from Islamabad regularly to enjoy this monumental dish. The restaurant management had recently set up a rather posh looking building right next to the original Dhabba for those who had concerns with the hygiene. However, since we are not the complaining sort (well at least this time), we took our seats and ordered the ‘Daal fry’ along with some chicken BBQ to add life to the meal

Served in the traditional steel plates along with ‘tandoori roti’ and radish along with its leafs as salad, honestly, the Daal appeared to be anything but attractive to me. It wasn’t the conventional ‘Daal fry’ that I expected since it was just a small lump of white butter that was melting on top of the Daal and a thin creamy layer took over the original yellow of the dish when it first appeared. With the BBQ still minutes away I thought it would not be a bad idea to take a bite, after all, ‘Mian Jee’, was famous for a reason. The moment I took the first bite, I too was enslaved by the ‘Daal dish’ that has had not only national but international recognition. I find myself short of words when I try to explain the successful matrimony of flavors that burst my senses to life. It’s like an adrenalin rush;some might even call  desi Red bull, ‘Mian jee ki daal’ definitely energizes and mesmerizes you. Not over spicy, nor bland, the Daal and the butter probably are a match made in heaven. The affable waiters make sure that you are served with fresh, hot rotis which only add to the entire dining experience. I should mention here, that despite the fact that the BBQ had lost it’s charm for me it still was probably one of the best Barbecued pieces of chicken one would ever have. The chicken was crispy and dry on the outside and held it’s tenderness on the inside. We topped off our meal with a burning hot ‘Gulab Jaamun’ served in sugar syrup and again the dessert complimented our main course completely.     

Coming back to the ‘Daal fry’, it is a pity that we as a nation seldom find our media highlighting places such as  ‘Mian Jee Restaurant’ which in my view hold a value as a culinary institute. We should understand that it is not always the Michelin star menus that are winners but dishes like ‘Mian jee ki daal’ are Pakistan’s answer to soul and comfort food. So the next time you happen to find yourself on the GT road heading towards the North of Pakistan, you know that ‘Mian Jee’ and his friendly staff our awaiting you with arms wide open and selling smiles rather than just food .

Food Chronicles- Fried Fish

FROM PAKISTAN:

As winter sets in for a relatively short period in Pakistan, Lahore undergoes a slight change in the culinary trends with Lahoris opting for dishes that they would rather avoid during the scorching heat of the summer season.

Off the few winter delicacies that people from the land of Lahu (the prince after whom the city is named) gorge upon during the chilly season the one very famous is the “Fried Fish”. Primarily two breeds of Fish are sold in the fried form namely ‘Baalm’ and ‘Rahu’, with the latter being a clear favorite amongst the majority. Before we discuss the scrumptious marinate that makes this cuisine stand out from a lot of the various other sea food dishes in Pakistan, we would differentiate between the two breeds. ‘Baalm’ is a breed for the novice fish eater since it has far fewer bones than the ‘Rahu’ and hence lacks a strong flavor. The fish marinate is mainly a secret for every place that serves the dish but any food lover with some culinary sense could make out at least 70% of the spices that bring out those sensational flavors.

Since the city is not very new to this cuisine, I went out in the hunt for the most authentic “fried fish” cuisine sold in Lahore and after a careful short listing, three places were finalized which were considered to be the best by a vast majority whose views I had requested for. So I set out first to taste the Fish sold by “Sardar Dar ul mahi” in the Gowal mandi area of Lahore. The place welcomed me with a strong scent of fish (understandably) along with a large number of people waiting in a queue for their turn. I had to wait for around 30 minutes before me and my friends could settle down and order our food. Sardar has been present over here for almost five decades now and they say that the recipe being used has been the same through out. I could sense the use of “Kasuri Maithi” in every bite that I had and honestly, though I thoroughly enjoyed my meal by I did sense that this was not the best Fish I have had in my life. The following Sunday, I went to a place called “Siddique Dar ul Mahi” located in the Garhi Shahu area of the city. This bloke has a huge issue of parking and does not have a proper place to accommodate the customers. More over the fish sold over here is pan fried rather than the conventional deep frying plus it lacks the gram flour in the marinate. Well, since we ended up ordering it, I had to give it a try; apart from being extremely oily, the taste was a bit too spicy for my liking and I immediately opted for an alternative snack from across the road while my friends were left with the task of “De-fishing” the plates

Located on the door step of Lahore’s biggest grave yard, Miyani Sahab, in the area of Mozang, lies another famous placed called “Aslam dar ul mahi” formerly called “Bashir dar ul mahi”. As we settled ourselves in one of the two large halls that this place had, I could see a strange happiness on the people’s faces around me as if they were about to taste something heavenly. Well, heavenly it was! From the quality of the fish to the bedazzling marinate used by Muhammad Aslam(owner) the cuisine in my view was good enough to lighten up any royal dinner table in the world. Served with a sour n sweet chattni with small pieces of reddish cut in it, that fish is simply nothing less than DIVINE!

The moment I took the first bite, I did not have to wait for a second to make up mind as to who the winner was, quite simply, if you ever visit Lahore during winters, take sometime out and visit this gem of a place who is simply an artist and it is as if the fish is begging you to eat it. I am enjoying writing this article so much that the moment I finish writing, I am heading out again to “Aslam Dar ul Mahi” to devour on probably the best form of sea food that I have tasted in my life!

Food Chronicles-The Ultimate Biryani

FROM PAKISTAN:

Eye-catching, celestial to the smell and mouth watering, no, I am not describing a hot French model here but these are just a few traits of the very famous rice dish called ‘Biryani’.

Biryani originally belongs to Persia, the modern day Iran, and literally means any rice dish made of spices which has fried or roasted meat present in it. Brought to South East Asia by the traders and travelers from that region, Biryani has gone through a number of culinary evolutions for centuries and apparently the original taste of the dish has faded away in time. Served at all auspicious occasions in our region, it is probably the most widely eaten rice dish in Pakistan. More than 40 various versions are cooked and served all over the world but the Biryani served in India and Pakistan is unmatchable.

The very famous ‘Student Biryani’ which started out in Karachi right after the partition of 1947 holds a special place within the Pakistani Biryani hall of fame. Their spicy chicken Biryani served with fresh salad and the traditional raita serves thousands of hungry Biryani lovers every day and the beautiful amalgamation of the succulent chicken and savory rice gives them a reason to come back time after time. Karachi has many different takes on this dish, some more spicy than the others, some have a fusion of vegetables and some even served with sea food.

Lahore, sometimes called the food capital of Pakistan historically has never welcomed Biryani with arms wide open since the rice dish that dominates this region is a less spicier a lot simpler called ‘Pullao’ or otherwise known as ‘Pillaf’ rice across the globe. The dish even though satisfies the definition of the Biryani, by no means matches it’s Sindhi counter part in look or taste. ‘SAVOUR FOODS’ in the Rawalpindi/Islamabad region sell a chicken Pullao that has a fan base all across Pakistan. In recent times, ‘Biryani Express’ has made a name for itself in Lahore by introducing a very tasty yet mildly spicy version of Biryani and gave birth to a competitive market that never formally existed here. Every corner of every street in Lahore is now selling the Biryani, which is gaining popularity in this region day by day.

Hyderabad Deccan, which can very well be termed as the Biryani capital of the world is known to serve a version, which is cooked with the finest cut of lamb, and the rice are flavored with milk, cardamom and saffron. The end result is a meekly spicy Biryani which is more pleasurable than a lot of the other gratifying things in life ( *evil laugh*)

Finally, in my view the ultimate Biryani is served by a place called ‘Karachi Biryani’ in Lahore where the masterful blend of rice and meat in the presence of heavenly spices exalts you to a world of eternal satisfaction. But no matter how much we explore this wonderful culinary master piece all across the globe or debate about its true artist, one thing is for certain, it may fulfill your hunger but it can never quench your desire for it!

You can check out the latest Biryani Deals at gobabu.com if you happen to be lusting for Biryani in the Toronto Area.