By: Ismael AbduSalaam

Now that 50 Cent’s disappointing first week numbers are official, rival Rick Ross is now claiming victory in their 2009 feud.

In a recent concert for DJ Khaled’s birthday, Ross proclaimed full credit for 50 Cent’s lowest debut week (161,000) of his previously multi-platinum career.

“So we celebrating my n***a birthday, but we’re also celebrating the demise of a p***y. R.I.P. to the donkey, we buried him,” Ross stated on stage with Khaled. “It feel good, n***a. Don’t look surprised, you knew we was gonna do it. There’s only one record that can describe the feeling.”

Concluding his victory speech, Ross went into “This Is the Life,” the fourth single from his 2008 gold sophomore LP Trilla.

I am back in New York after a long Europe period. And could there be a better first day to get in the U.S spirit then Thanksgiving? After a week op non-stop great and elaborate meals in Europe( 8-course tastings with amuses mostly!) I thought a rather small meal would be good given our upcoming sun vacation, but Craft only had a Thanksgiving tasting with all the works. Way too much, fairly expensive(115 a person) but incredibly tasty. The restaurant from Top Chef’s Tom Colicchio is decorated very nice. Comfy chairs, great paintings, subtle lighting, very friendly staff and tres chic bathrooms. But the main thing of the place is the great food of course. We started off with a small pumpkin soup amuse that was sweet and rich in flavor. The starters were a frisee salad with cheese, macadamia and pancetta. As great as this was, fresh and flavourful, this was the weakest of the starters(and that says a lot). The scallops with truffle were to die for and so was the carpaccio with dried shallots(best carpaccio ever). All these starters are on their regular menu as well so we will go back for those sometime. As a main we could get the turkey, but being jet-lagged(and not needing any tryptophan) I decided to have salmon instead(not super, but ok) and my bf had the beef. The beef was just perfect, medium rare with a nice crust. As side dishes we had grilled veggies, super tasty mushrooms, sweet and creamy butternut squash, rich stuffing and Brussel sprouts. I used to hate Brussel sprout back home when I was younger because they were always boiled. In the U.S I learned to eat them roasted and then they taste so much better. The grand finale was 5 plates full of desserts. Great rhubarb-crumble, some sorbets/ice-creams(our fav was the pecan) a mediocre pumpkin pie, a great tarte tatin and some doughnuts with chocolate. This dinner was a 8/10 definitely and we will be back at Craft soon!

Actually it’s his mom’s meatloaf. I saw this fabulous sounding comfort food recipe over at mister anchovy’s the other day and knew I would have to try it, especially now that the days are getting chilly. It’s been many many years since I made a meatloaf. There are a couple of differences here from the original recipe, the main one being that I couldn’t find any Heinz chili sauce (the “secret” ingredient!) and substituted Heinz barbeque sauce with added chili flakes. I also added a dollop of dijon and a splash of worchestershire to the meat. Oh, and also a whack of garlic. Natch.

Recipe and instructions below the links.

• one onion and one green pepper, chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 400 grams each of ground beef and ground pork
• a generous handful of breadcrumbs
• one egg
• dollop of grainy dijon
• splash of worchestershire
• dried basil, thyme, salt and freshly ground black pepper
• bacon strips
• Heinz chili sauce

Mix onion, pepper, ground meat, breadcrumbs, spices and egg together in a large bowl. Squish it around with your hands until everything is well-mixed.

Form into one big or two smaller loaves. Place in a rectangular baking pan, making sure to leave space between the loaf and the side of the pan. Totally cover the top with bacon strips. Brush with the “secret ingredient” – Heinz chili sauce – and bake in a 175ºC (350ºF) oven for about an hour. Smaller loaves may only take about 45 minutes.

Serve hot for dinner… but be sure to save some for sandwiches next day, on crusty kaiser buns.

This is a tasty winter warmer that I adapted from a recipe that I was given, when I went on a cookery day out in Somerset. It uses seasonal ingredients such as chestnuts and cranberries, cheaper cuts of beef and would be perfect for a New Year’s party, especially after all the turkey consumed at Christmas!

What is really good about this recipe, is that it can be made upto 4 days in advance, being kept in the fridge and also it freezes well, making this handy for busy people at this time of the year.

It is fairly simple to make but looks very impressive served up.

9ozs/250g Smoked Back Bacon Cubes
3 tbsp Gluten Free Plain Flour - seasoned with salt, pepper and a pinch of paprika (not smoked or hot)
3 ½ lbs/1.6Kg Lean Beef Cubed – skirt or chuck steak
2-3 tbsp Rapeseed Oil
3 Red Onions – peeled and finely chopped
2 Garlic Cloves – peeled and finely chopped
9ozs/250g Chestnut Button Mushrooms
½ Bottle Red Wine
6ozs/170g Fresh or Frozen Cranberries
4ozs/113g Fresh Chestnuts - peeled and chopped in half
1-2 tbsp Soft Light Brown Sugar
1 ½ pints/300ml Beef Stock
2 tbsp Sweet Chilli Sauce
Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper
¼-½ tsp Crushed Chillies
3 Bay Leaves
Fresh Parsley, chopped to garnish

Preheat oven to 180C/350F Gas 4 or 170C Fan Oven.

1 In a large flame-proof casserole dish, cook the bacon over a medium heat until crispy and then remove.

2 Tip the flour into a plastic bag, add the meat and shake to coat.

3 Add half the oil to the casserole dish and brown the meat in batches, adding more oil as necessary.

4 Remove the meat and set aside and add the onions and cook for 5 to 10 minutes until they start to brown.

5 Add the garlic and mushrooms to the onions and cook for a further 5 minutes.

6 Return the meat and bacon to the casserole, add the bay leaves, red wine, beef stock, sweet chilli sauce and crushed chillies, bring to the boil and cook in a pre-heated oven for one hour.

7 While the casserole is cooking, prepare the chestnuts by splitting the skin, then putting them in a covered dish and microwave each chestnut for 10 secs on high power. Once heated, peel off the outer skin and cut in half.

8 After cooking for an hour, add the cranberries, chestnuts and sugar, season with a little black pepper, stir well and return to the oven for another 45 minutes to one hour.

9 Check that the meat is tender, the cranberries are cooked and not tart, adding more sugar if necessay.

10 Re-check the seasoning, scatter with chopped parsley and serve.

Serve with green vegetables, roast or jacket potatoes, or if preferred, rice!

Totul a inceput cu o probabilitate de 98% (ma refer la beef) cand  Gucci a afirmat ca este cel mai trapper dintre trapperi , iar Jeezy , axat pe trap s-a rusinat , Trap Or Die 2 (remix) spune ca s-ar fi incheiat beef-ul , e oficial sau nu , auzim in zilele urmatoare . Distrugatoare piesa . It`s Guccccccccccci !!!

Update: Frate , cum da Gucci !!!

Via: XZ .

I had Thanksgiving dinner early this year because I have a paper to write during the holiday. This is what I had on Thanksgiving night.

Marinade for Beef (I used short ribs, but I imagine you could use any type of cut suitable for marinades)

These measurements are not exact, adjust to your liking

• 1/2 Granny Smith Apple, cut into small chunks
• 1 tbs Water
• 4 tbs Red Wine Vinegar
• 2 tbs Brown Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp or more Black pepper
• 1 tsp or more Red pepper flake
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• any herb, I used 1 tsp poultry seasoning

In a blender, blend the apple, water and vinegar to a pulp. Mix the rest of the ingredients in with a spoon. It should be the consistency of applesauce if not thinner. At this point, before adding to the meat, you can taste and adjust the flavor to your liking and pour onto the meat. I cut my ribs, 4 of them, off the bone for thin pieces so I only marinated my meat for about 45 min. Broil about 3 – 4 min on each side on piece of foil with oil or cooking spray.

Mashed Red Yams

• 1/2 lb Red Yams, I cooked mine whole (don’t forget to poke holes or it’ll burst) in the oven for about 45 min – 1 hr @ 400 degrees
• Butter, to taste, about 1 tbs
• Meat Drippings from the short ribs, about 1 tbs

Mash the ingredients together and serve. People normally add brown sugar and milk/cream, but I found the drippings to be adequate because it was sweet and moist enough. If  you ‘re worried about the fat in your meat, omit the drippings and use milk or whatever.

This is my first time making this and it turned out pretty good. Again food should be enjoyable, if you found my recipe isn’t completely to your taste, adjust the ingredients, I don’t really know what I’m doing so I will be experimenting as well.

Happy Eating.

No, I dont know if its real or not but…… *Kanye shrug*

Trap Or Die 2 – Young Jeezy + Gucci Mane

Props: Splash

Update: So is this supposed to be the equivalent of this??

My true love gave to me…..

The Roasting Pan with Rack

Our new nonstick roasting pan is designed for superior cooking. A nonstick rack elevates the meat, allowing for more consistent and even cooking. Roomy enough to roast a turkey up to 20 pounds.

$125

order at www.pamperedchef.biz/sacchef

pic by LexnGer

The second moment that I can really remember feeling utterly sickened about eating meat was late on a Sunday night when I was around twelve years old.

There had been a huge storm and we had lost power. Mum put my sister and I into the old brown Holden car and we drove through suburb after suburb until we found one that had power. There was a pseudo Italian outlet and I ordered ribs.

At home, sitting by candlelight and eating my dinner, I was suddenly acutely aware that I was gnawing on the ribs of an animal. This intense, dark energy eminated from the bones. I felt it. I felt the animal’s suffering. I felt its horror at the point of killing. I felt its fear and dread.

‘I don’t think this animal died in very nice circumstances,’ I said  to Mum.

Mum, also an animal lover, grimaced. ‘Try not to think about it,’ she said.

But it was so utterly revolting, as though I was some scavenger who was cleaning up the remains of a carcass.

I was nauseous in the extreme and left my meal unfinished. It was the start of my aversion from anything that resembled what it had looked like when it had been alive–bones, feathers, scales, skin. The only way I could eat meat was if it contained no reminders of its past and was cooked very well done, preferably burned.

First I wanted to feature my kitchen at home. The lady in red is the head of the kitchen, my lovely grandmother. My kitchen back home isn’t huge but it suits our family fine. It’s hopefully going to get renovated in the near future to a more dark wood finish, granite top, better shelving within the cabinet, a bigger fridge and better lighting. My parent’s vision for it will be amazing I’m sure. During the summers and when I’m home in Toronto, this is where I cook.

To continue my birthday lunch coverage, I wanted to show you what a typical Filipino get together looks like. Despite the seemingly mass amounts of food, it’s still a pretty casual affair and the food choices are much more extensive during a really big celebration such as christmas and new years. I only contributed by cooking the Prime Rib but the rest was cooked by my loving grandmother. I did all the set up and ensured that everything was warm and tasty with the help of my sister and father.

Pancit Palabok is one of my favourite Filipino noodle dishes. There are so many flavours and textures to it. There are two types of noodles normally used when making palabok, either bihon which is a thin round rice vermicelli or lulug which is a thicker yellow noodle. My mother prefers bihon since the sauce and toppings are filling enough. The noodles are mixed in a creamy, nutty shrimp sauce with other flavourings. The noodles and the sauce are delicious on its own  but you can garnish it with cooked shrimp, crush pork rinds, hard-boiled eggs, green beans, carrots, tinapa, fried garlic, calamansi/lime/lemon juice and green onions. Mixed all together it is simply divine and truly satisfying. I know that it’s a LOT of toppings I know but all help to balance out one another and everything is optional. I’ve yet to taste anything better than my grandmother’s. This is something I definitely have to learn.

You don’t often find too many strictly vegetables dishes in Filipino culture. Especially amongst our circle of family friends, we often don’t include it in party menus. My family always tries to serve up a simple salad for those willing to eat it. Most of it ends up as leftovers which we don’t mind since we’ll happily eat it the next day. We kept it super simple with just very fresh plum tomatoes, button mushrooms, red onion and baby spinach.

We also had a fruit platter consisting of whatever we had on hand; grapes, cantaloupe and oranges, all super cold, just the way I like it. Fruit bodes much better with our family friends than vegetables so this disappeared quick.

My grandmother also cooked dinuguan which is a traditional Filipino dish whose main ingredients are pig’s blood, vinegar, garlic and less popular parts of the pig such as its ears, intestines and snout). It is definitely an acquired taste. In all honesty, it only seems weird once you know what it is but by just looking at it, it appears like a dark earthy stew. I’ve been eating it since I was really young so I’m used to it. I suggest that you give it a try before you write it off completely. It is definitely hearty and big party fav amongst our friends. It is often eaten with rice or with a steamed rice cake called puto which is seen in the bottom on the green plate. I actually strictly eat dinuguan with puto. Puto can be used both for savoury or sweet purposes and can have added toppings if desired. We typically buy ours for parties although my grandmother makes a far better homemade cheese puto.

Another typical food found at a Filipino party is lumpia shanghai and fried chicken. Lumpia is essentially spring rolls that are fried. My grandmother is very meticulous about the process she goes through in making them and ensure that all the ingredients are of equal sizes for even cooking. I sometimes help out by rolling the filling to form the spring rolls. It’s a rather simple dish and the recipe can be easily  found online. It is served with ketchup but I normally eat it with a spicy sauce to give it some heat.

This is also another party favourite.  Rellenong Bangus is stuffed milkfish that are then fried to give a crispy texture to the skin. To create this dish takes an extensive amount of time to create. It requires the complete removal of the fish’s insides while keeping the entire thing in tact. You then need to steam the removed flesh of the fish and de-bone it (which trust me is the most time-consuming, insanity inducing task ever), flake it, mix it with the rest of the ingredients which normally includes finely chopped vegetables and raisins. After letting the mixture marinate for a while, you need to re-stuff the fish (again keeping it perfectly intact) and then fry. It is then cut up and garnished with ketchup. It’s a lot of meticulous steps. My grandmother normally makes huge batches of these and we give one fish to every family friend. It’s not my most favourite dish but I can certainly appreciate the work than goes into it.

Another Filipino dessert that I love is the fruit salad that my mother makes. It mainly consists of condensed milk, cans of fruit cocktail (typically the tropical version), fresh apples,  nata de coco and shredded coconut. Some recipes call for cubed cheese (?) and my father’s side of the family opts to include this in their fruit salad but I’m not a fan. There are other variations easily found on the web but we like to keep it simple. We let the fruit salad sit in the fridge to keep it chilled until time to serve.

Other things on the menu were menudo, steamed white rice and chocolate cheesecake brownies made by one of our family friends. I believe it was one of her first baking experiences. There was also palitaw, another huge favourite Filipino dessert of mine and of course the mango birthday cake that we got from Aromaz bakery that I mentioned in a previous post.

 My plate looked something like this. It was a lovely meal spent with lots of great friends. Unfortunately I ended up having to leave the party and pack my things as I had to catch a bus back to Kingston that afternoon. I also didn’t manage to bring home any leftovers which bummed me out. But there’s always another party another time; Filipinos are notorious for throwing parties constantly. Next big get together is christmas, can’t wait!

First of all Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers!  Such interesting timing for this installment of Barefoot Bloggers! This week’s pick comes from Lisa at LIme in the Coconut (who has a great blog!).  I’m always up for cooking a big hunk of meat in wine and tomatoes!

I got inspired by this recipe and decided to go down to St. Lawrence Market for their weekly Farmer’s Market to pick up the veggies for this recipe.  Something about farm fresh goods just sounded right here.  I got the sweetest, most delicious carrots pretty much ever!

You have to be pretty committed to this recipe to make it.  There’s a lot of chopping involved, a lot of alcohol goes into this and there’s about 3 hours of cooking time!  Yes, commitment is needed indeed.  But the smells of while this is cooking make it all worth it.  My apartment just smelled like warm, beefy, alcoholy goodness.  Or like heaven as I like to call it.

I followed this recipe for the most part.  I used a sirloin roast because frankly it was on sale and a lot cheaper than the chuck roast, sue me.  The meat turned out pretty moist and was super easy to slice.  I probably would have liked the additional fat that is in the chuck roast but you can’t win them all.

My first thought was to serve this over mashed potatoes but then I remembered reading somewhere that this would go great with polenta.  Such a good call.  The polenta really absorbed the flavour and was a great compliment to the roast.

I totally loved this recipe.  Do note that this makes a TON of sauce.  There’s likely no way around this as the roast needs to be covered in liquid while cooking.  Ina suggests using the sauce over pasta, mine ended up in the trash but the pasta tip might be worth trying.

COMPANY POT ROAST

Ingredients

• 1 (4 to 5-pound) prime boneless beef chuck roast, tied
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• All-purpose flour
• Good olive oil
• 2 cups chopped carrots (4 carrots)
• 2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
• 2 cups chopped celery (4 stalks)
• 2 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts (2 to 4 leeks)
• 5 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 2 cups good red wine, such as Burgundy
• 2 tablespoons Cognac or brandy
• 1 (28-ounce) can whole plum tomatoes in puree
• 1 cup chicken stock, preferably homemade
• 1 chicken bouillon cube
• 3 branches fresh thyme
• 2 branches fresh rosemary
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Pat the beef dry with a paper towel. Season the roast all over with 1 tablespoon salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper. Dredge the whole roast in flour, including the ends. In a large Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the roast and sear for 4 to 5 minutes, until nicely browned. Turn and sear the other side and then turn and sear the ends. This should take 4 to 5 minutes for each side. Remove the roast to a large plate.

Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the Dutch oven. Add the carrots, onions, celery, leeks, garlic, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper and cook over medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender but not browned. Add the wine and Cognac and bring to a boil. Add the tomatoes, chicken stock, bouillon cube, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. Tie the thyme and rosemary together with kitchen string and add to the pot. Put the roast back into the pot, bring to a boil, and cover. Place in the oven for 2 1/2 hours, until the meat is fork tender or about 160 degrees F internally. Turn the heat down to 250 degrees F after about an hour to keep the sauce at a simmer.

Remove the roast to a cutting board. Remove the herb bundle and discard. Skim off as much fat as possible from the sauce. Transfer half the sauce and vegetables to a blender or a food processor fitted with the steel blade and puree until smooth. Pour the puree back into the pot, place on the stovetop over low heat, and return the sauce to a simmer. Place 2 tablespoons flour and the butter in a small bowl and mash them together with a fork. Stir into the sauce and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring until thickened. Taste for seasonings. Remove the strings from the roast, and slice the meat. Serve warm with the sauce spooned over it.

(Recipe found at FoodTV.com)

Or for those of you who didn’t have to suffer through Latin classes at University, “time flies”.  It’s been nearly a month since I wrote anything on this blog, and for that, I apologise!  I did write a post a couple weeks back and lost it, and never felt like re-writing it.  Well, much to cover in this post then!

We’ve been keeping pretty busy;  Kyle has been experimenting in the kitchen, making delicious food like:

Roast beef!

And lots of borscht!

We’ve had lots of people over, including our neighbor Rob, James, and our friend Mike…

...who refuses to have his picture on my blog, hence the censoring.

 I’m sure it’s nothing personal, he’s just too scary to be put on the internet without a bit of modification.

The youth group for our church has been meeting here every Friday night, and have swelled in number;  we’re getting close to 13 or 14 kids each night, many who don’t go to our church.

We're starting to feel the squeeze in our living room!

Kyle and I celebrated our first anniversary by going out to O and exchanging some gifts.  He was very thoughtful and got me some beautiful flowers:

My man has good taste!

A few days later, on November 12, I received my Bachelor’s Degree in English, thus concluding my 6 years earning my so-called “4 year degree”.

yay!

The convocation ceremony was very nice- we had a violinist named Barry Shiffman (or something) play a piece for us when he received an honorary degree.  I almost had a panic attack when my stupid mortar board wouldn’t stay on my head, but that’s what calm husbands are for… jamming hats onto your big head.  Yup. 

I'm in there.... somewhere!

 I have a couple of YouTube links from the ceremony as well:

The violin performance
My walk across the stage

We went out after the ceremony with my mom and my inlaws to the Keg to celebrate!

Just last weekend, we went out with a bunch of friends to Open Sesame, which was great fun, and will be discussed in a later blog post reviewing the joint. 

I’m hoping to start posting again regularly, but Kyle and I have been finding ourselves very busy of late- he’s reading a lot of services and working, and I’m working and am now in the choir for church too.  Sorry again for the long wait!

Heehee okay a 2 month hiatus from blogging would usually be very bad on my behalf but since noone reads this sorry website i call my blog i figured noone would have missed it.

Things that have come and gone;

1. HSC – That bad boy has thankfully passed and has left me relatively unscathed *phew*, no need to worry about exams anymore till December 16th.

2. Formal – Yes I had my Year 12 on the 17th of November 2009 at Le Montage. First of all Cheryl Ho. Cheryl looked absolutely beautiful in her ice blue dress

Belle, Cheryl and Me

Everyone looked so grown up in suits and dresses *sigh*. The food was good for the most part, for some reason the girls all got steaks while the guys got chicken…. yea wrong way around i know. The Entree was this cone looking thing with potato and cheese which tasted alright followed by the main either chicken or beef finished with a creme brulee that wasn’t REALLY a creme brulee. While the food was good the atmosphere was better. Everyone got their freaky freaks on and shredded the dancefloor to the “Nutbush”. All in all it was a great night  which we’ll all remember forever. (Photos will be up on flickr and facebook, Video will be up on youtube and facebook).

3. Sound Card – Yea i bought myself a usb sound card. Reason? dunno. I got a Creative Sound Blaster Play! which is around the same size a usb drive and basically just has an input for a microphone and an headphone/speaker output. The cool thing is that it upmixes all my stereo 2.0 signals to surround sound, you can definitely hear the difference!

My Creative Sound Blaster Play!

4. My Cousin and her new husband came to visit from china. So being awesomely nice i drove them around for the days that they stayed with us. We went to The Rocks which very Victorian and beautiful, the day would’ve been perfect if it hadn’t been 41 degrees

The Rocks

Afterwards we headed towards the DFS Galleria which this exclusive Duty Free Store packed with asian tourists. Now the brands I saw in this store i’ve only ever seen or heard of in movies.

DFS Galleria

Swarovski Poster

JFK Omega Poster

Swarovski Store

Georgio Armani Store

Swatch, Citizen, Omega, Cartier

Name Dropping

Hot Swarovski Chick

So many numbers..

Tag Heuer

I've never even heard of this brand

oooohhh shiny

Bvlgari

Dior

Salvatore Ferragamo

Burberry

Cartier

After checking out all those shiny exorbitantly expensive stores i got an ice chocolate from Guylian

Guylian Store

That wrapped up the day!

5. Steak – Yesterday night we headed off to black stump for some steak. Now having never REALLY had steak before i didn’t really know what to expect. I ordered the 500g grain fed rump steak done rare with pepper sauce, baked potatoes and salad. And well this photo best sums it up.

Black Stump

Thats what half a kilo of meat looks like

This has probably been the longest blog post ever (i should get a guinness world record).

Ps. Fill out yearbook profiles at Google Docs

D12

Les potes d’Em répondent à la polémique qui circule à propos du diss de Canibus envers Shady où on entend les D12 par l’intermédiaire du rappeur Swifty Mc Vay qui dit que DZK (qui apparait sur le morceau) leur avait demandé de travailler avec eux au moment où il était associé à Cannibus sans leur en parler. Ainsi, Canibitch a prit un des versets des Dozen et l’a inséré discrètement au morceau.

Si Mr.Porter affirme que Em se fiche du diss de Canibus, il est probable que les D12 ne soient pas de cet avis.

Voila, c’est fini pour l’instant.

Bye, Stan.

Me.

Nyama Choma - crispy fatty meat roasted to a perfect combination and seasoned with sassy curry flavour.

In Swahili, it literally means “grilled meat”. Using curry powder to marinate the meat, its wobbly fats are further flavored with a sizzling taste.

Back in those days as a volunteer in Bomang’ombe,  Tanzania, I would spend Friday evenings with my local friends munching on Nyama Choma, coupled with ice cold Serengeti beer. They would bring us to the best in town, where the beef was roasted just before we arrived.

Nyama Choma is usually eaten with ugali, boiled cornmeal mush,  the primary staple of the entire Sub-Saharan African continent. Ugali is eaten with almost every other thing, especially soup, stew or sauce, or other dishes with sauce or gravy. As a side dish, ugali is served in a big bowl that everyone eats from.

Where to find it:

Nyama Choma is not available everywhere, and you need to know which ones are good. Always ask a local – they’ll always know the best. Remember to order in advance before you go.

My true love gave to me…..

the Meat Lifters

This sturdy stainless steel pair eliminates the “balancing act” when moving turkeys and roasts from pan to platter. Four thick tines won’t bend when lifting meats weighing up to 30 lbs.! Includes protective storage cover. Set of two. Dishwasher-safe.

#2715  — $28.00

order at www.pamperedchef.biz/sacchef

美味しいと評判で行ってみたかったプレミアム・ハンバーガーチェーン、Byron（バイロン）。でも今まで、ケンジントン&チェルシー等ロンドン西部にしかなかったので行けずじまいだったが、私たちの行動範囲内にもオープンした。場所はSOHOのど真ん中、Wardour Street 。70年代にロックファンのたまり場だったロック／メタルパブ、The Intrepid Fox（2006年に移転）のあった建物内にある。ロックやメタルファンのたまり場だった頃と打って変わって、明るくこぎれいになった店内は、ざっと白く塗られたレンガ壁やレトロ風の時計と、ヒップな照明、ダークカラーを基調にした革張りのソファやテーブル・椅子等、モダンなデザインがうまくミックスされている。私たちが行った時は偶然オープン初日の11月25日。3時間前にオープンしたという店内は、既にたくさんの人で賑わっていた。

そして美味しいと噂のハンバーガー。スコットランド・ハイランド地方の小農場で牧草で育てられたという牛の良質の肉を使ったパテは、ジューシーで赤みの多いレアに上手く焼かれていて、とろっととろけたチーズ、新鮮な野菜（トマト、レッドオニオン、レタス）と相まって噂通りの味。ただ、フレンチ・フライはラードが使われているのか（ラードを使うとサクッと揚がるからと、イギリスでは揚げ物によく使われる）、ちょっともそもそしてて期待はずれ。でも、オープン初日で、何と食事代金は無料（飲み物代別）！請求書をもらってからそう言われて、もっとオーダーすれば良かったと冗談を言い合った（そんな客が多いから、お店も会計まで言わなかったんだろう）。

私たちはハンバーガーが好きで、ランチで時々食べにいく。最初はHamburger Unionにはまり、その後味が落ちたと感じてからは（その後倒産したのか、再度経営者が代わり、最近、Hamburger +という名に変わったトッテナム・コート・ロードにある店で食べたが、ひどい味になっていた）、Gourmet Burger Kitchenに心変わり。Byronもこれから、ソーホーあたりに出かけた時のレギュラーのランチ場所になりそうだ。

The premium hamburger chain Byron, known for their ‘proper’ back-to-basic hamburger, just opened yesterday (Nov 25th) on Wardour Street, SOHO. We always wanted to go to Byron but their stores are all in the west part of London like Kensington and Chelsea, and we had never been – but now it is in our territory! It is located in the building used to be occupied by 70’s rock hangout, the rock/metal pub Intrepid Fox. Refurbished and transformed, this shabby chic restaurant with roughly painted white brick walls is decorated with retro clock, hip lighting, and modern dark-colored furniture. It was the opening day we passed by and found it by accident – just 3 hours after its door was opened to the public, but there were already many people enjoying their burger.

We got their highly reputed hamburger finally on our hands. The juicy patty, made with free range grass-fed beef from small farms in Scottish Highlands, was beautifully cooked rare and had a perfect match with melted Monterey Jack cheese and fresh vegetables (tomatoes, red onions, and lettuce). But I was not impressed by their French fries – cooked with lard (widely used for frying in UK) I assume. Good surprise was that we were told Byron offered all the customers free meals (except drinks) on their opening day, when we got the check. We were joking that we should have ordered more foods and probably all the customers thought the same, but I guess that’s the thing that Byron definitely wanted to avoid.

We love hamburger and we eat it for a lunch sometimes (but try not too often). First we became a regular to Hamburger Union but we turned to Gourmet Burger Kitchen when we thought that the taste changed to worse – now Hamburger Union seems to be liquidated and its management has changed (I couldn’t find any information for it, though). We went to Hamburger + (changed the name) on Tottenam Court Road and were hugely disappointed by their awful burger and espresso. Now Byron is added to our list of lunch places around SOHO.

Bukchon Hanok Village is one of traditional area in Korea. It is locate in seoul, near the Jongno. Bukchon is not a limited area. It is just group of many towns like Sogyeokdong, Sagan-dong, Gyedong etc. There are a lot of nice views and great restaurant. because of it, Bukchon has become a good travel stage in Korea

Actually, most of Hanok in Bukchon is not a traditional Korean house. Traditional Hanok is big and solemn. Bukchon’s Hanok is smaller than the others and it doesn’t give us a feeling like grand or quiet. Instead of them, it feels cute, vital etc.

-Bukchon’s Hanoks

Bukchon’s Hanok doesn’t use for house. but it’s expenditure is a cultured-place like cafe, restaurant, gallery. They are new typed Hanok with new typed Korean traditional system.

Bukchon is the place that gives us a fresh feelings even though they are located in center of urban environment. Bukchon’s beauty, is come from differences with others.

I can remember the first moment when I first realised the connection between eating meat and eating an animal. I was in Year 5 and our Social Studies unit was on food. Each week we had to research a particular food and create a project on it. Always the academic achiever, I jumped into these projects with great gusto. One week it was peanuts, and I learned that Kingaroy was the peanut capital of Australia. Another week it was pineapples, and another macadamias.

I remember going to the local newsagent and buying information packs on these foods as well as coloured pens and pencils to make my project really shine. (My love of stationery stores began early…) I would take these info packs home, absorb everything that I read, then cut out the pictures to glue onto my project sheets. (And I can only imagine how inconvenient that must have been for Mum, a single mother on a tight budget.)

Then the week came when I was required to research beef. There, inside my project information pack, were photos of cows. Dark brown beef cattle stared out at me, huddling together in feedlots. Although I must have known it on some level, it was the first moment I remember of having such a strong, visceral reaction to the connection of cows and the steak that I ate.

The information focused on the number of head of cattle and the major farming areas in Queensland. It didn’t even mention the act of slaughter or butchery, but I turned each page with an ever-increasing mortification: I had been eating cows.

My birthday falls just 3 days after my mother’s so normally I go home to visit for a weekend to celebrate both our birthdays. It’s been a while since we last held a birthday party for us since we’re getting older and prefer a more intimate celebration. This year however we decided to have a lunch with some close family friends to celebrate my arrival into my 20s. It ended up being a huge feast. One of the main dishes that my mother and father requested was a Prime Rib Roast. Now I’m just starting to learn the art of cooking larger meats but since I had managed with the Pot Roast for Thanksgiving and the Braised Beef on my own, I decided to give this a try as well.

I proceeded to search the web for various recipes and cooking techniques for Rib Roast and after discovering a few, I decided I wanted to go with a mustard/garlic crust.

As you can see from the first photo, I took seasonings like dried basil, italiano, fresh chopped garlic, dried rosemary, black pepper,  salt, lemon grass powder, grapeseed oil and grainy mustard. I was heavier on the mustard and garlic as those were the flavours I was aiming for the most. As for quantities, I have no idea (hehe). I cook how I feel. So I added amounts that I thought would taste good until it got to a consistency that I felt was best to rub on the roast. It’s very hit and miss, I know. I also peeled whole garlic cloves.

Anyways, I prepped the meat by washing it, drying it with paper towel and then making small but fairly deep incisions into the meat with a small paring knife on both sides of the meat. I then inserted the whole cloves into the holes so to infuse even more garlic flavour into the meat itself. I then put the rub all over the meat.

It was left overnight to marinate in the rub and also for the fact that I did this at 11:30 at night and there was no way we were cooking it then. My parents woke up early to cook the meat before church so that it could rest while we were out and be perfect to eat by the time we got back. I don’t honestly remember the instructions that I gave them. I based it off a site I found on google with regards to tips & techniques to cooking Prime Rib. I forgot a few key things but managed to wake up in time to help them out before things were ruined.

My mother also wanted tons of vegetables roasted along with the prime rib so near the end of its cooking time, we added them.

The vegetables consisted of potatoes, onions, carrots, red and green peppers and mushrooms. They were all coated with grapeseed oil and seasoned with black pepper, salt, basil and rosemary.

Final Product:

It was actually cooked to perfection. A nice shade of pink on the inside, well seasoned and the inserted garlic really did the trick. The vegetables turned out great too, very flavourful but still had a bite to them. Everyone seemed to enjoy it which was interesting to see since it was the first time anyone had cooked it for our circle of friends.  It was nice learning something new and expanding my cooking repertoire