Hi again guys~

Guess what!!!! I have a puppy dog!!!!!!! Silky Terrier named Bella~, 8 weeks old, female… so cute!!!! and energetic! Emily and Gaby hate her tho… and I think Emily is plotting something evil to get rid of her… hmmm….

This is her, Bella, the new member of the family~

Anyway, since tomorrow is Christmas and we are going to goldcoast to have a Christmas gathering party, I am going to bring my cupcakes to the party. So today I’ve been baking, again! and tomorrow morning, decorate them. Getting pretty tired with the routine, and I hate routine. So I think I have to change the tittle into once every week cooking/baking challenge

So today I made mix fruit cupcakes and this is what are they look like

pretty!

Recipe:

• 224g butter
• 226g self-raising flour
• 226g caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 bag of mix fruit

How to make:

• heat the oven to 180 degree C
• mix butter with sugar
• add vanilla extract
• add flour and baking soda, mix well
• add the eggs, mix
• add the mix fruit, mix well
• put  them into the cupcake tray
• move them into the oven for 20-25 minutes
• cool them off

Happy trying guys~

XoXo,

Aby

Another awesome weather today, if you know what I mean Yes! It was raining! Again! God, I hope it will keep raining for the whole summer. So Today, like I said yesterday, were making four different types of cakes. Strawberry cupcake, Peach cupcake, Mix Berries cupcake, and Cherry cupcake.

Cherry Cupcake

Strawberry Cupcake

Peach Cupcake

Mix Berries Cupcake

the verdict: when you found that fruit, YUM!!!!

Ingredient:

• 198g butter, softened
• 210g self-raising flour
• 210g caster sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda 
• 4 eggs
• 200g of the fruit that you wanted to make
• 2 tablespoon of the fruit juice (if you buy the tin fruit)

How to make:

• Heat the oven to 180 degree C
• Mix butter and caster sugar until it fluffy
• Mix flour and baking soda together
• add those two mixes together
• add the fruit and the juice
• add the egg, mix well
• put them into the cupcake tray
• put them in the oven for 20 minutes
• cool them off

The icing decoration…. Tomorrow~

Happy baking guys!

XoXo,

Aby

It has been such a blissful week because I feel so, so loved. Thank God for family & friends. I thought this year’s birthday will be a very simple & low profiled one because I haven’t been socializing much. Well, to my surprise, the celebrations stretched over a week!

I have been toning down on a lot of night activities and heading back to home-sweet-home before 12am, which earned me a compliment that I am becoming much disciplined.

Truth be told. Sometimes I am just too hooked to online drama series, namely Korean & Taiwanese idol dramas. Haha. See, another reason why I lurve my room. It has everything to keep me entertained from books, music, Internet, exciting drama series to my collection of OSIM products! Lurving the latest uPapa…papa…papa!

That said, I do have my fair share of meeting friends over meals, singing sessions to chilling out in our fave hangouts & enjoying nonsensical gossips. Such great joy!  As long as all these do not stretch beyond midnight for I totally enjoy my beauty sleep with either a face or eye mask on.

So da birthday week started with sizzling Korean BBQ with my ‘foursome’ group! Woo, lurve the aroma of those fattening meat when they are being BBQ’d while chilling out in Timbre, enjoying the live band amid a beautiful night view.

And to add on to my first attempt of the year – a visit to Ma Maison with Daisy! (Ma Maison serves up a fusion of Japanese + French cuisine) Daisy is my very healthy girlfriend who religiously runs 5km everyday before heading to work. She is such a doting friend who cooks both Western and Chinese cuisine; we are always in for a treat! Lurve her grilled Char Siew, Chicken rice, mini burgers & mushrooms stuffed with minced pork. Simply irresistible.

The celebration was followed by yummy-licious crispy, thin-crust pizza with generous mix of bacon & cheese – a treat by A, Ands and my goddaughter, T. T never fails to cheer me up and bring a smile to my face. She is uber generous with her smiles when you pucker your lips & she has this aura of charisma even at 6 months. Such charm.

Towards the last day of the week, we headed off to a Thai restaurant in bustling Orchard Road, twinkling with festive lights. The beef glass noodles in thick brown broth are to die for. It tastes exactly like those pushcarts along the streets of Bangkok and the Thai iced tea and brought back sweet & fun memories when I was there over the weekend SHOPPING!

Lastly, a must mention is the ‘Michelin rated’ chilli crabs with generous roe whipped up by my Mummy dearest. She went to the wet market super early to get hold of the freshest. Yes, crabs mean super high cholesterol but this time round, we dug in and cast our worries aside. My mum is the best! I reckon her special must-have ingredient has got to be love!

A tad mushy but I just want to express my gratitude & love to all my friends and especially my family. Life will not be this enjoyable or manageable without your love & support! Love you all loads.

Do you have any similar sweet & heart-warming experiences to share?

It’s time for some love!

Of late, have you told loved ones that you care & appreciate them? Have you forgiven someone who had done you wrong or sought forgiveness from someone whom you have hurt?

Do it now for you do not know what may happen next. I do not believe in living a life full of regrets or resentment. God bless – Jan

Hi guys~

Today was a good day. Good cold rainy day. I love rainy weather, but I cant help but feeling abit sad. But that’s ok, cos that’s normal. So I put a Christmas CD on, and I baked Butterscotch Chocolate cookies. I have always wanted to do something with chocolate before, and today I have the chance to do it.

So, this is what they look like when they were done. Golden brown and crispy. love the fresh crisp of it!

And this is what they are looked like after the chocolate and some sprinkle on top of it~ looks so mouth watering~

The Verdict: Love the fact that they’re crispy and yummy!

Ingredients:

• 224g butter
• 130g dark brown sugar
• 226g plain flour
• 1 egg white
• cooking chocolate
• chocolate sprinkles

How to make:

1. preheat the oven to 180 degree C.
2. beat the butter and sugar together until lightly and fluffy.
3. add the egg white.
4. stir in the flour and mix well.
5. spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm star tip.
6. pipe any shape that you want on lightly greased baking sheets.
7. bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned.
8. cool on a wire rack.
9. melt the cooking chocolate.
10. add it on top of the cookies.
11. decorate them with sprinkles~

The recipe was inspired from a book called “COOKIES GALORE” by Jacqueline Bellefontaine.

Happy trying guys~

XoXo,

Aby

This is the time of year people do a lot of cooking.  Sure, Thanksgiving is behind us.  But there are Christmas and New Year’s Eve ahead of us.  I remember making a lobster bisque for one special New Year’s celebration.

The vast majority of foods that are cooked during this season are rich and comforting.  There is a lot of butter.  There is a lot of cream.  And that brings me to my rant of the day.

It may never have occurred to you to look at the ingredients in your cream.  Now you are probably saying, “Ingredients in cream?  It’s cream.  Have you gone mad?”  That is exactly what I thought, too.  But now it is exceedingly difficult to find just cream.

Maybe you have a carton of the stuff in your refrigerator right now.  I urge you to play along at home.  Go grab it and see what it says.

I’ll wait.

Got it?  If I was right likely your cream will include three unwelcome guests: carrageenan, mono- and diglycerides, and polysorbate 80.  If yours has none of these interlopers, please let me know the brand and where you got it – because yours is the cream that I am looking for.  But don’t tell me Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, or Wegmans because that will just me angry.

Now you might be asking yourself, what are these things doing in my cream?  Fair question.  Let me break it down by ingredient.

Carrageenan is a food gum.  If you read the labels of processed foods, you will see it everywhere.  Gums act as thickening agents and stabilizers.  It’s safe, but it is in your cream to give it the feeling of being fattier than it actually is.  Which is really theft.  Because when you are paying a premium for cream, you are paying for expensive milkfat, and not gums derived from seaweed.

Mono- and diglycerides improve the shelf life of the products they are put into.  An interesting fact that I learned from a former colleague’s blog is that this additive can be derived from an animal source and vegetarians are advised to steer clear.  Sorry to be the bearer of bad news to those already on restricted diets.

Polysorbate 80 is an emulsifier, and as far as I can tell is used to make sure that the cream doesn’t separate.

Honestly, it’s the gums I care about the most, because to me that is tantamount to a bait and switch.  The consumer is paying for a thick and luscious liquid filled with expensive and delicious milkfat, but instead it’s being supplemented with cheap and less delicious seaweed molecules.

Although if I were a vegetarian, I’d be pretty peeved about the mono- and diglycerides.

Still, there is another, more insidious thing lurking in your heavy cream.  And that is rBGH, recombinant bovine growth hormone, which doesn’t make it onto the ingredient list at all.  Technically it’s not in the cream per se, but we’ll talk more about that later.

Unless, of course, your cream is organic.  Organic milk comes from cows that are not injected with rBGH.  For that matter, organic milk comes from cows that do not receive antibiotics.  But even organic cream can, and most likely will, contain the food additives listed above.

Grrr.  It makes me so angry!

Let this be a reminder to you.  Check your ingredients.  Always.
You may be surprised at what you find.

I recently stumbled upon a fairly inexpensive way to expand my knowledge of all things cheese. Dussa’s Ham and Cheese on Granville Island has started packing end cuts into small containers that sell for about $3-$5 each, depending on the cheeses. I’ve managed to score a couple of $3 containers with as many as four different cheeses in them, many of which I’ve never heard of let alone tried before. Some of my favourite new finds so far include: Boschetto (a fragrant blend of sheep and cow’s milk highlighted by bits of truffle), Bleu des Causses (crystals formed throughout the “blue” give it a slightly crunchy texture), Ale Cheddar (can really taste the beer – would be a good cheese to have with more beer, too), County Choice (looks like a layered terrine but made up of white cheddar, Cheshire, Double Gloucester, and Whisky Cheddar), Fourme d’Ambert (strong blue cheese but smoother than Stilton), Isola (like Swiss but not as nutty and no eyes), and Ossau-Iraty Vieille (a nutty, fruity cheese somewhat like a Petit Basque but with a softer rind and smoother centre). Yup, I’m keeping a list so I’ll know which ones I like for when I want to shop for more. Cheap cheese plate anyone?

I lifted the Matcha Cookie recipe from my BFF and recently I made my very own. (Incidentally, my BFF cannot take credit for the great recipe as she is not its author, but if you Google Lovescool you can find its origins there and thanks to the powers of the interweb, what began as modest and experimental recipe on her blog has travelled far and wide to all corners of the world).

Although I cook a great deal, it has been a long time since I made some cookies. Today’s experience was so charming that I am looking forward to doing it again tomorrow (I saved half my dough, a prudent move in case I messed up my inaugural batch). I had completely forgotten how much fun cutting out cookie shapes from dough is. There’s an innocent childlike amusement and warm satisfaction of firmly pressing in a cutter into some smooth dough and admiring the perfect shape of a cookie as you place it onto a baking tray. The process and the result are both rewards.

Posted by Audiegrl

Another first from the Obama White House Kitchen…First Lady reveals “secret ingredient“

First Lady Michelle Obama, Flay, Comerford, Brown, Batali and Lagasse

Obama Foodorama—First Lady Michelle Obama will make a special appearance on the season premiere of the popular Food Network show Iron Chef America in January, in a savvy move to extend her healthy food messaging to a new audience. Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford will compete on the show in a special two hour “super chef battle.” Comerford’s teammate is grill master Bobby Flay, who guest-cheffed at the White House for the Father’s Day event in June, when he cooked up some lovely steaks with President Obama. Spoiler alert: Mrs. Obama will be revealing the “secret ingredient” that the chefs will use in their televised cook-off, which is a hallmark of the Iron Chef America series. The “secret ingredient” in this case is anything that grows in the White House Kitchen Garden, which leaves things wiiiide open, because the Kitchen Garden has produced a stunning variety of crops this year. Comerford and Flay are competing against the highly competitive team of celeb chefs Emeril Lagasse, who specializes in Southern/New Orleans cooking, and Mario Batali, an Italian cooking superstar.

Comerford in the Kitchen Garden during the Iron Chef America filming, harvesting with teammate Flay

Scenes for the show were already shot at the White House, with Comerford and the three other chefs harvesting crops from the Kitchen Garden, and Mrs. Obama having face-time with the guest chefs and discussing the importance of getting kids to eat their veggies. In her onscreen cameo, Mrs. Obama will discuss her campaign to reduce childhood obesity through better school lunches, community gardens, farmers’ markets and exercise, which is now known as the Healthy Kids Initiative around the White House. The show’s January air-date is timed perfectly to be right before Congress comes back into session, when legislators will ostensibly be addressing the re-authorization of the Child Nutrition Act, which provides federal funding for school feeding programs. Better school lunches are one of Mrs. Obama’s priorities, and President Obama’s too; Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack frequently notes in his public remarks that this was the very first subject President Obama discussed with him during their “job interview.”

More @ Obama Foodorama, where you can find White House Food Initiatives…And Other Bipartisan Bytes of Food Politics

In Vietnamese and Thai cooking, fish sauce (nuoc mam) is as what salt is in Western and soy sauce in Chinese cooking. It is included in practically all recipes. Prepared from fresh anchovies and salt, layered in huge wooden barrels, the manufacture of fish sauce is a major industry in Vietnam. The factories are located along the coast to assure the freshness of the fish to be processed. After about 3 months of fermentation in the barrel, liquid drips from an open spigot, to be poured back into the top of the barrel. After about 6 months the fish sauce is produced.

The first draining is the very best fish sauce, lighter in color and perfectly clear (kind of “Extra Virgin” fish sauce). It is relatively expensive and is reserved for table use. The second and third draining yield a fish sauce of lower quality and lower cost for general- purpose cooking. The two towns most noted for their fish sauce are Phu Quoc and Phan Thiet in Vietnam. Phu Quoc produces the best fish sauce, some of which are exported. On the label, the “nhi” signifies the highest quality.

In my Asian cooking recipes involving fish sauce, I use the brand “Golden Boy” (Thailand) for seasoning and marinade. For salad and dipping sauces, I use the brand “Three Crabs” (Vietnam) that is nearly three times more expensive than the one used for cooking.

Coconut milk is made from diluting the liquid pressed from grated coconut meat with water. It should not be confused with the liquid in the center of the coconut that is called coconut water or juice. Nowadays, the pressing process is done in factory and coconut milk is canned or made into powder for convenient use.

Full coconut milk is approximately 20% fat. About 50% of the fatty acids in coconut fat are lauric acid, which is the same fat found in abundance in mother’s milk. Lauric acid is known to promote normal brain development and contribute to healthy bones. It also has important anti-carcinogenic and anti-pathogenic properties and is less likely to cause weight gain than polyunsaturated oils.

When cooking meat and seafood in my recipes, I use the Aroy-D brand (from Thailand) “for cooking” coconut milk. It has more rich taste and aromatic flavour than the general purpose canned milk or milk powder that I would normally use in dessert and drink.

do you know what a delicata squash is? yeah, me neither. until one appeared in the box. (see? i told you the box was going to be fun. are we having fun?)

i did some research on this so-called “delicata,” and here is what i learned:

“available year round, delicata squash are best during august to october and can be kept for 7 to 8 months. it is also known as potato squash, a sweet potato squash or a bohemian squash.” [source]

“delicata squash is a nice mild tasting and delicious squash.” [source]

“delicata is an heirloom squash, meaning it was grown for generations before the need to ship vegetables thousands of miles still intact changed the way produce is grown in this country…you don’t have to wield a cleaver to hack through the shell…you can eat the skin after roasting it.” [source]

well now…! all this made me want to run to my kitchen bake up my squash immediately.

i started by washing it well, since i wasn’t going to peel it. then i cut it open and scooped out the seeds.

and into a baking dish. i drizzled it with olive oil, and sprinkled it with salt, pepper, dried rosemary and some garlic powder.

bake at 375 degrees until it was soft, about 30 minutes (but it depends on how ripe your squash is and how soft you like it).

while the squash itself was baking, i cleaned the seeds and laid them out on a lined baking sheet.

i sprayed them with some sunflower oil (but any oil would do) and sprinkled them with salt and tossed them in the oven (with the squash) for about 15 minutes or until golden.

smaller than pumpkin seeds, they have a great crunch and go well with a beer!

how cute are these little suckers?! this is the kind of thing i see at the grocery store and just BUY without thinking. like some girls can’t resist cute shoes, i can’t resist cute baby red onions. (okay, i can’t resist cute shoes either, but that would be a whole different kind of blog…)

i should have put a postage stamp next to them or something so you could get an idea of the size… they would fit comfortably on a quarter. does that help?

it took me awhile to figure out what to do with them, but finally i decided to get them drunk and caramelized them. (although that makes me sound a bit like a predator)

start by cutting off the tops and bottoms and peeling. this took, as you can imagine, FOR-EVER.

then put them in a large sautee pan over medium heat with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and a sprinkle of sugar.

i let them hang out until they were pretty soft, then i added the wine.

drink up, my pretties! i let the wine cook down until it turned into a sticky little sauce and the onions got all caramelize-y.

i think this would make a pretty rad side dish for thanksgiving, or even a “relish” to go on top of pork or turkey.

Sometimes I develop ingredient obsessions. I find an item I’m curious about and experiment for days with new recipes and uses for it.  This week, it’s roasted walnut oil. I’ve been in an olive oil rut for so long, so when I saw a pretty can of La Tourangelle Roasted Walnut Oil during a recent trip to  Berkeley Bowl West, I had to grab it. (Safeway carries it too, I later noticed.)

La Tourangelle Roasted Walnut Oil

Lighter in flavor and color than extra virgin olive oil and kind of nutty, it’s also a good source of Omega 3’s. Here’s a basic vinaigrette that turned out great. I drizzled it over a salad of butter lettuce leaves, roasted beets, reduced-fat blue cheese crumbles and fresh black pepper.

Recipe: Walnut Oil Vinaigrette

Serves: Dresses 4 small to medium side salads

Meaty Monitor: Flavorful but not too heavy. A very versatile dressing.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
• 4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 4 tablespoons roasted walnut oil
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a jar and shake thoroughly until emulsified. Store in the fridge until ready to use.

This recipe is going to be in heavy rotation for a long time at our house. Give it a shot and let me know what you think!

- Hill

Rendons à César ce qui lui appartient. Nous devons nous incliner bien bas de respect et d’admiration devant une des plus impressionnante campagne de relation publique menée au Québec. Ce n’est plus qu’une simple campagne de vaccination que nous vivons, mais bel et bien un moment historique hors pair. Tel qu’annoncé partout dans les médias du Québec, nous sommes témoins de LA plus grande campagne de vaccination de l’histoire du Québec, un évènement à célébrer, un moment historique magique à vivre. D’ailleurs, apparemment que le comité qui rédige le Livre de record Guinness ait été contacté pour homologuer ce record inédit qui nous rend si fier.

Bien que le gouvernement du Québec se disait inquiet des très bas taux d’intention des gens de se faire vacciner il y a quelques semaines, ce problème est dorénavant chose du passé grâce à cette campagne de relation publique du tonnerre. Il aura suffit de montrer à la population toujours proie facile de la peur et la panique quelques images d’un jeune garçon de 13 ans qui aurait été foudroyé par le virus H1N1. Génial. Peut importe si le garçon n’était pas réellement mort du virus H1N1, mais bien d’une méningite, comme le rapportait le Dr Alain Poirier quelques jours plus tard, lors de l’émission 24 heures en 60 minutes, animée par Anne-Marie Dussault.

Superbe travail encore une fois de la part des médias qui ont été rapides pour semer la panique, mais bien lents à rectifier la réelle cause de la mort. Peut importe, comme le disait le père des relations publiques et de la publicité, Edward Bernays, on ne convainc pas les gens avec des discours rationnels, mais bien par les émotions, ce qui est de loin le plus efficace. Un coup l’image imprimée dans l’esprit des gens, entourée d’une aura de peur et de panique, même une admission de la part des médias que le garçon n’était pas mort du H1N1, mais bien d’une méningite, n’arrivera pas à déloger la première impression qui est pourtant fausse.

Résultat: plus de 80% de la population québécoise dit maintenant vouloir se faire vacciner. Cela ne s’appelle pas du contrôle des masses, mais bien une campagne de protection de la population par des autorités extrêmement soucieuse de notre santé. Nous devrions en être reconnaissant. Devant l’ennemi, nous devons être des patriotes et prendre une injection au nom de la nation, peut importe nos soucis et préoccupations concernant l’innocuité de ces vaccins.

De toute façon, merci encore une fois aux médias et aux autorités, nous savons maintenant que la question de l’innocuité et de l’efficacité des vaccins A/H1N1 est réglée une fois pour toute. Si on nous dit qu’ils sont sécuritaires et la seule façon de combattre le virus extrémiste, nous devrions nous la fermer et faire tout ce que les autorités nous disent de faire.

Qui suis-je pour décider de ma propre santé et celle des autres? Je ne suis pas un médecin, ni un expert. Je n’ai pas un mot à dire concernant ce qui entre dans mon corps. Si le gouvernement et l’OMS disent qu’il y a urgence, il est bien normal que le bien public passe en premier de tout, quitte à devoir injecter des substances toxiques dans mon corps, sans mon consentement et octroyer des pouvoirs inédits aux autorités, allant même jusqu’à contrevenir à la Charte des droits et libertés. C’est pour notre bien, pour nous protéger. C’est par amour des autres qu’on doit prendre une chance de jouer à la roulette russe avec sa santé. Il serait bien narcissique, ultra individualiste et égoïste de refuser. Et j’aime jouer. Surtout qu’avec les vaccins H1N1, nous avons 14 fois plus de chance de gagner qu’à la 6/49! On peut se mériter un superbe syndrome Guillain Barré à cette loterie toute spéciale. À gagner: effets secondaires RARES dû à des ingrédients de vaccin que les autorités ont approuvés.

En fait, la question cruciale dont on devrait tous se préoccuper jour et nuit est de savoir comment mettre les mains sur une de ces doses de super protection contre le virus envahisseur. Mais Yves Bolduc, a déclaré qu’il n’y aurait plus de passe droit au Québec, il faudra attendre son tour. À nous de gérer notre sentiment d’insécurité si on a la sensation de rareté des vaccins et d’avoir à attendre son tour. C’est un mal pour un bien; cela augmente notre désir d’avoir notre dose. Notre tour viendra. C’est comme si c’était « une chance », de gagner le gros lot. L’effet de « rareté » est donc une autre superbe facette de cette campagne de vaccination (la plus grande de l’histoire du Québec, faut-il le répéter). Peu importe que le Globe and Mail ait révélé que des millions de doses du vaccin H1N1 dorment dans des entrepôts.

Et des chanceux, il va y en avoir. Rien à voir, cependant, avec le fait qu’on vaccine les gens depuis environ deux semaines puis que tout d’un coup, comme par enchantement, les urgences sont débordées de cas de grippe H1N1. Ne soyons pas paranoïaques et comme les complotistes, que nous suspectons d’ailleurs d’être des extrémistes affiliés avec l’Al Qaïda.

Si vous entendez de la bouche d’un de ces extrémistes anti-vaccins que les effets secondaires du vaccin H1N1 commencent à sortir suite aux débuts de la vaccination de masse, nous pouvons nous rassurer car les autorités nient que le vaccin puisse être en cause. Ils nous expliquent que c’est le virus A/H1N1 qui tue, puisque le vaccin n’est pas effectif avant au moins 10 jours. Cela n’est pas une raison de croire que c’est une manière de masquer les effets dévastateurs qui pourraient survenir après vaccination.

Ne croyez pas à tout ce qui est écrit sur Internet. Ce n’est pas parce qu’on vous montre des vidéos YouTube d’une jeune meneuse de claques, par exemple, qui a eu des effets secondaires graves après la vaccination contre la grippe, que cela signifie que ce sera pareil pour nous ou que ce soit réellement relié aux vaccins. Notre confrère a dû se méprendre lui aussi; il n’y a certainement pas lieu de s’inquiéter.

Il faut le faire pour protéger la santé des autres.

Ce n’est pas les morts et les effets secondaires qui se multiplient en Suède qui vont nous arrêter dans cette campagne historique de vaccination de masse dont nous sommes si fiers.

Nous devons aussi souligner l’effort extraordinaire que cette centaine d’employés d’un centre d’hébergement ont déployé pour la protection du public, en dépit d’avoir été victimes d’une erreur dans la préparation du vaccin qu’ils ont reçu qui contenait deux doses d’adjuvant. Deux fois plus de squalène que la dose admise. Sans broncher, ces employés seront revaccinés avec le mélange adéquat pour protéger leur santé et celles des autres.

L’erreur est humaine. C’est exactement ce que les onze enfants de l’Ontario qui ont reçu le double d’une dose recommandée de vaccin H1N1 par une infirmière devront comprendre. Cette dernière continue toujours à ce jour de “protéger” la population.

Voilà que de bonnes nouvelles.

Et il a été confirmé, une fois qu’il a été documenté que ce virus A/H1N1 avait un taux très bas de mortalité, que l’OMS a changé sa définition d’une « pandémie » au mois de mai 2009, pour laisser tomber le besoin d’avoir un haut taux de mortalité et ainsi déclarer la pandémie de toute façon un mois plus tard, en juin. Et oui, cela leur donne le pouvoir de donner des ordres aux autorités de la santé de tous les pays membres de l’ONU pour des vaccinations obligatoires avec des amendes punitives et des quarantaines pour les extrémistes anti-vaccins. Mais ce n’est que par amour, pour nous forcer à protéger notre santé. Quel autre motif un organisme comme l’OMS pourrait possiblement avoir? Au lieu d’être parano, on devrait être plein de gratitude, cesser tout ce questionnement et faire tout ce qu’ils disent.

Et lorsqu’en janvier dernier, un manufacturier officiellement désigné pour fabriquer des vaccins contre le H1N1 admettait avoir fait une erreur ayant résulté en la production et livraison de larges quantités de matériel pour fabriquer des vaccins contre la grippe saisonnière qui s’était avéré mortel dans des tests sur animaux et contenait des virus vivants hautement contagieux, cela n’était qu’un exemple isolé d’une erreur. Il n’y a absolument rien là d’inquiétant. Il n’y a pas de temps à perdre pour se demander comment une telle « erreur » a pu se produire sous le protocole de sécurité le plus avancé qui existe, mis en place exactement pour rendre ce type d’erreur complètement impossible. On fait tous des erreurs, n’est-ce pas? Pardonner et oublier. Je suis certain que rien de tel ne se reproduira.

D’accord, peut-être bien que les gouvernements ont octroyé une complète immunité juridique aux manufacturiers pharmaceutiques, les protégeant de toutes poursuites judiciaires en cas de dommages et d’effets secondaires indésirables, les ont laissé utiliser des additifs non testés et les ont exemptés des tests usuels d’innocuité. Mais ils ne prennent de tels risques que parce qu’ils nous aiment tellement et qu’ils veulent se précipiter pour nous protéger contre cet horrible virus de l’influenza terroriste que la vaste majorité du monde prend quelques jours d’inconfort pour s’en remettre.

Si le seul moyen de nous protéger est de nous exposer à tous ces ingrédients qui peuvent nous endommager de façon permanente et même nous tuer, et bien, les autorités ne vont pas laisser ces inquiétudes pour la vie humaine être dans le chemin de notre protection. On est prêt à prendre la chance de nous rendre malade et nous tuer pour nous sauver la vie.

Alors, quelle différence cela fait-il de savoir ce qu’il y a dans ces vaccins ou pas; ou s’ils ont été testés ou pas? L’important est d’avoir une entière confiance envers le gouvernement pour prendre soin de nous.

Cela rend humble de savoir que tant de personnes puissantes sont si intensément concernées à propos de notre santé et notre bien-être qu’ils ne laisseront aucune loi les empêcher d’assurer notre protection.

Donc, entre les pouvoirs confiés à l’OMS durant une pandémie déclarée et les pouvoirs spéciaux conférés à la branche exécutive du gouvernement durant un « état d’urgence » déclaré, la population du monde entier a toutes les raisons de se sentir *super en sécurité*. Je partage certainement ce sentiment.

Pas même besoin de savoir que la vitamine D se révèle être la pierre angulaire pour combattre les rhumes et grippes saisonnières. Santé Canada va probablement perdre son temps à enquêter sur le rôle de la vitamine D dans la protection contre ces problème de la santé qui nous affectent tous chaque hivers, alors que nous sommes majoritairement déficient en vitamine D, qui est produite dans la peau avec l’action du soleil.

Je ne peux qu’espérer et prier, alors que cette merveilleuse machine de protection nationale et globale pour « prendre soin de nous » se met en route, que les hurluberlus de théoriciens du complot ne vont pas tout ruiner avec leurs outrageuses fantaisies paranoïaques. Donc, sentez-vous libres de faire circuler ce message rassurant autant que possible.

Nous sommes tous ensembles dans cette galère!

François Marginean

Image Flickr: Michæl Paukner

Was ist der Unterschied zwischen Bresaola, Bündner Trockenfleisch und Mostbröckli? Dieser Frage bin ich kürzlich nachgegangen und ich habe folgendes herausgefunden.

Alle drei sind sehr stark verwandt. Es handelt sich um getrocknetes Fleisch (wer hätte das gedacht?). Bresaola wird aus ‘italienisch’ “girello” zubereitet. Das ist ein mageres Stück Fleisch aus der Rindshüfte mit dem man auch Braten zubereiten kann. Bündner Trockenfleisch und Mostbröckli dagegen werden aus minderwertigem Fleisch aus einem Halsstück zubereitet.

Die Zubereitung ist ähnlich. Das Fleisch wird getrocknet und geräuchert. Die Mostbröckli werden zusätzlich in Rotwein mariniert.

Ich hoffe etwas Klarheit geschaffen zu haben. Auf Präzisierungen würde ich mich freuen.

Chef : yummy bear

Ingredients:
Dry red chilies – 20
Coriander seeds – 1 cup
Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp
Cumin seeds – 2 tsp
Bengal gram – 1 tsp
White lentil / Split Urad daal – 1 tsp
Curry leaves – 5 stems of leaves, with the stems
Turmeric powder – 1 tsp

Method:

1. Heat a dry pan and add the dry red chilies, fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, Bengal gram, white lentil and dry roast for a few minutes on low flame until you get a strong aroma. Set aside and allow to cool.
2. In the same pan, now dry roast the curry leaves along with their stems. Set aside and allow to cool.
3. In a dry mill/grinder, add the above dry roasted ingredients and powder.
4. Add the turmeric powder and grind again.
5. Store in an air tight container.

Carrefour had a strawberry sale, so it was strawberry smoothie for breakfast. Too bad the strawberries weren’t particularly sweet, so I had to add some manuka honey for a herbal kick. Also added in a secret ingredient that really brought out the strawberry flavour. If you can’t figure out what it is, you can use vanilla essence instead. (A rather oblique hint: vanilla essence is the same colour as my secret ingredient.) If not, you could try using better flavoured strawberries, or just swap the strawberries for a good ripe mango. That’s also very good.

Ingredients:

1 punnet strawberries, washed and hulled
1 tbsp Manuka honey, or to taste
2 tsp secret ingredient, or to taste OR ½ tsp vanilla essence
approx 1 cup milk, or till it covers the fruit

Method:

1. Easy peasy: just combine all in a tall plastic tumbler and whizz with a stick blender till smooth.
2. Drink immediately.

Serves 1 or 2.

“leek and goat cheese tart” may sound like a fancy, highfalutin dish, but it’s actually very simple, quick and totally variable. i served it as sort of a side dish with fish, but it would make a great appetizer or snack to go with a glass of wine. it’s okay hot or room temp, too, so great for a cocktail party.

i started with three leeks (from the box, of course. although i like leeks, they just aren’t something i buy for myself for some reason).

leeks are in the onion and garlic family, so they have a delicate onion flavor. they are grown in sand and are therefore quite gritty inside, so it’s important to wash them well. start by cutting off the dark green tops and the root-end.

then split the leek in half and remove the outer one or two layers. as you peel back the layers (like an onion! get it?) you will notice dirt inside. run your leeks under cool water while you peel them open and rinse out the dirt.

then cut them in about half-inch pieces.

i melted about a tablespoon of butter in a saute pan, along with a small splash of olive oil (using this combination adds the yummy flavor of butter, but the oil allows it to get hotter than usual without burning. handy!) and added the leeks.

saute them until they are “melted,” of very soft. don’t let them brown, though.

while you’re doing this, you want to pre-bake your crust. i had planned to use (pre-made, frozen) puff pastry, but my grocery store didn’t have any, so i substituted a (pre-made, frozen) pie crust, which worked fine. use whichever you can get your hands on.

lay the crust out on a baking sheet (it doesn’t have to totally defrost, but i would let it warm up a little) and – this is important! – prick it all over with a fork. this lets the air out and keeps it from puffing up awkwardly.

bake at 425 degrees for about 12 minutes, then lower your heat to 350 and bake 10 minutes more, or until it is golden, but not brown.

let the crust cool, and when it is at about room temp, i spread it with creamy goat cheese from trader joe’s (those guys should totally be giving me a cut…)

and topped with the leeks.

then i sprinkled it with a little grated parmesean and romano cheese and some fresh thyme and threw it back in to oven (at 350) just until it got a little gooey.

it was a HUGE hit.

i said at the beginning that this recipe is very variable. by that mean, start with the same crust procedure, but try spreading it with cream cheese, pesto or even a light layer of tomato sauce. top with melted, caramelized onions, thinly sliced and seasoned new potatoes or oven roasted tomatoes.  or, try a sweet version – spread with fig jam and top with caramelized apples!