Top Restaurant Cities in the US

This is a great article on top cities to eat in the US it lists

1. NYC- my favorite as your can eat food from any country in the world!
2. New Orleans, I agree the food here is special and so unique to New Orleans
3. Las Vegas- it has a good culinary school in town!
4. LA- have been to a few good places in LA but I find it a bit for posers, just teasing
5. San Francisco the article states especially Asian food, vietnamese, and Chinese. The China Town in San Francisco is great and the great thing about this city is after eating, walk a few hills and you burn of all the food!
6. Chicago, I love Rush Street.
7. I WANT TO ADD CHARLOTTE NC it has wonderful places of a very high caliber and especially around South Park Mall area.

http://www.forbestraveler.com/food-drink/restaurant-cities-2009-story.html

What are your favorite cities to eat in?

Tips to Make Good Chapatti's

I ate the chapatti's with black Channa and veggies

I have been making chapatis a few years now and slowly they are improving, through trail and error this is what I have learnt

1. Make the dough and let it sit for 1 hr
2. Add yogurt to the dough to make it softer
3. Use a very flat dosa pan to cook them
4. Press down the sides and turn it as cooking to trap air inside to make them puff up
5. Roll thinly as it puffs up better
6. Try and Try again, folks from North Indian and Pakistan make these everyday, practice makes perfect.

Little Jasmine is going through a stage that she doesn't want me to feed her and she likes to throw it on the floor, also she doesn't want to be in her high chair now I understand the issues around feeding parents had as a dietitian he he!

With patience and understanding of her independence things will get better I am sure.

Please comment with your tips then they will get even better, 

have a wonderful weekend all, 

love

Your Daily Workout can Decrease Your Risk of Cancer

A Finnish study with 2, 560 men aged between 42-62 followed for an average of 16 years. Found that those who did moderate to intense activity for 30 min per day had 50% less chance of developing cancer. 

Another great reason to get 30 min of activity every day.

I personally like to go for a walk everyday and do stretching while playing with Jasmine on the floor, and recently she is starting to dance, so I will be dancing with her!

Source: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_87489.html

Guest Post By My Little Space

Hi all I asked Kristy from My little Space based in Malaysia to post on a traditional food, she emailed me and asked to use todays post its a wonderful Mai Lai Gao cake, I love the use of custard powder.

"I was totally flattered when Rebecca wrote to me and asked me to be her guest writer. Well, I'm not such a good writer or story teller at all; but I am very much like to share my recipes indeed. Thank you so much Rebecca for the invitation 

I will follow forward you to her lovely blog, 

http://kristygourmet.blogspot.com/2009/07/traditional-ma-lai-gao-o-malay-cake.html

oh and this was mine and Jasmines lunch a Mega Omelette with smoked turkey, baby swiss cheese, cherry tomatoes and mushrooms yummy 

Nourish's Midori Glazed Halibut Recipe is Featured on Alaskan Seafood Harvest

The lovely Amanda of Nourish let me use a seafood recipe for the Alaskan Seafood blog, so I eagerly went through her Archive and found this one. Its a great recipe and was also featured on the foodbuzz top 9!

I emailed her for a photo but she stated it was so good, her husband ate it before she got a chance to take a picture. How many times has that happened fellow foodies he he!

She's a fellow dietitian and lives in Canada, check our her blog she also adds awesome nutrition tips here http://dosesofnourishment.blogspot.com/

here's the recipe, feel free to check it out

http://www.alaskaharvest.com/blog/seafood-recipes/midori-glazed-halibut-with-canteloupe-salsa.html

oh but I still love my car, even tough I need to get new brake pads at a high price, what to do?

South Indian Filter Coffee

So this post is dedicated to Sweta of Bonne Nutrition and Viki of Viki's Kitchen she is from the same State in India as my hubby, and cooks great Indian food, check out her blog at http://elitefoods.blogspot.com/

she gave me the Kreative blogger award, very sweet of her I have already posted on this. Anything new to report about me I love and hate my car, I have a VW Toureg love it but costs way to much with servicing and I think I need to say goodbye to my big bad baby! and this time get something smaller and better MPG!

Anyways onto the post:

In South India they have a special traditional way to make coffee, (cappi!) with a filter I got one in the Indian store the other day. 

Here is the coffee maker and the coffee, it is a blend of coffee and chicory which in history has been used as a coffee substitute, it adds a very characteristic taste to the coffee

So you add a tablespoon of the powder to the filter and fill with water up to the level then it will slowly filter through into the bottom chamber to make a shot. I mean slowly I cooked supper veggies and pasta while it was doing this!

In India they will add hot milk and pour it from one container to the other very high up in the air and fast to get the foam and maybe to cool it down as its so hot there!, my hubby used to do this when we were dating I thought it a little strange but after being there I understood he he

Anyways I cheated on mine and steamed the milk with an espresso machine!

If you ever visit South India  you must drink this especially in the hotels (its cleaner for us westerners and you get nice stainless steel or silverware, to make the experience better LOL) its wonderful, make sure you ask for no sugar if you don't like very sweet drinks!

Best Fake Nutritionist Video: So Funny!!

Had to share this its very funny, this is NOT what I am by the way LOL

Consult a Registered Dietitian its much safer!

Thank You Food Buzz for Spotlighting Little me!

Diana of a little bit of Spain in Iowa tweeted me this morning I never thought I would say that but hey everyone is doing it!, and told me my little mug was on the homepage of foodbuzz. Sure enough there I was and spotlighted very neat. 

I adore foodbuzz, one of the best communities I have joined I have meet so many awesome foodies from around the globe kenny from Chic Eats, Donna from My Tasty Treasures, Girlichef, Gera of Sweet Foods, My little Space, hummingbird appetite, Natashya of 5 Star foodie, Erica of My Columbian Recipes, Jenn from Bread and Butter, Amanda of Nourish, Olga of Mango and Tomato, Deb from Hawaii, Sweta of Bonne Nutrition and this is just a few you can see how many blogs I follow!

Love ya all, I am learning so much from you all about cooking and life

http://www.foodbuzz.com/foodies/spotlight

Maryland Crab Cakes and Great Quote

Here's the recipe for the crab cake's I was surprised by how easy it was just crab meat, old bay, mayo and mustard, will be making them again LOL 

 http://www.alaskaharvest.com/blog/seafood-recipes/maryland-style-crab-cakes.html

oh and my hubby gets daily quotes on his iphone this one was great and wanted to share it with you all:

"Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle" 

Christian D Larson

Lamb Curry

This Curry takes a while but all good things come to those who wait!

Ingredients: 

• One pack of cubed lamb from the Indian store
  
• one red onion
• curry leaves
• 3 green chilis
• ginger/garlic paste
• 4 potatoes
• masala powder
• whole masala
• salt
• chili powder
• coriander powder
• 2 small tomatoes

Step one

The paste - this step really makes the difference with this curry

1. fry 2 green chili's 1/2 of the onion, curry leaves, ginger/garlic paste and whole garam masala, has coriander seeds, cumin seeds, cardamon, bay leaves, till golden brown 
2. near the end add grated coconut
3. grind and set aside for later

Step 2

The Curry

1. peel and cube potatoes and boil
2. then fry the rest of the onion with ginger/garlic paste, salt, chili powder coriander powder and masala powder add the lamb and fry till a little cooked with tomatoes 
3. pressure cook if desired for one whistle will make it tender
4. Finally add the potatoes and paste and simmer for 20 min. 

It takes a long time and work, as all good Indian dishes often do but its well work it and you can eat leftovers for a couple of days!

For Jasmine I sauteed onion, in canola oil with the lamb some tomato and a little gravy then ground it, she ate hers, with cheddar mashed potatoes and green beans and broccoli and really enjoyed it, in fact I was amazed at how much she ate!

This is Jasmines Blankie she adores this, She went to the Nursery at church today and we forgot it so a lovely friend went back and brought it to her. I tried all kinds of soft toys with labels and soft scarfs but no it has to be this one LOL

What are the things or people in life that make you feel secure?

For me has to be God then my dearest hubby you know he's amazing he gave me a watch (not just any watch a Burberry one!) yesterday from him and Jasmine saying he was proud of me for  trying to be a freelance writer and for taking good care of Jasmine, how sweet is that.

Love

My Local Indian Store: Om Indian Groceries

I thought I would take you on a quick tour of my local Indian Grocery store, Om Indian Groceries http://omindiangroceries.com/ 

1575 Hanes Mall Blvd

Winston Salem, NC 27103
(336) 794-8000

It is 5 min from my house, its very clean and well laid out, with great management.

Frozen chappati and vegetables, I love Drumsticks as they are great in Sambar and its hard to get fresh, also a great place to get fresh frozen coconut.

Here are two staples in Indian cooking spicy green chilis and curry leaves

Pickles, and types of flour for those on a gluten free diet Indian stores have great gluten free flours made from rice or lentils, at much lower prices.

Indian shampoos and soaps, there is also a South Indian coffee filter, I got one, recipe to follow, my husband told me I paid too much and we should have got his mom to bring it aw well!

Indian Ladies Tops, they also plan to start selling Jewelery 

Indian Movies from the North - Hindi (my Favorite ones, I am a traitor as my hubby is South Indian!, watch some they are very good) and the South.

Lots of biscuits I think us Brits taught some bad habits he he, oh and they even have McVities a famous British brand, I like it even more!

Cadburys chocolate from England, where it originated, and in my humble opinion the best LOL

Indian Sweets

Homemade Idly/Dosa mix, now this is cool as if you look here http://chowandchatter.blogspot.com/2009/04/ammas-idlydosa-recipe.html

they take a long time to make!, I had this this evening with lamb curry, recipe to follow. They also have homemade curries from a local lady.

Indian vegetables, if your local they have a delivery on Thurs in fact most can be grown in Florida where the climate is like India

All kinds of lentils and dried beans, the healthiest part of the store.

All different types of rice, in big bags as most Indians eat a lot of rice!

Our supper, lamb curry (recipe to follow, otherwise this post will be very long!) and dosa.

Hope you enjoyed your tour any questions feel free to comment, I highly recommend paying a visit to your local Indian store.

Weetabix and Blueberry Cake

So the other day I introduced you all to my favourite UK Cereal Weetabix and Louise of  http://fed-and-watered.blogspot.com/ 

a fellow Brit, emailed the recipe for weetabix cake.  That one of her co workers gave her after they brought it to the office. It turned out great, better than my last few cake's! the only addition I made was to add blueberries raisins and walnuts

Ingredients:

• 5 oz dried fruit (I used raisins, blueberries and walnuts here)
• 8oz sugar either white or brown
• one large egg
• 8 oz milk
• 4 oz self raising flour
• 4 weetabix

Method: 

1. mix sugar, milk, fruit and weetabix together and let it stand for one hour (I did this just as Jasmine went for a nap!)
2. then fold in flour and egg
3. add to a greased 1lb baking tin
4. bake in a pre heated oven at 350 degrees for 1 15min (I mowed the yard as it was baking, when it was done Jasmine and I ate it yummy)

Jasmine munching

Jasmines little foamed milk and cake

Cake and Cappuccino heavenly

So give it a try it was so good, and high in fiber, happy Saturday everyone.

Mac and Cheese With Broccoli and Crab

I made homemade mac and cheese today with broccoli, crab meat (from yesterdays crab cakes) and mixed veggies. With an onion and cheddar cheese sauce yummy. Jasmine ate well, after I stopped trying to feed her and looked away, she feed herself independent little baba!

Oh and for the Mums out there this is a neat radio station and website for kids, with British accents made me feel homesick though. http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/

Love