What is Dim Sum?

Dim sum is a delightfully delicious meal consisting of light dishes of Chinese cuisine, served with tea. Delectable and exotic, a meal of dim sum can truly be one of the best you've ever had. It is a specialized Chinese cuisine that requires many ingredients that can be easily found at a Chinese or other Asian grocery store.

It is meant to be sort of an Asian brunch that is served a la carte. Once seated, the staff will come over to your table while pushing carts that loaded with all sorts of delicacies. It is mostly taken for breakfast or for lunch, and Sundays are extremely popular for a family lunch or breakfast. On those days you will have to arrive early or know someone at the dim sum restaurant if you do not want to wait in line for hours if you want to sit at a table.

Authentic French Crepes - Tips to Make Tasty Crepes at Home

Thin, crispy and golden; making the perfect crepe is an art in itself. After having tasted authentic crepes from the streets of Paris or in any good crepe restaurants, it can be disappointing to try to duplicate the same magical taste at home. Even though the recipe might seem easy to follow, the ending product is usually too thick, too runny or with a dull taste.

Combining the right recipe with the right tool is the ubiquitous problem in the process of crepe making. And having grown up in France, I have had my fair share of failures before I started to master, not only the recipe, but also the cooking of the crepes. And we will see that both are crucial for best results.

The Health Benefits of Tea Drinking

"Drinking a daily cup of tea will surely starve the apothecary". ~Chinese Proverb

Black tea, green tea, oolong tea and white tea are made from the same plant --Camellia sinensis. Ever since the first infusions of tea about 4700 years ago in China were made, the beneficial effects of tea have been examined. This article will talk about health benefits of tea drinking supported by some studies and also mention drawbacks. 

Tea has negligible amounts of carbohydrates, fat and protein. The following are the many benefits of tea:

1. It boosts mental alertness and lowers chances of cognitive impairment. Found almost exclusively in the tea plant amino acid L-theanine actively alters the attention networks in the brain by affecting neurotransmitters and increasing alpha brain-wave activity. This results in an alert, but more calm state of mind. Studies of the elderly Japanese people showed that those who consumed more than 2 cups of green tea daily had 50 percent lower chance of having cognitive impairment than those who consumed less. This is due to the presence of antioxidant epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG -- type of catechin) in tea.

Basic Facts about Italian Cuisine

Italian cuisine is popular throughout the world for its deliciously healthy dishes. Heavily-influenced by ancient Greek, Roman, and Middle Eastern cuisine, Italian cuisine has developed through centuries of social and political changes in Italy. The discovery of the New World brought about changes in the cuisine with the introduction of potatoes, bell peppers, and tomatoes, which only became popular in Italy in the 18th century. 
   

Italian cuisine is known for its regional diversity and abundance of difference in taste. Its main characteristic is its simplicity, with many dishes having only four to eight ingredients. Most Italian cooks rely on the quality of ingredients rather than elaborate preparation. As most Italian recipes are discovered and developed by elders rather than by chefs, these recipes are perfect for home-cooking. This is why various cooking magazines in foreign countries popularize Italian recipes targeted at the home cook. 

The History and Journey of Curry

Curry features in the cuisine of almost every culture.  A curry is a spicy recipe but the types of spices and herbs are used are different in each culture. Curry powder itself is not a single spice but a blend of different spices. However, this golden coloured spice is most often associated with Indian cuisine.

Curry’s Early Beginnings

The origins of curry go a long way back to 1700 BC Mesopotamia. The earliest known recipe for meat in spicy sauce with bread appeared written in cuniform on tablets found near Babylon.

A List of Coffee Health Benefits

Coffee has recently been proven to have a number of health benefits, and that list seems to be getting longer.

Cancer: Coffee has not been proven to cause cancer, and it even reduces the risk of mouth, throat, and colon cancer.

Heart Disease: Coffee does not raise the risk for heart disease, and it even offers preventative protection.

Diabetes: Coffee lowers the risk of developing type II diabetes.

Alzheimer’s: Coffee strengthens the blood-brain barrier, which often becomes damaged and leads to Alzheimer’s.

Osteoporosis: Excessive caffeine intake can lower bone density, which should not have an effect in moderate coffee drinking. Adding milk to your coffee on a regular basis can offer you the calcium you need to reduce the risk of osteoporosis.

Depression: Coffee can elevate energy levels and reduce depression.

Several more reasons to drink your cup of Joe!

Source: The Coffee Bump

Wine and Cheese Pairings

Pairing wine with gourmet cheese is more an art than a science. The great part about that is the trial and error process can be rather delicious. Here are a few guidelines to get you going in the right direction.

Play the match game. Match the boldness of your cheese with the boldness of a wine. If you have a slightly more subtle cheese like Brie, you need an equally medium intensity wine, otherwise one will overpower the other. Try to match the subtleties in a wine with the subtleties in a cheese. The nuttiness of a cheese like an aged Gouda works well with a slight nuttiness of a wine. The bright, tanginess of a fresh chevre (goat cheese) goes well with the bright, acidity of a Sauvignon Blanc.

Try sweet with salty for a classic combination. Off-dry and dessert wines like a Late Harvest Riesling balance the saltiness of cheeses like the Stilton or Gorgonzola.

Give Equal Opportunity. Just as with your cheese plate, you want a variety of grape varietals and regions represented. If you’re serving three cheeses, try to pair them with one sparkling, one white and one red wine from different regions.

Go Regional. As with food, cheese and wine from the same region have a natural inclination to pair well together. For hundreds and thousands of years, farmers and vintners have been creating their goods to work well with the local palate. So try Drunken Goat with a spicy Spanish wine from Rioja for a near foolproof pairing.

Serving Order. Keep your heaviest cheese and wine pairing until the end otherwise you’re apt to have your mouth coated in blue cheese early on making you unable to taste the nuances of delicate cheese and wine pairings.

Source: The Cheese Ambassador