A taste of india....

Being an indian Ive always had cravings for spicy food and not just american spicy by simply adding jalapenos or pickles but i mean the real spices of india which include herbs and turmeric and especially chilli powder...No offence to anyone but i really don't get the idea behind mashed potatoes..it tastes quite bland even after adding salt, pepper and loads of ketchup. Well hers my most favorite indian dish - VEGETABLE MAKHANWALA WITH BUTTER NAAN.....heres the advantage being a vegetarian, there are soooo many choices with indian food but not sooo many here ....so i have really started missing my indian cuisine.

This dish is typically served with onions and lemons for dressing depending on you prefer. There's nothing like eating in a typical indian restaurant with indian music playing in the background and fun family talk around the table........its true u only realize somethings importance after its gone.......the best thing about this dish is it that its amazingly spicy and you can ask them to make it even spicier.....theres nothing like eating this served with lassi and gajar halwa at the end for dessert.

This is the recipe for making it using the microwave...tastes almost as good and faster too.

1/2 Cup Beans

1/2 Cup Carrots

1/2 Cup Green Peas

1/2 Cup Baby Corn

1/2 Cup Cauliflower florets

1/2 Cup Onions, sliced

Small Piece Ginger

2 Garlic Clove

3 Large tomatoes

1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder

1 tsp Chilli powder

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds

1 tsp Garam Masala

4 tsp Cream

1/2 tsp Kasuri Methi (dried fenugreek leaves)

1 tsp Sugar

4 tsp Butter Salt to taste

For the Garnish

1 tsp Chopped Coriander

1 tsp Butter

Method

Combine the onions, ginger, garlic, tomatoes, turmeric and chilli powder in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on HIGH for 4 minutes. Cool completely
Blend the mixture in a liquidiser to get a smooth puree. keep aside
Put 2 tsp of butter and the cumin seeds in another safe bowl and HIGH on 1 minute
Add beans, carrots, peas, baby corn and cauliflower, cover with a lid and HIGH for 5 minutes. Keep aside
In another safe bowl, add the remaining butter, cooked puree, vegetables, garam masala, cream, kasuri methi, sugar and salt and mix well. HIGH for 4 minute. Serve hot
Garnished with the chopped coriander and butter.

The recipe is take from a site i've referenced ...cant make it myself ofcourse :) .........at the moment listening to quite a few hindi songs tooo...all this talk about food and musics making me quite homesick.......but definitely do try going to any indian and ask for these dishes u'll never regret it....

References : http://www.malas-kitchen.com/2007/12/vegetable-makhanwala.html

http://www.mytaal.com/Taal_menu/bread/images/butternaan.jpg

http://umami.typepad.com/umami/lassi-thumb.JPG

Dr. Tiff and the Japanese Cheesecake

A lot of first attempts went into making this blog post.

This is my first attempt posting a video to a blog.

The video, in turn, records my first attempt at using a digital camcorder to record anything!

And last but not least, I used the (flip) camcorder to record my first attempt at baking a Japanese cheesecake. What differentiates a Japanese cheesecake from a regular cheesecake is that the former is light, fluffy, and more sponge-cake like in texture, while the latter is very creamy and dense.


Here's the recipe, which I got from this food blog.

Ingredients:

125 g cream cheese at room temperature (I used Philadelphia)

20 g butter, soften

40 ml milk

65 g caster sugar

3 large eggs, white and yolk separated

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

40 g self raising flour (or cake flour)

1/4 tsp salt

1 scant tbsp orange juice

1 tbsp orange zest

Method :

1. Add 500 ml water into a big baking tray ( that the tin you use for the cheesecake can fit in) and place the tray in the oven then preheat the oven to 160c. Line the base and side of a 18-20 cm springform/cake tin with parchment paper. Then use a big piece of foil to wrap the tin around from the bottom up to top of the tin side.

2. Place the butter, cream cheese and milk in a bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, being careful not to let the bowl touch the water, then wait until the butter has melted, remove the bowl from the heat and give it a really good stir until the mixture is smooth, set aside and leave it cool to the room temperature.

3. Add the orange juice and zest to the cream cheese mixture, stir to blend then add the yolks and mix them until incorporated. Sift the flour and salt into another mixing bowl, pour over the cream cheese and egg mixture in the center of the flour. Quickly whisk or stir everything until just blended (don’t over-mix or the cake will be tough)

4. In a separate mixing bowl, beat the egg white with cream of tartar until foamy, then gradually add the sugar, few tablespoons at a time, and continue to beat at high speed until reach the soft-medium peak (more than soft but not hard peak). Gently fold the white into the cream cheese mixture until blended.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared tin. Place the tin in the preheated baking tray and bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted from center comes out clean. Turn the cake out on to a wire rack once taken from the oven (the cake will shrink if left too long in the tin!). Leave to cool at room temperature, then let it set in the fridge for another hour or so before slicing and serve.

The Franken-Pizza

Last night, three of my buddies and I went out to Ray's for some pizza. I thought it would be an average eating experience, but I was soon proven wrong. As we were looking at the menu, we discovered that none of us wanted the same toppings. Also one of my friends is a vegetarian, so meats were out. We decided to get a stuffed pizza because it allowed us to pick five toppings, one for each of us plus one extra. We all made our choices, randomly chose a fifth, then ordered the pizza. As we waited for it too be made we all started to wonder just how well our choices would taste together. Banana peppers and green peppers were the first two choices, and they go together well. The other two however didn't sound like a good mix. The third and fourth friends had chosen pineapples and onions... The random topping is a great choice normally, but with the ingredients already used, we weren't sure how well it would work. Ricotta cheese. It should also be stated that stuffed pizzas come with a crust on top of the toppings as well as below, and a stuffed crust.

As we waited, we anticipated the flavors that we would soon be enduring. Would they work well together or would they make a horrible combination? Would they make a magical, unexpected surprise of bliss, or would they leave our mouths feeling like they had experienced a world ending apocalypse?

The creation was laid down in front of us. We looked at it curiously. Who would have the honor of trying it first. Unfortunately, it was to be me. I prepared a bit size portion on my fork and faced the moment of truth. I placed it in my mouth, chewed, and the taste i experienced was...

Indescribable. You'll just have to try it for yourself.

A Dr. in a Foreign Land

This is an outrage! I was born and raised sipping on the greatest drink of all time, Dr. Pepper. My heritage and taste buds are torn to pieces. I have to live in this wasteland of coke-dominated Atlanta! The only access I have to my one true love is the blessed twelve packs that I purchase weekly.

Regardless of where I go. Dinning hall, drink machines, etc. There is no Dr. Pepper! People try to claim that Mr. Pibb is the perfect substitute for my love. I tell you, that is a lie. Mr. Pibb lacks that perfect combination of 23 flavors that sends the tongue into coma of joy. Down with Coke, and up with the red, white, and brighter red. Does anybody feel my pain? Who is with me? Please comment.

By: Sam McDade

"12 pack of Dr. Pepper." From Speedy's 66.

Http://www.speedys66.com/images/drpepper12pack.gif

Homesick for Home Cooking

Hi, my name is Logan and I've been away from home for four weeks now and cravings for my mom's food are starting to set in. I am especially missing my mom's breakfast. When I go to Brittain Dining Hall for breakfast there is always a line for the good food, so I always end up getting cereal. What I'm craving are my mom's pancakes and waffles.

http://www.chilloutpoint.com/images/2009/march/Boris_Isayev/pancakes.jpg

Just thinking about my mom's pancakes makes my mouth water. Buttery, golden goodness melting in your mouth accented by warm, sugary syrup. My mom would make me pancakes for breakfast whenever I wanted and I sure do miss them. I'm tempted to count the days until Fall Break when I might go home just for the pancakes.

However, my mom's waffles are just as tasty and I guess I got spoiled with them at home. So much, that during the morning, it's almost all I can think about - pancakes and waffles. Mmmmm!!!

http://esjoie.wordpress.com/2009/03/18/waffles/

What food do you miss from home? Are you craving mom's pancakes too?

Woody Feast

Hey chefs of P4 foodies!
I'm Hanyu and I'm here to talk about the amazing selection of food that can be found in Woodruff Dining Hall!
On entering the Woodruff (Woodies as we call it), you are hit immediately by the heavenly aroma of delicious and juicy food. Taking a few strides bring you to the sight of a brilliant combination of colours. Golden-yellow fries, fresh green vegetables, brown chocolate ice-creams, and blazing white rice! However, your attention will be drawn towards the automatic plates with steaming pizza on them. Pizza!! One of the best food to eat whenever and wherever you are.

Looks great doesn't it? I feel hungry just by looking at it! Not to mention the blue fancy drink I picked up from the drinks vending machine on the side, these two made a perfect combination for lunch.

As soon as I finished the two crispy slices of fantastic pizza, I proceeded to the sandwich counter where a long queue was standing. So I thought, "If that many people are waiting in line to eat a sandwich, it must be really good! I'll give it a try too." With that in mind, I stood waiting for an age in the queue before arriving at the window. There were a variety of sauce, meat slice, vegetables and pickles from which you could choose. I didn't know which one was good, so I asked for a piece of each. In the end, my sandwich ended up huge. When I took the picture, only the second half of the sandwich was left because I simply couldn't resist the temptation to finish off the first half.

It tasted great and as I sank my teeth into the soft texture of the bread and the juicy turkey meat. The mustard sauce added flavor to the taste and made the great sandwich even better.

After that marvelous meal, I decided to get some desert. And amazingly, they have chocolate ice-cream! I was delighted at the sight and picked up a cone as fast as I could.

I may not be a master at making a perfect spiral cone, but it was quite an achievement and I'm proud of it. Nevertheless, the mouth-watering ice-cream satisfied my stomach and I stood up to go back home. My stomach was bulging from the amount of food I ate that day but I was very contend and happy with it.

That is why I have written this blog, to send out a message all of you: "Come eat at Woodies! Its a decision you'll never regret making!!"

P.S. Btw, please feel free to comment or ask as this is my very first post (in my life).

Tea: bittersweet

When we were assigned to read “Bittersweet”, the first thing that came to my mind is tea. As we all know, tea is a very famous product in China. The color, the smell and the taste all deeply attract a lot of people. To tell the truth, I was not a big fan of tea back in China. When mentioning tea, the first thing I can think of is an elder person with grey hair taking a sip of the tea and enjoying the peaceful and quiet time.

I am too young for that. I always told me so.

But after I come to U.S, when I am surrounded with a variety of soft drinks and coffee, I begin to miss this special taste. It’s kind of twisted between the bitterness of the tea leaves and sweetness which spreads in your mouth afterwards. Bittersweet, just like the book that we are reading.

So last week when I was in a Chinese restaurant, I can’t wait to taste this magical combination of these two flavors one more time. Actually, out of my expectation, the taste of this tea in U.S was just like the familiar taste back in China. I explored the magical feeling of bittersweet once again in a totally different country. Then I decided that next time I went back China I would bring a bag of tea leaves with me, not because I am old enough to need a tea to kill time but this bitter taste is glowing with my sweet memory of my hometown.

Bittersweet: Maybe more sweet than bitter

After the initial reading (which I must say, I didn't like at all), I've really started to come on to this book. I started off not liking this guy, Matt. He hated his mother, wanted her dead, then decided AFTER she was dead that no, he does like her and wants her to stay. I mean really!?!? It took your mom dying for you to decide that you liked her!?

Anyways..I regress. So his mom has died and he's found his "calling" we shall say. He has found his new love in the kitchen, cooking for the love of cooking, and also cooking for those that are important to him.

But now, this guy has become a new human being almost. He's caring for his wife, spending time with her, trying to make a new family. In fact, they're going through the intense, and not fun, time of In Vitro Fertilization. But he is still right there with her. But he's not just there with her, he's there with their new child, "Bongo (McAllester 110)". He's going to church, or at least visiting the church where he was christianed (111), which is a lot coming from a proclaimed Atheist.

So all in all, I've come around on "Matty". I hope that he continues to show this good natured side, and comes to realize that there is more to the church thing than just the good times.

McAllester, Matt. Bittersweet: Lessons From My Mother's Kitchen. New York, NY: The Dail Press, 2009.

Ravi Restaurant( My first post)

Ravi’s restaurant

As I was on the plane, it suddenly hit me that I had forgotten to grab ‘my last supper’ in Dubai at one of my favorite restaurants. It is one of those roadsides restaurants which most people shun because of its appearance but for those people who can look beyond the appearance, a culinary heaven awaits. It is also open till late in the night so if you are out late, you will find some interesting people waiting to be fed.

This small restaurant specializes in Afghani cuisine. It has some of the best kebabs and they are professionals at making all types of naan. My favorite dish from Ravi‘s restaurant would have to be the lamb chops and the keema naan. (Bread stuffed with mince meat).The meat is so juicy and the seasoning is so fiery that you need some raita (yogurt with herbs not marijuana), it offsets the spicy seasoning of the lamb chops and the keema naan. People usually have these meals with a coke or lassi (buttermilk). This meal just hits the spot

(pictures:http://www.timeoutdubai.com/images/outlets/ravi_restaurant/innerbig/ravirestaurant_1_innerbig.jpg

http://media.photobucket.com/image/lamb%20chops%20%20afghani/lotsofcravings/DSC01203.jpg

http://www.bunrab.com/dailyfeed/dailyfeed_images_oct-05/daily_oct17_05_naan.jpg )

Alton Brown in Town!

Hey everyone!

Just a head's up on a "foodie" event, if you're interested. Alton Brown is doing two live shows at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center this Saturday. For those of you who don't know who he is, he's the creator and host of a science-based approach cooking show on the Food Network called "Good Eats" AND the host of the competitive cook-off show, "Iron Chef America". (We'll be watching videos of him later in the semester.)

The shows are at 2pm and 7pm. I just bought a $10 (about $17 after extra "fees) ticket to the 7pm show, which is up in the nosebleed section. You can buy a $175 ticket if you want, but I'm too frugal to do so.

Only go if you think it would be fun to go! In no way will *not* going affect your grade. But if you do go, maybe I'll see you there!

http://www.cobbenergycentre.com/shared/event_detail.aspx?EventID=3847850&WebLink=48B.13B2CA98

Hot Food

To change up the pace of the regular food blog about people’s favorite foods and delicious meals, I’d like to discuss one of the worst lunch experiences (if you could call it) that I’ve had in a while. It was Friday afternoon of last week; I had just left Dr. Tsao class, and was completely starved after a full day of classes and working out at the CRC with nothing on my stomach but a bowl of cereal that I had eaten at five thirty that morning. I headed to my car for the drive back home in Alpharetta. Along the way to my car, I knew that I needed something to eat, and that I couldn’t wait until I got home, but I was completely unwilling to spend any money on food (being the cheap conservative college student that I am). I then realized that I had some snacks in my car for such an occasion. So I rushed to my car, opened the door and was immediately hit by a wave of hot air, the result of having a car with all black interior sit in direct sunlight all day. So I sat down in my boiling hot car rolled down the one window that works and turned on the A/C and headed out of Georgia Tech. I didn’t get far before I was stuck in Atlanta traffic, which I decided would be a perfect time to eat the culinary perfection of snacks I had sitting in my car. It didn’t take me long to realize that my snacks had been affected by the heat, but I was hungry and didn’t care. So I started my meal off with the only food that was positively affected by the heat, a Rice Krispie treat. The treat was a perfect gooey and soft, just like if it had been placed in the microwave for a few seconds, I quickly scarffed down the marshmallowie treat. From there my mid day snack quickly went downhill. My fruit snacks had been melted and were now single pack of goo. So I of course did what any desperately hungry person would do, and squeezed the not quite liquid not quite solid state of artificially flavored treats into my mouth. I then tossed the gummy bag aside and started on a Swiss Cake. The small packaged pastry would have been good if it wasn’t for the fact that the cake fell apart and was spread throughout my car as I tried to juggle opening the inflated plastic covering and driving my stick shift car through traffic. After consuming as many edible pieces of the fallen chocolate cake as I could manage I proceeded my meal with a bag of Cheetos. I first thought that Cheetos of all things would not be affected by the heat, but I was wrong. Along with tasting a bit stale the Cheetos seemed to have taken on a slightly different consistency which I cannot begin to describe. But despite these factors I finished the bag. After consuming all the delectable snacks I just described, I became rather parched and grabbed the packet of Capri-Sun that had also been sitting in the car. I immediately had to drop the container in shock of how hot the package actually was. The metallic looking container was hotter than the interior of my car. But I was thirsty, so I picked up the container and put the straw in the top and began to drink. Immediately I convulsed as the boiling hot naturally fruit from concentrate flavored drink ran down my throat. I took a few more sips of the drink before realizing that it was neither cooling me off nor quenching my thirst. So I finished my drove home with a slightly sick feeling in my stomach and a promise to myself not to leave any type of food in my car, other than maybe Rice Krispie treats.

With all the blogs i read recently, I had no interest in the food or recipes given as I think that unless i taste anything myself ill never know its real taste, so hearing anecdotes about the food was i guess only interesting and a change from my common reading materials of mystery and suspense novels. As we all were asked in class earlier about our favorite food i thought why not write about mine it'll not only invoke my hunger pangs but also as I learnt a lot about chinese food by reading the others blogs you all might learn something about my favorite dish. - Kunafa......its an arabic dish and since ive been born and brought up in the uae ive known a lot about the different arabic dishes with this one being my favorite.

Ive been eating this since i guess i was 11 or 12, i guess when i actually learnt how to use a fork and a knife because without that its nearly impossible to have this hot but sweet dish!......Actually the main reason was that i hated it when i saw it first my entirely family used to enjoy eating while i used to be bored sitting in the corner just watching them eat....the reason it "weird" and different from my regular food !!!!!silly but yeah..........atleast i learnt that looks can really be deceiving..So whenever we get our reading assignments and however weird or ugly the dish looks like i guess unless u actually try it it makes no sense judging it. The general description of kunafa: A middle-eastern dessert consisting of a base layer made of cheese mixed with milk(or cream) with a crispy layer of dried noodles with a slightly orange-ish color and is often topped off with some syrup. That's the closest i can get to the recipe...not informative but nearly accurate...

Here's the url for a short video about making it..sry i could find the english version but atleast u can hear arabic....it says it has english subtitles...so.....try it out if u get all the ingredients next summer maybe..still learning how to upload videos maybe in my later posts..
URL - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NekSzNWex5o
The syrup in this picture well that's the best part it makes all the difference...its like a waffle or a pancake is without the maple syrup it doesn't taste that great...well according to me..its been like 2 months now since i had it and i guess another 3 more months to go...but i guess waiting increases the anticipation so u enjoy it more later....I might sound crazy talking so much about one sweet dish but try it once it ll definitely feel like heaven......


pics from - travellog.org (img3.travelblog.org/.../t/1454175-Kunafa-2.jpg)
picasa web album (lh4.ggpht.com/.../I3OAQ-pwo0k/Kunafa.jpg)
www.foodtv.ca/DMM/K/U/Kunafa_003.jpg

Sweet-smelling Memory --post#1

When smelling the scent of the fish soup, I cannot hold my tears eventually. It is just the scent of people who I love and is the pure flame within my heart, which is hot to my touch and leaves the sweet-smelling odor.

Back up to my childhood, in a small town with a small school and small playground, my grandmother lived with me. Every day could be different except for one thing: the fish soup. No matter what I did, playing for all day, falling down, walking a long way, going to see the doctor, or studying, the fish soup was required to eat as the reward, comfort, or nourishment. Grandma was always boiling it on the burner for hours, and while I came back, the fish soup grew white and thickened, with the sweet-smelling scent. Nevertheless, as a naïve girl, I regarded it as a daily assignment, even got bored with the savory soup, and felt frightened about the fish bone. Grandma just waited, smiled, and watched me eating it up. Then the palm on my head comforted me, with the temperature that could easily warm my heart.
As time went by, I left the town, left my grandma, and lived in a big city with endless roads. Sometimes it was too big for me to find a little space to fill up with myself. The city was strange the people were aloof and the smell was unfamiliar to me. I felt cold and remembered the fish soup, with the sweet-smelling scent. It just took me back to what I was used to, and what I cherished. I suddenly understood that the persistence of grandma of the fish soup was a sort of love, which could lead me to the brightness.
I never thought of death. However, when I went back to meet grandma and wished to consume the soup again, I just saw a gaunt figure lying on the bed. No smell of the soup but of the disinfectant and medicine. It was the first time that I had noticed that the soup shared the same taste with tears. The fish soup since that time seemed full of the fish bone and could tear my throat to sob so that I couldn’t swallow it for so long.

After grandma passed away, mother began to cook the fish soup. At the beginning it tasted as bitter as the past. I resisted it just as resisting the memory. With the grey color overwelmingly spreading on my mom’s hair, I abruptly discovered that she resembled my grandma, with the same love and irresistible aging. The bitterness was due to the time,containing the memory. And the sweetness of the fish soup increased as I gradually knew my mom’s heart.
During the tough period of the entrance test for universities, no matter how late I stayed up, the delicious fish soup always accompanied me right behind. Once I found that outside my room my mom just slept on the sofa, with the scent of soup from the kitchen, I couldn’t hold my tears back. At that time, the soup turned bittersweet.
As long as I got tired and felt unsettled, the soup appeased me just like the grandma’s palm. It existed as the ingle continuously burning brightly in my heart, which impelled me to adapt to the life in big city and get acclimated to the atmosphere.

Never did I intend to cook the fish soup for mom before high school. But after I realized that it was a demonstration of love, I decided to try it and to give my mom a surprise. One day while my mom was out, I implemented my plan. Having taken the internal organs out of the fish, I put it in the water with scallion, ginger, garlic, stewed them on slow fire, and waited for half an hour. Add a little salt when the fish was ripe. As I cooked this for the first time in my life and merely did as the book instructed, the taste was just as flat as paper. With my expectation collapsing, I felt so embarrassed and attempted to dump it without anyone’s attention. Meanwhile, mom came back and discovered the poor soup. She was surprised at that time. But she would be disappointed after tasting, I thought in my mind. I pretended to be busy with the housework, and glanced at her secretly.
Her expression was so satisfied with the happiness in her eyes so that I couldn’t help asking, “Is it tasty?”
She answered with a sweet smile, “excellent and full of one magic stuff.”
“What’s that？” I became curious about the word “magic”.
“My daughter’s growing up.”
I turned around to hide my wet eyes and felt some warm liquid flowing on my face. At that moment the fish soup suddenly distributed sweet-smelling scent which filled the room with a secret ingredient named happiness.

Leaving my motherland and coming to America, I started my brand-new life learning in Georgia Tech. New situation, new culture, new food, no fish soup. All the things are unfamiliar except one: the cherish of the memory for the fish soup. Though the food there tastes not bad, the need for mental food usually traps me. After I entered this new world, the unsettlement, worry and miss for my home often occupy me. And my loved people are not at my side, which makes me helpless. I think of the fish soup and regard it as the sign of my hometown, warm and sweet-smelling. Cooking it on my own, I taste the memory that only belongs to me. The fragrant odor of my hometown drags me to the right route so that I will not lose my heart. And it inspires me as I know, wherever I am, home is always with me.

As the time elapses, the fish soup is even more enchanting, stewed with happiness that always moistens my eyes and heart. It irrigates the delicate and pure love flower which blooms gorgeously and diffuses the most fabulous scent in my life. All memory is immerged in it and gains the sweet-smelling odor, flowing like the mild moonlight. Love for all and all love for one, both emerge from the fish soup.

( pictures takenfrom：http://image2.sina.com.cn/bj/cr/2006/0315/367094801.jpg

http://images.cms.yidaba.com/industry/canyin/shqm/images/pic5a68wrp8.jpg
http://z.abang.com/d/seafood/1/1/F/1/-/-/IMG_2998.JPG )

the real appetite for China

Should I take the fried chicken or the brown rice? This is the first question I encounter everyday going into the dinning hall. I LOVE GOOD Chinese food, and the most appropriate adjective to describe the food is: amazing! Grow up in southwest region in China, my taste buds is accustomed to strong flavored dishes, and of course, the hot pot (I mean HOT). Reading through the blog “appetite for China”, the first impression came up to mind is that the writer is not familiar with Chinese food, the information being presented is from a traveler’s point of view. The writer is simply sharing his food eating experience in China with the audience, however, he doesn’t present insightful opinions or understanding of the various entrees he had tasted. Even though the writer’s heritage is from China, but the western environment he grow up with makes him as a foreigner’s stand point to look at Chinese food culture. Chinese food incorporates 8 different kinds of categories from different region, some familiar categories are Si Chuan and Cantonese. The writer mentioned the “Three Cup Chicken”, which is a famous Taiwanese dish, everywhere in China can make that dish, however, each region would add its own flavor into the dish to complement the local customer’s taste. Like the orange chicken in Panda Express, not a single Chinese will say it’s delicious, instead it’s Americanized. Additionally, the writer also includes a shallow meaning subtitle, “1.3 billion people must be eating something right”. Well, Chinese food culture is complicated, and I can assure the writer that Chinese are eating a lot delicious food not just orange chicken and chao mian.

Lived in the United States for almost 4 years, I will say I am a qualified international citizen. I enjoy eating all kinds of food around the globe. Honestly, I prefer to eat American food rather than un-authentic Chinese food in the U.S, even though I miss all the food in China. Like now, just passed midnight, I am going to Wingnuts to get some snakes before going to sleep. The picture is a signature rice-noodle dish in my hometown Kunming, called Cross Bridge Rice-noodle.

 

My First Little Krispy Kreme

Here she is. My first Krispy Kreme doughnut...right before I devoured her, hole and all.

Actually, being unschooled in what doughnut reproductive organs look like, I'm not sure if she was "she" or a "he". But I digress.

I've been hearing people talk about the amazingness that is the Krispy Kreme doughnut ever since I moved to the U.S. in the balmy August of 2000. There were no Krispy Kreme stores near Boston at the time, but I had college friends who, once they began reminiscing about Krispy Kremes, would begin to drool, their eyes glazing over like the doughnuts they were describing to me. My best friend in Los Angeles told me that her cousin not only drove two hours to the nearest Krispy Kreme, but also stood in line for another forty-five minutes to bring three boxes of them home for the family Thanksgiving dinner.

This inundation of Krispy Kreme propaganda has continued up through this past year, when I interviewed for a job at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC, a faculty member proudly informed me that Winston-Salem was the birthplace of the very first Krispy Kreme store. And finally, when I visited my father in Indonesia this summer, lo and behold, Krispy Kreme had made it to the basement of the shopping mall near my father's apartment building.

But incredibly enough, despite the best efforts of the universe to get me to taste Krispy Kreme's wares and acknowledge it as Doughnut Deity of the Universe...I never tasted a Krispy Kreme doughnut. Until this past Wednesday.

It wasn't an ostentatious occasion, conspicuously bereft of sprinkles or powdered sugar. It had been a really long day at work, and I was completely exhausted.

"I'm completely exhausted," I complained to my fiance.

"Let's go get Krispy Kremes for dessert," he replied.


And so we drove to the Krispy Kreme's, pulled into the empty parking lot, and entered the store which I had heard so much about. It was practically empty, except for a quartet of elderly folks who sat chatting over doughnuts at a table, enjoying their little late night snack. The staff were taking the opportunity to unwind, talking and laughing, and eyeing us somewhat warily as we walked in...customers who, unfortunately, had to be attended to.

"Can I help you?"

"One chocolate glazed custard filled doughnut and..." my fiance looked at me....


"Erh. One glazed french cruller."

We sat side by side at the counter near the window, facing the parking lot, the neon Krispy Kreme sign to our right enveloping us in a strangely comforting red glow. And we consumed our doughnuts.

"I'm completely exhausted," I sighed, polishing off the last bite of my cruller. "But I must say, this was a good doughnut."

My fiance nodded. "You should try them when they're fresh out of the oven."

There are just some things in life which are capable of soothing one's weary soul with unassuming simplicity: a late-night Krispy Kreme doughnut might very well be one of them.

-Dr. Tiff

At the End of the Day

When it comes to food there are a great deal of delicious entrées, deserts, and hors d'oeuvres, but these great dishes are only tasty. They lack a key ingredient which every at home chef knows how to add. It is care. Not the care in which you want the dish to come out exactly like the instructions; it is the care where you are actually concerned with the person you are cooking for. These types of foods are usually not the most complicated dishes but the simple comfort foods. Like a warm bowl of thick and rich chicken noodle soup on a cold winter’s night or a cup of warm milk right before bed. I recently rediscovered this feeling when I had a tall glass of cool, rich chocolate milk after a long and strenuous day of mishaps and college classes.

Online Assignment

After reading two out of the three blogs from the past assignment, I felt that they showed great detail in not only the writing but also the pictures. The blog called "The Little Corner of Mine", used great detailed pictures of food to draw the readers in to read more. Also, the links were easy to access and followed the same pattern as the home page, which made it easy to learn about all the different kinds of dishes.

Online Activity One

So I found evaluating these blogs rather enlightening. I didn't realize how much there is to think about! I started looking more at the layout and font and style of writing. How the postings were related and how they flowed within themselves. How easy the blog was to manage and navigate. It was fun. I enjoyed this. Looking forward next time.

Online Activities

Are we supposed to post our evaluations of the websites on here? I'm not clear on where they are due.... any help?

Hoorah!

Hello all! I'm looking forward to spending my time, reading and writing on this blog with all of you. I hope that you will all take as much out of this as I hope to. So lets not make this just a homework assignment, something we are required to do. Let us make this something we look forward to doing on a weekly basis. Well that is all I have to say for now.

Good Day,

MIDN Frazier