Category — Culinary

For some time now I have been watching an Emmy-winning television personality and author who hosts at least four different programs on U.S. cable television’s Food Network. Rachael Domenica Ray, has become one of my favorite culinary experts as her energetic personality and her smile have been enough to keep me in front of the TV screen to watch her teach simple recipes that she claims can be prepared in thirty minutes or less.

Being an amateur cook myself, I was pleased to discover that she shared the same view that I have in relation to food measuring. As she emphasized, “it takes away from the creative, hands-on process of cooking.” Her “eyeball it” expression has stayed with me every time I am about to experiment with something new and taste my efforts. Even though she has been heavily criticized for her appearance, her voice, her [Read more →]

In 1827 “theine” was discovered. It had close to the same effects as caffeine in coffee and we actually know it as black tea caffeine. As time went on it was discovered that it was actually tantamount to caffeine and so the term has been dropped.

By drinking black tea caffeine a person can receive relief from fatigue. It has been shown to be a stimulant, to increase speed in reaction time, increase alertness, and to improve concentration.

There are also some physical effects. It stimulates the digestive juices, the kidneys, and the metabolism. This means it could [Read more →]

Often times people will describe their taste in wine, and when they describe their ideal white wine, they will say “I like Chardonnay”. Of course, there are a growing number of wine drinkers that are saying “ABC” or “Anything But Chardonnay” a backlash to the prevalence of the wine, but that is another matter. This very commonly used grape is used broadly across California, France and Australia, but while it may be similar in being grown, what comes to consumers in the bottle is often different than they might expect.

California Chardonnay is what most Americans think of when they describe their taste in the wine. California Chardonnay is commonly (but not always) described as creamy, buttery, oaky, with vanilla and honey notes. The main reason for this is really in the fermentation process. The secondary fermentation process is called [Read more →]

For the average wine consumer, there is a plethora of intimidation associated with wine buying. This is a feeling that is most often associated with not understanding wine labels. New world wines tend to make it easier – wines bottled in Australia, South America and the United States are often more direct in their presentation of the type of wine and the name of the vineyard. On the other hand, old world wine labels like those from France, Italy, Spain and Germany carry with them loads of classifications, harvest-types, town names, vineyard titles and producer idiosyncrasies – all in a foreign language. While these labels embody the wonderfully classic aesthetic associated with a good looking wine label, [Read more →]

For awhile now, my wife has been asking me to learn how to cook. I’ve been hesitant to do so because my wife is a wonderful cook and I know as much about cooking as Christopher Lowell does about the NFL. So in my mind I’d never had the need or desire to become the next Bobby Flay.

But after some loving nagginng, errr encouragement from my wife, and almost burning down my kitchen trying to boil a pot of water, I decided it was time to learn how to do this cooking thing.

But if I was going to do this, I wanted to find MY kind of recipe book online. The online recipe book I was after had to meet the following 3 important criteria:

1. The recipe book had to be easy to follow. A must, [Read more →]

Dedicated Chili cooks always seem to be looking for an amazing recipe for a blow-you-out-of-the-water chili. Wouldn’t it be exciting to UNLEASH your chili and rock your family and friends’ worlds, save money and have a great time preparing it?

Searching the Internet, I found so many of you looking for new chili recipes. My husband, Coach, is a gourmet cook who has developed chili recipes that are easy, time and money saving and make your body tingle from the first taste right down to your toes.

Slow cooking is the key to this dynamic recipe. Due to this cooking process, less expensive cuts of meat can be used. Actually, they are more flavorful and tender using this process. We have found a sultry [Read more →]

Looking for great coffee? Check out some international coffee reviews before you pick you next cup.

Coffee from Brazil is a known throughout the world because it is fabulous. Brazil Bourbon Santos is the pick of the litter.

Brazil is the number one producer of coffee beans. Even so is has not always been thought of as the best. However, if this blend of coffee finds its way into more mouths, all of that could be changing. It is named after the place in which it was born, an island that was once named Bourbon but now is called Reunion. It is aromatic and has [Read more →]

If you are one of those individuals that like to eat food because they enjoy trying something new from time to time, I’m sure you can understand the importance of using the right ingredients. Any good cook will tell you that using the right blend of chili peppers is the key difference between an amazing dish and just another ordinary one. There is no real secret in the way that certain dishes are prepared. At most it is the little things that we add like chili peppers that make all the difference. The usage of peppers in food is one element that is practised all around the world. Some cultures are known to make more use of them in comparison to others. Generally the sub continental countries are known to use a lot of peppers in their food in comparison to western foods.

There are a number of different types of [Read more →]