December 22nd, 2006
Belgian chocolate is world famous and there is a reason for! In most countries the pure cacao butter is replaced by cheaper alternatives, but in Belgium even the law forbids the chocolate producers to use cheaper ingredients. The quality of Belgian chocolate is just outstanding. Every tourist who visits Belgium is buying and enjoying the famous Belgian chocolate and pralines…
Chocolate lovers everywhere appreciate quality. Good ingredients make good chocolate and Belgian chocolate has a reputation for being the best. This may have been the boast of the Swiss at one time, before the Belgians raced ahead. There is a long tradition of chocolate making in Belgium, which only needed a good marketing campaign to bring it to the attention of the rest of us. There are even chocolate museums there!
In 1912, the filled chocolate recipe known as the praline was invented in Belgium. The residents there have always been fond of exchanging chocolates as presents and they are very proud of the worldwide popularity of their export. The key to the high standard of Belgian chocolate lies in the selection of the best cocoa seeds and other ingredients.
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Tags: coffee
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December 11th, 2006
The wine journey started in Caucasia or Mesopotamia around 6000bc. It was cultivated in Egypt and Phoenicia in about 3000bc. Wine could be found in Greece by 2000bc and by 1000bc wine could be found in Italy Spain and North Africa. In the next 500 years wine moved to Spain, Portugal and Southern France. The Romans finally brought wine to Britain when they invaded.
The Greeks industrialized the process of winemaking in Southern Italy and the Romans followed this model. The Romans were prodigious Makers and drinkers of wine and they took Wine and wine production to all corners of the Roman world. The technology available to the Romans looks very similar to that which is used today with wooden barrels to age the wine and glass bottles to store the wine.
There are stories of wine being drink when it was over 100 years old but most roman wine would have been drunk when young and roughly made according to vintage. When The Romans left France they had left most of the famous wine regions in France having cleared the land for wine cultivation.
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November 29th, 2006
Balsamic Vinegar is the heart of Italian cooking. If you are really crazy about home Italian cooking, the way the “mama’s” cook, then balsamic vinegar is one of the most used ingredients! Not well known in America before the 1980’s, balsamic vinegar is now a cook’s revered possession, falling almost into celebrity status as a condiment.
There are dozens of products you may find at the supermarket claiming the name. The subject of balsamic vinegar is somewhat of a mystery to the average cook. Let’s look at what the experts have to say and how you might make use of this magical liquid in your kitchen.
Balsamic vinegar has been produced in Italy since the middle ages. Today there are several “true” balsamic vinegars of the highest quality, some selling for as much as $400 for a tiny bottle. So why do you see products labeled balsamic vinegar at the grocery store for as little as $5 for a 12-ounce bottle?
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November 8th, 2006
I can imagine beef jerky is not a very exciting topic. Nevertheless it comes quite handy from time to time, especially with my new training program and diet habits… I was raised by a health nut and was somehow able to escape the obsession myself.
As I got older, I found that I was starting to fall in line with the health conscious attitudes that I swore off in my youth. Mostly I have become fixated on getting lots of protein every day. I have a big appetite and a slow metabolism so I need to eat foods that fill me up without making me balloon out.
I have spent a ridiculous amount of money on protein mixes, shakes and bars but I have not found anything that I can stick with for a long period of time. I have gone through many periods in which I would drink a slim fast high protein shake for breakfast every day. This got boring pretty quickly.
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November 6th, 2006
Who doesn’t want to grab the ultimate barbecue sauce recipe? If you want to be the success of the neighborhood, than the best you can do is produce an excellent barbecue sauce… A favorite type of food that almost everyone craves during the summer is barbecue. Biting into a richly flavored rack of ribs or chewing on a chicken leg that’s smothered in barbecue sauce is just plain delicious.
It seems like everyone and their Grandmother has a recipe for their favorite sauce to use on the barbecue. For some it’s a bottled sauce that they swear is the best they’ve ever had, while for others the barbecue sauce recipe they use has been passed on from generation to generation and is as closely guarded a secret as you’ll ever find.
If you’re not fortunate enough to have an ancestor with a love of all things grilled, you’re probably going to spend a good deal of time trying to find the perfect barbecue sauce recipe. Unless you are willing to settle for the bottled variety, it’s a trek that is filled with tasty treats.
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Tags: sauce
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November 6th, 2006
An automatic coffee maker is nowadays part of every good quality kitchen, I suppose. Or am I just putting to much emphasis on the dark brown liquid? Maybe I shouldn’t drink as much as I do, but it doesn’t feel like harming me and I really like the stuff… The no doubt about it, absolutely must have, can’t live without it appliance for anyone in the modern world has to be the automatic coffee maker.
I have been an avid coffee drinker since before I could get a driver’s license. I am sure that some medical professionals would feel that I started way too early but I think it may give me a valuable perspective when it comes to coffee drinking. By this point, I think I should be viewed as an expert on the subject.
Having an automatic coffee maker in the house is a creature comfort that I cannot do without. I have had many coffee makers over the years but I recently upgraded and no one could get me to go back. Not knowing what else to give me or appreciating my addiction to the delicious coffee bean, my brother gave me a new automatic coffee maker for Christmas last year and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
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Tags: coffee
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November 2nd, 2006
You can not argue about it: the US of A is becoming a country of over weight people. The cure is simple: less calory intake, more calorie spend… A lot of people think that losing weight is difficult, but really the only difficult part about it is the self-control. If you can make some firm rules for yourself and stick with them, the rest of it is easy. Really, weight loss comes down to two things: what you eat, and how you exercise.
If you use low fat cooking, combined with daily exercise, everything will work out perfectly for you. Although good sensible low fat cooking and exercise will not necessarily lead you to shed pounds at the same rate as using the latest fad dieting will, you will lose weight, and you will keep it off. Low fat diet cooking, using a healthy mix of lean meat, vegetables, grains, and fruits, as well as good portion control, is the surest way to look and feel a great.
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November 1st, 2006
The benefits of green tea are getting known more and more. There is still a great deal of research going on, but everybody has this common opinion that green tea offers a lot of benefits for your health! Like most people, I’m becoming more and more concerned about my health now that I’m getting older. I am making a concerted effort to change my lifestyle as much as possible in order to try to prevent serious problems in the future.
For example, I follow a sensible low-fat diet, avoid junk food, and have even tried to cut out coffee and carbonated sodas. Of course I needed to find a replacement beverage since coffee and diet Coke were pretty much all I consumed every day. After reading about the benefits of green tea in numerous health studies, the choice was easy.
The benefits of green tea have long been known in Japan, where most of the population partakes of that refreshing beverage. Everyone knows that Japanese people traditionally have some of the highest life expectancy rates on the entire planet, and I personally believe that at least part of that phenomenon has to do with the many health benefits of green tea.
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Tags: coffee
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October 12th, 2006
There is such a variety in food nowadays that people don’t realize anymore what their parents and grandparents were eating. They didn’t have pizza bars around the corner, no exotic foods, no spicy delicious tastes… My husband and I are both from Belgian heritage.
As a result we both have similar tastes when it comes to decorating as well as the foods we like. We each grew up in a home where meat and potatoes were served at most meals. There were times when the potato recipes were substituted with dumplings; however my father had a passion for potatoes.
My father was a hard working farmer. He also had a full time job in a factory to supplement the family income. He always said that he worked to supplement his hobby of farming. He did not like fancy meals except when it came to potatoes.
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October 11th, 2006
These days we are all far busier than we ever have been and so the practice of planning the family meals ahead of time is just not done anymore. While many people still love to cook, most people just don’t even have the time anymore. But even so we still know the distinct difference between a frozen dinner, and a meal prepared from scratch. They just don’t taste the same.
But if you have the time and want to plan out a proper dinner party then lets go through it step by step below.
The cooking process begins days before the event. To have a successful dinner party, the cooking must be well planned and orchestrated, in order for you the host/hostess/chef, to be able to relax and enjoy the party! Where and when do you start the cooking?
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