Thank You!

Dear Readers,

This afternoon, my friend spotted an article in North by Northwestern, the university's online newspaper about student blogs. "Cheers" was selected as one of the top blogs on campus. I would like to thank the publication and Vi-An Nguyen for the article, but more importantly, you wonderful readers. I'm thrilled that you love to read, learn and eat!

Thanks for checking in and remember, don't be a stranger; if you have a question about food, health or edible history, send me a comment, I'd love to dig in and do some research for you!

Once again, thank you for reading and thank you to the good people at North by Northwestern. I'm so happy you enjoy this little adventure.

Cheers!

Post Valentine's Chocolate Tasting

Post-Valentine's Day, we all have chocolate lying around. Whether it is from your lover, your mother or.....yourself (the best kind!) you should know how to extract as much pleasure from its soft, silky darkness as possible.

Chef, baker and author Dorie Greenspan recently spoke on NPR's Splendid Table and shared the secrets to tasting the perfect piece of chocolate.

First, you need to look at the dark creamy surface, if it is shiny it has been well tempered .

Next, take the chocolate to your nose and inhale. What you smell is the odor of the chocolate. An odor is a smell you experience directly through your nose.

Now take the chocolate in your fingers and give it a good snap! A crisp noise is another sign of good tempering and fresh chocolate. It also means its a good temperature for tasting.

Now open you mouth and close your eyes, and you will get a great surprise....Use your tongue to push the chocolate to the top of your palate, and your whole mouth will fill with flavor.

As the chocolate melts, the aromas are released. Aromas are retro-nasal smells meaning they come from the back of the nose. First, you'll sense the volatile aromas- fruits and florals, then the warm, spicy, roasting notes and finally the heavy scents of toasted nut and woods.

Taste by now is exploding in your mouth, and whatever happened on Valentines night, you're in Pleasure City now! As the last chocolaty essence lingers on your tongue, notice a final bitter note ~ that's the flavor that leaves you craving more!


"All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt." Lucy, courtesy of Mr. Charles Schulz

Women's Health Part 1

Its a common misconception that heart disease is only a man's problem. It is actually the #1 killer of American women. In honor of Women's Heart Health Month, I'm posting a series about foods that encourage healthy tickers. First up, the protein power house....the Bean!

According to Ken Albala, professor of History at University of the Pacific in CA, and author of the new book, Beans: A History, there are over 18,000 types of beans in the world. Before we dive into legume-brious history, this is why you should eat an extra service of beans with that burrito........

1. Soluble fiber forms a gel-like substance in your body that grabs cholesterol and cleans it out! Researchers have determined that the type of artery cleaning that comes from eating more than the average amount of legumes can lead to an 82% reduction in risk.
2. Fiber also balances your blood sugar giving you long burning energy after you eat.
3. Beans, also called legumes, are high in Iron, helps fiber in providing energy.

Check Back Soon for more info on the bean, its social stigma and maybe a bit about Jack and his cow...

Fettuccine Alfredo Day

7th of February-- Learn the Truth!

Many recipes present "Alfredo Sauce" as actual, separate sauce made independent of the pasta. In fact, it's not -- there technically is no such thing as a recipe for Alfredo Sauce. So when you buy the frozen packet at the grocery store, you're being hoodwinked. Luckily this luxiourious pasta dish is one of the easiest pasta meals you can possibly make.

This recipe takes 25 minutes to make. It requires almost no ingredients other than good cheese, pasta and butter (nature's edible gold). The Romans who created this dish didn't use cream so neither should you.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/107807

Toss anything you like on top. Try a little freshly grated nutmeg and wilted spinach mixed in. Sounds like an unlikely marriage, but it is delicious.

The tradition of King Cake

In honor of Fat Tuesday, let’s talk history.

What is a King Cake? Why is there a baby inside of it? What is it made of?

The tradition of King Cake is very, very old. Think 12th century France: exploding populations, no more Vikings, High Middle Ages, new spiritualism and Romanesque art. In France, the season for King Cake stretches from the celebration of Epiphany, a day of opulent feasting that honoring Baby Jesus, until Carnival, or what we know as Mardi Gras!

In the US the cake is named for the 3 Kings who brought presents to Baby Jesus in Bethlehem. Some say this Catholic tradition is the root of the plastic baby buried within the pastry. Others insist it is a secular flight of fantasy, much like the rest of Carnival. The best story comes from the heart of the festivities: In the 1950’s a bakery in New Orleans got an unusually large shipment of tiny plastic babies from Hong Kong, and thus began the tradition.

The cake itself is based on a brioche dough (eggs and butter…yum) formed into a long roll then twisted to make a spiraling circle. Then its covered in the traditional colors of carnival: white, green, purple and gold

Yes! I got the baby! That means that I am crowned the “Queen of the Party” and will have good luck for the next year. Finding the baby means I have to bring throw my own party next week, It’s tradition. ☺

Get your debauchery on….

Food of the week: Beets

Leave it to the Romans to produce the greatest discoveries...Aqueducts, indoor pluming, and beets! Though the sweet and earthy beet is thought to originated in North Africa, the ancient Romans were the first to cultivate the velvety red root for food. Later, in the 19th century, beets were used for their high sugar content in Poland, home of the worlds first sugar factory.

Thats a bit of history on the luxurious and brilliantly colored vegetable, now here is why you should ate as many as you can!

Not only are beets high in anti-oxidants, contain 13% DV of fiber, 27.5 % DV of Manganese (think healthy bones, healthy nerves) and help prevent heart disease but they also perform two very cool functions....

1. Beets prevent birth defects- Even the thought of a baby is along way off for me, a diet rich in the B Vitamin Folate, encourages normal tissue growth (especially in the spinal column) of a fetus.
2. Beets keep our livers safe with super chemicals like glutathione peroxidase and glutathione-S-transferase . These extra-scientific compounds allow the liver to identify and eliminate the toxins we put in our bodies.

You can eat beets in a million different ways.
Try ordering beet-apple juice at a local juice bar. Or enjoy beets with feta in a salad with a thyme vinaigrette. Don't forget to always save the greens when you buy beets, they are great sautéed with a little garlic!

Click this link for Grilled Flank Steak with Beets, Greens and Horseradish

Stocking a College Pantry Part 2: Dinner with Friends

It is scary to try out a brand new recipe on your friends, but if you can't make them your guinea pigs, well, what good are they! Last week, I made Chicken with Shallots, Prune and Armagnac in a small, ill-equipped apartment kitchen. Using a skillet as a dinner plate, and a soup pot as a salad bowl, it felt very college, but truth be told, everything turned out magnificently.

Though the recipe involved a few ingredients that don't pertain to the college kitchen (prunes, brandy, fresh thyme), there are two new additions to the "Virtual Pantry"

Shallots: A type of onion the shallot has a pungent garlicky scent and flavor. Sauté them in olive oil before making a soup, a sauce or to flavor the oil before browning meat. They are also really wonderful in salads, either fresh or crispified. Shallots are a great source of Vitamin C and fiber. They also contain six times as many phenols, cancer fighting phytonutrients, than their mild cousin the Vadalia.

Chicken Broth: Could you get an ingredient more versatile? You can use this broth to extend a sauce, to stove-top cook chicken (like this recipe) or to form the base for your own soup.
Try adding this flavorful broth to mashed potatoes for a richer, more luxurious flavor without adding a lot of fat or calories