The French Foodie

One of my ways to kill time is by watching Discovery Travel and Living. It may be my nature of being such a food lover or sometimes just my curiosity to learn international cuisines as well. How I admire and envy at the same, those privileged chefs who travel to some parts of the globe just to enjoy what the natives are cooking, discover some exotic foods, travel, mingle with some more chefs and restaurateurs, wine and dine to fancy restaurants and of course earn huge chunk of salaries. How fortunate can they get! It only leads to the maxim that not everybody is created equal, but then I’m not forgetting that probably they deserve what they’re getting and their jobs isn’t really that easy. To put it in a simple way, there’s always the hedonic treadmill that everyone has to remember. This is the concept wherein to find happiness one must keep working just to stay in the same place. We probably know about famous people’s personal lives and burdens and the opportunity cost just to be like them. If for us, buying the most simple and cheapest toy watch is a joy, maybe to them even if they can afford the best Michele Watches in any luxury shop – they still can’t for some reason that they don’t have time or hide their identities.

Once I had a strange craving for fish. It’s maybe due to the fact that I’ve been into fast food lately; I have no choice for my job is always interfering with my preferred set of menu. It’s not really healthy and I sometimes hate myself for being too lazy to prepare at least a healthy single meal for the day. Since I couldn’t go out and go for fish I just decided to find my own fish menu online. I was provided with a lot of web sites each with the fish menu keyword. I don’t know what’s got into me and I clicked fishing instead. Then I saw the website about Russia, the tourism country. My appetite for fish isn’t yet utilized so I still look for something connected to food and trips this time. I just found myself mesmerized with the view of the city, the one near the Arbat area. I contacted a Russian travel agency and immediately inquired about all their packages and stuff. I also want to try the Moscow Boat Trip for I know it’s more than a cruise. All along, I knew that Russia is not just known for its travel destinations, tsars, buildings and adventure travels but of course food, glorious food. I just hope they have a wonderful fish in it.

Popcorn has become one of the most popular foods in the world because almost every country in the world knows what it is and knows how to make one. Interestingly enough, the process of corn popping (or basically the cooking of popcorn) was initially discovered by Native Americans thousands of years ago, but became popular as a snack food during the United States Great Depression, especially when going to movie theatres, which of course, until now is being practiced in all movie theatres worldwide. A popcorn company can basically produce a lot of popcorns because nowadays, corns are now being specifically cultivated to become popcorn and it is something that you would not actually want to eat until it has been popped because it has different texture, unlike the normal corns. There have been a lot of flavors that have been made special for this kind of chow, ranging from a wide selection of tastes. Of course, the classic buttered popcorn is always the favorite together with cheese and BBQ, while caramel flavored popcorn is always popular to kids. White cheddar popcorn is now being introduced as well and they really give a distinct taste compared to the normal cheese flavored popcorn.

Have your childe ever dreamt of having a dog or a cat? May be you remember being a child and begging your parents to buy you a pet? Sure, this is the moment in life when practically everyone wants to be presented a pet to take care about it and to feed it and to take it out for a walk. Though unfortunately not all the people can afford having a pet. Usually there are some restrictions especially if one of the family members has an allegry to pets wool. Sometimes people are ready to spend millions just to find a pet that would not cause allergic reaction. But this is a myth. If you have an allergy to pets this is a verdict. Nothing can be done but if you have no allergy - you are lucky to have a friend that will always be dedicated to you and faithul. You have also responsibilities as you agree to take care about “our little brothers”: you need to visit pet supplies shop and buy special food for your pet. If you have a dog the best canned dog food can be found at special stores, like, for instance, TailWaggersPets. You can even order such canned food through the Internet. Even if you have a cat the same store is proud to present canned cat food that will be a nice addition to a usual ration of your beloved pet. Your pet will definitely be glad to taste nice and fresh food instead of dry feed.

I find it quite impressive and funny at the same time how wine makers and brewers use their creativities in naming their labels. I have found some strangest names for wine over the internet that is actually for sale and people actually drink. One of the most popular sparkling wines for sale is the Fat Bastard Chardonnay from Southern France citizens Guy Anderson and Thierry Boudinard. Another quite intriguing name that I found was the Unpronounceable Grape. It is a Hungarian mixing of Gewurtztraminer and Irsai Oliver, made at the Neszmely winery, which is a spicy fruit-filled wine that will make anyone see and smell it want to drink it. Next is the French red wine called Frog’s Piss and no, it doesn’t have a frog’s juice mixed all over it, but it is a fruity kind of drink. Another one for the big guys is the Cleavage Creek where it is stated on the label itself “Premium grapes grown in the cleavage of some of the most beautiful California hills are then handcrafted into an elegant complex wine that is full bodied yet vivacious”. There are a lot more crazy wine names out there but don’t let the names fool you, because most of them are the best tasting wines in the world.

My boyfriend and I always make sure that we enjoy our weekend being together, Aside from short travels in case of holidays, we also go for fine dining, movies and coffee. This time since we just celebrated our first year anniversary, we are planning to go on a summer getaway. We were delighted to find out that vacationrentals.com is offering a one of a kind promotion at the moment until August 4, 2009 only. They are giving away three fantastic vacations plus “Win a Celebrity Weekend” promo. You can have a chance to win A Chef Bonnie Weekend Getaway wherein you can experience gourmet cooking by Hell’s Kitchen Chef Bonnie herself. Since both of us have an undying love for food, we decided to take the deal. The package will be a three days two nights in Kohali Ranch, Hawaii. The rate isn’t really that high and beside we can cook our own food at the vacation homes if ever we don’t get the chance to win the celebrity weekend promo. My boyfriend is a good cook because he took culinary in college and he’s got his Hawaiian cookbook with him in case we’ve run out of budget but we’ll make sure that we’ll try all those famous Hawaiian dishes that they have.

I think the current weather condition is making me more dependent on coffee. I can’t understand why my workplace has always a soporific effect on me. The moment I step in my work station the yawning seems inevitable. It’s not actually new because my officemate even asked me if smelling the whole coffee grains could wake her up. She doesn’t really drink coffee so it was an honest mistake; it kept me in stitches though. In my case I need at least some dose of caffeine to stay awake in the early morning of work and some more to perk me up in the afternoon. If not the coffee machines in the building I always find myself in my favorite coffee shop, Krispy Kreme. My boyfriend said it’s high time I chose from those coffee makers in the department store or I would soon be spending more. I agree with him in some point but of course I will not be bringing any coffee machines at work. If I do, either my officemates will thank me for such an act of charity or they would think I’m just nuts for bringing such. I tried to compare coffee machines prices so I could check which ones are the best to get. I found that Delonghi coffee makers and Gaggia coffee machines are actually good espresso makers and are actually used by some coffee shops around the country, which brings me to the problem of which coffee maker do I get…

I just quit my last job last month because I couldn’t stand seeing my Korean manager anymore. My sister, a six month old pregnant wouldn’t want any company but me. She let me stay in their new house and have an access to their state of the art kitchen appliance because my brother in law is a chef in a cruise ship. I just found out that he is planning to make his own cookbook. He wanted me to be his personal encoder and a secretary. I agreed because I’m between jobs and I beside I want to know more about food and cooking. I’m even considering of having my own restaurant business in the future. The cookbook is about European cuisine because my brother in law happens to be German. While doing some Russian recipes I came across some food that I think are easy to prepare. I was not just satisfied by the recipe that I was encoding so I tried to Google it. Upon looking for some Russian cuisine and delicacy I accidentally clicked on a link that directed me to some Russian adventure tours. In that package you can experience to fly a mig-29, a military aircraft used by Russians in previous wars. The food is maybe good but I guess the adventure is even better.

My favorite cousin Ron is coming this weekend and I checked out the yapp brothers web site so I could get some of the finest wines for sale because my cousin loves to drink wine after every meal. I always go to their site to check the wine list and see if they have something new, which more often they have, in their menu. I have learned to love their service because they always have the best wines deliver to my house and I never ever had a problem when it comes to delivery of my drinks, especially when there is a special occasion such as what we will be having this coming weekend. I am pretty sure that this one will be no exception because they always deliver and I know in my heart that I will get all of my money’s worth for going with them again. My cousin should be coming straight from his Asian tour. He loves backpacking and usually, whenever he’s able to complete his trips, he goes directly to the house with all sorts of ingredients and he cooks for us with whatever delicacy he was able to get from wherever he was able to go.

Masala chai is a drink from the Indian subcontinent made by brewing tea with a combination of sweet smelling Indian spices and herbs. By itself, chai is merely the generic word for tea in much of the world, but for many English speakers outside those regions, “chai” is always construed as “masala chai”, while still for some, they like calling it chai tea. This reminds me of a story when my sister decided to buy some tea kettles because she said she wanted to try brewing tea, more specifically the Masala chai because she said she was able to have a taste of it when they went to an Indian restaurant to eat dinner one time. When she got home, she immediately brought out her kettles and chai ingredients and said she will brew a very tasty Indian delicacy for all of us in there. We were all enjoying a game of basketball that time showing on TV that we just said yes to what she was talking about and then by halftime, she went out with cups of tea that was has been talking about that she brewed. We were all skeptical about it because we all know that my sister never cooks and she doesn’t know a thing about cooking. When she sensed that no one wanted to drink the tea, she took a cup and said to watch her enjoy the tea that she made. After taking a sip, she immediately spit it out. She then figured out that she put a lot of spices in her tea and it is basically undrinkable.