Mangoes

The mango season is coming closer, there are so many different ways to eat mangoes. I have drank mango lassi, mango smoothie, you also something can eat it with  They improve your digestive system  Mangoes provide dietary fiber, Pectin, and Vitamin C which lowers Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL) Cholesterol. Rubbing sliced up mangoes on your face is a very good way for preventing acne. Mangoes are also rich in iron, this is very good for anemic people and also good for women during pregnancy and menopause. Iron is also good for your health in general, like for your eyes, bones, and provides you with red blood cells. Not only mangoes but their leaves are also beneficial for humans, they help cure diabetes if you put the leaves in warm water over the night and then drink the water next morning with empty stomach. If you do this continuously every morning it will really help for your diabetes. Mangoes also prevent cancer and heart diseases. Mangoes are very antioxidants which fights against the viruses. Mangoes contain Glutamine which boosts memory power and keeps your brain cells active; this is very beneficial for children. Mangoes also have an abundant supply of vitamin E which is good for you.

-Shweta

Top Chef: All Stars

Note:This blog post has spoilers about this weeks episode, so read at your own risk.....

I had long been anticipating this week's episode of Top Chef, a cooking show on Bravo, especially because I thought it was the finale. But to my dismay, they announced that the finale, airing Wednesday next week, would only have two of their "all-stars" (this season is for chefs who stood out in other seasons but didn't win, kinda like Redemption Island on Survivor). This was quite surprising as Top Chef finales usually have three chefs going head-to-head. For those of you who don' keep up with this fantastic show, chefs Richard Blais, Antonia Lofaso, and Michael (Mike) Isabella (you can see these three (whom I highlighted) and the rest of the contestants in the pic below) were the three to survive till this episode.

Mike has been on a roll, winning many of the recent challenges, so he had a few advantages in getting to decide which contestant would get which classic quickfire (a little mini-challenge at the beginning of each episode). Mike's aim throughout the entire show was to challenge Antonia(my personal favorite) because he wanted to compete against Richard in the finale. He wanted to do so because he knows that many people find Richard to be a strong chef and so Mike wanted a challenge. The quickfire was  really interesting because each chef had a different challenge and twist posed later: Antonia - canned foods and double apronned (that is a verb I made up to indicate that they were wearing a double apron and could each use one hand) with Carla (a former contestant); Richard - hot dogs and one handed cooking; Mike - one pot and no utensils. In the end Mike won the quickfire, adding fuel to his fire.

Their elimination challenge was to create a "last supper" for three eminent chefs: Masaharu Morimoto, Wolfgang Puck, and Michelle Bernstein. Mike got to choose the challenges again for his competitors. Frankly, by now I was a little annoyed by all the power Mike was getting. Somehow, Mike ended up with the easiest meal, fried chicken and biscuits for Michelle Bernstein and poor Antonia had to create a super complicated Japanese bento box for Morimoto (who she was afraid of but warmed up to as they talked about his meal and childhood). I felt Richard also had it pretty easy as he only had to create goulash (I think that's how you spell it) and apple strudel, but I suppose it was very tasty because the judges named him the winner of this challenge, which also means he is going to the finale.

At this point, I was terribly worried for Antonia because she had some complicacies with her dish like getting rancid Hamachi (that is a type of fish) and needing to switch to tuna. But, yet again the judges throw in ANOTHER TWIST (it must be so much fun to write the challenges for these shows) and so Antonia and Mike have to create one single bite for each of the seven judges in 45 minutes. I regained my hope for Antonia. In the end Antonia made a grouper soup which was a bit strong and Mike made a surf and turf with some odd sauces. Both Antonia and Mike got three votes, leaving Wolfgang to break the tie. He liked the flavors in Antonia's better but found Mike's technique to be impeccable, both aspects of a dish are important, but he found that Mike;s dish was just a little better. I was heartbroken to find out Mike Isabella made it to the finale, but I will tune in next week to watch Richard kick his butt.

Here is a recap from another blog. Enjoy!

-Cheesecake (Chaaru)

The Origin of Amy's Ice Cream

Ever wonder how one of the most delicious and fun hotspots in Austin blossomed? How it became one of the popular places to be blurted out of a young child's mouth after their mother asks where to go out?


Amy's was started by Amy Simmons in 1984, who, was working as a premedical major at Tufts University in Boston, worked for Steve's Ice Cream. After Steve's was purchased by a larger company, Simmons decided to open her own business. She and her business partner Scott Shaw eventually decided to open their own ice cream shop in Austin, Texas. They wrote a "hot check" for the lease of a store in Guadalupe and has since opened 13 more locations, with most of them in Austin.  Amy's has been voted as the best Reader's Ice Cream for 8 years in a row by the readers of the Austin Chronicle, and has also been voted as the Best Neon numerous times. Many contractors have tried to persuade Amy into letting them open more chains of the popular store, but she announced in 2009 that she does not intend to rapidly extend the chain.


Two fun facts!: 

• Amy's has a lot of creativity in their stores. For example, the paper application for wanting-to-be employees is a white paper bag. The only requirements are to write a name and contact information somewhere on the application. Applicants are encouraged to be creative and applications have included decorated bags, short stories, and videos placed in the bag. The bag does not have to remain intact; some applications have included only portions of the bag, puppets made from the bag, or the remains of a bag (ashes). The end product does not need to resemble the original bag.
• Amy's doesn't use a cold stone for a mixing board. The boards are room temperature and, per company claims, bring out the flavors in the different ice creams during the mixing process due to warming up the ice cream.

A few pictures: 

(Amy's homepage)

(Paper application for Amy's)

--Star (Vandana)

kids vs. vegetables

                           What is it about vegetables that little kids don't like. Is it the color, the shape, or is it something psychological. When most little kids see vegetables on their plates they tend to do something that will prevent them from eating them. But once they grow up they eat all those vegetables and with delight. Is it that they are influenced by the other kids around them or that they truly do not like them.  As kids grow they search for an identity of their own which is probably why they copy their elders and take them as an example. Kids might be getting influenced by other kids that supposedly don't like vegetables because they're horrible. This leads to the hypothesis that the discrimination by little kids to vegetables is something caused by surroundings and influences rather than a genuine dislike for them.
                                                                                                      By Guguraguragurakhrkhrkhr

Yummi

This afternoon, as I rejoiced in the freedom that is Spring Break, my hunger pangs steadily grew so I went to this cute little restaurant that just opened by my house, Yummi: Asian Fusion Tacos (I know what you're thinking, and yes, I was mightily confused/intrigued too). It turns out that their food, while really tasty, was not totally true to the title, in that they pretty much only had one taco dish and everything else was Asian. However, I suppose their proper name is up to speculation, it all depends on how you read their banner (a picture of which I posted below). Personally, I went for mostly Asian food, getting chicken spring rolls, sharing shrimp rolls and spicy french fries with my mom, a Banh Mi sandwich with Bugogi beef (I think I spelled that correctly), green tea flavored Mochi ice cream, and this really nifty Ramune soda drink. The soda was truly a lot of fun, particularly the opening process. The cap is really just a glass marble stuck at the top of the bottle that you have to push into the bottle in order to open it (check out the cool pictures I took below). The chicken spring rolls and shrimp rolls were both really nice starts to the meal. The shrimp roll was neat, not to mention delicious despite my dislike of shrimp, because I had never eaten anything like it before, it was one piece of shrimp and a bit of green onion rolled in a mini crepe and fried (which makes everything better). The french fires were quite tasty, but they were so spicy that I was unable to continue eating them once I finished my soda. The sandwich was also really Yummi (hahaha), with moist meat inside a nicely complemented piece of french bread (the short kind). The coolest thing of the evening was the Mochi ice cream. It was pretty much a ball of ice cream (green tea flavored, but they also had mango and strawberry) covered in a sort of desserty goo, an awesome goo that was sticky when you ate it but wouldn't adhere to your hands, and powdered sugar (Look below for the pictures I took of it, I lost self control and started eating before I remembered to document it, sorry. The orange one is the mango flavored one). Overall, it was a great, food-filled kick off to Spring Break at Yummi.
-Cheesecake (Chaaru)

Note: All pictures were taken by the author.

Apricots --by Truffles

Apricots are very nutritional fruits that provide 20% of every day's required amount of vitamin A and 7% of vitamin C, the two of most needed nutrients for the human body. Apricots are completely made of Beta-carotene and fiber. They can be found as canned or dried apricots. Apricots also provide other nutrients such as fiber, tryptophan, and potassium. Apricots don't only provide many nutrients but also have a small amount of calories.





Apricots are very good for your eyes and for your heart. The beta-carotene in it helps protect LDL cholesterol from oxidation which helps prevent heart disease. As I said before apricots also contain vitamin A which is a strong antioxidant meaning it protects the eye from radical damage to the cells and tissues near the eye lenses. It decreases the chances of getting cataract by 40%.

Apricots also contain fiber which is also important for the digestive system and it also prevents constipation. It has been researched and found out that most Americans get not even 10 grams of fiber in their daily diets.

To conclude, apricot is a fruit that provides many nutrients and has many benefits to us. Eating it is a way to easily get a boost of vitamin A, C, or fiber.

 

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=3



 

Star's Blog post-- STRAWBERRIES! ♥

Hi everyone!


So we have to write a blog post on here about our topic (food). So mine (Star) is about strawberries and their health benefits. It's pretty much my analysis of this link: http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=32 Enjoy!(:

              Strawberries-the red empresses of the fruit kingdom by being the most eaten berry fruit in the world. They have been cultivated ever since before the Christian era, come in 600 amazing and deliciously different varieties, and are available during any time of the year, mostly in April through June, when they're the most quantitative.

             Not only are they great for munching on for a snack, they're also beneficial for one's health. They're rich in phenols, which are led by anthocyanins and ellagitannins. Anthocyanins are not only what provide strawberries with their deep red color, but also serve as potent antioxidants that help protect cell structures in the body and prevent oxygen damage in all of the body's organ systems. Their phenol helps them protect the heart, fight against cancer, and act as a medicine intended to reduce inflammation. Their ellagitannins  also help fight cancer. In one study where a group of 1,000 elderly people were tested for cancer, it showed that those who ate the most strawberries were three times less likely to develop cancer compared to those eating fewer or none. 

             Data reported in a strawberry study showed that the fruits were rich in vitamin C, making them helpful towards humans, providing them with protection from horrible inflammatory arthritis, a form of ehrumatoid arthritis that affects two or more joints. Talk about life-saving!

            So next time you go to your grocery store to pick up some fruits, give in some thought to buying those small yet beneficial red queens in aisle 3. 

Sooooo whaddya think?(:

--Star (Vandana)

P.S. HAPPY SPRING BREAK!

Whee, Opinion Piece Layouts~

Hey guys!


Soo today was the last day that we were to work on our opinion piece layouts! These are the names of our headlines:
"Meat Me Halfway"
"Get Fresh (with Farmer's market)"
"Can't buy me chocolate"
"Medicine for the heart"


Haha they're very creative, huh? ^-^ Truffles and I (Star) are the only ones who drew/photoshopped our photos (: WOOT? But Cheesecake's is pretty amazing, and Guguraguragurakhrkhrkhr's looks pretty seriously awesome :D


Have a great day, guys! <3

--TrufflesFB (Shweta), Stardust (Vandana), Cheesecake (Chaaru) and Guguraguragurakhrkhrkhr (Estefani).