talking about fruit.

Have you ever had a perfectly ripe mango or peach, picked from the tree? You bite into its soft flesh, sweet juice drips down your chin, living with flavor. The fragrance of a freshly cut cantaloupe is enough to stimulate salivary glands, preparing the mouth to marry with splendid taste. The body's reaction to fruit does not stop in the mouth, but continues as the digestive system accepts a food filled with enzymes.it is compounded with vitamins, minerals, water-soluble proteins, enzymes and trace elements.

I would like to point it out here is from all those glorious nutrition that fruit contains, I think "enzymes" is still under rated by many people.

Enzymes are needed for the digestive system to work. They are necessary to break down food particles so they can be utilized for energy. The human body makes approximately 22 different digestive enzymes which are capable of digesting carbohydrates, protein and fats. Raw vegetables and raw fruit are rich sources of enzymes.

Especially because all of us loose our ability to produce concentrated digestive enzymes as we grow older, it is important to eat fruit for your beauty, wight control and of course for your health.  However, to eat WHEN is even more important.

Have you ever experienced burping or getting stomach ache after eating fruit before?
It is because you ate fruit after eating something else like as a dessert.
As fruit contains a lot of enzymes, they only take about 30 mins to get delivered to your stomach while usual meals take about 2-4 hours. So when you eat fruit after something, they get stuck in your body and it will create ruminal fermentation. In this way, you're wasting the precious enzymes!

It is definitely much more beneficial to eat fruit before eating, specially for breakfast.
A significant fraction of the human body is water and living water that fruit contains helps you to detoxicate your body.

Also, many people tend to think that fruit contains much sugar and it's not good for diet and may cause diabetes but this is wrong;
White sugar and fruit sugar are totally different, white sugar increases blood glucose levels as it gets assimilated rapidly by intestine wall and it required much insulin to deliver sugar in the blood to each cells, but with fruit sugar, it is much more complex and it does not require insulin. Eating fruit correctly actually helps to decrease blood glucose level.

To eat fruit correctly;

• Eat it when your stomach is empty
• Eat them raw (The enzymes are destroyed by heat).

Of course there is nothing wrong is having an apple tart after meal with your cup of tea, or chocolate banana crepe with your espresso. I just thought I should share this fact that eating fruit at the right moment can help your skin conditions, weight control, blood glucose level control etc etc.

To always enjoy good food and drinks, you need to be healthy, right?

Marramiero Altare Trebbiano d'Abruzzo 05

When you think of Trebbiano (also known as Ugni Blanc in France), it is refreshing, clean fruit such as muscut with slightly bitter finish and I would normaly consider this grape as vin de table as it is known for high volume in the vineyards and doesn't have a reputation for producing dynamic wines.

This wine maker Marramiero has become one of the best wine makers in Abruzzo with over 100 year history in its land of Pescara. With its Altare series, it will blow away your image of Trebbiano.
Its flavour is intense, interfusion of  reminiscence of citrus fruit, nuts and spices with long finish and colour of  luminous gold.

I personally think it would match perfect with pistachio cream sauce ravioli filled with pork and caramelised onions, or fresh chevre cheese such as Sainte Maure.

I've started drooling. Let's try to cook them soon...!

Chicken Chicken Chicken

Our friends of mine got us 2 kilos of chicken thigh. Apparently her friend works for a Yakitori restaurant and she gets so much of them for free. It's always great to have friends like that (hair dresser, nailist or doctor...).

Anyway, I was quite tired from not having enough sleep as my best friend got me a nice bottle of Beaujoulais (will upload about this wine later.) last night for me handing in my resignation to my boss yesterday (yay!) and we stayed up till 4. So, I didn't feel like cooking anything too complicated for my dinner.

Easy, not technical and something you can leave it on hear for a while... and with chicken.



- Chicken Thigh cooked with White Wine.

Throw a clove of Garlic and finely chopped chili into olive oil on small heat and leave them till the oil starts having the beautiful garlicky smell.
Take out only the garlic and throw roughly chopped onions. After pan fry the onions for 3 mins, add chopped chicken thigh (skins underneath first) then pour generous amount of white wine and place randomly chopped cabbage, tomatoes and mushrooms on the chicken.
Put the lid and let it simmer for 5 mins .

Take out the scum and add dried herb (Thyme, Oregano, Rosemary, whatever you like), a cube of vegetable stock and salt, then put the lid back again and leave it for 15 to 20 mins on low heat.

Carrot Salad:

Carrot,

Dried Raisin,

Spring Onion,

Ginger Juice,

Honey,

White Pepper, 

Salt.

I used Spring Onions (only the green part) as I didn't have Parsley but it worked out very well!

Let's have a glass of white with it, shall we? 

(I thought of this wine: Pieropan Soave Classico)

Bento Bento

Yuzu Pepper Paste Grilled Chicken with Spring Onions, 

Japanese Omelet, 

Steamed Broccoli with Tuna Mayo Sesame Sauce, 

Japanese Pickled Pearl Onions,

Pickled Plums etc.

First, Marinate chicken Thigh with a bit of salt and Sake then pan Grill them in the pan.

You don't have to fully cook them here as the chickens will be put them in the oven later.

Yuzu Pepper Paste Sauce: Yuzu Pepper Paste, Sesame Oil, Lemon Juice, Soy Sauce, Mirin and Sake.

Place the sauce on the chicken and put them in the oven for 10 mins at 180 C.

Itadaki-masu!

Meet Glue...??

Obento!...so that I will look forward to tomorrow 2

Bean Sprout Namul (Korean Seasoned Vegetables),

Sesame Broccoli,

My mother's Kimchi,

Japanese Omelette with Spring Onions,

Grilles Sausages,

Millet Rice

and Cherry Tomatoes

make my Obento today.

my favourite meal of the day 2

I wanted to eat bread not rice this morning, but I wanted to have Nattō which is extremely nutritious-high in omega 3 fats, protein as well as a dozen vitamins and minerals.

So my breakfast this morning looked like this...

Avocado, Ham, Fried Egg on bread

and

Baked Natto on bread

I know that some who don't like natto went "ewwww" by this picture but some who like it, you should definitely try it.
You just need to toast a piece of bread first, mix natto with attached sauce and little bit of mayonnaise, put it on the bread and back to the oven. Add black pepper to finish.

Yummy!