Today Is Not Over Yet » Food

Should I Become a Vegetarian

Lisa — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 15:46:10 +0000

With all the focus on diet, weight loss and exercise that exits in the media, pop culture and even medical focus attention these days, it can be difficult to determine which choices are right for you. Is it good to become a vegetarian? Well, most chickens and cows would probably say so yes, but then that’s a ridiculous statement. Of course there is also the major argument against the carbon emissions with cattle in farms and the damage to our atmosphere it’s creating. These are less immediate effects to our health, but relative and significant all the same. Meanwhile, the major focus of most people in considering health and lifestyle choices relates directly to their pounds lost and confidence gained. So, is vegetarianism a good choice for someone who is seeking it as a weight loss tool?

By Avlxyz

The answer to that depends, just as it does for choosing any diet related weight loss system that is counter to your standard lifestyle and interests. The obvious aspect that is related to these changes includes making short-term adjustments that greatly affect caloric and fat intake. This can activate an immediate weight loss process, though as soon as the desired weight is obtained almost everyone who engages in these types of diets immediately reverts back to previous habits and actually ends up putting on more when that what they started with. This news is helpful, and should shed some light on your decision to become vegetarian, if weight loss is your only reason for doing so. Yes, it is possible to lose weight with a vegetarian, and particularly vegan, diet, though if you’re not doing so for the right personal reasons, chances are extremely unlikely the changes will last or the weight will stay off. And the constant cycle of gaining and losing weight is worse for you than maintaining a consistent weight all along.

So what are the right reasons for becoming vegetarian? Well, those differ as well. If you’re really looking to make a lifestyle change, have a strong activist adversity to the meat industry and are concerned about environmental factors, then vegetarianism is a great way to go. Many green lifestyles include home improvements, such as window treatments and replacements. Some companies have excellent support programs for these adjustments, such as the Next Day Blinds builder program. Meanwhile, simply cutting out red meat, or cutting back on meat products is a strong improvement in most people’s lives. And if you are looking for an overall lifestyle, home improvement option, go with a solid company for support. Awards for Next Day Blinds demonstrates integrity as well as quality.

Post from: Today Is Not Over Yet

Should I Become a Vegetarian

Seattle’s Hidmo

Lisa — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 20:10:00 +0000

The Emerald City has a lot of hidden gems, and many of these are found while going through the ephemera of its history. All the incredible events that have happened here over the years start to come to the surface to make the present more heavy than it ever was. There are also new gems that rise up and make their weight known to the people of the city, and to welcome the new visitors.

It’s a place that so many people call home, new generations and long-time residents, making a thriving cloth of networks that weave each other’s lives together. It’s part of the appeal of Hidmo , the Eritrean restaurant and club in the Central District. It’s always much more than what it seems, and a night spent here reveals a broad weave of cultures. The vision of the owners is to provide a place where the community can see itself reflected, and one of the liveliest art forms is music, so it’s no surprise that live music is a central attraction here.

Visitors in Seattle luxury hotels and those staying with friends in town can enjoy the events here. It’s been recognized by the people of the city in the Seattle Weekly , and it continues to make threads tighter and more exquisite with every turn of the seasons.

Post from: Today Is Not Over Yet

Seattle’s Hidmo

Katryna Tan in Singapore

Lisa — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 20:02:01 +0000

There are a wide variety of cultural offerings in Singapore every day of the year. This speaks to Singapore’s spectacular mix of cultures that make up this unusual island city state, defining it as a truly cosmopolitan place. Visitors here will be surprised and delighted by all the attractions and events that happen here, and will find many places to get distracted from the business of touring, and get caught up in the beauty of the moment here. It’s a wonderful place for a vacation, because it offers a sense of difference from the usual day-to-day grind, in true tropical splendor. There is also a very lively urban scene, with many different kinds of art being practiced in all corners of the city. There are fantastic sections that appeal to a broad section of travelers, as well as a magnificent share of side streets offering interesting diversions of their own.

You’ll no doubt notice that there are a gorgeous array of restaurants, with food from all over the world. They reflect the island’s cultures, and there are plenty of Malay, Indian, and Chinese restaurants, and for those who love Italy, restaurants also offer up sumptuous Italian food. The availability of fresh seafood, as well as a host of other ingredients which are difficult to find anywhere else, make Singapore an eater’s paradise. It also offers a fantastic place for culinary artists to do their work, specializing in innovations on old familiars, as well as the necessary ingredients to perfect traditional recipes from all over the planet. Interest in Italy here does not end with the food, and there are some fascinating ways to get to know about Italian culture here as well. The Italian Cultural Institute in Singapore offers some excellent events, such as evenings of classical Italian music.

At a recent event, one of the local heroines, Katryna Tan, played Italian music and showcased her expertise on the classical harp. She studied interior architecture in Sydney before moving to the US to get her master’s in harp music from the University of Michigan. She decided to return to Singapore and set up her home and artistic base here, to bring her talents to the region. It will be exciting to see what she does in the years to come.

Post from: Today Is Not Over Yet

Katryna Tan in Singapore

Delicious Alaskan Salmon for Untraditional Thanksgiving

Lisa — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:46:58 +0000

This Thanksgiving we will be having a huge gathering at our house. Family and friends will be coming in from all over the state. Of course we will be preparing lots of fine and traditional foods for our guests, turkey, stuffing, cranberries, potatoes, yams etc. In addition to all the traditional Thanksgiving Day foods we will be serving Alaskan salmon.

This past summer the wife and I took a vacation to Alaska where I got to go deep-sea fishing for the first time. My wife enjoyed our Alaska luxury hotels to the fullest while I went fishing.

Deep-sea fishing was an amazing experience. I went on a chartered fishing boat filled with tourists like me. The water was kind of rough that day and we were tossed around for a little while. I wish my wife would have wanted to come along but it isn’t her cup of tea so she stayed back in town and took advantage of the hotel spa and shopped.

She said she had a wonderfully relaxing time getting a message and various other spa treatments preformed. She also spent some time shopping and getting a head of the shopping she usually does at Christmas.

For me the fishing trip was a big success for me. Perhaps beginners luck as I caught a good-sized salmon. It was a very exciting experience reeling the large fish in and wrestling it to the deck. I had the fish cleaned and frozen so we could cook it and share with our friends and family at Thanksgiving.

That trip to Alaska was the best and I really enjoyed the time spent deep-sea fishing. I have never had an experience quite like it and hope to be able to go again. Although I am not sure if I would be so enthusiastic to go deep-sea fishing again if I had not caught anything.

Post from: Today Is Not Over Yet

Delicious Alaskan Salmon for Untraditional Thanksgiving

Grilled Watermelon

Lisa — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:20:11 +0000

Choosing an outdoor kitchen is a fantastic way to begin something new, and it starts to make sense almost immediately. With any kind of cooking, the rewards are pretty immediate, and with an outdoor grill, you soon discover which things work, and which don’t, and there are infinite variations from there. You’ll find new tastes that will excite you and amaze your friends and family. The setup for your outdoor kitchen is important then, so you have everything you need right at your disposal. It becomes a new kind of castle for you, in a way, and it’s something you can appreciate during all the seasons. That’s why it’s a wonderful idea to add an outdoor sink to your outdoor kitchen.

There are multiple benefits to having an outdoor sink, of course, and one of the best of these is the ease you have of washing your fruits and vegetables before you work with them. Some people don’t even realize how fantastic fruit can be on the grill, but when you’re experimenting with tastes and start to add fresh orange to a couple of recipes, you’ll see what open flame can do with fruit. You’ll see that the heat from a grill responds particularly well to moisture in the food, and this is what makes that dramatic sizzle that everyone loves. You might imagine that the juiciest of fruits make the best sounds, and that’s very correct. Imagine what grilled watermelon can do for a holiday picnic!

There are all sorts of fantastic recipes available for grilling watermelon, believe it or not. The beautiful red and juicy insides have an immensely wonderful appeal when they’ve got the grill marks on them, like summer putting its signature right on your plate. Grilled watermelon is amazing when it’s coated with a sugar or honey marinade, to add to the natural flavors and add another touch of zest. Grilling is life lived with a little more panache, and a lot more pleasure.

Post from: Today Is Not Over Yet

Grilled Watermelon

Grilling on an Island

Lisa — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:41:06 +0000

Now is the time of year to get outside. Just today the weather was breezy and cooling down, the perfect kind of weather in the Southwest for an outdoor party. With just a few necessary grilling accessories, some funky decoration in the backyard, and little bit of culinary creativity with ingredients, one can prepare a meal that everyone will remember. One advantage to building a grill island, is that these parties can be planned in a short amount of time, and with all the effort going into the preparation of the food.

The grills installed can be either wood and charcoal burning or gas heated. The differences is that there will be more flavor with the previous type, but more speed with the gas. With an island, one has the option to include bar stools and a very homey atmosphere in the backyard. Guests may sit around and chat, have appetizers or cocktails, while you prepare the food. This in an excellent atmosphere to gather one’s friends around them, and share a meal and conversation.

For any meat or vegetable that is grilled, a rub of oil, white wine, garlic, and celery salt will not only provide a lovely aroma in the yard, as well as the neighborhood, but will provide rich flavors with just a hint of spice. If you will be marinating the meal, consider the consistency of the particular foods, some need longer marination, and some shorter. Any soft vegetable such as the mushroom or the squash, only requires about thirty minutes to soak up the flavors, while beef or pork may do best being marinated over-night. For the vegetarians, tofu will take just under one hour to marinate, and does great on the grill with a little BBQ sauce.

As for the accessories needed, for flakier white fish there are fish cages that will hold the meat in place preventing it from slipping through the grates. More dense fish, beef, chicken or pork can be placed right on the grill. For the vegetables, they contain no fat, so it is best to either marinate them in a mixture that has canola oil in it, or to spray down the grates with a non-stick product. In all having a permanent outdoor facility makes it easier to cook out all the time, giving one the option at a moment’s notice, when the weather or the moment is just perfect.

Post from: Today Is Not Over Yet

Grilling on an Island