If you find yourself visited by the urge to embrace a more holistic lifestyle, you might want to check out SacredRoseTea.com – one of the leading purveyors of hand blended healing tisanes on the Internet. Maria Pologeorgis, proprietress of the Sacred Rose brand offers 8 unique loose leaf blends that are designed to activate not just the mind or the body, but also your soul.

Made by combining the natural goodness of various plants while using a process that retains their distinctive aroma and taste, Maria’s therapeutic blends stimulate the body’s innate healing ability, allowing it to cope with a variety of problems on its own.

Here are some of the more popular blends sold at SacredRoseTea.com:

• Clearing Tea®: A heady combination of taheebo, spearmint, black walnut bark, rose hip, and sage, Clearing Tea® deals effectively with stress while detoxifying the colon in the process.
• Morning Blossom®: Start your day with this invigorating concoction of spearmint, peppermint, ginger, alfalfa, and rose which is great for people who experience respiratory problems.
• Soul of the Rose®: If you like the name, you are going to love this blend that brings together alfalfa, cloves, pink rose buds, and rose hips.  Maria recommends this blend to people who’ve undergone a trauma, especially people who’ve survived sexual abuse.
• Inner Peace®:  If it is relaxation you are after, Inner Peace® is your best choice. This blend of sage, passion flower, and chamomile calms you physically as well as mentally.
• Mother Earth Zest®: As the name suggests, it’s a zestful combination of spearmint, ginger, sage, and fennel that helps you get over digestive problems.
• Dreamtime®: Having sleep trouble? Reach out for Dreamtime® – an insomniac’s best friend. It combines the goodness of skullcap, passion flower, valerian, and chamomile, thereby promoting deep sleep and ensuring you wake up well rested the following morning.

In addition to herbal tea blends, SacredRoseTea also stocks an exotic collection of Yixing tea sets, known to be the best vessel for brewing tea and prized by tea aficionados as collectors’ items. It has firmly established its superiority over all other kinds of teaware owing to the use of the very unique zisha clay found near the city of Yixing, in the Jiangsu province in China.

These teapots have low water absorption rate and low thermal conductivity. This, when combined with the double air hole design, adds significantly to its brewing properties. Whether you simply wish to admire them for their artistic value or hope to give someone close to you a gift they will remember forever, Yixing teaware is the perfect investment of your money. And what’s a great place to get them? SacredRoseTea.com, of course!

©2012 Food and Restaurant News and Reviews | KitchenTalk.com. All Rights Reserved.

Believe it or not, Aragawa is not just one of Japan’s high end restaurants; it is the most expensive restaurant in the world. Reservations to this restaurant are extremely hard to come by and if you are among the lucky few who do manage to get in, make sure you are loaded with cash or your credit card has enough limit on it, since meal tabs start at $368 per head.

The restaurant itself is located in an office basement and the hallway is dark enough to give you the nerves. However, when you step into Aragawa, you are more relaxed and at ease since the décor, though not overly luxurious, is homey and inviting. The red and gold low ceilinged restaurant has an authentic European touch about it, which is visible in the chandelier and dark wood panels. There is no music playing in here except for the tinkle of silver against the chinaware, the sophisticating and well mannered sound of meat being chewed, and the occasional sighs of contentment and satisfaction.

So, what’s their secret? Wagyu beef. You would probably know it as Kobe beef which has been described in superlative terms by those who’ve had the good fortune of eating it. Try buying it in the market and you may have to cough up to $800 a pound owing to its restricted supply. Aragawa has its own farm where they breed Wagyu cows that are, if rumors are to be believed, hand fed and massaged to ensure the highest quality of meat.

You can choose Kobe beef from the premium and super premium categories that are available in 12, 16, and 20 ounces. The fresh Kobe beef is then broiled in a charcoal fired brick oven and served with plain pepper and mustard. Instead of the customary wine, the beef is accompanied by salads and appetizers. Hardly any effort is taken in fanciful presentation or decorating the food with beautifully carved radish. Once again, the restaurant depends solely on the quality of the food to impress its patrons over all the razzmatazz. And, boy does it impress you! You won’t mind breaking your bank ten times over for the sinful taste of the steak served at Aragawa. No other restaurant in the world comes close to this taste.

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Although there are instant oats cereals available by the plenty in the market nothing beats the texture and consistency of the real thing. With winters approaching, sitting with a bowl of hot oatmeal to ride out the cold amounts to almost sinful indulgence.

If the flavor of oatmeal doesn’t do much for you, I might still be able to tempt you with its health benefits. Apart from being a treasure house of proteins and fiber, oatmeal takes a while to be metabolized by the body, and it releases energy into the bloodstream gradually. This helps to keep you satiated for a longer period of time. Besides, being rich in protein makes it invaluable for muscle growth.

Weight watchers stand to gain additional benefits from making friends with this peasants’ dish. Not only is it low on calories, but its high protein content also helps the body burn more calories. Most weight loss diets recommend a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast since it curbs the tendency to reach out for those sugary snacks during the day.

Perhaps the only community in the world that gives due respect to oatmeal is its ancestral home Scotland. For Scots, oatmeal is not a laughing matter and they don’t too kindly to jokes aimed at it. In fact, they organize the World Oatmeal Making Championship where participants are judged on their ability to make authentic oatmeal the traditional way using only oatmeal and water. Even the stirring is done in the time-honored fashion with a straight wooden stick known as the ‘Theevil’ or ‘Spurtle’.

While in Scotland, oatmeal is eaten with little more than cold milk and salt; I am more partial to the sweeter version. Oatmeal is surprisingly versatile and tastes just as good with cream and brown sugar as it does with maple syrup or honey. It’s about experimenting with a little bit of this and a lot of that. For the adventurous, there are a variety of tastes to be discovered with cinnamon, toasted nuts, banana, black treacle, yoghurt, stewed fruit, and chocolate syrup.

Drool…they all sound so yummy – I am off to make myself a bowl of oatmeal. Slurp!

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©2012 Food and Restaurant News and Reviews | KitchenTalk.com. All Rights Reserved.

In an effort to ensure that kind words keep pouring in and you continue to dazzle your guests with your hospitality skills, we bring you a few tips on how to entertain stylishly. Easy to remember and simple to implement, these tips will add a whole lot of oomph to your dinner party.

Start with the Lighting

Lighting is one of the best ways to set the ambience of a room. Get creative. Instead of those harsh overhead lights, switch to something that has a softer appeal. Not only does it making the dining space look nice, the food also ends up looking good. For a more dramatic effect, you could do away with the lights completely and burn a few candles around the room instead. Voila! Instant mood lift for your dinner party.

Add a Splash of Color

I am not talking about flowers here, though that might be a nice touch to your dining space. This is more to do with how you present your food. Much before the food reaches your mouth you begin eating it with your eyes. So, try to make your food visually appealing. Jazz up that plain old tomato soup with a dollop of sour cream; serve a colorful bowl of carrots, red pepper, berries, beans, along with the regular greens; brighten up the plate of pasta in white sauce with some golden brown garlic bread and a side of veggies. Think plenty of color and let the food seduce your guests.

Bowl them over with a Bowl

When ordering in from a restaurant, a lot of people make the mistake of serving the condiments, salsa or chutney in the same container they arrived in. Sure, it’s functional, but hardly presentable. Your food will look infinitely better if you take the trouble of serving the sauces and condiments in bowls. You don’t need anything particularly fancy – even simple earthenware bowls have the potential to make the spread look good.

It all Rests in the Plate

Although most people tend to stock up on plates and cutlery in bright colors and intricate designs, when it comes to presentation, nothing works better than the plain white plates. Food served on these plates tends to stand out and catch your eye and that’s why most restaurants stick to pristine whites.

Also, choose the plate according the size of the food you plan to serve in it. As a general rule of the thumb, there should be at least 2 inches of white space between the edge of the plate and the food. So, a tiny serving of pudding served on a 12-inch plate will probably be just as unappetizing as a massive pork chop served up on a dwarfish 6-inch plate.

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Well, should you happen to be in a position where you might have to talk learnedly with the sommelier and not let on that you haven’t the faintest clue about choosing the right wine, you will find this little “how to” guide extremely helpful. It’s best to be prepared for all situations – you never know what life might end up throwing at you.

The first step is, of course, to decide your budget. That itself should help you narrow down the list considerably and eliminate options. Then, choose whether you’d like to order by the glass or bottle. Although the former limits your selection, it works out cheaper if you are entertaining a small group. However, if you have more guests and they are inclined to having a couple of glasses through the evening, it will be less expensive to get a bottle or two. If you are not sure whether to order white or red wine, order a bottle of each. This helps satisfy a wider range of preferences.

The trickiest part, perhaps, is pairing wine with the food you are having. There is no crash course that will make you an instant expert in this field, but the following pointers will set you in the right direction, at least. The safest thing to do would be to connect your choice of food with wine from the same region. Therefore, if you are ordering pasta with red sauce, go with Chianti and if tapas is on the menu stick to something like Rioja.

On a general note, white wines are better suited with light foods, such as salads or grilled chicken. Big reds should be reserved for heavier food items like dishes with heavy red sauces or steaks. Finally, lighter and fruitier red wines can be paired with anything else.

Once you’ve cleared the hurdle of choosing the appropriate wine, you need to go through the serving ritual as it is typically followed in restaurants. Before serving the wine, the sommelier will show you the unopened bottle. Inspect the vintage and label and make sure it’s exactly what you ordered. It’s not uncommon for restaurants to serve you an alternate, if they do not have the wine you specified. In such a situation, it’s your call on whether you’d like to go with their choice or go through the entire process of ordering again.

After the bottle is open, the server will present you the cork. No, it’s not meant to be played with or aimed at some hapless diner sitting across from you. You must examine it to make sure that it’s not cracked or dried out. Finally, a small amount of wine is poured into your glass and you must not just taste it, but also check to see if there are any offensive odors. If all is well, you simply nod to the waiter and he will begin filling the other glasses.

See? Ordering wine is not really a rocket science though most would like to declare so. It can be quite easy and fun, too! And once you begin exploring, a whole new world of wines, flavors, and aroma will be opened up to you. Go ahead. Have fun!

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©2012 Food and Restaurant News and Reviews | KitchenTalk.com. All Rights Reserved.

Ecuadorian diet staple consists of potatoes, meat (pork, beef and chicken), and rice. Complimenting virtually any traditional dish is “aji” or the hot sauce. All Ecuadorian restaurants are bound to serve their version of aji, which means they might not vary significantly in taste, but they will have different degrees of intensity.

In addition, a normal meal might also be accompanied by patacones which is basically fried green bananas squashed to pulp. Other typical Ecuadorian dishes are seco de pollo (stewed chicken with avocado slices and rice), seco de chivo (goat stew) and lomo salteado (beef steak with tomatoes and onions).

Each place, no matter how small it might be, boasts of a specialty. In Italy it is gelato, Naples has the best pizzas in the world, Chicago has its hotdogs and then you have kebabs in India. In Ecuador, you’ll find the best soup in the entire galaxy and they generally make for the first course of lunch or dinner. You could try the regular creations like Locro – which is made from avocado, potato, and cheese and Chupe de pescado – a vegetable and fish soup. The braver ones might want to order yaguarlocro – a soup that has – believe it or not – sprinklings of blood or the caldo de pata – broth that has boiled cow hooves in it. Do you have appetite for more?

Seafood is also quite popular throughout Ecuador, especially in the area around the Pacific Coast. Lobsters dinners are a particular favorite and they are available at surprisingly cheap prices. If your travels take you to the Esmeraldas Province, located on the northern coast of Ecuador, you can treat your taste buds to some exotic local food cooked in coconut milk.

The signature seafood dish of the country is ceviche – a culinary delight that is served up with – of all things on this planet – popcorn! This dish can be made of fish, shellfish, shrimp, squid, or all of the above and is marinated in onions and lemons.

If you are travelling on a budget, you won’t have to miss out on many of the Ecuadorian treats for lack of money. Several restaurants offer something known as set plate meals during lunch and dinner time which offer one soup, one main course and even throw in a dessert for very reasonable prices. Street food isn’t too expensive either and bites such as empanadas (cheese and meat-filled pastries), tortillas de maiz (corn pancakes), llapingachos (cheese and potato pancakes), and choclo (barbecued Andean corn) are delicious and make for great in-between meals snack.

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©2012 Food and Restaurant News and Reviews | KitchenTalk.com. All Rights Reserved.

As you can see, I was completely clueless about the concept of acquired taste and it was only much later I realized that when someone acquires a taste for something, they’ve sort of learned to turn a blind eye to the qualities of food that would make most people gag. It could be smell, the texture, or even the taste. For instance, not everyone likes black coffee and they’d find it too bitter to be able to enjoy it. But, there are those that can swig down black coffee by the liter and not stop for a nano second to consider the bitter taste. That is an acquired taste.

Let’s look at some of the more common foods that fall under the category of “having to acquire taste for them.” The first one on my list is Caviar – but, of course! It’s one of the most popular, not to mention the most expensive foods in the world and you definitely have to acquire a taste for it to pass down your esophagus into your stomach without making a return journey the opposite way. After all, it’s not everyone who can find fish eggs appealing, let alone appetizing. But those who do, they speak in ecstasy about complex flavors, rich taste, and luxurious texture. Yup, definitely an acquired taste!

Raw Oysters comes next in line because the world is clearly divided in its opinion of it – they either love it or are repulsed by it. To be honest, raw oysters don’t look too great – in fact, they remind me of the slimy cocoon around a developing alien creature one sees in sci-fi movies. As for the taste, I’ve read it being described as “licking moss off the bottom of the boat.” But, if you are can get past the “gaggable” texture or the sensation of it sliding down your throat like a slippery eel, you might actually enjoy having it with a dash of lemon juice or hot sauce.

Since we are talking about all things marine derived, we wouldn’t want to forget anchovies. For a long time, I believed anchovies to be some form of vegetable. The name doesn’t sound “fishy” enough to be convincing. If it isn’t the strong smell that can knock people out for a couple of hours, it could be the hair like protrusions that irritate the mouth. By the way, those hair-like thingies are actually the tiny, chewable bones of the fish!

There are countless foods on this planet that will be considered weird or strange or downright yuck. But really, why do you bother? You have the divine right to like what you like without caring two hoots about what anyone thinks. So, next time someone looks at askance at the celery in your hand, turn right around to face them and take a big bite out of it with utmost relish. That will show ‘em.

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©2012 Food and Restaurant News and Reviews | KitchenTalk.com. All Rights Reserved.

Take the Paleo Diet theory, for instance. There is an entire school of health and fitness experts and biologists who argue that to remain super-charged and fit, we need to look back at the diet and lifestyle of our ancestors from the Paleolithic Age, a good 40,000 years back.

This may surprise you, but the argument is that the genetic blueprint for modern man was already set by then. According to the scientists propagating the virtues of a ‘Paleo diet’, our bodies’ capabilities are set according to the requirements of our Paleolithic ancestors, whose lifestyles commanded the human species for several thousand years. As far as diet goes, this would mean a combination of wild game meat and fresh fruits and vegetables. Dairy produce and grains came much later, when agriculture began about 10,000 years ago.

In terms of exercise, you would be required to do short, intense bursts of cardio, coupled with weight lifting, just as your ancestors would have done during a hunting sprint, followed by the journey back to their dwelling, with the game or hunt of the day on their shoulders.

One of the most enthusiastic proponents of the Paleo fitness regime and diet, author Arthur De Vany, is 73-years old and has a muscular body that would put a man half his age to shame. A former economics professor, De Vany has now written a book titled the Evolution Diet. His system incorporates low-carb eating and intense, interval training workouts. No one can argue with the results, but there are several critics of his science.

Arthur De Vany

The opposing group, which includes Harvard evolutionary biologist Daniel Lieberman, points out several flaws. To begin with, certain evolutionary scientists are quick to point out that there was no one ‘Paleolithic lifestyle’. The people living in ice-age Europe had very different bodily requirements and diet constraints from the tribes of the African grasslands. Also, they add that evolution is not a process that peaked at a certain time and stopped there. It is still ongoing, and there have been a good 3,000 genetic adaptations since the dawn of the agricultural age 10,000 years back. So, it is absurd trying to trace physical blueprints back in the Paleolithic time.

Dr. Lieberman also points out that the conditions were such during the Paleolithic period that people were probably more adept at distance running than sprinting. This notion is rejected totally by the Paleo group, which also includes other significant scientists and authors. It is unlikely that one group will ever be able to convince the other. The debate rages on!

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©2012 Food and Restaurant News and Reviews | KitchenTalk.com. All Rights Reserved.

Well, irrespective of how tipping came about, it’s a widely prevalent practice all over the world. Most people, however, are not sure how much to leave behind as tip. Customarily, 10-15% of the total bill should be the tip amount, unless you experienced extraordinarily rotten service, in which case you’d be well within your rights to leave no tip at all. You could also speak to the restaurant manager and bring up the issue.

In the same vein, exemplary customer service should be rewarded with a higher tip; in some instances people have left as much as 20%-25% as tip. Finally, if you are dining with a large group, say about 8-10 of your friends, and the server has done a good job, leave behind a 20% tip on the amount.

Going back to the bad service we spoke about a moment ago, keep in mind that bad food isn’t really the server’s fault. He didn’t cook it; he only bought it to the table from the kitchen. Do not punish the poor server putting in his best efforts for the incompetency of the cook. This is yet another issue you can bring up with the restaurant manager.

In case you frequent four star restaurants, the tipping game is slightly different there. The first person to receive the tip would be the maître d’ and how much you tip him has got nothing to do with the bill amount. In case you are a regular to a restaurant and the maître d’ has taken special effort to keep a table for you or get you one when it is particularly crowded, you could tip him anywhere between $20 – $100. However, this needs to be done before you are seated, not after.

After you have dined, you are expected to leave a 20% tip and this amount is calculated before tax. In case you’ve ordered wine with dinner and it’s marked below $10, the wine steward should be left $2-$3. For multiple bottles, the tip would be 10%-15% of the wine bill. And, if the wine in question is one of those expensive ones, the acceptable tip would be 5%.

Other people you need to tip at four-star restaurants are the coat check attendant ($1), restroom attendants ($0.50-$1), and parking attendants ($1). Wherever you tip, keep several bills handy in your pocket and keep them folded in groups of one or two bills. Finally, tipping etiquettes say that you should not ask for change from the person you are going to tip. Take the precaution of carrying enough change on you; or you could always excuse yourself for a minute and get change from a nearby shop or bar.

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©2012 Food and Restaurant News and Reviews | KitchenTalk.com. All Rights Reserved.

If you want to taste the absolute original of your favorite food, take a road trip and visit some of these restaurants spread all over the US. It will be an incredible journey – exploration and good food rolled into one.

Walking around the streets of any American town, city or metropolitan, it is not an unusual sight to see people holding a half eaten hamburger in one hand and a newspaper in the other while swaying ever so slightly in the subway. Hamburger has become a staple food for most Americans and it’s difficult to imagine life without it now, even if diet freaks have proclaimed it to be the ultimate sin.

Believe it or not – the very first hamburger was served in New Haven, Connecticut at a quaint little place called Louis’ Lunch. However, the original hamburger was slightly different from the one that smiles down at us from a McDonald’s ad. What you get here is grilled meat over a slice of white toast with optional cheese spread (not cheese slice), onions, and tomato. Interesting ancestor of the burger as we know it, isn’t it?

Moving on, the deep dish pizza that you enjoy sinking your teeth into with the cheese running down your mouth in little slivers comes from the Original Pizzeria Uno in Chicago. Although pizza chains all over the country serve their version of this culinary stalwart, nothing comes remotely close to what you get at Pizzeria Uno. Thankfully, you may not be required to make a trip to Chicago to have the original deep dish pizza since there are plenty of Pizzeria Uno chains mushrooming all over the country.

Now, everybody knows that the Philadelphia Cheese Steak originated in umm…Philadelphia and California Rolls are from…yes, California! My, aren’t we bright today. But where exactly in Philadelphia or California? Have you thought about that? Well, in Philadelphia the best cheese steak is credited to Pat’s King of Steaks. It was originally a steak

sandwich minus cheese; but really what can survive in America without a dash of cheese? As for California roll, the sushi favorite, it comes to us from the Kitayama restaurant in Newport Beach. Although they no longer remain headliners on the menu, California rolls are still popular at this more-than-two-decade-old restaurant.

Finally, the Caesar Salad – I always used to think that this food had some ancient roots going back to Roman General Julius Caesar’s time. Turns it, it’s a lot closer to home than that – both time-wise and location wise! This simple salad was created in 1924 by Chef Caesar Cardini at the Hotel Caesar in Tijuana, Mexico. Way too many Caesars here! So, is the salad named after the Chef or the hotel? As Shakespeare said, “What’s in a name?” The salad tastes damn good, anyway!

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©2012 Food and Restaurant News and Reviews | KitchenTalk.com. All Rights Reserved.