Sweet Side of Zumba

      
Yesterday, it was Zumba. We danced to I'll be There in Spanish


Here are some great Zumba Hindi songs as well

Eat, Drink and be Merry:You May Diet

   

Veggies have made an appearance in my life but like most American dishes they are put as an aside veggies like corn, carrots and broccoli  which have been put on my plate just for the purpose of saying I ate a veggie.  Here are some great blogs that emphasize veggies versus just throwin' them on the plate

www.veggierunners.com has  a veggie feta cheese pizza.  Now I don't eat pork but would l would still like to jazz up my pizza without having to return to the boring plain cheese pizza. 

Europeans love vegetable stock and here's a great soup from Kate Ford's blog  www.thevegspace.wordpress.com called hot and sour mushroom soup .  She also has a recipe for  

Chana Masala.

www.theppk.com This is very approachable vegetarian blog by Chandra.  It has recipe called rice paper roll with red curry peanut sauce- I'm in love with peanuts more than ever after making a peanut and veggie rice dish. Chandra also has a chana-masala   recipe.  Now ever since I've been shopping at the indian market on Central in Minneapolis, I've fallen in love with any form of orange masala and I will get to the bottom of replicating the to-go dishes they have at this Indian market even if it kills me,lol. Here's one last kale recipe .

Italian Asian Pasta

Last week I selfishly went to Leeann Chin's restaurant and decided I needed to do a little Asian food research if I am to ever to become adequate in Asian food cooking.  These are the cooking blogs that I came across online in my research.

www.kyspeaks.com   I like this Malaysian cooking blog because its one of the most visited Asian blogs and also because it has some unique food recipes.  It also has pictures of Malaysia with the  writer Ky, on a motorcycle.  Ky has recipes like Sansai Okowa & Chestnut Steam Rice at Isetan KLCCand seafood I never tried for like prawns, snow crab, and fish head.

www.gourmeted.com Who says that Asians can't rock desserts on this blog is a fabulous German Sunken Apple Cake( AKA Versunkener Apfelkuchen) which I found so unique in appearance.  Its has your basic apple pie look with a weaved lattice pie-top crust but the apples inside are cored, peeled and  placed like an accordion making it look so fabulous.

 

www.steamykitchen.com  I like this blog because showcases a Korean food writer who is a TV chef and cookbook author.   She has a post called Food too Cute to Eat showcasing Sushi Pandas, polar bear in mushroom and cabbage hot tub and Sugar Kitty in a coffee.

www.indiansimmer.com  I found this blog interesting as it explores Indian food and some of the pictures just pop out at you.   Bright all blue kitchen shelves with bright blue cutlery. And fabulous food photography that gives new life to the typical ginger, cinnamon stick and turmeric typical in Indian dishes. ( I should know, I have to cook for a Pakistani individual daily and let me tell you  that cooking with Turmeric is not my favorite thing to do).

Tiny Notes from Expat Blogs

More Expat blogs that I have viewed.  This one is from an Expat who has lived in India.  Her blog spot is at madamletmetellyouonething.com -Isn't that the greatest name for a blog! Well, I was intrigued right away just because I love the dialogue of a language and especially accents and this blog title was clearly the dialogue from India. I can picture the Panjabi behind it. I just finished watching the movie Fargo and I was so deeply moved by the movie and the depiction of the Minnesotan accent. (my accent)

Anyway madamletmetellyouonething.com  blog writer is currently back in the States but her post Blimey-that took long enough gives you a good indication of what her return trip from India was like not to mention that she is from Ireland but has a British accent, awesome!


I like to pick blogs to read based on whether or not they have a picture of the expat's city that they're currently residing somewhere in the cover page.  No pic of city, no visit to blog.  Well that's not always the case but here's a pretty good blog with a picture of Shanghai, China ephemeraanddetritus.com  She has a post called Tiny Notes from Hanoi.  I'm always looking for attention grabber titles in people's posts and this is definitely one of them.  Isn't the name Hanoi for a city just awesome?  It reminds me of different cities and names of people that my parents used to come tell me about as a kid after their military stay in the Philippines.


Here is another great blog from Shanghai huntingcheeseinchina.blogspot.com instead of lostincheeseland.com we've now got a blog about hunting for cheese.  Hmmm sounds great.  Well this blog has plenty of pictures. Fanstastic! I especially like the color in the pictures and specifically one that shows the outdoor market toys for children to buy in China-way cool, who doesn't love toys by the way. 

"The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck

"The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck.  The writer, Pearl S. Buck, writes a novel that is totally memorable, you wouldn't get this impression from the novel's front cover. Picture this year : You're a farmer working with your hands in a plantation and you want to expand your plantation and your

profit? How will you do this?

Well, start by buying out- all the nearby farmer's land; making yourself the envy of all the farmers in your village. Then have tons of kids, so they can help you harvest your land. This will ensure that you're no longer a peasant, but in fact, a successful farmer who has plenty of power. You'll have so much power, that you'll be able to buy your own wife from her servant hood. So she can in turn come back to the home of her servant days and show off her own child, richest baby in the kingdom, festooned with silk clothing and shiny fat from eating the stuff of the "Good Earth". (the Global Dig)