Have You Tasted Matcha Latte with Soy Milk or Almond Milk? - Food 6

Fig 01- Matcha Latte

Do you like coffee latte?

How about matcha latte?

Matcha is green tea (Camellia Sinensis) leaves powder.

Matcha is from Japanese word that means ground tea because the leaves of green tea have been done by grinding in the stones or granites to produce very fine powdered green tea leaves.

So what's fascinated me about matcha?

The ways how to produce matcha.

I just knew that before harvesting, all tea trees have to be covered to block the direct sunlight.

After the tea leaves grow rapidly, in the Spring, about three week before harvest, men in the tea fields prepare the poles and reed woven mats or dried rice stalk woven to shade the tea fields.

Blocking the sunlight is to block the process of photosynthesis.

Fig 02- Matcha Latte with soy milk.

These fresh green tea leaves must be immediately steamed for about 20 seconds to prevent oxidation so that the green color remains bright, the aroma and nutrients are maintained, then the leaves ready for the next step, drying process.

Fig 03- Cookies eat with tea

After drying, the next process is to select and remove fine branches or parts which are not needed, then the leaves are made into powder by using millstone or granite, so that they become very fine powder.

We do not drink tea leaves, do we?

After the tea leaves soaked in water, we get rid off the tea leaves. But matcha green tea is in powdered form, so that when we drink matcha means we drink the whole tea leaves. Nothing to discard.

My experience for the first time drink matcha tea seemed like taking herbal medicine. Since the some of coffee shops serve matcha in their menu, sometimes I like to have matcha latte, either with soy milk or almod milk.

Have You Tasted Matcha Latte with Soy Milk or Almond Milk?

The Best Steakhouse in my City, Louisiana – Food 5

Raw meat, just illustration

We have dozen of good steakhouses in our city, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Some of them close to my neighborhood. Around 100 meter from my house.

What do they sell? Here are some of them:

- filet mignon
- cowboy ribeye
- t-bone cooked medium
- filet cooked medium rare
- the bone in ribeye.

Very fresh for my own standard, and the beef quality is approved by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

So, we feel safe to consume it.

The steakhouses usually provide other products as well, such as Louisiana cuisines (jambalaya, oxtail soup), shrimp, Louisiana oysters, tamales and fried asparagus.

Steak and shrimp, credit to Louisiana Steakhouse

Few steakhouses are vegetarian friendly and have gluten free menus.

Some favorite menus are mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, crab cakes and cheese cakes.

However, it is said that the best steakhouse in Louisiana is in New Orleans, not in my city. Distance between New Orleans and my city (Baton Rouge) is around 81 miles (130 km).

Dickie Brennan Steakhouse locates in the French Quarter, 716 Iberville St, New Orleans, Louisiana 70130 provides the highest quality of prime beef.

This best steakhouse provides local tastes include jumbo Gulf shrimp, fried oysters and New Orleans Abita beer.

What is the best steakhouse in your state or country?

Green Bean and Papaya Delight – Food 4

Fig 01- Green Bean and Papaya Delight.

I went to the store and so happy to find the green papaya. This green papaya could be good to make Thai papaya salads, but the green papaya in coconut milk seemed a great choice.

I got a medium size green papaya and a can of leche de coco (coconut milk).

I kept the green papaya in the fridge.

Two days later, I was ready to cook the papaya. The green papaya was still green, and the skin had not changed color.

I peeled the skin; the papaya was still hard. I cut it into half. Oops, the flesh inside was turning to yellow-orangish ☹

I was thinking this papaya looked better for mixed papaya, cucumber, and jicama salads with crushed peanut sauce.

Unfortunately, I have no cucumber, jicama, or other vegetables to make that salad.

Fig 02- Cut green beans.

Okay, just kept it as a plan, the green papaya in coconut milk.

I sliced the flesh papaya thinly, put them in a pan.

Fig 03- Leche de coco

Fig 04- Slices of green papaya.

Then I added:

-water,
-crushed ginger, onion, and garlics,
-chili peppers (optional),
-and laurel leaves.

Bringing them to boil.

The color looked like more dessert than vegetable to me, so I added some frozen cut green beans and mixed all of them.

Looked better then!

I added leche de coco (coconut milk), a pinch of salt, and simmer for a while. Lastly, garnish with mint leaves! Looks great and tasty 😊

Have you ever tried this kind of food? What do you call it?

In Philippine, this recipe is called Ginataang Papaya, but the flesh of green papaya must be white color.

I showed this photo to the best chef in this town, Chef James, he called it, Green Bean and Papaya Delight.

Do You Know about Golden Kiwis Fruit? - Food 3

Fig 01- Golden kiwi

I familiar with green kiwi fruits for long time, but recently, I saw yellow or it is said as “golden” kiwis.

What make me to pay attention is about its skin. Compared to green kiwi, the golden ones have no hair, quite smooth.

When I bought it, few characteristics of the golden kiwi fruit are:

- Flesh is yellowish
- there are seeds, but not so many
- sweeter
- smaller core in the middle

Don’t worry so much, both green and golden kiwis are identical in respect to:

- amount of calories (110 calories)
- protein
- fat
- carbohydrates

Fig 02- Kiwi fruit brand

However, since golden kiwis are sweeter, thus, sugar content little bit higher compared to green ones.

Fig 03- Slices of kiwi fruit

Both green and golden kiwis grow well in the New Zealand. Kiwis, we consumed here in the USA, come from this country.

It is said that both green and golden kiwis are non Genetically Modified Organism (GMO).

They are natural cross breeding. So, it is a great news.

Interestingly, I hardly find green kiwis in groceries such as Wall Mart and farmer market recently.

I wonder whether the golden overtaken the green kiwis. I eat both, actually.

If you ever taste, what do you prefer: green, golden or both kiwis?

Oyster is One of Favorite Seafood in Louisiana – Food 2

Fig 01- A Louisiana oyster dish

Marine products contributed US$ 1.8 billion in to Louisiana state economics. The products include:

- sea foods
- fisheries
- shellfish

In term of production, Louisiana is second largest after Alaska. Louisiana catches 1.3 billion pounds of marine creatures, while Alaska produced 5.3 billion pounds of seafood.

Oyster is one of my favorite seafood. Louisiana oyster has different taste compared to other oysters.

Louisiana oyster is quite like meat texture with “fresh earth” (earthy) flavor. Just to remind you that Louisiana oysters are harvested from Gulf of Mexico.

Other oysters which live in the ocean let’s say Pacific and Atlantic are different in tastes than Louisiana oyster.

The tastes could be saltier and sweeter.

Fig 02- Oyster just harvested from public sea in Louisiana

Prices of Louisiana oyster dishes are range from US$ 9.00 to US$ 12 per six oysters, depend on kinds of restaurants.

I think price for raw oysters is quite cheap, US$ 30 for a 100 pound. It is mean that US$ 0.3 for 1 pound, contains 2 to 3 oysters per pound.

I often eat oysters in US$ 12 restaurants where I can eat everything available menus: fish, oyster, chicken, noodle, pizza, fruits, cake, ice cream and etcetera.

Fig 03- A fishing boat to harvest oysters

Public may harvested oysters from Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana in certain seasons. Oyster could be found in the areas such as:

- Shallow tidal zones
- Sub tidal zones.
- Estuaries
- Brackish water

Open season starts in September and closed in April. Louisiana authority in this case “Wildlife and Fisheries Commission” may decide to close or open the areas based on biological data.

Finally, have you taste an oyster?

What do you think about th taste: sweeter, salty or earthy?

A Tropical Plant Called Pineapple – Food 1

 

A pineapple fruit, ready to consume.

I called a “nanas” or pineaple in English when I was a kid. Pineapple is a plant, actually, and plant has a fruit.

But, we just call fruit as a pineaple for simplicity. There are many pineapple fruit in American groceries.

Price is less than US$2 each, quite reasonable, since its may come from far away, from tropical countries.

Pineapple is believed native to South America with scientific name Ananas comosus, then distributed and cultivated worldwide, especially to other tropical regions.

World produced about 28 million tons per year. Top 5 producer countries are:

- Costa Rica

- Philippines

- Brazil

- Thailand

- India

The pineapples in the grocery store

I like a pineapple because of its sweetness, and the taste might be combination of apple and orange citrus.

The ripe pineapple seems less bitter, the same with zesty and orange fruit.

From internet sources, here some benefit of pineapple by eating a slice pineapple per day:

- helping digesting

- increasing energy intake

- boosting metabolism

- nourishing skin, hair, teeth and nails

- keeping health in general.

Have you tasted pineapple? What do you think?