Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Spicy food good for you and cake pops

Mexican spiced mince and rice
Food Diary (March 13, 2012)
Breakfast: Rolled oats with banana, coconut, sunflower seeds and flax seeds
Lunch: Mexican spiced mince and rice
Dinner: Braised cabbage in oyster sauce with spaghetti
Baking/sweets:

The Mexican rice looked dull but was flavourful. A very pleasant surprise, unlike when it is the other way around. It is so annoying when you order delicious looking food only to discover that it has completely missed the mark.


I will never forget ordering a hamburger at one of the better restaurants in Stockholm. It looked absolutely beautiful, picture perfect, and a price tag of about US$30 set our expectations really high. We were convinced this would be the best burger we’ve ever eaten, far better than the McDonalds burger, at least. We were careful not to eat much before the meal so we could appreciate every little bit. Our evening took a complete U-turn, this turned out to be one of the worst burgers we ever had. The meat patty in the rolls royce burger was mushy with a slight 'irony' flavour. I suspect they used a good cut of long aged beef. The fries on the other hand was the best I ever eaten. I still get annoyed when I think of it, I think I will never forget it. This makes you appreciate the fast food chains, they consistently deliver good stuff at good price. 

Today's Favourite Photo
Cake Pops




Today’s Favourite Blog
Source: npr
Research from Penn State finds heavily spiced meals may do the heart good. The study found that a spicy meal helps cut levels of triglycerides, a type of fat, in the blood — even when the meal is rich in oily sauces and high in fat. Triglycerides decreased by one-third for people who ate spicy meals when compared with people who ate the same meal, but prepared without spices.

The study involved a meal that included turmeric, garlic, oregano, paprika, rosemary and ginger.

In addition to a reduction in triglycerides, insulin levels also dropped about 20 percent.

It's not clear whether these benefits of highly spiced meals lead to long-term reductions in the risk of disease. Even if it doesn’t, at least spicy food is delicious, well, that is if you like spicy food.

30 comments:

  1. Well hello Mr Cake Pop ;) Thanks so much for featuring my Pops!!
    Have an awesome day..
    Take care.

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    1. Glad you liked them, they were yours after all:)

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  2. Those pops are gorgeous! So apt for St Patty's ... green!
    Yay for spicy food! Spices have been used for their medicinal properties for yonks.
    As for the burger story, I'm thinking maybe the fast food chains at your end may be serving better food than what they give us here. The meat patties taste like cardboard and they're flat and unrecognizable ... pretty sad looking if you ask me. I don't understand why it's still so popular tho. The advertisers are doing a great job!
    I'm hoping you'll like my next post :)

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    1. It seems spices will start to play a bigger role, in food and medicine.
      I was referring to the int'l chains. There's a local chain which is really popular (maybe more market share than McD's). Its decent but I don't like it. Then there are smaller outlets selling out of kiosks (slightly bigger than Ramly outlets) and the stuff they sell has lot of room for improvement:) Ramly might be better than them!
      I like all your posts, full stop.

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    2. They have Ramly burgers over there? I'm amazed. I'm curious ... what's your opinion?

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    3. No Ramly here. When you mentioned a chain I thought you were referring to Ramly. I had Ramly once only, don't remember much, didn't seem really special

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    4. When you mentioned " This makes you appreciate the fast food chains, they consistently deliver good stuff at good price" ... I can't think of a single chain over in my part of the world that fits. I've had MacD's (among other chains) overseas and there certainly is a difference in the meat quality and patty sizes. Maybe they've got a local meat supplier ... doesn't taste anything like beef. Personally, I prefer Burger King. The meat doesn't taste so overly processed.
      Ramly burger is our cheapest but worth your money local brand of burger patties. The way the it's made up is rather a unique taste. It's ok, I don't mind it. Just don't ask what goes into the mince :P You've tasted it. It's nothing special but it's cheap and there's plenty of fresh vegetables in it!

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    5. I am sorry to hear that, maybe they tailor it to suit the locals tastes:) Now that you mention, I once had KFC wings and it was nasty. I found McD's relatively consistent but I haven't explored it that extensively. I think McD's policy is to source meat locally. I prefer BK also. Why are we talking burgers when there is nasi lemak and others. Tried nasi lemak at KFC? Pretty good!

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    6. There's nasi lemak in KFC? I didn't know that. But I wouldn't bother with getting nasi lemak from there when there's a little stall by the roadside selling it really good and cheap by the sweetest little old lady.

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    7. Yes, if I remember correctly it is for breakfast only, and pretty good. Not sure if they still have it. Maybe the sweet old ladies were too competitive for KFC:) Actually when I am there I usually buy from ladies but made an exception once.

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  3. That really is a high price to pay for a burger. And to think it wasn't even up to standard! How disappointing. Shame you didn't just order the fries. Those cake pops are beautiful. They look too good to eat though.

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    1. I always think of going back just to order fries, worth it. Bugger the burger

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  4. Hehe at first I thought that you meant that the Swedish burger patty was ironic! Perhaps they used offal in it? I find that offal has an iron flavour to it.

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    1. That too:) It had a slight livery taste, like some long aged beef. I doubt they used liver, that would be awful:)

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  5. I'm not a huge fan of hamburgers (I'm rather a pork and chicken fan), but from time to time I like to have a nice hamburger. I remember all the disappointments I had in restaurants others than McD (although I have never had a hamburger in an expensive restaurant: I choose there steak tartare ;-) ). Since even I am able to make a good home hamburger, I suppose chefs don't put their heart into it, treating it as an obviously easy and maybe second-category dish. Hamburger it neither, so their results are bad. The worst hamburger I have had was in a small restaurant-club and many people consider as the best hamburger in my city. It was made with very cheap, fatty cuts and it was raw inside with no seasoning (even no salt). People like it I think because it's made in the restaurant and because they like raw hamburger inside. I hated it.
    The experience you have had makes me think why people choose MacDonald's so often: whatever they put into their food, it's good in the basic, down-to-earth fast-food way (even some French big chefs admit to eating there a hamburger from time to time). Also no disappointments like food intoxication (which happens in some fast food places).
    I have always known about the good influence of spices, but had no idea about the exact influence they have on us. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. The hamburger quality can really vary from restaurant to restaurant. The one I had - the waiter said it was excellent. The Swedish hamburger patties are different from US ones, here its more of a sausage like texture. The ones sold in supermarket contain some potato as filler, just like sausages here. And it seems thats what the locals prefer.
      I don't know which burger is worse, the one I had or the one you had:)
      McD's burgers are great, and they are using good quality meat with maybe minimal or no additives.I prefer Burger King, the burgers are better...

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  6. Oh, I have an idea: maybe they used hanger steak? It has a slightly strong taste and my butcher advised it once as a cheaper but excellent meat cut for burgers. If your burger wasn't well seasoned inside, it might have had this iron taste...

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    1. I've just read about hanger steak, sounds delicious. I never knew about this cut.
      It was definitely underseasoned, which might explained the iron taste

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    2. My husband loves it as a fried rare steak. It's quite appreciated in France. I found it very good in home-made hamburgers: juicy, tender, but not expensive and not fatty.
      In some countries this cut doesn't exist... They simply discard it. Like beef cheeks too. They simply aren't separated in some countries. I hope you find it in Sweden.
      As for the potatoes, I think I have a Swedish patties recipe with potatoes inside!

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    3. On wiki it says hanger steak is also called "butcher's steak" because butchers would often keep it for themselves. It must be good if butchers keep it.

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  7. i think spicy food like cayenne help stimulate digestion too. and spices like tumeric are awesome too :D.

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  8. Good thing I like spicy foods. A 30$ burger? Oh the cake pops bouquet is gorgeous.

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  9. Yay for spicy food! I've heard rumours that it's good for you, not sure how much I trust these studies though...

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  10. The cake pops are so cute and too good to be eaten!
    I've heard that spicy food helps one to lose weight so spices should be a good addition to our diet! :)

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  11. I know I'm slow, but HURRAY. I love spicy.

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