Category Archives: Food & Drink

Should I Keep Ginger in the Fridge?

Food & Drink,

When you buy fresh ginger from the supermarket or greengrocer it just comes as the root of the spice and it is not refrigerated when bought. However, that applies to a lot of vegetables that you subsequently put in the fridge so what is the situation with ginger – should you store ginger in the fridge?

Well the answer is that yes, it is ideal to keep it in the fridge and if you put it in there it will lats a bit longer. In any case, keep it out of the light if you can so if it is not in the fridge put it in a dark cupboard.

Ginger will often keep for a few weeks or more and keeps better if you but it in a brown paper bag before putting it in the salad tray of the fridge.

You can also freeze ginger and it takes very well to freezing – cut it up in to usable sized chunks so that you don’t have to defrost it all at once or else grate it first and freeze it so that you can break pieces off each time you want to use it.

So, yes, keep your fresh ginger in the fridge and you will extend its life a little bit – but don’t wash it first, just store it dry.

Next Restaurant Chicago – A New Concept

Food & Drink, Local, ,

A new restauratnt has opened in Chicago which has created a whole new concept in dining. It treats that restaurant just like it was a theatre or concert performance by Coldplay or something and basically sells tickets in advance for the various performances. And it seems to be working.

Next restaurant in Chicago seems to be a hit. They change the menu 4 times a year and each menu is a different type of cuisine performed but the amazing chefs that have such a wide repertoire of dishes. The food is obviously a hit as the Chicago restaurant has been sold out since opening.

In order to get tickets to the restaurant, you need to sign up on their website and then wait to get notified of any new issues of tickets. Tickets are priced depending on date and time with more popular times (like Saturday evening) being priced higher than say early evening midweek.

Tickets to the restaurant are non-refundable, just like a theatre or concert ticket would be, but no problem if you realize that you can’t make it as there is a blackmarket for them on Craigslist apparently.

So if you are looking for the next great restaurant in Chicago, then if you can, try and get hold of a ticket for the Next Restaurant, reviews are good and tickets are selling like hot cakes!

It has to be asked that, if this new concept is working so well, will other restaurants follow suit?

 

Rachel Ray – Food and Chat Show

Food & Drink, ,

Rachel Ray has for quite a number of years had a daytime chat show which also includes a large element of cooking. Rachel Ray takes a lot of her food influences from her Italian background and not only does her food look great on her program, it is usually very easy to make and everyday type of food that people would definitely try to make themselves. The show combines both the recipes and chat with celebrities and others and works well.

So after years of enjoying the daytime slot both at home and abroad, WTAE, who broadcast the show, have moved her slot so that the Rachael Ray show will no be on at 1.05am. This is surely a kick in the teeth for Ray, who will be replaced by Nate Berkus (who was a frequent contributor to the Oprah show)  with a home based show in the 10am slot in the Autumn schedules.

Rachael Ray has had a lot of celebrity guests on her show and is not only popular with the viewing public but also with the celebrities themselves. It will be interesting to see how the ratings go once the show has been moved to the much later slot.

 

Pizza, Sangria and Wine!

Food & Drink, ,

Is there anything better to eat and drink than a great pizza and some wine? Obviously your choice of pizza is key here and you need to go quality and possibly even home made to get the very best pizza. However, although wine is a great drink to go with pizza, have you thought of maybe changing it up a bit? By mixing your own Sangria you have a great alternative to go with pizza and also have a taste of Spain to go with the taste of Italy!

Sangria is made by mixing red wine with some brandy and adding fruit and some other kind of sweetener, often orange juice.  The good thing about Sangria is that you can make it from your everyday cheap wine  and so you don’t need to splash out on something expensive. Make a pitcher of sangria with a dash of brandy and a dose of orange juice and then add plenty of chopped fruit.

Sangria and pizza is a great mix if you have a bunch of friends round and you want to have a casual, perhaps buffet style meal – you can create your own pizza flavours and serve them in slices and people can help themselves to a glass of sangria too.

How To Make Your Own Cup Cakes – Recipe

Food & Drink, , ,

Cup cakes have become all of the rage in recent years and they are no longer the simple and plain small sponge cake that they used to be but instead have become elaborately decorated treats for adults and children alike.

In the UK cupcakes used to be known as fairy cakes and there is really not much difference between a traditional fairy cake recipe and cup cakes.

So if you are looking for a recipe for how to make cup cakes then they are really pretty simple in terms of the ingredients although the execution of the baking of cup cakes is a bit of a master art.

There are a lot of different cup cake recipes out there and the quantities of the ingredients varies between bakers – some will have equal quantities of butter, flour and sugar but others will have mixed quantities. For a simple cup cake recipe you will need:

4oz self raising flour
3oz castor sugar
2 eggs
3oz butter

To really get the best cup cakes you need to experiment with relative quantities so that you get a mix that works well for you and the flavour of cup cake that you are making.

For some cup cakes you will also add vanilla essence and for chocolate cup cakes you can substitute cocoa powder for some of the flour, etc. So use this base to work out what works best for you in making your own cup cake recipe.

You can use the all in one method which involves just basically adding all the ingredients together and mixing, or you can use the traditional method of creaming the butter and the sugar together, adding the eggs slowly and then folding in the flour. Spoon the cup cake mixture into small cake cases and cook in a medium oven (180 C)  for 12-15 minutes.

The main art of making cup cakes these days seems to be the frosting – this can be a cream cheese frosting or a butter icing – there are many recipes and you just need to google cup cake recipes or cup cake icing and you will get a wealth of choices.  Personally I cream together butter and icing sugar and add colouring as necessary (or maybe some flavouring if required).

Many people have turned their love for baking into a cup cake business in their spare time and are making some extra income at home by doing this.