UNIQUE FOODS: SNAILS (ESCARGOT)

Escargot

As quoted from wikipedia, “snail is a common name that can be used for almost all members of the molluscan class Gastropoda which has coiled shells in the adult stage”. The snails commonly used for consumption are the land snails, which are the snails that live in almost every kind of habitat, from deserts and mountains to marshes (wetlands), woodland, and gardens. The edible snails are particularly the species Helix Aspersa or Cornu Aspersum.

Although it is considered as a French dish, escargot or snails actually have been consumed for thousand of years now. It is believed that men in prehistoric age have been consuming the snails. Snails are even eaten in Africa, Mediterranean region, and Roman Empire.

Before it is cooked into many kinds of cuisines, the snails must be cleaned thoroughly, due to the toxic content as the result of the specific element contained in dirt, which the snails ate.  The cleansing process can last for several days.

Gulai Siput

In French cuisine snails are very popular, and known as escargot. Basically, escargot is snails prepared with traditional French recipes. Usually it is served still in the shell with garlic and parsley butter.

Not only in France, snails are also considered as delicacy in many parts of the world. You can name countries like Portugal, Spain, Greece, Sicily, China, Japan, and more. Even here in Indonesia, some people love the delicious taste of the animal. Moreover in our beloved countries, the cuisines made from snails are more varied. Snails are made into satay,  gulai (coconut-milk-based soup), pepes (steamed inside the banana leaf), and more.

The Art of Eating Escargot

The way to enjoy escargot, especially the ones that served with their shells is quite an “adventure”.  You have to use snail tong, which functions to clasp or hold the shell, while the snail fork is used to take the snail meat out off the shell.

Do snails have nutritional values? Yes, they do. Snails contain quite high amount of protein but a low amount of fat. The protein contained in snails is approximately about 15%, the fat is 2.4%, and 80% water. A study conducted in Brazil, estimated that snails contained 75% unsaturated fatty acids that consists of 57% polyunsaturated fatty acids, 15.5% monounsaturated fatty acids, and 23025% saturated fatty acids. This means that snails are a healthy alternative food, especially for people with high protein low fat diet requirements.


* All pictures belong to their rightful owners... I'm just borrowing them.

Robert Pattinson Talks Romance, Breaking Dawn Honeymoon, Reese Witherspo...

Robert talked about Water for Elephant and Breaking Dawn. I just hope those movies will be distributed to Indonesia, so we can all enjoy them. :)

MARCHÉ

Marché, that's the name of the restaurant where I had lunch with a friend on Monday.

Berdasarkan hasil meng-google, ternyata "Marché"adalah nama sebuah daerah di Italia Tengah di benua Eropa sana. Dan tidak heran suasana itulah yang terasa saat berada di restoran ini. Suasana yang sangat berbeda dari kebanyakan restoran dan absolutely refreshing.

Terletak di lantai 3 A West Mall, Grand Indonesia Jakarta Pusat, restoran bercita rasa Eropa (Swiss & Italia) ini memang menampilkan konsep yang belum familiar bagi kebanyakan masyarakat Indonesia. Dari luar, dinding restoran didominasi oleh kayu dan jendela-jendela kaca ala "cabin" atau rumah gaya Eropa. Selain itu terdapat area serupa patio atau teras yang cukup luas berisikan meja dan kursi tempat para pengunjung makan.

Saat memasuki pintu restoran, seorang staff akan memberikan kita sebuah "passport" berbentuk card. Rupanya dengan card inilah pesanan kita "dicatat" ke dalam database atau komputer restoran, dengan cara "digesek". Sistem seperti ini juga diterapkan di restoran Urban Kitchen di Senayan City.

Suasana di dalam restoran Marché benar-benar unik dan berbeda. Setiap jenis makanan diwakili dengan stand atau gerai. Ada macam-macam pizza, pasta, steak, grilled meat, salad, soup, beverages, and so much more. Tapi yang semakin membuat restoran ini tampak menarik adalah apa yang didisplay di setiap gerai makanan. 

Pada setiap gerai, dibuat rak-rak yang diisi bahan-bahan untuk membuat makanannya. Seperti misalnya pada gerai salad, rak-rak di gerai diisi dengan bahan-bahan membuat salad, seperti, selada, cheese, tomat, and a lot more.

Untuk gerai pizza ada bahan-bahan untuk membuat pizza seperti jamur, all kinds of vegetables, pepperoni, ham, sosis, dan lain-lain. Seluruh bahan-bahan makanan itu disusun pada rak-rak seperti layaknya di pasar.

Dan sepertinya memang inilah yang ingin ditunjukkan oleh pengonsep Marché. Suasana ala pasar di Swiss dan negara Eropa. Selain itu, meja dan kursi tempat tamu menikmati makanan juga tersebar di beberapa bagian restoran. Tidak disatukan seperti di kebanyakan restoran. Sekali lagi, suasananya benar-benar unik.

Kami akhirnya memesan small Vegetarian Pizza with mushroom, tomato and egg-plant (terong) for the toppings. Kita juga memesan Ceasar Salad and Grilled Marinated Chicken with Mashed Potato. Dan rasanya... hmmmmmmm..... Nggak rugi deh. Enak banget. Pizzanya dibakar sampai crunchy dan rasanya sangat enak. Jauh dengan pizza di restoran pizza terkenal yang "you know what" lah. Apalagi kejunya benar-benar terasa. Nikmat banget.

Ceasar Saladnya is to die for. It was so delicious. Walaupun kita memesan yang small portion but it was still very much enough for two people. Dressingnya nggak sekedar mayonaise botolan yang selama ini juga dihidangkan di restoran pizza itu tuh. Ada sedikit campuran olive oil di dalamnya. And it tasted heavenly. 

Grilled Marinated Chicken-nya juga nggak kalah lezat. Dilengkapi dengan mushroom gravy yang mantap, membuat lidah nggak bisa berhenti mengunyah. Waduh, excellent deh pokoknya. Bagi pecinta juice, juice di Marché tidak perlu diragukan originalitas-nya. Fresh from the fruits, yang juga didisplay di depan gerai juice.

The food is a bit pricey, but it's worth it. Especially for those who enjoy European food. But I wouldn't recommend it for those who are accustomed with spicy and seasoning-filled foods like Indonesian food. Karena memang bumbunya sesuai selera Eropa. And for me who basically have a very wide range  of taste in food ;-), it was really a delightful tongue experience.

Dan bagi mereka yang prefer to seek new atmosphere in dining or eating out, I'm telling you, this place is worth the try. Kita bisa makan dengan santai di sini. Oh, I almost forgot. There's also a playground for children. Jadi bagi siapapun yang mau ke sana sambil membawa keluarga terutama anak-anak, don't worry if your kids will get bored easily. They can spend their time on the playground while waiting for the food to arrive.

THE DELICIOUS ICE CREAM

Ice cream. Who does not like the cold and sweet sensation that this dish produces once it enters our mouth? Most people from wide range of ages love it. However, there are several issues regarding ice cream. There are opinions saying that it can cause coughing, and even obesity. Another opinion claims that it is good for the bones. 

Ice cream is basically a semi-solid form of dish, which is made of milk-fat, non-fat skim milk, sugar, stabilizer ingredients, emulsion, and flavors. According to Indonesian National Standard, ice cream is a semi-solid food made by freezing the ice cream flour/ powder or the mixing of milk, animal or vegetable fat, sugar, with or without other edible ingredients. While the wikipedia describes ice cream as a frozen dessert made from dairy product such as milk and cream, combined with flavorings and sweeteners, such as sugar, and possible other ingredients.

It is said that ice cream came from China. It was during the Tang period (618-97 AD) when a dish similar to ice cream appeared in the region. The ice-cream-like dish was made especially for the King using buffalo milk, flour, and camphor. Then around 2000 BC, ice cream showed up in the country with the form of a soft milk and rice mixture packed in snow, which made it solid. One of the earliest records of ice cream was during the 54 AD when the Emperor Nero ruled. He would serve “sweet snow’, snow from the mountain that flavored with honey, wine or fruit, for his guests at the palace.

Ice cream is probably the most popular dish through out the world.  In 2003, the production of the world’s ice cream had reached up to one billion liters and was consumed by billons of consumers per year.

There are several opinions develop these days by media that ice cream is actually healthy, unlike what has been said before. There are researches that said that ice cream is one of the dishes with high values of nutrition. The high-value of nutrition inside ice cream very much depends on the nutrients inside the ingredients.

The nutrition contained inside ice cream was supported by its main ingredients, non-fat milk and skim milk. It is safe to claim that milk is an almost perfect food due to its almost perfect complete nutritional substances content. Scientists had found more than 100.000 kinds of molecule contained inside milk. Other than water and fat, the molecules include protein, carbohydrate, mineral, enzymes, vitamin A, C, and D. Some scientists even proclaimed that milk is included in the group of functional foods, which own other health effects beside the nutritional effects.

One expert, Dr Ali Khomsan, an expert in nutrition from Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB), once stated that ice cream is actually has higher nutritional value compared to other kind of beverages, because it is made of milk. The dominant nutritional components in 100 gram ice cream are the amount of calorie (207 gram), protein (4.0 gram), and fat (12.5 gram).

There are several “stories about ice cream that being misinterpreted. It is said that there has been a misconception among people regarding the idea that ice cream can cause obesity. The truth is, there are only 10% calorie and 15% fat contained inside ice cream, which are a very small amount to be able to cause obesity. The obesity is more caused by over consumption of calorie, lack of physical activities, and genetic.

What about the belief among people that ice cram can also cause a person, who consume it get cough and cold? This is also said to be a misunderstanding. People most-likely believe in this due to the cold sensation of ice cream. On the contrary, once ice cream enters the mouth, it will immediately melt because of the influence of body temperature. When ice cream got inside the throat, its temperature would no longer be as cold as cold water. Unlike when we drink cold water or cold orange juice, where the cold water went straight through the throat.

So consuming ice cream is actually quite safe and healthy. As long as we do not consume it more than what we supposed to. And another thing is that we have to be cautious with unbranded ice cream, which is a homemade industry ice cream. Because the process of making the ice cream in this kind of industry cannot be monitored by the authorized party. Moreover, the hygienic quality of the ingredients they use cannot be guaranteed.

 

Sources:

http://www.cbsnews.com

http://www.cnn.com

http://www.NaturalNews.com

http://www.msnbc.msn.com

http://www.sinarharapan.co.id

http://honeybunnyyummy.blogjurnalistikonlain.com

http://en.wikipedia.org

A Doll for My Sister

This is something I read from http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2046005/princess_bella_edward..

It's a very touching story about a little boy trying to buy a doll for his sister... I hope this story will touch your heart dearly...

I was walking around in a Target store, when I saw a Cashier hand this little boy some money back. The boy couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 years old.

The Cashier said, "I'm sorry, but you don't have enough money to buy this doll."

Then the little boy turned to the old woman next to him: ''Granny, are you sure I don't have enough money?''

The old lady replied: ''You know that you don't have enough money to buy this doll, my dear.''

Then she asked him to stay there for just 5 minutes while she went to look a round. She left quickly. The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand. Finally, I walked toward him and I asked him who he wished to give this doll to.

"It's the doll that my sister loved most and wanted so much for Christmas. She was sure that Santa Claus would bring it to her."

I replied to him that maybe Santa Claus would bring it to her after all, and not to worry. But he replied to me sadly. "No, Santa Claus can't bring it to her where she is now. I have to give the doll to my mommy so that she can give it to my sister when she goes there."

His eyes were so sad while saying this. "My Sister has gone to be with God. Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so I thought that she could take the doll with her to give it to my sister.'' My heart nearly stopped.

The little boy looked up at me and said: "I told daddy to tell mommy not to go yet. I need her to wait until I come back from the mall." Then he showed me a very nice photo of him where he was laughing.

He then told me "I want mommy to take my picture with her so she won't forget me. I love my mommy and I wish she doesn't have to leave me, but daddy says that she has to go to be with my little sister." Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very quietly.

I quickly reached for my wallet and said to the boy. "Suppose we check again, just in case you do have enough money for the doll?''

"OK" he said, "I hope I do have enough."

I added some of my money to his with out him seeing and we started to count it. There was enough for the doll and even some spare money.

The little boy said: "Thank you God for giving me enough money!"

Then he looked at me and added, "I asked last night before I went to sleep for God to make sure I had enough money to buy this doll, so that mommy could give It to my sister. He heard me!''

"I also wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for my mommy, but I didn't dare to ask God for too much. But He gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose. My mommy loves white roses."

A few minutes later, the old lady returned and I left with my basket. I finished my shopping in a totally different state from when I started. I couldn't get the little boy out of my mind.

Then I remembered a local news paper article two days ago, which mentioned a drunk man in a truck, who hit a car occupied by a young woman and a little girl. The little girl died right away, and the mother was left in a critical state. The family had to decide whether to pull the plug on the life-sustaining machine, because the young woman would not be able to recover from the coma.

Was this the family of the little boy?

Two days after this encounter with the little boy, I read in the news paper that the young woman had passed away.

I couldn't stop myself as I bought a bunch of white roses and I went to the funeral home where the body of the young woman was exposed for people to see and make last wishes before her burial. She was there, in her coffin, holding a beautiful white rose in her hand with the photo of the little boy and the doll placed over her chest.

I left the place, teary-eyed, feeling that my life had been changed for ever.. The love that the little boy had for his mother and his sister is still, to this day, hard to imagine. And in a fraction of a second, a drunk driver had taken all this away from him.