[ { "id": 1, "title": "Sometimes the very best breakfast eats are the simplest.", "body": "We are on a parking lot for campers in the Northern part of Germany. I was supposed to go shooting in the morning, but it is raining like crazy, so instead we have an indoor working day. I kind of like these days, sitting together in a small space, concentrating on work, because as soon as we finish, we can hang out. My mom told me to write down each day in a journal, because with years passing I will start to forget. `I did the same thing 10 years ago, when I was travelling in Asia with Tomasz, for a year I wrote each day, everything that has happened. Sometimes I go back to these journals (I wrote 3) and I read them like books, because I literally don’t remember that some of these things happened to me. A crazy experience. Thankfully, I have this blog and I can write as much as I want. So… I will write about yesterday. We woke up early in a morning to a beautiful sun. I was working and observing the sun rays dancing on a table. We parked next to Szczecińska Lagoon and there were many birds just meters away from us. It was one of these mornings when you love van life the most. We’ve decided to have breakfast outside, which maybe wasn’t the best idea due to a low temperature, but we did enjoy it anyway. We were sitting on the edge of marina, frying eggs and cutting veggies. We had some strong coffee and I made a breakfast wrap, which turned out beautifully. Just a few simple ingredients – eggs, onion, capsicum and avocado. You wrap it, heat it in a pan and it tastes like heaven. You may think it was because of the cold weather, but we fried some more in a van and it tasted as good as outside. Van kitchen is simple, mostly because there is no space for complicated. But this is also how breakfast should be – easy and delicious.", "imageUrl": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1493770348161-369560ae357d?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=eyJhcHBfaWQiOjEyMDd9&auto=format&fit=crop&w=750&q=80", "author": "John Doe" }, { "id": 2, "title": "Waking up early to the smell of coffee and French toast is, perhaps, the finest of all simple pleasures.", "body": "Dessert for breakfast? Yep! Some scientists think this can help you eat better the rest of the day, so we tried it out.Can this simple lifestyle hack curb snacking? I decided to find out. When you’re trying to eat right, the last thing on your meal plan is dessert, right? What if I told you that was all wrong? That dessert for breakfast is the new way to keep yourself full all day long and prevent excess snacking. I know it’s hard to believe, so I decided to give this dessert-first trend a try myself. Changing the way you eat is a huge move. However, there is some evidence to suggest that eating dessert for breakfast could help stave off hunger for a good part of the day. According to a study from the Endocrine Society, eating a 600-calorie high-carb breakfast including a small dessert such as a sweet cookie or chocolate could help to improve weight loss. The eight-month trial measured the results of two groups of participants: those who ate a low-carb breakfast and those who ate a high-carb meal instead. Both groups included a sweet dessert-like element in their meals. Those in the higher calorie and higher carb group were able to lose weight and keep it off, unlike the other participants.", "imageUrl": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1495214783159-3503fd1b572d?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&auto=format&fit=crop&w=750&q=80", "author": "Shreyas Patil" }, { "id": 3, "title": "Dessert is always an awesome choice!", "body": "Dessert for breakfast? Yep! Some scientists think this can help you eat better the rest of the day, so we tried it out.Can this simple lifestyle hack curb snacking? I decided to find out. When you’re trying to eat right, the last thing on your meal plan is dessert, right? What if I told you that was all wrong? That dessert for breakfast is the new way to keep yourself full all day long and prevent excess snacking. I know it’s hard to believe, so I decided to give this dessert-first trend a try myself. Changing the way you eat is a huge move. However, there is some evidence to suggest that eating dessert for breakfast could help stave off hunger for a good part of the day. According to a study from the Endocrine Society, eating a 600-calorie high-carb breakfast including a small dessert such as a sweet cookie or chocolate could help to improve weight loss. The eight-month trial measured the results of two groups of participants: those who ate a low-carb breakfast and those who ate a high-carb meal instead. Both groups included a sweet dessert-like element in their meals. Those in the higher calorie and higher carb group were able to lose weight and keep it off, unlike the other participants.", "imageUrl": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1546039907-7fa05f864c02?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=eyJhcHBfaWQiOjEyMDd9&auto=format&fit=crop&w=500&q=80", "author": "Yash Patil" }, { "id": 4, "title": "A recipe has no soul, you must bring soul to the recipe.", "body": "\"A recipe has no soul. You, as the cook, must bring soul to the recipe.\" – Thomas Keller \nThese words of wisdom from Thomas Keller ring true. It is the heart and soul of the cook that change a good dish to a memorable one. So, what does this mean and is it possible to develop heart and soul for cooking? Heart and soul goes beyond the cookbook, beyond the technical skills that may have been developed in the culinary classroom or on-the-job. Heart and soul comes from a true connection with the ingredients, through the people associated with a style of cooking, with history, art and life experience. To this end it would be hard to state that anyone is born a great cook or even trained as such. If there is a gap of culture and experience in a cook’s background then the challenges of greatness will be pronounced. This is not to discount those who invest heavily in learning the steps and following directions to a “T”; it does, however, point to a gap in proficiency that can be filled if the cook is truly serious about his or her craft. Think about it this way — if you have ever enjoyed that special ethnic meal, whether it be a Sunday Italian family feast, a gathering of Scandinavian born guests, a traditional Polish celebration or a meal with your Latino or Asian co-workers then you have been a participant in heartfelt cooking. If you have spent time in the countryside of France, Germany, Ireland or England, or if you visited the real neighborhoods of Vietnam, Thailand, Peru, or Northern Africa then you have been witness to cooking with soul. It is this immersion that gives cooks an opportunity to begin to understand the history of a country, the importance of their indigenous ingredients and the reasons for their processes and seasonings. Once you have this experience you begin to develop that cultural soul that allows your cooking to have real meaning. Should every serious cook travel and make those connections that will set his or her technique and style stand out? Will you ever truly understand wine until you have worked the vines, picked grapes and participated in the crush? Can you really appreciate the importance of vegetables until you have spent time in the fields with a farmer? Is it possible to respect the value of wonderfully fresh fish without time on a commercial fishing boat with four-foot ocean swells? Of course these experiences would be ideal, but maybe not practical for every cook. It is, however, possible for each of us to pay attention, pay respect, study and learn and make those important connections with others who understand the heart and soul of a cuisine. Kitchens are home to the most diverse workforce imaginable — this is a wonderful opportunity. I constantly reference Chef Rick Bayless as a prime example. Why are Frontera Grill and Topolobampo considered among the top Mexican restaurants in North America? They have gained this distinction because they have heart and soul with respect to this often misunderstood cuisine. Remember, Chef Bayless lived in Mexico for many years as he attempted to learn and experience what it was like to be authentic, to study the history of Mexico, to connect with the people and learn about their ingredients and how they have used them for generations. It is this background that comes through in his food. It would be difficult to imagine how a restaurant could offer a menu with diverse cuisines having no experience with the culture associated with the source of that food. It is hard to imagine how a cook can become excellent and authentic without having a deep understanding of everything associated with each dish on a menu. Sure, any cook can be coached to follow the steps, but does he or she connect with the food — is there passion associated with a dish that has been relegated to a process? You may not agree, but try this simple exercise to discover if the concept is valid: Give three or four cooks in your operation the same recipe and the same ingredients and simply ask them to prepare the dish as described. I guarantee that you will wind up with just as many variations of that same recipe. Compare those results with your personal best memory of how that dish should be prepared if it is authentic and it is likely that the connection will fall short. What is missing? Heart and soul may be difficult to describe, yet they are tangible in the sense that in their absence any dish will fail to exceed expectations.\n \"You cannot get an influence from the cuisine of a country if you don’t understand it. You’ve got to study it.\" – Chef Ferran Adria \nTo this end there is little difference between being a great cook, an exceptional painter or an inspired musician; in all cases what separates them from their contemporaries is heart and soul.", "imageUrl": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1560963805-6c64417e3413?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=eyJhcHBfaWQiOjEyMDd9&auto=format&fit=crop&w=721&q=80", "author": "Shahrukh Khan" }, { "id": 5, "title": "Wanna try this delicious Indian lunch?", "body": "Let’s talk about how awesome it is to eat vegetables that taste like cash money. I mean, not literally, just in the way of, like, you know, when it tastes like, really good, like something that might cost you a lot of cash money, or has the same positive association of money, not that money is everything but, like… gah. You know what I mean. Have you started school again? Or your kids? O your kids’ kids? Or you’re the teacher? Or you work from home and you’re looking out the window to borrow some back-to-school vibes from the kiddos in backpacks walking to the bus? Back-to-school is upon us all. See also: OH. MY. GOSH. It sounds so basic to say that I can’t believe that it’s already that time of year – probably because it IS so basic. It’s what I say every season, every year. But with the upheaval and constant grief of this last year, time just feels especially weird. Like it’s been both too slow and too fast all at once. But as usual, time ticks on, and that is, I guess, is how you find yourself staring down the completed ravaged back-to-school section at Target wondering why the pencils are already out because didn’t summer just start? Here we go again. I’m making it sound like this is a bad thing, but I actually adore everything about the fall season. As a former teacher, I think I will always have a little bit of that super zealous back-to-school spirit running through my veins. At top of my list of things I love about fall is really, really good food. Like, comforting, cozy, wrapped in a sweater kind of good food. Think ancho turkey chili and cornbread after the first week of school. Carnitas and magic green sauce on game day. Detox lentil soup and no-knead bread for your first official on-time dinner in months. And think curry. Green curry. Green curry with some weirdo stuff in it (tofu? golden raisins? sweet potatoes?) that is going to make you feel like you won both the nutritional and yumo-food olympics.", "imageUrl": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1514186073652-b140ce52bcd3?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=eyJhcHBfaWQiOjEyMDd9&auto=format&fit=crop&w=751&q=80", "author": "Someone Unknown" }, { "id": 6, "title": "After a shoot on a Sunday I went for brunch at a newly opened restaurant in London", "body": "Let’s talk about how awesome it is to eat vegetables that taste like cash money. I mean, not literally, just in the way of, like, you know, when it tastes like, really good, like something that might cost you a lot of cash money, or has the same positive association of money, not that money is everything but, like… gah. You know what I mean. Have you started school again? Or your kids? O your kids’ kids? Or you’re the teacher? Or you work from home and you’re looking out the window to borrow some back-to-school vibes from the kiddos in backpacks walking to the bus? Back-to-school is upon us all. See also: OH. MY. GOSH. It sounds so basic to say that I can’t believe that it’s already that time of year – probably because it IS so basic. It’s what I say every season, every year. But with the upheaval and constant grief of this last year, time just feels especially weird. Like it’s been both too slow and too fast all at once. But as usual, time ticks on, and that is, I guess, is how you find yourself staring down the completed ravaged back-to-school section at Target wondering why the pencils are already out because didn’t summer just start? Here we go again. I’m making it sound like this is a bad thing, but I actually adore everything about the fall season. As a former teacher, I think I will always have a little bit of that super zealous back-to-school spirit running through my veins. At top of my list of things I love about fall is really, really good food. Like, comforting, cozy, wrapped in a sweater kind of good food. Think ancho turkey chili and cornbread after the first week of school. Carnitas and magic green sauce on game day. Detox lentil soup and no-knead bread for your first official on-time dinner in months. And think curry. Green curry. Green curry with some weirdo stuff in it (tofu? golden raisins? sweet potatoes?) that is going to make you feel like you won both the nutritional and yumo-food olympics.", "imageUrl": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1488923333055-408250825df3?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=eyJhcHBfaWQiOjEyMDd9&auto=format&fit=crop&w=750&q=80", "author": "Anonymous" }, { "id": 7, "title": "Hot red curry is sexy!", "body": "Whether to order red or green Thai curry at a restaurant, is a topic of some confusion. Which one should you order? Do you know the difference between the two variants of the popular Asian curry? Here’s how you can decide which one is more appropriate for you taste. Red Thai curry is made of 20 red chillies that give it a beautiful red colour. It is cooked with dried red chilli that is soaked to remove the harshness and the heat from it. Soaking the chillies also lends an excellent flavor to the dish. Thai red curry is very soupy as the chilli paste is mixed with coconut milk or water. The curry varies from region to region. In Thailand, the red chillies can be hotter than they are in India or vice versa, depending on where the chillies were grown. Hence, the taste of the curry prepared in the subcontinent is a little different from what it tastes in Thailand. However, the ingredients remain the same.", "imageUrl": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1455619452474-d2be8b1e70cd?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=eyJhcHBfaWQiOjF9&auto=format&fit=crop&w=750&q=80", "author": "Foody Guy" }, { "id": 8, "title": "Ice cream is forever", "body": "Ice cream is a multiphase system composed of an unfrozen serum phase, air bubbles, ice crystals, and fat globes (1). During the whipping and freezing process, some of the fat globules in the mix stick together during collisions caused by the rotating scraper blades, forming clumps and clusters of fat globules. This process is known as partial coalescence (2). Partially coalesced fat globule clusters are responsible for surrounding and stabilising air cells and for creating a semi-continuous network or matrix of fat throughout the ice cream. This structure has a significant influence on dryness when the ice cream is extracted from the ice cream machine (aids in novelty molding), smooth and creamy mouthfeel, resistance to shrinking during storage, and resistance to meltdown or good shape retention (necessary for soft-serve operations)", "imageUrl": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1579954115563-e72bf1381629?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=eyJhcHBfaWQiOjEyMDd9&auto=format&fit=crop&w=750&q=80", "author": "Dessert Lover" }, { "id": 9, "title": "Who doesn't like CHOCOLATES?", "body": "Chocolate is no ordinary food. It is not something you can leave, something you like only moderately. You don't LIKE chocolate. You don't even LOVE chocolate. Chocolate is something you have an AFFAIR with.", "imageUrl": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1526081715791-7c538f86060e?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=eyJhcHBfaWQiOjEyMDd9&auto=format&fit=crop&w=750&q=80", "author": "Geneen Roth" }, { "id": 10, "title": "Watermelons are superb in Summer", "body": "Watermelon is around 90% water, which makes it useful for staying hydrated in the summer. It can also satisfy a sweet tooth with its natural sugars. Watermelon also contains antioxidants. These substances can help remove molecules known as free radicals, or reactive species, from the body. The body produces free radicals during natural processes, such as metabolism. They can also develop through smoking, air pollution, stress, and other environmental pressures. If too many free radicals stay in the body, oxidative stress can occur. This can result in cell damage and may lead to a range of diseases, such as cancer and heart disease. The body can remove some free radicals naturally, but dietary antioxidants support this process.", "imageUrl": "https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1502741282025-a9c6a20aa697?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=eyJhcHBfaWQiOjEyMDd9&auto=format&fit=crop&w=750&q=80", "author": "Fruity" } ]