Monday, April 7, 2008

Shower Stuff





#TITLE#Choosing & Cooking Chinese Christmas Recipes#/TITLE#

With the Chinese New Year being the most important event in the Chinese calendar, you?d imagine that Christmas got swept under the carpet. Not so, as celebrating Christmas becomes more popular throughout China.

Whilst you won?t find the hype and shopping madness of Western countries, in major cities you?ll see lights, trees and Christmas decorations on the streets and in stores. Christmas Day is not even a bank holiday in China, although it is in Hong Kong and Macao. Whether this is just part of the Chinese interest in Western culture, or a sales ploy by the big stores, who can say?

With an increasing number of Christians, it can only be expected that more people will be celebrating the festive season in China each year. With little tradition and history, cooking for a Chinese Christmas dinner means you can cook any special occasion dish you choose.

However, there are a few suggestions we can make to get you started:-


  • Peking Duck

  • Cantonese Roast Duck

  • Kung Pao Chicken

  • Cookies

  • Five Spice Peanuts

  • Sesame Seed Balls

  • Spring Rolls

Whilst many of the recipes above are traditionally eaten for the Chinese New Year, they will serve just as well for a Christmas dinner. As always with Chinese cooking, use the freshest ingredients, prepare them well ahead of time, so that all you have to do is cook!

An excellent resource is http://chinesefood.about.com/ which has lots of great recipe and food ideas for every holiday occasion including Chinese cookie recipes.

About the Author

For further tips and ideas for cooking great and traditional food from around the world, visit Chinese recipes

This article was submitted by Jen Carter, owner of the Worldwide Recipes website.



Shower Stuff





#TITLE#Choosing & Cooking Chinese Christmas Recipes#/TITLE#

With the Chinese New Year being the most important event in the Chinese calendar, you?d imagine that Christmas got swept under the carpet. Not so, as celebrating Christmas becomes more popular throughout China.

Whilst you won?t find the hype and shopping madness of Western countries, in major cities you?ll see lights, trees and Christmas decorations on the streets and in stores. Christmas Day is not even a bank holiday in China, although it is in Hong Kong and Macao. Whether this is just part of the Chinese interest in Western culture, or a sales ploy by the big stores, who can say?

With an increasing number of Christians, it can only be expected that more people will be celebrating the festive season in China each year. With little tradition and history, cooking for a Chinese Christmas dinner means you can cook any special occasion dish you choose.

However, there are a few suggestions we can make to get you started:-


  • Peking Duck

  • Cantonese Roast Duck

  • Kung Pao Chicken

  • Cookies

  • Five Spice Peanuts

  • Sesame Seed Balls

  • Spring Rolls

Whilst many of the recipes above are traditionally eaten for the Chinese New Year, they will serve just as well for a Christmas dinner. As always with Chinese cooking, use the freshest ingredients, prepare them well ahead of time, so that all you have to do is cook!

An excellent resource is http://chinesefood.about.com/ which has lots of great recipe and food ideas for every holiday occasion including Chinese cookie recipes.

About the Author

For further tips and ideas for cooking great and traditional food from around the world, visit Chinese recipes

This article was submitted by Jen Carter, owner of the Worldwide Recipes website.



Cooking Lobster



Lobsters are one of the most delicious foods and are considered as a luxury by some. They are healthy and low in fat. Unfortunately, they taste better when cooked alive and thus cooking lobsters, for some people, can really be a difficult task what with boiling or cutting them when still alive. However, certain specific cooking methods need to be followed to speed up the killing process.

For boiling lobsters, a large pot full of rolling boiling water needs to be added with salt and lemon juice. For a 12 to 14 quarter pot, the water level needs to be at least 6 inches high. Once the water is at full boil, the lobster has to be dropped head first inside the pot. In case of trying the reverse, the lobster might crawl back out of the pot. For a lobster weighing 1 lb, the ideal cooking time would be 12 minutes whereas for a 1.5 lb lobster the time would be 15-18 minutes. A 2 lb lobster needs about 22 minutes for proper cooking. The boiled lobsters can be removed from the water once the shells are bright red and then can be served with melted butter. Lobsters get overcooked very quickly and to avoid this, they need to be taken out as soon as the time is up and placed on grocery bags or paper towels for draining.

For steaming lobsters, they need to be placed inside the pot, along with something with holes at the bottom of the pot, so that the lobsters are never able to sit in the water. A 10-quarter pot might need an inch of water added with salt. While lobsters under 2 lbs require 10-12 minutes of cooking, 15-20 minutes would be needed for those over 2 lbs.

Live lobsters may not be ideal for broiling. Individuals can kill them by stabbing them through the ?T? mark on their head, appearing right behind the eyes. A sharp knife is essential to cut through the center of the shell followed by cracking the shell and prying the sucker open by hands. Claws can also be cracked but not removed. For broiling, the lobsters are brushed with melted butter and placed on a preheated pan or broiler with the shell side down until they are heated through.

Lobster provides detailed information on Lobster, Lobster Tails, Lobster Recipes, Maine Lobster and more. Lobster is affiliated with Salmon Fishing.



The Perfect Recipe for Enjoying Cooking



Cooking is one of those things which you either love or hate, there are very few people which have no opinions on the preparation of food. However love or hate making food, there are very few who would say that they do not enjoy eating! Here are a few tips which could make preparation and the making of food a little less painless.

1. Always allow lots of time.

There is not a lot worse than having to rush recipes, it is one way of making sure that you will not enjoy cooking. You should always make sure that you have enough time to make your meal, this way you can be sure that you will not have to be too hasty with your cooking.

2. Make sure that you have all of the ingredients

This may sound obvious, but it is very annoying when you are all ready to go and then you realise that you have left something off from your shopping list. One way of making sure that you don?t forget anything important is to get the recipe items a few days before the meal and then check the ingredients the day before so if you have forgotten something, you will have enough time to get down the supermarket and get it.

3. Listen to music while you are cooking

If you really don?t like cooking then you can always have something on in the background to take your mind off of it. One of the best things to do this is music, so put on your favourite CD or radio station and you will find you can make the recipe on auto-pilot.

4. Make sure you have clean cooking utensils

It can be very annoying if you are all ready to create your masterpiece and then you find you have dirty pots and pans. Give yourself an extra hour or so to make sure that you have everything clean and ready for the task ahead.

5. Get help, if you can

Preparing the vegetables, chopping the meat and mixing the ingredients can be done by most people so try and offload this on to one of the end recipients of the meal, they should have to work to earn it after all! A bit of teamwork can always help making the stress of cooking a lot more enjoyable.

Gary Kingston writes for Utterly Recipes, an online cooking guide for those who want simple & quick recipes. The site offers recipes for, amongst others, beef, lamb, vegetarian and chicken recipes. We also have a really nice lasagne recipe you may want to have a look at!

For more information please visit Utterly Recipes



French Cooking Schools



When one goes on a vacation, the two most important aspects are travel and cuisine. If France is the chosen destination, a traveler has the unique opportunity to combine both. Visiting a French cooking school enables one to learn regional cuisine from the best chefs and also enjoy the beautiful surroundings. Through the cuisine of a region, a traveler gets an insight into the fine culture of the region too. Some French cooking schools offer programs in English and thus cater to an international market.



The International Kitchen introduced the concept of a cooking school vacation in 1984. Visiting a French cooking school is essentially a tour combined with a French cooking experience, which makes it different from other holidays. A French cooking school experience can be anywhere between a weekend and a week long vacation. While on vacation if one does not have time for a French cooking school experience, one can opt for a cooking class a la carte and enjoy a similar experience.



French cooking school tours offer several food related experiences. One could choose wine as an option and learn about different kinds of wine. The course focusing on wines includes wine tasting sessions in which one gets to distinguish between the nuances of different wines. Other options include courses in breads, cheese, French pastries, chocolates, charcuterie or French cuisine cooking classes.



Gourmet food and cooking classes aside, one is allowed to sample foods, meet chefs and enjoy sightseeing. One can also visit local wineries and producers. These excursions do not cater to large groups as dealing with smaller groups enables the tour organizer to provide a personalized experience for each traveler.



French cooking schools can take you through Paris, Rhodes, Provence, Loire and Burgundy or many other unique regions of France. One is sure to experience a fine mix of culture, cuisine, entertainment and travel, which will satisfy and satiate the soul and the body.





Cooking Schools provides detailed information on Cooking Schools, French Cooking Schools, Italian Cooking Schools, Vegan Cooking Schools and more. Cooking Schools is affliated with Top Film Schools.