Discover Cooking

I can’t think of anything else more wonderful to enjoy from Maine than the delicious tasty Maine lobsters that this state is know for.

While unpacking from a recent trip, my friend had brought extra lobsters home with him, so he could enjoy the fresh, succulent delights one more time. This will become one of your culinary favorites, once you have partaken of the first one you eat.

In order for the lobsters to be their finest quality, they must be fresh. When you bring back your own lobsters from Maine, or if you are buying them from a company online; your lobsters must remain fresh until you are ready for cooking them.

Freshness has a lot to do with the quality of the lobsters. When in Scarborough, Maine, be sure to visit the Pine Point Fisherman’s Co-op for some fresh lobster that you are sure to enjoy and will want to bring some back home with you. . Even though bringing lobster home helps, it’s still easy to miss this delicious seafood once you have eaten the last morsel.

Lobsters that are sent to you are shipped in insulated boxes with an ice pack and moist paper to keep your lobster at its best. This keeps your lobster cold and provides a supply of ocean water. Thus, all efforts are made to make sure you get the finest quality that you could ever hope for.

Thus, every effort is made to assure you with the quality you demand and you deserve.

All live lobsters are caught fresh off the coast of Maine and New Hampshire. Lobster boats go out nearly every day to provide you with the freshest seafood possible. Most of the lobsters are caught the day before they arrive at your door.

Enjoy something sweet, delicious, and succulent. Enjoy eating something nutrious and delicious too. Buy some live Maine lobsters and have a seafood feast delight. Don’t put it off, the butter is melting, and your taste buds are calling to you.

It may seem like a long way to travel, but the end goal will be well worth the journey. If you are planning a vacation to the south of France, so much the better. You will be treated to 60 wine growers whose passion is exquisite, quality wine production. In a small, but incredibly beautiful area called “Ctes de Provence,” this tiny plot of land is immense in its love of wine. Taking in parts of Var as well as a part of Bouches-du-Rhne, Provence is a wonderful stop on an incredible tour to experience the fine wine from France.

An indigo sky, azure sea and miles of white, sandy beaches welcome you to an area where limestone cliffs and medieval villages give way to miles of sharply-scented pine forests that provide shelter to tranquil lakes and lazy rivers.

On the flipside, there is a bustling metropolis complete with all modern conveniences, or you might elect to stay in an old world style country house with 17th and 18th century antiques and explore the wine regions of South West France. In Provence, all of this is possible as you take leisurely walks along sunshine filled paths that are warm and inviting. You will enjoy the lush nights, scents of jasmine, wild thyme and lavender filling your senses with joy.

Perhaps because of the breathtaking beauty of the Mediterranean Sea and the abundance of tourist attractions found in Nice, Cannes, and elsewhere along the French Riviera, companies that offer traditional wine tasting tours, in spite of the excellence of its wines, often overlook Provence.

2600 years ago, Phoenicians came to France and built the first of many vineyards to honor their god, Bacchus who is the god of wine. A legacy was left behind, that of full-bodied wines that possess a fullness and sparkle as rich as the vineyards they are grown in.

In Provence, as everywhere in the Mediterranean, you will find the people full of warmth, spontaneity, and a “joie de vivre.” As you will soon discover, any of these master oenologists (winemakers) will be delighted to introduce you to the wines they have become famous for; and share a little of the region’s history with you.

If you have luck on your side, your host will be in a generous and share some of the tightly held secrets of blending food with the correct wine to create some that most French winegrowers have a passion for.

Winemaking all throughout France is a serious business. It is the same in Provence where winegrowers have won awards and the prestigious “AOC” designation (Appellation d’Origine Controlee) on their bottles of wines. This is one of the highest awards available in French winegrowing, and it guarantees the buyer that the wine is an appellation wine. Winegrowers must pass tests and rigorous inspections.

It is a coveted award bestowed only by the Ministry of Agriculture in Paris and is a truly a prestigious title of an AOC labeled wine.

As you will discover from the first delicious sip, the Ctes de Provence winegrowers are experts in utilizing traditional methods when harvesting and bottling their wines. Their deep respect for the soil, the climate, and the different varieties of grapes they use comes through in the quality and taste of each bottle.

Provence is situated in the heart of winemaking country at the “Maison des Ctes de Provence” which boasts and outstanding selection of appellation wines.

If you are not worried about the thickness of your waist (or your wallet), a visit to the four-star restaurant the “Bacchus Gourmand” is a must, where you can savor real Provencal cuisine accompanied (of course) by the perfect bottle of a Ctes de Provence wine.

You can taste home-cooked meal, try out one of the out of the way cafes that are tucked on the narrow side streets of any villages, and your chef who is most times also your host will be happy to recommend a wine to you.

Your tour can include a wine tasting course, if you choose, at one of the many vineyards. You will be treated to an education and deeper understanding of wine from its robe or color, to its bouquet (perfume) as well as its body or strength and all that goes into the servicing and conservation of the wines from wine cellars to table.

Visiting Provence and touring their wonderful vineyards and wineries would not be complete without taking home a bottle or two which you can drink and reminisces about later.

Making your own wine is a hobby that has grown a lot the past few years.There are some good reasons for this.

First, the information on how to make wine, and recipes for wine making have been easier and easier to obtain. Many books and how to manuals have been published just this past year.

One other reason is that making your own wine can be a lot less expensive than purchasing wine in the store.You can make wine for pennies per bottle. Big difference from the ever increasing prices of commercial wine.

But my favorite reason is that it is just plain fun to make your own wine. There is something so gratifying to choose the fruit, choose the recipe and the type of yeast, prepare the must, nurse it, follow the fermentation… all the steps until you can uncork your own proudly made delicious and unique wine.

Home made wine can be a wonderful and one of a kind gift, of course in a beautiful bottle and with your own label. Having friends and family over for wine tastings of various wines you have made is another fun aspect of home wine making.

It is easy to get started even of you have never made wine before. There is no need to purchase expensive equipment or gadgets. You will need a few simple and inexpensive things such as a vessel to do the fermenting in. -that can be a five gallon bucket, and air lock and some tubing to decant the wine with.

There are basically three levels of home wine making.

1. Using a purchased wine kit. Just add water and follow the instructions.

2. Making wine from fresh or frozen fruit juices bought in your local store.

3. Using fresh fruits and berries to make your wine.

Home wine making can be quite addictive. Once you have one nice batch of good wine, the imagination can run wild of what you can accomplish.

Though most teas are made from only the leaves of herbs, jasmine green tea is different. It is made by adding the jasmine flower to the tea. Cultivated widely for its beautiful flowers, jasmine is any of more than 200 species with fragrant white, yellow or red flowers.

The jasmine plant was brought to China by Persia in the third century AD. However, it did not become popular there until about 1000 years ago. Yin Hao is considered the finest of all jasmine teas. Other popular blends are Dragon Phoenix Pearl, Xiang Pian, and Mo Li Hua Cha, the latter being one of the most popular scented tea in the world.

Jasmine green tea is made by starting with a Chinese green tea for a base. Some will use pouchong/oolong or black tea but green is more common. The tea leaves are plucked and processed in April and May and then kept dry until the jasmine flowers bloom in August and September.

Timing is everything when gathering the flowers. They must be fully open and for this reason they are harvested at midnight, or early in the morning. Then the open flowers are placed with the tea so that the scent of the flower can be absorbed into the tea over the next four hours. After this the flowers are removed. This process is repeated from two to seven times over a month. Then the tea is ready for sale. The grade of the tea is determined by how many scentings the tea has gotten over a month. High grade jasmine tea has had up to seven scentings over the month. Low grade has had two to three scentings.

What’s so great about this stuff? Most green teas with jasmine contain a significant amount of polyphenols. These are plant-based substances that have proven to fight cancer, viruses, and have antioxidant properties. By eliminating free radicals the tea helps prevent certain cancers and slow aging. Jasmine reduces blood sugar for diabetics, and also reduces high blood pressure. This helps prevent heart attacks, strokes, thrombosis, and arterial sclerosis.

A partial list of jasmine tea health benefits would include the ability to reduce blood sugar, reduce the risk of blood clot, keep fluid balance, prevent allergy and flu, and boost the immune system. It provides oral care and fluoride that helps protect the teeth from decay. Jasmine tea improves intestinal conditions by blocking the development and growth of bad bacteria and by strengthening good bacteria.

In addition, jasmine tea fights food poisoning, including cholera, dysentery, and piccoli causing gastric ulcers. Gargling with jasmine green tea is believed to be one of the most effective ways to protect oneself from influenza, as the tea performs anti-viral functions.

Jasmine is also used as an herbal anti-depressant, helping with post-natal depression and menopause problems among other things. It is said to also enhance romantic feelings. The tea also functions like raspberry leaf tea by helping in childbirth and with milk production. It can sooth muscle and joint pain, including chronic back pain.

Try using jasmine green tea to lose weight. In one three month study, people who consumed tea with jasmine green tea extract lost more fat than those who consumed regular oolong tea. Perhaps the catechins in the jasmine trigger weight loss by decreasing body fat and by stimulating the body to burn calories.

To prepare a cup of tea, simply steep about one half teaspoon of tea in water from 170F to 190F for two minutes. You can repeat the steeping up to two times. You should consume at least four cups a day. This tea is served with strongly flavored foods or served alone. It is good with curries, chicken and fish, and vegetarian dishes. A good quality jasmine green tea will work beautifully with fruit and flower salads, or desserts made with flowers, or soft cheeses with pressed flowers.

Who has time to prepare meals from scratch every day? If you’re like most people your busy life often gets in the way of preparing tasty and healthy dinners. Slowcooker recipes rescue you from the daily dinner scramble by allowing you to make delicious meals with little effort while being budget friendly to boot.

It’s not uncommon for today’s busy parents and professionals to have a mere 30 minutes between arriving home and dinner time. That doesn’t leave a lot of prep and cooking time for that night’s meal. Imagine how stress free it would be to come home and have the delicious aroma of a ready meal to greet you at the door. That’s what slowcooking does.

The beauty of preparing slowcooker recipes is they can be prepped in minutes ahead of time and left to roast slowly all day while you get on with your buys day. Your meal can be quickly prepped either in the morning or the night before and stored in the refrigerator, ready to be plugged in and slow cooked in an instant before you leave the house. Then, when it’s time for the family to sit down for dinner, your meal is ready to be served.

One of the best advantages of using a slowcooker is your ability to use cheaper cuts of meat and turn them into tender entrees with little effort. By comparison, meats that are grilled or fried need to be higher priced cuts in order to be tender or marinated for extended periods of time before cooking. With a slow cooker you can use less expensive cuts, skip the marinade (which adds to your meal’s cost) and let the slowcooker work its magic.

In a world of wastefulness we often don’t get around to revisiting those leftover food items until it’s time to throw them in the trash. Leftover meats and vegetables can be pulled together into slowcooker recipes that turn small, unused portions of food into delicious meals. Save leftover pot roast, steaks, or pork to create delicious stews at a later date. Leftover vegetables, if already cooked, can be added to reheat 15 to 20 minutes before serving to soups and stews. Even leftover cooked rice can be saved and used for stuffed peppers cooked in the slowcooker.

If you’re looking for ways to cut back on your grocery spending or the stress it takes to cook a meal from scratch every night try using slowcooker recipes instead. You’ll save your money and time for other things while still enjoying tasty meals with little effort.

Slowcooker Recipe for Beef Stew: 2 pounds fresh stewing beef or leftover roast, cut into 1-inch cubes 4 carrots 3 potatoes 1 garlic clove, minced 1 celery stalk, sliced 1 medium onion, chopped 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce 1 tsp. Paprika cup flour tsp. pepper tsp. salt 1 garlic clove, minced 1 cups beef broth 2 tbsp. HP sauce First place your meat into the slowcooker. Now mix together the salt, pepper and flour. Pour the dry mix over the meat and stir to coat thoroughly. Next add the remaining ingredients and Stir together well. Place the lid on your slowcooker and cook on low for 10 to 12 hours or, if rushed, 4 to 6 hours on high heat. Stir well before serving your stew.