Rebounding!!!

No, I am not talking about immediately dating another man after you break up with your loser man.

I'm talking about JUMPING!  ON A TRAMPOLINE!  It's more fun than when you did it as a kid, because now it serves a purpose that we all want.... AN EXCELLENT, FUN WORKOUT!

So, previously a huge fan of kickboxing, but not wanting to be so jarring on my spine, due to a herniated disc surgery, I was, actually chaning in the locker room one night, when a woman ran in to change hurriedly.  She asked if I was also in a rush to get to Jim's class.  I wasn't, but she said it was such a fun workout, and that you dripped with sweat.  So, I just went.  Even showing up late, I knew from the start, this was going to be amazing. 

So, about forty or so mini trampolines are set up around the floor, pop music mixes are played, that the class also chants along to at key chorus lines.  You are told to jump slightly, so you rebound back to the trampoline, and work your muscles while controlling your jumps.  You truly have no idea you are even working out, it is so fun.  Girls even go in groups, and add their own dance-like movements to some of the basic jumps.

Also found this website detailing the health benefits; you MUST try this!

http://www.healingdaily.com/exercise/rebounding-for-detoxification-and-health.htm

ENORMOUS calorie-burning FUN!  Several gyms in the city offer this class, and I have attended the New York Health and Raquet Club's Wednesday night class.  I ate it up!  I am instantly addicted.

FYI; this is not me.

Mangia!

Vitamin D- Essential for your Happiness, and your Bone Mass

Heads up ladies, here is something you must be aware of, today.
http://www.womentowomen.com/healthynutrition/vitamind.aspx

My gynecologist told me at my last appointment that my body will stop absorbing Vitamin D at age 32, so I had better start pumping myself with it.  As crazy as it sounded, and perhaps a bit far-fetched with the terminal date, I did some research, and decided to start taking a supplement. 

Studies show that we are not getting enough Vitamin D, and while food is fortified with it, as women, we need it more, to help us fight off depression, and the onslaught of menopausal and pre-menstrual moods.  ou need it to combat

Whoah!!!!!! Who is in charge of letting us know????! Um, I am, for now!

"Researchers are discovering that D also promotes normal cell growth and differentiation throughout the body, working as a key factor in maintaining hormonal balance and a healthy immune system. It appears that calcitriol actually becomes part of the physical composition of cells, assisting in the buildup and breakdown of healthy tissue — in other words, regulating the processes that keep you well.


What’s more, evidence from studies tracking the prevalence of disease by geography and nationality shows clear links between vitamin D deficiency and obesity, insulin resistance, heart disease, certain cancers, and depression. Since most of these problems take many years to manifest, vitamin D deficiency has been overlooked by many providers for a very long time. I test all of my patients, and have been surprised to find that more than 85% come up with a vitamin D deficiency.

Your body can’t create vitamin D on its own. Instead, it’s designed to make it through sun exposure. In theory, you can make an ample supply of vitamin D with as little as a couple of hours per week in the sun — provided the UVB rays are strong enough. You can also ingest D through food, especially fatty fish like wild–harvested salmon. Plus, lots of foods are fortified nowadays, so vitamin D deficiency should be an easy problem to solve, right? But the truth is, we’re just not getting enough, and so many of us aren’t even close....

It’s important to note that we lose some of our ability to synthesize and absorb vitamin D as we age. As we grow older and our skin thins, the amount of the vitamin D precursor (a derivative of cholesterol) in it decreases, too. Women entering perimenopause and menopause, when there can be accelerated bone loss, can slow bone loss by getting enough vitamin D on board."


So, my advice is to start taking a supplement today.
Your bones, and hormones will thank you later.

Friends over Snapper

Our mission was simple; spend the evening gossipping, and cooking.  What better way to spend after work hours with  a fabulous soul, not hitting the bar scene, on a Thursday night.

Food and Wine magazine proves to be the failsafe once again, with it's Red Snapper and Jumbo Lump Crab Meat Dish.

A curry by nature, this dish was far from ordinary.  The only obstacle in our way: getting our ingredients after work, but before the shops close, annd before we resort to eating all the ingredients before cooking.  Not having read the recipe thoroughly before purchasing, we spent 3/4 of our time searching for Cardamom, Coriander, Cumin, and Fennel seeds, only to find out later that they were all to be ground, anyway, and without a seed press, making it a bit more difficult to find the humor in our hunt, in the second to last step of the process.  We never did come across Cardamom, in any form, either, so that ingredient was omitted, and I must add that insisting on a Sauvignon Blanc, when the recipe called for a dry white wine, was entirely the fault of my own.  Also, if fish markets on the Upper East side could sell fish for any more per pound, it would be like buying filets of gold.  $29.99 for a pound of Red Snapper, ARE YOU KIDDING ME????  Unfortunately, that fish man was not kidding whatsoever, but fortunately, my lovely kitchen host considered it worth her while to buy the fish.  She is truly quite the darling.  Here is the beauty we selected.

I am truly grateful I love Astoria, for there is no way I would ever be abel to pay the astronomical fees the UES hosts, like for a $2.99 bundle of cilantro, a $.67 lemon, and you cannot even guess how much the jumbo lump crabmeat would have costed, had we not opted for faux-crab, or frab, which is just as juicy, just not as segmented as the real deal.

Overall, the scents, and beauty of the dish were delicious and gorgeous, as was my co-conspirator herself.  Plus, the topics discussed, and time spent completing a meal together, priceless.

So, first we were to make the fish broth.  To a tbs. of butter, we sauteed sliced onion, 2 garlic bulbs, 1/2 a star Anise bulb, and a  1" slice of ginger "smashed".  We really added several discs, after realizing I had, once again, not read the directions thoroughly enough.  Woopsies!  Once that had sauteed, we added 1/4 cup of white wine, 1/4 cup lime juice, 1/4 cup of fish sauce (a wise chef, Suriyan Nanian of the Master Thai Chef Cookery Course in Chiang Mai, Thailand, which I highly recommend ( brotherchef@hotmail.com), once told me, when buying fish sauce, look for sardines being the main ingredient.  I assume this is similar to looking for whole grains being the most substantial ingredient of your bread), 2 kafir lime leaves (not available at the local grocery on the UES (though I have found them at Kalustyan's on 2nd Ave around 25th? I think), so we substituted, as advised, with two full zest peels from a lime), and 11 sprigs of cilantro and 2 basil sprigs (trust me, they cook down! I think we just added a whole bunch).  Once that boils, you are to add 2 cups of water, and let it boil.

Meanwhile, you make the crab sautee.  You first heat your 1/4 tbs's of cardamom, cumin, coriander, fennel, and star Anise, and set it aside.  You are then supposed to puree the above seeds, but as we had mostly powders, and no blender, we just heated the powders and folded them in.  You sautee in 1 tbs oil one small chopped red onion, more cilantro, and fold the crab into all of the spices you warmed up.  Note; the aromas are in full gear, now!

Then, you salt and pepper the Red Snapper, and pan fry it in 1 tbs oil on skin side down until it is cooked 1/2 way, then flip it, and cook for another 5 minutes.  This is hard to tell, so we stabbed it in the center a little, a highly technical procedure. 

You serve the crab mixture on the plate first, then add the Snapper, skins side up, and then you spoon on the fish broth.  Huge rings of onions, and mounds of green herbs float in the savory bath of dinner!

The Sauce has reduced...

Tangy, saucey, moist, delicous combo.

Thanks for sharing your fun home with me, tonight, friend.  I love you!

As for the rest of you; don't just read it, do it!

Mangia Red Snapper tonight, and reconnect with a person you are honored to have in your life.  Your friend, and your tastebuds will thank you.  As for your wallet, eh, you could try the same dish out for less on the LES.

Chilean Sea Bass; Cheeee-eck!

So, my mother and I have a favorite restaurant in NYC that we frequent when she comes to visit, and see a Broadway show; a Vietnamese restaurant, "Saigon Grill".

She consistently orders the steamed whole fish. It is utterly buttery, falls apart on your tongue, and it has few ingredients, adding to the beauty and simplicity of the dish. It is covered in extremely thin slices of green onions and steamed with asparagus and shitake mushrooms in a ginger sesame sauce.

I have always wanted to make it, so, last night, I tried.

Let me tell you, my friends, I succeeded!
My local fish man, Vishnu, at the Bravo Supermarket at 34th Avenue and 34th Street (also known as the nexus of the Queens), had a pristine sparkling white breast of Chilean Sea bass on ice when I arrived at the grocery store Sunday afternoon. It was begging, pleading for me to take it home. So, without even a second glance, I took it!

I already had sesame oil at home, along with Braggs Liquid Amino acids (my soy sauce substitute), some chicken stock, and a nugget of ginger. I had purchased a package of shitake mushrooms at the green market already, on 30th Avenue in Queens, along with some scallions, so I had everything I needed to rock that wok!

It only took me about an entire hour to clean and slice the scallions into such fine slivers as I had seen at the restaurant, but it was well worth it when they were all piled up in front of me like a pile of tiny gold filigree. I also did something out of the ordinary, for me, which I thought quite innovative.

As I do not own a real-deal steamer, I knew I needed something to prop the fish up from the bottom of the pan, so it wouldn't stick, and get the skin all messed into my sauce. So, I sliced about 1/8" thick oval slices of the skinned ginger, and laid them in a straight line across a large skillet. I do have a wok, but thought the even surface of the skillet would be more appropriate. I added a bit of chicken stock, and stirred in about a tablespoon or two of sesame oil, and turned up the flame to let it boil.

Once the boiling began, I laid the fish, skin down, on the ginger, and let that sucker steam. I continued basting the fish, adding the white parts of the green onion, and saving the green parts for garnish. Who am I kidding? I added a bunch of the green, too... there is just so much more of it!

I continued this until the fish was pretty cooked through; since it is white, it only looks a bit flakier, so it is hard to tell, compared to salmon, which I am much more familiar with.

Then, much to my unskilled hands surprise, I lifted the entire fish off of the ginger, and placed it, flesh down, on a platter; completely whole! Go me! I gently rolled back the skin with a spatula, and threw it away. After removing the ginger slices, I placed four whole shitakes down in the same line in the pan, and filled the rest of the pan with the sliced shitakes. Then, not so skillfully, attempted to place the fish back on top of the shitakes, breaking it in half! DOH! Oh well, I never claimed to be an elegant chef, I just love to cook!

Next, I chopped a couple slices of the ginger, and put them back in with the shitakes. I continued "steaming" the bass, adding a bit more stock, and sesame oil, and very lightly sprinkling the fish with Braggs Liquid Amino Acids. Instant yum.

Once I thought the fish was cooked (I really had no idea, I just know that I don't like over cooked fish, and I would even be willing to eat it raw), I sprinkled the top of the fish with the rest of the green parts of the scallion slivers, turned off the heat, and put a lid over it. A few seconds later (it could only have been a few, due to my extreme lack of patience), I removed the lid, and scooped up my freshly steamed Chilean Sea Bass and plated it in its entirety. Well, technically in two parts, but who’s counting, right?

One of the main reasons I adore cooking at home so much, is because the portions are so much larger! The really fun part about this dish is that the fish is so buttery tasting, and now I get to eat it for days to come! Dinner for the week at the cost of less than one portion at a restaurant, and of something I would order out! NOW THAT IS GRATIFYING!

I am a genius! I mastered Chilean Sea Bass with no recipe, no help, and no clue other than tasting and smelling a dish at Saigon Grill, which, by the way, still makes the most amazing everything. Most notably, the steamed spinach dumplings, and Curry Bo (beef), and Curry Ga (pork) are fantastic. These meats are each sautéed with parallelograms of eggplant, peppers, garlic, crunchy string beans, and onion, and served with amazing rice pancake, in a slightly spicy, creamy, amazing curry sauce. Never mind their noodles and soups, and peanut beef satay kebabs over noodles! MMMMMMMMMMMM! Everything has this sweet tangy sauce, and cucumbers with bean sprouts and cilantro as a garnish. I eat every last bite! Phenomenal!

You have to go!
You have to try to Steam a Chilean Sea Bass for yourself! It literally tastes like butter! I don't even understand! It's fish, but it tastes like butter! What???!!!!
It is so amazing!
Mangia!