Fusion cooking blended cuisines

What do you get when you cross hot Indian food with the English love of tomatoes and all things creamy? Chicken Tikka Masala is a famous combination of chicken tikka and masala. Chicken tikka is a marinated piece of meat cooked in a tandoor, an Indian oven made of clay and coal-fired. Masala is gravy commonly made out of some kind of tomato gravy or puree with cream and various Indian spices. It is technically a mild curry dish, though the addition of sometimes large amounts of tartrazine causes the dish to often look orange. In other recipes, it can look anything from red to orange to green.

Chicken Tikka Masala is possibly the most popular Indian dish in the world, and has arguably replaced tandoori chicken as the flagship of Indian food, including on the subcontinent itself; it even has a musical written singing its praises. In the United Kingdom alone, Marks & Spencer, the famous English retailer, claims to sell 18 tons a week of the chicken in Tikka Masala Sandwiches, while 23 million servings a year are sold at Indian restaurants. Sainsbury’s, another retailer, sells 1.6 million dishes every year, and stocks 16 different products containing what is affectionately known as CTM.10 tons a day are manufactured by Noon Products to later be sold at supermarkets.

The chicken, though widely considered an Indian dish, does not hail from India. Kitchens from London to Glasgow claim to have originated the dish, which was first seen in the late 1960s. According to urban legend, the dish was created by a Bangladeshi chef in Britain when he served chicken tandoor to an Englishman only to be asked, “where’s my gravy?” The result? A mixture of cream of tomato soup and spices, which he called masala. And like that, chicken tikka masala was born, an early example of what we would now call fusion cooking. It is now so popular that British politician and Foreign Secretary Robin Cook once described it as, “a true British national dish,” citing its combination of authentic Indian cooking with the British desire to have their meat served with gravy.

What goes into a chicken tikka masala? Well, a 1998 survey indicated that of 48 versions, the only common ingredient was chicken. A common recipe includes chicken marinated overnight in yogurt, ginger, garlic, cardamom powder, cumin, white pepper, and other spices. The chicken is cooked briefly in the hot tandoor, and is then served with a sauce made of tomato, ginger, garlic, cream, green and red pepper, and an assortment of spices. The sauce is poured over the chicken after it is cooked. In contrast to tandoori chicken, on which it is based, the taste is mild and creamy, rather than spicy.

Is chicken tikka masala an English or an Indian dish? The answer is unclear, as it has been adopted so readily that it is served in almost every Indian restaurant, an indication that Indians have accepted it as their own. Several English firms now specialize in exporting the dish back to India. Whatever its origins, however, it is now enjoyed by millions each year.

Chocolate is great

It seems that everyone likes chocolate, it has an effect that everyone likes, and a taste the no one ever forgets. There is a chocolate lover in all of us. Everyone has their own favorite flavor of chocolate. For some, their favorite flavor is very sweet. Others desire a more dark and bitter taste. Some people crave white chocolate. It doesn’t matter what your chocolate taste are, there is a chocolate out there perfect for you. The aroma of chocolate tantalizes taste buds, and the creamy melt-in-your mouth of sweet chocolate can make a chocolate lover’s day.

Chocolate is a wonderful thing to give to someone you love, there are chocolate gifts for someone. On special days, anniversaries and Valentine’s day, you can show that special someone how special they really are with a chocolate shaped hearts or roses. Birthdays can be celebrated with an extravagant chocolate cake. Anniversaries can be celebrated with more romantic chocolate gifts. Chocolate gifts are a perfect way to tell some one how much you care.

Some businesses choose to promote themselves by giving away chocolate gifts. Today, some chocolate bars can be made that are imprinted with your business card and you can give your associates a very sweet treat. Chocolate is even molded and packaged as a CD, or other shapes that you can create for your prospective clients. That too is a very memorable chocolate gift.

Chocolate gifts are given in all shapes and sizes. The imagination is the limit and the possibilities are endless in the ways you can shape chocolate and tell someone they are special. From Valentine’s Day hearts and roses to Easter rabbits and chickens to Christmas trees and gifts, every occasion can be celebrated with chocolate. Chocolate gifts are used to celebrate weddings with molder chocolate rings. Baby showers can be celebrated with chocolate pacifiers. Pretzels are coated with chocolate. Caramels are surrounded by it. Chocolate comes in every shape and size.

The great thing about chocolate is the variety. If you're looking for gift baskets you can find chocolate gift baskets with white, milk or dark chocolate. No matter what your preference is, you will certainly spot it online. It's time to ditch the insecurities that go along with all those bogus gifts you spend loads of time picking out, but aren't even certain if the receiver will like them. You need chocolate gift baskets. These tasty, yet fun gifts work for virtually anyone. If you're not sure where to browse for fine chocolate gift baskets, pop open Google and punch in a few key words. You will be swimming through vast selections of chocolate gift baskets in no time at all. But, you have to be careful, or you will end up wanting them all for yourself.

Because of the huge diversity and choice you can decide not only what shape you want your chocolate gift to be, but also what flavor, and sometimes even color. Chocolate candies are produced world wide. Imported chocolates may be one way to please a chocolate gourmet. Also, chocolate may be flavored with nuts, fruits, or other flavorings.

Today, some even say that chocolate has some medical benefits. While this is really great news for chocolate lovers, I guess we will all keep eating chocolate with or without the health benefits involved… eat chocolate and enjoy!.

The legend of coffee

One of the most interesting stories in the world is the history of that amazing drink that we call now coffee. OK, coffee is varied and interesting, involving chance occurrences, political intrigue, and the pursuit of wealth and power.

According to one legend (no idea is the legend is real or not), the great effect of coffee beans was noticed by a smart sheep herder from Caffa, in Ethiopia named Kaldi as he was watching his sheep. He noticed that his sheep became happy and very active after eating the red fruits of this unusual plant, the fruits look like red "cherries" . Kaldi, the shepherd soon realized that it was the bright red cherries on the plant that were causing the funny euphoria and after trying the cherries himself, he learned about the great effect .

So what Kabi this next? You bet, Kabi as a good network marketing guy, Kaldi dutifully reported his findings to the his community and after a few tries the monks decided to drink water with berries so they could be awake for longer hours of praying. So you can say that the first use of coffee was mainly religious. Pretty funny isnt'? But obviously keeping the secret was pretty difficult and the word spread, the rumor about coffee reached the Arabian Peninsula, and you pet, coffee was born.

I know, believing in this legend is pretty nice, but some top historians believe something different, they think that the first beans of coffee where brought to Ethiopia (where the legend started) by ships from Yemen, where it existed since the 6th century. Then coffee became world famous once it arrived to key places in that time, Cairo and Mecca.

I love the legends about the origin of things, and in this case, I love the legend of the origin of Mocha mainly because I'm a coffee lover, but the best one so far is the origin of how the name of mocha or coffee was created.

The story goes that Arabian was sent to the desert with his followers to die of starvation (not very nice). Well, the Arabian was so desperate that he had his friends boil and eat the fruit from an unknown plant. (yes, you guess it already, didn't you? Coffee) Not only this fruit save the exiles, but their survival was taken as a religious sign by the residents of close by town, Mocha.

The plant and its beverage were named Mocha to honor this event. So every time you order a Mocha , think of this. Nice story isn't?

The ironic thing of the history of coffee is that the plant grew naturally in Ethiopia, but once transplanted in Arabia the Arabic business men took control and make a good profit from the coffee idea, but it took a long time for a country to adapt it as a proper drink. And that was until the Turks started drinking coffee in their everyday life, often adding spices such as clove, cinnamon, cardamom and anise to the brew. That's why we have Turkish coffee !

John reese s top traffic secrets

Track all sources of traffic generation.

John Reese stresses the need to track where all traffic comes from and at what cost. It is crucial to know exactly how many sales, newsletter sign-ups, or other leads your particular marketing campaigns generating. This enables you to work smarter and not harder. By tracking all traffic to your site you can make twice as much while working fifty percent less.

Content is King

On the internet, people are searching for one thing....... Content! Load your website with as much content as possible. Then, continuously add content. Search engines love information and they will love your site if you've got lots of it. There's plenty of free content for the taking on the internet. You can load up your site with articles from article directories like ezinearticles. com. Or, you could be like John and use content from the public domain. Or, you can use content that is in the creative commons. This type is now easier than ever to find now that Yahoo and others have come out with a search engine designed specifically for content that is in the creative commons.

An affiliate program is critical to maximum traffic and sales. Lots of internet marketers don't take advantage of this powerful traffic-generating technique. An affiliate program allows you to have your own personal salesman spread all over the web. The best part about it is that there is absolutely no risk involved but tons of traffic and sales to gain. Your website simply cannot grow to its full potential without an effective affiliate program.

Banner Ads

John Reese advocates the use of banner ads during a time when they are largely an untapped marketing source. Banner ads are one of the most overlooked sources of targeted traffic online.

Also, banner ads are now one of the cheapest sources of targeted traffic. In the late 1990's during the dot-com boom, people were selling banner ads for $40 and $50 CPM. Then the dot-com bubble hit and these rates hit the floor. You can now buy banner ads dirt cheap, at $1 to $1.50 CPM. This is $1 for 1,000 banner impressions. The key here is to find the perfect place to advertise that will send targeted, willing to buy customers to your site.

Create viral reports that can quickly spread around the internet. This method works best when you have an affiliate program. Allow others to brand your report in order to encourage its distribution.

A quality free report can be a powerful promoter when passed around the internet. This same phenomenon can occur when you submit your articles to article directories and popular newsletters.

Take advantage of your virtual real estate.

Take advantage of the different parts of your website. Don't let any of your web pages go to waste. You can do this by adding a link to another one of your web sites or pages on your thank-you or sales confirmation pages. If you have articles on your site, place links to related articles on the bottom of the page. The longer you keep a visitor at your web site, the more valuable they become.

It is very important to funnel traffic from within the multiple sites you may have.

Continually seek out other web sites to link to you. Now, we're not just talking about any kind of link here, but powerful, traffic-generating links from respected sites. Here are some quick suggestions:

Send a related web site an article that you have written and allow them to display it on their website with a resource box at the end. Offer to exchange articles and tell them about the benefits of doing so.

Allow multiple, related web sites to distribute your free e-book or report. All web masters are looking to add value to their web site, why not make it easy for them.

There are unlimited possibilities, be creative!

Online group participation can produce a no-cost stream of traffic and sales.

Get involved in email discussion lists, online groups and forums that are related to your target market. Becoming involved in discussions makes you very credible. Traffic from forums can produce a much higher sales conversion rate.

This method can produce quite a bit of sales for you just by helping others out. Not to mention, you'll learn a lot along the way.

Does the american government see its citizens as its children

In Americas 230 year history the government seems to have forgotten that there job is to run the government as the people see as best and not the government telling the people what is best for them.

The most recent example is the Internet gambling Ban signed into law last week by President Bush. The bill makes it illegal for banks and credit card companies to transfer money to casinos for the purpose of wagering on sports or games of chance, like roulette, blackjack and poker.

These games are harmlessly enjoyed regularly by millions of Americans everyday, but some people become addicted to these games so the government is telling all of its citizens that no one is allowed to play these games in an online casino.

This is not the first case of the government going against the wishes of the people, in the early 1900’s the government decided that the consumption of Alcohol should be banned, because some people were developing health and mental problems related to drinking too much. So rather then educating the people on the ill effects of prolonged Alcohol abuse the American government banned Alcohol.

But instead of reducing the consumption of Alcoholic beverages it increased, and because the government was not allowing the production or importing of Alcohol, organized grime got into the moonshine business, and eventually the Government saw the error of their decision and repealed the law.

Another great example of a failed policy to protect the people is the war on drugs that the government has been aging since the early 1980’s Billions of tax dollars a year goes into the war on drugs, but what are the results?

The price of drugs has risen, and to support their habits many drug addicts have had to commit acts of robbery and murder to get their drugs.

The American prisons are packed full of people whose only crime was possession of these illegal drugs.

Instead of being an industry that is regulated and controlled you have people selling these drugs to kids in school playgrounds, and shooting each other to protect their territory.

Had the government decided not to criminalize drugs but make it a heavily controlled industry, they could use the tax money for social programs like schools ad to give Americans universal health care.

Please do not misunderstand me I am not in favor for legalizing hard drugs, but the current system is not working at all, but I am all in favor for legalizing online casino gambling.

If I choose to play some hands of blackjack or poker from the comfort of my home what rights does the government have to tell me not to, and what sense does it make that I can not play in a casino over the internet, but I can drive down the street to the local casino and play there.

To enforce this ban millions if not billions of dollars of software and computer hardware will be needed to monitor all of the banks transactions and that money will come from taxes instead of the government taxing online casinos or even having all the online casinos government controlled then they get all the profits to be used to improve the lives of the American citizens, millions of which are bellow the poverty line if not homeless.

The American government needs to start re-thinking its policy of treating its citizens like small children, or the American people need to demand a new government.

Yixing chinese teapot the original teapot revealed

The art of drinking and serving tea, which many call as “Chinese tea ceremony” plays a very vital role in China. In fact, the ritual of preparing tea has held a special place in the hearts and minds of the Chinese. Although the ceremony emphasizes the tea, the overall style of tea drinking is still of great importance. Chinese teapots and tea cups are highly needed and each piece plays a role distinct from the other.

Speaking of Chinese teapots, I guess nothing is more suitable for a wonderful tea experience than the original Chinese teapot – the Yixing. Usually pronounced “E-ching”, these collectible pots are so charming and can be starkly simple with designs that are thousands of years old. Many people even claimed that these teapots are whimsical, being shaped like lotus flowers and with Buddhas and pre-Majolica subjects like vegetables, fruits or animals.

The contemporary Yixing Chinese teapots come in different shapes. The most common shapes are chairs, wheelbarrows, and other unusual styles that never fail to bring smile to one’s face.

What’s interesting to know about Yixing teapots is that its primary importance lies in its special, red clay, which is only found in the Yunnan province of mainland China. As noted, this Chinese teapot is porous and absorbs odors easily. It is even unglazed. I think this is the main reason that people are suggested to only use one variety of tea in the pot. But, after a time, the Yixing teapot will take on the character of your favorite Chinese tea.

The Yixing Chinese teapots are now everywhere and I think this is due to their “collectibility”. However, it is somewhat critical to deal with a vendor who really knows their merchandise to avoid machine-made Chinese teapots or perhaps poorly made knockoffs of traditional shapes. Like ay other product, a finely made Yixing teapot holds the heat longer and will pour better.

Now, if you are thinking of buying a Yixing Chinese teapot, then you should read on for I have mentioned below few qualities that a finely-made Yixing teapot should possess:

1.The cap of the pot must be firm and should not move around easily.

2.The body must not feel grainy.

3.The knob on the cap must be in sync with the rest of the body. It must be ergonomic.

4.It should be able to hold substantial water.

5.The Chinese teapot which is artistic and valuable usually but not always contains enough tea to serve 2 to 3 persons and not masses.

6.When water is poured out of the teapot, it should come out in a beautiful stream.

7.The handle should enable one to handle the teapot firmly.

8.Look for Chinese teapots with net on the mouth to catch unwanted tea leaves.

9.The hardness of the body should be just right.

10.The color should not be dyed.

11.The shape should be flowing and there should not be awkward proportions.

12.The pot should have unusual shapes for it indicate craftsmanship.

13.A good Chinese teapot should be made of purple clay or zhu in clay.

14.The bottom of the teapot must have a name of the artist engraved onto it.

15.Good Chinese teapots tend to have skin that feel brittle. Its walls are thinner than the inferior teapots.

Just note that Yixing Chinese teapots possessing the qualities I have mentioned above can be very expensive, so you may want to experiment first with one of the machine-made ones. If, however, you just want to buy these pots for their aesthetic appeal, then buy what really attracts you.