Why buy from the store when you can make your own fresh muffins?

1 cup milk 2 tablespoons sugar 1 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoon margarine 1 envelope active dry yeast 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour 3 1/2 cups (about) all-purpose flour Cornmeal

Scald the milk and stir in the sugar, salt, and margarine. Cool to warm (105 – 110 degrees F). Measure one cup of warm (same temperature) water into a large warm bowl. Sprinkle with the yeast, then stir until yeast is dissolved.

Stir in the milk mixture, then stir in the whole-wheat flour and 1 1/2 cups of the all-purpose flour. Beat with a spoon until smooth. Add enough additional flour to make a stiff dough.

Turn out onto a floured board and knead two to three minutes, or until the dough can be formed into a ball (note: dough may be sticky). Put the dough in a greased bowl, turning over to grease all sides. Cover and let rise in a warm place one hour, or until doubled in bulk.

Punch the dough down with lightly floured fingertips. Divide the dough in half. On a board heavily sprinkled with cornmeal, pat each half into a half-inch thickness. Cut with a three-inch cookie cutter and put about two inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.

Let rise in a warm place a half hour, or until doubled in bulk. Cook on a lightly greased medium-hot griddle or skillet until well-browned on both sides, about ten minutes on each side. Cool on racks. To serve, split muffins and toast. Makes about eighteen muffins.

By: Terry Morgan

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Anchovies are a small sea fish found in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. They grow to about 3 inches long. Anchovies are related to the herring. Those found in the Atlantic tend to be slightly larger than the Mediterranean variety.

In Southern Italy and Spain they are often cooked fresh. if you are visiting these areas fresh anchovies are worth looking out for in restaurants and cafes. Fresh anchovies are often served grilled like sardines. They are good for barbecues. You can also bake them in the oven.

In Italy they don’t clean the fish but it’s probably a good idea to do so unless your guests are used to eating them that way. They are served with a rich garlic and tomato sauce.

Fresh anchovies are hard to come by unless you have a good fishmonger nearby. You will most often see them in preserved form because the season is short. Anchovies can be packed in salt or olive oil. In that form they are exported all over the world. Preserved anchovies have become a vital ingredient in most Italian cooking.

When anchovies they are salted they must be cleaned and gutted as soon as they are caught. They are allowed to dry before being layered in large round tins with salt. The tins are stacked into towers which are called seasoning towers. Weights are placed on top of them. They are left like this for up to two months. During this time the fluid in the fish is forced out and replaced by salt.

Anchovies preserved in oil must be treated differently. Fresh anchovies are immersed in brine for two months. After that they are washed in more salt water, cleaned and filleted. The two tiny fillets are then packed in jars or tins of olive oil.

Both types of preserved anchovy can be bought in small tins or jars as well as loose from the delicatessen.

Anchovy paste is often used in Sicily to flavour pizza. It has a less fishy taste than anchovies preserved in either salt or olive oil. You will find anchovy paste sold in tubes. Generally speaking it is less useful than the other types of preserved anchovies.

When you use anchovies it is best to soak them for about ten minutes first to remove some of the salt. That way you get more of the flavour of fish and less of the salt taste.

Anchovies and hard boiled egg yolks mixed with a little red wine vinegar made a great sauce for bland foods. You can use this anchovy sauce on cold meat or fish.

In Venice they have a dish of fresh beans served in anchovy sauce. In Naples they like to eat linguini in anchovy sauce on Christmas Eve. You simply have to cook some garlic in oil then stir in the anchovies until they dissolve. Add a bit of pasta water and the sauce is made. Just pour it over the pasta.

Try anchovies in a simple dish like artichokes with anchovies. Steam some artichokes in about half an inch of water. When they are almost cooked remove them from the pan and add the soaked anchovies. Cook the anchovies, stirring all the time, until they have dissolved. Return the artichokes to the pan for a few minutes so that they can soak up the sauce.

Serve this as a side dish so that your guests who think they hate anchovies can try just a little. This dish will surely change their minds about anchovies. Any bad memories they might have of nasty salty litte fish on their pizzas will be forgotten. Just let them taste the authentic flavour of anchovies in Italian cooking.

By: Abhishek Agarwal

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Malaysia is situated in south east Asia and is rather unusual in that one part lies south of Thailand on the south east Asian peninsular, with Singapore at its tip. This is where the capital, Kuala Lumpur, is to be found. The other part lies across the South China Sea and forms the northern one third of the island of Borneo, surrounding the Sultanate of Brunei.

Malaysia has a mixed history which reflects in today’s cuisine.

In the 15th Century, the southwest (April to October) and northeast (October to February) monsoons brought the ships of the Arabs, Indians and Chinese who traded in spices, silk and precious stones. Many of the traders remained behind and married local women. A slow conversion to Islam began, which meant that pork was excluded from the Malay diet.

The 16th Century saw the arrival of the Portuguese, who brought chillies with them, the Dutch and the British, all of whom remained for some time to rule the country.

During the late 18th and 19th centuries, Great Britain established colonies and protectorates in the area and brought in more Indians and Chinese to work in the tin mines and rubber plantations. Many of these Asians stayed too and from all these influences, current day Malay cuisine evolved.

Originally, Malay cooking consisted of fish flavoured with shrimp paste, pepper, ginger, turmeric, lemon grass or tamarind. Rice was always a staple in this area and being a major part of Indian and Chinese food too, remained as central to the diet. Muslim Malays excluded pork and Indian Hindus excluded beef but delicate Chinese flavourings, Indian spices and herbs from South East Asian made an appearance.

Nasi means cooked rice in Malay and Nasi Goreng, that well known Indonesian dish, is cooked rice, usually fried with flavourings for breakfast. For special occasions it has a fried egg on top. But I digress, Malay Nasi dishes include Nasi Kander, much influenced by Indian cuisine and consisting of both fish and meat curry, rice and hard boiled eggs. This dish used to be bought from an itinerant salesman who carried his wares in baskets suspended from a pole over his shoulder (kinder means shoulder in an Indian dialect). A bit of everything would be placed on a banana leaf and the sauce dripped over the hard boiled eggs.

The Malays adopted some Indian recipes and in return the Indians started to add galangal, lemon grass and coconut to their food. Then came the food of the Nonyas which resulted from the marriage of Malay men to Chinese women which introduced Chinese seasonings such as star anise and salty soy sauce.

The resultant cuisine is a pleasant mix of hot and spicy with mild and perfumed.

By: Liz Canham

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Chinese cuisine has always been a worldwide favorite. No wonder Chinese cooking schools are in great demand. If a Chinese cooking school is what you are looking for, then you have plenty of choices. You can find them in most of the major cities. A simple search on the Internet could do the work for you.

You can even check out your city’s Parks and Recreation Department. This department offers many evening or weekend courses, particularly during spring and fall. There are also many local colleges or trade schools that can help you cook up a Chinese diet. Catering companies, professional Chinese cooking schools or cookbook stores also offer courses. A non-professional can choose from a host of weekend or evening classes on Chinese cooking. A local food publication can also give you a fair idea about finding the right Chinese cooking school. One can also find do-it-yourself Chinese recipes in these books, too.

While a lengthier course gives you plenty of time to learn and fine-tune your skills, a short duration course is ideally suited for someone to pick up a few tips. They are also suitable for individuals with tight schedules and cannot commit to many sessions in a week.

Chinese cooking is an ancient form of cooking. This being the case, it is always better if you were to try it hands on. Just in case you don’t feel comfortable doing so, you can try buying a Chinese cooking video and try out the delicacies.

With Chinese cooking being a traditional affair, one can find that most of the Chinese cooking schools offer a very homely atmosphere. The classes are usually small. A good Chinese cooking school would also encourage you to ask questions and have a closer look at what the instructor is preparing.

By: Kevin Stith

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Eek, the stress of it all! Last minute holiday gift ideas can be a headache if you are at a loss for ideas. The gifts you decide upon will depend on who you want them for and why. Fun and fantastic Halloween gifts for the kids or gracious Thanksgiving gifts can help determine your gift giving needs for the fall season.

One idea that can help you out of this tight spot is quality and tasty holiday food gifts. Everyone likes to eat! Creative baskets are a sure-fire gift for families, neighbors, friends, coworkers and clients. The edible delights are bites of pure deliciousness. And, they are wrapped and designed in fun and festive works of art that you can feel proud of.

Those last minute holiday gift ideas come easily with Halloween gift baskets and Thanksgiving food gift baskets. Flavorful and stylish, quality creative baskets can be delivered directly to your recipients, making your holiday shopping, wrapping and deliveries a pleasant and fast experience.

Fun and tasty last minute holiday gift ideas for Halloween are:

ghostly boo baskets and bags filled with sweets for the big or little kids in your life, gives them a night of ghostly fun. Make your own boo ghost bags with white paper lunch sacks or make them out of fabrics. Use a black marker or crayon and fabrics to create the ghostly image. Fill it with edible delights for the kids and have a great Halloween. jack o lantern containers filled to overflowing with Halloween gifts of sweet edible delights, will delight any spooky participant of Halloween night. Stuff a tee-shirt in the bottom and fill it up with edible delight the kids will love. big bags of treats and plush toys for the ghost and goblins you know are spooktacular gifts of tasty goodies. Add a soft plush toy for the kids to remember how good Halloween treated them.

Last minute holiday gift ideas for Thanksgiving are:
autumn creative baskets filled with gourmet specialty goodies of vegetable dips, crackers, café lattes and many more edible delights are gift ideas for mom and dad, grandparents, and any other friend you know or just met. fall snacks are perfect gifts when someone has made an impression on you or you want to make an impression on them. It is always nice to say thank you with gifts of good taste. gourmet Thanksgiving food gift baskets are filled with scrumptious gifts of cheeses, meats, snacks and sweet treats that can be topped off with a cup of gourmet coffee. They are gifts of good taste for those last minute gifts of the season.

If you need fun Halloween gifts or ones of thankfulness, holiday creative baskets are the gifts you are looking for. Ghoulish or gourmet, creative baskets can come to the rescue for last minute holiday gift ideas.

By: Shirley Bass

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Sweet Delights

Cooking is a very dynamic aspect of human life. This is because you can never really be a genius at the art of cooking. You can only be very good at some delicacies and you will know next to nothing in another cuisine that is alien to you. A lot of work has to be put into learning the art of cooking well.

As a beginner, you need to know that it is one step after the other step. Everyone started at some point. Your first step is learning the basics and after that, you must concentrate on putting all you learn to practice. You need not be discouraged when you make a mistake. Take consolation in the fact that there is someone that you must be better than in cooking.

At least you have started to learn but there are people who have not taken that first bold step. Did you know that even those people who are proficient cooks become beginners again at some point when they are learning to cook a new cuisine like the Chinese, Indian food or African food?

There are various reasons why people cook. Some cook because they are bored; some cook because they want to eat, which is the most common; some cook because they are forced to do it; while others cook because they are paid to do so (professional chefs).

The important thing is that you stick to the basics. As you browse through your cookery book or recipe book, be sure to familiarize yourself with the terminologies. These terminologies play a major role in the outcome of the food. Whatever term you find interesting or you don’t understand, it is advisable to check it out very well before proceeding.

By: Benjamin Stratton

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