Eating , Diet and Obesity ! are these true !

I am a big fan of Freakanomics , I believe its one of the better books written on economics , which was written for a normal human being.

There is a new podcast from their Team and it talks about the Obesity and over-eating , the following were the quick pointers.

1 ) If we see any 16th or 17th century paintings, Fat was beauty , you can hardly find anyone thin.

2 ) Till 20th century in most countries (even now ) , people are not well fed

3 ) The obesity industry is one of the biggest fads of this century.

4 ) The amount of money in Diet companies, Diet Doctors is worth billions of $$.

5 ) This one was interesting , till now all the research have never proved that overweight causes Diabetes , Heart Disease.

6 ) In 2004 CDC (Center for disease control ) release a study which said around 400 thousand people are dying every year because of overweight.

7 ) After analyzing the results , and checked by experts it was finalized that it was around 20 K people (same number of people who die because of underweight ! )

8 ) Till now the amount of money that is spent on educating people has just been water on the drain !!

9 ) is it true that lean people get more , and a little chubby people get it raw ?

So to lose weight or not , is the question !!

For more information , try reading this book , Fat Politics: The Real Story Behind America’s Obesity Epidemic,

NY Places to Eat : My Review

I am always a good eater :) , obviously I am a vegetarian and that always has its own restriction wherever I go.

Currently I am a big fan of Food Network and each and every show has its own uniqueness to it and I am able to learn a lot of stuff.

There are two programs which I watch with a lot of interest

1 ) Best Places to Eat (http://www.foodnetwork.com/the-best-thing-i-ever-ate/index.html)

2 ) The Secret Life of

Best Places to eat , interviews a bunch of Chefs and it asks them what they liked to eat , and in which restaurant.

The program talks to the chief Chef of the restaurants and ask how the dish is made and how that dish is so unique.

There are lot of dishes which are specified , and my target to try all of them , but I had my own conditions for that. The conditions are like follows

1 ) Should be in tri-state Area. (NY, NJ and PA )

2 ) Should be Vegetarian items only.

My list has an exhaustive list , but I wanted to give my take on them. Eventhough they are the best chefs , afterall its their opinion. I like to view my opinion and check if it matches with theirs.

Apart from all this , you can also check for famous food locations across your area by going to the site (http://www.famousfoodfinder.com/ ).

I think I have given much of an intro , so without further adieu , here is my first food thought.

If you know me , one thing you will know is I love potatoes and believe that potatoes are heaven sent , its so versatile and anyone can hardly screw it up while cooking, either mashing , frying , toasting or just boiling it.

So basically when I watched a program which talked about a restaurant called Pommes Frites (http://www.pommesfrites.ws/) , I obviously wanted to go there.

Location : 123 2nd Ave. New York, NY 10003

Tel. 212-674-1234

Closest Subway : 8th Street and walk around 4 blocks to 2nd Avenue.

Review :

This is a very small eating place , which anyone can miss it if they walk by fast. This place is surrounded by a tons of Dairy places , so if you go there first , you may miss this place also.

There is always a long line in front of the shop and as soon as you enter you see the Spuds smell (which makes you hungry) .

The Staff are very helpful , and you can try a lot of sauces before the ones you like. I tasted atleast 4 flavors , before deciding on the Wasabi , Mango and a spicy sauce with Tomatoes and black pepper. They give you a free sauce also.

Almost all sauces have Mayo in them , I would prefer them without them. They have Jalapeno as a side , why cant we have a sauce made of it and even better Habenaro Sauce.

Pros :

Very good Taste.

Varities of Sauces.
Cheap eats.

The Cones in which they give you the Fries , are really cool. They are nicely shaped and will hold in a lot of fries and even you put a sauce in it , it melts in without disturbing the flavor.

Cons :

Eventhough there are 2 people there, the service is pretty slow.

The Place is so small that there are only two tables and if you are a tall person , you have to sit

uncomfortably.

Price Range : $5 to $10

Bottom Line :

Small eatery with awesome fries (dont call them French fries , they are belgian !! ) , but remember the quantity is so much that you will be overwhelmed by them.

Black Channa with Capsicum + Coconut

My mom always made this , but I tried to add some flavors to make it my own taste.

This is recipe

• Black channa : 2 cup , Immerse in water for 8 hrs.
• Water should cover the channa + a little more.
• Add an hint of HING(Asofedita)
• Coconut Powder : 1 cup
• Green Chillies : 7 cut into small slices.
• Capsicum : 1 (Cut into small pieces)
• Curry Leaves.
  

This is a tip which I got from Alton Brown of Good Eats. Whenever we use any dhal , other than toor, masoor or any other small dhal we don't need to immerse in water for long while. In a bigger dhal there is more space for water to enter its pores and make it soft.
After 8 hrs, most of the water will be absorbed. Keep it in the Pressure cooker and wait for 4 whistles.

Question : One thing I don't understand why most of the cooking shows don't use Pressure cooker, inspite of the fact that KFC made their success only after Pressure cooker.
Answers welcome.

• Wait for the cooker to cool down.
• Filter the extra water.
• Take a clean Tava in the stove ( Make sure you turn on the stove)
• Once the tava is hot , Add EVOO(as Rachel Ray says it, Extra Virgin Olive Oil).
• Once the oil gets heated , add Urad dhal , Jeera , and wait for Urad dhal to become red
• Add Mustard seeds and allow it to sputter.
• Add the green chilies and wait for two minutes
• Add the Capsicum
• Add the Channa

Make sure the capsicum is not completly cooked, the fresher capsicum the better.
Just ensure that this doesn't stick and keep on turning the channa.
This is to ensure that everything is mixed properly.

• Add the coconut and curry leaves.

Curry leaves gives us the flavor and you can add a little lemon juice for more flavor.