My Menu

We have a family gathering last night to celebrate the birthday of my husband. The following is the menu of the Chinese dinner I prepared for five persons.

Birthday Dinner Menu

Shark’s Fin with Shredded Chicken and Bamboo Fungus Soup

Ah Yat Abalone

Braised Lobster with Superior Broth

Stewed Duck Legs with Suey Choy

Braised Chicken with Cloud Ear Fungus and Onion

Stir-fried Escargot with XO Sauce

Stir-fried Shrimp with Mushroom on Steamed Egg Tofu

Dessert

Black Forest Birthday Cake

Low-Carb, Higher-Fat Diets Add No Arterial Health Risks to Obese People Seeking to Lose Weight

Overweight and obese people looking to drop some pounds and considering one of the popular low-carbohydrate diets, along with moderate exercise, need not worry that the higher proportion of fat in such a program compared with a low-fat, high-carb diet may harm their arteries, suggests a new study by heart and vascular researchers at Johns Hopkins.

“Overweight and obese people appear to really have options when choosing a weight-loss program, including a low-carb diet, and even if it means eating more fat,” says the studies’ lead investigator exercise physiologist Kerry Stewart, EdD.

Stewart, a professor of medicine and director of clinical and research exercise physiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and its Heart and Vascular Institute, says his team’s latest analysis is believed to be the first direct comparison of either kind of diet on the effects to vascular health, using the real-life context of 46 people trying to lose weight through diet and moderate exercise. The research was prompted by concerns from people who wanted to include one of the low-carb, high-fat diets, such as Atkins, South Beach and Zone, as part of their weight-loss program, but were wary of the diets’ higher fat content.

Read more ….

A Spicy Meatless Lentil Dish

Ingredients

2 plum tomatoes
1 large sweet potato, peeled
2 tsp hot curry powder
2 tsp cumin seeds or 1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
2 cups vegetable broth
1 large cauliflower, cut into florets
19-oz can lentils, drained and rinsed
1 cup coarsely chopped cilantro

Method

1. Chop tomatoes and sweet potato. Then coat a large, wide saucepan with vegetable oil and set over medium heat. Add curry and cumin seeds. Stir until fragrant, about 1 minute.
2. Add tomatoes and stir often until they start to break down, 4 to 6 minutes. Stir in peanut butter and broth. Bring to a boil, then add sweet potato. Cover and reduce heat. Boil gently, stirring often, until almost soft, about 10 minutes. Then stir in cauliflower and lentils. When it returns to a boil, cover and stir often until cauliflower is as tender as you like, 5 to 10 minutes.
3. Stir in cilantro. Serve hot.

Nutrition information for each of 4 servings

337 calories, 10 g fat, 50 g carbohydrates, 13 g fibre, 855 mg sodium, 18 g protein

Source: Chatelaine