Kake2Kale – Behind The Blog

May 7, 2015May 20, 2015 / Kake2Kale | Culinary Travel Adventures / 1 Comment

Kake2Kale bares all…an intimate portrait…exposed…up front and personal. Don’t worry, Kale and I are keeping our clothes on. But we are coming up to our one year anniversary of Kake2Kale and Kale had the clever idea of blogging about the process of how we came up with our weekly posts. After 56 blog posts, 28 blogs with recipes, thousands of miles travelled around the world by Kale, we are pulling back the curtain so you can see the fun and all that goes on behind the photos, recipes and the stories. Our blog is a collaborative effort with Kale’s talents in photography and social media , plus the travel segments, and mine are with food and creative writing.

Kake2Kale Behind The Blog

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Pseudo French Toast

May 1, 2015May 8, 2015 / Kake2Kale | Culinary Travel Adventures / 2 Comments

What is your earliest breakfast memory? Mine goes back to my childhood in Hong Kong when I stayed for the weekend at my grandmother’s home and shared her breakfast. She was born in Japan, hence, she served me pickled daikon, soft-boiled egg, toast, fruit and then a cup of tea with a generous amount of condensed milk. I always looked forward to those weekends. That hot cup of, beyond sweet, creamy flavourful tea still fortifies my soul when I think of it. And I still use her technique to make the perfect soft-boiled egg. I suppose I looked forward to those weekends because it was just the two of us. She really made me feel special.

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The Best Ice Cream Sandwich in the World?

April 24, 2015May 1, 2015 / Kake2Kale | Culinary Travel Adventures

Cookies are something I have a weakness for. Many moons ago, when I was entered into the Miss Chinatown beauty contest, I was about 10 pounds heavier than I wanted to be, so I went on a 5-day-liquids-only fast. On day 4 of this fast, a friend left a pear in my sight and I felt like Eve beholding the forbidden fruit. I held the pear in my hands as if it was a new-born baby. I brought it up to my nose and inhaled its intoxicating, heady “pearfume”. I was playing with fire! Before I knew it, I brought this devil fruit to my lips and almost sunk my teeth into its flesh….then I came to my senses. Close call! When I made it to the end of the five days, can you guess how I broke this fast? Not with a delicious juicy pear, no, it was with a Chip Ahoy cookie, and then another, and then another, until I had polished off several. It was not the proudest moment of my life. And neither was the actual pageant, but I will save that for another post.

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Feel The Beet!

April 17, 2015April 27, 2015 / Kake2Kale | Culinary Travel Adventures

Confess it, don’t you love getting free samples? Well, I most certainly do, especially when they are the latest and greatest in the health food industry. Last weekend, the Canadian Health Food Association Trade Show took place in Vancouver. I sampled all sorts of delights from chaga mushroom tea, brown rice kale chips to a salted caramel, cashew milk frozen dessert. Besides trying great food, there were talks given by doctors and health experts.

One of the speakers was Kathy Smart who is a registered nutritionist, holistic chef, named Canada’s health activist, and she was even a guest on Dr. Oz. Kathy had clients who wanted to slim down, so she tested a theory on them which she claims worked time and time again. Her theory is that a plant-based protein works better for apple-shaped women and meat based protein is best for pear-shaped women. Whether you’re wanting to trim down or not, here is a tip about how much protein to eat. Take your weight in pounds and divide it in half, then this is the number in grams that you should be eating a day. So let’s say you weigh 140 lbs., then you should be eating 70 grams of protein per day.

Kathy Smart also talked about her list of top healthy foods. Can you guess which vegetable she thinks should be crowned vegetable of 2015? BEETS! This superfood is a powerhouse of nutrients with some not readily found in other vegetables/fruits. As an example, beets have a high concentration of betalains (antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and detoxifying). They also contain vitamin C, magnesium, iron, folate, manganese, nitrate and potassium. This purple vegetable offers a huge range health benefits including: warding off cancer, supporting the digestive tract, boosting the immune system and energy, lowering blood pressure, helping arthritic pain, preventing cardiovascular disease, stroke and dementia. In China when women are menstruating they eat a lot of beets to replenish their iron levels. Don’t throw out the beet greens (tops of the beets), as they have a good dose of lutein, an antioxidant that supports eye health. I cook them like I would spinach or swiss chard. So, if you didn’t believe in the benefits of beets before, then it’s time to embrace and feel the beet!