A Day in Bali Garden

Sometimes perfection comes in the shape of something familiar. The Italians have given the world iconic dishes, Pizza, Pasta and Gelato to name a few. When talking about Italian cuisine, it always focuses on using the best ingredients in the area and bringing out the flavors that characterize the region. Everybody, unless they have been living under a huge rock in the middle of nowhere, has heard of Spaghetti Bolognese, a pasta dish with beef ragù cooked in tomato sauce. Ironically, in Italy, Bolognese sauce is served with tagliatelle, a wider type of pasta, so when travelling to Italy do not expect to have spaghetti with your Bolognese. The sauce originated from the city of Bologna, hence the name. It is a city located in the north of Italy close to the mountains. The earliest documentation of a meat-sauce (ragù) was back in the 18th century in the city of Imola, not far from Bologna in a cookbook by Pellegrino Artusi. The sauce was specifically named “Bolognese”. Cooking Bologne...

Our body is our temple and we should make a conscious effort to take care of our body. Regular exercise and a healthy diet are the popular measures taken by most people. Massage and reflexology are now also seen as ways to take care of our bodies. In modern western society, there are skeptics who see massage therapy only as a form of leisure but in the medical field, since 1970 in the US, massage therapy has been used to help patients to relieve pain.  There are many types of massage therapy that give different benefits to the body. Swedish massage, Thai massages and Reflexology are the most well known therapies in the world. Reflexology is a style of massage that works mostly on the feet and hands. It is believed that the nerves on the bottom of our feet and in our palms connect to various parts of our inner works. It involves application of pressure to specific points.  For example, the toes and feet indicate your neck and head area, while the heel area connects with ...

There is always room for dessert! The ongoing trend is all about healthy eating and cutting down added sugar but once in a while, indulgence is necessary. Every country has their own type of dessert, cakes, flan, pie, mousse, you name it. From the creamy Italian gelato to the sweet and refreshing Indonesian Es Campur. While most Western style desserts are heavily based on butter, sugar and eggs, Indonesian desserts mostly have a delicate balance of sweet and savory. Coconut is used in every way possible, coconut flakes, coconut milk, coconut sugar, all things coconut. Sticky rice, rice flour, mung bean flour, sweet potato and cassava are commonly used as star ingredients. One of the most popular desserts in Bali is Bubur Injin or Black Sticky Rice Pudding. This dish is part of a wide range of Balinese traditional desserts usually sold in traditional markets and a regular staple on any Balinese Buffet in most hotels.  Bubur Injin is made from black sticky rice...

You have seen it in most every Chinese Restaurant, small savory and sweet items steamed or fried placed in bamboo baskets. What is actually dim sum? Dim sum originated with the Cantonese in southern China. The root of dim sum is yum cha, a Cantonese word which literally means "drink tea". Travelers would stop by for snacks at the small tea houses along the streets. The province of Guan Dong is the most famous province that still holds on to yum cha tradition. In Hong Kong and Guan Dong, food is one of the main part of the community. Streets are packed with food vendors and 24 hours restaurants are not a rare sight. Yum cha brunch is a common weekend activity where friends and family gather round at a round table and enjoy steamed or friend Dim sum. On early days, drinking hot tea during a meal was thought as a contributing factor to weight gain but as it was proved to be otherwise, many vendors started to create more variations of dim sum. In a typical Dim Sum m...