:rofl:
Eh, why? They're not speaking Spanish in Japan? :P :bonk:
If they can get the recipes right as well as quality ingredients, it's not so bad. (Which is usually not the case here) You can't beat cute Japanese waitresses tho. :beaten:
tabana wrote::rofl:
You can't beat cute Japanese waitresses tho. :beaten:
Mochiron :)
I think I mentioned it before, the last time I went to the local teppinyaki place, the chef we had (and the waitresses) was Chinese... nothing against him, but I was disappointed he wasn't Japanese because I wanted to try out my Japanese :beaten:
There's actually not a very large Japanese population in Australia at all. It's much higher in places like California and Hawaii. And there's even fewer in the area I live.
bmwracer wrote:
The owner/sushi chefs (mom and pop) are Japanese as are the waitresses, but the cook in the back is Hispanic... He's been there for as long as the place has been open...
Heheh, I have to admit Hispanics overall are great cook, and while is a stereotype half the time they Mexicans. Hehe, you see them a lot here in Greek restaurants, Brazilian, and well Japanese just as you mentioned. I've been with my Japanese friend to one in the city and he said the guy cooks better than most Japanese chef he seen. So that's something to be proud off :) Now on the other hand, I would love to see a Japanese chef doing Hispanic food, that would make my day (heck the whole week) hehe. :crazy:
TaintedWisdom wrote:Heheh, I have to admit Hispanics overall are great cook, and while is a stereotype half the time they Mexicans. Hehe, you see them a lot here in Greek restaurants, Brazilian, and well Japanese just as you mentioned. I've been with my Japanese friend to one in the city and he said the guy cooks better than most Japanese chef he seen. So that's something to be proud off :) Now on the other hand, I would love to see a Japanese chef doing Hispanic food, that would make my day (heck the whole week) hehe. :crazy:
Hmm, there was a story last year about a Hispanic guy in L.A. training to be a sushi chef..... :victory:
TaintedWisdom wrote:... Now on the other hand, I would love to see a Japanese chef doing Hispanic food, that would make my day (heck the whole week) hehe. :crazy:
I saw a drama on that. It was a Mexican restaurant. I can't remember the title tho.
mandarin fruit? as in tiny oranges? :hehe:
the pic of that strawberry something made my stomach growl...it's saying something like..."You want a piece of me?" :hehe:
Here's some good and bad news for chocoholics: Dark chocolate seems to lower blood pressure, but it requires an amount less than two Hershey's Kisses to do it, a small study suggests. The new research from Germany adds to mounting evidence linking dark chocolate with health benefits, but it's the first to suggest that just a tiny amount may suffice.
Volunteers for the study ate just over 6 grams of dark chocolate daily for almost five months \ one square from a German chocolate bar called Ritter Sport, equal to about 1 1/2 Hershey's Kisses. People who ate that amount ended up with lower blood pressure readings than those who ate white chocolate.
University of Cologne researcher Dr. Dirk Taubert, the study's lead author, said the blood pressure reductions with dark chocolate were small but still substantial enough to potentially reduce cardiovascular disease risks, although study volunteers weren't followed long enough to measure that effect.
The research involved just 44 people aged 56 through 73, but the results echo other small studies of cocoa-containing foods. Cocoa contains flavanols, plant-based compounds that also are credited with giving red wine its heart-healthy benefits.
One problem is chocolate bars containing cocoa tend to have lots of calories, so Taubert and his colleagues tested small amounts containing just 30 calories each.
The study appears in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association. It was funded by University Hospital in Cologne.
The results are interesting but need to be duplicated in larger, more ethnically diverse populations, said Dr. Laura Svetkey, director of Duke University's Hypertension Center.
She stressed that the study results should not be viewed as license to gorge on chocolate.
"I would be as happy as the next person if I got to eat more chocolate," she said, but cautioned that weight gain from eating large amounts of dark chocolate would counteract any benefits on blood pressure.
Study participants were otherwise healthy and mostly normal-weight German adults with mild high blood pressure or pre-hypertension, which includes readings between 120 over 80 and 139 over 89.
Average blood pressure at the start was about 147 over 86.
Every day for 18 weeks, the volunteers were instructed to eat one-square portions of a 16-square Ritter Sport bar, or a similar portion of white chocolate. White chocolate doesn't contain cocoa.
Systolic blood pressure, the top number, fell an average of nearly three points and diastolic dropped almost two points in the dark chocolate group, compared with no change in blood pressure readings in the white chocolate group.
Tests suggested that steady exposure to dark chocolate prompted chemical changes that helped dilate blood vessels and regulate blood pressure, the researchers said.
Participants were told not to eat other cocoa-containing products and to continue regular eating habits and activity levels. They also kept food diaries so researchers could see if other foods might have influenced the results.
But, said Taubert, "It is very unlikely that other factors may explain the blood pressure reduction."
Dr. Lawrence Appel of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine said the most proven non-drug methods for lowering blood pressure are losing weight and eating less salt. Eating dark chocolate might help if combined with those two, he said.
For most people, "the lower your blood pressure, the better you are. So if you can get it lower from different strategies that's good for the long term," Appel said,
Yep, I read about this on the journal of the american medical association. At our college we actually helped with a dark chocolate health benefit research related to it's anti oxidants effects.(free radical removal, which translate to lower cancer risk and premature aging)
Similar to a cup of wine a day, a piece of dark chocolate has been shown to have amazing health benefits. Is still a bit early to pin point exactly the mechanism behind it but it sure is great specially since the ONLY chocolate I eat since I remember buying my own chocolate is DARK. I totally cannot eat(and I really mean it) white or milk chocolate(not to mention it also contains more fat due to the milk, and also more sugar). I'm a total fan of the bitter dark chocolate taste, and now with the recent discoveries, I'm more happy to eat it hahah.
the keyword here is "dark" the other chocolates have no health benefits AT ALL. If anything they unhealthy due to the increase fat which they contain.
If any of you interested, Japanese people make some AMAZING DARK chocolate. (and trust me I have tried over 300+ different chocolate namebrands from across the globe ranging from France to Latin America)
I go almost every week to Jasmart(Japanese food market here in the city) and buy. Now if you not a dark chocolate fan due to it's bitter taste (any dark chocolate lover will tell ya the bitter stuff is the good stuff hehe) but still want to get some of those healthy benefits, you could try Men's Dark Chocolate Pocky by Glico... Is a good alternative if you never had dark chocolate before and don't want something way to bitter. However, if you can get your hands on the Morinaga one, please do, is totally my favorite.
Sorry wasn't able to find a picture of the Morinaga Koeda Dark Chocolate but I promise you I will take a picture this week for ya guys:
Yes, they buy them here in the Philippines for a very cheap price and repack them with all the works. It's a pity we can't develop such resources on our own...that i guess expains why Japan is so progressive and us...well, still a third world country. :shakehead:
![[image]](http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/5201/ichigo1ny5.jpg){kind=link}
![[image]](http://www.alde.com/anime/pocky1.jpg){kind=link}
![[image]](http://www.asianfoodgrocer.com/snacks/chocolatebars/120310.jpg){kind=link}