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Red Espresso – Rooibos Tea Espresso
This came in the mail and oh yeah, its a sample for us courtesy of Red Espresso. Please note we are not paid for this blog post if that matters to any of you.
Actually there is a specific way to write the name of this unique product. It is not Red Espresso …
… it is red espresso. That is what I noticed … they made the word “red” red all the time and spelt them all in lowercases. Weird. But smart. That’s branding at its finest if you ask me.
red espresso is the world’s first espresso made of tea. It is made with Rooibos tea which is gaining popularity around the world and we had read about them before. So when red espresso asked if we would like a sample, we said sure. We were curious and wanted to see for ourselves what the fuss is all about.
What we found out was that Rooibos has all the versatility of espresso coffee. With this you could make latte, cappucino, americano, white mocha and even iced tea with apple juice. They even trademarked the red espresso names so that when you ask for these items below, it means Rooibos tea from red espresso:
- red latte
- red cappucino
- red canadiano (he he he … not Americano!)
- red symphony (is actually white mocha)
- fresh red (iced tea with apple juice)
- iced red (iced tea)
Before I continue, I want to point out that these pictures here are all mine. How did you like it? It is not exactly pro level but I am pretty pleased how they all came out.
Anyway, you can prepare a red espresso in a few ways. You could use an espresso machine, a stovetop espresso maker, a french press or even a drip coffee maker.
I don’t have an espresso machine at home. I had always wanted to buy one but Suanne kiboshed that idea because she said does not have anymore space in her kitchen. So we opted for the next best way to make this. We bought ourselves a stovetop espresso maker (above).
So I did a bit of research. Apparently the Rolls Royce of stovetop espresso makers are made by Bialetti. But Bialetti are so expensive with some fancy models costing over $100.
I found the basic one above in HomeSense. It is less than $10. Cheap but it works the same. He he he … I hope this is safe! OK we admit. We are noobs when it comes to this thingy. So, please don’t roll your eyes as I attempt to explain the basics OK?
With the stovetop espresso maker, you basically prepare your brew on top of your stove burner. The pressure from the boiling water will apply sufficient pressure to express a thick concentrated coffee from the beans. There are three sections: on the left is the boiler where the water goes. The middle part is the metal filter for the coffee (or in this case the red espresso). And on the right is the chamber where the espresso is collected.
It is a simple device. It is also the way the Italians make their espresso as I was told.
The Rooibos tea looks kind of like … More on following page. Click here to continue reading
Why Do Whites Accept Japanese and Thai Cuisine More Than Other Asian Cuisine?
About a month ago I introduce two of my very white colleagues at work the experience of eating Chinese Hot Pot at the Top Gun Hot Pot in Burnaby. In that post, I wrote about my curiosity why despite them being Canadians living in a cities (Vancouver and Toronto) with a lot of visible Asians, that they still have very little experience in enjoying authentic Asian food.
This picture sparked a discussion in a food forum. I thought it was fantastic but apparently to most this is the grossest thing they had ever seen.
Below is a comment that a reader of Chowtimes wrote in response to my question. Dyn’s comments has to be the mother of all comments for length (Thanks Dyn!). I thought it deserved to be elevated to a post on it’s own and perhaps some of you could also chip in with your two cents on this. Here is Dyn’s comments in its entirety:
I myself love every Asian cuisine I’ve tried (Japanese, Cantonese, Szechuan, Vietnamese, Korean, Shanghai, Punjabi, Pakistani, Lebanese, Syrian, South Indian…) – East and West Asian, that is. However, to answer your questions based on my own experiences and those of friends (and those I’ve tried to convince to try book-tripe!):
First, reasons why people are unnerved:
1. Media scaremongering.
There’s the recall freak-outs all the time, plus every bad comedy involving Asia inevitably has the Asian character eating something uncommon or gross to the western palette.2. Unfamiliarity.
Organ meats are classically foods of the poor, and since most Westerners have had the privilege of being relatively wealthy (and developing cheap, processed food early on), those foods are not appealing to the young. On a related note, those of us who are the children of the baby-boomers or the grandchildren or children of those who lived through the Great Depression had to hear, growing up, terror stories about organ meats and a number of other things, so that adds to the issue. Also, alot of Northern European cuisine that came over with our ancestors was very, very bland, so to many the pungent smells of Asian cuisine are as offputting to Westerners (at first) as the smell of cooking pork is to alot of Asians (I seem to recall reading that there’s a word in some Chinese dialects for the smell of boiled pork?)3. Looking Silly
Chopsticks are a bit of a learning curve, and people worry about making a fool of themselves, especially when thinking of…4. Price
it’s not immediately evident to alot of Westerners that that $20 they see is for a family to share the dish, as Western restaurants (beyond some Amish ones in the Eastern US) are not communal in nature. Most Westerners do not realize that 3 dishes for a family of 4 with rice comes to an economical $10-15 per person most of the time, and possibly much less. Those who do know this will tend to want to go in groups and might not want to look silly per #3.And now the issues that are not so much the people’s fault:
5. Translations
It can be a bit frightening to have a poorly-translated or badly translated menu, especially for would-be new folks. To their credit, most Asian restaurants do indeed endeavor to provide a translation for at least some of the dishes (see #7), but half the time they seem to be using a dictionary from the 1800s. An example of this would be, let’s say, “Yue Choy with Doufu and Fish Maw In Soup.” Let’s say this is a plausible dish. Some might get “Doufu” is “tofu”, but very few will know “yue choy” (which could easily and correctly be called “mild mustard greens” or “Chinese broccoli”) and even fewer will know what a maw is, and for those that do? Maw gives a very poor idea of what the cut/type of fish actually involved is. Similarly bad are one-off’s like “in sauce” or “in spicy soup with noodle” – what sauce? You have more than one, surely? Which soup base? Enough experiences like this can put someone off, especially if the menu doesn’t try and be descriptive. Worst-case, they’ll order a “safe” western dish, which may very well be poorly cooked and leave a bad taste in their mouths, so to speak – a local Westernized Chinese food place near me has lovely authentic Chinese food available (with names like above!), Westernized Chinese food, and hamburgers – anyone foolish enough to order their hamburgers will never return!6. Hygiene
This comes down to two issues: first of all, the cleanliness. Asian restaurants seem to have a … More on following page. Click here to continue reading
Office Potluck — October 2009
At work we have a social committee which is pretty active. They organizes various events to build relationships at work. Some of the events that they organizes very well is the hockey pool and the office potluck.
We do this once every quarter and it is always a success no matter how many times we do it. This is one event that has the most participation of all events.
The way we do it is to randomly split the office into two groups. Each of the two groups will be contributing to one potluck. So there are two potlucks held on different dates and everyone contributes on one of the potluck but gets to eat on both potlucks.
Everyone can contribute to the potluck by bringing a homemade dish. For anyone who doesn’t want to bring a homemade dish, they can buy them or pay $20 so that the committee can use the money to buy on their part.
At the end of the potluck, the Social Committee will put up an online poll to gather votes for the best of categories.
My contribution this time is Baked Char Siu Bau. Actually, it was Suanne who made it. You guys know I don’t cook. Suanne makes really moist Char Siu Bau and am glad to say it was one of the favourites. This is not gonna win any prizes this time — that much I can tell you though.
If you want the recipe to this, you can find it here:
After the buns are made, let rest for 30 minutes and brush with beaten egg (egg wash). Bake in a preheated 325F oven for 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown.
This dish above looks set to be the winner this time. This is called Russian Sushi!
I don’t know if this is a made-up name or what. But it sure looked the prettiest.
This is another pretty unique dish. I wanted so much to try it but when it got to my turn, they were all gone. This is … More on following page. Click here to continue reading
Make a Difference
I know this has nothing to do with food but I came across this video that is so moving that I simply had to share with you. Get a Kleenex and click Play.
Suanne
Complimentary Dessert from Tamarind Hill in North Vancouver
Hi All:
How would you like desserts like this … for free?
Coconut Crepes from Tamarind Hill
Tamarind Hill will be giving a complimentary dessert for every $35 spent in their new restaurant in North Vancouver.
We visited the Tamarind Hill on Lonsdale Ave about two months ago mainly because we wanted to check out if this new restaurant was as good as the popular restaurant in New Westminster. It was … even though the North Van restaurant is smaller than the first one in New West. We had blogged about our experiences here:
- The first Tamarind Hill on 6th Ave in New Westminster
- The new Tamarind Hill on Lonsdale Ave in North Vancouver
I wanted to let you know that our visit to the Tamarind Hill in North Van was unannounced. The staff did not realize who we were during the visit even though they noticed our camera. I think they assumed we were tourists because they asked us where we were from.
We paid for our meal. We are not paid in kind or money for this arrangement. We did because we wanted to give value to chowtimes readers — that reason and that reason only!
Tamarind Hill only realized that we had visited their restaurant after we posted our experiences on chowtimes and wrote to us about it. We took the opportunity to propose something that will benefit all parties … a free dessert to drive chowtimes readers to go out of the way to give Tamarind Hill a chance to show what they have to offer.
The details are simple: … More on following page. Click here to continue reading
How To Make Bento and Get Your Kid Ready For School in 5 Minutes
This is so funny that I just had to share this you.
The Japanese crazy creativity never ceases to amaze me. I came across this YouTube video from the KookyCulinary who in turn actually it from another blog called Just Bento.
The video is in … More on following page. Click here to continue reading
