Dubai Tourism recently invited me to the Dubai Food Festival – what a magical and enchanting experience! One afternoon we wondered off to the Dubai Creek and sat down at a little restaurant. I ordered a rose iced tea. It was this beautiful, pale pink colour, refreshing and made from dried rose petals. Back home I just had to make some but had to do so without the rose petals… I made it with rose syrup. It’s just a delight to look at and reminds me of my truly wonderful Dubai experience. To to see more of my Dubai journey click here.
The rose iced tea I drank on the Dubai Creek.
Rose iced tea
Serves 4
2 tea bags
750 ml of boiling water
5 ml honey
50 ml of rose syrup (get this at any supermarket)
2.5 ml teaspoon lemon juice
rose petals
mint leaves
ice
Pour the boiling water over tea bags and let it steep for 2 minutes. Stir in the honey, rose syrup and lemon juice. Put the tea in the refrigerator and let it cool down. Put lots of ice in a glass, fill it with the tea. Top with a rose leaf and a mint leaf.
As you know I like things hot + spicy, so a lassi is a must in my house – especially when I make a lovely curry. A Lassi is a very popular yogurt based drink that originated in the Punjab regions of India and Pakistan and are often served in genuine Indian restaurants as they are the perfect drink to have when eating spicy dishes. It’s a type of a yogurt milkshake / smoothie because you just blend the ingredients together. The yogurt in the lassi neutralises the heat generated by the spices and offers some cooling and respite from the spicy ingredients.
I have made two versions of a lassi (sweet and savoury) but this is something that you can play with – you can use any fruit … mango, banana, lychee, strawberry or use other spices – experiment a bit and see what flavour combinations work for you. It will be something both novel and unique at your next Indian soiree.
And remember … if you use fresh fruit Lassi’s are 100% natural and are free from artificial colourings, preservatives and flavourings. I also use fat free yogurt for a very healthy option.
Facts I did not know about lassi:
1. It is consumed by over one billion Asians throughout the world.
2. In Punjab a lassi is sometimes topped with a thin layer of malai – a type clotted cream.
3. With a little turmeric powder mixed in, it is also used as a folk remedy for gastroenteritis.
4. In old times, people would have lassi because they wouldn’t get hungry quickly afterwards and they could wait until lunch to eat again.
5. A sweet lassi is a more recent invention, and has become immensely popular. Rose water is a common ingredient for sweet lassi and adds a sweet, perfumed aroma.
Sources: hassam.hubpages + wikipedia
A hangover is the wrath of grapes. ~Author Unknown
They say that a Bloody Mary cocktail can cure hangovers – I think we all need to know this before the silly season gets underway…. But does it work? Is it fact or mere fiction? I decided to try this one out myself – so just last week with a very hectic social schedule filling my outlook calendar I decided it was a good time to plan a good hangover and test this myth or truth. So I attended a social function where the wine was literally on tap… (I booked a driver to ensure that I made it home safely), went home and decided to finish off my little experiment by rounding the evening off with a few more whiskeys – just a couple of night caps you know. I felt fabulous that evening – did a few dances for the hubby and went to bed. The next morning not so fabulous … what on earth was I thinking? I am no scientist…on cue though Rick woke me up with a Bloody Mary in bed! Thankfully it was Saturday morning, but whichever way you look at it … facing a cocktail concoction that that time of the morning can scare even a full-time professional drinker! For some crazy reason, I had to finish what I started, so with eyes wide shut, I tilted the head and knocked-back the Bloody Mary thingy. I lay about curiously waiting for this healing elixir to do its curative work. An hour later, no change, I still felt 10 000 hammers in my head. This Bloody Mary was clearly nursing somewhere else – or had taken the day off. It was – and is in my opinion a myth. I do know that scientific experiments are verified by a series of tests, so to be fair I decided to take this test to the next level.
If the Bloody Mary did not do its work in a cocktail glass perhaps the sum of its ingredients would be a better tonic if they were deconstructed. I took a cherry tomato injected it with a few drops of green tobasco, then I took a short shot glass of vodka and placed it adjacent to a bowl of salt.
The regimen is then to dip the tabasco infused tomato into the vodka and then douse it in the salt and pop it in your mouth. I added a bean for some protein and then a celery stick for the more traditional version. It is just so fab.
Did this cure my hangover? I reckon that you will have to go through quite a few kilos of tomatoes before this deconstructed Bloody Mary will make some sort of dent on a decent hangover.
So my deconstructed Bloody Mary may not be the cure for hangovers but try it – it will definitely be the showstopper at your next summer soiree or cocktail party!
