THECOCONUTWHISPERER.
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Add
to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a flat beater the eggs,
orange juice, oil and sugar. Mix for 2-3 minutes. Lower the speed and
gradually add the vanilla, flour and baking powder.
Mix
well until dough becomes sticky. If the dough is too sticky, you can
add 1 or 2 tablespoons of flour, according to need. Do not overmix.
Place the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Roll the dough out onto a sheet to a thickness of 1 cm. Using a small
or medium cup, cut out dough circles. Then cut out smaller circles from
each dough circle. Alternatively, you can roll out strips of dough,
then connect the ends to form a circle.
Heat
the oil in a pan over a medium flame. Place some of the dough circles
in the pan and fry on both sides until they turn golden brown. Remove
and let them cool on paper towels. Repeat until you’ve used up all the
dough.
Place all of
the syrup ingredients, except for the rose water, in a medium pot and
heat for 10-15 minutes until syrup forms. Add the rose water and cook
for one more minute. Add the fried cookies to the syrup and cook them
for a few more minutes.
The cookies can be served like this, or you can roll them in coconut flakes, ground pistachios or sprinkles.
Level of difficulty: Medium-hard. Time: 90 minutes.
Enjoy
The easiest way to open a Coconut is to whisper it a joke & it will crack up with laughter
Heat oil in a medium size pot and fry the chicken pieces until well browned on all sides then remove from the pot and set aside.
Add the onion and green pepper and fry until soft. Add spices and fry for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Add water, stock cube and chicken and vegetables to the pot. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and allow to simmer covered for 5-10 minutes. Add tomato paste and stir to combine. Add the carrots and potatoes. Season with salt and pepper.
Slow-cook for 40 minutes or until the chicken is cooked and fall off the bone tender.
Dumplings
Mix all the dry ingredients, rub in margarine or add oil. Add the water and then mix well/knead, (your dough shouldn’t be stiff or watery) cover with a kitchen towel, allow to rise/double the size
Divide dough into 6-8 dumplings, drop dumplings into your stew and cook for 20-25 minutes.
Chimp off the old block! Spider monkeys regularly eat fruit containing ALCOHOL, study finds - shedding light on why we have a taste for booze
Biologists from UC Berkeley collected fruit that had been eaten and discarded
They were collected from black-handed spider monkeys on an island in Panama
They discovered that the fruit typically had an alcohol concentration of 1% - 2%
The new study supports the 'drunken monkey' hypothesis, and increases our understanding of how the love of alcohol first formed in human brains
Monkeys actively seek out fruit that has become ripe enough for the sugars to have fermented, producing about two percent alcohol, new study discovered.
Biologists from UC Berkeley collected fruit that had been eaten and discarded by black-handed spider monkeys in Panama, as well as taking urine samples.
They discovered that the fruit typically had an alcohol concentration of between one and two percent by volume, created as a byproduct of natural fermentation.
Robert Dudley, a UC Berkeley biologist, has been studying humans' love of alcohol for the past 25 years, and in 2014 wrote a book suggesting this started in our ape and monkey ancestors, who discovered that the scent of alcohol led them to ripe fruit.
The new study supports the 'drunken monkey' hypothesis, and increases our understanding of how the love of alcohol first formed in human brains.
Robert Dudley, a UC Berkeley biologist, has been studying humans' love of alcohol for the past 25 years, and in 2014 wrote a book suggesting this started in our ape and monkey ancestors, who discovered that the scent of alcohol led them to ripe fruit
Monkeys actively seek out fruit that has become ripe enough for the sugars to have fermented, producing about two per cent alcohol, new study discovers
The ground work, to find proof of drunk monkeys, was led by primatologist Christina Campbell of California State University, Northridge (CSUN), and her graduate student Victoria Weaver, who collected fruit eaten and discarded by the monkeys.
Black-handed spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi), living 'free range' in Panama, were the focus of the research.
They found that the alcohol concentration in the fruit was between 1% and 2%, a by-product of natural fermentation by yeasts that eat sugar in ripening fruit.
Moreover, the researchers collected urine from these free-ranging monkeys and found that the urine contained secondary metabolites of alcohol.
This result shows that the animals were actually utilizing the alcohol for energy - it wasn't just passing through their bodies.
'For the first time, we have been able to show, without a shadow of a doubt, that wild primates, with no human interference, consume fruit-containing ethanol,' said Campbell.
Biologists from UC Berkeley collected fruit that had been eaten and discarded by black-handed spider monkeys in Panama, as well as taking urine samples
'This is just one study, and more need to be done, but it looks like there may be some truth to that 'drunken monkey' hypothesis.'
This is the idea that the proclivity of humans to consume alcohol stems from a deep-rooted affinity of fruit-eating primates for naturally-occurring ethanol in ripe fruit.
Dudley laid out evidence for his idea eight years ago in the book, The Drunken Monkey: Why We Drink and Abuse Alcohol.
BLACK HANDED SPIDER MONKEYS
Geoffroy's spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) are also known as the black-handed spider monkey.
They are a type of New World monkey, found in Central America, parts of Mexico and a portion of Colombia.
It is one of the largest New World monkeys, weighing as much as 20 lb.
Its arms are significantly longer than its legs, and its prehensile tail can support the entire weight of the monkey and is used as an extra limb.
Its hands have only a vestigial thumb, but long, strong, hook-like fingers.
These adaptations allow the monkey to move by swinging by its arms beneath the tree branches.
Measurements showed that some fruits known to be eaten by primates have a naturally high alcohol content of up to seven per cent.
However, at the time of his initial work, Dudley did not have the data necessary to show that monkeys or apes preferentially sought out and ate fermented fruits, or that they digested the alcohol in the fruit.
Campbell and colleagues worked with Dudley and graduate student Aleksey Maro, who is conducting a parallel study in Uganda on the diet of chimpanzees.
'It (the study) is a direct test of the drunken monkey hypothesis,' said Dudley, saying the first part found ethanol in the food they're eating.
'Then, part two, they're actually metabolizing alcohol - secondary metabolites, ethyl glucuronide and ethyl sulfate are coming out in the urine.
'What we don't know is how much of it they're eating and what the effects are behaviorally and physiologically. But it's confirmatory.'
The study was conducted on Barro Colorado Island in Panama, where Dudley first began thinking about the role of ethanol in animal diets and how that might play into our enjoyment and abuse of alcohol.
The fruit the monkeys prefered to eat had an alcohol level similar to low-alcohol beers or cider, and they favoured the fruit of the jobo tree - common in their diet.
But the fruit also has been used for millennia by Indigenous human populations throughout Central and South America to make chicha, a fermented beverage.
'The monkeys were likely eating the fruit with ethanol for the calories,' Campbell said. 'They would get more calories from fermented fruit than they would from unfermented fruit. The higher calories mean more energy.'
They discovered that the fruit typically had an alcohol concentration of between one and two per cent by volume, created as a by-product of natural fermentation
Dudley said that he doubts that the monkeys feel the inebriating effects of alcohol that humans appreciate.
'They're probably not getting drunk, because their guts are filling before they reach inebriating levels,' he said, adding it is 'providing some physiological benefit.'
There could be an anti-microbial benefit within the food that they're consuming, or the activity of the yeast and the microbes may be predigesting the fruit, he said.
The need for the monkeys' high caloric intake may similarly have influenced human ancestors' decisions when choosing which fruit to eat, Campbell said.
'Human ancestors may also have preferentially selected ethanol-laden fruit for consumption, given that it has more calories,' she said.
'Psychoactive and hedonic effects of ethanol may similarly result in increased consumption rates and caloric gain.'
Meet Britain’s most prolific cat burglar—a cheeky feline who brings
home stolen items including toys, cutlery, glasses, and even toy
skateboards.
Charlie, dubbed ‘Klepto Cat’, pinches a random array of swag such as rubber ducks and plastic dinosaurs.
Owner, 41-year-old Alice Bigge, spends her time trying to reunite her one-year-old pet’s victims with his stolen loot.
She has even set up a shelf on her outside wall where she leaves the bizarre items he brings home.
A sign says, ”Our cat Charlie likes taking things, do any of these things belong to you? If they do please help yourself!”
Alice, of Bristol, first realized her cat was a thief when she woke
up one morning and came face-to-face with a toy diplodocus on her
pillow.
Alice, who teaches A-Level film at St Brendan’s sixth form college in
Brislington, said, “He’s well into clothes pegs at the moment.
“He brought back a rubber duck recently, which was quite large and I
have no idea how he managed that—and got it through the cat flap.
“He went through a phase of coming back with those little mini-skateboards too.”
Charlie brings all of his ‘finds’ back to the Bigges, who took him
and his sister Smudge in as rescue cats after were abandoned as kittens.
Alice admitted, “He wasn’t allowed out for three months or so. But it
was almost as soon as he was allowed out that he began bringing things
back. Over the course of a week or so, loads of toy dinosaurs kept
appearing in the house which was really weird. I saw a green stegosaurus
one day and wondered if one of my mate’s kids might have dropped it
here.
”The following day, I saw a red stegosaurus, and they just kept coming!
“I woke up with a diplodocus right next to my head on my pillow—which made me think of that moment from The Godfather. Charlie just sat there looking proud of himself.”
Alice says she has discovered Charlie was nabbing the toy dinosaurs from a kid’s nursery at the end of her road.
She said, “It turned out he’d been going there and picking them all up and bringing them back here one by one.
”He has never caught a bird or a mouse or anything like other cats do… he just goes off and finds whatever he can.”
Her 11-year-old daughter Martha has now made a sign for their wall headlined ‘Klepto-Cat’.
Alice said “I think there’s something about the quest that he enjoys.
Whether it is discovering something new or just wanting to please me
and bring his family a present. It’s so funny now that people are loving
his story because we’ve been laughing about him for over a year.
Purim has arrived, and it turns out that not only do humans
dress up, but foods do too, only they do it daily, and can cause
long-term health damage through increased calorie intake, sugar, fats
and sodium.
Forget
what you think: Not every dish that includes vegetables or nuts — or
one that athletes eat or drink — is necessarily healthy. Here are some
well-known foods that are considered to be healthy and nutritious, but
in practice contain too many calories and unhealthy ingredients.
Sushi
Despite the
image of sushi as healthy and diet-friendly, its list of ingredients
presents a different picture. Your average sushi roll will contain too
much rice, which has a high caloric content and very little fiber,
vitamins and minerals. It also contains a small amount of fish, vegetables and seaweed which are low in calories and have many nutrients.
In other words, the ingredients in sushi are of high quality, but the
ratio between them isn’t correct, so any roll may get in the way of
healthy, balanced eating. An average maki roll with rice, fish and one
vegetable (besides avocado which is considered a healthy fat) will
contain between 200 and 400 calories, 40-50 grams of carbohydrates and
5-8 grams of protein.
Sushi roll with chopsticks (Illustrative) (credit: INGIMAGE)
This
doesn't even take into account the soy sauce, teriyaki and spicy
mayonnaise that increase the caloric value of the dish as well as the
amount of sodium.
Fruit
juices tend to contain very large amounts of sugar. Just reading the
list of food ingredients written in descending order according to the
amount of each in the product will indicate that, in many drinks, sugar
is the second ingredient after water before the fruit concentrates — if
there even is any fruit.
Recently,
there have been changes made to various juices that led to a reduction
in harmful ingredients, such as preservatives and food coloring.
Our
advice? Try to choose juice without preservatives and food coloring or
drinks containing only natural food coloring. And, best of all — squeeze
the juice yourself, or eat it whole — this is how you consume the
dietary fiber.
The excellent PR that coconut oil has recently enjoyed has led 72% of
the public to believe it’s healthy, while 37% of nutritionists agree
with this statement, according to a US survey.
In recent years, coconut oil may have been crowned as the ultimate
healthy alternative to various types of fats and oils, but the American
Heart Association says these claims are misleading.
Coconut
oil contains 82% saturated fat, which is significantly higher than what
you find in olive oil (14%) and even butter (63%). Saturated fats can
increase bad cholesterol levels in the body and a link has been found
between their consumption and the chances of developing heart disease.
Granola
A recent New York Times
survey found that 70% of the public thinks granola and granola bars are
healthy, but only 28% of nutritionists agree. No surprise here, as most
commercially-sold granola contains a large amount of sugar. One serving
of granola contains a lot of calories and carbohydrates and is low in
protein.
Although
granola is rich in fiber and its variety of nuts contain heart-healthy
fats, with the large sugar content, our advice is to eat very little or
make your own.
Dried fruit
Dried
fruits aren’t harmful to health and sometimes they even contain more
fiber and antioxidants per gram compared to fresh versions. But they
actually have more sugar and calories per gram of fruit. And, people
have a tendency to eat a much larger amount of dried fruit than fresh.
Also,
most dried fruits are required to undergo "artificial treatment" with
high temperatures and preservatives, such as sulfur dioxide, to improve
color, prevent oxidation and spoilage, and extend their shelf life.
Some
dried fruits also include additional oils, glazing ingredients (to
create a shiny look) and artificial food colors, which can cause a
harmful reaction in sensitive people and children.
Protein drinks
Protein
drinks are very popular among athletes, due to the promise that the
protein supplement present in the drink will improve performance and
appearance due to the increase in body muscle mass.
For
most people who train to improve their physical fitness, the
recommended amount is about 0.8 to 1 gram of protein per kilogram of
body mass at an ideal weight, and usually, the protein needed for the
body's needs can be obtained through food only, without the need for
protein supplements.
The easiest way to open a Coconut is to whisper it a joke & it will crack up with laughter
Trials for male birth-control pill likely this year
Scientists at the University of Minnesota have developed a birth control pill for men and hope to begin human trials later this year, according to a statement from the American Chemical Society (ACS).
‘Women have many choices for birth control, ranging from pills to patches to intrauterine devices, and partly as a result, they bear most of the burden of preventing pregnancy,’ said researcher Abdullah Al Noman, who will be presenting the results of the study at a meeting of the ACS in March.
Al Noman added: ‘But men’s birth control options – and, therefore, responsibilities – could soon be expanding. Today, scientists report a non-hormonal male contraceptive that effectively prevents pregnancy in mice, without obvious side effects.’
Condoms and vasectomies are currently the only two effective birth control options for men. Both have their flaws: condoms are single-use and sometimes prone to failure, whereas vasectomies are usually considered permanent, barring expensive reversal surgery.
‘Scientists have been trying for decades to develop an effective oral contraceptive, but there are still no approved pills on the market,’ explained Noman.
Previous attempts at developing male birth control pills have resulted in a number of side effects such as depression, weight gain and decreased libido, as they worked by blocking testosterone.
By contrast, the pill developed by scientists at the University of Minnesota is non-hormonal and contains a compound that blocks proteins from binding to Vitamin A, which is known to be vital for fertility in mammals. Scientists have shown the pill to be 99 percent effective in preventing pregnancy in mice and it appears to have no observable side effects.
According to the ACS, the mice were given the compound orally for four weeks and became sterile as a result. Once the team of scientists ceased doping the animals, normal virility resumed after four to six weeks.
Although researchers are optimistic about the results being replicated in human subjects, there is no guarantee of success. Regarding the lack of observable side effects in mice, Jesse Mills, a reproductive scientist at UCLA told Healthline: ‘It’s hard to ask a mouse about moodiness or fatigue or other side effects that may manifest in human studies.’
Gunda George, head of the research lab at the University of Minnesota, said that her team would begin human trials in the third or fourth quarter of 2022.
The shepherd in this story tended his charges until they grew fat and had lived long lives. Never mind lamb, a Shepherd’s Pie enters a new realm when the meat in it is mutton, rich and flavoursome.
Parsnips make glorious mash; I prefer it to mashed potato in fact. On a visit to Cape Town I was surprised to see large and misshapen parsnips at a Saturday farmer’s market at Willowbridge mall, so I nabbed the lot and brought them all the way home to Cradock in a cooler bag. Rather early for parsnips, which are near impossible to find at the best of times. Grab them when you can.
Topping a cottage or shepherd’s pie with parsnip mash turns the ordinary into the very moreish. There was a time, though, when all such “pies”, whether containing beef or lamb/mutton, were called cottage pie. You can read more about that here.
I’ve never seen packs of mutton mince in a supermarket, and am not sure I’ve even seen lamb mince. But I asked my butcher if he could mince me some mutton, which he did, and from now on that is the way I intend to go whenever I hanker for a shepherd’s pie.
Ingredients
700 g mutton mince
2 Tbsp olive oil
8 shallots, oven roasted with thyme, dark muscovado sugar and garlic
1 can whole peeled tomatoes
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
100 ml lamb or beef stock
2 Tbsp oregano
Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
Salt and black pepper to taste
4 to 6 large parsnips
2 Tbsp butter
100 g mascarpone
Salt and white pepper for the parsnip mash
Method
Roast the shallots (peeled) with thyme sprigs, a sprinkling of dark muscovado sugar and a few whole garlic cloves at 180℃ for about 30 minutes.
Grease an ovenproof dish with butter. Steam the parsnips until tender and blitz them with a handheld blender or in a food processor. Season with salt and white pepper and beat in the butter and mascarpone.
Cook the mince in the olive oil, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to avoid clumping, until browned. Chop the roasted shallots and stir them in. Add the whole peeled tomatoes and chop them up in the pot with a small, sharp knife. Add the Worcestershire sauce, stock and oregano, season with salt and pepper, stir well and let it simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring to avoid it catching.
Spoon it into the greased oven dish and pile the parsnip mash on top, spreading it out with the back of a spoon. Draw a fork across the top a few times in both directions. Dot with knobs of butter and grate Parmigiano Reggiano on top as generously as you like. Bake in the preheated 220℃ oven for about 30 minutes or until golden brown on top. DM/TGIFood
