Tempura Fried Ice Cream

http://video.about.com/japanesefood/Tempura-Fried-Ice-Cream.htm

 

Ingredients

You will need:

• clear wrap
• 2 scoops of ice cream
• 12 oz. flour
• 6 oz. water
• 1 egg
• 4 slices of pound cake

And as an optional topping, wafer cookie, whipped cream, cherry, chocolate sauce and strawberry sauce.

Start the Ice Cream Roll

First, lay four thinly sliced pieces of pound cake two-by-two on a square. Then, place the ice cream in the middle of the pound cake.

Roll and Freeze the Ice Cream

Then roll the pound cake onto clear wrap. Wrap tightly and place in freezer, and let sit until completely frozen.

Mix and Batter the Fried Ice Cream Tempura

When you are ready to eat, first you have to mix the water and flour and egg into a bowl until consistent. Remove wrap and roll in dough and batter.

Fry the Ice Cream

Next, drop the batter covered ice cream into the deep fryer for 20 to 30 seconds. If you do not have a deep fryer, you can just use a hot pot of oil. Next remove and let cool for a few seconds, then cut into five or six pieces. If you prefer, you can add chocolate syrup, ice cream for extra flavor.

Spicy Mango Chicken

http://thaifood.about.com/od/thairecipes/r/mangochicken.htm

This Thai recipe for Mango Chicken tastes like a deep-fried dish, but is much easier to make plus lower in calories and fat - you'll love it! Slices of flour-dusted chicken are pan-fried, then simmered in a tangy mango sauce. Tip: try to find fresh ripe mangos for this recipe (preferably 3, so you can add some fresh mango pieces to the finished dish)- the taste is well worth the effort. Make this dish for your friends or family - they won't be able to thank you enough!

 

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

 

Ingredients:

• (SERVES 4)
• 2-3 chicken breasts, cut into 2 inch-long pieces (chicken thigh works too)
• 1 red bell pepper, OR 1 sweet red pepper
• 1/4 cup oil for pan-frying
• 1 cup all-purpose flour (or rice flour) mixed with 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup fresh coriander
• Optional: extra 1/2 to 1 mango, cut into chunks (to finish the dish)
• Optional: 3-4 Tbsp. coconut milk OR water
• MANGO SAUCE:
• 2 fresh ripe mangos, fruit scooped out (or substitute 2 cups frozen or canned mango)
• 1 red chili, de-seeded and diced, OR 1 tsp. chili sauce OR 1/2 tsp. dried crushed chili
• 1 Tbsp. rice vinegar (OR white or apple cider)
• 1+1/2 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 3 Tbsp. fish sauce
• juice of 1/2 lime
• 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 thumb-size piece galangal OR ginger, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/4 tsp. turmeric
• 2 kaffir lime leaves, snipped into slivers with scissors (discard stem & central vein), OR zest of 1 lime

Preparation:

1. Place all 'Mango Sauce' ingredients in a food processor or blender. Process well, until more or less smooth.
2. Taste-test the sauce. The goal is to reach a balance of sweet, sour, spicy, and salty. Add more sugar if you find the sauce too sour (this will depend on the sweetness of your mangoes). If not spicy enough, add more chili. If not salty enough, add more fish sauce. If too salty or too sweet, add more lime juice. Set aside.
3. Stir the flour and salt together and place in a mixing-type bowl. Add the chicken pieces and turn or gently stir them to coat.
4. Heat a wok or frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the oil, then begin frying the chicken pieces. Fry 3-5 minutes per side, or until light golden brown and cooked through. Remove chicken from pan and set on paper towel, or a clean surface.
5. Wash out the wok/frying pan, or use another (clean) one. Set over medium-high heat and add the mango sauce plus red pepper. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce to a simmer (medium to low heat). If sauce becomes too thick, add 3-4 Tbsp. water or coconut milk. Simmer 3-4 minutes, or until pepper has softened slightly but still retains some crispness.
6. Add the fried chicken pieces, gently stirring them in to cover with sauce. If desired, add chunks of mango (fruit of 1/2 to 1 ripe mango) too. Simmer briefly, just until everything is hot.
7. Do a final taste-test for salt (tasting the sauce together with the chicken). Add a little more fish sauce or chili if desired.
8. Transfer to a serving dish. Sprinkle with fresh coriander and serve with plenty of Thai jasmine-scented rice.

Bloggger vs. Facebook[er]

Below is an article I found pertaining to the difference between Facebook and a blog; incidentally, the author of this article is in favor of blogging.

http://everythingopera.blogspot.com/2009/01/blogger-vs-facebook.html

Blogger vs. Facebook

As the title of my post offers for the inquisitive peruser of my ramblings, this post is about why I prefer Blogger over Facebook. For the parties interested, then, allow me to begin.

My younger sister has a Facebook profile, and she graciously allowed me to try Facebook with her profile to see what I thought of it because apparently one cannot enjoy Facebook until one is confirmed as a friend, and until they have these friends, they are obliged to do nothing. Needless to say, I have been interested in creating my own identity on Facebook, so I readily accepted her generous offer, and since she and I possess many of the same friends and acquaintances, with us mutually having more of the latter than the former, I decided to learn what I might about what my acquaintances were doing. I saw several of the people I knew, and I was able to see whatever short instant messages they sent to each other, but I began to feel that this was rather foolish. When I can post to my blog, I try to say things that are worthwhile to read, and, readers, you may inform me of it if I fail to do this in each of my posts, but many of the remarks I read were things that were without any consequence or of little importance. Therefore, I much prefer Blogger with its format of longer posts over Facebook's.

Second, I like the way one may customize their blog page with many sorts of media and lists of blogs that one follows regularly. Facebook's pages, when one is acclamated to the features of Blogger, seem very dull indeed. Although I would not mind having a Facebook profile since people I know would probably not wish to visit my blog, I like the format of Blogger much better; it encourages users to make pages their own and to create posts of variable lengths.

Of course, there is the remote possibilty that I cannot deny exists that I did not fully explore Facebook with all of its usages. Still, for now at least, I am one blogger who is going to maintain my views on the subject. Do not be dismayed, however, that I am one to close my mind to new ideas, for I think that I shall explore it further, but I do not think that I shall subject myself to Facebook quite yet.
-Tyler.