The Gibbon is the Only Monogamous Ape

The Gibbon

The several species of Gibbon are referred to as the Lesser Apes. They are smaller than the Great Apes, the Gorilla, Orangutan, Chimpanzee and Bonobo. The biggest species of Gibbon is the Siamang which grows to about 14 Kg (31 lb). The Bonobo is the smallest of the Great Apes, on average, and an adult female weighs about 30 kg with a male weighing about 40Kg.

Male and female Gibbons are about the same size. This is different from the Great Apes. In all the Great Apes, the males are bigger than the females. In Humans there is also an average difference in size between males and females.

Depending on which classification you use there are between 8 and 15 different species of Gibbon.

Tree Loving Continue reading “The Gibbon is the Only Monogamous Ape”

Making Homemade Sushi – How to Make a Simple “Western” Nitsume (Sweet Eel Sauce)

Unagi, or freshwater eel, is one of my favorite ingredients used in sushi, whether it’s a western-style Dragon Roll, unagi nigiri or a simple eel makizushi. While creating my latest batch of homemade and somewhat improvised sushi I got the hankering for the sweet, sumptuous nitsume eel sauce and decided to whip some up, even though I didn’t have any unagi on hand to work with. Turns out I didn’t have very many Japanese ingredients on hand at all, so I had to “westernize” the recipe somewhat. The result, to my great surprise, was slightly different from conventional nitsume though no less delicious, and went very well with my makeshift Rainbow rolls.

This recipe is great to make if you don’t have a lot of Asian ingredients on hand to work with but still are in the mood for a sweet, yummy, easy-to-make sauce to use with sushi.

Recipe for “Western” Nitsume

1 c. Dashi / fish stock / fish-flavored water
1/4 c. Sake / Red wine
1/8 c. shoyu (soy sauce)
1/4 c. sugar

Continue reading “Making Homemade Sushi – How to Make a Simple “Western” Nitsume (Sweet Eel Sauce)”

There’s Something About the Balut

There are certain foods out there which can evoke different emotions within our self. A waft of our favorite childhood dish brings a feeling of comfort and transports us back to a happy time or place. When you are prodded by a friend to eat a balut, either your heart pounds with anticipation or your face cringes in horror. Eating one though can give you the much desired ‘star’ point from the locals when you travel to a South Asian country where this egg is a delicacy. They are ecstatic to receive you in their inner circle and you feel mighty proud to join them.

What is really a balut?

Balut is a fertilized egg of a duck or chicken. The duck egg is the one famous as balut though. Its name could have originated from the Filipino word ‘balot’, which means “to wrap”. Continue reading “There’s Something About the Balut”

Stevia Weight Loss – Burn Fat With This Natural Sweetener

Stevia weight loss, and burning fat with this natural sweetener, are two topics I love discussing with my weight loss clients. It’s a secret weapon that Asian women have used for decades to enjoy sweets and great desserts while still losing weight fast. Let’s find out how you can benefit from this ancient leaf and why it works so well to get skinny!

Stevia Weight Loss – Burn Fat With This Natural Sweetener

Stevia actually comes from a group of plants found in South America, Central America, and Mexico. That part isn’t important, I don’t want to bore you with a long history of this wonder-plant’s origin. Instead I want to tell you why it’s so helpful to someone trying to lose weight:

Because it tastes exactly like sugar and has ZERO calories! Continue reading “Stevia Weight Loss – Burn Fat With This Natural Sweetener”

Irish Soups

Irish Soup Recipes

I have found when any visitors I have had come to Ireland, they always ask me for some of my Irish Soup Recipes. In particular, they seem very interested in the very traditional Irish Soup recipes. There are in my opinion three very traditional soups that are well known and popular In Ireland. These are:

Irish potato soup recipes
Irish vegetable soup recipes
Irish chicken soup recipes

As any society develops so does their food culture but in my opinion not everything should be changed, and these soups are in that bracket for me. The onslaught of cookery programs on TV has almost forced chefs to find their own twist even with a simple soup. Frequently these days cream is added and blended with cream then drizzled on top to add effect, and lots of sprinkling with parsley seems to be a standard. I like taste and I like natural traditional tastes so I have added nothing fancy to these traditional Irish soup recipes so I hope you try them out and I hope you enjoy the wholesome taste. Continue reading “Irish Soups”

Onions Stink Because Of A Chemical Change From Alliin To Sulphide Compound

The onion family is a large and diverse one containing over 500 species. With such a large range of species the origins of the modern (or globe) onion are a bit blurred. It has not one but five possible wild plants it could have evolved from, all of which grow in the central Asian region.

It is thought that bulbs from the onion family have been utilised as a food source for millennia. In Palestinian Bronze Age settlements traces of onion remains were found along side fig and date stones dating back to 5000 BC! It would be pure conjecture to suggest these were cultivated onions. The archaeological and literary evidence suggests cultivation probably took place around two thousand years later in ancient Egypt. This happened alongside the cultivation of leeks and garlic and it is thought that the slaves who built the pyramids were fed radishes and onions.

“…It is thought that the slaves who built the pyramids were fed radishes and onions.” Continue reading “Onions Stink Because Of A Chemical Change From Alliin To Sulphide Compound”

Eat This and Live! By Don Colbert, MD

“Eat This And Live!” by Don Colbert, MD is a guide on making simple food choices to lead to a healthier lifestyle. It’s an easy book to read with plentiful full color photographs, side bars, nutritional information, and a load of practical advice on healthy eating. I enjoyed reading it, and even though a lot of the advice and recommendations were familiar to me due to reading about and living a healthy lifestyle, I still enjoyed this book and found it useful as we continue to try and eat healthy.

If you are familiar with Dr. Con Colbert, you know he wrote the New York Times best selling book, “The Seven Pillars of Health” as well as “Toxic Relief” and the Bible Cure series. Colbert does include some biblical references in this book, but not very many. Its primary focus is on food choices for health.

He discusses living food vs. dead food, how your body is a temple, and what the bible says about food in the first three chapters of the book. From then on, it’s all about food and what foods to avoid and what foods to eat. Continue reading “Eat This and Live! By Don Colbert, MD”

On Being a Rice Queen

In my forthcoming novel “The Rice Queen Spy” I pay homage to a British Caucasian homosexual who spent his whole life having sexual encounters only with Asian men. In essence “No Caucasians need apply” was his motto. A rice queen is a Caucasian or a black gay man who is either partially or completely devoted to Asian men. It is something of a slangy term as is the term potato queen which signifies an Asian man fond of white men.

I have even heard Asian men who were partial to black men called sweet potato queens or yam queens. Don’t blame me. This is all part of the argot of gay life. Gay terminology and slang have always been a lively and rapidly evolving feature of the gay sub-culture.

Up until the middle of the nineteen eighties, before there was a national crackdown, rice queens were going to the Philippines in large numbers. For quite some decades now Thailand has been the preferred location for rice queens. Sex junkets to Thailand have been organized not only for gay men but for large numbers of straight men who are after female sex partners. Often sex partners who are too young. Many gay Caucasians have moved permanently to Thailand because of the availability of sexual encounters with Thais. Continue reading “On Being a Rice Queen”

Fun Facts About Cottage Cheese

Cottage cheese is not usually associated with boycotts, but in the summer of 2011, that produced by the Elite company was boycotted in Israel because of its high cost, in comparison to its cost in the US. Elite is an Israeli company, so it didn’t seem fair that the price of its cottage cheese was higher in Israel than it was in other countries. The boycott was successful and the price was eventually lowered.

In the Indian subcontinent cottage cheese or ‘paneer’ is used in many savoury dishes, and goes well in a spicy dish with spinach. It is used to tame the hot spices used in traditional dishes, and these are very tasty.

Little Miss Muffet was clearly greedy and impatient. She sat on her “tuffet, eating her curds and whey” which are the precursors of cottage cheese. If she had waited a little longer she may not have had that traumatic encounter with the spider.

Cottage cheese is made by curdling pasteurized milk and draining off most of the liquid or whey, so that the only the curds are left in squishy lumps. You can curdle the milk with lemon juice, and make it from low-fat milk, so that it has fewer calories. Continue reading “Fun Facts About Cottage Cheese”

Can You Develop an Allergy to Alcohol Later in Life?

The short answer to “Can you develop an allergy to alcohol later in life?” is YES!!

I know this because this happened to me. I was a drinker in my early and mid thirties. I had no issues whatsoever with allergies to alcohol. I quit drinking. Started drinking again in my mid forties. My drinking was at the level of getting drunk about 3 nights a week. (yes I WAS an alcoholic which has something to do with allergy to alcohol which I will explain) After two years of drinking all of a sudden one night I thought I was having a stroke.

That is probably the best way to describe allergic reactions to alcohol for someone who never experienced it for themselves. The symptoms I was having made me think I was having a stroke because I had never even heard of alcohol allergy before. My symptoms to drinking that night hit quick and hard and included: Continue reading “Can You Develop an Allergy to Alcohol Later in Life?”