Let's celebrate

Hiya, mates! How are your summer holidays going? Really? Tell me everything about it! I’m glad to hear all about your adventures. I have wonderful news for all of you. Well, I think they are at least for me they are. Do you remember the other day I told you about this problem with chocolate running out? Wait! Don't cry...

I was really worried about this issue. So, I dug into the real story behind that article. Well, grab your cocoa mug everybody…The world is not running out of chocolate after all. 

According to USA today, the Business Insider published an article saying we are not going to have chocolate in 30 or 40 years. People were afraid. Support groups were created to give assistance to chocoholics around the world. But there is hope out there. 

Apparently, this article had “inaccurate information.” USA today says that different scientists are working together “to make plants resistant to viral and fungal diseases. A fungus has plagued cacao plants in South America for decades. The scientists are using CRISPR gene-editing to tweak the DNA of cacao to make it more disease-resistant.”

Experts from the University of California say that it is true that climate change is affecting cacao plants. They also say: “The vast majority of cacao is produced in West Africa and rising temperatures could reduce the amount of land suitable for its production, which in turn ‘could speed up the spread of disease’, but not "to the point of extinction."

So, I hope you are as happy as I am with this new. I mean, I can live without a car. I can live with the idea of not having Game Of Thrones for a year. But I say NO to a life without chocolate.

Have a great week, people!  :) 

Link: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/01/05/no-world-wont-run-out-chocolate-2050/1007061001/ 

Cooking 101

Howdy, chingu? Are you enjoying this beautiful weather? I hate these hot days because you can’t sleep properly, and all my tv shows are on hiatus. Additionally, hot days make people rude and nasty. Yeah, I’m talking about you lady outside the supermarket. Even the mosquitos have given up because of the weather.

So, today’s post is going to be about something you can do in your house. We are going to cook. First of all, I’m a vegetarian, so the dishes we are going to make here are completely meat-free. As you probably know, Argentinians are the second consumers of beef in the world. Therefore, If you are a vegetarian living in Argentina, you have to be very creative in the kitchen. Sometimes it’s difficult to find places in Buenos Aires with a (real) vegetarian menu. One day, I was with my best friend, Vanesa, eating in a restaurant and I ordered what I thought was a vegetarian dish (a vegetable tortilla). Spoiler alert, it wasn’t a vegetarian dish at all. According to the menu, it had no meat on it, but I found pieces of chorizos in my tortilla. I explained to the waiter that this was not a vegetarian dish, he was like “but it has a lot of vegetables, and pieces of chorizo.” I stared at him like “Do you know chorizo is made of meat, right?” I had many bad experiences with “vegetarian menu” in different restaurants (even in a hospital).

So, after having bad experiences, I decided to cook my own food. The advantages, of preparing your own food, are that you know what your plate contains. One of the disadvantages is that most vegetarian ingredients (like seitan, couscous or kombu) are very expensive. If you live far from downtown, you probably are not going to be able to find some ingredients. Nevertheless, these next recipes are easy to make.

Vegetarian Empanadas (Argentina)

• 700 g (1 lb 9 oz) baby spinach
• olive oil
• salt, black pepper
• 200 g (7 oz) mozzarella or feta cheese, diced
• 100 g (3½ oz) parmesan 

(In Argentina you can buy pre-made discs – tapas para empanadas – if you don’t want to make the dough by hand.)
Cook the spinach in a hot frying pan with a little oil until wilted. Drain thoroughly in a colander and roughly chop. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside to cool. Combine the mozzarella, parmesan and spinach. Adjust the seasoning. Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F/Gas 5). Sprinkle a little flour on the work surface. Roll out the dough to a thickness of 3 mm (¹⁄8 inch), and cut out circles with a 14 cm (5½ inch) cutter. Using a 60 ml (2 fl oz/1/4 cup) ice-cream scoop or measuring cup, form small balls of filling and place one on each round of dough. Lightly moisten the edge of the dough with a little water and fold over into a half-moon shape.

Arrange the vegetarian empanadas on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Brush with egg yolk and bake for 20 minutes, or until golden and cooked. Allow the vegetarian empanadas cool for a few minutes before serving.

Kimchi (Korea)

Kimchi is basically a catch-all Korean term for fermented vegetables.

Ingredients

1 medium head (2 pounds) napa cabbage
1/4 cup sea salt
Water
Garlic (5 to 6 cloves)
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 teaspoon sugar
Red pepper flakes (gochugaru)
8 ounces Korean radish or daikon, peeled and cut into matchsticks
4 scallions, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces

Instructions

Slice the cabbage: Cut the cabbage lengthwise into quarters and remove the cores. Cut each quarter crosswise into 2-inch-wide strips.

Salt the cabbage: Place the cabbage and salt in a large bowl. Using your hands (gloves optional), massage the salt into the cabbage until it starts to soften a bit, then add water to cover the cabbage. Put a plate on top and weigh it down with something heavy, like a jar or can of beans. Let stand for 1 to 2 hours.

Rinse and drain the cabbage: Rinse the cabbage under cold water 3 times and drain in a colander for 15 to 20 minutes. Rinse and dry the bowl you used for salting, and set it aside to use in step 5.

Make the paste: Meanwhile, combine the garlic, ginger, sugar, and seafood flavor (or 3 tablespoons water) in a small bowl and mix to form a smooth paste. Mix in the gochugaru, using 1 tablespoon for mild and up to 5 tablespoons for spicy (I like about 3 1/2 tablespoons).

Combine the vegetables and paste: Gently squeeze any remaining water from the cabbage and return it to the bowl along with the radish, scallions, and seasoning paste.

Mix thoroughly: Using your hands, gently work the paste into the vegetables until they are thoroughly coated. The gloves are optional here but highly recommended to protect your hands from stings, stains, and smells!

Pack the kimchi into the jar: Pack the kimchi into the jar, pressing down on it until the brine rises to cover the vegetables. Leave at least 1 inch of headspace. Seal the jar with the lid.

Let it ferment: Let the jar stand at room temperature for 1 to 5 days. You may see bubbles inside the jar and brine may seep out of the lid; place a bowl or plate under the jar to help catch any overflow.

Here you have a video from JiniChannel on how to make Kimchi. 

Potato Scones (Scotland)
Ingredients
• Half pound (225g) boiled and mashed potatoes

• 2.5oz (65g) plain or all-purpose flour • 1oz (25g) Butter

• Half teaspoon salt

• Pinch of pepper

• Quarter Teaspoon of baking Powder

Instructions

1. Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender.

2. Drain the potatoes and mash them with the butter, salt, pepper and baking powder.

3. Mix in the flour to make a stiff dough. The exact amount of flour will depend on the type of potatoes used.

4.Roll out the dough on a floured surface to around 5 to 6 mm thickness.

5. Cut into rounds, use a saucer or small tea plate as a guide.

6. Prick all over with a fork and score the dough to mark 4 equal wedges.

7. Cook in a heavy pan or griddle which has been very lightly greased.

8. Cook each side for about three minutes on a medium heat until the scones are golden brown.

If you know another recipe I should try, let me know. See ya ;) 

Links: https://foodanddrink.scotsman.com/food/5-incredible-scottish-recipes-for-vegetable-dishes/

https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-easy-kimchi-at-home-189390

http://www.eattravellive.com/recipe/vegetarian-empanadas/

Chocotastrophe

Hi, mates! Happy new year, btw! How are the resolutions going? I would like to say I’m fine, but I would be lying. Yesterday, I was scrolling on Facebook when an article called my attention. I usually don’t trust on  Facebook news, because they are usually fake. So, I did my research and, to my surprise, it was totally true. I refuse to believe this article is real. It just can’t be real. You are probably asking what kind of article I’ve read to be like this. I’m going to ask you to sit down and drink some water. 

 Are you ready now? I have some horrible and disturbing news from the future. According to scientists, the world is running out of chocolate. Listen to the shock go over the house at this moment. You can’t believe it, right? But it’s true.

According to experts, global warming is the one to blame. Cocoa plants need high humidity, and plenty of rain to grow properly. The problem is that temperature is increasing a lot every year, and it would be really difficult for this plant to survive. This is an extract from the article I’ve read:

“Officials in chocolate-producing countries such as Ghana will be forced to choose whether to push cacao production areas uphill into mountainous terrain, which could cause issue for wildlife. They’ll have to either disrupt dying ecosystems or give up on chocolate. This, plus last year’s predictions of a chocolate deficit thanks to excessive consumption, points to a looming struggle to produce enough chocolate to meet the demand.

 ‘Unlike other tree crops that have benefited from the development of modern, high yielding cultivars and crop management techniques to realise their genetic potential, more than 90 per cent of the global cocoa crop is produced by smallholders on subsistence farms with unimproved planting material,’ Doug Hawkins, from Hardman Agribusiness, told the Mail Online. ‘All the indicators are that we could be looking at a chocolate deficit of 100,000 tonnes a year in the next few years.’

According to predictions, we have 40 years more to enjoy chocolate. How do you feel about it? 

Link: http://metro.co.uk/2018/01/01/warned-chocolate-shortage-may-looming-7195118/