#like every sweet thing in existence combined to make the ultimate dessert

[kindred-spirit-93]

ASDFGHJKL SCONES!! BISCUITS!! MUFFINS AAAAAHHHHHHHH

valentines day, odypen vers! :D

[citywide-roofing-sacramento]

The Art of Crafting Irresistible Gelato Creations at Fentons Creamery

As one steps foot onto the properties of Fentons Creamery in Piedmont, an instant sensory delight is experienced.

The ambient illumination and convivial atmosphere are simply a prelude to the main attraction: an array of irresistible gelato creations that bid to be savored.

This establishment, which has been serving sweet-toothed patrons since 1894, uses more than just frozen desserts; it serves crafted masterpieces that are as pleasing to the eye as they are enticing to the taste.

Each inside story tells a story not only of rich tastes and structures however additionally of meticulous workmanship and committed quest for perfection.

The procedure behind these tasty gelato confections is soaked in practice and knowledge passed down through generations.

It includes an intricate dancing between active ingredients option, flavor profiling, temperature level control, spinning strategies, discussion looks-- all fine-tuned over years into a harmony that creates amazingly indulgent experiences for each consumer.

Here exists the magic: changing easy active ingredients right into charming frozen treats that overfill desires and develop long lasting impressions.

It's this very craft-- from conception to consumption-- that will be checked out in detail throughout this article.

Unveiling the Magic Behind the Scenes

At Fentons Creamery in Piedmont, a detailed fusion of art and scientific research is utilized to craft their tempting ice cream creations, a procedure that unravels an exciting spectacle behind the scenes.

The assemblage of traditional approaches soaked in rich background with progressive techniques develops the basis for this unique gelato crafting experience.

Each inside story is not simply an end result of blending dairy and sweeteners but a testament to thorough attention towards detail, recognizing refined subtleties of taste profiles, and keeping the best equilibrium in between appearance and preference.

The proficiency lies not just in adhering to time-tested recipes but also in introducing new ones with adventurous flavor combinations that test standard dessert standards.

The dynamism at Fentons Creamery surpasses plain prep work; it permeates via the very values of its existence-- creating indulgent desserts that stimulate fond memories while enticing contemporary tastes.

This quest goes together with maintaining rigid top quality criteria for active ingredients sourced in your area or imported from around the world.

The result is not just a variety of delectable gelato yet culinary masterpieces ready to be enjoyed by each client who walks right into Fentons Creamery-- offering them more than simply a dessert, rather an intimate link with a legacy that has been very carefully curated over decades.

Thus, every lick ends up being identified with becoming part of an unique club-- one which values the better things in life, recognizes and values artisanal craftsmanship.

The Secret to Mouth-Watering Flavors

Understanding the precise mixology of myriad scrumptious flavors is an essential aspect at this renowned facility. The secret depend on a complex equilibrium between premium active ingredients, precise methods, and artistic creativity.

Every inside story at Fentons Creamery starts with a rich base, made from the freshest neighborhood dairy products and carefully selected taste components for ultimate taste experience. The gelato craftsmens are specialists in their craft, blending these elements with each other carefully to accomplish an one-of-a-kind appearance that is both creamy and airy-- a characteristic of authentic gelato workmanship.

Fruit-based arrays like wild raspberry or tropical mango sorbets are crafted from real fruit pulps, making certain an extreme ruptured of natural sweetness with each spoonful.

The pleasure stemmed from appreciating these beautiful concoctions extends beyond simply the sensory joy; it likewise resonates deeply with our inherent food craving for common experiences. Each taste narrates a tale-- be it regarding the mindful sourcing of Madagascar vanilla beans made use of in their signature vanilla gelato or concerning Fentons' longstanding custom of hand-churning every batch to excellence.

Thrilling patrons with such details enhances their recognition for both the treat and the commitment behind its creation. This technique not just cultivates client loyalty yet also creates a feeling of belonging among them as they enter into Fentons' rich heritage and shared love for extraordinary gelato developments.

[johnboothus]

We Asked 15 Bartenders: Whats the Best Frozen Drink Youve Had This Summer?

In the thick of summer, the frozen cocktail gets its moment in the sun. And deservedly so: Few things provide relief from the intense heat like a slushy, boozy drink cold enough to give an old-fashioned brain freeze. What could be more fun?

Over the last decade, the category seems to have entirely shaken off its stigma of being absurdly sweet and artificial-tasting concoctions, thanks to a renewed interest among today’s mixologists whose versions are produced with the same creativity and precision as their unblended counterparts. Now, they are featured on the menus of some of the country’s most highly regarded cocktail bars.

To help identify the best frozen drinks, we asked 15 bartenders to recommend their favorite libations in blended form. From a minty twist on the traditional Piña Colada to a guava-driven Daiquiri, here are the blended adult treats keeping these experts cool and refreshed in the heat.

The Best Frozen Cocktails Recommended by Bartenders:

Donna’s Brancolada

Frozen Avocado Margarita

The Saturn

Banana Stand

Miami Vice

Kelbo’s Guava Daiquiri

Koji Piña Colada

Frozen Irish Coffee

Frozen Margarita

Caipirinha

Rotating Frozen Drink at Dolores

Keep reading for details about all of the recommended bottles!

The Brancolada

“One of my ultimate favorite drinks is the Piña Colada, so when I tried the famous frozen Brancolada created by Jeremy Oertel at Donna’s, I was blown away! Not only did this drink always have the perfect slushy consistency, its name says it all. It has the delicious tropical flavors of coconut and pineapple that make a Piña Colada. Made with Appleton Estate VX Reserve that adds complexity and spice notes, freshly squeezed orange juice, and a minty bitter finish from the Brancamenta, a sweet version of Fernet-Branca with mint. This is a frozen drink that you could enjoy all year around. Sadly, Donna’s is no longer open due to the pandemic, but you can find the recipe online and Donna is doing a summer pop-up in Greenport, Long Island. Long live the Brancolada, long live Donna!” —Natasha Bermúdez, Head Bartender, Llama San, New York

“The Brancolada, at the recently closed Donna in Brooklyn, by Jeremy Oertel, has to be one of my favorite frozen drinks of all time. Even though I haven’t had this drink in a number of years, I still remember it well. One full ounce of Brancamenta can easily overpower any drink but this inventive Piña Colada riff is complex, bitter, and just downright delicious. Donna is one of the best bars. Hopefully it reopens in a new location soon.” —Paul McGee, Owner, Lost Lake, Chicago

“Definitely Donna’s Brancacolada. Brancamenta, Jamaican rum, lime, orange, and coconut, all frozen into that delicious brain-freeze texture. It changed me. You couldn’t stop at one.” —Sam Ross, Co-owner, Attaboy, New York

The Frozen Avocado Margarita

“My favorite frozen drink, maybe of all time, is the Frozen Avocado Margarita at Curra’s Grill. It’s a classic frozen Margarita but the addition of avocado brings a creamy texture similar to that of a fruit smoothie. (Avocado is a fruit, after all!) The gorgeous bright green hue is akin to a green juice, so it’s sort of healthy, wink wink. The salted rim (ask for a chili salt rim if you like some spice!) along with the star of the show, avocado, brings savory qualities and highlights the vegetal and grassy notes of blanco tequila. Curra’s was one of the first restaurants I ate at when I moved to Austin in 2008, so I have many fond memories of drinking these on the patio. Curra’s will be opening their second location in Hyde Park soon, so you’ll most likely see me there, green drink in hand.” —Erin Ashford, Beverage Director, Olamaie and Little Ola’s Biscuits, Austin, Texas

The Saturn

“The Saturn, from Smuggler’s Cove. This is a modern tiki classic you can order in most tiki bars, but Smuggler’s was the first place I tried it. For me, it’s the perfect balance of flavors. London dry gin is the base spirit, combined with passion fruit, fresh lemon, orgeat, and falernum. Then, blended and served in a coupe with lemon peels cut into Saturn’s rings. This cocktail takes your palate on a journey. Herbaceous gin, with tart and bright citrus from the passion fruit and lemon, then the orgeat and falernum combo give you a nutty and baking-spice finish. Blending the Saturn also gives you an incredible mouthfeel and texture. It’s tart, tropical, nutty, spiced, and frozen. Perfect for a warm day, or after a long shift.” —Sam Miller, Bartender, Pagon Idol, San Francisco

“My favorite frozen cocktail, to make and to drink, is the 1950s tropical classic the Saturn. The gin and citrus work perfectly for a cooling [flavor] in the summer heat, paired with the subtle warmth of orgeat and falernum and the tropical notes of passion fruit. It reminds me of a boozy popsicle. I serve mine with a split of passion fruit and blue Curaçao to give a fun pop of color, and garnish it with edible glitter for the extra space vibe.” —Selma Slabiak, Proprietor and Bartender, Selma’s Bar, Ridgewood, N.Y.

The Banana Stand

“Selma Slabiak is doing some super-fun stuff at Selma’s Bar, located inside of Queens brewery Evil Twin. My favorite slushy is the Banana Stand, a fun mix of rums, including Plantation Pineapple, combined with banana liqueur, l’orgeat, and pineapple and lime juices. It’s pure delight. Refreshing and cheerful, it’s a real mood lifter. Bonus points for serving this in a flight with her three other slushies!” —Natasha David, Co-owner, You & Me Cocktails, Red Hook, N.Y.

The Miami Vice

“The Miami Vice. It’s one part Piña Colada, one Strawberry Daiquiri. If fresh ingredients are used, it’s wonderful. Delicious, and perfect for any time.” —Terance Robson, Owner, Here Nor There and Eden Cocktail Room, Austin, Texas

“The Miami Vice. I mean, what’s not to love about it? A combination of two of the best tropical drinks, frozen, and then swirled. No brainer! It’s just so damn deliciously fruity and refreshing. Every time I have one, I’m instantly transported to a beach without a care in the world. I think about pounding a Miami Vice (or two) just about every time I’m weeded on a busy Friday night bar shift.” —Brad Langdon, Bar Director, Albi and Yellow, Washington, D.C.

The Guava Daiquiri

“During my 16-plus years in Los Angeles, the talk of classic tiki drinks was always quite prominent as we were in the birthplace of tiki. When it came time to talk crushed ice in blended cocktails for a seminar in Las Vegas, I went back to the bartender staple Sippin’ Safari for some inspiration and kept doubling back to Kelbo’s Guava Daiquiri. Kelbo’s was a Hawaiian BBQ restaurant circa 1950s on Fairfax Avenue. Imagine having a blended concoction of lime juice, guava nectar, banana liqueur, and either vodka or gin with your Hawaiian BBQ! I was instantly sold. I usually opt for a pot still London dry gin like Citadelle that can enhance and play with all the tropical flavors and add another dimension of flavor. Whether with vodka or gin, though, it’ll be a tropical party where rum lets their vodka and gin friends be the star for a day.” —Jen Len, Beverage Director, MW Restaurant, Honolulu

The Piña Colada

“The best I’ve had in recent memory was a Koji Piña Colada by Austin Hennelly of Majordomo. With Appleton Estate Rum, Aperol, coconut cream, makgeolli, acid-adjusted pineapple juice, and koji, it’s got all of the tropical allure of a Piña Colada with big slap in the face of umami from the koji and makgeolli. The first time I tasted it was while working a pop-up where Austin was making the drinks. I spent the majority of my night lurking around the frozen machine, sneaking quality-control pours for myself. It’s one of those combinations of flavors so satisfying, you can’t help but come back for more.” —Mike Capoferri, Bartender, Thunderbolt, Los Angeles

The Frozen Irish Coffee

“For me, the perfect, most versatile, frozen drink is the Irish Coffee. The delicious combination of coffee, cream, and Irish whiskey (or whatever booze one decides to throw in there) is the perfect pick-me-up the morning after a hard night out and the best way to stay alive during a hot, melting summer afternoon. Everyone is familiar with the frozen Irish Coffee at the Erin Rose in New Orleans, but anywhere I see one I have to give it a try. The balance of creamy texture, dessert motifs, roaring caffeine, and knock-you-over booze makes the frozen Irish coffee my ultimate frozen cocktail.” —Thomas Eslinger, Bartender, Death & Co., Los Angeles

The Frozen Margarita

“The Margarita has to be my favorite, hands down. It was the first frozen alcoholic drink I ever had, so I’ve had a love for it since I can remember. Then, after learning its history and all the different variations that exist, I’ve fallen even more in love with it. It’s a classic that will never go out of style, and will stay at the top of my list of favorites without hesitation.” —Steve Tinnon, Bartender, The Green Lantern, San Antonio, Texas

The Caipirinha

“The Caipirinha is the national drink of Brazil, and for good reason. Made with cachaça rum (pure sugar cane), muddled limes, and sugar, it’s simple and delicious. The simplicity of the ingredients allows each one to shine in a beautiful tropical blend. The first sip reminds you of the rum, and the next 20 remind you of a vacation.” —Katrïn Hayward Miller, Lead Bartender, Sonder & Dram, Lewiston, Me.

The seasonal frozen drink at Dolores

“Right now, my favorite frozen drink is whatever seasonal frozen cocktail is on at Dolores, located here in Providence. Horus Alvarez and the team always focus on showcasing whatever is perfect for the weather and what freshest ingredients are available at the time. The restaurant has done amazing frozen piña coladas, prickly pear Palomas, Daiquiris with Oaxacan rum, and more in the past. But the current offering has blanco tequila, cocchi americano, watermelon, honey, and fresh citrus, always! It’s always an ethereal moment when enjoying a number of these with its tacos and incredible moles to share with a large group of friends.” —Parker Luthman, Head Bartender, The Eddy, Providence, R.I.

The article We Asked 15 Bartenders: What’s the Best Frozen Drink You’ve Had This Summer? appeared first on VinePair.

Via https://vinepair.com/articles/wa-15-best-frozen-drinks-summer/

source https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/we-asked-15-bartenders-whats-the-best-frozen-drink-youve-had-this-summer

[travelcenter-uk]

What’s the most iconic food around the world? Let’s find out!

“Cooking is all about people. Food is maybe the only universal thing that really has the power to bring everyone together. No matter what culture, everywhere around the world, people eat together.”

– GUY FIERI –

What is the most iconic food around the world? The world is a gastronomic paradise; it harbours diverse culinary uniqueness in each corner. How many cuisines contribute to describing a particular destination and what would a local suggest to taste or where to find it?

If you look a little closer, you’ll soon learn that the best dishes in the world can be an up-close lens on the destination’s history and culture. Despite their ancient origins, the dishes have been modernised for the palates of today’s world.

Different food from around the world

Every foodie enjoys tasting their way around the world by indulging in traditional cuisines, by trying a new flavour for the first time or getting to enjoy an iconic dish they’ve heard about. We learn about different cuisines by tasting the most popular signature dishes and staple ingredients of each country.

A culinary journey across the globe is the best way to discover its culture and cuisine. This makes it the pure delight of culinary travel.

What’s even better than eating the best food in the world? You get to have a new food experience and enjoy another new dish. So, let’s take a look at the most iconic food from around the world. These are 10 different nations with their famous and traditional dishes, starting in the UK!

Warning: This list of food from around the world will make you hungry!

British Cuisine

Yes, one can’t really talk about Britain without mentioning one of the most well-known and distinct cultures on Earth: the British culture. With its own dialects, customs, art, literature and history; it is easy to see why many consider it to be one of the richest cultures in existence.

Britain has a wide variety of cuisine and holds an excellent culinary reputation. In fact, these dishes are some of the best food from around the world. However, culinary expertise in the UK is not new. Moreover, Influenced by the Romans, Anglo-Saxons, French and even other parts of Europe: In essence, a hodgepodge of diverse styles and traditions.

Fish and Chips – Fish and Chips are presumably the most popular British food known across the globe.

English Breakfast – English breakfast is served with bacon, sausages, egg, baked beans, black pudding, fried toast, hash browns, mushrooms, and egg. Best enjoyed with a cuppa or fruit juice.

Roast Dinner – A traditional roast dinner consists of different roasted meats like chicken breast, turkey, pork, and beef. This is accompanied by seasonal vegetables, roasts, potatoes, and gravy.

Bangers and Mash – A famous British pub food. A dish comprising sausages, mash potatoes, and onion gravy.

Trifle – A strawberry flavoured classic British dessert made up of layers of cake rolls, custard, jelly, cream, and fruit toppings.

Italian Cuisine

My personal favourite, Italian cuisine, is one of the oldest, most beloved cuisines and considered some of the best food from around the world. With extraordinary diversity of flavours, richness and depth, offering something for everyone’s taste buds.

Italian food varies from region to region and associates with various kinds of pasta and pizza. In reality, Italian food is ever-changing, from endless combinations and new adaptations. What makes Italian food one of the best food from around the world is not just its flavours but also its diversity and also an Italian meal can be expected to be structured as follows: Antipasto (appetiser), primo (rice or pasta), second (meat), and dolce (dessert).

Pizza – Pizza is a flat dough topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil. (More toppings are added to create different variants of pizza)

Risotto – An Italian version of creamy rice cooked in vegetable or meat stock, cheese and wine after frying it in sautéed onions.

Lasagna  – Lasagna is traditional Italian comfort food made in pasta sheets, meat, sauce, and cheese.

Ossobuco alla Milanese – Ossobuco is slow-cooked veal in white wine, meat broth, and vegetables seasoned with lemon zest, garlic, and parsley.

Gelato – Gelato is a rich variant of ice cream in terms of density, texture and is more intense in flavour.

French Cuisine

Like Italian food, French cuisine was also one of the world’s first cuisines and has taken its flavours around the globe. Admittedly, French cuisine is an art, so rich in regional variations. The French take great pride in their traditions of cooking. The modern way of cooking takes a lot from roots in France, and for decades, French food has been an elegant cuisine. This ranges from sylvan, robust, and healthy to the finest meals. A typical French meal would consist of bread, cheese, and wine.

Boeuf Bourguignon – Boeuf Bourguignon, a classic French beef stew made with red wine, pearl onions, mushrooms and bacon.

Croque Monsieur – A sandwich is taken to the next level! Grilled ham and velvety béchamel cheese sauce sandwich.

Croissants – Croissants are crescent-shaped buttery, flaky pastries perfectly crisp on the outside, tender and moist on the inside.

Coq Au Vin – A version of red wine chicken stew, cooked on a low heat to perfection.

Cherry Clafoutis – A popular cherry dessert in France! Juicy, sweet cherries wrapped in a rich batter and baked into a mixture of a cake and custard.

Chinese Cuisine

Some of the best food in the world, Chinese cuisine has taken over many parts of the world by storm! I mean, I’m sure you’ve had a Chinese take-away meal at least once in your life. This particular cuisine classifies its regional diversity into different styles: Cantonese, Szechuan, Hunan, Zhejiang, Shandong, Anhui, and Fujian. Each food tradition is formed by the regions’ history, climate, geography, and lifestyle.

Sichuan Pork – Sichuan Pork is spicy poached slices of pork coated with egg-white and starch to preserve its freshness and tenderness.

Dumplings – Dumplings comprise a filling of minced meat and chopped vegetables wrapped in a thin dough skin.

Peking Roasted Duck – Peking duck is a duck roast savoured for its thin and crispy skin, a world-famous dish from Beijing.

Chow Mein – Chow mein is a stir-fried noodles dish consists of meat (chicken, beef, shrimp, or pork), onions, and celery.

Kung Pao Chicken – Kung Pao Chicken is a famous Sichuan-style dish made with diced chicken, dried chilli, and fried peanuts.

American Cuisine

The best way to explain American cuisine is that it is a blend of different cuisines. In other words, it is a mongrel, where different ethnic groups contributed to the nation’s food traditions. American cuisine has drastically changed over the years, as have American lifestyles.  Some of these dishes were contributed by Native Americans, Colonial Americans, and Modern Americans. These were adapted, changed, and invented, becoming all-American dishes. Similarly, many dishes are regionalised, such as soul food in the south, Tex-Mex cooking in Texas, etc.

Hot dogs – There is no need for a special introduction for the “All-American” hotdog, a hotdog (sausage) wedged between a bun.

Philly cheesesteak – A Philly cheesesteak is a sandwich made by grilling chopped beef, onions, and cheese then laid into a long Amoroso bun.

Grits – Grits is a creamy porridge-like dish made with whole dried white corn kernels that can go plain, savoury, or sweet.

Mexican flat enchiladas – Mexican or Tex-Mex style enchiladas smothered in red chilli sauce or green topped with an optional fried egg.

Apple pie – Apple pie is a sweet dish that features a sweet apple filling and a flaky butter crust with a shimmering lattice pie crust.

Indian Cuisine

It’s hard to put Indian cuisine in a nutshell because of the country’s regional diversity and vast history. The early Indian cuisine relied heavily on a class system which dictated what people were able to eat. However, in more recent times, the cuisine has been a combination of traditional dishes and many international influences. The most common misinterpretation about Indian food is that many of us think it’s all curries. But in reality, it isn’t. An essential factor of Indian cuisine is that the blends of spices are designed to bring out the ultimate flavour.

Murgh Makhani (Butter Chicken) – Murgh Makhani is by far one of the deliciously best dishes in the world. This hot dish made with chicken tastes great with flatbreads.

Rogan Josh (Red Lamb) – A delectable spicy dish, Rogan Josh, is a red lamb stew prepared with a long list of spices, red chillies, and coconut cream.

Palak Paneer (Spinach and Cottage Cheese) – A popular Indian dish Palak paneer, a mildly flavoured dish made with spinach and cottage cheese with Indian spices.

Naan (Indian Flatbread) – Naan, a flatbread traditionally cooked in a tandoor oven, goes with anything, including curries and stews.

Gulab Jamun – An Indian sweet delight, a festive favourite made with milk solids, fried until golden and doused in saffron induced sugar syrup.

Japanese Cuisine

Food in Japan is plausibly one of the unique cuisines. The reason being that many ingredients used in their cooking can very rarely be found in other cuisines. It’s not all about sushi and tofu. The art of Japanese cuisine is prepared meticulously based on the proper seasoning and fresh ingredients.

Sushi – Sushi is some of the best food from around the world. This traditional Japanese dish consists of vinegar-flavoured rice rolls served with vegetables and raw seafood.

Sashimi – Sashimi is similar to sushi, but raw fish is sliced into small bite-sized pieces without the rice.

Tempura – Tempura is a dish prepared with seafood, meat, and vegetables covered in flour and egg batter then deep-fried in oil.

Soba and Udon – Soba or buckwheat noodles and Udon or wheat noodles are made by immersing the noodles into broth enjoyed hot or cold.

Wagashi – Wagashi are traditional Japanese sweets made using mochi rice cakes, Anko paste, agar, chestnuts, and sugar.

Lebanese Cuisine

Cuisine in Lebanon food includes many fresh ingredients like vegetables, fruits, seafood, and little animal protein. These ingredients are meticulously prepared in a fusion of Mediterranean and Arabic influences. The most significant feature of this fantastic food is the mezze, a selection of salads, vegetable dips, pickles, and Arabic bread. In recent years, people have come to celebrate the extraordinary flavours of Lebanese food.

Baba Ghanoush – Baba Ghanoush is a hummus-like dip made from eggplant served with pita bread and drizzled with olive oil.

Manakeesh – The Lebanese version of pizza, Manakeesh, is made with meat, cheese, zaatar. Manakeesh is served with tomatoes, cucumbers, fresh mint leaves, and olives.

Falafel – Falafel is made from deep-fried crushed chickpeas, served in a pita pocket with vegetables and tahini sauce.

Fattoush – Fattoush is a traditional Lebanese salad.

Baklava – Baklava is a golden flakey pastry made of filo dough, honey, and assorted nuts.

South African Cuisine

South African cuisine is extensive, culturally diverse, nourishing, and hearty, very much like the locals. Traditional South African cuisine is downright authentic, with influences induced by each culture. With the freshest ingredients from farm to table, the food here is amazingly delectable, making it one of the best foods from around the world!

Chakalaka – Chakalaka is a spicy vegetarian dish of tomato, beans, peppers, onions, and curry. This can be enjoyed with anything — rice, meat, bread, or other veggies.

Bunny chow – Bunny chow is a world-renowned dish made up of a hollowed-out loaf of bread filled with a chicken, pork curry, or a lentil and bean combo.

Bobotie – Bobotie, made up of minced meat, is cooked in curry, herbs & spices, and dried fruit, topped with a milky-eggy custard, and baked until golden brown.

Potjiekos – A dish of potjiekos features meat, potatoes, biltong, and vegetables slowed cooked over an outdoor fire.

Malva Pudding – Malva Pudding is a sweet, spongy cake made with apricot jam and a cream sauce poured on top.

Caribbean Cuisine

Food from the Caribbean is a delicious mix of French cuisine, African cooking, and local foods! Caribbean food is delightfully spicy, warming, and eloquent. Food staples include peppers, sweet potato, coconut, plantain, mutton, tropical fruits, and leafy green vegetables, all prepared into a heady concoction.

Jerk chicken – Chicken marinated with hot Jerk spice and served with rice and peas. Jerk chicken is one of the most traditional food in Jamaica.

Ackee and saltfish – Ackee and saltfish, Jamaica’s national dish, is prepared with ackee fruit and salted codfish, suitable for mealtime.  

Macaroni pie – Macaroni pie is comfort food in the Caribbean; a cheesy baked pasta dish is delicious with stewed or barbecued chicken.

Lambi – Lambi’s main ingredient is Conch. The dish is prepared with a combination of Conch, curry powder, coriander, thyme, and marinating with other spices.

Jamaican Rum Cake – A Bundt cake with a moist and tender crumb smothered in sweet butter and rum syrup.

Oh boy! That’s a long list of the best food from around the world! So, if you would like to go on a culinary adventure and taste your way around the globe, give Travel Center UK a call or drop us a line, and we’ll be glad to assist you in planning your next trip.

Read More:- What’s the most iconic food around the world? Let’s find out!

This Article, Information & Images Source (copyright):- Travel Center UK Blog

[elysianinsignia]

IDENTITY PAPER

                                      by: Mary Angelyn D. Villa

Life. One word but lies a thousand meanings and countless experiences. The life I hold is a journey to self-discovery. A trip for me to have a complete understanding of who I am and what I am. Who am I? Am I because of me? or am I me because of how the world molded me? Through the discovery of self, I can identify my purpose and actualize my potential. On the other hand, failure to embark on a pilgrimage of self-discovery will cheat on the opportunity to understand who I am and what I want out of my life.

For years, I never really understood myself. I never had the chance to have a full grasp on myself being a whole. For years, I never felt having a complete sense of self-identity, whose interest is concrete. For years, I was lost in my own realm with no concrete mastership, stability, and control. Growing up, I spent in confusion, with portions of who I am seemingly floating in the mist, my palms reaching out to grasp a piece of myself. Parts of me that I cannot fully latch onto for it ultimately slips through my fingers like warm water. 

 In my 18 years of existence, I have gone through a lot of roads. Tested me, shaped me, and let me realize a lot of things. My journey started on the year 2002 of December 8th, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception; it all began when the curtain of night fell upon the province, a province chained together by credence, conviction, customs, and certainty. It was raining cats and dogs at that time. Cold air pierced one's skin, cars were complaining due to heavy traffic, but amidst it all was a woman, a woman drowning in tears because of the unbearable pain she was enduring like she was being torn apart. It was the day I was pushed out of my mother's womb to witness how harsh, hard, and harrowing the world could be. But before I could see the world itself, my father was put in a situation that almost took his sanity. A situation which he needs to decide, his wife;the love of his life  or his second-born daughter or else both will die. Instead of choosing, my father fled to the nearest chapel and prayed like there was no tomorrow. Cried rivers and knelt desperately. The moment I was pushed out, my grandmother immediately decided to name me Mary Angelyn. 'Mary' was included for I was born during the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, the day for Mother Mary, and 'Angelyn' is a combination of "Angel" and my mother's name, Evelyn, it was combined with the word 'Angel' for the reason that my grandmother believed that all the angels of heaven and the Divine God sent an angel, I, to protect and guide my family.  

Since time immemorial, my family and my relatives had been religious and avid followers of the Almighty. Maybe it is because our forefathers are Spaniards, who were the ones who introduced Catholicism to the family, or maybe because of all the hardships, challenges, and misfortunes my family had experienced back then that led them to be closer than they ever were to the Almighty. On the other hand, I am a product of love from two individuals from two different localities. My mother was born, raised, and blossomed independently in the tropical paradise of the southern tip of the Philippines, where nature trippers find refuge in the clean, peaceful, pleasant sands of Sarangani. Despite the lack of financial support, she rose from the ashes and strived hard to have a brighter future. My mother did not disappoint herself; she graduated with flying colors. Contrarily, my father, 7 years older than my mother, was born and raised in one of the leading corn producers in the province. A municipality works under the slogan "Cooperative Efforts towards Peace and Progress." The difference between them is that my father had his full support, financially and mentally, from my great grandparents and his parents. He may have his family's full support; this does not change the fact that he needs to strive hard, more complex than he ever did before, to provide a bright future for his own future family. He succeeded. Graduated with flying colors.

The heartwarming affection of the two lovebirds that both have been showering upon me and my older sibling had put us in a pedestrian where we felt safe and protected from the monsters lurking in the dark, waiting for an opportunity. Both had opened our eyes and let us witness how big, and scary the world would be. How one's life can quickly be taken without any caution. This is the reason why on every holiday, free time, or even just a random day, our family would come together, have a simple buffet to catch up on each and every one. Since then, feasting and having yakiniku on a simple day has become a custom in the family. But one must take note that because our clan had a mixture of Spanish, Filipino and Japanese traditions, a simple day and buffet may often be complicated for a new guest. Since day one, as a daughter of a man who was born with parents that was introduced to different countries customs and traditions, we were taught Spanish rule such as to always keep your hands visible when eating; keep wrists resting on the edge of the table, one should not expect dinner any time before 9pm, and when invited to a home for a meal, it has become customary to give the host or hostess a gift: a good bottle of wine, dinner, sweets and/or a dessert. As for the Japanese, we have applied 'bowing' in our daily life. Bow in times of greeting someone or apologizing, asking a favor, or making a request. We also say "let's eat" instead of "itadaki-masu" before a meal. But, growing up in the Philippines, I have learned to be resilient, flexible, adaptive and put my family at the center of everything. Culture is likely compared to an onion; it has many layers, taken from different roots but puts the spice in our life. 

The influence of my family guided me in my journey with God as my sole compass. Although I may not realize it at the time, they made a difference and changed my life in a way I never could imagine. To think that they have a profound effect on my life forever is truly a blessing. It is because I've learned some of life's best lessons and often even learn a bit of myself.

In another way, in my journey, I have come to terms and wholly believed that everything that happens in one's life all happens for a reason, and sometimes that means we must face heartaches to experience joy. I may have been filled with comfort and care from my family, yet I still do experience difficulties, especially becoming a woman where I need to depend more on myself rather than on my loved ones; it has been a chaotic phase for me, where friendships run amok, setbacks are commonplace, and even I, who is one of the fortunate children out here still wanders through the woods for own self-discovery. However, at the age of 17, where the world has become unsafe due to the pandemic, it has become more difficult for me to navigate through the tides of my own everyday life. Eventually characterized by circumstances that ultimately shattered the notion of having a complete grasp on my self-identity, where instead of spending my time finding out who I am, I struggled with survival, always fleeing at the sight of danger. Yet, with everything that is happening- the pandemic, rallies, government negligence, and so on have let me exercise my power as a citizen, as a youth, and as an individual. Yes, I am young, but I know what is right from wrong. I'm not stupid. Speaking up against something that I know is inhumane and shouldn't be tolerated by anyone is beyond scary. This is why activism is never for the weak because fighting for what you believe is right takes courage, a lot of that. Frightening and life threatening. But I did it anyway. My parents did not raise a coward. I respect others as we all have different opinions on everything. Mine is way different from others, and others differ from mine. I am allowed to voice out mine as much as you are allowed to voice out yours. If you choose to close your mind and eyes, shut your ears and mouth, it's okay. If I decide to speak out, it's okay, too. All of us are encouraged to speak out, but we're never forced. It's a matter of choice. And this is what I will choose. Always.

I am not halfway through my journey. I am still blossoming.  But throughout my whole life, my entire journey, I've established my self-identity solely from the influences of those people and circumstances around me, adapting pieces of passers-by that arouse my interest until their significance vanishes into the wind, and my brain prepares itself for another gust of inspiration. In each road, I take, with its bumps and thorns that often strips my innate understanding of who I am by replacing images with ideas of how I should be, what I should look like, and how I should live out my life had let me discern that only by walking through its bumps and enduring the thorns when I can genuinely reveal the innermost workings of my most natural self and adapt on my whole persona, instead of allowing the road itself change and dictate how I should be. 

Nonetheless, I choose a life that will be an endless journey of self-discovery, an infinite collecting of portions of myself hanging in the mist just waiting for my palms to reach onto the pieces. Perhaps someday, I will have a full grasp of my identity as a person and find my niche and establish a foundation upon which to cement my self-identity. Yet, until that day arrives, I will persist with my self-discovery through the fog of danger, threats and challenges, and maybe I will emerge from the shadows with a triumph in my hands. My submersion into this journey has only just begun, and I will not relinquish hope in the face of defeat.

[junker-town]

A Thanksgiving sides draft, because we are a sports website

Photo by: Anjelika Gretskaia/REDA&CO/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

2 sides, 1 dessert, 1 drink. Whose Thanksgiving reigns supreme?

Thanksgiving dinner has never been about turkey.

The focal point of the biggest meal of the holiday season can be brined, roasted, or fried, but it will never escape its fate as lean, bland bird meat. On its own, it’s more of a lowkey punishment than the centerpiece of a celebration.

That’s why we have side dishes. The heart of Thanksgiving is the supporting cast that soaks across your plate and imparts a little extra flavor to the day’s starring attraction. Good sides are a meal on their own, reduced to complementary status in the name of an hour-long gorging. They even get their own stewards thanks to the presence of desserts and beverages tasked with cleaning the whole mess up.

Put all that together, and you’ve got one hell of a meal. And, for the dads of the nation, a prelude to the greatest recliner nap they’ll take all year.

In the interest of celebrating the one celebration of America that doesn’t involve hot dogs, we turned the perfect Thanksgiving meal into a competition. Five SB Nation writers joined forced to draft their ideal meals. The ground rules:

everyone starts with turkey and gravy

everyone drafts two sides, one dessert, and one beverage (adult or otherwise)

sides must be fundamentally different from one another to be considered a viable alternative to an already-picked food (i.e. sausage and herb stuffing vs. Stove-Top is good to go, but pumpkin pie vs. pumpkin pie with whipped cream is not).

Our four-round draft was a randomly-assigned snake draft, and our managers could pick sides, dessert, or beverage in any round of their choice. These are the results:

1. Stuffing — Louis Bien

Easily the MVP of every Thanksgiving dinner. Stuffing stands up well on its own, but it pairs with everything else beautifully, too. Stuffing complements everything around it, and everything complements stuffing. It just tastes like Thanksgiving. And it saves amazingly well for next-day sandwiches. Some people like to add sausage to their stuffing, but that’s one job too many for what is essentially the do-it-all point guard of any feast. Let stuffing be the giver that it is.

Christian D’Andrea: Cool man. You took breadcrumbs cooked inside a bird anus No. 1 overall.

Alex McDaniel: If Stove Top is No. 1, let’s give up now.

2. Mashed potatoes — Christian D’Andrea

An easy choice. Mashed potatoes are the glue that you dip your turkey in so that other, better foods (stuffing, cranberry sauce, corn, etc) will stick to the bird and thus make it taste like something. It’s also instrumental in the post-meal leftover sandwich, which is easily the best part of Thanksgiving (old man naps while seating completely upright aside).

Fooch: I’d like to continue shit-talking Louis on this one. Forget stuffing — mashed potatoes is the go-to side. Mashed potatoes is the Orlando Pace of this draft. The offensive tackle prospect that you know will turn into a Hall of Famer. It’s not a sexy pick, but like Christian said (when he wasn’t trashing my old man choices), it’s the glue of the Thanksgiving meal.

Louis: Boxed fake mashed potatoes >>>>>>> real mashed potatoes. I will take no more questions at this time.

3. Cranberry sauce (Ocean Spray) — David Fucillo

I’ve learned to enjoy fancy cranberry sauce, but nothing tops the gelatin version! Some will mock me for my distaste of gravy, but this actually serves as my choice of gravy. I combine all my sides together with the turkey, and the cranberry sauce is what keeps it from turning into a lumpy mess.

Louis: This is high for cranberry sauce, but I get that people really love it, and I like the gelatin version over the Real Stuff, too. But I will NOT abide this gravy slander, sir.

4. Cornbread dressing — Alex McDaniel

Aside from being the Thanksgiving dish most likely to start a family fight over the right way to make it, cornbread dressing is the quintessential side-that-could-also-be-a-meal holiday food. (It’s also way better than stuffing in that we don’t shove dressing up a bird’s ass.)

Louis: Y’all know you don’t have to cook stuffing in the turkey’s butt, right?

5. Pumpkin pie — Eric Stephen

In theory I probably should have picked a side dish here, but since I had two picks back-to-back I wanted to give the Thanksgiving dessert its proper due as a first-round pick. Pumpkin pie is not something that should be eaten year round, but it is a Thanksgiving staple. There was no way this was lasting until the end of the third round, so I had to make sure to grab my dessert — the dessert — right away.

Fooch: Every draft requires someone forgetting that a selection already happened. I was psyched to take pumpkin pie in the third round, only to realize I missed Eric taking it with the fifth overall pick. Pumpkin pie with whipped cream is what Thanksgiving is all about. I probably should have taken it over cranberry sauce, but such is life.

6. Green bean casserole — Eric Stephen

I have to be honest here: for the overwhelming bulk of my Thanksgiving dinners, I’ve had fairly standard green beans, maybe spruced up with bacon here and there. But green bean casserole is the ultimate comfort food, and perhaps more importantly it’s one of the easiest sides to make — green beans, cream of mushroom soup, and fried onions — which is important for those of us who aren’t hosting but rather bringing something to the table.

Christian: Easily the worst kind of bean. I appreciate the casserole’s commitment to making a healthy food so capable of bringing on a stroke.

Louis: Is there any part of green bean casserole that actually tastes good other than the French’s fried onions sprinkled on top?

Fooch: The fact that Christian shit-talked my Brussels sprouts the way he did and doesn’t offer nearly enough hate for green bean casserole is just unacceptable.

7. Sweet potato casserole — Alex McDaniel

I’m not sure why I didn’t make this my first pick because it’s undeniably the most on-brand example of Thanksgiving indulgence in existence. How do you make sweet potatoes, a naturally tasty and good-for-you food, more appealing? Mix them with a shitload of butter and brown sugar and eggs and vanilla before topping them off with marshmallows and EVEN MORE butter and brown sugar. Plus, it’s the only dish other than boring-ass cranberry sauce that counts as a side AND a dessert.

Christian: A dessert as a side dish? You really are from the South.

8. Brussels sprouts (with balsamic glaze) — David Fucillo

A vegetable I would never eat as a kid I have grown to love as an adult. I’d be fine with just a basic sprout dish cooked with some salt, pepper and garlic. In reality, a balsamic glaze and potentially some bacon takes this side to a whole other level.

Christian: Of course the guy who picked candy corn and raisins at Halloween wants Brussels sprouts, the villain food from every Nicktoon from 1992-1998. Enjoy your tiny cabbages, old man.

9. Sausage and herb stuffing — Christian D’Andrea

How do you improve on stuffing? Add a bunch of pig fat to it. This is effectively a breakfast sandwich, blended down into spoonable form. I love every word in that sentence, so that’s an easy pick for me.

Louis: Talks shit about stuffing then takes the frozen Jimmy Dean’s version of it eight picks later. OK.

10. Spiced peaches — Louis Bien

It was slim pickings for sides at this point of the draft outside of [Insert vegetable] and [Insert starch]. But spiced peaches are a nice curveball on the plate — sweet and tart and delicious. Who cares that they don’t actually go with anything.

Alex McDaniel: It’s hard for me to talk shit about such a delightfully Southern dish, but I’m guessing spiced peaches in Wisconsin just means throwing some cinnamon on a Del Monte fruit cup and calling it a day.

11. Rye old fashioned — Louis Bien

A simple, noble, delicious cocktail that tastes like the embodiment of crackling fireplaces, cozy sweaters and fucking off from work.

Christian: You went to the University of Wisconsin and chose rye over brandy for your old fashioneds. The city of Madison will judge you for this. Harshly and drunkenly, as is tradition.

Louis: Do I get to rebut in the comment section? Listen, I hear you, but brandy hurts, man.

12. Cheesecake — Christian D’Andrea

A top five dessert after any meal. Can be topped with literally any fruit in order to make it healthy.

“Healthy.”

Louis: Yes, that’s exactly what I want after my 20-pound meal, a sugar bomb with the density of a red dwarf.

13. Roasted potatoes — David Fucillo

Gotta have a starch and I couldn’t justify scalloped potatoes. Mashed potatoes are the easy choice, but a quality toasted potato can bring a little something extra.

Christian: How difficult was it for you to pass up “rolls” or “water” here?

Louis: “Mmm, pass the filler please.”

Eric: This is a great side, but missing only one step: mashing the potatoes.

14. Hot bourbon cider — Alex McDaniel

Adding bourbon to apple cider is a) delicious and b) more socially acceptable than drinking straight whiskey from a Solo cup at the Thanksgiving table. Or so I’ve heard.

Christian: The only thing I don’t like about this pick is your Solo cup bias. Next you’re going to tell me everyone sits on chairs that don’t fold up at your house and the kids’ section isn’t just a three-legged card table.

15. Mac n’ cheese — Eric Stephen

The gamble in picking my dessert first meant that most of the good sides would be snatched up by this time of the draft. But what could be better to add to Thanksgiving than one of the best side dishes for any meal? Mac n’ cheese is delicious whether out of a box or made from scratch, and for an extra touch maybe through some bacon in there since I didn’t get to add them to my green beans above.

Louis: I am probably very, very alone in this, but I love mac n’ cheese in pretty much every context except Thanksgiving. Here’s a sumptuous banquet of Earth���s bounty, and also cheddar noodles.

16. Boring-ass regular cider — Eric Stephen

I suppose I could have just picked a beer, or even tequila here (man, that would hit the spot right now), I picked a beverage I have in my kitchen at this very moment. Yes it’s relatively plain, and non-alcoholic, but the spicy warm beverage is just perfect for the holidays, and hit the spot.

Christian: Warm Dr. Pepper was RIGHT THERE.

17. Salted caramel pie — Alex McDaniel

Listen. If you eat a bunch of rich and/or sweet stuff at dinner, maybe DON’T make this your dessert choice. Eat some Jell-O and go lie down. But if you kept things dry and boring, salted caramel pie is the dessert you DESERVE, not to mention a hell of a lot more creative than standard, boring, embarrassingly un-salted pies.

Christian: Is the recipe for this just “salt, sugar, butter, milk” and then a shrug emoji?

18. Hot buttered rum — David Fucillo

I’m not a big holiday drinker, but this just seems like a quality option during a cold, winter evening. Why get complicated?

Christian: OLD. MAN. PICK. Fooch drafted himself a Thanksgiving meal he read about once in a Dickens novel.

19. Porters/brown ales (like say, Tyranena’s Rocky’s Revenge?) — Christian D’Andrea

A good warming beer to ease in the oncoming winter. Nothing sets up the 4 p.m. hibernation break quite like a couple beers to wash down the week’s worth of carbohydrates you just ate.

(Tyranena, please send me stuff.)

Fooch: I love a good porter or brown ale, but I can’t even begin to imagine trying to drink this during or right after a huge Thanksgiving meal. I’m a glutton when it comes to this meal, but this would knock me on my ass before I even finished eating. I at least like to make it back to the television and pass out while watching football.

20. Ritz cracker pie — Louis Bien

I think this goes by mock apple pie in some circles, but we usually make this with pecans and/or walnuts in the mix, too. Ritz cracker pie is light and fluffy and sweet and perfect after over-gorging on everything else. I almost always end up having some for breakfast the next day.

Christian: I ... have no idea what this is?

(Ritz, please send Louis stuff.)

Our final results:

So who won our inaugural Thanksgiving sides draft? Throw your vote in below. The winner will earn a smidge of pride. The loser will be mocked relentlessly for having terrible taste.

If you can’t see the poll, click here.

[toddlazarski]

Discovering Alambres in Milwaukee

Shepherd Express

Beef or pork? Tripa? What about lengua? I can’t live without at least trying every chorizo presented to me. And with any decent Mexican restaurant even pollo should be on the table for discussion—hinting at the biggest problem within the greatest, highest-varietal world cuisine: What do you order when you want everything?

Anyone with the maybe embarrassing experience of eating out with me at a proper Mexican spot has probably witnessed, with some gastrointestinal wonder, or maybe a guffaw, a personal solution to the conundrum. It is what I’ve long deemed the “entree-plus” method. What you do is order, say, a torta dinner, but then, politely holding your finger up to indicate to the waitress you are not yet done with your wish list, also ask for a couple of tacos. For the side. Maybe get the shrimp diablo, and team it with a simple desebrada number. Try the bistec ranchero, but with a sidecar of cecina. Possibilities become endless, but within, the basic premise is simple: to run the meat gamut, as much as possible, exponentially increase your lipid-and-sauce variations, skip the fear of missing out, make lunch a cultural deep dive, in the process achieving your Epicurean best self, spinning life into a fete of curiosity, not restraint, and turning the table into one of those fashionably messy, rustic Bon Appetit cover photo shoots.        

But what if the answer to the ubiquitous meat question, with all the options, all the exotic-sounding proteins, is, more simply—in that annoying social media vernacular vain—“Yes, please!”  

Enter the Mexico City specialty known as the Alambre. Spanish for “wire,” the word is indeed rooted in a meat combo cooked on a skewer. But it is a shish kabob in spirit only. In the real world it exists as a single plate amalgamation, a meat party, that is actually more like a sizzling late-night drunk skillet of all the most satisfying things found in the furthest crevices of the fridge. Among the multitude varietals, the basic offering mixes steak, chopped bacon, bell peppers, onions, melty cheese. Chorizo is a common contributor as well. Ham can sometimes be considered a healthy alternative—which tells you much about the nature of the dish. Avocado is also a usual suspect. But remember, as it tells itself every morning when looking in the mirror, that is good fat. A blank slate for Fieri-level exploration when sided by tortillas and some salsa, the alambre is a vessel of a DIY taco tour through a good Mexican grocery store.  

My introduction came on 25th and Greenfield Avenue, where the sadly-shuttered El Canaveral once specialized in the plate. It is a meal that still exists like something out of Proust, the memory triggering hunger daydreams of winter nights spent hunkered over a posse of a meat pile, a craggy, cheesy sponge for their quintet of creamy salsas, each building on the last in hue, heat, and intensity. What was truly unique, in those Canaveral salad days, was I only felt the need to order one thing. One word, even, levied to the waitress, enough to hold all the Mexican meal promise one might reasonably ask for. I often bemoan the loss, wistfully ponder the empty husk of the handsome and cozy corner barroom, consider the death of all that smoking meat waft potential. But in loving pursuit of those bite memories, I set out to chronicle what remains, to capture at least a loose roadmap of Milwaukee’s best single-steaming-plate Mexican marriage of foodstuffs.    

4. Kompali Taqueria

Maybe the most telling thing about restaurateurs Karlos Soriano and Paco Villar is how little, through maybe two dozen meals, I’ve ever found wrong with either of their two spots. First, they put too much pineapple on the pastor offering at Kompali, the new taco joint. Second, as a waitress once chastised me for a request, scolding, “I only have two hands!” it seems they can’t find great help at C-Viche. That is it. Everything else—from the aji verde sauce to the pork beans to the esquite to the pisco sours to the succulent beef hearts fit for even those squeamish about, “wait, this is heart?”—feels somehow  in turns regional and personal, and like it’s been consummated with a sense of thoroughness and chile peppered-love. C-Viche is really just a couple of brunch misfires short of upholding my contention that it is maybe the most interesting, if not flat out best, restaurant in Milwaukee.

Which is to say their second, stripped down, taco and tequila-focused Brady Street replacement of Cemapazuchi is certain to deliver on the basics. And it does: from the distinctly salty, cumin-tinged, creamy tomato salsa that comes with the chips, to the smoky chipotle mayo-textured blend that comes with the tacos, it is a happy ideal of Mexican cooking that Cempazuchi only really seemed to be that one time on TV. They also personify an ideal starter alambre for the uninitiated—in prefab taco form. Diced carne asada tumbles uniformly with tender chopped ham and slightly crunchy bacon bits, everything topped with onion and bell pepper before being swathed in smooth goo queso and swaddled neatly inside a homemade tortilla. While the rest of the list here strive for something between gut burstage and a drunken munchie sate, this is a happy, reasonable start not only to an alambre tour, but to a night out. With little threat of overwhelming, without grease-bombing, with nary a worry as to not having room for more drinks, dessert. In fact maybe that’s a third complaint. Or it would be if I wasn’t so happy filling up with their housemade chorizo, the aforementioned pastor, etc.  

3. Al Pastor

Despite the nachos and burritos and ‘Stallis zip code, the menu at Al Pastor does specifically promise “Mexico City style cuisine,” and alongside the eponymous pork stuff of taco dreams and the likes of bistec en chile de arbol, the alambre is presented, simply, honestly, as a “delicious combination.”     

Thin folds of tender skirt steak, with prominent sear marks, generous seasoning and decent snap, dominant the taste swirl of the mashup plate. These are buoyed by bits of salty ham—some grilltop-blackened, some fleshy; tiny granules of charred chorizo, lending a greasy beating heart to the whole; semi-charred wedges of red and green bell peppers; and bright Oaxacan cheese, half-melted throughout, gooping and draping everything like a tangled favorite blanket. Hunks of pineapple occasionally turn up too, contrasting the saltiness, lending some sweet bright sunshine, even to a barren block of Burnham in February.

It’s a richly savory meat sludge, all aspects breaking up under fork pressure, colliding, tussling, coming together in earthy, brackish bites, steaming and begging to be patted atop lightly griddled, sturdy flour tortillas. Ratchet everything up with a surprisingly zinging fresh jalapeno salsa, or a fiery vinegar-laced, arbol-based red. It’s emblematic of when food writers, like sportwriters, feel the need for that old adage of the package being greater than the sum of the parts. How else to describe the Giannis, Middleton, Bledsoe ball movement to open-three mindflow? The roll, the collective rhythm, the push and pull, the unexpectedness, the jazz, that extra-sensory unity. Like the Bucks, the alambre might be the one seed of Mexican cuisine. A “delicious combination” indeed.   

2. La Flamita

It’s like a scene out of a movie: the know-everything writer, pushing big nerd glasses back up on the bridge of his cook-bookish nose, trying out a bit of show-off Spanish, placing a knowing order, within which to don worldliness, after which to scribe a wise pen-sermon full of clever phrases and expensive-sounding words, is stopped in his cocky tracks with a simple question— “What meat?” Yes, apparently you can improvise, personalize your alambre here at this white truck parked on 20th and National. And while such off-balance thinking has led to many problematic orders through the years, it’s clear this is a dish that could only be messed up by a vegetarian. This is the thought the man in the order window must have, half-heartedly agreeing, nodding, patiently waiting, as I audibly recite every possible roster variation that comes to mind, eventually arriving on an All-Star team of asada, pastor, and chorizo.   

This is a to-go order of homogenized harmony, everything neatly, uniformly diced, melded, a goopy white cheese center holding the whole family together with the droopy, loving arms of a domineering grandmother. Nothing gets too far away, each bite seemingly packed with equal part onion and bell pepper hunks, velvety melty queso, and, in my iteration, craggly cow and greasy pork two different ways. Ignore the rote verde salsa in lieu of a truly mean-spirited, arbol-centered sauce. It lends a bit of heated vitality, vigor throughout all that togetherness. This eye-opening feel is furthered by full exploration of the bag. That tin-foiled brick down there isn’t more tortillas. It is a steaming baked potato. Soft, starchy, you can neatly crumble it atop the meat mix, or maybe refry a bit for next-morning eggs. Either way, it’s happily sponge-like, more salsa-soaking than french fries, and turns out to be an ingenious little carb-y loaf addition to the big styrofoam protein package. It’s also another surprising glimpse of the peripatetic nature of taco trucking—the road is a mighty teacher.

1. La Guelaguetza

The most delightfully-named taqueria in the city—the truck on 15th and Burnham takes its handle from an annual indigenous cultural festival in Oaxaca—has a handy translation placard for available meats: “lengua” is “tongue,” “cabeza” is “head,” “Alambres” is… “Alambres.”  Meaning, seemingly, that there is no translation. As in, if you don’t speak the language, you won’t get it. It reminds me of a time a well-meaning prankster member of my Mexican in-law tribe tried to let me in on the ultimate Spanish cuss, the one to use if anybody is really giving you a hard time. When I asked my wife to explain what it meant, I didn’t think the translation sounded so offensive. Until, later, at one of those extended relative gatherings, when, backed into a corner, being mocked for my broken espanol, fumbling for a face-saving zinger, I let the unmentionable phrase slip in front of an abuela, a tia, and a gaggle of cousins. All eyes on me, mouths aghast in collective terror and befuddlement, with crickets suddenly echoing around the awkward silence, it was like Lenny Bruce joking about Adolf Hitler. I haven’t been invited to a family funeral since.

What can’t be lost or misconstrued in translation is taste. So if you stumble through the three-syllables, you will be rewarded with an alambre of crispy asada, tender pastor from a bulbous stationary vertical spit of seasoned pork, and bacon wedges in varying levels of doneness. The multitude meat stuffs exist in loose, pepper-inflected affiliation, messily inconsistent chops leave incongruous bites—some onion-y, some gooey, all meaty and salty and dense. Such variety is the spice of life, as they say. Which is not true. Salsa is the spice of life. And the rojo here is blood red and angrily smoky, thick enough to hold its own on the mass, spicy but short of overpowering, so that the massive container of chopped, pickled habanero and onion sitting on the counter should still be utilized. Though, in the spirit of those male enhancement drug disclaimers, maybe consult with a doctor if there is any history of heart problems. A crumbly baked papa also sits atop the two-meal mash. And by now, it feels like, why not? It’s a spongy starch addition that is better to soak it up—the debris, the salty carnage, all the messy drip of life itself. Piquant, earthy, foreign, comforting, a concentrated slop of intricacy and nuance, the whole thing is really a beautiful sense bastardization, an amalgamation that only leaves trace amounts of grease guilt.     

Sometimes saying things you don’t understand really pays off.  

[lucyariablog]

The Business Story Argument: A Working Framework to Pressure Test Your Story

Storytelling.

It’s got a bit of a buzz these days doesn’t it?

It seems every technology provider, agency, and consultant promises to help you tell a better story. But what does “telling a better story” even mean?

To tell a better story, do marketers need to be edgier and differentiate themselves to an audience numb to everything except the completely outrageous? Maybe. But that ultimately seems like a zero-sum game. How many more over-the-top content ideas do you produce before you jump the proverbial shark? Is BuzzFeed, with all its cat-video and which-Game-of-Thrones-character-are-you-quiz “trending buzz,” a huge success? Or, is it failing to differentiate?

And, the way things are going lately, today’s mainstream news headlines are probably going to be more outrageous than your brand ever will anyway.

Does “telling a better story” mean you just need to put more and more detail into your content? Give away all the thinking and bombard your audience with so much quality and detailed facts that they must appreciate the sheer amount of content (#AllTheEducation)?

No.

Neither of these approaches is at the root of getting to a better story. As so many of my mentors in storytelling drilled into my head – the heart of a great story is an argument for the truth. And, the truth has little to do with the number of facts or what happens, no matter how outrageous. As one of my mentors – the great storytelling coach Robert McKee – has written, “What happens is fact, not truth. Truth is what we think about what happens.”

If the last 24 months of the daily news cycle haven’t illustrated this “truth” in spades, I’m not sure what will.

Put simply: A great story is a well-crafted, entertaining, engaging, and (ultimately) convincing argument. With a fulfilling story, if I’m successful as an author, I’ve taken you on a journey and you believe (or are at least open to believing) something different at the end of it.

A great story takes you on a journey where you believe something different at the end, says @Robert_Rose. Click To Tweet

This is something you as a marketer can test as you create your content.

Prologue: The Business Story Argument Framework

I’ve worked with hundreds of marketing professionals and storytellers over the last 10 years. I’ve employed and customized a number of borrowed “tools” to help them get to better stories. If you read my first book, Managing Content Marketing, written with my colleague Joe Pulizzi, you might remember how we used a modified version of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey to help structure what we called the Brand Hero’s Journey.

If you read my book with Carla Johnson, Experiences: The 7th Era of Marketing, you might remember we’ve used the classic “5 why’s” as a means of helping content marketers get to a deeper, more meaningful story.

While I still use both approaches in coaching and in the content creation process, I recently found another approach that helps marketers pressure test a story to see if it has all the components that make it a good one rather than just an outrageous situation or a collection of facts. With a huge hat tip to my friend and writers’ coach Jeff Lyons and his Anatomy of a Premise Line, I customized a framework that I call the Business Story Argument Framework.

Now, the key utility of this framework is to know that it doesn’t write your story nor serve as a template. Its usefulness is in how it can help you pressure test an idea for a story you already have.

Getting to a satisfying story can be truly difficult. Add to that the fact that marketers are often pressed for time, and it’s just near impossible to truly settle in and think about how to create a meaningful, engaging, and convincing story that illuminates some greater truth about the world.

But if you can pressure test your ideas more quickly, perhaps you can at least improve the chances of focusing only on the best ideas or provide clearer direction for your existing content marketing initiative. Are you ready for the adventure? OK, let’s do it.

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Act 1: Every great story has 4 parts

We all know creative ideas come from random places. I love the quote from Nicholas Negroponte who asked, “Where do new ideas come from? The answer is simple: differences. Creativity comes from unlikely juxtapositions.”

You may come to an idea for a content marketing story from any number of places. The lightning of an idea may strike you in the shower or while you’re walking the dog. Or you might be inspired by an idea that comes out of your team’s latest brainstorming standup. Or you may inherit a story because your company just acquired a brand that has a digital magazine.

However an idea comes into your possession, know that every great story has four distinct parts:

The human – Every great story has a human soul at its core, even if that human is a talking Lego character. Nobody wants to hear the story of industrial manufacturing. They want to hear the story of Jane, the enigmatic heroine who finds herself challenged with leading a new industrial manufacturer.

The goal – A goal is a conscious or unconscious desire of the human. The desire to achieve a goal is what propels our human hero through the story journey. When the goal is conscious it is related to the greater “truth” (as detailed below). The superhero team’s goal, for example, is to simply defeat the monster. When the goal is unconscious, events transpire in the story that ignite the illuminated truth in our human hero. Think of the classic detective story, where the hero feels she’s getting too old and just wants to solve the last case so she can retire. However, by solving the most difficult case of her career the hero also discovers it’s the work that keeps her young. The best stories have both conscious and unconscious goals.

The resistance – Every great story needs a seemingly insurmountable obstacle. Occasionally, this comes in the form of a great human villain petting a white cat in a secret lair. Other times the resistance is simply a “mountain” that must be climbed or a giant shark that must be killed. The bigger the resistance and the more relatable to the hero, the better the story.

The truth – The truth is your argument – what you believe in and what you are arguing. Some might call this the “theme” or “message” of the story, but at its core the truth is simply the belief you are trying to inspire in the audience of your story.

Every great story has 4 parts: human hero, a goal, resistance, and the truth, says @Robert_Rose. #storytelling Click To Tweet

Now, if you are a fan of Joe’s book Content Inc., you can roughly map these four attributes to what he calls the anatomy of a content mission.

Human = core target audience – In most cases your business story’s hero is the audience you are targeting. At a broader storytelling level, your human hero must simply be relatable to your target audience. In every great story, the audience can see themselves in the hero.

Goal = what will be delivered – The content must meet the desire of your audience consciously or subconsciously. If it is conscious then you promise what the audience said it desired. If it is subconscious then you either illuminate something previously unknown by your audience or challenge a core belief and work to successfully alter it. Again, the best stories satisfy both conscious and unconscious goals.

Resistance = outcome for the audience – As content marketers, you help deliver challenges and adventures for the audience to go through. The bigger the challenges and the more satisfyingly you pull the audience through them – the more satisfying the story and the more convincing the argument.

Truth = content tilt. Joe calls his “content tilt” the “sweet spot.” This is the differentiator and should be the greater truth that you illuminate. This is your unique point of view, and ultimately what you want your audience to believe. As Joe points out, entrepreneur Ann Reardon started a blog called How To Cook That. Her truth, or content tilt, is that she believes that “a qualified food scientist and dietician who likes to cook (should teach you to make) ridiculously unhealthy desserts!” He didn’t make that up. It’s the first line of her About Us page.

That brings us to Act 2 – the tests and challenges.

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Act 2: The challenge of the 7 questions

To get to the four parts of a great story, break down this framework further and pressure test the component elements of your story. I created seven questions to which satisfying answers should be present in your story.

When you’ve created a great story, you should be able to provide satisfying answers to these questions:

Who is your human hero? Identify the person who will be on the journey.

What is the hero’s constriction? What is pressing the hero to action? Something in their world is broken and the hero is being pushed or pulled to fix it.

What is the hero’s desire? What is the conscious or unconscious desire of our human hero?

What relationships can help? What (or who) are the important relationships that will help your human hero move through this adventure?

What is the resistance? What is the active resistance to your hero? What seems impossible to overcome?

What are the adventures? What are the series of tests and challenges that must be overcome? Have you truly tested your hero? If you have holes in your story – where your audience will disbelieve your argument – it is usually because you haven’t truly tested your hero.

What Is the truth? – What is your argument? It may be connected to a conscious desire or the hero may discover the truth through the adventures that transpire.

The answers to these questions can be combined to get to your content mission or to pressure test the story you have in mind.

Act 3: The framework in action

Once you have identified answers to the seven components, you can combine them into the four parts of the great story to get to the anatomy of your content mission. To help put this into context, let’s look at an example.

Recently, I was privileged to work with an institutional financial services company on a new content mission. It was looking for a new and clearer focus for its digital magazine. The publication was working, but the articles from different parts of the business were becoming broader and less valuable. The team wanted a clearly defined – and differentiating – story for the magazine that they could communicate.

We worked through the answers to the seven components and combined them into the four parts of their new story. As you’ll see below, the components are well detailed but certainly not perfect. The team is still working on using this to polish the mission for internal and external audiences.

The human (combines the hero and the constriction) – The hero is the financial advisor who is under increasing pressure to perform for clients and to prove expertise and ability to manage money is better than an algorithm.

The desire (combines the desire and relationships) – These advisors need and want continuing education. They don’t need more noise; they need unique perspective and guidance from expert portfolio managers, trusted colleagues, and true thought leaders in the industry to remain relevant to their clients.

The resistance (combines resistance and adventures) – The advisor’s world is in danger of becoming automated by algorithms and artificial intelligence. It’s an atmosphere that increasingly devalues the human investor. Time is pressure. Today’s advisor must get to deeper meaning, perspective, and the long view as quickly as possible.

The truth. Human investing is the only investing. It is a higher calling. And once the advisor has this ability, he can not only deliver the long-term value for clients, the advisor can deliver sustainability in his career.

Can’t you see better stories, better posts, and overall a differentiated value coming from that framework? Remember, the framework and how you construct it isn’t itself meant to be the mission. It’s meant to help you convey the mission. You can use the four parts of your great story as the anatomy of a wonderful and differentiated argument, the heart of a great business story.

A wonderful and differentiated argument is the heart of a great business story. @Robert_Rose #storytelling Click To Tweet

To be clear, it’s not a template. I very much see this as Christopher Vogler, author of The Writer’s Journey, described Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. As he writes, the Hero’s Journey “is not an invention, but an observation … a set of principles that govern the conduct of life and the world of storytelling the way physics and chemistry govern the physical world.”

In other words, not every great story will have some earth-shattering, differentiating answer to every question. But the better the answers, the better chance you have something truly worth exploring. So, the framework can be a tool of expedience; getting to a better story more quickly. Or over a longer time, the framework might help you develop a bigger and better story where none existed.

Overall, I just hope it becomes another tool in your skill box, helping you to become an amazing storyteller in a world that will increasingly value that talent.

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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post The Business Story Argument: A Working Framework to Pressure Test Your Story appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

from http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2018/02/business-story-argument/