Burmese Food - Nga Baung Doke (Fish in Banana Leaves)

I decided to research on this Burma Meat Dish because it is one of my favorite dishes.

Ingredients
750 g ( 1½ lb) fillets of firm fish
1 teaspoon salt
teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
2 medium onions
4 cloves garlic
I teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger
¼ teaspoon chilli powder, optional
1 tablespoon thick coconut milk
1 tablespoon ground rice
2 teaspoons sesame oil
8 leaves of Chinese mustard cabbage
large pieces of banana leaf or aluminium foil
few springs fresh coriander leaves

Directions

Cut fish into 8 pieces of equal size wash and dry well then sprinkle with half the salt, pepper and turmeric. Leave aside while preparing remaining ingredients. Slice one onion and set aside. Chop the other onion and put into container of electric blender with garlic and ginger, chili powder and coconut milk. Blend to a puree.
Mix puree with remaining salt, pepper and turmeric. ground rice and sesame oil. Put in the pieces of fish and mix well. Slice the thick middle rib out of the mustard cabbage leaves and use in another dish (lettuce or spinach leaves may be used if these are not available). Cut banana leaves into pieces large enough to wrap the pieces of fish and scald them or hold over heat to make them pliable. On each piece of banana leaf put a leaf of mustard cabbage and on it a piece of fish and some of the spice mixture. Top with a few coriander leaves and some of the sliced onion.
Wrap fish first in the cabbage leaf, then make a parcel with the banana leaf. Fasten with short bamboo skewers or wooden toothpicks. Alternatively wrap in foil. Put in a steamer and steam over gently boiling water for 20 25 minutes. Serve in the leaves. Guests open their parcels on their own plates. Serve a bowl of white rice alongside.

For more Burmese Foods,

Visit http://asiarecipe.com/burmain.html#fish

Osama

In Afghanistan, during the Taliban regime, women are forbidden to work and to walk on the streets without the company of a male. Because there is no man in her family to support her old mother, the teenager girl Osama cuts her hair and dresses like a boy to get a job and support her widow mother and grandmother. Osama disguises as a boy and joins the school and military training. Osama tries to keep the Taliban from finding out her true identity. The most important thing that the film shows is there are women in Afghanistan that are literally treated not just like property, but like animals.

Walking: Henry David Thoreau and The Way Home

I went to Thailand last summer. One night, I was walking around the downtown area of Bangkok with my friends. The place was crowded. I saw so many people in the downtown area. Suddenly, I saw a very pretty girl. She seems to be prettiest girl in that area. I was looking at her for a long time and one of my local friends asked, “What you looking at?” I pointed to her and told him she is so pretty. My friend laughed out loud. I asked, “What’s so funny?” He said, “She is gay.” I was shocked at first. Then I told him, “It’s not what you look at that matters, its what you see.”

Henry David Thoreau's Quote

"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see." - Henry David Thoreau

I agree with it and I think Thoreau is saying, whatever you look at does not matter, it all depends on the people/things/environment you look. That quote can be related to “Beauty lies in the eyes of beholder.”

A Riddle - Antonio Tabucchi

For this story, I made a research about Alsatian beer.

The origins of beer in Alsace can be traced back to the early Middle Ages when the Canons of the Chapter of Strasbourg were not only drinking it but making it as well. For almost 400 years, monks produced beer for the local population to replace water which was often undrinkable.

Today, Alsatian beer is produced by large, internationally-recognised names - Kronenbourg, Schutzenberger, Adelshoffen and Fischer and the beers are mostly produced in and around Schitigheim, known locally as the Cites des Brasseurs or Brewers' Town.

For more information, please visit

http://www.imagesofalsace.com/Food/Beer/beer.html

The Elephant Vanishes - Haruki Murakami

For this story, I made a research on elephants about their species.

It has long been known that the African and Asian elephants are separate species. African elephants, at up to 4 m (13'1")tall and weighing 7500 kg, (8.27 tons) are usually larger than the Asian species and they have bigger ears. Both male and female African elephants have long tusks, while their Asian counterparts have shorter ones, with those of females vanishingly small. African elephants have a dipped back, smooth forehead and two "fingers" at the tip of their trunks, whereas the Asian have an arched back, two humps on the forehead and only one "finger" at the tip of their trunks.

African Elephant (left) and Asian Elephant (right)


African elephants are further subdivided into two populations, the Savanna and Forest, and recent genetic studies have led to a reclassification of these as separate species, the forest population now being called Loxodonta cyclotis, and the Savanna (or Bush) population termed Loxodonta africana.

For more information about elephant's species,
visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant