TASTE
2
CONTENTS
3 4 9 10
SMALL TOWN COOKING
RECIPE OF THE WEEK
EXTREME DIETS
REVIEW OF THE WEEK
Small town Cooking The Station Hotel is situated in the small, picturesque town of Portsoy which homes less than 2000 inhabitants. The chef, Ben Slater, 28 manages to keep the menu modern as well as using fresh, locally produced food in traditional styles. He says: “It’s important for me, as a young chef, to not only cater for elderly people in the village but also a younger scene too. We’ve been taking steps to attract them by organising themed nights such as mexican and curry. We’re trying to incorporate nights such as these in with our traditional meals that the locals know and love.”
3
4
Chicken Dinner The classic. Whether you’re sizzling it up for your perfect date, or simply treating your family, it should be a staple in every cookery book. Here’s a step-by-step guide to chicken stuffed with mozzerella, wrapped in bacon with a white wine sauce...
5
Ingredients 2 Chicken breasts 1 Mozzerella ball 2 Rashers of streaky bacon 150ml White wine 300ml Double cream 1 chicken stock Crushed Garlic Potatoes Vegetables of your choice
Cut the mozzerella ball into small peieces
Carefully slice the side of the chicken breast to create a pocket to stuff the mozzerella into
Wrap the bacon tighlty around the chicken and place in a oven preheated to 200째C for 30 minutes
6
7
To make the sauce: pour the wine into a saucepan, add the chicken stock and simmer for 10 minutes
Pour in the cream, add garlic and simmer for 10 more minutes or until thick
Boil the vegetables, mash the potatoes and serve.
8
9
EXTREME DIETS The weightloss industry is booming. It is worth more than £1 billion in the UK and £40 billion in the US. Every day, a new weight loss ‘miracle’ is thrust in our face. Manufacturers are going to further lengths to create different and shocking diets. These extreme diets include starving yourself two days a week, only eating grapefruit and living off baby food. Naturally, these are simply fad diets. The diet industry forces insecure people to believe that they have the answer to all their problems. The only real way to lose weight and keep it off is to eat healthily and exercise, but that doesn’t make money. With extreme diets, overweight people probably will lose a lot of weight in a short amount of time, but these diets aren’t sustainable. You cannot simply go back to eating normally and expect the weight not to pile back on. I thought I’d investigate some of these diets. I became interested in the AppleFast, because it seems particularly extreme. It involves eating nothing but apples for five days. For 120 hours, you consume nothing but apples and water. It is known as a cleanse, and you’re supposed to repeat this every three months to flush out your digestive system and generally boost your health. Swiss physician Max Bircher- Benner is the man responsible for the Apple Detox. The story goes, he was ill in bed, unable to move or eat because of a liver ailment. One day, his wife tried a piece of apple in his mouth and the rest is history. Now, years later he’s still preaching the opinion that apples aid healthy digestion and detoxify the body. So, one Monday, I thought I’d give it a go. I loaded my fridge with apples, threw away all my fizzy drinks and began mentally preparing myself for the diet.
.
On day one, I woke up feeling motivated. I skipped breakfast, instead just gulping down some water. I headed to university feeling energized, but soon enough the hunger hit. At lunch I sat sadly with my apple, watching everyone else tuck into their lunch. Then it was straight to work, where towards the end of the night I felt slightly lightheaded. Back at my flat I tried to shut the hungry feeling up with some more apples but it didn’t exactly help. The next day had a similar schedule to the first. This time, I treated myself to an apple before I headed to uni. It was only when I headed to work the hunger really hit me. I didn’t feel motivated to do any work, I was really tired and I wasn’t interested in chatting to any of my colleagues. By the time it was time to go home, I was sick at the sight of apples. Although it pained me to give up, I was feeling so bad I had to throw in the diet and have some pasta. I enjoyed that macaroni cheese more than I’ve enjoyed any meal in a long time. I have a lot of respect foranyone who can actually keep up a diet like this because it requires huge amounts of selfmotivation. I expect if you carried it on for a longer time, your body would eventually get used to it but I’m afraid I just like food too much to wait for that. However, I am still against the idea of any sort of extreme diet. An investigation conducted by the University of California’s department of pyschology reported that: “One third to two thirds of dieters regain more weight than they lost on their diets, and these studies likely underestimate the extent to which dieting is counterproductive because of several methodological problems, all of which bias the studies toward showing successful weight loss maintenance. In addition,there is not consistent evidence that dieting results in significant health improvements, regardless of weight change. In sum, there is little support for the notion that diets lead to lasting weight loss” or health benefits.
10
REVIEW: I was under-appreciative of Revolution before I ate there. I knew it only for ‘pre-drinks’ and a place people go for cocktails, pitchers and shots before they head out. I wasn’t actually even aware they sold food, so when my flamate suggested we go there to eat I was shocked but interested to try somewhere new. We headed up to Belmont Street, it was the night the Christmas lights were turned on so there was a nice atmosphere. It was freezing outside, but after the bouncer checked our id’s, we were let into the warmth of Revolution. To our left were some sofas positioned around a fire, creating a really cosy atmosphere. Round the corner there were three booths, and some tables infront of the bar. We were greeted by a friendly barman who sat us at a table. He took our drinks order and we picked two cocktails from the impressively big drinks menu. I picked Pretty Pretty Bang Bang, which included Stoli & Absolut Raspberri vodkas, strawberries, Grenadine and Red Bull. It was tasty and definitely very strong! My flatmate Georgi had a Long Island Ice Tea which includes Stoli vodka, Cointreau liqueur, Bombay Sapphire gin, Bacardi Superior rum & Sauza tequila with a squeeze of lemon, topped with Coca Cola. She enjoyed it as well.
11
We then went on to look at the food menu. The menu is quite substantial, it definitely caters to the younger market, with a whole section on burgers and pizzas including a ‘vodka version’ of each. There are a selection of tapas plates to choose, which I thought was a nicer difference to other food serving bars. We thought we’d just go for safe options, though, and we didn’t regret it. I decided on the chicken, chorizo and pesto papardelle which consisted of thicken ribbon pasta which chicken, chorizo, tomatoes, peas and rosemary in a creamy pesto sauce. I really enjoyed it, it wasn’t too filling and was a good portion size. The chorizo was slightly hot but it didn’t bother me. Georgi had the peppercorn burger, which included a burger with cheese and onion rings, chips, coleslaw and a small pot of peppercorn sauce. We both cleared our plates! Although we declined the offer of desserts, we’re already planning our next trip where we’re going to try the Christmas cocktails they had on display!