Latest news with #Szechuan
Hindustan Times
27-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- Hindustan Times
From litchi & shrimp skewers to stuffed, spicy ones, make most of this sweet fruit
Peel, de-seed and puree fresh litchis. Simmer water with sugar, lemon zest and lemongrass to make a syrup. 'Bloom the agar agar in water. Mix coconut milk, cream, sugar, and litchi puree. Stir in the agar agar. Pour into glasses and let it set. Demould and pour over the lemongrass syrup. Garnish with litchis,' says Chef Himani Sharma. The perfect balance of sweet and savoury, to make these skewers, mix coconut sugar and Cajun seasoning. Toss in cleaned shrimp. Chop mangoes, litchis, onions and bell peppers. Skewer the fruits, veggies and shrimp alternating each ingredient. Chef Tushar Mishra says, 'Grill these kebabs and serve with a dip made by blending basil, mint, yoghurt, jalapeños and lime.' Bite-size pockets of fun, these stuffed litchis can be made by whisking softened cream cheese with chopped up bell peppers. Home chef Vedansh Bhargava shares, 'Add some salt, pepper, chilli flakes and oregano to the cheese. Fill the mixture in a piping bag. De-seed the litchi and cut them into half. Pipe in the cheese mixture and serve it chilled.' Sweet and spicy, this combo will make everyone smile. Peel and de-seed the litchi, and add some lemon juice on it. Chef Kriti Srivastava says, 'Freeze the fruit. Roast red chillies and dry grind it. Mix together sugar, salt, chaat masala with the roasted chilli powder. Coat the frozen litchis with the spicy masala mix and enjoy.' Indo-Chinese food is all about bold flavours. Make this dish by chopping tofu and litchi. 'Sauté ginger with Szechuan sauce, soy sauce, ketchup and vinegar. Dump in the tofu and litchis, and toss till the sauce covers them evenly. Serve with a sprinkle of spring onions and sesame seeds,' shares Chef Sandhya Gupta.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Abilene restaurant begs public to stop feeding koi fish, threatens criminal charges
ABILENE, Texas () – An Abilene restaurant is begging the public to stop feeding their koi fish and is threatening to press criminal charges if the activity continues. Szechuan Chinese Restaurant on the 3400 block of S 1st Street has made several social media posts over the past week asking people to stop feeding their fish, saying that they've found bread in the enclosure and that their fish cannot handle the extra feeding. 'We have had our precious koi fish for almost 2 decades and they have survived through extreme heat/freezing temperatures, a crane that tries to dine on them every spring, but they are NOT equipped to survive these irregular feeding patterns as well as this much stress,' the latest post explains. MORE DETAILS: AFD reveals cause of Szechuan Chinese Restaurant fire, $100,000 in damages Restaurant owners say they have been taking proper care of the fish and feeding them regularly, despite what concerned community members are saying. They did confirm their pond has a leak, but they are keeping the water at a safe level and making sure it remains a good quality, which is harder to do when the public keeps feeding them without permission. 'Over feeding of the kois can lead to serious health problems such as low water quality, contaminating the water with harmful nitrates, over grow of algae, disease, and even death,' Szechuan owners explain. The property is under video surveillance, and owners say anyone caught feeding the fish or trying to remove them in the future will face criminal charges. Multiple fish have already been stolen. Szechuan Chinese Restaurant has been closed since it was destroyed by a fire in January. It's unknown when they plan to reopen. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Online Citizen
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Online Citizen
Shiny façade with little substance: Reflections from the Fullerton Rally
by Kairen Having missed out on the pomp and circumstances normally associated with elections in GE2020, I decided to go attend the PAP's signature Fullerton Rally even as it broke through my lunch break. Luckily for me, my workplace was not 20 minutes away by bus to UOB Plaza. As speeches came and gone, I went closer and ever closer to the podium for increasingly better pictures. But in those moments where I had to bide my time within the hot sun and listen to them speak, it confused me slightly. On the one hand, they played to their strengths. Their past legacy of building Singapore. Assurances to the future that they'll build with Singaporeans still in mind. Nothing out of the usual. In fact, it would be more shocking if they didn't play to their technocratic strengths. Those segments I could immediately grasp, I agreed with them. The other half, however… Confused me greatly. They essentially said that they would be welcome to alternative voices within Parliament… So long as it wasn't the Opposition vying for their seats. Does that mean that they'll get rid of the Party Whip system and allow for internal ideological division? Or are they just throwing insults until something sticks? At some point, though, I had to leave halfway. After all, it WAS during my lunch break. But it was somehow harder to get out than in. So many people poured in that I had to move snake-like. Eventually, through these monumental crowds and slight peer pressure, I found myself in the Szechuan restaurant on UOB Plaza's 60th floor. I could've easily gathered my thoughts to go somewhere else, but I rationalised to stay and order as time was scarce. 15 minutes of half-masked anxiety later… I got myself a bowl of Dandan noodles that was less wide than the palm of my hand. It only had one piece of green mustard and a spoonful of minced meat. And the gravy didn't even numb my tongue once. I had zero illusions that it would be cheap, given the ambience surrounding my paltry meal… But the bill gave me a small aneurysm. $19 ! AND THEY CHARGED ME FOR THE PEANUTS AND PICKLES THAT YOU'D ASSUME WOULD BE FREE IN A PLACE LIKE THAT. One wonders if the restaurant would've also charged me for the tea as well. As I slowly found my way back to the office and recollected my thoughts, I realized that my lunch itself could be an apt summary of the PAP in 2025. An organisation with a shiny, grandiose facade. One that is apparently highly rated by other customers. Even goes the extra mile for a good presentation. But ultimately under-delivers even as you pay more for what you normally would get for something considerably basic. Not unlike that restaurant perched so high up in the clouds, I hope one day it gets changed or replaced with something for the better. They both kept me fed… But just about barely. Unless you consider what you've received to be 'well nourishing'. So when you go to that ballot box on the 3rd, please choose carefully to make your vote truly money worth. Or else we might have to endure more expensive 'lessons' in the future. I hope one day we get changes or replacements with something better.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
KPot, all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue restaurant with hotpot service, opens in Taylor
KPot Korean BBQ & Hot Pot, an all-you-can-eat chain restaurant, is now open in Taylor, its sixth location in metro Detroit. The Taylor location opened April 13 in a space formerly occupied by a Wahlburger's, across the street from Hooters. KPot is known for a communal experience with tables featuring built-in grills where diners can choose and cook their own proteins, vegetables and broths, and craft a meal at the table. This interactive style of cooking brings together the traditions of Korean barbecue and Asian hot pot in an all-you-can-eat experience with a focus on authenticity. On the KPot menu, expect Korean barbecue favorites including: Marinated bulgogi beef, pork belly, spicy chicken and garlic shrimp. Hot pot broths, including Japanese miso, Szechuan spicy, Korean seafood tofu and Thai tom yum. A variety of fresh vegetables, tofu, noodles, dumplings and seafood that can be paired with meals for endless combinations. Handcrafted sauces, seasonings and condiments. There's also a full-service bar. More: Metro Detroit restaurants welcome Easter diners with special menus and buffets The fast-growing chain, which showcases centuries' old Asian culinary practices, was founded in 2018 by four friends who wanted to bring their different cultures together, according to KPot's website. There are more than 100 locations nationwide. According to a news release, more Michigan locations are planned. KPot Korean BBQ & Hot Pot is at 21200 Penn St., in Taylor; Contact Detroit Free Press food and restaurant writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news and tips to: sselasky@ Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter. Subscribe to the Free Press. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: KPot, Korean barbecue and hotpot restaurant, opens Taylor location
Los Angeles Times
15-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
She's L.A.'s Martha Stewart of weed. Her new cookbook makes edibles more fun and less scary
The spacious kitchen of a rented house just off Melrose Avenue in Beverly Grove is in full 420 mode. The stovetop is dotted with Le Creuset cookware. A peppercorn-studded prime rib rests on the counter next to an apothecary jar full of weed. And two videographers and a boom mic operator capture the action as three chefs plate hamachi crudo topped with a Szechuan mala sauce infused with Sonoma Hills Farm's cherry cheesecake cultivar and top cannabis cocktails with crunchy bites of spiced fried eggplant glazed with fish sauce. Out of the stoveside scrum steps a 30-something giving Audrey Hepburn vibes in a red shirt dress, pot-leaf print apron and a relaxed updo held in place with a white plastic clip. 'We invited Chef Wendy [Zeng] and Chef Doug [Rankin] to come and cook for us,' Vanessa Lavorato tells a table of 10 dinner guests. 'And we've got something to celebrate!' Lavorato is the L.A.-based founder of Marigold Sweets (a line of sea-salt-flecked, THC-infused toffee caramels sold in local dispensaries), creator of 'The Edibles Club' online cannabis cooking show and a recipe developer/brand ambassador for the Everclear alcohol brand. (Although the Everclear gig isn't cannabis-related, there's some synergy since the high-proof hooch has long been the go-to spirit for making infused tinctures.) She's feeling celebratory because this dinner party is being filmed as the pilot for a potential Vice Munchies reboot of 'Bong Appétit,' the James Beard Award-nominated cannabis cooking show she co-hosted for three seasons. Along with that, she has something else worthy of celebrating: Tuesday's publication of her cookbook 'How to Eat Weed and Have a Good Time: A Cannabis Cookbook' (Simon Element), the 256-page, lavishly illustrated culmination of a decade and a half of efforts to make cooking with — and consuming — the devil's lettuce equal parts flavorful, fun and fear-free. The 'fear-free' part of that might not make a lot of sense unless you've accidentally overdone it on cannabis edibles or been responsible for someone else's bumpy ride. As Lavorato memorably recounts in the book, she has done both: inadvertently doing herself in by way of an infused apple pie on one occasion and on another, an ex-boyfriend courtesy of a cross-contaminated paring knife. 'I started [cooking with cannabis] in 2010 [the year she founded Marigold Sweets], so that's 15 years of dosing myself and dosing other people,' she said. 'So I've seen a lot.' That's why whether she's hosting a 'Bong Appétit' dinner party, interacting with her more than 103,000 social media followers (97,400 on Instagram and another 5,600 on YouTube) or hosting a twice-weekly livestream sesh for her canna-cooking-curious Edibles Club, she makes sure those about to munch on infused foodstuffs from meatballs to Bloody Marys and cookies to queso know just how much psychoactive THC they're about to ingest. Cookbookwise, that means before presenting an assortment of easy-to-make toothsome recipes, there's some science about the plant to learn. This includes how to prepare it for use in the kitchen (raw cannabis flower needs to be heated to a certain temperature — a process called decarboxylation — to make it psychoactive) and how to prepare what she calls the 'mother infusions': cannabis-infused butters, oils, alcohols and milks. As Lavorato acknowledges, one of the biggest challenges when it comes to cooking with the plant is knowing how much of the high-making magic one is consuming. To help establish reliable dosages of THC in her recipes, she worked with two local testing labs, Pasadena-based Encore Labs and Caligreen Laboratory in North Hollywood, conducting more than 200 tests along the way. All of the recipes in the chapters that follow are built on those mother infusions and are organized by type: beverages, hors d'oeuvres, sauces and dips, drinks, snacks and the like. The final chapters focus on pulling it all together, suggesting ideas for entertaining and gifting based on this newly learned cornucopia of comestible cannabis knowledge. Making the infusions requires very little beyond what's already in your kitchen (you'll find having an accurate digital scale, some cheesecloth and a roll of parchment paper helpful), and most of the recipes can easily be dispatched by anyone who knows their way around the kitchen. In addition to the recipes themselves, you'll find some eye-catching, color-popping images styled by Casey Dobbins and photographed by Julia Stotz (think floating meatballs, thrice-baked potatoes lounging on a tiny couch and pot-leaf-shaped shadows). The book also includes Lavorato's own story, a brief history of the magical plant and a primer on why bongs and brownies hit differently. The end result is a 'Joy of Cooking' for the kitchen cannathusiast that's the perfect launchpad for all kinds of herbal adventuring. In advance of the book's publication, I recently caught up with Lavorato (whom I first met almost a decade ago after falling in love with her infused confections) to talk about those 200 lab tests, her concept of ethical dosing, L.A. inspiration and rookie mistakes. Here are some excerpts from that conversation. You launched the Edibles Club out of your Echo Park kitchen in 2020 — the same year you started this book project. Are the two related in any way?The Edibles Club has about 600 members now. They really helped me figure out what I wanted to say and what recipes really clicked. It was a way for me to to understand who my audience is. A lot of the questions they asked are answered in the book. That's why I dedicated it to the Edibles Club — and to everyone who enjoys eating weed. Was there anyone in the cooking or entertaining space who inspired the way you approached this book?The idea of putting together the various recipes and then putting together a party using those recipes came directly from Martha Stewart's first book, 'Entertaining.' I have a lot of respect for what she does and how her books are put together. They're so in-depth and specific; she's really trying to solve problems for people at home. And that's exactly the [approach] I was going for with this book. I kept asking myself: 'What would Martha do?' When it comes to cooking with weed, what's the biggest rookie mistake people make?It's dumping too much weed into the butter. People think, 'Oh, I can smoke an eighth [of an ounce] a day,' so that's what they'll use. But what they don't know is that we waste a lot of THC when we smoke. And also that 11-hydroxy-THC [which is a result of metabolization through the liver] feels a lot stronger than Delta 9 [THC]. Which brings me to the concept of 'ethical dosing' that you mention in the book. What exactly does that term mean?The main issue with a lot of food is the serving size. When you get a bag of chips and it says on the bag that there are five servings and each serving is three chips, who is eating three chips? Nobody. And that's how you have to think about edibles. You need to dose them [low enough] so people can eat with grace. You have to think, 'How much of this is someone going to eat?' I want to be able to socialize with my friends, still be able to talk to them. That's why I try to have [recipes with] micro doses. … I'm really adamant about everyone knowing exactly what they're getting. You want to avoid anyone becoming what I call a 'cookie casualty.' You point out in the book that you conducted over 200 lab tests while working on these recipes. What were those tests trying to accomplish?When someone says, 'It takes this long to infuse butter,' my first question is: 'Well, how do we know that?' I really wanted to know. So I worked with a lab to figure it out. And that's how we ended up doing over 200 tests. [Cannabis] is an ingredient, and I wanted to educate people [about] how to use it responsibly. What exactly are you trying to accomplish when you're infusing butter? The answer is you're trying to wash off the trichomes [on the surface of the plant material]. You're just trying to wash it off. That's it. You're not trying to pull all the green out of the plant. Once people know what they're actually doing and what they are trying to accomplish, it takes the mystery out of the process. It's not that complicated. Since you've lived in Los Angeles for 13 years, I'm curious if there's any specific L.A. influence that made its way into the book?Yes! My [infused] salsa verde is inspired by the one at Taco Zone. It's a little taco truck right by the Vons [grocery store] on Alvarado [Street] in Echo Park. Now that your five-year-long project of working on 'How to Eat Weed and Have a Good Time' is done, what's next on the horizon?I'm already thinking about some ideas. I'm a cannabis chef. I could do an Italian cookbook or a chocolate cookbook. I have more to say about cooking with cannabis. There are more science experiments to be done. Maybe for my next book I'd look at it through the lens of health and day-to-day lifestyle.
