Polyunsaturated Fat Intake: Effects on the Heart and Brain

I'm revisiting the topic of the omega-6/omega-3 balance and total polyunsaturated fat (PUFA) intake because of some interesting studies I've gotten a hold of lately (thanks Robert). Two of the studies are in pigs, which I feel are a decent model organism for studying the effect of diet on health as it relates to humans. Pigs are omnivorous (although more slanted toward plant foods), have a similar digestive system to humans (although sturdier), are of similar size and fat composition to humans, and have been eating grains for about the same amount of time as humans.

In the last post on the omega-6/omega-3 balance, I came to the conclusion that a roughly balanced but relatively low intake of omega-6 and omega-3 fats is consistent with the diets of healthy non-industrial cultures. There were a few cultures that had a fairly high long-chain omega-3 intake from seafood (10% of calories), but none ate much omega-6.

The first study explores the effect of omega-6 and omega-3 fats on heart function. Dr. Sheila Innis and her group fed young male pigs three different diets:

1. An unbalanced, low PUFA diet. Pig chow with 1.2% linoleic acid (LA; the main omega-6 plant fat) and 0.06% alpha linolenic acid (ALA; the main omega-3 plant fat).
   
2. A balanced, low PUFA diet. Pig chow with 1.4% LA and 1.2% ALA.
3. An unbalanced, but better-than-average, "modern diet". Pig chow with 11.6% LA and 1.2% ALA.

After 30 days, they took a look at the pigs' hearts. Pigs from the first and third (unbalanced) groups contained more "pro-inflammatory" fats (arachidonic acid; AA) and less "anti-inflammatory" fats (EPA and DHA) than the second group. The first and third groups also experienced an excessive activation of "pro-inflammatory" proteins, such as COX-2, the enzyme inhibited by aspirin, ibuprofen and other NSAIDs.

The most striking finding of all was the difference in lipid peroxidation between groups. Lipid peroxidation is a measure of oxidative damage to cellular fats. In the balanced diet hearts, peroxidation was half the level found in the first group, and one-third the level found in the third group! This shows that omega-3 fats exert a powerful anti-oxidant effect that can be more than counteracted by excessive omega-6. Nitrosative stress, another type of damage, tracked with n-6 intake regardless of n-3, with the third group almost tripling the first two. I think this result is highly relevant to the long-term development of cardiac problems, and perhaps cardiovascular disease in general.

In another study with the same lead author Sanjoy Ghosh, rats fed a diet enriched in omega-6 from sunflower oil showed an increase in nitrosative damage, damage to mitochondrial DNA, and a decrease in maximum cardiac work capacity (i.e., their hearts were weaker). This is consistent with the previous study and shows that the mammalian heart does not like too much omega-6! The amount of sunflower oil these rats were eating (20% food by weight) is not far off from the amount of industrial oil the average American eats.

A third paper by Dr. Sheila Innis' group studied the effect of the omega-6 : omega-3 balance on the brain fat composition of pigs, and the development of neurons in vitro (in a culture dish). There were four diets, the first three similar to those in the first study:

1. Deficient. 1.2% LA and 0.05% ALA.
2. Contemporary. 10.7% LA and 1.1% ALA.
   
3. Evolutionary. 1.2% LA and 1.1% ALA.
4. Supplemented. The contemporary diet plus 0.3% AA and 0.3% DHA.

The first thing they looked at was the ability of the animals to convert ALA to DHA and concentrate it in the brain. DHA is critical for brain and eye development and maintenance. The evolutionary diet was most effective at putting DHA in the brain, with the supplemented diet a close second and the other three lagging behind. The evolutionary diet was the only one capable of elevating EPA, another important fatty acid derived from ALA. If typical fish oil rather than isolated DHA and AA had been given as the supplement, that may not have been the case. Overall, the fatty acid composition of the brain was quite different in the evolutionary group than the other three groups, which will certainly translate into a variety of effects on brain function.

The researchers then cultured neurons and showed that they require DHA to develop properly in culture, and that long-chain omega-6 fats are a poor substitute. Overall, the paper shows that the modern diet causes a major fatty acid imbalance in the brain, which is expected to lead to developmental problems and probably others as well. This can be partially corrected by supplementing with fish oil.

Together, these studies are a small glimpse of the countless effects we are having on every organ system, by eating fats that are unfamiliar to our pre-industrial bodies. In the next post, I'll put this information into the context of the modern human diet.

More about → Polyunsaturated Fat Intake: Effects on the Heart and Brain

Matcha & Adzuki

I have a can of adzuki red bean paste sitting in my cupboard for quite sometime, I couldn't even remember when I have bought it. It was hidden underneath a pile of baking ingredients that I have accumulated over the past few months or even close to a year! Fortunately, it has not gone past the expiry date, and I took it out to make a Matcha & Red Bean Butter Cake almost right away.


The cake was made by 'customising' this same recipe for a low fat orange yogurt cake, simply by replacing the orange flavours with matcha powder and some red bean paste. Instead of using a loaf pan, I baked the cake in an 8" round pan. Although it had a big crack across the surface, it was a nicely domed cake. I took the sweet aroma of this matcha cake baking in the oven as a sign of guarantee that it would turn out lovely ;)


Just like bananas & chocolates or hazelnuts & chocolates...I would also consider matcha & adzuki red beans: a match from haven. The cake was wonderfully moist and the crumbs was soft and peppered with red beans...which moved it slightly to the sweeter side of my scale. The only thing that I wasn't quite happy with, was the colour of the crumb...the dark colour of the red bean paste had turned the cake to an awful green. I have to console myself with the saying 'we taste with our mouths and not with our eyes'.


To end this post, I will leave you with the recipe plus a sunshine smile that came with the cake...I hope like me, you'll have a great time baking at home :D






Matcha & Red Bean Butter Cake
Ingredients:
(makes one 20cm cake)

250g cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon matcha powder
70g butter, soften at room temperature
150g sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup (250ml) plain, non-fat yogurt
3 tablespoons red bean paste


Method:

1. Preheat oven at 180 degC. Lightly grease the side of an 8" (20cm) pan with butter and dust it evenly with flour. Tap away any excess flour and line the base with parchment paper.
2. Sift together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, green tea powder and salt. Set aside.
3. With an electric mixer, beat butter for about 1 min. Gradually add in sugar and beat until light and creamy.
4. Dribble in eggs gradually, about 1 tablespoon at a time, beat constantly for about 2 mins.
5. With a spatula, fold in 1/3 of the flour mixture. Then, fold in 1/2 of the yogurt, followed by half of the remaining flour mixture. Fold in the remaining yogurt and then the rest of the flour mixture. Stir well after each addition.
6. Stir in the red bean paste, mix well.
7. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 35~45 mins or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
8. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 5 mins. Unmold and cool completely.

More about → Matcha & Adzuki

Health is Multi-Factorial

Thanks to commenter Brock for pointing me to this very interesting paper, "Effects of fish oil on hypertension, plasma lipids, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha in rats with sucrose-induced metabolic syndrome". As we know, sugar gives rats metabolic syndrome when it's added to regular rat chow, probably the same thing it does to humans when added to a processed food diet.

One thing has always puzzled me about sugar. It doesn't appear to cause major metabolic problems when added to an otherwise healthy diet, yet it wreaks havoc in other contexts. One example of the former situation is the Kuna, who are part hunter-gatherer, part agricultural. They eat a lot of refined sugar, but in the context of chocolate, coconut, fish, plantains, root vegetables and limited grains and beans, they are relatively healthy. Perhaps not quite on the same level as hunter-gatherer groups, but healthier than the average modernized person from the point of view of the diseases of civilization.

This paper really sheds light on the matter. The researchers gave a large group of rats access to drinking water containing 30% sucrose, in addition to their normal rat chow, for 21 weeks. The rats drank 4/5 of their calories in the form of sugar water. There's no doubt that this is an extreme treatment. They subsequently developed metabolic syndrome, including abdominal obesity, elevated blood pressure, elevated fasting insulin, elevated triglycerides, elevated total cholesterol and LDL, lowered HDL, greatly increased serum uric acid, greatly elevated liver enzymes suggestive of liver damage, and increased tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha). TNF-alpha is a hormone secreted by visceral (abdominal) fat tissue that may play a role in promoting insulin resistance.

After this initial 12-week treatment, they divided the metabolic syndrome rats into two groups:

• One that continued the sugar treatment, along with a diet enriched in corn and canola oil (increased omega-6).
• A second that continued the sugar treatment, along with a diet enriched in fish oil (increased omega-3).

The two diets contained the same total amount of polyunsaturated fat (PUFA), but had very different omega-6 : omega-3 ratios. The first had a ratio of 9.3 (still better than the average American), while the second had a ratio of 0.02, with most of the omega-3 in the second group coming from EPA and DHA (long-chain, animal omega-3s). The second diet also contained four times as much saturated fat as the first, mostly in the form of palmitic acid.

Compared to the vegetable oil group, the fish oil group had lower fasting insulin, lower blood pressure, lower triglycerides, lower cholesterol, and lower LDL. As a matter of fact, the fish oil group looked as good or better on all these parameters than a non-sugar fed control group receiving the extra vegetable oil alone (although the control group isn't perfect because it inevitably ate more vegetable oil-containing chow to make up for the calories it wasn't consuming in sugar). The only things reducing vegetable oil and increasing fish oil didn't fix were the weight and the elevated TNF-alpha, although they didn't report the level of liver enzymes in these groups. The TNF-alpha finding is not surprising, since it's secreted by visceral fat, which did not decrease in the fish oil group.

I think this is a powerful result. It may have been done in rats, but the evidence is there for a similar mechanism in humans. The Kuna have a very favorable omega-6 : omega-3 ratio, with most of their fat coming from highly saturated coconut and cocoa. This may protect them from their high sugar intake. The Kitavans also have a very favorable omega-6 : omega-3 ratio, with most of their fat coming from coconuts and fish. They don't eat refined sugar, but they do eat a tremendous amount of starch and a generous amount of fruit.

The paper also suggests that the metabolic syndrome is largely reversible.

I believe that both excessive sugar and excessive omega-6 from modern vegetable oils are a problem individually. But if you want to have a much bigger problem, try combining them!

More about → Health is Multi-Factorial

When Agile Works

When I started consulting on an "agile" team back in February, my first thought was, "Hey! You guys lied! This isn't agile."

The working practices were reminiscent of James Shore's recent blog post.

There was Scrum but they lacked visibility, risk mitigation and self management.
There was a morning stand up, but it was a status meeting with over 20 people -- mostly watchers.
There was a single product team, but members were broken up into domain groups with their own managers, politics and definitions of success.

There were bad practices, communication breakdowns, over-commitment, over-time, half finished features, inconsistency and plenty of technical debt.

Team members had all the stress and no power to change.

But, there was hope.

Within the first few months the company reorganized and moved towards product hierarchy eliminating the contention between groups.

=>Consistent goals and priorities.

The BAs, design and product owner worked closely with an agile coach to create a product backlog. They began having sprint reviews and retrospectives.

=>Visibility and reflection.

A few people became scrum masters. A few others scrum product owners. They started going to agile conferences and local meetings.

=>Engagement.

I left at the end of July to have Kaylee. Things were changing, but we were still far from a well functioning agile team.

When I returned in November, I heard that our agile coach said this was the best agile team he's been on.

I thought to myself, "I think he's been drinking some kool-aid..."

However, when I came in for sprint review and planning, I was amazed.

So much changed.

Team members were involved.

Practice improvements and innovations were made throughout the day.

Charts and metrics were used, not shown.

People were having the right conversations.

The differences not only showed in the team and interactions, but the product.

They had visible success.

I feel very fortunate to have the unique look into the evolution of this agile team.

When you are on the team, it can seem like things don't change. Our retrospectives are a microscopic view compared to a projects lifespan. If I was working for the past 3 months, I may have not noticed.

Maybe a periodic review of how things were/how things are would be a good motivator and illustration of how cool agile can be when its working.

More about → When Agile Works

Real Food X: Roasted Marrow Bones

Bone marrow is a food that has been prized throughout history-- from hunter-gatherer tribes to haute cuisine chefs. It's not hard to understand why, once you've tasted it. It's delicate, meaty and fatty. It's also rich in fat-soluble vitamins, including vitamins K1 and K2, although this will depend on what the animal has eaten.

Roasted marrow bones make a simple appetizer. Beef bones are the best because of their size. Select wide bones that are cut about three inches long. They should be from the femur or the humerus, called the "shank bones". These are sometimes available in the frozen meats section of a grocery store, otherwise a butcher can procure them. If you have access to a farmer's market that sells meats, vendors will typically have bones cut for you if you request it.

Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 450 F (230 C).
2. Place bones, cut side up, in a baking dish or oven-proof skillet.
3. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the marrow begins to separate from the bone, but not much longer because it will turn to mush.
4. Scoop out and eat the marrow by itself, on sourdough rye toast or however you please.
5. Make soup stock from the leftover bones.

More about → Real Food X: Roasted Marrow Bones

BIRTHDAY BUTTER TARTS

my birthday cupcake: it's not edible, but isn't it cute?

a canadian treat: cranberry butter tarts

It's my birthday and I'll buy if I want to...buy if I want to...

After I turned thirty, I decided that every birthday I should buy myself a birthday gift. Who knows me better than myself? I'd never have to exchange or return it and for sure I'd never be disappointed. I would never forget to buy myself something and of course, I would always know what I truly desired.

First, I'll tell you what Stomach and the kids got for me...

Stomach, being a thrifty sort of person, combined a business trip to Alberta (where you don't have to pay provincial sales tax! whoopee!) with a shopping spree. Actually, he drove downtown with a colleague and told him to circle the block a couple times as he'd only be 15 minutes. He had a list and knew exactly what he was going to get. Is that considered a spree? Well, not in my shopping world it isn't. He then proceeds to impatiently tap his finger on the counter as the one and only saleslady is busy showing two other men stuff in the showcase. How rude I thought as he recounted the story to me.

But guys will be guys. A guy with a list running to the Tiffany counter while his colleague circles the block is on a mission. Shopping to me is relaxing and I don't really set a time limit unless I'm parked on the street with a metre ticking away.

When Stomach got home, Bebe exclaimed that she and Bib had a gift for me. I looked surprised of course, as she presented me with the pretty blue box with the white satin ribbon bow. (Love those colours!) I asked if she broke her bank to buy this for me. She looked at me kind of like she forgot something and ran upstairs for a while. I heard her rummaging through her room and then the pounding of her little feet as she flew downstairs. She whispered something to Stomach and put something in his hand.

It was a loonie, a quarter and a penny from her piggy bank!

Stomach of course had to keep it because otherwise it wasn't really from her.

Bebe & Bib's gift to me

Well, I'm still buying myself gifts every year and this year I didn't disappoint. I decided that my blogging would be made much easier if I purchased those Lowel Ego lights that other food bloggers have been raving about. Jaden, at Steamy Kitchen, first introduced me to these lights and I was hemming and hawwing about whether or not to get them for the longest time.

Then, on one fortuitous night, I stood there with chocolate cupcake crumbs and buttercream frosting on my fingers, adjusting my wobbly make-shift "studio" lights that Stomach jerry-rigged from a pair of old black Ikea lights with exposed (eeks, bad-for-your-health-if-not- filtered!) new-fangled spiral, green, energy-saving doohickey bulbs. The bulbs gave off a white light and they were kind of close to what I wanted. The trouble was, they were blinding my eyes everytime I looked up as of course, they were not filtered by a shade (which wouldn't fit their odd shape anyway).

Every time I tried to adjust the angle of the bulbs, I got zapped because Stomach thought it a good idea to pull the bulb and socket out of the lamp and precariously rest it on the neck of the lamp base. This way, he surmised, I could adjust the angle of the bulb. Doh! I know, I know.

So, after getting zapped a few too many times, I resolved I'd buy these

my food porn studio is in the basement so it's really dark. that's an old piece of ikea furniture that the lowel ego lights are on. the two lights came with a big sweep and coloured paper for backgrounds, but i haven't used those yet. and you can't see it, but my exercise bike, total gym and treadmill are in this dinky bedroom-sized room too!

So for my birthday, I got my lights...and my health, because now I know I won't get electrocuted.

I was born in Vancouver and from a very young age, I recall my mother coming home with packages of these butter tarts from the local Safeway. I didn't realize until recently that butter tarts are a totally Canadian sort of dessert; kind of like Nanaimo Bars.

Indeed, thumbing through my hundreds of cookbooks, you'd be hard-pressed to find a recipe for Butter Tarts. Funny, because you can find them everywhere. You can find them gussied up at higher-end pastry counters with rustic hand-formed tart shells or at the corner grocery store stacked in their half-dozen cardboard trays. I recently bought a few from Meinhardt's dessert counter and they were scrumptious.

Butter Tarts usually are made with pre-bought tart shells. It's all about the filling you see. They are dessert you can eat after school or bring to a staff social. They're cheap! They're sweet! They're easy to make!

Traditionally, Butter Tarts have raisins in them. Now, I must confess. I hate raisins. I hate raisins in bread and in carrot cake and in pretty much any dessert come to think of it. Don't get me wrong...I like to eat raisins by themselves. I just don't like raisins in things. It's a textural thing. I was probably, in my childhood traumatized by raisins, I'm sure. I know this has to be the case as I vividly remember being traumatized by peas. Yes, peas. Those evil little green spheres of ickiness.

I would come home for lunch in elementary school and there awaiting me would be a plate of fried rice that my mother made...with peas. I would eat the rice and other stuff but I'd leave the peas. One time, my mother got fed up with me and said that I couldn't leave the table until all the peas were finished.

Lucky for me we had a German Shepherd who didn't mind peas at all!

Today I have learned to love peas in fried rice. I'll even eat those frozen mixed veggies. The turning point for me came when I lived with my maternal grandmother during summer break one year and she made me an egg-drop soup with her freshly grown garden veggies. She incorporated some freshly shucked peas. It was heaven. I couldn't believe the sweet little explosions of flavour in my mouth were the same things that were invading my fried rice and macaroni and cheese. You heard it people! Mac and cheese with peas! Sacrilege! Hot dogs yes; ketchup, well--it's okay but I don't do it. But peas in Mac and Cheese? WTF?

So there, you can understand my reasons for not liking peas.

'Nuf said. Let's get to the Butter Tart recipe. Buy some frozen, unsweetened tart shells or make your own. All you need is about 15 minutes to make the filling and you pop them in the oven for another 15. You can throw in dried blueberries (which I did), craisins (which are my favourite), raisins (if you're traditional) or any other dried fruit. You can also leave the dried fruit out and put in toasted nuts (think pecans!) or even nothing at all! This is a forgiving recipe.

I found this published in The Vancouver Sun. They had this retro series where they published all the oldies.

THE BEST BUTTER TARTS (adapted from The Vancouver Sun)

• 24 unbaked tart shells [I used unsweetened]
• 1 cup raisins [I used craisins in some and dried blueberries in others]
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup corn syrup
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Divide raisins/craisins/whatever evenly among shells. In a bowl, lightly beat together eggs, brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, vanilla and salt. Pour over raisins/craisins, filling shells about 3/4 full.
2. Bake in a preheated 425 F oven just until set, about 15 minutes. Cool on wire rack, then remove from the pan. Makes 24 tarts

More about → BIRTHDAY BUTTER TARTS

Vitamin K2 in Marrow

I'm always on the lookout for foods rich in vitamin K2 MK-4, because it's so important and so rare in the modern food system. I heard some internet rumors that marrow might be rich in fat-soluble vitamins. Google let me down, so I decided to look through the rat studies on K2 MK-4 in which they looked at its tissue distribution.

I found one that looked at the K2 MK-4 content in different tissues of rats fed vitamin K1. Marrow was rich in K2, along with testes. It contains 10-20 times more MK-4 than liver by weight, and more than any of the other organs they tested (serum, liver, spleen, kidney, heart, testes, marrow, brain) except testes. They didn't include values for salivary gland and pancreas, the two richest sources.

If we assume beef marrow has the same amount of MK-4 as rat marrow per weight (I have no idea if this is really the case, but it's probably in the ballpark), two ounces of beef marrow would contain about 10 micrograms MK-4. Not a huge source, but significant nevertheless.

Bone marrow was a prized food in many hunter-gatherer societies. Let's see what Dr. Weston Price has to say about it (from Nutrition and Physical Degeneration):

For the Indians living inside the Rocky Mountain Range in the far North of Canada, the successful nutrition for nine months of the year was largely limited to wild game, chiefly moose and caribou. During the summer months the Indians were able to use growing plants. During the winter some use was made of bark and buds of trees. I found the Indians putting great emphasis upon the eating of the organs of the animals, including the wall of parts of the digestive tract. Much of the muscle meat of the animals was fed to the dogs. It is important that skeletons are rarely found where large game animals have been slaughtered by the Indians of the North. The skeletal remains are found as piles of finely broken bone chips or splinters that have been cracked up to obtain as much as possible of the marrow and nutritive qualities of the bones. These Indians obtain their fat-soluble vitamins and also most of their minerals from the organs of the animals. An important part of the nutrition of the children consisted in various preparations of bone marrow, both as a substitute for milk and as a special dietary ration.

Here's a bit more about these same groups, also from Nutrition and Physical Degeneration:

The condition of the teeth, and the shape of the dental arches and the facial form, were superb. Indeed, in several groups examined not a single tooth was found that had ever been attacked by tooth decay. In an examination of eighty-seven individuals having 2,464 teeth only four teeth were found that had ever been attacked by dental caries. This is equivalent to 0.16 per cent. As we came back to civilization and studied, successively, different groups with increasing amounts of contact with modern civilization, we found dental caries increased progressively, reaching 25.5 per cent of all of the teeth examined at Telegraph Creek, the point of contact with the white man's foods. As we came down the Stikine River to the Alaskan frontier towns, the dental caries problem increased to 40 per cent of all of the teeth.

Evidently, the traditionally-living groups were doing something right.

More about → Vitamin K2 in Marrow

Technique---Curling with a flat-iron

Finally! A new post, and a tutorial to boot! I have had many, many, many requests for this. My apologies. I have been waiting for my husband to be home long enough to take pictures. That hasn't happened...he has been a little busy with a work project, so I pulled out my handy dandy tri-pod and my old camera with a remote. Unfortunately, the remote wasn't working. You really need both hands to do this so I hope explain it well.

I put in some Garnier Curl Sculpting Creme and went to work. When I curl their hair with a flat iron, I usually curl the ends under first. I can't always get the ends the way I want and this eliminates that frustration. So start at the base of the hair and slide the iron down and when you get almost to the bottom, twist the flat-iron just ever so slightly to get a nice bent under shape, more if you want more curls.

Like so.

Take a section of hair and separate it from the rest of the hair. Clamp your flat iron on the base of the hair. I take the end of the hair and wrap it around the flat iron, if only to give it direction and keep it going in the same movement. This is where the bevel on your flat-iron comes into play. You are basically using the bevel to curl the hair. So after I clamp onto the hair, I pull the hair on the bevel in the direction I am curling. Now, keeping the iron clamped, slowly slide it away from the base of the hair towards you. As you are sliding it out, you slowly twist the flat iron like you would when wrapping hair in a curling iron


See how I have my hand holding onto her hair and it is wrapped around the iron? That is not a necessary step...HOWEVER...it makes for more control AND it keeps the hair together to make more of a ringlet. If you don't do that, the curl ends up being unpredictable.


Here is where I am twisting and sliding at the same time.


Follow this same fluid movement to the end of the hair.





And let go.

This second one shows more detail than the first.


Clamp

Twist

Twisting and sliding

Now I find as I get towards the end that sometimes the hair gets tight, so I loosen my grip on my flat iron.

Like so

Then pull your flat-iron out of the hair towards the ground.

Finish the hair

All this took me two minutes, tops.

But I didn't want to leave ringlets, so I ran my fingers through the curls.

And separated them by pulling the top from the bottom.

Then sprayed

And scrunched

Tada!

I hope this helps for those who have questions. When my husband gets home...a video as well.

More about → Technique---Curling with a flat-iron

Otah Buns

I love otah and I love bread.

I wonder why it took me so long to get down to make some otah buns. For those of you who are not familiar with this local savoury snack, otah is made by blending fish paste with a mixture of spices such as chillies, garlic, shallots, turmeric, lemon grass and coconut milk. Morsels of fish paste are then wrapped in coconut leaves and grilled over an open charcoal fire. (Here's a great photo of otahs on a grill and a typical 'mobile' otah stall.) The wonderful aroma of otah sizzling over the grill is unbelievable.


I made the dough by adapting the sweet buns recipe and out of convenience, I used off-the-shelf pre-cooked otah as fillings ;)


I steamed the pre-cooked otah and cut them into slices before wrapping it with the dough. On hind sight, I should have mashed the otah before using it as fillings. The bread turned out great, except that the otah was a tad too dry. It was the first time I tried this brand of pre-cooked otah, it was quite dense and it tasted almost like a chunk of fish cake :( I should have gone back to the usual brand which has got much softer texture and taste much better.


I had fun doodling on one of the photos...I thought the buns looked like little tortoises with their heads sticking out of their shells, ready for a race ;)



Otah Buns

Ingredients:
(make 9 buns)

150g bread flour
150g cake flour
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
125g water
1 egg
2 tablespoons caster sugar
50g butter, cut into small cubes

Method:

1. Place all ingredients except the butter in the pan of the bread machine (according to the sequence as stated in the instruction manual of your bread machine). Select the Dough function of the bread machine and press start. After about 8mins of kneading add in the 50g of butter. Let the machine continue to knead the dough. After the kneading cycle has stopped (20mins), Stop and Restart the machine. Continue to let the machine knead for another 10mins. Leave the lid open while the machine is kneading.
2. Stop the machine and remove dough from the bread pan. Shape the dough into a smooth round and place in a lightly greased mixing bowl. Cover bowl with cling wrap and let it rise till double in volume for about 60 ~ 90 mins.
3. Remove dough and give a few light kneading on a lightly floured work surface. Press out the trapped air as your knead. Divide into 9 equal portions (about 60g each) and shape them into rounds. Cover with cling wrap, let the doughs rest for 10mins.
4. Flatten each dough into a round disc and press out the trapped air. Wrap dough with otah fillings or any fillings as desired.
5. Place doughs seams side down on a baking tray (lightly greased with oil or butter or lined with parchment paper). Space the dough well apart. Loosely cover with a damp cloth or cling wrap and let doughs proof for 45 ~ 60 mins or until double in size.
6. Bake at preheated oven at 190 degC for about 15 mins or until the bread is golden brown all over. Remove from pan. Brush with melted butter if desired. Let cool on wire rack.

More about → Otah Buns

Banana & Chocolate Muffins

It was a weekday evening. While I was washing the dishes right after dinner, it occurred to me that I have not prepared anything for breakfast for the next day. There were no homemade cakes or bread and I would rather stay at home than to step out of the house to get a loaf of bread from the neighbourhood bakery shop, which is just a stone's throw away. The only way out was to bake something quick and easy. I guess nothing beats a batch of muffins when you are running short of time.


I checked the ingredients I have on hand and managed to match the list with those found in this recipe for a batch of Banana & Chocolate Muffins. The recipe calls for chopped plain chocolates, I replaced them with chocolate chips as I rather save the chocolates for baking a cake or to use it to make chocolate ganache. The recipe calls for self-raising flour, and since I didn't have that, I substituted it with a mixture of plain flour, baking powder and salt.

When I was all set to begin my baking session, my younger child came to the kitchen. When he saw me getting busy with the preparation of the ingredients, as usual, he offered to help me. Unlike his elder brother, he always doesn't seem to mind dropping whatever he was doing, just so he could have some fun playing with flour, butter and eggs. I got him to mash up the bananas while I measured the other ingredients. He found immense pleasure in adding, pouring ingredients into the mixing bowl and eventually stirring them, even if he was only allowed to give a few strokes. Without fail, he asked whether he could do the final mixing of the wet ingredients to the dry ones. Since he was so enthusiastic, I told him he could do all the stirring this time. While he was half way into the mixing, I thought I should capture the moment on video. I got him to pause for a second, while I dashed off to grab my camera.

Here's a very short video clip of him mixing the muffin batter...as the batter got more and more heavy for him to stir, I took over to finish up the job. In case you ask, it was my elder boy who taught me how to use Window's Movie Maker to do the editing of the video clip. Otherwise I wouldn't even know the existence of such a software.

As you can see from the video, I stopped mixing once the flour mixture disappeared into the batter. The batter was very thick and lumpy. To get very soft and fluffy muffins, it is very important not to over stir the mixture...this is especially so for recipes when the instruction calls for mixing the wet ingredients to the dry ones.


Very soon, we were rewarded with ten sweet-smelling, beautifully domed muffins. While the muffins were cooling off, my little one kept asking when he could eat the muffin. He had earlier devoured a banana and a bar of Kit Kat while the muffins were in the oven, and yet he couldn't wait to lay his hands on the muffins. Once I gave the go ahead, he sat down alone at the dinner table and enjoyed the freshly baked muffin he made.

The muffins tasted really delicious when they were fresh out of the oven. The texture was all moist and fluffy. I cut down on the amount of sugar and the sweetness was just right. The photos of the muffins were taken a day after, I think it didn't capture the soft and fluffy crumbs that well. Nevertheless, they tasted as good when served warm. This recipe is going to be a keeper.


Banana & Chocolate Muffins

Ingredients:
(makes 10 ~ 12 muffins)

275g plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large bananas, about 450g
100g brown sugar (original recipe calls for 125g brown caster sugar)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
50ml semi-skimmed milk (I used low fat fresh milk)
75g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
50g chocolate chips

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 180degC (350 degF). Line muffin pans with paper muffin cases.
2. Sieve together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a mixing bowl. Mix in the chocolate chips. Set aside.
3. Peel the bananas and mash with a fork in a bowl. Add in brown sugar, egg, milk and melted butter. Mix until well combined.
4. Pour the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients. With a wooden spoon or a spatula, gently fold all the ingredients to form a wet batter. Stir gently, using only a few strokes and mix until the flour are incorporate into the batter. DO NOT Over mix. The batter should appear lumpy.
5. Spoon batter into paper muffin cases. Bake for 20mins until muffins turn golden brown or a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
6. Let cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or cold.

Recipe source: adapted from Good Housekeeping - Easy to Make! Cakes & Bakes.

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RAZZLE-DAZZLEBERRY MACARONS

razzle-dazzleberry macarons: who doesn't love a surprise?

Imagine my surprise when Stomach actually pronounced my latest batch of raspberry macarons amazing. This is saying a lot from a man who doesn't seem to eat anything sweet willingly.


I zinged up my trusty ol' basic macaron batter with a couple of tablespoons of finely ground dehydrated raspberries and dumped (way too much) powdered red food colouring into it as well. The red colour of the macaron shells was so intense. They even left a faint red stain on our tongues!

I piped a ring of Beranbaum's NeoClassic Buttercream (my desert/dessert island buttercream) along the macaron shell edge and then I piped a nice fat blob of seedless raspberry jam in the centre of the ring. After sandwiching two macaron shells to cover the filling, you couldn't tell that there was a secret explosion of raspberry filling inside. Bwah-ha-ha!

Check out my recipe below.

Razzle-Dazzleberry Macarons
adapted from tartelette
Makes 35

225 gr powdered sugar
125 gr ground almonds
3 egg whites (about 100gr)
25 gr granulated sugar
2 tablespoons finely ground dehydrated raspberries
powdered red food colouring

• In a food processor, run the nuts, dehydrated raspberries and powdered sugar until the nuts are finely ground. Run through a sieve if needed.
• Whip the egg whites until foamy, slowly add the granulated sugar, until they are glossy. Continue beating until stiff peaks are formed. Add the food colouring.
• Slowly fold the nut/sugar mixture into the whites with a wide spatula. The mixture should remain shiny and flow easily.
• Fill a pastry bag with the batter and pipe rounds onto parchment-lined baking sheets.
• Let the macarons rest for 20 minutes to develop a skin. Touch the tops to ensure that they are not tacky. If they are, leave them to rest longer. [it was humid that day and I made big macarons so I had to leave them for 1 1/2 hours!]
• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees fahrenheit and when they are ready, bake them for 14-16 minutes.
• Let cool, remove from the paper and fill with the vanilla buttercream and seedless raspberry jam. Procedure: fill piping bag with buttercream and pipe a ring around the inside edge of a macaron shell. Fill another piping bag with seedless raspberry jam and pipe a mound of jam in the centre of the ring. Sandwich another macaron shell on top.

Neoclassic Vanilla Buttercream

(from Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Cake Bible )

6 large (3.5 fl oz/ 4 oz/112 g) egg yolks, room temperature
sugar (3/4 cup/5.25 oz/150 g)
corn syrup (1/2 liquid cup/5.75 oz/164 g)
unsalted butter (2 cups/1 lb/454 g) (must be softened)
vanilla (2 T)
optional: liqueur or eau-de-vie of your choice (2-4 T/1-2oz/28-56 g)

• Have ready a greased 1-cup heatproof glass measure near the range
• In a bowl beat the yolks with an electric mixer until light in colour. Meanwhile, combine the sugar and corn syrup in a small saucepan (preferably with a nonstick lining) and heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolves and the syrup comes to a rolling boil. (The entire surface will be covered with large bubbles.) Immediately transfer the syrup to the glass measure to stop the cooking.
• If using an electric hand-held mixer, beat the syrup into the yolks in a steady stream. Don't allow syrup to fall on the beaters or they will spin it onto the sides of the bowl. If using a stand mixer, pour a small amount of syrup over the yolks with the mixer turned off. Immediately beat at high speed for 5 seconds. Stop the mixer and add a larger amount of syrup. Beat at high speed for 5 seconds. Continue with the remaining syrup. For the last addition, use a rubber scraper to remove the syrup clinging to the glass measure. Continue beating until completely cool.
• Gradually beat in the butter and any optional flavouring. Place in an airtight bowl. Bring to room temperature before using. Rebeat to restore texture.
  Store: 6 hours room temperature, 1 week refrigerated, 8 months frozen

More about → RAZZLE-DAZZLEBERRY MACARONS

I don't know what to title this

I must apologize to all of you. My creative juices haven't been flowing lately. I have some personal issues that have taken some precedence in my life. Issues that have made me sad lately. I know as women we go through times like these and I know that I will pull out of it...that things will get better...that my creative juices will start flowing again.

I have a giveaway to do...a darling giveaway. I just haven't had the energy to come up with hairstyles to go with it. I am sad about that.

I had a friend say to me that it seems like I have a perfect little life. Here is my testament that I am flawed...and sometimes my life is as well. So please, have a bit of patience with me. Things will right themselves again...they always do.

More about → I don't know what to title this

Google Flu Trends

I just discovered a wonderful new tool from Google.org, Google Flu Trends. Google.org is the philanthropic branch of Google. Flu Trends gives you real-time data on flu incidence in your U.S. state, as well as for the country as a whole. Here's how it works:

We've found that certain search terms are good indicators of flu activity. Google Flu Trends uses aggregated Google search data to estimate flu activity in your state up to two weeks faster than traditional flu surveillance systems.

Each week, millions of users around the world search for online health information. As you might expect, there are more flu-related searches during flu season, more allergy-related searches during allergy season, and more sunburn-related searches during the summer.

Google's data match up well with U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data on flu incidence, but are available 1-2 weeks before CDC data. Here's a comparison of Flu Trends and CDC data for previous years. Plus, Google makes the information easily accessible and user-friendly.

I think this a fantastic use of the massive amount of raw information on the internet. It's amazing what a person can do with a brain and an internet connection these days.

More about → Google Flu Trends

Can Vitamin K2 Reverse Arterial Calcification?

It certainly can in rats. In April 2007, Dr. Cees Vermeer and his group published a paper on the effect of vitamin K on arterial calcification (the accumulation of calcium in the arteries). As I mentioned two posts ago, arterial calcification is tightly associated with the risk of heart attack and death. Warfarin-treated rats are an established model of arterial calcification. Warfarin also causes calcification in humans. The drug is a "blood thinner" that inhibits vitamin K recycling, and inhibits the conversion of vitamin K1 (phylloquinone) to K2 MK-4 (menaquinone-4). This latter property turns out to be the critical one in the calcification process.

Rats are able to convert vitamin K1 to K2 MK-4, whereas humans don't seem to convert well. Conversion efficiency varies between species. Dr. Vermeer's group treated rats with warfarin for 6 weeks, during which they developed extensive arterial calcification. They also received vitamin K1 to keep their blood clotting properly. At 6 weeks, the warfarin-treated rats were broken up into several groups:

• One continued on the warfarin and K1 diet
• One was placed on a diet containing a normal amount of K1 (no warfarin)
  
• One was placed on a high K1 diet (no warfarin)
• The last was placed on a high K2 MK-4 diet (no warfarin)
  

After 6 more weeks, the first two groups developed even more calcification, while the third and fourth groups lost about 40% of their arterial calcium. The high vitamin K groups also saw a decrease in cell death in the artery wall, a decrease in uncarboxylated (inactive) MGP, and an increase in arterial elasticity. They also measured the vitamin K content of aortas from each group. The group that received the 12-week warfarin treatment had a huge amount of K1 accumulation in the aorta, but no K2 MK-4. This is expected because warfarin inhibits the conversion of K1 to K2 MK-4. It's notable that when conversion to K2 was blocked, K1 alone was totally ineffective at activating MGP and preventing calcification.

In the group fed high K1 but no warfarin, there was about three times more K2 MK-4 in the aortas than K1, suggesting that they had converted it effectively and that vascular tissue selectively accumulates K2 MK-4. A high K1 intake was required for this effect, however, since the normal K1 diet did not reverse calcification. The rats fed high K2 MK-4 had only K2 MK-4 in their aortas, as expected.

What does this mean for us? K2 MK-4 appears to be the form of vitamin K that arteries prefer (although not enough is known about the longer menaquinones, such as MK-7, to rule out a possible effect). Humans don't seem to be very good at making the conversion from K1 to K2 MK-4 (at normal intakes; there are suggestions that at artificially large doses we can do it). That means we need to ensure an adequate K2 MK-4 intake to prevent or reverse arterial calcification; eating K1-rich greens won't cut it. It's worth noting that the amounts of K1 and K2 used in the paper were very large, far beyond what is obtainable through food. But the regression took only 6 weeks, so it's possible that a smaller amount of K2 MK-4 over a longer period could have the same effect in humans.

K2 MK-4 (and perhaps other menaquinones like MK-7) may turn out to be an effective treatment for arterial calcification and cardiovascular disease in general. It's extremely effective at preventing osteoporosis-related fractures in humans. That's a highly significant fact. Osteoporosis and arterial calcification often come hand-in-hand. Thus, they are not a result of insufficient or excessive calcium, but of a failure to use the available calcium effectively. In the warfarin-treated rats described above, the serum (blood) calcium concentration was the same in all groups. Osteoporosis and arterial calcification are two sides of the same coin, and the fact that one can be addressed with K2 MK-4 means that the other may be as well.

Both osteoporosis and arterial calcification may turn out to be symptoms of vitamin K2 deficiency, resulting from the modern fear of animal fats and organs, and the deterioration of traditional animal husbandry practices. So eat your pastured dairy, organs, fish roe and shellfish! And if you have arterial calcification, as judged by a heart scan, you may want to consider supplementing with additional K2 MK-4 (also called menaquinone-4 and menatetrenone).

The osteoporosis studies were done with 45 milligrams per day, which was well tolerated but seems excessive to me. Smaller doses were not tested. From the limited information available on the K2 content of foods, 1 milligram of K2 MK-4 per day seems like the upper limit of what you can get from food. That's about 40 times more than the average person eats. Anything more and you're outside your body's operating parameters. Make sure you're getting adequate vitamin D3 and A if you supplement with K2. Vitamin D3 in particular increases the secretion of MGP, so the two work in concert.

More about → Can Vitamin K2 Reverse Arterial Calcification?

3 Months Later...

Almost.

Babies are challenging... Giving birth was easier... Forget about the note I was sleeping better after Kaylee was born, that didn't last long!

Ah, but the human condition. We adapt. Disrupted sleep included.

Now that I've adapted, I'm consulting again.

Apparently, I really, really like to code AND its much, much easier than being a mommy! Not quite the same ROI...

Since I do most of my work from home, I get the best of both. I'm quite lucky.

I'm with the same company and working with lots of WPF and TDD. We just started using the Isolator AAA from typemock, which looks nice. I know Roy was very involved with its creation and I usually agree with all his testing methodologies :)

My heart is still with rhinomocks, but hopefully I'll find a place for typemock too!

And being a mom, I have to include some newer pics of my lovely daughter!

More about → 3 Months Later...

Real Food IX: Idlis

Traditional cultures throughout the world went to great lengths to maximize the nutritional value of the ingredients they had. Fermentation is a technique that was widely used for preparing grains and legumes. Humans are not well adapted to grains or legumes, in large part due to their assortment of anti-nutrients (substances that prevent the absorption of nutrients) and other toxins. Fermentation is a very effective way to eliminate anti-nutrients, making grains and legumes more nutritious and easily digested.

Idlis are steamed, naturally leavened cakes made from a fermented mixture of ground rice and beans. They're mild, savory and fluffy, and pair well with nearly any dish. I think they fill in well for bread. Due to the combination of rice and beans, they contain a fair amount of high-quality complete protein. They are also very economical. Idlis have their roots in Southern Indian cuisine more than 1,000 years ago. They may have originated as a fermented bean dish, with rice added to the recipe later in history.

The recipe takes 2-3 days to complete, but actually doesn't require much work. First, the beans and rice are soaked separately, then they are ground and mixed, then they are allowed to ferment for 24-48 hours and steamed. This type of days-long soaking and fermentation process is common in many grain-based cultures worldwide.

The recipe traditionally calls for short-grain white rice and urad dal (split black gram). I've been using short-grain brown rice with good results. You will only be able to find urad dal in an Indian grocer, specialty store or online. If you can't find urad dal, try experimenting with other types of mild dry beans.

Ingredients and materials

• One cup urad dal or other dried bean
• Two cups short-grain brown or white rice
• One teaspoon fenugreek (optional)
• Two teaspoons non-iodized salt
• Filtered or otherwise dechlorinated water
  
• Muffin tray
• Large pot for steaming (optional)

Recipe

1. Soak urad dal and rice separately for 6 hours (longer if you're using a different type of bean). Add fenugreek to the rice before soaking (optional). It's used traditionally to speed fermentation.
2. Pour water off the urad dal and rice/fenugreek mixture. Don't rinse.
3. Grind the urad dal in a food process or or blender with a minimum amount of water until it's a smooth paste. The water must not be chlorinated or it will kill our bacteria! Brita-type water filters remove chlorine, as does boiling or leaving water uncovered overnight.
   
4. Grind the rice/fenugreek mixture coarsely with a minimum amount of dechlorinated water.
   
5. Mix the ground urad dal, ground rice and salt. The salt must be non-iodized, or the batter will not ferment! Pickling salt, kosher salt and unrefined sea salt work well. Add dechlorinated water until it's a thick paste, stirrable but not liquid.
6. Ferment for 24-48 hours. You know it's ready when the dough has risen significantly, and the odor has gone from harsh and beany to mild and savory. Fermentation time will depend on the ambient temperature.
   
7. Fill muffin trays about half-way with batter and steam until a knife inserted into them comes out clean, 15-20 minutes. You can also bake them at 350 F. It's not traditional, but I like them baked almost as much. If you really want to be traditional, you can buy an idli steamer.

Here are photos of my last batch. Soaking the urad dal and rice:


Batter, pre-fermentation:


Batter, post-fermentation (48 hours). It more than doubled in volume. The color didn't actually change, that's just my camera.


Ready to steam or bake.


After baking. One escaped! Into my belly.


Thanks to Soumya dey and Wikipedia for the top photo

More about → Real Food IX: Idlis

My opinion on school pictures

I have had several people ask me what they should do for their school pictures. We all know I love fancy schmancy hair and that I pull my girls hair back on a regular basis, however, this is the ONE occasion where I think that simple is best.

I learned that from experience. I tried to be fancy with my oldest dd's hair when she was in first grade. The result of that was that in her picture, half of her hair had fallen, the bows had twisted and it just looked ridiculous. I would scan and post a picture, but my computer has had a nasty virus for the last two weeks and my husband had to do some digging and in the process, my scanner/printer isn't working. Sigh.

Pictures should be timeless. The less extreme the hair, the better. I just took my dd's to have their pictures taken. Just before we left, I sat them on the front porch and snapped a picture.

See, nothing too crazy about their hair. The most "extreme" thing was the curls in Tess's hair. I do like to keep their hair modern, so we did some corkscrew curls. That was it.

So please learn from my mistake...fancy is NOT always better.

More about → My opinion on school pictures