Bar Americain

Hey guys

I’m still celebrating my birthday during my birthday month. Last night, one of my clients took me to one of my favorite restaurants, Bar Americain. It just opened in Times Square.

I had a good time over there. The food was superb and the ambience terrific.

This was truly a great dining experience. From entering the door to leaving, everything was perfect. Classic food with truly top-notch professional service and striking décor. Great from appetizer to dessert including a wonderfully created vegetarian plate that was not on the menu.

A must go for anyone that loves to eat and enjoy the whole dining experience.

Hey Erik, thank you so much! I enjoyed your company as always!

AlejandroQ

Keep your pantry ready for the new season

On a cold and stormy winter’s night, who wants to make a trip to the store for dinner supplies? It would be so much easier to whip up something out of things in your pantry. Let’s see what you might have to work with...hmm...a bag of fully sprouted potatoes, an ancient box of Ritz crackers, Aunt Hazel’s runny jam, and some petrified marshmallows. Not too inspiring and really not healthy at all.

Your favorite fruits are out of season, and the last really good tomatoes are a fading memory—but that doesn't mean you can’t have tasty, healthy meals. By restocking your kitchen with fresh winter produce and canned, dried, and frozen foods, you can eat well when most people have resigned themselves to take-out pizza and peaches in syrup.

Even in the bleakest winter, you can find frozen and dried fruits—the best of them more nutrient-dense than hothouse fresh. And don't forget canned tomatoes. They pack three times the lycopene (key to eye and prostate health) found in fresh tomatoes. Winter is also an ideal time to enjoy warming, fiber and nutrient-rich bean dishes and cooked cereals.

So put down that take-out menu. Here's how to fill your fridge, freezer, and pantry shelves with the pick of the wintertime crop.

Dried Fruit
Dried cranberries are among the best sources of proanthocyanidins, powerful antioxidants that also help prevent urinary tract infections.

Choice Frozen Fruits
Like veggies, fruits are flash frozen at their ripest. Your best-tasting and most nutritious bets: berries (loaded with antioxidants) and mangoes (with beta-carotene).

Whole Grain Cereals
Look for whole grain oats, wheat, amaranth, quinoa, or brown rice. The nutritional payoff: fiber, minerals, and beneficial plant compounds called phytochemicals.

Soups
They’re not raw ingredients, but they’re so versatile; you can use them as if they were. Try the creamy—but not fatty—vegetable-based butternut squash, portobello mushroom, broccoli, and tomato soups.

With these simple items, you’ll be able to maintain a healthy diet even during the worse winter storms.

AlejandroQ

Merry Christmas!

Hey guys

Guide To Keep Those Extra Calories Away

As the holidays approach, temptation is everywhere. From Thanksgiving through New Year’s, nearly every meal contains great tasting high calorie foods brimming with fat and empty calories. In most families, good food is always associated with times of celebration and happiness. But what happens when the holidays are over and you realize that those great tasting foods have just added several more unwanted pounds, making your fitness resolution to slim down that much more difficult to achieve?

More importantly, studies have shown that the number of heart-related problems peaks between Thanksgiving and the first of January. These problems are caused by increased consumption of food, alcohol and salt, changes in the weather and increased stress. According to the American Heart Association, there are 33% more heart-related deaths during the holiday season. Therefore, it is critical that realistic expectations be set for our diet and our lifestyle during the holiday season.

Here are some tips to manage your stress and help you stay healthy during the holidays. It can be used as a guide for maintaining self-control during this year’s holiday feasts.

ENLIST A FRIEND. It's easier to get motivated to stay on track if you have a partner. Your partner can also make you feel guilty if you don't stick to your plan.

BE REALISTIC ABOUT YOUR DIET. Don't count on completely cutting sweets out of your diet. Instead, opt for cutting back on fat and calories by substituting some of the ingredients in those traditional family recipes, with any of the many low fat, reduced calorie substitutes on the market.

SMALLER PLATES EQUAL FEWER CALORIES. When faced with holiday treats, a good tip is to use a smaller plate. By taking smaller portions, you can cut back on your fat and calorie intake. Also, cutting back on the fattening toppings, such as butter and gravy, will cut back on the amount of fat and calories you consume. Here’s another tip, do not simply eat foods just because they are served. Think about your options and whether or not you really want to eat what is in front of you.

KEEP MOVING! You can exercise and still spend time with you're loved ones. Set aside time to do things like caroling, shopping, walking, ice skating or sledding with your friends and family. Not only will you meet your obligations, you'll stay in shape, reduce your stress and burn off those extra calories at the same time.

For more info, contact me at my ‘hotline’ or send me an email. Whether you need an assessment or just some motivation, I’m here for you.

Thank you again.

Love AlejandroQ

Big Party Day

Hey guys

I got invited to this big party yesterday for Courtney Reum, the brother of my friend Halle. Courtney is a film producer, living in Australia for the last 6 months. The party was to mark his return to New York and was held the trendy photo studio Splashlight.
Splashlight Studios is the ideal space for a sophisticated corporate event, private party, fashion show, art exhibition, television or film shoot. It is a 23,000 square-foot private building which can be opened or divided to accommodate 50 to 1,500 people, becoming your own private blank canvas. The studios are available for day events, such as product launches and luncheons, and are also available for evening parties or cocktail hours.
Here’s a list of some of their fabulous clients.

1. Alain Mikli
2. Alexander McQueen
3. Behnaz Sarafpour
4. Bentley
5. Cargo Magazine
6. Diesel
7. Doe Fund
8. General Motors
9. HBO
10. Hyundai
11. Independent Film Channel
12. Liz Claiborne
13. Lucky Magazine
14. Maserati
15. Metropolis Magazine
16. Nike
17. Sony Playstation
18. Surface Magazine
19. Target
20. Time Magazine
21. Time Out Magazine

HALLE AND COURTNEY, THANK YOU AGAIN
I HAD A GREAT TIME!

Love you guys
AlejandroQ

Cabbage Soup Diet for the Holidays

Hey guys

The cabbage soup diet is sometimes referred to as the “Mayo Clinic Diet” or the “Sacred Heart Hospital Diet”. Interestingly, this diet has nothing to do with either the Mayo Clinic or any Sacred Heart Hospital I know about.

The Problem With Most “Mainstream” Diets
Most diets, especially “mainstream” diets, and those recommended by major medical institutions, work slowly but surely, resulting in around 1 pound of weight loss per week. This “slow and steady” way to lose weight is certainly healthy but suffers from one significant drawback; most people get discouraged and quit whatever diet they are on if they don't see results quickly.

Although not suitable for long-term weight loss, the Cabbage Soup Diet is a low-fat, high-fiber diet that will help you get into shape fast before you embark on a more moderate long-term eating plan.

Seven Keys to Success

1. Follow the diet religiously.
2. Drink at least 4 glasses of water per day
3. Keep in mind that it's only seven days
4. Complement the diet with a good multivitamin tablet
5. Eat plenty of soup - as much as you want! Do not try to starve yourself or you'll probably cheat and break the diet
6. Try different spices to liven up the soup and add variety
7. Do not try to starve yourself
   

If you’ll like to know more about the diet, just e-mail or contact me at the number on my website.

Thank you again and God bless you.

AlejandroQ

Setting Up My Christmas Tree

Hey guys

First, I want to apologize for the delay in putting up my articles. I’ve been so busy at work recently with my clients. But I have good news…I’ve finally set up my Christmas tree, an extraordinary aluminum tree from the 50’s. It’s 7” high. Here’s some history about them.

The aluminum trees had their beginnings in December 1958. At the Aluminum Specialty Company, Toy Sales Manager Tom Gannon had noticed a small, homemade, all-metal tree used as a display in Ben Franklin’s Five and Dime store in Chicago, Illinois. He thought it was a wonderful idea and presented it right away to his company in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

At the time, Manitowoc was known as the Aluminum Cookware Capital of the World and the company president thought that Tom’s idea was a splendid one. The design department sprang into action and by the Christmas of 1959, they offered the very first all-aluminum Christmas tree to a somewhat confused public.

After a surprisingly busy first year of sales, the idea really took off and by 1960, the Aluminum Specialty company had perfected their flagship tree: The Evergleam. Although the company records and archives have long since been lost, several estimates put the factory output at 4 million trees during their 10 year production run from 1959 to 1969.

The company never advertised their tree as artificial but rather insisted that their offering was simply a “Permanent Tree”. It had a silver painted wooden trunk with a multitude of holes drilled in at increasing angles, so that when each of the hand-made branches of the same size is inserted into them, they would perch upwards, forming the traditional tree shape. Equipped with a simple aluminum tripod style stand, the trees were easy to set up and certainly caught one's eye.

As is almost always true with a successful product, imitators soon jumped on the bandwagon, and the market was soon flooded with a huge variety of aluminum wonders. Not only are they available in the original silver color, but also in gold, green, blue, blue and green, silver with blue tips and even pink!

That is me and my tree.

Love you guys and God Bless you.

AlejandroQ

European Cabbage — Staple Food of Rich and Poor

The cultivation of cabbage goes back 4000 years. Between China and Mongolia, horsemen learned to preserve this vegetable in brine and it became the staple food of the builders of the Great Wall of China in the third century BC. Later, pickled cabbage arrived in Europe from the East, carried by Han and Mongol cavalcades.

While these horsemen introduced a new preservation method and Barbarian flavor to Europe, cabbage had nonetheless long been the favorite vegetable of an entire continent, particularly until the introduction of the potato. In fact, the Celts may have introduced cabbage to the British Isles as early as the 4th century BC. For centuries, cabbage was a staple that sustained European populations during great famines. During the Hundred Years War, battles were won or lost depending on whether fresh provisions of cabbage had arrived at the soldiers' camps.
Why Cabbage is Good to Eat

• It is a good source of vitamin C, particularly red cabbage – 100g of most types provides more than a full day’s allowance of this vitamin.
• It’s an excellent source of beta carotene – the darker the green color, the higher the content of beta carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A. Mustard cabbage has the highest levels of calcium, iron, beta carotene and vitamin C.
• It’s a good source of dietary fiber.
• It has virtually no fat and so is low in kilojoules (average 65kJ/100g).

Choosing Cabbage
Select those that are solid and heavy for the size. The leaves should be crisp, compact and bright in color.

History of Cabbage
Cabbages, as you know them today, originated from the wild cabbage which is found in England, Europe and the Mediterranean. Red and white cabbages, similar to modern cabbages, were grown in Germany in the 12th century. Savoy types were developed later being first recorded in Germany in the middle of the 16th century.

Whether stored fresh or pickled, they are extremely important as a staple winter vegetable in cold climates when nothing else is available.

Sir Joseph Banks, following his return from his travels with Captain Cook, ensured cabbage seeds were sent to Australia with the First Fleet in 1788. This shipment included large quantities of several branches of the cabbage family and in 1788 the earliest maturing varieties were planted on Norfolk Island. By the 1830’s cabbage became Australia’s favorite vegetable and large quantities of them were sold at the Sydney Markets.

Chinese cabbage was recorded as early as the 5th century. As in the colder areas of Europe, Chinese cabbage formed an important part of the Chinese population’s winter diet. Since then many different varieties have been developed resulting in the Chinese cabbage family we know today.

Introduced into Japan in the mid 19th century, and to the USA later in the 19th century, Chinese cabbage probably first came to Australia during the 1800’s with the Chinese workers headed for the gold fields.

Fun Ways to Eat and Cook Cabbage
Whatever color cabbage you choose, they can all be eaten raw in salads or cooked, 5-10 minutes depending on the size and quantity. Remove any discolored outer leaves and steam, boil, stir-fry or bake.

Do not overcook or they go watery and an unpleasant sulphur odor may develop. Putting a walnut in the water while cooking cabbage is said to minimize that odor. Use in coleslaw, salads, as a vegetable, in sauces, spring rolls or as an edible ‘wrapper’ as in cabbage rolls.

Try some of these easy cabbage recipes:

Savory Fried Cabbage
Pan-fry 3 chopped rashers bacon, 1 sliced onion and 1 diced granny smith apple with skin on. Add 1/2 cup celery and 1/2 small cabbage, thinly sliced, then sauté 4-6 minutes, stirring constantly, until tender. Stir through 1 tablespoon caraway seeds and serve.

Cabbage And Corn Fritters
Thinly shred 1/4 small cabbage. Mix with 2 tablespoons chopped shallots, 1 cup sifted self raising flour, 1 x 310g can creamed corn, 2 lightly beaten eggs and 1/2 cup milk. Stand 10 minutes. Pan-fry fritters in butter or oil until golden each side. Serve hot topped with cream cheese and chopped chives.

Tasty Cabbage Soup
Thinly slice 1/2 cabbage and add to 2 cups diced raw onion, carrot and celery. Cover with chicken stock and simmer 10-12 minutes with lid on. Serve with a spoonful of sour cream sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and chopped parsley. Other vegetables can be added to this dish for variety.

Hey guys, I know you are waiting for the real cabbage soup diet and I’m going to give it to you but in the next article. So, just wait for it. The holidays are coming so remember to keep your calories and carbs really low.

Thank you so much for your support. Love you guys and God bless everyone.

AlejandroQ.

World AIDS Day!

World AIDS Day is the international day of action on HIV and AIDS which takes place every year on 1 December.

World AIDS Day is about people getting the facts about HIV and AIDS. It's a day for people to get involved and there are many ways in which you can do so. No matter how you decide to mark the day, you can help create a more AIDS Aware society in which everyone takes action.

For more information, you can check out the following sites:
Avert.org
World AIDS Day.org
World Vision United States