Soma!

Downtown Toronto view fro

m CN Tower      

 

The tallest free standing tower in the world

I was looking through some of my pictures, which i took when I was traveling. I was just laughing out loud remembering all the fun times, and suddenly I found out what I should post on this small but remarkable blog. I should write about the food I have tried from where I have been!!

I left Vancouver at 11 in the morning on March 12th, 2009 to Toronto for five nights. It was very cold fro

m what I remember, but it was one of the most memorable moment of my life. Niagara Falls, CN Tower,and Rogers Centre were staggering and totally blew me away! These places are world-known, and thousands and millions people go there. However, if they did not visit Soma Chocolatemaker in the Distillary District, they should be ashamed of themselves. 

          That's the sign indicating where Soma Chocolatemaker is located. 

How the best chocolate is being made.                       YUMMM

Soma Chocolatemaker is one of the few chocolatemakers who make chocolate directly from cacao bean. Visitors can actually see how chocolate is being made through windows. Soma Chocolatemaker also offers traditional Italian cookies and drinking chocolate with the best taste. 

100% Cacau Chocolate

        (WARNING: This should be for people who have strong stomach.)

Delicious Costa Rican Milk Chocolate!

I was very tired walking around downtown Toronto 13hrs that day but I can't still forget this taste. 

Soma Chocolatemaker

http://www.somachocolate.com/SOMA_home.html(You can order through e-mail)

Phone: 416-815-7662

Located in the Distillary Historical District at 55 Mill Street, Toronto

Short but Sweet with Bittersweet

I just finished the book and I couldn't help but bring myself to say... THAT LAST PART IS THE BEST PART!!! (Actually I lie a little, the lemon picking part is still the best scene but for the reading this one still wins so not completely lying :B )

To prevent myself from spoiling, I'll make this short until after Wednesday and maybe put my entire train of thought about this last segment of the book. Four main thoughts I have of this past segment was:

1. You definitely can't "cook" until you no longer need the "cookbook" open.

2. Change is great after many disappointments but too much change is never good. Actually, excess change is perhaps a premonition that something much more horrible will happen. (Sorry if I burst anyone's bubble on that.)

3. Food is life. (I would put more emphasis on this because the class is all about food but the book provides enough enstrangment that I am rendered speechless in addition to not spoiling the remainder of the book).

4. After finishing this book, I couldn't help but notice that I could not stop thinking of the "Circle of Life" and my craving for watching the Lion King again. Thus, I put this video (that is definitely not mine) up.

"The Circle of Life"

a. Everything goes full circle; with the second segment we had to read, the idea of a new life being born after a death (deaths if including the wife's deceased mother).

** Video URL is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX07j9SDFcc .

TEMPT ME...!

Indian desserts are certainly tempting and mouth-watering.To say that, is actually an understatement.India, a land rich in diversity and culture,is also rich in traditional desserts(yeah, with a pun on the word 'rich'!).A main three course meal in Indian standards is always incomplete without the succulent 'gulab jamun', dripping with warm(or maybe cold if refrigerated) sugar syrup OR the 'Boondi ladoo', a round saccharine ball of expert confectionary,that completely entices an on-looker.These dessert items, served frequently during guest visits in the festival of 'Diwali-the Indian festival of lights' may be home-made by grand-mothers and mothers alike or purchased from the nearest store, anyhow retaining their ability to persuade guests to enter a home!Sample these:

"Gulab Jamuns",image courtesy:satts.files.wordpress.com

Boondi ladoo,image couretsy:sentimentsindia.com

Well among the veriety of indian desserts(the list goes on and on), my personal favourite is the 'kaju barfi'.WOW...mmm i can just about reminisce about the days when a considerably long queue at the local sweet shop, back home in India,would get you just a packet of these cashewnut , parallelogram wonders,conventionally wrapped up in silver foil.Another popular and tasty sample is the 'mysore pak(ಮೈಸೂರು ಪಾಕ್)'-this is the language 'kannada' btw-traditionally from the Indian state of Karnataka constituting (very) generous amounts of ghee(hydrogenated,thick oil),chickpea flour and sugar and varies in texture depending on how you like it(I always like it soft!).Most Indians don't really require any reason to make these sweets at home.It is sort of part of the tradition to compose these marvels.Try to taste it virtually:-)

'KAJU BARFI'-image courtesy:indiamart.com

MYSORE PAK,image courtesy:3.bp.blogspot.com (ok i took the image from another blog)

JUST a last one on the neverending list and certainly not the least is the 'kulfi'-a dessert that can be regarded as the indian equivalent of ice cream.It is traditionally made of frozen ,condensed milk and cream -'malaii',flavoured with dried fruits and cardamom.it is usually served in a small earthen pot called 'matka', and may be served in a number of flavours including mango,pistachio,saffron etc.

PISTACHIO KULFI-image courtesy:www.cuisinecuisine.com

Hey everyone if u happen to visit India(or maybe an indian restaurant),don't forget to try these dessert samples.they are simply delicious!Soo..my Indian dorm friend has brought some awesome 'kaju barfi' from New Jersey, rushing to eat that now.cya later:-D

Aakash with the double A's

The Tea Disaster

I am a terrible cook – you don’t know about this embarrassing incident, do you? This was a few years ago. A couple of maintenance guys were doing some repair work at our place, and my parents were out. One of the guys asked us (my sister and I) to make some tea for them, as they were tired and some tea would be good. (That’s the thing with Indians – a cup of tea is considered perennial refreshment for any time of the day – courtesy the British, of course). My sister couldn’t care less, so the responsibility fell on my shoulders.

Trying to remember all the ingredients for making tea, I gathered everything and after a couple of minutes of simmering, I poured out three cups of very strong tea. It took me half an hour to do this. (My mother’s record is 7 minutes and 3 seconds). I felt a distinct sense of pride as I carried the tea to the maintenance guys who were now chilling out. They eagerly took their cups and I just sat and watched to see if I was any good at making tea.

“How is it? Would you like some more?”

“[Coughs] No… no thanks. This is fine. Thanks a lot.”

When I came back a little while later to collect the cups, I noticed that they were still full. My enquiring glances met a strange stoic dedication to their tasks I had never seen before. After they were gone, my sister asked, “Did they like it?” I replied that I wasn’t too sure, that most of tea was left undrunk, that perhaps it was a little strong. She took one look at the tea and said, “Wait a sec. Did you put water in there?”

I had forgotten to add water. Shit.

My mother generally uses long-life milk instead of a creamer whenever she prepares tea for us. It had never occurred to me that there was water in the tea. I thought that the liquid in tea was all milk. It was really careless, I know, considering I had drunk tea without milk plenty of times. God, it must have been terrible. Since then, none of the maintenance guys who came to our place ever asked for tea.

(My sister still tells anyone she can lay her hands on about my “Tea Disaster” and my ineptness at cooking in general. I consider this to be a little unfair – she cannot even turn on the stove. Everything she knows about cooking begins and ends with the microwave.)

-----------------------------------

Picture courtesy: www.freedigitalphotos.net

Funny picture related to book.

I saw this picture while surfing the internet. It made me think of the dead sheep in the story.

Alton Brown in Town!

Hey everyone!

Just a head's up on a "foodie" event, if you're interested. Alton Brown is doing two live shows at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center this Saturday. For those of you who don't know who he is, he's the creator and host of a science-based approach cooking show on the Food Network called "Good Eats" AND the host of the competitive cook-off show, "Iron Chef America". (We'll be watching videos of him later in the semester.)

The shows are at 2pm and 7pm. I just bought a $10 (about $17 after extra "fees) ticket to the 7pm show, which is up in the nosebleed section. You can buy a $175 ticket if you want, but I'm too frugal to do so.

Only go if you think it would be fun to go! In no way will *not* going affect your grade. But if you do go, maybe I'll see you there!

http://www.cobbenergycentre.com/shared/event_detail.aspx?EventID=3847850&WebLink=48B.13B2CA98

Korean Sashimi: The COMPLETE Picture

In the previous post, WonTaek described his affinity for Korean Sashimi (live octopus). I thought I'd take it one step further by actually presenting you with a NatGeo podcast on how to eat live octopus. WARNING: Not for the sensitive or faint-hearted. Viewer discretion advised.

Brace yourselves. This will not be pleasant.

Watching this made me respect Koreans a lot more. They are a brave lot. WonTaek is brave. Herman is brave. And all those who like and eat Sashimi regularly. Let these brave gastronomic warriors be remembered for eternity and their names sung in ballads for eons to come.

This is Hasan at your service - helping you sort out Internet treasure from Internet junk.

Good night.

-------------------------------

Disclaimer: This video is property of National Geographic Society and was sourced from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fAs_DJCjG4. This blogger was not involved in any way in the production of this video, and it is reproduced here solely for educational purposes. Copyright National Geographic Society 2007.

Korean Sashimi

It wasn't really long since I had Korean Sashimi. Well, its not really called Sashimi. Its called "회" (No idea how to write it in english :D), it means raw fish in Korean but just for clarification, I borrowed the well know Japanese term "Sashimi."

I love tasting raw sea food and it was fairly difficult to get good raw seafood in Malaysia, since Malaysia was located in the tropics and the hot weather could cause food poisoning. To make my summer a bit more interesting, I decided to visit this place where there were tons of fishes in Korea. The picture above is only one part of the seafood market but already we can see there were quite a lot of fishes in the tank.

Probably there was about 40 of these small fish stores. This was advantageous to the consumer because these stores competed with each other, lowering the price down a bit :D. However, it was still quite expensive. My friend and I selected 2 types of fish, 3 octopus and some weird looking muscle(?). After the selection, the lady transformed our fishes into a plate of sashimi :D

The sashimi tasted great! I feel sorry for the fishes but I'm pretty sure the freshness contributed to the great taste.

We had 2 different sauces which we dip our fish slices with. One was chile and the other was soy sauce.

I also got a chance to try a very strange and odd food. I first saw people eating living octopus slices in youtube and later found out that they serve that in Korea. So, I thought why not give it a chance? Once, I tasted the slices of octopus, I was quite amazed. I couldn't stop eating these slices, they were something like boiled octopus slices but more tender and elastic?

Food Court

I have only been to the food court on one occasion so far this year and came away largely unimpressed. Whenever i find myself paying buzzfunds for food, (often because i only have a 10 meal plan) it is usually at a restaraunt that is not in the food court. One of the main problems i had with it was the fact that there was really nothing there that i couldn't get in one of the dining halls, the only difference is that the dining halls let you eat as much as you want. While you can pay $7 for a burrito at the food court you can get a burrito, french fries, an apple and much more at the dining hall for what ends up being about the same price. If i go someplace other than the dining hall, i am much more likely to go to a place like Einstein Bros. which sells high quality bagel sandwiches, something that i haven't found being offered at one of the dining halls

East vs. West

It seems like this simple debate occurs in almost all subjects.

Western philosophies vs. Eastern philosophies;

East Coast rappers vs. West Coast rappers;

Easter Bunny vs.... well, you get the point.

Now the debate has reached Georgia Tech!

I ask you now, which dining hall is better? Brittain (East) or Woodruff (West)?

Please add your reasoning why when you post.

I personally find Woodruff much better, and I think most people will agree. I live on the East Campus, but I find myself eating in West Campus at least a few times a week.

First off, the food always seems to be fresher. Unless you go to Brittain during a meal transition (breakfast to lunch or lunch to dinner), the food has usually been sitting there for a while. During these transitions the dining hall is usually packed, and I have to wait in long lines to get the food. My rice almost always seems to be a bit hard, so I've learned to avoid it now. Other foods have been soaking in their own juices and are very wet. The foods that don't have juices are dry and flavorless.

Secondly, the food selection is much greater in Woody's. There's are so many choices of food it's actually tough for a hungry guy like me to eat even a tiny bit of everything. They even have food specifically for vegetarians or vegans!

Best of all, they make the sandwiches for you! What more can you ask for?

So, I'm clearly in favor of Woodruff dining hall. How about the rest of you?

Eat Rabbit

Do you wanna eat white rabbit?
1.3 billion people eat them!!!
I will bring them to class~~~
And invite you to eat.......

what i eat in china

This is very typical and traditional Chinese food. It is based on a Chinese desert, which name is "葱油饼”（literally in English is green-onion pancake). In different regions of China, people add various food and call it differently. You can add lettuce, egg, ham, bacon...anything you want.

These pictures were taken at 6 am when I was traveling in Beijing this summer (I am from Shanghai). And this "Beijing-Style-Green-Onion pancake" was made by a old female resident. She put lettuce and egg in it. As the picture shows, She cooked the pancake on her tricycle, which carried everything for cooking. Every morning between 6 to 8, she came out with the tricycle, cooking and selling her pancake. Guess how much each pancake is? The one in the picture was only 40 cents and it is delicious！

Organic to Be

These articles didn't seem to be too related to food. The last article was the only related to food in any way. None of these stories were written very well. The last article did express the importance of food-making in that family's life.

Appetite for China

This series of reviews provide extensive information regarding various Chinese dishes. Each review presented a brief background and review of the foods which helped to maintain the reader's attention. The pictures were all relevant and provided visual representation of the subject matter. However, there are so many of them it seems there could have been some way to better organize these critiques. After four pages of random critiques, I found my mind wandering only slightly. The two side bars to the right of the blogs begin with relevant information, but by the end of the page there were irrelevant advertisements.

Omelet Preparation Demo

I found this one on YouTube. It depicts a crazy French chef demonstrating the art of preparing an omelet. I know this recipe is very simple, but there may be a few people who're not be aware of how to go about making an omelet.

Again, this is Hasan at your service - helping you sort out internet treasure from internet junk.

--------------------

Disclaimer: This video was taken from the video-sharing website YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHBqlW6x3x8. This video is property of the person who originally posted it and this blogger was not involved in the production of this video in any way. This video is meant for educational purposes only and does not infringe on any copyright, as far as this blogger is aware of.

Also... :]

This is what I deem a delicious afternoon snack, topped with me and my roomie's pet plant Hermit and a slowly dying flower, I'd say the close to my day is going pretty well so far.

A cup of chai: not just for any average tea lover. As the smell permeates my room I feel the troubles of not enough sleep and missing a class drift out of my open door. The spicy, bittersweet taste slides down my throat, and I can hear the shouts and yells of people from outside my window, but this cup of tea is enough to keep me happy and concentrated on what homework I have. The aftertaste of mint reminds me of a cool air conditioned room after a hot run in summer heat.

Refreshing.

Doritos, the staple food of every chip loving teenager. This is a must when I'm craving something salty and spicy. Cool Ranch flavor, yum. Topped with a couple pieces of chocolate, and I'm a happy little Asian.

Being as I am Chinese

This is my evaluation for Appetite for China. I didn't particularly like my other evaluation....haha, but I'll post this one.

Appetite for China by Diana Kuan
Kuan, in her about me, refers to her childhood and how it influenced her love of Chinese food. She is a freelance writer; therefore her work is pretty credible. What’s useful about her blog is that she describes more than the taste of the food, she describes her reaction to the food also. She loves all forms of Chinese food, whether it is strange or odd-looking. The intended audience is everyone from teenagers to adults. The home page is very inviting and warmly-colored. The heading is large and also has a few pictures of Chinese food, inviting the readers in. This blog is extremely easy to navigate because of its set-up. The passages are located on the left, and there are buttons located near the top and right for the readers to click on. The design, though a bit bland, is still fall-colored, appealing to the senses of the readers. The creator’s name and contact info are present, making it easier to ask her questions about certain topics. Each topic is dated and very easy to peruse.

I hate tomatoes.

As we embark on an exploration of a most sensory nature, where much attention is concentrated on the hedonistic aspect of our topic of study, I find it necessary to examine a less enjoyable, but possibly more enthralling, facet of food: dislike of particular foods.

The tomato at right...juicy to you?

(image from serendip.brynmawr.edu)

Nasty to me...but why?

My best guess delves into the science of scents: odor association.

Do you know any smells that cause certain memories to be recalled? For example, the smell of a campfire makes you remember that time you went camping and cooked hot dogs over the fire with grandpa?

This is one example of odor association, and I believe that this plays an intrinsic role in the like or dislike of food. Read the following excerpt from page 118 of Trygg Engen's book, Odor Sensation and Memory:

He says here that once an association of a scent is linked to a memory, any recognition of the odor will recall the memory. He says earlier, on the same page of the book, that odor preferences are difficult to change.

My personal takeaway here is that odor preferences, once established, are difficult to alter. Taste and smell are so closely intertwined that a dislike of a smell is likely to generate a dislike for the taste of food containing the scent.

My postulate is this: due to certain uncomfortable experiences in our past, possibly ones that we don't even remember, certain food items and/or their scents are linked to emotions that we have no desire to feel, thereby causing us to dislike certain food items.

I hate tomatoes.

Why?

I can't remember... maybe the first one I ever tried was rotten?

I challenge someone to find a better explanation than sensory memory as to why I hate tomatoes.

(Final image from farm3.static.flickr.com)

Evaluation of ....

I really enjoyed reading Appetite for China but I'm not too sure about David Lebovitz. So, my comment are quite subjective and personal.

Appetite for China

The blogger, as she always ate chinese food on vacations when she was little, built up a passion for the chinese dishes. Now, using her blog, she aims to open the door to different regional cuisines of China. Her purpose of the blog seems to be complete; she has a strong focus on Chinese food. Moreover, the blogger can be highly trusted although there might be different opinion on the taste of different dishes. She had worked for many programs such as the BBC(though BBC can lack credibility sometimes), CBS Early Show and etc.

Her organization of the blog is pretty much professional. She has links that can take the readers to “Recipes by Category” and to her review on “Restaurants by City”. The “Contact me” button is up there as well, so that readers are always welcome to contact the blogger. Personally, I love how there is almost no advertisement. The previous blogs I read had so many advertisements that I got distracted from reading the blog. In addition, I loved how the blogger introduces the dish and we can press “Read more” if we want to know more about it and find the recipe for the dish. The pictures are also attractive to the readers. They motivates the readers to enjoy Chinese food as well.

David Lebovitz

David Lebovitz seems to be a famous cook. His blog has a welcoming green and white color balance. His blog is easy to navigate and user friendly since readers can easily access different categories. The links that he has in the entries also give shortcuts for the readers to search for topics they are not too sure about. He has a strong voice. As readers we can see him making humorous comments and explaining the dish. The photographs looks as if they were taken by real professionals.

The biggest problem with this blog is the purpose of the blog. This blog’s purpose could have been an introduction to “living the sweet life in Paris” related to food. However, as a reader, I feel that this blog is based on advertising. Advertisement takes too much space on the right side which could have been used for better purposes. Advertisements are even present in between entries. I’m not saying that advertisement is all bad but he’s purpose of creating a blog does not seem truthful to his passion for food.

Blog Testing

I just wanted to see if I can post an entry using my evaluations I did last week. Testing testing one two three testing

Little Corner of Mine

As a cook and a mother, the writer uses the blog to share the her personal experience in the art of cooking. Her blog is focused on the idea of sharing cooking experiences as she elaborates on how she prepares a dish and how successful her recipe was. She seems to have a balanced point of view about her cooking. The judgement on how successful her cooking depends on her individual thoughts and the response from her family members. This increases the credibility of the writer as well as make the readers more aware of what could be done to make the food taste better. In addition, she frequently uses reference from other cooks, SAHMs(Stay At Home Mom) and other bloggers, increasing the credibility.

The way how the blog is organized is quite appealing as well. The date comes first and then big flashy orange colored fonts with the name of the food is presented. Later came the huge picture of the dish. The picture of Guilin Vermicelli with Minced Pork just grabs the attention of the readers, especially when they are hungry. For some entries she divides them into sections such as “Ingredients”, “Method”, and etc. This enhances the readers’ attentions because it can help the readers choose what they want to read and it is more visually appealing. Talking about visual appearance, the most recently updated entries are on the top while the latter ones are below it. Moreover, on the right side of the blog, there are links that can conveniently take the readers elsewhere, making the navigation of the blog much easier. The contract address is also on the right bottom corner if readers want more information about her experience.

Accidental Hedonist

Kate Hopkins organized her entries with the title in big bold letters, then the date and time she wrote the blog in smaller letters. Next came the email icon which the readers can click to contact her. On the left side, we can see the months with links on them while on the right side we can see the links to different articles. She did categorized her entries but as a reader, I found it hard to navigate through her blog since there were no easily accessible links for the different categories. Still, she has really beautiful pictures of the food she writes about on her blog which are visually appealing. Her blog seems to not have an introduction about what the blogger is going to talk about in her blog. Hence, for first-time visitors, they might not be sure on what the blogger is going to focus on. As for me, I thought this blog was focused only on beer but as I skimmed through I found out that she’s writing topics related to food. The blog is really informative as it tries to pack the readers with information about food and Kate Hopkins also expresses her ideas on other food related articles. The fact that her blog is packed with information increases the credibility of her articles. However, too much information could bored the readers and she seldom uses informal language, reminding the readers that this is not a formal or official report.

Comments are welcomed :D N my writings a bit (a lot cough*) rusty and unorganized cause I haven't wrote an english essay for a long long time... well for two months but its long enough to forget everything you learned in highschool

Appetite for China vs. Organictobe: Saturday Night Showdown!

Welcome one and all to tonight's blog showdown between "Appetite for China" and "Organictobe". I'm Hasan, your esteemed "reviewer", and I will try to be as unbiased as possible.

Before we begin, let me state the general theme of each blog so that we may be impartial judges on the content:

Appetite for China: Chinese food (ok, that was not very hard to figure out)

Organictobe: Organic recipes, Garden/Farm skills (very clearly stated on the home page)

--------------------

ROUND 1 - First Impression

Here's what I get when I first link to the blog URL:

Appetite for China:

Organization & Layout: 3.0/5

Visual Appeal: 3.5/5

Attention-Grab: 4.0/5

Organictobe:

Organization & Layout: 4.5/5

Visual Appeal: 4.0/5

Attention-Grab: 4.5/5 (the frog is a definite attention-grabber!)

Round 1 verdict:

Both blogs were presented fairly well at first glance. However Organictobe certainly scores higher on first-impression basis. The home page is very well organized, and the color scheme and design have been given a lot of thought, along with the top post... all which serve to appeal to the first-timer (like me) more.

--------------------

ROUND 2 - Posts Quality and Variety

Sample post headings in the blogs:

Appetite for China:

Banh Mi Op La!, Vegetarian Food Gone Wrong, Recipe: Chinese Stir-Fried Spinach, A Globetrotter's Guide to Unusual Chinese Restaurants, Chow Mein: An American Classic...

Organictobe:

Our House Frog Liked Beethoven, My Clunker Pickup Is Too Old To Junk, Growing Up Veggies, Herbs and Ice-Cream, Time To Haul Manure...

Topics covered in various posts:

Appetite for China:

Chinese recipes, restaurant reviews, travelogue, odd gastronomic experiences, evolving Chinese food concepts...

Organictobe:

Farming, gardening, organic recipes, compost/manure, farm life, farm tools, farmhouse environment... (this is actually a FARM blog, and not a FOOD blog, Dr. Tiff)

Blog post contributers:

Appetite for China: Diana Kuan (just one person)

Organictobe: Gene Logsdon, Lisa Barnes, Jesse Cool, Jeff Cox, Rosalind Creasy, Greg Atkinson, Dave Smith (a whole host of farming-obsessed people)

Appetite for China:

Post headings/titles: 3.0/5

Post variety: 4.0/5

Post relevancy: 5.0/5

Organictobe:

Post headings/titles: 4.0/5

Post variety: 5.0/5 (they covered literally everything related to farming)

Post relevancy: 0.5/5 (they were very few main posts on food, recipes/food had separate links on the side)

--------------------

ROUND 3 - Pictures, Videos & Other Media

Here's a random sample of pictures from each blog:

Appetite for China:

Photo quality: 4.0/5

Picture appeal: 2.5/5 (sorry, this is where my cultural bias comes in)

Picture relevancy to posts: 5.0/5 (nobody's stupid enough to put unrelated pics on their blog... but anyway)

Picture-to-Text Ratio: 4.0/5 (less text make it easier to go through)

Organictobe:

Photo quality: 3.0/5

Picture appeal: 1.5/5 (those farmy pictures look very boring)

Picture relevancy to posts: 4.5/5

Picture-to-Text ratio: 2.5/5 (just one picture per essay just doesn't cut it, guys)

There were no videos or other media on either blog, so we'll skip to the next round.

----------------------

ROUND 4 - Style & Humor

I consider style and humor very important factors in a blog - they decide whether you get hooked on/subscribe to a blog and whether you enjoy reading them.

Writing Style (grammar, consistency, etc.):

Appetite for China:

Casual, amateur style of writing but with a definite sense of familiarity and comfort. You feel as if you're having a conversation with a friend as opposed to reading a book. The blogger seems pretty competent with grammar and language and possesses control over the narrative.

Organictobe:

Literary style of writing which gives us the sense of reading chapters out of a book. Some archaic/literary phrases and words are used such as "happenstance", "perforce"... I mean, are we in the 19th century? This style is suited more for the printed book than the online webpage. Don't get me wrong. These essays are very well-written.

Humor:

Appetite for China:

Really quite funny in the modern sense, packed with the unaviodable situations of humor that we all find ourselves in sometime or the other. I can relate to a lot of the awkward situations the blogger finds herself in... go ahead and read this for good, clean laughter (increasingly rare these days). Excerpts:

"True, there are worse things in life than a mouthful of Cool Whip and lettuce. I just can't think of any at the moment."

"Few children love vegetables... Of course, it helped that my parents never called it spinach."

Organictobe:

This focuses more on rhetorical humor rather than situational comedy (as the other blog did). This is the sort of humor you come across in light-hearted essays, op-eds and good books. It won't make you burst out in laughter, but it will surely make you smile and appreciate the laid-back humor. Excerpt:

"Mr. Frog responded best to a sound that I don’t know how to describe delicately. I’ll put it this way. When you are at home alone and perforce must use the bathroom, you are somewhat more careless about trying to cover up the explosions of wind emanating from your nether quarters than you are when there are other humans in the house…. Are you still with me?"

Appetite for China:

Style/Grammar: 3.5/5

Humor: 4.0/5

Organictobe:

Style/Grammar: 4.0/5

Humor: 4.0/5

----------------------

Well, that brings us to the end of Saturday Night Showdown, and I've spent nearly 2 hours in conducting it. Again, this is Hasan at your service - helping you sort out internet treasure from internet junk.

Good night and good luck!

----------------------

Disclaimer: All pictures and excerpts have been taken from Appetite for China: www.appetiteforchina.com and OrganicToBe: www.organictobe.org

This blogger did not contribute in any way to those blogs. This review is meant for educational purposes only and is not intended to market/advertise a product