Bell Pepper Health Benefits

Bell peppers are mild flavored peppers with a crisp texture. This is also called sweet pepper because of its sweet flavor and capsicum. It is a rich source of Vitamins A and C.

Photo credit: chascar

They come in different colors: the most common colors of bell peppers are green and red; there are also yellow bell peppers available in most part of the US. Some stores package them together. Each pack has 3 bell peppers of different colors (red, yellow, and green). This is called stop light.

Did you know that paprika is made from bell pepper? You read it right. These are bell peppers in powdered form.

Aside from having a nice appearance, delicious taste, and a perfect crisp, bell peppers also have health and weight loss benefits. They contain essential vitamins and minerals that make you healthy and stay fit.

Cancer Fighting Food

All bell peppers, regardless of color, carry pigments called carotenoids. This protects the peppers from the harmful effects of the sun until it ripens and is ready for harvest. The good thing about carotenoids is that it does not only protect the bell pepper; when eaten, it also protects us from cancer causing free radicals. This is made possible by its high antioxidant content. It improves our immune system to fight cancer and other diseases.

Vitamin C is also abundant in bell peppers, especially the red and yellow ones. A single piece of bell pepper is more than enough to supply you with your daily Vitamin C needs. This is more than the amount that you can get for an ordinary orange or mandarin. Furthermore, Vit! amin C p rotects against any disease of the heart and some common types of cancer such as colon cancer.

Weight Loss

Bell peppers are low in calories. It is estimated that a cup of bell pepper contains only 22 to 25 calories. This makes this wonder pepper friendly to people who want to lose weight. In addition, your weight loss goal is far from impossible when you add bell pepper to your diet. This is because bell pepper boosts the production of body heat making you burn more calories than usual.

Other Health Benefits

Did you know that bell pepper is rich in beta carotene? Red bell pepper, in particular, has the highest content among the varieties. This improves eye sight and protects against cataracts.

Are you a fan of bell pepper? What are your favorite bell pepper recipes?If You enjoyed this post, you might like:

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Lee Kee Prawn Mee @ Seremban Town

I stumbled into this old prewar shophouse at Jalan Dato Bandar Tunggal, Seremban old town and was attracted by this prawn stall. Luan Heng is an old long shop with old and classic floor mosaic which you cannot get it in this present time.

I will try the other 2 noodles of Lee Kee on my future trips,

The only stall in this old coffee shop of Seremban. I bet it was a robust place during the olden times.

The utensils are old.The coffee maker is also elderly and the coffee tasted wonderful.The chilli paste is superb and truly spicy and challenging. 4 tooth picks were served without any request and never have I experience such a service.It is really a fascinating experience to check out prawn mee in Seremban town and it was amazingly good. If the prawns were to be fresher that would make it a perfect bowl of prawn noodle.

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An interesting bowl of Prawn Noodle found in Seremban spicy and with lots of ingredients in it such as cuttle fish, pig intestine, fish cake. poached pork belly, kangkung, taugeh and all for RM5.00 (small portion)

Lee Kee Big Prawn Mee,

Luan Heng Coffee Shop

67, ! Jalan Da to bandar Tunggal

Seremban (Near OCBC Bank)

GPS : 2.724601,101.938898

Hokkaido Santouka Ramen

Hokkaido Ramen Santouka: Round 2. Earlier entry: July 30.

Throughout its first weeks in business, Santouka kept running out of simmered pork cheeks before dinnertime, forcing us to keep returning until we finally secured our first taste of them. Worth the effort? Sort of; they're enjoyably tender, though not astonishingly so. Also, the sodium content in these seemed slightly too high.

Steamed rice topped with egg & salmon roe. Sounded promising, but tasted plain.

Completing our survey of Santouka's ramen flavors: the shoyu variety, made with pork broth & soy sauce. Not as memorably tasty as the shio & miso versions in our previous post.

Spicy miso ramen, containing enough ! chili to tantalize but not torture.

Gyoza stuffed with juicy chicken meat. Not sure why there isn't a pork version.

Hokkaido Ramen Santouka,

Tokyo Street, Level 6, Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur.

Pondok Laguna (Batu Tulis, Jakarta)

Pondok Laguna was one of my worst experiences for a restaurant in Jakarta. I may have been unlucky, but from what I've seen, I can only recommend you to avoid it.

It was a big disappointment because Pondok Laguna is actually extremely popular with Indonesians, some of whom consider it as one of the best Indonesian restaurants in Jakarta. Most of the time, it is hard to get a table even though there is enough room for at least 200 persons.

The place looks touristy, with a giant fish sculpture towering above it on the outside, and a Balinese-like atmosphere inside. Most of the restaurant is in the open-air, and on each side there is a fountain with tropical plants.

The main room does not allow for an intimate or cozy meal. It is extremely noisy, with people entering and leaving all the time. On top of that you have that annoying Balinese music, which reminds me of the worst venues in Kuta.

Most tables can accommodate 20 to 30 people so you might also sit next to random customers. The service is impersonal: It is hard to get just a minute of attention from the waiters, who seemed visibly understaffed and unable to handle complaints.

We ordered Es Delima (Pomegranate juice, Rp13,200++), Es Jeruk (Orange Juice, Rp18,700++), Ikan Gurame Bakar (Fish, Rp54,600++), Cumi Pete Taoco (Calamaris, Rp38,000++). The drinks came rather quickly, but instead of pomegranate, we were served some jel! ly with the appearance of the fruit. The orange juice was truly terrible. Obviously, it had been done with oranges that had started to rot, and until today I still have that unpleasing aftertaste in my mouth.

We started to wait for our main courses... After 45 minutes, we saw that many people who had come after us were already eating so we asked if our order was on its way. The waiter smiled and asked us to wait, without even checking in the kitchen. I asked him again 15 minutes later, and he did exactly the same. Finally, after 1h15 minutes of waiting, I decided to leave the restaurant without eating. I told the waiter to bring me the bill for the drinks only, and surprisingly, he came back with the fish (the calamaris came 10 minutes later).

Ikan Gurame Bakar (Rp54,600++)Cumi Pete Taoco (Rp38k++)

The presentation of the gurame had nothing special, and its was taste just average. They used a sweet soy sauce, very heavy, which was not a good match for a fresh fish. I didn't try the calamaris but my friend told me it was worth a 5/10, and that you could find better food pretty much everywhere.

Finally, I asked for the bill, but it never came so I went to the cashier to pay.

Overall: Personally, I will not visit Pondok Laguna again and I don't understand how it manages to get so many positive reviews. I guess some people must enjoy the animation. The prices are also reasonable.

Opening Hours:

Everyday from 11am to 3pm and from 5.30pm to 10pm

Rumah Makan Pondok Laguna
Jalan Batu Tulis Raya No.45
Phone number: +62-21 345 9991/9992/9993/9994/9995
Twitter: http://twitter.com/PondokLaguna

Strawberry Shortcake Kabobs.

This recipe comes from my Aunt Karen out in LA. It is super fast and easy, and fresh and light for summer. If this was a recipe from down south it would be fried. If it was from New York, it would probably be pretty much the same.

Strawberry Shortcake Kabobs

What you need:

12 strawberries

12 chocolate truffles

6 bamboo skewers

12 cubes of angel food cake

What you do:

On the skewer, alternate the strawberries and angel food cake. In each strawberry, place a chocolate truffle in the middle of it. Grill the kabobs for a minute on each side. Serve with whipped cream.

Blue Elephant (Jakarta)

Blue Elephant is a Thai restaurant belonging to the eponymous Blue Elephant Group. It has locations in various cities of the world (London, Paris, Bangkok, Dubai, etc.) and it specializes in authentic, fine dining Thai cuisine.

If you are familiar with the restaurants from the Face group or from the Tugu group, you will find many similarities, particularly the ethnic design and the rather expensive prices. Together with Lan Nai Thai, Blue Elephant is often considered as one of the best Thai restaurants in Jakarta, and both are headed by a Thai chef.

I was not hungry when I visited so I only had a few bites off my friend's plates (Tom Yam Koon, 45K++ and Tamarind Duck, Rp125,000). I was surprised to see the portions were very small: One dish could hardly be enough for a meal. While the Tom Yam was average, with an unusual sour taste (maybe it's the authentic way?), the duck was excellent and it was presented nicely. From this small sample, I was not impressed, but I have to admit the restaurant deserves another visit to make a more definitive review.

Tom Yam Koon (Rp45,000++)
Tamarind Duck (Rp125,000++)

Overall: Blue Elephant is recommended to Thai food lovers, and also to expatriates who enjoy restaurants with a neat, exotic design. They also have an elegant bar, called Blue Bar, which has potential but is not crowded unfortunately.

Opening hours:
Everyday, from 11.30am to 2.30pm, and from 6.30am to 10.30pm

Blue Elephant Jakarta
Jalan Cut Meutia No. 2
Cikini/Menteng, Central Jakarta 10340

Phone number: +62-21 315 0980
Fax: +62-21 314 1903

Email: jakarta@blueelephant.com
Website: http://www.blueelephant.com/jakarta/
Facebook: Blue Elephant Menteng

Note: For an unknown reason, Blue Elephant changed its name from Blue Erawan at the beginning of 2011.