The Raw food Cleanse a Boost of Energy for an Energetic Week! by Nisa Clark

Nisa Clark is a graduating senior on the move! Nisa will be graduating from Fairleigh Dickinson University with a B.A in broadcasting communications, this spring of 2013. With an extremely busy schedule that consist two jobs, an internship in the city with BET, and the completion of her final semester, her eating habits is one that consist of lots of unhealthy processed foods that leave her more drained, and prone to sickness. Getting your body back on track, and practicing good eating habits can be something that is hard to do when you have an extremely busy schedule. So with the suggested high in protein detox diet, this blog can help you figure out what foods are best to eat when on the go. How can you eat good meals and make sure you are getting the nutrients you need, in order to have lots of energy for your constant busy schedule.


I heard about that Raw food cleanse from a fellow coworker at work. She said the cleanse is more of a Raw food challenge than a cleanse, but it was worth it. It’s really not as bad as you may imagine. The Cleanse is a 7 day challenge, that doesn’t consist of eating raw meats, but uncooked vegetables and solid fruits. Unfortunately it is something that requires a little time out of your busy schedule. You need a set free day to shop and plan for your 7 day plan.

The word Diet seems to have a negative stigma to it, but if you really think about whether it’s planned or unplanned, whatever our daily eating habits are is generally our “diet”. Most of us are on a high processed one cupcake away from heart attack diet, and we don’t even realize it, we consume tons of processed foods that are dangerously high in trans-fat, sugar, salt and artificial ingredients. So truly if you’re going to diet then why not make it a healthy one.

Prepare for your raw food cleanse by stocking up on fresh, organic fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and sea vegetables. Cold-pressed olive oil and fresh lemon juice is a simple and delicious salad dressing. Fresh organic herbs not only help add flavor, as many of them also aid digestion and help support your immune system. For example, parsley and mint help freshen breath as well as flavor foods.

It is preferred that you stay away from any sort of cooked foods, hence the name “Raw Food Diet”, but If you want to add solids, then you can eat any fresh, non-fatty fruit, or the leaves, stem or roots of a plant. No cooking, of course. Your only interest in food recipes should be to increase the variety of salads you can produce. Aim to eat at least a pound of green vegetables a day, which will give you a broader range of vitamins and minerals than just eating fruit would.

Detox cleanses, or challenges are basically diets, just your non-conventional diet. Like with any diet sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t, it all depends on you, how your body responds to change, and how disciplined you can be to sticking to something, without any short cuts.

Special Bacon, Egg and Cheese Sandwich by Alex Ghossein

Alex Ghossein is a competitive power lifter from New Rochelle, New York that always has eating on his mind.  He is constantly hungry all the time and always trying to make himself happy by preparing his favorite dishes of food.  He has found the types of food that make him the most happy.  This man is a huge fanatic of a special bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich that he makes himself.  He is going to show you the way of the world and how to create his masterpiece.

Have you ever woken up in the morning and had a craving for something delicious?  I wake up every morning and always am looking to fill my stomach because I am starving.  Waking up for work at 6:30 a.m every morning doesn’t leave me any time to make my delicious dish Monday through Friday.  However, Saturday and Sunday morning I always wake up eager to make my favorite meal.  Some people would not be astonished by what I am about to say, but the food that I love is universally known.  Many people love it like I do.  Waking up at 8:00 a.m after a nice sleep, all I crave is a bacon egg and cheese sandwich.  I never want to get it from the deli, because I make it the way I love.  It can be the most delicious dish in the world if you just prepare it the right way. 

People have been making bacon egg and cheese sandwiches for a long time.  There are all types of different ways of doing, but I have perfected it.  Some people like scrambled eggs with crispy bacon, while other people like eggs sunny side up with soft bacon.  There are so many different combinations of bacon egg and cheese sandwiches out there with all sorts of different breads.  In my general opinion I feel that there is no other breakfast dish out there that can hit the spot like this one, especially when it is done right.  I feel as if I have a commitment to cooking this meal every weekend.  I owe it to myself to make it, and then eat every last bit of it, and whoever who would like to take part in this feast every weekend is more than welcome to do so.  I would love nothing more than to share this secret with everyone. 

In order to make a delicious dish you have to understand what goes into it, the time, the thought, and the flavors.  It is not the same as just throwing things into a pan and turning on the stove.  You have to have knowledge about what you are doing in order to prepare a dish that people will enjoy.  The bacon has to be the perfect, the bread has to be just right, the cheese needs to be melted to perfection, and the eggs of course need to be spot on.  

When any kind of chef seeks out different flavors and recipes to prepare a new dish, they must research what they are doing.  They have to understand what goes well together, what temperatures to prepare the food, and how to make the perfect dish that leaves people wanting more.  That is not only what makes a perfect dish, but those are the fundamentals that can make a good restaurant a phenomenal restaurant.    

After five long days of work at my job in New Jersey I look forward to my nice little treat every weekend morning to appease my taste buds.  I roll out of bed tired but eager to start my bountiful meal.  As I walk downstairs I prepare all the things I need to make a delicious meal.  First, I take the bacon out of the freezer and let it defrost for a while.  It always ends up taking way too long, which is why I always put it in the microwave for 30 seconds.  Then, I just grab the biggest pan I have, and put it on the stove.  I like to use a combination of canola oil and butter to grease the pan.  Being very meticulous about spreading all the butter and oil on every inch of the pan, I begin to get excited.  I slowly place every strip of bacon on the pan, as it sizzles I start to smell such a delicious aroma. 

Now, the bread and butter of the bacon are what you put on it.  The bacon is currently sizzling in the pan soaking in the butter and canola oil.  What I like to do is add a little bit of barbeque sauce and paprika to give the bacon that little extra taste.  My brother likes to put salt on his, but I find that the bacon itself tastes salty enough; therefore you do not need to add it.  My preference is that the bacon feels a little bit softer, but packed with flavor.  I want the bacon to taste like small slices of steak as I bite into the sandwich.  

The bacon must be packed with a taste that gives the sandwich an important kick.  I sit at the counter top flipping piece by piece, spreading all the flavors around, usually getting small burns from the sizzling oil.  Now, this is where you need to watch the bacon carefully.  When the pan gets too hot and the oil begins to splatter, you have to lower the temperature.  It usually doesn’t bother me, but most people would not appreciate being burned by little droplets of hot oil.  I am so into the dish by this point that the hot splatters of oil really do not bother me much. 

After I feel that the bacon has been cooked thoroughly I place all the pieces, one by one, onto a dish.  This dish has a paper towel over it, so that it can soak the grease up.  However, I leave the leftover grease in the pan so I can cook my eggs in it.  Yes, I said it.  I cook the eggs in a mixture of canola oil, butter, paprika, and barbeque sauce.  It tastes delicious to every last bit, and I do it every weekend.  Anybody else would tell me off and say that I didn’t know what I was doing.  Oh, on the contrary, I know exactly what I am doing.  Now, a lot of people like scrambled eggs, but I love them sunny side up.  It is your preference, whatever you like.  I have had both, but I love the tasty yolk part of the egg when it is cooked sunny side up.  Six eggs seem to suffice for two sandwiches.  This might seem like a lot, but I’m a bigger man so this is just what fills me up.  Becoming a master at the one hand egg crack took me years of practice, but I have finally perfected it.  I crack each egg with one hand right on the pan, and then dump it in the sizzling mix.  It’s going take the average egg cracker about a year of cracking before they can easily crack six eggs perfectly with one hand, but when you finally master it, it feels great. 

It’s a bad feeling when one of the eggs spills out, leaving a feeling of sadness throughout my whole body like I have let everyone down.  For those who have mastered egg cracking, once you have fully cracked six perfect eggs, now you have to add your own special seasoning to them.  I am and always will be a huge fan of salt and pepper on eggs.  Some disagree and some agree, again, it all comes down to preference. But, it just wouldn’t be the same if I did not do that.  The eggs do not take too long tocook in the oil.  

Maybe three to five minutes tops, after that, you will probably just be burning them.  You do have to make sure that there is no “goo” around the egg yolk because this could be very unhealthy.  It might actually end in salmonella poisoning if not cooked thoroughly.  If the eggs still have a slight green aura, let them stay on the burner.  All you should see is white and yellow for the yolk. Once you make sure that the eggs are cooked, you just place one piece of American cheese on each egg.   I would not even take them off the pan until they are perfectly cooked, because a runny egg could ruin the whole dish.  Have you ever taken a bite out of egg that looked delicious, but all you taste is a gooey jelly like texture?  Yeah, it is not a good thing, and I am sure you agree, that can absolutely ruin your dish.  It can also diminish your appetite all together.  So do yourself a favor, and cook the eggs as thoroughly as possible.  Just like everything in life, doing too much of something will get you nowhere, and doing too little just isn’t enough.  You have to cook it for the perfect amount of time if you want a delicious tasting egg. 

Now that the eggs and bacon are cooked to perfection, and we’ve place them on our dish, it is time to toast the bread.  I prefer Ezekiel Bread because it is a very good source of protein and whole grain.  I throw it in the toaster for about three to five minutes and watch it meticulously so that it does not burn.  The eggs and bacon taste so delicious that I can hardly wait for the toaster to pop.  When it finally is done, I take butter and jelly and spread it onto the bread.  On one side, I spread butter on, and the other side I spread jelly.  So now, I am staring at a big plate of six eggs, a load of bacon, 2 pieces of Ezekiel bread with butter spread on it, and 2 slices of Ezekiel bread with jelly spread on it.  I am ready to transform this dish into a sandwich.  The rule of thumb is that the jelly is always on the top.  There is something about tasting the jelly on the roof of your mouth that is just very appealing to me, so that slice is always on top.  I lay the buttered pieces of bread flat on the table.  I place 1 egg on each piece, then 3 slices of bacon over it.  Then I place one more egg over the bacon, and then another three slices over the next egg.  After this, I place the last and final egg over the three strips of bacon.  Then I add the rest of the bacon right over the last egg on the sandwich.  I finally put the jelly side of the bread right over the last bits of bacon turning it into a sandwich, in fact two sandwiches and they stand tall.  Each one of my sandwiches is about 4 inches high, and looks absolutely phenomenal.  As soon I squash the top part of the bread on the sandwich, the perfectly cooked eggs explode, and the yolk spills down the side of the sandwich.  I bring the feast to my breakfast table, and dig in. 

The first bite melts in my mouth.  I taste the barbeque sauce from the bacon, the cheese, the jelly, the butter, paprika, and all in the perfect texture.  There is a little bit of everything in every bite, and it could not be blended together any better.  The egg yolk is messy, but fantastic and the contrast of flavors make me want to shove down the two sandwiches in no time at all.  In fact, that is what I do.  It may take me an hour to cook, but it only takes about 5 minutes to devour every last bit of it.  After my last bite, I make sure I taste every last bit of egg yolk, bread crumb, or bacon bit.  The plate appears spotless within minutes, and my stomach is stuffed.  Yet another weekend of delicious eats it has been for me, and I enjoyed every last minute of preparing and eating it.  What a success! Now it’s time to vegetate on the couch and digest.  This meal is always much needed. 

Sorrento's Restaurant by Jackie Laguardia

Jackie Laguardia is a self-employed laundromat and dry cleaning business owner in New Jersey, who attends Fairleigh Dickinson University.  She has been married for 23 years and is the mother of three children.  Jackie is a very compassionate and caring individual who enjoys helping out others in her community.  In her spare time, she enjoys reading, gardening, travelling, and trying out different local restaurants.    While she enjoys many different types of restaurants, her favorite is Italian.  She particularly enjoys frequenting Torna A Sorrento in Elizabeth, NJ.  She hopes her blog will provide more awareness to this family owned classical Italian restaurant.   

For a family looking to enjoy a classic Italian meal, this little known restaurant in the mid-town section of Elizabeth, NJ is the place to go.  Torna A Sorrento (Sorrento’s) is a family run business that offers traditional Italian meals and a variety of daily specials sure to please. As soon as you enter you are greeted by the owner and immediately feel as if you have been going there for years.  Sorrento’s comes together with their food, atmosphere and dining experience. 

The made to order meals are all moderately priced, have wonderful flavors, and are always consistently served to mouth-watering perfection.  Meals are served on warm white plates that accentuate the vivid red in their old-fashion chunky marinara sauce. Chicken Parmesan is always a classic here, the tender breaded chicken cutlet comes bathed in their incredible marinara sauce and then covered in fresh mozzarella cheese, alongside is either a perfectly sized bowl of pasta or a plate of oven-roasted potatoes with vegetables. You never feel rushed while dining here; all courses are perfectly spaced and allow time for conversation.  Meals are served in generous portions and those with a smaller appetite often have some to take home. Be sure to save room for dessert because the ricotta cheesecake and authentic tiramisu are not to be missed.  These savory meals can be enjoyed anytime between 11:00 A.M. and 9:00 P.M. Tuesday thru Sunday for lunch or dinner.  If your party is bigger than eight, reservations assure that there is an adequately sized table waiting for you.

The old dark wooden door opens to the dining room were comfortable tables that line the walls and family-sized tables that fill the inside space. The restaurant is cozy, impeccably clean, and well laid out.  The simply stated walls are a soft grey and decorated with paintings and maps of Sorrento, Italy.    Soft Italian music plays in the background to the conversation filled dining room.  The bar is situated in the front of the restaurant with a TV playing the seasonal sport and filled with chatter of an older generation enjoying drinks.

This restaurant operates in a family style serving up unrushed service from their seasoned and attentive staff.  The owners are everywhere from behind the bar to in front of the stove.  The dining room has a team of two tuxedoed, highly knowledgeable, attentive waiters and one bus boy.  Together they are an incredible team that makes sure everyone has a pleasurable experience. The coordination and teamwork amongst the staff allow this restaurant to successfully handle the busy dinner hours particularly during the weekends. 

On Yelp.com, Tom K. from Westfield, NJ said:  John, the proprietor will warmly greet you at the door in this small family owned Italian Restaurant.  The food is uniformly above average, each dish has its own unique sauce.  The ingredients are high-quality and the food is delicious.  My personal favorite is the Veal Sorrentina or the Soft Shell Crabs in season.  Sorrento's is our family favorite.

Also prominent figures of Elizabeth such as the Mayor, Christian Bollwage, along with his family, and other high ranking city officials are frequently seen conversing at the bar and later sitting at a table enjoying dinner. 

On Yelp.com, a reviewer named Samantha said:  This is the hidden gem of Elizabeth. I've never been a big fan of Italian food and it's one of those things that I have to be in the mood for, but I am always down to eat at this place. I recommend this place to anyone that will listen. I love the Chicken Parmesan here and the Chicken Française. I get one of those two things all the time. The Chicken Parmesan here is the best that I've had. The food takes a bit to cook but I do not have a problem with that because I know the food is made to order, not something that they have sitting in some heating dishes somewhere. The calamari is also very good and the fresh mozzarella and tomato and basil appetizer is also very good (but then again, how can you really mess that one up?) Also the tiramisu is pretty yummy :)

Sorrento’s provides consistent uniformity in their service and their products.  There is no doubt that nearly three decades later, Sorrento has secured a name for itself with their quality, commitment to good food, and outstanding service. 

The Anecdote of Life: Tea Leaf Eggs by Mei Han Hsu

Mei Han Hsu, an undergraduate student who studies in Hospitality and Travel Management at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Mei Han is a 23 years old Taiwanese girl who has been traveled and explored various cultures around the globe. Moreover, she loves to learn and experience new sense of other cultural behavior through meeting new people and being in new environment. However, there is no exception; no matter where you have been, breathing in home country is the sweetest aroma which stimulate the sense of smell you can always remember, and recognizes you that you are now in a peaceful motherland. Untouchably but yearnfully, Mei Han always keeps a deep close connection with her home country in her mind. The simple, easy traditional Chinese dish of tea leaf eggs brings her to the unforgettable memory of her childhood with her family and friends; meanwhile, it can also be described as a reflection of life struggles and achievement in her real life event. Mei Han believes sharing food is the greatest way to connect with future generation and with different ethnics as well. Food is not only simple as a common dish but also including internal human emotions.

Why people love eggs? The egg is small, but the knowledge behind it affect to individual’s health, such as the great source of protein and fat in eggs helps sustain your energy levels, protect your eyesight, and help with brain development and memory keeping you satisfied for longer and reducing the need of snacks. Who said egg could only be made with scrambled, fried, boiled, over easy, poached or sunny side up. My favourite way of egg is the fragrant and flavourful tea leaf eggs.  A tea-leaf-egg is a type of snack-food that was prepared by my mother during field trips. For this paper, I will use the simple process of preparing the aforesaid snack-food to represent the real life events. Notably, the entire procedure of cooking this recipe is a reflection of life struggles and achievements in that matter. I got introduced to this recipe at a very young age - during my primary school years. My mother liked to cook the snack, since it consisted of fewer procedures and thus saved her a lot of time to complete other house chores.

When I first touch tea-leaf-eggs and became to feel interested in eating and experiencing the delicious food from the initially external flavour. The tea-leaf eggs are cheap and tasty; moreover, it is great source for the health. It may prevent breast cancers, healthy hair and nails, because of its high content and wide array of vitamins and minerals. Proudly, Tea-leaf-eggs are a common recipe in Asia and my first taste of the snack happened while I was 4 years old. It happened, while we were at the farmers market. A lady happened to be hawking the snack in her cart and shouting “tea leaf eggs tea leaf eggs” while the steam from the steamer that blossom visually hiding the eggs. I remember well the faint scent of tea, herbs and some spices that mostly attracted my attention. After my first intake, it was a treasure from cloudy pot; I learned that the snack was chewy, tender and stretchy. There were cracks everywhere within the eggshells, which formed dark lines that represented marble-like patterns. Nowadays, tea-leaf-eggs can be seen in different places in Taiwan such as convenience stores and street restaurants.

After loving eating tea-leaf-eggs, I gradually start to think about a deep thinking from the long-time complicated process of making a delicious tea-leaf-egg: More Boiled, more mellow of being the egg, which is the same as people’s life, people will be more mature if experiencing many possible things through lifetime. The entire recipe for cooking this snack is simple and concise. The different flavour of the snack results from the length of time, used while cooking and the ingredients used in the process. The recipe for cooking the snack involves intense boiling of the eggs, till they become solid inside and after boiling they are cooled by cold water. After cooling, my mother made some cracks around the shell of the egg with her tea spoon, ensuring that the egg was still whole. The purpose was to create the beautiful pattern and allow tea and herbs flavors to get into the crack-formed egg. Then the eggs were dipped into spicy mix of tea, herbs, soy-sauce, sugar and other spices and cooked for some time. My mother preferred such Chinese tea leaves: pu-er普洱, oolong 乌龙and tie guan yin 铁观音 in order to come up with a strong flavour (Wikipedia.Org 1). From my mother’s own perspective, she always added extra herbal taste when she made tea leaf eggs, because she believes the stronger the taste of herbs can touch individual’s appetite. Continually, the eggs were cooked for another 2 or 3 hours, to bring out the required taste. Notwithstanding, the longer time, used in cooking the snack, the more intense was the flavour of the eggs and they became sweeter. The snack is served, while hot, with simmered rice or other preferred meals. In addition, for some time during the summer season, my mother always put them in refrigerator for the cold tender and jelly soft taste, which is a unique but excellent snack to against dried hot summer.

The following recipe for cooking the flavoured mixture for two persons:

-2 tablespoons black, non-floral tea or 2 black tea leaves

- 1 cinnamon stick

- 2 star anise

- 2 small pieces of dried tangerine/orange peel

- 3 cloves

- 6 peppercorns, lightly bruised

- 2 small pieces of dang gui aka Angelica Sinensis, Chinese Angelica Root

According to my mother, food master said, making a delicious tea-leaf-egg, which should take certain levels of boiling and cooking. Life is no exception, which also needs to assume different levels of external pressures to enhance internal strength. Memorably, when my classmates in school, learned that I had brought the snack, they would always want me to exchange it for their snacks. This snack always reminds me of my life in school and will forever remain within my heart, as an indispensable food cooked by my mother’s own model. My mother used to cook the tea leaf eggs in order to teach us the anecdote about life. She always compared life to the cooking of tea leaf eggs. People were expected to undergo a great deal of suffering and patience in order to allow more time for matter to go the right way. It is clearly evident that one has to undergo difficult situations and unfortunate life events, just like the fractures and cracks of the eggs. In this manner, people got prepared for the way ahead through instilling the elements of maturity and perfectionism.

The overall lesson about the recipe lies in the fact that it allows one to perceive life in a rather different, mature view. My mother always said: “The more twists and turns you encounter, the more successes you will gain. No pain, no gain. There is an indispensable treasure in our life”. These words still linger in my head. Since moving to Canada, I prepare this recipe in order to diminish homesickness. The recipe remains to be one of my most favourite snacks.

New Experiences at Home by Nick Gugliotta

Nick Gugliotta is a 27 year old working student from Marlton, NJ. He is employed as an auto detail shop manager, while pursuing a bacholors degree in history from Fairleigh Dickinson University. In his free time, Nick enjoys cooking meals for himself and his beautiful girlfriend Natalie. An avid "foodie" Nick loves to travel out into the world experiencing as many new flavors as possible.

Food is something that we discuss in terms of how it pertains to our five senses.  Sometimes we forget the other attributes that food can contribute to our daily lives.  Food is a medium that changes people.  Food changed a negative time in my life into a positive one with one simple meal. A Hawaiian dish called poke taught me to let go of petty jealousies and start looking at the positive situation in my life. 

One of the only negatives about graduating high school was watching my friends go off to big-time college universities, while I stayed home and went to community college.  It didn’t feel fair to me at the time that I had to miss out on the stereotypical “college experience”. My grades were not horrible.  My father couldn’t afford to send my off to a big university, so we opted for the much more affordable Burlington County College.  I had to watch my best friend leave for the University of Hawaii, while I was stuck living in my parents’ house.  No doubt I was extremely jealous.

As our first college semester was underway I quickly fell into the same old routine.  I would vegetate in front of the television for hours.  Life was boring.  Jon came home from Hawaii over winter break for the first time since he’d left.  I was excited to see him, but also reluctant because I knew that I would be jealous listening to all the fun he was having in Hawaii.  I decided to hold in my bitterness and go see him.  We exchanged common pleasantries and both shared a willingness to get all of our friends together for a dinner while everyone was home.  I’m extremely flexible when it comes down to “what’s for dinner”, so I let Jon choose the menu. 

Jon wanted to make a meal native to Hawaii called poke.  My jealousy crept up for a quick second when in my head I thought “here he goes rubbing Hawaii into my face”.  I held the thought down and asked him what poke was.  One of Hawaii’s most famous chefs Sam Choy calls poke “Hawaii’s soul food”. (Poke 1)  The dish consists of several ingredients including raw Ahi tuna, green onion, seaweed, soy sauce, and sesame oil.  I thought he was joking when he said it.  “I don’t eat sushi or seaweed, Jon, I’m Italian,” I said.  “Just try it bro,” he replied, “you’ll love it”.  Now I didn’t want him to think that I wouldn’t do something that he would, so I gave in.

We got back to Jon’s house right before everyone arrived.  We did so much preparatory work in getting the ingredients that the day ran out of time for us.  The great part about poke, I quickly found out, was that it required little cooking time because we didn’t have to cook anything.  Other than washing and cutting the tuna into cubes, the only work that needs to be done is combining all the ingredients in a large bowl and then serving it cold.

Our friends arrived while the poke was sitting in the fridge getting chilled.  We stood around reminiscing for a minute than gathered around the dinner table.  Jon grabbed the large bowl of poke and passed it around.  When it arrived to me I was hesitant.  I gave the bowl the smell test first.  Not bad, mostly the soy sauce comes through.  I scooped some onto my personal plate.  I figured if I was going to try it than eat fast.  My first bite was surprising.  The poke did not taste anything like what I expected.  It was great.  The raw tuna was fleshy and tender.  The taste was not a pure sea-like taste, but rather a sweet treat.  The seaweed was also quite tasty.  It reminded me of a normal green vegetable I am used to.  The mix of soy sauce, sesame oil, and chili flakes added a nice savory flavor with a little spice.  The sauce complemented the sweet tuna and earthy seaweed flavors well.  We ate the meal primarily with our hands eating the dish cube by cube.  It was so sweet a taste it reminded me of candy. 

At the moment I became proud of my friend Jon.  He showed me through the poke that there are positive things happening all around me and all I had to do was go out and find them.  Poke at first sounded like an exotic dish from a beautiful island paradise that would never be attained in a suburb of Philadelphia.  In actuality it’s only a few ingredients bought at markets within reasonable driving distance.  I realized that day that I lived in a great place, and the only thing holding me back was me.  Poke to this day is a reminder that great things can always be found close to home.