Another Smashing Outlet for Dairy Queen

Dairy Queen is one of the finest fast food chains that is producing and serving customers all over the world. Therefore, it really does not matter if you are located in America of Saudi Arabia, Dairy Queen will make sure you get the fast food you have been so longingly craving for. Riyadh is the hotshot city for the year of 2012, why you may ask—well because it already has 6 chains of Dairy Queen, which have been operating for the last few years and is set to open yet another five more.

A total of 11 outlets mean that Riyadh is becoming more and more accustomed to eating Dairy Queen and enjoying its delights. No doubt, the customers are very loyal, without the support of which Dairy Queen would not successfully be able to open more outlets. They are opening more because that is just how good Dairy Queen is. They are all set with the expansion underway and many people are wondering where the new location of the franchises will be. One of the new franchises is set to open in Al-Sahafa District, the region being Anas bin Malek and Abdul Aziz. The customers will be delighted to know that many of the new franchises are going to be offering the services of delivery and breakfast so that Dairy Queen can now become the whole package. Customers can enjoy their breakfast, lunch and/or dinner and even have a luxurious dessert.

LIKE DQ Saudi Arabia on Facebook (www.facebook.com/dqriyadh) or FOLLOW them on Twitter (www.twitter.com/dqsaudi) for the latest updates on our menu and promos.

See you at Dairy Queen Saudi Arabia

We have a wealth of experience with the catering industry we will listen to  and understand your event requirements and offer suggestions to work with your ideas, or possible menu ideas and possible prices savings.
Catering Glasgow is our number one priority if your looking for great service at a fantastic price then get on the phone and book us for your next catering event.

Are you looking for a fun party idea? Why not have a sushi party at home! Put some fun movies on or play some games and order sushi delivery direct to your door from You Me Sushi.

We have a wide variety of menu options, all of which can be delivered to your London address.

We have lots of great sushi options including Nigiri, inside out rolls, futomaki and maki rolls, hand rolls, sashimi, and sushi box.

We like to use all different kinds of toppings and fillings so that everyone can find something they like. Some of the fish and seafood we use include salmon, tiger prawns, grilled eel, mackerel, and tuna.

We also use seaweed, avocado, sesame seeds, cucumber, asparagus, and many other ingredients.

Besides our sushi options, we also offer starters and sides, hot dishes, and desserts and drinks. Some great starters and sides include: wafu salad, Salmon Sashimi Salad, Gyoza Chicken, and Edamame.

A few of our tasty hot main dishes that you won’t want to miss are: prawn katsu, grilled chicken and rice, black cod and rice, and veg and teriyaki noodles.

You can order from 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. seven days of the week. We have two different London branches, and you can reach us for more information or to place an order by ringing us on: 020 7935 0505.

You Me Sushi offers the best high quality, tasty sushi in London. Why go out for sushi when sushi can come to you?

Q: What is involved in developing a new product ?

A: We start with focus groups. We may have an area of the menu that we see as a business growth opportunity, such as smoothies. We come up with an idea and put the new product in front of our guests to get their feedback.

You might have 10 or 20 people giving you their opinion. You’re finding out information at that point and you might have to go back to the drawing board and do other tests.

From there, we go into the operations phase, where you offer the product at three or four restaurants, working with the owner/operators. This phase usually lasts about a month. You then go into the advertised sales test, when you try the product at 600 restaurants across the country. At this point, we are looking at whether the product feels right for the company. This phase might last six months.

I’ve had products that have taken 12 months to develop and others, like the smoothies, three or four years. With the smoothies, we didn’t have the blenders, so we needed to design the equipment that was perfect for the business model.

Q: How many new ideas come up every year?

A: My team comes up with 1,800 new ideas, but we launch six or seven a year. We have products that died on the vine in focus groups.

Q: What is the future of fast food?

A: You are going to see more balance, more choices. People are looking more closely at what they are eating. People are exercising more. McDonald’s evolves with our population. We continue to create choices.

Q: What have been recent success stories?

A: Our blended ice beverages, whether our smoothies or our frappes. Our fruit maple oatmeal has also done very well, even in Florida, where you might a hot breakfast item would not be popular.

Q: Fast food chains have been accused of promoting obesity. What’s your response?

A: Our menu is not unhealthy. What is unhealthy is lacking moderation in our diets. I have two young children and as a father, I’m the one making the food choices for them.

Q: What’s McDonald’s biggest seller?

A: Fries and the double cheeseburger.

Q: What’s coming up in the future?

A: Wouldn’t our competitors love to know that! All I can say is that we are going to offer more choices.

Q: Will the Big Mac ever go out of style?

A: The Big Mac will always be there.

At that time, every food writer I read seemed to have had a mother at the table making scones or dishes tossed with exotic ingredients as if they were available to everyone. What if you didn’t have that heritage of cooking, just a sheer hunger for good ingredients with colour and texture and flavour?

What I didn’t know then is how far our helping hand would stretch across the world. It’s the simple things that people want to know — our readers want us to bridge the gap between the cookery book and celebrity chef programme and their own knowledge.

Every year I receive more than a quarter of a million enquiries from Irish people, and many more worldwide, seeking advice on how to boil and bake a ham, how to make a bchamel sauce, where to find a recipe for bread and butter pudding or how to roast a sweet potato.

When the celebrity chefs write a recipe, it often comes with an instruction that seems simple enough on the surface — say, to wilt spinach or toast a pine nut. But what seems obvious to them may not be obvious to our readers. Do you use oil? Should the pan be dry and how hot? When is a pine nut toasted?

More than 10,000 people visited the Greatfood.ie site to solve the conundrum of wilting spinach last year alone and 20,000 needed to know how to toast pine nuts.

The recipes below are good examples of how you can take simple ingredients — rice, a chicken thigh, eggs, butter, olive oil — and turn them into something you would want to eat and share.

The seasonings and aromatics — saffron for the paella, sherry vinegar for the salad — are proof of just how cosmopolitan we are as a country. Throw a stone and you can find most of them, and the techniques to cook them are easy.

A word of advice: just make sure that you use a teaspoon or a tablespoon to measure ingredients, as instructed, and not just any ol’ one you happen to find in the kitchen drawer. You need to measure using a proper cook’s teaspoon — a 5ml teaspoon and a 15ml tablespoon. Otherwise, the balance of the recipe will be off.

I hope you enjoy these recipes. You’ll find more, and techniques, at Greatfood.ie.

- Anne Kennedy

Originally published in

“Mild” with “a steak-y texture.”

That’s how some tasters described bighead Asian carp during a culinary experiment conducted for the Free Press by certified executive chef Shawn Loving at Schoolcraft College.

Prepared in certain ways with the right spices and other ingredients, the fish can be turned into restaurant-quality offerings, five tasters agreed after trying three carp dishes Loving created in the Schoolcraft kitchens. During the test, none of the tasters — two students, two graduates and one instructor — knew what kind of fish they were eating.

The fish is “as clean as most fish” and “definitely edible,” said Loving, chairman of Schoolcraft’s culinary arts department.

Because the heavy, fatty, extremely bony carp is so difficult to process — to skin, debone and prepare for cooking — he was unable to get anything resembling traditional fillets from the 3-foot-long, 40-pound fish, shipped cleaned, frozen and whole from Schafer Fisheries in Thomson, Ill. Instead, he got about a dozen usable pieces, each roughly a half-inch thick and about the size of a playing card.

“The actual carcass on that fish was as hard as a chop on a lamb,” Loving said, shaking his head. He even resorted to using his scimitar knife — a curving knife used to cut up beef and lamb. The carp bones, however, are flat and curving with “a slight horseshoe feeling,” he said. When he pulled them out, chunks of meat clung to them.

That shredding effect is why Schafer Fisheries sells a chopped, frozen, raw product it calls “mince” or “grind,” produced in an effort to obtain more salable, usable meat from the bony carcasses. The company ships it as well as frozen cleaned whole fish to Asian buyers in California.

For the taste test, Loving prepared a salad of fresh spinach and grapefruit sections with a vinaigrette dressing, topped with small medallions of fish encrusted with panko, sliced almonds and spices; a carp cake in a bun dressed with lettuce, tomato, cucumber slices and remoulade sauce; and a pan of paella made with roasted vegetables, smoked paprika, chorizo sausage and seared strips of carp.

For the carp cakes, Loving mixed some chunky meat he had scraped from the bones with the watery, frozen, minced product in an effort to improve the cakes’ texture; similarly, he coated them with a combination of crisp panko crumbs and cornmeal for additional crunch. The fresh sliced tomato added a desirable acidic note, and spices in both the coating and the remoulade sauce added much-needed flavor. The panel gave it mixed reviews. One called it mushy and fishy-tasting; another said it was excellent.

The nut-encrusted carp medallions on the salad gave them a more accurate impression of its texture. Taste tester Chris Misiak, a certified executive chef and culinary instructor at Schoolcraft, found the texture “very strange … like a cross between tuna and whitefish. … Not bad, just different.” The acidic grapefruit and vinaigrette helped balance the oiliness of the fish, he said.

The group’s unanimous favorite dish was the colorful, spicy paella — a rice-based Spanish dish.

“I think this fish likes to be spiced up,” Misiak said. “It needs acid, and it needs spice.”

Loving said the carp might also make good deep-fried nuggets. But he doesn’t think it’s destined to be Michigan’s next fried perch or planked whitefish, beloved for its clean, simple flavors.

“I turned it into a paella because that had a stew feeling. That’s the only way I think that fish can operate,” he said. “I don’t think it can operate like a sauté with beurre blanc. It’s not ready for that.”

Contact Sylvia Rector: 313-222-5026 or srector@freepress.com

1. Jason Jesse of Wayne (starting his second year at Schoolcraft)

Salad: “I really like the texture from the breading. It’s not a strong fish taste” and has “a soft, flaky texture.”

Sandwich: “The texture is a little mushy to me. The flavor is kind of strong … and fishy.”

Paella: “I think the flavor and actually the texture of the chorizo and fish go together well, especially with the rice. I probably enjoyed this dish the most of all.”

2. DeDe Dezelski of Northville (Schoolcraft graduate; now Loving’s sous chef)

Salad: “The fish is mild, so the flavor of the seasoning comes through.”

Sandwich: “It makes an excellent cake. Everything works together. … I’m pleasantly surprised by the texture.”

Paella: “The fish absorbed the taste of the chorizo, with the other spices. Excellent. This is my favorite application of the fish.”

3. Gary Kelly Jr. of Detroit (starting his second year at Schoolcraft)

Salad: Kelly skipped the salad because of an allergy.

Sandwich: “The acid from the tomato goes well with the fish itself. I don’t think the flavor is as strong as I’ve seen with some other fish. … I think when you combine the flavors this way, it makes a very good sandwich.”

Paella: “It seems to be a fish that absorbs flavors well, so pairing it with chorizo is a very good decision — you get the spice and flavor from the chorizo absorbed by the fish.”

4. Chef Chris Misiak of Livonia (Schoolcraft instructor; certified executive chef and certified culinary educator

Salad: “The fish itself is very interesting. It has a high fat content. … I expected (the texture) to be more like a freshwater fish, more flaky. This is stringy, fibrous, protein. … Even though the fish has a different texture, it is very mild. … Standing on its own, I think it is kind of like a cross between tuna and whitefish.”

Sandwich: “It’s kind of stringy but firm. In the same way, I can almost imagine it being crab, because the texture is almost the same. I’m not sure it’s a fish that could stand on its own without some kind of acid, but most people add lemon or capers to their fish anyway.” He might order it in a restaurant, “but I like local products; I love perch and walleye and fresh pike.”

Paella: “The fish itself is heavy, sturdy enough and holds together well enough for a paella. The blending of the flavors with this fish is very nice. This is something I definitely would order.”

5. Andrew Ossowski-Blair of Birmingham (Schoolcraft culinary graduate)

Salad: “The fish is very mild. To me, it has almost a steak-y texture. It’s more dense than many fish I’ve eaten. Great flavor. I’m not big on fish, but because of how mild the flavor is, it’s definitely something I would consider eating.”

Sandwich: “I think the flavor is more prominent in this preparation. I think I could have used more acid to hide the flavor — like I say, I don’t really like fish.”

Paella: “The paella is delicious. The fish’s texture comes through, where it’s more of a dense fish. This is something I would definitely eat multiple times at a restaurant.”

The chocolate and peanut butter tarts were baked to perfection by a team of CVCC students. One by one, the tarts disappeared from their silver trays in rapid succession.

The building was completed in late spring and hosted its first round of classes this summer. After an eight-month construction delay, the brick-and-glass building is now home to CVCC’s culinary arts program.

More than 80 spectators gathered for the building’s dedication, which featured remarks by Sen. Steve Newman, Del. Scott Garrett and leaders from CVCC.

 “It provides a home to what has become a wildly popular curriculum, the culinary arts program, and it provides a state-of-the-art learning environment that is second to none,” said CVCC president John Capps.

Newman and Garrett both praised CVCC for its commitment to meeting the needs of the local business community.

 “This facility we have here is another opportunity for CVCC to provide jobs for a community that desperately needs them,” Newman said.

The building was named Staat Hall after former president Darrell Staat, who travelled from his home in South Carolina to accept the honor.

In 2005, Staat planted the seeds for the project after CVCC identified food services as a growth industry in Lynchburg. Despite the turbulent economy, Staat secured funding from the General Assembly and the Virginia Tobacco Commission for building expenses and equipment, and construction began in the fall of 2009. 

“It is a phenomenal honor for having a facility at this school that will have my name on it. I appreciate that so much,” said Staat, who left CVCC last summer to sign on as president of South Carolina Technical College System.

The culinary arts school launched last fall with 53 students. After a successful debut, enrollment has risen to more than 80 students, said program head Dominick Launi.

The culinary school offers two tracks: a one-year certificate program in restaurant management and a two-year associate degree for students looking to become chefs. Courses cover everything from food preparation to sanitation and safety.

Geoff Bell, 19, of Madison Heights, was among the first students to enroll in the culinary arts school. Bell has aspired to be a cook since middle school, and hopes eventually to run his own restaurant.

“It’s all brand-new equipment,” Bell said of the new building. “Everything’s pretty much never been used before. It’s a pretty awesome place.”

This full service, one of a kind bakery provides an old-time feel to the community it serves. Specializing in traditional pastries, breads, European-style desserts and cakes everything is made from scratch and nothing is out of the question. “Customers are always welcome to suggest their favorites,” said Ostrander.

Ostrander says quality is never compromised at Sweet Caroline’s. “When it comes to quality, costs doesn’t matter,” said Ostrander who lives by and instructs his students to never purchase pre-made items, to take their time when baking and to bake from the heart.

Supporting local schools, Sweet Caroline’s utilizes and trains interns who have a passion for the industry and as an added bonus they offer core baking classes to the public which are taught by Ostrander himself on specific Sundays throughout the year. These classes include learning the art of Italian pastries, cookies, gluten-free desserts, cake baking, bread and summer desserts. Specialized classes can also be customized for groups that are interested.

Ostrander began his culinary career in 1968 at a vocational school in Middlesex, NJ when he was only 15. He continued in the U.S. Army where he taught baking at the U.S. Army Capital Foodservice Headquarters in Ft. Lee, VA. His culinary journey led him overseas to Europe for six years under the VII Corporate Headquarters Foodservice Team and then to the Ft. Dix, NJ baking school for an additional three years.

Continuing with his culinary career after leaving the military, Ostrander had the opportunity to work as the Executive Pastry Chef for numerous upscale hotels and resorts throughout the U.S. which included the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando; the Beverly Hills Hilton; Resorts International Casino Hotel Showboat Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, NJ; Turnberry Isle Hotel Country Club in Adventura, FL; and the Intercontinental Hotel in Miami, FL.

In addition to providing his talents to top ranking hotels and resorts, Ostrander also owned a bakery café in the San Diego area, and consulted such properties as the Hotel Del Coronado in Coronado, CA; the Trop World Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, NJ and Donald Trump’s Mar a Largo Club in Palm Beach, FL.

Ostrander has had the opportunity to showcase his baking talents for many notable individuals over the years including Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, and celebrities Donald Trump, Martha Stewart, Julia Child, Michael Douglas, Don Rickles, Mick Jagger and Johnny Carson.

Ostrander has taught pastry-making at several prestigious culinary art schools including Johnson and Whales University in Providence, RI, the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, CA, and The Academy of Culinary Arts in Atlantic City, NJ.

“I am so inspired when teaching students that have a passion for baking and who enjoy sharing my knowledge and experience,” said Ostrander.