Nothing is better in a hot summer day to eat a refreshing mango or even better; a Mango dessert of special kind. A sweet mango goes well with yogurt; the sour taste of it complements a mango well. Compote made of apple and mango with a bit of gin works very well and gives the dessert a special kick. Some crispy shortbread will give the dessert its crunch.

Mangoes have been cultivated in the Indian subcontinent for thousands of years and reached East Asia between the 5th-4th century BC. By the 10th century AD, they were transported to East Africa and subsequently introduced to Brazil, West Indies and Mexico, where climate allows its appropriate growth. The 14th century Muslim traveler, Ibn Battuta, reported it at Mogadishu. Mango is now cultivated as a fruit tree in frost-free tropical and warmer subtropical climates like that of the Indian subcontinent; nearly half of the world’s mangoes are cultivated in India alone.

Mangoes account for approximately fifty percent of all tropical fruits produced worldwide. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates worldwide production of mangoes at more than 23 million tons in 2001. With 12 million tons produced annually (2002–3 data), India  accounts for almost half of the world production, followed by China (3 million tons), Pakistan (2.25 million tons), Mexico (1.5 million tons) and Thailand (1.35 million tons). The aggregate production of 10 countries is responsible for roughly 80% of the entire world mango production.

Mangoes are popular throughout Latin America. In Mexico, sliced mango is eaten with chili powder and/or salt. Street vendors sell whole mangoes on a stick, dipped in the chili-salt mixture. In Indonesia and Thailand, green mango is sold by street vendors with sugar and salt and/or chili, or used in a sour salad called rujak or rojak in Malaysia and Singapore. Ayurveda considers ripe mango sweet and heating, balancing all three doshas (humors), while also providing energy. Powdered raw mango is a condiment in various cuisines.

Like other drupaceous fruits, mangoes come in both freestone and clingstone varieties.

I would not know how we would do it at work without digital cameras. I remember years back when picture takings where done on film, processing and then pasted on huge boards in our kitchens; what a pain! Taking shots of some room amenities are just a matter of minutes, on-the-go. Using a Lumix LX3 is just a bliss as you can see from these pictures. All in natural light, no reflectors, straight from the camera.

What came first; the Chicken or the Egg? Personally I really don’t care about this dilemma and I am even more so puzzled that actually scientists where studying this for years! All I care from where the egg is coming from and from where my chicken and already there it starts for me; almost scientific research when asking for the origin in my local supermarket. As almost all food is imported in Dubai one wonders if the chicken we are eating is from China, India, Holland or Kenya. Not being a racist but since I know the food I eat is not grown/raised/ manufactured here in Dubai I would like to know from where all this stuff is coming from.

Now to the first question; came across this article in CNN; yup, CNN:

LONDON, England — It’s a question that has baffled scientists, academics and pub bores through the ages: What came first, the chicken or the egg?
Now a team made up of a geneticist, philosopher and chicken farmer claim to have found an answer. It was the egg.
Put simply, the reason is down to the fact that genetic material does not change during an animal’s life.
Therefore the first bird that evolved into what we would call a chicken, probably in prehistoric times, must have first existed as an embryo inside an egg.
Professor John Brookfield, a specialist in evolutionary genetics at the University of Nottingham, told the UK Press Association the pecking order was clear.
The living organism inside the eggshell would have had the same DNA as the chicken it would develop into, he said.
“Therefore, the first living thing which we could say unequivocally was a member of the species would be this first egg,” he added. “So, I would conclude that the egg came first.”
The same conclusion was reached by his fellow “eggsperts” Professor David Papineau, of King’s College London, and poultry farmer Charles Bourns.
Mr Papineau, an expert in the philosophy of science, agreed that the first chicken came from an egg and that proves there were chicken eggs before chickens.
He told PA people were mistaken if they argued that the mutant egg belonged to the “non-chicken” bird parents.
“I would argue it is a chicken egg if it has a chicken in it,” he said.
“If a kangaroo laid an egg from which an ostrich hatched, that would surely be an ostrich egg, not a kangaroo egg.”
Bourns, chairman of trade body Great British Chicken, said he was also firmly in the pro-egg camp.
He said: “Eggs were around long before the first chicken arrived. Of course, they may not have been chicken eggs as we see them today, but they were eggs.”
The debate, which may come as a relief to those with argumentative relatives, was organized by Disney to promote the release of the film “Chicken Little” on DVD

Egg, Chicken Muffin

Anyway, with all that rumble I got hungry and got myself a Egg with Chicken Muffin made for a breakfast snack; who cares about the egg ‘n the chicken or from where either is coming from!