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Healthy cakes & bakes inspired by my travels
Aside from traveling, I also love cooking and baking, and I draw inspiration from my travels. Unable to travel during the lockdown, I have found solace in baking. In fact, over the last couple of months, I have baked dozens of healthy cakes, cupcakes and muffins, cookies and biscuits, and other bakes. As a Psychiatrist, I am a passionate advocate of work-life balance and wellbeing (which includes healthy eating, yoga and meditation), and I try to lead by example. In 2018, I decided to combine these passions of mine into something that I could share with my family and friends across the world. So, I launched the Traveling Psychiatrist, a…
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Reflecting on my childhood journey to Thailand
“Club Tropic Karma on the island of Koh Fun, southern Thailand, is a new luxury dive and spa destination owned by British property magnate Rich Long. Eight guests gather in the Beachview bar in the early evening; each has received an anonymous invitation. That morning the body of Bang, the hotel masseur has been found on the beach. She was discovered by hotel staff at 6am, but no alarm was sounded or police called. Two half-finished cocktails were near the body, along with a mysterious symbol drawn in the sand. As the last to leave the bar the previous night, all eight guests are suspects. One is a murderer. At…
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My 10 (+1) favorite Asian restaurants in London
I kicked off this year with my recommendations for 5 (+1) Japanese novels to read in 2020, followed by my suggestions for 5 more books from, or about, Japan. Then, earlier this month, the South Korean film ‘Parasite’, directed by Bong Joon-ho, not only won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, but also the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. So, last week, I embarked on a cinematic journey to South Korea. Today, I am going back to London, but at the same time I’m staying in Asia. This sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? Well… being a foodie and a Londoner, I love…
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Keep Calm & Bake for Christmas
Travelling is one of my favorite activities. Baking is another. I generally prefer going on holidays in the summer, for this is the best time to visit the Greek islands and Scandinavia, my favorite holiday destinations. Come December, I tend to have used my annual leave, and I therefore spend Christmas at home. A perfect opportunity to bake. Once I have put the tree up and posted my greeting cards (with Christmas classics playing in the background), I am covered in flour (and not just for the snow effect) whilst my flat smells of all those lovely Christmas scents and spicy aromas: orange, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and the list…
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Watermelon 3 ways: recipes from the Cyclades
If I had to pick one fruit that takes me back to my childhood summers in Greece, this would undoubtedly be the watermelon (καρπούζι/karpouzi). During July and August, the hottest months of the year, there would always be a huge bowl with freshly cut watermelon on the table at the end of each and every family meal. The same happened when we dined out; watermelon would always be served there too. In the afternoons, I remember waking up from my nap only to find that my grandmother had prepared a slice of watermelon served with some feta cheese. Perhaps because it is ubiquitous during the summer in Greece, perhaps because…
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Sifnos: the island of Greek gastronomy
I was born and raised in Greece, a country with a rich history, and a healthy and delicious cuisine. As a child, I would often hear the word ‘tselementes’ being used to refer to any cookbook. So, I naturally assumed that it meant ‘cookbook’. Not quite so. I later learned that Nikolaos Tselementes was a Greek chef and cookery writer born on the island of Sifnos in the late 19th century. 130 years later, this small Cycladic island is considered the capital of Greek gastronomy. Sifnos is located in the western Cyclades, northeast of Milos and south of Serifos, which I also visited last summer. Despite the island’s close proximity…
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Gluten- & guilt-free clementine (mandarin) cake
My birthday is on the 20th of December. Every year since I was a little kid, I’ve been having a party either the weekend before or the one after my birthday (usually before). This year, however, I decided to have my party a couple of weeks earlier, on the 8th of the month. Amongst the finger food and a large selection of mince pies from Waitrose, I also decided to bake my Caribbean-inspired banana and papaya bread. It would perfectly compliment the tropical guava rum punch cocktail I had already prepared. But then I realized that one of my friends was gluten-intolerant, so she wouldn’t enjoy the banana and papaya…
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Açaí smoothie bowl: mood-boosting, healthy eating
2018 has been a bad year for Brazilian politics. The reason? In October, far-right politician Jair Bolsonaro was declared the winner of the Brazilian general election with over 50% of the popular vote. According to the Guardian, Bolsonaro represents a clear and present danger not only to his country(1) but to the planet(2). Soon after the election, the South American country abandoned plans to host crucial UN climate talks in 2019, raising concerns about Brazil’s stance towards the environment. Unfortunately, Brazil is far from the only country where far-right politics are on the rise. Populist and nationalist political parties have been sadly gaining popularity worldwide, culminating in the election of…
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Better nutrition. Better health. Better wellbeing.
Hello! Today it is the World AIDS Day. Since 1988, the 1st of December is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic. However, I am not going to talk about AIDS today; I am going to focus on nutrition instead. From obesity to orthorexia to anorexia In 1997, the World Health Organization formally recognized obesity as a global epidemic. The same year, the term ‘orthorexia nervosa’ was also introduced. It was the American physician Steven Bratman who coined the term from the Greek words ορθο- (ortho, “right” or “correct”) and όρεξις (orexis, “appetite”). He described orthorexia as an unhealthy fixation with what the individual considers to be healthy…
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Nutritious & delicious: Caribbean-inspired exotic fruit breads
One of my favorite as well as easiest cakes to bake is the banana bread. Originating from America, this is actually a loaf-shaped cake. I have been baking it for quite a few years now, so I have reached a point that I have tweaked the original recipe quite a lot (in an attempt to make it healthier and guilt-free). Inspired by the delicious desserts and the exotic fruit I had whilst in Martinique (a small French island in the eastern Caribbean Sea), I decided to tweak it once more and make it a bit more exotic. Healthy tweaks The original recipe starts with beating butter and sugar until light…