Raw Fish and Kettle Corn

Well! This week isn’t even half over, and already I have tried two new things.

On Sunday night I tried something that I have always scowled at, grimaced at, and gotten chills from, even when I see other people eat it.  We were at Ro Sushi (I love that place, AND discovered on Sunday that I can eat their tempura.. good company, good food and good discoveries!). I had my green hornet roll (prawn tempura, mango, avocado and cucumber) and a yam tempura roll in front of me, and T had a smoked salmon roll, and the dreaded salmon sashimi stuff on rice.

I am a bit of a texture-phobe. I LOVE smoked salmon, but I like the dry stuff (aka the stuff that doesn’t shimmer in the light).  I also don’t enjoy slimy foods, soggy foods, saucy foods (unless they’re sweet), or anything too squishy. However, in the name of adventure, I tried a bit of T’s slimy looking smoked salmon.. it wasn’t too bad. It was slimy, but the taste was good. I survived (and didn’t even make too too much of a face). A few minute later, I was being convinced to try the sashimi. It takes quite a bit for me to try a new food, especially one that I have already decided that I do not like. Raw salmon would be a good example of this.

Back to the sushi restaurant. After much coaxing, and a little bit of bribery (I can now make T eat one thing that he doesn’t want to try, and I’m saving that one for something good), I was handed a tiny little corner of raw fish and rice on a fork. I could feel my gag reflex stretching in anticipation. I made a few faces for this one (couldn’t help it), and eventually shoved the stuff into my mouth.

It didn’t have as much taste as I thought it would. It was kind of slimy, but not as slimy as I had previously decided that it would be. It wasn’t too too bad. I won’t be ordering a ton of it anytime soon, but I survived. I tried something new (and that I thought would be rather yucky) and proved myself wrong, and kept it down to boot. I guess this would be a win.

Thanks T for the new experience, and heads up: I will get you back…

I also tried something new that I knew would be wonderful.

There are many many things to be loved at festivals.. Corn Dogs , Cotton Candy , and Kettle Corn to name a few.  As I can’t see any way that either corn dogs or cotton candy contain 100% name-able and non-chemical ingredients, I will have to stick with Kettle Corn.

Last night I was thinking about things that I could make and bring to work to snack on, and couldn’t get my mind off of kettle corn. It’s sweet, it’s salty, it’s a little sticky and a little crunchy. I all recipe’d a recipe, and realized that it’s probably also one of the easiest things on the planet to make…

1/4 cup oil

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup kernels

salt

If you have a stove top popper, this is a cinch. If you have a giant pot with a lid, it’s still do-able!

Heat the oil in the pot or popper. Throw in your kernels and sugar, close the lid and agitate (or turn the popper crank thing) until there is about 2 or three seconds between pops.

Put into a large bowl.

Salt to taste.

Stir occasionally to break apart large chunks.

Shovel it into your face.

Quick! Easy! Ingredient Happy and Wonderful (not to mention another win).

 

How about all of you people, did you try anything new this week? Was it good/gross?

Week Six Review

Booya Folks!

Week six was smooth as silk, and ingredient-confusion-free! I am now more than ten percent through this, and have only consumed three things which I was unsure about (besides cigarettes). I feel great!

While I’m going to be honest and admit that there are things that I really, really want to eat (we got some beautiful looking cookies in at work yesterday, and those peanut butter cups are still haunting me wherever I go), it is getting much much easier to say “no”. Actually, I say “I can’t. I couldn’t tell you what’s in it”. I find that this response usually gets a confuddled look, followed by a great opportunity for me to gab someone’s ear off about this whole adventure, and to get their perspective on food, what they believe it means to eat healthy, and sometimes a good recipe or interesting food story.

It was a similar situation at work a couple of days ago when a customer ordered something because it was his “only option”.

I said “I know how you feel, I’m pretty much only allowed the apples or the oatmeal because…” and this sparked a conversation about food and trying to get healthy. This guy is about to start some kind of cleanse where he can’t eat sugars or grains of any kind, and has to give up a bunch of other stuff as well. I said that that sounded tough, and he explained that he and a group of friends often try out different food things. One month he went raw food. That to me sounds extreme. I would have to give up all meat (I don’t eat sashimi), baking, and hot anything, and that sounds like it would just make me miserable. It does sound interesting though, and I kind of hope that guy comes back in so I can find out what other crazy diets he’s tried, what tricks he uses to get around things (i.e. eating at restaurants), and what made him feel healthy versus what made him feel sluggish and ill.

There were no giant fancy meals cooked up this week, but I did make a pretty yummy dinner from the salmon and potatoes I picked up at the market, along with some asparagus (I used to hate that stuff, but it’s actually pretty yummy), broccoli and red peppers.

I also discovered that a brand called Simply Natural makes a pineapple salsa that I can eat! It contains tomato puree, green peppers, pineapple, tomatoes, sugar, white vinegar, pineapple juice, salt, garlic puree, jalapeno peppers, chopped onions, cumin, cilantro and crushed red pepper, all of which are organic (I realize that I should have typed “organic” before every ingredient, but there are only so many times you can read the word “organic” before you get tired of reading “organic” and forget what “organic” actually means – you would have read “organic” eight more times by the way). I also found some corn chips to eat it with! I do feel a little guilty about buying convenience food as I make a killer pineapple salsa on my own, which tastes better than this one, and is much fresher, but I am also lazy sometimes, and want the stuff out of a jar. It’s not like you cook yourself a three course meal every night or make ALL of your snacks from scratch either, so stop judging me.

This morning (maybe in an attempt to make up for the salsa from a jar) I re-attempted the granola bar. Who’d have thought these things can be so tricky! They are not as crumbly as the last ones, but still fall apart quite easily. They do have a nicer texture this time around though, chewier and sweeter. This is probably due to the fact that I threw in some honey, and a couple of generous spoonfuls of peanut butter. I also didn’t quite measure everything out, so there’s a possibility that there is more butter and more fruit/trail mix/coconut/holy crap like cereal in there too. Even when they are falling apart, this is a good grab and go kind of snack. Plus the last ones kept really well, and they take almost no time at all, so I can bake them once every week or week and a half and have them for lunches. As I am starting a new theatre contract on Monday and am pretty much expecting to be out of my house anywhere from 9 to 17 hours a day, six days a week, this is a good thing. Maybe next week I will even get them right..

I also threw together some more macaroons. I like coconut macaroons because they are sweet, because they are simple, because they are wheat free and are easily sharable with most people (vegans are pretty much out of luck with me because of my love of butter, and often usage of eggs), and because they look pretty darn cute. I like the little haystack looking domes when they get lightly browned.  They are perfect with a cup of tea or coffee, you can make them any size you want, and they are just all around awesomeness. Yay Macaroons!

This was also my third week with my new milk. I’m not sure if it’s just an odd week, or what the deal is here, but I flew through the last litre like crazy. In fact, Thursday I had to go buy a bottle of Avalon because I was almost out of the good stuff. Maybe it’s time to up my dosage to 2 litres a week.. we’ll see what happens next week.

Today also marks two weeks of not smoking. Take that nicotine!! I feel good. My brain is returning to normal, and there are only a few times a day that I am missing it. I find that it’s hard to get out of bed in the morning, because my old habit was to grab a smoke, take a pee and curl up on the fire escape and plan my day while inhaling clouds of chemicals. Now I wake up, think about smoking, realize I don’t smoke anymore and spend way too long avoiding crawling out of bed so I don’t feel like I’m missing out. This is silly of course, because once I’m up, I’m fine. But the first 5 – 25 minutes of my day are a little rough. Then there is leaving my house. I have fought this one by eating a piece of fruit or half of my breakfast after I leave the house. Similarly, I make sure I have something to eat or drink when I leave work. The only other time I feel a little antsy is when I get off the bus, but even that is getting better with time.

One of the huge benefits of not smoking anymore is watching the jar of money on my dresser slowly fill up. I decided when I stopped that I would put six dollars a day into the jar (money that would have gone to smoking), and put it towards something or a bunch of things for myself. Last time I stopped I didn’t do this, and the money that I had once put towards smokes seemed to be absorbed by every day things. This time I can see how much I am saving. I also know that when I do buy something, I will think to myself every time I use it “If I still smoked, I wouldn’t have been able to afford this knife/juicer/skydiving adventure/ driving lesson/ espresso machine”. This will hopefully inspire me to keep putting that money away and keep getting better and better things, like a trip to somewhere hot and sunny, a time machine, a freeze ray, a meat grinder, a mansion on a private island, and world peace. Win! I am thinking as a 2 week smoke free celebration that I will spend some of that this weekend. My rules for spending it are simple. It has to be on either an item that I wouldn’t have bought otherwise, or a memorable adventure. No using it for a coffee, or a movie, or groceries. It has to be a treat. I am thinking that this is the week for either a knife, or for a crock pot. Crock pots are on sale at London Drugs, and would make my next four weeks of working too much a lot easier.

As far as next week goes, I will be busy and it will be an excercise in lunch making. I will also be trying out a new recipe for broccoli cookies. Yes, cookies with broccoli in them.

Week 5 (I think) in Review

Hello Folks!

So much for updating on Friday night/Saturday morning eh?

Basically Week 5 went really well. Really well, except for the parts where I was a little grouchy, or a little frantic, or pacing back and forth chewing on my nails waging inner war over why I should not (and conversely, should) have a cigarette.

I am happy to report that I did not have a cigarette, and am now on day 10 of not smoking. I am not so happy to report that for the first week or so, my brain was completely fried. Names for things (and sometimes people) were almost always about an inch and a half beyond my grasp, simple things like attempting to cook dinner felt like climbing a mountain in flip flops, in the rain, while trying to balance a soft cover book on my head, and “huuuh?” became an automatic response, followed closely by a blank stare.  My moods were also a little less than stable. I snapped at a couple of people (my apologies, you know who you are), cried over silly things like the people dying at the end of Saw 3, and did a lot of pouting.

Back to week 5. I am feeling great. There are still a few little moments were I regress into the angry Golum like creature that I was last week, but those times are growing few and far between. I have been putting six dollars away per day of not smoking and am spending a lot of time drooling over what I could buy with that money in the not so distant future (a new knife, a crock pot, a juicer, an espresso machine, a dehydrater, and skydiving). Also, because of the not smoking thing, I have not cheated at all this past week.

That’s right people… last week I could name all of the ingredients (and chemicals… I had some regular milk in a couple of lattes) of everything that I ingested. I am considering this a big giant win.

I spent the week munching tons of vegetables (I was on a little bit of a bell pepper kick), home-made, super crumbly granola bars, loads of fruit, free range eggs, coconut macaroons, and much, much more. The highlight of the week was by far Friday.

Friday after work I wanted to curl up in a ball and disappear for a day. I didn’t want to talk to anyone, cook anything or be seen. I wanted to watch something good and trashy, like Toddlers and Tiaras, or ancient episodes of The Bachelor, eat take out pizza and stuff my face with soy lecithin and vegetable oil laden peanut butter cups. Problem is, I had a commitment, so that plan was out (plus I would have to confess the pizza and peanut butter cups, and I was already full of pride about the not smoking thing and wanted to blog about my 100% cheat free week).

Friday I had agreed to cook Cornish game hens for some friends. The challenge was to cook a meal that a friend of mine, who pretty much can’t eat 80% of anything could eat and enjoy. The dinner was to be held at another friends place where her 1 year old daughter would provide the entertainment for the evening (and did!!).

I arrived, groceries in hand and holding back tears of not-Bachelor-watching-in-my-PJ’s. The hens were still frozen (figures), so they had to bathe for a couple of hours. In the meantime we played, and danced, and giggled. I forgot all about being a huge pain and a super grumpy houseguest, and got my giggle on too. It really is amazing how cute kids can bring out the fun crazy in people. Needless to say, my mood improved about a million fold, and it was time to cook.

I mixed up some lemon juice, butter, paprika, garlic and salt and slathered the hens with half of it. Then I shoved some rosemary up their tiny bums and threw them in the oven.I added the rest of the lemon butter stuff about half way through it all.

Then I threw together a simple salad of spinach, strawberries, avocado, cucumber and nuts (roasted in egg white, sugar, cinnamon and salt). Peppers were chopped, drizzled with olive oil, lightly salted and roasted. Rice was put on to cook and asparagus was prepped for steaming.

It went pretty well. I had never cooked hens before, and I think they turned out alright, though next time probably won’t cook one per person. It was a lot of meat. It was also gluten free, contained no red meat, and if you are one of those people who don’t include better in the whole “dairy free” thing, it counts as dairy free too.

A huge thank you to Sharon for the use of her beautiful kitchen, for washing all the dishes, and for letting me throw her daughter around. Thanks too to Gillian for the challenge, and a hundred thanks to you both for getting me out of my funk. What are we cooking next???

Saturday morning I went to the Farmers Market near Nat Bailey Stadium. The beef bacon lady wasn’t there, but I did find some really delicious sausages…without casings!! A friend later pointed out another vendor who was selling sausages cased in seaweed… definitely something to check out next time. I also picked up some apples, potatos, carrots, eggs, and salmon. Being that it was a gorgeous day and all, people were out in droves. This meant that line ups were a little on the long side, but it was great to see so many people buying local and enjoying the market.

That pretty much wraps up week 5… No smoking, no unknown ingredients, lots of veg, cooking/shopping with friends, finding new and exciting options, eating, talking about eating, writing about eating, and taking pictures of what I am eating. I have tons of energy, my waistline is slowly shrinking, and I am getting my brain back as my body adjusts to the not smoking thing. Life is good.

I started this whole Eat Write Play thing to further develop my love for food, my love for writing (and to develop the skills that go with it), and to re-find that incredible sense of play that you see in the eyes of a small child when they are flying through the air, headed for a mud puddle and wearing their good shoes and nice clothes.

Here I am at the end of week five (yeah, yeah, I know I’m actually into week 6, but humour me please people – I’m about to have a moment), and I am realizing that what I had before for food was a high school crush. It was fun, it was fleeting, and I really had no clue what to do with it all. I’m not saying I have mastered anything food, but the torrid love affair I now have with what I eat is much deeper than it was when I started out. By taking the time to learn what is in my food, trying something new,  giving my body more balanced meals and not over-processed gak, and sitting down to eat (as much as I can), I have developed a whole new appreciation for the things that I eat, as well as noticed the difference that eating good food can make. I am so glad that I am doing this.

Thank you so much to the people who put up with me talking about food all the time, and a HUGE to all of the people who I had food adventures with this week. Thanks to you too, for reading, and I hope to hear your thoughts, insights, suggestions, recipes and what you ate last night in the comments (I wish I was joking about the “what you ate” part…. but really, I would love to know).

Eat well, and check back soon for an update. This week I have no idea what I am making, but hopefully it turns out. If not I get to write about it and you can laugh at me. It’s win win really.