10 posts tagged “food”
The spouse-unit and I went out for lunch on Friday. I had a craving for healthy real food, so we tried out M Cafe on Melrose. It was really, really good: everything was fresh and tasty and it felt good to be out in the world. I had the spicy peanut kale salad, which was delish, of course. They also have a nice mint barley iced tea and vegan gelato!
BTW, it's amazing how nothing seems to change on Melrose. There was still the massive line up the street for Pink's, and the same stores, and the typically surprising number of people lounging around at 2pm on what would be a workday anywhere else in the world. :-) Ahh.. L.A.
I've recently started a new diet lifestyle. It's a nutrient dense diet based on the Eat To Live
diet. Ultimately, it breaks down to a low-carb vegan diet with a few
extra notes: little or no salt (gaaah!) and little or no refined fats.
The idea is nothing new - something I learned over half a decade ago
when studying animal nutrition: all foods are not created
nutrient-equal. A pound of potatoes has about the same amount of
calories as a large fast-food french fries, but a pound of potatoes has
more nutrients readily available and the added bonus that a mere
half-pound of potatoes will stuff most people to satiety, which a large
fries would never do. The trick is to eat more nutrient dense foods in
unlimited quantities, cooked or raw. Here's a typical menu in my day:
- Breakfast: fresh raspberries, blackberries and dates warmed & mashed in a 1/4 cup of almond milk
- Lunch: a massive Pho Salad (mixed greens, tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, etc. with a pho-inspired dressing)
- Dinner: vegan dinner loaf (green beans, okra, tomato, onion, carrot, broccoli, kale, 1/2 cup quinoa, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, mixed and baked)
Mind
you, I will never be able to go completely vegan, or even vegetarian
for that matter, mostly because I would never want to. There are some
foods I will never be able to (or want to try) make vegan, like my
aunt's lamb curry, my grandmother's crab curry, pho, a rare In-'N-Out
"protein-style, animal-style", etc. I plan to make the bulk of my diet
low-carb vegan, and happily splurge on the foods I love most as a rare
treat. Honestly, the hardest thing is trying to get taste and flavor
out of daily meals while keeping the fat/salt low. I have to get really
creative...
Faux "Pho Bo" Salad Dressing
1/2 cup half-to-full strength no-beef broth
4-5 basil leaves
1-2 lime wedges, rind cut off
few sprigs cilantro
Sambal Olek chili sauce and/or hoisin sauce to taste
Blend with hand blender and drizzle over salad.
What are your favorite weird food combinations?
Submitted by Dulce.
Okay, maybe not as weird as Megan's, but I sometimes like cream in my Dr. Pepper. A friend of mine in high school got me started on it, pouring half and half in his drink and begging me to try it. I guess really not all that different from a Pepper float, which I prefer any day to a root beer float.
Umm, lemon juice, curry powder and salt? Nah, it's not really that different from a thousand or so South American candies based on the same combination.
Ooooh. I have one. Soy sauce on scrambled eggs. Makes them taste a little like bacon.
You know your house is a soda-free environment when you open a rare
can lying around from the 4th of July and the cats come running to
sit and listen to the fizzing.
Stolen shamelessly from pinstripe_bindi's blog is a list "compiled by the BBC of 50 foods readers recommended everyone try at least once in their life". Hmm - this from the people who fought and died for plain ol' black pepper. Sheesh.
1.
Fresh fish. Oh, c'mon.
2.Lobster. Over-rated.
3.Steak.
4.Thai food. Ha. this should be "Malaysian food".
5.Chinese food. Junk chinese, that is.
6.Ice cream.
7.Pizza.
8.Crab.
9.Curry.
10.Prawns. Ooh, prawn curry... *drool*
11. Moreton Bay Bugs. WTF! *googling* Ohhhhh.
12.Clam chowder.
13.Barbecue. Real barbeque, not that gas crap.
14.Pancakes.
15.Pasta.
16.Mussels.
17.Cheesecake. Homemade, of course.
18.Lamb.
19.Cream tea. Harrod's.
20. Alligator. I've heard this tastes like chicken.
21.Oysters.
22. Kangaroo.
23.Chocolate.
24.Sandwiches.
25.Greek food.
26.Burgers.
27.Mexican food.
28.Squid. Curried.
29.American diner breakfast.
30.Salmon. Raw.
31.Venison.
32. Guinea pig.
33.Shark. Also curried.
34.Sushi. One of my favorite comfort foods...
35.Paella.
36. Barramundi.
37. Reindeer.
38.Kebab.
39.Scallops.
40. Australian meat pie.
41.Mango.
42.Durian fruit.
43.Octopus. Raw.
44.Ribs.
45.Roast beef.
46.Tapas.
47.Jerk chicken/pork.
48. Haggis.
49.Caviar.
50.Cornish pasty.
1 package dried noodles
3 dried shitake mushrooms
1 stalk green onions, chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 lb shrimp, peeled, tail-on
1 tom yam stock cube
1/2 cup snow peas, ends trimmed, cut in half diagonally
1/2 celery stalk, sliced thinly on the diagonal
1 tomato, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 can light coconut milk
1tsp vegetable oil
1-2 tbsp thai kitchen roasted red chili paste (or similar)
thai kitchen premium fish sauce, a few dashes
1/2 tsp oyster sauce
soy sauce (to taste)
sambal olek chili sauce (to taste)Soak the mushrooms in 1/2-3/4 cup of boiling water.
Soak the noodles in 2 cups of boiling water for 2-5 minutes (depending on package instructions). Drain (reserving soaking water), rinse with cold water to stop cooking, drain well and split between two large eating bowls.
Put noodle-soaking water in pot and add tom yam stock, medium heat. Once cube/stock is dissolved, add oyster sauce and fish sauce. Keep on low heat.
Gently squeeze excess liquid out from mushrooms, reserving liquid. Slice thinly. Add mushroom liquid to broth.
In a small wok over high heat, add vegetable oil. Add chili paste and shrimp. Saute until half-done, then add sliced celery and mushrooms. Saute for another minute and add tomato and snow peas. Saute until peas just barely cooked. Remove from heat and split veggies between bowls, over noodles.
Pour hot broth over noodles & veggies. Add a splash of coconut milk. Sprinkle green onions and cilantro liberally. Enjoy! :o)
Here are two books that I've recently realized are completely indispensable in my kitchen.
The Field Guide to Produce is exactly what it claims to be. Roughly CD-jewel-case sized and about 2 in. thick, it's perfect for keeping in your car or reusable shopping bags for those random grocery trips. Without this book, I would never have had the courage to try fiddlehead ferns (fantastic sauteed with butter) or dinosaur kale - though I would often find unusual items such as these in the produce section. Now, I no longer get to stare curiously as I get another head of broccoli, but am forced to break out of mediocrity and try something new and exciting. Yay! The other side: This book is honest, at least - it doesn't step a hair over covering produce. (You need to get the 'Field Guide to Herbs & Spices" for that - no kidding.) The other morning, I was amazed to not find "chives" listed and realized that it doesn't cover any herbs at all. A pity, really, as it would be perfect all in one.
The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia is the holy grail to anyone embarking on a healthier, greener diet. Wood carries a relaxed, conversational tone through tales of sugar snap pea goodness or the brief history of quinoa, and I love her attention to detail in pointing out surreptitiously refined sugars in the most seemingly safest foods. At times, the lecture waxes a tad over-preachy, but the sheer breadth of foods covered, from South American grains to Asian legumes, makes this book a must-have for any cook.
I think I've discovered the perfect ice cream. It's La Loo's Goat's
Milk ice cream. Now, before you puke, roll over and say "whaaa..?", let me explain a few things.
I tried goat milk for the first time about 3 years ago. It wasn't as nicely bland as the cow's milk we're all so used to, but it wasn't terrible either. A bit more "animal", I would say. I ended up raising Harley on it actually - when she was a sick, weak three-week-old kitten, I would blend it with boiled rice, fish and veggies to make a slurry and feed her with a syringe.
I recently rediscovered it when randomly choosing ice cream from Whole Foods. (This is entirely a hit-or-miss kinda thing, since each Whole Foods is likely to carry different brands.) I looked for my old faithful, vanilla flavor, but they were *gasp* sold-out! I settled instead on Black Mission Fig. Hmm.
It's hard to describe, but I'll try anyway. Cool, creamy, no watery-ice chunks at all. A hint of saltiness, then warm sweetness and fruity fig goodness. I bought the Vanilla Snowflake the other day and it's good, too - but not as good as the Black Mission Fig. The vanilla is a little too... empty, and the goat-iness overwhelms it a little. Still, it's damn good and my need-for-sweet is well-tempered by the "enough goat-iness, already" feeling: 3g of fat for 1/8 of a pint ain't half baaaaaad. (Sorry. Couldn't resist.)
Like farmers' markets? Can't wait until the next one in your neighborhood? Here's a comprehensive list of Los Angeles county farmers' markets, with their days & opening hours. See you there! :o)
There are few things I love more than sushi. I think it's because it's cool but salty and has that fresh-from-the-ocean taste. My favorites are mackeral, sweet shrimp and freshwater eel. My absolute favorite (when completely fresh) is salmon. No, seriously - I start to drool whenever I see raw salmon. I think it's ruined then it's cooked.
And sake. Nice chilled sake.
