Tag Archives: food

All you can eat

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We are at a resort and food is included as part of our package. Last night’s dinner was in a market-style restaurant with individual food court like restaurants. I started with a Thia chicken crepe, then had a couple small rolls of sushi, then a small spinach & shrimp salad. That was enough for me. I’ve never been big on dessert, and if I was the meal would have been too much.

It would be so easy to overeat in a place like this. It can be enjoyably gluttonous. The idea is to think in moderation when surrounded by abundance. Not an easy task. Convince yourself to enjoy and stop when full, rather than feel restricted. It’s not fun being in the land of plenty and forcing restraint… so the trick is to make delicious choices, just less of them.

A buffet breakfast can be a delicious omelette, bacon, and some fresh fruit. What about sausages? Pancakes? Dessert? Those are the wrong questions. How was the omelette? Delicious! Sometimes less is more. More healthy, more friendly to your heart and your waste line. Moderation is easier with the right mindset… I’m not restricting myself, I’m eating wonderful meals that aren’t so big that I’m going to feel awful later, either physically or emotionally.

It’s not about all I can eat, it’s about making delicious choices. They don’t all have to be healthy choices, as long as I’m not stuffing my face and my belly… and I’m not intentionally undermining myself with bad choices. Moderation doesn’t need to be a dirty word, it’s a smart word, a word that allows choices and freedom, free from gluttony.

Now, it’s time for breakfast!

Recipes from the soul

One of my favourite cooking quotes is, “Don’t ever let a recipe tell you how much garlic to put in. You measure that with your heart.”

I come from a family where recipes are impossible to follow.

Asking my mom how much of a spice to add, she shakes an imaginary spice bottle in a circle saying, “Go twice around the pot.”

My sister is cooking a recipe while on the phone helping our cousin’s wife cook the same recipe (and my sister is measuring for the first time to help): ‘Put a teaspoon (of a spice) in.’ Then once she adds the teaspoon herself, “No, that’s not enough, put another teaspoon in.”

My grandmother in her Guyanese accent, “Ya put a pinch a dis, a dash a dat” Or, “Cut-up some onion and mix it up with da same amount a garlic.”

“How much exactly?”

“Da same amount, not too much, not too little.”

As a result, I never follow a recipe:

A teaspoon of garlic? That can’t be enough!

A pinch of black pepper? Do you mean per serving?

Parsley? And no cilantro, that has to be a mistake!

Why isn’t there ginger in this recipe?

Hoisin sauce would make this rice stir fry recipe so much better.

Ground beef? I think I’ll just cut open a couple spicy Italian sausages and use use them instead.

I don’t really like to cook, but when I do, I don’t measure anything exactly as a recipe says. I don’t stick to the ‘suggested’ items list. I choose and measure items with my heart and soul.

My brother-in-law gave me some advice once, he said, “Follow a recipe exactly as suggested the first time, there’s a reason that exact recipe made it into the cookbook. Then if you don’t like it, change it up.”

Great advice… I just can’t follow it, and I blame my family! 😜

Travel plans

I find it odd how much time we spend planning to go away. We have a cat that needs attending to, and fortunately we have a nephew who will be staying at our place while away. There are flights and places to stay to arrange. There is the packing, and the planning of things to do.

Holiday getaways are wonderful things, and I feel fortunate to be able to enjoy the great trip to Spain we have planned, but I don’t get excited by the planning and prep work the way I see others get. I don’t know how to ‘do’ anticipatory excitement. But I love arriving at a new destination. I love waking up in the morning in a foreign place knowing that the sights and sounds of the day will be different and new. I enjoy the flavours of new foods.

Now it’s time to start packing so that I’m not in a scramble the night before we leave… and hopefully a little excitement will creep into the tasks I need to do.

Eating right

Since dipping into the Halloween candy a bit too early, I really haven’t eaten well. It’s like my body got used to the sugar buzz and now I feel the craving for sweeter, less healthy food. It’s interesting how our gut biome can influence our minds. Through the enteric nervous system, our gut sends messages to our brain. ‘More sugar’ seems to be the message my brain has been getting recently, and I’ve been complacently acquiescing.

It’s time for me to take control again. To plan my meals better and to avoid unnecessary sugar. That doesn’t mean that I have to go on some strict diet, it just means I should eat intentionally, rather than listening to my sugar-craving gut. 

Pizza sandwich

I’m not a big fan of sandwiches for lunch. Part of the reasoning is that I prefer hot to cold food. Another is that I ate sandwiches all through school, and I feel like just because I work at a school now doesn’t mean I should still have to bag a sandwich for lunch every day. But sometimes I don’t bring a lunch, and when that happens I will often go to the neighbouring pizza place for a couple slices… and make a sandwich out of them!

I pick two different slices, request banana peppers added, then I put them together top face onto top face, with the peppers in between. I love the taste of all the toppings and peppers together. I like the double layer of cheese, and I especially like how easy it is to eat like this. I also like that it’s hot. I have to say that of all the sandwiches I eat, this one is my favourite.

Oh, and note the way I fold the paper plate around it. This serves two purposes: It helps hold the sandwich together, and if there’s any sauce dripping out, this catches it before it lands on my shirt or pants.

Try a pizza sandwich… you won’t regret it!

Duck wings

There were only 3 items on the menu, Pulled Pork on a Bun, Confit Duck Wings, and Jerk Chicken Tacos. When I walked in the cashier said, “You look like a guy ready to try some Duck Wings.”

“Actually, I would like the Pulled Pork.”

“Really, you can have that anytime you want, try the Duck Wings.”

“You are right, absolutely.”

She kept convincing me, even though I made the switch, and I repeated that she convinced me.

“You won’t be disappointed,” she said confidently.

This reminded me of a friend, Geoff. He’s a colleague from a district up north, and I’ve had dinner a couple times with him when we connect for meetings. Both times he left the ordering of food completely in the hands of the waitresses. Completely. When one of them asked clarifying questions, the only thing he shared was, ‘I’m fairly hungry.’ No hints as to what he likes, or what part of the menu he would favour. He told me that he’s done this hundreds of times and only once was he ever disappointed.

I’m not as brave. I have often asked a waiter or waitress what their favourite is between 2 or 3 choices and if they reply with anything specific, (rather than, ‘they are all good’), then I’ll take their recommendation. The idea of a person picking anything off of a menu for me doesn’t seem appealing. But the idea of a recommendation between two hard to choose items appeals a fair bit.

Back to the Duck Wings. They were delicious! So much better than another pulled pork sandwich that I could have had in so many other places. Food is a great place to be brave and make choices you wouldn’t normally make. Don’t duck out. 😜

The unseen casualties to come

I am saddened by the physical destruction, and especially the death and disruption of innocent lives happening now in the Ukraine. But I think (and hope) this will end soon. However, this war will affect far more than the Ukrainian people. As US President Joe Biden said,

“It’s going to be real. The price of these sanctions is not just imposed upon Russia; it’s imposed upon an awful lot of countries as well, including European countries and our country as well,” Biden said. “Both Russia and Ukraine have been the breadbasket of Europe in terms of wheat, for example — just to give you one example.”

This will have a massive impact on the world’s poor. Many reading this will feel the financial cost of increased prices, but that burden can be absorbed. We simply will have less buying power and less options of things to buy. But we won’t go hungry. For people living at or below the poverty line, and especially in developing countries where limited food choices become both expensive and scarce, it’s a different story. People will go hungry. People will revolt. People will die.

Since WWII many of the global conflicts have been about oil. The conflicts of the future will be about food and water. No matter what the reason, global conflict affects us all more and more in the interconnected world we live in. It’s one thing to look at the horror of lives lost in a conflict like this, still another to know that more casualties are coming.

Family and food

I have been back with my parents for just over 24 hours and I’ve already over-eaten. I blame it mostly on my sister who barely weighs 100lbs and eats 6-7 meals a day, each one bigger than a normal sized meal for me. She’s always thinking about food and she’s an incredible cook. I just finished a pickled cabbage salad she made that I could eat every day for a month without getting bored of the taste.

For me, getting together with my family has two wonderful benefits. First, I spend time with them and laugh, and enjoy their company. And second, and equally as important, I get to enjoy the fusion flavours of home. With Chinese and Jewish heritage, both with roots from South America (Guyana) and the Caribbean (Barbados & Trinidad), my family meals are three things: eclectic, spicy, and delicious!

I’m glad that I’m maintaining some level of fitness while here, because in the coming days I’m going to over-eat. I can’t help myself… and I don’t want to!

There’s nothing like home cooking.

Spicing up a recipe

I shared this tweet before, but the post was more about life than cooking:

I’m not a big fan of cooking, but I have certain recipes that I do quite well. One of them is a stir fry. Last night’s was really good! I’m not just saying that because I enjoyed it, both my wife and daughter complimented it, and my daughter said, “I have to slow down so I can enjoy this longer.”

I didn’t use a recipe as my baseline. I didn’t measure anything. I just added things that I thought should go together. I cooked the peppers, red onion, carrots, and beans longer than the broccoli, which I cooked longer than the green onions and cilantro. I added way more sesame oil than any recipe I’ve ever followed, and way less soy. And I added a whole lot of garlic powder. This no-recipe-as-a-base approach doesn’t always work, but my stir fry always does.

One of my favourite things to do is to start with a recipe then go on a tangent. This is a lot less risky than flying by the seat of my pants, and it makes cooking fun for me. A couple days ago we made tacos, and when I went to the fridge for salsa I saw sweet chili pepper sauce and decided to try it instead… Absolutely delicious!

I don’t like easy puzzles, and to me a recipe is an easy puzzle… I like to spice things up a bit, and I’m usually glad I did.

Favourite food on the menu

When you find that one dish that you love having at a restaurant, don’t deviate. Order it every time. Why? Because if you decide to try something else, more than 9/10 times you will be disappointed.

I am a huge fan of food from all over the world. I take chances with food. I eat ‘street food’ when I travel. I like variety. But when I find a food I like at a restaurant, I mean really like, then I don’t stray from it.

Why take a low risk for a small reward? I already really like a dish, so why try something new and get disappointed? Even if there is that one dish that might be slightly better, the reward is small since I’m already enjoying a favourite. And besides, more than likely the different dish won’t be as good, and I’d leave the restaurant feeling let down.

When you find a favourite, stick to it. Enjoy and savour it, knowing you aren’t missing out, you are getting exactly what you like. Save the experimentation for new restaurants, or restaurants where you don’t already have a favourite.