A Smithsonian Luncheon
We were out museum-hopping today in Washington, DC. The Sunday before Thanksgiving seems to be a perfect time to visit... The crowds are definitely elsewhere!
We were at the National Museum of American History lusting after Julia Child's kitchen
when we decided to get lunch... The Constitution Cafe or the Stars and Stripes Cafe?!? Decisions, decisions... We opted for the Stars and Stripes.
$34.48 later, we had 2 cheeseburgers, 2 fried cheese curds, 2 bags of chips, a coffee, and a soda. This is how they keep the museums free - over-charging in the eateries.
The food was okay and the service what one would expect from folks who have to deal with the general public all day long. It was just expensive for what it was. Oh well... everything else is free...
So it's four museums later and time for a bit of a rest before heading out again tonight. We did see a lot and did a lot of walking. Good for working off the fried cheese curds!
I think we'll be traveling back to DuPont Circle and to the bookshop cafe where we had dinner last month.
Tomorrow is Ford's Theatre and A Christmas Carol.
Oh... and when we were checking in and chatting with the Front Desk clerk, I casually mentioned it was our 15th Anniversary. We were upgraded to a king suite.
What fun!
Cranberries, Cookbooks, and Lots of Meals
I have not been making time to be here the past few days. I've been cooking - and even taking pictures - but I haven't sat down here long enough to say anything about any of it. Shame on me.
It's time to play ketchup. Er... catsup. Uh... Catch-up.
The most fun item is a new cookbook from Guam! Our sister-in-law's nephew Jay sent it to us and I am just psyched! The book is Guam Super Cookbook and it is going to become a staple in the kitchen right away! It is just way too much fun!
I absolutely love cookbooks written by home cooks and other real people. These are the recipes passed down from generation to generation; family traditions or just good food made with local ingredients. (And we still have some Guamanian Boonie Pepper!) Food is the great equalizer, and to me, this is how one really learns about another culture. I plan on being a very good student!
This is from the cookbook website:
Inside the Guam Super Cookbook you will find a culmination of all-time favorite local recipes from generations ago. Plus, a world of tempting recipes submitted by many island residents wanting to share priceless recipes that have worked for them and recipes that have been passed onto them. From daring "pika" shrimp kelaguén just oozing with island fresh coconut and dripping in lemon juice, to an irresistible and scrumptious black magic cake all made from scratch, or let your taste buds take an exciting adventure with an awesome Greek salad. You too can enjoy all the flavors of what´s cooking all across Guam´s kitchens with easy-to-follow recipes when you want it at home, and much more.
Also, discover an array of hard-to-believe healthy choice recipes. Recipes designed by the University of Guam, Cooperative Extension Service, College of Natural and Applied Sciences in conjunction with increasing efforts to help prevent and combat health risks associated with diabetes. Try the mouth-watering oyster and chicken with broccoli, or a local lip-smacking favorite - eggplant in coconut milk and many other incredibly tasty dishes. It´s absolutely delicious you´ll wonder how it all could still be good for you, so go ahead and dig in!
There's over 100 recipes that are just calling my name! I see a lot of fun dinners in our future!
Si Yu'us Ma'ase, Jay!
It was also time to make some cranberry sauces for Thursday. We're heading to DC in the morning for a quick 15th Anniversary trip (A Christmas Carol at Ford's Theatre on Monday!) and then it's work Tuesday and Wednesday. Not a lot of time to do anything...
Fortunately, Cranberry Sauce is THE easiest thing in the word to make. 1 bag cranberries, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water. That's the basic and it's pretty good just like that.
Of course, I had to tweak things just a bit. I added a diced apple and a quarter-cup of grenadine liqueur to the pot for one batch, and for the second, a container of blackberries and some port.
Both of them came out fantastic. Here are some other cranberry sauce recipes we've come up with in the past. Try several of them!
And, finally, here are a couple of pictures of the last couple of nights dinners...
First was a Chicken Sofrito and Rice casserole.
I cooked up whole grain brown rice, and while that was simmering, I cut up a chicken breast, sauteed it, added a jar of Sofrito sauce, half a container of cherry tomatoes, and a small can of sliced black olives.
I stirred in the cooked rice, then added some cubes of cheese. Into the oven for about 20 minutes. Delish!
And what's better than homemade oven-baked French Fries?!? Why... serving them with a chicken and bacon sandwich!
The next couple of days will be restaurant meals. I'm sure we'll be heading back to DuPont Circle and the bookstore restaurant for at least one meal...
And then it's Thanksgiving!
There's A New Wegmans in Collegeville!
Armed with my shoppers card and coupon book full of free things if I spend at least $10.00, I'm off to the brand-new Wegmans 11 miles away from us.
I realize that 11 miles is nothing to the vast majority of the world, but considering I'm 2 miles from work, 2.5 miles from my normal shopping place and only 3 miles to Victor's mom's house, my travel-triangle is pretty small. (It's even past the Lowes and Target I never go to because they're so far away!)
But for groceries, I will make the sacrifice! (I traveled 8 miles yesterday to the Mexican/Italian produce place!)
I've pretty much lost faith with my old friend PathMark (nee SuperFresh). Their prices continue to rise and the employees continue to ignore me as I walk down the aisles. I'm the invisible shopper. I'm not looking for conversation, I'm not looking for a boisterous greeting - I'm looking for simple eye-contact and a half-smile. The tiniest bit of recognition that I'm a customer in the store.
You can't accomplish that, you don't deserve my hard-earned money.
To be fair, there are a couple of women there who go out of their way to say hi, but the majority of employees don't look up and don't say a word.
So... I'm off to the netherlands of formerly-farm Pennsylvania. I've made a list of things I know we need (and things we DON'T need!!!) and have debit card in hand. The goal is to keep this trip under $200.00.
++++++++++++++++++++
I went, I saw, I shopped! And had a good time doing it!
My main goal this trip really was to see if it was quick enough to make this my weekly grocery store. The Downingtown store is just a tad too far for a weekly trek, and as I mentioned, I'm no longer enthralled with PathMark. (I gave them my best shot - they just didn't reciprocate!) The only other store I've ever liked around here was Geunardi's in St Davids - but they went to hell after being bought by Safeway.
I'm thinkin' they did it!
I think the biggest thing one hears about Wegmans is that they're expensive. Well... one can spend a lot of money there, but in and of itself that doesn't make them expensive - it means they have lots of things you want to buy! It also means you need to have a bit of shopping savvy. If you shop any store regularly, you learn what to buy and when.
I had nothing pressing. I could take my time. I crossed to the far end of the store and started my shopping trek in the grocery section. We needed staples in the house after not doing any major shopping for a couple of weeks. Canned beans were 59¢. 10 pound sugar, $4.79. Good prices.
I wandered and meandered and started filling up the cart. Cybil needed dog food, so I thought I would see how she likes the Wegman kibble - 17.6 pounds for $8.25. I did a good read of the label and the ingredients look good. Can't say the same for Wegmans ketchup. High fructose corn syrup in a few too many products. Sorry, I don't care what the commercials say, the stuff is poison. I won't allow it in my home.
I also purposely didn't go into the center of the store where they have the most fantastic plates, platters, cookware and gadgets. I ran into one employee over at the cheese section who told me about some absolutely wonderful Italian ware that had me drooling. But I resisted. That trip is for another day.
Let's talk cheese.
It doesn't get much better than this. If it can be imported into the states, it can probably be found here. The selection is remarkable.
This is an area where one can get in trouble if one is like me. I like my cheese. I like all types of cheese, I like stinky cheeses, hard cheeses, soft cheeses, spreadable cheeses, Italian cheeses, French cheeses, Swiss cheeses - and everything in between. It's really easy to go overboard. Moderation is not always in my vocabulary, either. On the plus side, there are plenty of folks available to answer questions and cut cheeses to your specifications.
Besides having everything under the sun, Wegmans is a master at merchandising and display.
The food is presented in such a way that one just has to buy it. I really practiced restraint. It was a restraint born out of experience. There are only so many meals in a week and we're both still working towards losing weight. I just can't justify buying everything - regardless of how much I want to. Besides, I have to save something for next weeks trip!
Having said that, I had to get *real* deli skin-on hot dogs. I can't abide those mushy vacuum-packed national brands. I want my dogs to pop when I bite into them. (I had one for lunch. It rocked!)
Were I not a cook, I'd be going crazy here. The whole entire "food court" is one fabulous display after another. The food is just beautiful, and presented beautifully. I got more ideas just walking up and down the aisle. People eat with their eyes, and it's a good thing I can't gain weight looking! It's just remarkable to see.
And being a cook, half the fun of eating is the creation of the meal. Not so for most of the population. This place is for them. Seriously.
And the seafood...
Fish scares so many people. It doesn't have to. And here's proof.
It can be overwhelming.
I've shopped with Wegmans semi-regularly since they opened in Downingtown, and friends took us to dinner at Tastings, the fantastic restaurant attached to the mother-ship store in Rochester. I've worked in 5-star hotels and have been in the food business in one form or another for close to 50 years. It can still be overwhelming. So many choices, so little refrigeration space at home!
One way to save money and to have a bit of fun in the kitchen is to buy things like a whole pork loin. That 8.5 pounds of pork - in mere minutes - became a roast for tonight's dinner (that I will cook with onions and apples) and 10 thick-cut pork chops for later. I cut them thick enough to stuff or maybe do something fancy like those gorgeous pictures up there.
It cost $14.06 and there was no waste.
I also spent less than $18.00 for all of this chicken. Portioned, into FoodSaver bags and into the freezer.
Smart shopping and a sharp knife help balance out the impulse buys and keeps the total bill in check.
I took what should have been some beautiful pictures of the breads and bakery area, but... they didn't come out. Needless to say, it's pretty impressive. From basic breads to fabulous desserts, they have it all.
And the same with the produce. Not a lot of pictures, but lots of really fresh stuff.
The produce prices were high, compared to Gentile's in Newtown Square where I normally buy my produce, but the quality looked excellent, and the displays - like everything else - were great. One thing I really like at Wegmans is the bag-and-price kiosks (or whatever they're called). Put the produce on the scale, punch in the PLU and it gives you the price and prints out the price label. No sticker-shock surprises at the register!
I wandered the store for about 90 minutes but this trip stayed out of the Market Grill and the Pub, didn't buy sushi, and didn't get any Chinese food from the buffet. I need to save that for another trip when I can spend a bit of time there.
Actually, I need to make it a trip with Victor and we can eat and then spend time looking at the Italian cookware and pottery!
All in all, it was an excellent trip. I bought 10 bags of groceries (using my reusable shopping bags) and spent :::drum roll, please::: $163.17! Well below my self-imposed limit of $200.00!
Actually, it would have been a few dollars cheaper, but I forgot to give the cashier the coupons for the free apple juice ($1.89) the frozen mixed vegetables (89¢) and the free shopping bag (99¢).
Oh well.
No Pain, Lots of Gain
Back in September of 2007 I was weighing in at about 195 pounds. I had dropped 25 pounds from my all-time high of 220 by merely cutting out ALL high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated fats from my diet. I was still eating my normal big portions, but I seriously started looking at ingredients more than ever before. It worked. Without a lot of effort, I dropped the pounds.
And then I quit smoking.
The pounds started creeping on...
And on. And on...
It's pretty much a given that we gain weight when we quit smoking. I was prepared for it. Unfortunately, I didn't do anything about it. The pounds kept going on, the clothes kept getting tighter, and I continued to go on as if nothing was different. Except I noticed I was starting to move slower. It was taking more energy to do simple things.
Ignorance, of course, is bliss. If I don't know how much I really weigh, I don't have to do anything about it, right?!? I had avoided the scale for months. Until yesterday morning when I finally got up the nerve. 238.4 pounds. That was my limit. I officially knew. I now had to officially do something about it.
It's not too much of a secret that I love to cook and I use butter and cream with abandon, but my problem isn't nearly as much about what I eat as it is about how much I eat. The foods we eat are relatively good, in and of themselves - there's a great variety, it's minimally processed, it's as chemical-free as can be... Blood pressure is perfect, cholesterol is a bit high, but the LDL/HDL ratio is good. I just eat too much.
It's always been a bit of a joke that at any given moment, the neighborhood could drop in for dinner unannounced, and there'd not only be enough foods to feed them, but to give doggie bags, as well. And that is where a big part of my challenge lies - in cooking smaller quantities and portion control.
The other part is getting a bit more exercise. Besides eating way too much, I'm lazy.
So... last night we went out and bought a treadmill. Yes, I know I can go outside and walk. I also know that I may walk around the block, but I'm not going to break a sweat doing it. I'm a smell-the-flowers-leisurely-stroll kinda guy. The treadmill, however, MAKES me speed up, walk up inclines, slow down, all this stuff... I can even create customized programs and just plug them in and let the machine take over. And I can create iPod playlists to keep me upbeat and motivated! There's finally no excuse.
So...
We're about to embark on a journey...
A journey of good food, and a bit of exercise, while still eating dessert every night AND losing weight.
I want to lose 50 pounds. I think it can be done.
Tomorrow officially starts Day One.
The Healthiest Foods On Earth
I have said for years that the best diet is eating close to the earth and as unprocessed as possible. I just love having my opinions validated!
This article comes from Forbes.com.
Nutrition
The Healthiest Foods On Earth
Jonny Bowden, 07.07.09, 4:00 PM ET
What is the best diet for human beings?
Vegetarian? Vegan? High-protein? Low-fat? Dairy-Free?
Hold on to your shopping carts: There is no perfect diet for human beings. At least not one that's based on how much protein, fat or carbohydrates you eat.
People have lived and thrived on high-protein, high-fat diets (the Inuit of Greenland); on low-protein, high-carb diets (the indigenous peoples of southern Africa); on diets high in raw milk and cream (the people of the Loetschental Valley in Switzerland); diets high in saturated fat (the Trobriand Islanders) and even on diets in which animal blood is considered a staple (the Massai of Kenya and Tanzania). And folks have thrived on these diets without the ravages of degenerative diseases that are so epidemic in modern life--heart disease, diabetes, obesity, neurodegenerative diseases, osteoporosis and cancer.
In Depth: The Healthiest Foods On Earth
The only thing these diets have in common is that they're all based on whole foods with minimum processing. Nuts, berries, beans, raw milk, grass-fed meat. Whole, real, unprocessed food is almost always healthy, regardless of how many grams of carbs, protein or fat it contains.
All these healthy diets have in common the fact that they are absent foods with bar codes. They are also extremely low in sugar. In fact, the number of modern or ancient societies known for health and longevity that have consumed a diet high in sugar would be ... let's see ... zero.
Truth be told, what you eat probably matters less than how much processing it's undergone. Real food--whole food with minimal processing--contains a virtual pharmacy of nutrients, phytochemicals, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, anti-inflammatories and healthful fats, and can easily keep you alive and thriving into your 10th decade.
Berries, for example, are phenomenally low in calories, high in fiber and loaded with plant compounds that improve memory and help fight cancer. Studies have consistently shown that nut-eaters have lower rates of heart disease. Beans are notorious for their high fiber content and are a part of the diet of people--from almost every corner of the globe--who live long and well.
Protein--the word comes from a Greek word meaning "of prime importance"--is a feature of every healthy diet ever studied. Meat , contrary to its terrible reputation, can be a health food if--and this is a big if--the meat comes from animals that have been raised on pasture land, have never seen the inside of a feedlot farm and have never been shot full of antibiotics and hormones.
Ditto for raw milk, generally believed to be one of the healthiest beverages on the planet by countless devotees who often go to great expense and inconvenience to obtain it from small, sustainable farms. Wild salmon, whose omega-3 content is consistently higher than its less-fortunate farm-raised brethren, gets its red color from a powerful antioxidant called astaxathin. The combination of protein, omega-3s and antioxidants makes wild salmon a contender for anyone's list of great foods.
Another great food: eggs--one of nature's most perfect creations, especially if you don't throw out the all-important yolk. (Remember "whole" foods means exactly that--foods in their original form. Our robust ancestors did not eat "low-fat" caribou; we don't need to eat "egg-white" omelets.)
There are really no "bad" vegetables, but some of them are superstars. Any vegetable from the Brassica genus--broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, kale--is loaded with plant chemicals called indoles, which help reduce the risk of cancer.
In the fruit kingdom, apples totally deserve their reputation as doctor-repellants: they're loaded with fiber, minerals (like bone-building boron) and phytochemicals (like quercetin, which is known to be a powerful anti-inflammatory and to have anti-cancer properties). Some exciting new research suggests that pomegranate juice slows the progression of certain cancers. Other research shows it lowers blood pressure and may even act as a "natural Viagra."
Tea deserves special mention on any list of the world's healthiest foods. The second most widely consumed beverage in the world (after water), all forms of tea (black, oolong, white, green and the newer Yerba Matte) are loaded with antioxidants and anti-inflammatories. Some types (green tea, for example) contain plant chemicals called catechins which have decided anti-cancer activity
Finally, let's not forget members of the Alliaceae family of plants--onions, garlic and shallots. Garlic has been used for thousands of years for its medicinal properties; hundreds of published studies support its antimicrobial effects as well as its ability to lower the risk of heart disease. A number of studies have shown an inverse relationship between onion consumption and certain types of cancer.
A healthy diet doesn't have to contain every one of the "healthiest foods on earth," but you can't go wrong putting as many of the above mentioned foods in heavy rotation on your personal eating plan.
Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., CNS, is a board-certified nutritionist and the author of seven books on health and nutrition, including The 150 Most Effective Ways to Boost Your Energy and The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth.
Happy July 4th!
It was a wild and crazy day!
Food and drink were ridiculously bountiful, family and friends and little kids... Hawai'ian music in the background... Definitely a fun day.
It was a Hawai'ian--themed party... What better way to celebrate the 4th, eh?!?
I started off by grilling pork tenderloins that had been marinated in teriyaki sauce, pineapple juice, and allspice. Then brushed with the last of the strawberry BBQ sauce.
And then I made a fresh pineapple salsa to top it off.
I really wanted to make a silly watermelon boat of some sort - a Hawai'ian Outrigger was my first idea - but reality (and time) set in and it became a simple hollowed out watermelon with some lovely-tacky silk flowers (and a paper umbrella).
Marie's mom, Joann made an utterly delicious cherry pie, and Marie brought over banana cakes topped with an assortment of great toppings.
Unfortunately, the camera came out and went away before the party really started, and I never got any pictures of the food everyone else brought! We had homemade candied walnuts, caramel brownies, artichoke dip, strawberry rhubarb pie, a lemonade iced tea cocktail majob that was really good, plus a strawberry salad with a poppy seed dressing, marinated tomatoes, and.... and... potato salad, coconut rice pudding... and hot dogs... and... and...
Yumlicious.
A great time was had by all, and we have leftovers!
Cookin' up a storm!
Okay. Not really. We called for pizza (Peace-A-Pizza... pretty good stuff!) and I made root beer floats for dessert. We have friends staying with us for the holiday and... well... It's more fun to sit around and talk and stuff than cook dinner. Especially since we're getting ready for tomorrow's festivities.
Fun. Fun. Fun.
I did a quick stirfry last night...
...and then a lemon cake with fresh nectarines, homemade fig jam, and whipped cream, foir dessert.
Stay tuned for lots of pictures, tomorrow!
Burgers on the Barbie
Those peppers from yesterday?!? Boy, did they ever make a great burger! As did a bit of the strawberry BBQ sauce, cheese, bacon, tomato, red onion, catsup, mayo, and mustard.
I mixed a bit of the BBQ sauce in with the meat before forming the patties for a bit of added flavor. Not a lot - just enough to add that extra flavor. I normally add just a bit of S&P to the meat - nothing else. This was a good call.
The burgers were huge, of course. Impossible to properly eat. They made a huge mess and required lots and lots of napkins.
Dessert is definitely going to wait awhile, tonight.....
Chicken Salad Salad
Tonight's dinner started with my weekly trek to Gentile's this morning. Sunshine, blue skies, minimal traffic... It was the perfect drive down. I had the wiondows open, the radio blaring. What's that expression... "Dance like no one is looking"? Well... that was me singing in the car. It was rather fun. Wendy Wadsworth and I belting out "I'm Guilty" and me, Dolly Parton and Vince Gill doing a great rendition of "I Will Always Love You". (Eat your heart out, Whitney!) Who knew 8 miles could be so much fun?!?
My timing was perfect, too! The store wasn't crowded and I had time to actually browse around a bit. The very first thing I saw was my oblong watermelon - with seeds! I'm psyched! I have to figure out how to carve it into a Hawai'ian outrigger or something for Saturday! I picked up a lot of fruit that should be perfect on Saturday to chop and fill it up.
One thing I picked up for today was a bunch of long hot peppers for Victor to fry. I like having them in the 'fridge to add to things. And these guys have been pretty hot.
Victor said he would actually grill them this time around, so I got the fire going and cooked off a couple of chicken breasts for salads. Victor was still working, so i charred them nicely, placed 'em in a bag to sweat, and then peeled and seeded them. They smelled fantastic and tasted fantastic. At that point, all I really wanted was a chicken sandwich with peppers, but I also wanted a salad. The salad won - but with a twist.
I made a quick chicken salad with the cubed grilled chicken, a couple of the peppers, diced, a tablespoon of mayonnaise, juice of a lime, salt and pepper. Tart, creamy, spicy. Perfect.
I also had an avocado that needed eating tonight. It was r-i-p-e. It was actually a little too ripe to just slice into the salad, and as I stood at the island, I saw those deep red, vine-ripened tomatoes and thought "Stuffed Tomatoes"! I made a quick guacamole with the avocado and a couple of tablespoons of picante sauce, hollowed out the tomatoes and filled.
Foe the dressing, I added 2 tbsp of mayonnaise to the bowl I had made the guacamole in (there was a tiny-tad left in there), juice of a lime, a tablespoon of picante sauce, and a bit of S&P. Instant Mexican Thousand Island!
Diced green onions, grapes, and apricots finished the plate.
And tonight's dessert will be ice cream.
More Clean-Out and Repurposing
Tonight's dinner is brought to you courtesy of last night's taco filling and the night before's macaroni and cheese. I made too much meat filling (what a shock!) and had more cheese sauce than I needed for the mac and cheese (another "you've got to be kidding!" moment).
It made for a delectable Sloppy Joe with Cheese Fries!
It was an 18 minute dinner - the length of time needed to cook the fries. They went into the oven, I sauteed a bit of red onion (also left over from last night) and a green pepper (just something that needed using up) in a drizzle of olive oil. When it was pretty well cooked, I added the taco filling and a can of tomato sauce. Made it hot. It didn't need any other spices or seasonings. And I finished off an open bag of fries and used a couple more frozen buns. I'm beginning to see into the freezer!!!
Fries came out of the oven and they were topped with cheese sauce and some green onions.
I was actually a little bit bummed. I was talking at work with one of my coworkers and he mentioned cheese fries with bacon and green onions - which is how the cheese fries came about in the first place.
I forgot to cook the bacon!
Oh well...
On a fun note, I just received a big box from Oriental Trading Company. For those who don't know OTC, they are the king of the tacky, cheap, plastic, made-in-China party favors, and such. I love the place.
We're hosting a neighbor July 4th party and decided to do a Hawai'ian Theme. I bought hibiscus everything, plastic sippy cups with lids and straws for the little kids, pink flamingo tooth picks, a whole gross of little drink umbrellas, silk flower picks... dinner plates, dessert plates... Tacky as tacky can be.
It should be fun!
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas to one and all! We're in North Jersey having fun with the family... Perfect weather, tons of food, lots of presents, and lots of fun and good cheer.
Missed Dinner
We were supposed to meet Kate and Lori in Chicago for Thanksgiving Dinner. That isn't happening. Fortunately, it wasn't a fatality with the woman in Iowa, but it has screwed up a lot of plans. Amtrak is doing everything they can to make connections. We shall see.
In the meantime, we're in our room watching movies.
We had passed on lunch, thinking we would be eating with Kate and Lori. Fortunately, we have more snacks than you can even begin to imagine... We shall not starve.
And... we finally got moving... We've crossed the mighty Mississippi.
As it appears right now, we'll make our connection - barely. Time for a few more movies.