Hardena

Last night I went to Hardena/Waroeng Surabaya. I might be off the spaghettio's but Indonesian food is definitely out of my comfort zone, but I was pretty excited to try it out. I calmed my anxiety by checking out the online menu, figuring out what foods are. I have found that at least in this Indonesian place, coconut and tofu are in almost anything on the menu. I seen a few reviews saying there was a "pick 3 for $7" deal so I decided to figure out ahead of time what I wanted. I found a list of the 50 most delicious foods and randang was on it, so I knew I was giving that a shot. I also found a soup, soto ayum and a salad gado gado. I wrote them down, picked up my cousin and boyfriend and headed down.

The restaurant wasn't hard to find. It isn't flashy, a bright door but a not too noticeable sign on a side street off of Broad. The restaurant was cute, small and felt almost like I was invited to dinner at someone special's house. When we came in two girls around our age were sitting at the main large table and offered to move down and share with us. We sat, then realized we were supposed to go up school lunch style and pick things and then be seated. I pulled out my list and prepared for my turn. When the people in front of me finished the man who stood in front of the hot dishes asked, for here or to go, and I said for here. He grabbed a plate, turned to a big rice maker and started pouring on rice. My cousin whispers to me, "What is he doing?" and I whisper back "I don't know, maybe he serves one generic meal for strange american customers who show up in his restaurant, just go with it." He turns back around and faces the foods with a plate of white rice and says
"What would you like?" I ask if it is the infamous pick three I heard of. (I do not use the word infamous haha). He says yes. I say I want to start with rendang. He says rendang back to me, reassuring me that I pronounced it correctly. I see some green beans in tofu and I know that I want them more than the stuff on my list, so I ask for those. Then I say soto ayum, and he says, that comes in a bowl and is seperate from the pick 3. I say ok, and knowing that it is a soup, and the other thing on my list gado gado is a salad I assume it's not in the pick three either so I look at the dishes in front of me and since almost everyone comes with tofu I opt for a mixed vegetable. Brenda goes with the rendang also and chooses a side of squid, and Andrew had the curry chicken. We also shared a glass of Es Teler. Which was a sweet coconut milk flavored drink with floating fruit in it. We ended up having an awesome time. The women at our table were from Singapore and told us that most of this food was traditional in their country, and they recommended the Crysanthanum tea. Which I found very refreshing. They also recommended to ask for a side of chili (paste?) and to mix it in the rice. I really enjoyed it. It had a strong heat to it but a light flavor and made the meal. They helped us figure out the different  fruits in our drink with some taste testing. Lychee, and the other I can't remember. It also had shaved coconut in it and looked very tropical. Would have been great with some rum! When Brenda bit the squid ink exploded in her mouth, I am not sure if that is normal but it was hilarious to us.

The Future of My Food

I am excited to say that cooking will just be one of many hobbies that come out of this new gastronome lifestyle. Next up: canning, gardening, and trying new restaurants. I am happy to say I have dinner plans for next week at S&H Kebab House and I have a list of places I want to try that will follow. It is scary and exciting to step outside of my comfort zone. The food I have been cooking is normal food, that everyone eats all of the time. I have come so far from spaghettios already, but say, garlic spinach the other night was new to me, but eating foods I have never even heard of will be a challenge. I look forward to informing you all of the experiences and I am excited and open to what I have in store for me. I can't wait to see the restaurants, experience the atmosphere and to try the foods. I am going to try and do menu research before going so I know what went into the preparation and what exactly I am eating! Wish me luck!

Forgiving myself for the time lapse

I commend the faithful blogger. It is a difficult task to commit yourself fully to writing on the same subject, day in and day out especially in the beginning when you don't know how faithful your readers are! I have been roadblocked by my own mind. Filled with the pressures of staying on topic and to follow the exact format I have taken the fun out of blogging, and left huge dents in my writing schedule. I have been cooking everyday, taking pictures of my meals, I haven't been recording as faithfully my use of ingredients and quite often don't measure by teaspoon but more by estimates. So it has been difficult getting all of my experimental meals recorded on here! I waited weeks and thought it would just all come back to me in the pictures, but I trusted my memory more than it deserved to be.
Anyway, let me give you a list of helpful things I have been doing to keep cooking fresh and keeping my life involved with my new journey.
- I read Gabrielle Hamilton's Blood Bones and Butter. Which I found very inspiring. A woman who speaks of food the way that I have come to understand and appreciate it. She took her dream of starting a restaurant with little to no experience, skipped on the middle steps, and just made it happen- but she also was raised in a home with quite a lot of food appreciation that helped her aesthetic.
- I am currently working my way through "How to be a better Foodie" and looking up everything on the internet as I go to see what it is I am reading.
- I am currently listening to the audiobook by Anthony Bourdain "Medium Raw" and I am very pleased with it. He describes in his opening paragraphs his experience with the sacred eating of ortolan bunting. I found this very fascinating especially because they eat the bird whole including bones and beak, its illegal and they hide their heads whilst they enjoy this forbidden delicacy.
-I picked up Culinaria France, Italy and Germany and am studying the origins of food in my free time, why they ate what they did, where it came from, what the premier dishes in each region are which is exceptionally interesting to me when I found the actual villages of my ancestors.
- I have been going to my weekly worship celebration at my super market, picking up new varieties of fruits and cheeses, making my way through the spices, and most excitingly writing up shopping lists based on recipes I find online and trying to change them based on my specific taste.
- I have tried a few new foods. I have attempted a few new methods of cooking, and I have been experiencing extreme lust for everything that is kitchen appliance/utensil.
- I have been graciously lent the mother of all invention- the Kitchenaid Mixer. And made my own ice cream, water ice, pies, pretzels, pop tarts.. etc. from its many attachments!
So I didn't die people. I have just been anxiously awaiting the right thing to write and I just thought I would give you an update. :)
Now, I must get back to my reading.

Sausage Pizza Bread

This pizza bread is awesome! Make sure you cut it evenly, or you will have one thin crust, one thick crust! I am a thin crust kind of girl but I found the thicker the bread the better so that it can hold up a thick meat sauce and a substantial amount of cheese. 

 Ingredients:

For Meat Sauce: 

3 tomatoes chopped 

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

1 onion

tablespoon of basil

tablespoon of red pepper flakes

tablespoon of parsley

tablespoon of oregano

tablespoon of peppercorn

tablespoon of salt

2 tablespoons of chopped garlic

table spoon of garlic powder

1 can of crushed tomatoes

To prepare Meat Sauce:

Set pan to medium heat, add oil.

chop onion and fry until translucent.

add fresh chopped tomatoes

add one can of crushed tomatoes

add all spices, stir.

bring to boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer.

For Bread:

Ingredients:

Italian Bread

2 tablespoons of margarine

3 tablespoons of chopped garlic

Your choice of cheese. (I bought a pack of mixed shredded Italian cheeses, a bag of shredded mozzarella and and mixed the two together. )

Directions:

Cut bread evenly.

butter bread with even butter and garlic.

Place on baking sheet open.

Add meat sauce.

Top with cheeses. 

For Sausage:

Buy Hot Italian Sausage.

Put a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in a pan on medium heat.

Add hot sausage. Cover

Cook until bottom is golden brown and flip over.

Continue to cook until middle is no longer pink.

slice sausage and put on top of pizza.

place in the oven on 350 until cheese is melted and bread begins to get crunchy! Enjoy! 

Chili Pork Chops and Cheesy Potato Wedges

This was great! The potato wedges are addictive! I have made them a few times since. I doubled the recipe for extra sauce and people used it to dip the potato wedges. 

For the Meat:

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 -3 tablespoons of chopped garlic

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup water

3/4 cup ketchup

1 teaspoon chili powder

5 -6 pork chops 

salt and pepper

1 Cook onions in oil until lightly brown.

2 Add garlic, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, water, ketchup and salt and pepper.

3 Cover and simmer the sauce for 10 minutes.

4 Arrange pork chops in crock pot, pour sauce over the chops.

5 Cover and cook on LOW HEAT for 6-7 hours.

For the Wedges: 


4 large potatoes

1/4 cup cooking oil

1 tablespoon parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 cup of fresh mozzarella
1 Wash potatoes, cut into wedges.

2 Place potatoes skin down in a baking dish. 
3 Mix the ingredients together (except mozzarella) brush onto potatoes
4. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes
5 Add Mozzarella. cook for 15 more minutes.

Japanese Chicken

 Hello everyone! I have been gone a while but I have been taking pictures and writing down what I have been eating so I will update shortly! This chicken was amazing. It tasted very much like something I had at Hibachi's. The rice was just Knorr Rice.  I got the recipe on Food.com and tweaked it a tiny bit. 

8 chicken drumsticks, skin on

1 cup water

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1/3 cup soy sauce

2 1/2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons of chili powder

2 tablespoons Chopped Garlic

1 tablespoon Red Pepper flakes

1 Serrano pepper

1.Place all the ingredients in a saucepan over a high heat.

2 Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer for about 20 minutes.

3 Remove any scum that rises to the surface.

4 Increase the heat, turning the drumsticks frequently in the liquid, and cook until the liquid has reduced to a sticky glaze.

5 Arrange the chicken on a serving platter, remove the chili from the liquid, and spoon the glaze over.

Chicken Quesadillas

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons of chipolte salsa

1 packet of taco powder

Taco cheese

A bunch of fresh cilantro

1/2 onion

1 can of fresh chiles

1 can of diced tomatoes

chili powder

garlic salt

sea salt

peppercorn

sour cream

tortillas

extra virgin olive oil

Pour a little extra virgin olive oil into a pan, slice up the onion, let it simmer until onions are translucent. Take one of the chicken breasts and slice it so that you have two very thin chicken breasts. Do the same with the other. Then dice those peices so that you can spread a thin even amount of chicken across the inside of each quesadilla. Add the tomatoes and chiles into the pan with the onions. simmer for 15 minutes.

Add chicken. add a 1/4 cup of water. stir.

Sprinkle on generous amounts of chili powder, garlic salt, sea salt, and peppercorn. stirring it in. Then add taco powder. cut up fresh cilantro and add to the pan.

If you have a George Foreman Grille follow the next few steps, if not you can do everything the same just in a separate pan.

Use a brush to rub butter on one side of a tortilla. On the opposite side put a table spoon of chipolte salsa and spread it all over the tortilla. Get a spoon that strains (has holes in it) and grab a spoonful of the chicken mixture from the stove and place on HALF of the tortilla, leaving the other half free. on top of the mixture add a generous amount of taco cheese. Then fold the tortilla in half and put in the George Foreman grille for a few minutes until cheese is melted. Then transfer to pan. (If you do not have a George Foreman Grille, just do all of it in the pan). flip in pan and leave uncovered. Wait until quesadilla is crispy or to your liking and serve with a garnish of fresh cilantro and a side of sour cream for dipping!

Fruit Cocktail

This is a simple easy spin on  fruit for breakfast or for a snack. You can use any fruit you like or have in your home that are study enough to stand in the water (so no bananas!). I used strawberries and grapes. Slice the strawberries horizontally into 3 or 4 pieces and the diagonally cut those so you have 6-8 tiny strawberry slices. Cut the grapes in half. Use a can of peaches in a light juice and pour those into a bowl. Add your cut up fruit. Toss with a few handfuls of raisins and you have yourself a fruit salad with things just lying around your house! I like to do this instead of just getting a can of fruit cocktail because they raisins really liven it up plus you have different textures and more fresh fruit! Enjoy!

Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

3 Chicken Breasts

2 red potatoes

Half a bag of frozen corn
2 carrots
4 stalks of celery
half a bag of peas
a handful of green beans
1/2 cup of margarine
1/3 cup of flour

sea salt

black pepper corn

a can of cream of chicken soup

2/3 cup of milk

2 9inch pie crusts
For my next trick, Chicken Pot Pie! I have to tell you, after making this we did not eat anything else for the next two days until it was gone. This was my first chicken pot pie, and I found the dough to be hard to work with. It would tear, and I would just ball it up, and re work it over and over. So visually, it may not be as appealing as it would be if I were some sort of dough expert, but I am sure you will enjoy it quite the same!

Preheat oven to 425.

First,  I got the potatoes boiling because they will take the longest. Then add the margarine (I use country crock margarine) to a pan and when it is heated up, diced an onion and put it in the pan until the onions became translucent.  I cut up two carrots and a handful of celery stalks and  green beans (I cut those in threes) bought a bag of  frozen corn and frozen peas (which my boyfriend begged for me to not include but you are welcome to).
Boil some water, with a dash of salt and cut up the chicken breasts into cubes and put it in the water with the carrots, celery, corn, green beans, and peas. Put a lid on it and boil for 15 minutes.

When the onions are translucent add the flour then the milk and the cream of chicken. Stir for five minutes on medium and then switch to low- only stirring ever so often until everything else is done.

When veggies and chicken are boiled, drain them and set aside.

Use a glass pie dish, unroll one of the pie doughs and lay it in the bottom, cinching the sides. pour in the veggies. Dice the potatoes and put them on top. Then pour the cream mixture on top of it all, this will fill in all the gaps. Don't be afraid to pile higher than the glass container. Then take your second pie crust and lay it on top, cinching the sides. and cut three slices in the top for ventilation.

Done after 35 minutes or when crust is golden brown.

Garlic Steak and Potoates

Instead of over complicated recipes I tried this easy dish.
 Remember, sometimes the easiest, most obvious dishes can be some of the best! Last nights dinner went over very well.
Threw the potatoes in the crock pot in some tin foil before work.
Came home, they were fully cooked (don't forget to poke holes in them).
Then took butter and minced garlic and through it in the microwave with some garlic powder.
Took two pans, poured oil in them, let them get hot.
Opened up my steaks and threw them in the pan. Timing them in my head to flip in four minutes.
I used a brush and brushed on the butter sauce generously, because a lot of it will come off in the pan, making sure to get the garlic all over the steak.
Then moved on and did the same to my second steak.
Then I grounded  up sea salt and black peppercorn on top of each before flipping them over.
Then again rubbing the steaks down, then pouring most of the left over juice on the steaks to simmer.
Then right before taking them out, I put the salt and pepper on the second side too.
 Transferring them to plates, I poured the remaining sauce onto the steaks, next to the potatoes.
And it turned out great!
Tips: Be sure to have the crock pot on low and make sure the potatoes are a good size, the smaller ones were a little tough on the bottom from over cooking. I left mine in for 9 1/2 hours. If you can get home sooner than that, I would say, you could use a smaller potato.

Also, make sure your steak is at least an inch thick. Too thin steaks require less time. And do not use a pan lid because this can cook the center too much and make your steak dry.

The Do's and Don'ts of great Sauce!

Do use fresh tomatoes
Do not call it gravy
Do use fresh basil leaves
Do not cut the tomatoes too thick
Do use tomato paste, and crushed tomatoes
Do add good amounts of salt and ground pepper
Do add pepper flakes to taste
Don't put in huge amounts of anything without taste testing a little at a time
Do simmer
Do not over cook and in the case of overcooking, -
DO NOT scrape the bottom of the dish or the burned edges will enter the sauce.
Do add a nice red or white wine

Hot Sausage, Sweet Sausage, Angel Hair, and home made sauce!

Apple Sage Pork Chops

One thing I have discovered that I love are the McCormick packets in the spice aisle. They give you a small amount of each spice that is needed to make a specific meal. That way, before you really learn to understand what spices go best with what and you know which to buy for your home. I bought the Apple and Sage Pork Chops and my boyfriend and I were in awe. This was an awesome recipe. For someone who hasn't cooked very long, fruit and meat together is a whole new territory. But I found myself wanting an peice of apple and a peice of pork on each bite! I hope you enjoy it! I served mine with a bowl of potatoes. If you are cheap and still learning like me, you can take my great advice. Go into the aisle, look at the back of the different recipes, take a snap shot on your smart phone and if you already have the ingredients you don't even need to buy the packs.

Makes 6 servings.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon flour
2 teaspoons McCormick® Sage, Rubbed
1 1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt
1 teaspoon McCormick® Thyme Leaves
1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Nutmeg, Ground
6 boneless pork chops, 3/4- to 1-inch thick (about 2 pounds)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 Gala apples, cut into thin wedges
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup apple juice

DIRECTIONS

1. Mix flour, sage, seasoned salt, thyme and nutmeg in small bowl until well blended. Sprinkle both sides of pork chops with 1 tablespoon of the flour mixture.

2. Heat oil in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add pork chops; brown on both sides. Remove from skillet. Add apples, onion, remaining seasoned flour and juice to skillet; stir until well mixed. Return pork chops to skillet.

3. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 5 minutes or until pork chops are desired doneness. Remove pork chops to serving platter; keep warm. Simmer sauce 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. Serve sauce over pork chops.

Spice up your life!

Yesterday morning I was faced with three peices of chicken breast that needed to be cooked asap and zero enthusiasm. So I decided to go online, type in "slow cooker" and "chicken" and find a recipe that allowed my chicken to cook itself. Suprisingly I only found one recipe. And it was entitled, "Bob's Chicken Recipe". Now I am not putting down old Bob, but if I couldn't find anyone else that had slow cooking chicken recipes maybe a light should have went off in my head that people don't slow cook chicken breast for a reason.

His recipe just said to put the chicken in the slow cooker, add white wine and store bought tomato sauce and its a go. I decided to take a somewhat fresher root. Not able to make a whole sauce, in the ten minutes I had before work, I did however cut up some fresh tomatoes, garlic, and add it to a plain sauce, then mix in my own spices, parsley, oregeno, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and basil.

Which i have to say was the FIRST time since this journey began that I felt comfortable mixing in spices from the top of my head and enjoyed the end result! I had previously tried months before and added way too much and ruined some stewed tomatoes to the point where the smell was unbareable. I don't know what happened but I think it was caused by an overflow of parsley mixed with something else. That experience left me scarred from ever feeling confident enough to do my own spicing in recipes.

Growing up, I only used salt. If you are also a spiceless eater,  you probably covered your food in whatever fat, butter, salt you could find to give it flavor. I am hear to tell you, you will get the hang of it! After you slowly adapt your palette to the spices, then you will know what you want to taste in your foods and will know how to add it properly. So, needless to say, this cooking milestone was a very sweet moment in my kitchen. So after combining everything, I put it on low, and headed off to work. I thought that with the over use of chardonnay and the tomato sauce that the chicken would be fine. I would cook up some angel hair and garlic bread and it would be done.

When I came home it smelled amazing in the house! I was excited! When I opened my slow cooker, it was burnt around the top. I was suprised since my food was on low. The chicken had a very dark color to it, like pork. The sauce smelled great, the tomatoes had a little bit of texture left to them but mostly had stewed into a mouthwatering melt. I cut up some italian bread, mixed a little chopped garlic and margerine and made a spread, and spread it on. When the angel hair was done I made up our plates. My boyfriend respectively delighted in everything even though I was curiously staring at the chicken. It was obviously very dry, and weird looking. Finally the truth came out. We decided that the sauce wonderful. We used the pasta and the bread to devour every last drop of it left in the slow cooker, but the chicken breasts probably shouldn't have been slow cooked all day while we were at work. Maybe full chicken's can withstand it, I don't know that fact yet but I will tackle that hurdle when it comes. But as for today, we still had a great filling meal without the chicken and I learned some valuable cooking lessons!  Tonight we are going to dinner with our friends. We are bringing Bruchetta, Melisa is cooking a meatloaf covered in bacon and I believe other people our bringing dessert and wine. I am not a meatloaf girl but I am on a journey of experimentation so cheers to new tastes! I'll let  you know how it goes! Here's a pic of the bruchetta I made last week. I tweaked a recipe and used a three cheese bread from Panera and it was a huge hit!

Wolff's

If you live in the philadelphia area, check out Wollf's Apple House right past Granite Run Mall. They grow their own flowers and veggies and fruit, and everything is home made and local. I am in love with their pulled pork, potato salad and ribs! Today we tried some home made cheeses, nachos, breads and pastries. I really couldn't wait to get home and eat! We picked up a carrot cake cupcake and some great coffee.  Some of the veggies/fruit were even cheaper than acme and looked like they were much better quality. We purchased some ingredients to make our own pickles and a bunch of other things! Next time I go I want to pick up some homemade soap! They have one that repels bugs! How cool is that!

The Defrost Debacle

Many of you probably understand defrosting. This process is quite simple. At the supermarket try getting meat wrapped in the size you will be using for one meal or when you buy your meat, you should seperate it by how much you will cook for one night, put it in freezer safe bags or containers and freeze it. You don't want to be trying to seperate chicken that has been frozen all together in a huge bag! Also, If you have to cook all of the meat, make a big meal and when there is plenty leftover, you can freeze it. You also cannot defrost something and then refreeze it, unless it has since been cooked.
This stuff I got quite quickly. My problem with defrosting is that forgetting to defrost stuff ruins your whole nights meal. I have too many times recently planned everything out, bought all of my extra supplies and then came home to frozen meat that would never be ready in time for dinner.
Secondly, do not forget that if you are using a slow cooker, you must take your food out far in advance. This morning I took out tenderloin, thinking I would have all day to defrost it, then I could cook it for dinner tonight. But much to my suprise, I remembered that I wanted to slow cook it, and to do that it needed to already be defrosted. So now I have nothing to cook and that is why my dinner consists of this:

a leftover brownie and some wine!
One more quick tip I learned: As far as freezing your cooked leftovers- remember that the food lasts only as long as the quickest molding ingredient. If anything is used in your meal that doesn't bode well over time (like bacon) you can only keep it for as long as that ingredient lasts!

Resources

When you don't know how to cook you usually don't know what to cook. I have found that looking up recipes can go a few different ways. As much as I want to try new things and learn how to do different stuff I think I had the most luck with meals that are most familiar to something I like, say- food I already likes second cousin. This way you pretty much like 85% of the ingredients and you won't be shocked to find out after two hours and many $$$ for strange new foods that you don't like it and you still have nothing to eat for dinner. This happened to me a bunch when I tried to do some crazy recipes from some super fancy cookbooks. Just not my style yet. Yes, I am stepping a class up from spaghettios but that doesn't mean I need to be reading cookbooks from San Francisco's most prestigious chef's and their recipes for their very expensive restaurants. Not yet at least. The two things I tried to cook out of that book required so much of my energy, I ended up cooking 3 dinners in one day and not being satisfied with ANY of them.
One resource I have found most useful is the website Supercook.com. This website records a list of all of your food, spices etc and gives you recipes based on what you already have. The more ingredients you have the closer to the top of the list it will be, and below those are a list of recipes where you are missing one ingredient and then two and so on. I think it has been my top resource in finding recipes. The best thing about it is you can highlight something you have like, "chicken" and then it will only show recipes with chicken in them. Or you can also go to appetizers, entrees or dessert etc. to find a specific thing to make.
Another thing I have noticed is the most helpful websites for cooking have not been recipe sites. The more someone explains the process of how things are done, the little tips and tricks for cooking and not just lists of recipes the better you will get at cooking. And I have found that people with lots of pictures are pretty helpful also. One I liked is www.ThePioneerWoman.com.

Food Isn't A Cheap Hooker

I have spent mostly all of my 28 years eating crap. Crap, that the rest of the world wouldn't even sell but Americans thrive on. All of the middle aisles of your local supermarket are full of it. Colored boxes with bright pictures but inside, nothing with substance, no actual food.  I can blame the supermarkets, my parents, for allowing me to eat it or the government for the supply and demand of it all -but it was my own two hands who for at least the last 10 years I hold wholly responsible. It isn't just the food I ate that I consider the problem, it's the way I ate it. Shoving down a quick breakfast before work, a fast food lunch in my car and with no thought, a quick and easy dinner that usually included little cooking and no prep time. I was treating my food like a cheap hooker instead of a nurturing and important part of my everyday life. Got it in fast, and got out of there, and as many of you who know me find it to be true- I couldn't even look at what was leftover after. I have spent the last few months trying to undo the process. Starting at the root. Understanding food, it's purpose and learning to enjoy it. In the beginning of this journey I have already learned some valuable lessons.

1. Food needs love and attention.Most of my eating is an almost unconscious event. I eat in front of a TV, in a movie theater, watching a football game, gorging on pizza while playing a drinking game or in a hurry before I have to get somewhere and do something else. Not only do I have NO time to prepare a meal, but I have no time to even eat it! So I thought. In the last few months I have taken a few lessons from the zen masters of the east. I am conscious of my food. I don't prepare it in haste. I set time in my day aside to cook and consider what effort went into the growing, picking, delivering and selling of my food. I respect it. And in this respect, you tend to put a lot less shit in your mouth, and a lot more good food. When I am in this mindfulness of food I care about where it comes from, what was used to preserve it, how far it has travelled because these things matter when it is your body that will be storing and using them. I also respect the process of eating more.

2. Eating is balance between nurturing and pleasure. I have spent boatloads of cash on bad food because I crave it. I don't think about what it will do to my body. I don't think about anything but the pleasure that comes from it. These days, I can assure you, there is tons of pleasure in my eating. But it is just different. A well cooked meal, of fresh food, is a great feeling in itself. A complimentary wine, a variety including a small appetizer can go a long way. Before I started cooking, my favorite foods were butter and salt. Yep, foods. I would have a little steak with my salt, a little rice with my butter but those were the only tastes my taste buds searched for, and wanted in everything and anything I ate. After slowly getting used to herbs and spices, I have found that I don't even need to add salt or butter to my food because it has so much flavor in it already. Another very important change i went through is I stopped dieting.I stopped buying diet food, I stopped binging, I stopped counting calories and I realized that dieting has nothing to do with nutrition. In fact, I have found it's quite the opposite. Starving myself only leaves my body to absorb all of the carbs that I ate because it is afraid it won't eat again. And diet foods have just substituted horrible processed junk in replacement of natural foods. As long as I can use portion control and balance, and I eat real food- the food on the OUTSIDE of my supermarket- then I think I will be much better off. For example, the atkins grease fest of my all bacon and eggs extravaganza left me weak and feeling dirty. Who cuts out fruit? Anyone who cuts out fruit I just don't trust. your body is naturally designed to need those good carbs. Ok, enough ranting.

3. Like a hooker you get what you pay for, sorta. . I have found that even the thriftiest person will shove out money for something they love. Expensive monthly cable channels, designer handbags, fancy cars. But when it comes to food, something that goes in our bodies, our one and only bodies- we want things for chump change. It just reminds me of the time I went to the supermarket to get a pregnancy test and saw one for like $4 on the bottom shelf. Um, no thank you. When something is important- you get the good one. And so yes, I have opened my food budget up, picked up the healthier choices, the fresher meats and cheeses- and found that I actually am spending less than before. How? Because I cook all of my meals. So, even though I am buying fresh mozzarella and imported wine instead of boxed wine, even though I have been using varieties of decadent deli meats, panera bread instead of Strohman and Grey Poupon instead of acme brand mustard- I am saving money. That's the beauty of it! I found that on LUNCH ALONE at the likes of McDonald's, Burger King and Taco Bell Andrew and I were averaging $112 a week. That in itself is enough money for our weeks groceries.

So on this journey, I wanted to document it. I want a log of all my trials and tribulations through the process of learning how to cook, how to eat properly, how to find wines and how to stop giving into the crap! If you have ever eaten oodles and noodles- you should understand where I am coming from. You are what you eat! Love your body, and give it what it deserves!