Good Life Cuisine
Let's Grow Together
Week 3: The Food Fun Factor
I've dedicated this week to making peace with food. I learned a lot about the depths of deprivation and how I need to take my time and be patience with some specific foods. I learned that it's not just about making peace with heavy foods, but also with light and healthy choices as well. But most of all, I am re-discovering the fun of preparing and eating all sorts of foods.
I took Jamie Oliver's recipe feed, and added it to my home page (I use iGoogle as a feed reader and it's the home page on most of my browsers). Every day, there is a new recipe, and Jamie really knows how to make cooking and eating a fun experience. Inspired by a couple of his recipes, we had a fantastic dining experience.
A point here is that I discovered that a little effort goes a long way. Just taking the time to think about what we feel like, to explore, and a bit of extra time to stop by the store to by fresh ingredients. Most of this is really simple stuff, done in 20 minutes or less. And new fresh tastes and their combinations create a new, intensely satisfying fun eating experience.
Another point is the curious and open, exploratory mindset with which I inquire myself in what do I feel like eating. Just invented a great lunch ciabatta sandwich with a bit of bacon, mozzarella, pesto, rucola and tomato.
On my plan for next steps is discovering fun light dessert recipes and experimenting with introducing them to my meals. Got any ideas?
Mon, 03/08/2010 - 16:20
My husband and I started regularly buying our produce, meats, eggs, and cheese at our local farmer's market last year, and it's made a huge difference in how we approach our meals. Sometimes we'll challenge ourselves by buying something unfamiliar or that we don't really know what to do with, and end up making a recipe we'd never have tried otherwise. (That's how we ended up eating braised radishes last summer. And here I thought they were only for tossed salads.) And eating more seasonally is also enjoyable -- we find ourselves anticipating the arrival of favorite foods (e.g., fresh asparagus in May), and that adds some fun to our whole approach to food.
As to a light dessert... you can do some really amazing stuff with silken tofu (I made a chocolate mousse once that was every bit as good as what I've had in a restaurant). We also love all different kinds of jams and preserves, and sometimes have a dollop of those on top of a small shortcake or slice of angel food cake. A few weeks ago, we even tried a souffle for the first time, and made a heavenly, light-as-a-feather dessert flavored with just a hint of vanilla and Grand Marnier. It was fun to make, and even more fun to eat. :)
-- Wingette