Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Day 27: Bean Salad, Thai veggie Soup and Sushi - oh... and chicken noodle soup


So the picture you see here has nothing to do with what I ate today as all my meals minus the Ultra shake were prepared by someone else. The delicious blend of fowl, Penzy spices, time and heat that was started last night by emulsifying a Moroccan chicken carcass with brandy for several hours; chilled the stock outdoors overnight in our current 40 degree San Francisco evening weather; then skimmed off the fat in the morning and used as a base with a mirepoix, parsley, fennel seeds and pasta with about 8 cups of water to make what will be a decent chicken noodle soup for a friend and fellow food lover who recently broke a wing and needs healing food. There should be a good amount for us too, I’m not completely without self interest. ‘wink’.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Day 25/26: 215 and shrinking


No actual picture cause it went by too fast but last night we had a delicious and healthy dinner of Bockwurst, shitake, broccoli core and garlic risotto; with tossed mixed greens (kale, escarole, radicchio) in a balsamic dressing. And a nice light Italian wine.

Though some of you wont believe it, I've lost 5lbs on this diet since January 1st, which is 1lbs. per week. If I can get up to 2 a week I'll REALLY be cooking!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Day 24.8: Dinner was disturbingly good


Pork chops in caramelized onion and poached pear; blanched broccoli, roasted red potatoes with garlic and rosemary, w/parsley, and seasoning

Farmer’s market pork chops with stuff. Very good. We started eating before we took pictures so what you see are of the devoured food. MAN that was good.

Day 24: healing with soup: detoxify, lose weight, and boost immunity


This article came at me from the interweb. Obviously my friends at Yahoo! are tracking my site visits and know that I’m aiming to get healthy.

The healing power of soup
An ancient Chinese proverb states that a good doctor uses food first, then resorts to medicine. A healing soup can be your first step in maintaining your health and preventing illness. The therapeutic value of soup comes from the ease with which your body can assimilate the nutrients from the ingredients, which have been broken down by simmering.


Here are some healing soup tips that will preserve your wellness and longevity:

1. Lose weight with soup
Obesity is on the rise throughout the industrialized world, resulting in a startling increase in the rates of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes. You can count yourself out of the statistics if you eat a bowl of soup at least once a day. Nutritious low-salt soups will nourish you as they flush excess wastes from your body. It has been found that people who eat one serving of soup per day lose more weight than those who eat the same amount of calories, but don’t eat soup. Homemade soup is your best bet, because canned soups tend to be loaded with salt and chemicals. My advice is to use organic vegetables whenever possible. The herbicides and pesticides that can be present in conventional produce can assault the immune system and overload it with toxins.

2. Build your immunity
Your immune system needs a lot of minerals to function properly and the typical Western diet does not always hit the mark. When you slowly simmer foods over low heat, you gently leach out the energetic and therapeutic properties of the foods, preserving the nutritional value of the foods. Keep in mind that boiling can destroy half of the vitamins found in vegetables, so cook soup over a low heat.

Immune-Boosting Soup
Simmer these ingredients for 30 minutes: cabbage, carrots, fresh ginger, onion, oregano, shiitake mushrooms (if dried, they must be soaked first), the seaweed of your choice, and any type of squash in chicken or vegetable stock. Cabbage can increase your body’s ability to fight infection, ginger supports healthy digestion, and seaweed cleanses the body. Shiitake mushrooms contain coumarin, polysaccharides, and sterols, as well as vitamins and minerals that increase your immune function, and the remaining ingredients promote general health and well-being. Eat this soup every other day to build a strong and healthy immune system.

3. Detoxify your body
As a liquid, soup is already helping you flush waste from your body. When you choose detoxifying ingredients, such as the ones featured in the recipe below, you are really treating your body to an internal cleanse. The broth below boasts many benefits: it supports the liver in detoxification, increases circulation, reduces inflammation, and replenishes your body with essential minerals.

Super Detoxifying Broth
Simmer the following for 1–2 hours over a low flame: anise, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, Swiss chard, cilantro, collards, dandelion, fennel, garlic, ginger, kale, leeks, shiitake mushrooms, mustard greens, daikon radish, seaweed, turmeric, and watercress. Drink 8 to 12 ounces twice a day. You can keep this broth in your fridge for up to one week; however, it is always best to serve soups when fresh because each day, the therapeutic value decreases.

In addition to using cleansing herbs in soups, you can take cleansing herbs in supplements. For a gentle but powerful cleanse using Chinese herbs, Internal Cleanse increases the ability of the liver to cleanse the body of internal and environmental toxins.

4. Warm up with a hearty soup
You always want to eat for the season. Soups provide something the body craves in cold weather. When you cook foods into a soup, you are adding a lot of what Chinese nutrition would call “warming energy” into the food. Warming foods to feature in your soups include: leeks, onions, turnips, spinach, kale, broccoli, quinoa, yams, squash, garlic, scallions, and parsley. As a spice, turmeric aids with circulation, a great boost against the cold weather.

5. Get well faster
As you mother may have instinctively known, when you are sick, there is no better healing food than soup. The reason for this is that soups and stews don’t require as much energy to digest, freeing your body up to fight the infection.

It would be impossible to talk about soup’s healing abilities without putting the spotlight on homemade chicken noodle soup. Studies have found that chicken noodle soup does seem to relieve the common cold by inhibiting inflammation -- helping to break up congestion and ease the flow of nasal secretions.

While chicken soup may not cure a cold outright, it does help alleviate some of the symptoms and can help as a preventative measure. Many of my patient’s keep the herbal formula Cold & Flu in their medicine cabinets so its there to support recovery when a cold strikes.

In Chinese medicine, you would traditionally be given a tonic soup specifically tailored to your needs, and for that level of personal care, it is a good idea to consult a health practitioner knowledgeable in Chinese nutrition.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Day 23: My Vespa, The Naked Chef, and too much celery



Step one: buy a Vespa scooter
Step two: zip down to the farmer’s market and back in enough time to make eggs for the girls
Step three: make really good coffee
Step four: realize that with too many vegetables the need to make a broth has become urgent
Step five: pull down your favorite cooking references and start creating!

Before I even cracked Escoffier, Beard or Pepin I knew I was headed towards a Jamie Oliver influenced creation and sure enough on page 86 of his second book I was inspired by “Mary’s Saturday soup and dumplings”, minus the dumplings and a couple other items – so I added my own.

Vespa Soup (chicken, coconut milk, sweet potatoes and chili peppers)

Leftover baked chicken thigh from earlier this week (2 large thighs, 2 small carrots), chopped into cubes
Leche de coco (coconut milk from my Mission District shopping trip) 13.5oz
Three types of dried chili peppers from Bev and Jeff’s garden, seeds & core removed (6 total)
¼ teaspoon each of ground cardamom, coriander, thyme and a little white pepper
1 ½ quarts vegetable stock (celery, carrots, parsley, white & red onion, teaspoon chicken bouillon)
Three sweet potatoes (all different), baked for 30 min on 350, skin, then chopped up into cubes
Add 2 bay leaves just for fun

Heat cast iron pot on high and toss chicken and stir around for about 3 minutes to brown slightly (note that this is pre-cooked chicken), then pour in EVERYTHING else including the sweet potatoes (makes a neat hissing sound) and turn the heat down to simmer for 30 minutes.


Just before serving, squeeze in the juice of a single lime, and garnish with sprig of parsley and slices of avocado yum. I also saved the seeds from the peppers and placed in a small ramekin to sprinkle onto my bowl as Krysten and Yvie like their portions less spicy. ALSO you can take the skins from the sweet potatoes and toast them to they are crunchy and serve as an additional garnish. I was going that way but burned them by mistake so if you try that, let me know how it turns out. It’s ALL good!

Friday, January 22, 2010

Day 22: The realist in us all


Here we find three 10 year-old boys. One is an optimist, the other a pessimist and the third a realist. They all enter a room filled with a HUGE pile of steaming hot, dung which is seemingly mixed with straw and course hair. The first exclaims “There MUST be a pony in there” and starts flinging the dung to one side of the room. The second says “I’m probably going to have to clean all that up; I’ll go get a shovel and bucket”. And the third boy thinks to himself… ” If there IS a pony in there, the optimist will find it and the pessimist will clean up the mess.” The moral of course is if you encounter a room full of shit, make sure you are flanked by an optimist AND a pessimist.

I’m 2 lbs down from January 1 and only feel marginally compromised for it. Although it seems like little progress, surprisingly I’m on track for my goal and over the hardest part in that I’ve past 22 days which makes this process habit-forming according to conventional wisdom and international folklore.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Day 21: Face Jam, Blood Pressure, and the DMV visit

The high so far today was 168/93 and the low was 121/68. My average over the last few weeks with current medication has been 135/78 which is okay given my burn rate.

Early morning was spent waiting in line and in the rain in a parking lot, with the hope and intent of convincing the California Department of Motor Vehicles to correct their mistake. Some individual must have misread the license plate number from the title of ownership I sent them after buying the Vespa as the digits are only a couple off, resulting in the license number on the registration and new ownership papers not matching the actual plates on the vehicle.

After my second line I spoke to someone who suggested that my vehicle may have been stolen and I would need to remove the plates and get back in another line, with the plates, the VIN, and my paperwork to determine if a) the Vespa was listed as stolen, and b) to start the process of correcting the error. And although there would be no fee, if the Vespa WAS listed as stolen, it would have to be returned o the previous owner and I would be questioned.

Having no tools to remove the plates I returned home, on the Vespa, in the rain, and will make another attempt the next spare morning I have (sometime in February perhaps). I took my blood pressure. Its was rather high until I made some coffee and sat with Yvie as she consumed whole wheat toast with blueberry jam, then took my blood pressure again and was much lower.

Conclusion: Blueberry Jam consumed by a 2 year-old lowers blood pressure

p.s. Anyone want to buy a Vespa?


Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Day 20: Rain = Miso dinner encore

The second time is usually better and this Miso soup is no exception. BIGGER chunks of Tofu, MORE seaweed and a bit of ground ginger. Yvie liked it again and even preferred it over her desert of strawberries with brown sugar. Not sure I get THAT one.


Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Day 19: Rain = Chili Con Carne

Toss everything in an electric crock-pot, uncovered, over high heat as you are adding and mixing the ingredients. Mix well and turn town to low heat for 8 hours. Go to sleep. Wake up, open the lid, stir the chili, and add more salt and pepper, if desired. Remove the bay leaves.

What’s in it?

Makes about 10 servings. Start with a crock-pot and add about 1½ cup red kidney beans, 2 cups beef broth mixed with 1 tablespoon of chili powder, 1 bag Mexican spices (Bay leaves, oregano, assorted unknown dried peppers, 12 teaspoon cyane powder and other stuff)*, 1 red and 1 white onion, 6 mashed garlic cloves, 5 stalks chopped scallions, 16 OZ can of peeled tomatoes in sauce, 2 teaspoons salt and some black pepper.

Garnish with grated Monterey Jack, mozzarella, or cheddar cheese, very finely sliced (and rinsed) red onion and some parsley or cilantro.

*I’ll get the name of the Mexican spices later

Monday, January 18, 2010

Day 18: Food Supplements and fish pills (a reprise)


I’ll let you know how it works. Today was under the calorie count again that’s in part to these not so little containers.

Actual food was a tuna melt on rye bread, part of a hardboiled egg, some seaweed snacks for lunch; dinner was chicken thigh pounded flat and rolled around a slice of butter and jack cheese and herbs de Provence cooked stove top in a skillet with a chopped white onion. Accompaniments were spinach soup and cucumber salad with a dollop of sour cream, dill seeds, white balsamic vinegar and some paprika.


It sounds HEAVY but if you don’t eat ALL of it, you’re doin alright.















Sunday, January 17, 2010

Day 17 (evening): Chili Verde con Frijoles Negro


It’s difficult to imagine anything that begins with thick chunks of pork shoulder could turn out poorly and tonight’s dinner was actually a near perfect experience. I credit the quality of meat, the blend of Mexican spices but mostly because it was allowed to cook slowly on a low heat the flavors had a chance to blend exquisitely.

- Oven roast the 1 ½ pounds of tomatillos (cut each one in half), 2 jalapenos, 2 serrano and 6 garlic cloves; after about 30 minutes at 300 degrees remove the skin, core and seeds from the peppers and blend the lot with a bunch of cilantro, keeping the mixture close and ready in a bowl.

- Next chop up 2 white onions and cook till soft in a cast iron pan. Remove the onions from the pan, crank up the heat and dump in the chopped pork to brown for about 5 minutes. Add Mexican spice blend (red pepper flakes, oregano, thyme and clove)

- Finally turn the heat to low and mix in the onions, after a few minutes pour in the blended tomatillos, peppers, garlic and cilantro so that is smothers the pork. Add 1 cup of stock and season to taste. After bringing to a simmer for 10 minutes, place in oven without a cover at 300 degrees. I opened a can of black beans and tore off the label, added a pinch of salt and placed the can into the oven next to the pan. Give it at least 90 minutes, eat when ready. Serve with lime, avacados, hot sauce, sour cream, carrot & jalapenos and fresh, raw scallions. I made Krysten's into a burrito and mine just on the plate.

The experiment of diving into the Mission District to shop was brilliant. The small market services the local restaurants which provide some of the best Mexican cuisine in San Francisco. Casa Lucas can be found at 2934 24th Street – many of the ingredients on cans and packaged foods are in Spanish.

The pork was from one of my favorite butchers, Drews Brothers Meats at 1706 Church street. The cost for dinner breaks down to about $4 per person and could feed about 10.

Drews Brothers Meats


Day 17: 1 Martini is not enough, 3 are too many.





The problem is when you are bar tending at a 1960s-esque Mad Men party, the drinks flow baby. So while my calorie count was well under 1800 when I went into the evening, I’m sure it past the level by the time my head hit the pillow. For breakfast we had egg, blueberries, tangerine, coffee and a food supplement shake. A light fare as we have a brunch plans then off to Farmer’s market we go!

Shopping list for this week is geared twords Mexican, with some regular stapels. I'm also going to hit up some of the local Mission district stores in hopes of getting teh REAL DEAL products, at non-elevated prices that I wold pay if I went to an (UNAMED) chain grocary store in the "ethnic" or "Mexican" section.

Vegetables and fruits
Jalapeno, Anaheim or ploblano
Cilantro
Limes
Lemons
Berries
Apples
Red potato
Celery
Chives
Cucumber

Cans
Peppers
Tomatoes
Chicken stock
Vegetable stock
Coconut milk (light)
Olives
Artichoke hears
Water chestnuts

Packaged
Tofu
Lime and lemon juice
Wasabi
Ginger
Tortilla

Meats:
4 lbs pork shoulder
Some chicken
mystery meat (depending on what looks good)

Dairy:
2% and non fat milk
Cottage cheese
Mozzarella (skim)
Grapeseed oil

Friday, January 15, 2010

Day 15: Failed beet experiment wont thwart me!




We all have failures. They help us identify how good the good is in our lives. My dinner last night was an example of how a dinner cannot work out well, although I think I can save the leftovers and turn them into something good with heat, time and butter. Good news is I was 60 calories under yesterday – wow.

Here is someone else’s list of twenty-five health-enhancing ideas; some I’ve already done and some I’ll never do but it’s interesting to see that I’ve already approached many of them…

#1 - Replace sodas or soft drinks with tea or water. DONE
#2 - Commit to eating one raw fruit (or serving of vegetables) at every meal. DOABLE
#3 - Add just 5 minutes a day to your exercise routine. Don't have an exercise routine? Start with 5 minutes a day! DOABLE
#4 - Get more sunshine! HARD
#5 - Learn some Pilates. It's probably the #1 exercise system for core strength and flexibility. NO WAY
#6 - Drink a superfood smoothie every day. DONE
#7 - Buy more indoor plants: They purify the air in your home. NO THANK
#8 - Take a quality, wild-harvested fish oil supplement that contains vitamin D. DONE
#9 - Eat more quinoa: It's a high-protein, low-carb "grain" that can easily replace rice or couscous. DOABLE (had some for lunch today in fact)
#10 - When you get out of bed each morning, do five sit-ups first. It sounds simple, but just 5 sit-ups a day can make a difference. DOABLE
#11 - Instead of trying to find a parking spot so close to the grocery store, park farther away. You'll get a little more walking exercise and a little more sunshine. DONE (alternative ways to walk)
#12 - Get a good water filter so you can stop drinking tap water (or bottled water). DONE
#13 - Pick up a "gentle" art like Tai-Qi or Yoga. It will reduce your stress and improve your physical stamina. DONE
#14 - Take a relaxing hot bath with epsom salts and soothing herbs like lavender. It will do wonders for your mind and your muscles. NO THIS IS GETTING SILLY
#15 - Get a professional massage. Massage therapy is really, really healthy, and it's a great way to reward yourself for some of the other accomplishments you're making. DONE
#16 - Grow your own sprouts! With a simple, low-cost sprouting machine, you can grow and eat your own sprouts. Eating just one ounce of sprouts a day still had a huge impact on preventing cancer and boosting immune function. NOPE (FARMERS MARKET WILL DO)
#17 - Prepare for a Spring garden. Sure, it's cold and snowy right now, but make a commitment to start a garden this Spring, and you'll reap many health benefits in the months ahead. NOPE (SEE ABOVE)
#18 - Get a mini-trampoline and do some rebounding in your living room. You can even watch movies or documentary DVDs at the same time. NEAT (YVIE WILL LOVE THAT)
#19 - Make a point to get at least eight hours of sleep for 2-3 nights a week (or more, if you can). Most people are sleep deprived, and the health cost is enormous. (DONE)
#20 - Start visiting local farmer's markets so that you eat more local food in 2010. You'll be healthier and happier as a result. DONE
#21 - Got a job you don't like? Quit it! Downgrade your lifestyle to live on less money, then pursue what you really enjoy. Being happy in a small house is better than being miserable in a big one. DONE
#22 - Get off those medications! Make a point to learn how to safely and gradually get yourself off all the medications you can by eliminating underlying imbalances or illnesses. The fewer medications you take, the healthier you'll be! DOABLE
#23 - Throw out your television! Are you still watching cable TV or satellite TV? It's a complete waste of your life (but you already knew that). Disconnect the cable. Read more books and get your information online where news sources are more independent and intelligent. DON’T WATCH IT
 #24 - Make a decision to think of food as nourishment instead of entertainment. Eat what your body needs, not what your taste buds desire. BOTH

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Day 14: Day 14 is day 2 of the 1800 per day

 


I’m being overwhelmed by numbers and counting but we knew this might happen. I ‘d like to acknowledge the smart folks at “Lose It! “ for the iPhone application called “Lose it” who helped me painlessly track the foods I consumed for the day and assigned calories to them.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Day 13.8: Would not have believed it but I’m under my limit on my first day – 1,618 out of 1800

That means I still have a shake to go after mostly raw fish and miso soup. Hmmm… I might have to make eating really good sushi a weekly requirement.http://www.sushikoo.com/


Day 13: Only 1800 calories per day according to the Menu Plan Worksheet (1/12/10)


Now comes the most difficult part and it’s not what you might think given the title. It’s neither the portion control nor the disparity of juicy red meat, nor missing the preponderance of fresh pasta in my kitchen that will vex me most.

I am a big picture person. I don’t use timers. I taste my food to see if it’s done. I am an instinctively decent cook and a mediocre baker. Krysten often complains that our 1937 Magic Chef oven is a pisser for consistency as the door wont seal completely and the thermostat is wonky. But it’s never bothered me*.

As human beings we mostly adapt to our genetically inherited attributes. Really tall people bend down when going through doorways; short people don’t keep important things on top shelves. And while some traits are lacking, others often improve within our lifetime to compensate. Someone with poor eyesight might have enhanced hearing such that they drive with the windows open at night (my father appears in reference once again).

In my case, I tend not to follow instructions well. MY adaptation is that I’m bloody lucky which may be more a consistent act of God than a genetic trait, but the truth is I’ve learned to find alternative ways to achieve goals by mostly understanding the larger objective. For obvious reasons this has not served me well in trying to lose weight; learn my multiplication tables or finishing but not completing the GED**.

So you see the most difficult part of this journey involves counting calories and following directions. That and nothing else will keep me below 1800 calories. Humph.

Daily Counting:
2 servings of Medical food shakes
3 servings of Concentrated Protein
3 servings of Fruits
4-5 servings of Vegetables
2 servings of Legumes
1 serving of Dairy
1 serving of Grains
6 servings of Oils
2 fish oil pills

*Note: Krysten is a much better baker than I am.
**Note: I took the GED which is the high school equivalency test and scored in the 98th percentile but answered the wrong essay question (question b rather than d) and therefore my score was voided.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Day 12.8: day two of the APAC experiment went better


Miso Soup with chicken dumplings: Bulgar miso, kale, tofu (firm), seaweed, scallions and sesame seeds. Yvie had two bowls!

Very enlightening meeting with my nutritionist today but im too tired to elaborate and report on now, might have to wait until the weekend as there is so much information to post.

Day 12: “Stir-Fry” should be called “Flip-Fry”




So I moved out of my comfort zone last night and wasn’t totally happy with the result, although Krysten and Yvie both loved it. I attempted Asian cuisine without a traditional wok and don’t think I kept the oil hot enough to do the job correctly. Also part of the problem is I loaded up the copper saucier with too much stuff so my stir-fry was actually having to be stirred and turned… rather than flipped. Why don’t they call it Flip Fry?

Mandarin Chicken

Starting with a hot “wok” and sesame oil
Shitake mushrooms
½ minced white onion
Ginger
Chicken with a tangerine glaze, sesame oil and seeds (and assorted Asian seed spice I bought from Rainbow market).
Assorted chopped kale and escarole
Soba noodles
1 tangerine
… in that order.

Food supplement finally came today so I’m back on the wagon. I’m a single parent tonight so I’m thinking of baked kale and home made miso soup (also from Rainbow market).

http://www.rainbowgrocery.org/

Monday, January 11, 2010

Day 11: Monday and the water diet


For the last week I’ve been experimenting with the more water is better theory and have consumed 64oz of water twice a day (as opposed to accidental water consumption occurrences). Still no food supplement which is what I get for ordering through the interweb in late December. At this point I’ll end up buying my next container at the nutritionist tomorrow and will eventually have an abundant supply.

Tonight’s dinner will involve kale, the rest of the shitake mushrooms form the farmers market, baby oranges, apples and possibly a bird.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Day 10: Measurements and then pizza



The consoling part of today was that I’m not a big around as the pizza we had for dinner. The depressing part is it took me a bit to find somthing that was bigger than my mid section…

Waste 41
Stomach 47
Weight 219

Anything over 40” puts me a risk and lands me in the obese category. This means diabetes candidate, heart disease, stroke and all kinds of other nasty thoughts (some of them were on my father’s menu). One nice thing about numbers is they are finite, so there will be clear indication of success or failure when I hit 2011. Here are my goals but the numbers might change after consulting my Dr. and Nutritionist:

Waste 34
Stomach 35
Weight 169

ANYWAY… for dinner we had pizza. I am still not impressed with my pizza ability and have never said “wow” as they come out just “okay”. I think I’ll need a particular friend to teach me what I’m doing wrong as she truly is an expert (Kedra ;-)

Red and Yellow bell peppers
Roasted Garlic slivers
Shitake mushrooms
White onion (chopped)
The base was a crushed tomato and pesto mix
Covered with Mozzarella cheese (salt, pepper)

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Day 9.85: the result – Pesce Pomodoro with artichoke hearts and Shitake mushrooms; Brussels sprouts with roasted garlic; Arugula and pear ravioli in a


- Plop a ¼ stick of butter in a very hot skillet but be careful not to burn it, then add diced white onion and mushrooms and sauté until onions are soft then add fish (skinned) ugly side down directly on the pan bottom, season with sea salt and fresh black pepper, reduce heat slightly, cover and cook for 5-8 minutes (based on amount and thickness of fish)
- At the same time that you plop the butter in the skillet for the onions and mushrooms, you should be dunking the pasta into the boiling water with a pinch of salt and glug of olive oil, then drop the Brussels sprouts into the steamer atop the pasta and cover
- For the fish, you next add several skinned tomatoes from can and some of the sauce but not enough to engulf the fish, add roasted/canned artichoke hearts (halved), taste and season as needed (capers might also have been good here too but Krysten dislikes them) – ALSO at this point you should gently lift up the fish and make sure you get the juice under and around it and that it’s not sticking to the bottom of the skillet
- When fish is done to your liking, remove from heat at the same time in a new skillet put 5-8 roasted garlic cloves and ¼ stick of butter; then add the Brussels sprouts and cover for 3-5 minutes until soft, taste and season as needed
- Then strain pasta and put in the same skillet as the Brussels sprouts and garlic; add a splash of wine to deglaze the skillet, flip the pasta around with the sprouts and garlic, cover and cook for 2-5 minutes on low heat
- Serve and eat with wine, music, wife and daughter (Opera is fine but no Wagner; I recommend Verdi if you want tragic but best to stay Italian for this meal).

This dinner was within my new guidelines and was delicious. My portions were roughly ¼ meat, ¼ pasta and ½ vegetables. Now I’m off to the store to get Ben and Jerry’s for my wife and the rest is not something I’m going to blog about.

Good night

Day 9.5: Inviting Pesce to dinner




The parts are assembled:
1) A hot oven
2) Saucepan for sauté of the Sea Bass
3) Pot and fitted strainer to cook the ravioli and steam the sprouts (at the same time in the same pot)
4) Butter (duh)
5) Roasted artichoke hearts
6) Roasted garlic
7) Can of peeled Roma tomatoes
8) Baby Shitake mushrooms
9) White onion

I’ll let you know what occurs in a couple hours… I have some thoughts, ideas, inklings…

Day 9: Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee and the perfect egg


So it happens, Jamaican Blue Mountain is very fine coffee. Is it worth $37 per pound? Well that depends if you have that money to spend on coffee. I do, I did, and I’d do it again. I would easily spend $37 on a bottle of nice wine so why not coffee? But only drinking that coffee would be like only drinking one kind of wine, or eating one type of food, or… I better stop there for I find myself sleeping on the couch tonight.

On cooking the perfect egg – Yvie discovered this morning that when you smash a soft-boiled egg on a marble countertop it breaks and delivers great satisfaction but not a very good way to eat them. We then walked step by step through the process of creating the perfect hard boiled, then poached egg while simultaneously eating a pink lady apple. She is almost 2 and ½ after all and I don’t want her going off to nursery school next year thinking that it’s okay to have green yolk and sulfur smell to your hard-boiled eggs…

Hard-boiled (or soft-boiled) Eggs
1) Gently make a hole at the top of the shell with the point of a cork screw
2) Place eggs in boiling water for 5 to 8 minutes as you like them
3) Remove eggs and place immediately in bowl of very cold water with 2-3 ice cubes
4) Remove and give to your 2 year-old child smash and eat

Poached Eggs
1) Boil water with a pinch of sea salt and a tablespoon of white wine vinegar
2) Break eggs on flat surface (not on the edge of a bowel or the shell will break IN to the egg, often piercing the yolk) and put in ramekin or small bowl
3) GENTLY and slowly lay eggs into the boiling water and immediately brush the top of the water with a spoon so the egg yolk spins and wraps the billowing white part of the egg around it
4) Remove eggs with slotted spoon and place immediately in bowl of very cold water with 2-3 ice cubes
5) Hold in your hand and with a small sharp knife, remove stringy bits, then place nice looking side up on a plate or English muffin or slice of ham and serve with a dollop of green salsa, or hollandaise sauce or just salt and pepper.

I must give credit to Jacques Pépin for the ice water trick; this is a critical step as it prevents the yolk from turning green and tasting strongly of sulfur, giving the yolk the deep, rich looking yellow color one expects. If you need further instruction ask Yvie, she knows how to make them but you will need a pink lady apple.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Day 8: The little Chef


Krysten left Yvie unattended in the kitchen for five minutes. When she returned she found her ripping the parsley apart into little tiny pieces saying "cooking, cooking, making the baking, cooking" to herself.

Today is my break from food posting as I had a meltdown last night which required a long, sushi dinner alone to make right. All is better with the world now but I'm back at WORK till the weekend and will update more then.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Day 7: … and on the seventh day He… was retrospective


Still no food supplement but I’m feeling much better about what it will take to reach my goals for this journey. Not loosing weight but being healthier and happier with my skin. Feeling physically good every day; having enough energy for my body to keep up with my mind; living without pain or physical limitations; and most importantly with sustainability.

Seven things I will avoid moving forward for this year:
1. Cakes, cookies and processed snack foods
2. Deep-fried foods
3. Cheese – as a course (mozzarella, ricotta and some other cheeses added to cooking are exceptions)
4. Palm, palm oil and all saturated oils (or fats really)
5. Red meat (ouch!)
6. Meat skin (poultry, crackling, ouch again)
7. Trans fats (ie “partially hydrogenated” oils)

Seven things I will seek out this year:
1. Maximize my water intake and sustain that on a daily basis
2. Monitor my Insulin levels (the ever abhorred lab work)
3. Exercise (amount TBD – I want to be realistic before I set goals)
4. Meditation with yoga (if muscles need a rest period to grow, and the brain is a muscle…)
5. Portion control (someone once said to me, “I mainly lost weight because I stopped eating like a pig”)
6. Eating more frequently (this will be hard as quick small meals takes the fun out of the process)
7. Nutritional supplements (seldom will pills fix the problem, but in this case as with hyper tension they will help me through the symptoms)
Now for coffee…

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Day6: Fish pills and powder shakes


I ran out of my food supplement just before the new year, have ordered more but have been OFF my morning shake for the last 6 days and I have noticed a difference in my hunger level. This is GOOD news as when it arrives again it makes me feel as if there will be a noticeable change in curbing my appetite in the short term. You could say I’ve fallen off the powder shake wagon I suppose…

The fish oil pills I have been taking have also had a noticeable change but I won’t elaborate as the details are not interesting in greater detail – suffice to say they seem to move things along. The REALLY exciting news is that my copper mixing bowl arrived yesterday and I’ve already had fun seeing the difference it makes with egg whites. Yvie’s eggs this morning were especially fluffy :-) I’ll start using 2 egg white to one yolk for my own eggs going forward as the mixing bowl gives the whites significant lift and the appearance of MORE. Nothing to be done about my slow scramble – that must stay the same but remain a weekend meal given the extra time it takes to cook the eggs over a warmer rather than directly on the flame. Rich, dense & moist… definitely a weekend process.

The copper bowl also is evidence that it’s the tools and process that feeds my passion almost as much as the product. I’m a kitchen gadget geek. I must be careful not to cross the line over to “Poser” kitchen gadget geek… Krysten still gives me a hard time about the pressure cooker I bought with my credit card bonus points that remains in the cupboard in our downstairs kitchen, collecting dust. I’ll consult Mr. Beard on pressure cookers over the weekend.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Day 5: My nutritionist and the roast


Missing my 2nd nutritionist appointment is not a great start to the first week of the year, but, it’s a journey, a relay-race, blah, blah, blah… and its rescheduled for next week so it’s a hiccup not a full stop.


This week I’m taking measurements on my waist, stomach and my weight (and as someone suggested, blood pressure); setting the bar here and now the goal being to lose 50 lbs this year on my own personal gourmet diet where I eat mostly the best foods, prepared how I want, without a new gym membership or frozen food packets, or diet pills or liposuction or the alcoholic & stress diet (booze and cigarettes and no food except pizza and burritos once a day – only works if you are under 30 and work for a start-up tech company).


I really like my nutritionist. She is Le Cordon Bleu graduate and we chatted an extra 45 minutes during our first meeting on the different ways to use sage, how to cook vegetables, the dangers of the wrong kinds of starch, the virtues of cooking with grape seed oil and I learned that Coconut oil and milk is actually not as bad as we have come to believe (which was very exciting to learn). Some of you have commented that beginning my new journey with deep dish pizza is an odd way to start a diet. True. This isn’t a diet. It’s a new way of life. I have to trick myself or it’s not going to work. Its double reverse psychology and I have absolute faith that it will either work or fail.
I will send out emails this afternoon within invitation to a filet mignon dinner to a lucky few who are first to respond… I’m also thinking about roast beets; rainbow kale with caramelized onions and scalloped potatoes. Maybe a cold spinach soup frise for an amuse-bouche. No beer.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Day 4: First day back at work - BusyBusyBusy


Well… it could have been worse. Up at 6am and at email, in the office by 8 fueled by morning coffee at Philz (http://www.philzcoffee.com/) with real cream and a mint leaf. Client lunch = filet mignon medallion with no sauce (ate ¾), ¼ portion of brown potatoes, artichoke heart dip. Then back at my desk, trying to focus on getting back to emails, taking calls and tracking down dead-beat clients. Snack was the left over gazpacho (1 cup) and a glass of water. Dinner was low calorie frozen meat lasagna, steamed zucchini and cucumber salad with a workout routine of chasing Yvie around mom’s place trying to keep her fingers out of the paper shredder. More exercise than you might think.


15 hours later I’m hitting my blog task for the day and not feeling very inspired. But then again this is a journey, a relay-race, a means to an end. More cooking later this week as there is a tenderloin round in my immediate future this week which could accommodate 6 for dinner… who will be lucky… will it be you?

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Day 3: Butter, Butter and more Butter



After watching Julie & Julia last night I learned that it wasn’t just my father who cooked with the philosophy that while butter is essential in cooking, more upon more butter is much, much better. Dad didn’t own a copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking but James Beard was the most well creased book in his collection and he attended the same school of butter as Julia.



  • Today’s breakfast was poached eggs, ham on sourdough English muffin with green tomato salsa (otherwise known as green eggs and ham), and coffee with 2% milk - ALMOST hitting my required food list.
  • Lunch was also off a bit the mark with a blue cheese and cauliflower savory peasant pie(http://www.peasantpies.com/) and chilled red tomato gazpacho with artichoke heart, rubbed sage and red pepper flakes (no wheat).
  • Dinner will be at Rin’s http://www.rinsthaisf.com/).

If this is a journey worth taking and sticking to, it’s got to be interesting as well as effective. A smaller portion size of an occasional wheat-based savory meatless pie with blue cheese will sometimes have to make up for a lack of rye bread in the kitchen.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Day 2: Everything, All at once


On the naming origins of this blog, the phrase, “never trust a skinny Chef” and a brief look at the history of French cooking:


The French Revolution of 1793 ended the monarchy and completely changed the fabric of French society. Many chefs, suddenly out of work, opened restaurants in and around Paris to support themselves. Marie-Antoine Careme was a famous creator of wedding cakes, sugar sculptures and ice and tallow carvings. Fernand Point, who is credited with the line, “I will never trust a skinny Chef!” was a master practitioner of light, naturally flavored cuisine. However, it was Auguste Escoffier (1847 to 1935), widely regarded as the greatest chef of his time, who is credited with the simplification of classical French Menu. Escoffier rejected the confusion and volume of the old menu, and infused a sense of order and diversity by carefully selecting and matching one or two dishes per course.

-Jeremy’s Blog, 2005 Colchester High School, Colchester Vermont, Graduated with Associates Degree in Culinary Arts, Le Cordon Schools North America, Orlando, Florida


My father’s use of “never trust a skinny Chef” was of course meant in part to justify his own well rounded mid section and also to defend the mid section of a few well known others like the great James Beard or the fictitious Hercule Poirot the Belgian sleuth and epicurean. The phrase is also meant to call out that a skinny Chef *obviously* doesn’t eat enough of his or her own, inferring the food is not good or they lack an appreciation for food and therefore lack credibility to deem what is truly GOOD food. With some surface level research I discovered literally dozens of food blogs on the interweb using this famous quote with varying levels of interpretation, deconstructing, supporting and arguing the meaning. MY use of The Skinny Chef as the theme for this journey represents my own perspective on the statement – that it’s possible to find enjoyment in cooking and eating to utter satisfaction without becoming obese.


Perhaps the largest obstacle and struggle towards this journey to health is the desire to have (in this case eat) EVERYTHING and ALL AT ONCE. This is represented in most packaged and processed foods of 24-hour convenience stores but also found in quickly assembled foods of higher quality like burritos, sandwiches, Jewish delicatessens and the most alluring Indian buffet lunch specials where the individual ingredients alone may not be detrimental to the body but the quantity and combination are often disastrous. Multiple experiences with certain diets (South Beach and Atkins in particular) and with nutritionists have led me to understand that the combination of food in your body is essentially like conducting a chemistry experiment inside your skin – and we are what we eat! Its therefore just as important to understand the affects of drinking beer with pizza as it us to know what happens if you mix ammonia and bleach together in a confined space.


The goal then is to slow down, enjoy the ingredients and flavors. A meal is not a sprint it’s a relay race that might contain sprints but not as a whole. All good thoughts but we still live in an age of 2am burrito runs and the trick is to CHOOSE those moments occasionally and not as the norm. In contrast to the EVERYTHING and ALL AT ONCE is the classic 17 course French menu where dishes follow one another harmoniously and it’s the simplicity of only a few ingredients together over a very long time that makes the experience so utterly satisfying.


Thank you Auguste Escoffier and Fernand Point for this list:
Course 0 - Amuse-bouche / Amuse-gueule (A little bite)
Course 1 - Hors d'oeuvre (appetizer)
Course 2 - Potage (soup)
Course 3 - Oeufs (eggs)
Course 4 - Farineaux (rice & pasta)
Course 5 - Poisson (fish)
Course 6 - Entrée (entry of 1st meat course)
Course 7 - Sorbet (flavoured water)
Course 8 - Reléve (meat course)
Course 9 - Rôti (roast)
Course 10 - Légumes (vegetables)
Course 11 - Salades (salad)
Course 12 - Buffet Froid (cold buffet)
Course 13 - Entremet de sûcre (sweets)
Course 14 - Savoureaux (savory)
Course 15 - Fromage (cheese)
Course 16 - Desserts (fresh fruits & nuts)
Course 17 - Cafe (coffee)

Friday, January 1, 2010

Day 1: New Year Resolution


Day 1: New Year’s Day is as good a day as any to start something new. In truth, ANY day is a good day to start something new but the expected and often dreaded New Year’s resolution is usually what it takes to get us off our dupas and take the first step. The first step down the path to the skinny chef began with a breakfast of left-over; deep dish sausage and mushroom pizza with corn bread crust underneath two slow cooked and lightly scrambled free range brown eggs, accompanied with a Kriek/Lambic and fresh squeezed ornge juice mimosa, and coffee with 2% milk.