I ♥ Food - A Top Ten Post

Oh joys of this world. There is laughter, there is fun, there is seasons in the sun. But above all that, there is fucking food. Healthy food, junk food, spicy food, rare food, yucky food. Food is everywhere but really, it should all be in my tummy.


It is my pleasure to list off my top ten favourite food items. It can be a condiment, a meal, a restaurant. Basically, just writing down everything I can't get enough of. And for the simple fact that even Obama knows I like Subway, the great sandwich maker will have to be excluded from the list. I mean, it's Subway - who doesn't love that shit?

This is listed in no particular order because that would just be mean on the food and wayyyy too hard for me to sort out and choose which one I like best.

10. Popcorn

9. Garlic

8. McDonald's cheeseburger

7. Onions

6. Homemade Mac 'n Cheese

5. Pickled Jalapeños

4. Fajitas

3. Pasta Salad

2. Oysters

1. Everything but Cooked Mushrooms

Now I suddenly want popcorn-oyster fajitas... damn it.

Candles are out,

Eleven's Ink

November 18th: Old Schoolers

Crap. This month is National Blog Posting Month or NaBloPoMo for us geeks. The whole point of this is to blog every single day. Total and utter fail on my part.

I hosted an old-school supper with friends last night and one bottle of wine turned to three and by the end of the night I was singing, volunteering to host a bachelor party and dreading my day at work today. I can't believe I got drunk on a work night. Oddly enough, I was super productive at work and got all of my shit done before lunch. :) 

With that being said. I failed my mission. I will have more then 30 posts this month but because of yesterday I failed my NaBloPoMo 2011. *sigh* But last night was seriously worth it!!

Meat Lover Lasagna

1 can (796ml) Diced Tomatoes

1 can (680ml) Tomatoe Sauce

1 can (156ml) Tomatoe Paste

2 small packs of ground porc, veal, and beef (it comes in a trio mix)

1 red onion

1 bag (700g) spaghetti vegetable mix.

Pepper,sea salt, parsley, dill weed, cumin, and red pepper flakes to taste

I believe 6 slices of bacon for garnish but I can't remember...

Health-Conscious Lasagna

Same spaghetti sauce as the meat-lover (it makes enough for two big lasagnas)

Multi-grain lasagna

Low-fat ricotta cheese

baby spinach

low fat mozzarella cheese

The Last Supper-ish

THE FOUR LATE-NIGHTERS

Ohhh what a night! Laughs and nostalgia! And 90's music!! ahahaha


Candles are out,
Eleven's Ink

A Date with Disaster

 When I first decided to stop eating La Viande, I had set myself a one-month goal of absolutely no meat consumption, whether it be poultry or red meat.

I passed the one month mark (and then some) when I couldn't resist anymore and ate a crispy chicken sandwich. It tasted like heaven in my mouth. The crispy crackling batter, the warm and soft center, the smell, the spices!! I've had chicken about six or seven times since with no feelings of regret. It didn't make me feel yucky at all.

But then I ventured into unchartered territories last weekend when I stole a piece of breakfast saussage from my friend's branch. He had been grilling the piece of meat over my Birthday Bonfire at a friends house. Since I had just came back from a fruitless walk to a closed Tim Hortons, I was starving - for anything. I stole his saussage bite and it tasted divine. I think I mmm'd for like twenty minutes. That is ten minutes passed the normal drunk mmm's.

So anyhow, that small piece of meat didn't give me any digestive problems. I was like, wow, two + months in and I can still digest meat properly. How lucky am I?!

Apparently, being drunk and chewing a small piece of meat is ok. Then I made the mistake of eating a full blown oktoberfest saussage on the weekend for mother's day. I didn't have to, since I had made a delicious seafood-alfredo pasta but I couldn't resist the barbecued oktoberfest. I started off with half and then proclaimed: "WTF! MORE FOR ME!" and devoured the second half.

Results? (please skip if you have uneasy stomach)

Yup, I puked up my supper in about 45 seconds. As soon as I put my plate in the kitchen sink I knew I was done for it. My stomach was making noises worst then that of Hedley musicians. My heart had risen in my throat like Tommy Lee rises for Pamela. The world spun around me like those evil swings from the County Fair. Everything was falling apart.

Until I vomited and then everything was settled again and I have sworn off red meat for good.

(or at least until next time I am drunk and crave a little weeny tiny bit of meat.)

Candles are out,

Elevens Ink

Fish and Rice - Easy Supper 1



Hey all!



Fried rice topped with haddock. Hot sauce to taste.



I decided I would share some of my recipes with y'all! It's not really a recipe since I don't measure anything and you can easily mix-and-match the ingredients or turn the dish into your own. It's more to show how easy a supper can be when you use ingredients you like. Often times when people want to cut some stuff out or improve their diet, they stock up on everything imagineable, even though some of the stuff is not a regular eat. So here goes, and don't hesitate to play with the ingredients and add spices that you like!

Ingredients:

Wild rice + long grain OR Basmati rice OR any grain you want (couscous, quinoa, etc...)

Mixed veggies that you like (carrots, peas, onion, celery, corn, etc...)

Garlic

1 half-stick cinnamon

Indian Masala

Cardamon Pods

Panko bread crumbs

Curry Powder

Blue Water Classic Gril Haddock Filets (or any fish filet you like)

Cooking Instructions:

Preheat ovean according to BlueWater instructions.

Prepare your water for your rice or grain, according to instructions on chosen grain, with half a stick of cinnamon and 10 cardamon pods. (I suggest you put them in a tea strainer OR tie them up. You don't want to eat these, simply want to flavour your rice)

When water is boiled, removed cinnamon stick while leaving in your cardamon pods. Put in your rice, cover and let simmer according to instructions.

Start by cooking your onions and garlic. I like to spice my dish in stages so that the flavours built up and each bite has a somewhat different taste, especially when eating stir frys, where it can get repetitive. So during the onion/garlic stage, this is where I would add my curry powder. To taste.

Ok so now you can pop the fish in so it can finish at the same time as the rest. Take your filets out early so they have time to thaw just a little. Add your Panko to one side of the fish. You can zest up your panko crumbs by adding spices to it, but the Classic Gril Haddock is already well dressed. Don't make him flamboyant!

Add the remaining veggies to your onion&garlic mixture. I prefer the macedonian mix and rarely use anything but onions, garlic, carrots, and celery as fresh veggies in a stiry fry, as I prefer to keep my fresh veggies for salads. Don't be afraid to go with the frozen veggies, as they tend to keep in the vitamins more then canned and even some fresh veggies depending on what time of year you are buying them.

To that, you can add some Indian Masala, Steak Spices, Salt & Pepper.

So it's time for the combination. Remove the cardamon pods from your rice; don't forget, they taste nasty in the mouth. It's important to keep just a bit of water from your rice to moisten up all the ingredients and combine the spices. Nothing combines better then starchy water!

starting to smell fantastic!

Once your rice is completly cooked, turn off the heat and let stand for a few minutes. Remove fish from oven and equally let it chillout on the counter a while. Food is best served after resting, whether it be meat or not. Give it time to meet the other players and let the spices mingle. Miam!

So now that the social network is over, scoop some rice on a plate, slide a fish filet over it and begin to enjoy the wonderful tastes of Indian Spices, simply seasoned fish with Panko and the comforting, crunchy taste of stir-fried rice.

The Veggie Dog

So I have been a vegetarian for almost a month now and my true task, the one that will prove if I am in this for the long run or not, is still accumulating frost in my freezer. Yes, I am referring to the infamous Veggie Dog. If the regular "meat" hot-dogs scare you, imagine a blackened wiener you just know is filled with beans. ODD!

Actually, I don't even think it's the colour of the sausage that truly frightens me from eating it. It's the weird wrapping they decided to put the wieners in. Clear casing around with a clinical white cover etched with medical blue writing. Seriously? Might as well write "HOSPITAL FOOD" on it, because that is what it reminds me of.

OMG, doesn't this look just sublime?

Right now, though, they are resting calmly in the bottom shelf of my freezer, waiting patiently for me to try them out. I am scared though, they don't look like regular hot-dogs. I know most people are probably scratching their heads thinking: "He is afraid of veggie dogs but can eat the "real" deal without problems?"

When you've been raised eating meat, it's the other stuff that kinda gets hold of you. Now, if I had been born and raised a vegetarian, this blog would have been title "The Meat Dog" and I would be going on and on about how light coloured it is, and silky on the outside and how lucky that I have multiple brands to choose from.

But nooo, I had to be born a meateater and turn drastically to lettuce leaves and carrot tops. Aha, carrot tops!

So I guess I will have to confront the cold arctic winds that greet me when I reach the land of the Veggie Dog. Ugh, but they look so gross...


Candles are out,
Eleven's Ink

Two Weeks Later

Yup. It's been two weeks since my last bite of meat. Any kind of meat. It hasn't been as easy as I have claiming it to be. I've had the occassional Club Sandwich Attack, apparent by my stacking everything I was eating into a three tier sandwich. Not the same. Then I had my Cheeseburger Bacon Crave, and tried to mimic the taste and feel by making a veggie patty and adding it to an ancient grain slice of bread with white sliced bio mozza. Not the same. Really not the same. I did indule in a poutine on the weekend with onion rings. It tasted so so good.

I guess I am lucky because I still indulge in the flesh of the fish and it's countless buddies, the seafood clan. Ohh my little calamari and my tiny shrimps. Bite bite bite.

 

What is really odd in all this is the tofu part. I actually enjoy it. I remember making it about a year ago when I was still back home, and nobody liked it. If I am not mistaken, we eventually threw it out. It was yucky. The trick is searing it and marinating the F**K out of it. Yes, that word NEEDS to be employed when handling something as odd as tofu. F**K!!!!

Being vegetarian also led to other bizarre behaviour from my part. First of all, it leads to eating healthier as a whole. I feel bad when having a bag of chips or chocolate bar because in my crazy mind, I am already not eating meat, I dont't want to warp my insides even more by swallowing whole choclate bars and munching down an entire bag of chips. Most of y'all are probably saring, don't exagerate, just have a small bag of chips and a handful of choco-covered peanuts. Yeah, that doesn't apply to me. I go big or I go home! And without a slab of protein, I prefer going home, then eating the entire Mrs. Vickies rack at my local corner store.

The second thing that this new dietary choice has brought me is a broader range of food choices and new discoveries such as Soy Beverage. I bought the vanilla one and decided to pair it (I didn't want to try it all by its lonesome, it looks and smells funky) with some Kashi Cereals. Let me tell you, I found heaven that first morning I tried that. It was divine. The vanilla soy milk tastes exactly like almond milk, it has a very nutty flavour to it. Add that with Kashi Cereals and you have pure bliss. *Sighs*


With that being said, I am so delighted with my choice. However, I will be having myself some ribs this summer on the BBQ. BBQ will be my weakness. BBQ = Love.


Candles are out,
Eleven's Ink

¯¯¯¯¯¯A life without meat¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

I may be eggs-agerating "un tout petit peu" with my title, as this is only day two of my no-meat action in support of my fellow friends, the farm animals. I love y'all!! w00t w00t.

I even took the time to boil myself some eggs last night to have with my soup today. Add a little crushed nuts to the broth, a little protein shake and I should be good to go until supper. Hopefully. Because that was my main concern. Hunger. If I am hungry, dear lord, move aside because I will crush you lol.

But so far I am doing good, even better, then when I was eating meat. I am not even craving a snack. Weird.

I will keep you all posted on how it goes and post some new vegetarian recipes. I'm going to do my first vegetarian grocery shopping on tuesday of next week, as I have to finish the meat in my freezer. I invited people over for supper to eat it lol. but I will not waste it, that would be even more cruel. "Hey we mistreated you and killed you for your meat to go into the garbage." Poor things.

With that being said it's lunch time!!

Candles are out,
Eleven's Ink