Food Porn*

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A momentary spark of light in my eternal domestic struggles has now been overshadowed by yesterday’s horrific transgressions against all that is real food and proper nutrition. The last couple of days have been terrible, food habit-wise, influenced in no small part by a busy spurt at work….it’s kind of a feast or famine job. When work is feasting, the workers are ‘famining’ and vice versa.

My system has been a bit wonky for the last few days, and that hasn’t helped either. Now, it’s also important to remember that I actually did have real food at my fingertips – on Wednesday, I had brought a bit container of homemade spicy chicken chow mein, so there was no excuse for the horror that was yesterday.

I skipped breakfast.

Lunch was two cookies (both white chocolate macadamia nut – the best cookie ever!).

Afternoon snack was two more cookies (one white chocolate macadamia nut and the other double chocolate).

Because I had a class after work yesterday, I couldn’t cook, but really, there is so much choice at the food court that I had no business eating what I did! I got an A&W teen burger, onion rings, chubby chicken strips (more like chubby thigh strips for me…..) and a diet coke. Which, of course, redeems the entire deep-fried, sodium laden artery blocking disaster.

Terrible. I would have been better off not eating! Okay…maybe not, I was getting woozy, but still. What makes people choose this fatty grossness instead of healthy alternatives????? I could have had a fresh sandwich, a nice salad, shawarma, teriyaki, etc. I could have had any number of things. But I didn’t.

I hope to redeem myself today. Brekkie was a relatively sane bagel with cheddar, lunch was the aforementioned prodigal chow mein and tonight is our romantic dinner à deux.

I browsed around through epicurious, looking for something that would be relatively quick to prepare. Also….I have to confess that I still have to do Wednesday’s dishes…..so dinner prep will be delayed by a few minutes while I clean (something I should have done Wednesday). The table is also a little worse for wear…..the flower arrangement from my dinner party two weeks ago has now come to a sad, yucky, fuzzy end (although the fuzz only came yesterday). Time for that to hit the dust.

Anyway, I happened upon a lovely Valentine’s menu for two. I know we’re nowhere close, but it sounded like it would be a nice treat for hubs and I. I was seduced by the amazing colour of the beet soup. Hubs hates beets. I bought beets a while ago. I’ve now convinced him that he won’t die if he tries to eat beets, so hopefully he will enjoy this soup! I love beets – the gorgeous fuschia colour of this soup is like nature’s middle finger to artificial colouring…(perhaps directed at me after the tomato soup incident two weeks ago….!) I’m excited. I’ll try to duplicate the heart, but we’ll see….I’m discovering that the key to having any shape stay is that the consistency of the drizzle must be congruent with the consistency of the soup. If it’s thicker, it sinks, and if it’s thinner….somehow it also disappears. Anyway, even if hubs doesn’t like it, the recipe only makes two servings, so I will lap up bowl 2 tomorrow.

The next course (the Dungeness crab) should be delicious. I’m going to follow their suggestion of a salad accompaniment….no tarragon in the dressing though. I despise tarragon for some reason or another. I just find it such an aggressive, icky flavour….though I know there are many who would say the same of coriander, which is one of my favourites! That said, I’m not sure we’ll be using Dungeness crab….as lovely as it would be, I might opt for something a little more economical….will have a looksee and figure it out then (perhaps scallops or jumbo shrimp would work). The bread will be a must, though I don’t have time to make my own tonight.

Last, the chocolate pots de crème sound delicious….very excited.

Will update tomorrow with pics. :)

* For the record, and before anyone points it out, I am fully aware that I stole this moniker from the brilliant folks at the Nutrition Action Healthletter - this is a great read, and one I should be forced to memorize after yesterday!