Four Foods on Friday #120

I’m a week behind everyone else, but oh well. This one is such a fun one that I didn’t want to skip it.

Name four food oddities that you have.

Oh wow, where do I begin?

1. I detest tomatoes. But I love tomato soup, tomato sauce, tomatoes in spaghetti. I have always hated tomatoes. They are mushy and slimy, and they do not taste good enough for me to get past the sliminess.

2. I dislike applesauce. I actually don’t like anything that’s half-solid, half-liquid in my mouth. I like to either CHEW it or DRINK it, not in between. Yeah I was a horribly fussy eater as a kid! I also liked to eat “on the go.” I was a tomboy (no one could get me to wear those pink ties in my hair back then! But I do wear them now !)

3. When I eat breads or bread-related foods, my heart rate goes up very high. Don’t know why. So I avoid eating those kinds of foods.

4. My body hates me. LOL. Well, it SEEMS to hate me. I have a very difficult time losing any weight. I once fasted for two weeks. Lost 10 pounds, gained it all back two days after my fast ended. And I didn’t gorge to gain it, either! I also have been working on my home renovation for three months. I work long, long hours with intense physical labor (ripping out plaser and lathe, carrying sheetrock, cutting plywood, etc). I have been eating very little because I am so busy. How much weight have I lost in 3 months of intense physical labor and dieting? 9 pounds. Big whoop. I know people who skip a day’s eating and lose that much. :-p

The list could go on, but I need to get back to work. Thanks for reading!

Four Foods on… Friday? Monday? Tuesday?

I can never seem to get this meme straight. I look for it at Val’s site, but I can’t seem to find it on Friday. Then, when I visit Chatbug Karen’s blog and By the Sea blog, they have theirs posted. I feel left out. lol.

Well, even though FFFF #119 has been issued, I’m going to try to play catch up with the previous ones first. The questions are interesting. Sorry I am so inconsistent with this meme!

1. Do you prefer soft serve ice cream or hard ice cream?

Ice cream is ice cream! I’ll eat it either way.

2. What is the strangest sandwich you’ve ever made?

I’ve probably made a lot of weird stuff… recently, we make hummus wraps. They are very good, and very filling. But because hummus is a food that people either love or hate, our sandwich gets strong reactions. You can see our recipe with photo here.

3. What’s your favorite type (not flavor) of potato chip?

Anything but the ripped. I don’t like those. They are too heavy and crunchy.

4. What size spoon do you usually eat soup with at home?

I don’t eat soup. Yuk. OK OK, on those RARE occasions that I do eat soup, it’s with a regular spoon.

Here’s FFFF #119. I like the questions because they are “language” oriented. I like learning about how other cultures interpret words.

1. How do you pronounce manicotti? Men-e-got, man-i-cotti or some other way?

I don’t think I have ever said this word, just read it. And I live in an Italian area! I guess it’s man-i-cotti here.

2. What do you can the carbonated drink that comes in a bottle? Soda, tonic, pop, fizzy or something else?

Soda. I have never heard a northerner say “pop.” I always thought southerners said it that way. I have never heard any northerner say “tonic,” either. You suuuuure he wasn’t pulling your leg, Val?

3. What do you call a sandwich on a long roll? Sub, grinder, hoagie, hero, poor boy or something else?

A sub.

4. Do you call it broth, boullion or stock? How do you make chicken stock?

I have always thought the three were entirely different entities. Broth is the cooked juices of meat without the addition of vegetables, isn’t it? Stock is the cooked juices of meat with vegetables, isn’t it? (Or are they the other way around??). Boullion is flavored powder pressed into cubes, no? How do I make chicken stock? Well… most of the time I buy the cans. Sometimes when I am extremely motivated, I cook the carcass. Right now, I can’t cook because I don’t have a kitchen yet. Here’s hoping I can save up all my nickels and aj madison coupons and finish this kitchen by the end of August!

No More Four Foods on Friday?

Am I missing something? We haven’t had a Four Foods on Friday meme for over a month. Was it canceled? Did I miss the announcement?

Maybe Val is renovating her kitchen, eh? That’ll keep a lady busy. It’s keeping me crazy busy, anyway…. so much so that I don’t remember the meme for a WHOLE MONTH, lol, only to find out that no one has been doing it!

So… what’s going on? I know summer is a great time to sell books and have garage sales, and rip apart your house walls and ceilings and all…. I kinda miss the meme… even though I hardly have time to do it…

What a crazy summer. Soon I will have my kitchen back! And then, I will be cooking like a FIEND, I tell you that!

Four Foods On Friday 114

LOL. I have to laugh at the Four Foods On Friday topic… it’s about fast food, and that is what we seem to be eating much of these days, while we renovate the kitchen! :S

* Who makes the best hamburger/cheeseburger?
* Who makes the best french fries?
* Who makes the best shake?
* Who makes the best chicken?

Oh yeah, break out your best fat burning supplement, folks…. you deserve a break today! LOL

So. I’ll answer the questions.

THEY ALL MAKE THE BEST!! YUM YUM YUM YUM!!! *maniacal laughter*

Wow, lol. Excuse that crazy burst, there. Yeah, I’m tired. I actually don’t like fast food very much. It all tastes the same to me: salty and greasy. I do get a craving for hamburgers from time to time, though…

1. Seriously, I don’t know. I guess I do prefer the grilled burger of Burger King than the greasy fried burger of McDonald’s.
2. Wendy’s. They never salt them, though. They should salt them. Maybe they don’t because it’s a polite gesture for folks watching their salt intake. But if people are REALLY watching their salt intake, the LAST thing they should be doing is ordering saltless fries, holy cow! Go get a salad, and let us have our salty fries.
3. Beats me. I don’t like milkshakes from those public dispensers, they seem…. ikky. Wendy’s Frosty is good, it’s less of a slimy milk mixture and more like ice cream.
4. I have no idea.

So. I wonder what the topic will be next week. LOL

Considering the Raw Food Diet

I’ve been hearing about something called the Raw Food Diet lately. As I’ve gotten older, I absolutely LOVE fresh vegetables and fruits (especially vegetables). You know, I almost never ate fresh vegetables or fruits growing up. I wonder if this is why my family members have certain health problems. I remember eating a lot of pasta, a lot of cream dishes (tomato soups to casseroles, ick), and a lot of fried foods. No wonder my mom was always on weight loss products.. yuk, friend foods. The only vegetables I can recall eating are canned corn, iceberg lettuce, celery, and potatoes. Sometimes apples and peaches. And I was a fussy eater– I didn’t eat the onions, peppers, and tomatoes that were served.

I grew up in a large family and my step-dad was out of work from time to time (we live in Upstate New York). So we ate a lot of canned stuff, and ate seasonal stuff. When it was apple season, we ate apples, but never ate apples out of season. Same with broccoli and peaches. Oh, how I craved broccoli and peaches!

It’s funny, but I don’t cook hardly anything that I ate as I was growing up. I’m a fresh-food gal now, and I like fish (although I do like spaghetti and meatballs from time to time!). But I hate casseroles, dislike fried foods very much, and hate cream sauces and creamy soups. I rarely make casseroles and soups, and never fry anything except eggs.

Anyway, back to the raw foods. I would love to go on a raw food diet. I think. I would miss my fish, though. I love salmon, pollock, haddock, whiting– YUM! It’d be difficult to skip the fish. And I like spiedies, although I don’t eat them a whole lot. The Raw Food diet is very, very healthy– exceptionally healthy. I heard testimonies from my friends and they are very enthusiastic about it.

Cost is another thorn. In the summer, we eat a ton of raw stuff, anyway, but come winter, when fruits and veggies are twice the price…. yow. I think the biggest reason for eating cooked foods to begin with is found in just one word: winter. There’s just nothing fresh available during the winter.

So I’m reading more about the diet, weighing my options. Lord knows, I could sure lose weight and be healthier. I sit at a computer ALL day, sheesh. I could easily go 60% raw, or even 80% raw. Right now, my regular diet is probably 30%….

In considering the Raw Food diet, I’m noticing things a lot more, too– how EVERYTHING in the cooking world is geared toward, well, cooking! Think of all the stuff we have in our kitchens for cooking food, all those appliances, all that money spent: ingredients, bakeware, cookware, toaster, microwave, coffeepot, crock pot, oven, pots, pans… and loads and loads of recipe books, ugh!

I know I’m rambling here. I guess my thoughts haven’t completed formed concepts yet. I’m seeing for the first time how integrated cooking is for us. And when it comes down to it, we really don’t NEED to cook anything. Except during winter. That blasted thing called winter.

I’ll have more on this as I think more about it…

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