Food & Drink

[dieselfan1]

Did you say wisky?
I used to love this stuff.

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[Grumpy Bear]

If you guys haven't seen this show....WOW! 

 

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/stanley-tucci-finding-italy/index.html

[Grumpy Bear]

3/1/2021 wife put us on a diet

  

 

But wait, it isn't that bad. Kind of fun actually. Basic calorie counting but....with an App (Calorie King) that does all the hard work AND lets me do 'what if'. I was surprised how many calories I was actually allowed given my build, activity and age. Alot more than I thought. Not a huge difference it totals but a shift in where, when and what. Easy-Peasy when you have the entire Internet as a data base and custom options, instant reports and graphs. It forces me to eat on a fairly regular rhythm. I've never been a guy who was actually ever 'hungry'; skip meals, even skip days if busy enough. Takes me next to zero in extra time. Leaves me more than enough room for my night cap   Even get to eat some junk! It's going to be cheaper too. I can tell that already. 

 

I'm finding out there is a huge difference in between getting enough calories and getting enough nutrition. I kind of knew that but.....

[Grumpy Bear]

Diet, what it is. 

 

Funny thing occurred to me; unless your dead you're always on a diet. When someone says, "Hey, I'm on a diet", it just means on some diet different than what you have been on. If it happens to have a following it may even have a name. They even named the 'no diet diet' as the "American Diet". Just eat whatever you wish and as much or as little as you like. 

 

I'm that guy that if I can measure it, I can improve it.....generally. But what to measure, right? Calories yes. Consume more of them than you burn and you gain weight. Eat fewer and you loose weight. Simple, right? It seemed so. 

 

I've read that a person needs to eat 500 to 1,000 fewer calories a day to loose one pound a week. A pound of fat is roughly 3500 calories / 7 days = 500 a day. So if your weight was steady then 500 is enough. If you were gaining a pound a week then a 1000. Half of them to stall and the other half to shed. 

 

Okay got that. Now how many does a person need? Depends on age, size and the amount and intensity of your physical activity. For me it turns out I can shed weight eating between 1600 and 1800 calories a day. 530 to 600 a meal of some combination that sums the range. 

 

Why we fail. 

 

First lesson learned. It is really easy to over eat in terms of calorie intake and never be satiated. Satisfied. A 16 ounce Porterhouse can pack on over 1000 calories. That double of 90 proof 200 more. That large baked potato (300 grams) 280 more. Two tablespoons of sour cream? 46 more. Butter three pats 102. Bacon crumbles. 43 more. Call it 150 for a prepared veggie. Well there is over 1800 in one meal. Oh wait....I forgot desert!!! 

 

We like what we like and eat what we like and if we do so in amounts that are small enough to loose weight we do not satiate our hunger.

 

Why it is dangerous. 

 

Eating like this is 'unbalanced'. Lots of calories but little nutrition. Harmful amounts of saturated fats and way to much proteins.  Little vitamin or mineral content. Eat like a pig and still malnourished. 

 

Not preaching. 

 

You have to relearn and in this regard I am a babe in the woods. It is possible to eat to satisfaction at a caloric intake level that looses weight AND be balanced in nutrition. Problem has been that such diets taste like they came out of the business end of a wood chipper. That is IF you follow all the self help book type advice. For me it has been about first recording what I do eat to see my patterns then playing with my food to find other things yet unexplored that I like. 

 

I don't know what this will look like but I do know it will be different than the first six plus decades. 

 

 

[Grumpy Bear]

Poached Egg I love. Poaching them, not so much. Until recently when I learned a few tricks that gave this result:

 

 

 

A small kitchen fine wire strainer. One small enough to hold but one egg.

Sit the strainer in a coffee cup and crack an egg into it. 

That watery portion, thin albumen, of the white that creates the 'feathers'  and YUCK will separated from the firmer part.

 

Transfer egg to a Ramekin.

 

In a small stick free pan SLOWLY heat about a 1/4 inch of water.

Before the water is more than tepid slid the egg into the center of the pan.

When the white is nearly opaque baste.

Continue to your desired yoke.

 

I heavily edited this post after a second 'failed' attempt and finding the starting temperature of the water is critical when the egg is introduced as well as the rate of heat application. Gentle. Also the depth. We're not making egg drop soup here.  

 

Fresh Cracked Black Pepper and/or Horseradish root is great on this. 

 

 

 

Edited May 23, 2021 by Grumpy Bear

[Grumpy Bear]

More on Diet

 

6/9/2021

 

I haven't any expectation that anyone will be interested in my personal goals on this topic but I thought writing things down my be useful to someone else. 

 

15 weeks. 12.6 pounds lost. Not quite a pound a week but very steady progress week over week. I put it on slow and I feel it is health to loose it the same way. No race here. 

 

I've never been diabetic but I've always had unstable blood sugar. Leaves ya cranky and weak feeling at times. This has subside ALLOT. Loosing weight this slow has had some unexpected welcome elimination benefits. I had a surgery some years ago and was told that I'd likely be back as 'people don't normally change their habits enough to matter'. Both of these improvements are the result of a reduction fat intake and an increase in fiber. What fat I do eat is less saturated. 

 

TMI is suppose but it matters. As in the last post you can eat less, calories, and improve nutrition with choices. This doesn't always mean less volume either. Make different choices and you can't eat 1000 calories. 

 

Odd note perhaps but... It is really REALLY hard to get enough carbs and just as easy to get too much protein and fat. If your not carful you can eat enough wrong carbs to keep you busy  Pasta if your friend. The stuff people like on pasta not so much. Ditto potatoes. Beans. Rice. That doesn't mean bland food either. I like bread but bread, what dad called 'glue bread' is bad for the colon. Don't ask. But hearty breads like Ezekiel and some artisan multi grains are awesome. And don't think you can't have butter on that toast. Just don't drown it in butter. A few grams instead of a pat will give all the flavor. 

 

I take a cholesterol medication.  Until I started tracking things I had no idea I was out of room on this item by the time I was half way done with breakfast. Instead of two or three eggs a day I have one and one or two whites a few times a week and eat something other the rest of the time. Like shredded Wheat, berries and an Orange or other fruit. A few ounces of WHOLE milk instead of a tumbler full plus the cereal. Oats some mornings with fruit and spices. Other things taste great too. You don't have to eat cardboard. 

 

Okay this is too long already but I hope some will find it useful.  

[Grumpy Bear]

I have this neighbor who once a year buys about a dozen hams right after Easter and freezes them for later. 29 cents a pound on average. This past week he smoked a 10 pounder, mesquite and hickory. Generally people don't smoke pork with mesquite as it can be a bit strong but this guy has the blend down AND he shares. He gave me enough for about five meals. (100 grams per meal)  Wife is a veggie person so....happy me. Of course I'd eat a boot mesquite smoked. 

[Grumpy Bear]

Nothing really special about basic Avocado toast UNLESS

 

 

My favorite bakery supplied the multigrain Italian Demi-loaf.

California the HAAS avocado which was perfectly ripe. 

The meaty tomato, a Bonnie Original, and the basil and onion came from the yard.

 

There is something special about picked minutes ago and grown under your watch taste that even the seasonal farm markets can not reproduce. This little baby was still sun warm and hit that perfect balance of sweet and acid no tomato ripened in a trailer from NC can ever match. WOW was this good. 

 

The spread was about 70 grams of avocado and 10 grams of pearl onion minced almost to liquid. When mixed a finger full taste a hint of vanilla. Crazy right? Salt and Pepper the only spices. 

 

I love seasonal eating.   

Edited August 6, 2021 by Grumpy Bear

[MikeBMW]

That's some great stuff, right there!
Give me a recipe, looks awesome!
Ooops, I didn't read the entire post ... never mind.

Edited August 7, 2021 by MikeBMW

[Grumpy Bear]

1 hour ago, MikeBMW said:

That's some great stuff, right there!
Give me a recipe, looks awesome!
Ooops, I didn't read the entire post ... never mind.

 

Half an avocado

One pearl onion

One fresh basil leaf

One slice of tomato

One slice of good multigrain bread

Fresh ground black pepper/salt to taste. 

[Grumpy Bear]

39 minutes ago, Grumpy Bear said:

 

Half an avocado

One pearl onion

One fresh basil leaf

One slice of tomato

One slice of good multigrain bread

Fresh ground black pepper/salt to taste. 

 

Forgot. Lemon juice. A teaspoon. Keeps it from turning black. 

[Grumpy Bear]

So I tried the avocado toast again adding a few ingredients thinking like a hotrodder. If a little is good, more is better. 

Yea...it isn't. Not just not better but ruined it.

 

K.I.S.S.

Lesson learned....again

 

 

I've made this mistake many times. Learned it from my vegetarian wife. These guys use way to many spices and herbs in the same dish trying to bring to the dish what animal fat does on it's own. Flavor; and most of the time simple is much better but I get it. Produce bought at market doesn't taste like produce from the ground of your yard. It's never picked ripe and always forced to grow. $$$$ is no substitute for flavor. If these veggies had any flavor a dozen spices would not even be tried.  

[JimCost2014]

2 hours ago, Grumpy Bear said:

avocado toast

[Grumpy Bear]

10 hours ago, JimCost2014 said:

 

Ah C'mon Jim....live a little  

 

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[Grumpy Bear]

Spices, a thought....

 

Mix the primary colors blue and yellow and you get....green. Red and yellow produce orange. Red and blue equals purple. The secondary colors. Mixing secondary colors produces tertiary colors. Mixing tertiary color produces hue. Adding white, a tint, or black a shade changes the intensity or lightness. With each addition change become increasingly subtle until there is no distinction at all. It just becomes muddy. Like melting all the crayons in a box together. 

 

I believe modifying taste with spices and herbs works like this. Even mixing basic foods and drink has this effect. I've yet to find a person who likes buttermilk with their grapefruit. 

 

Obviously I am not a fan of Curry type 'kitchen sink' spices. Nor am I a fan of the use of spices either by themselves or in amount that overpower a dish to the point it is all you sense or mutes the senses. Over salting an example or use of hot peppers in excess. A little heat is interesting. Allot is painful. Worse perhaps...it kills the taste sense to the point that the food it spices is erased. 

 

A spice can compliment a taste, contrast a taste or intensify a taste. It can transform two things to something new. A secondary color if you will. But it can also be destructive. Putrefying. Repulsive.