St. Patty, Yesterday & Today

We had out St. Patty's day celebration outside yesterday. I though I had an SD card in the camera and snaps a lot of shots, but alas. I was a little high at the time.

I'm going to give you a a corned beef and cabbage recipe that will blow your Irish guests away. Our friend Michael who doesn't eat a lot of red meat, like myself, told me about 5 time yesterday that it was the best he's ever had. So here goes, again, sorry about the photos, or lack there of. I was a beautiful cut of meat. I was a little high yesterday.

As Johnny Gallager once said to me, "When the good Lord made the Irish he didn't make much, but what he did make was a damn sight better than the Dutch."

I bought my corned beef already cured in pickling spices, but if you have recipe for that by all mean pickle your own.

This is a two phase cooking process. First the beef is boiled, and then I finish it on the grill with high heat to gives it an addictive crust that keeps people coming back till the brisket is devoured.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War


Corned Beef and Cabbage: Serves 4 or 6

Ingredient for the Beef:

4 lb. brisket of pickled beef,
brown sugar
Dijon mustard
40 oz. bottle of Guiness Stout beer

Directions:

Note: Trim off any excess fat but remember it will break down somewhat in the cooking process and you can trim if off after it's out of of the water. Take meat out of the fridge two hours before you're going to cook it.
1) In a large pot bring the water and the Guiness stout to a rapid boil put in the brisket and reduce the heat to a slow boil. Let it sit for in the pot one hour and check the internal temperature with w digital thermometer. Once the temperature has hits 145 degrees your good to go. This should take between o and one half hours cooking time.
2) take the brisket out and let it rest for 20 to 30 minutes.
3) Once cooled spread Dijon mustard all over and coat with brown sugar.
4) On a clean grill at high temperature, at least 600 degrees grill all sides till the sugars have browned. Be careful not to burn it the sugar. You're just trying to sear it all around. That will keep the juices in.
5) Let it rest again for another 15 or 20 minutes. Cut thin pieces against the grain. Serve with red potatoes and cabbage. See cabbage recipe below.

Cabbage:
Ingredients:
1/2 Napa cabbage
Caraway seeds
Salt & Pepper
Butter

1) Clean the cabbage, cut the stem area out and julienne the cabbage.
2) Steam the cabbage in a steamer till al dente'. Let cool
3) Just before your ready to serve in a very hot skillet add 1 1/2 tablespoon non salted butter, and saute' the cabbage, adding a little salt and pepper to taste, and the caraway seeds. Cook till it's lightly browned. The caraway seeds give it that rye taste the Irish are famous for. I'm the only person I know who does it this way and people flip every time I serve it, so I must be doing something right. Serve hot.

S. African Goose Berry aka Cape Goose Berry

I never had a S. African goose berry, aka the Cape Gooseberry, till the last Sunday in Bodega Bay, and I fell in love at first bite. Origionally grown in Peru and Chili there are some 70 varieties of this ground fruit. It's the size of cherry tomato, encased in poisonous bladder like cocoon which when mature takes on a paper like consistency. The taste is sweet with a little sour finish.

This particular variety is great for salads, sauces , pies, appetizers, whatever. I brought one home from my friend Erwin's house, and I'm going to dry out the seeds and grow on in the back yard right next to the lime tree. Supposedly the bush will last two years.

This fruit is not a commercial crop so it's hard to find. I can't wait till it grows.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food consumption:

Breakfast: Trader Joe's O' w/soy, banana, black tea 1 sugar

Lunch: 2 pieces Italian chicken sausage, a little leftover pasta

Snacks: Asiago cheese crackers

Dinner: Indian food

Exercise: 3.5 miles walking

Thursday 3-14-13

Some days you just don't have that much to put out, in cyberspace that is. Today is one of those days again. I promise that tomorrow I'll do my South African goose berry blog. If that doesn't get your sachet d'e'pices all in a knot I don't know that else will.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food consumption today:

Breakfast: Trae Joe's O's cereal w/soy and banana, black tea

Lunch: Leftover brown rice, chicken and veggies from dinner

Snacks: Nuts

Dinner: Whole wheat past w/cherry tomatoes, swiss chard, garlic, white wine, sheep milk's feta cheese,
               Pecorino Romano, sauteed eggplant, olive oil, salt, pepper, & crushed red pepper

Exercise: 6.5 miles walking

God, I love pasta. I don't know if I love pasta more than pizza. I think it's a dead draw.

Springtime Happy & Healthy Mint

I went and visited some organic farmer friends I know about this problem I was having with my mint in our herb garden a while back. My friend Pilar told me she can't figure out what the problem is with the mint in California, and that she was having the same problem. Rust is what she called it. It's a discoloration of the leaves to that lovely rust color that looks good on iron but not on mint or any other herb. There is no cure for it.

I have mint planted in two areas of our property, and I was only getting rust in the one that's planted in a galvanized water trough. For one reason or another I'm not having any rust problem now, and but I think I can see trace hints of it. It looks healthy and happy right now, and I can have a my mint tea in the afternoon, which I did.

The rest of the herb garden is coming along also. I have some savory planted, parsley, marjoram, and chives. It's time to give them some plant food. I've  got a bush I want to grow but that another blog. More on that later, another day.

I'm feeling good today, like I have control over my eating. I stayed on the program and I'm getting some good cardio workout.

That's it for today.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food consumption today:

Breakfast: Plain yogurt w/grape nuts, 2 bananas, black tea w/agave

Lunch: snacked on nuts, orange juice, mint tea w/agave

Dinner:  Chicken Cacciatore w/onions, red bell peppers, capers, fresh mint, & basil, white wine, olive oil, s & p, herbs of Provence, cast iron pan grilled asparagus in evoo, s & p,  Steamed brown rice, small salad avocado, fresh lemon and olive oil

Exercise: 7 miles walking

MINT

Just The Facts 3-12-13

Getting back to the program basics, low fat, low sugar and salt intake, smaller portions, little to no snacking, no booze, lots of water, watch the carbo intake, and  lots vegetables, fruit and of course exercise. I've got less that 20 days to get down the weight to below 230 pounds, so it's time to get serious.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Food Consumption 3-12-13

Breakfast: Cereal w/soy milk, 3 bananas

Lunch: Big salad with Romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, olives, eggplant, red bell peppers, S & P,
             vinaigrette

Snacks: Raisins and Nuts

Dinner: Peanut butter sandwich, apple

Exercise: 4 miles walking

Erwin & Bodega Bay

Geraldine, myself and our friend Michael spent the day in Bodge bay at our friend Erwin's house celebrating in brother Fran's birthday, with friend s and family. I got to cook the tuna, eat some amazing food, too much of course, drink, get high hang and hang out on a spectacular sunnry day on the Sonoma Coast.

We stopped at the Freestone Bakery on the way north,  through Occidental, and over Coleman Valley Rd to Bodega Bay. All in all a wonderful day. 

See more pics below, and read the usual about my program for today. During those 8 days of convalescing my footI I lost some control over my eating habits, and I need to get back to square one.

Larry & Michael

Birthday Boy Franz Pierot 80 yrs. young

Erwin Pierot

Gerri, Melissa, Franz & Vanessa

after the feast

Well, I got some good exercising in today. I logged 7 miles. I need to keep that up.

That's it for today.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War


Food COnsumption Today:

Breakfast: 2 pieces of toast

Lunch: a little sausage and some Freestone Bakery cheese bread, orange juice

Yogurt, Greece, Walking, And The Usual

Grecian Graffiti Tolo

Tolo Harbor, Greece

Cassius, Geri & Victoria

Me, Victoria and Cassius in Greece

Amphitheater outside Tolo Greece circa 2005

 Greek yogurt is all the rage these days, and I admit I love it oo. I love Greece and the Greek people, as is evident by the photos above. We had a chance to visit our friend Charles and Kathleen's little cottage close to Nafplio a number of years back with my sister-in-law and nephew Cassius. Before we went everyone kept saying, "You have to try the yogurt in Greece."

We did try the yogurt and we loved it, but while visiting Maui recently we spotted this yogurt called Siggi's at Safeway of all place, you never know right, and it's too was a delightful surprise.

Of course we checked it out on the Internet, and the website Siggisyogurt.com or www.skyr.com came up, and it told us we could get Siggi's yogurt at the Safeway market in Montclair Village, close to our home. We went there after our walk one evening, but alas, no Siggi's Islandic style yogurt. Back to the web site, and there was another location listed at Whole Foods, in the Grand Lake district of Oaktown.

Whole Foods is also know as whole paycheck, because what cost you a buck at one store will cost you two or three at Whole Foods. Siggi's happened to be on sale there today. I picked up the the plain and vanilla, but also the blueberry and the pineapple.

I had the pineapple and I was disappointed. First thing I did after I opened the container was dig my spoon into the bottom of the cup, but there was no fruit to be found, and I detected no pineapple taste at all in the yogurt itself. In fact the color of the yogurt was not even yellow, and unlike the plain yogurt I had in Hawaii this was a little runny.  On top of that it left a funky taste in my mouth. I won't get the pineapple again.

The blueberry yogurt  tasted much better, but still no actual pieces of fruit. Why, is my only question? The yogurt was dense with a pale purple tint, and you could taste blueberry but again, no fruit. Is this so hard?

I'm sticking with the plain and vanilla Siggi's yogurt, which I'll give 2 joints. There are other yogurts out there that are better with combining fruit. Plus if I want fruit all I have to do is cut some up and add it. That's actually the best way to combine fruit and yogurt. Throw in some granola and you have a whole well balanced healthy meal.

The other thing I like about Siggi's is it is fully recyclable. You have all the usual information on the the yogurt cups, including what type of product it is i.e., Skyr yogurt which is the name for thick yogurt in Iceland, nutritional info & facts, and there's a little tab that says; Please tear the sleeve off to recycle, read more about us, &  made in Chenango County,  N.Y.,  And sure enough you tear back the seeve and the other side is a whole story on how their yogurt is made. Very cool, and very smart use of packaging.

I like Siggi's, and I'm going to ask my grocer to carry it. They don't use milk that has been injected with growth hormones, but they've got to work with some organic pineapple farmers in Hawaii, and get some real blueberries for Christ's sake. I know they have strawberry yogurt also, but strawberries are in season right now, so guess what I'm going to do?  I'm sticking with the plain and vanilla.

That's my food tip for the week.

WALKING: I finally got back to walking today. Th dogs and I hit the trail, and it felt good. The foot is holding up, but surgery is eminent. I feel fat, and was only off my feet for 8 days.  I was winded just going up small hill grades. It doesn't take long for the body's muscles to degrade.

Peace,

Make Food/Not War

Siggi's Islandic Yogurt

Food Consumption Today:

Breakfast:  Siggi's blueberry yogurt, 2 pieces of toast w/butter, banana, black tea
                  w/agave
Lunch:  Italian chicken sausage, brown rice

Snacks: Here's the downfall today....Geri made chocolate, oatmeal, raisin cookies
             orange juice, 3 flatbread crackers w/Petit Basque cheese

Dinner: Italian chicken sausage, & a big salad w/the usual good stuff in it.

Exercise: 5 miles walking