The complete opposite of eating well...

That's what I have been doing... And Fast Food has been my #1 staple food - doesn't matter what kind of fast food...it is all FAT food. But there is one teeny light in there...I have learned an entire new (to me) cuisine that is both VERY easy and VERY full of good-for-you foods like VEGETABLES and GRAINS and meats and carbs are used more like a seasoning than as a main dish. What is this new cuisine you may be asking...why it's JAPANESE - yes folks, there is (WAY!) more to Japanese food than sushi, terryaki, and ramen (although ramen really is a truly yummy part of it!) I have been OBSESSED with Onigiri, which is a Japanese sandwhich of sorts- intead of bread you use sticky rice (which is white- but it's ok) with some dried seasoning, called furikake - it comes in all kinds of flavours, I like the Umeboshis (plums) or egg & seaweed (my fav)- there's probably a lot of salt in the seasoning (the package is in Japanese) but a little goes a long way to dress up the rice - or you can just have plain rice and have the flavouring come out in the centre, which is typically filled with meat, veggie, or fish - these little triangle shaped rice balls are traditionally eaten with a dried seaweed wrapper. SO DELICIOUS - and super stupid easy to prepare! Just google ONIGIRI and you will find a million different ways to prepare it. You can even buy little molds and make baby pandas or penguins - or whatever...yes I have the panda molds, no I haven't made them yet! I am also newly addicted to Karaage - Japanese fried chicken. Really, they are these tender savory bites of chicken marinated in soy sauce, ginger, and galic, which are then dredged with corn starch (or potato starch)and quickly deep fried. My favorite thing that I have learned in the last little while is the art of the Bento. You don't need to know how to cook Japanese dishes, or even how to make cute little characters (which is still fun at 30-something years old) to know how to make a good bento. I have come to find out that Bento simply means packed lunch - however there is an art to packing the food (and a certain balance to it all). To sum it up, heavy on the Veg, some rice, and VERY light (by North American standards) on the meat/protein. And variety of flavours and colours is key. For those of you that follow my FB page Quinn Ethan Endeavours, you know that my kitchen is sometimes magically transformed into a soap factory. I have been busy making all kinds of bathbomb treats and actually making soap (from scratch!!!) to do much actual cooking - that's why Japanese fare has fit so nicely into my life...but now, onto what I've really dreamed of...making and growing my own food! Although Iwould love nothing more than to own a farm and be 100% self-sustainable (and even off grid) that's not likely to happen in my very near future. It's just not realistic for me to cook everything from scratch, (although I miss my homemade bread so I have to figure out a way to get that back into my life) and sometimes I am just too tired (read: EXHAUSTED) from working my day job, running a side business (yay soap!) owning a house (sheesh it's a lot more work than I ever though it would be...says the woman who decided to pave her own front walkway this summer!) that I can't even find enough energy to heat a can of soup (let alone make it from scratch!). I am also single and I found that it is very very very hard to run a whole foods kitchen for one person - even for a person who likes (LOVES) to eat. So I got mad at the whole movement and rebelled...but it is never far from my mind! Next year, I will be overhauling my backyard - it's a tiny plot of land with a lovely carpet of weeds (that I will annihilate naturally by cutting them down and covering the ground with blackcloth (gardening cloth)) There is also an overabundance of snails back there - and I never gave snails much thought before- i may have even once thought they were worthy of stepping around...but there are so many in my backyard that every single time I see them (which is everyday) I only have one (murderous) thought coursing through my brain and that is to "KILL THEM WITH FIRE". I don't though, I just pick them off of whatever they're clinging to and fling them over the fence into the 'back 40' - an empty field behind my house...escargots anyone? In any case, I have also always wanted to learn how to can. I don't know why, I'm not super partial to jams, pickles, and chutneys. I also am not a huge fan of Italian pasta, so tomato sauce is a rare occurrence around my kitchen....but I am obsessed with canning...so I watched some YouTube videos (my main source of 'television' - I cancelled my cable in favour of Netflix, but now all I watch is YouTube), I ordered some books, and I booked myself into 2 classes (for next week! LOL!) When I put my mind to something - there is absolutely no lollygagging around. I think I may have some regular blog posts coming up shortly on all the wonderful things I have learned about canning. I should post some shots of my Bentos too!

I am not big on New Year resolutions, so my timing on this is just coincidental! It's ALWAYS time to improve yourself so there's never any need to wait for anything like a date on a calendar. First and foremost - I bought a new kitchen! Yes folks, I bought a new kitchen - it came with my new house...and it's HUGE and very very condusive to cooking! I am sad to report that I had not been cooking for MONTHS because the kitchen in my old apartment was small, dingy and felt dirty (with the sighting of an unexpected visitor! EEEEKK!!!) Now I'm not saying that I needed to make such a drastic change in order to get back on track, but being in the midst of such a drastic change definitely made it easy for me to be lazy and eat out at any given opportunity. Enough with excuses! I have gained a serious amount of weight in the last few months and I can talk about all the excuses in the world - but it won't change anything. I know that I need to do something about it, so I reluctantly joined Weight Watchers. I say 'reluctantly' for two reasons 1) I wasn't really motivated to join and get back on track, I just know that I have been feeling like crap and that I had gained 'some' weight - but holy CRAP I didn't realize I had gained THAT much weight!!!! I was disgusted with myself, but quickly put that feeling away because it is time to do something NOW and disgust has no room in my attempt to be motivated. 2) I had been with WW in the past (WAY in the past, like 10 years ago) and although their plan worked for me, they seemed really focused on processed foods. I want to elimate as many processed foods from my diet as possible so I was very pleasantly surprised to see how much they have changed! They are focused alot more on nutrition. And you can seriously eat whatever the heck you want on the plan - you can even eat as many fruits and vegetables as you like and they don't count towards anything! It's fabulous (last time I was on their plan, I'd have to make a choice between an apple, a banana, or a low point value processed snack - guess what always won out!)! I am also in desperate need of meetings. I need to be accountable for my choices, because apparently, I spoil myself silly with treats and I ALWAYS feel like I deserve those treats...I have to shift my mind towards other rewards! I am also going to TRY to blog more because I like talking about food! And I miss you guys! :)

LOOK AT MY KITCHEN - and that's only HALF of it! EEEKKK!!!! This year I am hoping to have a couple of events IN MY KITCHEN! So stay tuned!

Subway Trees

Some Torontonians may know this - or you may not...but there are trees growing in the tunnels between St. Clair and Summerhill stations. Those trees make me both happy and sad - they also have me completely perplexed. How in the world did they get there and how is it that they are still there? I mean, there's no sun there to speak of, and while there may be tons of water - I don't know - it's likely all street run off full of gross street stuff - and yet, there they are. Grey trees growing in the dark and swaying in the breeze of the subway trains flying by. In any case, this post has nothing to do with whole foods...actually, my life lately has had nothing to do with whole foods as I am struggling just to keep my head above water in everyday life. I am trying to find my foothold in this city, and doing everything I can to survive in the greyness of it...but it's summer now, so I am seeing some sun and that is shedding some light on the situation. Since last Friday I have been on a gastro-adventure of epic proportions and I thought maybe you guys would be interested in heaing about it. First, after months (like pretty much almost a YEAR) of solitary confinement, I have had visitors, and that means venturing outside. First, I have to tell you about a fabulous little middle eastern place that is way too close to my place for comfort...it's called Tabule and it is fabulous. Great labneh (strained/pressed yogurt like Greek style) that they serve as a dip with za'atar sprinkled on top....mmmmm....I still like my labneh as a garnish for things like awesome Lebanese kebbeh, or as an after-dinner sweet with honey and a sprinkle of pine nuts (or almonds) but the labneh dip is yummy too! I haven't had anything bad there yet and I have sampled pretty much the whole menu from my two visits there (I steal food from other people's plates! Hahahaha!) My guests (Hi DV and AMC!)gifted me with a beautiful BBQ cookbook by famed Québec chef Louis-Francois Marcotte - I cannot wait to try some of those recipes - like grilled apple and cheese sandwiches! MMMM! We also tried pur hand at making our own sangria, which I must say turned out pretty good - even though we winged alot of it (beacuse some people can't read recipes! hahahahah!)

I also finally had the chance to spend some time at the Bier Markt - the flatbread pizzas called FLAMMEKUECHES are pretty good - HIGHLY recommend the Smoked Meat one - mmmmm - It's the beer that makes the place! I really like the one on the Esplanade because the menu has a real Québec flare! And the beer - I tried about 12 varieties and they have over 100 (like with food, I will steal sips from other people's glasses too!) - I have some work ahead of me! Hahahahahaha! I love the Esplanade because it reminds me of Montréal - the outdoor patios, the vibe of the people - very very much like my hometown!

Speaking of which... I had to go to Montréal for business and along with that means business lunches and dinners :) The best part of work if you ask my general opinion! We went to a place across from our office called Vinizza for lunch....first I have to say I really liked the decor - any place that features a bright red Vespa behind the bar already has my vote!!! I am not a big pasta person, and this place serves either pasta or pizza (or stinky fish, as my coworker unfortunately experienced!) but I ordered an unassuming linguini style pasta with mushrooms and spinach - after one bite I realized that it was definitely no ordinary or unassuming pasta dish! OMG! It was divine!!!!!!!!! Service was great too! Upstairs was a book and DVD place called "Cheap Thrills" - ahhh Montréal, you never disappoint me when I need a smirk on my face!

That night, we went to a place in old Montréal called Garde-Manger (The Pantry for you Anglophones). Chuck Hughes, whom I've never heard of to be honest, owns it...I have always wanted to go to one of these chi-chi restaurants in Vieux Montréal - but often find myself down there alone, and am not brave enough to dine alone in higher end establishments- but my friend has taught me the art of bar-sitting - which is a way better way to do things for foodies because you get to chat with the staff who also give you treats and samples of stuff...plus you get the inside scoop and you even get to order stuff that's not even on the menu! This night, I ordered off the menu and had a GORGEOUS Bavette with a fried egg on top. Bavette is a cut of meat similar to...well I don't even know what it's similar too - it's new to me, and seems to only be available in Québec (where they also have Smoked Meat, Raclette and other meaty treats unknown to Ontarians!) It's like a single portion of roast beef, but more like a roast beef steak because it melts in your mouth! Mine was served with these potato croquettes and a gravy/sauce that is akin to heaven. I am serious - one bite and my whole body reacted! Holy smokes soooooooo good! The fried egg on top was a novelty to my dinner companion, but I am not new to egg on non-breakfast foods - being a HUGE fan of bimimbap (a Korean dish of rice, veg, sometimes galbi (BBQ meat), with spicy (burn your face off) red pepper sauce with an egg on top - it's their fast food over there - but I just love it! The next day for lunch we hit up Cavalli - The decor and vibe of this place is like the essence of Montéal bottled. Crazy colours (fushia and pea green) neon lights, banquettes, hot wait staff, open front - I guess you'd have to be a Montréaller to know what the heck I am talking about - but it even smelled like Montréal in there....craziness I know! I have a weird relationship with my birthplace - I don't miss it much until I am there for a few days then I always entertain the idea of moving back....weird I know! Anyhow, the ambience here was electric and distracting - especially because I was supposed to be paying attention to the meeeting. The food was pretty good - I had swordfish with a mango salsa...pretty good (but made me homesick for Bermuda wahoo!) I also had to have me some Smoked Meat so that night I hit up Nickles...which is owned by Celine Dion - I went there only because it was close to the hotel (I usually hit up Schwartzs for the BEST smoked meat in the world!!) and I also had to see what it was about because Mme Dion has just purchased Schwartzs and PROMISED that she would not turn it into a Nickles - and she had better not because Nickles honked on bobo! The meat was fine, but the bread was soggy so I had to eat my sandwich with a fork and knife! OH THE HUMANITY! The pickle was NOT kosher dill...and we won't mention the concoction they tried to pass off as poutine (and I have had me some really BAD poutine in my little life).

With my friend in town this weekend, we have had Thai at The Golden Thai on Church in Toronto - pretty good, service is great! And tonight we tried a new place called Terroni Bar Centrale...again with the Italian :) I had polenta for the first time in my life - but definitely not the last time! I also had something that I cannot for the life of me remember what it is called - it is basically an Italian rice ball - but they use risotto, and stuffed it with a lovely ragu with cheese and peas - either one of the appetizers wuld make a nice light dinner or lunch if you tack on a salad (which I did) - the place is a comfortable neighbourhood place and has a pretty impressive charcuterie selection - and a very impressive stock of Nutella! Hahahaha (tons of it!) This place is going to be VERY VERY VERY dangerously bad for me for a few reasons - a) they have a bar singles can sit at (and a nice patio too), it's pretty affordable, nice wines, and it's practically next door to the sewing school where I;ve just signed up for an 8 week course - bad bad bad....I can see myself stopping in after work for a bite before my 6:30 class every week - thank goodness my favorite place down by my painting class is just a little wee coffee shop (with yummy green tea!) I hope this switch on topics is cool with you guys - I am sad to say that I have strayed from a whole food lifestyle (because FOOD was the main part of my day and I just couldn't keep up with the shopping and cooking and planning) but I really missed blogging on here and my good friend (Hi Daniel) told me tonight to just write about 'whatever' so here I am!!!! XOJ

All things yummy!

My friend (Hi Susie!) has a fabulous little shop in Kitchener (Belmont Village - go check it out K-W peeps!)called All Things Tea. I love tea and I love the tea from her shop! Well, Susie has just ventured into a world that I have quickly fallen in love with ---> SPICES!!! And she has just started a blog - her very first post is about my absolute favorite thing - VANILLA! I love how vanilla smells, I love how vanilla tastes, I love how vanilla looks (well, when the seeds are in something, because the actual bean isn't all that sexy - although seeing a vanilla bean makes me happy because I know great things can be done with it!)

Check out her store's blog here: ALL THINGS TEA

ENJOY!

p.s. for non-K-W peeps Susie is planning on opening an online store! EEEK! Trust me I will let you know when that happens!

Iodine

I was recently honoured with a special baking request that led me to do a little research on Iodine and what it is and why we need it and where can we find it naturally. Back in the day (during The Great Depression) people were NOT getting enough iodine in their diets resulting in an epidemic of iodine deficiency. "So what?" you may be asking - Iodine deficiency is pretty serious my friends! A lack of iodine causes things like enlarged thyroid (goiter), hypothyroidism, and brain damage! It can also cause abnormalities in growth and development. (I am not making this up - LIVESTRONG has a great info page on this!!!)
In an attempt to stem this serious issue governments had the salt manufacturers add Iodine to their product and that is the reason we have iodized table salt today - even though we don't really need it anymore! We are pretty fortunate to have many foods available now that have naturally occurring iodine in them so we can meet our daily requirements (about 150 micrograms for the general adult population). These foods include:

Sea Salt
Stuff that comes from the sea (fish, seafood, sea veggies)
Dairy (all of it! I found this very interesting!)
Prepared meats (and some of the stuff that comes from the butcher case at grocery stores is 'seasoned' aka prepared - I was most disappointed to see that the PC Blue Label Skinless Boneless Chicken Breasts in my local shop have chicken and 'seasoning' even though they don't look seasoned and don't taste seasoned - all this means to me is they plopped some 'stuff' on my chicken that I don't want there - makes me sad but reminds me to READ LABELS ON EVERYTHING! Preferably before I buy it!)
Soy (which is in pretty much every processed thing on the planet)
Egg yolks
Frozen peas
Potatoes

This means that we no longer need iodized table salt - like not at all.
Again, you may be asking yourself "So what?" - well, lemme tell ya: too much of a good thing = a bad thing. When you over iodize yourself you can cause hypothyroidism (which ironically can be caused by iodine deficiency!) and autoimmune thyroiditis (I don't know what that is, but it doesn't sound fun!)

It's also important not to confuse 'salt' with 'iodine'. As you can see from the list above, something may have no sodium in it but still be rich in iodine.

Your choice is this: load up your system with iodine from natural sources, or load it up with iodine from processed food. My research found(and again, I am not a doctor, nutritionist, dietitian, or scientist)that if your food came from a FACTORY it had plenty of iodine - more than enough - if you generally eat foods from FARMS you should be getting just enough in your diet!

Another argument for FARMS not FACTORIES :)

It's a Revolution!!

A lot of us are now conscious of the crap they put in our food - there are more options out there for us, and we're not all so willing to believe the 'healthy' labels they put on food anymore.

We're waging our personal battles against things like sugar, chemical laden food, eating out at not so great places (McDonald's I am talking about you!), and healthier packaging (BPA FREE PLEASE!!!) and we are starting to take to the internets to share ideas, recipes, and record our journey - the most important part of this whole revolution is DIALOGUE and information you can trust (i.e. no one is getting paid to advertise this junk). I occasionally post links to great sites that I find have great information - and I am always on the lookout for these so please feel free to share - and here is the most recent addition to my awesome site collection:

Less Sugar Naturally

It's a blog type site from a courageous woman who has decided to breakup with sugar!I love her writing style (her first entry is quite funny!) She has some great posts about her journey so far with tons of suggestions and tips and links to recipes, product reviews, and she even has sections on how to save money (woot woot)! Check it out and enjoy!!!!

Mish-mash

Sooooo people...having met Tosca two weeks ago had a huge impact and geared me back up to 100% back to the Eat Clean Diet - not that I wasn't eating clean, but I wasn't on the Eat Clean diet anymore (for so many reasons, the biggest being LAZINESS.) And I have to report that I feel GREAT! Why oh why do I waiver back and forth so much? It's hard to cook all your food - especially for a single person - and then I get discouraged and just eat whatever (although still eat clean 'whatevers' for the most part).

One thing I did this week was try to down the apple cider vinegar before every meal - boy - that did NOT work at all - not for me anyway...I felt really 'acidic' and gross, so I am going to go back to just taking it before lunch. It really does help with digestion (I can feel it), but taking that much of it really had an adverse affect for ME (you may have a different result)...After just going back to a 1 a day shot, I redid the 'test' that Tosca taught us and I am good to go as far as tummy juices go, so maybe I only needed a little wee boost and some other people need more (or less). I also religiously drink a glass of `lemon water` each evening after work to help out my liver.

Another challenge I gave myself this week was to steer clear of sugar - unless of course I was eating fruit - it was a fine challenge, and I did well, but when faced with a dining out experience I was SO SUPER PROUD of myself!!! It was Winterlicious in T.O. - a great festival of food (restaurants I might not normally be able to afford offer prix-fixe menus with some yummy choices) and my friends and I normally hit up Lolita's Lust on the Danforth (LOVE THIS PLACE! HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!)because they have the most sinfully delicious chocolate mousse that they only serve on the 'licious menus...it is seriously to die for, and you can taste the REAL ingredients (but I'm betting the sugar is refined, although you gotta stray once in a while!) This time, however, I skipped the mousse in favour of the "pressed yoghurt with pine nuts and honey" and I am REALLY glad I did! ALL Restaurants should serve this as a choice of dessert - IT was equally sinfully delicious as well! YUMMY! And I got a bit of a sugar fix with the honey too!

I also bought Tosca's Eat Clean Diet Cookbook to help me through my journey and boost up my motivation. Part of the problem that I had before was that I got bored of the same old foods/recipes...but now I have a whole arsenal of choices that I truly can't wait to try! Watch this space for updates! There's about 15 recipes I want to make TODAY (although I'm going to settle on 2).

The biggest challenge in this whole lifestyle switch has been making things a habit. It's sooooo easy to slip when you've had a long week or are tired or are sick. I have found some great stand-bys although there have been a few instances in the last few months where I just let it slip entirely and ate out or ordered in just for simplicity sake (but tried to keep it as clean as possible) and other times where that hamburger and fries totally won out!

One super quick meal idea I have been eating like there was going to be a world-wide shortage of soba is soba noodle soup. I love my Asian food, and although I am not a big pasta fan, put a bowl of steaming hot Asian noodles in front of my face and I will eat the whole thing! It's so quick and easy (and surprisingly filling!) that I have it for dinner often! I buy buckwheat or kamut Soba noodles (totally found in the natural food section of Loblaws/Zhers) I also make a ton of roasted pork loin, then chop it up into suitable portions and freeze it. This makes it easy and quick - I defrost the pork loin in the microwave, I boil up the noodles in one pot, and in another I boil up some low sodium chicken or vegetable broth, put a pinch of sea salt and a whole whack of frozen peas (love the organic ones in the white bag from Loblaws/Zhers because they stay really firm and taste really fresh) and some edamame beans (not the pods) in the broth to boil...when the meat has defrosted, I chop it up into bite sized chunks and throw it in the broth too...when the noodles have boiled, I drain them, put them in a bowl, plop the broth and stuff over top, sprinkle with tamari (or low sodium soy sauce)- and if I am feeling especially creative, I sprinkle some chopped green onion and/or a sprinkle of sesame seeds and YUM! Awesome food in 10 minutes. I have been eating a lot of Asian inspired meals lately (read: not take out!) because a)I freaking love Asian food b) I AM GOING TO KOREA AND CHINA in the fall and I have to practice my chopstick skills!

Wow...what I thought was going to be a quick report on how the apple cider vinegar didn't work for me turned into a whole big post! :)

Have a great weekend!