Culinary Possibility.
Lately, I've been drawn to magazines about cooking and baking and other culinary feats. The photographs are always seductive and alluring, demonstrating what can be possible when cooking considers artistry rather than just necessity at its core. I am not really a good cook. Every now and again, when the mood strikes me, I can come up with a nice
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1. Get a slow cooker/crockpot. Soups are really not all that difficult to make. Of course, the more difficult they are, often the worse they are for you. That said, French Onion Soup is very easy to make, but not terribly healthy what with all the butter. :)
2. Chinese people generally don't eat cold food. Like the concept of 'cold pizza' or 'sandwiches' just generally doesn't exist. It hasn't been adequately explained to me, but it's just not done. Likewise, cold drinks are less common. You'll be given hot water at most Chinese resetaurants if you ask for water. Ugh. Still, I think there's some merit to eating hot food.
3. Try easy things to cook. Or even fun things. One of the techniques/foodstuffs I've been playing with lately is rice paper. Rice paper is easy to work with (put it in water for a minute to soften it and ready it to wrap anything). Rice vermicelli is easy to make, too: boil some water. Add the boiling water to the uncooked rice vermicelli. Let stand 10 minutes. Drain. Use. Add to this some meat, some julienned vegetables and, all importantly, some fresh mint or Thai Basil. For a dip, some hoisin sauce (Chinese five spice sauce) mixed with some low fat coconut milk just mixed at room temp, is delicious. You can mix and match all sorts of vegetables, fruits, meats, sauces, etc. And it all tastes good. And it's *fun*. I could see my kids doing this instead of my taco night that we had as a kid. Very easy. Fun, hands-on, etc.
4. Buy smaller plates and bowls. While the serving size of cereal is like 1 cup, I usually poured like 2.5 cups. Smaller bowls encourage you to use teh right serving size and also give the visual cue of a 'full plate', tricking your brain into eating less.
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Generally, I eat off of salad plates or saucers. I like the smaller sizes in general. I find that the rice bowls that one gets at Chinese restaurants are perfect sized bowls. I do have two regular sized dinner plates, but they often remain in the cupboard. I measure everything -- this annoying trend began a few months ago. It makes food really unappetizing. Budgeting anything makes it feel like a chore -- whether that's money, food, time, or energy. :(
Great image of you and your offspring playing with rice paper :) I've never used rice paper and will have to look into it.
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