Welcome to the Food edition of Makes-Me-Smile Monday. Favorite foods, strange food experiences, weird food allergies, and anything else related to food are on the menu today. I feel rather conflicted about food because I have so recently come to the conclusion that I must restrict myself if I want to be healthy (also: not-fat); whereas previously I have always assumed that I could eat whatever I wanted as long as I exercised more.
Food and drink appeal to the sense of taste (obviously); I could say the taste of my husband’s skin also appeals, but only if he’s showered recently. For the other senses, various art categories appeal. For hearing: music, sight: paintings/architecture, etc, touch: textiles/sculpture, smell: perfume (I’m probably reaching on this one; it’s very rare that a scent appeals to me, though the price of designer scent certainly makes it seem like Art). Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that food is an art form in some circles.
I loved trying new foods when I backpacked through Europe in college. I ate the best hotdog ever on the grounds of Notre Dame in Paris; the street vendor impaled a baguette and stuck the hotdog in. Divine. France has the best street food anywhere. I remember crepes on the West Bank and custard in Austria, yogurt (the real stuff) in Switzerland and gelato in Italy. Hmmm. None of these foods were “new,” but they were certainly much superior to their American incarnations. If you’re ever in Cairo, on the other hand, prepare to be unimpressed. Big time.
When we lived in New York City, I discovered that there are actually people who honestly like stinky cheese and gourmet olives you buy out of a barrel. Oh, and Dick and I learned that you’re not supposed to chill red wine. Good to know. We walked past an Ethiopean restaurant to get to Columbia everyday, and I couldn’t help thinking about the starving children as I walked past — why would anyone want to eat Ethiopean food, I wondered.
In Japan I had an allergic reaction to a plant we encountered on one of our few ventures into the countryside. For a week my face was covered with insanely sensitive, weeping blisters. I can’t ever leave Dick because he is the only person from that time that saw this (not sure why I feel like I need it documented); somehow we managed to not take a picture of Jane looking like the Elephant Man.
I couldn’t leave the house without scaring large men and small children. The Japanese doctors were reluctant to examine me. A few steroid shots later and I was fine. I later discovered that I’m allergic to an oil in certain plants similar to poison ivy. This includes mangos. Now I crave mangos all the time.
Which brings me back to my original thought on food. Why do I crave what I shouldn’t have? You’d think that after a while the obvious health and appearance benefits would outweigh the primeval desire for Publix white cake. But alas, that hasn’t happened yet.
I hope you have a food story or three to share. For details on the blog carnival, see the Makes-Me-Smile Monday link above. Bon Appetit!
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Food is one of my favorite topics. I love cooking and I love trying new foods. Since I have been married, my husband and I have been expanding our collection of cook books. Some of our favorites include The Gourmet Cookbook, The Bread Bible, The Pie and Pastry Bible, The Food and Wine of Greece, The Dance of Spices (Indian), and our latest favorite, The Joy of Cooking (75th Anniversary edition). I don’t want to imply that we make fabulous meals every night, that would be too time-consuming and too expensive for our budget, but we do like to make special meals for special occassions. For Mother’s Day we made Pad Thai, which was great, and for Father’s Day we made homemade ravioli in a butter sauce. That was absolutely amazing. It is very time-consuming to make though (and has a lot of calories), so I don’t know when we will make it again. I think the next cookbook we will buy will be an Iranian food book. A friend from Iran has told us which one we have to have. The only problem is that it is pretty expensive (about $150) so I am not sure when that will fit into the budget, maybe in about 3 years when my husband finishes med school.
We also love making different kinds of breads. Some of our successes include Ciabatta, Challah, Focaccia, and hearth breads. A bread that I really want to try next is a Pugilese. I don’t think I will even get started on what deserts I like to make, because that will take an entire entry all by itself, but suffice it to say, if it contains nuts and chocolate, then I like to make it and I like to eat it.
When I was a teenager I never knew that I would like cooking so much. In fact, I am pretty sure that I hated cooking because it seemed like a chore. To be honest, cooking dinner every night is a chore, and not something that I am excited to do all the time, but I think I learned to start liking to cook when I started travelling more and tried different kinds of food, and then I wanted to try and replicate those same foods at home and share them with my family. Maybe that is what I like about cooking so much, sharing what I have created with those I love, and hoping they enjoy something new. Cooking on a daily basis is not as fun as making a special dinner, especially since we are trying to eat less calorie dense foods for our regular meals, but sometimes I still have a good time coming up with a new salad. What we have been eating lately for salad is fresh spinach leaves tossed with a rasberry vinegarette and craisins and some fruit slices (like a pear) and a few toasted pecans. That tastes so good, and I am not sure what the calories are on that, but it makes me feel good about eating it and I enjoy it too, because it isn’t just your run-of-the-mill salad (though I do like eating those too) and it is fun to make. I have to agree that food can be a form of art, especially because it isn’t just the taste alone, but also the presentation that goes into making something to eat. So even though I have never considered myself an artist, or artistic, maybe in this small, little way, I am a little bit of both.
Whoops, I forgot to list my name w/ the Mac and Cheese…
Great stories, everyone.