Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants

The awesome Uppercase Woman said this a while ago to sum up healthy eating:

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

She was quoting Michael Pollan, of In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. (He was also part of the discussion in my other post on Chinese cusine. Er, I mean on the health benefits of Chinese cooking, I guess on this blog I should be more specific about which time I talked about Chinese food.

I really like this simple concept of how to eat better and be healthier.

New Cocktail

Blatantly stolen from my college friend Keith -- I love mojitos AND sake so I'd give this on a try. Plus it's the kind of goofy thing that Keith would come up with.

New Cocktail - The "Hirohito"
This popped into my head the other night. It's a variant on the "Mojito" ("Mohito" to some). I have no idea if it's any good:

Hirohito
Equipment:

* 6 oz. Sazazuki; or,
* 6 oz. Widemouth Cup (opaque white); or,
* 6 oz. Old-Fashioned Glass

* Rectangular White Cocktail Napkin; or,
* Rectangular Saucer (white opaque)

* Straw
* Muddler (if needed)

Ingredients:

* 3oz. Genshu or Honjozo-Shu (18%+ Alc. Sake)
* Mint Syrup
o 3 Mint Leaves, ground with
o 2 tsp. Sugar, into
o 1 oz. Water
or
o 3 Mint Leaves, ground into
o 1 oz. Simple Syrup
or
o 1 oz. Peppermint Schnapps
* 2 oz. Tonic Water, Seltzer, or Club Soda
* Grenadine Syrup

Procedure:

Chill serving vessel. Grind mint and sugar if necessary and macerate in water, or add peppermint schnapps. Add sake and tonic water. Place napkin or saucer directly in front of guest so that guest looks down at it with long axis parallel to table edge. Place cup upon saucer. With straw, deposit one drop of grenadine in center of cup to represent the Japanese flag.

Via Keith's LJ

Related: The F-ing Good Mojito.

Improved Bacon!

From Picky Palate, just in case you need a way to make bacon MORE delicious.

Maple Brown Sugar Bacon

12 strips applewood smoked bacon

¼ Cup pure maple syrup

¼ Cup brown sugar


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an oven safe cooling rack with non stick cooking spray and place over a rimmed baking sheet. Place strips of bacon onto cooling rack and brush maple syrup evenly over each strip. Take pinches of brown sugar and sprinkle evenly over each strip of bacon. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until browned and crisped to your desire. I went closer to 40 minutes for a real crispy strip. Enjoy!

This would be so good on a salad or in a melt.

Via Picky Palate: The Cure All To Any Bad Day.....Bacon!

Art Cookies

I noticed this on Sioksiok’s Weblog, and I thought it was a cute blend of cooking and China, my two themes for this blog. So I decided to post it even though it's not a recipe or even really commentary on diets.

 

Hence, I am a little ticked but nonetheless very delighted to see that the museum has launched a new product.

I call it Taichi series 2.0 — cookies cast in the shape of the famous sculptures.

Via Ju Ming Tai Chi Series Cookies « Sioksiok’s Weblog

Why The Chinese Don’t Count Calories

I saw this discussion of Why the Chinese Don’t Count Calories today by Fiona Lee on the always-awesome CNR:

Just what is healthy about Chinese food? While it has a reputation for being greasy and fattening in the West, the orange chicken and “beef and broccoli in brown sauce” of Chinese take-away is definitely not part of a traditional Chinese diet.

Last night at the Beijing Bookworm, British author Lorraine Clissold gave a brief talk on her new book, Why the Chinese Don’t Count Calories.  Something of a riposte to international bestseller Why French Women Don’t Get Fat, this awkwardly titled book joins the growing literature on how traditional cuisines are better than dieting fads.

One main point seems to be that Chinese food has a higher proportion of veggies than US or British, which I totally agree with. I think that my genuine enjoyment of salads and raw veg helps keep me thin. Also, I like a little meat with my veggies and grains, but not a huge slab of a dead cow. Ick.

Strong cultural and culinary identities.  Traditional
cuisines pass on the collected food wisdom of a culture from generation
to generation, and China is no different.  As scientists begin to learn
more about nutrition and how nutrients work in tandem with each other,
much of what is passed on in Chinese cuisine is backed up by modern
nutrition. The Chinese also talk about food as being determinative of
a regional identity–like the strereotype of Sichuan people having fiery
tempers because of all the spicy food they eat.  By way of contrast, in
The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan
makes the point that because Americans do not have a unifying food
culture, Americans tend to be particularly vulnerable to savvy food
marketers and diet fads (think Atkins, South Beach diet, etc).

Eh. I don't agree here, it seems to be another version of "Chinese food has been around for thousands of years, so it must be the best!" I think that food connects us all to flavors from childhood, whether it's a dish that's been around for centuries or something nice Mom used to make.

Anyway, it's a good discussion, even if I don't agree with every part. The conclusion is to enjoy healthy food, and not to get hung up on calories, which seems to be good advice for everyone.

Via Why the Chinese Don’t Count Calories! on CNReviews

Sour Cream

I love susie's big adventure in general, but this part really hit home. MY boyfriend must have said this same thing about sour cream in Beijing about a hundred times. (I'm not so much with sour cream but I felt like this about other foods).

You can find just about anything you want - or at least a reasonable substitute for - in the groceries and vegetable markets here, but there are some items that are scarce and very difficult to find. Short of going to several different markets, which my husband refuses to do, to satisfy my gastronomic desires, we end up grocery shopping at only one store, which may not have everything I may want. Like sour cream, for example. The Arabs simply do not use sour cream. They use some products that are similar, but they are NOT sour cream. I know that there are a few shops here that carry real sour cream, but we don’t do our regular shopping at those places, so I do without sour cream. Okay, okay, I know I probably shouldn’t have it anyway, but still, sometimes I would just like to have some sour cream - is that so wrong?

We didn't have to bring Susie's husband along, though, so we made a lot of trips to out-of-the-way import markets for sour cream and cheese.

Via susie's big adventure: I HATE SHOPPING IN SAUDI ARABIA!