Comfort food !The large Veggie-po boy and steamed veggies



I WROTE THE BLOG ENTRY IN 2008 ABOUT A 2007 PO BOY  .USED MEMORY RECALL TO LIST THE INGREDIENTS WHEN I WROTE THE BLOG.VERY RECENTLY I WENT AND SEARCHED MY PHOTO ALBUMS AND FISHED THIS PICTURE OUT AND POSTED IT TO THIS ENTRY IN 2012.



The fact that i mention veggies and comfort food in the same sentence, might surprise many , primarily because veggies are viewed by many as this food you eat to stay healthy but invariably is not going to be tasty ever.

This is a misconception since veggies are the tastiest .If you have not already killed the taste buds with pure refined foods , which have less complicated tastes, since mostly they ride high on pure sugar or pure salt...

pure SALT and pure sugar ARE BASIC tastes that the taste buds recongnize .

When you eat food high in either salt or sugar the taste buds are so flooded with just sugar or salt, they forget or are unable to sample and  to appreciate the more sophisticated combinations of flavors found in fresh natural foods, which consist of very little of sugar and salt and more of associated tastes from other components found in the fresh natural foods.

Appreciation of food also includes visual sensory inputs and the smell related inputs as well

People who shove in large amounts of food loaded with salt and sugar and then gobble them up are not giving enough time to let all of  the sensory organs/receptors experience things and then send out satisfactory happy signals .

Instead these FOOD SHOVELERS rely on just this satisfactory signal that goes to the brain when it senses food going down the gullet and when it senses a stretch from the stomach when it is full or overstuffed..hmmmm

We have stretch receptors in the Gastrointestinal system esp the stomach that send happy signals when stretched, as in, telling the brain that our belly is filling with FOOD!

COMING BACK TO TOPIC ON HAND,

So yeah , my ultimate comfort food is when 

a/I can eat unprocessed food ,

b/feel the myriad of natural  tastes AND

c/be  not overpowered by spices or sugar or salt .and

 that happens when I eat fresh steamed veggies very very lightly salted and well.

It is such a heaven...It is so light..feels perfect.

I once ate a large veggie po boy at a restaurant ( I DON'T EAT OUT OFTEN, so this is a rare occurance and blog worthy? k?) and when I was asked to order a side, I ended up ordering , steamed veggies too,coz when I get overly hungry ,I end up craving juicy steamed food ...

bulky

 filling

and yet light ,,

 very revigorating...

SO,after placing my order at the counter,

I sat there waiting for the order to be ready and ended up taking pictures ,of the pictures they had up on the restaurant walls

Took pictures of tables and chairs and myself(self timer pics)

Finally,after all this picture taking much to the amusement of the regulars and the staff who possibly were wondering as to what I found so PICTURE WORTHY at this deli, the sandwich plate arrived.It didn't arrive, they called out my name and i went and picked it up at the counter..A large oval plate :))

A large po boy, fresh bread roll, slit in the center.

They hadn't cooked the cucumber and mushrooms and spinach that they had used to fill up the po boy-

I am not sure if there was cheese ,but they had jalapenos, fresh spinach, fresh mushrooms and tomatoes and cucumber, none of them blanched or cooked...

All laid  out on the po boy like a colorfest

Accompanying this  po boy was a very tiny ceramic bowl ,a white one filled with brocolli and some other veggies -carrots..yeah,carrots,steamed and very very lightly salted.

I was so hungry by then,I just shoved the po boy into the mouth and ate like crazy(again much to the amusement of the other regular eaters there)

Then i proceeded to eat the steamed veggies .GULP,CHOMP,CHOMP.Then some water...GULP

Finally!! heaven.!!LOL.

I know.

I used to be a great mac and cheese fan way back in 2004.It used to be a great comfort food for me,but now...now in 2007,I like the po boy better in comparison.

Going Fig crazy

What is more satisfying than fresh figs chilled overnight..Figs, yes..the fresher variety--not the dried ones..the fresh ones are green and pinkish on the outside with the thinnest parchment like covering with tiny cruncy individual units(which are actually are a series of fruits on their own ) the inside pink flesh gives you a million crunchy bites in one bite..
Anyways..had a great time..watching the skies and drinking coffee from a humungous large large coffee cup and then chomping on fresh figs till only the green stalk remains.

Musing over rhubarb

I have been having post dinner sugar cravings for almost a week now...far too lazy to make some dessert,,,primarily coz the kitchen is a mess.and i would have to clean the kitchen before i can get some counter space to creat a dessert...I could create some chocolate mouse( the very tasty vegan non gelatin mouusse which tastes better that the gelatin cow's milk variety) ...but very very lazy..someone clean the kitchen..some please clean the kitchen..
I suddenly was thinking of rhubarb for some reason....the fact that some stalks can be thick , juicy, sweet and succulent..so perfect..!
I need to clean the kitchen.

Alec Baldwin and Ian wright-Irish vegetarian pride.

I like each of them for a different reason
Firstly,I think Alec Baldwin is a very handsome guy. He is what, 40 plus now?He is chubby too and yet is very handsome.Trust me , I have no fancy for people much older than me,nor do I have fancy for chubby people .So, ofcourse, i don't lust for this old man.But ofcourse, i think he is really handsome.
Infact the whole of the Baldwin family has managed to look good somehow.This could have happenned only if there was some kind of severe inbreeding between similarly looking and similarly ridiculously goodlooking people..NM. that...
I like Alec Baldwin now even more coz i got to know he is a vegetarian...Very very very nice.I saw him on the meat.org video..Meet your meat...hmmmmm
Either ways I recently warmed up to him because of him getting  bashed  because he left a stressed out message for his daugther coz she missed out on his call .hmmmmmmm.(2012 update:There is a whole underlying psychiatric and sociological issue that I would discuss when it comes to divorced couples and child custody.this blog I WILL POST on my ANTIDOTE TO ANGER BLOG as a separate blog entry soon)
Anyways, Now coming to Ian wright..of the Lonely planet, Globe trekker fame...I love love love him...Ofcourse, i never knew that the lines these tv travellers belt out are all scripted and is not part of what they speak out spontaneously...Anways,,I find that he really has the sould of a true traveller, no preformed ideas about people or places, NO prejuidices, will almost try anything with a real open mind (not pretending to having one, but actually having a real open mind)..I was most surprised to learn very recently that he actually is a vegetarian too..Yay..I was jumping up and down...I mean..He just tries eating anything and everything and travels to all those 'difficult to manage' places(places which those rosy hotel travelling travel hosts would flatly refuse to go to ) and eats goat eyes and testicles of all sorts and places..and he does it just for the show inspite of him being a vegetarian..wow..that sorta defeats the purpose in a way..but hey, i was pleasantly surprised to learn that he is a vegetarian..Made me warm up to him a lil more , if hadn't warmed up enough already...
Yours truly is a vegetarian,,Yours truly is unbashedly self confessingly goodlooking too and yours truly is a true traveller too..so..yours truly now extends her hugs to both alec baldwin and Ian wright..YOu guys rock...Incidentally both alec and Ian are Irish..aren't they?Alec is...I think Ian is too.Ya for Irish vegetarian pride.

SEP 2012 UPDATE

The above original blog entry was written sometime in 2009.It is 2012 now.3 years down the line.I am equipped with more information on this topic and on these people.I am updating this blog entry just to correct some POSSIBLE INACCURACIES that might have creeped into the older entry.
First off, From what I gather, Ian wright of the lonely planet/globe trekker IS NOT a vegetarian..He also is a smoker(much to my disapproval).The smoking explains his really bad teeth , maybe?
Ian wright also went ahead and started his own production company called ROAST BEEF PRODUCTIONS in the recent past,which produced this TVseries called INVITE MR.WRIGHT.Did I like it? well, they were okay, but not so "spectacularly-capturing my imagination" like those LONELY PLANET programs  did .
Anyways, returning to ALEC BALDWIN..Again,not really sure if he is a vegetarian...I have seen him on the KNOW YOUR MEAT series.But see, these days,even meat eaters get contacted by peta to promote vegetarianism,which is ironic and stupid and overall a joke.so yeah.whateva!
I recently saw alec baldwin on the emmy's of 2012...and well, he HAS GOTTEN THINNER and in the process LESS CUTER
Funny that!
Funny how some people look really raw in their young years and in their middle age with the added chubbiness to their face, they start looking cuter and cuddlier.I mean.one would assume that alec would start looking handsomer once he managed to get thinner  after how fat he was in 30ROCK(which btw is another series that saw its last season-that is what I gathered from what tina fey said at the emmy red carpet, anyways)..but he got thinner and I saw him on the emmy 2012 telecast and NOT SO HANDSOME as his chubby self..why?oh , why!
So yeah..there goes my update.btw..Not really sure if Ian is irish or british..alec is probably of irish descent but american.duh!

Addressing Vit B 12 deficiency concerns in veganism

Please note that i initially posted this entry on my 43things under the goal of BECOME VEGAN , just for the benefit of fellow vegetarians aspiring to be vegans.
I just decided to repost that entry here for the benefit of the readers here on blogger too .
Here goes the entry:
Firstly, no matter what source, the actual source of the vit B12 are the bacteria.Since farm animals tend to eat foods already rich in Vit B 12 ,primarily because they eat feed contaminated with bacteria that have already produced Vit B12 while in the feed, this vit B12 then gets concentrated in the body parts.Meat is essentially body parts of other animals .Also, it takes an average of 20 years for any type of Vit B 12 deficiency symptoms to manifest since most Vit B12 already present in our body is constantly reabsorbed.So ,technically, if i become vegan now, i might get megaloblastic anemia due to vit B 12 deficiency in 20years.Also, bacteria in our own intestines are perfectly capable of synthesizing Vit B12.Though most of it might not get absorbed,a little of it does get absorbed.This miniscule absorption might on a long consistent basis prevent development of any deficiency per say.Some soy fermented products are claimed to have Vit B12 analogues , which some say might help with preventing deficiency while some others claim might actually hasten development of a deficiency scenario since these analogues compete with the actualy vit B12 which essentially is cyanomcobalamine and thus lead to development of anemia.I am not buying this story of how veganism must cause deficiency syndrome since, I AM VERY VERY SURE THAT NATURE DIDNT INTEND US TO DEPEND ON SOME OTHER ANIMAL'S MILK OR EGGS AT ALL.I did a two years of college in food and nutrition before i started my med school.So, trust me, these entries are being made after being well informed.More info coming up on Vit B12 deficiency soon, as and when I get time and manage to gather up more concrete info on this.Ideally, we should not be needing to grind Vit B12 tablets in our vegan soymilk to make sure we dont end up with deficiencies.I am pretty sure there are plant or bacterial sources.

My Daily veggie fix

I tend to need a daily veggie fix.
I am sure some of you have this daily food craving wherein, you have to have a particular food item at atleast one meal for you to feel the bliss.
Most people tend to get their fix from potatoes or meat or some such.
For me, I need a large serving of veggies ,Fresh and juicy and crunchy and filling.
On any given day ,If i don't manage to include that amount of veggie goodness, I just feel that the meal had been incomplete.
Trust me, this is really true.
I have a craving for fresh juicy fiber filled stuff.
hmmmmmm.Do let me know if you suffer from such similar cravings.