Once Upon a Time...there were Beautiful Eggs, Memories and "Comfort Food"

...And the story begins! In the next few weeks I will be posting daily "food journal" entries, diving into scientific cooking experiments, illustrating my way with some pictures, and discussing related ideas that come to mind along the way. 


January 5, 2012

Breakfast:

• 9 Grain Sourdough Toast (2 pieces)
• Dry, crunchy, and golden with dark brown edges
• The flavors of the sunflower seeds in the bread were a nice touch!
• 2 over-easy local, fresh, organic eggs seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked with a little bit of butter 
• These eggs were magic. There's something amazing about knowing that the eggs you're cooking and eating came from down the street where the chickens run free in the grass and the sun. 
• They were hearty, cracked nicely and cooked beautifully
• The downside of these eggs were that they were 50 cents a pop! I think I paid more for the experience of buying them then the actual egg itself. I got them from the Whole Foods Market in our area. I'm walking along with my cart and all of a sudden I spy a big wicker basket filled with the most beautiful little brown speckled eggs! So, despite the high price, I get really excited and pick up one of the "little-bo-peep" style baskets to fill up. There's even a little pile of hay on the bottom to cushion the eggs so they don't break. Basically, I was giddy and brimming with the most innocent joy. It's the little things in life.
• Thick-cut, well-done Vermont bacon (2 pieces + the crunchy crumbs from the bottom of the plate)
• Crispy and thick, not too greasy. 
• All credit goes to my boyfriend Danny "Bacon-Chef" Peters.
• 1/2 a conventional orange grown in California
• I only ended up eating half of this orange because I sliced it on a cutting board that accidentally had a small bit of garlic left over on it which ended up tasting very weird-- pungent and citrusy.
• With every fact I learn about the food system and conventional agriculture, my morals change and grow. I have to say, I felt a little embarrassed writing down that I bought a conventionally-grown orange that was shipped from halfway across the country after explaining and eating fairly local eggs, bacon, and bread. However, in the world we live in, I think it can be unreasonable to expect that someone can easily live on an all organic or local diet at an affordable price. I would love to be able to, but it's very difficult. And also, I'll admit, I like eating oranges in the winter even if it means they're not seasonal or local! We're spoiled in many ways. One can argue that we become more unhealthy because of these luxuries, just as one can argue that access to almost every type of  food all year round is more beneficial than harmful.
• Organic orange juice, no pulp (1 cup)
• I only like pulp if the OJ is fresh squeezed. Yep, I'm that kind of person. Haha just kidding. But really.

This morning Danny and I woke up and crawled out of bed shivering. Bundled up in my robe, sweatshirt, and big fuzzy socks I wandered my way to the kitchen to cook breakfast. The eggs slid right onto the spatula and the yolks didn't break when I flipped them (on the first try too!). The edges turned see-through, amber-toned, and into a crunchy film. The egg was cooked through and still quite fluffy. The yolk was nice and runny. We placed a couple slices of toast and bacon on the side and lined the rim of the plates with orange slices for the final presentation. I wish that I had gotten a picture, but I guess you'll just have to imagine this one in your minds eye, sorry folks. There's something about cooking my own food that makes me appreciate it so much more when I eat it. 

Dinner:

• Annie's cheddar mac n' cheese with a splash of whole milk and 1/2 a tablespoon butter (1 box)
• Kind of starchy and it got cold fast. I thought it would be better than it turned out to be because it was Annie's brand and they have GREAT white cheddar mac n' cheese, but I was disappointed with this new kind. I also like the shells of the white cheddar much better than the straw noodle cuts of this cheddar kind. 
• Another reason I might not have liked the cheddar noodles as much as the white cheddar shells is because I grew up on the white cheddar shells! I have great memories associated with them. My best friend and I eating it straight out of the pot with giant spoons just because we can, sitting cross-legged on the kitchen carpet at one in the morning during a sleepover, hiding behind the counter in case someone came downstairs. Or maybe coming in for a lunch of white cheddar shells paired with a cold watermelon slice when I was a little girl after playing outside in the summer. How do positive memories affect ones opinion of the food that they eat? Annie's white cheddar shell mac n' cheese is one of my favorite comfort foods. Is comfort food connected to heavy cooking techniques, like frying? Is it based on the flavors you crave? Is it dependent on positive memories? Is it the way that you eat a certain item or dish? Is a comfort food always based on specific tasty ingredients like butter, sugar, etc?
• 1 orange bell pepper
• I eat peppers like apples. I eat tomatoes like apples and mangos like apples and kiwis like apples and...I eat peppers like apples. Pick it up and bite straight into it! Give it a try! It's so fun! You should get an extra juicy crunch if it's a good pepper.

After a very long day and all I wanted was to sit down at my desk, do some work, and eat something fast and easy that tastes good. This is the same reason why people choose to eat fast food (which, by the way, I can no longer eat from because fast food chains gross me out since I now know too much about them). This motto is the plague that haunts the lazy nature of people living in industrialized food industries: "fast and easy that tastes good." I usually do my best to stray away from it and aim for quality over quantity while listening to my body. But you know what? Some days are days for comfort food. Sometimes, every once in a while, I think it's good for you to sit down and eat whatever the heck you want. It's good for the soul. But if one is going to do this, the important thing to remember is that moderation is key. There is a common assumption that comfort foods are bad for you. Sometimes we have cravings because we are guided by our taste-buds and we are addicted to something (i.e. sugar, caffeine, salt, fats, ...), and sometimes we crave foods because we lack their nutrients in our diet (i.e. fruits, water, veggies, protein, ...). It's all about balancing your intake so that your body feels good in every sense. Too many sugars, salty foods, and fats will make you feel bloated, slow, unenergized and sick whereas eating only  fruits and vegetables is just plain old...no fun! Anyways, the point is, everyone needs a little comfort food every once in a while!