The Good, the Bad and the Yogi: The Troutt Yoga Review

While this post is not really about food, it is about health so it fits perfectly in with the theme of sharing. And remember, sharing is caring and based on the length of this post, I care about all of you a lot!!

 

How this all began

A neighbor gave me a month Groupon to JoyYoga and I took this as a great opportunity to explore Yoga, try to understand it and see if and how it can assist me in my health and fitness. Plus, the name of the workout is the first word of "yoga pants" and I'm generally a fan of those. 

Man can not live on back and bicep day alone, and we're allowed to graduate from dragging knuckle workouts. As you continue to work out through the years, we often neglect the importance of stretching and steady strength exercises. I wanted to take this trial serious and not just write yoga off without practicing a variety of styles. Over the course of a month, I attended about 14 classes of different types and levels. They included Salute the Sun(morning), Slow Flow, Flow, Rock Your Flow, Back to Basics, Insanity Yoga and Pilates Boot Camp. 

Dis-spell the rumors and general funniness

 - Yoga pants - even if it's only from thigh down, what American man would say they're not generally a great idea?  However, it's more than just a fashion and ease thing, it's a functional thing. I realized while doing downward dog pose, my shirt kept flipping down in front of my face, making breathing more difficult. While you can do yoga in anything appropriate for it, the way some clothing fits just makes it easier. Don't worry, I didn't break out the tight Under Armour for classes. 

- Your Practice - They refer to a yoga session as your practice. If you're like me, especially with football season starting up, practice means that your getting ready for something like the game, contest or tournament. They never said there's any of these coming up soon so I'm not really sure what we're doing all this practice for. Just think, if there was a tournament, we'd finally have some kind of ranking on who's actually best at yoga. There'd be expensive stretchy thin clothing sponsors and ESPN3 coverage, shown right after the Sam Houston football game.  The champion would be awarded a soft thin foam flexible belt and unlimited flip flops. 

- Got some new workout flip flops - You "practice" barefoot so the most common footwear to and from yoga is flip flops. If you're like me, it still feels wear saying, I'm heading to work out and then reaching for your workout flip flops. FYI, I didn't really buy new flops for yoga.

- You'll be Hindu - While it's origin does come from this background, I didn't find it hard to focus on God(the Biblical and living one), often making that my focus for the session. A lot of the times, I felt like the instructor was almost talking about Christian spirituality but it didn't quite hit the mark to get there. However, you can take the same words and apply it how you want. Remember, it's "your practice", so if you want to focus the baby Jesus in the manger or with the beard, make Him proud. Namaste means "The light in me honors the light in you." It's not that far of a jump how Christians are called to recognize that God dwells within them and we're called to see and honor the presence of God in others. For those Catholic friends, I haven't worked up the courage to say "And with your spirit." as a response to Namaste... maybe one day.

- Nap after working out? Yes please. - It's definitely something unique to yoga, but in every class I attended, there was a short period of time at the end of the class where you'd lay on your back, arms and legs relaxed and focus on calming yourself. Sometimes, you might actually knod off and it's perfectly normal. The instructor will guide you into relaxation and what's interesting is as they say to focus on things like, "relax your jaw", you realize you were fully clinching without realizing it. Now...relax your eye brows... asleep yet??

What made my flip flops happy

- It burns, it burns so deep - Most people just don't stretch enough. Whether tight from just sitting too much, jumping at volleyball, cross fit, or running, your muscles get tight. Not every class is focused on stretching, like Insanity Yoga. However, when I'd workout at lunch, I really appreciated the time in a yoga class later stretching and I really feel like it kept away the aches and pains from the non-yoga workouts. In addition to that, I felt like a good stretching class on my "day off" was just right, like Baby Bear's porridge that Goldilocks ate.  

- Stand up straight - Its often easier said than done, but we spend so much time in a position of bad posture. One of the things I've seen consistent in yoga is a focus on keeping good posture, protecting your neck and spine, and always having specific positions while in a pose. The instructors really focus on how to protect yourself as you "practice".

- Just freakin' breath - Yoga focuses a lot on breathing, and not just random breathing, but inhaling and exhaling at the right time. Early on in junior high football off-season weight lifting, we'd be told to breath when we push up the weight. It's easy to forget that using your breath can help you push through that next rep, speed up that last km or push you into a deeper stretch. And the opposite of that is learning how to calm your breath and relax.  

- Little change for big impact - While you might be doing a pose you've done several times before, there might be a slight adjustment that hits your muscles completely different. For instance, do a normal standing flat foot toe stretch. Now, put all the pressure on the outside edge of your foot and feel out the stretch goes to the outside of your legs. It's something to think about in other types of workouts where you just do the same thing with the same motion all the time. 

The questionable or misunderstood

- E = MC2 - During several classes, the instructor would talk about energy transferring from other objects, such as the sun or the earth. Now if your using this metaphorically so the students can get the idea of what we should be doing, I'm good with that. I'm okay with faith of a mustard seed so I'm open to a parable, metaphor and symbolism, but I don't think that's what was being said in the class. 

- Dirty Air - One of the things I heard when doing large expelling breaths was we're getting rid of the "dirty(or stale) air". Really, so the more air I expel forcefully from my lungs, I'll actually tapped into some air that wasn't flowing out on it's own? Maybe someone from the medical community can perform some mythbusters experiments about this.

- You know I don't speak sanskrit, English please - Each of the poses has an original name, one instructor saying there's over 200 basic poses. Each pose has a sanskrit name and I never know what I'm supposed to be doing when they say it. Once the name is said in English, it's not hard to remember how you're supposed to be in that pose.  They include Downward and Upward Dog, Cobra, Frog, Triangle, Warrior, Dolphin, Tree, Eagle Arms, etc.  Using sanskrit would be like giving orders to soldiers in Latin and seeing if they execute the mission. They're not being led by Cesar just as much as I'm pretty sure I'm just off Washington Ave in HTX so just speak English.   

- Sweaty yoga - I don't get it. I did attend some heated classes and sweated about 1 1/2 towels worth, but it was only low 80's, maybe upper 70's. I generally didn't enjoy the excessive sweat.  How some people do 100+ degree yoga and feel like they sweated out toxins, I don't know? I'd rather generate more heat from within I guess.

Summary

Overall, I think it's an easily approachable workout for many people and can help round out a workout plan for those that already workout consistently but don't bring attention to the areas where yoga is most focused.  Let's close out this blog on a positive note... yoga pants. 

Is your refrigerator running?

A couple things recently made me think about getting back into posting a blog every now and then. For those of you that I've only known within the last 2 years or so, I started this a few years ago as a way to share more information about cooking and food... according to a former husky boy. I encourage you to go back and read some old posts, maybe http://trouttfoodshare.blogspot.com/2010/01/food-according-to-mark.html

I don't know if everyone starts out with their food plan for the week when shopping, but I normally don't know all the specifics for my week. I'll generally know I'll eat some salad, some fruits and will want some protein of some type and will buy according to that. After that, I rely on the my staple set of supplies I have in my house, plus maybe a quick stop at the store for one or two items during the week if I need something once I figure out what I'm cooking. For those of you that like certain order and hate going to the grocery store, this post still applies to you but you'll just plan ahead to get all things at once.

This post came about because I was without soy sauce and garlic as I started to cook lettuce wraps last week and those are staples around my place. This brought up an idea to share the staples around my kitchen so you can cook on the whim because you're prepared.

Don't feel like you need to go buy all this stuff at once, you'll spend a ton and might not use it for a while. Let your cabinet fill up as you go. I won't put things on my list that's a given, like coffee. I think you'll know if you forget to have coffee for yourself because the world turns dark.

Refrigerator:
- Milk - duh, drinking, cereral, protein shakes, lattes
- Lettuce, cucumber and peppers - all for making salads, I prefer the full heads of romaine, not just the package of romaine hearts
- Carrots - mostly just for snacking
- Better Than Bullion - this stuff is great, it's a compact jar of stock concentrate you can use to make stock for soups or sauces
- Eggs - I like eating eggs, sometimes for dinner, but also used for baking. Don't doubt the power of a good loaded up scramble or omelet for dinner.
- Fage yogurt - I love this stuff, the 0% fat kind. I'll take about a cup to work every day, with a little honey or agave mixed in it.
- Sauces/condiments - BBQ, soy sauce, mustard, all can be used in cooking or marinades
- Unsalted butter - you'll find no margarine here, not normally at least

On the counter:
- Salt and Pepper - always always always have salt and pepper, fresh ground pepper is best
- Fruits - always bananas for shakes, other fruits are seasonal like apples or citrus. Having either lemons or limes is good for marinades, but they sometimes get thrown out unused at my place
- Onion and garlic bulb - Just make sure you always have one, both last for a pretty long time. 
- Tomatoes - for salads, I try to buy the ones that look good, but price goes into my decision making too

Freezer:
- Ezekial bread - They sell this bread frozen, it's full of good stuff and is the only bread that's available at my place normally. I'll buy the tastey not so healthy bread when I have a reason for it but this is good for weekends when I want some toast.
- Frozen fruit - mostly for putting in shakes, I'll buy fresh and freeze or just buy frozen
- Some sealed up meats - just make sure as much air is out of bag as possible so there's less freezer burn
- Fish - I've found some good vacuum sealed fish at Trader Joe's recently for a good deal
- Juice concentrate - just makes it easy to have 1 cup occasionally when you want it occasionally

Cabinet - most of these things will last a while, but put them in zip bags if not sealed:
- Nuts - Either for putting on salads, snacking or putting in baked goods.
- Peanut butter and nutella - Both are mostly for snacks, but PB goes in protein shakes sometimes. If you don't like these, which probably means we're not close friends, don't buy them.
- Oils - EV Olive oil and a canola blend will cover you for dressings, searing and stir-fry
- Seasoning - If you have Old Bay, a cajun seasoning like Slap Ya Mama or Tony's, and a seasonal all type mix, that's a good start. You can buy individual seasonings as you need them. I'd always carry cinnamon, cummin, red pepper flake, thyme and rosemary.
- Extract - Vanilla is awesome in tons of baking, almond is also good to have
- Flour and sugar - I carry whole wheat, cake flour and unbleached white, don't get cake flour until you plan to use it. Regular, powered and brown suga' baby.
- Baking soda and powder, yeast if you're planning any bread - For me, it's mostly for pancakes or a quick bread.
- Panko bread crumbs - works for coating meat or making meatballs.
- Chocolate chips - Who wants fresh chocolate chips cookies? I do!
- Honey - for grapefruit, tea or in yogurt and get some good local stuff, it's so much better than your bear stuff.
- Pasta, a jar of tomato sauce and rice - Some grains to cook
- Corn starch - great for making a stir-fry and thickening the sauce
- Vinegar - there's so many types, probably start with basalmic or red wine, great for an easy quick vinegarette

That should be a good start. Good luck with your cooking.

A Tale of Two Chilies

Don't worry, there won't be a report due next week if you read this. In celebration of Cinco de Mayo and the 10th year anniversary of Sam Houston U releasing me from it's tight grip with a diploma, I have a blog about that green sauce you like so much at your favorite Mexican restaurant.

Before we get into this, anyone that's from New Mexico is already about to give a lecture about how true chili sauce is made from hatch chilis, and back in NM blah blah blah blah blah. I get it, now can I talk about other chilies and you not be offended?

The green sauce sits in that same bowl that the red sauce does on the table. It's good, real good and I wondered what was in it. I asked around and got some answers but it seemed that everyone had their own version which had a lot of differences. It taste kind of creamy, is that sour cream or some secret ingredient found deep in desert plant of Mexico? I ordered a pint of it from my favorite Mexican restaurant, La Hacienda III, and I asked if it needs to be refrigerated. Well, their green sauce did, which means I didn't try to pack it in my checked bag to bring a little bit of home to my sister in North Africa. It also means there's something that needs to be kept cold in it, like sour cream.

Last summer, on a warm rainy day, I found myself at half price books in the cook book section. Yes, that happens sometimes. I found a book that has different Houston restaurant recipes in it and low and behold.... Ninfa's Green and Red Sauce recipe. This was right before 4th of July and I ended up making 3 batches over the long weekend for family and friend get togethers. And I've made it a few times since then.

It's not a quick recipe, the ingredients aren't found in every grocery store, and it makes a little bit of a mess. Luckily for me, mom was growing tomatoes last summer so I saved a few trips to Central Market for the green tomatoes. Basically, you cook green tomatoes, tomatillos, jalapeños, and garlic over the stove. After you cool the sauce, you blend it with cilantro, avocados, salt and sour cream. Total start to finish, it's a 45 minute to an hour process, depending how much you cool it after the stove top.

Fast-forward to last weekend when I had a house get together over at a friends and was asked to bring chips or something. That green sauce came to mind, but I'm getting a little lazy and knew I wouldn't want to spent an hour making it on Saturday. I tried a short cut and it turned out pretty good. HEB has and Tomatillo Green Chili salsa and I blended it with 2 small avocados, about 6 oz of sour cream, a good hand full of cilantro and salt to taste. I used a hand blender, but a normal blender or a food processor would work too.

And there is the tale of chilies... sauces. Two green sauces, both very good, one came from the school of hard knocks and the other does just enough to get by in life. Oh, it's good as a dip or topper for tacos, fajitas or as a salad dressing.

Fall Spice Wheat Pancakes

First of all, it's been too long without a post. It doesn't mean I've forgotten about you, the contrary, I care about your very much!


After a late night out in a robin hood outfit last night and managing to keep my ol' bones in bed until 10am, I yearned for food. And pancakes seemed to feel right this morning. Pancakes are nothing glamorous, nothing hard, but are good, simple and people should not fear the homemade flat cake. I went with a little fall spice today but have varied pancakes through the history of my flapjack career.


I don't remember cooking that many specific things with my parents, but for some reason, I can remember cooking breakfast items back when my shirts were too tight on my stomach.




Ingredients:
1 egg
1/4c apple sauce (this replaces typical oil or butter that's in pancakes, look below, no fat
2 tbl brown sugar
1/2c all purpose unbleached flour (I'm not sure that the unbleached is that much different from bleached, but I don't think I want to eat bleach)
1/2c whole wheat flour
3 tsp baking powder
2-3 shakes cinnamon
1-2 shakes clove
1-2 shakes nutmeg or grind a little fresh stuff which I like better
1-2 shake ground ginger
pint salt
3/4 cup milk, but you'll probably need more to adjust the thickness of the batter
clarified butter, canola oil, or butter, something for the pan when cooking


In a medium bowl, crack and egg and give it a good whisk until it's evenly yellow and a little frothy. Add in the apple sauce and the sugar, whisk until combined.


Add the flours, you can sift them but that's one more thing to wash. Add the baking powder, spices and salt and whisk just a little bit. It will be thick until you start adding the milk. Add the milk and whisk until everything is combined evenly. At this point, you're looking for a thickness because this will affect how the pancake spreads in the pan and rises. If you lift the whisk out of the batter, it shouldn't really stick to the whisk, but some of it should come up with the whisk and then fall. If you mix the batter, it shouldn't seem runny in the bowl either. By the time you make the first pancake, the batter might firm up some so just whisk in another splash of milk.


Put a non-stick pan, at least 10", on med to med-high heat. Once the pan is hot, put a little of the butter or oil in the pan. If you have a good non-stick pan and want to go without the butter/oil, do it.


Pour the batter in the pan at the center of the pancake. If the consistency of the batter is too thick, the batter won't spread in the pan and you'll probably have issues getting the middle of the pancake to cook. Too thin and it'll just spread out quickly and you'll have thin pancakes. Now that the first side is cooking, it's time to share the cooking knowledge learned as a child... look for the bubbles. The baking powder causes the bubbles, giving the fluffyness to the cakes. You want bubbles to be seen popping all over the pancake and then the bubble hole should close back up. If you let it go too long, the bubbles will stay open and the bottom might be too cooked. When you see the right amount of popping bubbles, take a big flat spatula and flip the pancake. The cooking on the second side is usually only about 2/3rd the time of the first side, maybe 2-3 minutes.


If you want to add stuff in the pancakes like nuts or berries, drop them in the cake while the first side is cooking.


Optional cooked apples

1 apple, a sturdy apple, i used 1/2 of a huge (1lber) honeycrisp apple
1tbl butter
1/3c brown sugar, I didn't measure this, just throw a little in the pan


Slice the applies thin, removing any seed or core part. Melt the butter in a pan. Add the apples and stir or flip them several times until they are almost soft. Add the sugar and stir or toss until it melts.

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

My friend Renee gave me this recipe and I gave it a try, which makes this my first friend recipe post. This recipe can be cut down, ask the butcher if they can cut you a smaller piece of pork butt. Everyone likes butts of different sizes so you need to make the decision. One thing that I think that is important on this recipe is that the pork should fall apart pretty easily and if it doesn't yet, just keep cooking it. A traditional way to eat a pulled pork sandwich is with a little colesaw topping if you feel the need to add a veggie to this meal.

Here's my mods I made on this recipe: I had part of a pork loin in the freezer I used on this, which makes the recipe more lean, but probably not at tastey. From what I've seen on most slow cooker recipes is you have the fast version and the slow version, so 4-6 hours on high, or 8 hours on low. I like my pulled pork sauce a little sweeter so I added a little molasses and more brown sugar.

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 8 hours
Makes: About 8 cups or 12 main dish servings

Ingredients:
1 Medium onion – finely chopped
1/2 Cup ketchup
1/3 Cup cider vinegar
1/4 Cup packed brown sugar
1/4 Cup tomato paste
2 Tablespoons sweet paprika
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 Tablespoons yellow mustard
1 1/2 Teaspoons salt
1 1/4 Teaspoons pepper
4 lbs Boneless port shoulder blade roast (fresh pork butt) or pork loin, cut into 4 pieces
12 Sandwich buns or ciabatta rolls

- In 4 1/2 to 6 quart slow cooker pot, stir all ingredients except pork until combined. Add pork to sauce mixture and turn to coat well with sauce.
- Cover the slow cooker with a lid and cook on low, 8 to 10 hours or until pork is tender.
- With tongs, transfer port to a large bowl. Turn setting on cooker to high; cover and heat sauce to boiling to thicken and reduce slightly.
- While sauce boils, with 2 forks, shred pork. Return shredded pork to cooker and toss with sauce to combine. Cover slow cooker and heat through on high setting if necessary.
- Spoon pork mixture on bottom of buns; replace tops of buns.

Nutrition: Its pulled pork, nutrition data is obviously not of concern for this meal.

Quick and easy honey mustard salad dressing

Sorry for taking so much time to get another recipe on here. I tried this Alton Brown recipe on a salad tonight and it was really good.

Ingredients:
5 tbl honey
3 tbl smooth Dijon mustard
2 tbl rice wine vinegar

Combine all ingredients in a bowl until smooth. Serve as dressing or dip.

5 servings, 2tbsp each.

Nutritional info: Calories: 69, Carbs: 17g, Sugar: 16g, Fat: 0, Protein: 0.

Peace out!

Attention Shoppers... Spice Special on Isle 4

Are you tired of buying a whole bottle of spice you don't know if you'll ever use for more than just one recipe? If you're following a Martha Stewart recipe, you're probably buying tons of unique, nearly extinct spices just to recreate one of Martha's favorite foods. I don't know the command word to break you from the trance Martha has cast on you but here's a little hint to buying spices.

Next time you need a spice but don't want to buy a barrel of it, check out the bulk food/binned section of your grocery store. This is the same area you might find nuts, granola, flours or other similar items you can scoop into a bag and pay by the pound. In the Houston area, I know HEB, Whole Foods and Central Market have spices. In my experience with getting spices from the bins, I'll usually spend less than 50 cents per spice unless I'm getting more than I need for one use. Its also a great way to try out a spice you might not be familiar with, like the smoked paprika I've recently started using.

If you do need more of it, you might look in the international area. I've seen some spices packaged there at a good discount to the McCormick's bottles on the baking isle.

I'm at Panera now, I need to get back to my meditation with deep breathes of bread scented O2. Have a great Sunday.

Rickshaw driver... take me to the grocery store.

I've told some of my friends about the discovery of the Asian grocery store. First of all, I'm no expert, I'm just sharing my experiences. I'm not about to search out the best and accidentally go into the worst of the stores just for the sake of a good blog. Second, not all Asian grocery store are alike. I've heard tales of the Hong Kong market on Bellaire but haven't made the trip there yet.

Round 1
I first went into one of these over on Bellaire after having shaved ice and I'm not going to lie, it was kind of scary. It was questionably dirty compared to my Bunkerhill HEB and I most things weren't marked in English. It was like my sister's shopping trips in Tunis for the first several times.

Round 2
There was a Fiesta on Blalock and I-10 and it closed down a year or so back. There is a new store that opened in the same location and I guess curiosity got to this cat. It all started out with my search for satsuma tangerines, which I'd never had but was told they had them. I couldn't help but notice lots of Asians walking in and out of the store and that made sense after I walked in... because its an Asian grocery store based out of Cali. Most of the items in the store are marked both in English and something Asian, I really can't tell you which of the Asian languages though.

Without going into too much detail, I'll describe this place. There's now a few different restaurants and stores at just inside the entrance and on weekends, there's normally a line for the food. They have sushi of different types and deli item. The produce area is not huge but has lots of different options and there's always at least one or two guys restocking produce. There's lots of frozen foods which I'm sure I couldn't figure out how to cook correctly. In the back of the place, you'll think you're at an aquarium because there's live fish in tanks, with crabs and lobster as tank neighbors. That should mean they're fresh, right? The meat market probably has any type of meat you'd like in different cuts and they have plenty you won't want also. They even sell a little Kobe beef for not too bad of a price. On the shelves, there's all sorts of sauces, jams, candy, etc, and let's not forget to mention the isle dedicated to noodles. On the way out, there's a bakery with mostly non-HEB like goods, but I've tried a few and they're mostly good.

I've been back several times and its still kind of an experience once I get out of the produce area. There's so many things I have no idea what they are but I go back few a few reasons. 1. The produce is normally fresh and really cheap. 2. Bakery and everything in it, even though I did play Asian pastry roulette and lost one time. 3. I'm not sure it always happens but one weekday night, I found sushi rolls marked down to $3-4. Overall, I'll go there when I want good cheap produce and pick-up a few thing with my veggies and fruit.

Here's what I bought on my last trip there: 5lb whole beef tenderloin, 2 bunch cilantro, 1 red onion, 1.25 lb large shrimp, 2 bunch green onion, brown Korean pear, red pepper, 2 limes, 2 huge Asian pears, 3 oranges, 4 avocados, 2 more smaller Asian pears, 4 yams and 4 kiwis. Total: $34 with tax. Several of the things I bought were on sale but still think its a great deal.

Warning: 99 RM can be a very crowded on weekends and the parking lot is not laid out well so be prepared.

Round 3:
My good friend Marjorie told me about a Korean grocery store, Super H Mart, just north of I-10 off Blalock and Westview. Its kind of similar to 99 RM, but has more Korean things, which are pretty strange. They like to pickle things? The store is not as big, but the produce areas is more spread out. The first time I went in there, I walked out with 1lb of sliced marinaded rib eye, mushrooms and refrigerator udon noodles. $7 and an hour later, I'm at home eating a quick stir-fry and having the leftover for lunch the following day. Marjorie and I went there for lunch not long after my 1st trip and had these hot stone rice stir-fry bowls.

Maybe you're not ready for the Asian grocery store but why not take a baby step. Pick-up an Asian pear next time at your own grocery store. They're one of my new favorites. Its kind of a mix between a normal pear and an apple. You might find them packaged in a styrofoam pear jacket and some of them are big enough to be shared with a friend.

At the end of every trip, other customers probably wonder why I'm leaving my Asian wife or girl friend in the store. I just keep on walking while reaching for whatever pastry is sitting on the top of the groceries in my reusable grocery bag.

GBU... Good Bad and the Ugly... La Vista and my Stir-fry

No recipes in this blog, just some food experiences.

Angela and I went to La Vista, http://www.fatbutter.com/ on Memorial right by Town and Country Wednesday. Before going, I was expecting a great view, maybe of the nice trees of the memorial area, but it got its name from a joke about the first location, off Fountain View. Located in a strip center with no view of anything, the waiter said it was named the asphalt lounge because of the lack of scenery.

The menu is pretty good, some creative entrees with creative items, pizza, sandwiches and salads. Their pasta dishes seem pretty standard. I had the coffee cinnamon cumin crusted pork tenderloin and Angela had the shrimp and grits. Both were pretty great! The bread with the meal is really good and you can bring your own wine for a $5 bottle corking fee. They do have outside seating which I think would be great once Houston gets into its 2 month pleasant weather period. One thing about this location is the crowd, its definitely more a memorial older crowd. There was one younger couple in there, but when we left just after 8, we were easily 10 years younger than any other customer in there. If that doesn't bother you and you live in the memorial area and want some good food to eat out with your $7 bottle of wine, definitely give this place a try.

Here goes the bad and ugly, I managed to capture both with a stir-fry dish. I bought a couple different veggies from the Asians grocery store and wanted to do a stir-fry for a healthy meal. The week got busy and I threw together dish last night. There was 5 veggies, small bok choy, carrots, yellow pepper, and sugar snap peas. I didn't feel like making a sauce so I tried to use a Paul Newman's Teriaki marinade. I basically cooked the veggies stir-fry style and then added the sauce. At the end, I didn't like the flavor, not sweet enough for a teriaki and I overcooked the veggies.

One thing about stir fry and cooking veggies in general, don't over cook them. They can go from fresh looking and tasting to discolored and mushy really quick.

I also tried to make baked sweet potato fries this week, which have elluded me since first discovering their fatting cousin from the south, the sweet potato fry deep fried. I went more with a steak fry cut this time and the flavor was good, but still not getting the crispness I'm wanting on the outside. My sweet potato fries have only know 2 stages in the past, mushy or burnt.

I told you I'd bring you experiences about food, even if they aren't great so there you go all 6 readers. I took the day off so I'm off to the next item on my agenda...

Solo...Heirloom Tomatoes

Let's talk about those funny looking tomatoes you see at the grocery store that are 2-3X more expensive than the standard romas, $4-6/lb. I saw these tomatoes for quite a while and the financial food side of my brain said, "these must be the Ferrari of the tomato world" but I was curious what they tasted like. The compassion side of me thought about how the other tomatoes must make fun of them for having random bumps and ridges and a mixture colors. I'm a big fan of Tyler Florence's cooking and he talked about these tomatoes in one of his shows so I finally gave them a try.

I did a little research and there's not much of a standard to qualify tomatoes as heirloom tomatoes. However, in general, they're a variety of tomatoes that have been around for a long time, such as 50 years or more. In the "good ol' days", they would have been passed down through families. Apparently, there's hundreds of different types, with funny names like Green Zebra and Mortgage Lifter tomatoes.

I'm sure there's some great recipes out there for these but I haven't looked for them. I think I've only had these one way, sliced up, on a plate with salt and pepper and a little olive oil. Its simple, quick, can be used as a side, an appetizer or a "while you cook" starter. Another "while you cook" starter is a beer or glass of wine. I'll usually slice them about 1/4" thick so you have something to stick a fork in. If you have some fresh herbs, like basil, dill, oregano or thyme, add a little on top. They have different flavors depending on the type.

Next time you're at the store, pick up a couple of these, just get a couple small tomatoes if you don't want to make the commitment. In the first batch I ever bought, one looked like a little round watermelon and the other one was a blended yellow and red color. Heirloom tomatoes might be the outcast of the tomato world, but they are beautiful in God's eyes and I love them.

Quickie... Post-run peanutella pita

So you've just ran 6 miles at memorial park, you come home hungry and you need to get ready for the next item on Saturday's agenda. Let's face it people, you don't always have time for a full stack of Buffalo Grille wheat pancakes filled with ___(madlid: fruit) after your run even though I wish I did. So what do you do to recover from the run and curve off hunger until dinner? I turn to the good old standby, the peanutella pita.

I can never eat a whole pack 6-8 pack of pita when I get a hummus craving for a day or two. I'll throw the left overs in the freezer for a later day. Just need to thaw it out for 20 seconds in the mi-cro-wave. A good zip lock and sucking the air out will help them stay in better shape in the freezer.

Ingredients:
1 6,8 or 10" whole wheat pita
2 tbsp nutella
2 tbsp natural peanut butter (I have skippy natural creamy but use what you like)

1-2 servings depending on the size of the pita

Spread half on the pita with nutella, the other half with peanut butter and stick together. Fold again if you like for easier handling while you head to the shower.

Here's the damage. I've taken note that this hits the post-workout 4 to 1 carb to protein ratio recommended by a trainer at the gym, most effectively absorbed if eaten with 45 minutes of your hard workout. Calories: 530, Total fat: 28g, 7g sat fat, Carbs: 61g, Sugar: 25g, Fiber: 9g, Protein: 15g.

Next Saturday, tie on your Asics, hit the trails and refuel with the peanutella pita.

Quickie... Pasta and Cream Sauce

Mind of out the gutter and you know who you are. Here's a quick late night snack I put together with a few leftovers recently. I made this for 1 so live it up single people. I didn't measure any of it so I'm guessing about how much of each ingredient I put in.

Ingredients:
1 serving of angel hair pasta
2 tsp butter
3 tbl green onion, sliced thin, white end
< 1/4 c heavy cream
2 tbl grated Parmesan
salt and pepper

Make the pasta to directions. I made homemade angel hair a day prior so it took 2-3 minutes to cook. Drain and set in bowl.

Heat pan to med-high, add butter, throw in onions, mix around and keep an eye on them for maybe a minute. If butter starts to turn brown, pour in cream. Oh, for this, you can't substitute milk. Based on experience, only heavy cream will hold up to the heat. Add salt and pepper, let mixture get hot for maybe a minute. Pour in parm and stir. Take off heat and pour on top of pasta. Top with a little more pepper if that's the sort of thing you like to do.

Here's what this quickie will cost you in nutrition. I've estimated amount of cream and the nutritional value for the amount of pasta I made. Calories: 503, Total fat: 36g, 23g sat fat, Carbs: 25g, Sugar: 1g, Fiber: 1g, Protein: 12g. What's the point... this quickie might be good and fast, it'll cost you in the long run.

Sorry for the sloppy looking plate, I'll try much harder next time Mom.

Master of My Own Plantain

Every once and a while, I'll have something out and want to make it at home. Okay, maybe this happens more than every once and a while. After having soft sweet cooked plantains at El Rey, my challenge was set.

Plantains are like lots of guys, early on, we are colorful, firm with a hard outer peel. As we and plantains get older, we tone down, turn softer, but we get sweeter. I learned after research, that plantains have different stages as they ripen and you use them in different ways. You'd use a green or yellow plantain to slice thin and fry up to serve in place of tortilla chips with salsa or chimichuri. Or you'd have dark plantains to fry to have as a side item or maybe dessert.

There are some things that when I try to re-create, they really challenge me, plantains became my nemesis. My first attempt was covered with oil and grilled which was not good. Months later, I tried frying them 2 times in the same week and both were horrible. I didn't know then that my yellow plantains, cut into chunks and shallow fried in butter or oil where still too starchy for what I was trying to achieve. I bought the darkest HEB had and tried again with just oil and it was much better.

For this recipe, you need dark plantains, completely brown or even black. I've found that HEB doesn't have them normally but have found them at 99 Ranch Market (asian market) and heard they have them at Fiesta. You can buy them ahead of time and let them darken but it seemed like that takes plantains for eeeevvvvveeeerrrr.

Oh, I don't like deep frying, its too much mess and too much fat, but I tried other ways and its simple no bueno.

Ingredients:

1 ripe (brown/black) plantain

canola oil

Put enough oil in pan to come up half the side of the height of the plantain. Heat on med to medium-high, about 300 degree. If this is too high, I found myself burning them, but my attention might have been on cooking something else at the same time.

Peel plantain and cut plantain in half length-wise and once width wise. You can make these in chunks like triangles (called on the bias) if you want to. I think the chunks is more traditional from what I've seen online.

Place in oil, move just slightly after setting in oil. Don't move them around too much. My co-workers from Tobago verified that they'll just break apart if you move them too much. Brown on first side and then flip. Brown on other side. Remove from oil and place on paper towel. Sprinkle with salt and/or sugar. I tried with honey, guava nectar and nutella on top, I think guava was pretty good of those, but I still heart nutella.

Here's the bad news, estimating the amount of oil soaked in the plantain is 1/8 cup which is probably on the high side, Calories: 400, Total fat: 20g, 1.4g sat fat, Carbs: 62g, Sugar: 28g, Fiber: 5g, Protein: 2g.

Line up your weekday chicks on Sunday

This isn't a strategy on dating (at least not for me), it's about planning to start off the week with chicken ready to use. However, this cooking technique is easy and consistant even if you're just cooking for one meal. The technique is a pan roast because you start cooking in a pan, then finish cooking in the oven (roasting). What this does is sears the outside of the meat to lock in the juice, then finishes cooking the middle. This technique can be used on pork and beef as well.

I'll do this on Sunday night with 3-5 chicken breast which I probably found on sale at HEB. This loads up my refridgerator with lean protein for at least the next couple days lunch and dinner. I've found that the chicken heats up well again and doesn't dry out too much in the reheating.

Ingredients:
- Boneless chicken breast (how ever many you can put in the pan or need to cook), usually 3 breast for a little over a pound
- seasoning you want to use, enough to coat the chicken
- 1-3 tbl EV (extra virgin olive oil)

You can start off with the chicken breast seasoned different ways. Make sure they get some seasoning on them, both sides please. If you're going to use the chicken for different types of food, a more basic flavor might be better. Here's a couple different ways to season:
- An off the shelf season salt, mixed blend, Tony C's, or Head Country rub
- If you want it pretty plain, go with salt and pepper
- Equal parts low sodium soy and orange juice
- Few tbls of fresh herbs(basil, thyme, or rosemary) with salt, pepper and about 1-2 tbls EV. (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
- Half a lemon juiced, 1-2 cloves of smashed garlic, 1-2 tbls EV, salt and pepper.

Let the seasoning chill with chicks for maybe 20-30 minutes in the refridge, I wouldn't go more than an hour or two, especially if there's an acid involved like lemon juice.

Heat the oven to 350 degree F. If you don't have a pan that can go from the stove to the oven, put a oven proof dish in the oven.

Heat pan on the stove on med-high and pour enough EV to coat the bottom of the pan. A "coat" means enough to have some on the entire bottom but not so much it sloshes around. You'll need a big enough pan for the chicken to make contact with the bottom without too much crowding. My 10" pan can handle 3 chicken breast, 12" holds 4-5. A pan with at least medium thickness would be better than a thin bottomed pan. What can I say, I like pans with a little junk in their trunk to get this crunk.

When the oil just starts to smoke, take the chicken and slowly set into the pan moving it on the bottom of the pan just a little after putting down. If you have a wet marinade, let the excess drip off before putting the pan unless you enjoy that popping feeling on your arms. Let chicken cook for 3-5 minutes, until brown. Then flip to the other side and cook for 2-5 minutes until browned. Congrats, the pan part is done.

If your pan can go into the oven, move it to the middle rack. Otherwise, move the chicken into the oven proof dish. Leave in the oven for 12 minutes. Pull out of the oven. Remember, the handle is now hot unlike when it's used on the stove. I'm speaking from experience here. Congrats, the roast part is done.

I'll usually eat one for dinner the night I cook and use the rest for lunches or dinners towards the start of a week for a healthy start. Chop up the chicken and throw it on top of romaine with tomatoes and whatever else you like on salad. Eat it by itself with some steam rice. Dice it up, throw it into a pan on medium heat with some bbq sauce and serve on a hamburger bun. Or you can slice it up, heat it with some sauteed sliced onions and peppers and serve on a whole wheat pita or tortilla.

This same recipe can be used for a dinner with friends or maybe just one very special friend. I don't have pan sauces mastered but I've used the pan flavors left from the chicken to make a sauce to serve with the chicken. Add some steamed or sauteed veggies and steamed rice or baked sweet potato to complete the meal. You'll have guest happy and feeling healthy.

Stay tuned for my next post on Asian pastry roulette.

Food according to Mark

Food can be various things to each person, sometimes it can fulfill that sweet tooth and sometimes it can be eaten to fuel your body for activity. Food can be a part of celebrating with friends or shared with the poor. Food can be an all-day event or can be taken down with one hand while driving. It comes in many forms, sizes, taste and colors.

I'm going to try and bring various things to whoever might end up reading this thing.

Things I plan to write about:
- recipes, all with nutritional information so you can make the decision
- tips on cooking, methods or techniques
- places to grab a bite in Houston... fancy, on the cheap, or somewhere in between
- food finds, there's a blog planned for asian grocery stores already

For those close friends, they know I have random thoughts so let me intro you to a few about food and close out this blog.

3 truths about foods.
1. Bread is awesome, whether it be bagels, challah bread, pita or naan.
2. I think nutella was left out of the bible because God didn't want us to get distracted from His Jesus message.
3. Plain peas are gross.

First time I remember cooking to impress a girl... when: senior in high school, who: girls varsity volleyball team before big play-off game, what: devils food marshmellow chocolate jelly roll cake, effect: lots of thanks, maybe a couple hugs.

If I didn't think my fat childhood would come back, I'd eat a glazed scone for breakfast everyday.

Favorite dish: Shrimp and grits, even a healthy version rocks!

My first original recipe was when I was young, less than 10. It was a sandwich on toasted bread, with peanut butter, honey, mom's homemade fig jam and bananas. This sandwich might have pushed me into a new size of husky jeans as a child.

Last thing made: granola, enough for a couple weeks.

Start of a blog

So I was encouraged recently to share my passion for food with others, friends, family, and dare I say, the rest of the world. I don't know where I'll go with this blog thing, I only recently found out about this thing called the Internet or Internets.

For right now, my goal will be to share information based on my opinion or experiences about various topics about food. You'll get to hear about my trials, tribulations and celebrations with food. I'll just tell you now, excuse my grammar, read from a content perspective, not an English professor perspective. If you want a literary masterpiece, pick up one of the classics from B&N.

I better go, I threw a ribeye in a marinade and the cast iron skillet is about to have the hots for that ribeye.