Food: Some Meanderings

The evil marijuana monster stopped by earlier.

I haven't smoked a joint in a month, and buddy GayBoy stops in with a joint. I feel like such an amateur. I'm pretty baked. My immunity's shot, or else this is that 'get you dumb' shit I try to avoid. I like the dope that gives me this light irridescent kind of feel. The sensation that I truly know what water off a duck's back must feel like. You know what I mean? This isn't really that. Energy's low, focus is off.

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So, I've spent my evening watching the porn channel. Food TV, that is. I mean, oh! Shudder. Makes me feel like cooking tomorrow. So, I shall. I was watching this Asian cooking show, actually. I'm really ignorant about Asian food. GayBoy's what we call an Egg -- White on the outside, Yellow on the inside.

Oh, sue my politically incorrect ass if you don't like it. :P

You go leafing through GayBoy's cupboards and you'll find everything Asian. He's as white as the day is long, with Scottish descent, but boy, he loves his Asian(s). Yes, his lover's a rice man, too, but by birth.

Me, though, I'm white on white, and the only egg about me is my breakfast and whatever my ovaries have lease on.

My new guy's addicted to Southeast Asian, though, which means I'm about due for a crash course. That's cool, I'm up for some schoolin', as always. Like anything I sort of pursue, I like a working knowledge. So, I'm watching these cooking shows, trying to get stoked about cooking again (it's working) and I happen upon Kylie Kwong's "Whatever Half-Hour Show Thingie," and I really dug the stuff she was cooking, even the prawn wontons she fried up. I'm just sick of the same-old, and honestly, a little new experimentation might just hit the spot.

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Tomorrow, I have some running about to do, and I figure I'll visit to Granville Island. I'm thinking about making up both some gumbo for Wednesday (only a maybe on that one) and some skewers of some sort for tomorrow. I was thinking of doing some kind of lime/lemon marinade on some chicken, with maybe some hot peppers and something else for flavour. Maybe some yogurt and lemon-grass, too, or something. Like it matters? You just keep tasting until it's right. Then a salad with nice veggies and a dressing made with roasted cumin, olive oil, and lime. Something festive.

I love just playing in the kitchen. I don't do it so much for others, but I love doing it for myself. It's been a long time since I followed a salad dressing recipe, for instance. I could invent a new dressing every day of the week, if I felt like it. It's that easy, and that fun... and that much healthier than the store-bought shit, might I add?

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Speaking of, tomorrow I go on a quest for a new pestle and mortar. A bigger one. As a last resort, I drop $40 at Ming Wo for an 8" one. I want to start getting into toasting whole spices, because it's time to up the ante on flavour, whether on meats, salads, or other veggies, it doesn't really matter -- flavour is king.

My guy has this mentality of 80-20 when it comes to cooking, that is, 80% fresh ingredients, and up to 20% shortcuts. I'll confess, there are times I accept those odds, but I usually find that small percentage leads to a large compromise in the finished product, particularly when it comes to spices. Sometimes, a little toasting of spices takes a 7 dish right up to a 9.5. But it's the mortar & pestle that allow you to make cool salts and such for all manner of grilled dishes and other funky things.

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I was reading today about food, too, and the discovery that a very Mediterranean diet vastly reduces the odds of getting Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. I love Mediterranean. Add to that some of the reduction of risk of cancer from eating Asian, and I could be onto something.

Anyhow, I find North American food increasingly boring. Africa, Carribean, South American, Mediterranean, and now possibly Asian food: I love the first four kinds, and I'm hoping to find Asian I'm interested in. I'm much more open-minded than I realize, sometimes, and now, I'm actively learning just how bored I'm becoming by the parameters I've lived within for all these many years.

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It's hard to believe that only a decade ago I wouldn't eat anything but carrots, potatoes, a few greens, tomatoes, beef, and chicken, and the only kind of pork I liked was bacon. Food smacks of culture, of history, of passion, of everything we need to keep ourselves content, most of the time. There's nothing I enjoy more than sharing great food with people I care about, with people who are interested and appreciative of subtleties and richness. The more I slow my life down for simple things, the more I find myself loving quality food and simple meals, and the more outside distractions matter less to me.

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I'll be going out to dinner with the Guy on the weekend, to El Patio, a Spanish tapas house from the '80s. It's been a long while since I've been to many nice restaurants. There was a period there where I was having a lot of dining experiences, and then money made a grand exit from my life, and I entered Frozen Pizza zone. Now, I at least cook great meals at home, but to be heading out to be waited on is always a great prospect, particularly with great company. That'll be enjoyable.

Well, off I go to scheme about what I can do for the dinner tomorrow night that will be healthy, satisfying, and relatively easy to pull off. Planning ahead with food can be as rewarding as the meal itself. It's nice, imagining different combinations until -- whomp -- there it is.

Right now, where it is is in my bath tub, where a salt bath awaits. Without ado, then...