I'll admit, I was highly unprepared for day 8. Still between apartments, I spent the night at my sister's house, where we had our last dinner of popcorn (my weakness, sometimes my dinner of choice), veggie dumplings (with like a quart of soy sauce...how I will miss you, shoyu), a tofu salad thing that was made in a factory, carrots and hummus. It's what we call a smorgasboard. Usually we pick at it while watching vapid TV television (gonna miss you too SNOOKS! Long live Jersey Shore summer 09!). We shared everything, but...I probably went over my 1/2 limit. Throwing it all away before the race. Sodium heavy self-sabotage.I woke up bloated, disoriented, and thirsty. Luckily I had my jump rope.
When it comes to protein, I am generally a lentil/tofu/fake meat product kind of girl. I love those Chinese restaurants that serve "mock sesame chicken," i.e. MSG-laden doughnuts dipped in hot and sour sauce. I know those soy items are very processed, but I'm a little unaccustomed to (and straight up scared of) preparing chicken and fish. The smell, the fleshiness, the glistening gooey pinkness. The danger of contamination.
Being Indian, I didn't grow up rubbing down steaks and searing/braising/brining animals. This protein thing is going to be a challenge. My friend, an Italian, is going to help. We'll start with fish. Things you can wrap in foil and stick in the oven. Things that don't involve a cup of soy sauce and some brown sugar (part of my fave teriyaki recipe. You, who can still eat sugar, try it: Aloha Shoyu, agave, ginger, and star anise with green onion for garnish).
GO TEAM 2010!
You and Lilica are funny today with your popcorn! I just left some flavoring suggestions on her post.
ReplyDeleteNo joking with the salmonella! Wash those hands, girl. Safety first! (I actually DID get food poisoning in week 2, but I was also trying to eat fish and cook fish at the same time.)
I'm with you on the meat thing... I get squicked out by having to deal with raw meat. Seafood isn't so bad, but raw chicken gives me a serious case of the heebie-jeebies. And I'm ultra paranoid about salmonella as well, so I go the extreme when it comes to washing my hands, and even trying to not use the same fork to turn the chicken over in the pan (I know--too extreme... but it makes me feel better).
ReplyDeleteI did not know our portions were going to get slashed! Good to know. I'll remember to embrace the fullness now in preparation for slashed portions later!
I suspected that our portions will get slashed... and I'm sure that I'll regret this later - but I'm really looking forward to smaller portions right now ...
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Hawaii, so I'll always have a special place in my heart for Aloha Shoyu! It was a pleasant surprise to see the picture of the bottle above!
ReplyDeleteI baked my chicken breasts (bone-in, skin-on) in a big batch (6 at once 425 for 30 minutes) and after they cooled, shredded all the meat in a large container. It reduced some of the oogy-meat-handling-ness of the whole thing -- maybe that could help you? (Plus, 3 days of chicken all at once!)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Helen! I'm trying to find recipes that require minimal touching...like curries, so I can just dump the birds in a pot with some water, veggies, and spices, and let them do their thing!
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