Keeping it Fresh in the Kitchen

Homemade Tomato Sauce
- just in a recycled Prego jar

One of the most vexing things about wanting to eat healthier, is that healthy eating is not always convenient, and it is definitely not cheap. A KFC snack pack costs less than a salad, a good healthy soup can be hard to find and buying a slice of cake can be less aggravating than buying a slice of watermelon from my regular watermelon guy. I mean, watermelon guy, while I appreciate the compliments and yes, maybe I am your angel who has fallen from heaven, I am still not going to marry you. lol. I just want a slice of watermelon.

I decided against eating out this weekend, which of course meant putting in some effort in the kitchen, cause if you want to do it right, you often have to do it yourself.  I really was not in the mood for doing it myself but was not in the mood for taking a drive to get it either, or spending a lot of money to do so. So I sucked it up, and ventured into the kitchen, on a hot Saturday afternoon.

I decided in the name of freshness and ease, to make my own pizza yesterday, where I could control the type of crust (whole wheat, as opposed to white), the amount of cheese (a drizzle as opposed to a torrential gooey downpour), the toppings (fresh as opposed to crap from a can), and the tomato sauce, which in the whole quest for freshness, I decided to make from scratch, rather than buying. I must say, my tomato sauce was da bomb. Using fresh tomatoes, awesome amounts of fresh garlic and basil, salt and black pepper to taste, and no sugar or preservatives, I now have a Prego jar (the last insult) filled with this awesomeness.

I also had a fresh, light pizza without all the gunk, and a lot of onions, garlic, tomatoes, and spinach, with some bits of deli beef and feta to keep it sexy. And since I am also not drinking alcohol still, I used the last of my grapefruits to make a fresh non-alcoholic spritzer, with fresh grapefruit juice, a bit of ginger, Angostura bitters and club soda. Small yaay. And I did not have to get dressed up or leave my driveway to get it.

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Sensuous Lunch-Time Getaway at Aioli

Truffle fries - delicious

So as many of you know, I love food - good food - and so restaurant adventures, among other foodie outings, are always a great thing. So when friend extraordinaire, Leslie Ann invited me to Aioli again, having missed the first opportunity because I was chained to the corporate grind, well...I was certainly not going to be a fool twice.

My first outing to Aioli was fantastic and so I was very eager to see what was in store today. The good folks at Aioli are preparing to launch a new lunch menu, with brand new options, unlike anything on their awesome dinner menu, but just as fun and exciting. Food should always be fun and exciting. What is even more exciting is being among the first to test and taste the menu-to-be as guests of the Chef's Table. Small yaaay.

The menu supports quick lunches, which are perfect for those of us who have really busy days and short lunchbreaks. First there are french fries. French fries, you say aloud. Yes. French fries. But not every french fry is the same and this truth was confirmed the moment I sampled the truffle fries - "crispy truffle infused shoestring French fries", and my personal fave, the Tuscan fries - "Extra Crisp Baton cut French fries tossed in garlic chevril butter and shaved parmagiano reggiano". 

The Tuscan fries were my winner among the three, which also included classic french fries. I had most of those Tuscan fries, friends. I confess. The diet went on a break around 12.30 this afternoon.

Up next - pasta. I love my pasta, so I was eagerly anticipating the pasta options on this test menu, which the table shared. First up, a lovely Pasta alla Marinara - a wonderfully fresh combination of pasta, tossed with fresh garlic, Shallots, Marinara and cherry tomatoes and garnished with parmagiano reggiano and micro basil. I loved the freshness of the ingredients, with those cherry tomatoes being the most succulent gems ever.

Pasta alla marinara

Then there was the poulet y pesto. I love pesto but had actually never had a creamy pesto but I did enjoy the fussilli pasta tossed in a creamy pesto with moist cubes of chicken.

Poulet y pesto

My winner in the pasta competition was definitely the final pasta dish - Pasta di Funghi, which featured pappardelle pasta tossed with a sexy variety of exotic mushrooms, cream, parmagiano reggiano and truffle. If you are a mushroom lover, you have to have this. Your lunchbreak will never be the same.

Pasta di funghi

You may think it was over by now, but...it was not. We still had to taste the sandwiches on the proposed lunch menu. I had actually planned for today with a regular 5am workout, and a bowl of watermelon for breakfast.

So, the sandwiches. These were all taste sizes, mind you, and not regular sizes. I will admit, I am not a sandwich for lunch person, unless that "sandwich" is a wrapped roti. However, if you are indeed not averse to a sandwich for a quick lunch, then these three options were pretty damn good.

There was first, the Aioli Club -

The Aioli Club

...Aioli Club White Foccacia Bread layered with avocado, sliced turkey, sliced chicken, dehydrated bacon, Dijon mustard, Lettuce and tomato. That dehydrated bacon is the truth. It gave that sandwich a magic of its own - a really amazing flavour which I appreciated immensely.

Then, this was my favourite I think - the Reuben.

The Reuben

...Rye Bread layered with corn beef pastrami, swiss cheese, Saurkraut and dressed with Thousand Island. The dressing gave the sandwich a nice sweetness that complemented the savoury of the other ingredients.

And, the Louisiana Po Boy

Louisiana Po Boy

 ...Ciabatta Bread layered with Fresh fried Oysters, Cajun Aioli, Caper Remoulade, Butter Lettuce, Tomato and Pickle. Okay, this was awesome awesome awesome. The rest of the table thought it a bit too spicy but the kick I loved. Delicious.

Wicked LSJ also ensured we had dessert, and we shared a tiramisu cup, as well as a classic creme brulee and a Nutella brulee - delightful.

Creme Brulee times two

Lunch may never be the same again. The service as always was stellar so thanks to Marvin for being excellent. Apologies again to Jeremiah who let me call him Jeremy for about half hour without politely correcting me. And of course, LSJ for the awesome lunch experience and the power table of some of the amazing, beautiful women in my life.

And the cute chef for the eats and special care and hospitality afforded to us all. We had a great time.

And yes, I had to go back to work after all this. Isn't life hard?

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Fire and Brimstone for you Evil Weave Wearers

So a friend shared this story, about a pastor who has banned the evil among us from his church - the vile sinners being those women, those Jezebels who worship, not God, but the Indian and Brazilian Remy.  For the uninformed, the preacher man is referring to women who wear weaves. Yes...home boy is not a supporter of the "hair in a bag" revolution, and as he says, he is tired of the "phony ponies". To this end, he has declared a ban on all those women seeking God, but who have a weave sewn in or glued on.

Now I find the l'il pastor bright and farse because I do not understand what a woman's hairstyle has to do with her faith or with her quest for peace and salvation. Whether she is bald, rocking dreadlocks or 14" Brazilian Remy in 1B, that should not be his problem. Everyone has a right to self expression, whether it is via tattoos, piercings or hairstyles. You don't have to like it, but just accept it. Unless that weave has not been washed for weeks, and is rank smelling, these women are not hurting anybody.

I guess he does not listen to gospel music because I have seen the super fabulous contemporary gospel artistes, like Yolanda Adams, and they are rockin' the best Remy money can buy.

That being said, I do agree with Pastor's point where he says

I lead a church where our members are struggling financially. I mean really struggling. “Yet, a 26 year old mother in my church has a $300 weave on her head.

Yolanda Adams - rockin' that Remy

Here, I can co-sign with pastor, because I have seen it. It is all around me. You see them on the news, holding placards, saying they cannot feed their children, and life is hard, but they rocking EXPENSIVE Remy, have the best manicures, more gold than Trinidad James, and made up with the fake eyelashes, in the best brands. Again, it may be your right to spend your money however you like, but let's be real with the complaining if your entire look could feed said children for a month or even two. I have a job and I gasp at the prices of these "premium" hair types. Gasp and walk away. Ladies, you cannot eat the Remy and your kids cannot eat the Remy and sorry, but noone will take you seriously if you claim you are suffering but your hair, and the rest of you for that matter, cost as much as a monthly grocery bill for a small family.

So maybe pastor is just fed up of the women who come to him all done up, and complaining that God has forsaken them. I do not agree with our dear pastor, that all women who wear weaves have low self-esteem. I have rocked weaves and my friends can attest that I "over like" myself. lol. I just am not a hair person in the way that some women can keep their hair looking ultra fabulous at all times, and the ease and convenience of a weave done to my specifications is what sometimes works for me. So pastor needs to cool it.

I do agree with the author though, in that I hope that pastor is investing the same amount of energy in preaching the gospel, and counselling those lost members of the flock who may have been led astray by sex, drugs and other such vices, as he has been in admonishing women for their choice of hairstyle. Hair a Christian doth not make.

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Wanted: A Vacation of Nothing

I read a post last week that spoke to why one has to disconnect in order to reconnect, and I truly believe that this is important, whether it is a lavish vacation, or a weekend in your house, with just you, a book and not much else. Sometimes the daily grind can get the better of us and we really put our emotions and mental faculties to the test.

So, while I just had the best vacation ever, I get bored quickly and on top of that, I am tired. The truth is, my last vacation, while amazing, was not relaxing or restful. I was Energiser Tourist - wanting to see everything and do everything that was recommended. It was lovely and while it recharged me somewhat, it certainly did not recharge my body and I did not have much downtime to truly recharge my spirit either. Between multiple walking tours, very early morning airport runs, and lugging the heavy pink bag across Europe, I was dead when I got back to Trinidad and even needed an extra day off to recover. Now the good vacation mojo has worn off and I am sometimes too snarky for my own good and physically, between long hours and this impossible quest towards fitness (and old age??), I am always exhausted, and can barely make it through after work drinks.

That being said, I always take a trip in the last quarter of the year to somewhere, and while I am totally not an island vacation type girl*, I am really feeling a vacation of nothing.

*I live on an island. I have been to other islands, including Oahu. Unless that island has some "wow" factor other than blue waters and white sands, I am really not that interested. For that, I can go to Tobago and be quite content.

It was actually the plan for my birthday vacation last year, before those plans were derailed when some ass decided that he would test the reinforcements on the driver's side of my car as I was on my way to my pre-birthday dinner. Yeah, last year's birthday was stressful and was mainly marked by multiple trips to the insurance company, the dealership's service bay etc etc. We will hopefully not have a repeat of this crap this year. I want a vacation of nothing.

Well, maybe not NOTHING. Let's not lose perspective. I need activity but it would not be the rabid tourist/sightseeing type trip. It would just be me, my Kindle, my Tablet (okay, I need to stay connected) and the staff of some nice resort where I can work out, cool down and lay back.

There are a lot of spa and fitness or retreat type vacations out there set against the backdrop of blue seas and white sands, and one I am quite amenable to at this point, as I sit here typing and stretching my strained shoulder and stiff neck and my sore muscles from a 5am run that I probably should have passed on today as I was too tired. But anyway...

Something like The Body Holiday. My friend honeymooned here and said it was perfect. I am sure it is muy expensivo, but one must aim high and if you need to bring it back down to reality, okay. lol.

If Tobago can offer me a full package of fitness, yoga and spoilage, then bring it.

I have been thinking a lot about St Maarten as well - an island vacation I truly enjoyed and would not mind doing again, though this time I would definitely stay on the French side and not the Dutch side. And if all goes well with the fitness plan, well...you never know what can happen on Orient Beach. :-)

Until then, going to exercise my credit card swiping at my friendly Hi-Lo supermarket as I need some food for all this healthy cooking I need to get back to.

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Random Foodie Fitness Friday and Fuzzy Footwear

It's Friday. Thank God. I have been a REALLY good girl the past two weeks. I have not had cake, chips, ice cream or any such nonsense for 2 weeks. I have not had alcohol in two weeks. I have had coffee but I think bad coffee should not qualify as coffee. I have been religiously juicing and drinking all sorts of vegetable and fruit concoctions every single day, and just releasing all the bad mojo from my life.

I have also had a pack of Chee Zees, but that was a desperate situation where I was stuck in traffic for too long, without a traffic snack, and just needed something. Anything. I have not had Haagie for TWO WEEKS!!! I have had a Haagen Dazs mini suffering in the freezer for two weeks  - begging to be savoured. No such luck.

I will be destroying that mini during the course of the weekend. Believe it.

So it has not been too bad. I have been working out regularly, and as tiring and annoying as working out can be (I really hate the process), I never regret it when it is finally over. My post-workout pre-breakfast goodie bag looks very similar to this one, with the only difference being that there are a pack of almonds and some dried cranberries in the jar instead of Wheat Thins. I think I am now over almonds, by the way. Sweet Lord. I may never eat another almond.

The healthy goodie bag.

My post-workout breakfast looked like this, with the elephant, which is not edible, by the way, and with extra almonds (see what I mean about the f...g almonds?), extra protein powder, a couple strawberries, lots of nutmeg, and of course lots of blueberries and almond milk.

Ella and my blueberry protein smoothie

And I wanted to share this photo, which has absolutely nothing to do with anything simply because it made me laugh.

Why? Well, this was regular footwear when I lived in London - indoor footwear - which to me seems quite practical. However, I was told by Boy that this is not sexy. He hated it actually. Hated my entire commitment to staying warm, over looking sexy. I get it cause I was always in layers and sweats and ALWAYS in fuzzy socks and my fuzzy slippers. My answer to him was "Turn the Damn Heat Up!" I think it's cute and the photo reminded me of his cheeky vehemence to my socks and fuzzy slippers and made me smile on this, the last day of a long and exhausting week. I am going to email it to him now and piss him off and remind him how awesome I am.

Happy Friday, everybody.

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