A Bit of News, A Bit of Fun
Does the dish make the muffin look any tastier?
Today I offer my readers two amuse bouches – little tastes from the chef.
For our first amuse bouche, I read about a recent study on the risks of a gluten free diet. In case you haven’t been paying attention at the supermarket, there seems to be gluten free bread, pasta, and most types of carb options everywhere you turn. In fact, one might be tempted to think that celiac disease, which requires the gluten free diet, has run rampant in this country. Not so. It affects 1- 2 % of the population. But hey, here’s a marketing opportunity to target that 1 – 2% of the population. BUT, there turns out to be a problem with this gluten free diet. In a study done by the Spanish National Research Council, a gluten free diet may alter the balance of good and bad bacteria in one’s digestive track. So I predict that the next big thing in the gluten free market will be products marketed with beneficial bacteria. Anybody want to go into product development with me?
For your second amuse bouche, may I present a bit of fun. Creative pastry chefs are packaging their desserts in unusual containers, both to go, or to eat right there. They’re using containers such as jam jars, apothecary jars, and Mason jars. Just another way to tickle our brains as chefs tempt our appetites.
Tonight, the Softball Field
Not too bad for a late dinner.
I will have to remember this trick throughout the summer. I washed the greens, grilled the chicken, mixed the dressing, and prepared the other toppings in the 45 minutes before we left for the softball field. It took less than five minutes when we returned home to assemble dinner.
Annie said it tasted like something you might get in a restaurant. Louisa enjoyed the first two thirds of her dinner until it became too sweet for her. The recipe included sweetened dried cranberries and a sweet dressing. I agree that less sweet would have been better. And in keeping with this crazy week, Joe hasn’t even made it home for dinner yet.
Personally, I prefer my dinners to be hot, but some nights you can’t be choosy, and it certainly beats the alternative – the drive through.
Eating the American Way
Not much time to cook or eat when you're sitting at the fields.
I’ve more or less solved this week’s cooking dilemma. With a combination of advance prep and eating on the fly, we certainly won’t be starving this week. Last night Joe, Annie and I ate an early pasta dinner before I took Louisa to soccer tryouts. Since Louisa doesn’t eat before playing a game, practices, or tryouts, I saved her a plate for when we finally returned home at 8:15. However, she was too wound up from the running to eat her dinner, so we cobbled together a healthy trail mix for her instead.
Tonight I’ll simply grill chops with a side salad for dinner and Annie and I will eat before I leave again with Louisa. Joe and Louisa will eat, whenever. Tomorrow night I’ll prepare a salad and its components, and refrigerate it for us to eat when we return from the softball game at 8:15. And so the week will continue in this planned, haphazard way.
I really hate living like this, and I’m just glad that our schedules aren’t always so overcommitted. It doesn’t make for a good dinner experience for anyone, and it’s terrible for family togetherness. I hope that next week things will return to our version of normal.