FOR EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASONING

Hump day is Wednesday.  That is when everything that was in overdrive starts to simmer down and by Thursday people are in the bars and by Friday they have let down their guard.  If you don't believe me, watch for it.  That works the same way with dieting for me.  It seems like I am making dinner or going out to dinner on Thursday and Friday and am not eating alone.  I end up gaining what I had lost from Monday to Wednesday. 

I checked in at Weight Watchers and was really surprised and enlightened about the subject of spicing up your cooking.  When I barbecue chicken or beef, I am using Montreal Steak spice or Montreal Chicken spice.  It works out that both have a high sodium count.  On top of that, there is nothing like a little ketchup, mustard and relish with the burgers.  That may well be my downfall. 

Current dietary guidelines call for a daily max of 2,300 mg of sodium but ideally no more thant 1,500 mg.  I thought I shopped smart and don't buy many processed foods that are in a package.  However, I do buy the local deli's homemade soups and one I love in the summer is Daiter's gazpacho but even to me it tastes salty.  And when I cook, I am using spices but I never bothered to check the sodium content of those spices.

So to start with I went to the grocery store.  I purged the older spices and bought ones with Applewood smoke, chipotle pepper and mesquite, all of which were like 50 - 60 mg of sodium per teaspoon.
Then I considered the ketchup and bought low sodium salsa instead.  I haven't used mayo in ages but checked out the Hellman's low-fat option and found it was way lower in sodium than many bottled dressings. It was never the problem that I didn't buy fresh, whole foods but I was killing them with my spicy kindess of the wrong sort.

These are some of my favourite spices that I am going to use more: basil, cinnamon, ginger, horseradish, Italian seasoning, Jalapeno peppers, mint, nutmeg, wasabi, yogurt and za'tar.  I will retrain my taste buds.  Research suggestes that if you cut back on salt over serveral weeks, your taste buts start perceiving lower levels as salty enough. 

Now I didn't get a medal for my prowess in cooking, eating knowing everything about diets.
However, I did receive it last week in a ceremony at the Lawn Tennis Club hosted by Senator Art Eggleton for my service to Canada.

QUEEN'S 60TH ANNIVERSARY MEDAL

The medal I am now working on is a personal achievement of a healthy lifesstyle, weight loss and just ot look better.

Starting from scratch with homemade soups and salad dressings should be a snap with my new Vitamix that my kids bought me for Mother's Day.  Today is the day I will start using it.  Up till now I haven't had a moment to even unpack it.  I was stuck in a salt-pepper-garlic rut.  I am breaking out of it, deliciously!  After all for everything there is a seasoning!

Eating out on Mother's Day

Do restaurants take advantage on people on Mother's Day?  Definitely, I say.  My son, Noah booked the new restaurant at The Trump for 14 people on Mother's Day.  Just over a week prior he was advised it would cost $1,400 for 8 adults and 6 kids.  They had now changed their format to buffet and if you didn't give your credit card prior,  your reservation would not be held.  Well, Noah decided that he would book somewhere else and didn't notify them because they weren't going to acknowledge his reservation without his credit card anyway.  At 10:23 a.m. he had a rude message saying he was 23 minutes late... it goes on but where do restaurants get off on being rude?  Is there such an overwhelming demand that they can offer poor service and still get customers.  It appears so.

The alternate restaurant chosen was Terroni.  The food was very good but the snobbery was intolerable.  With 6 kids under 7 years old, we asked for butter with the bread.  The waitress went back to the kitchen and came back empty-handed saying that they didn't offer butter with bread...and they don't have any.  Can you imagine, an Italian restaurant that didn't have butter in their kitchen?  Can you imagine ANY restaurant without butter in their kitchen?

 

Secondly, Paul and I were the first to arrive.  I was really looking forward to a skim milk latte but they only have 3.5% milk or whole milk.  Now, it is true that some European restaurants don't have skim milk but most will at least have 2%.

 

We already knew, that this restaurant did not serve its pizza cut.  You had to cut it yourself.  We joked we should have brought our pizza cutter. 

 

Okay, let's go forward.  There are not possible changes to the menu.  My daughter-in-law, Melinn asked for a Caprese salad with grilled chicken breast on the side.  Unfortunately, Terroni doesn't have chicken.  There was a Cornish hen on the menu but made their way and it certainly wasn't even offered to her.  When her Caprese salad arrived, it had zero dressing.  When she asked for Balsamic she was told they didn't make it that way.... NO BALSAMIC... NO OIL... NO DRESSING.  And they said they didn't have Balsamic in the kitchen.  Another waiter passed and we asked him and got the same answer.  So my son sarcastically asked for Balsamic and the waiter rudely replied "you know the answer".  Now my other daughter-in-law, Erica had a mushroom salad and it had Balsamic so it was decided to ask for Balsamic for her salad.  Well, that seemed okay.  They could do that.  The poor waitress came back with the Balsamic and in tears.  The kitchen people must have given her shit.  For the rest of the meal she had someone replace her.  By the end of the meal, before we left, she returned to say good-bye, with her eyes red and swollen. 

 

I don't care how good the food is or how great the chef is, it is intolerable to be so arrogant as to say you eat the food my way or the highway.  Consequently, we won't be going back there.

 

I laugh to myself as I read Weight Watchers weekly flyer.  The topic this last week was dining-out do's and don'ts.  It says "Have it your way.  Don't be shy about asking questions and making requests".  In this case we asked for butter because of the children but you should be able to ask for no butter, grilled instead of fried, sauce on the side, double veggie, etc.  It goes on to quote one of the leaders who says "I've been amazed and pleased that waiters do what I ask without hesitation".   Well, I guess she isn't eating out at the restaurants I have and she certainly didn't go out on Mother's Day.