eG Foodblog: SobaAddict70 - Of Professional Hobbits and Food

[SobaAddict70]

And if I were in NY, I'd go to Otto if it's still open, because I loved their pizza.

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Oh yes, Otto is definitely a possibility.

Keep 'em coming, folks.

[Smithy]

Question: Does the cottage cheese/canned tuna/Mrs. Dash taste good to you? Or are you eating it just for the protein? (I can't imagine that combination tasting good...or even palatable...*shudder*) 

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You know, it's funny Stash expected this reaction and is getting it. I don't think it sounds bad at all - although I'm more of a Spike fan than Mrs. Dash. I used to eat canned tuna on cottage cheese, and thought they balanced each other rather nicely.

(I suppose now I'll be shown the door, having exposed my odd tastes.)

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What is this Spike you speak of? I have to look into that.

Lately, I've been on a hot sauce kick. My newest addiction is chipotle Tabasco in addition to the cc/tuna/Mrs. Dash mix.

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Why, Spike is the seasoning mix I use instead of Mrs. Dash! It's generally found in the same section of the grocery store, near but not in the spice racks, and it comes in the same size bottle (despite the box shown in my link). To me it's a more interesting flavor...possibly due to the salt content. We discussed both - as well as many other shortcuts - in your Mrs. Dash and other Convenience Products thread. I am particularly fond of lemon juice and Spike on avocadoes. Scatter that over your tuna and cottage cheese, and your midnight snack might start looking like a mainstream salad.

I just discovered the chipotle Tabasco myself. That's goood stuff. I hadn't thought of using it on tuna, but hey - next time, I think I will.

That photo posted by Fat Guy and propagated by you has me swooning. We have some nice restaurants in Duluth, but NOTHING like that. Wowza.

[SobaAddict70]

That photo posted by Fat Guy and propagated by you has me swooning.  We have some nice restaurants in Duluth, but NOTHING like that.  Wowza. 

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Oh yoohoo...

Here's another pic, this time by tetsujustin:

A couple of the side dishes we had included the roasted hen of the woods mushrooms (left) and the puree of sweet potato(center). I wasn’t too high on the sweet potato as it just came out too thin in texture and too sweet in taste for me, though the rest of the table loved it. The roasted hen of the woods, though were fabulous. They were done enough so that the tops were crisp, but as you bit into the base of the mushroom, you’d get a great rush of mushroom juice coming out into your mouth plus the nice browned flavor. This really went well with the braised short ribs.

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and

One of the desserts that we got was the pre-set combination of the Brioche Pain Perdu, roasted bananas, and accompanied by both caramel and chocolate sauces and caramel ice cream. This was a wonderful dessert with what was almost a banana’s fosters sauce, mixed with the warm chocolate and caramel and the warm, soft brioche with cold caramel ice cream. It’s just really a simple dessert and the flavors aren’t the most thought out, but there’s something to be said for just good flavors and that really don’t need to be messed with or dressed up, and this is a great example of it.

We also got a steamed toffee pudding, which was my favorite dessert. It was almost like a caramel bread pudding, with a nice, dense, but cakey texture, but a great simple, toffee flavor and slivers of dried figs on the side.

The last of our desserts was the sample of sorbets and ice creams, and the list was a large, extensive one. We settled on passion fruit, pomegranate, blood orange, and lemon ginger sorbets, and also cavaldos spice and coffee ice cream. The only one that was a downer was the coffee ice cream as it still had whole coffee beans and coffee grounds in it, which I wasn’t really agreeable to. However, the cavaldos spice, which is an apple liqueur, was an interesting flavor, something that I took a chance on and was really pleased with. The passion fruit, and blood orange were great choices as well and were nice and refreshing.

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I'm off to the gym. Be back later with dinner, and stuff.

Had some trail mix and fruit an hour ago.

Enjoy the food porn.

[purplewiz]

Lately, I've been on a hot sauce kick.  My newest addiction is chipotle Tabasco in addition to the cc/tuna/Mrs. Dash mix.

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Chipotle Tabasco is a truly a thing of wonder. I got a friend in Australia hooked on it and had to keep shipping him bottles until he found a local pusher....uh, supply.

The Mrs. Dash on the cottage cheese doesn't sound too bad to me, although I prefer straight onion powder, and often add it to the breakfast cottage cheese.

I'm finding this blog fascinating, since I have pretty much the opposite set of issues. Things don't seem to be any easier over there than it is over here, and it's interesting to see how you've gone about dealing with it all.

Marcia.

[SobaAddict70]

As soon as I left the gym, I headed over to Thalia's little takeout store (an annex to the main restaurant) and bought a layered veggie sandwich with pesto and fresh mozzarella. Also a little tub of house-made spaghetti and tomato sauce. Very occasionally I'll stop in here straight from the gym and pick up a couple of tubs of seared salmon. If I'm going to get some protein, there's no reason why it can't taste good. (For the record, the seared salmon often comes with potato puree and plum tomatoes. Not bad for $5 per serving.)

Once I got home, I had a Nitrean shake w/two t. natty peanut butter and a glass of Lactaid.

Dinner tonight was some leftover matzoh ball soup, broiled shell steak, the veg sandwich and pasta.

I'm answering e-mail and other techie geek stuff, then my bedtime snack. No tuna this time though.

[Pan]

T natty peanut butter? I'm not getting that.

Interesting how you're working photos into this blog.

[Susan in FL]

I just found this. I am now caught up, and glad that you are blogging... was hoping you would! It's interesting to read about others' eating habits, whether different or similar to my own.

One of my sons eats like you do.

And, I drink Lactaid! A mild lactose intolerance started me on it, but it turned into a preference, for drinking milk by the glass or putting on cereal.

Blog on, and I hope you enjoy this as much as we are.

[SobaAddict70]

T natty peanut butter? I'm not getting that.

Interesting how you're working photos into this blog.

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I thought a stream of black on light blue text would prove to be too much eye strain for my audience.

"two t. natty peanut butter" = two teaspoons natural peanut butter. sometimes abbreviated as 2 t. natty pb.

Don't worry, I'll train you eventually.

[BarbaraY]

A fascinating blog. I've never encountered anyone on this type of food plan. Keep 'em coming.

[Smithy]

That photo posted by Fat Guy and propagated by you has me swooning.  We have some nice restaurants in Duluth, but NOTHING like that.  Wowza.  

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Oh yoohoo...

Here's another pic, this time by tetsujustin:

A couple of the side dishes we had included the roasted hen of the woods mushrooms (left) and the puree of sweet potato(center). I wasn’t too high on the sweet potato as it just came out too thin in texture and too sweet in taste for me, though the rest of the table loved it. The roasted hen of the woods, though were fabulous. They were done enough so that the tops were crisp, but as you bit into the base of the mushroom, you’d get a great rush of mushroom juice coming out into your mouth plus the nice browned flavor. This really went well with the braised short ribs.

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and

The last of our desserts was the sample of sorbets and ice creams, and the list was a large, extensive one. We settled on passion fruit, pomegranate, blood orange, and lemon ginger sorbets, and also cavaldos spice and coffee ice cream. The only one that was a downer was the coffee ice cream as it still had whole coffee beans and coffee grounds in it, which I wasn’t really agreeable to. However, the cavaldos spice, which is an apple liqueur, was an interesting flavor, something that I took a chance on and was really pleased with. The passion fruit, and blood orange were great choices as well and were nice and refreshing.

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I'm off to the gym. Be back later with dinner, and stuff.

Had some trail mix and fruit an hour ago.

Enjoy the food porn.

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You, sir, are deliciously cruel.

I think I like the ice cream photos the best. I do well to make a batch of ice cream, or two. Wouldn't it be fun to have a selection of flavors like that, each presented in its own neat little bowl for tasting?

Hmm. I want to ask about the way your hunger patterns may have changed since you started working out, but I'm grasping at words. Obviously, you get hungry more often. You 'splained that one already. Does the quality of the hunger change, if you know what I mean, depending on whether you were doing heavy weights or more cardio work? Do you just get ravingly hungry always, or do you sometimes feel, oh, wobbly instead? Are there any foods other than milk that don't work for you?

I'm eagerly awaiting your night on the town.

[SobaAddict70]

Hi, folks.

I woke up late this morning, so pretty much had just my morning whey shake and a triple natty peanut butter sandwich. That's three slices of bread slathered with as much natty peanut butter as it can hold. Oh, and some fruit.

Right now I'm in the midst of scarfing down some sesame-glazed chicken breast, scallion and ginger rice and green bean stir-fry.

I'm thinking maybe some chicken and rice from the street carts outside later or maybe a roast beef sandwich from a sandwich shop downstairs later on. (I work in Rockefeller Center, so I have a good selection of eateries if the cafeteria doesn't strike my fancy. Contrast this with the neighborhood when I was at my previous firm; it was a culinary wasteland. )

[SobaAddict70]

A fascinating blog. I've never encountered anyone on this type of food plan. Keep 'em coming.

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Barbara --

Think of it as a huge amount of food broken down over the course of several hours a day. Not strange once you think of it that way.

Also, I think Abra or someone mentioned elsewhere that the food is out of the ordinary. Honestly, less than 20% of all the stuff I eat would be classified as "alien", I think. There's a time and a place for my foodie badge, and there are times when the foodie badge doesn't apply.

[SobaAddict70]

  You, sir, are deliciously cruel.   

I think I like the ice cream photos the best.  I do well to make a batch of ice cream, or two.  Wouldn't it be fun to have a selection of flavors like that, each presented in its own neat little bowl for tasting?

Hmm.  I want to ask about the way your hunger patterns may have changed since you started working out, but I'm grasping at words.  Obviously, you get hungry more often.  You 'splained that one already.  Does the quality of the hunger change, if you know what I mean, depending on whether you were doing heavy weights or more cardio work?  Do you just get ravingly hungry always, or do you sometimes feel, oh, wobbly instead?  Are there any foods other than milk that don't work for you?

I'm eagerly awaiting your night on the town.

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I'm leaning toward Otto for this Sunday's blowout. I haven't been there in quite some time, and there selection of gelatos was amazing if memory serves.

Hm, quality of hunger. It kind of depends.

Usually I'm at my hungriest as soon as I get up in the morning, especially if I haven't had my cottage cheese snack the night before. Other times, it's usually after leg day or chest/back day. If I've had a great workout, I'm ravenous once I get home.

My stomach can't differentiate between "ravenous" and "starving". It just knows that it's time to go chow down.

As for foods that don't work....besides milk (note I can eat cheese, butter and cream and those won't affect me as much as milk will), I'd say stinky cheese (epoisses, limburger, cabrales); bottled or freshly made gefilte fish, or jellied eels (I like natto though so go figure); or insects. For instance, in Thailand, they deep fry caterpillars and serve them like French fries. I don't think you'd ever catch me trying those, not even if Tony Bourdain were by my side.

Other than that, if you put it in front of me, chances are that I'll eat it.

[Smithy]

As for foods that don't work....besides milk (note I can eat cheese, butter and cream and those won't affect me as much as milk will), I'd say stinky cheese (epoisses, limburger, cabrales); bottled or freshly made gefilte fish, or jellied eels (I like natto though so go figure); or insects.  For instance, in Thailand, they deep fry caterpillars and serve them like French fries.  I don't think you'd ever catch me trying those, not even if Tony Bourdain were by my side. 

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I'm none too fond of stinky cheeses meself, although it's a taste thing. I've heard that the deep-fried caterpillars and beetles are very good: crispy on the outside, creamy and a bit spicy on the inside, similar texture to french fries, as long as they're hot. (I haven't tried them, and I confess that I haven't gone looking to do so. ) Is it the gross-out factor that stops you on those? What about jellied eels?

I continue to be amazed at the amount of food you're putting away. I know, you've explained it. It's still staggering.

[SobaAddict70]

I'm none too fond of stinky cheeses meself, although it's a taste thing.  I've heard that the deep-fried caterpillars and beetles are very good: crispy on the outside, creamy and a bit spicy on the inside, similar texture to french fries, as long as they're hot.  (I haven't tried them, and I confess that I haven't gone looking to do so.  ) Is it the gross-out factor that stops you on those?  What about jellied eels?

I continue to be amazed at the amount of food you're putting away.  I know, you've explained it.  It's still staggering. 

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I think it's the texture or the sliminess, which is weird.

I like unagi sushi and sashimi. I absolutely adore unagi-don (bbq eels on top of Japanese rice). I'm a fan of okra and natto. There's something about jellied eels that makes me want to puke though. I've never tried durian, so I can't attest to that.

It's really not a lot of food. Well, compared to my "all-you-can-eat-sushi" days, it isn't.

[SobaAddict70]

Dinner tonight will most likely involve brussel sprouts in some form.

Originally I was going to roast them, now I am not so sure.

Ideas please?

For protein, there will be my (infamous) boneless skinless chicken breasts, broiled with a little EVOO and some Mrs. Dash.

[Chufi]

Fascinating blog!

I was wondering how eating this way affects your appreciation of the food? Do you still eat to enjoy or do you think of the food primarily as a way to gain weight? I know that when you are trying to lose weight, enjoying your food can become an issue... just wondering what that's like when you're doing it the other way around..

Another question, I guess connected to the first one: don't you ever grow out of ideas about what to eat? That's a lot of meals you eat everyday, where do you find the inspiration to keep it exciting?

[SobaAddict70]

Fascinating blog!

I was wondering how eating this way affects your appreciation of the food? Do you still eat to enjoy or do you think of the food primarily as a way to gain weight? I know that when you are trying to lose weight, enjoying your food can become an issue... just wondering what that's like when you're doing it the other way around..

Another question, I guess connected to the first one: don't you ever grow out of ideas about what to eat? That's a lot of meals you eat everyday, where do you find the inspiration to keep it exciting?

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Hi, Chufi.

Re appreciation of food, that's what cheat days are for. I think that if I viewed every single meal as an opportunity to pack on pounds, that I would quickly lose interest in eating and view it as a chore. I make sure that I set aside one or two meals a week where I don't worry about caloric or macronutrient intake, and just eat for the pleasure of eating. The way I view things, it's all right to skimp on one or two meals as long as I'm consistent the rest of the time. Percentage wise, if 10% of a day's meals are off the charts, then the other 90% will more than make up for it. It's not an issue as far as I'm concerned.

As for running out of ideas, it'll be a cold day in hell before that happens. Besides, there's always eGullet for ideas.

[jm chen]

Dinner tonight will most likely involve brussel sprouts in some form.

Originally I was going to roast them, now I am not so sure. 

Ideas please?

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I love the Gourmet recipe for shredded brussels sprouts. The maple nuts are totally optional, and I usually make it with balsamic vinegar. Shredding the brussels sprouts with a mandoline or knife makes it a totally different vegetable. The shredding takes some time but the cooking part is a short saute.

[SobaAddict70]

Hale and Hearty Soups has a branch in Rockefeller Center, on the concourse. Just got some lentil with double-smoked bacon and red onion soup, a tuna salad sandwich and some Asian peanut dressing on the side. Oh yes, and a glass of milk.

(photo courtesy of bleudauvergne)

[Pan]

Stash, you use Mrs. Dash a lot. Have you tried substituting some other spices for that? For example, some of the time, you could roast your chicken breasts with cumin and ghee or butter instead of broiling them with olive oil and Mrs. Dash. And you could have your cottage cheese with some good Hungarian paprika. But perhaps you do change things from time to time.

[rjwong]

Another friend in Texas hates eating so most of his calories are in liquid form.  Still, he can't say no to a nice juicy steak.

Come to think of it, neither can I.   

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How often do you eat a steak? And what type of cut? Cook it at home or eat out? If you eat out to have a steak, which places & which ones are the best to you?

[jackal10]

Dinner tonight will most likely involve brussel sprouts in some form.

Originally I was going to roast them, now I am not so sure. 

Ideas please?

For protein, there will be my (infamous) boneless skinless chicken breasts, broiled with a little EVOO and some Mrs. Dash.

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Puree and make a souffle

or with chestnuts

or with bacon

or stuffed, if you are a high end restaruant with lots of cheap labour

[SobaAddict70]

Good morning!

Breakfast #1 was your typical whey shake with Lactaid. Something that I probably don't mention is that I hydrate myself within 15 minutes of waking up. I don't know about you but putting away a gallon of water a day is a pretty daunting task. I've practically gotten it down to a science though. Basically it means that as soon as I get up, I make sure to drink a glass of water. Since the beverage I usually consume most often is either water, milk/Lactaid or tea -- wine being the exception and only if I'm dining out -- it's not difficult for me to fulfill this particular requirement.

I'm off to get breakfast #2. Fridays, the cafeteria has cheese blintzes with raspberry jam, so I might get a couple of those in place of the usual hardboiled eggs. We'll see....maybe they haven't run out yet.

[ruthcooks]

My favorite way with Brussels Sprouts is a warm sweet and sour salad, beautiful on a buffet or served with stuffed pork chops. No exact recipe, just add vinegar and sugar to a bit of cooking water, pour over barely done sprouts. Add a drained can of Mandarin oranges and some toasted walnuts. Toss lightly lest the oranges disintegrate. Some grated orange zest wouldn't go amiss in the dressing, either. Re-warm leftovers slightly to serve. Walnuts will probably get soggy if left over, so I usually add them to each serving when I am cooking for myself.

Hmmm...was the reference to the "dark side" in your signature line referring to the inspiration for this peculiar (to me) diet? I've always thought of weight gaining diets in terms of milk shakes and Hollandaise. Guess the difference is wanting to bulk up muscle, not fat, huh?