eG Foodblog Tag Team IV: Marlene, Dave, snowangel - Cold Turkey, Three Ways

[Marlene]

[

After I finally quit, I was appalled to discover how stinky the interior of my own car smelled. I would come home from a night in a club (when they still allowed smoking in clubs) and be stunned at how my clothes reeked. It was kind of mortifying, really, to realize my friends had been putting up with this stank on me the entire time I smoked. 

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My husband took my car to work with him today to have it detailed so it would smell fresh and since I don't smoke in his car it was a good day to switch cars.

[Marlene]

Amazing!  What a coincidence! I stopped at Walgreens last night and laid in a week's supply of the patch!  Tomorrow will be my first official smoke-free day since a cute guy offered me a cigarette at McGill. So add me to Brooks as fellow-traveller.

I am not going cold-turkey because I'm going to LA tomorrow for a visit with my daughter (anti-smoking zealot) and son-in-law (recent quitter.) I do not want to ruin a rare vacation by pulling a Linda Blair -- you know: head-spinning and projectile vomiting.  And because the routine will be different, I'll avoid the commute and smoke routine Dave mentioned.

Now off for my last post-lunch smoke.

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Coincidence? I think not. Miss Maggie was the one who started Dave and I on this journey folks. Unfortunately, she felt she wasn't able to blog and so graciously handed over her spot to Susan who had been interested in quitting. Miss M, welcome aboard our freedom train. We're delighted you're here.

[Kouign Aman]

Whats wrong with napping? If you're napping, you're not smoking.

[Toliver]

I would come home from a night in a club (when they still allowed smoking in clubs) and be stunned at how my clothes reeked. It was kind of mortifying, really, to realize my friends had been putting up with this stank on me the entire time I smoked. 

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I attend a yearly convention in Las Vegas and learned to bring two sets of clothes...one set for the convention and one set for when we're in the casinos which will end up smelling like I've rolled around in an ash tray.

As for the Cold Turkey Bloggers, I wish all of you success.

[Priscilla]

People I know who have quit smoking all seem to agree that it is the sort of thing that, once done, makes you feel as if you can do anything.

Best of luck to all of you!

[jeniac42]

Great blog idea! I myself am two and a half weeks into quitting. I broke down on Friday and smoked three cigarettes after I spent two and a half out of three hours waiting for a $&*%&!@# bus to show up while I was carrying a lot of things, and was then stood up by the friend I was meeting. But after my small trip-up I donated the remainder of the pack of cigarettes to the bartender to bum out to people.

I tried to quit about five times last year with no luck. This time I mean it. And it is much nicer; I walk about three miles a day for commuting purposes and I'm starting to notice that I don't end up wheezing as much. I'm still waiting for my sinuses to clear out but I think allergies are doing me in on that front.

I was trying to do WW at the same time but it was too difficult so I gave up on that for the time being.

Go eGullet newly-minted-nonsmokers!

[lancastermike]

Like many others I too quit. It has to be almost 20 years now. Best wishes and good luck. The smoking I am looking forward to is that smoked butt on Saturday.

Best advice I can give, if you really need one, go ahead, and than start again. Don't let one smoke make you say you can't do it. You CAN, it just may take awhile.

If you do gain weight, you will be much heathier, not smoking is the best thing you could ever do for your health

[daniellewiley]

My stepmother quit in September after about 40 years of smoking. Her biggest problem was that she associated EVERY activity with smoking. Even cooking, b/c she would always leave a lit cigarette outside the kitchen door and would step out to take a drag in between every step of the cooking process.

So... she took up knitting. Knitting had no smoking association. She is a knitting fool now, and my kids are constant beneficiaries of her handiwork. The more complex the pattern, the better.

[Dave the Cook]

I remember agreeing to quit smoking, but I don't recall a commitment to eat well, so you'll have to forgive this post its lack of haute appeal. The thing is, between blogging and business pressures, there's not a lot of time to run out for lunch this week, and I neglected to pack a lunch for today. At times like this, I dig into my emergency soup supply, which I just happened to have replenished last weekend, thanks to a 4/$5 deal at Publix. So without further apology, Dave's lunch:

That's not all, of course. Days like this also call for a vending-machine supplement, which also gives me a chance to flash a southern icon, the Lance cracker pack. Of course, if you're going to eat processed food without even having a chance to doctor it on the stove, the least you can do is serve it up pretty. Here's the whole deal (I do not endorse Aquafina, but I like the bottle. That's tap water):

Oh look! Another apple!

Not bad. I have no idea what Italian-Style Wedding soup with meatballs is supposed to taste like, so it may or may not have been a faithful version. I have to say that the meatballs were an odd color -- sort of pinky gray:

That's pretty much the whole soup in one spoonful: carrot, meatballs, herbage, pasta -- what is that shape called? Bucatini?

[Genny]

Don't mind me, I'm just piling into the Cheering Section here. Good luck to all bloggers and add-ons. Its the Great eG Smoke-out! My mom has been smoke free for 5-6 months now (I can't *tell you* how many attempts she's made over the years!) and is doing super well. I'm the only one in my family that never took up the habit...I always had other things I wanted to spend my money on!

Can you PM me the yummy Bittman chicken recipe? I have chicken breasts out for tonight and asparagus too so I think that sounds perfect for tonight!

[snowangel]

Upthread, Marlene said she feels spacey. I am back from errands. I needed 5 things. Cottage cheese, shredded cheese, broccoli, and index cards. Oh, that's four items.

It took me 1.5 hours.

I shop primiarly at Costco and a Cub Supermarket. I'm really lucky to live less than 2 miles from a Costco. It's close enough that I often go for just milk and eggs.

It was sample time, so I had lunch at Cosco. Chunks of chicken brease in Frank's Hot Sauce for wings (not nearly spicy enough for me), Stagg Chili (not bad), chicken quesidilla (mediocre), pot sticker (dreadful), seafood salad (way too sweet), some thin crust pizza (commercially acceptable), caesar salad (quite good, actually), little pieces of brie wrapped in some sort of dough and baked (bad dough), salsa (refrigerated) on chips (so good I went back for seconds). I came home thirsty and feeling incredibly unproductive.

Not to mention that I'll go grocery shopping again tomorrow -- at the Asian market in prep for tomorrow night's dinner.

I still haven't wanted a cigarette. Nor do I want a nap, but then again, I had almost a whole pot of really strong coffee.

I'm off to Peter's class to work with the kids on spelling. I volunteer once a week.

[little ms foodie]

Marlene we have the same coffee pot, it is great but damn if it doesn't sound like an airplane winding up to take off when it grinds!

You guys are brave and I hope you all succeed in your plan to quit. I'm coming up on my 5 year anniversary and I have to say that my life is just so much better for it.

This is a great website for help Free and Clear

Also when I quit I took Zyban, this stuff works and my dr. gave me 'samples' at no charge because she really wanted me to quit. You literally get sick if you smoke, that's what I needed!

An idea for your car Dave is to scrub out your ashtray and fill it with sunflower seeds or something.

And I trust you have all thrown out all your ashtrays, lighters and smokes? If you haven't it's really the first step.

Good luck!!!!

[Marlene]

That coffee pot is excessively loud! But it does make good coffee. The eating machine known as Ryan has arrived. He's scarfed three mini muffins. (no I didn't make them, I was too scattered today to think about baking, but maybe tomorrow!) and some lemonade and has gone to hide in his cave, I mean room).

I am now attempting rice in my rice cooker yet again.

[Basilgirl]

That's pretty much the whole soup in one spoonful: carrot, meatballs, herbage, pasta -- what is that shape called? Bucatini?

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Ditalini?

[Basilgirl]

I tend to prefer my bagels well toasted and I couldn't decide between butter or cream cheese, so I had both!

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Next time, try both at the same time, i.e., butter and cream cheese on both halves!

[Dave the Cook]

That's pretty much the whole soup in one spoonful: carrot, meatballs, herbage, pasta -- what is that shape called? Bucatini?

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Ditalini?

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Yeah, that looks right. Thanks!

[MarketStEl]

Heh. I should add here that I was another of those possibly annoying people who, when the time finally came, just put the damn cigarette down with nary a struggle. But I can't be all that proud of that, because right this very minute I am once again fighting that very same struggle only postponed by several years, around overeating. So I am right now *extremely* in touch with my own inner Skinner-box-trained pigeon.

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Having already revealed my membership in that small but obnoxious fraternity, I will note that the other major drug I quit taking--alcohol, in similar fashion--I am using again, though not quite in the quantities I was when the therapist who was treating me for depression suggested I go off the depressant I was taking before seeing whether I needed to go on an antidepressant. (Being a Penn psychiatrist, he was big on cognitive therapy, which was invented there. As it turned out, it worked fine enough for me. I never went on antidepressants. I realize that by knocking back a few on a periodic basis, I am tempting fate, but so far, I've managed to avoid relapse.)

But while we're talking drugs and quitting them, we pause for a different opinion on the subject, expressed in the landing of a fire stairwell at the Community College of Philadelphia:

ObFood: Of course, using this substance brings with it its own set of eating disorders and weight-gain issues.

[Marlene]

so while we're waiting for dinner pics etc, your tag team is doing asian tomorrow. Specifically from some of the recent Chinese Pictorials in the china forum. My choice is likely to be the honey garlic pork chops with (yes, more rice). Do you think I could get away with my stir fried asparagus? Assuming I can remember where I put the damn recipe of course!

[snowangel]

Marlene, there's no reason you couldn't make the recipe for Snow Peas with Oyster Sauce, subbing the asparagus for the vegetables in this dish.

[fifi]

I think stir fried asparagus would be lovely. I used to do that when I had the wok out for other purposes. I never used a recipe, though. I just kind of dumped in what seemed like a good idea at the time. It was always good as long as I didn't go too nuts with other ingredients and hid the asparagus.

[Marlene]

Ah, but I do everything by recipe. Actually it's kind of driving me crazy that I can't remember where I put it or what cookbook it's in.

[Dave the Cook]

So maybe we can just make up a recipe for Marlene on the spot. I'll start, and people can add on ingredients and techniques until we're done:

Marlene's Stir-fried Asparagus

1 pound asparagus, trimmed

1 tsp. sesame seeds, toasted

. . .

[snowangel]

So maybe we can just make up a recipe for Marlene on the spot. I'll start, and people can add on ingredients and techniques until we're done:

Marlene's Stir-fried Asparagus

1 pound asparagus, trimmed

1 tsp. sesame seeds, toasted

. . .

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3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 t. soy sauce

pinch sugar

And, the asparagus should be trimmed and cut into 1" diagonal pieces

[Dave the Cook]

So maybe we can just make up a recipe for Marlene on the spot. I'll start, and people can add on ingredients and techniques until we're done:

Marlene's Stir-fried Asparagus

1 pound asparagus, trimmed

1 tsp. sesame seeds, toasted

. . .

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3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 t. soy sauce

pinch sugar

And, the asparagus should be trimmed and cut into 1" diagonal pieces

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1/2 t. lemon juice

Blanch the asparagus? If so, is the water salted or unsalted?

A little sesame oil?

[snowangel]

So maybe we can just make up a recipe for Marlene on the spot. I'll start, and people can add on ingredients and techniques until we're done:

Marlene's Stir-fried Asparagus

1 pound asparagus, trimmed

1 tsp. sesame seeds, toasted

. . .

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3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 t. soy sauce

pinch sugar

And, the asparagus should be trimmed and cut into 1" diagonal pieces

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1/2 t. lemon juice

Blanch the asparagus? If so, is the water salted or unsalted?

A little sesame oil?

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Blanch the asparagus briefly in salted water. Shock with ice water, drain thoroughly. Can be put in a ziplock in the fridge until ready to cook.

Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Toast sesame seeds, remove. Add 1-2 T. vegetable oil to skillet, heat until very hot. Add garlic, and asparagus. Add soy and pinch of sugar.

Remove from heat and toss with lemon juice, 1t. sesame oil and the sesame seeds. Taste and adjust seasonings.

We could call it Tag Team Asparagus.