Garfield Says that Diet is "Die" with a T

I'm not going to diet. I live for food. I truly admire those who have the willpower to sit down and decide to lose weight, and then they follow through with that plan. I'm not one of them. That would be like, oh, I dunno, me deciding to sit down and CUT OUT MY TONGUE! The best parts of life--beyond my charming family and friends--would be excellent food that makes my taste buds dance. Oh, and a great glass of wine that matches with that food in such a fashion so that both the food and the wine taste better.

The diet that makes the least amount of sense to me is anything that involves drinking all your meals. What the heck? It reminds me of Alex's mum who once said, "Wouldn't it be great if we could just swallow a pill instead of have to fix a meal and then eat it?" ARE YOU ON CRACK, WOMAN??? I also don't support any type of regime that involves ruling out an entire food group. The divine put them all there for me to eat, damnit, and so I shall. Fat is tasty. Potatoes? Awesome. Bread? Yes, please, I'd love another. Chocolate? Of course!

Besides, I found out long ago that the second I label a specific edible item as forbidden, I crave it twice as much.

The ones who diet that I can at least understand are those who will not sacrifice flavor, but instead they cut down the portion sizes and exercise more. I would rather have a palmful of something amazing than a tableful of cardboard. Or to put it in even better terms, one Godiva truffle is better than 2 lbs of Hershey's kisses. Still another analogy: one glass of a good Hermitage rates over a case of Two Buck Chuck any day of the week. See where I'm going with that?

So, since I won't diet, what I have decided to do instead is make informed choices. I will analyze my options, and take the one that's the best for me out of a list of items I enjoy. Example: tonight, the place wherein I will be eating out has an online menu complete with calories listed. I made a list of the items I thought sounded delicious, THEN I checked on the calories and other nutrient info. The choice is much simpler to make at that point. Do I want the great wall of chocolate at 2,240 calories (HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!!!!)? Or do I want the flourless chocolate dome served with fresh berries and raspberry sauce for 570 cals? Ok, now I know. Decision made. Besides, this place is the only place I know of locally to snag a glass of Charles Krug Sauvignon Blanc, and so I have to save some of my tummy space for that, too (not with that chocolate dessert, though--with dinner, of course). I have some sort of fixation with Krug since I realized that it's one of those Sauvignon Blancs that has the bouquet of pipi du chat (cat piss). No, really, that's good. No. I swear. I promise. Yum!

This is as close as I'll get to a diet. I will never go all out rice cakes on anybody. See, sure, eating right and dieting may add on ten years to my life, but that's ten more rice cake eating years. I'll take the wine and the flourless chocolate dome, thanks!

Sante!

Restaurants?

Joe's post on restaurants reminded me of something I do occasionally that I hate in regard to restaurants...

...I get stuck on one meal.

What I mean is, I will go to a restaurant, and I will try all sorts of interesting meals. But then, for some restaurants (fortunately not all), I will end up with a meal so great I have to have it every single time I go. I'm stuck. I can't get past one certain item on the menu. I'll swear up and down--next time, NEXT TIME, when I go there I will get something new! And then next time comes, and what I do is read the entire menu...and order the very item I had the last five times. It's like my stomach has begun to associate that particular place with this one meal, and it's not food unless I get it. Can you imagine the total amount of other amazing food I'm missing out on just because I can't get past ordering only this one dish?

I find that the easiest places to not get fixated on one food are all tapas restaurants. Since I'm trying several little dishes each time, I can always comfort myself with ordering one of the previous items I adored while trying several other new ones. I'm also easier with ordering something new if I can afford to go there repeatedly instead of just on special occasions.

I can't be the only person who foolishly gets stuck on one meal for one restaurant, right?

What Cheeses Do You Need Most?

I am a dairy woman. Sadly, for many years I could not be a dairy woman.

When I started out life, my mother breastfed me. When she switched me to milk, I threw it up--violently. By the third time I turned into exorcist baby by projectile vomiting off my mom's shoulder, I was taken off all cow's milk products for a few years, but then I apparently grew out of it.

Thank God.

After that ordeal, I had a strong pull towards cheese and ice cream particularly. I try to make up for my cow's milk in other forms, so even though I still never drink milk--ARRGH MILK!--I love to eat it in the form of cheese. What cheeses are essential to me?

Well, we must always have cheddar cheese (sharp or very sharp). Monterey Jack and Cream Cheese are also good. Those are standards. For parmesan, I have nobody but the Evil Joe** to thank for giving me my first taste of parmesan-reggiano (your first taste is free....and then you pay!). I can't imagine having anything other than the real McCoy now, and I always have a chunk of it in my refrigerator. A lot of time I have mozzarrella in the refrigerator too (most of the time it's fresh since I can really taste a difference). But what about the exotic cheeses?

I don't consider feta exotic, but I guess some of you do. That's always present. I like it in salads and with shrimp and a few other items, so I can't live without it. Then there's manchego. See, manchego is the one cheese I consider wine-friendly with just about every wine you can consider. You don't have to worry about any of that "goat cheese goes with Sauvignon Blanc!" stuff. You just know: I want wine, I want cheese; I want this wine, so I pick out manchego. Other cheeses I love...some form of bleu, amadeus, sottocerne, chevre (plain or with something like pesto, basil, or pepper), brie or camembert (with fig spread! Woohoo!), and cantal/cantalette. That'd be the bare minimum at this point that you could find in my refrigerator if you came to my house. Sure, there might be no cantalette, and instead you'd find roquefort. We DO allow for substitutions here at Chez Kira. But on the whole, this is cheese paradise! If you want a meal with cheese in it, we've got you covered. If you want a fromage plate, we've also got the means to please you. Cheese = Bliss!

So, what cheeses do YOU have in your refrigerator???

**Evil Joe is a dear friend of mine for several decades, and he is the font of all crack-addict like needs for cheese and other good foods. I blame him. It's easier.

Why Am I Doing This?

Really, I asked myself this very question right now before I started out this blog. I don't post but once a month--twice a month if lucky--on my regular blog. So why start another blog right now?

The answer is simple: the other blog is about my life. That's boring. It's a good, happy life--thank you, Universe!--but it's not what interests me. What I find facinating in the world as we know it is food and wine. Therefore, it makes more sense to have a blog about these topics instead.

Alex, my beloved husband, told me I should have made the blog title, "Le Vin, Le Pain, et Le Fromage," and I understand why that was his suggestion. One major passion of mine has always been cheese. But hell, I figure that if this blog is about food and wine, cheese is included there. We'll be ok!

Welcome. Now let's all hope I have something interesting to say!