gourmet kitty

okay, really my kitty is no gourmet. she prefers to eat the fern to just about anything else and she doesn't care one bit that her cat food is organic. but she does love these treats i brought home for her from fetch a while back. the treats are dried bonito flakes from a company called cat-man-do and cow (yes that is my kitty's name) goes crazy for them. while these flakes of dried fish are as light as air, they are kind of expensive -- $6.99 for 1 oz. but for my little baby, anything.

then, last weekend, seth and i were shopping at hong kong market on congress and i came upon this tiny corner of japanese food. and there was this giant bag of bonito flakes, 3.5 oz for $6.00! this is the exact same product only for humans, not brilliantly packaged and marked up for sucker cat lovers like me.

this gets me thinking about a couple of things.
1) i wish i had the kind of mind that could think up packing a japanese food in a cute container with a cute name for cats. then maybe i would be a little closer to that billion dollars i'm hoping to make.
2) ethnic markets are often a really great place to get bulk items cheap. i buy most of my spices at ethnic markets because you can get so much for pennies compared to what you pay at the super market. We have bought curry and chinese 5 spice powder at hong kong and more recently chili powder from masala mahal, an indian market in south portland.

so now we are well stocked up on cow's favorite snack and we know where to find her bonito next time we are low. if you are looking for a treat for your special kitty, i really recommend you try out bonito flakes, but skip fetch and go straight to hong kong market!

recent food musings

pot roasted rosemary lamb with fingerling potatoes
this is what i made for new year's eve dinner and it was amazing. so super easy and so succulent, tender, and flavorful. the gravy was the most luscious i have ever had.

goat cheese, pesto, and sun dried tomato terrine
i first ate this totally delicious combination in giant form at a weeding in the berkshires. realizing that i could easily replicate it, i googled it and found this recipe. its a true standby appetizer that everyone loves. i made it for both thanksgiving and christmas eve this year.

maine shrimp season
seth has a goal of cooking with maine shrimp as frequently as possible. so far he has made shrimp quesadillas, shrimp cocktail, and shrimp curry. the shrimp curry is a variation on a thai chicken curry he has been making for years. i asked him to add less water so it would be more saucy. he threw the shrimp in at the absolute last moment so they wouldn't over cook.

duck fat
i read somewhere reports of soggy fries at duck fat. i am happy to report that my last two visits have resulted in delicious crispy fries.
favorite dipping sauce: truffled ketchup

another amazing meal at caiola's

the night before thanksgiving seth and i and my friends jasmine and chris from new york, dined at caiola's. i have previously raved about this place so i won't waste time telling you all the things i love about caiola's. i just need to tell you that i had the most amazing orecchiette and bolognese made with both pork and beef. the rich tomato sauce tasted like it had been simmering for hours and it clung perfectly to the little ear shaped pasta. it was one of those things you put in your mouth and think you could eat this and only this for the rest of your life. well, at least that is what i thought.

shopping local for the holidays

though my father can't stand it, i love love love christmas. i love the lights and the music and the family time. i can even love the snow this time of year. and while the truth is that i do end up consuming around the holidays, i love christmas despite all the consumerism. and i do my best to keep the gift giving simple and low cost.
i decided i was gonna do my best this year to do all my christmas shopping locally. so yesterday i headed into the old port around 2pm with flurries twirling around my head and enjoyed the multitude of other christmas shoppers. it was absolutely the quintessential holiday shopping experience and it definitely got me in the spirit. by 4pm my arms were weighed down with shopping bags, i had walked across town and back, and i had put a little money into my local economy.
so see what you can do to get into the spirit and find someone you love the kind of gift you can't get at the mall or online, in your town.

boston eats, featuring wijm

yeah i know, i totally blew it on my one post a day challenge. what can i say -- it was totally exhausting and once i stopped posting everyday it was hard to even start back up. and seth and i hosted two of our friends for thanksgiving so i was very preoccupied with preparation. stay tuned for blogging about that epic meal and the doings with all the leftovers.
for now enjoy this boston eats video restaurant review seth and i did with my friend sarah when we were in boston in mid-november. it was at this really fantastic chinese restaurant. but i will let the clip speak for itself. hopefully there will soon be a boston eats visits portland!
shanghai gate
oh yeah sarah also recently did this review that i failed to post:
coast cafe

processed foods and depression

this blogging everyday thing is really hard. so i'm taking the easy way out tonight and pointing you to an interesting article about how processed foods and depression are linked. in reference to my last post this really makes a lot of sense to me. cuz i also treat a ton of depression and anxiety and naturally some of those folks who are eating mcdonalds every day are the ones i'm treating for depression.
going to be in boston for the next 4 days at a big primary care conference. maybe i will eat some great meals and blog about them...

its an epidemic

a large part of my job as a primary care provider is managing chronic health conditions. what that usually means is managing high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high sugar before and after it results in diabetes. all of these conditions can, for the most part, be avoided by living a healthy lifestyle. yet they are some of the most common things i treat.
tomorrow i have two people on my schedule, each of whom i diagnosed with diabetes with sugars in the 400s. since an initial diagnosis of diabetes is made when sugars hit a mere 126, this means they have had untreated diabetes for many years. on top of that diabetes takes years and years to develop, all along causing irreversible damage to your body. for those of you that don't know, diabetes causes strokes, heart attacks, blindness, kidney failure, erectile dysfunction, and its the leading cause of leg amputation. does any of that sound fun to you? it surely doesn't sound fun to me.
so its really hard for me to get why that guy on friday, who watched his dad lose limbs and then his life to diabetes, didn't really care when i told him he was on the verge of developing diabetes. he couldn't understand why he had a problem with his sugars, when he never ate lunch. but every morning, EVERY MORNING, he gets a sausage mcmuffin, coffee, and an orange juice from mcdonalds. he couldn't begin to wrap his mind around why orange juice was not a healthy choice for a person like him. even though i was reviewing many ways in which he could make positive changes to his diet he just kept saying, "i've never heard that orange juice was bad for you."
and here's another thing, if you weigh over 300 pounds, why would you argue with me that you get enough exercise walking around at work? you clearly don't get enough exercise. i don't solely blame these people though i do think some god dammed personal responsibility is in order here! i blame a society that makes the worst food the cheapest. that makes us feel that we are not satiated unless we are completely stuffed. that is set up for us to drive our cars everywhere instead of walking or riding bikes. that cuts physical education from schools.
if you are reading this right now you know i really like food and i eat a lot of it. i don't not exercise as much as i should but i do actually move my body on a regular basis. and i eat GOOD food! i think most of the food that my patients are eating is disgusting -- white bread! egg sandwiches from the gas station! mountain dew! without sounding like michael pollan i have to ask if these are really even food!
i don't want you to think i am a heartless care provider because i am not. but as the obesity epidemic is at the intersection of two things i am very passionate about, food and health, i can get a little worked up.