Julia Child, sucralose and other musings

I did a little French cooking tonight, but it wasn't quite Julia Child calibur.  I love to bake, but cooking I could take or leave.  I know some people find it very relaxing (I have several classmates who are very good cooks - one was a sus chef in Italy for awhile) but for me it's more of a neutral task.  The truth is, I like simple food.  It's not that I can't make anything else, I just choose not to.   Philip likes simple food (though often our choice food differ - thus preparation of 2 different things) and he does not like things mixed together at all (and since that's what a recipe is all about, this presents a significant challenge).  Tonight I made Chicken Cordon Bleu he reported.  Philip reported that he liked the ham w/ the chicken but that that he didn't like the cheese mixed in.  Well love, too bad, next time I'm making it with even more cheese --- it's good training for when we have kids and I make one thing for everyone (or at worst, 1 adult option and 1 child option), right?  If you need to, separate your food.  It's not an eating disorder clinic, so I won't pathologize your behavior. I won't chide anyone for making segregated piles of food on their plate in my home as long as I don't have to run my kitchen like a diner.

I'd give tonight's "special" a 6 or 7 out of 10.  I will make it again, but I think I will use  more cheese and try it with mozzarella, colby jack and cheddar (tonight's rendition was made with reduced fat swiss and provolone --- i'm not a swiss fan, but knew I liked chicken cordon bleu so tried a blend).  For Philip's I experimented with some store-bought italian seasoned bread crumbs.  I used wheat toast crumbs, almonds and salt on mine.  I would maybe try it with corn flakes in the future.   Overall, I was pleased that I actually constructed something we would both eat (truthfully, I was test-driving the dish as I'm considering making it for company next weekend)

In other food news (life must be really boring around here. . . better our family menu planning then telling you about statistics. . .), I've just plain decided that splenda is evil and I don't like whoever invented it only.  I'm convinced the only artifical sweetener that will exist in heaven is aspartame.  Some of you known my history of being a long-time diet mt. dew addict until they started sweetening it with sucralose and aspartame instead of just aspartame in 2006 (you can wikipedia the histoy if you'd like more detail).  Last weekend while grocery shopping I did something I've done before - I impulsively grabbed a 2 liter off the shelf and searched the ingredients list, hoping that it had changed.  I saw aspartame and was hopeful, so I made the purchase.  I later realized that there was also sucralose in it.  Gross.  With this fresh on mind this last week's grocery run, I thoughtfully walked past the hot chocolate section and paused.  I used to drink a lot of no sugar added hot choc. in college (I loved a huge, chocolately mug w/ my chicken strips :)  In recent years it has tasted "off" to me and I no longer drink it at all.  Sure enough, I checked the ingredients and all of the stupid hot chocolate companies had done the same idiotic thing that Pepsi Co. had done.  Boo.  10 thumbs down.  Stupid splenda.

My recent drink has been seltzer water.  Not too shabby.  I realized after a social psychology lecture last week where we discussed an article on the contigation of binging and purging in sororities that your food choices really do (I think sometimes unconsciously) mirror those around you.  The seltzer water is an example of this as many of my classmates drink it.  I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have picked up the habit if the people around me hadn't planted the idea in my head.  I've noticed that a  significant number of my classmates bring hummus and vegetables to class to snack on - not the first thing you'd think of a student eating in class  but a lot of people do).   When I stayed with M&J I fell in love with artichokes served w/ mayo+ketchup sauce because J made them.  My freshman year in college, my roomate and I (NOT my bulimic roomate first semester. . .  that's another story. . .) mirrored each other's food idiosyncracies - we ate tons of peanuts and lots of albacore tuna (not together).  My last year at NWC in the House With Seven Girls (*scream*) it seemed when one of us would buny a brand of ice cream novelties, the rest of us would have a tendency to purchase the same thing within the next couple of weeks.  Yet, somehow Philip hasn't picked up on the fact that it's okay to have more than one type of food in a specific dish (though is getting better with vegetables and even prefers them mushy like me --- hooray for not having to make steamed broccoli two different ways!!!). . .  maybe my food contigation theory isn't all that valid.

Another food story:  so I often joke that my "spiritual gift" is sleeping.  Tonight I got a text from my brother who was out at a chinese buffet with my parents and his girlfriend that he decided his spiritual gift is eating.  I responded with several lols (I was in Walmart buying hair dye literally laughing out loud) and commented "wow, we've got the basics prettymuch covered.  Maybe mom and dad's spiritual gift is drinking."  Those of you who know my parents can appreciate this humor.  I never in my 25 years seen either of my parents take even a sip of an alcoholic beverage.  There was never been so much as a drop of alcohol in my parents' house ever (okay, maybe my aunt Patsy once brought a bucket of "kid" daquari mix and a bucket of "adult" daquari mix to Easter one time - but my parents definitely drank out of the kid bucket).  Josh must have relayed my hypothesis to the table because he texted back "mom and dad say they are not operating in their spiritual gift".   Love it.

my parents' strong stance on alcohol and the fact that my brother goes to a conservative christian college were the two primary reasons I bought this mug for Josh's birthday in 09.  Sadly, the mug actually cracked in the transatlantic travels and the beerlike substance in the glass started leading out :(  Watching my mother's expression as Josh opened this gem was totally worth the $8.99 the cup cost even if he never got the chance to freak out an RA back in his dormroom.

Final nutrition note. . .  so I had to roll my eyes (on the inside of course).  Today at my physical therapy appointment, I had a new physical therapist who talked at me like a used car salesman about exercising and stretching and then gave a long pitch about nutrition.  Now I appreciate it, but, really lady - I didn't need a referral to the Diet Diva's facebook page.  I wanted to remind her to be careful about the "nutritionist" she was an apostle of as any of us can call ourselves nutritionists (on in her case, pretend to be one) but that doesn't mean you are a dietician.   HUGE difference.   I wanted to stop her as soon as she started telling me about omega 6 fatty acids and assure her that I had learned that when I was about 10, but I held my tongue and smiled politely, silently pleading for her to get on with my treatment.  The real irony of the situation was not just that she was giving me somewhat questionable nutrition advice that belonged in a little 99 cent books by the tabloids.  Sadly, it was that she was instructing an obviously physically healthy individual about exercise and nutrition when she herself was not at a healthy weight.  Lesson of the day:  practice what you preach.  And really, when it comes to advice giving, preach as little as possible.  Or at least KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE.  You wouldn't lecture your dentist about the importance of flossing your teeth would you?!?!