Clearing the brain so it keeps working
Posts tagged Food
I can’t taste anything….
Feb 21st
I’ve been under the weather the past few days with a cold that just wouldn’t give up. My nose has finally stopped run 24 hours a day, and my throat is allowing me to talk with a normal voice again. No fever, no body ache, just headache, sore throat and a nose that wouldn’t quit.
The worst part about all of this is that I lost my sense of taste. I realized with the stuffed nose, it would be cut down, but it is almost non-existent even today after my nose cleared up.
Went to a Oriental buffet today with my daughter and everything was bland. All the chicken dishes tasted the same. The lo mien was ok, but I think I liked the texture of the noodles. I couldn’t taste spice, salt or other flavors. I wasn’t sure if this was the restaurant or not. They had sushi bar, so I had some of that. Every piece I had tasted just like the one before. The ginger had little zip. The wasabi just cleared my sinuses more, but it had no flavor. Then I realized it wasn’t the restaurant. If ginger slices and wasabi have no flavor, it has to be outside of the food. It has to be me.
For someone who likes to figure out all of the different flavors that go into making food taste good, this is almost worse than the being sick part. I never lost my appetite, but the food since last Wednesday evening has not had any appeal. If this goes on much longer, I think I will have no problem losing weight. Why eat when everything is missing its flavor?
Here are some funny things that are happening with my taste buds:
Cola tastes like lemon-lime drinks tastes like slightly sweetened carbonated water.
Orange juice, cranberry juice, grape juice and sugar water all taste the same.
The only thing that made fish and chicken taste different was the texture.
Potato chips aren’t as good if you can’t taste the salt.
With no taste going on, mushrooms are nasty.
Noodles were ok, but I wasn’t expecting a lot of flavor from them.
Tea tasted just like it should today, before today with no sense of smell, I was drinking hot water.
If this lasts too much longer, I will have quite a list.
I have this and this, what can I make for dinner?
Nov 12th
Yes, my daughters have asked this question, or “What can I do with?”
If you ask any of my daughters, you will find out that I experiment in the kitchen. I tend to think of cooking as science with food. I like to find out what flavors go well with others. I often find out what flavors don’t go well with others. Not all of my kitchen experiments work. My daughters may tell you that too. But over the years, a few of these experiments became family favorites. Our family meatloaf recipe is one constant changing experiment. Many different flavors made many wonderful meals. Through all of this experimentation, my girls learned that they could trust me if I said I tried this and it tasted good.
Where is this leading? Well, I thought that if I can get my daughters to read and reply, I’ll give a few recipes from various starting points. My goal will always be 1 or 2 pan/pot meals that take very little prep time. I dislike washing dishes, so the fewer I get dirty, the better I like it. Since I’m not sure my daughters will reply, I will open this up to everyone. What do you have in your refrigerator? What’s for dinner?
Now that I have one….
Nov 11th
Can I do anything else with a double-boiler?
The short answer was yes. You can cook anything that needs low even heat. Most of the time this is chocolate for candies. You can also make many sauces and fondues. There are many recipes on the web just for double boiler cooking In fact the double boiler was one way to reheat leftovers before the microwave.
But can it be used to make a main dinner dish.
For that I needed to do a more in depth search. I’ve never used it for more than melting chocolate and making custards. Never a main course.
I did a lot of searching and found many sauces for main dishes. I also found that a double boiler was used to reheat the dish as a part of the dish. I even found a recipe for scrambled eggs. While I do like eggs for dinner every now and then, I didn’t consider that a main course.
Then I found one. I’ve never had it before and will try it shortly. So lets try to make Welsh Rarebit. Yes, the double boiler is used to make the sauce, but since the sauce is the main ingredient in this dish, I think it fits my needs. The only thing that isn’t cooked in the double boiler is the toast. There is even a variation that uses poached eggs with the sauce and toast. Those could be cooked in the lower portion of the boiler after the sauce is ready. Double use from a double boiler. I like that.
From that I could also make Eggs Benedict. Toasted English muffin, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce, but I have to cook the Canadian bacon.. Hmm not quite a full meal with a double boiler, but close.
Sandwich for Wednesday
Oct 21st
Tomorrow I will be using some leftover beef roast to be the base of my dinner sandwich. I have more salad fixings so that works out too.
Thin sliced beef, beef broth, onions, peppers. Saute onions and peppers when tender add broth and beef heat through. Drain, serve with tortillas, shredded cheese and salsa. Salad or something else to go with this and I’m all set. Or I could use some of the rolls from today and serve it au jus, skipping the salsa. That of will depend on how I feel.
I will be making a trip to Fort Wayne Thrusday and Friday, so I may not have homemade sandwiches for those days. It all depends on when I get home. Thursday night is also play rehearsal so that limits the amount of time I can spend in the kitchen. There are quicker things to put together, and of course the easy way out – hitting some fast food place.
I’m having fun putting together some quick ‘meals’ and sharing them, I hope you can try one or two on your own. I’m also open to any suggestions.
Sandwich for today….
Oct 20th
I thought I could just add a comment about my sandwiches this week, but why waste a good blog post. 
I’m in the mood for something different today, so today’s sandwich has no meat. I picked up some Portabella Mushrooms (the big ones), a sweet onion, tomatoes, and Munster cheese. For bread I picked up some hard rolls.
To start I sautéd the onion. I then put these off to the side while cooking the mushrooms. The mushroom was brushed on both sides with olive oil. I started cooking with the gill side down for a couple of minutes. I’m just heating through on this side. I then flip the mushroom, fill with onions and top with a slice of munster cheese. At this point I brush the roll with olive oil and brown the insides. When done, slid the mushroom between the two slices of the roll. Salt and or pepper can be added to the gill side of the mushroom before adding the onions.
A slice of tomato made a nice addition to the sandwich.
This goes very nicely with a spinach salad.
That started with some baby spinach, shredded carrots, diced onion, slivered almonds, thin sliced radishes and mandarin orange segments. I’m cooking for one today, so I don’t have measurements for this. I just made enough for me. A ginger dressing completed the salad.
So what’s for dinner?
