Suspicious Kitteh doesn’t trust vegetables

Dude, lonnie, I’m a completely lazy meat-eater, but one should never brag about eating McDonalds crap. It’s like bragging about hitting yourself in the face with a shovel.

lonnie, if the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, then what you did was the equivalent of lighting a fart in a cathedral.

lonnie’s just here to reaffirm my theory that wingnuts will actually destroy their own health to “prove” they aren’t pussies.  Here’s what’s so ironic about this: when you clog up your arteries, that doesn’t mean just to your heart. It means that blood flow in general is reduced, i.e. goodbye erections.  So to “prove” he’s a Real Man, lonnie is actually working diligently towards being unable to get it up.  But hey, at least he’s good and constipated!  That’ll show us liberals!

Or you could just smack your face with a hammer to teach us all a lesson, lonnie.

Hey, Sour, I kinda wish.  But my cat is a cat after my own heart—-she fucking loves produce.  Yesterday, I caught her playing with an apple.  But worse, she eats vegetables.  She loves them so much I often have to watch her to make sure she doesn’t steal them.  Greens in particular are beloved by Dusty.  You know how you blanch them before cooking them?  Well, while they’re cooling, I have to keep an eye on them, because she absolutely will steal them and eat them.  I once found collard greens in my bed, where she, I suspect, was hiding them for later. She is weird.  Whenever I open the window so she can smell the herbs on the fire escape, she sits there communing with the plants.  When I had a garden, her happiest moments were hanging out in the yard, sniffing plants.

Oh yeah, my cats freakin’ love greens.  If I pull up some carrots, I have to leave the greens outside otherwise the cats will be on them in seconds.  It’s like they have some sort of built-in green detection device because they’ll wake up from a sound sleep if they “hear” lettuce hit a plate.

Amanda, that’s too funny, because Dusty is totally giving the “just say the word and I’ll kill it” look to what’s on the table.  I’ve known kittehs who go mad in the presence of tuna, salmon and turkey, even a few who would steal lasagna out of a pan or vanilla ice cream off a cone, but I’ve never heard of a cat who loves produce & veggies.  Give her a skritch for me.

And yeah, you pegged lonnie—he’s happy to eat shit if he thinks it spites liberals.  I don’t know what’s worse—the quality of his trolling or his taste in food.  I love a good burger but Mickey D’s is a last fucking resort.

Kittehs and greens -

that reminds me, I need to start another pan of cat grass.  I assume you share your produce with your greens-lurvin kitteh - they’re obligate carnivores but they enjoy some roughage now and then.

Also, cantaloupe bread FTW.  I would never have thought of that - I always imagine the sweet melons to be too watery to substitute for the squashes.

I’ve had two cats who loved canteloupe: went crazy when one was cut, and could only stop their meowing by giving them the goop with the seeds (they ate around the seeds) and the rind to chew on. (But not Honeydew melons, go figure.)

One of those cats was also a fool for asparagus, so I learned to cook the white ends of the stalk as well as the green, and give him the ends.

Otherwise he’d nag me all through dinner.

For a time when I was making my own homemade cat food for a sick kitty I’d grind up the meat with aspargus or other greens I had, some carrots, etc.

The rest of my cats have been typical: they want to lick out the bowl after I’ve eaten eggs, ice cream, meat, fish, etc.

Also used to let them crunch on chicken bones, until a sharp piece got stuck wedged in Felix’s mouth and it was a nightmare for both of us extracting it.

Now I’ll give him gristle from steak (too much of the fat, and he throws up) or those rubbery parts around the joints of chicken and he’s satisfied with that.

Your cat looks very devious and predatory in that picture, like she’s planning to sneakily grab every last vegetable when you turn your back. You’d think that watermelon was a bird or something.

Those nectarines look completely lovely.  I bet that would be delicious with some thick Greek yogurt and a drizzle of honey.

Also, I don’t remember whose idea it was last week, but somebody on here suggested using zucchini instead of pasta in a lasagna.  So tonight’s dinner is lasagna made with eggplant,  tomatoes, and basil from my garden and fresh mozzarella and a zucchini I picked up at the market yesterday.  The zucchini will take the place of at least part of the pasta (I don’t know if I can give up all the pasta).  And homemade foccacia, sprinkled with fresh rosemary from my garden.  And, of course, probably several bottles of wine.  We’re having a friend over for a last weekend before the semester starts dinner.

The one thing I did with the recipe was cut the amount of sugar in half.  I probably could have cut it more, even.  Melons are so sweet that if you use as much sugar as you would with zucchini bread, it would be an overload.

ks, the Bittman book has a great section on gratins, which is basically what that is.  Any veggie with a decent amount of stiffness can be a gratin, so instead of breaking it out into individual recipes, he has a chart.  It’s great—-you can do it with zucchini, with eggplant, etc.  One thing I discovered is that you don’t have to use a lot of cheese.  Just a very nice sprinkle will do.  If I’m making it with a tomato sauce, I used crushed tomatoes.

Wait, so you have to go to McDonalds and order the “biggie size double quarter pounder” ?  Is there a smallie size double quarter pounder?

You do know what a quarter pound is, right?

Interesting.

Angl, “Biggie size” refers to the side dishes (fries and soda).  So Lonnie had a half-pound of meat, large fries, and a quart of soda.  (It’s deeply sad that I know this.)

Ohhh, got it A, thanks.

Ok, I’ve eaten bugs and found them tasty and crunchy. But eggplant sandwiches cross a line! Eggplant is a vile weed.

My husband is visiting some friends these next few days, which means I actually have to cook. So last night I made a rice-lentils-onion dish that was pretty good. I know this is a very simple meal, but I was ridiculously proud of myself. I’m good at baking because it’s chemistry. But cooking usually eludes me because of its creative and spontaneous nature. So, this was kind of a victory for me.

Eggplant is totally one of my top favorite vegetables.  I’m honestly puzzled when someone doesn’t like eggplant, like if someone doesn’t like tomatoes.  I don’t know what the objectionable flavor is.  Some stuff I love I can see why others might not, but eggplant?  I’m not trying to pick; I literally don’t get it.

The first picture makes up for the lack of cat pics in the Friday random ten.

You really should write a cookbook—not recipes, but ideas, principles, and techniques. I would never have come up with those combinations, but everything sounds delicious.

It’s only in the last few years that I would ever eat an eggplant.  I’d never had an application that I enjoyed, and plain grilled is not my thing—I think it goes better in/with things than on its own.  But a couple of years ago I had an eggplant curry that was absolutely divine and then I spent 6 months recreating it.  After that, I started putting it in other things.  Now, aside from my mother-in-law’s crab curry (which is like a taste of heaven), that eggplant curry is my absolute favorite non-dessert food.  I even started growing eggplants in my tiny little garden, just so that I can make more of it in summer.

ks feel free to share that recipe! 

Tonight I made that red cabbage stir fry you put up several weeks ago Amanda, and it was delicious.  I love all the ideas I get here.

I think I put it up a couple of weeks ago, but here it is again.

I use either the small globe eggplants for this, or the long skinny Asian ones.  This recipe will use three of the small ones or two medium sized long ones.  Or you can mix and match.  In either case, cut the eggplant in half lengthwise and then thinly slice.  Layer in a colander (I use my salad spinner) and lightly salt each layer.  Leave to drain for half an hour, although longer is also fine, rinse and pat dry (or spin—love the salad spinner).  Get an inch or two of oil in a pan and fry the eggplant until golden, remove, and let drain.  You can also roast in a hot oven until slightly crisp if you don’t want to fry.  This works as well, but frying is a bit better.

Meanwhile, finely chop a small onion and smash some garlic (you don’t want whole cloves, but you want large-ish pieces).  Boil a cup or so of water and pour it over the pulp from a tamarind pod or two, removing the seeds.  Smash up the pulp a bit and let this sit until you need it.

In a skillet, heat a teaspoon or so of oil and add some dried whole red chilis, black mustard seeds, and cumin seeds.  Also curry leaves if you have them, but they aren’t strictly necessary.  Once the seeds start to pop, add the onion and a pinch of salt.  Saute this until the onion starts to turn translucent, then add the garlic, some chopped green chili, a bit of curry powder, turmeric, and the tamarind (if you can’t get tamarind, use plain water and add a squeeze of lime at the end).  Let the liquid cook down a bit until it makes a good gravy, then add the eggplant and a sprinkle of garam masala.  Stir together, cover, and let cook over low for a few minutes until the eggplant soaks up the sauce.  When you’re ready to serve, toss in some chopped cilantro if you want and have with rice or naan or the starch of your choice.

I used to loathe eggplant. It would literally make me gag just to smell it. But then I discovered that I was good at cooking it, even though I wouldn’t even taste what I was making. Then about five years ago I realized I was over my weird eggplant aversion and now I love it. I don’t get it. I thought food aversions were for life?

Thanks a lot ks for typing all that out.  I saved it and will defintely try it.

lonnie’s just here to reaffirm my theory that wingnuts will actually destroy their own health to “prove” they aren’t pussies.  Here’s what’s so ironic about this: when you clog up your arteries, that doesn’t mean just to your heart. It means that blood flow in general is reduced, i.e. goodbye erections.  So to “prove” he’s a Real Man, lonnie is actually working diligently towards being unable to get it up.  But hey, at least he’s good and constipated!  That’ll show us liberals!

It may also be a pseudo-rebellious reaction against the increasing trend of health consciousness in MSM, peers, and trauma from being told to “eat your veggies” by parents or if applicable, the SO.  A trend often perceived by some as driven and directed by “liberal health nuts”. 

I sometimes feel the same way when I hear more health conscious friends and relatives go on endlessly about how “good it is for you” when my mental state is mainly focused on “does it taste good”.  Then again, I wouldn’t use fast food as the first example of what “tastes good”.  More like a 18-20 oz steak split up over 3 or more meals or if it is really hot and I just want a light meal/snack, cucumbers pickled in sesame oil based brine. 

I used to loathe eggplant. It would literally make me gag just to smell it. But then I discovered that I was good at cooking it, even though I wouldn’t even taste what I was making. Then about five years ago I realized I was over my weird eggplant aversion and now I love it. I don’t get it. I thought food aversions were for life?

I used to have the same reaction to turkey coldcuts and all cheeses as a kid.  Got over the turkey coldcuts aversion by the time I was 8 and became more open-minded towards cheeses when I entered junior high and high school (When my kiddie softball team had pizza, I used to take the mozzarella cheese off and gave it to a teammate who loved it).  However, I still sometimes gag at the smell and sight of American cheese…..a reason why I won’t be ordering a mainstream US cheeseburger anytime soon.

Mmmm. i look at the picture and see salsa, chocolate zucchini cake, baba ganouj and baked potatoes. And lots of fruit for just eating.

I’m not too adventurous with my eating. Cinnamon in a chocolate cake is about as wild as I get.

I hope that lonnie doesn’t close his eyes and then run out into traffic. My liberal worldview would be destroyed and I would have to admit that everything I ever thought was wrong. Also we would all have to go to church. Luckily, I don’t think lonnie does close his eyes and run out into traffic. Repeatedly. At rush hour.

You should all try it.

No thanks.  Outliving you while enjoying the real pleasures of life that are often thwarted by a bad diet—-feeling physically well, having good sex, enjoying real food—-will be reward enough.  But I will occasionally think about how you and yours junk eat to prove manhood, only to eat away your ability to maintain erections.  And I’ll laugh with the free movement of the unconstipated.

Freud studied wingnuts.

The cream in the middle of Hostess things makes me gag. It just feels so, so awful in my mouth.

And I will have fun with my hedonistic lifestyle. I mean, that’s kind of how a hedonistic lifestyle works, after all. You have fun.

Exholt, my mom does that “good for you” thing. It makes me not want to eat, because it sounds so…puritanical? maybe is the word I’m looking for. I generally love to eat things that just happen to be healthy and can’t stomach things like whipped cream and bacon, but all talk about health benefits of something is a turn-off for me. It just takes the joy out of it. Actually, lonnie’s comment about eating something unhealthy just to spite Amanda has the same effect, weirdly enough.

I can’t get over McDonald’s and Hostess as the antidote to hedonism.

Nothing says Puritanical devotion to asceticism like a fucking clown and a cadre of superheroes.

I, for one, look forward to McDonald’s attempt to capitalize on lonnie’s sensible approach to devotion and nutrition with an ad campaign centering around the construction of a monastery here.  The Hamburglar would certainly benefit from some salvation.

Given the debauchery for which the west was known, I can’t help but think this guy would benefit as well.

And I’ll laugh with the free movement of the unconstipated.

Here’s the Reductio ad absurdum of lonnie’s contention that we look down on him and want him to suffer, from the other POV.

Hey, lonnie, eating in a healthy way doesn’t have an ideology,.

But my suggestion to you if you want to really piss us off:

Keep eating overpriced prepared food because as a male you shouldn’t have to do any more cooking than heating soup in a microwave,  don’t eat fruit and veggies because that’s only for weak women, children and fags,  and be sure to eat plenty of over-cooked beef, chicken, and pork, because you need all that fat and cholesterol so that you can keel over earlier of a heart attack and possibly die earlier to show you’re really committed to showing us how a real man demonstrates his traditional values.

Have fun with your hedonistic lifestyle.

Funny considering eating sweets like twinkies and hostess cakes would be considered by many, if not most people to be one great example of living out a hedonistic lifestyle. 

Though I did enjoy them as a wee kid, my tastes have changed to the point that now I find them like most US made sweet pastries to be waayy too sweet for my palate.  Whenever I get cake at a party or formal occasion like a wedding, I now almost by reflex cringe in the possible anticipation that the cake or other pastry items would taste like I am eating nothing but pure unadulterated HFCS or sugar.  It is also a reason why I no longer drink nearly as much soda as I did as a wee kid. 

Sometimes, even the Chinese/other East Asian sweet delicacies such as the mooncakes around this time are now too sweet for my tastebuds and can only be taken with a cup of green tea without adding sugar* like some of my clueless older more assimilated cousins.  And most East Asian sweets are nowhere near as sweet as most of their US counterparts. 

* I don’t know anyone else who does this, including non-Asian/Asian-Americans.  Sacrilege!!

Exholt, my mom does that “good for you” thing. It makes me not want to eat, because it sounds so…puritanical? maybe is the word I’m looking for. I generally love to eat things that just happen to be healthy and can’t stomach things like whipped cream and bacon, but all talk about health benefits of something is a turn-off for me. It just takes the joy out of it. Actually, lonnie’s comment about eating something unhealthy just to spite Amanda has the same effect, weirdly enough.

It isn’t only the puritanical aspect, but also the fact that I’ve always felt food was one pleasure best enjoyed without thinking too hard and deeply about it beyond enjoying the aromas, flavors, and textures as to do otherwise would kill that very daily pleasure.  Everytime friends and relatives go on and on about something “being good for you”, it goes over about as well as a medical resident roommate/friend who was oblivious enough to discuss the graphic details of treating patients over mealtimes….......or when my non-academically oriented friends/colleagues complain about someone being “too academic/clinical” in dinnertime conversations.

Exholt, one caveat: one can only enjoy food without thinking too hard if you aren’t involved in preparing it. I don’t disagree, but I also don’t cook. I do however spend enough time with family and friends who have to put a meal on the table every night to understand the multi-dimensional calculations involved. Then there are the contagions: once someone starts putting feta on everything, someone else realizes how tasty feta is, and the next thing you know it’s in a salad dressing at Trader Joe’s. Even the 3yo demands “crumbly cheese” to go with his olives.

Funny part is I actually enjoy discussing and the act of cooking something so long as it does not involve neverending discussions about how something is “healthy” and “good for you”.  The former is part of the food enjoyment experience….the latter turns that experience into one more closely related to taking the most bitter/painful medical treatment and being reminded of it over and over again by others.

I am SO going to try that with my nectarines!

Is it really hard to understand people not liking eggplant?  It’s not the tastiest of vegetables, and it has an unpleasant texture if it’s not prepared right.  I like it fine, especially since I started doing the salting thing, but I could see other people not liking it.  It’s nice in ratatouille.

Me, I hate onions.  Can’t stand them, taste or texture.  My husband has the same aversion.  Together we have invented a new and exciting onion-free cuisine.  I’m thinking of starting a blog.

I’ve been reading along and want to come back and thank you for recommending “How to Cook Everything Vegetarian” to this noncooker. It has seriously changed the way I look at food and is giving me the basics that I never learned. I’m learning that everything I cook does NOT need a recipe and that if I understand the basics I can often just make something on the fly from what’s in my pantry.

Keep it up, Amanda!

So, you’re saying you eat crap as a form of protest against pleasure, Lonnie? Interesting. What’s wrong with pleasure? And why is physical fitness “hedonistic”?  Interesting that you showed up to taunt a vegetarian by highlighting how you think she’s deprived, and when you discovered you’re the one living a shadowy, deprived life, you lashed out and claimed the vegetarian started it. But I’m forced to point out the taunting was started by you. That your ability to taunt is withering along with your ability to get an erection is not my fault. You don’t get moral points for being a loser, especially since you bragged about how you brought it on yourself.

But thanks for proving my point that wingnuttery is just the jealousy of lazy corporate conformists aimed at people who choose to live the only lives we get.

Funny considering eating sweets like twinkies and hostess cakes would be considered by many, if not most people to be one great example of living out a hedonistic lifestyle. 

Heh, but as your comment continues to point out, only people who are *really bad* at hedonism.  Real hedonists about food become foodies who turn their nose up and cheap, flavorless crap like McDonald’s and Hostess.  I will say that if lonnie wasn’t such a huge asshole, I’d almost feel bad for him.  What a miserable vice to kill yourself with!  If you’re going to indulge a vice that ends your life (taking your ability to be sexually active first, mind you), pick something that actually provides pleasure.  But lonnie has the worst of both worlds—-he congratulates himself for his indulgences he erroneously thinks hurt our feelings (more like causes feelings of pity), but he feels that this indulgences are acceptable because they provide no pleasure.  Feeling good is wrong in and of itself, apparently—-hedonism!

The main reason to try to eat a Little Debbie cake with a fork and a napkin is that the whole set-up will drive home how Little Debbie isn’t real food, and you’ll probably toss it in shame.  Lonnie’s problem isn’t that he looooooves Little Debbie or that he’s poor.  It’s that he believes that it an act of moral superiority to deprive yourself of good food on the bizarre grounds that by doing so, you’re sticking it to the liberals.  Which is an error of understanding—-the emotion his behavior creates in us is perplexed pity, not anger.

Eating crappy deserts as a form of Mortification of The Flesh? How very grotesque.

@51

Similarly, the only proper way to eat a Twinkie is fresh from the freezer at my grandfather’s house.

Although, now that I think about it, that was probably also a bit of food defiance (from both me and my grandfather).  Twinkies were not allowed at my house, and I cannot count how many times I have heard the story of my grandfather keeping me entertained at the mall when I was very young and introducing me to cookies.

Of course, defying your mother (or daughter) is a hell of a lot different from defying Amanda (for most of us, at least).  Ah, well, lonnie’s issues are also quite clearly very different from the rest of us.

No sense of humor here.

No backing out with, “It was just a joke!”  Jokes are funny, and you are not.  Your shame at living off McDonald’s and losing your erection is real.  It’s okay to feel sad that you ruined your health and now feel like less than a man.  Just quit trying to make up for it by taunting a bunch of liberals in a sad bid to feel better about yourself.

Makes me miss Danny the Tomato Vampire. Whenever I’d cut a tomato open and leave it out, I’d come back to find all the seeds and seed-goo gone out of the crevices. It baffled me until I came into the kitchen early one morning to find Danny, the big marmalade cat, on the country gently sucking the seeds out of half a tomato. After that we always gave him his own piece.

I will try to remember to put my 4-seasons bread (from an old Western Family grocery flour bag) recipe.  It can be used for any combination of fruits and veggies you like.  I have used it for winter squash/pumpkin, melon, orange and cranberry, applesauce and multiple dried fruit combos (during winter mostly), zucchini, zucchini and carrot; can be made with or without nuts. 

Yesterday was garden veggie-barley soup with a homemade chicken broth base and some curry paste.  Except for the carrots, the veggies were from my garden as were the tomatoes and most of the herbs.
Day before was a new to me summer garden veggie fry mix that included eggplant, summer squash, onion, peppers, basil and red pepper powder.  Served with mixed black and brown rice.

ttintagel, I’m still laughing at Danny the Tomato Vampire. LOL

I don’t like tomatoes or eggplant, but it’s not the taste that’s the problem, it’s the texture. As long as the tomatoes are squished up in a sauce or salsa or otherwise hidden, I’m fine with them.  I haven’t had enough experience with eggplant to know how to cook it to get around the texture, but getting that vego book is on my list the next time I’m back in the States.

@58

My sister is the same way with the texture of tomatoes (she claims BLT stands for Bacon, Lettuce, Toast).  She will be thrilled to hear that she isn’t the only one.

Are you sure that Danny hadn’t had an encounter with Bunnicula?

Love the microplane zester in the background!