I finally decided to try it

I’ve been here long enough that the hostas are proliferating — I’ve known for a while that they’re edible, and that people like the early shoots for a sort of leek-like flavor, but I never quite felt like I had enough hostas that I was willing to sacrifice some shoots.

But I finally decided to try it — easy to do, just made up an omelette with what I had in the fridge. I’d say the sautéed hosta shoots have a very light flavor — slightly vegetal, edging towards bitterness, but at this stage, not as bitter as, say, arugula. They’ll get more bitter as they get older, if you like that flavor.

I’m not sure I’d go out of my way for them, but on the other hand, an easy way to add some early spring greens to my diet, and basically free at this point. I’m sure they’re good for me!

I glanced at this as a jumping off point, if you want a recipe to work from: https://www.motherearthliving.com/…/edible-hosta-tart…/

If you like frying things, tempura hostas shoots seem to be quite popular. I don’t fry very often, so don’t know that I’m going to try that anytime soon. If you do, report back!

Sardines on toast

Couple hours layover, going to try to get through a little bit of photo posting.

A few days ago, tried sardines on toast with some Sri Lankan spreads — the eggplant pickle was a little too sweet, I think — a touch of it would’ve been nice, but not on its own. The seeni sambol (spicy-sweet caramelized onions) worked better, but I have to admit, I like mine better than this one that comes ready-made in a jar. On the other hand, for a 3-minute breakfast (just long enough to toast the bread), the jar is awfully convenient…

It makes me happy, having such a pretty meal

#type2diabetes #fishforbreakfast — this is honestly very similar to my previous fish for breakfast option, which was whitefish spread on multigrain toast, with the same toppings (pickled onions, capers, cherry tomatoes), but so many people suggested a bagel and lox, I figured I should explicitly include it in the list. I eat this all the time. 🙂

I’m watching the new season of Queer Eye right now, and one common theme is how many people don’t take time to take care of themselves, because they’re so focused on caring for other people, or so focused on work.

I try to make a decent breakfast for myself most days, and I really do think it helps set me up for a good day — this meal looks fancy, but takes literally 5 minutes. And it makes me happy, having such a pretty meal, and the flavors are so satisfying and well-balanced, the salty and tangy and sweet, every bite is a pleasure. It’s good to start your day with pleasure.

Nutrition count for half bagel with lox — will vary, but roughly:

Calories: 350
Carbs: 25

know most takeout places will automatically give you a full bagel, but I feel like a half is plenty of bread for me in a meal.

My semester is almost done (classes ended last week, grading final projects this week), so my schedule has eased up significantly. Going to try to start working on this diabetes thing. As I said before, I don’t need general advice — I had gestational diabetes with Anand fifteen years ago, so I did the five finger pricks / day and carb counting, and I have a pretty clear idea of how I should eat in order to bring my glucose levels down.

That said, eating the same dishes over and over again gets boring — and when I get bored, bad things happen. So one thing I’d like to do is start working on incorporating more fish into my diet. I really like fish, but the kids and Kevin don’t, so we just don’t eat that much of it; it’s easier to default to things they’ll eat too.

But I usually eat breakfast on my own, and I like fish (and savory) for breakfast, so here’s a request — give me your breakfast fish dishes, the more varied the cuisine, the better. If they can be made in less than 10 minutes, you get a gold star! If you happen to know calories / carb counts, even roughly, that’d be helpful to include.

This was this morning’s breakfast, along with a persimmon (I love persimmon season) — I’ll probably have some more fruit mid-morning. Part of diabetes for me was switching to eating six small meals / day, to keep my sugars more regulated — that worked well for me fifteen years ago, and it became part of my regular routine. Second breakfast, afternoon tea, supper — hobbits know best.

This is one slice of multigrain toast — while it’s toasting, take out the whitefish spread (I like the Door County whitefish paté, available at my local Whole Foods, if I’m not making my own), capers, and jar of pickled onions. Slice up some cherry tomatoes (they’re pricey, but we’ve gotten addicted to the Cherry Bombs, Sugar Bombs, etc. lines that have come out the last few years, and when it’s so hard to find good fruit in Chicago in the dead of winter, we’re willing to budget a little more for them). When the toast comes out, assemble. I forgot to salt / pepper this time, but you certainly can, and it’ll be even tastier. It was really delicious as is, though.

5 minutes, start to finish.

Rough calorie count, 250-300.

Rough carb count, 33 grams (mostly from the bread, 21 grams, the rest divided between the fish and tomatoes, with a bit for the pickled onions).

Carbs in a persimmon: 8 grams

Rough guideline: “It can be helpful to eat carbohydrates consistently throughout the day. For example, adults with diabetes may aim for 45–60 grams of carbohydrates per meal and 15–20 grams per snack”

Still a little too harried to bake from scratch

Still a little too harried to bake from scratch (Kev comes back today, yay!), but I’ve found a banana bread mix I really like (yes, I know those are pumpkins, but I have multiple pretty pumpkin molds, no banana molds (haven’t found any pretty ones), and a habitual excess of bananas in our freezer), and that makes it easy. Miss Jones mix (link in comments). Zinnias by neighbor Sera Sera.

I had a lot of leftovers to use up

Impromptu Labor Day brunch with girlfriends. Carollina brought peach cake and Nara Nayar brought some of her amazing dahlias. Going to try to dry them today.

I did omelette bar, mostly because I had a lot of leftovers to use up.

Options:

  • Mexican (grilled corn, chicken, sautéed avocado, cherry tomatoes, spiced pork (al pastor), grilled green mango, Mexican cheese blend, spicy tomatillo sauce)
  • smoked salmon, chive & onion cream cheese, red onion, sliced tomato, capers
  • sautéed mushroms and onions with Swiss

Worked pretty well — I just made them one at a time, and since there were just a few of us, no one had to wait very long.

Also feeling autumnal enough that I made some of the apple-cheddar crescent rolls I usually make in the fall. Those aren’t fancy — just Pillsbury crescent, with an apple sliced in eighths, and a little cheese, bake 15 minutes. I’m entering the season of autumn baking — next week, I’m going to start cooking for the fall Patreon boxes.

Lilac & lime simple syrup

Lilac & lime simple syrup. Delicate sweet + citrus floral flavor, nice with gin and tonic (got to keep that malaria away), would also be nice with seltzer water. I’ll have 9 little bottles at the art fair Saturday.

I meant to make this earlier — by the time I got around to it, most of my purple lilac petals had fallen, so I ended up with mostly pink petals, which made a sort of brown syrup.

Usually, if you add citrus to lilac syrup, it’ll turn purple, but I think the pink is just not strong enough color for that, so I ended up with a sort of melon-y color? Still pretty, though it doesn’t particularly shout ‘lilac’ when you look at it. 🙂

Some recipes recommend adding a few blueberries to get a purple color — I didn’t have any on hand, but maybe I’ll try that next year. This recipe suggests that, for example: https://www.havocinthekitchen.com/lilac-syrup/

They also suggest uses: “Think of fancy cocktails, refreshing lemonades, or over your ice cream. Enjoy with pancakes, crepes, and French toasts. Besides, it would be great as a part of desserts, soak cake, topping for your oatmeal, and a dressing for your fruit salads.”