THE TRUTH ABOUT CRUISING

I have been back from my last cruise for eleven days – that means I have gone eleven days without ice cream, pastries, Crème Brule, Apple pie or sugar of any kind. Of course, my husband does a light dusting of sugar on the cappuccinos he fixes for me every morning and I do have a small piece of dark chocolate everyday (it is a medicine, like CO10 or Vit. C – Without it I would grow anemic and die).
It is true that I am a “cruise addict” largely because of the magic of the most wonderful food appearing in front of me whenever I want. It is also true that it has taking me about 20 cruises to learn to not overeat as a way of shipboard life. The food was so good on this last cruise across the ocean and around the Mediterrean that I went for quality rather than quantity. Every morning, I started the day with homemade muesli with a side bowl of fresh mixed berries. If my throat was sore, I’d request a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice that someone would fetch from the top floor and bring down to me at my table in the second floor dining room. Get the picture?
If it was a port day and I was going to walk miles, I’d add an egg cooked to perfection with half and English muffin, very lightly buttered. Of course, occasionally, I’d eat a small cinnamon roll that was baked while I was sleeping. I am only human.
Did I mention that there was flowers on the table and a polite man from Bali would snatch a linen napkin off the table and lay it on my lap? Did I mention that someone else washed my dirty dishes?
I would write more, but I can’t go on. I am hungry, I need lunch and I must prepare it myself. Reality calls.

EATING WELL IN WINTER

EATING WELL IN WINTER


Do I like to cook? It depends. In the summer, I would rather be gardening, painting, hiking or writing. If I miss a meal - no problem - I can stand in my garden and munch like a bunny or live on watermelon. This month, however, is a different story; ambrosia has been rolling out of my kitchen. Because the weather has been so frigid, filling my house with scents of roasted potatoes with garlic and rosemary and other wonderful smells (homemade oatmeal cookies with cinnamon, homemade chai with cardamom) is necessary to keep up the will to live. It is just too cold not to be eating grounding, nurturing meals.

My cooking style can be described as COOKING FROM THE PANTRY. I look in my refrigerator and pantry to see what I have and use it to create something nurturing. There is no following recipes which demand ingredients like watercress or gorgonzola which I do not keep around. But I may have buffalo mozzarella that is approaching its expiration date and so I conjure up something toothsome featuring the cheese. I learned to cook this way because I live so, so far away from a grocery store and I don’t believe in adding to greenhouse gases to “run to the store for a small carton of sour cream.”

I’ve had great times watching people’s eyes roll up into their head in orgasmic pleasure as they enter my kitchen and its enticing smells and bite into something I have made. Time seemed to stand still when my brother tasted the cream I had whipped and flavored to perfection for his pie. Another grown man nearly wept as he tasted my humble homemade chocolate cake made from scratch. I didn’t have any cocoa powder in my pantry so I melted an expensive bar of European chocolate and used that. After a freezing afternoon outside with his snow blower, my cobbled-together cake was his fantasy of what is best about life.

I am (for this cold month only) turning into a blend of my Norwegian grandmother who could bake anything and my Italian grandmother who cooked food from real ingredients, and Merlin the Magician who conjured up delights from twigs and smoke.

You are what you eat, so eat well