Review - Diego Zhangs

Last night, I agreed to take B to dinner and a movie. We saw Avatar, it was good, but the 3D gave me a headache.

 

We went to dinner before the movie at Diego Zhangs http://www.diegozhangs.com/ which is a Burger Café. They have mini burgers, soup, and salads. Their menu is labeled for vegetarians and GFs.

 

Months ago, when our Diego Zhangs location opened, B and I went there and had burgers, and frankly, they aren’t that good. On the other hand, the salads are AMAZING!!!! Last night I had the Gluten Free Incan Quinoa salad. It was really really good and tasty.

What's in it? Rice Chex

After watching Food Inc. I have been curious to what is in the food that I eat. Lately I have been eating a lot of Rice Chex, as they are Gluten Free.

The ingridents are:
Rice
Whole Grain Rice
Molasses
Vitamin E
and BHT added to preserve freshness.




I know what rice is. And whole grain rice. I know molasses. I even know vitamin E.

I dont know what BHT is. It stands for Butylated Hydroxytoluene and is added to food and materials to prevent the oxidation, or breakdown of the molecules. It can be sold sepratly as a health food supplement that can have anti-viral effects.

Food Inc.

Bob and I had movie night the other night, and we watched Food Inc. It is a film about the food industry. Do you know where your food actually comes from? Do you know whats actually in your food?

The film features the heavy hitter of Food Journalism - Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan.

I recommend that everyone rent it, Netflix it, get it from the library, or On Demand. And check out http://www.foodincmovie.com/



From this film, I learned that Smithfield Farms is pretty much evil. They bully their employees and their animals. Sows breed in small, dirty crates. Many employees are illegal imigrants and given horrible jobs. Paula Deen is a spokesperson for Smithfield products. So, at my attempt at activism, I emailed Paula to express my disappointment for alligning herself with such a company.



Watch the film. Get involved.

I have joined a club that has 3million other members...

I have Celiacs disease!!!!! And I now get to cook, eat, and live Gluten Free. Bob gets to as well, since he lives with me.

For years I have felt tired, and crabby, and overall icky. Bloaty too. My doctor suspected Celiacs, because I had many of the symptoms. I started reading up on it and researching it and was shocked. The first book I read was Elisabeth Hassleback's "The G Free Diet" and I was amazed becuase I finally felt as if another person in the world knew how I was feeling.

As far as diseases go, its actually not a bad one to have. All I have to do is cut Gluten out of my diet. That’s it. No medication. No regular tests. Just a modified diet.

No Barley

No Rye

No Oats

No Wheat

Look forward to Gluten-Free recipes. And reviews.

There are about 400 GF blogs out there and I am happy to join their ranks.

Julie & Julia

Yesterday, after successfully reorganizing my closet, I rewarded myself by watching 'Julie & Julia'. It was awesome. I know that there are many people that have issues with books being made into movies, and as a sorta-librarian I suppose I should weigh in on that. Here's what I normally do: If the movie comes out before I read the book, and the previews appeal to me, then I watch the movie, then read the book. If I have already read the book when the film comes out, I usually skip the movie.

Anyway, Julie & Julia was great and inspired me as both a writer and a cook. The film tells the stories of both Julie Powell and her attempt to cook all of Julia Child's recipes in one year, as well as telling the story of Julia Child moving to Paris and learning to cook French food to have something to do during the day, then spending years working on her cookbook.

I recommend it highly.

Upsidedown Chili dog Nachos

In preparation for the annual chili cook-off (more on that in a future post) B practiced his chili. It was yummy. With the leftovers we made what has perhaps been one of my best creations.

lay some tortilla chips (we like blue ones) in a casserole dish. And cheese, leftover chili, and hot dog/brat pieces, and salsa. Then. top it with another layer of chips, and top that layer with cheese. Bake in the over for 5 - 10 mins

While in the oven, put salsa, sour cream, avocado, etc. in the bottom of a wide bowl.

When the cheese has melted over the chips in the oven, pull out the casserole dish and scoop the chips & etc. into the bowls. This way, you can use the chips as a scoop for the toppings (bottomings?) and you wont end up with plain chips on the bottom of the bowl.

Sassy Water

B and I are on a diet and are attempting to fight off flu, cold, infection, etc.

We are drinking this water, called Sassy Water which has come from the Flat Belly Diet Cookbook. Bob does not like the term 'sassy' so we have just started calling this 'flavored' water.

Take 1 cucumber and 1 lemon, wash the outsides, and thinly slice them. Toss them in a pitcher.
Toss in one or two sprigs of fresh mint leaves. Then, grate some fresh ginger into the pitcher. Fill pitcher with water, refrigerate, and enjoy.

It's really good, but ruins your life because plain water is just so boring after having 'sassy' water.