FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

Let's have a conversation about food again…
Add your answers Please!




1) What did you have for breakfast?

2) Have you grown your own food?

3) What is your favorite beverage?

4) Do you like to cook?

5) What is your favorite vegetable(s)? 

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

1) What did you have for breakfast?
toast with avo, tomato, baby spinach and crushed nuts
2) Have you grown your own food?
yes - I cant wait to have a garden again one day!
3) What is your favorite beverage?
mango juice, mango juice, strawberry juice, hot water with a quarter juice added
4) Do you like to cook?
sometimes as long as its not routine - I am fortunate because Gien loves cooking and is our chief chef
5) What is your favorite vegetable(s)?
baby spinach, squash\butternut, mm most veggies

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

1) What did you have for breakfast?
gravy:
2 cups water1/2 cup cashews
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp onion powder
1/2 tsp himalaya salt
Liquify in blender; heat in saucepan until thick


veggie pie - 
1 1/2 cups granola
1/3 cup vegan margarine, melted
1 tsp sugar
water as needed

Process the granola in a blender or food processor until fine. Add melted vegan margarine and sugar. If mixture is still crumbly, add a bit of water, just a little bit at a time.  Gently press into a pie dish & bake 6-8 minutes at a pre-heated oven of 350• degrees.  Then add any chopped up veggies.  Add gravy to veggies and pour in shell.  Serve!


2) Have you grown your own food? Yes!, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, corn, summer & winter squash, peppers, eggplants, lettuce and all of my herbs. You can see from my mentor, lee O'hara in the dvd I directed and edited. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsmXoexkzrk This is my shameless promo here.Below picture is a graphic I made from seed to harvest & put the season in one design.


3) What is your favorite beverage? We like water/ & add lemon sometimes.

4) Do you like to cook? I love cooking & sharing food with guests.

5) What is your favorite vegetable(s)? Broccoli… We eat it every day! :-)

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

Kathy that looks like a great recipe! Btw - how much granola do we need

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

1-1/2 cups of granola… oops!!!  Thanks for noticing.

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

What did I have for breakfast?
This morning I had pankora–veggies (onions and green peppers) in chickpea flour-deep fried-I don't do this often, but boy is it yummy!!
1c Chickpea (garbanzo bean flour)
Enough water to make a batter and curry and chili powder, black pepper and salt to taste.
then just fry- this works with any kind of veg but onion and coliflower are the best-mushrooms are good too.

2.Have you grown your own food? ~~~
3.My favorite drink–hard to say-I drink lots of water, but since I cut out soda, I would say fruit and veggie juices-V8 is good and I am looking forward to making lemonade the old fashioned way
With water and lemons and raw sugar. I also like ice herbal teas.

4.Do I like to cook????? Is Obama Presedent??  I love to cook. I am a Dr. Frakenstine in the kitchen though. Give me a recipe and I will mess with it 20 ways to Sunday!!!


5. my favorite veggie–my newest favorite is Seaweed!!! All kinds of seaweed!!
after that comes carrots, broccli, coliflower and my all time fav–spinich!!!
Me and Popeye! (Ever notice how much heathier he was than Bluto!! :)

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

Oh yes, thank you for reminding me, seaweed! Yummy - I love vegan paella

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

Let's have a conversation about food again…
Add your answers Please!




1) What did you have for breakfast?coffee!!!! columbian. yum.

2) Have you grown your own food?several times. corn, blueberries, day lillies, cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, figs, orange trees, pear trees…. all under the watchful eye of grandad and dad

3) What is your favorite beverage?TEAS. 

4) Do you like to cook?I do enjoy it (maybe a little more practice is needed)! Especially ethnic foods.

5) What is your favorite vegetable(s)? roma/cherry tomatoes and avocados

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

mm yes - avo!

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

1) What did you have for breakfast?
I haven't eaten breakfast yet, just having tea so far.

2) Have you grown your own food?
Yep, lots of it.

3) What is your favorite beverage?
Tea, water and wine are about the only beverages I drink.

4) Do you like to cook?
Yes, love to cook/create/express/be challenged in the kitchen. I don't like the day-to-day drudgery of having to cook every day. Lately my husband has become more interested in meal preparation, which is a plus, but he's also messy, so now I spend extra time cleaning!

5) What is your favorite vegetable(s)?
Tomatoes. They're so versatile and useful. So are mushrooms, actually. Love mushrooms of all kinds. Oh, but arugula - that could be my favorite. However, that artichoke up there looks wonderful. And I really like eggplant although it's much more work. I love chard and fresh green beans when they're cooked perfectly, and avocados too (although I think of them as a fruit). But where would I be without hot peppers or poblanos? Onions, too - there are so many different kinds of onions, there's one that's perfect with every dish. Summer squashes I love too, sauteed with basil in a little olive oil. Beets are fantastic too.

Okay, vegetables I DON'T like might be easier - cauliflower. I don't like it cooked or raw. I mostly avoid broccoli but I like it in Thai or Chinese dishes. I'm not a big fan of the flavor of kale, although I love making (and eating) kale chips. Carrots I don't generally like to eat because I don't like the texture, so they have to be julienned or run through the spiral slicer. I don't like peas very much, something about that flavor bothers me.

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

Kale chips! How interesting. please share how those are made

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

I would love to try the Kale chips too, Evolotus
Definitely we will have this for every Friday… I am really enjoying all of your reads waaaaaay more than just going to a cookbook.  Telling it from the heart while I drink tea here, vertegreen… what are your favorite teas? Lizzyl, I reformated your posting because sometimes this makes things run together and noticed #2 was missing.  Have you gardened? And, HummingBird, I am going to try: toast with avo, tomato, baby spinach and crushed nuts YUMMMMM. What kind of soil do you have where you are for gardening?
Thanks!!!  Keep the postings coming.  We made the front page on Gaia for this.


Hugs,

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

1) What did you have for breakfast?
I work overnight so i just ate breakfast after yoga, meditation and hanging out with a Gaia friend online. My diet is centered around kao nio-Lao sticky rice. I steam a batch every 3-4 days. So today I took some out of the frig and added a vege broth of organic carrots, sweet potato, ginger, cilantro, onion, red potato and broccoli and some frozen spinach. I microwaved that for 4 mins and added organic peanut butter, olive oil to help my dry skin, tamari and blueberry vinegar. Each thing I picked up and checked it's chi with mine before adding it to the bowl.

2) Have you grown your own food?
Yes. Right now I am watering cilantro and lavender seedlings and learning about drying Solomon's Seal roots for the fall. There is lots to eat in the woods now as this is our spring.

3) What is your favorite beverage?
A mix of naturally sweetened cranberry/raseberry juice (no sugar) for kidney adrenal health, orange juice, vanilla soy milk and pineapple juice- a natural radiator fluid. Or tea maed by steeping whatever ends up at work in spring water.

4) Do you like to cook?
Kao nio. Every since I practiced at a Lao monastery the smell of the rice and bamboo steaming like it has for milleneum (friends ask why I do not have a modern steamer?) allows me to travel accross time and space in a special way.

5) What is your favorite vegetable(s)?
Spinach. It is so easy to prepare and steam. I use to be a chef for 25 years and now I cook so simply. I have not fried a food in years. All steaming and adding oil as a condiment after. I hold everything I eat and match it's chi with mine before it goes in my mouth. I ate one little piece of candy the other day and felt such an explosion of wonderfulness and realized another piece would be devastating.

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

Kao nio… sounds like music… please tell us more!

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

Kao nio is the Lao word for sticky rice and for “the meal” cuz every meal has rice. Sticky rice is a natural genetic variant that has the highest rice gluten content of all the rices. (If I remember the Wiki article right.) The Laos I meditated with ball it on the end of their fingers and use it like a scoop to pick up all the rest of the meal. I love eating with my fingers. Saves on dish washing, Everything else is served in little communal bowls.
Sticky rice is so sticky it is found in the mortar of some sections of the Wall of China. (I no longer call it great cuz so many died building it.)
Even though kao nio produces significantly less grain per hectare then regular rice it is so much a part of the culture of Lao and Northeast Thailand that many farmers will not stop growing it. It is called Sweet Rice at Asian markets.
I steam it with a traditional bamboo rice cone steamer and water pot after soaking overmight. I store it for up to 2 days at room temp in a woven covered basket. After that I put it in the frig and re-heat it. I make it a week at a time to save energy.
I love it. I love the smell and how it fills me up with so little.
Many years ago I learned that the cooking process destroys most of what little extra nutrients brown rice has so when I found the support of my fellow Lao monastery members to eat rice instead of wheat (I get stufffed up on wheat and rice is 1/2 to a 1/3 as expensive ((I buy 50# bags every couple of months))as bread and it stores indefinitely) I said this is the rice for me.
na'ameste'

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

Ok! Gien cooks with sticky rice too! I've grown very fond of it. Thank you for your sharing - conjuring up wonderful aromas and visions

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

1) What did you have for breakfast?
Multigrain oats with a bit of milk and raw almonds, walnuts and cranberries [no sugar]

2) Have you grown your own food?

Yes- in childhood, my parents would grow vegetables and once even corn! Now, some fruit trees. Planning a vegetable patch in October [the season in Miami]

3) What is your favorite beverage?
Milk with instant coffee [morning], tea or cafe cubano in the afternoon,depending on whether I'm at home office or work office,  and water water water

4) Do you like to cook?
I LOVE to cook. Now, it's rarely from recipes as I like to co-create as I go along, the way my mother taught us.

5) What is your favorite vegetable(s)?
I love ALL veggies, raw or cooked  in many different cuisinesl But let's see- my favorite snack veggies are cauliflower, red radish, and fresh carrots. Oh- and broccoli stems - with fresh lime, salt and pepper- or an Indian chaat masala.

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

How wonderful that your parents grew these things - it takes a lot to beat home grown food. I'm imagining you cooking up a culinary storm!

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

Cheesy Kale Chips

1 bunch of kale, washed, stemmed and torn into bite size pieces
Cheese coating
1 cup cashews, soaked for hours
1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 lemon, juiced
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
Preparation:  Blend coating ingredients in high-speed blender until smooth and creamy. Dump the kale in a bowl and dump the coating on top of that. Combine well, probably with your hands, getting it all into the curly wrinkly parts of the kale.
Arrange in a single layer on sheets and dehydrate paraflex/teflex sheets at 105 degrees for 12-16 hours or until dry and crunchy.
Variation: omit the nutritional yeast, add a serrano chili pepper and about a half-cup or so of cilantro leaves for a “spicy ranch” flavor.

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

ooh delicious! Thank you

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

Would members who post recipes please consider posting them again in the Recipes and links room - this way they'll be easily found, which they deserve to be!

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

Next set of 'Friday 5' questions for you!

1) What do you do about the gatherings one attends where snacks are available, you're hungry and the snacks all contain dairy and or meat products?

2) What was the last dessert you had? please post recipes in Recipes and links room

3) What are your thoughts about the diet of children - should they be influenced to be vegetarian or vegan?

4) What's your worst food habit?

5) What's in your fridge right now?

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

1) What do you do about the gatherings one attends where snacks are available, you're hungry and the snacks all contain dairy and or meat products?

I'm vegetarian, not vegan; though I don't enjoy dairy snacks- so in this situation, I'd probably thank my stars that I'd eaten before I came [I don't go hungry unless I'm sure I'll get vegetables to eat!] and that there'll be food later.

2) What was the last dessert you had? please post recipes in Recipes and links room

Don't remember!

3) What are your thoughts about the diet of children - should they be influenced to be vegetarian or vegan?

It's strange, because I'm a very happy and very committed vegetarian; was raised by parents who had a near-missionary zeal about vegetarianism, but my kids are not. I told my father, “I don't want to come between my child's mouth and his stomach.”
And blogged here to explain it a little. [A vegetarian mom meets a meat-eating child ]

However, I do bring a lot of the vegetarian into my children's life; I only cook vegetarian, so any non-veg food has to be cooked by my husband or bought.

4) What's your worst food habit?
A toss-up between eating bhujia and neglecting to plan my meals

5) What's in your fridge right now?
LOTS of food to suit the palate of each family member - lettuce, spinach, lots of veggies that we bought today, and some cooked leftovers. Oh- and leftover of Chinese takeout for the kids.

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

Thank you for this window into you, dear Meenakshi

1) What do you do about the gatherings one attends where snacks are available, you're hungry and the snacks all contain dairy and or meat products?

I feel I'm on a fast and make the most of it.

2) What was the last dessert you had? please post recipes in Recipes and links room

My version of Gien's recipe - vegan banana 'custard'. Which consists of heated coconut milk and sliced bananas as the main ingredients

3) What are your thoughts about the diet of children - should they be influenced to be vegetarian or vegan?

As with all things I try and set an example, I have discussions, provide information and then sit back and let 'em choose. My oldest daughter was a vegan but my other two enjoy meat.

4) What's your worst food habit?

I've learned to eat chips from Gien, can you believe it! The other thing is I forget to eat. Fortunately Gien is our chief chef and because he is usually around at meal times and also creates them in wondrous ways, this does not happen much!

5) What's in your fridge right now?

Kale, lettuce, tomatoes, celery, baby marrows, Giens myriad sauces, pickles and other concoctions, too many, varied and mysterious to name, a large bottle of home made plum jam given by a friend, linseeds, margarine and a tray of compost which gets taken to a compost heap once a week because we dont have a garden

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

1) What do you do about the gatherings one attends where snacks are available, you're hungry and the snacks all contain dairy and or meat products? 
I go to events for the subject of the event or the people which I would put more attention on that.  If offered something against my diet I would politely say no thank you.  If i were hungry, I would eat some of it.
2) What was the last dessert you had? please post recipes in Recipes and links room
I made banana cake with chocolate chips & granola.

3) What are your thoughts about the diet of children - should they be influenced to be vegetarian or vegan?
They should be introduced to veggies & fruits & nuts.  After a certain point they can think for themselves as to choice due to education and environment.
4) What's your worst food habit?
I don't eat breakfast every day but when I do the days go much better.
5) What's in your fridge right now?
broccoli, spinach, peas, carrots, raisons, apples, tangerines, fake hot dogs (I need to go shopping).

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

1) What do you do about the gatherings one attends where snacks are available, you're hungry and the snacks all contain dairy and or meat products?

Honestly meat and dairy are no longer “food” to me. I am not that tempted by a plateful of suffering. If I eat a dinner roll and find out the recipe includes butter, I'm not going to gag or anything, but I won't eat one again. So in this hypothetical situation I wouldn't eat, and if I was truly hungry I'd leave on the early side.

2) What was the last dessert you had? please post recipes in Recipes and links room

A piece of vegan carrot cake at a function last weekend, courtesy of a local veg restaurant. I don't have much of a sweet tooth, so I don't eat dessert frequently.

3) What are your thoughts about the diet of children - should they be influenced to be vegetarian or vegan?

Is this a multiple choice question? :) They should be raised vegan. Forget about the ethics of it, with what we know about health and the environment now, I don't know why someone would give their child meat or dairy products in this day and age. We don't give kids drugs, booze, a gun, or let them eat candy all day. I don't have children, but I know many vegan parents raising vegan children and the kids aren't “oppressed” in any way. I don't doubt they'll experiment when they're older and are out of the house, of course, but parents set the agenda for their minor children, period.

4) What's your worst food habit?

Salt. Because I don't have a sweet tooth!

5) What's in your fridge right now?

What I can remember without looking: water, beer, wine, tonic water, kombucha tea, Earth Balance, tamarind, english muffins, tomato paste, leftover homemade seitan, fresh peas, jalapenos, fresh turmeric root, ginger root, rice milk, tofu, tempeh, parsley, basil, thyme, cilantro, the leftover ends of two loaves of bread, four kinds of miso, green curry paste, red curry paste, capers, sunflower sprouts, ranier cherries, strawberries, ketchup, several mustards, several jars of olives, maple syrup, vegennaise, garlic aioli, tamari, vegan worcestershire sauce, peanut sauce, BBQ sauce, several salad dressings, chili sauce, salsa, red cabbage, broccoli, purple cauliflower, carrots, onions, celery, spinach, kale, romaine lettuce, beets, raisins (don't know why they're in the fridge), a pineapple, peaches, nectarines, pluots, avocados, japanese eggplant, green onions going bad, assorted summer squashes, salad mix going bad, multiple bell peppers, cucumbers and mushrooms.

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

Answer to No 1
I head for the veggie tray.
I try very hard to avoid meat, dairy ect.
but like my hero the Dali Lama, If there is nothing else offered, I take it with a greatful heart and honor my host for his/her hospitality.

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

1) What do you do about the gatherings one attends where snacks are available, you're hungry and the snacks all contain dairy and or meat products? 
I don't have an issue with this really… same thing if I go to a party where it is all veggie or vegan.. it's the guests that are them important part of a social gathering.
2) What was the last dessert you had? please post recipes in Recipes and links room
I mix granola, yogurt and almonds

3) What are your thoughts about the diet of children - should they be influenced to be vegetarian or vegan?
Definitely!!! It needs to also be a part of every school in the world to show children how to grow their own lunch by having gardens at schools.
4) What's your worst food habit?
I had success with the 1st Personal Diet when I needed to get back after holidays
5) What's in your fridge right now? A lot of fresh veggies from My Back Yard:
My back yard.
No mowing, no wasted water, no pesticides, no chemicals.
What will I get?

Between 600-800 lbs. of tomatoes from the 7 plants, about 500 Japanese eggplants from the 6 plants, and 60-80 Ping Tung Long eggplants from the one plant; about 150 lbs. of English and Pickling cucumbers from the 7 English and 8 pickling cucumbers; about 40 lbs. of green beans from half of that bed, 16 heads of Romaine lettuce and 30-40 lbs. of Yellow Zuchhini from the other half; about 100 ears of corn from the corn bed- 5' by 8', which is 40 square feet, and the lettuce in that 3' by 5' section has been giving us all we can eat and give away for a month, and will keep it up for another month.

Now that's just the back yard.  I don't even want to get into the front yard!
I'm not very “politically correct,” for being in the city of Los Angeles.  But then I don't think politics are all that correct. Lee O'Hara www.organichomegardener.com

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

very inspiring, Lee!

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

Hey Lee!
thanks for posting that website. I also got a link to windowbox.com.
Gave me some ideas for next season.
I am looking to grow some things inside this winter–anyone have any advice? I was just looking at mushroom kits on windowbox. Maybe this will be a good winter crop.

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

Thank you all, very much & thanks for the windowbox ideas…starting your own garden of any size is key!

Slugs and snails are really a challenge, even for me.  I haven't tried it yet, but Sluggo Plus sounds like it should do the job.  I wasn't real happy with Sluggo, but I've heard good reports about the new “Plus.”

I use a lot of the food grade Diatomaceous Earth.  I get it from www.groworganic.com.  The DE that is refined for swimming pool filters isn't effective, although it's helpful for pill bug and sow bug problems.

Coffee grounds have worked best of all I've tried.  Most coffee shops will give you whatever quantity you like.  I'm lucky enough to have a next door neighbor who manages a Starbucks.  He brings me all the 20 bags of it I want.  (Of course I give him bags of vegetables.)  Coffee grounds have a pH of 6.5, which is perfect for almost all vegetables, and contain nitrogen as well.  It's an excellent soil ammendment.  Those beds I've used lots of coffee grounds in have been almost entirely slug free.  I think it's a better solution to slugs than Diatomaceous Earth, and just as eco-friendly.  This isn't a peta issue - just the greatest good for your food supply of veggies; and one solution.
Good Luck!

Lee O'Hara

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

Now I look forward to every friday to discover new foods and gardening tips.  Thanks for sharing everyone!

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

Hi,
I'm new in the group and… thrilled! So interesting to read all of your answers, thanks for sharing! Although one question lingers in my mind - do you (Anna, Kathy, Lizzyl and iljung) really always have these special breakfasts or are these rather out of the ordinary breakfasts (heehee, sorry Meenakshi, I'm excluding you there because “muesli”, as I'd call it, is rather common for me)?

I hope you don't mind that I will answer both ~KES' and Hummingbird's sets of questions starting with ~KES':

1) What did you have for breakfast?
I had pumpernickel bread with salted butter and Gouda cheese topped with Branston sandwich pickle and Dilmah black (Ceylon, of course) tea with lemon flavor. Bread and cheese I've brought from Germany and Branston from the UK - so this was a very special and out of the ordinary breakfast (here in Sri Lanka) for me indeed.
2) Have you grown your own food?
No, unfortunately not (haha, except for cress which you always have to grow as an assignment for primary school at some point in your life in Germany). :)
3) What is your favorite beverage?
Sparkly water. Orange juice, Sangritta spicy tomato juice, ginger or root beer, bitter lemon, lime soda and TEA. And several alcoholic beverages.
4) Do you like to cook?
Loveitloveitloveit!!!! I love cooking, trying new recipes or new variations of old recipes and consuming what I've cooked. :))
5) What is your favorite vegetable(s)?
Potatoes (hey, I'm German!). Sweet potatoes, squash, plantain, kidney beans, sweet corn, tomatoes, mushrooms, lettuce (I'm a sucker for salads!), red radish… is what comes to mind first. I'm sure there's more. You should've asked what I don't like. That's easier: bell pepper. I like it raw (green bell pepper only) but I really don't like it cooked and I hardly use it in my meals.

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

1) What do you do about the gatherings one attends where snacks are available, you're hungry and the snacks all contain dairy and or meat products?
I'm often snacking away on raw vegetables used for decorative reasons rather than for consumption while others can relish salads, pies and canapes. I go hungry.
However, when I'm invited to festivities held by friends of whom I know they have very little (like my Sudanese friends in Cairo, Arab friends in the Middle East, beneficiary communities here in Sri Lanka), I will point out that I don't eat meat and will still eat anything they offer that might have been cooked together with meat or even eat the vegetables in a meat dish if they offer it to me, for reasons of politeness. I wouldn't eat meat though. Couldn't.
2) What was the last dessert you had?
Hmmm… can't really remember. That must have been back in Germany, strawberries and ice-cream. Yummy.
3) What are your thoughts about the diet of children - should they be influenced to be vegetarian or vegan?
I've grown up in a vegetarian household but my parents never tried to influence me or my sister and we were free to eat meat, they even cooked meat for us when we demanded it at some point in our rebellious early teens. Still, both me and my sister turned vegetarian when we were 15 years old.
I would certainly not feed my kids meat until they actually asked for any and I would encourage others (who'd cook for my kids) to do the same. I guess it would also depend on my husband's idea of a healthy diet. If he ate meat it would probably be cooked in our household one way or the other and then I would leave it up to my kids to decide if they wanted to eat it or not.
4) What's your worst food habit?
Salt and fats. The amounts of salt I eat are crazy. And I mean crazy crazy. If I eat out, before I even so much as taste the food, I ask for salt and add more. I've even been reprimanded by fellow diners in restaurants (complete strangers!) when they saw the amounts of salt I'd pour over my food. And fats. I add cream (or if available a vegetable equivalent, vegan cream) to most of my sauces and stews. I'll also always go for full cream milk, yoghurt and other dairy products. My cholesterol levels are soaring high. :)
5) What's in your fridge right now?
Salty butter, ghee, milk, gouda and Bresso cheese, Happy Cow cheddar and toast cheese, strawberry jam, yoghurt, Branston sandwich pickle, Loewensenf (mustard from my hometown), pesto, aubergine & garlic chutney, tamarind & date chutney, jarred okra curry, green curry paste, sweet and sour sauce, oyster sauce, Tabasco, ketchup, mayonnaise, tomato paste, olives, pickled cucumbers, pumpernickel bread, jaggery, Kithul treacle, all kinds of (German) chocolates, lots of water, carrots, tomatoes, spinach, apples, cilantro, two ears of sweet corn and my anti-faint low blood pressure (yes, despite all the salt!) medicine. :))

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

Great bio!

re your question - my breakfasts are so varied - and yes, mostly wonderful. Gien is a chef of chefs and also I make an amazing smoothie!
I do not see muesli as ordinary - I've tasted some really good muesli's and also some less interesting ones. The best one I ever ate, had loads of slithered nuts - I bought it from a delicatessen once and never found it again much to my disappointment!

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

Hi Hummingbird,
I guess in Germany, maybe because of it's proximity to Switzerland (where muesli comes from from), you can get a large variety of all kinds of different mueslis in most supermarkets. Since I couldn't eat dairy products as a child (because of my neurodermatitis, I had developed an allergy against them), I started to eat muesli only later when I had moved out from home and to this day prefer it with soy milk rather than with real milk. Here in Sri Lanka muesli is quite expensive, rare and I haven't found a good one yet so I brought an organic one from Germany, with dried berries in it. I usually go more for the nutty type, too, though. :))

As for breakfast, I have to admit that I'm not a big breakfast person, at least not during the week. I'm more of a “get as much sleep as possible and rather sleep longer than eat breakfast” person. But I love me my breakfast at the weekends and just recently my colleague has started to bring wadai for me to work so I can have a little breakfast there. In my office people bring their breakfast and have it there instead of at home. Of course, mostly it's rice and curry (same as for lunch and dinner). Too much for me early in the morning. When I'm out traveling in the field I sometimes have string hoppers and curry (usually dal or potato) and pol sambhol and that always leaves me stuffed! (Oh, just found this website that explains all the most common food, vegetables and fruits in Sri Lanka (like 'pol sambhol', if anyone is interested, and it's true - these things make up the Sri Lankan diet!).

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

.. yes, i think it was a German delicatessen where i found that delicious muesli! I rarely have muesli these days bu when I do I love to have it with fruit juice.
I am an eeearly bird - sometimes as early as 3.30 - even makes me exclaim! And early to bed as a result though I do break this rule too often.

Yummy! your foods sound soo delicious!

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

Oh, muesli with fruit juice is an interesting variation! Never heard of it before. My friend told me she'd sometimes have cereal with milk and Malibu after partying. :)))

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

that website is really interesting, Jenny, I've just sent the link of to my friends and loved ones who have passion for food

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

Wow!! It's breakfast time here.  I am so inspired and want to try something new & healthful just from reading your new additions.  I'll be back!

Re: FRIDAY FIVE - Let's All Share Food Together

I know I'm late for Friday but here goes
1. For breakfast I had some homemade blueberry muffins(made with soy milk and egg replacer) and a cup of my favorite herbal tea.
2.The last dessert-a frozen fruit bar
3.I think kids need to be educated about veggie and vegan diets-especially with the obseity epidemic that seems to be getting to our kids
4. My worst food habits–Cheese and Ice cream-I even have to watch it with the soy and veggie products!
5. In the fridge right now–tofu, egg replacer, buckwheat flour, coliflower, frozen veggies, fruit(fresh and frozen) Ice herbal tea.