Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Thinking about food again - featuring my rediscovery of cinnamon



Pain is amazing at blocking out memories. I forgot how I used to eat some cinnamon mixed with sugar, as others in my family did. We would put some bread out to bake in the conventional/microwave oven, we would put some sort of butter on it, and then some cinnamon and sugar mixture on top of the butter. It tasted good, but it was not a very good snack plan in hindsight. What was good about it was the cinnamon I think.


I remembered the habit when wandering around a QFC looking for a type of ice cream that might be suitable since they didn't carry the frozen cheesecake(which includes both carob and cinnamon) anymore that I liked. I didn't find any suitable ice cream, but in the same aisle was the cinnamon, Kroger brand. I was already recently drinking some tea that includes cinnamon in it, and I love the smell and the tea makes my body feel good, so I figured cooking with cinnamon is a good idea.


And that’s why I went ahead and bought a small can of cinnamon, despite my bitter nostalgia. It's odd to me because QFC chooses which spices to carry from Frontier brand. Because they have their own brand, Kroger for cinnamon, they don't carry Frontier brand cinnamon. That's fine I guess, but the cinnamon shouldn't be in the ice cream section. It should be near the other spices which happen to be on the other side of the store.


So I was actually mixing carob into my flour lately when I fry up some bread, so why not try to do the very same thing with cinnamon? It tastes good, but it is very sticky. I’m wondering if there’e anything appropriate to counteract the stickiness with or if I should just accept it. Either way, I believe that as I continue to cook and try out old and new things, the pleasure that comes from my cooking shall increase.

So I now cook with a mixture of flours. I use teff, rice, and millet. I have to either add salt or add extra salt if I use millet.

I'm also enjoying dried fruits lately. Fruits that my body seemed to have great trouble digesting seem to be not such a big deal when they are dried first. It wasn't until I was an adult that I even tried prunes...wasn't until I had already begun having big problems with my body. Too late to make the most out of my time on the earth...but not too late to cling to life until the bitter end. And in the meantime, I can attempt to horde knowledge in the hope that it may be of benefit in the future.


Bananas for example, are probably a great example of a fruit that should be dried. It has a delicate timing window on when to eat it, or so I feel. Maybe not everyone agrees, and if that's the case, continue eating raw bananas. I'll take them dried, thanks. I'm also enjoying apricots. Not a fan of dried figs but to be fair, they still taste pretty good. The seeds annoy me, they are like a watermelon's baby. Seeds are everywhere.


All those weird wheat crackers, cookies, and other junk food really is junk food. Why buy a cheese or fruit flavored wheat product when you can just buy the real thing? And if you want some grain, why stop at wheat? If you can eat it, more power to you, but try something else once in a while and see if you can discover something you like better. If you don't find something you like better, at least you tried. And if you really tried hard, then perhaps merely the experience of trying those other grains will give you an idea of what it's like for people that can't eat wheat.


You can discover a favorite cheese or fruit or spice or whatever if you put your mind to it, and try to prepare food yourself instead of just buying into something that's popular. Even though I love the taste of corn chips and salsa for example, it's not something I should eat. I think we all need to make our food choices be our own food choices.