Food for Thought

It takes time for our brains to register that we are being feed, which is why it is said we should take the time and chew our food. You will find you will probably eat less, since you are giving your brain time to register the food you will stop eating when your stomach is satisfied, rather than binging and stopping when you think you should and then have that overwhelming feeling of being stuffed afterwards. Also if you feel hungry between meals have a snack a piece of fruit, veggie sticks or yogurt should do the trick, don't starve your body between meals. This will prevent you from attacking your plate like a rabid dog and actually let you enjoy the meal, taste the flavors.

Its Not Delivery Its Deliciously Home Cooked

Ok, so clearly I am not as good at this as my husband is, its been over a week since my last blog, but really I can barely respond to an email within a proper time frame. I just can't seem to find the time to do this daily, so it just might be a weekly venture.

So I am just starting my third week of eating healthy and trying to be fit. Other than it is just plain good for your health there are many other reasons for doing this, who doesn't want the perfect bikini bod for that upcoming spring vacation, or being able to borrow your best friends pair of jeans, or just being able to turn heads when you walk into a room. But are all of those good enough reasons, is being healthy all its cracked up to be. Yes, I think they are or at least good enough reasons for me but it still doesn't help the fact that all I want is take out, of any kind, pizza, burgers or even a bucket of chicken, that's right a whole bucket. So what is a girl to do? First show a little restraint and a little will power and lets star cooking and recreating our favorite delivery or take out dishes. So whats for dinner....... I think spaghetti and meatballs, I know I know your asking yourself how is that carb loaded fatty burger meal good for you. Well let me tell you.

Cooking Brown Rice

Cooking brown rice may take a little longer but it will be worth the wait, not only because it tastes good but it is also good for you.

Brown rice is simply white rice that has not had the brown-colored bran covering removed. So brown rice is considered a whole grain. Why remove the bran? Because most people prefer white rice since it is fluffier and cooks faster than brown.
Since brown rice still has the bran intact, it has more fiber than white rice. One cup of brown rice has 3 1/2 grams of fiber while the same amount of white rice has less than one gram of fiber. We all need from 25 to 38 grams of fiber in our diet everyday.
Brown rice also contains nutrients like magnesium, manganese, and zinc. White rice has reduced levels of these nutrients, but is often fortified with iron, and some B vitamins.
White rice is still the usual rice found in restaurants, so you will probably have to get most of your brown rice at home. Brown rice takes longer than white rice to cook, so increase the amount of water slightly. Brown rice doesn't have the fluffy texture of white rice, but its nutty flavor and chewy texture makes brown rice a tasty way to get fiber into your diet.

Today

So enough about my past lets get to the present. Like i said we now live in Fort McMurray, since I have been here I have done everything form the 5am breakfast buffet, pizza and salad station I help out in banquets frequently and I work the grill station, a little bit of everything keeping it new and interesting every day.

One of the biggest comments we get being that we are both cooks is how great we must eat and people wanting to know if we want to adopt them so they can come by for dinner every day. Well let me tell you the truth we are usually both so busy we are lucky if we get to eat let alone eat together. Don't get me wrong when we have the opportunity to cook a meal it is usually pretty fabulous, we usually get one day off together so yes the house smells fantastic with whatever menu items we have chosen then usually he has another day off and so do I where we prepare a meal for the other to enjoy when they arrive home. The rest of the week we both really enjoy quick comfort foods, we have been trying to eat healthier so we have been trying to prepare meals that last. Thats right the dreaded leftovers, but leftovers don't mean you have to always be eating the same thing take this evening for example I am going to prepare brown rice and some sort of stirfry. Now this may not be as exciting as you were hoping but trust me it will be delicious and healthy, and tomorrow maybe I add chicken or spice it up with something new from the pantry, who knows I never do until I start cooking.

Where I Ended Up

So maybe the kitchen manager thing to work out so well for me, but I don't give up that easily I am a cook and that is what I want to do and nothing will stop me. So I went up the street and applied for a job at the Fairmont Algonquin I know your asking yourself there has been a Fairmont there the whole time and she never once applied. Well in my mind it made sense I am not one to follow corporate rules and regulations I figured if I stick with the small guy it would be a better fit and I could still be successful, well that thought may work for some just not me. So off I went starting at the bottom I was hired as a third cook working in the pub, (note: still not fine dining, what does a girl need to do) prove myself that is what I needed to do and what I did within two years I went from being a third cook to a chef de partie and I even got to work on the line for the Passamaquoddy dining room, what is that supposed to mean you ask, fine dining finally, oh how I loved it spooning delicious demi over game meats, different sauces for different proteins building tall salads and one of my personal favs risotto. Oh how I loved it but one thing I realized was how much I just enjoyed working on a line being it flipping burgers or searing the perfect scallop I loved to cook and it didn't matter what it was as long as I was doing it, it was going to be the best I could make of it. Not only did I gain lots of experience as a cook I also meet my future husband Ken.

My Beginnings Cont'd

So were did I leave off.... culinary school right. Off I went to culinary, scared, excited all kinds of emotions. For once i thought i was really working towards something the career path i have been in search for. The first day I was pretty sure of myself I had lots of kitchen experience how hard was this actually going to be, well I was about to find out the truth. Like I said I had lots of kitchen experience how much more did I really need to learn well I am pretty sure now that that was exactly what the other 25 students were thinking as well, but it wasn't going to as easy as we may have thought. Day one "Can anyone name the mother sauces?" ansawar "mac sauce and mcchicken sauce or is it donair and pizza haha" as funny as I thought I was being the instructor did not. "If you are not going to take this seriously you are wasting my time and yours you can leave if you want" ok he isn't quite ready for my humor I shall shut up and learn. So I make it through my first semester then the second, good god I finished the top of my class for the first year. Know I must find a summer job, I found two bar tending at the local bar and working as a line cook at one of the local family style restaurants not exactly fine dining or as upscale as I had hoped but hey it was experience and good money. The restaurant specialized in seafood as St. Andrews is known as being a sea side resort. I got to cook live lobster play with clams, mussels, scallops etc. I work with cooks today that have never cooked a live lobster so I believe all experience no matter how big or how small is good experience. So that was my summer in a nut shell line cook by day bartender by night one of the best summers I ever had.

My Beginnings

I guess to begin I should tell you a little about muself. I am not only a cook's wife I am a cook myself. For as I long as I have had a job I have pretty much always been a cook, it all started when I was 15-16 my parents took over a little canteen in the local hockey rink, if that isn't a truly Canadian past time I don't know what is. So for about a year and a half I worked evenings and weekends full time during holidays and school breaks as a short order cook, preparing burgers and fries and soup of the day for the local hockey players and there faithful followers. I even tried a little stint as being a hockey player myself, trust me when I say I was better cook than athlete. Like I said my parents only ran the canteen for only about a year and half but it was enough time for me to realize that I truly enjoyed what I was doing, I loved the weekends when there was usually some type of tournament going on and you where busy and just run ragged all day long, for many reasons it made the day fly by plus you got to intereact with all kinds of people and what better people for a 15 year old girl to interact with than bunch of teenage hockey playing boys. haha

Anyway after my stint at the hockey rink which lead me right up to graduation it was time to find another job. I tried doing a few other things working on a potatoe harvester, making christmas wreaths the type of jobs to make a couple of quick bucks but not exactly a career move. I wasn't quite ready to go to college yet, hell I didn't know what I even wanted to do for a living so I did what every 17 year old did right out of high school with no experience goes to do, McDonald s. I worked there for the next year and a half to two years working my way up from bun toaster to the fryer to grill to sandwich maker to the primo of all McDonalds positions wanted by every employee the expediter. Oh how proud I was of myself that very first day standing at the head of the line telling everyone else what needed to be done. After about a year of working there I decided I needed to go back to school, don't get me wrong it wasn't a horrible job but not the a career move I was looking for so I went to part time and went to school to take business administration. This went well for a while but getting to work and back every day became a pain in my ass and so I qite the golden arches and went to working a t a pizza joint, yes thats' right yet another kitchen.