Food for Thought for Friday -- Year of the Horse in the Clouds and the Wood Horse

I was born in 1954 and that makes me a Wood Horse and a Horse in the Clouds. Freedom loving. Highly intelligent (that's just me talkin') Independent. Determined and it has to be said -- a little inflexible when I have my mind made up -- okay -- downright  stubborn!!! When I get the bit between my teeth I turn into a proper hobby horse. On the other hand since I find it difficult to make my mind up... Well as my mother once told me -- ''you'll never go out of your mind at least -- for you were never in it." 

I don't know whether those are qualities that afflict Horses in the Clouds but in general I am not a big fan of horses -- they're -- horses... I have never felt any connection. In fact I find them a bit creepy somehow. One of my favourite creatures though is the sea horse because they are so enchantingly 'other' and also because the lads have the babies -- an emanently sensible arrangemant in my view -- not that I have any experience in that regard. 

Now, some of my U.S. friend have been known to say, 'Oonah -- you rock!' Okay -- so I might  sway a bit when I've had a couple... I wonder... does that make me a rocking horse? ;) And once somebody remarked that I was the brightest thing in Morpeth (clothes-wise -- I think they meant LOUD) So that would be a horse of a different colour.

A wooden rocking sea horse of a different colour -- that's me.

strictly speaking this is a sea dragon but I think he's awesome and a bit like a cloud himself :)

If you are interested in Feng Shui or other matters pertaining to the year of the horse, this is the link for you :)
Of Feng Shui and other matters

Food? I will be making low fat chicken and stir fried vegetables. Oh yes you can! Just because you are stir frying doesn't mean you have to put a gallon of oil in the wok! Two teaspoonfuls of sunflower oil is plenty. Also don't buy one of those supermarket bags of veggies. Try a mix of your own.

eg: chopped onion, carrot cut into strips, small broccoli florettes, baby corn (or tinned corn) mangetout, button mushrooms and a handful of cashew nuts. You can use pretty much any combination of vegetables you want. I like to add a can of bamboo shoots :) And don't forget the triumvirate of stir fry -- garlic, chili and ginger! Just put that lot in the very hot oils and stir about a bit. Add some soy sauce and bingo!

And if you have any left over it makes a very nice omelette the next day (thanks to Nathan Rosen for that tip).

Same goes for the chicken. You can spray it with oil, cook in in a hot oven and then heat it through in a sauce.  I have a packet of lemon sauce at the ready. Easy and low cal Horse sense. 
What ever you do -- Enjoy! And especially to my fellow Horses and Wood Horses (only years ending in 4) 

Happy Year of the Horse

Food for Thought for Friday -- BURN's Night without Haggis

KYLE TARTAN

This Saturday will be a Haggis-free Burn's Night for the first time in 22 years.
Why?
These damned gall stones is why. That in itself might have stopped me -- I mean why spend a night in agony? The added complication of a mild attack ( if there is such a thing) of GOUT this week slipped me a final convincer because the offal content of the pudding is also off the menu.

I have devised a solution... Lamb and barley hotpot with neeps. I cannot as yet post the recipe because I have not yet made it but I am sure it will be delicious and since it will be fat free I can maybe afford to eat a little Cranachan Cheesecake as dessert or failing that I might make a Cranachan Meringue Cake -- also to be invented!

And the dram? :(
Och no ye don't! There is nothing --  NOTHING  coming between me and my Burn's Night Dram! Nice wee drap o' Speyside 19yr malt (carefully hidden for the occasion) never did a bit of harm!:)

I'll let you know how it went next week. In the meantime if you are at all likely to have to a Tartan you will find it HERE

Food for Thought for Friday -- Pear and Beetroot Salad

It's never too early to start on healthy eating so I thought I would share with you this delicious idea for a lunchtime salad or starter.

Serves 2

2 cooked beetroot diced
1 ripe pear diced
1 eating apple diced
3 spring onions diced
half a red pepper diced
10 walnut halves broken
a stick of celery finely chopped
as much crispy lettuce as you want sliced thinly or diced

(it's nice to dice these all different sizes as it adds texture)

1 tbs low fat salad dressing (salad cream) or creme fraiche

Toss and serve.
Good to take in a box to work as it doesn't require refrigeration and can be eaten using only a fork.

JANUARY

 January -- a flower or two left behind

 from last year

 seasonal and not

give promise of seasons yet to come

HAPPY NEW YEAR FOLKS

Fat Free in New York 6 -- QUOTIDIEN yes MUNDANE no

There is a branch of  Le Pain Quotidien situated on the corner of 7th Ave with Central Park. It's got loads of rustic ambience and some lovely food but most of all Artisan breads. We went in for a coffee (well I had tea -- and they had a good choice of teas) :) and went back there after our carriage ride for lunch because the menu looked enticing.

Now the menu didn't exactly fit my perameters for a low fat lunch and the waitress didn't offer any suggestions -- BUT I opted for one of their vegan salads and asked them to bring the dressing on the side and they did that. Glad I didn't have that dressing. It was a lot of oil and seemingly mixed with butter! Anyway the salad was delicious and didn't need the dressing and the bread was seriously gorgeous.

We had one of their almond meringues between us as dessert. It was a huge thing and no cream :) so I was able to eat that fine.

Can't say it's the place to go for Fat free food but I managed and yes -- I would go back. I wouldn't have many choices but with meringues like that who needs 'em...

I was inspired by that to make a meringue cake last weekend when we had guests. I will tell you about that one in the next blog.

But in the meantime I found this wonderful FAT FREE FRUIT CAKE to buy in The Corbridge Larder, Morpeth the other day. I have baked a small cake for Christmas but I wonder whether mine will be as scrumptiously scrumptious as this... Check it out. For now I wish you a

Fat Free in New York 5 -- AU BON PAIN

Au Bon Pain is a chain BUT it's a solid gold chain if you need any kind of nutritional restrictions. They do salads to die for. Add your own dressing -- or not. Really good soups, pastas, sandwiches... All importantly there is information on everything. Nut Free, Gluten free, Low Cholesterol, Suitable for Diabetics -- you name it.

We ate at Au Bon Pain in the INTREPID -- I had a lovely chickpea mediteranean salad and Earl Grey there was so much choice there. Noel had a sandwich and of course a BIG apple.

My advice is if you are looking for a fat free or something-else-free lunch -- look for Au Bon Pain. Of course there's no such thing as a completely FREE lunch but it's good to be able to find what you need -- Stress Free.

On mange bien

Au Bon Pain

Fat-Free in New York 4

 The Bombay Palace 30W 52nd St New York is a find. Lovely decor. Good bar. Polite efficient service. Gorgeous food and relatively well priced for NYC, this was our choice for pre-opera eats. That meant we were a bit strapped for time since this place doesn't open 'til 5:30 but we got a taxi right outside and got to The Lincoln Centre on time.
We both had their delicious mulligatawny. I had chicken tikka and salad with tarka daal and chapatti. Noel had a korma.

We walked there from the hotel. It was farther than we thought... But 52nd st gets pretty gridlocked from about 4pm onwards so we were moving faster than the traffic! We had a drink at the bar while we waited for our table. We found out that the waiter who served us was from Sylhet :) So we got him to sign a takeout menu to bring back to The Tandoor Mahal as a postcard from New York. 

Next time we are going back to this lovely restaurant for a more leisurely meal! You can always trust Sylhet chefs to feed you well. 

The Bombay Palace -- a little bit of home from home