Food for Thought for Friday -- Fat Free in New York 2

This was one I hadn't planned and we came across it as we walked back from The Metropolitan Musuem of Art.  Time was of the essence because our friends had a train to catch. Bad idea!

Nino's Tuscany Steak House

117 W 58th St, New York, NY 10019, United States

It wasn't the food so much as the attitude. I need a low fat option because of a medical condition but I was with friends who didn't..... I asked for a suggestion from the menu and rather dismissively the waiter said, 'Steamed chicken' (which is NOT on the menu) -- like what are you doing here if you can't eat!?

Then after explaining at length what I required, they brought my salad smothered in OLIVE OIL. 

I said, 'Erm this salad has oil on it,' at which point I expected the salad would be immediately replaced and without question -- maybe even an apology?? 

Instead the waiter said, 'But it's good oil -- olive oil.'

CLUNK!

You know the bit about the customer being right? Where'd that go? Another Italian place we went to later in our trip could not have been more helpful.

I ended up eating the soup and the grilled steak but no salad or vegetables and no dessert. Maybe I could have been more insistant, but there seemed to be some part of 'no' and 'fat' that didn't translate well at this restaurant and I have to say the others in my party were not that impressed either! 

NOW THE GOOD NEWS

I recommend LATANZZI's instead! I explained what I needed and they provided a delicious bean soup, lean grilled steak and steamed vegetables which were perfectly done! And their selection of sorbets (I chose peach) made a perfect end to the meal. My husband had the mushroom ravioli which was wonderful (I tried a wee bit!) The wine was good, the pre-theatre service efficient and polite and the ambience just right. I even had an impromtu conversation with a lovely woman from New Jersey called Jeri :) -- who'd had gall stones! She tells me this is the restaurant they always go to for pre-theatre and it's always excellent. So don't just take my word for it!


It was Noel's 60th Birthday and a good place to celebrate it!

Food for Thought for Friday -- Fat Free in New York

Impossible they said!!! You're going to starve :) 

Easy they said!!! You can get anything in NYC.

Clearly I didn't starve.

 

So how did I fare?

Much as I expected, it proved crucial to do some research. I trawled through the web looking at Menus before we left and even booked a couple of places where I knew they would have something to suit me. But BREAKFAST comes first every day and had I known when we booked the hotel that I would have dietary restriction, we would not have chosen to pay in advance. 

The cafe at our hotel didn't have a buffet and a buffet would have suited me better. In addition they had a set menu if you paid in advance and that menu was very unsuited to my needs. Also the cafe is a franchise attached to the hotel and so the hotel really couldn't help -- it was up to the cafe manager and in fact the WAITRESSES -- because each morning we had a different server. On ONE morning, being a younger member of staff, she decided to ask the manager whether to charge extra since I was not taking the set option. The manager of course said yes! Well -- he would. None of the other waitresses asked him. They just brought me the porridge and the fruit salad I asked for with skimmed milk and that was that. 

The set breakfast if you could eat it was more than adequate and the bacon was crisply grilled and the eggs and potatoes  fried in low cholesterol oil -- but of course I couldn't risk that. For me there is no good oil!  But even Noel said he wouldn't pre-pay again because what you lost was choice. He had to pay an extra small charge every morning just to have a latte instead of an americano.

The fact is that if you are in NY there are lots of places to get breakfast but The Park Cafe on 7th is a good one. Good food at any time of day really. In fact we even ate there one evening -- after our walking tour we were so tired we just 'stayed home' ;) I had soup and chicken breast and vegetables. Noel enjoyed his meal too and they had a decent selection of wines.

So thanks to all the waitresses who got me my oatmeal and fruit without question and made it a good start to a hectic New York day. :) 

More NY eateries to follow in the next few weeks.

Food for Thought for Friday -- HAPPY BIRTHDAY

follow this link

TODAY
and every day

EVERY DAY POETS 

has now been putting out a 

Poem a Day 

FREE

for 

FIVE YEARS

and I would like to thank and congratulate 

all our staff  

Past and Present 

for that magnificent achievement.

Food For Thought For Friday -- Low Fat Bread & noButter Pudding

Gall stones are not fun. In fact they are damned painful. And I have six of them. But as soon as I found out this fact – several weeks back -- I put myself on a very low fat diet because gall is produced as a response to fat and if you give the gall bladder nothing to do, you can be relatively – in my case entirely – pain free.

Now this entails cutting from the diet some things you might not expect – like most breads and lots of processed food especially processed meats such as sausages and corned beef. But there are some good alternatives. Weight Watchers do a low fat loaf and some French sticks are low fat. But if in doubt, look at the label and if it’s store baked I steer clear just in case. The crumb coating on fish fillets etc varies a lot too. I find some I can eat and others I can’t. Quorn sausages are low in fat and you can get trimmed lean bacon at M&S. Use a light spray oil whenever possible and invest in a good pan. A Slow cooker is a good way to cook as you can use cuts that do not have enough fat to roast, Skirt, Brisket, Shin of beef, Ham, Free range chicken etc.

Baked potatoes are good – just don’t add butter. Light cream cheese and chives, or beans, or tuna and parsley are good fillings and you can mash the flesh with just a little skimmed milk. I also find parmesan very useful because having such a strong flavour, you get a LOT of flavour for just a sprinkling of cheese – so I use that a lot these days with some black pepper and nutmeg on top and it’s great with low fat tomato based pasta sauces.

Sometimes it’s nice to have a treat you love though and so I have developed Bread and noButter Pudding. Whether you have gall stones or you’re just on a diet, here is the recipe.

Oonah’s Bread & noButter Low Fat Pudding

4 – 6 servings

6 slices Weight Watcher or low fat bread (cut into 4)

2 or 3 eating apples thinly sliced (I didn’t bother peeling)

A couple of handfuls of sultanas (or other dried fruit)

Ground cinnamon (I used it in each layer. Could be just on top…)

3 tbs sugar (I used brown)

3 eggs beaten

About half a pint skimmed milk (make the eggs up to 1 pint)

Use a deep casserole dish and rub a very little oil around it just to stop this from sticking. Place apple slices on the bottom and round the side then layer up: bread slices, sultanas, sugar, apple, cinnamon, bread slices sultanas, sugar, apple, cinnamon, bread slices.

Finish with sugar and cinnamon and then pour the eggy milk over and squash down with a fork making sure that all the bread is soaked. It should be quite soggy! Cover and leave to soak for an hour or two or overnight in a fridge.

Preheat oven to 160 and cook for 40 mins until risen and browned.

Serve with low fat icecream or cream or low fat crème fraiche.

Food for Thought For Friday -- Some arguments don't hold WATER

Sometimes I hate being right. But I was right in TRANSPARENCY and PURE RESEARCH and what is going on in the world today with regard to what is a basic human right -- WATER. Those who see water as a commodity are falling over themselves to corner the market in developing countires. Have these people no conscience at all?

Well those stories only were my imaginings based on some little research but look at what is really going on and be very afraid!

Unbelievable! They're giving the "Nobel Prize of Agriculture" to... Monsanto?? http://bit.ly/1aFhYMd  via @Sum_of_Us

and take a look at these links & weep!

http://urbantimes.co/magazine/2013/06/nestle-the-global-search-for-liquid-gold/

http://act.watchdog.net/petitions/3888?share_ref=AYjGXencHW8

If we allow this to go unchallenged, if we do not stop them, we betray our own humanity. How would you like to be told you and your family have no right to WATER? Water should be free as the air we breathe -- but they pollute that too -- and collude in this. It's madness.


MY
Good news this week is that I am going to have story (along with my friend John Ritchie :) ) in the next Anthology TWISTED TALES -- Yippee!
And my series of poems on natural instruments has begun in Bewildering Stories. (5 more to follow)
And my foreword for this issue of The Linnet's Wings is up now!

 

In My Element

                                              2

Thought for Friday -- He didn't have to

A couple of weeks ago we went to Leeds to see Leonard Cohen in Concert. That was our main reason for being there. The original date of this concert had to be changed because of Jewish New Year -- a little oversight by the planners. That cost us an extra night's stay but it was more difficult than than that for people who'd booked flights etc to be there, and I sympathised with them...

What to do... Leonard being Leonard offered a reimbursement so as not to "upset the family budget" as he put it, in Leeds.

I wouldn't take the money -- not from Leonard Cohen. Had it been any other other man, yes. Had it incurred more expense on our part, yes -- but somehow I just couldn't bring myself to complain about an extra night in a hotel and the price of a meal.

This afternoon the post arrived. Inside the envelope a signed programme 

To Oonah and Noel, Thanks for understanding.

I'm going to frame that.

There are things -- many many things -- in this world that are worth more than money and Leonard Cohen writing my name is one of those.

Thanks Leonard -- for being the person you are.