Jetgirly's Profile
Authentic Greek Yogurt
I would like to express my newfound love of PC Blue Label Greek Yogurt ummmm... "ice cream bars"? The honey flavor is awesome. It's not authentic Greek yogurt, and it's not authentic ice cream, but it's SO GOOD.
Italian markets CALGARY
I disagree that the Italian Market is friendly to everyone. After I moved to Calgary- FROM ITALY- I went to the store to buy some things I was missing. I waited patiently at the counter for service as both employees working there engaged in a long personal conversation with two Italian customers. As I'd just moved to Calgary FROM ITALY I understood every word of their personal conversation. I caught the eye of one of the chatting employees, smiled and asked, apologetically, for service. I was ignored and the personal conversation continued. I was a little miffed as I'd been listening to their conversation for at least five minutes, so I asked again in Italian. They looked shocked and helped me right away. As long as they thought they could keep up the charade of helping another customer, they were happy not to help me. As soon as they realized I knew they were just chatting, they offered to help. I don't call that friendly.
calorie counter
I am a member of SparkPeople. I've been tracking my food there for years. In the process I've gone from a BMI of 26.1 to 20.9 while also going from being able to do eight girly knee push-ups to twenty legit man push-ups. I found tracking my food there made me want to eat healthier (in particular, I realized how little protein I was getting and made big changes in that area, as I'm a vegetarian) and then once I started eating well I had a lot more energy for exercise. You do have to register but I really think it's worth it. They also have an app for your iPhone so that you can track your calories when you're out and about.
More importantly, in response to your question, there is also a recipe calculator that you can link to your daily food profile. You don't need to register to use the calculator- it's at http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/home.asp (look for the "Recipe Calculator" link at the top). However, if you want to "save" the information from your recipe you will need to register. Same username and password as SparkPeople. I've got HUNDREDS of recipes that I've stored over the years- everything from "Acorn Squash, Apple and Lentil Salad" to "Zuppa Toscana - Vegetarian Version"! (Really!)
Resources for a potential vegetarian
I have an account on SparkPeople.com where I track my daily nutrition. I enter the food I eat and it shows me the carb-fat-protein breakdown, as well as how I've done on the vitamins and minerals (calcium, iron and the B-vitamins are big things to watch for when you stop eating meat). When I cook a complicated recipe I enter it into SparkRecipes.com's Recipe Calculator and it carries the nutrition information over to my daily tracker. I've been doing this for years so I have a really good sense of what foods will give me the things I need, but I would highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in their health. Once you're tracking your food intake you can find recipes anywhere. I look at sites like Food52 and FoodGawker, which you can filter by vegetarian or vegan recipes, as well as sites like 101 Cookbooks, The Kitchn, Green Kitchen Stores, PPK etc., and when I find a recipe I like I just find a way to make it fit my nutritional needs within my overall day. It's not about a specific cookbook... I go to the public library and sign out a few different cookbooks each week, rifle through them, maybe find something that I want to try or modify, and then return them. It's free!
Vegetarian and Vegan Cookbooks
The Rebar Modern Food Cookbook!
Painted Desert Salad! (Leafy greens, roasted red peppers, aged cheddar, avocado and pine nuts with smoky chipotle vinaigrette!) Bombay Roll-Up (filled with cashew-ginger hummus and tomato-ginger chutney)! Every single recipe is SO GOOD. I have been cooking from it for years, and gifting it for years, and everyone loves it!
Massaman Curry
I am NOT a massaman connaisseuse, but I couldn't complain about the one I had at Rose Garden Thai...
Cold Sparkling Water
Nope, definitely not common here in Alberta, Canada. It's one of my fave things about traveling in Europe and Latin America.
New Pizza Place Coming to NW Calgary/Royal Oak
Looks promising- lots of vegetarian options AND sugary cocktails served in buckets!
Restaurant Secret Shopping
I secret shop a few different chains (in Canada). I prefer to eat at independent restaurants but many of my friends (especially those from small towns or who have lived in suburbia forever!) prefer to eat at chain restaurants, so secret shopping is one way I can join them for a meal without having to pay for anything. I don't make any profit from it, but I don't usually lose more than five bucks in the end, so it's fine with me.
One thing that I find frustrating is that I am obviously significantly more intelligent than the people working at the secret shopping company. The questionnaires that I have to fill out are full of mistakes and many of the questions don't make sense. Sometimes there are multiple-choice questions where none of the options reflect my experience, and there isn't an "other" option where I could write and explain what happened. So I just choose the answer least likely to make them contact me for follow-up. That's their problem; not mine.
Calgary Groupons: Anyone use them?
I just got a refund on my Spoon Me Living Social voucher, as they're out of business. I think the deadline is coming up if anyone else has one...
POLL: Can you walk to an actual grocery store?
The path goes through a wooded area with a few resident coyote families. They're pretty habituated to suburban life and aren't especially afraid of people. I don't like encountering them during the day, much less in total darkness.
Best Bagged Tea Brands?
I drink ten or more cups of tea every day. I have an entire drawer of tea in my desk at work! Things I buy again and again:
- Lipton Green Tea with Honey, Lemon and Ginseng. I brew it until it's really bitter and l-o-v-e it.
- Lipton Vanilla Earl Grey. With milk and sugar, and cookies dunked in. Requires self-restraint.
- Revolution Acai Green Tea (again, brewed to bitterness)
- Twinings Blackcurrant, Ginseng and Vanilla (herbal- I became addicted to this during an extreme elimination diet when it was my only source of "sweet" flavor)
- Lipton Superfruit Green Tea with blackcurrant and vanilla (captures a bit of blackcurrant and vanilla flavor without what I'd describe as the hibiscus notes of the Twinings... it's a green tea, so brewed strong!)
- I don't mind Starbuck's Tazo tea in China Green Tip... again, overbrewed.
- And it's noted above, but when I'm sick I like Celestial Seasoning's Honey, Vanilla and Chamomile tea too.
POLL: Can you walk to an actual grocery store?
I'm in the suburbs of Calgary, Canada. There are no apartment buildings in my neighborhood, though some condo and house owners rent out their units.
I'm 500 meters from a health food store where I can buy organic, expensive versions of the products mentioned above, and most other groceries. It's a flat, easy walk on a sidewalk.
I'm one kilometer from two major supermarkets. I can walk there on designed pedestrian paths that are not beside the main roads. The walk back does have a significant uphill section and it is not safe at night due to wildlife (the path is unlit).
I typically piggyback my grocery shopping with other errands that require a car, but when the snow isn't knee-deep (or deeper!) I can and do walk to the grocery stores.
Vegetarian or vegetarian-friendly restaurants in Calgary
Agreed! I forgot about Cafe Koi; they have a five-spice tofu bowl (I think?) that I've always enjoyed. I tried Blink recently for The Big Taste and really liked their vegetarian choices (endive-based salad, gnocchi) too.
Vegetarian or vegetarian-friendly restaurants in Calgary
As a vegetarian, I personally hate The Coup and strongly dislike Gratitude Cafe. Calgary has lots of great restaurants that have vegetarian dishes on the menu. Aida's is a Lebanese restaurant on 4th Street that has a few different vegetarian options, including a vegetarian platter that is awesome. Don't miss their mouhammara! It's very affordable but always packed, so make a reservation. Just down the block at Mercato you can piece together a great vegetarian meal with a pasta and few of their vegetable sides; the food is great but it's on the more expensive side. Again, reserve. Just across the 10th Street Bridge in Kensington there are a number of other good choices. Marathon Ethiopian has a vegetarian platter, Vero Bistro Moderne always has a good vegetarian entree and a starter or two and Pulcinella has good Neopolitan-style pizzas. Anju, just on the west end of the downtown core, is a Korean-fusion place where you can also piece together a good vegetarian meal. They advertise "Canada's best yam fries" but I prefer their more Korean-inspired dishes. For pub food I was surprised by the options at The Belfry- they have good salads, a veggie pizza and a roasted vegetable sandwich.
Croatian food/grocer
Romanian food is my FAVORITE! You have no idea how excited I am to learn about Maria's Market! Multumesc!
Dogs in Restaurants
I think your use of the word "Europe" is a little broad. I lived in Italy for two years and didn't see dogs inside any restaurants- just beside their owners on the occasional outdoor patio. Same for my four months in Barcelona. I spent seven weeks in Romania and Moldova in 2010 and didn't see any dogs in restaurants there either.
Home cooks + professionals -- anyone have problems with dry hands?
Something that has changed my life is Gloves in a Bottle (website of the same name). You buy it in art supply stores, and it creates some kind of "shield" that prevents moisture from being lost in the first place. My hands used to get so dry that my knuckles would crack and bleed every day from November to March, but I haven't had a single crack since I discovered this lotion two years ago. I apply a little bit most mornings, and sometimes a little bit before bed, and that seems to be all I need. The smallest bottle size lasts me an entire winter.
At Titanic Themed Dinner Club - Bad Taste?
In my group of friends, the worse the taste, the more enjoyable the evening. But obviously you know your own friends best!
Diet Websites - Counters
SparkPeople.com is amazing. I've tracked every bite I've eaten for more than a year and learned a lot about my eating habits. I cook very complicated meals and use the sister SparkRecipes.com site to calculate the nutritional information for my meals (for example, I made Ottolenghi's saffron roasted cauliflower this week, and served it with homemade roasted red pepper hummus and pita bread- and I was able to get the nutritional information for the whole thing in less than three minutes). Before SparkPeople I was eating a vegetarian diet with only about thirty grams of protein each day; now that I'm aware of my consumption I consistently eat 60-90 grams every day, and I get them from natural, meat-free sources. Actually seeing my daily calorie differential also took me from the low end of the "overweight" BMI range to the low end of the "healthy" range- and down to a size zero pants. Plus, the fitness tracker is majorly motivating (to me)... when I was overweight I could do eight girly knee push-ups, today I'm tiny but I can easily do twenty full-body push-ups (I might be able to do more, I haven't actually tried!).
I don't want to share my dessert!
From now on, I am starting all friendly conversations with, "Oh, friend..."
Wasted Food - How to Stop This Horrible Habit
I've dramatically reduced my food waste, and my weight, by planning out a week's worth of meals, shopping and prepping on the weekend. Yesterday I made a big batch of vegetarian moussaka and prepped a bunch of vegetables for stir-frying through the week. I also cooked whole-wheat couscous to serve with the stir-fry. And, I washed raspberries and froze them for use in smoothies later. During the meal planning phase I looked at what I had on hand that I wanted to use up (the whole-wheat couscous, a bunch of carrots, canned chickpeas... the first and the last being things I'd stocked up on when they were on sale), chose recipes that would use those ingredients, and then only bought the things I needed to complete the recipes. The raspberries were a sale buy, but they're now safely in the freezer. I didn't need to buy snack food- when yogurt was on sale last week I put two containers in my fridge at work for snacking, and when I'm home I can "snack" on stuff I have anyways, like bread (straight out of the freezer) toasted with natural peanut butter.
I definitely don't do it all the time (I get too excited about new recipes), but every now and then planning your meals with the purposeful goal of using up some of the non-perishables you've collected over the past few weeks or months is really helpful.
What IS this food everyone is reportedly wasting?
I'm a compulsive meal-planner and typically buy only the food I need to prepare the meals I've got planned. However, sometimes I end up throwing out produce (especially salad greens- the exact amount I can eat before it expires is mid-way between the smallish bags and the largeish boxes). Sometimes dairy goes bad as well as I typically only use it in cooking and the container sizes don't always match up with the needs of my recipe.
Sandwiches at home - no cold cuts
I looooove roasted vegetables on sandwiches. Zucchini, red pepper, eggplant and red onions are my favorites, especially on bread that is slathered with pesto and has just a little bit of cheese. You can also do any variation of hummus (or, "bean spread"). Make one from black beans and put it on bread spread with salsa, tomatoes, red onion, avocado and topped with monterey jack cheese. Try an Indian-inspired one on bread with tomato-ginger chutney, spinach, red onions and grated carrots. (Recipes here: http://www.mvegetarianrecipes.ca/recipes/mains/cashew-chickpea-hummus-wraps-with-tomato-ginger-chutney). An Italian-ish white bean version would be good with my roasted veggies and pesto. I will also scramble an egg and cook it so it's omelette-like, and then add it to just about any sandwich to make "breakfast".
Diners, Drive-ins, Dives, and Disgusting
I had a grand plan to eat this on my birthday AND I lost thirty pounds! But now I can't actually be bothered to procure all of the ingredients (my birthday is on Monday and three days later I'm going abroad for two weeks, so I don't want to be buying stuff like cheese). Alas. Maybe when I turn thirty. Or am officially categorized as "underweight". (Joking.)
And the award for the worst food at a Christmas party goes to....
A couple years ago we had a Christmas staff party at a restaurant that does a lot of that sort of thing. We're "civil servants" so we had to pay for the event ourselves. I asked in advance whether they could accommodate my vegetarian diet, and the restaurant said yes. The cost of the meal was $40 per person, and my meal ended up being three pieces of spinach ravioli. No vegetarian appetizers were served (not even a basket of bread!), there was not soup or salad, and my plate had three pieces of ravioli... I wouldn't be surprised to learn they were from Costco or something.
I haven't bothered attending a Christmas party since. I see my colleagues at work every day anyways, and I'd rather take forty bucks and have a fun night out- complete with food I can actually eat- with friends.
Grocery Stores around the world-quirks?
I'm from Canada, where you bring your produce to the cashier and they weigh it at the register. When I moved to Europe and did my first big shop at an Italian Carrefour I totally held up the line by not having pre-weighed and stickered my fruits and veggies at the scale located in the produce section. Oooops! A few years later I got my wrists slapped at a Romanian supermarket for weighing and stickering my own produce in the produce section... apparently I was supposed to stand around near the scale in the produce section until an employee bothered to show up and weigh them for me?
You're alone in a strange place...
The closest I've come to doing this is finding myself in the entryway of a packed restaurant and asking another single diner if they'd like to share a table. I feel bad when two single diners take up two tables in an otherwise-packed restaurant. I wouldn't mind if the other person said no, but everyone has always accepted my offer. I've met some nice, and strange, people this way!
Need Help ASAP! Mid-Spinach Roll Emergency
Another thought.
Could I make a multi-colored roll? What if I divided the egg mixture into three bowls, and stirred spinach into one, and then two differently-colored vegetables into the other? And then when I poured the batter into the tray, I tried to get the different colors to combine without getting mixed? What other vegetables could I use? I'm thinking maybe roasted red and yellow peppers, to make red and yellow "batter"? Would that work? What else might?
