Traveling in Colorado and New Mexico

Ouray, Colorado is a beautiful place. It's an old mining town not too far from Durango and Ridgway but far enough away it's another world. The little town is surrounded entirely by mountains and is nicknamed, the Switzerland of America. We're spending a few days here and then on to Santa Fe for 3 days. We've enjoyed seeing the colors of the Aspen trees, an unreal gold when the sky is blue and the sun is shining. We drove up to Silverjack Lake today and were over 10,000 feet above sea level and the scenery was breathtaking. The wind blowing the leaves off the trees really looks like golden snow. After walking an hour in that altitude a nice relaxing soak in the hot springs fed hot tub was in order. Later we'll have dinner at the Outlaw Restaurant, the oldest restaurant in Ouray (since the 1920's), and celebrate our first date which was 10 years ago today. Normally we go back to the place we went on our first date, Uncle Julio's in Fort Worth, and we have chicken fajitas, just like we did on September 30, 2000.

I hope dinner tonight is better than the last two dinners. We've had some pretty bad food so far on this trip. We stopped at Sophia's in Albuquerque on the way here and although it was featured in Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, it was not very good and kind of dirty. I had some pretty bland huevos rancheros. We were looking forward to dinner at Buen Tiempo in Ouray, a Mexican restaurant we've been to before and had good food. I had some really great chile chowder there last time we were here so I ordered it and the special grilled seafood dinner. The chile chowder was not cooked enough--crunchy vegetables and a raw taste. My seafood was inedible--the tuna was like rubber. Steve's refried beans were a big, dry lump on the plate. They didn't charge me for the seafood dinner, though. We even struck out at breakfast the next day at the Artisan Bakery on Main Street. They were making fresh bread and it looked great, but our order, a breakfast croissant for Steve and a bagel for me were nearly burnt to a crisp. Really. Our best meal was lunch at Katie's Place in Ridgway--homemade Italian wedding soup and fresh turkey panini and roast beef sandwich. Dinner last night at the Thai Paradise was anything but paradise. An overly ornate place with the door open letting in many, many flies. Food was low average and high priced, particularly having to share it with the flies. My favorite place in Ouray so far is Mouse's Chocolates and Coffee. They make all sorts of chocolates, including my favorite, the truffles. Steve's favorite is the "scrap" cookies. They take scraps from the candy making such as truffle pieces, toffee pieces, caramel, dried fruit and nuts and bake cookies filled with the scraps. You never know what scraps you'll get but they are all good. Today I decided to give the Artisan Bakery another chance by ordering a sandwich to take up to our excursion at Silverjack Lake. I figured a sandwich on their fresh bread would be good.

Our $7.00 sandwich, as we discovered later when we got our picnic lunch out, was made of little bitty scraps of turkey, and I mean scraps. Scraps of chocolates were Ok but not scraps of turkey. They fell out of the sandwich as we were trying to eat it. Seriously--what kind of rip off was that? We shook our heads and contemplated writing bad things on trip advisor and yelp. At least Steve had a scrap cookie to cheer him up and I had an organic orange which was really a grapefruit.

So, I have to hope that the food adventure is much better when we get to Santa Fe. I've always had great experiences there so I'm not too worried. I am signed up for a cooking class on chiles at the Santa Fe Cooking School Saturday morning. I know that will be interesting.

Report on dinner at The Outlaw, our last night in Ouray: John Wayne visited this restaurant during the filming of the movie True Grit so it's well known and popular. I had a NY steak and potato. I won't say alot, just that it was pretty tough and the food overall was like your average steak place. Sadly, it was our best dinner in Ouray.

Santa Fe here we come!

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No gluten is no problem

Migas with chorizo

I recently found out my oldest daughter, Helen, should be on a gluten free diet due to some health concerns. My oldest son, Glenn, has also decided to try a gluten free diet to see if it will help his chronic skin problems. As a result I’ve been challenged to have the gluten free option for my son on a daily basis. Helen has also asked me for ideas to help her adapt but still eat tasty, healthy food.
Fortunately, I had experience recently in the gluten free world. I’ve been doing food demonstrations at the Azle Farmers Market all summer and I have tried to provide a gluten free alternative for everything I’ve demonstrated. I didn’t have to, but the founders of the market, Kristoffer and Lisa Rasmussen and their wonderful children all live gluten free. Another market member, Debbie Mears, is also gluten free. I didn’t want them to be left out so whenever I developed a recipe I adapted it for both regular and gluten free eaters. Personally, I don't have a problem with gluten and I have no plans to stop eating products containing it. In fact I purchased 3 loaves of bread at Artisan Baking Company in White Settlement a few days ago and enjoyed slices of Harvest bread with Justin's Organic peanut butter and honey I bought at Azle Farmers Market. The pumpkin bread was fantastic, not too sweet, and more bread than cake.
But, back to gluten free--I am now becoming somewhat skilled at developing menus
and I am happy to report that there have been no complaints. Being a Japanese-American has its advantages here. I grew up in a household where the rice cooker was always on the kitchen counter and used nearly every day. My Japanese mother ate rice for breakfast, not toast and butter.
I still have a rice habit. My kids will tell you they can always open up the freezer and find a bunch of zip loc bags with single servings of Japanese short grain rice. They heat up the rice in the microwave and eat it with everything. Lately I’ve been freezing packets of brown rice as well.
Japanese food is perfect for the gluten free diet. I’ve been making my son obento for his lunches featuring things like oyakodon (chicken , onions, egg on rice), nikudon (beef and vegetables on rice), Japanese fried chicken (uses cornstarch), and other traditional obento items.
In fact, all Asian foods are easy to adapt to the gluten free diet. Thai and Vietnamese food use rice noodles, Korean food uses potato starch noodles, and Chinese food is fine without any gluten products. Indian food is another favorite of mine, and while I do love naan it’s easy to eat hearty lentil and potato dishes and not miss the bread. In addition to Asian food I’m also a big fan of Southwestern food. Huevos rancheros, migas, chile rellenos, enchiladas, and tacos with lots of Hatch green chiles are perfect and can be made with all types of corn products.
I have a lot of recipes on my blog from the farmers market which are either gluten free or can be easily modified. For example, the grilled eggplant sandwich can be made with Udi’s gluten free bread instead of the ciabatta roll. The Japanese Grilled Beef calls for soy sauce but substitute wheat free tamari whenever you see soy sauce.
Here are the dates and recipes on the blog:
June 13: Japanese Grilled Beef with brown rice and vegetable sauté
July 5: Stir Fried Vegetables and Meat, Cucumber Kimchi, Cornmeal cakes, Oven dried tomatoes
July 30: Flash blackened Big Eye Tuna with Cajun spices, Wasabi glaze, rice and steamed vegetables
Aug 11: Eggplant sandwich, edamame hummus with yucca chips
Aug 15: Huevos rancheros
Aug 22: Pear Crisp, chicken yakitori
Aug 31: Roasted corn and green chile dishes, including green chile cheese cornbread

If you crave bread, please try the green chile cheese cornbread. It’s made with cornmeal, goat cheese and chiles and has so much flavor . The goat cheese makes it moist and tangy.
Some of my favorite products to have on hand include:
Wheat free Tamari
Rice vermicelli noodles
Rice flour, white and brown
Cornstarch, potato starch
Corn tortillas
Stone ground cornmeal
Brown rice
Corn
Yukon gold potatoes ( I make 5 minute potato salad by chopping the potatoes, heating in microwave for a couple minutes, cool, add vinegar, oil or mayo and herbs, salt & pepper.)
Sweet potatoes--all types including garnet, Japanese, and Okinawan

I also have lots of organic vegetables, fruit, and fish, shrimp and other proteins including tofu on hand.

For the Migas pictured above:

I used 6 corn tortillas, brushed lightly with vegetable oil and fried until crispy. I cut them into strips and set them aside.
1/2 T vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 bell pepper, red or green, diced
1/2 cup Hatch chiles, (roasted, peeled, seeded, and diced) or use Poblano
1-2 jalapenos, diced
1 tomato, diced
6 ounces chorizo, bulk breakfast sausage, or veggie sausage crumbles, cooked and drained
6 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup grated cheese, any type including Monterey Jack, cheddar, goat
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Heat pan and add vegetable oil. Saute garlic, onions and pepper until softened. Add tomato and cooked meat and heat through. Add beaten eggs and tortilla strips and cook until eggs are scrambled but still very moist. Sprinkle cheese. Serve with scallions and cilantro.

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Food should be a “10”

It’s not easy to lose weight when you’re obsessed with food but I have found something that seems to be working for me. I came across a plan in which you eat healthy 5 days a week and then allow yourself to have 2 “treat meals”, one on the 6th day, and the other on the 7th day. It’s one meal, not a full day of bingeing , OK. The meal should be no more than 1,000-1,500 calories. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? The plan also recommends a lot of exercise, which I was already doing but getting nowhere. I guess my 45 minutes on the treadmill was just not enough to get things going so the advise to try intervals seems to be working. Now I do 20 minutes but combine high incline, fast jogging, and slower walking in 5 minutes sets, 4 times. I do this right when I get home from work and on the days when I go to the gym, after my hour, yes hour, of weight training with my personal trainer, Sandra Kidd. I work out with her 2 days a week and she is the best trainer ever. She is so worth anything it costs to keep seeing her. When I first went to her in mid June of this year I was hopeless. I had recently looked in the mirror and was alarmed when I saw my arm fat moving as I brushed my teeth. My arms were always well toned. What the heck? Now after only 3 months my arms are quite toned and display worthy in sleeveless clothes. The biggest surprise was what happened to my legs. All those hard lunges and lifts have resulted in some athletic legs I don’t recognize. But back to the weight, even with 3 days of weight lifting, and 4-5 days of treadmill walking my weight was not budging. So, what could it hurt to eat a little different and change the routine. The first thing I had to do was follow the five days of healthy eating to earn the treat meals. Like I said, I’m obsessed with food so I have to look forward to something and this is perfect. I can still cook some gourmet meals on the weekend and enjoy them.
But, this is the big but, I have to eat right for 5 straight days. So, basically I eat what I always intended to eat but never actually did. I won’t bore you with all the details but you know the usual stuff—whole grains, but only 2 servings a day, fruits, vegetables, lean protein, little bit of fat. Main thing is I don’t eat sugar, white flour, “mindless” snacks, desserts, mindless bits of food when I’m cooking, oh and the handfuls of cayenne cashews I love to buy at Central Market.
I was, as you can imagine, looking forward to having the “treat meal” on Saturday. I was craving fried catfish so we went to the Flying Fish. I think I’m going to write a restaurant review on it later, but in a few words here, some of it was good and some of it downright bad. I did enjoy the fish and a few French fries. I brought along cookies to eat for dessert to eat in the movies. These were not ordinary cookies but Gwin Grime’s from Artisan bakery. That was the best part of the meal, actually.
The next day I had the “treat meal” at lunch, a potluck at the Fort Worth Japanese Society. I brought mabo dofu (spicy tofu with beef), rice, and cheesecake with chocolate ganache. I tried several dishes , including mine, and a couple bites of dessert.
The result after a week is a loss of 2 pounds. Not bad at all, considering I was losing absolutely nothing before. Here’s my food related observation: Following the plan for 5 days is hard! I was used to having a Dole’s fruit bar at night and those Belgian Chocolate chips, and a serving of rice even if I had already had a couple other grain servings that day. Going to bed hungry is different.
Treat meals are great but I realized I don’t have to have the full 1,500 calories! That is more like a treat binge than a meal. I will not stuff myself next weekend. Wait—I am going to the State Fair, so I take that back. I will only stuff myself the day of the State Fair, but no other treat meal.
I also realize that if I’m going to have only two of these meals a week they better be good. I am not going to waste a treat meal on mediocre food. Hmmm, that eliminates most restaurants and potlucks. After yesterday’s “treat” lunch I felt kind of bad. I ate a bunch of different foods but none of them were particularly tasty and all of them seemed to be loaded with soy sauce. I felt sluggish and water-retention puffy for hours and hours and it was so not worth it.
We’ll see what happens next week. I have several food related events including a group dinner out with friends Friday night to a place I’ve never been, Saturday at the Azle Farmers Market to demonstrate cooking with sweet potatoes, and then the State Fair of Texas on Sunday if the weather is OK. But one thing is for sure, if the food is not a 10 I won’t bother to eat it.

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The fat chef

This is depressing me. I love to cook, eat at restaurants, watch food tv, read cookbooks, and think about eating and I have a problem. If I see something on a tv show that look delicious I immediately want to make it even if it's not something I would normally include in my diet--buttermilk pie, for example. Or a magazine article in Bon Appetit with a photo of "crack pie", a oatmeal cookie crust cream and butter pie--all sugar, fat, and calories, makes me whip one up to bring to a friend at work who is recovering from surgery. Of course, the next day I make one for a family birthday party and eat a big piece. It's called crack pie because one bite and you can't stop eating it, and trust me it's true. Even fried dishes tempt me, although I would not be inclined to order deep fried food (except at the State Fair of Texas maybe). I saw Anne Burrell making fish and chips once and immediately wanted to make them. I didn't, but I wrote "fish and chips" on my things to make when I'm splurging list. Trouble is, I seem to always be splurging on something and the "healthy" eating I plan to do never lasts long enough. I set out to lose about 30 pounds back in June on my 50 something birthday and even started going to a personal trainer, the lovely Sandra Kidd, who at 53 looks 33, and is very intense about what she does. I meet with her twice and week and she works me hard. My legs and arms look very toned, better than in a very long time in fact. But, my waistline and weight are the same, pretty much. Seems that I will have to really work at this or nothing will happen. Time to get serious with healthy eating or I will not be able to fit into my khaki uniform in October when I go away for a week long conference. Sabotage is always around the corner for me. There's the birthday dinner on September 11, after I spend the day before judging ribs and brisket at a BBQ contest.
I'll be making seafood risotto for dinner and tiramisu cheesecake. Hmm, try to resist that.
Then there's the plan to go to the state fair on September 26. Last time I went I had a Fletcher's corn dog when I got there and one right before I left, not to mention all the things I tried in between. The weekend before I leave for the khaki uniform event is the Fredericksburg Wine and Food Festival. My husband is planning lunch at the Alamo Springs Cafe, home of giant, greasy burgers which also happen to be delicious. This is making me more hopeless the more I write. Did I mention that I am having a bahn mi sandwich for dinner tonight?
I spent several hours today going through my piles of cooking notes, favorite recipes I've created, clippings, and such to find my absolute favorites. I filed away all the fried, dessert, and rich sauced recipes for some time when my waistline doesn't matter--maybe age 80?
In the meantime I will only make these healthy dishes and create only things I really should be eating. What's the point of being a great cook when my cooking is depressing me?

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