Sunday, March 17, 2024

The Passion Fruit Experiment

A few weeks ago, I wrote about my first experience with a Dragon Fruit.  I decided to try other “exotic” foods.  This time I bought two passion fruits.

Preparation was the same as with the Dragon Fruit.  After washing it, I just cut it in half lengthwise.  The hull was very resilient – somewhat like leathery cardboard.  Once it was halved, I scooped out the interior with a metal teaspoon and ate it.

Crunchy tart seeds dominated the sweet pulp and juice.  Some reviewers recommend adding sugar, but I did not feel it was necessary.

I didn’t experience any allergic reaction whatsoever.  Nor did my digestion rebel at all.

These are small and priced by the piece rather than weight.  So I got very little fruit for the money.

The next exotic fruit will be Star Fruit.



Left: Whole; Center: Sliced in Half; Right: After Scooping


Monday, February 26, 2024

Wednesday Weigh-In 20240226

My goal is to keep my weight below 170lb. I've got blueberries and grapes to snack on. And I plan to immerse myself in other activity besides eating. I have only one pair of larger pants, so I especially need to keep my waist from growing. But lately I get bloated even when I drink water -- must be some sort of mild intestinal bug.

Waist = 40.25"
Height = 5' 7"

References:
  1. Wikipedia BMI page
  2. Balance Body Composition Bath Scale
  3. Javascript must be enabled to view the data.

Sunday, February 25, 2024

The Dragon Fruit Experiment

In honor of the Year of the Dragon, I’ve finally decided to try a Dragon Fruit.

It was simple to prepare.  After washing it, I just cut it in half lengthwise.  Then I scooped out the fleshy interior with a metal teaspoon and ate it.

Dragon Fruit on cutting board:  Left, whole fruit; Center, two halves after cutting lengthwise; Right, one half with teaspoon scoop

The taste was unremarkable and not unpleasant, neither sweet nor tart.  But the texture was nice, with plenty of juice and little bits of gentle crunch from the black pips that were smaller than chia seeds.

I didn’t experience any allergic reaction, which I was prepared for.  I read that some folks compare its taste and texture to kiwi fruit, which can provoke severe allergy1.  I do react slightly to peaches and mangoes, so I had my inhaler ready.  There was just a mild laxative effect; at my age that’s more of a benefit.

My fruit preference includes apples, pears, blueberries, grapes and pomegranate.

Mostly I eat apples, which seem to be ripe when I buy them and stay edible for a week or more.

Pears on the other hand, cannot be eaten right away and need to ripen.

Pomegranate require more work to open, and they’re messy, but otherwise great.

Flavor-wise, blueberries and grapes are marvelous.  But I’m a fanatic about washing produce.  I prefer to use a soapy nylon brush and scrub an item vigorously; merely rinsing things off won’t deal with germs or other residue.

I can buy a few apples for the cost of one Dragon Fruit, so apples will remain my go-to fruit for now.

Have you tried an unusual food item recently?  How did you like it?


1See for example: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15248859/

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Wednesday Weigh-In 20231213

My wife and I mailed out our Christmas / Holiday cards already. There were about fifty this year. I usually start right after Thanksgiving.

In previous years, I've ordered photo cards, which lately featured our cats. But this year, my wife and I bought printed cards.

Waist = 39"
Height = 5' 7"

References:
  1. Wikipedia BMI page
  2. Balance Body Composition Bath Scale
  3. Javascript must be enabled to view the data.

Thursday, November 30, 2023

Wednesday Weigh-In 20231130

We have only one more serving of Thanksgiving food left over. I'm dissappointed by how my weight, percent body fat and waist size are increasing. But it's understadable given how many sweets I eat after supper. For example, I'll eat several handfuls of milk chocolate baking chips after supper. I wonder, is this the effect of the Effexor?

Waist = 38.25"
Height = 5' 7"

References:
  1. Wikipedia BMI page
  2. Balance Body Composition Bath Scale
  3. Javascript must be enabled to view the data.

Thursday, November 23, 2023

Thanksgiving 2023

Today’s Thanksgiving went better than I expected. I’m glad I headed out to the grocery stores last night at 6pm. I hesitated to travel at first because I assumed that nearly everyone would be out getting food. But no, the roads and stores were not at all crowded; they were much worse at 3:30pm.

I did shop the prior weekend to stock up on vegetables. But I deferred buying the turkey thighs because I figured they’d not last until today.

The regular supermarket had no turkey thighs; the butcher said they didn't get many turkey parts this year.  Fortunately Whole Foods was well stocked with a variety of turkey parts in vacuum-sealed bags.  And when I got home, I went to work on peeling and cubing turnips, then cooking and mashing them.

My idea was to arrange a bunch of vegetables in a well-oiled cast iron pan and place the turkey thighs on top. And then I'd roast everything all at once. Indeed, there’s even a recipe online that describes it.1

I included fresh beets (red and golden), parsnips, carrots, Brussel sprouts, garlic, pearl onions (which were a bitch to peel), fennel bulb, plum tomatoes and apples. I placed sprigs of fresh rosemary, sage and thyme on top.

To season the turkey, I poured Kosher salt into a dish and then added fresh cracked black pepper, which is the base seasoning recommended by another recipe.2 I blotted each thigh dry with paper towels and then dredged it in the salt pepper mix. Then I placed them on top of the vegetables, skin side up.

I used a pre-heated oven temperature of 375 F and a time of 60 minutes, which worked perfectly. The thighs tested out at 171 F, but they weren’t yet shrunken down and dried out. I turned off the oven and used tongs to remove the turkey so they could rest in a plate at room temperature.  Meanwhile I stirred the vegetables and kept them in the oven – the parsnips seemed just a bit hard.

The aroma during roasting and the eventual taste were wonderful – the meal surpassed my wildest expectations! I hate Brussel sprouts but I included them because every meal should have something bitter to interrupt the tendency to be glutenous. But even they turned out scrumptious because, by design, they soaked up the fat from the turkey.

Aside from the store-bought pecan and pumpkin pies and the butter in the turnips, the meal was totally low carb and paleo.

Thursday, November 16, 2023

Wednesday Weigh-In 20231116

My appetite for sweets overtakes me in the evening after supper. My favorite is the Jumbo Milk Chocolate Baking Chips from Whole Foods. It's great chocolate, but reasonably priced.

Waist = 37.5"
Height = 5' 7"

References:
  1. Wikipedia BMI page
  2. Balance Body Composition Bath Scale
  3. Javascript must be enabled to view the data.