hot for food

Move over Tim Horton’s! Get lost Krispy Kreme! Ugh the first and only time I ate one of those KK doughnuts I had heart burn for 24 hours and felt so fat I wanted to kill myself. Dramatic I know, but that’s what eating a doughnut can do to me. And I hate it!

The latest trend in treats are fancy, designer doughnuts. The same way cupcakes made a comeback, doughnuts will no longer make us think of truck drivers, cops, white trash, and fat asses. Genius marketing, really! I don’t know of a gourmet doughnut deli in Toronto, but I suppose it’s only a matter of time. They’re popping up everywhere in the United States of America… the land of food!

Glazed Donuts Chicago looks like the best in the biz, because they take gourmet doughnuts many steps further. Not only can you get unique and luxury tastes in a doughnut, but the weekly flavors are all seasonal, and all their doughnuts are 100% certified ORGANIC, made with natural sweeteners like honey and cane sugar, and contain no animal fats. Holy shit, sign me up! Well, sadly, one can only get these by literally signing up for a doughnut subscription and by living in Chicago. I’m probably better off!

To make you drool even more, here’s just a few of their doughnut delights: White Chocolate Lavender, Butternut Squash with Orange, Bing Cherry Balsamic, Pomegranate Thyme and Oatmeal Chocolate Stout. Whew…there’s sooooo many more.

So if I wanted to run a lucrative and cute food business in Toronto, I should start a gourmet doughnut shop! hmmmm….mmmmm. And what the hell… is it DOUGHnut or DOnut?

Today the airwaves were filled with stories about new years resolutions. I hate new years… it’s just another day and we don’t need to make such a big deal about it. But worst of all I hate it because we look at it as a place to start a new, break our bad habits. WHY!?

Especially when it comes to diet and exercise most people never accomplish what they wanted anyway, keeping us in the same self-hating position we’ve been in all along. Yes it’s negative, but mostly true!

I’m not setting any lofty resolutions. My only hope is that in 2010 I can officially eliminate meat from my diet and try to be vegan as often as possible. I have struggled with this dilemma nearly my whole life. I started eating vegetarian when I was 12 years old. Back then I was also  afraid of butter, cream, sugar… FAT! Don’t worry I’ve smartened up a lot since then. But I’ve gone back and forth from omnivore to vegetarian twice since I fell off the wagon when I was 20. I CRAVED chicken! Vegans and vegetarians will say pish posh about that, but I did and I gave in. Anyway, I’ve always been health conscious, maybe overly, and my dilemma to eat meat, dairy, and eggs is an internal battle that plagues me everyday. Mainly because I am a lover of FOOD and to refuse well made food is a crime. I can’t seem to find anyone else with this problem. They’re either an ignorant carnivore or a strict vegetarian or vegan. I’m in the middle… and as I recently heard, I might also be known as a Flexitarian.

No meat, chicken, or fish! I did it for 8 years and I have to be able to do it again… and for the rest of my life… right?! Ugh, I’ll keep you updated on my progress. Anyway here’s my meat free dinner I made tonight. Nothing amazing or new. I made it with chicken a couple months ago as you saw in the entry QUICK MEALS. P.S. I also kind of despise “tofu-meat” …what’s a Flexitarian Foodie to do!

Rosemary Dijon Crusted Tofurkey Sausage with Spinach Sautee

I also have 2 new cook books to help me along the way. One is a vegetarian cookbook with lots of yummy stuff (thank you Mrs. Stanger), but alas, lots of cheese, cream, mayo etc. And the other is Tal Ronnen’s The Conscious Cook. A great book, but I have to admit everything involves a TON of work. Good thing I have nothing else to do everyday!

I have A LOT of meat free days, and I already use Almond and Soy milk religiously. It’s not the vegetarianism that will be the problem but the vegan-ism. Hidden eggs and dairy, and no cheese!  I will challenge myself by making Tal’s secret weapon, Cashew Cream – the dairy substitute he claims will eliminate my need for cheese! ooookaaaaay. Stay tuned.

I’ve always looked at cooking websites or The Food Network site, which is a staple, but not very many cooking blogs. I suppose if I’m going to make Hot for Food a success I better up my game in the photo department. God damn it! Check out bittersweetblog if only for the photos! mmmmm. I’m jealous

Today I checked out Dufferin Grove Farmers’ Market. A year round Organic Farmer’s Market just a bit west of centre – Dufferin & Bloor. I have only shopped at a Farmer’s Market once or twice and living across the street from a Sobey’s got me feeling pretty guilty. I hate GUILT, but I’ve just finished reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma and it just got me thinking – even more than I already do – about eating organic, sustainably, and locally etc. I won’t get into it all here, but I thought I should figure out the closest option for me to buy local, organic.

The market was cute, maybe 15 vendors there today. There are 30 plus in the summer. I bought some seasonal produce for $7 – butternut squash, potatoes, yams, onions, broccoli, and carrots. I used half of this stuff tonight for dinner and it was delicious. The vegetables being noticeably more delicious than the ones I have bought at Sobey’s before.

I want to do this as often as possible and I buy organic in the grocery store as often as possible, but I can’t say I’m strict to these rules all the time. Why? I don’t know. Convenience, price… all the reasons most people don’t go to a Farmers Market or buy 100% organic. I don’t lose sleep over it at night or anything, but tonight maybe I’ll sleep just a little better.

I don’t like the word AMATEUR , but it appears a couple times on this website… this amazing online food blog called HungryNation. TV but on the internet. And in a lot of ways more entertaining and shot better than some network cooking shows. These are amateur cooks… or people just like you and me!

It’s refreshing to watch someone you can relate to. Not someone like Martha Stewart who you will strive your whole life to be like, but never get there, and therefore be disappointed because you’re not insanely perfect… ok sorry, I’ll stop bashing Martha. But with HungryNation and with many of the online food blogs you don’t need to feel intimidated. In fact you will feel empowered to do it too… cook, bake, even blog! I am certainly brand new to this. Not to the internet, but to sharing my “stuff” on it. I’m wordpressing, but not twittering… that’s just unnecessary.

HungryNation has a couple of cool shows, Working Class Foodies and VendrTV and I have no idea how long this internet TV site has been around, but it’s awesome. And I rarely find awesome video blogging. As I’m sure you know, there’s a lot of crappy crap out there.

My goal was to start video blogging on Hot For Food sooner, but I wanted to wait until I moved into my new apartment. Which by the way, is happening tomorrow. So stay tuned. I will have a small, but much nicer looking kitchen to work in and plenty of recipes to dish at you.

Anyway, my point is I really like this website and if for some reason someone stumbles across hot for food before HungryNation I’m just telling you to check them out.

I totally love the magical, fantastical world that is Food Television. I’m pretty sure NO one in real life, myself included, ever looks this good while cooking. Nicely dressed up, make up done, hair perfect… oooh and don’t forget the manicure! That’s the best part. I’ve been known to cook with immaculate nails, however they never maintain themselves after all the food handling and dish washing. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if a teeny tiny chip of nail polish has ended up in something I’ve made.  Gross? Maybe. But no one on a cooking show has to do the dishes… in between their dishes… to make sure they have enough dishes! Get it.

Oh how I envy their industry standard stainless steel pots and pans, especially that double boiler and strainer built INTO the water pot! How much do you dream of having a spice wall in your kitchen? An entire portion of your work area dedicated just to spices! And what I would do to own a KitchenAid Artisan 5 Quart Stand Mixer… black please!

Man, I will probably never own one of those, ever, in life. Alas, me and you have to make due with our 5 x 5 kitchen, with no island, and a cupboard full of pans, utensils, and useless machines made of plastic that typically tumble like an avalanche when we go to get what we need.

Now, I’m not complaining. Hey I do it! I cook my way through each day, make due with what I got, and have become resourceful and creative with what I do have. I still imitate those attractive, enigmatic cooking show hosts like I did when I was 6 and I’ve learned a hell of a lot watching them.

As a kid I spent countless weekends playing “cooking show”. My sister was my assistant, and I was the star of the show! Making incredibly delectable dishes with my Fisher Price plastic food, mixing bowls, utensils, and yes, I even had the whole damn Fisher Price Kitchen. What’s hilarious is that 20 years later, I’m pretty much doing the exact same thing but in a real kitchen with real food, but the scale and scope of my resources is practically the same as when I was 6 years old!

It’s cool. But for someone who loves food and cooking as much as I do, sitting around watching The Food Network imagining what it would be like to cook on a set kitchen is about as destructive as imagining what you would do if you won the lottery. I don’t recommend it. Though my mind still wanders into both fantasies at least once a week.

I am enamored by this Food TV world and even though I may not ever have my mixer or spice wall, I’ll still “play make believe” like I do.