Cooking is Key

Most of my friends don't know how to cook. If there aren't directions on the back of the package they are lost (heaven forbid it doesn't even have a package - fresh produce). Some of them would even be hard pressed to identify ingredients in their raw form.

I count myself lucky in that I can cook. My parents went to great pains to make sure I could. My father recently reminded me, at the time they were teaching me this now treasured skill it was anything but beloved. However, they (my parents) persevered and I learned to love cooking.

Perhaps my friends' parents gave up on teaching them how to cook when it proved to difficult. Perhaps they never tried after seeing how difficult it was with someone else. Or worst of all possibilities... Perhaps my friends' parents did not themselves know how to cook and could not therefore pass down the knowledge. For whatever the reason, there are now whole generations (it seems to me) that simply don't know how to cook! (And we wonder why so many of us are fat!)

Like I said... I count myself lucky. I can cook. My problem is finding the time to do so. I currently work 2 jobs. The theoretical number of hours I work a week is about 50 spaced over all 7 days. (Granted one of these "jobs" is working for a friends and we often skiv off of work and just hang out) I am also part of a club and managed to somehow get involved with time consuming (and fun) group things 2 nights a week. I was considering adding a third night of group stuff until just now (I just realized I would be spending nearly 20 hours with the club!). When you add in exercising (a necessary evil if I'm going to lose the weight), commuting (since the instantaneous transportation devise has not been invented yet), and one evening a week I set aside to spend with my friends I scarcely have time to eat let alone buy and cook food!

However, as Blackadder said... "I have a cunning plan." I am going to cook twice a week and make TV Dinners for the rest of the meals at that time. This calculates out to cooking roughly 10.5 meals every time I step into the kitchen. If you look at the fact that most recipes claim to serve 4 to 5 people then this is not as daunting as it sounds. (Power of positive thinking)

That takes care of me but what of you all? I know that at least one person who reads this (Hi Mona!) is hoping for some tips on what this cooking thing is all about. For you and because I love food and cooking I will try and cover some food selection, preparation and cooking tips as often as I can.

Oh Yeah! And since this is supposed to be a food journal to help me be mindful of what I've eaten... Here's is today's damage:

Breakfast: Ramen with frozen corn and Pot stickers in it, and a Red Bull.

Lunch: Home-made stuffing (thawed from thanksgiving leftovers), 8 chicken nuggets from the local convenience store and a packet of Newman's Own Honey Mustard Dressing.

Dinner: Not yet eaten.

Exercise? Nope. Big snow storm. Won't go out in it to get to the gym.

Today is the First Day of the Rest of your Life

At least that is the saying right?! Well, given the season etc I have decided to embrace the adage. What does the rest of my life hold? Well…Good food and a trimmer waistline. I vow to prove that you don’t have to starve or deprive yourself of delicious food in order to lose weight. This year I will lose 80 pounds and bring myself down from my current BMI of 35.5 to a healthy BMI of 23. This year I will cook up a storm. I will eat and I will love it.

I will, of course, have to deny myself of some things, at least temporarily. I will give up alcohol (after New Year’s Eve). I can’t seem to find reliable data on the calories in Alcoholic drinks except for light beers which frankly shouldn’t be drunk. Far too watered down. Not that I drink beer in the first place.

I am also going to give up that staple of all college student diets…RAMEN. This will likely be more of a hardship than giving up the booze. Ramen is the guilty pleasure I am often too embarrassed to admit. But no more! I admit it!! I eat ramen for breakfast, cooked until it turns into a pudding of sorts, and generally washed down with a can of Red Bull.

How will I live with out my breakfast of champions?! I must find a suitable replacement. I’m thinking that Congee might just provide the right combination of soft, warm, filling and cheap. After all, it has worked for the Chinese as a breakfast staple for as long as there’s been rice.

Many of the diet experts (that post here, there, and everywhere on the web) seem to agree that keeping a journal of your trials in weight loss helps to shed the pounds. Perhaps all the writing exercises one’s fingers? Well, I won’t scoff.

So…Starting weight: 205 (give or take a few pounds).