Random Thoughts

There are several tastes that you get when you prepare a dish. Sweet and sour, hot and spicy are not the only things to do. I was watching food network's All star grilling at south beach last night and something that Tyler Florence (I have a serious crush on this guy;)) did made me go, "Dhuhhh". He added honey to one of the coconut sauces he made and also some extra brown sugar. And then everyone complains as to how we are adding extra calories to our food and then they come up with another show called "low-calorie food".

I guess my point for this entry is this: Just because you have a sour sauce doesn't mean you HAVE to balance it with sugar and just because you are making a spicy sauce doesn't mean you have to have a big Chocolate cake as dessert. Back home in India when I was growing up, we didn't have the concept of having a desert every night after dinner. Sweets and cakes are made for special occasions and even if we did them for everyday use, it was more used as an evening snack instead of having it after 7.30 in the night ( which from what I read and hear is not good).

Let's talk about fruits for a second here. Eat the fruit the way it is. Don't make a fruit salad and add simple syrup to it. The fruit already has sugar in it and you are extra sugar to it. And strawberries can be eaten just the way they are. You do not HAVE to dip them in chocolate all the time. Let's just keep sugar for coffee and tea and chocolate for just once in a while indulgence now, shall we?

If you spend 5 minutes planning the menu, you can save minimum 30 minutes of time you spend in the kitchen and also can come out with a well balanced meal. It could be Indian, Italian, Mexican or Chinese. A cup of cooked brown rice with a side of lentil s with tomato and a beans and broccoli stir fry sounds like a good deal to me and I can promise you won't spend more than 30 minutes in the kitchen ( I am trying really hard not to sound like Rachael Ray here).