Pretty China Makes Breakfast Delicious

If you eat on pretty dishes, the food tastes better. (Try it. It's true!)

Here's a snapshot of my gal pal @chickinslacks and I at breakfast in Passau, Germany last month. I zipped through Europe for a few dates with my Black Americana outfit, lingered with friends for a week or so in Berlin and Bremen and had what can only be described as an adventure of epic proportions.  More on that later.

Find more shots on my Instagram page.

Fun eats whilst on the road: #beautiful #breakfast with @chickinslacks #tour #BlackAmericana #Passau #Germany #globetrotter #travel #travelnoir #travelnoire #webstagram #instalike #instagramhub #webstalike #instagood #foodie #food #foodporn

A photo posted by Queen Esther (@thisisqueenesther) on Oct 1, 2015 at 10:08pm PDT

Foodie/Eat Clean/Eat Local/Farm Share Alert!

Newsflash: If you're in Harlem or Washington Heights, Corbin Hill Food Project's Winter Farm Share 2013 - 2014 is now available! That's right: affordable, farm-fresh, locally grown produce -- and lots of other things like eggs, butter, honey and yes, lamb -- for us uptown dwellers.  For more details, please click here.

Variations on Eating Clean, Part 1 -- Eat Skinny

Now that my winter weight is (slowly but surely) coming off, I've had to find a new way to recommit myself to eating clean from the inside out  -- because somehow, flat out eliminating stuff was so harsh that I have always had a sinking feeling that the extreme tough love approach on my stomach will backfire on me in the worst way imaginable.  The thing is, it hasn't. Outside of the odd moment of weakness here and there, most of the bad things on my list -- like fast food, sodas, junk food, pizza, rice, potatoes, bread and corn, for example -- are gone, anyway.  When I eat badly, I don't feel good. Nothing makes me want to jump back on the wagon faster than falling off of it.

If you think about it, this is the way your grandparents ate. (More on that later.)

I do miss sitting around at home, watching movies and munching on hot popcorn that's slathered with real butter and salt (three things that are an absolute no-no in the eat clean program) -- but corn bloats out and distends my torso horribly and it takes several days for it to go away.  I don't know when that kicked into overdrive. Loved the stuff as a kid. Lived on it in college. Eating it now is unthinkable -- unless I want to walk around looking like I'm 3 months pregnant.

Actually, touring Europe with Blood really caved it all in for me. Lots of cheeses, fresh bread, cured meats and NO exercise for weeks on end. My cholesterol went through the roof. What a mess. I had to fast for a few days to regain my equilibrium and get everything back on track.

When I tripped up over this list created by Oprah's guru, I stopped beating myself up, mostly because I've already made most of this a habit. I don't usually eat breakfast until after 12pm. I keep a Britta bottle in my purse. I usually cook at home.  That sleep thing is tricky, though. Forget that splurge meal. I can't handle it.

Whatever I'm not doing will get dealt with when I'm incapable of chewing anything after my next round of oral surgery that happens in the next week or two. (Yikes.)

Oh, and by the way: Rule 18 is super hard -- but I have to admit, I can see and feel a difference when I wake up in the morning. And it does wonders for my acid reflux.

a happy epiphany

now that eating clean and not eating at night has become the rule in my foodie life and not the exception, it feels odd to not eat that way all the time.  the upshot is, i'm sliding into clothes that didn't fit me last spring, so the weight loss was gradual enough to stick.  maybe it's the change of seasons, but i find myself using clothes to measure the changes in my body instead of the scale. it's much more rewarding, much more satisfying and way more quantifiable than a golden number to hit that somehow "completes" me.

boxing everyday took inches off my frame but i hardly lost any weight. you're gaining muscle, my sparring partner/coach would say, waving me off. you're getting stronger. i was sad because i couldn't fit into my favorite little black dress. now i'm thinking, as long as i can wear all the clothes in my closet -- including that dress, eventually, if i keep this up -- who cares what i weigh.  and of course, all of this is making me very happy that i didn't toss out the vintage clothes that i love, simply because they didn't fit anymore. slowly but surely, i'm getting back into them.

so that's my happy epiphany for the moment. what's yours?

"Is there any more mac and cheese?"

I still feel that French cooking is the most important in the world, one of the few that has rules. If you follow the rules, you can do pretty well. -- Julia Child

Never one to leave an interesting tidbit alone, I dug further into that delicious bowl of macaroni and cheese and found all kinds of yummy factual goodness about its origins. As one story goes, Thomas Jefferson brought back a pasta machine from a lengthy sojourn in Rome. This is why his daughter Martha Randolph -- the hostess of the house after his wife died -- is credited with creating the dish by combining macaroni and parmesan cheese.

That doesn't make any sense to me. Why would Martha Randolph -- or any other white woman with money and status -- even think to toil over a hot stove to "create" anything?  You and I both know that if that was the scenario, she threw that pasta maker at some anonymous slave, they came up with mac and cheese and she put her name on it because it was served at her dinner parties.  The End.

And why do historians continue to openly ignore Sally Hemings and the (at least) six children she had with Thomas Jefferson after his spouse -- her half sister Martha -- passed away? The DNA evidence is irrefutable. What's especially rich is that none of Jefferson's white heirs have ever had to prove that they are related to him. Saying so is enough.

Interestingly, I tripped up over this book -- Thomas Jefferson’s Crème Brûlée: How a Founding Father and His Slave James Hemings Introduced French Cuisine to America, by Thomas J. Craughwell -- that was a real foodie curiousity.  Apparently, it was Jefferson that brought French cuisine to America, not Julia Child. Who knew? James Hemings -- his deceased wife Martha's 19 year old half-brother -- was promised his freedom if he stayed in France long enough to learn how to cook and bake Jefferson's favorite things. He was then required to teach another chef how to make them. It took Jefferson 11 years to make good on that promise. (Hm. I don't suppose I'd be so giddy to let my freshly trained chef waltz out of my life, either.)

Jefferson was in Paris for several years as US Ambassador to France.  He was also learning important things like how to grow grapes to make his favorite wines. From what I've read, he really loved his bordeaux.  Here's a colorful aside: a 14 year old Sally Hemings was there, too -- as a handmaid to Jefferson's youngest daughter Mary. (Yes, that would make his kid Sally's niece, for those of you keeping score at home.)  While she was in France, Sally wound up pregnant with Jefferson's baby. (Insert *gasp* here.) And now you know the rest of the story. Or do you?

The good news is that once the smoke cleared, Mr. Hemings started his own catering business. The bad news? Five years after he was freed, he committed suicide at the age of 36, in Baltimore Maryland.

All that, so Jefferson could drink delicious wine and eat in high style -- and thanks to a well-cultivated vineyard and all those chefs James Hemings trained, he most certainly did, even after he was completely bereft of funds.

Something to think about, the next time you tuck into a bowl of mac & cheese.

Salt, Sugar, Fat

i'm veering away from processed foods anyway -- it's been a slow, painful, well thought out process -- but the book salt, sugar, fat: how the food giants hooked us by michael moss just might send me careening over the edge, right now. the reviews alone have been enough to scare the living daylights out of me.  unbelievable but true: the companies that create fast food, drinks and condiments are so consumed by greed that they have created the just right balance of salt, sugar and fat to keep the general populace mindlessly addicted to food -- and to keep their profits soaring into the stratosphere.

it's a chemical reaction, really. through fat, sugar and salt, companies like kraft and frito lay have scientists that have found what they refer to as the bliss point: this is what happens when processed food hits same the pleasure center in your brain that clicks into overdrive when you're high.

the concept vanishing caloric density is especially frightening when applied to baked chee-tos, a favorite of fast food scientists. the chee-tos melted away before the brain could register it as having been consumed, so the hapless victim keeps eating it.  no wonder i inhale those things when i eat them.

are things changing for the better? yes, they are -- but not fast enough. farmer's markets and the push towards organic whole foods is hardly enough. ultimately, it comes down to the individual breaking the cycle and choosing to not consume processed foods.  that's not easy to do when you don't even know you're an addict in the first place.
                    

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covering the basics, part 2: how did we get here?

i think the way we eat -- then and now -- varies from region to region and depends a lot on ethnicity, tradition and culture. when i was a kid in south carolina's low country, my great-grandmother always kept a large vegetable garden in her expansive backyard, which was speckled with fruit trees and wild grapes. my great-grandfather, grandfather and uncles hunted and fished seasonally, so there was plenty of fresh seafood and game. my grandmother kept a garden, too. i remember green tomatoes ripening on the kitchen windowsill, her house surrounded with carefully tended plants, gorgeous roses and flowers that bloomed year-round. and rice. rice with almost every meal.

we weren't big on what usually passes as soul food. red rice and roasted oysters and venison were fixtures on our dinner table, not fried chicken with all the fixins. and junk food was hardly an issue.

 it's not that we didn't hit the grocery store for what we needed but when you grow and hunt for most of what you consume, you really don't have to make it to the piggly wiggly every week.  not surprisingly, growing your own food and hunting it down is physically hard work. you try killing a 5 point buck and carrying it around until you get home.

my great-grandmother wasn't the big momma type. she was lean and strong, and so was my grandmother. their husbands weren't overweight, either.  that's not surprising because everybody had work that required hard manual labor. when that was done, they had two or three side jobs that wore them out. my grandfather and my great-grandfather worked in a steel mill for decades. my daddy had a day job and seven -- SEVEN -- union cards.  (joe the plumber, in comparison, doesn't have one.)  daddy never stopped working. when he left this world a few years ago at the age of 92, he was outside working on the house.  there were fun times and happy moments but there was never any room for foolishness. the men and the boys in the family were way too busy being great outdoorsmen, or they were off doing man things like fixing cars.  the women and the girls were keeping house: cooking, baking, cleaning, sewing, knitting. they had their children to discipline and instruct, their work that kept them running, their side jobs and whatever.

 i don't know where some people get this black people are lazy stuff.  the movies? stupid comedians? pop culture? step n. fetchit? people who don't know any black people?

so as it turns out, eating clean means that i'm simply shifting gears and going back to my low country roots. i had to do it a few times to break some bad habits and make it stick. thankfully, it is sticking. the thing is, there are moments in my life when a herculean amount of discipline is required to stay away from a bag of baked cheetos. my great-grandparents didn't have that problem.

this handy little infographic is an interesting snapshot of america's nutritional arc over time. the picture gets much more interesting when you get specific.

Source: visual.ly via Dennis on Pinterest

covering the basics, part 1: rethinking food

i've done the clean program several times before this but for some strange reason, my latest foray into the wide, wide world of eating clean is causing too many profound changes in my life.  i can't stop decluttering and cleaning my apartment, for instance. i'm having a lot of epiphanies about my life that are exploding like firecrackers all over the place.  my hair and my nails are growing like crazy.  all good things.

i know that i've reached a fork in the road.  no longer can i eat with abandon, the way i used to when i was a kid. i can no longer eat anything that i want and i can no longer eat without thinking. my stomach has changed.  what i could eat then, i can't handle anymore.  the startling thought is that maybe i never could -- and i ignored the signs that told me so for the sake of food, glorious food. if i want a healthy, lean strong body, i have to eat consciously and carefully from now on. i'm not going to be vegan obsessive about it -- just aware, whatever that means.  this process is me figuring out what that means.  right now it means rethinking how i think about food.

i'm kind of pissed off that food is no longer fun, that i can't eat whatever i want whenever i want and that all of this feels like so much work and sacrifice and discipline. but then again, i'm tired of working against my body. and i'm especially tired of carrying around this extra weight that's keeping me from wearing everything in my closet.  i'm committed to my all around great health. so that's that.

here's the newest revelation: dairy is out. a random piece of cheese here or there is one thing but chugging milk or making an elaborate cheese plate for dinner is totally off my radar. yeesh! the things you find out when you do a little research...!

Source: 25.media.tumblr.com via Dennis on Pinterest

the hard work of eating clean

this is my third time on this eat clean program merry-go-round. you can do the pre-cleanse and the post cleanse. you can do it with shakes and supplements.  you can do it with an online forum and you can call an 800 number and/or email councelors for support and information and a ton of encouragement. or you can simply not eat certain things for 3 weeks and see how it affects you physically.

here's how it works. for 21 days, i remove certain foods from my diet: salt, sugar, sweeteners, anything that's processed and loaded with bad fat but also things i may unknowingly be allergic to (because most people are) like white rice, corn, peanuts, soy, oats and whole wheat/wheat gluten, as well as most meat (beef, chicken, pork - eating wild game is encouraged) and seafood (i can have cold water fish like salmon and trout). oh, and no coffee or tea. or citrus, except for lemon. and no nightshade vegetables (potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, etc). no dairy, either. yeah. no cheese. and no alcohol. or cigarettes. or recreational drugs.

what can i eat? pretty much everything else.

this time around, i've discovered that i love buffalo, rabbit and ostrich. eating those things is really not that deep for me. when i was a kid, we ate plenty of game. venison was a constant. so was squirrel.  i really love just about every green vegetable there is, especially bitter greens, wheatgrass and kale. i drink water instead of soda or other sugary drinks. i've made a shot of green vibrance a daily habit. yes, i'm losing weight. going to bed hungry still feels like mission impossible but it's doing wonderful things for my constitution, my energy level, my skin, all of it.  my acid reflux problems that plague me whenever i don't eat right are totally nonexistent when i don't eat at night. poof! gone. just like that.

it takes time to break bad habits and create good ones. what's bigger than this is my newfound ability to listen to my body -- give it what it needs and remove what isn't necessary. some days that's an easy thing to do. some days, it takes a herculean effort to not inhale a gigantic bag of potato chips with a side of sour cream and wash it down with a coke.  with the possible exception of thick cut country bacon, how i look and feel and how healthy i am far outweighs any momentary joy that eating delicious food ever gave me.

i have to admit -- the first time i did the eat clean program, it was a shock to my system. the second time was a struggle. i thought this time around would be a good chance to do it again to recalibrate myself physically as a birthday present to myself.  my remaining week on this program led me to a strange set of crossroads and a massive epiphany: if i want to stay lean and strong and healthy and vibrant, i am going to have to keep this up for the rest of my life.  the closer i adhere to the program, the better i look and feel. so which road would i choose: eating clean or eating with abandon?

of course, it doesn't have to be one extreme or another. but this requires a lot of moment-to-moment discipline from me and that feels daunting. and exhausting.  don't get it twisted.  irregardless of whatever you are born with -- after a certain age, you get the body and the good health that you are willing to work and sacrifice to attain. being fat and unhealthy is a choice. that's really all there is to it.

very meal is a decision, every bite of food is a struggle. i hit the gym every single day.  i am fighting for the body i want and the good health that comes with it.

joan crawford was right. life is discipline.