Tag vegetables

Wok Me!

Paul - The Wry Eye Guy Leave a comment
Wok Me!

My wok arrived. And 3 days ahead of schedule! Guess the supply chain is adjusting to the pandemic. Knew I shoulda bought the Amazon stock! Yes, I feel guilty that I didn’t shop locally but they didn’t have a model I wanted so I went to the online gorilla.

Still worried that it might not work on my induction stove, I immediately stuck it on the stove top & fired up the burner on max boost. While I waited for it, I grabbed the manual & one of the first things I read is to not put it on high heat with nothing in it. Oops!

Fortunately, I caught it while it was still cold. Disaster averted. I know the carbon steel ones are the more authentic choice but I always let those go rusty when I go off wok cooking for a bit, so stainless steel is the (lazier!) way to go for me.

Buying online can be hazardous. A picture is worth a thousand words though they can, sometimes, be totally misleading. Not this time; this wok is a great size. I get very enthusiastic while wokking, so having a high & wide vessel keeps most of the food in the wok. And I can cook lots of stuff all at once. I like the size. But what’s the lid for? Stopping the moisture from escaping just makes everything taste boiled, no? Can you steam wontons or dumplings in it?

It’s so long since I got rid of my last wok that I can’t remember what my favourite wok dishes were. It’s like starting out on a whole new adventure. I do remember that it was one way for me to eat veggies. Cover anything in oil or fat & its appeal goes way up.

Now that I’ve got it, I really have no excuse to avoid eating a little better through what’s left of this month. Might be time to risk a trip to the supermarket.

If you’ve got any good recipe ideas, please send ’em my way.

Hope you, & all those you care about, are making it though the pandemic & its restrictions okay. Stay safe out there.

Dieting on the Road

Paul - The Wry Eye Guy Leave a comment

Dieting on the Road

Tandoori Platter

It’s not as challenging to eat “well” on the road as we dieters like to imagine. I’m not talking about going the chicken salad route (hold the chicken skin, the croutons, the dressing and the dried fruit & nut pieces) … you can do that if you want but that’s not how I diet!

Yes, you have to have some dialogue with the server. And yes, they’ll probably think you’re a bit of a pain. But better that than blow the diet. Again!

On the road last week, I was led towards an Indian restaurant this particular evening. And that was just fine by me. I pretty much love all food but if you forced me to pick just one national cuisine, I might have to go with Indian. As it happened, I was on a low-carb regimen that particular day. Oh boy!

I love rice, naan, samosa & pakora but those were not going to be allowed today. Yes, there were salad options. And yes, there were vegetarian dishes aplenty. But I was drawn to the Tandoori Platter. Right away, the word platter promises a gut-busting feast of goodies. And it was. Beef, chicken, lamb, shrimp and who knows what else. There were some token veggies in there too, just to assuage any little fear I might entertain of it being an unhealthy choice. One of the key reasons for this choice was that it didn’t come with a sauce, Tandoori dishes are dry spiced. And I refused to ask about their spice recipe … just in case there were any bad ingredients in there that would have forced me to order that chicken salad! I do love those sauces, by the way, but there’s always some bad stuff hiding in them. And today was to be as sugar & starch-free as any reasonable road warrior could make it.

The bottom line was that it was delicious. I was stuffed. And I was sufficiently fortified to resisted all the starchy temptations offered by my dining companions!

But did it work?

I don’t know!

I’ll have to wait for the official end-of-month weigh-in on October 1st to see how it all plays out. Though I might have been grateful that I didn’t have my scale with me during my travels!